Tag: Colin Cowherd

Colin Cowherd goes viral for trade proposal involving a Wisconsin Badger legend

Agree with Colin Cowherd’s trade proposal?

Fox Sports host Colin Cowherd put himself in the role of NFL general manager during Thursday’s edition of his national sports talk show, “The Herd with Colin Cowherd.”

He proposed a solution for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ current situation. That situation, specifically, is the team’s six consecutive playoff losses and eight overall seasons without a playoff win.

Related: Recapping Wisconsin football’s winter transfer portal movement

The Steelers, as Wisconsin football fans should know, are led by former Badger quarterback Russell Wilson and linebacker T.J. Watt. Their defensive line features tackles Isaiahh Loudermilk and Keeanu Benton, plus linebacker Nick Herbig. Any initiative taken to improve the team after years of playoff failures will likely include one or several of those players.

Cowherd’s proposal involves several of them. He proposed the following trade, the video explanation of which is up to 1.2 million views on X:

Steelers trade T.J. Watt, George Pickens and two first-round picks to a team at the top of the draft to select Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders.

“The Steelers have been putting band-aids on for six years,” Cowherd explains. “I think they have to rip it off. I would trade T.J. Watt, George Pickens and two first-round picks if your scouting department said, ‘Shedeur Sanders is the guy.'”

Here’s his full explanation:

This trade discussion is rooted in the team’s average and sub-par quarterback play since Ben Roethlisberger retired in 2021. It drafted Kenny Pickett in 2022, went 9-8 and 10-7 in his two seasons under center, and then went 10-7 again in 2024 with Wilson and Justin Fields splitting the duties.

Wilson gave the team an initial boost when he took over in late October, winning six of his first seven games. He and the Steelers then dropped four straight to close the season before a 28-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the wild-card round.

Cowherd’s contention is that new life is necessary under center, and Sanders is arguably the best quarterback in the draft.

The price of Watt, Pickens and multiple picks is steep, however.

Watt is among the top pass-rushers in the sport. Although he just eclipsed 30 years old, he has amassed 30 1/2 sacks and 38 tackles for loss over the last two seasons combined. There’s been no sign his game is slipping. Pickens, meanwhile, just led the team with 900 receiving yards.

“I think you have to go take the next big swing on this thing,” Cowherd continued. “If you want to find the next Big Ben … To me, there’s three teams in the league that are a quarterback away, the Colts, the Seahawks and the Steelers. If you got the right quarterback, they’re pretty interesting teams. But there’s no recent history to make me believe that Pittsburgh would get aggressive.”

The proposed trade certainly falls into the aggressive category. For our purposes, it would nearly eliminate our near-weekly update on the Steelers’ performance.

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Sports personality offers up ridiculous trade scenario for the Steelers

Some trade offers are just too far fetched to be taken seriously.

Last offseason, the top priority of the Pittsburgh Steelers was to improve the quarterback depth chart. But despite swapping out all three quarterbacks, the results were the same. 10-7, an inconsistent passing game and one and done in the playoffs.

This means this offseason, the quarterback position is once again the team’s top priority. We have plenty of time to go over a variety of scenarios the Steelers could partake in this offseason but the hypothetical offered up by Fox Sports analyst Colin Cowherd.

To be fair to Cowherd, he did say he’d make the trade of T.J. Watt, George Pickens and a pair of first-round picks to go up for Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders only if the Steelers felt like he was a starting quarterback.

First off, no one is trading a haul like that for Sanders. That’s not even a discussion. But if there were a quarterback worth that sort of trade, I would want something stronger than “if you think he’s a starting QB” to pull the trigger on it.

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Colin Cowherd compares Riley Leonard to this superstar NFL quarterback

That is one heck of a comp

While Notre Dame football quarterback [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] didn’t have his best game against Penn State, the Irish still managed to pull out a victory and advance to the College Football Playoff championship game.

While he did throw two interceptions, the transfer went 15-of-23 for 223-yards and a touchdown, with 35-yards on the ground and another score. His performance stood out to Fox Sports [autotag]Colin Cowherd[/autotag], as he went to social media to make a bold comparison for Leonard, to three-time Buffalo Bills Pro Bowler [autotag]Josh Allen[/autotag].

While Leonard is a bit smaller than Allen, both stand over 6-foot, 4-inches and weigh over 215-pounds. They are great runners at the position, and while the current potential NFL MVP played at Wyoming, he still put up impressive numbers. The Irish starter has done the same, but to me I see on big difference, it’s that Allen was a much better passer than Leonard at this point in each of their developments.

Yes, Allen did make strikes at this in the NFL, but he showed much more glimpses of becoming the player he is today. Leonard has some work to do, and while I wouldn’t compare him to Allen, I can see why Cowherd did.

Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions safety Zakee Wheatley (6) sacks Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard (13) in the first half at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

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Colin Cowherd throws Joe Burrow, Bengals a LeBron James comparison

It’s not a great comparison for the Bengals, either.

The Cincinnati Bengals will continue to take plenty of criticism for failing Joe Burrow this season even if the team manages to sneak into the playoffs.

Justifiably so, given the MVP-like showing from Burrow.

Or, as some would describe it, a Lebron James-type showing.

That one comes from Colin Cowherd, who recently compared Burrow’s season to LeBron’s first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“This is a 3-14 team without Joe Burrow… It reminds me of LeBron in Cleveland the first time…By the way, Burrow got to a Super Bowl and lost, LeBron got to a Finals and got ran out of the building…and then LeBron finally realized, ownership, front office, I’m wasting my time here.”

Any suggestion that Burrow might leave the Begnals is downright silly at this juncture, of course — but the rest of the comparison feels apt. The roster-building effort around Burrow is directly responsible for the failures of this season and it starts at the top with how the front office does contracts and how the scouting department and personnel decisions from Duke Tobin impact things on the field.

That said, Burrow applying public pressure on the team to keep Tee Higgins was the first sign of the star quarterback starting to throw his weight around in order to enact change.

And at this point…nobody can blame Burrow, either.

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Colin Cowherd suggests Notre Dame will add a big-time transfer quarterback

Could this rumor be true?

(This story has been updated to add new information.) 

Head coach Marcus Freeman has said that Notre Dame football’s starting quarterback is already on the roster, and that they won’t look to the transfer portal again to find a new starter.

While that could be what happens, [autotag]Colin Cowherd[/autotag] believes that that might not be the case. The Fox Sports 1 host said on Sunday that he has heard rumors that the Irish will be bringing in a huge name at quarterback following Notre Dame’s run in the College Football Playoff.

Cowherd fails to mention a name, but said “don’t be surprised if a very, very well-known college quarterback transfers to Notre Dame.” The first name that comes to my mind is Texas’ Quinn Ewers, as it seems that the Longhorns will turn to Arch Manning next fall. The junior would be a huge pickup for the Irish.

Duke’s Maalik Murphy could fit that mold as well, but he’s not quite as big of a name as Ewers. While Cowherd has just heard rumors of this happening, we will all be watching to see if it is true.

Nov 16, 2024; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers (3) celebrates after the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Texas won 20-10. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Multiple sources have said this is not true, including Rivals Adam Gorney.

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Colin Cowherd sprints to Joe Burrow’s defense over sideline outburst

Another take on the Joe Burrow outburst caught on camera.

Much has been said about Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow in the wake of his sideline encounter with head coach Zac Taylor.

That includes another Bengals coach offering an interesting take on it.

Then, there is Colin Cowherd, who went and defended Burrow against any critics who took issue with it — pointing a finger right at the Bengals organization in the process.

“Joe Burrow is looking around this league at the financial commitment of Baltimore and Kansas City and the aggressive front offices of Philadelphia and Detroit and Buffalo, and Joe Burrow’s looking around, and he’s got Mr. penny-pinching owner,” Cowherd said. “And he’s just in no mood. He’s had bad body language for a month and we love Burrow.”

Zoomed in, Burrow was undoubtedly mad about a sloppy game that featured 14 penalties and a mere 10-point win over a three-win team while forcing six turnovers. The Bengals are only 6-8, after all.

But zoomed out? Cowherd is probably right that the season-long frustration of a failed roster-building job by the team has led to this point.

Hence, Burrow putting pressure on the team about Tee Higgins and that type of outburst.

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Bengals slammed for wasting ‘all-time greats’ right now

One talking head said the Bengals are like watching the NBA with the way they’re wasting Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.

The Cincinnati Bengals are easy to bash right now.

They are, after all, the team wasting an MVP-like season from Joe Burrow and a Triple Crown effort from Ja’Marr Chase, plus a stunning season from Trey Hendrickson.

At 5-8, and the playoffs extremely unrealistic, everyone seems to be hopping on the criticism train right now, including Colin Cowherd, on a recent episode of his podcast.

“These are all-time greats but they are stuck in a shaky organization that frankly has suboptimal ownership and a front office,” Cowherd said. “They don’t take any risks.”

This would, at least to some degree, partially explain why Burrow has seemingly put very public pressure on the Bengals front office to get a deal with Tee Higgins done.

Given the season so far, only big changes to the coaching staff and roster, if not how the team does business, will quiet some of these criticisms this offseason.

 

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Colin Cowherd: Bills are letting down QB Josh Allen (video)

Colin Cowherd: Bills are letting down QB Josh Allen (video)

Longtime FOX Sports analyst Colin Cowherd had a lot of praise for Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

But not a lot for the Bills (10-3).

After Allen’s history performance against the Rams in a 44-42 loss, Cowherd’s analyst was very much negative against the franchise.

Cowherd said he feels “terrible” for Allen based on the stats that Allen has put up in losses, similar to the way Week 14 went.

Cowherd’s full breakdown can be found below:

Drew Brees reflects on his most difficult games in the NFL

Which games caused Drew Brees to lose the most sleep? He says prime-time divisional rematches were his toughest challenges in the NFL:

Which games gave Drew Brees the most trouble in his storied NFL career? The former New Orleans Saints quarterback and future Pro Football Hall of Famer shared his take on the toughest challenges he and his teammates had to overcome during a Wednesday appearance on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd.

Brees said it was those divisional matchups on a short week, played under the bright lights in prime time, that lost him the most sleep. He emphasizes greatly with what players on both the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers are going through ahead of Thursday night’s kickoff.

“These games were more difficult,” Brees reflected. “These games were more difficult just because of the level of familiarity between divisional opponents. And especially when it’s divisional opponents that are the caliber that Green Bay and Detroit are, the caliber of quarterback, the caliber of team, the caliber of coach. Because there is so much familiarity that going into the game you were constantly thinking about, ‘Well man, they know us really well. They know all these tendencies. So they know that I know that we know that they know,’ you go through that whole exercise.”

Mind games were certainly part of it; in some cases Brees and the Saints played the same Atlanta Falcons team twice in three weeks, and that recency and familiarity made planning for a rematch a unique challenge. And in those situations, Brees said he and his teammates leaned on days of careful preparation to win the day.

Brees continued: “At the end of the day it comes down to, ‘We need to be so on point on our execution. This needs to be a flawless execution type of game.’ And that really became the emphasis in all these divisional games, especially the ones that were prime-time and the ones that have so much meaning given these guys’ status and fighting for a division title. So I found that these were the most difficult games given all the factors.”

Still, the results suggest Brees and his teammates rose to this challenge. Brees started in nine games against NFC South division rivals on Thursday nights with the Saints, winning six times. He went 5-2 against the Atlanta Falcons and 1-1 against the Carolina Panthers (the Tampa Bay Buccaneers never warranted a prime-time slot like this). You don’t achieve a Hall of Fame career without relishing a challenge, and there aren’t many tougher games in the NFL than those against familiar opponents on a short week.

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Drew Brees on what coaches should do to help their quarterbacks

Drew Brees says hiring a head coach from an offensive background isn’t necessary to cultivate a young quarterback, but the best passers have positive influences:

Drew Brees has seen a thing or two in his football life, and he shared his thoughts on what teams should look for when hiring a new head coach during a recent appearance on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd. Specifically, the legendary former New Orleans Saints quarterback advocated for coaches with background working on the offensive side of the ball.

While Cowherd’s question focused on the Chicago Bears, who need a new coach to mentor and develop Caleb Williams, much of what Brees spoke about could soon apply to the Saints’ situation, too.

“Whether that’s an offensive head coach or that’s just someone who is really responsible for his growth and development, certainly you need that person,” Brees said. “And look that might be a veteran backup quarterback rather than relying on coach to be that person. At the end of the day what I think and every quarterback would tell you is that early in their career they needed someone to help them develop great habits, great discipline and great process.”

Derek Carr isn’t a youngster at quarterback, but he may not be long for New Orleans, either. The Saints haven’t drafted a quarterback in the first round since they picked Archie Manning way back in 1971, and that streak is going to end sooner or later. It might happen as soon as 2025 if their next head coach doesn’t plan on Carr running the offense.

And if that’s the case? It isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker for the head coach to come from an offensive background in order for a rookie quarterback to develop quickly. Like Brees said, someone needs to be there as a positive influence, whether it’s an experienced backup or a talented position coach.

We don’t know who will be coaching the Saints or the Bears in 2025. But if Brees is onto something here, both teams should be taking a hard look at the environments they’re creating for their quarterbacks, especially if New Orleans turns the page in next April’s NFL draft.

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