April 17, 2025 • 43 mins
Colin can't believe Time Magazine's list of 100 Most Influential People did not include Caitlin Clark and argues she might be one of the most influential athletes since Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. He shares his NFL Mock Draft based on what he would do if he was running each of the teams picking in the top15. Plus, Brian Baldinger from the NFL Network joins the show to discuss Colin's mock draft and why Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders deserves more respect for what he accomplished in college
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
All Right, here we go. It is Thursday. This is
the Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening.
Thanks for making us part of your day. Great show today.
So in one hour, I'm gonna do what I do
once a year. I'm not really in the mock drafts
because it's just signing up to be wrong, like forty times,
but I do right before every NFL draft, I do
the top fifteen picks.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
What would I do if I was.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
The general manager of the top fifteen teams drafting. I'm
not going through the entire first round, but I went
through the top fifteen one hour from now. Here's who
I would draft based on rosters, need, what you've done
in free agency. This is what I would do. I've
always said if I didn't do this for a living.
My dream job either a screenwriter or an NFL general manager.
(01:17):
So in one hour, I'll be the general manager. It
is great to have you in. So at the end
of yesterday's show, Jordan Schultz filling in for Jmac. This week,
in one of the Herdline stories, had that Time Magazine's
list of the one hundred most influential people in America.
They did not have Caitlin Clark on the list, but
(01:38):
they had two other WNBA players, and they had a
bunch of other athletes. I love Jalen Hurts. I don't
think he's one of the one hundred most influential people.
I love him, and it just struck me. I had
so many people reach out to me on this yesterday.
So I just want you to think of words matter influential.
(02:01):
Influential is the word Time Magazine used. Influential. She played
one year of pro basketball in a small market for
the worst team in the league, and she literally changed
the entire financial makeup of the league. That defines influential.
The WNBA had its most watched season in twenty four years,
(02:21):
its highest attendance in twenty two years, and set records
for digital consumption and merchandise sales last year.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
That is all Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Six WNBA teams have already preemptively for their games with
Caitlin Clark moved to bigger venues. Time Magazine used the
word influential. I didn't they used that word. Well, Colin,
I heard this, Colin. They gave her Athlete of the
(02:52):
Year in America in December, and so there was no
reason to put her on the April list. All right,
So Time Magazine is telling me she went from the
Athlete of the Year in America in December and by
April she's less influential than Breonna Stewart.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah, I'm not gonna buy that argument. You think Hollywood
in the nineties said, listen, Tom Hanks. Everything he's in
is great, He's won back to back Oscars, but you know,
let's share the spotlight. Nope, movie studios were fighting over
Tom Hanks. Everybody wanted Tom Hanks because Hollywood. Hollywood's gotten
into trouble in the last ten years when they've tried
(03:36):
to make independent movies where women fall in love with
fish and now nobody goes to a theater except for
Tom Cruise and Christopher Nolan, Big Avenger movies, right, like
the big directors, the big stars, play the hits. I've
been doing this for thirty three years. I've had a
pretty good career TV and radio podcasting. Play the hits.
(03:58):
You think Fox upstairs and baseball coverage goes. You know,
we've done a lot of Aaron Judge, Otawi, Juan Soto.
Anybody checked out the Mariners schedule lately? Can we squeeze
them in? That's never been a discussion ever here. The
NFL this year literally has a new rule. You no
(04:18):
longer have to put every team on television at least
once because they realized Carolina is not well run.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
That's a Carolina problem.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Why should I force network CBS, Fox, ABC to put
on bad products?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So this idea, and I'll.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Say this, there have been a lot of great individual
female athletes globally, but in terms of North America and
team sports, men have dominated. And because men have dominated
this for so long, they get it. UFC just put
John Jones and Connor McGregor on every big card. It's
not about sharing. We'll pay them a fortune. The rest
(04:56):
of the guys, eh, we'll pay what we want to.
Major League Baseball, Fox coverage, Moro Tannian, Aaron Judge, the NFL.
It's funny, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes the Philadelphia Eagles. You
ever notice that they put on television big brands all
the time. The minute the Pittsburgh Steelers are uninteresting, Boom
gone off. Let's put on the Detroit Lions play the hits.
(05:22):
But the WNBA last year blessed their hearts, finally got
a star, and they didn't know that they couldn't figure
it out. Well, we don't want to put too much,
too much, Caitlyn Clark. Gott Nope, every game, every list,
every game, every moment, every contest, every All Star game,
every single day, all Caitlyn Clark, Well, it will offend
(05:44):
Who cares you didn't make any money in twenty four years?
You're subsidized by the NBA. Who gives a rep? Who
are you offending players that don't make revenue? You're subsidized
by the NBA more, Caitlin Clark all the time. Always
hurting the feelings is the reality. ESPN and Baseball Right
now they've hurt each other's feelings. They'll get over it.
(06:06):
If you don't make money, you're.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Not a league.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
You can't subsidize people forever in sports, So Caitlin Clark
changed the financial structure of the league. She's not wasn't
my word, it was Time Magazine's word. They used influential,
and now she's not influential. So here's a rule for
(06:30):
anybody considering starting a league. And I do think the
WNBA got so mocked and criticized they finally figured it out.
In sports, don't get caught up in sharing the spotlight,
because occasionally an athlete will be the spotlight.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Don't play nice, play the hits. Caitlin Clark is.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Easily the most influential athlete in a team sport since
Michael Jordan.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Patrick Mahomes is great.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
The league was doing fine, Tom Brady retired, the league's
doing fine far, Peyton Manning left fine.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
They're great.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I mean, you could argue Steph Curry is influential because
of the way he changed the way basketball is played.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Maybe that's the second most.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Influential person, but I mean, the only athlete in my
lifetime I can think of that compares to Caitlin Clark.
And it's not a team sport, it's golf as tiger woods.
I mean, Tiger Woods literally got people to a television
on Sunday for a decade. It was Sopranos after Tiger
Woods round. I mean he changed American viewing habits. So
(07:44):
just think about this. Six WNBA teams have already preemptively
moved the Caitlin Clark games to bigger venues. Time Magazine,
you use the word I didn't. You invalidated your list.
You made it inauthentic because you were trying to play nice.
Don't play nice, play the hits. Okay, So you know,
(08:06):
I mostly because very busy, living a very full life.
I stay off X a lot. You know, it's like
a conspiracy theory platform. Now I kind of stay off it.
But apparently I made some news. I got a call
yesterday afternoon from somebody very close to the Nico iam
Aliyava family. So he's the quarterback at Tennessee, very good,
(08:28):
making a lot of money, and decides I'm not going
to show up to a spring practice. And the story
from Tennessee side was he wants a bunch of money
and we're not going to give him a raise. We're
alread paying him two and a half million. We're not
going to four Now his family is saying that's not it.
So you know you got people at Tennessee saying it's
all about the money. His family say, it's not about
(08:49):
the money, it's about the fit. I don't know if
going to UCLA is better than playing at Tennessee. I
think Tennessee's got better players. It makes one hundred and
fifty million dollars a year, it's a huge program. I'm
not sure I'd leave Tennessee for UCLA football. But he's
a California kid, so I was told in this wild
wild West nil era. As of yesterday, he's going to UCLA.
(09:09):
Now his family is saying it's not about the money.
Tennessee is saying, eye roll, give me a break. So
I am surprised by this because I said, in southern California,
it's understood that UCLA is a basketball school. USC is
a football school. They got a lot more money. It's private,
you can pay people whatever you want and don't have
to report it. And USC jen Con the athletic director,
(09:30):
and Lincoln Roddie, they are highly aggressive with football.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
They are spending a lot of money on nil.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
UCLA football, I was told two years ago spent less
than Utah and around what Oregon State spends, so I
thought it was very probable it would be USC as
he transferred. We talked about that a couple of days ago,
but I was told yesterday by somebody close to his
family it's UCLA.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Now.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Is it official yet that we're on day two of
a ten day portal opening. It's not official yet, but
I was told link Ken Riley loves a five star
high school football recruit that is in the program. Now,
who's he in Long Street? He's a very, very very
go to YouTube, great high school quarterback. Lincoln Riley loves him.
Doesn't want to send any bad messages or bad vibes
(10:14):
that that kid, that freshman will play at least some
this year and they want it. They think he's going
to be the future of the program. And so UCLA
is like, you know, we're going to roll the dice here.
But I will say this, and I've said this before,
I don't want to hear about how all these young
athletes are impoverished and you always have to take the money.
I do not think money should drive decisions when you're
(10:37):
a great young athlete. I would stay at Duke or
Carolina over go to the G League over one hundred
thousand dollars. I mean, I'm sorry, you play at Duke,
you get thirty million dollars or free marketing. The only
reason I know who Zion Williamson is he played at Duke.
I'm not watching G League or YouTube videos for high
school basketball players, so I don't know if this is
a good move. But but I am told somebody close
(10:59):
to the family that UCLA is the spot. Joel Klatt,
who I think, we were both surprised. Joel Klatt talked
about this on my show a couple of days ago.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
I could see him back on the West Coast. I
would I would think that he wants to be in
the Big ten. I would think, but I think he
could wind up somewhere else. I think U n C
is interesting North Carolina. That's That's just to just to
keep your eye on that. The LA schools make a
lot of sense.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Now.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
I have heard that there has been a huge, quiet
influx of u c l A money, that's all.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
So I'm not going to be shocked if he winds
up at u c l A.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
I am not tied to U c l A boosters
and donors. I know a few USC boosters and donors.
But if Joel Clatt's hearing it, that validates it for me.
So I've heard it to U C. L A. He's
a very talented player. He is absolutely going to be
a he has a good year with UCLA or Tennessee.
He's going to be a first round, second round prospect, long, tall,
(12:06):
good arm. Just needs to clean it up. But he
looks the part, you know. And I mean when I
watched him and I watched Jackson Dart, and I watched
both of them. If you told me one of them
was going to end up eventually being an NFL star,
I would have chosen this kid, even though his game
is not as clean or refined as Jackson Dart. Today,
I did think this was interesting. This made me laugh yesterday.
(12:28):
So you know, in a full disclosure, Urban Meyer's a friend.
But everybody is saying good for Tennessee for taking a stand.
Urban Meyer's like, yeah, I've coached in the SEC. Forget
this stand stuff.
Speaker 6 (12:39):
As a guy that's been involved almost forty years in
this game, I can't believe this happened here. Here's the
reality is Tennessee is screwed there and they got a problem.
You lose a potential high draft pick. You have the
backup quarterback left last year, and now you have a
red shirt freshman as thro your nine passes and a
freshman you have zero experience, and the portal opens as
(13:01):
we speak, they're going to have to go get one.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
I kind of get that too. So that's where we
are as of now. Time Magazine, Stop being nice, Stop
worrying about sharing. I mean again, men dominated team sports
in North America.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
It's not about that.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Just man play the get the stars up front center
Rinse repeat, Rachel Nichols in studio in an hour from now,
in forty five minutes from now, I'm gonna give you.
If I'm the GM, here's what I do with the
top fifteen picks. I think the Raiders pick is fascinating.
I think the Jets pick is fascinating when you really
(13:46):
have to when I really sat down today with a
team and really wrote down what I thought. I'm the
general manager. I think there's one shocker. There'll be one shocker,
but I would do it if I was GM.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noonie. They're not a Empacific. I'm telling you. If
I'm GM, this is what I do, so they'll probably
be trades. Everybody wants to trade down outside of Tennessee.
The truth is it's not a great draft. People want
to trade down, so that could be six trades. I
don't think a lot of people want to trade up,
so I don't think there's going to be a ton
of trades.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Everybody keeps telling me, oh, trade, trade, trade, who wants
to trade up? There's not a great enough player here
to trade up, and there's about eight really good players,
and all those players will go to teams that need them.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
So here we go.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Let's do our top fifteen mock draft. This is who
I would draft if I was a GM. Number one
is Tennessee. You gotta get cam Warden. It's an easy one.
Last year the Titans quarterbacks combined for twenty two touchdowns
and twenty one picks. It's a winnable division. He fits
Brian Callahan's offense. They've got one go to receiver. I
(14:51):
think he'll win games. I think he'll make him a
playoff team. Easiest picking the board. Cam Ward Number two, Cleveland.
I think they go and get Trapped Hunter, the best
overall athlete. In the draft, and he'll play both sides.
They're receiving Chorus, Jerry Judy, and a whole lot of men.
They also have quarterbacks all filled out. They got Flacco,
they're paying to Shaun Watson, they got Kenny Pickett. They've
(15:14):
said the signal they're not getting a quarterback. So I
think this is the only player in the draft that
can affect both sides of the ball, and in a
division with the Ravens, you need to catch up. I
think it's the pick number three may surprise you. I
do now think the Giants are gonna take Shador Sanders.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Here's why.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
I think Jamis Winston and Tommy DeVito they'll cut him
in camp. I think they're gonna go Russell for a year.
Even Russell's contracts not that punitive. It's all based on
how many games he plays and how well he plays.
I've changed my mind. I think they're gonna go get him.
I think he's a star. It's a star town. I
think it's a big market. Brian Day has proven a
(16:01):
history of you can give him kind of average stuff
and he'll correct it. I don't think there's a lot
to correct. They've seen him personal workout recently. I think
they're gonna go get Shaduer. I think the Patriots are
gonna get Abduall Carter the edge. Last year, the Patriots
had the fewest sacks in the league. There'll be plenty
of running backs, tight ends, and wide receivers later in
(16:24):
the draft. They it's Mike Frable. They're gonna I mean,
go look at what they did in free agency. A
lot of big uglies, a lot of size and movement.
Carter's a great athlete. They don't need to rush Drake
May's development. They can get him help later in the draft.
It's a good tight end and running back draft. You
can get that second, third, fourth, fifth round. They get
Abdul Carter. Jaguars get Mason Graham. Jags defensive lines already talented.
(16:46):
I think Graham's really underrated. People say his ceiling is low.
All I know is when I watched him, he pushed
everybody around the field. They had the second worst total
defense in the league last year. They've already got Trey
Von Walker and Josh Heinz Allen ad Mason Graham, and
don't worry about the d line for the next five years.
The Wolverine big kid from Anaheim Aria in California. I
(17:07):
think he goes number five. I think the Raiders go
get Ashton gent the running back from Ohio State. Is
he worthy of this pick. He's the best running back
in his class. Geno Smith is very good on play
action Pete Carroll's career. He was great when he had
Reggie Bush and Lendale White in college and Marshawn Lynch
in Seattle. They had the worst rushing attack in the
(17:29):
league last year. Their offensive line is set. They've got
an elite weapon in Brock Bauers. I think you give
Gino help Ashton Jenny playmaker at six. The Jets get
Tyler Warren at number seven.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
The tight end.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
This kid can do everything, even split him out wide.
He's a playmaker again, takes the pressure off Garrett Wilson,
who gets double teamed. Now Devonte Adams has gone super
versatile player and they just haven't had any tight end
production over the last couple of years. They have six
tight end six touchdowns at the tight end. Baz I
watched the USC game. This kid had seventeen catches. He
(18:04):
is about as viable and has the kind of dexterity.
He's a little bit running back, a little tight end
you could throw the football if you wanted. I think
the Jets finally go get a big time tight end.
Panthers get t Mac wide receiver Arizona. I like him,
he's a little bit of a glider. But they got
to get Bryce Young help. This is an organization. This
is the year for Bryce Young, who played pretty well
(18:26):
last year. Panthers at eight.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Take him.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
The wide receiver group in Carolina does not have a
true number one. Again, I know two gms that are
cool on him, and I know one that loves him,
and it's a GM I respect. So Bryce Young needs
more help. This kid's a true number one. Go get him.
Speaker 7 (18:45):
At eight.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Number nine Saints Will Johnson. They moved off Marcus Lattimore,
sending him to the Commander, so they need a number one.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
I think he's great.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
He was hurt at Michigan. I think he's a great
court I think he starts for everybody in the NFL.
At Denvery's hearts, he's just not as good as Patrick's
are ten. I think Will Johnson is an exceptional player.
They had the twenty seventh ranked pass defense in the league.
They've got to replace Lattimore. I know you're talking about quarterback,
but I don't even know what to make of that
Derek Carr story. And I think Shador is going to
(19:15):
be off the board and it's too high to draft
Jackson Dart Will Johnson nine to the Saints number ten, Bears,
go get Edge Jaylon Walker, Listen Montese sweat from the inside.
Let him last year in sacks they could have drafted
in the number one spot and Edge last year. He's
a Georgia bulldog who rushes the passer, great physical specimen.
(19:36):
I think you go get him. They keep upgrading in
the trenches. The Bears upgraded their O line this year
in free agency. I think they upgrade their D line
at the top of the draft. I like Walker to
the Bears at ten, number eleven, nine ers. I would
go Calvin Banks. Trent Williams is aging at left tackle.
He's thirty seven years old, and let's be honest, if
(19:57):
you're gonna spend money on brock Perty, then you have
protect him. Their old line is the weakness of that
football team, and he's the best player available.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I like him better than Will Campbell. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
I watched a lot of Texas football. He was really
good in the big games them all people, so.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
I like him.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Number twelve Cowboys, Amarion Hampton, running back North Carolina. I
think he's a poor man's Adrian Peterson. Big strong, just
just a hard dude to bring down. I mean, look
at him wrong, look at the legs, look at the burst,
and let's face it, the Cowboys running back room is atrocious.
Twenty seventh in the NFL. They've already invested draft capital
(20:38):
in the old line. They've already paid Ceedee, Lamb and Dak.
They need star power and there's not a good enough
wide receiver to draft in this spot. I think this
kid is electric starter day one, and again, Dak's better
on play action than sitting back in the pocket throwing
forty times a game. Number thirteen Dolphins, I go Will Campbell.
(21:00):
I think he's pretty good. Not as good as Kelvin Banks. Again,
you're investing in Tua. Tua has that injury concern. Go
get an offensive lineman. You also lost a very good
tackle in Tron Armstead. So let's just do this, go
get it. I know it's not sexy, you're moving off.
You tried sexy with Jalen Ramsey and Tyreek Hill. How's
that working out for you? Just go to the trenches
(21:22):
and get a good left tackle number fourteen the Colts.
This will be the steel of the draft. Armand memboo
from Missouri who tore it up offensive lineman outside of
Quenton Nelson. None of the offensive lineman and Indy played
seventeen games. People talk about needing a tight end. Lovelin's
not good enough to draft in this spot. I think
this will end up being the steel of the draft.
(21:42):
Will Johnson and armand Membu I mean physical specimen and listen,
I think your receivers are good enough. You have Jonathan
Taylor and Anthony Richardson. You should probably run more than
you do pass anyway, he's a maler. I'd take him
at that spot. He's about as good as player. Last
year the Colts, Chris Ballard waited and got the best
(22:03):
pass rusher at like fifteenth. I think this will be
the best player at fourteenth available and he'll start Day one.
And at fifteenth Atlanta Shamar Stewart edge rusher Texas A and M.
They don't get to the quarterback. Second few of sacks
in the NFL. Do you want to beat Baker Mayfield.
You got to rush Baker Mayfield, put pressure on Baker
and so I think it makes sense. They have used
(22:26):
their number first round pick on offense for four straight
draft picks, so it's time to pay attention to defense.
This if I was general manager for these teams, I'm
not saying this is what they're gonna do. This is
what I could do. I think the Shador Sanders. I
(22:46):
looked at New York over and over and over again,
and I have come to the conclusion where the best
athletes off the board. They've already got a very good
defensive line that's not an area of and I think
they'll keep Ross for a year. Jamis, Tommy DeVito. You
(23:08):
can move off those guys in camp. And I do
think there's something to be said about Sanders, Dion Sanders' son.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
In New York.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
It feels big, it feels fun. I mean, the Jets
don't have the future quarterback, do they. I mean, do
they really have the future quarterback? So the Giants not
want to have the future quarterback. I mean, let's be
honest about New York. It's a competitive market. So Jordan,
what do you make of it?
Speaker 7 (23:36):
You know, I'm looking at it. I like it a lot.
Speaker 8 (23:39):
I would say so Will Johnson. You made a point
about him being hurt. He is viewed as a truly
special corner.
Speaker 7 (23:50):
I love him.
Speaker 8 (23:51):
At New Orleans at nine, I don't buy that New
Orleans is going quarterback at nine.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Guy, I don't know what my take is.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
There's too much unknown, and I think somebody's gonna move up.
Come on, somebody's gonna move up before nine to get
shaduor Sanders. There's too many teams that need a quarterback.
Speaker 7 (24:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (24:10):
And I also Tyler Warren at seven to the Jets.
It's interesting because it's a whole new regime. But last
year they really struggled. Do they want Olu who they
go with from Penn State to big tackle, or do
they go brock Bowers. Now they have an opportunity to
get another transcendent tight end and Tyler Warren, who is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Okay, So I didn't do any trades in mind, Yeah, Okay,
So I do believe if somebody called the New York
Giants with Jamis and Ross, if somebody called the I
said this the other day, if somebody called the Giants
and gave you two seconds a third in the first
next year for Sdor Sanders. I think the Giants would
take it because I think they're comfortable with Ross, but
(24:52):
I didn't want to put trades in and monkey around
with all this stuff. Yeah. Yeah, and by the way,
all of these players start immediately for their teams. I
know we have indicated it's not a great draft, but
if you're a team and you're bad and you get
an instant, young athletic, inactent spensive starter, it does make
(25:14):
you a better football team.
Speaker 8 (25:15):
I had a GM tell me a couple of days
ago that Ashton Genty is being slept on. I said,
what do you mean, he's it's going to be a
top five, top ten pick. He said, no, no, no,
you don't understand. This guy is a superstar. People are
talking about him like he's this really good player, maybe
a great player. He is a superstar. He is a
(25:35):
Day one, fifteen hundred yard guy. Aston Genty to the
Raiders at six. To me, out of every pick, here
might just be my favorite. Because we talked so much
about Pete Carroll and Marshawn Lynch. Now, I don't know
if Pete ultimately in that organization wants to go running
back at six, But there is a big contingency within
(25:56):
the Raiders building that really likes genty. And if you
really want to build this offense the way that Pete
Carroll has had a great offense, it's around the running
game in play action. That was Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch.
They just gave Geno the extension. You bring an Asha Gents,
I think it's a home run.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Well, I'll give you a team that's interesting, Jacksonville. Jacksonville's
got two guys in their defensive line that are already elite.
So you could say Mason Graham's not a place of need,
but sometimes it's like who's the best player on our board,
and so like, I don't think Jacksonville needs a defensive tackle,
but I think you can't watch Mason. I watched Michigan
play fifteen times in the last two years, maybe twenty.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
He dominated every guy played.
Speaker 7 (26:37):
Again, Mason Graham is great. He's also very versatile.
Speaker 8 (26:41):
And if you think about James Gladstone comes from the
Rams who they draft last year, Jared Verse and Brandon Fisk.
They hit on both Mason Graham because of how dominant
and versatile he is. You now can pare him with
Trayvon Walker and Josh Allen, and now you have a
truly dominant defensive line.
Speaker 7 (26:58):
Now we don't really know where the.
Speaker 8 (27:01):
Jags are thinking because a it's a new regime and
B they don't do visits. But if you just think
about where this organization comes from, both Liam Cohn and
James Gladstone come from the Rams line matters. Lestide has
built that team around his defensive line. I like that
pick a lot. I'm curious. You did something interesting here too.
You did Carter at four. Now he visited the Patriots.
(27:24):
If he's on the board at three, you really believe
the Giants would pass on him for Shador.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Well, so I've done back and forth. I like Shador.
I've said this, I like him. There's a lot of
signals from the Giants they like him, and I said
the other day I think they're bluffing. But you start
looking around at the contracts for Russ, Jamison, the Vedo. Yeah,
you could move off all of them if you wanted to.
(27:52):
I don't think they'd move off Russ because I think
Russ they would bring Shador in and say, listen, this
is this is pro Jamis's score, they'd move on.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
You don't want some young quarterbacks.
Speaker 7 (28:02):
I think they like James a lot though.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Ye people say they like him a lot. And he
bounces around the league. You ever noticed that? Oh? I
love him? How can he keeps bouncing around the league?
Speaker 1 (28:10):
And so I think that the Giants should do her
in the Giants is my toughest pick.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
But I think.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
There's just a lot of signals and I think I'm
not gonna do trades.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
I said it again.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
If somebody offered them a first and two seconds for Shad,
I think they would absolutely move down. Yeah, because I
think the Giants need more help.
Speaker 7 (28:30):
I think anybody's offering either, do I I don't.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Everybody keeps telling me a lot of trades. Who's moving
up in this draft?
Speaker 7 (28:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (28:36):
Yeah, I'll tell you the other one too. I'm just
looking at this a I don't know if Loveland the
for Michigan. Michigan gets past Indy.
Speaker 7 (28:44):
I don't.
Speaker 8 (28:44):
I'm not sure because they do need a tight end
and he's a terrific player.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Great tight end draft it is it is Will.
Speaker 7 (28:51):
Campbell at thirteen.
Speaker 8 (28:52):
I don't think Will Campbell is getting outside anywhere near thirteen.
Speaker 7 (28:55):
You don't call him great mock. I'm gonna pick it apart.
The one mistake you made.
Speaker 8 (29:00):
Will Campbell out of LSU is not going to get
to thirteen in Miami.
Speaker 7 (29:03):
If he does, that's a gift. The only knock on
him is that his arms aren't super long.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
I don't like that.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Okay, that's like saying the only knock on an astronaut
is he's afraid of heights.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
It's like, but.
Speaker 8 (29:18):
Dominant, dominant player with short arms. Okay, So obviously arm
length matter left you.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
It does.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
It's feet and length.
Speaker 8 (29:27):
But I think Will Campbell is a special prospect, a dominant,
a dominant left tackle. I don't see him getting anywhere
near thirteen. That's that's my one nitpick with this.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Anything else I like, let me tell you when Miami
drafts Will Campbell, Chris Ballard will be celebrating because he's
getting a better al linement at FOURT.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
You love a lot of people love him.
Speaker 8 (29:46):
Physical Mond Misoi is a beast, Yeah, and then you
talk about be Shamar Stewart absolutely wrecked the combine. I
think he was probably the best dude at the combine athletically,
and I like that for Atlantic.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Good.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
By the way, my staff says, it's Mason Graham to
the Jags as good because they didn't defend the r
on last year.
Speaker 7 (30:03):
Yeah, there we go, There you go, goodmuck, good Mue.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
I like those Michigan guys.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 9 (30:15):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 9 (30:29):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world. We have a lot of fun talking
about the stories behind the stories in the world of
sports and pop culture, stories that well, other shows don't
seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact
that we've been friends for the last twenty years and
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check us out. We like to get you involved too.
(30:49):
Take your phone calls, chop it up as they say,
I'd say the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio,
maybe the.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Most interactive show on planetar.
Speaker 9 (30:57):
Be sure to check out Covino and Rich Live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific, and if you
miss any of the live show, just search Kobe known
Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on
social media, that's Cavino and Rich.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Years and years ago, Brian Baldinger was doing his thing
on the Internet and he was really breaking down offensive
line play. I thought it was fascinating and I have
said many times on this show, I don't use my hands,
so don't ask me to break down offensive line technique.
He does it better than anybody and really follows the
stuff and has had a great post career. Former Cowboy
(31:34):
went to Duke, so you know he's smart. Brian Baldinger
is joining us live thirteen years in the Lady.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
You know.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Everybody says, well, it's not a great it's not a
great draft, and like, I'll give you an example. I
watched Mason Graham play fifteen times. I saw him grab
and throw all conference offensive linemen. But his ceiling's not this.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
I don't know what his ceiling is. I know what
I watched.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
So you tell me, as an offensive lineman like Mason Graham,
if this was a great draft, would he be middle
of the first Like, I just see a wildly productive,
super aggressive, strong defensive lineman. That's what my eyes see.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
What do you see?
Speaker 4 (32:17):
He's a great technician. You know, pad level is important
in this business.
Speaker 10 (32:21):
Low man wins. He plays with great pad level. He
has great hands, he can stack anybody. You talk about
the offensive lineman he's going up against against Ohio State,
you know, Penn State, some really wickedly good offensive lineman.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
And he stacks and he sheds him and he holds
his ground.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Ye.
Speaker 10 (32:36):
And you know, you can win a lot of one
on ones when you play with great technique and you've
got strong hands and all that kind of stuff. So
reminds me of what Leonard Williams was when he came
out in this draft. And ten years later, Glender Williams
is playing the best football of his career. But that's
what he was coming out of USC column and that's
what he reminds me of.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Right now, Okay, so I want to talk about my
can get Kelvin Banks ready. So everybody tells me it's
not a great offensive line draft. Again, I watched six
Texas games. I watched them when they played great teams.
Kelvin Banks was squishing people. So you tell me as
an offensive lineman, he's big. The size is indisputable, high
(33:18):
school and college dominant.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
Why isn't he considered great? Well?
Speaker 10 (33:24):
I think you know, you see, you know, he's gotten
beat It's not like he's shut everybody out this year,
but you know he's got dancing bear feet with a
big body, long arms, long enough anyways, and he's going
against the best at Texas A and M and you
know the SEC. The last few years, the best thing
to happen to Texas is for them to join the SEC,
get out of the big twelve and go up against
(33:45):
SEC type defensive linemen.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
For guy like Kelvin Banks, it's the best thing to
happen to. These guys.
Speaker 10 (33:50):
They got really good competition every week going against those schools.
So you go against Georgia twice in the last two years,
like you see great defense. You can really measure your
progress because the kid came in at it. You know,
he came in as a five Star Recruit and started
day one for the Long Wars. Yeah, and then went
up the competition two years ago when they went to
(34:12):
the SEC.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
You know, sometimes we and I've had people tell me this, Colin,
don't outthink the room. Sometimes the answer is right in
front of you. And I said, just think about Shador Sanders.
If you pass on him, son of a legend, historically
accurate averaged thirty.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Three a game with no run game and a battle
line and moves well enough.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
I've seen multiple moments and pictures Brian of him standing
next to people my size. I'm sixty two, one ninety.
He's thicker than you think. But yeah, shoulder, he's a
real he's a man, he's a big body. Are we
out thinking the room on this kid? Like we're just
picking him apart? And I'm like, I don't know. Seventy
four percent completion percentage, Brian under duress, that's a real number.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
I can overlook that.
Speaker 10 (35:01):
And he can win from the pocket, that's the basin thing.
He doesn't have to leave the pocket, I mean wins
from the pocket.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Now.
Speaker 4 (35:08):
Pat Sherman was offensive coordinator this year.
Speaker 10 (35:10):
Colin and I talked to Pat at Shador's pro day
in Boulder on April fourth, and he installed Chip Kelly's offense,
basically the most simple offense.
Speaker 7 (35:21):
You can have.
Speaker 10 (35:22):
Inside receivers, outside receivers, because that was the best way
to move the football because they didn't have a tight end,
they had average offensive line, they.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
Didn't have a good running back.
Speaker 10 (35:31):
It was Shador and four receivers, and they took over
a program that won one game and were the Sledge
of college football. And they've somehow won nine games last
year and went to a bowl game. So like he's
elevated that program. But there's not a lot there and
they had and so he got blitzed a lot. He
(35:52):
got Max Blitz a lot, which no quarterbacks in college
football did. Like I'm talking about Blitz Zero's send the
safeties after Sador, speed him up. See what he does.
And he made a lot of big plays to throw.
The deeper the ball goes, the more accurate it gets.
He's got incredible touch on the deep ball.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
So tell me in the NFL locker room.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
The one thing about sometimes in baseball, when you break
into a sport like Bryce Harper, there's a way to
play the game. But I've found in the NFL in
the NBA. If you got swag, if you can play,
guys love it. And I think players will love Travis Hunter.
They'll root for him to play both sides of the ball.
I mean, would you play him both?
Speaker 3 (36:30):
So what do you make of it?
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Oh?
Speaker 10 (36:32):
No, he's unbelievable. In fact, I was at his pro
you know, he was there catching balls from Schador and
honestly everybody was there from the NFL, so I'm representative
from every team.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
I think their jaws just dropped. I mean, the guy
is indefatigable here calling and.
Speaker 10 (36:48):
I don't mean to use a big word here, that's
the only word I can find the guy has. He's
got Michael Jordan type endurance. He does not fatigue. I
don't care at the temperature, the competition. He's the best
corner He plays cornerback the way a thief does. Like
he bakes the quarterback and he gets him to throw
it to where he wants to. Then he takes it
(37:08):
away from him and on the other side of the ball.
His ability to adjust to a ball in the air
is what we see from Garrett Wilson, Devonte Adams, some
of the great receivers in his.
Speaker 4 (37:18):
Game he's got. He didn't wear any gloves at Sadori's
pro day.
Speaker 10 (37:23):
His hands are so good he doesn't even feel like
now he all wear gloves in a game, but he
catches everything and it's it's you just can't take your
eyes off them. And I'll just say this, we're in
the entertainment business, colin the NFL, we're entertainers. You talked
about star powers at WNBA. That's why we watch. It's
the same thing. Any ten year old kid that's gonna
(37:46):
go watch Travis Hunter next year in Cleveland where he's
going because they fell in love with him that day.
They're gonna buy a Travis Hunter jersey before he ever
puts it on, and they're gonna want to play both ways.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
He's gonna start a trend. It's gonna happen. You have
to play them both ways.
Speaker 10 (38:01):
I don't know what the number of snaps are, if
it's a hundred a game, but you've got to start
him on one side of the ball and play him
on the other side in a variety of packages.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Because I just think he's that talented.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Okay, here's somebody I'm a little cool on, Jackson Dart.
It reminds me of a little thicker Zach Wilson. Same
high school, same body type, same offense.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Boy.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
When you sped the game up for Zach, it' BYU.
When you speed it up a little for Jackson, he
wasn't quite the same. There's a certain comfort level, and
I watched them several times. I do think he is
an NFL quarterback. I thought, I still think Zach is.
I think it's I'm here in all this top twelve
fifteen stuff. I don't know, Brian, what's the tape say
(38:47):
to you?
Speaker 4 (38:48):
It's not just the tape.
Speaker 10 (38:50):
There's an emotional part to this game where he's just
too like Zach Wilson, Like it's just too frenetic on
the sidelines. The emotion, whether it's tears or whether it's
joy like, there's not any sort of well I expect it.
I'm a three year starter at Mississippi. I'm expecting to
go beat you know, Georgia, you know, on a Saturday night.
(39:11):
And he did, and he played well in the game.
Speaker 4 (39:14):
He took care of the ball.
Speaker 10 (39:15):
But I just think there's this emotional rollercoaster to how
he plays and who he is, which I don't know
if that's I don't know if it's bad, but I
know when I see it, it can work against him.
And I see that from him, and so I don't
think he's a top fifteen pick. You could talk yourself
into it, because you can go watch the game against Georgia.
(39:37):
You can watch the game last game he played against
Duke in the Gator Bowl, where he threw for four
hundred yards, threw four touchdown passes, did make a mistake.
You can fall in love with him, but I think
the Zach Wilson thing is a pretty good comparison right now.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Yeah, okay, I'm going to show you my mock draft.
Now this isn't my mock draft.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
So what I do, Brian is I've always said if
I didn't do this, I'd want to be an NFL GM.
It's not going to happen, I know it. But if
I didn't do that, I would do that. Yeah, So
this is who I would draft if I was the
GMS of this team. Just tell me something that you
agree with and there's something you don't buy.
Speaker 10 (40:11):
I saw Cam Woard in Miami's Pro Day, and all
of Tennessee was there, including the reporters that report from Tennessee.
They fell in love with them that day. That's a
Cleveland from Jimmy has them to Andrew Barry, to Kevin Stefanski.
They fell in love with Travis Hunter. He's going to Cleveland.
The one thing I'd say, and I don't disagree with
Shador going to the Giants. They're working about today. Today's Thursday.
(40:32):
They're working them out in Boulder today. But if they
passed an Abdul Carter after they passed on Micah Parsons
after you look at the rich history of pass rushers
with the New York Giants, Like every Giant fan is
gonna go If a Doll Carter lights it up and
Shador sits behind Russell or whatever, they're gonna go nuts.
They're like everybody the owner is gonna fire himself, you know.
(40:55):
So that's the only question I have. Are you gonna
pass an Obdul? And may what greatness looks like? Especially
what could be a Giants' uniform That might be something
that they never ever worrying number eleven wearing mics number
like that might be unforgivable right there.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Let me tell one more.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
I think Ashton Gent works with the Raiders because I
think gino off play action is actually pretty good. Gino
on third and eleven and everybody knows he's throwing makes mistakes.
Gent played at Boise State five eight. Some have said
small does that?
Speaker 3 (41:29):
What do you see?
Speaker 10 (41:31):
I see muscles on top of muscles. The guy is
a like he looks like a bodybuilder, but he's agile.
Like look, chip Kelly's the offense coordinated with the Raiders
when Chip went to Philadelphia. That was Shady McCoy's two
best years. He led the league in rushing in chip
Kelly's first year. He spreads you out and played up
tempo to run.
Speaker 4 (41:49):
The ball like this is.
Speaker 10 (41:51):
You're going to get a lot of a college atmosphere
offense from Chip Kelly with the Raiders this year. I
think genty is the perfect chess piece to go play
with right now.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
That's exciting.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
You know you played for the Cowboys. Do you think
they'll draft a running back? Potentially they need it. You
have no run game.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
What do you make of that they have like one
hundred picks.
Speaker 10 (42:11):
Honestly, like they should go trade up to get Ashton
Gent who I played with Tony Dorsett. You know there's
been EMMITTT. Smith there's been c there's been you know,
all kinds of great running backs in Dallas. They've gone
now a couple of years once Zeke really started to decline.
Where it's falling apart. This is the rich history of
(42:31):
the Cowboys, you know, is at running back, and you
go back to Walt Garrison and Dan Reeves and everybody
else that played there, Like they need a star running back.
Speaker 4 (42:42):
That's what's been missing from this offense here for the
last three or four years.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Brian Baldingger, You're great, Baldy. NFL network is always great stuff.
Thanks man, Thanks don don't you Sue?
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Yeah, he's so good. Yeah, so he's got the Jackson
Dart concerns.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
I do. And listen, I just got a steak dinner
two nights ago from an unnamed source on this I watch.
You know, I watched a lot of college football. You
watch a lot of college football. I didn't see a
first round guy, little hit and miss for me, just
just just not clean enough for me. And I've said this,
I like Jalen Milroll so much about Jalen. Jalen's too
(43:19):
mechanical to be a star quarterback in the NFL. But
I do think you could take him in, write, coach
some of this stuff. A lot of it is who
do you get? I mean, Jackson Dark goes to the
Rams and sits for two years with them, Fay, then
you get a different outcome than him going to the
Saints and starting tomorrow, you know, rushing him in when
he's not quite ready.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for The Herd at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio
or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
All Right, here we go. It is Thursday. This is
the Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening.
Thanks for making us part of your day. Great show today.
So in one hour, I'm gonna do what I do
once a year. I'm not really in the mock drafts
because it's just signing up to be wrong, like forty times,
but I do right before every NFL draft, I do
the top fifteen picks.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
What would I do if I was.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
The general manager of the top fifteen teams drafting. I'm
not going through the entire first round, but I went
through the top fifteen one hour from now. Here's who
I would draft based on rosters, need, what you've done
in free agency. This is what I would do. I've
always said if I didn't do this for a living.
My dream job either a screenwriter or an NFL general manager.
(01:17):
So in one hour, I'll be the general manager. It
is great to have you in. So at the end
of yesterday's show, Jordan Schultz filling in for Jmac. This week,
in one of the Herdline stories, had that Time Magazine's
list of the one hundred most influential people in America.
They did not have Caitlin Clark on the list, but
(01:38):
they had two other WNBA players, and they had a
bunch of other athletes. I love Jalen Hurts. I don't
think he's one of the one hundred most influential people.
I love him, and it just struck me. I had
so many people reach out to me on this yesterday.
So I just want you to think of words matter influential.
(02:01):
Influential is the word Time Magazine used. Influential. She played
one year of pro basketball in a small market for
the worst team in the league, and she literally changed
the entire financial makeup of the league. That defines influential.
The WNBA had its most watched season in twenty four years,
(02:21):
its highest attendance in twenty two years, and set records
for digital consumption and merchandise sales last year.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
That is all Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Six WNBA teams have already preemptively for their games with
Caitlin Clark moved to bigger venues. Time Magazine used the
word influential. I didn't they used that word. Well, Colin,
I heard this, Colin. They gave her Athlete of the
(02:52):
Year in America in December, and so there was no
reason to put her on the April list. All right,
So Time Magazine is telling me she went from the
Athlete of the Year in America in December and by
April she's less influential than Breonna Stewart.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Yeah, I'm not gonna buy that argument. You think Hollywood
in the nineties said, listen, Tom Hanks. Everything he's in
is great, He's won back to back Oscars, but you know,
let's share the spotlight. Nope, movie studios were fighting over
Tom Hanks. Everybody wanted Tom Hanks because Hollywood. Hollywood's gotten
into trouble in the last ten years when they've tried
(03:36):
to make independent movies where women fall in love with
fish and now nobody goes to a theater except for
Tom Cruise and Christopher Nolan, Big Avenger movies, right, like
the big directors, the big stars, play the hits. I've
been doing this for thirty three years. I've had a
pretty good career TV and radio podcasting. Play the hits.
(03:58):
You think Fox upstairs and baseball coverage goes. You know,
we've done a lot of Aaron Judge, Otawi, Juan Soto.
Anybody checked out the Mariners schedule lately? Can we squeeze
them in? That's never been a discussion ever here. The
NFL this year literally has a new rule. You no
(04:18):
longer have to put every team on television at least
once because they realized Carolina is not well run.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
That's a Carolina problem.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Why should I force network CBS, Fox, ABC to put
on bad products?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So this idea, and I'll.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Say this, there have been a lot of great individual
female athletes globally, but in terms of North America and
team sports, men have dominated. And because men have dominated
this for so long, they get it. UFC just put
John Jones and Connor McGregor on every big card. It's
not about sharing. We'll pay them a fortune. The rest
(04:56):
of the guys, eh, we'll pay what we want to.
Major League Baseball, Fox coverage, Moro Tannian, Aaron Judge, the NFL.
It's funny, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes the Philadelphia Eagles. You
ever notice that they put on television big brands all
the time. The minute the Pittsburgh Steelers are uninteresting, Boom
gone off. Let's put on the Detroit Lions play the hits.
(05:22):
But the WNBA last year blessed their hearts, finally got
a star, and they didn't know that they couldn't figure
it out. Well, we don't want to put too much,
too much, Caitlyn Clark. Gott Nope, every game, every list,
every game, every moment, every contest, every All Star game,
every single day, all Caitlyn Clark, Well, it will offend
(05:44):
Who cares you didn't make any money in twenty four years?
You're subsidized by the NBA. Who gives a rep? Who
are you offending players that don't make revenue? You're subsidized
by the NBA more, Caitlin Clark all the time. Always
hurting the feelings is the reality. ESPN and Baseball Right
now they've hurt each other's feelings. They'll get over it.
(06:06):
If you don't make money, you're.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Not a league.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
You can't subsidize people forever in sports, So Caitlin Clark
changed the financial structure of the league. She's not wasn't
my word, it was Time Magazine's word. They used influential,
and now she's not influential. So here's a rule for
(06:30):
anybody considering starting a league. And I do think the
WNBA got so mocked and criticized they finally figured it out.
In sports, don't get caught up in sharing the spotlight,
because occasionally an athlete will be the spotlight.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Don't play nice, play the hits. Caitlin Clark is.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Easily the most influential athlete in a team sport since
Michael Jordan.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Patrick Mahomes is great.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
The league was doing fine, Tom Brady retired, the league's
doing fine far, Peyton Manning left fine.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
They're great.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I mean, you could argue Steph Curry is influential because
of the way he changed the way basketball is played.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Maybe that's the second most.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Influential person, but I mean, the only athlete in my
lifetime I can think of that compares to Caitlin Clark.
And it's not a team sport, it's golf as tiger woods.
I mean, Tiger Woods literally got people to a television
on Sunday for a decade. It was Sopranos after Tiger
Woods round. I mean he changed American viewing habits. So
(07:44):
just think about this. Six WNBA teams have already preemptively
moved the Caitlin Clark games to bigger venues. Time Magazine,
you use the word I didn't. You invalidated your list.
You made it inauthentic because you were trying to play nice.
Don't play nice, play the hits. Okay, So you know,
(08:06):
I mostly because very busy, living a very full life.
I stay off X a lot. You know, it's like
a conspiracy theory platform. Now I kind of stay off it.
But apparently I made some news. I got a call
yesterday afternoon from somebody very close to the Nico iam
Aliyava family. So he's the quarterback at Tennessee, very good,
(08:28):
making a lot of money, and decides I'm not going
to show up to a spring practice. And the story
from Tennessee side was he wants a bunch of money
and we're not going to give him a raise. We're
alread paying him two and a half million. We're not
going to four Now his family is saying that's not it.
So you know you got people at Tennessee saying it's
all about the money. His family say, it's not about
(08:49):
the money, it's about the fit. I don't know if
going to UCLA is better than playing at Tennessee. I
think Tennessee's got better players. It makes one hundred and
fifty million dollars a year, it's a huge program. I'm
not sure I'd leave Tennessee for UCLA football. But he's
a California kid, so I was told in this wild
wild West nil era. As of yesterday, he's going to UCLA.
(09:09):
Now his family is saying it's not about the money.
Tennessee is saying, eye roll, give me a break. So
I am surprised by this because I said, in southern California,
it's understood that UCLA is a basketball school. USC is
a football school. They got a lot more money. It's private,
you can pay people whatever you want and don't have
to report it. And USC jen Con the athletic director,
(09:30):
and Lincoln Roddie, they are highly aggressive with football.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
They are spending a lot of money on nil.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
UCLA football, I was told two years ago spent less
than Utah and around what Oregon State spends, so I
thought it was very probable it would be USC as
he transferred. We talked about that a couple of days ago,
but I was told yesterday by somebody close to his
family it's UCLA.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Now.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Is it official yet that we're on day two of
a ten day portal opening. It's not official yet, but
I was told link Ken Riley loves a five star
high school football recruit that is in the program. Now,
who's he in Long Street? He's a very, very very
go to YouTube, great high school quarterback. Lincoln Riley loves him.
Doesn't want to send any bad messages or bad vibes
(10:14):
that that kid, that freshman will play at least some
this year and they want it. They think he's going
to be the future of the program. And so UCLA
is like, you know, we're going to roll the dice here.
But I will say this, and I've said this before,
I don't want to hear about how all these young
athletes are impoverished and you always have to take the money.
I do not think money should drive decisions when you're
(10:37):
a great young athlete. I would stay at Duke or
Carolina over go to the G League over one hundred
thousand dollars. I mean, I'm sorry, you play at Duke,
you get thirty million dollars or free marketing. The only
reason I know who Zion Williamson is he played at Duke.
I'm not watching G League or YouTube videos for high
school basketball players, so I don't know if this is
a good move. But but I am told somebody close
(10:59):
to the family that UCLA is the spot. Joel Klatt,
who I think, we were both surprised. Joel Klatt talked
about this on my show a couple of days ago.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
I could see him back on the West Coast. I
would I would think that he wants to be in
the Big ten. I would think, but I think he
could wind up somewhere else. I think U n C
is interesting North Carolina. That's That's just to just to
keep your eye on that. The LA schools make a
lot of sense.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Now.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
I have heard that there has been a huge, quiet
influx of u c l A money, that's all.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
So I'm not going to be shocked if he winds
up at u c l A.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
I am not tied to U c l A boosters
and donors. I know a few USC boosters and donors.
But if Joel Clatt's hearing it, that validates it for me.
So I've heard it to U C. L A. He's
a very talented player. He is absolutely going to be
a he has a good year with UCLA or Tennessee.
He's going to be a first round, second round prospect, long, tall,
(12:06):
good arm. Just needs to clean it up. But he
looks the part, you know. And I mean when I
watched him and I watched Jackson Dart, and I watched
both of them. If you told me one of them
was going to end up eventually being an NFL star,
I would have chosen this kid, even though his game
is not as clean or refined as Jackson Dart. Today,
I did think this was interesting. This made me laugh yesterday.
(12:28):
So you know, in a full disclosure, Urban Meyer's a friend.
But everybody is saying good for Tennessee for taking a stand.
Urban Meyer's like, yeah, I've coached in the SEC. Forget
this stand stuff.
Speaker 6 (12:39):
As a guy that's been involved almost forty years in
this game, I can't believe this happened here. Here's the
reality is Tennessee is screwed there and they got a problem.
You lose a potential high draft pick. You have the
backup quarterback left last year, and now you have a
red shirt freshman as thro your nine passes and a
freshman you have zero experience, and the portal opens as
(13:01):
we speak, they're going to have to go get one.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
I kind of get that too. So that's where we
are as of now. Time Magazine, Stop being nice, Stop
worrying about sharing. I mean again, men dominated team sports
in North America.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
It's not about that.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Just man play the get the stars up front center
Rinse repeat, Rachel Nichols in studio in an hour from now,
in forty five minutes from now, I'm gonna give you.
If I'm the GM, here's what I do with the
top fifteen picks. I think the Raiders pick is fascinating.
I think the Jets pick is fascinating when you really
(13:46):
have to when I really sat down today with a
team and really wrote down what I thought. I'm the
general manager. I think there's one shocker. There'll be one shocker,
but I would do it if I was GM.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noonie. They're not a Empacific. I'm telling you. If
I'm GM, this is what I do, so they'll probably
be trades. Everybody wants to trade down outside of Tennessee.
The truth is it's not a great draft. People want
to trade down, so that could be six trades. I
don't think a lot of people want to trade up,
so I don't think there's going to be a ton
of trades.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Everybody keeps telling me, oh, trade, trade, trade, who wants
to trade up? There's not a great enough player here
to trade up, and there's about eight really good players,
and all those players will go to teams that need them.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
So here we go.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Let's do our top fifteen mock draft. This is who
I would draft if I was a GM. Number one
is Tennessee. You gotta get cam Warden. It's an easy one.
Last year the Titans quarterbacks combined for twenty two touchdowns
and twenty one picks. It's a winnable division. He fits
Brian Callahan's offense. They've got one go to receiver. I
(14:51):
think he'll win games. I think he'll make him a
playoff team. Easiest picking the board. Cam Ward Number two, Cleveland.
I think they go and get Trapped Hunter, the best
overall athlete. In the draft, and he'll play both sides.
They're receiving Chorus, Jerry Judy, and a whole lot of men.
They also have quarterbacks all filled out. They got Flacco,
they're paying to Shaun Watson, they got Kenny Pickett. They've
(15:14):
said the signal they're not getting a quarterback. So I
think this is the only player in the draft that
can affect both sides of the ball, and in a
division with the Ravens, you need to catch up. I
think it's the pick number three may surprise you. I
do now think the Giants are gonna take Shador Sanders.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Here's why.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
I think Jamis Winston and Tommy DeVito they'll cut him
in camp. I think they're gonna go Russell for a year.
Even Russell's contracts not that punitive. It's all based on
how many games he plays and how well he plays.
I've changed my mind. I think they're gonna go get him.
I think he's a star. It's a star town. I
think it's a big market. Brian Day has proven a
(16:01):
history of you can give him kind of average stuff
and he'll correct it. I don't think there's a lot
to correct. They've seen him personal workout recently. I think
they're gonna go get Shaduer. I think the Patriots are
gonna get Abduall Carter the edge. Last year, the Patriots
had the fewest sacks in the league. There'll be plenty
of running backs, tight ends, and wide receivers later in
(16:24):
the draft. They it's Mike Frable. They're gonna I mean,
go look at what they did in free agency. A
lot of big uglies, a lot of size and movement.
Carter's a great athlete. They don't need to rush Drake
May's development. They can get him help later in the draft.
It's a good tight end and running back draft. You
can get that second, third, fourth, fifth round. They get
Abdul Carter. Jaguars get Mason Graham. Jags defensive lines already talented.
(16:46):
I think Graham's really underrated. People say his ceiling is low.
All I know is when I watched him, he pushed
everybody around the field. They had the second worst total
defense in the league last year. They've already got Trey
Von Walker and Josh Heinz Allen ad Mason Graham, and
don't worry about the d line for the next five years.
The Wolverine big kid from Anaheim Aria in California. I
(17:07):
think he goes number five. I think the Raiders go
get Ashton gent the running back from Ohio State. Is
he worthy of this pick. He's the best running back
in his class. Geno Smith is very good on play
action Pete Carroll's career. He was great when he had
Reggie Bush and Lendale White in college and Marshawn Lynch
in Seattle. They had the worst rushing attack in the
(17:29):
league last year. Their offensive line is set. They've got
an elite weapon in Brock Bauers. I think you give
Gino help Ashton Jenny playmaker at six. The Jets get
Tyler Warren at number seven.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
The tight end.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
This kid can do everything, even split him out wide.
He's a playmaker again, takes the pressure off Garrett Wilson,
who gets double teamed. Now Devonte Adams has gone super
versatile player and they just haven't had any tight end
production over the last couple of years. They have six
tight end six touchdowns at the tight end. Baz I
watched the USC game. This kid had seventeen catches. He
(18:04):
is about as viable and has the kind of dexterity.
He's a little bit running back, a little tight end
you could throw the football if you wanted. I think
the Jets finally go get a big time tight end.
Panthers get t Mac wide receiver Arizona. I like him,
he's a little bit of a glider. But they got
to get Bryce Young help. This is an organization. This
is the year for Bryce Young, who played pretty well
(18:26):
last year. Panthers at eight.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Take him.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
The wide receiver group in Carolina does not have a
true number one. Again, I know two gms that are
cool on him, and I know one that loves him,
and it's a GM I respect. So Bryce Young needs
more help. This kid's a true number one. Go get him.
Speaker 7 (18:45):
At eight.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Number nine Saints Will Johnson. They moved off Marcus Lattimore,
sending him to the Commander, so they need a number one.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
I think he's great.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
He was hurt at Michigan. I think he's a great
court I think he starts for everybody in the NFL.
At Denvery's hearts, he's just not as good as Patrick's
are ten. I think Will Johnson is an exceptional player.
They had the twenty seventh ranked pass defense in the league.
They've got to replace Lattimore. I know you're talking about quarterback,
but I don't even know what to make of that
Derek Carr story. And I think Shador is going to
(19:15):
be off the board and it's too high to draft
Jackson Dart Will Johnson nine to the Saints number ten, Bears,
go get Edge Jaylon Walker, Listen Montese sweat from the inside.
Let him last year in sacks they could have drafted
in the number one spot and Edge last year. He's
a Georgia bulldog who rushes the passer, great physical specimen.
(19:36):
I think you go get him. They keep upgrading in
the trenches. The Bears upgraded their O line this year
in free agency. I think they upgrade their D line
at the top of the draft. I like Walker to
the Bears at ten, number eleven, nine ers. I would
go Calvin Banks. Trent Williams is aging at left tackle.
He's thirty seven years old, and let's be honest, if
(19:57):
you're gonna spend money on brock Perty, then you have
protect him. Their old line is the weakness of that
football team, and he's the best player available.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I like him better than Will Campbell. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
I watched a lot of Texas football. He was really
good in the big games them all people, so.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
I like him.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Number twelve Cowboys, Amarion Hampton, running back North Carolina. I
think he's a poor man's Adrian Peterson. Big strong, just
just a hard dude to bring down. I mean, look
at him wrong, look at the legs, look at the burst,
and let's face it, the Cowboys running back room is atrocious.
Twenty seventh in the NFL. They've already invested draft capital
(20:38):
in the old line. They've already paid Ceedee, Lamb and Dak.
They need star power and there's not a good enough
wide receiver to draft in this spot. I think this
kid is electric starter day one, and again, Dak's better
on play action than sitting back in the pocket throwing
forty times a game. Number thirteen Dolphins, I go Will Campbell.
(21:00):
I think he's pretty good. Not as good as Kelvin Banks. Again,
you're investing in Tua. Tua has that injury concern. Go
get an offensive lineman. You also lost a very good
tackle in Tron Armstead. So let's just do this, go
get it. I know it's not sexy, you're moving off.
You tried sexy with Jalen Ramsey and Tyreek Hill. How's
that working out for you? Just go to the trenches
(21:22):
and get a good left tackle number fourteen the Colts.
This will be the steel of the draft. Armand memboo
from Missouri who tore it up offensive lineman outside of
Quenton Nelson. None of the offensive lineman and Indy played
seventeen games. People talk about needing a tight end. Lovelin's
not good enough to draft in this spot. I think
this will end up being the steel of the draft.
(21:42):
Will Johnson and armand Membu I mean physical specimen and listen,
I think your receivers are good enough. You have Jonathan
Taylor and Anthony Richardson. You should probably run more than
you do pass anyway, he's a maler. I'd take him
at that spot. He's about as good as player. Last
year the Colts, Chris Ballard waited and got the best
(22:03):
pass rusher at like fifteenth. I think this will be
the best player at fourteenth available and he'll start Day one.
And at fifteenth Atlanta Shamar Stewart edge rusher Texas A and M.
They don't get to the quarterback. Second few of sacks
in the NFL. Do you want to beat Baker Mayfield.
You got to rush Baker Mayfield, put pressure on Baker
and so I think it makes sense. They have used
(22:26):
their number first round pick on offense for four straight
draft picks, so it's time to pay attention to defense.
This if I was general manager for these teams, I'm
not saying this is what they're gonna do. This is
what I could do. I think the Shador Sanders. I
(22:46):
looked at New York over and over and over again,
and I have come to the conclusion where the best
athletes off the board. They've already got a very good
defensive line that's not an area of and I think
they'll keep Ross for a year. Jamis, Tommy DeVito. You
(23:08):
can move off those guys in camp. And I do
think there's something to be said about Sanders, Dion Sanders' son.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
In New York.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
It feels big, it feels fun. I mean, the Jets
don't have the future quarterback, do they. I mean, do
they really have the future quarterback? So the Giants not
want to have the future quarterback. I mean, let's be
honest about New York. It's a competitive market. So Jordan,
what do you make of it?
Speaker 7 (23:36):
You know, I'm looking at it. I like it a lot.
Speaker 8 (23:39):
I would say so Will Johnson. You made a point
about him being hurt. He is viewed as a truly
special corner.
Speaker 7 (23:50):
I love him.
Speaker 8 (23:51):
At New Orleans at nine, I don't buy that New
Orleans is going quarterback at nine.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Guy, I don't know what my take is.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
There's too much unknown, and I think somebody's gonna move up.
Come on, somebody's gonna move up before nine to get
shaduor Sanders. There's too many teams that need a quarterback.
Speaker 7 (24:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (24:10):
And I also Tyler Warren at seven to the Jets.
It's interesting because it's a whole new regime. But last
year they really struggled. Do they want Olu who they
go with from Penn State to big tackle, or do
they go brock Bowers. Now they have an opportunity to
get another transcendent tight end and Tyler Warren, who is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Okay, So I didn't do any trades in mind, Yeah, Okay,
So I do believe if somebody called the New York
Giants with Jamis and Ross, if somebody called the I
said this the other day, if somebody called the Giants
and gave you two seconds a third in the first
next year for Sdor Sanders. I think the Giants would
take it because I think they're comfortable with Ross, but
(24:52):
I didn't want to put trades in and monkey around
with all this stuff. Yeah. Yeah, and by the way,
all of these players start immediately for their teams. I
know we have indicated it's not a great draft, but
if you're a team and you're bad and you get
an instant, young athletic, inactent spensive starter, it does make
(25:14):
you a better football team.
Speaker 8 (25:15):
I had a GM tell me a couple of days
ago that Ashton Genty is being slept on. I said,
what do you mean, he's it's going to be a
top five, top ten pick. He said, no, no, no,
you don't understand. This guy is a superstar. People are
talking about him like he's this really good player, maybe
a great player. He is a superstar. He is a
(25:35):
Day one, fifteen hundred yard guy. Aston Genty to the
Raiders at six. To me, out of every pick, here
might just be my favorite. Because we talked so much
about Pete Carroll and Marshawn Lynch. Now, I don't know
if Pete ultimately in that organization wants to go running
back at six, But there is a big contingency within
(25:56):
the Raiders building that really likes genty. And if you
really want to build this offense the way that Pete
Carroll has had a great offense, it's around the running
game in play action. That was Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch.
They just gave Geno the extension. You bring an Asha Gents,
I think it's a home run.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Well, I'll give you a team that's interesting, Jacksonville. Jacksonville's
got two guys in their defensive line that are already elite.
So you could say Mason Graham's not a place of need,
but sometimes it's like who's the best player on our board,
and so like, I don't think Jacksonville needs a defensive tackle,
but I think you can't watch Mason. I watched Michigan
play fifteen times in the last two years, maybe twenty.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
He dominated every guy played.
Speaker 7 (26:37):
Again, Mason Graham is great. He's also very versatile.
Speaker 8 (26:41):
And if you think about James Gladstone comes from the
Rams who they draft last year, Jared Verse and Brandon Fisk.
They hit on both Mason Graham because of how dominant
and versatile he is. You now can pare him with
Trayvon Walker and Josh Allen, and now you have a
truly dominant defensive line.
Speaker 7 (26:58):
Now we don't really know where the.
Speaker 8 (27:01):
Jags are thinking because a it's a new regime and
B they don't do visits. But if you just think
about where this organization comes from, both Liam Cohn and
James Gladstone come from the Rams line matters. Lestide has
built that team around his defensive line. I like that
pick a lot. I'm curious. You did something interesting here too.
You did Carter at four. Now he visited the Patriots.
(27:24):
If he's on the board at three, you really believe
the Giants would pass on him for Shador.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Well, so I've done back and forth. I like Shador.
I've said this, I like him. There's a lot of
signals from the Giants they like him, and I said
the other day I think they're bluffing. But you start
looking around at the contracts for Russ, Jamison, the Vedo. Yeah,
you could move off all of them if you wanted to.
(27:52):
I don't think they'd move off Russ because I think
Russ they would bring Shador in and say, listen, this
is this is pro Jamis's score, they'd move on.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
You don't want some young quarterbacks.
Speaker 7 (28:02):
I think they like James a lot though.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Ye people say they like him a lot. And he
bounces around the league. You ever noticed that? Oh? I
love him? How can he keeps bouncing around the league?
Speaker 1 (28:10):
And so I think that the Giants should do her
in the Giants is my toughest pick.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
But I think.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
There's just a lot of signals and I think I'm
not gonna do trades.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
I said it again.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
If somebody offered them a first and two seconds for Shad,
I think they would absolutely move down. Yeah, because I
think the Giants need more help.
Speaker 7 (28:30):
I think anybody's offering either, do I I don't.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Everybody keeps telling me a lot of trades. Who's moving
up in this draft?
Speaker 7 (28:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (28:36):
Yeah, I'll tell you the other one too. I'm just
looking at this a I don't know if Loveland the
for Michigan. Michigan gets past Indy.
Speaker 7 (28:44):
I don't.
Speaker 8 (28:44):
I'm not sure because they do need a tight end
and he's a terrific player.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Great tight end draft it is it is Will.
Speaker 7 (28:51):
Campbell at thirteen.
Speaker 8 (28:52):
I don't think Will Campbell is getting outside anywhere near thirteen.
Speaker 7 (28:55):
You don't call him great mock. I'm gonna pick it apart.
The one mistake you made.
Speaker 8 (29:00):
Will Campbell out of LSU is not going to get
to thirteen in Miami.
Speaker 7 (29:03):
If he does, that's a gift. The only knock on
him is that his arms aren't super long.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
I don't like that.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Okay, that's like saying the only knock on an astronaut
is he's afraid of heights.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
It's like, but.
Speaker 8 (29:18):
Dominant, dominant player with short arms. Okay, So obviously arm
length matter left you.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
It does.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
It's feet and length.
Speaker 8 (29:27):
But I think Will Campbell is a special prospect, a dominant,
a dominant left tackle. I don't see him getting anywhere
near thirteen. That's that's my one nitpick with this.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Anything else I like, let me tell you when Miami
drafts Will Campbell, Chris Ballard will be celebrating because he's
getting a better al linement at FOURT.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
You love a lot of people love him.
Speaker 8 (29:46):
Physical Mond Misoi is a beast, Yeah, and then you
talk about be Shamar Stewart absolutely wrecked the combine. I
think he was probably the best dude at the combine athletically,
and I like that for Atlantic.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Good.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
By the way, my staff says, it's Mason Graham to
the Jags as good because they didn't defend the r
on last year.
Speaker 7 (30:03):
Yeah, there we go, There you go, goodmuck, good Mue.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
I like those Michigan guys.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 9 (30:15):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 9 (30:29):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world. We have a lot of fun talking
about the stories behind the stories in the world of
sports and pop culture, stories that well, other shows don't
seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact
that we've been friends for the last twenty years and
still work together. I mean that says something, right, So
check us out. We like to get you involved too.
(30:49):
Take your phone calls, chop it up as they say,
I'd say the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio,
maybe the.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Most interactive show on planetar.
Speaker 9 (30:57):
Be sure to check out Covino and Rich Live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific, and if you
miss any of the live show, just search Kobe known
Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on
social media, that's Cavino and Rich.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Years and years ago, Brian Baldinger was doing his thing
on the Internet and he was really breaking down offensive
line play. I thought it was fascinating and I have
said many times on this show, I don't use my hands,
so don't ask me to break down offensive line technique.
He does it better than anybody and really follows the
stuff and has had a great post career. Former Cowboy
(31:34):
went to Duke, so you know he's smart. Brian Baldinger
is joining us live thirteen years in the Lady.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
You know.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Everybody says, well, it's not a great it's not a
great draft, and like, I'll give you an example. I
watched Mason Graham play fifteen times. I saw him grab
and throw all conference offensive linemen. But his ceiling's not this.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
I don't know what his ceiling is. I know what
I watched.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
So you tell me, as an offensive lineman like Mason Graham,
if this was a great draft, would he be middle
of the first Like, I just see a wildly productive,
super aggressive, strong defensive lineman. That's what my eyes see.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
What do you see?
Speaker 4 (32:17):
He's a great technician. You know, pad level is important
in this business.
Speaker 10 (32:21):
Low man wins. He plays with great pad level. He
has great hands, he can stack anybody. You talk about
the offensive lineman he's going up against against Ohio State,
you know, Penn State, some really wickedly good offensive lineman.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
And he stacks and he sheds him and he holds
his ground.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Ye.
Speaker 10 (32:36):
And you know, you can win a lot of one
on ones when you play with great technique and you've
got strong hands and all that kind of stuff. So
reminds me of what Leonard Williams was when he came
out in this draft. And ten years later, Glender Williams
is playing the best football of his career. But that's
what he was coming out of USC column and that's
what he reminds me of.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Right now, Okay, so I want to talk about my
can get Kelvin Banks ready. So everybody tells me it's
not a great offensive line draft. Again, I watched six
Texas games. I watched them when they played great teams.
Kelvin Banks was squishing people. So you tell me as
an offensive lineman, he's big. The size is indisputable, high
(33:18):
school and college dominant.
Speaker 3 (33:20):
Why isn't he considered great? Well?
Speaker 10 (33:24):
I think you know, you see, you know, he's gotten
beat It's not like he's shut everybody out this year,
but you know he's got dancing bear feet with a
big body, long arms, long enough anyways, and he's going
against the best at Texas A and M and you
know the SEC. The last few years, the best thing
to happen to Texas is for them to join the SEC,
get out of the big twelve and go up against
(33:45):
SEC type defensive linemen.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
For guy like Kelvin Banks, it's the best thing to
happen to. These guys.
Speaker 10 (33:50):
They got really good competition every week going against those schools.
So you go against Georgia twice in the last two years,
like you see great defense. You can really measure your
progress because the kid came in at it. You know,
he came in as a five Star Recruit and started
day one for the Long Wars. Yeah, and then went
up the competition two years ago when they went to
(34:12):
the SEC.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
You know, sometimes we and I've had people tell me this, Colin,
don't outthink the room. Sometimes the answer is right in
front of you. And I said, just think about Shador Sanders.
If you pass on him, son of a legend, historically
accurate averaged thirty.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Three a game with no run game and a battle
line and moves well enough.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
I've seen multiple moments and pictures Brian of him standing
next to people my size. I'm sixty two, one ninety.
He's thicker than you think. But yeah, shoulder, he's a
real he's a man, he's a big body. Are we
out thinking the room on this kid? Like we're just
picking him apart? And I'm like, I don't know. Seventy
four percent completion percentage, Brian under duress, that's a real number.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
I can overlook that.
Speaker 10 (35:01):
And he can win from the pocket, that's the basin thing.
He doesn't have to leave the pocket, I mean wins
from the pocket.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Now.
Speaker 4 (35:08):
Pat Sherman was offensive coordinator this year.
Speaker 10 (35:10):
Colin and I talked to Pat at Shador's pro day
in Boulder on April fourth, and he installed Chip Kelly's offense,
basically the most simple offense.
Speaker 7 (35:21):
You can have.
Speaker 10 (35:22):
Inside receivers, outside receivers, because that was the best way
to move the football because they didn't have a tight end,
they had average offensive line, they.
Speaker 4 (35:30):
Didn't have a good running back.
Speaker 10 (35:31):
It was Shador and four receivers, and they took over
a program that won one game and were the Sledge
of college football. And they've somehow won nine games last
year and went to a bowl game. So like he's
elevated that program. But there's not a lot there and
they had and so he got blitzed a lot. He
(35:52):
got Max Blitz a lot, which no quarterbacks in college
football did. Like I'm talking about Blitz Zero's send the
safeties after Sador, speed him up. See what he does.
And he made a lot of big plays to throw.
The deeper the ball goes, the more accurate it gets.
He's got incredible touch on the deep ball.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
So tell me in the NFL locker room.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
The one thing about sometimes in baseball, when you break
into a sport like Bryce Harper, there's a way to
play the game. But I've found in the NFL in
the NBA. If you got swag, if you can play,
guys love it. And I think players will love Travis Hunter.
They'll root for him to play both sides of the ball.
I mean, would you play him both?
Speaker 3 (36:30):
So what do you make of it?
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Oh?
Speaker 10 (36:32):
No, he's unbelievable. In fact, I was at his pro
you know, he was there catching balls from Schador and
honestly everybody was there from the NFL, so I'm representative
from every team.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
I think their jaws just dropped. I mean, the guy
is indefatigable here calling and.
Speaker 10 (36:48):
I don't mean to use a big word here, that's
the only word I can find the guy has. He's
got Michael Jordan type endurance. He does not fatigue. I
don't care at the temperature, the competition. He's the best
corner He plays cornerback the way a thief does. Like
he bakes the quarterback and he gets him to throw
it to where he wants to. Then he takes it
(37:08):
away from him and on the other side of the ball.
His ability to adjust to a ball in the air
is what we see from Garrett Wilson, Devonte Adams, some
of the great receivers in his.
Speaker 4 (37:18):
Game he's got. He didn't wear any gloves at Sadori's
pro day.
Speaker 10 (37:23):
His hands are so good he doesn't even feel like
now he all wear gloves in a game, but he
catches everything and it's it's you just can't take your
eyes off them. And I'll just say this, we're in
the entertainment business, colin the NFL, we're entertainers. You talked
about star powers at WNBA. That's why we watch. It's
the same thing. Any ten year old kid that's gonna
(37:46):
go watch Travis Hunter next year in Cleveland where he's
going because they fell in love with him that day.
They're gonna buy a Travis Hunter jersey before he ever
puts it on, and they're gonna want to play both ways.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
He's gonna start a trend. It's gonna happen. You have
to play them both ways.
Speaker 10 (38:01):
I don't know what the number of snaps are, if
it's a hundred a game, but you've got to start
him on one side of the ball and play him
on the other side in a variety of packages.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Because I just think he's that talented.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Okay, here's somebody I'm a little cool on, Jackson Dart.
It reminds me of a little thicker Zach Wilson. Same
high school, same body type, same offense.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Boy.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
When you sped the game up for Zach, it' BYU.
When you speed it up a little for Jackson, he
wasn't quite the same. There's a certain comfort level, and
I watched them several times. I do think he is
an NFL quarterback. I thought, I still think Zach is.
I think it's I'm here in all this top twelve
fifteen stuff. I don't know, Brian, what's the tape say
(38:47):
to you?
Speaker 4 (38:48):
It's not just the tape.
Speaker 10 (38:50):
There's an emotional part to this game where he's just
too like Zach Wilson, Like it's just too frenetic on
the sidelines. The emotion, whether it's tears or whether it's
joy like, there's not any sort of well I expect it.
I'm a three year starter at Mississippi. I'm expecting to
go beat you know, Georgia, you know, on a Saturday night.
(39:11):
And he did, and he played well in the game.
Speaker 4 (39:14):
He took care of the ball.
Speaker 10 (39:15):
But I just think there's this emotional rollercoaster to how
he plays and who he is, which I don't know
if that's I don't know if it's bad, but I
know when I see it, it can work against him.
And I see that from him, and so I don't
think he's a top fifteen pick. You could talk yourself
into it, because you can go watch the game against Georgia.
(39:37):
You can watch the game last game he played against
Duke in the Gator Bowl, where he threw for four
hundred yards, threw four touchdown passes, did make a mistake.
You can fall in love with him, but I think
the Zach Wilson thing is a pretty good comparison right now.
Speaker 3 (39:50):
Yeah, okay, I'm going to show you my mock draft.
Now this isn't my mock draft.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
So what I do, Brian is I've always said if
I didn't do this, I'd want to be an NFL GM.
It's not going to happen, I know it. But if
I didn't do that, I would do that. Yeah, So
this is who I would draft if I was the
GMS of this team. Just tell me something that you
agree with and there's something you don't buy.
Speaker 10 (40:11):
I saw Cam Woard in Miami's Pro Day, and all
of Tennessee was there, including the reporters that report from Tennessee.
They fell in love with them that day. That's a
Cleveland from Jimmy has them to Andrew Barry, to Kevin Stefanski.
They fell in love with Travis Hunter. He's going to Cleveland.
The one thing I'd say, and I don't disagree with
Shador going to the Giants. They're working about today. Today's Thursday.
(40:32):
They're working them out in Boulder today. But if they
passed an Abdul Carter after they passed on Micah Parsons
after you look at the rich history of pass rushers
with the New York Giants, Like every Giant fan is
gonna go If a Doll Carter lights it up and
Shador sits behind Russell or whatever, they're gonna go nuts.
They're like everybody the owner is gonna fire himself, you know.
(40:55):
So that's the only question I have. Are you gonna
pass an Obdul? And may what greatness looks like? Especially
what could be a Giants' uniform That might be something
that they never ever worrying number eleven wearing mics number
like that might be unforgivable right there.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Let me tell one more.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
I think Ashton Gent works with the Raiders because I
think gino off play action is actually pretty good. Gino
on third and eleven and everybody knows he's throwing makes mistakes.
Gent played at Boise State five eight. Some have said
small does that?
Speaker 3 (41:29):
What do you see?
Speaker 10 (41:31):
I see muscles on top of muscles. The guy is
a like he looks like a bodybuilder, but he's agile.
Like look, chip Kelly's the offense coordinated with the Raiders
when Chip went to Philadelphia. That was Shady McCoy's two
best years. He led the league in rushing in chip
Kelly's first year. He spreads you out and played up
tempo to run.
Speaker 4 (41:49):
The ball like this is.
Speaker 10 (41:51):
You're going to get a lot of a college atmosphere
offense from Chip Kelly with the Raiders this year. I
think genty is the perfect chess piece to go play
with right now.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
That's exciting.
Speaker 1 (42:01):
You know you played for the Cowboys. Do you think
they'll draft a running back? Potentially they need it. You
have no run game.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
What do you make of that they have like one
hundred picks.
Speaker 10 (42:11):
Honestly, like they should go trade up to get Ashton
Gent who I played with Tony Dorsett. You know there's
been EMMITTT. Smith there's been c there's been you know,
all kinds of great running backs in Dallas. They've gone
now a couple of years once Zeke really started to decline.
Where it's falling apart. This is the rich history of
(42:31):
the Cowboys, you know, is at running back, and you
go back to Walt Garrison and Dan Reeves and everybody
else that played there, Like they need a star running back.
Speaker 4 (42:42):
That's what's been missing from this offense here for the
last three or four years.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Brian Baldingger, You're great, Baldy. NFL network is always great stuff.
Thanks man, Thanks don don't you Sue?
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Yeah, he's so good. Yeah, so he's got the Jackson
Dart concerns.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
I do. And listen, I just got a steak dinner
two nights ago from an unnamed source on this I watch.
You know, I watched a lot of college football. You
watch a lot of college football. I didn't see a
first round guy, little hit and miss for me, just
just just not clean enough for me. And I've said this,
I like Jalen Milroll so much about Jalen. Jalen's too
(43:19):
mechanical to be a star quarterback in the NFL. But
I do think you could take him in, write, coach
some of this stuff. A lot of it is who
do you get? I mean, Jackson Dark goes to the
Rams and sits for two years with them, Fay, then
you get a different outcome than him going to the
Saints and starting tomorrow, you know, rushing him in when
he's not quite ready.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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