Colin Cowherd Podcast - Out on Kyler + Middlekauff on ‘Quarterback’ vs. ‘Hard Knocks’, Belichick Hot Seat, Lincoln Riley/Chargers Fit

more than ever are fluid. Employees more than ever are mobile, and so your reputation will travel. My dad used to say all the time, be nice to people. Lubricate society because at some point your career will be decided by rooms you're not in. You know, people, management will vote on you, owners will discuss you, and so. Kyler Murray is viewed recently as being dysfunctional, but Cliff Kingsbury, he was his coach. Cliff Left, has all sorts of info

on Kyler Murray. Steve Kime GM left has all sorts of info. Kim also had a staff. Kingsbury had a staff look at the people over the last three years that have been with the Cardinals executives, coaches, players, Larry Fitzgerald that are now gone, and when people ask all those people about the Cardinals, they ask about one person in particular, Kyler Murray. So I defended Kyler Murray pretty righteously for his first three years. He kept getting better.

He threw a beautiful football. He reminded me of a smaller Russell Wilson, who I think is a Hall of Famer. And it's a dysfunctional organization starting with ownership, so tough division, weird ownership. I kind of defended him. I said I'd sign him. You're trapped. You got to have a guy.

But what's interesting this off season, as the Cardinals once again have blown up their coaching staff and made changes in the front office, it's amazing when I went to UFC, or when I go out, or when I'm at any sports function that involves anybody in the NFL, how many people are talking about Kyler Murray. And it's not good. So I always say, new information equals new opinion. If you were on a flight and you got new information from the radar, would you want the pilot to avoid

a lightning storm or fly through it? If your doctor takes an X ray, your son, your daughter gets new informed. Would you want to stick with what they thought the problem was or would you want them to function based on the new X ray? Fans Earl is, so beholden to you said this a year ago? Yeah, no, shit. Information changes. So my feeling on Kyler Murray today is different than a year ago. There is so much information

now that has left that building that it's just incredible. Scouts, coaches, executives, people in this sport talk and they talk about Kyler Murray and I have a hard time with indifference. It's Ben Simmons. It doesn't matter how good you are if you don't love it, if you have to be prodded into prepping, prodded into playing, you don't want to run because you don't want to get hit. I struggle with it. You can have so many flaws. I can't live with indifference.

I can deal with ego, I can deal with soft, I can deal with emotional to some level. I can't deal with indifference. Like when I hire people at the volume, are you ready to compete? Do you love your job? There's nothing you can do with indifference. So, Kyler Murray, there's all sorts of comments he made in the last couple of days about last year. It was a negative vibe.

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goes when you're in the up building. If you had to have this intrusive film crew, you're just putting out fires before they get there.

because we've been talking a lot about it. It's just the quarterback. I mean, it's just the quarterback, the offensive play caller, the head coach. That's all I want. Yeah, because the Hard Knocks is not giving me the inside. They don't talk shit about the players anymore. It's very it's what I can get on all the team's websites. To me, it's random's.

There's so much duplication on the market. FS one, ESBN all day, all these radio shows talk NFL, so there's no unique conversations whereas baseball, the national talk shows don't talk it ever, ESPN, Fox don't talk, so MLB Network those discussions aren't being had anywhere else, and it makes MLB Network the best of all the networks. It's like really really strong, unique takes that have never been out in the sphere. And I think it's the same thing

with HBO. Everybody's got access. It's ramped up over the last ten years, and I just think it's sort of a milk toast. Seen that heard that, viewed that at last two years. I've just watched bits and pieces and sort of thought I was bored.

He's not I would say beloved in a locker room, and Mahomes is just the total package, has all the physical attributes and is absolutely beloved. Growing up in northern California. You talk to anyone that played with Montana, they still love him to this day. He was just one of the guys and obviously was a great player. Rady had that obviously great player, but those guys swear by him. The human Mahomes, Travis Kelce goes everywhere with them. I mean they are tied at the hip, knowing people in

that building. It's the human because all these guys have the talent, like Cousins is more than talented enough to be a top a little bit better than he is, but something's just missing, you know. And when you watch Mahomes, you just go God, the Chief struck oil on that bad boy.

guys like far more than Aaron. Aaron's just a smarter version, you know Aaron. They're both kind of difficult, little bit ad liberoff script, but I always preferred Aaron. I thought he was more efficient, less risky. But Aaron connects with a finite number of people. Bochdari, Randall Cobb, you know, Jordy Nelson. There's been guys. It's not that he doesn't connect, but you know, Aaron's not for everybody. He's kind of a Hollywood guy. He's a little too cool for the room.

Never married, no kids, older player. Almost every old player in the NFL is married with kids, everybody over thirty.

of stuff's out of your control, you know. And Sam Darnold's going to be a good example, right, He's clearly never going to live up to the what if he resurrected his career with Kyle Shanahan. It just shows you the power of infrastructure a coach, I would be very hesitant of just the number one. He's already rich. Just going to the number one pick if it's a shit organization column.

them the players. So I would have no problem with you know, I saw Lay and Eli Manning do it. Why can't Caleb Williams say I'm.

not like growing right. So my takeaway is if they don't make the playoffs and in the AFC, you got to win those close games Chargers, which historically you haven't, right, you just can't give away games when you outplay teams. If they fire Brandon Staley, I think they'll make the Calder Lincoln Riley. But what saves USC is that he makes over ten million a year and that he'd want fifteen because he can stay at USC as long as he wants. And I think Kellen Moore would get the

job because the spanosays historically don't spend on coaches. You could give Kellen four and a half, you know, four and a half, five and a half, six and a half, But I think the two coaches because you can't go from defensive coach the defensive coach. If no, you'd have to go offense. And my guess is the people in LA would say take Lincoln bruin fans, which chertainly screamed at. But I think but I think Kellen Moore would be next in line. So to me, Brandon Staley has the

most heat on him in the league. Is there a second?

several months. It's unique because this guy's won six Super Bowls, but there is a weird elephant in the room. Pressure on Bill. I think there was tangible pressure of him being aggressive and stealing his offensive coordinator from his good friend Nick Saban. Obviously they have a relationship, but you know Nick doesn't love losing offensive coordinators all the time, like he fights to keep those guys. They usually go

on to be head coaches, not another offensive coordinator. I guess Brian dabol did it too, But I think there's enough smoke where there is no one's acting like Belichick's the village idiot. But isn't there just a time where every coach, well, usually it doesn't go like Popovich where you just don't win for seven eight years and kind

of get to survive. Usually during that period it ends, I don't care how many championships you have in the history of sports, and how are they going to be that good relative to the AFC Colin And also.

they surprised? Right now? Now, we just had some horrible media layoffs, but very rarely as a coach fired, and everybody goes WHOA. When Belichick he's always had kind of a you know, he's short with people. He can be sort of condescending, right media certainly for sure. Obviously he didn't get along great with Brady. No dinners together in twenty some years, so it wasn't great. But for the Crafts, or somebody in their circle. There's a lot of inside

information critical of Bill and those books. It had to come somebody in that family or near it. I think they would first go to him and talk about a consulting seven figure consulting role. But fourth place is fourth place, and I think the minute he went defensive coordinator to offensive coordinator, he sort of laid the groundwork because what

happened is he not only made the offense worse. It's a little bit of a speed bump for mac Jones, and reportedly Ben Vollen said this week that mac Jones and his family have forged the relationship with the Crafts so smart, so they're hearing things, they're hearing the frustration. I don't think it's outrageous after the year, if Bill steps down and there's a backdoor deal of some monetary noteworthy monetary value.

their offensive personnel. It's not explosive enough and you can't just go nineteen eighty seven, you know, try to run for twenty eight hundred yards in this leak current league, especially in the division they're in, which can all score points, right, have explosive quarterbacks. The other thing, when you're an owner or you know, and the fans, you get to see the Miami Dolphins offense and Josh Allen and now Aaron Rodgers. That's six games right that your watch and start to finish,

and you kind of really know. And they've had a front row seat now in Josh Allen kicking their ass for a little while, and now with Tua being more explosive, or even if Mike White has to play the amount of talent they have on offense, they're going to score points in Miami. So I'm with you. I think he has I think trouble is ahead. You know, it doesn't make him like he's got stupid overnight or now he's an idiot. And I think other teams would be very interested.

But that also be interesting, right, a guy over seventy, very stuck in his ways. He was used to making a lot of coin. I mean, someone just giving him four years eighty million dollars.

used to be New England work the other teams. So by signing Devonte Parker and not having really a high end tight end, what does it do? It makes Mac Jones less crucial. This team can win one way now, run game and defense.

not Max not where. Remember when Brady and Randy Moss really lit the world up. That's kind of the beginning of where Bill lost his leverage. It wasn't in the super Bowl. It was like, oh, Tom's the greatest quarterback ever, literally shattered records. That's when Tom started doing more commercials, was more comfortable speaking out. And I think that's coin of the tipping point where Bill felt, I'm not going to do that again. He's not going to make a guy and then lose control.

boy out and let a rip. And I know they invest in Odell Beckham, they drafted a first round wide receiver that they are I'm sure going to try to get away from that. Three running backs behind Lamar the zone re just hammer you because that's what he wants to do. Yeah, And historically, when you pay a guy, you know you want to mold him into more of

a passer. But to me, that's a very slippery slope, Colin, because when you're good at something, you right that his speed in athleticism is really what makes him an elite player when he's rolling.

Remember he struggled to win from behind for the first couple of years. So when coverage draw it for Mahomes is the best quarterback ever. It doesn't matter if you drop eight in the coverage, He'll find space. Lamar's first year and a half was mostly played well with a lead, great on second and two, third and one play action. I did think in year three he became a better I thought he was better throwing when you knew he was throwing. So, I mean there's a lot of guys

like not everybody like Russell Wilson. It's not a great pocket passer, is he.

scramble plays like some of the places. Kyle Shanahan uses the boots and the nakeds to just get you moving, keeps the defense a little bit on their heels, like the Jared Goff. Guys don't really have the ability to do that Kirk Cousins. So when they get themselves in a predicament and everything's not on time, it's kind of fucked right because they can't add lib And that's the

mac Jones thing. And I tend to lean just being around Andy Reid likes more athleticism, back to the West Coast offense, which they all learn from Walsh to home grind to. They like a guy to just be able to move, just because it opens up the playbook and a lot of times plays if you don't have Manning or Brady. They most guys can't just make things happen on their own from within the pocket if it's not there,

so your feet can keep you alive. Really, what make Russell such an elite player in his prime was not necessarily running down the field like Lamar Jackson or Kyler Murray. It was behind the line of scribbage, keeping it alive and then pushing the ball, you know, twenty thirty yards to get explosive plays, and I think that's the Caleb Williams, the drake that's really the modern day player, right is much more Trevor Lawrence, all the Herberts. It's much more

of an athletic position than it used to be. More of these Eli's rivers. Those guys maybe are more likely to play baseball now and pitch than they are to be star quarterbacks.

They were thought of as having some very interesting young pieces Garrett Bolls left tackle who eventually got hurt last year. But it's interesting because last year, as I watched Russell, it wasn't that he couldn't run. If you went to late game situations, he was still highly effective. He's never been a burner. He was just elusive. He bought time, and so you'd get into these late game situations and you're like, Ross, you're cooking, Well, why can't you do

this in the first three quarters? And my belief was that Russell wanted to prove when he got this contract with Denver, I can throw it from the pocket. I'm not gonna be run around guy like Kyler Murray. I'm not going to be run around guy. He didn't like me pigeonholed. But the truth is, when I talked to Sean Payton when he was on the herd, he said he needs to go back to playing basketball on grass.

That's what he is. And so I think what you're going to see from Russ this year is Sean Payton saying, listen, lean into you like you're not a pocket guy like two acknowlogists can't see over the line. Kyler admits, I need to create space. I think Russell got into a Okay, now I'm making fifty. That's the Tom territory, that's the Peyton and I think psychologically he fell. Hey man, I'm not gonna get beat up. I'm gonna throw from the pocket.

And when you combine that with a left tackle that got hurt, injuries to receivers, and a horrific offensive coach, it all unraveled. My guess is Russell looks a lot like Seattle Russell this year.

combination of the two guys. Right, You're the athlete who has proven to be a good thrower of the football. I've proven I can dial up the offense, trust and believe in me. I think the problem was with Russell Gillin last year is that he had more equity, had more juice than the coach. Those are all the stories. You know, if Russell wanted to do something that's not

the way football works. Not that you don't give in sometimes and utilize what your star players or any player in your offense has an idea, but it was clear the hierarchy of power was anything Russell wanted to do, that's what would happen. And then the stories about the signals being off, the verbiage, it's just a lot going on. That's not going to happen with Sean Paygne because it's his way or the highway. But he knows what he's doing.

So I'm still hesitant to feel confident about them being back because we've seen players like him once they start turning the wrong way. If athleticism is starting to administ, that'd be a problem. But if, like you said, it was just more hesitation, he was trying to prove something which listen to any human being in what any field tries to prove something. I understand it if he will take the ego out of it and just listen to Sean Payne. He has proven that he can score on anybody.

And their defense is already good. That's another thing with Brandon Staley. If they are better, right, you know, the Chiefs aren't going anywhere. The rest of the AFC is really good, that would be a problem for the Chargers, who have no business being a really good team. I think that we thought that division was going to be the best last year coming in the AFC West. I think this year it's more of the year because now Denver is legitimate, Herbert should be even better. I think

Kellen Moore is pretty good. Yeah, I actually think that he's If they ended up doing that transition wouldn't be the craziest thing because the other thing with Lincoln Riley, right at the end of the day, USC can always kind of check to match whoever right. Jerry Jones definitely Dean Spanos, who has the money, he's just sometimes hesitant to pay it on the coaches and Kellen. Now you know Lincoln, I mean, I think he's pretty comfortable in

his situation. They got it rolling, getting all these sec transfers, the transfer portal is going to change their operation that they feel like that. I wouldn't want to say heavy favorites, but they should win the PAC twelve this year, definitely

not get beat by Utah twice. So yeah, I mean, I think Denver is kind of a wild card because if you get even not the a Russell we've seen but last year, if we gave him a grade let's say a C minus, if you get the BB plus with that head coach, are they a ten win team that they definitely could be? All Right?

and play. Limitations, but plug and play. So I have them in a really weak division and an incredibly weak conference Carolina being the shock, but a team I'm just gonna ask you about one team because I am fascinated and I don't know the answer. By Thanksgiving with the Chicago Bears, are we going to say justin fields?

was so lucrative it didn't matter getting Dj Moore. If they end up drafting a quarterback this next year, is the right big picture move, and he's a good guy. People like him, and he's he's such a great athlete that he could just function. But Colin, they think the stat is that last year the Colts are, for example, who were down all the time, I think average like thirty six passing attempts. Again, the Bears were well under

twenty five I think at twenty two. So that shows you that the coaches who are still there coming back did not even when you're shitty, you pass it, whether you're you and me are the wide receivers, whether you got Jerry right, you're trying to win right, and they just refuse. So to think that there is going to be some dramatic jump, especially that they have unproven coaches.

That's the other thing. If you told me that he was around Sean McVay and Andy Reid at pal Shanahan, you go, okay, I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt. With his physical tools. I loved him coming out. I remember I would have taken him beside Trevor Lawrence. I thought the Jets should have taken him at two. The Niners definitely should have taken him at three, just because of the physical tools, and then it's on the

coaches to mold it. But I think it's pretty concerning, and he's a classic guy where everyone gets bullish in an offseason where nothing's really changed beside some talent around him. But you've seen DJ Moore dominate on some teams that lose a lot of games, right, So it's just that that would I would bet against it. Now, are they going to be crappy enough to be draft in one or two? Probably not, but they do have some now

draft ammunition, you know, to get up. I think we talk a lot about Caleb Williams, but I think Drake May is going to be viewed as, you know, like a one B level guy. I mean, I think that the buzz on him to my scouting buddies, Caleb just is a wold guy anyone the season live. But I think Drake's pretty damn close to that big huge arm. Saban was all over him out of high school again, tried to buy him last year in the offseason. Like,

I think he's the real deal. So I think the you know, it's one of those draft classes that's going to be viewed coming out. You know. Now things change once you're you know the Zion Job Moran like two Camp missguys and their talents. Can't debate. They got some eating problems and some gun problems, But I think Caleb and Drake are going to be viewed as just a pretty special and the difference of some of these classes that have been viewed like that a couple of years ago,

the Zach Wilson and Trey Lance. Clearly that year with the COVID was all messed up. These two guys are going to play a lot of football against a lot of big time teams, night games with the lights on, with all these scouts coming through for multiple years. So there's gonna be a lot of evidence on both of them, which there already is. I mean, I would imagine if you went around the draft boards right now, they're pretty entrenched at number one and number two.