This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Thanks for listening to the Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at foxsportradi.com or stream us live every day on the I Heart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go, it's hour two. What a great time to be alive. USC, big presence in the Super Bowl. Sam Darnall, I tell you, feeling really good. Don't want to be obnoxious. Man of the people. Jay Mack, I don't want to get over my skis on here, but life is good. So I'm going to get the Nick right in five minutes, but I thought it's the way too early, five up, five down. I love this idea. Okay, so five teams, and it's not just going to be record. You are going to feel differently about these teams positively next year. And then five teams, and some of the teams that I have going down are teams that will be good, but I don't think they'll be as special. So we're going to play five up, five down. Let's start glass half full. I've got two. I am at my core. Of course. First of all, five up. The New York Giants is the easiest pick on the board. I like their roster. Top 10, O-line, top 10, D-line, I think 11, according to PFF. They were one in seven in one score games. Jackson Dart now gets an elite coach and a culture center. They have the number five overall pick. They can trade down and accumulate more picks. Their lines are good enough. They got to get a right tackle, a tight end, probably another weapon. Scataboo, Jackson Dart, four and 13 Giants are my pick to double their win total. They'll look different by mid-September. The commanders, same division. They get Jaden Daniels back. They were five and 12. I don't know if they're going to win 10 games, but they have a lot of cap space. They're the oldest team in the NFL. The commanders are going to be a different looking team. Again, seven one-score games. They won only two. Dan Quinn is solid, if not exceptional. Cap space, lost a lot of close games. They get their quarterback back. Just don't forget how gifted he was as a rookie. The third team is the Detroit Lions at nine and eight. They're going to get back into the 12-win territory. I love, I was surprised it didn't get more positive feedback. The hire of Arizona's offensive coordinator, Drew Pettsing. Didn't anybody else watch Arizona this year and go, how the hell are they scoring all these points with Jacobi Bresset? He's clever, maybe not Ben Johnson, but their stars are locked up. Goff is still in his prime. Amaran St. Brown, Panaysul Hutchison, Gibbs on a rookie deal, were not a very good team in close games. Dan Campbell had to take over the offense. This is still an elite front office that drafts well and acquires well. They're going to get their mojo back. They struggled at OC nine and eight to probably an 11 or a 12-win team. The Chargers, now they were 11 and six and they may only go 12 and five. They will feel different. Mike McDaniel, probably the best coordinator hire in the sport. They get both offensive tackles back and both are way above average. Third most cap space. They have drafted well with Jim Harbaugh. Again, they have been a defensive first team that survives offensively, that we're not considering a Super Bowl team. Next year, they'll be an offensive led team that won't be as good defensively, but you will feel very early in the season. Oh, this team could win the Super Bowl. Whether they do or not, they'll have a totally different feel. And finally, an easy one, the Kansas City Chiefs. Two years ago, they won every close game. Last year, they lost every close game, one in nine. You know, you're going to get in the middle somewhere around there. Also, their offensive tackle position when Josh Simmons wasn't playing, and he's really talented, was a mess. He's back. Mahomes is healthy. Travis Kelsey, I argued for him to return one more year. Listen, you just have to be honest about it. When you're drafting at the bottom of rounds, it's really hard. GMs will tell you after about the 18th pick, you wish you could just have more second and third round picks. They're going to be fine. They're going to improve six and 11. My guess becomes 11 and six. Here's five down. Houston 12 and five. Okay, they have dominated their division the last two years, 10 and two. That's not happening again. That's not happening again. Tennessee is going to be much better. Jacksonville is really good. They've also been five and nine the last couple of years against teams that make the playoffs. I love CJ Stroud. I think he throws the prettiest ball on some Sundays in the league. He has regressed to an 89 passer rating guy who turns the ball over way too much. They will be good as long as D'Amico Ryan's is the coach. But I don't think they feel the same. I don't think offensively they've got the right rhythm. 12 and five to me becomes like, what, nine and eight, 10 and seven, but you never feel like they're a Super Bowl team. I would say the Patriots. Okay, 14 and three is not happening. AFC is going to be much better. The Chiefs will be better. The Chargers will be better. Cincinnati, Baltimore, Jacksonville is only getting better in Liam Cohen's second year. They're not going 14 and three. My guess, they're closer than 10, 11 wins. Also, it's the Dan Marino thing. They got to solve their offensive line. Dan Marino with Don Shul never got back to a Super Bowl. It was a really bad year. I mean, they got, let's be honest, if bow nicks plays, they probably don't make the Super Bowl. They were completely overwhelmed by Seattle. It wasn't necessarily close. I love Vrable, Drake May's good, but you start looking at the AFC. That's just too many good quarterbacks. There's too many good coaches. There's too many good coordinators. They take a step back. 49ers, who I love, 12 and five. George Kittle, probably not available till midseason. Robert Sala had an unbelievable year as defensive coordinator. Bosa, aging, getting hurt more often. What are they going to do at receiver? Brandon Newayuk's gone. John Jennings is a free agent. What are they going to do? Christian McCaffrey comes off a 450 touch season, and he is now 30. So again, they did it with Smoke and Mears last year. They'll be fine. I don't think they're a 12 and five team. Cowboys, seven, nine and one, I think they unravel. They're a mess. How Jerry Jones, the businessman, how can you be this big of a mess? They're 29 million over the cap. The one that paid George Pickens, that's going to cost you $29 million. Worst defense in the NFL. They're spending an NFL high $70 million on their interior defensive line and an NFL low $6 million on their edge rushers. How are they this big of a mess? Stop trying to get discounts, hire a real GM, pay big money for a coach. Seven, nine and one, they're going down. And finally, Philadelphia at 11 and six. How many coordinator changes can you make? You just had a top offensive line coach say, I'm out. You've got some older offensive linemen who are getting banged up increasingly and may, may decide at some point, I'm out. I think they've been doing it a little bit just on Howie Roseman's roster. But I don't feel Siriannis an elite coach. I don't care about the record. And I think the books in on Jalen Hertz, not beloved in the locker room. I've got that sourced. I also, I think he struggles throwing the ball down the field. I said it yesterday, you don't want to give Sam Darnold any credit. Darnold sits in that pocket, doesn't turn it over in the last month and throws the ball right into the heart of the defense. I'm sorry on the market. I think GMs take Darnold over Jalen Hertz. So Giants commanders lying chargers, chiefs up, down Texans, Patriots, Niners, Cowboys, Eagles. I also think Tennessee should be better, but I'm not ready to commit just yet. With that, Nick Wright joins us live. First things first. Anything jump out to you? Any big whiff by me? Well, so I have a question, but first an observation. Overall, I think it's a great list. It is, it did make me smile that all the teams you have trending up, or teams that missed the playoffs or dealt with massive injury, except for of course the 11-win chargers that all we got to do is move on from Anthony Lynn. And Justin Herbert will show you who he, oh, Brandon Staley is the pro, darn it. Jim Harbaugh will fix, that ain't it. No, it was all Greg Roman's fault. Now Mike McDaniel will fix it. You Harbaugh, I mean, you Herbert guys are just something else. Like I am starting to think maybe you, Greece, Sam Monson's palms, so he voted for Herbert for MVP. You might be the man behind the mirror in that. I am, but otherwise I had to really good collection. My question is this, because I was surprised. I don't necessarily think it's wrong. I was surprised you didn't have Baltimore or Cincinnati on trending up. So tell me. Okay, so Baltimore, Lamar wants a new contract. Okay, I'm sorry, but I can turn to yeah. And we just saw it with Josh Allen. No pro bowlers on defense. I think even Brett Veets and the chiefs, when the quarterback's a big quarterback hit, you're not going to have a running get you're going to have a hole. And I believe the NFL is not about being great everywhere. You can't be terrible anywhere. If you're terrible at left tackle, New England chiefs this year when Simmons is hurt, it's just impossible. The coaching's too good. So, and by the way, I like New England and I like the Texans, but the AFC, let's be fair, had a down year. It's going to be noticeably healthier and better next year. Well, and I don't know if you, so I think Patriots right now, and I know we'll talk about the Super Bowl, but I think the Patriots are probably worse than a coin flip to get back to the playoffs next year. And it's not because they were frauds. I like Drake May. I love Vrable. But to go from literally the softest schedule in the NFL this century, and the second softest in 50 years to next year, they had their road games, Colin. They of course have their divisional road games, which Buffalo is one of them. And their other road games are Detroit, the Chargers, the chiefs, Chicago, Seattle, and Jacksonville. So they play six non-divisional road games, four against playoff teams, and the two non-playoff teams are the Lions and the Chiefs. So like that schedule, it a snapback effect on it. And so I think the Patriots, while they could be in the mix for years to come, could have a reality check next season. What do we do with Sam Darnold now? Where do we classify? You skip work and go to the parade. I mean, that's what you do. I said yesterday, y'all forced me to love Brock Purdy. If Purdy and Darnold are on the market, everybody's taken, every GM's taken Darnold. Bigger, stronger, better arm, didn't have a turnover for a month against the NFC playoffs and the Patriots. What do we do with Sam now? I'll let you take it because people don't think I'm objective on that. Well, listen, you don't, this is, I mean, people can say you're not objective. This is the one, I shouldn't say the one, but this is one thing that you can say everyone was wrong but me, Colin Cowherd. Like you get to take a victory lap on this, buddy. You never, you never relented in believing this was possible and no one else thought it was possible. So I will, I give you full credit on that because you deserve it. Now, where he falls in the quarterback hierarchy is this. Yesterday, I thought you did, you did an interesting thing about just comparing him within the NFC because the AFC is kind of stacked with the quarterbacks and the NFC is stacked with with the great teams. Exactly right. That's just how it has fallen. So Stafford's better than him. I understand they won. Stafford's better than him, but Stafford's old. So if you were to say, if the question is, hey, NFC quarterbacks you want for the next three to five years, Stafford's out of it. And then it'd be like, would I rather have Darnold or Hertz? I would rather have Darnold. Would I rather have Darnold or Purdy? I would rather have Darnold. Same. Dak is a question. Dak, I think Dak has shown more, but Dak has never had anything close to the NFC championship game Darnold just had and he's older. So then it becomes Darnold against the younger guys. Darnold or Golf, that's a coin flip to me. And then the younger guys, Caleb, Jaden, Jordan Love, who's about his age but feels young as he didn't play much. Like so, those are all debates. It's remarkable that those are debates, but you hit on, I think, the most important point. He led the league in turnovers and then in week 18 with the one seat on the line, didn't turn it over, first playoff game didn't turn it over, going bar for bar with Matt Stafford in the NFC championship game, which if that was the real Super Bowl, he was the MVP of that game. And then he did what Drake may wasn't able to do in the Super Bowl, avoid the disaster. And he had three or four times in the Super Bowl, Colin, where I was like, oh, he's going to get sacked. And he escaped it just enough to get the ball off, which is all that team needed. It felt to me, Colin, like Mike Vrabel's game plan was, Sam Darnold's going to give it to us. We just have to avoid disaster, be concerned about offense. Darnold will give it to us. The very first throw of the game, I thought he gave it to him. The very first throw, I thought it was a big six. I was like, oh, no, but it got through and he never made a mistake, like a big mistake the rest of the way. You know, it's funny. We had a resurgence of defensive coaches and I do think it's funny. Liam Cohen got more votes for Coach of the Year than Mike McDonald because we can see offense. We can see Shanahan's motion. We can see Liam Cohen's elevation of Trevor Lawrence. And with Liam was on last week, brilliant guy. We can see McVeigh's offense. You can't really see what a defensive coach does. You're like, well, you know, they draft well. And RG3 was on the show on yesterday and talked about that is that we tend. I mean, there's Mike McDaniel in Miami for two years was the talk of the leak because it was like, oh my God, it's clever. Mike McDonald's like, well, I mean, he's not McVeigh or Shanahan, but he's a heck of a coach. And I wonder if we have take out Andy Reed, take out Andy Reed. And you said all these great young coaches has McVeigh and Shanahan have they met their equal in Seattle? Well, so that's, I think it's a great question because the Mike McDonald, what his defenses have done, since he's been with Seattle, 11 games against young quarterbacks. There, those young quarterbacks are one in 10 averaging less than 16 points a game. Crazy. If you take his time and is two years in Baltimore and then to Seattle, where he's running defenses, quarterbacks in their first game, first time seeing his defense, 10 and 33 again, averaging less than 16 points per game. I think there are a couple things that are working against Mike McDonald from like a PR perspective. One is what you're alluding to. Offense seem like the nerds who cover football of which I'm kind of one, lean offense, the analytics lean offense. It's like candy. It's like candy. Right. A guy like, you mentioned McVeigh and Shanahan all go at level lower up until 15 days ago. Kevin O'Connell was considered far above Mike McDonald on the coaching hierarchy because he's the quarterback whisperer guy. Kevin O'Connell, but Kevin O'Connell had a team that had Sam Darnold last year and they got clocked in their first playoff game. They didn't build it out like this. So I think that has worked against him. And the other thing that I think honestly has worked against him is East Coast versus West Coast publicity bias. Like I think if he were the coach of Washington and he would have more Washington commanders rather than Washington state. I just think the fact that Seattle plays a lot of those 405 Eastern games. They're not like a front of the marquee team. He rode a little more in anonymity as opposed to Vrable, who obviously was a celebrity player, you know, a famous player, I should say. But the fact that he's on the East Coast with the Patriots while McDonald's on the West Coast with the Seahawks. I mean, I think Vrable is a great coach, but the level of the PR machine for one versus the other going into the Super Bowl was a little too much. Like I had to read three articles, Colin. They're like, guess what Vrable did the practice before the Super Bowl? You're not going to believe it. Middle of practice. He called his players off the field for an extended halftime and even played bad bunny on the speakers. It's innovation. We've never seen him like guys. He didn't invent practicing for the long halftime. But Vrable, who's an excellent coach in Boston, famous guy, got a lot, a lot of cred leading up to the Super Bowl. McDonald not so much. The um, there's so much here. I want to ask this Laker question because we've got a lot of football and we've got, and I see the clock. So the NBA makes it hard to trade. The NFL does not. And because of that, like Darren Peterson plays for Kansas. Draft him. I don't, I don't care that he's not available much. You draft him. He's a 3 and D player. It's a 3 and D league. I don't care that he misses games. He was sick. People get sick. He has cramps. He looks like Kobe draft him. I don't care. Christian McCaffrey missed a sunbowl. People freaked out. It was one of the best college backs I've ever seen. Draft Christian McCaffrey. So we were saying this with the Lakers. I was reading the LA Times this week. As I'm prone to do. I love the newspaper industry. Of course you even pantomime. You were reading out on your phone. You, the all the broadsheets. You were on, you're in Chicago on the L train. Reading a physical Los Angeles Times bumping into people. I get it. I love it. You painted the picture. And Laker fans in the letters to the editor. They all know the problem. Like every letter was, were atrocious defensively. We're all offensive guys. And I said, Laker fans know the problem. I don't think they know the wrecking ball they need. I said, I think JJ Reddick's good and Luke is excellent. I would move everybody. O KC Detroit San Antonio. Elite defenses, three best teams in the league. You're pretty, LeBron came out last night and to his credit said, you know, the differences. They can play hard for 48 minutes. We can't, we can't do that. When you look at the Lakers and LeBron, how do you part gracefully? Bronny LeBron, how do you make that whole thing work? So it's gracious. You bring the wrecking ball in. Is there, are this going to be one of those clunky awful? That's no way to treat a star exit. No, I don't think that'll be it. Because LeBron's finished his contracts up after this year. It'll be a free agent. And I think he'll leave. LeBron has finished every contract he's ever had. He's honored every contract he's ever had. He's never been traded, never demanded a trade. And I think he'll finish his time with the Lakers. But I think the Lakers story is of this last half decade is that of massive missed opportunity. Because the Lakers, now this deadline, they made a marginal move trading for Luke Conard. But from the championship until the Luca trade, they just stood pat every year at the deadline. They never tried, they always were more worried about Max Cap Space down the road when this is no longer calling a Max Cap Space League because no great players hit free agency. Great players used to if they wanted to change teams, let their contracts expire. Now they're like, team that I don't want to be on, can I have that extension? Oh, we signed it. I'd like to be traded, please. So Max Cap Space is not that useful because what is useful is either trade assets or going for it when you have great players. And I think the Warriors made the mistake of this two timeline nonsense and threw away the last few years of Steph's Prime. And I think the Lakers threw away the last couple years previously when LeBron was still a top three player in the league. Then they got Luca and they still didn't accelerate. They're like, no, we're going to wait, we're going to wait. Man, there is a very real chance that the best teammate Luca Doncic ever has in his Lakers career is LeBron James last year. And the second best one might be Austin Reeves this year to not try to fix what is obviously a fatal flaw of the roster, which is we have no defenders is baffling. And for them to be, and it's not even about LeBron, they are in back to back years, Colin, punting on a chance to win the title with Prime Luca Doncic. You have Prime Luca Doncic, you're like, this year's not the time. And honestly, if we don't pull off a Yanis Heist, next year's probably not the time either. It's baffling. Hopefully the Dodgers folks that are taking it over have a more ticking time clock than Rob Blink has had. But yeah, they're not a championship level team because they got to score 135 to win against good teams. You're not going to win three rounds that way, let alone four. All right, buddy, you did a great job yesterday. You're going to have good shows all week. Oh, thanks. And we'll get to the Chiefs next week. I didn't want to burden you with that when I wanted a Lakers take. Listen, I thought it was, it's nice for the whole NFL to see how the Chiefs have been carrying the AFC this decade. You see these Super Bowls when the Chiefs aren't in them? You see these AFC playoffs when the Chiefs aren't in them? Lot of stittemackers, stittemake, 10-7. Yeah, I mean, everybody miss Kansas City a little bit. It's fine, you're off, be back next year. See you soon, buddy. All right, Nick Wright, first things first. Yeah, it was a clunky AFC playoffs. NFCs were unbelievable. I was talking to my buddy in New York who is a Seahawk, devoted Seahawk fan. And I'm like Six Most Capspace, best defense, young coach, Darnell, team-friendly deal. They've got the first, second, and third round picks. They have about two to three needs. They'll answer all those. I'm not saying, I'm just saying Seattle is going to be really good next year and the year after. Then you don't know. You can't project three years out in pro football. You can project 24 months. That's fair. But if they lose one of two, Walker or Shahid, and what if they lose two of two? They lose both those guys. Shahid, you can lose. I mean, the punt return against the Rams essentially saved their season down 16 with eight minutes left in the game. Yeah. And then they kick off return against the Rams. Walkers, very, very important. Charbonne will be back. But also, I think this Koubiak loss, Colin, I don't want to draw direct parallel to what happened with Jared Goff and Ben Johnson. But we saw when you lose your offensive coordinator, that offense sagged and destroyed. It predicted that. Okay. Goff was still fine. The problem you went from the best offensive coordinator and it dropped down. To an in-house guy. So Clint Koubiak, I don't think is Ben Johnson. I think he's good. So you're not that high. And my gut is John Snyder and Mike McDaniel. They don't choose guy down the hall. McDonald's. Now they may. They may. Yeah. There's chatter. They're going to go in house for that. I don't love that. You don't love that. But my take is Ben Johnson was the best OSE for three years. Clint Koubiak's a really good OSE. And the guy who replaced Ben Johnson, it didn't work. By mid-season, Campbell took it over. If you hire a guy that's not Clint Koubiak, but is capable, it's a really good roster and a really good GM. I mean, last year, Super Bowl team was Philly led by their GM. This year, Super Bowl is Seattle. Oh yeah. Philly lost their OSE. Kellan Moore goes to the Saints. New OSE, total disaster. But still double-digit wins. And it was a disaster. But the division was a joke. Washington fell off a cliff. Wow. I mean, you're almost selling me on the opposite of Seattle. Are they going to go to Nine Winds? That division is brutal. No, no. Seattle's going to be good. Good. Slinging Sammy D is coming back. Live in LA, it's the third. I'm also doing a live radio show from 3 to 5 pm Eastern because my wife wanted to kick me out of the house. It's called Stugats & Company Live, which is available in podcast form right when the show finishes every single day. Some of the biggest names in sports. A lot of phone calls. I love you guys. Your show is one of my favorites. A lot of interaction. Guys not taking themselves too seriously. Those are just some of the things that you can expect from Stugats & Company and Stugats & Company Live. So listen to Stugats & Company Live and our original podcast. Please subscribe, rate, and review. Stugats & Company and God Bless Football. Taylor's livelihood depends on it. Do it today. And you can check all of those out on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Yeah, I don't understand why the NBA, we don't like tanking. Let's be honest. Five to seven teams every year are tanking and everybody understands it and you can't stop it. It's like, okay, just, I'm not saying you have to go and full embrace it, but don't don't change any rules to avoid tanking. And then bottom line, don't you want the bad teams to get good? Let them. I don't like a team being the second worst in the league and then drafting nine. It's like reward them. Give them a player. Guess what? If you do that, they won't be tanking in three years, but it feels like it's the same teams over and over and over. If they don't win the ping pong ball lottery, you know, you have to tank again. Seems to me. Jay Mac with the news. No, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News. You know who had a good Super Bowl, Colin? Cooper Cup. Haven't talked much about him. He was everywhere 61 yards at 12 targets. Pretty good game from Cooper Cup. Afterward, Mike McDonald, he may have gone overboard on Cooper Cup's career and legacy. Take a listen. Cooper is an absolute force multiplier. An absolute stud of a person, stud of a teammate. This should cement him in the Hall of Fame, in my opinion. I mean, Super Bowl MVP, two time champion, all time great teammate. Man. I think the other thing with Cooper is like, he just, the way he's helped our program and how we build what we do from day to day is not talked about enough. You know, he's got a great perspective. I'd be an idiot not to listen to him, you know. Sometimes we don't do what he wants, but definitely listen to him. You know, it's very interesting why he had a big game. So if you're Seattle and preparing for a New England Vrable team, aren't you thinking, oh, they're going to take away JSN? You go into a game knowing that's the Vrable-Bela-Czech mantra. Make teams play left-handed. So Seattle said, we're going to stack it for Cooper Cup. He's going to be more open. So Seattle's game plan was like, okay, JSN's great, but we know what they're going to do. They're going to be all over JSN and they were. And so again, the game plan by McDonald, I thought was superior than the New England game plan, which is Seattle was like, no, we're going to target our number two guy because we know what you're going to do. And Cooper Cup ended up, this is one of the biggest completions of the game. So, you know, in Seattle also, very much early, is like, we're taking field goals. We're not going to play into your game and go for it on 4th down. We're taking the points and just bleed you. Three nothing, six nothing, nine nothing. So Seattle went into this game clearly knowing we're not going to, we know what everybody thinks you're going to do to us and we're going to counteract it. And I thought Seattle had a very smart game plan. That's Kubiak, that's institutional knowledge, walking out the door into, where's he going? Raiders. Yeah, yeah, Raiders. So listen, I like McDonald a lot. I like Cooper Cup a lot. What a great story. I think he went to the same college as you, right? Eastern Washington, something like that. That's largely understood as the Princeton of the Palouse. Yes, I've heard that somewhere before, I think from you. I just don't like when McDonald goes overboard and says cement him as a hall of famer. Can't we just say like one of the better receivers of his generation? Well, he's, I did a drill down, Colin, during the commercial break. You know how many 1000 yard receiving seasons Cooper Cup has in his career? Three. Two. Yeah. One amazing season. I think he's a very good player. I don't know if he's out of the hall of fame. I don't like that. I mean, he's had a lot of injuries. Yeah. But I just, I don't like when guys go overboard. Put too much pressure. Like if I recall like year three to year seven, he had like a four year stretch ring was just a monster. Year three, he was really good. He was, you know, 1100 yards, 10 touchdowns. I think that was with Gofflin, they went to the Super Bowl. Then when they get Stafford, he had another monster year. But I understand the force multiplier in the locker room. I think you told, was it the New York Post? Did you tell them that about me when I joined the staff? That's not overcalled that. And I get it. Cooper Cups work ethic and all that stuff. They, they love him. He's a great guy, but let's just, let's pump the brakes on hall of fame for Cooper Cup. And I like him a lot. All right. Let's move on to NFL draft season, Colin. The combines coming up here in what two weeks. Yep. Joel Klatt has released mock draft 1.0. And as you will find out when you look at a lot of these mock drafts, there's no surprise at the top. Everybody in their mom has been doza going one to the Raiders. To there is some question. Reuben Bain gets a lot of love, but Klatt has a R Val Reese, the great linebacker from Ohio State. He played a lot of middle linebacker, then came off the edge this season. Great player. I would take an offensive lineman or an edge rusher over a outside lineman. I don't know. I mean, we just saw a Super Bowl where the defense dominated. The Jets are rebuilding their defense. Reuben Bain would be hard for me not to tell you. I like Bain a lot. There's a lot of chatter about his short arms. Arm length could struggle with the left tackles. By the way, I don't want to see the Giants take a receiver. Take Spencer Fano from Utah. Get your right tackle fix for Jackson Dart who was in the blue tent. Yeah, I don't understand that either. Carnell takes great. You don't need another receiver. Get Jackson Dart and Scattaboo a wall in front. And not to knock the wide receivers, but if you look at like the last like 10 years, the first receiver usually is not the best one. And that happens because you get more value when the guy drops down. I don't know about Mackay Lemon. You know him a lot. I know him a lot. You think he goes eight? That's a little rich for my goal. I can tell you. I can tell you there are teams that like him when you get into the 11, 12, 13, 14. Yes, I would agree with that. He is considered a can't miss, not a superstar. Absolute. I would say the comp is a little Amaran Saint Brown. But you know, and Amaran's been great that doesn't drop it. Route tree. What's really happened. Carnell takes more of a physical specimen. Mackay Lemon's just incredibly open and dependable. Strong hands, no drops. Very good after the catch, but not a burner. Was it the Illinois game? He was just unguardable. I forgot which one it was. He was so good. He didn't have off games at USC. Yeah, he's exceptional. Um, the Jeremiah Love stuff is going to be interesting. I think a lot of people are saying, chiefs, that doesn't make sense. Oh, it does. They have so many needs. Colin, are you kidding me? Oh, I think I think. Why is he going to run by? I think he is exceptional. The last time they took a number, uh, running back first round was Clyde Edwards, Hilaire, but that was bottom of the first. Still, uh, it didn't really work out. Well, running back that high, uh, question. And then finally, Caleb Downs, there is some, uh, I got to be careful here. There's a lot of love for what happened in the Super Bowl with Amman Wari, the safety for the Seahawks. Yes. And there's a couple other safeties around the league who are being moved around, like chess pieces, hugely valuable. I think Caleb Downs is a little low at 12 to the Cowboys. If you can get Caleb Downs at 12, I think he's going to go higher than that. That's, I think it's. There's four would put the, uh, put now is this year? Oh, this is Joe Klatt. This is Joe Klatt. I'm going to say something. Klatt's got a lot of big 10 guys in there. This is a really, really good draft. Yeah. Very good. Those are the top 12 players. There are some. Yeah. David Bailey at Texas Tech is unblockable. Now there is some off field stuff about Bailey that's starting to bubble up. We'll see. I like him a lot. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not taking shots, but obviously draft season is going to be fun. Very good offensive tackle and edge rusher draft. And as you saw this season, that's massive. Final story con. Let's go to the NBA. Ooh, Lakers going to be very spicy here this off season. And, uh, may not be good for Rob Palinka. There is a report and I know there's a lot of reports out there, but this one indicates that if LA doesn't make a deep playoff run, Rob Palinka's job will likely be on quote life support, despite him trading for Luca Dodgers last year. Now some of that has to do with this Dodgers new ownership situation. You know how it goes. New front office. They want their guys and they could have a new GM targeted Palinka could be trouble. The problem with Rob Palinka. I walk in as the Dodger guy. And I look at the league and I do analytics and it is a 3 and D league. And you don't have any elite defenders and not enough shooters. I'm I'm I got nothing against Rob Palinka who can be a little thin skinned like Rob. You don't have what the league is. This is a fantasy office. It's difficult to find those guys when you're a handicap by the LeBron contract. I'm not. I again, I'm not saying it's all on Rob. What I'm saying is go look at OKC. That's what you want to be. You need and I'm not and I said people understand the wrecking ball. The Lakers need about five more B plus up players like like a Mikhail Bridges. They need but I mean my first round picks for not one. They need two Mikhail Bridges. They needed a better rim protector. They need at least two more three point shooters. And despite all that their fifth in the west. It they're not they are a regular season team. That's also true. And they are they are so built for now. Check in April May when people start defending the they went into the Minnesota series. Lot of oh you were one of them. It could be interesting. It was a complete mismatch because once you play a team over and over and over then they can hunt your weaknesses. The Lakers have a lot of weaknesses. Red X first postseason. I'm going to excuse it away. I'll just say this. Polinka better go into that meeting with ownership armed with a lot of stats and an offseason game plan. Or Colin you know how these Dodgers guys operate. I think he could be ushered out quite quickly if he doesn't come with like a great offseason game plan. And there's a lot of good free agents out there. I think the Lakers are in good shape. I think a Clippers fan on staff put this together. The Lakers under Polinka we have their history here. I don't know if we're going to show it but from 2017 to 2025. Let's just say a lot of first round exits for Polinka in Los Angeles. Not great. J. Mac with the news. Well that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Ly News. Todd McShay last hour. We're going to go back into that draft. It is a really good draft for the star quarterback at the top. It's The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in New Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS1 and the I Heart radio app. The great American race returns with back to back champion William Byron looking for a historic three-peat. It doesn't get me bigger than this. It's that 68th running of the Daytona 500 Sunday at 2 30 Eastern with pre-race coverage starting at 12 30 only on Fox. Todd McShay last hour. We called it five up and five down. Five teams in the league we think are trending up. Will be noticeably better teams. It won't all be just record. And then five teams and many teams I like. I feel like they'll pull back. The five up teams. The Giants is the easiest call in the league. I also think the Chargers and Lions big hits at offensive coordinator will empower the teams. I like both front offices. Kansas City is not going 6 and 11 again. And I think Jaden Daniels is healthy and if he's healthy is a very good quarterback. I like the Texans and the Patriots and the 49ers. I really do. But we got a question about CJ Stroud and they have not been good outside of their division. The Texans have dominated their division. Jacksonville could be better. I think Tennessee is going to be one of the two. You got to keep your eye on Tennessee. My guess is they're much better. New England again. I like New England and the Niners. But they got lucky to some degree. Didn't have to face Bonix. Bad weather. They were a limited offense with a great defense. Bad weather maybe played into it a little bit. I mean they played a Chargers team that had the 32nd ranked O-line. I could see the Patriots being a 10-win team, an 11-win team, and playing road games and against Patrick Mahomes or a Josh Allen. Niners I think are well run. But they've missed on enough draft picks that they have holes in their roster. And I think Seattle and the Rams are stacked. I think it's unbelievable. One of the coaching jobs of the year, I said I was giving coach of the year to Kyle Shanahan. That's who I gave coach of the year to at 12 and 5. They did not have 12 and 5 personnel. Shanahan and Sala were remarkable and now Sala just walk out the door. Bosa, he's getting older, getting dinged up. And I don't know what they're going to do at Wide Receiver and McAfrey's coming off a 450-touch season. Cowboys, Eagles, I think Dallas unravels. And I think Philadelphia is just its musical chairs with coordinators. Is there one that you adamantly disagree with? I largely agree with your trending up. I don't know about the commanders though. Not sure. Dan Quinn had to basically gut his coaching staff. Old roster. I would swap out the commanders and put in the Cincinnati Bengals who get Joe Burrow hopefully for a full season and you know they're going to eclipse six wins. On the trending downside, I'm surprised you didn't have the Pittsburgh Steelers on there. I mean, we've talked about them a lot. I think Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers. Whoa, is it going to be Rodgers or Will Howard? We don't know, so I'm waiting for that. Okay. So I think they could be a 10-win team. I think Mike McCarthy wins with B plus quarterback. So just again, I know we don't talk Houston Texans a lot on this show. Why are they trending down? Remember, Nico Collins missed the playoffs game last year. 10 and two in division. Five and nine against playoff teams. They're just, I mean, I'm the CJ Stroud defender. He had not the same quarterback. That's fair. They started 0-3. They had Stroud had a couple concussions. Nico Collins in and out, but they got the quarterback on the rookie deal and that defense is all coming back. How long are they going to have that quarterback on the rookie? They have big decisions to make. I think they got one more year before Demico Ryan's is on the hot seat. Again, I can like it. I like San Francisco, but 12 and five was shockingly effective. Got a couple of big off-season decisions. Duane Jennings is a sneaky big one for them. I like him a lot. I don't think it's sneaky. That's a big decision. Hour three.
