THE HERD - Hour 1 - Caleb Williams looked impressive, Dillion Gabriel didn't mean what some people think, the Cowboys look bad

Summary

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The Herd with Colin Cowherd — Hour 1 (August 18, 2025)

Episode Overview

In this engaging episode of The Herd, Colin Cowherd and guest co-host John Middlekauff dive into early NFL preseason narratives, with sharp takes on Caleb Williams’ performance with the Bears, clarity about Dillon Gabriel’s much-discussed comments, and an assessment of the concerning outlook for the Dallas Cowboys. The duo explores coaching dynamics, backup quarterback controversies, and the evolving landscape of both college and pro football. Colin’s signature blend of insight, humor, and pointed critique keeps the conversation timely and thought-provoking.

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1. Caleb Williams’ Impressive Preseason Outing (03:57–09:00)

Key Points

• Colin expresses surprise at how engaging the Bills–Bears preseason game was, focusing on top draft pick Caleb Williams’ performance.
• Williams is praised for his decisiveness, avoiding negative plays, and making “grown-up” decisions (e.g., throwing the ball away instead of forcing action).
• The new Chicago coaching staff and system are described as a “work in progress,” but Williams offers hope after a rough camp and shaky practices.

Analysis of Caleb’s Fit with Coach Ben Johnson

• Johnson prefers quarterbacks who “run my play,” more in the Kyle Shanahan mold, while Williams is a natural freelancer—a creative vs. accountant dynamic.
• “This is a marriage stylistically that is not perfect,” Colin argues, referencing other creative QB–coach pairings (Reid/Mahomes, Payton/Nix, Harbaugh/Lamar).
• The challenge is to harness Williams’ raw ability while instilling discipline: “All you need is for that player... to be amenable to throwing on time and on schedule and avoiding negative plays.” (06:50)
• “You gotta let [Caleb] be a little bit of a gunslinger... but Brett Favre mostly played on time, played on schedule,” explains Colin (07:45).

Notable Quote

• Colin (06:15): “When you get somebody as gifted as Mahomes and Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen and [now] Caleb Williams, with that kind of horsepower, with that kind of firepower, it is your job as a coach to figure out how to maximize all that amazing clay.”

Memorable Moment

• Colin lauds Williams for “dirting” a screen pass: “That’s growth from last year. Just dirting the screen pass, you’re like—okay, last year, he would have tried to make something out of it. Now, in Ben Johnson’s school of offense, get out of the play.” (08:45)

Caleb Williams’ Perspective

• Williams (09:03): “I think I’ve grown a lot... My mindset is keep growing—handling everything at the line, taking things off other people’s plates... and being able to do that consistently over the next couple years is important.”

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2. The “Celebrity Backup” Problem & Dillon Gabriel’s Comments (09:15–15:24)

Key Points

• Colin dissects the media uproar over Dillon Gabriel’s statement about “entertainers and competitors,” clarifying it wasn’t a shot at Shedeur Sanders.
• He criticizes the rush to controversy, stating: “Shame on everybody that said it was,” and argues that media frenzy is actually hurting, not helping, players like Shedeur by turning them into distractions for coaches and GMs.
• The “celebrity backup QB” is historically undesirable in the NFL: “Nobody wants a celebrity backup quarterback... This story is such a negative for Shedeur Sanders.” (11:25)
• “NFL GMs want you to be Andrew Luck. Great and boring,” Colin quips, noting the risks when a backup is too high-profile.

Notable Quotes

• Colin (10:46): “You don’t want a celebrity backup quarterback. That hurt Tebow and Kaepernick and Cam Newton in New England with Belichick... You guys who love Shedeur... you’re making him into a celebrity. If I have to choose... Dylan Gabriel may be easier to deal with.”
• Colin (13:42): “If I have to use you [as a backup QB] for two games, can you win one? And the other rule—put on a hat and sunglasses and nobody knows who you are. You can never be a headline [as a backup].”

Memorable Moment

• The Tebow reference: “He’d take his shirt off and walk through practice, and it was four live shots at ESPN. And after a while, coaches are like, ‘He’s good for the locker room, but God, who wants that circus?’” (14:40)

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3. Dallas Cowboys’ Dire Outlook (20:04–25:58)

Key Points

• Dallas gets “dusted again at home,” this time by Baltimore—a team that dominates preseason.
• Cowherd summarizes the Cowboys’ defensive woes: “...once again, Dallas’s defense is a sieve. It’s bad.”
• Context worsens with key defenders (Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs) unhappy and likely out for the opener against the Eagles, with a huge national audience expected.
• There’s skepticism about owner Jerry Jones’ commitment to top coaching hires: “I don’t think Jerry Jones has a ton of respect for coaches. If he did, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells would have been treated differently.” (21:40)
• With the offense weakened and a tough schedule, Colin predicts “it’s going to get ugly fast” and calls them a 4- to 6-win team: “This is doomsday clock; you’re on the doomsday clock.” (22:53)
• He predicts nostalgia for Mike McCarthy’s solid record: “How people exit matters... Mark my words, Mike McCarthy’s name will come up again in Dallas.” (24:40)

Notable Quotes

• Brian Schottenheimer, Cowboys OC (22:29): “We’re not going to say that’s just a preseason game... There’s too many good football players, too many good coaches for us to perform the way we did tonight. We’re not going to panic, but we’re pushing the work button and that’s what we’re going to do.”

• Colin (22:53): “This is not panic button, this is doomsday clock... This is going to blow up fast. You don't have your two best defenders. Hasn’t been a good camp. Getting pushed around in preseason. Got pushed around last year.”

Memorable Moment

• Prediction for fan protest: “Don’t be surprised in stadium this year if you don’t see Cowboy fans wearing buttons—‘I miss Mike’, ‘Let’s strike for Mike’, ‘I like Mike’... Mark my words, Mike McCarthy’s name will come up again in Dallas.” (24:50)

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4. Headlines & Coaching Discussions (26:03–34:31)

Aaron Rodgers & Steelers

• John Middelkoff and Colin break down Rodgers’ move to Pittsburgh and questionable offensive line/run game.
• “I think Pittsburgh’s problem, Mike Tomlin is incapable of building a run game,” Colin says (26:27).
• Rodgers’ impact limited without ground support. “Do I believe a quarterback at 41 out of his prime, missing a left tackle, and Najee Harris can fix it? I do not.” (29:04)

Bills’ Woes in Preseason

• John: “I’m not worried... That was all about the Bears’ road game. Chiefs and Bills both laid an egg: heavy legs, long road trips. If you’re a backup though, you can’t get used to losing.” (31:53)
• Colin: “I almost consider the Ravens an exception. A really good organization that cares and delivers in preseason; 38–0 is bad, but I don’t put much stock into it.” (30:15)

Green Bay Packers’ Quiet Confidence

• Packers QB Jordan Love recovering from thumb surgery; Matt LaFleur adapting practices.
• Colin: “The whole division’s been noisy... Green Bay has been silent. It either means you’re keeping secrets or everyone’s on the same page.” (32:32)
• John: “I’m high on the Packers... but this makes me a little nervous. Their season kind of derailed last year with a Love injury. If they’re going to win the division, they need him at Pro Bowl level.” (33:27)
• Colin: “Elite offensive coach, really talented quarterback. That should be a playoff team.” (33:55)

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5. NCAA/Michigan Penalty Discussion (34:31–41:18)

Key Points

• The NCAA penalizes Michigan for the Conner Stalions sign-stealing scandal but Harbaugh is spared and wins are not vacated.
• Colin puts the controversy in perspective: “...The world’s changed. You can buy high school players... I have a hard time getting worked up over it.”
• “It is so sketchy and so dark and so muddy... I’m for the transfer portal, but don’t act like you’re outraged about stuff that now gets promoted and monetized.” (37:55)
• The real issue for Michigan, according to Colin, is increased Big Ten competition and Ohio State remaining an elite program.

Notable Quote

• “You just go buy high school players. That was the one thing you couldn’t do. Now that’s encouraged. So I’m not that worked up over it. I think Michigan’s bigger issue is the Big Ten now has got really good coaching.” (38:57)

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6. Rams’ Opacity, Matt Stafford & Mentoring Young QBs (45:09–51:28)

Rams’ Instinct for “Moving Off” Players

• Colin discusses how the Rams are masters at secrecy and moving on early (“Belichick... but better dressed and with a smile”).
• Stafford’s health is a huge swing factor for the Rams’ fortunes, but regardless, Colin predicts they will draft a QB next year.

Quarterback Coaches Matter

• Young QBs’ development hinges on coaching: “When I look at Jackson Dart, I think, What an advantage. You start looking at all these great quarterbacks... a lot of them—Jalen Hurts, Mahomes, Burrow—they have offensive coaches.”
• Fields, lacking strong offensive mentorship, continues to look lost.

Notable Quote

• Colin (49:35): “Who you land as your college and your pro coach, it matters a lot.”
• Brian Daboll (50:29) on his new rookie QB: “Russ is our starter and we’re going to keep developing Jackson. Jackson’s just gotta continue to work to get better and we gotta help him get better.”

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Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• Caleb Williams on growth: (09:03) “I think I’ve grown a lot... keep growing... handling everything at the line.”
• On celebrity backups: (10:46) “You don’t want a celebrity backup quarterback. That hurt Tebow and Kaepernick and Cam Newton in New England with Belichick...”
• Cowboys’ situation: (22:53) “This is not panic button, this is doomsday clock. Who’s got the briefcase? This thing is going to blow up fast...”
• McCarthy’s Dallas tenure: (24:50) “...Mark my words, Mike McCarthy’s name will come up again in Dallas because it’s not going to be a great coaching search...”
• On the NCAA and Michigan: (38:57) “You just go buy high school players... Now, that’s encouraged. So I’m not that worked up over it.”
• QB coach importance: (49:35) “Who you land as your college and your pro coach, it matters a lot.”

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Caleb Williams/Bears deep dive: 03:57–09:00
• Gabriel/Shedeur controversy (“celebrity backup”): 09:15–15:24
• Cowboys problems/McCarthy exit: 20:04–25:58
• Rodgers/Steelers run game: 26:03–29:22
• Bills preseason problems: 29:22–31:53
• Packers’ preseason and division preview: 31:53–34:31
• NCAA/Michigan segment: 34:31–41:18
• Rams secrecy/Stafford, QB coaching influences: 45:09–51:28

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Tone, Style, & Closing Thoughts

The episode is signature Colin: direct, witty, occasionally hyperbolic, but meticulously reasoned and always topical. He flags the preseason for what it is—just preseason—while smartly mapping the implications for the season ahead, especially in quarterback-driven narratives and coaching pairings. Both hosts deftly connect past NFL norms to the rapidly changing present, with a mix of analysis and humor.

For listeners who missed the episode, this summary covers the major opinions, insights, and storylines, capturing the spirit and engaging style of Colin Cowherd’s “The Herd.”

Transcript

[Colin Cowherd]

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[Colin Cowherd]

To the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every.

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Weekday on Fox Sports Radio and noon to 3 Eastern, 9am to noon Pacific.

[Colin Cowherd]

Find your local station for the [e-mail] or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Now, let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. All right, here we go. It is a Monday. Now we're getting football games. Now we're getting opinions. Now we're getting what looks like the makings. Okay, maybe not Buffalo and Kansas City, but it does look like we're getting kind of a feel for what's happening one hour from now where Colin went, right where Colin was wrong. John Middelkoff is joining me this week for four days. J. Mack is on vacay and we'll come back the following week. So, John, I don't remember a preseason game, Bills, Bears, which turned out to be a blowout. That I was more interested in watching the first two series. You feel that way. Yeah.

[John Middelkoff]

That was the Bear super bowl last.

[Colin Cowherd]

Night and it went well. It was. Buffalo can't get to a Super Bowl. Bears had theirs in preseason. Not ideal for both. So Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears, I thought he looked decisive. I thought he looked sharp. At one point, he dirted a ball on a screenplay. Smart play. Get out of that. Get out of the negative plays. I think basically, if you're a Bears fan, it's been a rough camp. It's a new system, a new coach. It hasn't been pretty. Even at Friday's practice, there were false starts. It was a bit ugly. So it's a big sigh of relief. There's a new system. Caleb likes to freelance. His coach doesn't, not necessarily want that from his quarterback. So last night, Caleb Williams actually looked a little bit like Jared Goff. He quarterbacked like Jared Goff. He dirted the ball on screens. He got rid of and out of trouble. No negative plays. When he had a guy open, he hit him. Now we know he's not Jared Goff. I honestly feel like Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams and you'll see this sometimes where you'll see a crazy talented artist marries an accountant. And it's not ever perfect. That doesn't mean it can't work. I mean, Andy Reid is a creative. Mahomes is a creative. That's perfect. I think Sean Payton feels like b Knicks can run my play, but he can also run on his own. That feels perfect. Ben Johnson, I. I feel he's got a little bit of Kyle Shanahan run my play. And Kyle Shanahan's great, but you're going to have to let Caleb breathe. So to me, this whole relationship is about. Because we know that Ben Johnson is going to win. The first several arguments in this. Ben Johnson's a new coach. It's not a rich ownership group. They're not flushing him out. Caleb struggled his first year, so Ben comes in with leverage. But offensive coaches and Andy Reid would tell you this. When you get somebody as gifted as Mahomes and Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen and Caleb Williams, with that kind of horsepower, with that kind of firepower, it is your job as a coach to figure out how to maximize all that amazing clay. All you need, because I think Caleb's got a little Brett Favre. All you need is for that player, Mahomes, Lamar, Josh Allen, Brett Favre to be amenable to throwing on time and on schedule and avoiding negative plays. I don't care how gifted you are. Josh Allen's not great. If he's not on time, he's not on schedule, and there's negative plays. Last year, Caleb was none of those consistently. So you don't have to. You don't have to be a perfect fit with Ben Johnson. But nobody succeeds in this league running around. It's not high school or college defensive ends here run 4, 5, 5. They can catch you, and they'll punish you, and they'll lean on you and sit on you and drive you into the ground, whether it's legal or not. And you won't play long. Go ask Lamar Jackson, who suddenly, in year two and three, put on weight. Go ask Michael Vick, who started staying in the pocket. I think Caleb Williams comp. When I watch him is a little Brett Favre. You got to let him be a little bit of a gunslinger. You got to let him be himself. But Brett Favre mostly played on time, played on schedule. He threw a lot of bad picks. Favre threw a lot of bad picks. You could get away with that in Favre's era. I think offensive coaching is smarter. I think turnovers are more punitive. So I think this is a marriage stylistically that is not perfect. But I know Caleb. I like Caleb. I think he's coachable. But it may never be Stafford and McVeigh or Reed and Mahomes or John Harbaugh and Lamar, where it just feels like, what a good marriage. I don't know if this ever will be, but what you saw was a glimpse of what it can be when Caleb is on time and on schedule and just get out of the negative place so much. It's almost like being somebody that runs a movie studio. Not everything has to be Goodfellas. Not everything has to be Avatar. What you're trying to avoid is that Disney movie, John Carter. You're just trying to avoid a $350 million disaster as a studio head. Not everything needs to be Moulin Rouge and be a hit. It doesn't all have to be that. Just avoid the potholes. That is largely quarterback play. That is largely what Belichick says about Brady. No negative plays. It was either, you know, second and six or second and four. It was never second and 15 and third and 18. Get out of that stuff. And I thought when he dirted the screen pass, I thought, oh, that's perfect. That's growth from last year. Just. Just dirting the screen pass. You're like, okay, that last year, he would have tried to make something out of it. Now, in Ben Johnson school of offense, get out of the play. Give up the play. Don't extend the play. Just get out of there. Here was Caleb after a month ago.

[Interviewee/Guest Quarterback]

I think I've grown a lot.

[Colin Cowherd]

Now my mindset is, you know, keep growing. If that's handling everything at the line.

[Interviewee/Guest Quarterback]

Handling everything, you know, and taking things.

[Colin Cowherd]

Off other people's plates, know that's what it is. And being able to do that consistently over the next couple years is, you know, important. Okay, so I saw the media. It was partially media and partially, like, people online. So the quarterback battle. And now. Now the Cleveland Browns and Kevin Stefanski. And I like Kevin Stefanski a lot. But you got to offer some clarity here, guys. You got to tell us what's going on, because we're getting into a Tebow situation, and this happens a lot. I've seen this in the NFL with Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick, Tim Tebow. Nobody wants a celebrity backup quarterback. Now, years ago, Bill Parcell said one of the rules of drafting was don't draft a celebrity quarterback. Yeah, that. That's over. You. Sorry. Half of these guys, Baker Mayfield. I mean, Sam Darnold out of usc, beaten Penn State in a Rose Bowl. He becomes a celebrity. Half these guys are making 7 million bucks in college. Arch Manning's a celebrity. Get over it. Draft him. So, But. But. But this still holds true. You don't want a celebrity backup quarterback. And that hurt Tebow and Kaepernick and Cam Newton in New England with Bell Belichick is, you know, I like you, Cam. We can't have a superstar backup. You guys who love Shador and Carolina wearing his jerseys, you're making him into a celebrity. So if I'm a coach and I have to choose. Okay, Joe Flacco, starting. Dylan Gabriel may be easier to deal with. You don't have to deal with the nonsense. So this weekend, Dylan Gabriel went on camera and said something that people blew way out of proportion. So here's what he said. You gave us some fabulous wisdom on how you tune out the noise and you don't let it infiltrate yourself. Will you share that with everybody at home? Yeah, I think it's just part of it. You know, there's. There's entertainers and there's competitors, and I totally understand that. And my job is to compete, and that's what I'm focused on doing. That was not a shot at Shedeur Sanders. Shame on everybody. That said it was, do not. You're hurting Shedeur. You're turning a non circus into a circus. When he said that he was taking a shot at us, he was taking a shot at guys like me. He was saying, listen, there's people that talk about this stuff in the air. They're entertainers. I'm. I'm a quarterback, and I don't know exactly who blew it out of proportion, but when I was on my phone all weekend, the first three or four hours of this, until I did some digging, I'm like, why is he taking a shot at Shador? He wasn't. So essentially, everybody proved Dylan Gabriel's point, which is all about clicks and look at me and no nuance. He was not taking a shot at Shador Sanders. He was taking a. And he wasn't even really taking a shot at the media. He was describing what the media is. Entertainers. They got to get ratings. They got to drive revenue. Yeah, guilty as charged. Like, I try to do a good job of it, but, like, I want the most entertaining topics. So the truth is about these guys, I have two strong opinions. I think Dylan Gabriel size is an issue. I would have a hard time building around him. He's small, he's serious, and he's businesslike. I like, I like his temperament more than Shador, who's silly and kind of goofy. But I think Shador was underdrafted. Shador is bigger. I think he moves well. I would choose Shador over Dylan Gabriel, but Kevin Stefanski, he liked the seriousness, the accuracy, and the way he ran an offense. Dylan Gabriel at Oregon, I don't think either is transformational. And here's the thing. What NFL GMs really want from quarterbacks they want you to be Andrew Luck. Great and boring. Brady was mostly boring when he played Peyton Manning. Got really, really funny when he retired. Most of your great quarterback, even Mahomes with a huge personality, kind of hides in the off season. They want you to be great and boring. If you're not great and neither one of these quarterbacks is, you can't be the life of the party. I've said this for years. There's two rules about backup quarterbacks in the NFL. If I have to use you for two games, can you win one? Can you just win one of the two games? I need you two of my starters out for four. Cooper Rush, great. He can win half the games. Starters should win 65% of the games. If they're great Lamar, they win 75% of the games. And the other rule about backup quarterbacks. You should be able to put a baseball cap and sunglasses on in your local mall, walk around and nobody knows who you are. You can never be a Headline Tebow headline Backup Cam Headline Kaepernick headline Shador is becoming that. And this story again. You think it helped Shador? It's hurting him. This story hurt. You know what the staff is saying in Cleveland this morning? Oh, Jesus. Maybe we just got to get out of this nonsense. Let's just get out of this nonsense. We got people thinking Dylan's taking shots. They'll get out of this business because Shador is not good enough. Tebow was not good enough to deal with the nonsense. So this was a prime example of. Sometimes you squeeze so tight. Shador's my guy and I love Shedeur. And that guy's trying to get Shedeur. You're making. This is such a negative for Shedeur Sanders. This is what happened with Tebow. He'd take his shirt off and walk through practice, and it was four live shots at espn. And after a while, coaches are like, you know, I kind of. I had a coach tell me this. I kind of like him for the locker room in the roster. He's a. He's a. He's a good football player, but, God, who wants that circus? I mean, he won a playoff game in Denver against Pittsburgh, beat Tomlin, and they're like, we're getting out of this business. Tebow could have been a backup somewhere. Nobody wanted the nonsense, and that's what this was. All right, John boy, I gotta tell you, we don't want to take too much from the preseason. I'd be a little worried if I was Dallas. A little. No Micah, no Trayvon Diggs. Good luck.

[John Middelkoff]

Brian Schneimer.

[Colin Cowherd]

There is going to be There is an art to knowing when you know they call. It's a funny line, the Irish exit. When you leave a bar and you don't tell anybody, do it all the time. Yeah, I've mastered it. I'm married to an Irish girl, so we've mastered leaving the party and not giving everybody a heads up. Some people know when to get off the train, when to exit. Mike McCarthy A lot of you rolled your eyes at Mike McCarthy. In six months, Mike McCarthy may be a leading candidate for other NFL jobs. We'll talk about that coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio app. He's Mike Carmen I'm Dan Byer and we have a fantasy football podcast called I Want your Flex. That's right, Dan. Every week we're going to scour the waiver wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup. Sits starts fantasy football players rankings to get you ready to dominate the competition. Listen to I Want yout Flex with Mike Harmon and me, Dan Beyer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts and wherever.

[John Middelkoff]

You get your podcasts.

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[Colin Cowherd]

Well, you can't get a well groomed.

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[Colin Cowherd]

A day at the lake.

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That's a no. A Philly cheesesteak? That's a yes.

[Colin Cowherd]

A nice tan.

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Sorry. A box fan? Happily, yes.

[Colin Cowherd]

What about a day of sunshine?

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[Colin Cowherd]

Nope.

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Well, how about some French fries?

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah.

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[Colin Cowherd]

Can't help you there. But a barbecued prawn or it and.

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[Colin Cowherd]

So while you can't get fun in.

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[Colin Cowherd]

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[Colin Cowherd]

All right, welcome back. Colin, right? Colin wrong. It's a Monday. Top of next hour. John Middelkoff sitting in with me. You've heard him on my podcast many times, now fills in regularly. We would love that. So the Cowboys got dusted again at home. This time, it's Baltimore. Now, Baltimore dusts a lot of people in both the preseason and the regular season. For whatever reasons, Baltimore is the best preseason team in the league. I'm watching that thing early and I'm like, yeah, it's going downhill fast. But once again, Dallas's defense is a sieve. It's bad. And I got to tell you something. Right now, they're opening against Philadelphia on NBC and they're going to be 32 million viewers. This is not going to be open up against Carolina on the road in that one o' clock window. So if the Cowboys are bad, it's going to get ugly fast. Everybody's going to be talking about it and Mike is not going to be playing. He's unhappy. Trayvon Diggs reportedly not going to be playing in the opener. He's not happy. And this defense was second worst in the NFL last year in total defense. So it's a bad unit. It's not terribly deep and your two best players are unhappy and reportedly neither is going to play. So again, when you open with Philadelphia, it'll be the most watched game in week one. Arguably it's 30 million viewers. And remember, you've been the last two times you played the Eagles, 41 to 7 and 34 to 6. Humiliating. You don't have your left tackle. Tyler Guyton, the rookie at Oklahoma, didn't play particularly well last year. That doesn't mean he can't be good in year two. That's a hard position for a rookie, but he's banged up. The running back room is weak. Dax coming off his second injury. So it's now here's. I mean, I don't know. I don't love the hire as a coach. I don't think Jerry Jones has a ton of respect for coaches. If he did, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells would have been treated differently. I think he tends to hire people who need him. Jason Garrett wasn't being offered head coaching jobs. He felt like he owed Jerry one. Brian Schottenheimer was not being interviewed for top offensive coordinator jobs. Jerry, you know, can feel like, yo, Jerry won. Jimmy and Bill Parcells didn't need Jerry Jones. Every other coach, even McCarthy, who I like, kind of felt like he was on the beach. He was looking for an opportunity. Here is Brian Schottenheimer. I think this thing's going to get rough really quick. Like week one. I think it's a four or five potential win team. Maybe Dak gets you to six or seven. Here's Schottenheimer again after another ugly preseason loss.

[Brian Schottenheimer]

We're not going to say that that's just a preseason game. We're not going to say, oh, we'll be fine. You know, we're going to, we're going to look at it because the fact that, you know, we really lost both halves, that is something that, that, you know, we have to get corrected. There's too many good football players, too many good coaches for us to perform the way that we did tonight. We're not going to panic and we're not pushing the panic, but we're pushing the work button and that's what we're going to do.

[Colin Cowherd]

This is not panic button. This is doomsday clock. You're on the doomsday clock. Who's got the briefcase? Like this thing is going to be. It's going to blow up fast that you don't have your two best defenders. Hasn't been a good camp. Getting pushed around in preseason. Got pushed around last year. And here's what's interesting. And I know Mike McCarthy could drive me nuts. The Cowboys were always too penalized and I didn't love them situationally. But Mike McCarthy went 12 and 5, 12 and 5, 12 and 5,. Won two division titles. And then Dak got hurt and had a winning record with Cooper Rush. So you can roll your eyes at Mike McCarthy. He walked away from this job. And there is a distinction between having a disagreement with the owner and just saying, no, I. I like Jerry. I don't want to coach this wreck. He saw this train coming. He saw this thing coming. And I'm going to tell you, in one year from now, in probably about nine months from now, March, April, how many months that is when you're hiring coaches after the season, you're going to look at this Mess and Mike McCarthy, people are going to go, he went 12 and 5, 12 and 5, 12 and 5 and had the second best offense with Dak Prescott in the league to Josh Allen and the Bills. You're going to start looking at that. How people exit matters in politics and in coaching, how you exit matters. And go look at Mike McCarthy's Dallas day. I'll put it on the screen here. I didn't love his clock management. I thought his teams were too penalized. But there's a lot of W's there. And don't be surprised in stadium this year if you don't see Cowboy fans wearing buttons. I'm. I'm going to make my prediction. In New Orleans, they used to wear Ain'ts on. On the. With the bags over their heads. You're going to have some. I miss Mike. Let's strike for Mike. I miss Mike. Banners. I like Mike. Mark my words, Mike McCarthy's name will come up again in Dallas because it's not going to be a great coaching search. There's not a lot out there. The great old guys like Andy Reid, Jim Harbaugh, Sean Payton, they are taken. And a lot of the young guys in college Ryan Day happy at Ohio State. Lincoln Riley hasn't been what everybody thought. I don't necessarily think it's going to be a. You're going to have to rely on a coordinator. And do you trust Jerry Jones at this point hiring anybody? Just a thought, because you watch that Baltimore game like I did, this defense is in big trouble because the NFC has some really sharp offensive coaches. Really ready. You got. You look at divisions. I got Ben Johnson with Chicago and Kevin O' Connell and Nick Sariani works and McVeigh and Shanahan, like NFC, AFC may have the quarterbacks. I could argue the NFC's got the sharp young offensive coaches. And Dallas's defense is a wreck. John Middelkopf of the News.

[Interviewee/Guest Quarterback]

No, no, no.

[Colin Cowherd]

Turn on the news. This is the Herd line news.

[John Middelkoff]

You know, Speaking of Mike McCarthy, his former quarterback and Colin Coward's favorite player, Aaron Rodgers landed in Pittsburgh this offseason and what looks like will be his swan song. Yeah, reports came out that he's making $13 million, but he could have made more, but decided that was the maximum amount he wanted to play for. What is your take on this? Pittsburgh Steelers Aaron Rodgers Mike Tomlin 2025.

[Colin Cowherd]

Season well, if you can't run the football as you know, you. John, I'm old enough. I remember when The NFL had 14 games and then it was 16 and now it's 17 and they're extending it to 18. So because statistically, defensive players get hurt more than offensive players. They're in more violent collisions. Right. Like. Like they're, they're. A defender's job often is to blow a play up. Offense is choreography, is that you have to have a run game, a company, your defense. You have to keep your defense off the field. They can't have 30% more snaps than other top. That's why Philadelphia and Baltimore's defense, they get long rests, they stay healthier. I think Pittsburgh's problem, Mike Tomlin is incapable of building a run game. Sean McDermott's had some of these issues until James Cook. The defense is on the field too long and that means more snaps for Aaron. They don't have a left tackle. I if you go look at Pittsburgh's defense the last several years, it has not been elite despite being the most expensive defense in the league. And I'm going to point to not TJ Watt or Cam Hayward or Minka Fitzpatrick. I'm going to point to the fact you can't develop run games. You can't keep your defense off the field.

[John Middelkoff]

Well, they got Arthur Smith, who became a big time name with Derrick Henry. They draft Caleb, I think, in the third round from Iowa. Big physical back. We know the Rooneys. I mean, they fired Bruce Arians before because he passed too much. They want to run the ball at his age, I mean, his best friend. How did Aaron Rodgers resurrect his career with lafleur running the ball? Aaron Jones, they kind of settled it down in that Shanahan offense. So listen, the honeymoon phase is in full effect. Training camp, Rogers, TJ Got paid. What's it going to look like when they lose a couple games, you know, and it starts getting weird. That division's really hard. Even the Browns, I mean, if they're the worst team in your division, they got really good players. They're tough to beat.

[Colin Cowherd]

They are. The good news is their early schedule is workable. Their late schedule like last year gets tougher because it's a lot of in division games against the Ravens, I mean, you look at the end of the year, it's the Ravens and the Lions. It's the Ravens and the Bills. Burrow Herbert Bear. But in early, I get Jets, I get Patriots, I get a buy, I get Browns, I get some home games that could go either way, like Green Bay and Minnesota. I get both of those at home, I might push back.

[John Middelkoff]

I mean, obviously the Jets, I mean, I don't know if they're going to pass average 100 yards passing, but Seattle's going to be pretty good. The Patriots are going to be a completely different operation. Minnesota's good. I mean, those three games after the jets are not just Patsy's. Colin.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah, I mean, we'll both agree on this. Offensively, Pittsburgh, even the last year to two with Big Ben, they have lost their way offensively. So do I believe a quarterback at 41 out of his prime missing a left tackle and Najee Harris can fix it? I do not.

[John Middelkoff]

I would agree with you there. Okay, we talked about the Bears. What about the flip side, the Bills, who last night looked like the opposite of the Ravens. The preseason is not going well for them. Sean McDermott clearly was not pleased with this team's performance.

[Sean McDermott]

Certainly not up to our standard, what we expect. Got a lot of work to do. That's very clear. It doesn't matter who's out there, ones, twos, threes, fours, whoever it is, we expect them to perform and we expect our level of performance to be much better than that playing against their ones. You know, I expect we expect to. To compete with them and that wasn't the case. Early. And then our twos. Our twos. Then who were out there competing against their twos and our threes against their threes. It didn't get much better.

[John Middelkoff]

I'm not worried, Colin, are you?

[Colin Cowherd]

I'm not worried. I almost consider the Ravens an exception. A really good organization that cares and delivers in the preseason 38. Nothing is really bad. What is your reason why they were so disorganized?

[John Middelkoff]

Let's take the Andy Reid crew. There's Andy Reid, John Harbaugh and Sean McDermott. But you know, those two guys learned under Andy. I think Andy's training camps are really physical. Kind of old school, a throwback. Look at the Chiefs the other night against Seattle looked terrible. They've been practicing really hard. Heavy legs. I think Sean McDermott, if you're watching Hard Knocks, they're getting after it in practice. That was a big, big game for the Bears last night. They approached that they game plan for that thing. Sean McDermott did not for whatever reason, maybe it's a hardball thing, but specifically John. He approaches preseason games like they are a playoff game. He is an outlier.

[Colin Cowherd]

So I.

[John Middelkoff]

Heavy legs. Josh Allen on the sideline. The Bills are different from the Chiefs because the Chiefs, I mean, make the super bowl every year.

[Colin Cowherd]

Right.

[John Middelkoff]

It's all about January. So how do you peak November, December.

[Colin Cowherd]

Right.

[John Middelkoff]

And into January. I mean, that's. I'm watching Hard Knocks. Usually on Hard Knocks, it's a bad team, so it's an awful product. This is the first time where you're like, oh, that's what a great quarterback looks like in practice. It's one to watch. So I listen. I put zero stock into that. That was all about the Bears road game. I think if you look at the Chiefs and you look at the Bills, both long road trips and just laid an egg. Now, if you're a backup, you better be careful. You can't. You know, you don't want to get used to laying eggs when you don't play very often in the regular season. But when Josh Allen's on the sideline doing. Doing interviews in the front first quarter, I don't put much stock into the game.

[Colin Cowherd]

Fair enough.

[John Middelkoff]

Okay. A quarterback in a team that I'm high on. The Green Bay Packers, Jordan Lovey returned to practice after getting surgery last week to repair the ligament in his left thumb. Love is not taking the first team reps, though, to protect his thumb. But lafleur has a plan to get him some work ahead of week one.

[Interviewee/Guest Quarterback]

Just went through everything. We're going to Alter some things to allow him to get involved. Do my favorite seven on seven that I absolutely despise. But in some instances it's good. So I'd rather do that than just throw throw on air. So we'll incorporate some seven on seven into practice.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah, Matt's not a seven on seven guy. A lot of by the way he loves a good tough physical run game. So it probably is the antithesis of everything he believes in. Yeah, this has been to me the mystery team. The Rams are a little bit of that, but that's just because of Stafford's health. I keep going back to this. The whole division's been noisy all off season. Lions lose both coordinators. Bears are just noisy with Caleb and Ben. The J.J. mcCarthy Minnesota stuff. Green Bay. Some of it's a small market but I've heard nothing. It has been silent and that leads me to believe generally when it's quiet you're either keeping really good secrets from people that you don't want them to know like people are developing or the fact is you've got everybody on the same page. And I think, I think this team really likes and respect. You know, it's still Jon. I think that either the youngest or the second youngest team for the third.

[John Middelkoff]

Year in a row I'm high on the Packers. I'm picking them to win the division. This does make me a little nervous. I mean what kind of derailed their season last year? He got hurt week one. So you get an injury now. We still got a couple weeks but this division's hard. They're going to go. I mean part of the reason they their passing game last year wasn't great. Now he did a great job with Malik Willis. They've proven they can win regular season games with Malik Willis. But if they're going to win this division they need Jordan Love. Let's face it, to be a Pro bowl level quarterback.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah, I think I mean only one great quarterback didn't make the playoffs. I mean the one thing that guarantees you're going to be a playoff team almost across the line is offensive coach and really good quarterback. That almost guarantees you. I mean we watch. Look at what Minnesota did last year with Sam Darnold who we thought was done so a Jordan Love and Matt Lafleur. If you just say that out loud, elite offensive coach, really talented quarterback. That should be a playoff team.

[John Middelkoff]

We're going to learn a lot about him. Open up with the Lions and then you get Washington if you're two and oh, we're going to call Them one of the best teams in the league. If they lose one of those games, we're going to have serious questions.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yep. John with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by the Herd. Colin Wrong. Top of the hour. Matt Hasselbeck. Dave Wanstadt's got some bear thoughts. Chicago Bear stock. Okay, so this, I think it may have happened Thursday or Friday. I was off Friday. So the NCAA came down hard on Michigan. Well, kinda. They didn't have to vacate any wins, which is key, and they fined them a bunch of money. That's the best punishment you could get for a big brand college program. We want $20 million. All right, we'll write a check. They didn't vacate any wins. Basically, the Connor Stallion situation. They found no definitive link to Harbaugh and Connor Stallions. It said at a minimum, there was willful intent not to learn more about Connor Stallion's methods. That's fuzzy. However, the true scope and scale of the scheme included. The competitive advantage, if conferred, will never truly be known due to individuals intentional destruction of materials and information. Okay, you write a check, they're fine. The bigger issue is if their current head coach isn't the guy and you have to fire him in a couple years, there may be some coaches that are scared off and don't want to take over the program. But here's my thing on this. When you're a parent and I'm a parent, John's a new parent, I'm an old parent, you get into a lot of situations where something inappropriate is done, but you don't want to over punish your kids. But you do want to punish your kids. You want to send a message to the other kids, but you don't want to be out of touch. Like, you don't want to be, you know. And so I'll give you an example. Like, unless you work for Reno911, a pot bust isn't really a big deal. In 2025, if you're a cop and pull somebody over and you're like, hey, what's that roach doing in your car? Nobody cares. The world changed. So I have a hard time getting worked up over, yeah, Connor Stallions, you know, he had a phone and he had a bunch of guys working for him. Where's the link? Well, Har. But where's the link? Folks, do you understand how sketchy the transfer portal is? It is. It is so sketchy and so dark and so muddy and people stealing players. It's a mess. And I'm for the transfer Portal, the empowerment of the player. It is sketch, by the way, you can now pay high school players, which was the unpardonable sin my entire life. And so I gotta have a hard time getting worked up over. Yeah, there's some shaky iPhone video, by the way, that is legal. Scouting is legal. There's been an underground business on this for 50 years in the sport. Did they go overboard? Probably, yeah, sure. Okay, but where's the definitive link? Where is it? Okay, you don't have it. So again, it's like with my kids. It is. You want to punish. Slap on the wrist. Give us a big check. Bowl limitations. But let's not go crazy here. The world's changed. You can buy high school players. The transfer portal is completely sketchy. They're making it up as they go. And so I know I'm supposed to be so upset with this and supposed to be so outraged when Jim Harbaugh says, yeah, I'm not engaging on this stuff. Neither would I. I don't live my life through the rearview mirror. It's all about the windshield. I don't care what happened at other places. Tomorrow's show and today's show is the key. And Harbaugh is saying, I don't care. I'm not going back to college football. I don't care. Jay Wright left it early. Coach K left it. Roy Williams left it. Harbaugh left it. Saban left it. It's a mess. I am for Nil. I am for the transfer portal. But don't, don't act like you're, you're outraged about stuff. In a world now where stuff that would get the death penalty is now marketed and promoted and monetized, you just go buy high school players. That was the one thing you couldn't do. A $20 handshake, a free dinner. Okay, do not buy high schoolers. Now that's encouraged. So I'm not that worked up over it. I'm not. I think Michigan's bigger issue is the Big Ten now has got really good coaching. And last year was not great for Michigan. They did beat Ohio State. That was cool, I guess, but it wasn't a great year. And now they have a five star quarterback. And Ohio State's always, frankly, if we're being totally honest, if you take Jim Harbaugh out of the equation, Ohio State's been a better program than Michigan most of my life. Michigan occasionally will get the right coach. If they're patient, they'll win big. Ohio State can hire a coach and win an hour later. Ohio State's the only SEC program in the north, so you know I've been very consistent on this stuff. You're trying to get me all worked up on Michigan. I can't. It's a roach in a car. Other than Reno911, you know cops you can't sell me on. That's a big crime in 2025. Little bag of roach. Whatevs. Couple having a good time. So Harbaugh's not coming back. Slap on the wrist. Gotta pay some. And by the way, the other thing is, well, there's going to be some recruiting limitations. Lol. Recruiting. You just go buy guys in the transfer. If a booster comes up and says, oh, you get nine less recruiting visits, all right, we'll offer nine more nil players all the stuff you can mitigate. 90% of it. Write a big check. NCAA doesn't give me any definitive link. I'm not even sure if they did if I would be bothered we have an update on Matt Stafford. This thing I'm telling you, there's only one team in the league that could win the super bowl or go 4 and 13 and it's the Rams. Based on Matt Stafford's health update. Next, be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific Time.

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[Colin Cowherd]

Well, you can't get a well groomed.

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[Colin Cowherd]

A day at the lake?

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[Colin Cowherd]

A nice tan?

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[Colin Cowherd]

What about a day of sunshine?

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[Colin Cowherd]

Nope.

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[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah.

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[Colin Cowherd]

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[Colin Cowherd]

So while you can't get fun in.

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[Colin Cowherd]

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[John Middelkoff]

Since the moment it was announced, everyone had August 30th circle the arch Manning era kicks off with a playoff rematch for the ages as Texas takes on the defending national championship Ohio State Buckeyes on Big Noon Saturday. What a way to get the season rolling. August 30th only on Fox.

[Colin Cowherd]

I still like Texas and the points. I just don't know what Ohio State will do at quarterback. Ohio State should win their favor. They have to do best players in college football. I think I'm going to take Texas and the points and I think it's going to be like that Oregon Ohio State game last year in Austin. It's going to be wild. There's going to be a ton of scoring and it's going to be the highest rated Labor Day weekend game in the history of college football. So one of the things that really good teams do is they keep secrets. The Rams are really good at secrets. They had decided, you know, a year before they let go of Jalen Ramsey or a Cooper cup or a Todd Gurley or maybe five months before they let go of Jared Goff. They knew it. Nobody else did. So I remember they held firm on Matt Stafford. They loved Matt Stafford, but Matt Stafford got a one year deal. The bottom line is Matt Stafford wanted multiple guaranteed years and the Rams wouldn't, Wouldn't budge. And. And because they have two first round picks, here is the guarantee in next year's NFL draft. Not even Cleveland can guarantee this. The Rams are going to take a quarterback. They are going to take a quarterback. So. Because no team in the NFL right now could either win the super bowl or win four games like the Rams, it all depends on Stafford's health because the backup is Jimmy Garofalo, who is aged very quickly and has been ineffective in his last seven starts. So Stafford, this is a big story. Stafford was at practice today and they have kept this thing under wraps. They have been so covert and so quiet. But the Rams move off people, people. Somebody on our staff said this morning, I thought it was funny. Sean McVay, is Belichick better dressed and with a smile. They move off people a year early. They were. They didn't want to move off Matt Stafford. There was going to be no long term deal. And so him being at practice, we, we've all been waiting for this. Is he gonna practice? Because the defense is unbelievable. The running back room now is really good. Devonte Adams, they drafted Terrence Ferguson at tight end. They have a Super bowl team. The left tackles had some blood clots. If Stafford plays, they can go toe to toe with anybody, including Philadelphia. They. I have them. I. But the Stafford thing, we're just sitting, waiting, and nothing leaks. Nothing leaks with the Rams. It is a lot like Belichick. Nothing leaked. They moved off Randy Moss. You think they love him, they move off him. And they've moved off multiple stars. So all I know is watching this, having watched the Rams, they're drafting a quarterback next year and they may keep Stafford for one more year to let the kid, he can be a mentor. But this is like a story that you got to keep your eye on. All right? You know, the other thing is when you're young, you're 18, you're 19, you're 20, you're 23, 24, more than any time in your life. I can only speak from a guy's perspective. Your mentors, your bosses have an immeasurable impact. By the time you're 40, 45, you're stuck in your ways. You are what you are. You're not very moldable. But I look at Jackson Dart of the Giants, look at the mentors he's had offensively. Three years of Lane Kiffin and now Brian Dable. When I watch him play, he is playing like he trusts his coaches. He's playing with a ton of confidence, sitting in the pocket, letting it rip. He looks great now. Again, it's preseason. You can't make too much of it. Justin Fields, though, who has had Bears Eber fluss at the end, now he's got Aaron Glenn. He had Mike Tomlin. Justin Fields looks lost. He looked lost in this game. He looks lost. Who have been his NFL mentors, defensive coaches. So when I look at Jackson Dart, I think, what an advantage. I mean, you start looking at all these great quarterbacks, a lot of them. Jalen hurts offensive coaches. You know, last year Justin Herbert put up some nice numbers. Jim Harbaugh, former quarterback Mahomes Burrow. You know, a lot of these guys offensive. Jaden Daniels had Brian Kelly offensive side into Cliff Kingsbury. Now Dan Quinn's the coach. Kingsbury took over the offense. Dan Quinn acknowledged, that's not my room, that's Kingsbury's room. So Bo Nix, Sean Payton. If you don't think who you land as your college and your pro coach, it matters a lot. I mean, Baker Mayfield looked pretty good in stretches. Didn't look great with Freddy Kitchens. Like the coach matters. And I think for Jackson Dart when I watch him three years, Elaine Kiffin into a coach Brian Dable that won a playoff game with Daniel Jones, who reportedly is not going to beat out Anthony Richardson with the Colts. So Russell's going to start, but you got to feel good. I thought, I thought he was a bit of a reach in the first round. I felt like he was a mid second round quarterback. He's really confident and I think a ton of it is Kiffin Day Ball trust his coaches. Here's Brian Dabel.

[Interviewee/Guest Quarterback]

Yeah, Russ is our starter and we're going to keep developing Jackson. Jackson just got to continue to work to get better and we got to help him get better. What we're trying to do is help Jackson be the best quarterback he can be. Just like all the quarterbacks. Just like all the players on the team.

[Colin Cowherd]

So Brian's not going to give you a lot at the podium, but I said this last week, Lane Kiffin could be a head coach in the NFL. Absolutely. Was briefly with old Al Davis. It was a mess. Lane Kiffin did not want to draft Jamarcus Russell. He pled with Al Davis. Al wouldn't listen. It went sideways. But when I watched Jackson dart and I watched Justin Fields, Justin Fields, who's been his guy, hadn't had one. And by the way, neither Jackson Dart or Justin Fields, to me, are transformative players. Coaching's gonna matter a lot. Early mentors, early guidance, and Jackson's got it. Colin right? Colin Wrong. Matt Hasselbeck next. We're live.

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[Colin Cowherd]

A nice tan?

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[Colin Cowherd]

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[Colin Cowherd]

Way of their future.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Visit foldsofhonor.org to donate. Any amount helps.

[Colin Cowherd]

Together we can close that gap one.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Scholarship at a time.

[Colin Cowherd]

This is an iHeart podcast.