Albert Breer (11:18)

Well, this is part of a global effort to reset Colin and, and I, I don't think anybody should look at these moves to get rid of Chubb or get rid of Tyreek. In a vacuum, they had fewer draft picks, just a number of draft picks than anyone in the NFL over the last four years. They have not drafted well. And here's the operative question to me, like, if you look at the roster, how many guys can you look at and say, yeah, that guy's going to be here in three years, right? Maybe Jalen Waddle, maybe. Maybe Chop Robinson. And other than that, there's no one. And so like when they went and they looked at who we want to hire is the GM, and then they let go of Mike McDaniel, who do we want to hire as the coach? Drafting and developing was number one, right? So they hire a guy from the Green Bay system. That's where John Schneider came from, right? John Eric Sullivan. And then they hire a defensive coordinator from Green Bay as well, who had been a college head coach who knows how to develop players. And so this is a bigger picture thing. I almost think the TUA thing is a sidecar to all of it now. I mean, the number is 54 million for this year. So the question is, are you comfortable eating that number? And I think if all things were equal, they would just move on. The tape wasn't good last year. I think they know that there'd be strings attached. They bring them back because he's got the six years of history in the building now. But, you know, there is that question, okay, if we're going to move on from Tua, we're eating the 54 million. That's less, but it's not totally unlike what the Broncos did with Russell Wilson a couple years ago. Now what? And so, you know, your question has to become, A, is TUA better than what we're going to replace him with? Maybe that's Malik Willis coming over from Green Bay, right? And then B, these again, this is another thing that's not in a vacuum because he's got all the history there. He's going to be saddled with it and you're going to be saddled with it. And so in the end, I think for that reason, they probably wind up moving on. But because of the contract, like you said, it's not an easy call.

Colin Cowherd (13:17)

Okay. Kyler Murray is talented. I've defended him forever. He's small. There's a commitment issue. Many have. It's toxic. In Arizona, I would move off him. He's not a backup personality. That's fine. I still argue he's talented.

Albert Breer (13:32)

Yeah.

Colin Cowherd (13:33)

What is the market for him?

Albert Breer (13:36)

So look, I think what we have to do with both these guys, with both two and Kyler is just consider him through the Darnold, Daniel Jones, Baker Mason Field, Geno Smith lens, right? Like, does somebody look at these guys and say, yeah, I can get more out of him? Right. You know who did a really good job of that the last couple of years was the Minnesota Vikings. Right. The Minnesota Vikings brought in Sam Darnold, got a great year out of him, brought in Daniel Jones, sort of revived his stock. Just having him there as a backup gave him a little bit of a chance to reset at the end of the 24 season, and had good, good enough experience with both those guys that they tried to bring each of each one of them back as insurance against JJ McCarthy. So, like, when I look at Kyler, like it would be a landing spot like that right now. Again, what complicates it is the contract. And it's even more complicated than to a situation because two is just $54 million lump sum. I have it written down here. Kyler's got $36.8 million guaranteed this year and then another 19,5 guaranteed next year. So that complicates trading for him. That complicates cutting him. So, you know, I think you see the way that that splits up, and I think it probably makes it more likely that Arizona just flat out has to move off of him and cut him and let him go to the market. And I think he will find a place that'll view him as that sort of reclamation project. Maybe it's Minnesota, maybe it's the Jets. We'll see. But I think the con. I think the contract situation makes it a little harder for the Cardinals to hang on to him and a little harder for the Cardinals to trade him, which makes it more likely that they'll cut him.

Colin Cowherd (15:18)

So I. I saw a great story this morning from an NFL analyst that said red flag on Mendoza. His. He is Very much Justin Fields in terms of holding the ball too long and taking negative plays. So. And Justin Fields played with better talent at Ohio State, certainly, than Indiana and Mendoza. I've also had two people tell me they think Mendoza is stiff. So I like Bo Nicks a lot more than the scouts. But in fairness, most scouts thought Bo Nix was high second round late first, and Sean Payton kind of changed the calculus on that. That's fair to say.

Albert Breer (15:57)

Right.

Colin Cowherd (15:58)

Mendoza, he's going to be the number one pick. But all right, you know, what is you. You deal in these back channels. What are you here on?

Albert Breer (16:08)

So, like, I think you're right on when you say, like, if you plugged him into the 24 draft, right into that class, he would probably go, I mean, almost certainly go behind Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels and Drake May and would probably be in that grouping. I think he would wind up going in front of Pennix, Nixon, McCarthy.

Colin Cowherd (16:27)

I do, too, but I think that.

Albert Breer (16:28)

Would be a little bit of a fight. Right.

Colin Cowherd (16:30)

Wow.

Albert Breer (16:31)

And the comp I like best, I've heard people say cousins, but the comp I like best is Jared Goff in that, you know, he's got a n natural stroke, he's really accurate, he could take hits, which, you know, golf has shown that he can do that. And he comes from one of these offenses that's spread out, relying on RPOs. So he does have a learning curve and he's shown an aptitude to learn. You just haven't seen him do it yet. Right. So, like, with golf, what did that mean? It meant his rookie year was a disaster under Jeff. Jeff Fisher. Right. But then once Sean McVeigh got a hold of him in 2017, now all of a sudden you saw the stuff that you saw at Cal. And so I think it's the same sort of thing with Mendoza. It's obviously like, we have an idea of what sort of situation he's going to be. Going to is probably going to be the Vegas Raiders with Clint Kubiak as the head coach. So can the Raiders either, A, put enough around him to create a scheme that's going to work for him in year one so they can get him going the way that Sean McVay did in 2017 with golf or. Or B, do they have the patience to sit him for a year if he actually needs that? So I think that that's, to me, like, that's.

Colin Cowherd (17:40)

That.

Albert Breer (17:40)

That's sort of the conundrum with. With. With Mendoza, who isn't a perfect prospect. And I don't think is quite the prospect that Caleb Jaden or Drake were a couple of years ago.

Colin Cowherd (17:50)

The. You know, there's. There's a lot. I. I think Malik Willis would be great with the Steelers, who haven't had a lot of athleticism, and they haven't been terribly dynamic at quarterback. I do think that Aaron Rodgers made them more adult. They cut back on the mistakes. I mean, Aaron knows how to play the position. They felt professional offensively despite having a very limited receiving core, especially when DK Metcalf got bounced for a couple games. I think Malik Willis, the Green bay connection, Mike McCarthy. I do think it's interesting in Pittsburgh that Mike McCarthy has already built his staff. One of those people on the staff did not necessarily get along with Aaron Rodgers. And I also think McCarthy would never say it publicly, but everybody in this league always gets held hostage by Aaron because he disappears in the Postseason. And Mike McCarthy or Albert Brear or anybody, if you took over a new business, you want to get your. You want to get your help in, and nobody wants to sit around waiting for Aaron Rodgers. So my take is the one team that could go get Aaron and say, well, we've got a quarterback, a young one, is Minnesota, and so we're gonna build our infrastructure in our ecosystem. If Aaron joins late, he's a pro. He'll figure it out. But Pittsburgh's not gonna sit around and wait for Aaron until July. So it's nothing against McCarthy and Aaron, but I don't think Aaron's coming back. And I think Minnesota, who could let him kind of hop on board in July, could work.

Albert Breer (19:19)

Yes, couldn't it?

Colin Cowherd (19:20)

Does that make any sense? Yeah.

Albert Breer (19:23)

I mean, I could wrap my head around that, I think. Like, I just remember last year where Aaron said he wasn't going to hold anybody up, and then we didn't get an answer until. What was it, like, April? I think it was right before the draft. Right. Like, so he had whispered to people, to Mike Tomlin, to Arthur Smith, that he was coming, and they knew, which is why they stood still at the position, and they didn't really do anything. And so, you know, like, I'm with you in that, like, the. The Vikings have the insurance of J.J. mcCarthy on the roster. I don't know. I know the Steelers like Will Howard. I don't. They like him to the level where it's like, we're not going to do anything else at quarterback, you know, and then if you are going to wait for him, the problem is then all that quarterback movement that happens in the middle of March. I mean, you could be left with, you know, everybody's got their seat, you know, in the game of musical chairs and you're left with nothing. So I like, I, I do think that they would like to have an answer. I do think that that mid March timeline is, is important for them. Here's the other thing that I think is sort of interesting when it comes to all this too. I don't think Art Rooney wants to be bad this year. I don't think he wants to bottom out. I think if that was what they were looking to do, if they were looking to go through the hard reset that you and I have talked about a few times with Pittsburgh, they probably would have gone with Chris Shuler or one of the younger guys. Like I think bringing in Mike McCarthy as the head coach tells you, you know, implicitly that they do not want to go through the full rebuild all at once. Go be bad for a couple years and draft a quarterback. And so if that's the mindset there, then it would be awfully risky to let that mid March period of player movement go without doing thing without doing anything at quarterback and without having an.

Colin Cowherd (21:16)

Answer from Aaron Albert Brewer, Monday morning quarterback, as always. Great seeing you.

Albert Breer (21:23)

All right, thanks, Colin.

Colin Cowherd (21:24)

You bet. Thought the NBA All Star game regardless of format was better, mostly because Wemby cared. And I also think one of the things that I almost feel like when baseball made all their moves, like no defensive shift, pitch clock. I thought it was very, very hard for baseball to do that in one instance because it's a sport with history and tradition. What made it easier for baseball is the minor league system. They could experiment with the minor leagues. So the minor league system for the NBA is actually college basketball, which they don't control. I don't consider the G League. I don't. Doesn't G league ignite. They've already bailed on. So I guess my take is when Adam Silver comes to the podium on the tanking and says this is an 80 year old league, we got to try new stuff. It reminded me of a documentary I started watching this weekend which is absolutely fantastic on the aba. It's called Soul Power. It's fascinating. So as a kid I was born in 64, about 1972. I have memories of watching the NBA. The Lakers had like they were playing the Blazers and it was the Lakers and I was on my bunk bed, it was old Wilt Chamberlain, I think, and I think it was 72. And then I watched the Washington Miami Dolphins super bowl on a black and white TV in my room with the bunk beds. So I remember 1972 being the years I started watching sports and caring about sports. I also remember my parents or somebody giving me an ABA ball. And so in 1971ish, that's the Spencer Haywood drama in the courts. And that's the Dr. J explodes in the ABA. As I'm watching the first two parts of that four point docu series, four point docu series yesterday. It's absolutely fantastic. The video they have, it's so amazing. Apparently I didn't know this. Apparently the aba, there were fist fights every night because it was sort of the last opportunity to make the pros. And the NBA was not a very good league in the early 70s. It was considered over coached. It didn't have a great deal of diversity in like 60s, 67, 68, 69. And it just, I mean think about this. And I, the aba, it's much like the LIV Golf tour to the pga. The ABA went and stole the NBA MVP Rick Barry. The ABA is like, it's like Brooks Koepka, we're taking him and they got him. It went to the courts. Can you imagine if there was an upstart basketball league and they took Wemby. Wait, what? So that's why I always defend the live tour. It's like this is the history of America. Uber doing it to cash, ABA doing it to the NBA. And then eventually the ABA and the NBA, they merge and you get all these great ABA players. But watching just shows you how much basketball has changed. The three point shot came from the aba. The dunk contest came from the aba. And the NFL poached some stuff out of the XFL years ago. The camera angles and some of the goofy stuff. So I am all for change. And I thought baseball and I mean it was tough for baseball to make some of these moves. They got a lot of pushback. I remember the media, the baseball media, very negative on the pitch clock. It's not going to work. It's like it worked fine immediately. It worked just fine. And I think the NBA has to strongly consider because this new cba, I don't know what you do, if you don't tank, how do you get good? I mean if you look what the Jazz are doing, it's going to pay off. They're going to get a top three or four pick and they're going to get one of these great players. Spurs paid off, Detroit paid off. I mean post Duncan and Kawhi, they try to do it the right way for like DeMar DeRozan and Unwatchable, no good. So when you, when you only have one pathway into it, that's what you get. So I kind of find myself being pro tanking. How? Well, it's anti competitive. Been tanking long before this year. It should be noted. This is not the now. It's worse this year. But they've been tanking for a long time. But in previous decades when they tanked and previous years when they tanked, it was also more of a transactional league. So tanking was just one of the options. Now it feels like the only option to go from what the Jazz were three years ago to now. So tanking was always part of the league. But some big markets like the Lakers, if they wanted to rebuild, they'd go transactional. They'd go buy a player or make a big sweeping trade. You can't do that stuff. So I'm going to give Utah credit. I'm going to give the Pistons credit. I'm going to give the spurs credit. Like this is the new, this is the new CBA we're dealing with. This is what we're going to do to get great. Well, it's working. Detroit. The spurs are great. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS1 and the iHeartRadio app. 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.

Albert Breer (27:03)

From your favorite shows.

Colin Cowherd (27:05)

Two pros and a cup of jump Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, Doug Gottlieb, Covino and Rich the Odd Couple with Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington, the Jason Smith show with Mike Harmon and the Ben Mahler Show Fox sports radio on YouTube. Subscribe hit that thumbs up icon and comment away. This month, iHeartRadio is celebrating the stars of the 2026 Winter Games. Hailing from Vail, Colorado, Michaela Shifrin might just be the greatest alpine skier of all time with over 100 World cup victories. The youngest Olympic slalom winner arrives in Milano Cortina to further cement her legacy. Her technical precision in the slalom and fearless speed in the downhill make her a threat in every race as she takes to the slopes to chase more Olympic hardware for more Winter Games gold. Search olympics on the iHeartRadio app. All right, two truths and a lie. Here we go. I went to college with college football coach Jim McElwain I began my broadcasting career doing play by play for the Las Vegas Stars, and I've been a Verizon customer for 15 years. Okay, I lied. All three are true. Verizon isn't as expensive as you think. In fact, if you bring in your ATT or T Mobile bill to a Verizon store, they'll give you a better deal. That's right, a better deal on the best network with the most ways to save on plans, streaming and phone deals. So take that AT and T or T Mobile Builder your local Verizon store today. Get a better deal and start saving based on root metrics. Best Overall Mobile Network Performance U.S. 2nd Half 2025 All Rights Reserve must provide recent consumer Mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions and restrictions apply.

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Colin Cowherd (28:45)

I wonder if this can beat the market. Everyone's talking about the NASDAQ 100, but let's get more specific. Software? Actually, too broad. How about software that's already profitable? Companies that beat the last five quarters? Oh, and I want founders who are marathon runners. That's discipline. Yeah, let's see what that looks like.

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Colin Cowherd (31:22)

We got good stuff today. My buddy Jason Tim is going to be joining us. From the volume in the last hour, that guy, that guy knows, who's also Mick Cronin, UCLA basketball coach, is firing on all cylinders. He is. He's been saying stuff before the year that's kind of circulating this weekend. I thought the All Star Game was good for what it is. I'm not a big outside of baseball, not a big All Star Game believer. You know, I also think as athletes have gotten richer, you've seen this on the PGA Tour. These guys can make so much money on their YouTube channel, they don't have to play as many tournaments, you know, so we're getting what I would call fewer fist bump moments. Like Rory McElroy at the Masters is one of those where it's palpable. You can feel it through the TV because the tournament really matters to Rory McElroy. But, you know, I just think as our athletes get richer and the sports get more international, don't blame an international basketball player if he comes to the United States and doesn't care about anything other than winning a championship here or his home country. Don't be shocked by that. You know, when you go overseas, there are certain things you deeply care about. Jokic does not care about the All Star Game, okay? He cares about his country and he cares about the Denver Nuggets and winning titles. You know, so I the league's become very, very international and I thought it was very encouraging that Wemby clearly cared about the All Star Game and I thought the players followed suit. But you know, all these leagues now are very international. And the quality of baseball players and basketball players is unbelievable. And they're overwhelmingly good guys. They care. But when you ask somebody to go to another country, they're not going to adopt and assimilate to everything that matters to us, matters to them. I mean, Shohei Ohtani may look at our Home Run Derby and think that's dorky. You know, I mean, the Japanese baseball culture is different than ours. And so the way I look at the All Star Game is the league has gotten more international. I think there's a handful of international guys at the top that don't really care about the All Star Game. I see the ratings for it. I'm not sure you and I care that much about the All Star Game. Here's John Mittelkoff with the news.

Albert Breer (33:45)

No, no, no.

Public Ad Narrator (33:46)

Turn on the news.

Albert Breer (33:47)

This is the Herdline news.

John Middelkoff (33:50)

Well, Colin, one of the biggest stories this year in the NFL was J.J. mcCarthy and his struggles. And because of this, rumors are floating around left and right about what they.

Colin Cowherd (34:00)

Will do at quarterback.

John Middelkoff (34:01)

And according to one report, there's obviously going to be no shortage of quarterbacks this offseason that all the quarterbacks that will be available this offseason want to land in Minnesota. We got names like Cousins, like Aaron Rodgers. Derek Carr is coming back. Tua Kyler on the move. Who do you think Colin will be the starting quarterback for the Vikings come week one?

Colin Cowherd (34:23)

Well, the Vikings sniffed Aaron before and didn't make a move, and now he's a year older. So even though I think that would be really fun, it's probably not the move. I could see Derek Carr because you don't have to. I mean, you've done the Cousins thing. I don't think that stimulates the fans. I don't know if Derek Carr does. Derek Carr could make some sense. I could see Derek Carr. What's your thoughts?

John Middelkoff (34:46)

Well, Albert Brer brought up Kyler Murray and I do think from a vertical passing game, he can let it rip. I have a hard time seeing Kevin o' Connell being a Kyler Murray guy. I mean, that one. I actually think Derek Carr, dome player now, you know, in the weather, historically, hasn't been his kind of little Jared Goff to him. But in the Dome, you got Jefferson, you got Jordan Addison, you got an offensive coach, you got a good defensive coach in Brian Flores. He comes free. I mean, you got to pay him some money, but don't have to pay him that much. You don't have to give up any draft capital. So I would keep an Eye on Derek Carr.

Public Ad Narrator (35:20)

Yeah.

John Middelkoff (35:20)

In the Minnesota Vikings. Speaking of quarterbacks, though, you and I love ranking quarterbacks. Stocking quarterbacks. NFL.com has ranked the top quarterbacks from the 25 season into tiers. Now I'm looking at these tiers. Obviously, the Matt Staffords, the Josh Allens being in tier one. Trevor Lawrence somehow made it into tier one. Gallic, Daniel Jones made it into tier two. My guy, Brock Purdy's not even in. He's in tier three below Jordan Love, what do you make of this list here, Colin?

Colin Cowherd (35:51)

Okay, for the radio audience, the tier one. And this is according to who?

John Middelkoff (35:56)

John NFL dot com. So they know a few things about football.

Colin Cowherd (36:00)

Okay, Tier one is Stafford, Josh Allen, Dak, Drake May, Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence. I'm pretty okay with that. Tier 2, Darnold Caleb, Jared Burrow, Lamar. I thought Burrow was really good when he played. Lamar, Daniel Jones, mahomes in tier 2. That just cracks me up.

John Middelkoff (36:18)

13 mahomes. Trevor Lawrence turned around his career this year. Liam Cohen, he was not very good in that playoff game. I get Patrick Mahomes towards acl. Chiefs had a weird season. You kind of get the LeBron, Steph Curry treatment when you're Patrick Mahomes. Like you're just kind of on scholarship in the top tiers.

Albert Breer (36:35)

Yeah.

John Middelkoff (36:36)

You can't have Trevor Lawrence above you.

Colin Cowherd (36:38)

I agree. Tier 3 is Jordan Love, Brock Purdy, Aaron Rodgers, Baker Mayfield, Bo nicks, Jalen hurts. C.J. stroud. I, you know, I mean, that Dak Prescott, you know, when he's healthy, he's pretty good. Dak had a pretty good year.

John Middelkoff (36:55)

Do you remember any quarterback? He was the super bowl mvp. The Eagles were dominant two years ago and this, this year, now everyone just thinks Jalen hurts kind of stinks. I mean, that happened pretty fast. A precipitous drop off there.

Colin Cowherd (37:07)

Well, he, he appears to be, as does Sirianni, very coordinator dependent. I would say that, yeah, he's as good as his coordinator.

John Middelkoff (37:17)

Needs to start running again. Okay. To the NBA, obviously. All Star Weekend here in Los Angeles. Everyone's been waiting on pins and needles for LeBron to announce he skipped the media day. But don't worry, he did his own press conference.

Colin Cowherd (37:29)

Yeah.

John Middelkoff (37:29)

And gave a little. Gave some thoughts on his. On his future.

Colin Cowherd (37:34)

I want to live when I know you guys know.

Public Ad Narrator (37:38)

I don't know.

Albert Breer (37:39)

I have no idea.

Colin Cowherd (37:40)

I just want to. Just want to live, that's all.

Albert Breer (37:43)

And how is your personal uncertainty for the summer and beyond for your career play as a factor in your urgency here?

Colin Cowherd (37:50)

Nah, we gearing up towards the postseason. So it has nothing to do with that. Same, same motivation, same mind factor.

Albert Breer (37:59)

Just, you know, this is, we've got.

Colin Cowherd (38:03)

Past the marathon and now the sprint is about to start. You know, I'll give LeBron credit. He always gives good answers. He's willing to talk to anybody. He's never, he never ducks the media. I think we talked about it last week, John. I think it's really difficult for LeBron when you're, when you're making what the top tier players are making and you love the game and you're still very good at it. I would love to see him retire after this year and put a bow on his career. But he is still a top 15 player. He's still very good. He tends to play winning basketball. He's a good distributor, he can defend in brief spurts. I get LeBron sitting there thinking, talking to Savannah and going, I'm making 50 large. You don't want me around the house. I like playing basketball. You know, I, I get it.

John Middelkoff (38:54)

I, I think what complicates is, is he going to take the veteran minimum next year to play for the Cavs? Probably not, no. I, I, I, I think this has always been lingering, especially the last couple years. How about the all TV ratings team him with Steph Curry next year? Golden State Warriors? Who, who wouldn't be interested in that? That'd be fun. I mean he, Draymond's got a house in la, they're buddies. It's, you don't have to go that far. He's not going to New York where it's freezing cold. And again, they don't have any money because of the rules. So not that the warriors necessarily do, but I think the Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry kind of like the Steve Nash Kobe, Remember that kind of, that kind of feel could go bad.

Colin Cowherd (39:31)

That'd be the problem.

Albert Breer (39:32)

Could get weird.

John Middelkoff (39:33)

But that's my prediction.

Colin Cowherd (39:35)

Yeah. John Middelkoff with the news. Well, that's the news and thanks for stopping by the herd lie news. So, yeah, we were taking a victory lap today on the show because all these baseball players in the Mets owner are coming out and saying what we've been saying since last year is stop blaming the Dodgers. Dodgers are helping baseball in a Monday through Friday sport. A dynasty is a good thing. NBA could use a dynasty right now. Hockey could. The Montreal Canadiens won four straight Stanley Cups. You would tune in. It's like, I mean, I remember when I was a kid and the Montreal Canadiens had Gila Fleur I didn't know anything about hockey, but Montreal was a dominant. I don't remember if it was late 60s, early 70s, but I I would watch hockey. NBC had a hockey package, and I can remember, I can remember the Montreal Canadiens. They were a dynasty, dynasty. And we were not nearly as distracted a country. I can remember the New York Islanders and Mike Bossi being dominant for years. I was paying attention a little bit to hockey because they had a dynasty, so. And now we're a much more distracted nation. So taking a little victory lap. But coming up next, Mick Cronin, UCLA basketball coach. It's circulating. He said this before the season, but it's coming true. What we told you isn't working is definitively not working. Next, be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific. All right, two truths in a lie. Here we go. I went to college with college football coach Jim McElwain. I began my broadcasting career doing play by play for the Las Vegas Stars, and I've been a Verizon customer for 15 years. Okay, I lied. All three are true. A Verizon isn't as expensive as you think. In fact, if you bring in your ATT or T Mobile bill to a Verizon store, they'll give you a better deal. That's right, a better deal on the best network with the most ways to save on plans, streaming and phone deals. So take that AT and T or T Mobile to your local Verizon store today. Get a better deal and start saving based on root metrics. Best overall Mobile Network Performance U.S. 2nd Half 2025 All Rights Reserve Must provide recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions and restrictions apply.

Public Ad Narrator (42:04)

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Colin Cowherd (43:08)

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Lavar Arrington (44:08)

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Colin Cowherd (44:40)

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John Middelkoff (45:12)

Cross State Rivals Tip it off on Fox College Hoops Fridays Braden Smith leads Purdue in a Big Ten battle against Indiana Friday night at 8 Eastern only on Fox.

Colin Cowherd (45:23)

I met this weekend the general manager of Purdue. Football could not have been a nicer Guy, no more jokes at Purdue's expense. I'm rooting for Purdue football because I met their gm. He was the nicest guy. Hi. So listen, I know I'm repetitive because I see the research and in talk radio a very small percentage of the audience listens more than twice a week. And so there are themes that I want to ensure that they stick to me because I believe strongly in them. And I have been on something for multiple years and it irritates people. I imagine college basketball is the NBA's friend. The G league is nonsense. G League ignite, which already went belly up. Nonsense does not help the player's development. That the two things that help a young basketball player's development. The European academies where young men have to play with older men so they have to have multiple skill sets. And college basketball, excellent coaching, excellent travel. You play in these packed arenas that feel intense. G League, you're playing in cities you couldn't find a chick fil a. I mean, the coaching's average. And so I think AAU basketball is bad for player development. And I think the G League similarly does not develop players. G league ignite was a disaster. The NBA after four years just said it's over. They didn't develop one legitimate big time consistent all star level player. But Mick Cronin talked about this before the season started and this has been circulating this weekend about player development in this country and why when they demonize college basketball, it is a mistake. Too much goes on in youth basketball where it's about me and not we. And it's not the kids fault. They're a product of the system. We're trying to tell, you got to play defense, you got to play smart. You know, everybody else just lets them run around, shoot every time, get beat on defense, they don't come out. You know, it's not helping them though. It's not helping them. That's. That's why you hear all the NBA guys now talking about why there's so many Europeans because they actually play real basketball. There's no such thing as a pickup game in Europe. For the record, this was a great NBA draft. Go look at the top 11 guys picked college basketball. Who are the top 12 players in the NBA? No order. WEMBY International, Jokic International. Jalen Brunson, Jalen Brown, Steph Curry, SGA Kawhi Leonard, Cade Cunningham, Devin Booker. I mean, I don't know where Cooper Flag's at, but he and the other kid from Duke are both tremendous. They spent time in college basketball. So I mean a great. The best non college basketball, non European academy. The best story for like the G League crowd because G League ignite already went belly up. And have you ever noticed with G League guys, they always come out there, you always explain them the same way. You always describe them the same way. Super athletic, really raw. None of them can shoot. Kaminga can't shoot. Scoot. Henderson can't shoot. The best of that group is a man, Thompson from Houston, tremendous defensive player, really raw. Three years in, can't shoot. So do I think he'd be a better shooter if he'd gone to the international academies? Absolutely. Or college basketball for two years with Calipari on his butt or Mark Few on his butt or Mick Cronin on his butt? Absolutely. Or Eric Musselman or all these great coaches. Bill Self, there's great coaches everywhere. So it just. There's no, there's no G League all stars around. You look at, you look at the best players in the league and we got two more out of Duke and within two years they'll be in that top arc. It's all college basketball guys. So the NBA got into this weird thing before nil. Like we got to get the players paid. You're not making them better players. They can get a paycheck. That's why I think NIL saved not only college basketball. It's going to help the NBA in marketing and I think it's saving a lot of kids from being just kind of. Nobody ever gives them a second big contract. I don't think it's a coincidence these G League guys can never shoot. They're great, raw athletes. Well, where do you develop that consistency, that work at hard coaching? Really? You know, minor league baseball, they manage. I mean, I used to work in minor league baseball. It is hard coaching college football. Hard coaching G league. Aau. Not a fan. All right. We got good stuff. Jason Timp coming up. Last hour. Had a fun weekend. You know, I was down in Florida. I went for a walk. I told the staff. I get into my head thinking about rants and sports. I went for a walk on a Florida beach. I looked at my phone. I'm like, I've been walking one direction for an hour. 15 could take me an hour and a half to get back to my, my hotel. I woke up Sunday morning and I'm telling you, I felt like I was done a 16 hour Pilates class. I'm still limping down the hallway. The moral to the story is don't walk in one direction for an hour. 15 unless you do it every day. All right, final hour on a Monday, live in Chicago. It's the Hurt. Think Verizon is expensive? Think again. Anyone can bring their AT&T or T mobile bill to a Verizon store today and we'll give you a better deal. So bring us your bill. Walk in, run in, pogo sticking, teleport if you can ride on the back of a rollerblading yak or fly in on the wings of a majestic falcon. Any way you can bring your AT&T or T mobile bill to a Verizon store today and we'll give you a better deal. On on the best network based on root metrics Best Overall Mobile Network Performance US Second Half 2025 all rights reserved. Must provide a very recent postpaid consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. 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Albert Breer (53:08)

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Colin Cowherd (53:35)

This is an Iheart podcast. Guaranteed human.