Should LeBron James have STAYED on Miami Heat + Most underrated NFL team | THE HERD w/ Colin Cowherd

Should LeBron James have STAYED on Miami Heat + Most underrated NFL team | THE HERD w/ Colin Cowherd

So yesterday I did a rant and it got a lot of it was a couple days ago and it got a lot of play and I I I I my my rant was anytime you talk Michael and LeBron James and LeBron’s been in the news because he hasn’t made contact with new Laker Marcus Smart guy’s on vacation. Put your phone when I go on vacation I’ll run into people who filling in for you. I have no idea. It’s not my company. I put my phone down. I move on. I’m gonna defend LeBron on that. we should all put our phone downs and disappear when we go on vacation and be with our kids and our families and our wives and our in-laws or whatever. So, I I I had this rant that LeBron will never be as beloved as Michael because we we went through the Michael journey with him. We saw the Pistons beat him up and he had multiple coaches and we saw the Celtics beat him up and we lived through his journey. He was a college basketball player at Carolina, the great shot against Georgetown. Sports makes you feel something and and Michael makes us feel something and and LeBron has been, you know, I called him in my rant the ultimate basketball opportunist and it was seen as a shot at LeBron. And I want to add clarity. It’s not. I would have left Cleveland the first time, too. Seven years, couldn’t get him an All-Star. You don’t owe your first team that drafts you your entire career. College kids now transfer two or three times. But if I was LeBron, I would have stayed in Miami because of Eric Spolstra, Mickey Harrison, the owner, and Pat Riley. No state tax. It’s a winter league, warm weather, and the Miami Heat are always in contention for great free agents. I would have stayed there. Now, people say, “Well, LeBron, his heart was in Cleveland.” No, it wasn’t. He left it a second time. He understood going to Cleveland was good for his brand. He didn’t like being a villain. He acknowledged that later. The Sports Illustrated letter. And I and I’m not banging on people who leave Cleveland. Our staff put up a list today of people that have left Cleveland. It it’s a lot of Drew Carey and and and George Stein Brener and Steve Harvey and Paul Newman and the Kelsey’s and Drew Carey and Logan Paul and LeBron James. A lot of people leave Cleveland. There’s just, you know, there’s New York. There’s Chicago in the Midwest. There’s LA. There’s London. There’s just there’s Cleveland is not a place you have to stay or that is always great for commerce. It’s a great place to be born and from. Sometimes it’s not a great place in your prime to be living, right, for your career. So, I’m not banging on that, but don’t tell me that LeBron Cleveland’s where his heart is. He’s not going to retire in Akran. And he left it twice. And the reason he left it, it was time. He wanted to go to LA. It was good for his brand and he could play with bigger stars because bigger stars like Luca and AD like to play in Los play in Los Angeles. And so I I go back to this is that the downside and I speak from experience to bouncing around the country in your career. You know, if anybody’s followed me, I Vegas, Tampa, Portland, Fox, ESPN. The downside to that is that that that you know, you you never live in that culde-sac where your kids grow up and they have lifelong friends. I have to live with that. the upside to moving around a lot and LeBron has seen this. He’s overall played with better teammates. Michael’s best teammate, he’s got one great one, Scottie Pippen. I mean, LeBron’s got D. Wade and Kyrie Irving and Chris Bosch and AD. And LeBron’s played with more great players. LeBron’s been to more finals. LeBron’s had fewer long droughts or battles within an organization. He bails for commerce. And that’s okay. But my whole point was for athletes, we love the perseverance. There is a beauty in the struggle. They make 30 for30s on the struggle. They’re almost all about somebody overcoming turbulence, chaos, fighting and winning. That’s where they make 30 for30s from. And sports is romanticized. And we’ve always thought of Michael as part of our sports love story. LeBron has simply been transactional. That’s the downside to being the best basketball opportunist ever. You played with better teammates. You made more finals. You made a lot more money, by the way, as a player. But it’s hard to fall in love with that. You fall in love with the people in your culde-sac. Same high school, same people you grew up with. Thanksgiving, next door neighbor may just pop into the house with a gift. You don’t get that with LeBron. And you got it with Michael. And that’s really the difference. Okay, so um I know you’re thinking I’m obsessing about this Caleb Williams stuff, but Jaden Daniels hit, Bo Nicks hit, I’m going to be all over JJ McCarthy, I think Drake May’s hit, I think the JJ McCarthy, Caleb Williams stories. If these guys hit and Pedix hits, it’s a six for six draft with quarterbacks in the first round. Never happened. And I do think struggling, it’s red zone one day, deep balls next day, can’t get into a play the next day. It matters. A lot of athletes say, “Well, you can’t take everything or anything from camp.” You can take some stuff. I remember last year, Jac Jaden Daniels, I said this five times on the air. I’m like, generally coaches kind of keep quiet to lower expectations on rookies. And we said this four or five times. Dan Quinn and Kingsbury kept coming out publicly and going, “This is unbelievable.” The and this was after like three practices. You can watch those musical shows, The Voice or American Idol years ago. You can see great very quickly. Now, it may be hard to tell good to very good or bad to disaster, but you can see awful and you can see great very quickly. And I don’t think it takes long on a date or a job interview or for a young quarterback to see trouble. Shawn Peyton was texting me last year in camp and he was like, “Kid’s going to be good.” Said, “Give him a few starts. You know, he’s got to get up to the speed. You know, nobody starters don’t play in preeason. Can’t take a ton from preseason.” But he was saying, “The kids got it. He’s going to be good soon and by October.” Bonix was a really good quarterback. Yeah. Well, it’s a perfect seamless move from what Drew Brees looked like in the pocket to Bo Knicks. Very similar. You know, I look at Jared Goff and then I look at Caleb Williams. Those are two polar opposite quarterbacks. And I just wonder I’m starting to wonder and again I probably shouldn’t, but this is you hammering away at Caleb Williams every day. I’m starting to wonder like Ben Johnson great offensive mind. We we don’t know what he’s going to be as a head coach. Head coach is a lot more difficult than just being an offensive coordinator. And so far, you know, Rocky start maybe you’re on to something. I don’t know. It is interesting when a guy comes with a great reputation as a coordinator. Like like for instance, Kyle Shanahan came in with a great reputation as a coordinator. That’s usually successful. I mean, Shawn McVey came in and people were saying, “This guy’s as sharp as any 30-year-old coaching person in the league.” And he was a home run. Now, there are guys you’re not sure how it’s going to work, but I mean, Ben Johnson, we talked about him for two years. We were like, dude, he is he is calling and dialing up misdirection, trick plays, like he was he was not your typical offensive coordinator. Like, he was somebody we were sort of mesmerized by. We were mesmerized by Kyle Shanahan. So, and by the way, when Kevin Oonnell got the job in Minnesota, he was called the tall Shawn McVey. People said, “Yeah, he is really sharp.” When Demo Ryans went to Houston defensive coach, but I can remember making a call to the Niners and they’re like, “Bro, he moved up our organization in two years. He was our sharpest assistant first day on the job.” So, I do think Ben feels like more of a McVey, a Shanahan, or a Kevin Oonnell. Zack Taylor wasn’t somebody. People said he was bright, but he didn’t get all the accolades of Ben Johnson or Kevin Oonnell or Kyle Shanahan. People say, you know, he’s McVeyy’s guy, but Raheem Morris, people liked him. McVey liked him. He didn’t get the accolades. Ben’s coming in with a lot of momentum. Yeah. Well, one thing we I totally forgot until you just said it now. So, Bellichic went from Drew Bledsoe successful to Brady. Similar quarterbacks, big strapping pocket guys, right? Andy Reid goes Donovan McNab who was you know really really good quarterback we forget that to Patrick Mahomes similar like can run but can win from even Alex Smith was a mover. Yes, Alex Smith was a mover. Jared Goff to Caleb Williams you would agree those are not the same type of quarterbacks. Colin and I just wonder if the learning curve is a little larger for Ben than we thought it might be. I think that’s a very legitimate and a very good point. It’s like going from Matt Ryan to Caleb Williams, Jared Goff to Caleb Williams. It is it is a total different sensibility and I do think Andy Reid has mastered uh and Nick Serriani has done a good job with this. You have to let athletes be athletes. John Harbaugh has always said there are times Sean McDermott and the offensive coordinators at Buffalo. You got to let Josh Allen be Josh Allen. You cannot have a rigidity with coaching. So it that’s a very very fair point. Yesterday I had a topic. The Athletic came out with their top rated every NFL team. They had the Packers at like five or six and the Broncos at 14. And I’m like, well, Denver’s better than 14 and I don’t think the Packers are top five or six. Well, they did a fan poll. These were their power camp ratings, power ratings yesterday. So, I said, “Boncos are too low. Packers are too high.” Well, what do you know? The Athletic had a fan poll this morning, and the most overrated team was the Packers, and the most underrated team was the Broncos. So now they’re both going to be fine because they have offensive coaches and they have young talented quarterbacks going into their prime or in their prime. I mean Boicks is pretty old, so he may be in his prime at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. So they’re both going to be fine because there is a recipe. If you look at the Super Bowl odds right now, look at this Jac. The Super Bowl odds this year, 10 of 14 teams, 75% the highest ones have an offensive coach. So, uh, there there now now you could say, “What about Buffalo? What about Baltimore?” Yes, if you have Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, what about Washington or Jaden Daniels? If you have a superstar game-changing quarterback, then it becomes less relevant. But by and large, what do those teams all at the top have in common? Either a superstar quarterback or an offensive coach. And if you look at the final four coaches left in the in the last four or five years, the last guy to win a Super Bowl defensive guy was Bellich. Yeah. Think how long ago that was. So there there is clearly a blueprint, a process, and a formula. So both Denver and Green Bay are fine because they’ve got a good offensive coach and a better than average quarterback. So I think they’ll both I think they’re both going to be playoff teams probably. When you look at those odds on the screen for the radio audience, the Bills, Ravens, Eagles, Chiefs are top four. I think it’s pretty clear if you’re looking for value to bet on, you have to go a into the NFC where it’s an easier path. Like in the in the AFC, Colin, you may have to go through Mahomes, Lamar, and Josh Allen, and that’s like Mission Impossible. So, I I’m seeing the Rams at plus 2,200. And I’m like, wait a minute. I know gambling guys who like the Rams. I know you’re on the Rams. They had a great off season. Why are they so Why are they below the Commanders? What What am I missing here? So, I get McVey Stafford, great GM, big money, and they’ve hit three straight years of defensive draft picks, and they have no contract disputes, and they’re basically the same odds as the Bengals. How are the Packers ahead of the Rams? I I mean, even your Packers division is probably tougher. I I don’t If you and I said, let’s let’s name the best players between the Rams and Packers. Stafford is your best player. I can argue well is better than any receiver the Packers have. Also Jared Verse Jared Verse is top five player and by the end of this year Jared Verse will be thought of as a top five pass rusher. Now they do have Josh Jacobs and Zack Tom. Wait a minute. Kron Williams I is really freaking good with the Rams. I don’t know that Josh Jacobs is that much better than him. Like where are the Packers better than the Rams? Uh, not in the front seven defensively. May secondary, maybe in the secondary. Maybe not at wide receiver with Puka and Devonte Adams. Okay, I’ll tell you. I think they’re more athletic. I’m going to see how Terrence Ferguson, the rookie from Oregon, does with the Rams. He was a second or third round pick. I think I really like the Packers tight ends. They’re not great, but they’re really, really good. We’ll give you that. Head coach, quarterback, defensive front seven, consistent pass rush. It’s Rams all day. Yeah, I think I reliably Rams are the value bet on that board. It’s funny that a big market team and Shawn McVey and Matt Stafford everywhere I look the last three years. Now, the knock on the Rams and it’s fair in terms of plus minus the their point differential was actually the lowest of top teams in the league. And a lot of that is because Buffalo and Baltimore and Detroit and Philadelphia just crush people. The Rams tend to beat you um you know Stafford’s not running around creating they they beat you on the whiteboard. They beat you schematically. They beat you with coaching and precision. So the Rams are not the avalanche Baltimore, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Detroit have been often with great mobile quarterbacks and great O lines. But I I think the Rams again this year are undervalued. Yeah, I’m I’m with you on that. I Yeah. Yeah.

Colin Cowherd reacts to the latest in the LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers drama. Should LeBron James have stayed in Miami with the Heat or on the Cleveland Cavaliers? Next Colin talks about Shedeur Sanders, Bo Nix, and why Sean Payton’s Denver Broncos are the most underrated team in the NFL. Finally, Colin analyzes the most likely team to win the Super Bowl.

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