THE HERD - Hour 1 - Thoughts on Mike Tomlin stepping down, Steelers next move

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Herd with Colin Cowherd – Hour 1

Date: January 14, 2026
Main Theme:
Colin Cowherd dives into the fallout from Mike Tomlin stepping down as Steelers head coach, what’s next for the franchise, and broader NFL storylines including coaching candidates, playoff quarterback play, and NFL team building philosophy.

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1. Pittsburgh Steelers After Tomlin: What Now?

Main Discussion Points:

• Tomlin’s Departure: Tomlin steps down after 19 years; unusual stability in Pittsburgh comes to an end.

• State of the Steelers: The team lacks a head coach and a clear future quarterback. The defense is “old and expensive,” and most of the roster spending is on the wrong side of the ball ([00:31]).

• Steelers vs. Ravens Comparison:

  • Both are known for stability and long-tenured coaches.
  • The Ravens have Lamar Jackson; the Steelers have “nothing.”

• Cowherd’s Recommendation:

  • It’s time for the Steelers to “do the opposite of Tomlin”—get a young, modern offensive coach, invest on offense, and be willing to endure a very bad season to get a top quarterback prospect ([02:04]).

  “Being awful got the Patriots Drake May. Being awful got the Bears Caleb Williams. ... Being mid got the Steelers Kenny Pickett.” – Colin Cowherd [01:26]

• Philosophy Shift:

  • Drawing an analogy to financial risk, Cowherd argues Pittsburgh needs to take on “debt” (i.e., endure a losing season) to acquire valuable assets.
  • Advocates for bottoming out to restock with young talent, especially at QB, instead of “mid” cycles.

  “To get wealthy in the NFL, you gotta be able to take a big swing and not worry about having the cleanest books for a year.” – Colin Cowherd [01:50]

• Outlook for the Roster:

  • Robert Mays from The Athletic joined to detail the Steelers’ draft assets: 7 picks in the top 4 rounds, one of the youngest offensive lines, and an expected youth movement on defense ([05:36]).

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2. Aaron Rodgers Legacy and Retirement Speculation

Key Points:

• Rodgers’ Impact:

  • Even if Rodgers retires, Cowherd insists “you can’t tell the story of the NFL” without him ([06:03]).
  • While lauded for his talent, Rodgers is described as a “little prickly, unbelievable, first-ballot Hall of Fame.”

• Critique of Rodgers:

  • Cowherd notes Rodgers’ “bad body language” and tendency to play it safe in big games ([07:25]).
  • Contrasts Rodgers’ single ring to icons like Brady and Montana, who “left nothing on the cutting room floor” ([08:19]).

  “Almost all quarterbacks we can debate ... Aaron mattered. You can’t write the story of the league without him.” – Colin Cowherd [08:44]

• Rodgers’ Future:

  • Clips played of Rodgers being non-committal about his return or possible landing spots ([09:14]).
  • Cowherd’s view: If Pittsburgh job isn’t appealing, retire or look to Vikings.

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3. NFL Coaching Candidates & Market Dynamics

Key Points:

• Nine Job Openings:

  • Cowherd notes the rarity and pressure of nine openings in one cycle ([09:36]).
  • Discusses the layers of actual vs. performative interviews—many agents push for PR-driven interviews to boost reputations, not all are true candidates ([10:48]).

  “A lot of the people interviewing for jobs are not truly head coaching candidates, but the agents are getting them interviews.” – Colin Cowherd [10:59]

• Top Coaching Jobs:

  • Baltimore (with Lamar Jackson) is considered the premier opening, followed by the Giants, Steelers, Atlanta, and the Raiders ([12:45]).
  • Mike Tomlin might do TV, but he’s “not of TV” – not his DNA ([13:08]).

• Advice for Tomlin:

  • Should take time off, “modernize,” seek out young offensive coaches, and reflect on building a better staff ([15:12]).
  • “His coaching tree is a cactus. He doesn’t have anybody since Bruce Arians. ... Go to a mixer, wear a name tag.” – Colin Cowherd [14:24]

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4. Brock Purdy, QB Play, and Playoff Narratives

Key Insights:

• Purdy’s Performance:

  • Notable for his calm under playoff pressure; “Week 2 Brock Purdy, Week 11 Brock Purdy, playoffs—I get the same guy” ([18:23]).

  “He’s not affected by the scenario ... a huge part of Brock Purdy’s success is he’s not affected.” – Colin Cowherd [19:12]

• Comparisons with Other QBs:

  • Purdy vs. Jordan Love: Love’s size and arm give him the edge.
  • Purdy vs. Bo Nix: Favors Nix’s durability and team-friendliness of his contract.
  • Purdy vs. Jared Goff: Goff is a superior, reliable pocket passer.

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5. Other NFL Playoff & Coaching Storylines

Matt Stafford & Cold Weather:

• Q&A with Stafford on playing in frigid Chicago weather; Stafford unfazed by elements ([22:17]).
• Cowherd notes: Arm strength is key for QBs in cold weather—a reason why Goff, Stafford, Allen, Mahomes thrive ([22:50], [23:34]).

Sean Payton & Offensive Aggressiveness:

• Payton discusses adjusting offensive risk-taking based on opponent’s weaknesses ([24:55]).
• Cowherd agrees and explains how gameplans adapt to roster or opponent, e.g., Bears missing a left tackle leads to a quick-release gameplan for Caleb Williams ([25:25]).

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6. Deep Dive: NFL Head Coaching Candidate Tiers

Cowherd’s “Good Candidate” List: ([26:47])

• Proven Winners: John Harbaugh, Kevin Stefanski, Mike Tomlin, Mike McCarthy.
• Second-chance Worthy: Robert Saleh, Brian Flores, Brian Daboll.
• Up-and-Comers: Jesse Minter, Clint Kubiak, Jeff Hafley.

“There are four candidates that I would put in the good candidate if they want to coach list.” – Colin Cowherd [27:13]

• Cautions:

  • Cliff Kingsbury and Mike McDaniel labeled as strong coordinators but not head coach material due to personality and lack of comfort with conflict.

• Advice to Teams:

  • Act decisively—the fifth team to hire gets the fifth-best coach and “breadcrumbs” on staff options ([28:49]).
  • Steve Bisciotti (Ravens owner) is quoted about not ruling out coaches with losing records, emphasizing context and the cycle of job opportunities ([29:56]).

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7. Steelers’ Draft Strategy and Franchise Philosophy

• Emphasis on Pittsburgh’s flexibility: ample early draft picks could be packaged to move up for a QB, or kept to enable a full roster rebuild with a focus on offense ([33:11]).
• Suggests embracing a temporary “bottom out” approach to become competitive again.
• Notes that picking in the 18th-20th range (perpetual mediocrity) is a dead end.

“Doing the mid stuff again, you gotta get terrible at least for a year to get Drake May and Caleb Williams. If you’re drafting 20th, you get Kenny Pickett.” – Colin Cowherd [34:29]

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8. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Tomlin’s legacy and next phase:

  “Leadership IQ, EQ, motivator, culture creator. He’s great … but it’s time to do the opposite of Mike Tomlin.” – Colin Cowherd [02:54, 14:09]

• On offensive modernization:

  “Tomlin’s got an iPhone like the rest of us and it keeps asking him to install now the new software. He’s for the last seven years pushed ‘Remind me later’ … it’s time to install now.” – Colin Cowherd [14:09]

• On Rodgers’ legacy:

  “You can’t write the story of the league without him. Who cares if he’s prickly, push back on the media, whatever.” – Colin Cowherd [08:44]

• On Pittsburgh’s philosophy:

  “You’ve been doing that for years. Seven straight years, bottom 10 in offensive spending … want a very current, very young offensive coach who spends all his money on offense.” – Colin Cowherd [03:28]

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9. Quick Hits: Other NFL & Sports Storylines

• LeBron James & Lakers Future:
  • Side discussion about LeBron’s agent, Rich Paul, and the difficulties created by LeBron’s mobility and lack of deep-rooted team loyalty ([37:44]).
  • Cowherd touches on how Laker fans might react to LeBron’s eventual departure or trade.

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10. Timestamps for Key Segments

• Steelers situation and Tomlin’s departure: [00:31]-[06:03]
• Aaron Rodgers’ legacy and retirement speculation: [06:03]-[09:36]
• NFL head coaching market, candidate tiers: [10:39]-[12:45], [26:47]-[29:56]
• Tomlin’s next move and need to modernize: [13:08]-[15:49]
• Brock Purdy and playoff QB analysis: [17:46]-[21:19]
• Matt Stafford cold weather & Rams-Bears: [22:17]-[23:58]
• Sean Payton playoff strategy: [24:55]-[25:25]
• Steelers’ draft capital and rebuilding: [32:12]-[34:29]
• LeBron/Lakers aside: [37:10]-[41:37]

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Conclusion

The episode offers a comprehensive look at the Steelers’ perilous but intriguing crossroads, using Tomlin’s departure as a lens to discuss team-building philosophy in today’s NFL. Cowherd urges Pittsburgh to pivot to an offensive, risk-taking approach, and he extends similar reevaluation advice to Tomlin himself. Other discussions highlight QB narratives, the nuances of the coaching carousel, and flashes of broader sports talk, all with Cowherd’s signature directness and analogy-driven style.

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[Colin Cowherd]

Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio at noon to 3 Eastern, 9am to noon Pacific. 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.

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio.

[Colin Cowherd]

Here we go. Ready to roll. It is a Wednesday. We're live in snowy Chicago. It's the Herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening, thanks for making us part of your day. Former Steeler Great tenure, a decade with the Steelers. Jerome Bettis next hour. So I was thinking about the Pittsburgh Steelers job opening last hour of our show. Mike Tomlin stepped and there's a lot of things they don't have a head coach, a quarterback for the future. The defense is old. The defense is expensive. Their money's on the wrong side of the ball. But what the Ravens and the Steelers have that the other seven job openings and seven franchises don't. Ravens and the Steelers don't fire coaches. Harbaugh got 18 years. Tomlin got 19 years. And so you could go to a Kevin Stefanski in Pittsburgh and say, listen, we're going to bottom out. Our scouting department doesn't like Ty Simpson until the third round, second round, you're going to win three games. And Stefanski knows I'm not going to get fired. In Pittsburgh, they don't fire coaches. Tomlin, in the end, walked away. And that's at the core of what the Steelers are really uncomfortable with. And they need to get over it. This no losing seasons thing being awful got the Patriots, Drake May being awful, got the Bears, Caleb Williams, you know what? Being mid got the Steelers, Kenny Pickett. Folks, the richest people in the world carry debt to acquire assets. To get wealthy, you got to carry debt. Okay? Mark Zuckerberg has mortgages to a dozen homes. He could own every city block in Silicon Valley. He takes out mortgages. You've got. If you want to get wealthy in the NFL, you got to be able to take a big swing and not worry about having the cleanest books for a year. And my takeaway, you got an old roster, expensive. You don't have a quarterback. You don't have a coach. The one thing and the one box the Steelers check is stability. You're great at stability, but so is Baltimore and they have Lamar Jackson. So how do you get the best candidate? Because Baltimore's got Lamar, you got nothing. And the way to do it is you go to a Stefanski and say, you can be terrible next year. We're not going to fire you. We think next year we can get Arch Manning and win three games, load your roster up, win three or four games. I think you have to have the conversation in Pittsburgh and it gets very uncomfortable for people in Pittsburgh of just resetting the franchise, going the opposite of Tomlin. We're going to go a young offensive coach and we're going to bottom out. Because you know what quicksand is in the NBA and the NFL. The 18th to 20th pick. That's where Pittsburgh always feels like they're at, the 20th pick. The only way you want to be at the 20th pick is if you have Josh Allen and you can't get up. Go look at Tomlin. Seven quarterbacks. Where's the one where he hoisted trophies? Big Ben, the rest of its guys now. Aaron Rodgers at 32 wasn't just a guy, he was the guy. Maybe. But go look at the Tomlin era. Seven straight seasons. Seven straight seasons, bottom 10 in offensive spending. It's time you can respect somebody like Mike Tomlin and think it's time to do the opposite of Mike Tomlin. Offensive coach, money. All on offense. Not old and experienced. On defense, young and cheap and aggressive. Because the quarterbacks in the AFC now Mahomes and Allen and Lamar and Burrow and Herbert and Bo Nix and Trevor Lawrence and C.J. stroud. Here they come. Waves of Justin Herbert. Can't win a playoff game. So you got to do the Zuckerberg, take on some debt for a year. Get uncomfortable trying to salvage next season. You've been doing that for years. Seven straight years, bottom 10 in offensive spending. I can respect the hell out of Mike Tomlin, but want to do the opposite going forward of Mike Tomlin. I want a very current, very young offensive coach who spends all his money on offense. Because I just feel like year after year after year this team's not viable. This team is not a viable franchise. It's not insulting if I buy your house and think your house is charming. I just want to redo it in my style and the style Pittsburgh has to acquire with a little debt. Be awful next year and start over the Athletics. Robert May says it may not take very long to look completely different.

[NFL Analyst]

They have seven picks in the top four rounds this year and five picks in the top 100 already. On offense, they have one of the youngest offensive lines in the league. And on defense, there are A lot of guys that I do not think will be back next year. If you are kind of transitioning to a different version of the team, they are one of the oldest teams in the NFL. I expect them when we wake up in the middle of next season and you look at the ages of these rosters to be one of the youngest teams in the NFL.

[Colin Cowherd]

Aaron Rodgers now had a good year. I thought he should be called comeback player of the year. I stand by that. It's probably over for him in Pittsburgh, I would guess, unless the Vikings call and they talked about it this week, they'd like competition for J.J. mcCarthy. Aaron Rodgers would take that job and win that job, in my opinion. Where do we stand on Aaron Rogers because he may retire? What do we think of him? And the way I look at Aaron Rodgers is you can't tell the story of the NFL without Aaron Rodgers in any profession. We can argue best, worst, mid. You can't argue mattered. Great talent, little prickly, unbelievable. First ballot hall of Fame. I remember 15 years ago when everybody was treating him like Archbishop Bishop Aaron. Everybody in the media worshiped him, even insisting he was better than Brady. And I kept saying bad body language. Sometimes he's a baller, sometimes he's a bailer, he's passive aggressive. I, I don't, I, I, I think he's really, really talented. I don't think he's going to end up being close to like a Manning or a Brady in the trophy category. And I stand by that. I said it 15 years ago. Ah, there's things I don't love. Love his talent, leadership, forgetting a bad interception and moving on. Thought he was a little safe in big games, whatever. But even on draft night, Aaron created drama in his profession. He mattered and let's face it, very few quarterbacks. Most quarterbacks in the end leave it up to interpretation. Montana didn't four rings, Brady didn't seven rings. But most quarterbacks are closer. The great ones are closer to, like Marino. Manny was great. I can't believe he didn't win a Super Bowl. Favre and Rogers, man, they were great. They only won one very few quarterbacks. Mahomes has now become one Brady, Montana, they don't leave anything on the cutting room floor. They get every trophy they get close to. But I, I, I, I look at Aaron as one of those 15 guys all time that you can't write the story of the NFL without that quarterback. It doesn't matter if you have all the hardware like Spielberg or you have less hardware. One Oscar like Scorsese you can argue toe to toe. Completely inarguably transformative. And that's how I look at Aaron. The rest of it. Almost all quarterbacks we can debate. Third best, eighth best, ninth best, 16th best. Aaron mattered. You can't write the story of the league without him. Who cares if he's prickly. Push back on the media, whatever. I mean, Brady Mahomes, probably Manning Montana. The titles they should have won. They won the years. They were great. They hoisted something. Even the other 15 great quarterbacks of all time. It's interpretation. Here's Aaron Monday about his future.

[Mike Tomlin/Art Rooney (quoted)]

And I'm not going to make any emotional decisions. Disappointed, you know, obviously such a fun year. Play again.

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

Do you want it to be here?

[Mike Tomlin/Art Rooney (quoted)]

I'm not going to talk about that.

[Co-host/Analyst]

Eric, how do you approach just what you decide to do next?

[Mike Tomlin/Art Rooney (quoted)]

Yeah, just get away and then. Then have the right conversations.

[Colin Cowherd]

Listen, I had said before Pittsburgh I would take the Vikings gig or retired. I think Aaron made the most of it. I think he's a little prickly. Whatevs. Who cares? In your industry, in your space, do you matter? That's indisputable. That's inarguable. Even the years he didn't start. Go read the Jeff Pearlman book. Gunslinger in that building. He was poking Brett Favre in the ribs. Draft night drama. He wasn't even a packer officially yet. Had never dawned a uniform. And we were talking about him. And that says a lot. J. Mac, Mike Tomlin's walking away. We got nine openings. That is. That is so crazy. Now there's a. There's a sense there aren't nine good candidates. I'm going to push back on that. We also will present a Super bowl bubble today of the eight remaining teams. Four in, four out and the outs. There'll be some dispute on that, but four in, four out. We'll talk about that. Yeah.

[Co-host/Analyst]

Wow. So. So you think maybe there are some good candidates? Because that's a bit of a surprise to me when I hear some of these guys who are interviewing Colin, like some of these.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, just because. Just because you're interviewing doesn't mean you're a candidate fair. I mean, you know, these owners aren't going to interview one, two people. They want to interview eight. And so a lot of times, and this is very clear the way that it works with agents is a lot of times an agent will get somebody an interview knowing he's not going to be a head coaching job, but he wants him to get the interview with the owner to Impress him. So if that guy gets fired. So a lot of the people interviewing for jobs are not truly head coaching candidates, but the agents are getting him interviews. So they just, you know, like McVeigh was rare his first year of interviewing. He got the Rams job. Generally there's a McVeigh out there. Mike McDonald's another guy. The minute we talked about him as a head coach, he walked into Seattle's building. John Snyder's like, don't let him leave.

[Co-host/Analyst]

Yeah, the other thing. Yeah, you're, you're right. Because as soon as the agent gets you in for an interview, what happens next? Right to the media, everybody fans it out. Joe Smith interviewed with the Patriots. And next thing you know, Joe Smith, he's in high demand. So you create this artificial market that maybe really isn't there. But I do think Mike McDaniel is soaring up the charts. If, I don't know if you're following some of this closely, he's. He might be like a top three or four guy on the market right now. Colin, I know you have a, a big affinity for Mike McDaniel.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, we'll see. He is, he is one of the people being talked about.

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartradio. Fox Sports Radio is taking over YouTube and you can be a part of it. Pay attention. Just go to YouTube and search Fox Sports Radio. Hit that subscribe button and smash that notification bell and catch all the videos from your favorite shows. Two pros and a cup of Joe. Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, Doug Gottlieb, Kavino and Rich the Odd Couple with Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington. The Jason Smith show with Mike Harmon and the Ben Maller Show. Fox sports radio on YouTube.

[Colin Cowherd]

Subscribe. Hit that thumbs up icon and comment away. Albert Breyer, top of the hour. Nine job openings. Baltimore with Lamar Jackson. Great ownership. Probably number one. I think in my opinion, the New York Giants are number two. Steelers probably three. Atlanta four. Somebody's going to get Fernando Mendoza, Raiders. That's pretty good. Here's the thing with Mike Tomlin. He's an incredibly prideful guy. Once those fire Tomlin chants came down from the rafters. He is probably done. He made up his mind. People make up their mind long before they do things. I think he made up his mind several weeks ago. I think he could do television and be great. He's certainly great at the podium. He's the best I've ever heard. Everything's A nine second soundbite. He'd be great. But he's not a TV guy. He reminds me of Mike Vrabel. Vrabel could do tv. He's not a TV guy. It's like, it's like I always said, park cities of you. It's in Utah. It's not really of Utah. It's a party town. Austin, Texas. It's in Texas. It's not of Texas. It's way left. Mike Tomlin could do TV and so could Vrabel. They're not of tv. It's not their thing. Sean Payton, I worked with him for a year at Fox. He was going back to coaching. So there's a lot of times I've been critical of Tomlin, but leadership iq, eq, motivator, culture creator. He's great. He's great. I think he needs to modernize a little bit. I would, I would give you this as an example. You know, Tomlin's got an iPhone like the rest of us and it keeps asking him to install now the new software. And he's for the last seven years, pushed. Remind me later it's time to install now. Take a year off, modernize, reflect. His coaching tree is a cactus. He doesn't have anybody since Bruce Arians. He's had four ocs. None have done anything. Dude, go to a mixer, wear a name tag, meet some offensive young coaches, modernize, stay current. Leadership smarts, toughness, Alpha culture creator and on TV for a year. All great. But he does feel like he's got to push install now, not remind me later on offense. I. I really think he needs to modernize. Robert Ma of the Athletic talked about this yesterday.

[NFL Analyst]

If I'm Mike Tomlin, I want to take a step back and for a year just visit with people around the league, talk to people. Who should I be seeking out? What should my offense look like? Who are the people that I should build my staff with? Just take yourself out of that small kind of insulated world when you're the head coach and your head is down all the time and just think about how you need to build things moving forward for you to be successful. Because I think if he surrounds himself with the right ideas, he is such a good coach and a good motivator that that overall construction and that overall model that would be appealing to me if I were an owner trying to fill one of these jobs.

[Colin Cowherd]

Like Nick Saban was a defensive coach, but he hired, I mean, Jim McElwaine, Doug Nussmeier, Lane Kiffin Sark. I mean, he was really good at finding offensive coaches. Really good. Not all defensive guy. Now Belichick had to keep going Back to Josh McDaniels. The minute he was left to his own devices, he moved Matt Patricia to an oc. Okay, so Tomlin, maybe one of those defensive guys like Vrabel. Vrabel's got Josh McDaniel. He gets it. Some of these defensive guys are really good finding offensive guys. Some of the old school guys are not. So I don't know what Tomlin is, but I feel like a year reflect, do tv, make some money, have some fun. He would be. I mean, I'm not going to give away any inside stuff that I am aware of currently, but Tomlin's going to get jobs, multiple. I think you put him in a studio, I think it'd be a home run. I think it'd be just major energy. I mean, I honestly am rooting for him to go to Fox because I think it'd be a great watch. And that way, if he goes to Fox, which has more NFC games than AFC games, he may not have to criticize contemporaries he coached against a lot. He can go over and talk about the Niners and the Eagles and the Rams who he didn't have to face as much. He didn't want to be critical of the guys on his side of the ledger. But I, I'm selfishly, I would love if he was a Fox guy. I think he's going to be so good. But he feels very much like Vrabel to me. Could do TV but not a TV guy. That's not his DNA. He has referred to television as the dark side a couple times in his career. J. Mac with the news.

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

No, no, no, turn on the news. This is the Herd line news.

[Co-host/Analyst]

All right, Colin, I got a surprise for you to start heard line and that is one Brock Purdy. A big game from Purdy on Sunday against the Eagles. Another fourth quarter comeback in the playoffs for Brock Purdy. Colin, wouldn't you know it, he is now 5 and 1 in his career in the playoffs. Yes, Colin, that's more wins than Lamar Jackson and Cam Newton in the postseason. I know Cam Newton's not going to take that well. Also his five wins tied Jared Goff, Rivers and Burrow. Yeah, he's third all time. Sorry. In 49ers playoff history in terms of wins. Go ahead.

[Colin Cowherd]

The one thing I'll say about Purdy, whereas Lamar Jackson, there are times he visually looks tight in the playoffs. I feel like Brock Purdy, Week 2 Brock Purdy Week 11, Brock Purdy, Playoffs. I get the same guy. He's not affected by the scenario like I always feel with Brock Purdy. He's always been a guy that's going to let it rip. He's going to have some ugly picks. They all stick to Darnold. They don't stick to Purdy because Purdy's had more playoff success. But Brock will let it rip. He's not a guy. One of my favorite qualities, in fact, my favorite quality. I've told this story about Andrew Luck. When he was at Stanford, I went to the Coliseum. I'm sitting there, pretty good seats. USC's in a shootout with Andrew Luck and Stanford, and Luck is unbelievable. And then he throws a pick six. It is an awful pick six to get the Trojans back into it.

[Co-host/Analyst]

I remember that.

[Colin Cowherd]

And he smiles. He puts his hand on his helmet. He's like, oh, stupid. Goes out. He's slinging the ball down the field. A huge part of Brock Purdy's success is he's not affected. I never watch Purdy and think, oh, he's tight. He just, you know, it could be good parenting. It could be confidence. Whatever it is, the kid likes to let it rip. That's one of the Darnold quotes. Darnold's always like, hey, man, you do your prep, you let it rip. And that's what I totally respect about Brock.

[Co-host/Analyst]

So it's interesting. A lot of people are going to say, well, wait a sec, Jay, you're forgetting Brock had a second loss against the Eagles. That's not technically a loss. Remember, he got injured with the shoulder in the first quarter.

[NFL Analyst]

That.

[Co-host/Analyst]

That doesn't count as a loss. On your ledger, the one loss is the Super Bowl. Yeah, and he didn't lose that. He drove them down the field in overtime for points. I mean, at some point, we got to start giving Brock Purdy his flowers. I know everybody loves Dak Prescott, and Dak is a top five, top 10 quarterback. I think that Prescott has got two playoff wins. He hasn't done much.

[Colin Cowherd]

Brock Purdy is consistently praised. You're. You're sensitive to it. Brock Purdy is considered exactly where he should be considered, a gamer that gets banged up. He's not a Josh Allen talent. No, but he's going to win playoff games. I think he is appropriately discussed. I don't think everybody's thinks he's way up here, but everybody, like, if you told me him or Jalen hurts, I would take Brock Purdy. He's better from the pocket.

[Co-host/Analyst]

Okay.

[Colin Cowherd]

In terms of pocket passer with mobility. Pretty. He's a good player.

[Co-host/Analyst]

Okay, look, can I ask you a couple more because you like this game? Brock Purdy or Jordan Love?

[Colin Cowherd]

Jordan Love is a bigger, stronger quarterback. Both get hurt more than I'd like, but I think he's a bigger, taller guy with a little better arm. I think they're both talented, but you know, I like traits. I'm loyal to size. I'm loyal to arm. I'm loyal to mobility. I would take Love over Brock Purdy.

[Co-host/Analyst]

Brock Purdy or Bo Nix.

[Colin Cowherd]

Bo Nix doesn't get hurt like ever. Like ever. He's on a very team friendly deal for the next several years and he's a tremendous fourth quarter quarterback.

[Co-host/Analyst]

And because I have to do a Jared Goff or Brock Birdie.

[Colin Cowherd]

Jared Goff is a better pocket quarterback. And again a minute ago. And Jared Goff. Jared Goff doesn't get hurt. I mean, Bo Nicks and Jared Goff, both guys from the PAC 12 that got, you know, tossed around. Lot of starts every Sunday. They're ready to play.

[Co-host/Analyst]

Now listen, I don't expect him to go to Seattle and win there. That lines up to seven and a half in some places. Seven where we have Colin, if he does pull this off as a big underdog. Oh, Monday is going to be fun. Yeah, just filing that one away. All right, let's move to the Rams. They are out here in warm Southern California. It was 78 degrees yesterday, Colin. It'll be 79 today. It's lovely, but they're playing in frigid temps. Sunday in Chicago, they're calling for a high of 21 with a low of 8. Colin, 8 degrees, that's insanity. Matt Stafford, he says he don't care about no elements.

[Matt Stafford]

As far as the wind goes. You're right. It is always windy in Chicago. I played, you know, a handful of games there throughout the years. The good thing for us is it was windy this past week in Carolina. And when it goes to cold weather. We played the jets last year and what was. I think it was like 12 degrees, you know, at kickoff. And you just adjust to whatever the game, you know, whatever the weather allows you to do. And I think if it's just cold with a little bit of wind, we go play. You know, I love that kind of stuff. I mean, that's. That's playoff football, right? Cold weather in Chicago, windy day. There's nothing better than that in my mind. So I'm excited for it.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah, I. That's right. There's never been a warm Weather dynasty. If you can't, if you can't handle 27 degrees, you're not built for this stuff. I mean, I. Caleb Williams in the fourth quarter. Caleb played at usc, Oklahoma. He looked fine to me in the fourth quarter. If you've got a strong arm, the issue with cold weather is arm strength. To us, struggles in wind. Stafford doesn't, Caleb doesn't. Some would argue Lamar's got an average arm. You know who doesn't? Josh Allen, Mahomes. So if your arm is strong, bad weather. Brady. I thought Brady was the best cold weather, crappy weather thrower I've ever seen because of his hip torque. Brady was an un. And did Brady have the biggest arm in the league? No. He was a great cold weather quarterback.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Analyst]

A lot of cold weather guys on the Rams. I mean, Stafford played for years in that division. Outdoor games in Green Bay, Chicago. Devonte Adams played for years in Green Bay. Kyron Williams went to Notre Dame. Playing in the Midwest. I don't, I think the cold is a little bit of an overblown narrative here. And Colin, I haven't officially fired on this game, but I think I'm on the Rams here. I know the Bears have lived a charm life, but the more you look.

[Colin Cowherd]

At the numbers, I'm the same. I think I really. When you lose Edwards the linebacker, that, that really makes it. Because by the way, that linebacker, with those Ram tight ends and that Ram run game, you can live with a backup left tackle. Again, if you speed up getting rid of the ball to your tight ends, you can speed things up. But I see the Bears defense having a lot of trouble stopping Ram drives. I think the Rams, even if they don't score, are going to get field goals and are going to, going to win field possession for a big chunk of this game. And that's why I like the Rams. Yeah.

[Co-host/Analyst]

Total agreement, Colin, let's go. Final story. One of your favorites, Sean Payton, he was fun when he was working here. Man, that guy has stories for days. Well, he's, he's got a Super bowl team on his hands right now. They're preparing for the game against Josh Allen. Obviously Denver had the buy and Sean says he wants to see his offense be more, more aggressive when it needs to be.

[Sean Payton]

Do I think he needs to be more aggressive going down to the field, going downfield? In the playoffs? A lot of that would be based on who we're playing. We want to be aggressive. We obviously want to, you know, and, and we will take our shots. But a lot of it, like Tell me the opponent and then, then it's like, all right, how's that going to be done? You know, are they an eyes in team or are they a man team? We'll definitely stretch the ball down the field. We feel like we've got some guys that can go down and get it.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah. If you play Houston, you can't be as aggressive because of their pass rush. If you play the Bills, you can be more aggressive. They don't have the pass rush. So again it's dictated on your game plan is largely dictated on who are you playing. If you have a. The Bears have a backup left tackle. They're going to want Caleb Williams to get rid of the ball quickly. I guarantee you that's part of Ben Johnson's game plan. We're not sitting back in the pocket. They've got, they've got Young and Verse coming on the edges. They got Kobe Turner, Puna Ford in the middle and oh, by the way, we're missing our left tackle. Like you can tell what you're going to do going into it. Chicago, I don't think it's going to be one of those deep ball games. You're going to want to get that thing out. Two and a half, three seconds. Get it out of Caleb's hands because I do think for pass protection for the Bears could be challenged.

[Co-host/Analyst]

Yeah, I do wonder this Bill's defense was kind of sort of solid against Trevor Lawrence. Like Trevor Lawrence was good. Tridavious White with a crazy turn back the clock game. It's like, well, where'd that guy come from? I just don't know if Buffalo can duplicate that in back to back weeks. And I do think the rest is probably underrated.

[Colin Cowherd]

Right.

[Co-host/Analyst]

You get a whole week off. I know the rest versus rust. But I think Denver's gonna be ready. I, I, I'm, I don't know, Colin. I, I'll wait for your Blaze and four on Friday on this one.

[Colin Cowherd]

J. Mac with the news.

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

Well, that's the news and thanks for stopping by the Herd line.

[Colin Cowherd]

It is, it is crazy that there's nine job openings. The average has been like six or seven. It seems like forever. So you start asking yourself, are there, are there nine good candidates? I think it's a better candidate year suddenly than people think it is. So let's talk about very good candidates. People that win double digit games and have proven this time and time again. I think there are four candidates that I would put in the good candidate if they want to coach list. And I think we can put it up on the screen. I think John Harbaugh, Kevin Stefanski, Mike Tomlin and Mike McCarthy, those are very good candidates. Those are proven head coach of the year. Double digit wins can win a playoff game. I think Robert Sala, Brian Flores and Brian D. Absolutely. I would be comfortable giving them a second chance. I think, you know, D got Daniel Jones a playoff win, Brian Flores, that thing unraveled. But I think he's arguably the best defensive coordinator with Jesse mentor in the sport. And Robert Salah could have been the assistant of the year. And the minute the jets fired him, they from that minute on have circled the toilet. They were at least viable. They were going to go to Buffalo. If they won, they were going to be tied for first. They let him go. They've been a hazmat spill since. And then I think Jesse Minner, Clint Kubiak, Jeff Halfley. Again, if they were there and they were my best options, I'd have no problem hiring them. My takeaway is there's two candidates out there. Cliff Kingsbury is one of them. I don't think he's a head coach personality. I don't think he is comfortable with conflict. I think in college and pro football, as teams get loose, players have a bit too much control. And I think you got to be a front and center guy and be willing to deal with conflict and conflict resolution. And I don't think that's Cliff's personality. I think he's a great oc, a prime example. Why is he leaving Washington? He's got a conflict with Adam Peters and he want to deal with it. So I was like, I'm out of here. Once again, that's who he is. That's fine. Mike McDaniel, Miami. I don't think he's a head coach. I think he's a brilliant coach, but I think he's a vp, not a, not a president. I think he's a vp. So again, I think those are, I think those are very. That's. That's nine guys I would hire and two guys I'd hire in a second to be coordinator. The key in this is being decisive because if, if the New York Giants. Giants sit on their hands and are the fifth team to hire a coach, not only do you get the fifth best coach, it's breadcrumbs on the staff. If I was the New York Giants, I'd make a move now. Whether it's Stefanski or Harbaugh, I would make a move now because you're also going to have a better opportunity to get a McDaniel or Kliff Kingsbury as a coordinator. So you've got to be decisive. Here's Steve Bishadi, Raven's owner, on their head coach opening where we are.

[Steve Bisciotti]

I could say I'm disqualifying coaches with losing records, but I think you have to remember that they were the hottest coaches in that in their cycle and they got jobs and they got tough jobs and I don't think we have a tough job. We created the best opening in this cycle. And, and so that was the one category that I didn't want to ignore because the first thing you all are going to say is my God, he went 38 and 48 in his last job and they're hiring him.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah, I think, I think that's fair because I do think if you're the guy, you'll have a winning record. The greatest example is Sean Payton. He inherited a team and Russell Wilson didn't fit his offense and they're still this year paying off the Russell Wilson dead cap and he's made the playoffs back to back year with a quarterback most of you don't like. Okay, so I, I don't want to hear. But you can figure it out. There's no excuses. There really isn't. This is why I tend to lean offensive guy over defensive guy. But it should be noted of the four, eight remaining coaches for offense, for defense. So Baltimore is the best job. I would argue number two is the Giants. That. That's what I would argue in a perfect world, if I was a Giants, I'd offer it to John Harbot today if I was Baltimore. If he didn't want a losing record, that hurts Kevin Stefanski. I think you have to contextualize Kevin Stefanski's career. He coached for Cleveland. In my opinion you have to qualify certain things. Not many things, but certain things. In Chicago, it's the Herd.

[Fox Sports Radio Announcer]

Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd. Weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific Saturday on Fox.

[Co-host/Analyst]

After dethroning the defending champs, Christian McCaffrey leads the Niners against Sam Darnold in the top seeded Seahawks. The divisional round playoffs Presented by Intuit TurboTax Saturday 4:30 7:30 Eastern, 4:30 Pacific on Fox.

[Colin Cowherd]

Well, Darnold against Purdy. Clearly whoever wins is the better quarterback. What a division. Rams, Niners, Seahawks. You talk about a power group out west. So Art Rooney spoke this morning on Mike Tomlin After 19 years stepping away and that the presumption is, and I think it's a reasonable presumption is you Know, Tomlin, if you're in a job for 19 years and you're on that treadmill, I think it's great to just take a step back and reflect. Here's Rooney on Mike's plans going forward.

[Mike Tomlin/Art Rooney (quoted)]

Mike indicated that he did not anticipate coaching, at least, you know, in the near future. I think he wants to spend time with his family and do some of the kinds of things he hasn't been able to do for the last many, many years. And so, you know, if, if something like that comes up, we'll, we'll deal with it when it comes up. But right now that doesn't seem to be on his radar.

[Colin Cowherd]

You know, one of the things that's really great about the NFL and the Patriots are a great example. Denver is a great example. You get the coach and the quarterback right, you can just go from doghouse, the penthouse fast. And that's not the way it is in the NBA. I've never understood this. The NBA makes it hard to trade. It's like, well, yeah, the salaries have to come within and you got all these aprons now. It's like hard to make trades. So if you're in the downside to that, the NBA is so paralyzed about dynasties, your ratings are better with dynasties. Stop worrying about it. I mean, the KD Steph Clay Draymond team was fascinating. The Heatles were fascinating. Seven champs in seven years isn't fascinating. But the NBA makes it hard to trade. Football's like, trade whoever you want. Also in the NFL you can cut whoever you want. You may have to eat some salary, but you can also rework contracts constantly. You know it. To me, I, you could do two things. I would bottom out and go get an offensive guy. Or I could also say, well, we've got a first, a second, three threes and two fours. Give up a third and a fourth, couple sixes the following year. Give up a bunch of picks and get to like 8th in the draft and go get Ty Simpson. If it works, great. If it doesn't, go draft another quarterback. The Steelers have three third round picks and two fours. So you can keep a third and a fourth and move off two thirds and a fourth and move up and get Simpson. Give up, give up good picks. Try it. He is viewed, I'm told, as a late first round quarterback, but so what? That's the one position it's okay. You can overdraft a guy. Don't overdraft by a round. But if you overdraft by nine to 11 spots to get your Quarterback, it's fine. And if it works, great. If it doesn't, move him and get the guy the following year in a better quarterback draft. There's a lot of options here for Pittsburgh, like a lot of good options. And. Or you could just say, listen, Kevin Stefanski, we don't care. Don't. We know you've been losing a lot. We don't fire coaches here. You got a first, a second, three threes, two fours. We're gonna stack the roster, we're gonna move the old guys on defense. We're gonna give you a young, twitchy, athletic, inexpensive defense. And the following year, we're not going to be very good this year. Following year you can pick the quarterback. That's very attractive. But doing, doing the mid stuff again, you got to get terrible at least for a year to get Drake man, Caleb Williams. If you're drafting 20th, you get Kenny Pickett, like you say, wow. What about Lamar? Not a lot of late first round Lamar Jackson's and even when he came out there, you know, you trust the Ravens because the Ravens have drafted so well for so long, especially on their early picks. But the other story I saw this morning is every. I have always said this. Men are great at starting things. We're terrible at ending things, wars, relationships, conflicts. We're great starters. Maybe it's guys or hunters. We're good at chasing stuff down. We're bad at breaking up. And LeBron has been this mobile guy. His career is so redeemable. This ending in LA is weird. So apparently his agent who represents him, Rich Paul, has a podcast with Max Kellerman. Two good guys like both and apparently it's ruffling feathers inside the Lakers organization. They're talking about stuff they'd rather not be privy to. And so, and LeBron said yesterday, hey, Rich Paul's comments on the podcast are not a reflection of me. Well, Rich Paul's job as LeBron's agent is to speak for LeBron when LeBron's not in the room. And so Rich Paul goes on his podcast and talks about, be very careful about re signing Austin Reaves. You may want to trade Austin Reaves. Here it is.

[Podcast Host]

I love him as a Laker, but if that is a situation where we get in balance because if you put all the money into just the backcourt and then you're, and then you're kind of like your flexibility is restricted going forward to fill out the rest of the team, then that's kind of like riding a, you know, when you, when you have the training wheels on your bike, but the one training wheel is off and it kind of leans. That's kind of like that.

[Colin Cowherd]

LeBron is distancing himself. Rich Paul doesn't speak for me. Well, if my agent was talking about certain things publicly, he kind of probably would have passed it by me first. You think? Maybe not. The question now is, are the Lakers becoming more spectacle than spectacular? So here's the thing about LeBron. His mobility has been great for titles, viability, earnings, relevance. But it is not endeared him. I mean, the guy bailed on Ohio twice, and he's from there. It's not endeared him like a Jeter or a Magic or a Kobe. Like the Dodgers. There's made men. Kershaw, Koufax, made men. Right? Freddy Freeman's just a great Dodger. Mookie Beck's a great Dodger. That's kind of LeBron. So he's not, he's not as popular as Magic or Kobe. Now, Shaq moved around, but his personality made him beloved. So LeBron's got a no trade clause. But I, I, I always say this when anybody asks me those, well, what do you, what do you think they'll do with LeBron? And my take is it's not what they'll do with LeBron. It's what the fans would say if they did move off LeBron. And you know what Laker fans would say if they moved him at the trade deadline? What did we get for him? You know what Laker fans would say if he walked away at the end of the season? Oh, wow, all that money, we got to go get good, young players. They wouldn't have said that with Magic. That, that's, that's not when, when Shaq got traded and they chose Shaq over Kobe and Kobe was still a Laker, a lot of people didn't like it. A lot of them preferred Shaq over Kobe, and they still had Kobe at the time. So LeBron's mobility, that's the downside to mobility, is you give up loyalty. And I mean, you, you, you, you're never going to trade Steph Curry. You wouldn't, you know, trade Derek Jeter. I mean, that just, it just doesn't even sound right. But if you moved off LeBron or you just ended it and this new Dodger group would do that. That's how they, they've let, again, they've let Trey Turner, Corey Seeger, Cody Bellinger, Manny Machado. I mean, they let, you know, Zach Grinky, like, like there's a lot of names that wanted to be Dodgers, they could have afforded them and they just said no. Either had them let them go, said, no, not interested. I mean, that's just what the Dodgers in this group do. That's the way to do it. Fall in like with your athletes, right? Fall in love with your kids. So I do think the downside to LeBron's mobility, and I've tried not to be a hypocrite because I bounced around and that's the way I've done it. What's home? Where's home? And I think LeBron's home is LeBron's inner circle. Maverick Carter and his guys, Rich Paul, that's home. They're just a company willing to move, a production company willing to move. There is no one place. So when I'm watching this Rich Paul stuff and the comments he's making, it's tough because, and I really believe this, the future of The Lakers is J.J. redick and Luca and Rob Palinka. Austin Reeves is his guy. That's going to be hard to separate. You can get him, but you better give us great stuff. And I do think Austin Reeves, I think the fans love him in la. I think he's an excellent offensive player. I think you have to consider that Luke is not an elite defender. Austin works hard, but isn't either. That has to be considered. But if you got a rim protector, a really good and a wing, then you could keep Austin Reeves. And Austin's not a guy that's, you know, enamored with just getting the most. I think Austin Reeves loves being a Laker, and I think there are benefits to playing with Luca and being a Laker. All right, good stuff. All right, Albert Brier. We got nine coaching openings. How long are the New York Giants going to last? Why not just go for it? Get the. Get the top candidate and fill out your staff. Our two next.

[Podcast Host]

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