← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
THE HERD - Hour 2 - Some voters were probably being petty towards Belichick, USC's schedule next season, looking at Sam Darnold's career, Albert Breer
00:41:45
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This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human I'm Colin Coward from the Herd. Whether you're a seasoned small business owner or thinking about getting started, you'll definitely want to check out season four of Mind the Business small business success stories from iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio and Inuit QuickBooks. In the latest season, hosts Austin Hanquitz and Jenise Torres are talking to self starters about the ins and outs of entrepreneurship and how QuickBooks helps you to get more done in less time. You don't want to miss it. Listen to Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories on the iHeart app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Levar Arrington here from up on Game. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apple Card members can earn unlimited daily cash back on everyday purchases wherever they shop. This means you could be earning daily cash on just about anything, like a slice of pizza from your local pizza place or a latte from the corner coffee shop. Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app to see your credit limit offer in minutes. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch terms and more at applecard.com RingCentral's AI receptionist uses Voice AI to answer on the first ring so you'll never miss a call again. In just a few minutes, you can personalize your own AI receptionist to answer questions, route calls, schedule appointments, and even send texts in multiple languages. Plus, it's easy to scale. Create unlimited AI receptionists across any phone system. It's all powered by one reliable platform for effortless AI communications. See for yourself at ringcentral.com ringcentral Voice of your business thanks for listening to 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 Herd atfox sports radio.com 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. Here we go. It's hour two. Albert Brer around the corner. Jimmy Johnson is all fired up. The hall of Fame coach. Boy, he's mad at me. He wants Belichick, his fishing buddy, to be in the hall of Fame. Jimmy Johnson. One hour. He's all worked up. I love it. So can I tell you a story? My dad gave me two great pieces of advice that I think of regularly. Just give me a couple minutes on this. So one of the pieces of advice My dad gave me. We had a house on the coast of Washington, and we had a long driveway, and about halfway down the driveway, I had a basketball hoop. My dad put a basketball hoop up, and it was next to the place where we kept our firewood. And one time my dad comes down to get some wood to put up in the. You know, the. The wood stove. And I'm sitting there taking hook shots and playing basketball by myself, which I often did. And my dad called me Tiger. He said he grabbed the firewood and he turned around, he goes, tiger, why would you ever take a shot when you're by yourself that you wouldn't take in a game? Practice the stuff you're going to do in the game? That has lived with me for 50 years. Like, don't waste time. And I tell my kids that. Practice what you're going to do in life. Don't waste time taking hook shots in your yard from 40ft. The second piece of advice my dad gave me was, many decisions in your life about your career will be made when you're not in the room. Also known as lubricate society. Don't agitate it. Bill Belichick was called and told he didn't make the hall of Fame. Bill wasn't in the room. Bill Belichick controlled the rooms. He was in the one room. He needed people to raise their hand in his favor. He wasn't there. And the voters maybe were as petty as Bill can be. That's part of it, right? A lot of decisions are made about your employment, your legacy, your career, your opportunities when you and I aren't in the rooms. If you can be nice as often as you can be, I know it shouldn't matter, but it does. Albert Breer, live from Mobile, Alabama, at the Senior Bowl. Okay, so, you know, I said this before, is that they changed some of the methodology in voting so now coaches can get right in after they retire with one year. Brady still can't get in until, like, 20, 28. The coaches can. And I said, is it possible? And you covered Bill. I said, is it possible that people said, well, Lombardi didn't get in initially, Walsh didn't, Gibbs didn't. Don Shula, who Belichick's been chasing, had to wait five years. You change your methodology, Bill's going to get in next year. But if all these other legends didn't and had to wait five years, you can wait one. Is that possible? It was just maybe.
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B
Yeah, I think. I think it could be a couple of things. Like, first of all, so Everybody understands the process. There are five guys, you know, in this voting pool. And, and so those five guys, three seniors candidates, is Ken Anderson, Roger Craig, and Elsie Greenwood, a contributor. That's Robert Kraft, coach Bill Belichick. So the voters, the 50 voters have to pick three of the five, which basically means there's 150 votes total. And you have to win 40 of those 150 votes, which is a lot if you think about it. You're competing with four other people in zero sum game. And so they do take votes away from each other. I'm explaining that because I do think one piece of this could be where, you know, a certain voter feels married to a player that's up as, as a seniors committee candidate and thinks he's not going to get, he's not going to be, he's not going to be nominated again. Bill's going to be nominated until he gets in. So like, let's just put the player in over the, over the coach. But I personally think that's the absolute wrong way to look at this. I, I, I think you have to look at these things as yes or no questions. Colin. You know, is he a Hall of Famer? Is he isn't.
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That's how I view it. That's how I would vote. Yes or no to me.
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Yes. Yes or no. And I think, you know, like, I can understand like where maybe you think four of those guys are qualified. Right. But you can only vote for three. So fine, one of them gets lopped off. But it shouldn't be like, game like, oh, well, Bill have another chance. No, it's the three most qualified guys. That's what a first ballot hall of Famer is. It's, to me, it's not like some sort of like, separate category that you should be, well, he needs to be clean. Rules. From a rules perspective, he needs to be clean off the field, all that different stuff like that. To me, it shouldn't be what it is. The first ballot hall of Famer, I think, in any sport should be the guy that you cannot say no to. And that's what Bill is as a coach.
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A
Okay. Okay. We got a bunch of stuff here to talk about beyond Belichick, because he will eventually get in, obviously, and it's, it's kind of the topic of the day. But I want to ask you about the Steelers. So I said I was making a joke. I just watched the movie you, you would appreciate this with Affleck and Damon on Netflix called RIP and all the, you know, the critics are savaging it, they're saying it doesn't elevate the genre. And I'm like, it was fine. I was entertained for 90 minutes. I came home from work, my wife wanted to watch it and I make her watch football all year. And I said, this Mike McCarthy, okay, it's not Sean McVeigh, but it's like he did have the number four offense in a year Cooper cup started, Cooper Rush started five games. And you can say what you want about him, but when Dak was upright, top 10 offense, 112 games, he, he, Aaron Rodgers and him split. But now you can look at it and think Aaron was as much to blame for that as Mike McCarthy. Like, it's not a bad hire. I mean, was he always the front runner? I guess is my question.
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B
No, you know, I think that they did look down. Did they start to go down the path they've normally gone down, which is finding a guy in his 30s that maybe not everybody's looking at the same way they are. You know, Chuck, no, I believe was 37. Bill car was 34. Mike Tomlin was 34. So this is a departure. On his first day in the office, Mike McCarthy becomes the oldest coach in Pittsburgh Steelers history. The 93 year history of the Steelers. So this is definitely different. I think what's most interesting about it, at least as I see it, and this is what I've heard some people say who went through there, they don't want to be bad. And I think you look at their roster, right, and they're kind of at this natural point. You and I have talked about this with the older players there. Aaron Rodgers, TJ Watt, Jalen Ramsey, Isaac Samoa, Moa. Like they relied on guys like Adam Thielen during this year, Marquez Valdez, Gantling. To me it's like screaming for it's sort of time to tear it down. And maybe if you have to be bad for a year or two, it's not the worst thing in the world. And the more I talk to people about this, I don't think the Rooneys want to be bad. And I think there's something to that whole Mike Tomlin thing of just being pretty good for an extended period of time. I don't think the Rooneys want to sink to the bottom of the league. And if you're looking in the situation that you're in right now not to sink to the bottom of the league and to try to get something out of what you've got left with the veteran players, well then yeah, it does make sense to bring In a more experienced guy, is it the right thing to do or would you have been better off hiring a Chris Shula? That remains to be seen. But I think a huge piece of this is we're not looking to go 4 and 13 and develop a young coach here. We want to continue to contend.
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Yeah. Uninspiring. But I, I get the reasoning. So Joe Brady's interesting. So I, I, I asked the question of the audience yesterday, do we know if he's better than Sean McDermott? Not really. I could argue under Ken Dorsey and Brian D. The offense was actually higher rated across the league. So my take is, and he had success with Joe Burrow and maybe the most talented college team I've ever seen. Lsu. There's some success on the resume with Burrow and Josh Allen. But I mean, I, I guess my take was this, was Josh Allen having a big say because, and I, I said this, if you're not going to get John Harbaugh or Jim Harbaugh or Kyle Shanahan from Atlanta, when everybody knew that works, then, then Joe, Joe Brady is comfortable. And I understand comfort when you don't get the number one guy in the market. Like, it felt like Josh said, you know what? I don't want to learn another offense. I know him. I mean, is it possible that Josh had more say than we think here?
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B
I think Josh did have a say. I mean, he was one of like six or seven guys in the room. So it was the Pulas, it was Brandon being their gm, Beans, top two lieutenants, Terence Gray and Brian Gain and Josh Allen. So, like, that's the group, right? Like, it's a very, it was a small group. And I do think that continuity was a huge piece of this in two different ways. Number one, obviously the offense has been pretty good, right. Top five in the league the last two years. We can argue whether or not it looks smoother when Ken Dorsey or, or, or Brian Dabel were calling the plays, but it has been productive the last couple of years. You get the scheme, familiarity that you were talking about. There's also that you're not projecting the relationship between coaching and scouting, which is part of the deal. When you decide to keep the GM and not the coach, the GM is going to be more comfortable that coaching and scouting are going to be aligned. You know, if he's bringing in somebody he knows, which obviously he had that with Sean McDermott going all the way back to Carolina with them, and now he has that with Joe Brady. I thought this was the interesting part, though. I was Told the part of the interview that he really nailed. It was the CEO as head coach piece of the interview. And it's interesting. I'll take you back five years when Joe Brady was still in Carolina before he got fired there. He went and interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons and he had almost no experience. He was a hot name because of what happened at lsu, but he, I mean, hit a walk off home run in that. In that interview and almost wound up getting that job. He was the runner up to Arthur Smith, who everyone wanted that off season. And I just filed that away. Like this guy interviews really well. And so putting that together with what happened in Buffalo, with his vision for what the program should be as the CEO as head coach, I think gave Brandon Bean and those guys a little bit of a feeling of we get the offense and now we get this vision that he's had all along that a lot of other teams are buying into in the interview room as well.
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Okay, I want to Darnold meets Drake May. And it's pretty well documented. I really like Darnold a lot. Maybe it's the USC thing or just I like him as a guy, but I always kind of believed he was too talented not to win. So when Brady Brady was leaving New England, there were two teams that really came after him hard. Tampa and the Chargers came after him hard. And then you look at retrospect, you're like, that's it. I mean, even when he retired, he was a top six quarterback. So I don't know if there was a huge market for Darnold, which is remarkable because outside of that last game for seating against Detroit, I mean he was unbelievable against the Packers 2 and oh, against the Bears winning in a division winning. He had a 106 passer rating against playoff teams in. Let's go back to when Darnold was on the market briefly. I don't remember the stories. There was this surge of teams interest. Was Seattle one of the only teams truly deeply interested?
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B
The Raiders had talked about it and obviously then they. Then Geno becomes available through this whole song and dance. But the Raiders had talked about it and it's something that I know Tom Brady and John Spytak and Pete Carroll had kicked around there. That's before Geno became available in the trade. And I think in the end it was really Minnesota versus Seattle. And for Sam, what it was sort of similar to Daniel Jones leaving Minnesota. For Sam, it was, well, even if I play Great Minnesota, if JJ McCarthy takes off, they invest a first round pick in him. So I still might be a one year guy here. I go to Seattle, I kill it, and then I could be their quarterback for the next half decade. So that was really what kind of pushed him to make the decision that he did. It's interesting, I think, your point about like, why there wasn't more of a market. I just think in the NFL old evaluations die hard, you know. And I just think, you know, like you, I think for a lot of people they have the three years with the jets, which I think we could chalk up to circumstances now. But he was raw coming out of usc. Yes, Adam Gates wasn't the right. Adam Gates was not the right coach for him because he was coming out of running a Peyton Manning type of offense with Manning himself and then Jay Cutler.
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Yeah.
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And so he went to, to, to, to a situation. There's a bad fit then was with, you know, and, and, and, and, and, and went through a coaching change very early in his career. Gaz came in there in his second year and then he goes to Carolina. Circumstances aren't great there. And so like all these things happen early on and you have that evaluation from him being in that and then he has one bad game or two bad games at the end of last year. And you know what people say there it is. And they're not giving him the grace they would give a younger quarterback to grow through that. That's where these reclamation projects are coming from, Colin, you know, but this is a guy who had a year working under Kyle Shanahan, right. So he has that year in the Shanahan incubator, comes out of it, goes with Kevin O', Connell, crushes it through a 14 and two start, has a rough ending and now here we are and he's in the super bowl with a third team. You know, I mean, I don't know we're giving him enough credit, are we? It's, I mean, we have almost two years of evidence this is who he is now, you know, and so I just, I just think the old evaluations of him die hard. And I think you have to give Seattle a lot of credit for cutting through that and saying, let's look at what he really is now. And what he is is I think, who a lot of people thought he was going to become when he came out of USC in 2018.
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He's in Mobile at the. I'm impressed that you got down to Mobile considering the ice storms and the horrible weather. You're going to have a ball. It's one event in this country I've never been to. And I want to go to someday. Great seniors always. Albert Bell. Albert Bell. Albert Brear. Monday morning quarterback man.
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All right, thanks, Colin.
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Yeah, so the, you know, the Belichick thing, it gets people all fired up. Jimmy Johnson, top of next hour. He is, he is not happy. It's, it's these hall of Fames, they, they get us all worked up. I mean, listen, the baseball one, I mean, it was as a sports talk radio host, that was like a seven year Pete Rose hall of Fame. That was like a Barry Bonds. That was like seven years of content. For me, this is only going to be like two and a half hours. But, you know, they get us worked up. To me, hall of fame voting should be yes or no. Pull the lever, check the box. Belichick. Yeah, he's in curmudgeonly. Didn't do a ton without Tom Brady, to be honest. But, you know, you get that much hardware, you're in, you know, I'm in radio. Howard Stern poked a lot of people in the ribs. Took him forever to get in. That's the way hall of Fames work. It's, it's, it's. And you could say, well, that's petty. I mean, Bill, Bill Belichick's in the petty hall of Fame. Okay, somebody a little petty. Back to Bill. That. Welcome to life. One more herd.
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The herd streams 24 hours a day.
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Seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app search heard to listen live or.
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On demand whenever you'd like.
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Hey, it's Ben, host of the fifth hour with Ben Maller. Would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking, what in God's name is the fifth hour? I'll tell you. It's a spin off of the Ben Mather show, a cult hit overnights on fsr. Why should you listen? Picture, if you will, a world where we chat with captains of industry in media, sports and more every week. Explore some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to the fifth hour with Ben Mather on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Colin Coward from the herd. Whether you're a seasoned small business owner or thinking about getting started, you'll definitely want to check out season four of Mind the business Small business success stories for my heart Media's Ruby studio and Inuit QuickBooks. Mind the business is part entertainment, part instruction manual, part inspiration. Each episode features practical tips and success stories that will resonate with entrepreneurs in any industry in their Latest season hosts Austin Henkewicz and Janieze Torres are covering topics on the forefront of running a small business. They're talking to self starters about everything from how AI helps them work smarter to weathering market uncertainties and enjoying the benefits of being your own boss and using Inuit QuickBooks to help you get more done in less time. You won't want to miss it. Listen to Mind the Business Small business success Stories on the iHeart app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. New Year, New goals and in this economy, a better money plan is more necessary than ever. I am Matt and I'm Joel. We are from the how to Money podcast and every week we help you to spend smarter, save more and make sense of what's going on out there. If you want 2026 to be the year, you finally feel in control of your money and we're here to give you the tools and advice to help you make it happen. Listen to how to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. By the way, Big Ten schedules came out. There was a big kerfuffle. There was a lot of controversy when USC said we don't want to play Notre Dame anymore. We're now in the Big Ten and the Big Ten is the best conference. Three straight national championships. We don't want to have to wedge a Notre Dame game in between Ohio State and Penn State or Indiana and Ohio State. Everybody was freaking out. Well, the schedule came out for USC and what do you know, they have a six game stretch of playing Oregon, Washington, Penn State and Ohio State. Indiana. Do you know where the Notre Dame game would probably go after the Ohio State game and before the Indiana game? They would wedge it in there. You can kiss the CFP goodbye, baby. The world has changed. Just to illustrate how much tougher schedules are, it used to be an SEC team only had to play eight conference games. Now you have to play nine. Let's look at the Texas Longhorns schedule this year. The Texas Longhorns, Ohio State at Tennessee, Oklahoma, Florida at LSU at A and M. Ole Miss. Compare that to a Nick Saban schedule just five years ago that had four cupcakes in it and only eight SEC games. Saban got to play Duke, New Mexico State, Southern Miss, Western Carolina. Okay, it's a joke. So the world changes. Usc, to its credit, said, we're playing in the toughest conference. Like we need another game. I mean give Ohio State credit and Texas credit. They don't have to play. They're willing to which we win. But Joel Klatt and I talked about this. Notre Dame plays in a weaker conference and has, you know, this new addendum where all they have to do is finish in the top 12 and they're automatically in. USC didn't get to play by those rules. Texas doesn't get a play by those rules. Ohio State doesn't get a play by those rules. Here's Joel Clapp. Listen, it does not behoove anybody. I can't believe I'm saying this, but like to schedule Notre Dame because they have such an advantage over these teams that are playing and in the Big Ten, in the SEC's cases, much more difficult schedules. And now there's this bar, like a minimum bar, where all Notre Dame has to do is be in the top 12 with their schedule. That's. That's crazy. Go look at Ohio State schedule, Texas schedule, USC schedule, Oregon schedule, and then go look at Notre Dame's, and Notre Dame gets the automatic. I mean, Ohio State schedule is brutal. At Texas. Illinois now is legit. At Iowa, at Indiana, at usc, Oregon. That's a three game stretch. That is a three game stretch. At Indiana, at usc. It's the most talented USC team in years. And then Oregon. Yeah, I'd say that's pretty tough. So, I don't know. I. And I'm not, you know, I. I think this is good for you, the consumer, and me, the sports guy. I like more good schedules. And I think, you know, I think you should be able to lose two games now, maybe even three, depending on your schedule, and get in. But the world has changed. Go back to some of those Saban 2018, 2019 schedules. I mean, give me a break. Four cupcakes. It's a bakery down there. J. Mac with the news.
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B
No, no, no.
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Turn on the news.
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This is the Herd.
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My news now.
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Heard you CR up today. He's on one, folks. All right, let's get started with this Kevin Stefanski, Baker Mayfield drama. You know, Baker Mayfield's got a little Michael Jordan in him, right? He has to create these narratives in his head that sound good to, like, motivate him to go against people. And he's like blaming Kevin Stefanski for getting run out of Cleveland. Anyways, Stefanski was meeting the media after he was announced as Falcons coach, and he responded to Baker Mayfield.
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I love rivalries in sports, and obviously Buccaneers, Falcons have a great rivalry. It's something that I'm excited about, but I would not get into the specifics of those type of things. Other than to say, I have a ton of respect for Baker as a player, as a person. That's a great team with a great player.
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There you go. As well said.
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I like Stefanski. I know. I know. A lot of morons out there.
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Are.
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Like, oh, he won two coach of the year. What does he want? Give me the. Like, settled down. He was in Cleveland. Colin, do people not understand how bad it's dysfunctional this franchise has been?
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Yeah.
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C
And.
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And.
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And our staff put together some Baker numbers with and without Stefanski.
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Oh, I want to see.
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Just to see if there's any big difference. You tell me. I don't know, Colin. You see anything big there?
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Well, he had a much better winning percentage with Stefanski than without him. Yeah.
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Imagine that in the factory of sadness, Cleveland. I'll just remind people, including Baker, what happened. Basically, he got run out, but they were doing it for desean Watson, and that's not Kevin Stefanski pulling the strings.
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Why can't I like both? I like Stefanski, and I like Baker. I like both, and I root for both.
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But do you like what Baker Mayfield's doing here, though, Colin? That's the real question. Out of the blue, he's just all of a sudden taking shots at Stefanski.
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Listen, that's Baker's personality, right? There's a reason I offered him a podcast at my little podcast company. There's a reason I offered him a podcast. He's fascinating personality. He has just got a. He's got a chip on both shoulders. He is just fire. He can only take you so far, though.
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C
Come on.
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Yeah.
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Johnny Manzel, all these guys are fascinating person.
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Much, much better player than Johnny.
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Better player, yeah. But personality, I don't know.
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I think Johnny had issues with that that are now acknowledged in his personal life, that are much deeper and more troubling. Baker's got. I don't even think it's ego. I think Baker is one of those guys who's been doubted his entire life, and he uses it as fuel, and I totally respect that. He starts a few too many fires for my taste, but that's just me. I don't want my quarterback being bulletin board guy, but you know what? It works for him. He's had a heck of a career, and I'm. I. I don't root against Baker. I. When he wins, it's good for the league.
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C
I mean, Bill Polian might vote him in the hall of Fame over Bill Belichick. I don't know. All right, let's move on to the Denver Broncos. Con. Weird. Ish situation. So they lose the AFC championship, and yesterday the Broncos fired their offensive coordinator.
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Yeah.
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Joe Lombardi and two other assistants. Wait, it gets better. So all the criticism is for that fourth down call. It's like, bro, Lombardi's not calling the plays. That was all Sean Payton. As we heard from our guest Wickersham.
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A
Earlier, there's a young guy on the staff, Davis Webb, that everybody thinks is the next hot shot. And maybe Lombardi was sort of blocking his ascension within the staff. I think Lombardi's got a. I always thought he had a decent reputation, good reputation. I think sometimes, Peyton, and it's hard. You don't want to be Aaron Glenn and get rid of everybody. But I don't think it's the worst thing in the world every year to tweak somebody on your staff. I don't think that's terrible. I think there's. There's history that proves. Remember when the Bucks won the title and they brought everybody back the following year? And it's like. I think it's there. There is an argument to be made. You should change your roster by 10 to 12%, and you should probably move off a couple of coaches just for freshness. New eyes, new narrative, new point of view. Lombardi will get a job. That's not that. I mean, I don't think this is a. I don't. This. I don't think this speaks to some level of incompetence by Lombardi. I think you just. Sean's moving off, and he's got a young guy on the staff that he wants to elevate.
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C
Davis Webb has been interviewing around the league for OC And I think he got some head coaching, which is a little crazy. He's a young guy. This guy was a backup, like, five years ago.
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Yeah.
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And. And now, all of a sudden, he's interviewing for jobs. So the best way to keep him on staff is to kind of bounce somebody, which.
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That's.
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Listen, that's a. It's a cold world out there, Colin. That is rough. That's a. That's a tough way to treat a veteran. Lombardi's like 54 years old. He's been around the league. I would just say, you know, Bo Nix, you thought he had a good season. Bo Lombardi, clearly, as the oc, did something in that room. That's a tough one. Sean Payton. Let's go to the final story, Colin, and that is Joe Brady going from offensive coordinator to head coach in Buffalo.
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Yeah.
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And I kind of love what our staff did here. So you've been beating this drum to death and you've been right about it. Promoting from within is very dangerous.
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Yes.
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Right. Historically, it doesn't work. Colin, I want you to take a look at guys who have been promoted from coordinator to head coach in just since 2016. You find me the winners on here.
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A
So these are. Oh, my God. Nice job of the staff. These. I want to. I want to do this for our radio audience because this is a big, big grass. So these are the assistants promoted to head coach within the organization.
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C
The comfortable hire last nine years, Brian.
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Schottenheimer, Todd Bowles, Gerard Mayo, Antonio Pierce, Dennis Allen, Lovey Smith, Doug Marone, Freddy Kitchens, Dirk Cutter, and Ben McAdoo.
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C
There's one guy with a winning record on there, and that is Todd Bowles. That's it. I mean, Colin, this is the ultimate poo poo platter.
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A
Well, this is like.
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C
I know people love Joe Brady, but.
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A
So this has been my knock forever at the college level. Is that what do you think the chances are in the NFL when there's only 32 head jobs, that the single best candidate in your domestic search is in the building? What are the chances of that? Everybody does this because it's comfortable. Yeah, but this graphic shows what are the chances? Like when Ben Johnson leaves, well, let's go get that guy that used to be here. Is that the best candidate? And I've always said this, the greater the coach who leaves, the wider the search has to be to replace him. If Jim Harbaugh leaves Michigan, you don't give it to a guy in the staff. You go get, you know, you go get the hottest coach on the market. You call Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss and say, okay, you want to interview. I mean, you go get the guy who can recruit. It's Michigan. It's blue blood. It almost never in my childhood growing up, all my favorite regional college teams, and I could give you the names and not bore you. Oregon State, Jimmy Anderson, basketball, Jim Lambright. They. All these programs that I loved, they all gave it to the popular assistant at one point. Nice men. None of them were as good as the legend that moved on. I just don't think the answer is usually down the hallway. I just don't. J. Mac with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by the Herd line. You know, the other thing with Joe Brady, Josh Allen's cap hit this year was 36 million. Next year it's 56 million. So they're. They're the fourth oldest team in the league now. That means as teams get older there's more injuries. They're already over the cap now. You know who's not over the cap? Their rival in the division, New England's 31 million under the cap. So I mean it's only going to get harder for Buffalo. They're old with no camp room and Josh costs more. Drake May is still discount counter. They've got 31 million more cap space. I mean the Bills right now are 14 million over the cap today. So whoever gets the Bills job, it's a harder lift next year than this year. In my opinion, Drake May should be even better next year with this whole playoff run. It's the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. FS1 and the iHeartRadio app.
- [32:16]
C
The great American race returns with back to back championship William Byron looking for a historic three peat. It doesn't get any bigger than this. The 68th running of the Daytona 500, February 15th, only on Fox.
- [32:33]
A
So Albert Breer said this are we really underappreciating what 28 year old Sam Darnold has done? I think the most remarkable part of Sam Darnold making a Super bowl and having back to back unbelievable years. In fact, if you go back to November 27th of like 2022 when he was benched by Carolina, then given the starting job again, if you go from that moment till today, it's the highest winning percentage in the league, higher than Mahomes and the highest hundred plus passer rating percentage in the league. I think second is like golf. So. But it's a remarkable. He was 14 and 3 in Minnesota and he did not have a big market. He didn't have a big market. And it reminds me of Tom Brady who came out in 2020 and only two teams wanted Tom Brady, the Chargers and the Buccaneers. And not only did Tom win a Super bowl first year, but Tom four years later was still a top six quarterback in the league. So I mean I, I mean Kirk Cousins, there was more demand for Kirk Cousins leaving Minnesota than Tom Brady when he hit the market. And Sam Darnold, I like Kirk, but give me a break. So you know, it's just one of those things where quarterback evaluation is hard, but it's not that hard. I mean why did I go on the air and say Tebow, Johnny Manziel and Zach Wilson? That is not going to work. Those are busts. I shouldn't be able to say that. And GMs are picking them in the first round. You know, it's, it's hard, but I've always said it's about traits. I don't care what your winning record was. And if you look at Darnold, big six three thick, athletic, big arm, unbelievably coachable, tough, tough guy. Everybody loves him. I'm like, that's just. You're going to win games with that. You just got to get a competent coach. So we do this thing called blind resume. Just how good Darnold has been because it really, I think to this point is underreported what he's done. So let's do a blind resume with Sam Darnold just to just give you a sense how good he's been. So the first one, this is from 2022, the Carolina Days. He's 32 and 9 for our radio audience. The other quarterback is just slightly lower in virtually every statistic. So Sam is 5 to 8% better in every statistic. And who is that quarterb since 2022? Josh Allen. You know the MVP wins completion percentage, yards per attempt, passer rating higher than Josh Allen. Okay, let's do it again. Here's Sam Darnold. Since 2022, this quarterback Sam is. Yeah, again, much higher winning percentage. All the other numbers, slight edge to Sam. Since 2022 that quarterback would be, you guessed it, Matt Stafford who's going to win mvp basically this year was on fire against everybody not named Carolina. Okay, let's go to another one. Sam. Since 2022, the Carolina Days across the board, Sam even or slight edge except passer rating. This quarterback has a higher passer rating but this quarterback also has 10 more losses. Who is this quarterback? Lamar Jackson, who's going to get a new contract, probably making him the highest paid quarterback in the NFL. Okay, let's do one or two more. Okay. Since 2022, here's Sam Darnold. That's Carolina. Year in San Francisco, Minnesota, Seattle. Yeah, this again. Sam hasn't won as many games but is. I mean these quarterbacks might as well be the exact same guy. Whoever this quarterback is. This is Sam Darnold. Let's see that. Maybe you've heard of him. Patrick Mahomes hangs out with Taylor Swift. Maybe you've heard of him. I don't know. And let's. Do we have one more? I mean, I think I've made my point on this. We have one more. All right, this quarterback Sam across the board, just more wins, better passer rating. Who's this quarterback? Since 2022. Oh, Jalen Hurts. Well, we know one thing they'll have in common. Few weeks from now, both will have a trophy.
- [37:20]
C
Why you got to do this to me, dude? You don't want. I don't think you want the Jalen Hurts smoke against Sam Darnold. Do you? Interestingly, can we add another category on there live on television? Turnovers. Because Sam Darnold led the NFL in turnovers this year. Yes. More than Geno Smith and more than Tua. Come on, Colin. I just can't get over this, like. And I know you love Sam Donald. I like him. You know, when we were at that Arizona Super Bowl, I'm outside in one of these parties and I see this guy on his phone. My, holy cow, that's Sam Darnold. Went right up and talked to him. I was like, oh, I'm a Jets fan. Blah, blah, nicest guy. I'm a fan. I love the USC story. The Minnesota Vikings had him in the building the entire season. They have a smart front office. It's very shrewd. They have a super sharp coach who everybody likes. You call him Tall McVeigh.
- [38:04]
B
Yeah.
- [38:05]
C
He had Sam Darnold for the entire season and said, you had a great run, 35 touchdowns, but we're going to move on. There is no planet where anybody would do that to Jalen Hurts, who won a Super bowl mvp.
- [38:16]
A
Let me, let me, let me throw this out. I always try to be consistent on this show. Yeah, I have defended quarterbacks who throw interceptions because most of your great coaches bake it in. I want you throwing 38 times. I want you throwing it downfield. If Darnold wins the super bowl, he will be the second quarterback to win one and lead the league in picks or turnovers. The other is Matt Stafford as a Ram. Matt Stafford throws the ball aggressively down the field. Sam Darnold does. When you watch a lot of these guys in the league doing the underneath, Kirk Cousins, they don't want to get whacked. There's a lot of stuff that's underneath. Sam is letting it rip. Stafford is letting it rip. I have defended forever. Andrew Luck, by the way, Eli Manning, two Super Bowls. I want my quarterback to be aggressive. I want my general manager to be aggressive. I want my coach to be aggressive. I don't think in a league with the margins are this thin, you win being safe. That's why I said with both Sean Payton and McVeigh going forward and forth. I just hated the play call by Sean Payton. I didn't hate going for It I just not going to put the ball in Jared Stidham's hands.
- [39:30]
C
But Stitty, hey, so let me ask you, Colin. So Sam Darnold is not one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the league or even close.
- [39:37]
A
No.
- [39:38]
C
I am on Seattle to win the Super Bowl. I'm rooting for them. I'm financially invested. What do you do if Sam Donald wins a Super Bowl? Does he then have the ability to go to Seattle and be like, hey, I want a Super Bowl. I want Jalen hurts money. I want top five quarterback. But can he do that? Because all of a sudden, you know, his stats show. He's right up there with Mahomes and Lamar. Like, is that what's coming next for Sam Darnold?
- [39:58]
A
I don't think that's his personality. I don't.
- [40:02]
C
He's leaving 20 mil on the table when those guys are pocketing 55 and he's at 35 or whatever the numbers are.
- [40:08]
A
I, I don't know. I think he has, I thought he had a two or a three year deal.
- [40:14]
C
I don't think we can look into the contract. I'm just curious. Like, you win the super bowl, you're the mvp, you kind of get what you ask for, right? Hey, I need, I need a new deal. That's how this work. That's how the business works.
- [40:24]
A
Well, I don't, I don't think it, I don't think that's his personality and I don't think he'll get it. And I don't think, I mean he may. Seattle is drafted so well. They probably, I don't know what their cap situation is yet, but they got.
- [40:37]
C
Like three cornerbacks who are going to be free agents and could be on the move. So that, that wouldn't be ideal.
- [40:41]
A
This is interesting. The staff just sent me this. He's under contract, Donald, for two more years. Okay. From 2022 to 2023, Mahomes had the second most picks across those seasons and the Chiefs won back to back Super Bowls. I think old school thinking can't throw picks. Stafford won a Super Bowl, Mahomes won back to back Super Bowls. Darnold is favored to win the super bowl with all those picks. The other thing is teams don't huddle as much as they used to. The pace, like the NBA, the pace is faster. What does that mean? If you used to throw an interception and there were only 49 snaps. What if you have 68 and throw an interception? You can, you can make it. You can throw an interception and you can recover from it because now you're getting another 18 snaps or whatever it is per game. So it's again, it's over the course of a concert. A three, you know, an hour concert is a, is a musician. If you hit the wrong note once, be one thing if you were doing a song, if you're doing 16, you can hit the wrong note once. Yeah. And my take is the game is faster, there's more snaps. Quarterbacks now often throw more times than there were snaps 20 years ago. So I can live with interceptions.
- [41:51]
C
Okay, so it's not just interceptions, though, it's fumbles. I just punch it in here real quick. So total fumbles this year among quarterbacks, Cam Ward, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield all had 11. Cam lost seven of them. So ball security an issue. Sam Darnold lost six, second most among quarterbacks. And ball security was a bugaboo of his with the Jets. He gets a little loosey goosey in the pocket. So it's not just the interceptions. Again, he's a really good quarterback. I don't think this, this great game he had against the Rams, one game vaults him into like top 10 quarterback status in the league.
- [42:22]
A
No, I was thinking about this. If, when you. And, and I, I, I'm not going to do a list, but if you think about top 10 quarterbacks in the league, you have to consider everything.
- [42:32]
B
Yeah.
- [42:32]
A
And right now, what do I do with Darnold and what do I do with Drake May? What? What do I do with Drake May? He literally led the NFL, did he not? In completion percentage.
- [42:41]
B
Yeah.
- [42:41]
A
He has won 16 of his last 17 games with a bad offensive line in a run game that took a while to get going. I mean, it's. Well, what do I do with Drake May? I think He's a top 10 quarterback.
- [42:51]
C
Let me posit this question, Colin.
- [42:52]
A
Yeah.
- [42:52]
C
Based on that. So you have one game to win. Forget salary, one game to win. You plop him on your team. You got. Here we go. Are you taking Dak Prescott or Drake May?
- [43:01]
A
Drake May.
- [43:02]
C
Wow, that was fast.
- [43:03]
A
But I would.
- [43:05]
C
Jared Goff or Drake May.
- [43:07]
A
Drake May can move Drake May.
- [43:09]
C
So you have clearly have Drake May as a top 10.
- [43:11]
A
Well, Drake may is. I have to consider everything. He is young and super mobile. I mean, in the Denver game, he had the, he had the scramble. He is very like, like the Herbert and Drake Mays, they can get out of the pocket and give me extra plays. Caleb Williams, you call a play with Caleb Williams, it goes south. So what I get A second play. Same with Allen. Same with Drake. May. You don't get that with golf. You don't get that with Matt Stafford. The play you call is the play you get, and that's it. So when I have a young guy that can move, I mean, you saw what Josh McDaniel was doing in two of the biggest plays of the game.
- [43:46]
C
Yeah.
- [43:46]
A
He wanted Drake made a run. You can't do that if you're the Rams. You don't get that play.
- [43:51]
C
It reminds me of Dak Prescott early. He was running a lot. Colin, his, like, first five years. Then he had that gnarly leg injury. He's not running as much. He's a. He's more of a pocket guy than he used to be. He used to scramble his legs. So that's. That's a fair point on May Darnold. Also very mobile with the legs. He can move. He could scoot, as they say.
- [44:08]
A
Yeah. Wow. Okay. Jimmy Johnson, the Hall of Famer, who, for the record, had to wait a long time to get into the hall of Fame. You know, used to be coaches. You had to be out of the league, what, five, six years. Players still have to be out of the league for a long time. Tom Brady's not eligible for years. Drew Brees is just eligible, I believe, this year. Now, coaches, all they have to do is wait one year. I don't like if players have to wait. Why do coaches get in? Players are more valuable than coaches. We watch for players more than we watch for coaches. I don't love that kind of alteration of methodology. Seth Wickersham talked about that. So did Albert Breer. Jimmy Johnson next. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.