How Chiefs have the NFL's best defense, why Christian McCaffrey was worth the trade | THE HERD

Super Bowl LVIII is just a few days away! The San Francisco 49ers have notable names on both sides of the ball, especially on defense. However, Colin Cowherd does not believe they are the best in the league. Watch as he explains why the Kansas City Chiefs defense is better than the Niners. He also re-visits the Christian McCaffrey-Carolina Panthers trade from a year and a half ago. The 49ers traded four draft picks to land the star RB and Colin emphasizes the importance of taking those big bets to win a Super Bowl now.
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The Herd with Colin Cowherd is a three-hour sports television and radio show on FS1 and iHeartRadio. Every day, Colin will give you his authentic, unfiltered opinion on the day’s biggest sports topics.
How Chiefs have the NFL's best defense, why Christian McCaffrey was worth the trade | THE HERD
• How Chiefs have the NF...
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[@Bobby-li9th]

I love McCaffrey, he is worth every penny. That said, I think Isiah Pacheco is a little underrated.

[@pookeyrust]

100% he is. Hes one of the best running backs in the leage. Hes shifty, hard to tackle, and DOESNT GIVE UP even when hes got 3 guys at his ankles.

[@dampfanator]

Jordan Love vs the Chiefs in December. 25-36, 267 yards, 3TDs. And a W.

[@jamesmead8460]

Cowards takes are horrible. Love how the media is doubting the niners defense. I see niners winning by 13+

[@YuckFouTube2]

Ya refs were so bad that game. I stopped watching games for a few months

[@laverdad159]

That's in the regular season, in the playoffs Chefs D has been awsome

[@Bobby-li9th]

@@laverdad159Props to you for the Chefs reference!

[@laverdad159]

@@Bobby-li9th lmao bro

[@crazestyle83]

Meanwhile, Pachecco's running over first rounders. 😂

[@gazdaly]

The reaction to the CMC trade was due to his injury history, not the price

[@ianszcze]

Breakfast hair was the mvp of this segment

[@jaytee4374]

Great avatar bro salute 🫡 🦬

[@williamsimpson6190]

I was hoping that I wasn't the only one that caught that. Cheers!

[@Wellwhadayaknow]

Chiefs have the better defense this year and it's not particularly close. People just don't want to admit it cause of the lack of big names on their defense. Colin is spot on here.

[@damianpresha9833]

It's cause people just don't watch defense they only watch QBs.

[@moose5983]

You should look at the advance stats vs "we only gave up x yards a game"

[@aaronjimenez9625]

Best Defense?thought it was Brown then Ravens then ehh who cares now lol

[@baits8420]

@@moose5983 🤓

[@michellelanden3017]

Yep...underrated D

[@ericmcgrouther7368]

49ers beat every playoff team in the nfc this season and Colin acting like they didn’t play anyone

[@FreeTendiesFantasy]

The Chiefs lost to the Lions and Packers. The Niners struggle against them in the playoffs but still pulled out W's and the Chiefs were 0-2 against them. Obviously the Chiefs improved over the year but the Niners are being disrespected forsure

[@NathanAnderson-o3i]

@@FreeTendiesFantasy Regular season vs playoffs, Kelce and Chris Jones didn't play agaisnt the Lions, and any goof that thinks this Chiefs team is anything like the team that played those regular season games isn't following the Chiefs. They looked like dogsh!t against the Raiders on Christmas but seem to have found their identity, finally. Only took about 15 weeks.

[@FreeTendiesFantasy]

@@NathanAnderson-o3i yup specifically said the Chiefs have improved since that time if you had read the comment. Just wild that winning close games against 2 teams that beat this chiefs team makes the Niners bums somehow. Think it will be a very tight game Niners are being slept on

[@asacloutier7530]

well they certainly didn't "beat" the lions........ obviously you didn't even watch that game.

[@NathanAnderson-o3i]

@@FreeTendiesFantasy How is a team that's been the favorite in every game this year, including the SB, being slept on?

[@markyounglove5570]

4th and 5th rounders cant make the team -- yet 7th rounder is starting QB

[@scottallen8982]

I love how Colin and Nick are so confident they are painting themselves in a corner. Now if Purdy comes out and cooks KCs defense they are forced to give him credit

[@harrymills2770]

Looking at the right side of SF's offensive line, maybe they'd be better off if they invested more up front than in the backfield. I think you make a splash at RB when it's too late to fix the O-Line. It's rarely a sound move for the long run, but if McCaffrey came through it OK, they can still do something with their line and make it all OK. In my way of looking at it, you don't invest big in RB until you have the OL figured out, and when you get the O-Line figured out, you have great RBs coming out your ears and you don't need to invest big in RB.

[@crazestyle83]

This season's chiefs' defense. 😂 ya'll bringing up last year (superbowl in a "rebuilding" year), and years past when they were clearly offensive driven. We're talking 2024 defensive comparisons. But keep reaching and throwing salt balls like bills mafia. We love it! You 9ers fans just can't handle facts. The numbers don't lie.

[@kevinkibbe2679]

You cannot say with a clear conscience that they shut down the run of Baltimore when, for reasons i will never comprehend and are unknown, they didn't even TRY to run the ball. Im still in complete disbelief over that. To me it is on the level of gameplanning of not letting Marshawn run the ball. Disastrous and stupifying

[@supastar25]

Exactly...Monken and Harbaugh totally abandoned the run against a team not particularly good at defending it...I still can't believe Harbaugh signed off on that nonsensical gameplan...they never ran and kept calling for Lamar to just continually drop back and not run when he doesn't see anything open. Coaching malpractice. Ravens fans are not happy with Harbaugh at all

[@NathanAnderson-o3i]

@@supastar25 27 yards on 10 carries to RBs, with one run accounting for all but 12 of those yards.

[@LRF49]

As a Niner fan, Im blown away how much other Niner fans get triggered when Colin states the obvious. Let's stop putting the team on a pedestal and see them for what they are. A good team going up against the defending SB champs. This Niner team isn't close to being in the top 5 Niner teams in history even if they win the SB.

[@rltw2753]

You a goofy and don’t watch a lick of football

[@murdamafia868]

Cowherd you're late to the party on the chiefs defense but welcome finally lol

[@Kenny49ERS]

It doesn’t matter the guy doesn’t go deep enough into the details.

[@jeffridge3727]

Ravens only ran it 6 times so it was more of the ravens panicking than the chiefs stepping up. But guess who KC hasn’t played this year, CMC

[@PhillyDawg-m4u]

What....oh, they haven't played CMC. Is he a bulldozer like Henry?? He's fast, slippery and very talented...but he's not running dudes over and moving piles. Chiefs tackle. Oh, BTW, they have Chris Jones.

[@NathanAnderson-o3i]

Baltimore had 27 yards on 8 carries by RBs, and 15 yards came on one run. The Chiefs were committed to stopping the run and forced the Ravens to beat them with Lamar's arm. Spags tries to take away what you do best. With the Bills, he let Allen dink and dunk all day long, and lived with them getting yards with the run but kept fhem from getting explosive plays. Zero explosive plays, 16 passes behind the line of scrimmage.

[@bigchungus1848]

@@PhillyDawg-m4ukittle will pancake Chris Jones like he did hutchinson

[@erictempleton7703]

​@@bigchungus1848won't happen. It takes double or triple team to handle jones.

[@jeffridge3727]

@@PhillyDawg-m4u litterally yes. He’s been running dude over all season, Chris jones better be ready to run sideline to sideline

[@tonychao7297]

No chiefs defense worst against the run but Ravens was stupid not running the balls

[@jeffcressotti]

This is obvious lol. All Niners fans know this Niners team is led by its offense, not the defense!

[@josiahvincent1511]

Buddy ain’t no one saying cmc wasn’t worth those picks

[@bigchief3917]

Chiefs were underestimated by MANY vs. Elite teams Dolphins, Bills, and unstoppable Ravens. 😡49ers are next. Go! Chiefs 🏆

[@musa7606]

"Allowed 21 points to first year starting QB Jordan Love" The same Jordan Love who put up 3 Tds 267 yds 0 ints on the Chiefs and beat them 27-19. Colin says he brand agnostic, but we know he's not. He's all about the Brands.

[@nickbrandt5195]

Using cmc as the main reason running backs are valuable is a bad example. Hes the best one, and I dont think its close. The best player in any position is valuable. When people dont want to pay rbs, they’re not talking about cmc. They’re talking about almost every other back in the league where you can seemingly replace them with a 5th round pick and get 1k yards if you have a decent o line.

[@asafselevanay1330]

spot on Collin about KC Chiefs

[@stevenferguson6845]

Thats not fair, Kirkland is definitely a name brand

[@Medmann48]

One of my fondest memories from the AFC Championship game on January 30, 2022 was watching Money Mac kick the game winning field goal in overtime to defeat the Chiefs & send the Bengals to the Super Bowl. That's the last time the Chiefs were beaten in post season play.

[@retributionpics]

For all the hype around the AFC. He fails to talk about the fact that the Chiefs only beat one playoff team during the regular season. The dolphins by 7. Had a lot of losses against bad teams and a ton of tight score ball games. Yes, the Chiefs have a good defense but it is not some historic elite defense that everyone is trying to make them out to be.

[@felixrodriguez7423]

Chiefs receivers stink. They have Rice and of course Kelce at TE. That's it. The rest of the WR played like they had boxing gloves on. It's amazing they made the playoffs although they improved come playoff time. Chiefs can win this game IF their ability to bat balls at the line of scrimmage (they are #1) results in turnovers.

[@donavanwells9454]

Well the niners could have either traded their second round pick for CMC or used the draft pick for a running back that wouldn’t last long

[@hansbystrom9983]

"4th and 5th round picks in the NFL, in a stacked 49ers roster, don't start and might not make the team". Except that they have starting QB in the Superbowl that was the last pick lol.

[@avicadotoast]

So much cluelessness here. The league is filled with low round starters. Also CMCs started only a handful of games over 2 seasons in Carolina. Easy and valid to criticize the trade at the time. Now he’s been mostly healthy and you have benefit of hindsight

[@Sampleador]

Comparing without context ; colin specialty

[@AFOManiac]

Yeah remember when the packers beat kc with that defense, niners d got the job done! Also the raiders defense destroyed kc offense, i think niners have better defense than the raiders, ravens defense was legit but they lost their head and concentration at the end of the game

[@smellzsf7628]

Isn’t Colin cowherd the same guy who said he’s a big name brand guy? This guy says anything to support his gambling pick😂

[@themoneyman1752]

Finally someone said it Laveon Bell won when he sat out because he get PAID, yeah his career went south after BUT he still got paid & it was gonna be his last big deal regardless so holding out did work for him, Barkley should have held out to

[@213DOGFA]

Colin acting like they're 85 Bears. Josh Allen Missed a wide-open TD to win game. Ravens WR made 2 MONSTER MISTAKES (Personal Foul Taunting, and Fumble at Goal Line).

[@dylanallen5653]

Look at the numbers they are a historic d.

[@jedimac1635]

This is hilarious. The CMC talk about the hypocrisy of people is the perfect segway from his talk about the 49ers DEFENSE. "Which is it?" Is Jordan Love the obvious heir apparent of Favre and Rodgers, or is he just a 1st year starter that gave their defense trouble? Colin pointing out the exact thing he just did!!!

[@jeremikurry3167]

HE SAID C MAC WAS BETTER THAN KELCE LMFAO!!!!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 TRAVIS HAS MORE POST SEASON TD'S THAN JERRY RICE.

[@blackmamba3060]

This man cowherd said Tua is still better than Purdy. If you think that at this point, stop watching the sport.

[@FranciscoLopez-hp3kf]

Colin “breakfast” Cowherd lol

[@johnharrison2094]

Niners by 9 !

[@fpsoftdev]

Russell Wilson?

[@417Graphix]

Let’s be real. The Dolphins only feasted on bad teams. The Bills barely made the playoffs and Baltimore decided to stop running the ball in a close game.

[@jdwleeds2574]

So wait to prove your point you name all the best AFC QB's and named some of the worst in the NFC

[@camerondove91]

8 minutes of pure waffling

[@joshisaac5124]

Colin Kirklands is expensive lol use target

[@bill2953]

Colin doesn/t care if he comes off like someone overdosing on caffiene.. Obviously he does it all the time. lol

[@MrBezl]

The lions were gonna draft Gibbs 6th overall. Instead they traded down to 12, picked up a 2nd round pick and turned that pick into all pro TE Sam LaPorta. That’s great management right there.

[@CReyno816]

I don't agree that CMC was the 2nd best player in the superbowl. I think Chris Jones was.

[@scottallen8982]

Maybe all these “great qbs” aren’t really that great ??

[@treasurevalleybattleleague9927]

Diggs was dookie can we please stop talking like he's one of the best still 😂

[@HP-es8ek]

Go niners!

[@RichardGesualdi]

cap

[@adamjameson4505]

Only Colin can misinterpret value of RBs in the exact rant he big ups Kirkland brand... 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@breed4052]

he talks as if what he is saying is of deadly importance. can’t trust a person wearing kirkland jeans

[@Neotidus]

He conveniently left out the bad QB’s the Chiefs played and good QB’s the Niners played lol. Didn’t know Colin had to hide things to make a point

[@Darth_Rambo6]

Exactly

[@chrisyukna8007]

This superbowl will hang on injury just saying

[@GBPackFan]

335 on that 👍🏻 button

[@jcballer12c]

The AFC QBs are OVERRATED. Tua and Allen are frauds. Herbert can’t beat good teams. I can’t explain Jackson in the playoffs but he’s can produce.

[@Thadopeera]

I don’t hear nothing this dude says. Just see his mouth moving

[@jaredwhite200]

KC is going to destroy the 49ers again just like they always do

[@mikerosa582]

Always hating on 9ers

[@GoodyearSimp]

Colin is 1st team all revisionist history

[@kingnaz8465]

Him skip and nick wrong

[@frefai]

Strange how Colin glossed over the good QBs the Niners played and beat. Stafford, Lawrence, Baker

[@stevena55]

Colin names the best qbs the chiefs played and the worst qbs the 9ers played. That wasnt an apples to apples comparison, it was a skewed narrative designed to help make his point, and he thought you wouldnt notice.

[@craigcampbell8560]

OK. They played Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson and got smoked by both of them.

[@stevena55]

@craigcampbell8560 and Stafford, Hurts, Goff, etc. Thanks for helping name 5 qbs Colin omitted to try to make this point, appreciate you.

[@craigcampbell8560]

@@stevena55 Mahomes still faced better QB's which was Colin's point.

[@Kenny49ERS]

Pass defense was bad for Niners because they were usually destroying teams, playing soft zones and giving up garbage yards

[@rltw2753]

The media jocks the chiefs .. their defense is so overrated it’s not funny

[@Sean2Don]

Hey Colin, how about you call out your lil baby you (nick wright) for initially saying the trade for McCaffrey was a bad one.

[@lakernation6363]

First

[@user-iam222ohyeah]

Colin is the king of Cherry picking facts that back up his fan boy takes

[@Ricardo-ze3bc]

Chiefs fans be like Mahomes has no help yet the chiefs lead the entire league in YAC, has a top o line, a HOF TE, a solid running back, a top 3 defense, and a HOF offensive coach! lol

[@theg-men8961]

Some of those off brand cereals were fire!!! Haha

[@scubaphoto88000]

Interesting that Colin starts by saying name brands don’t matter but pushes Mercedes. 😂

[@dannggg]

Doesn’t apply to everything tho lol😂

[@Therealcarolinaguy]

Only applies to what fits his narrative, much like every other talking head on TV.

[@serp1732]

Niners defense is suffering from scheme issues. Not talent or ability. More a reflection of Wilkes than the roster.

[@liammcconville1241]

Where Colin bought a lot of Kirkland stuff

[@spearofconquest]

Costco

[@nathangordon5464]

Mahomes will shred niners overrated defense

[@ericmcgrouther7368]

Love how he just doesn’t mention the 9ers played Joe burrow, Jalen hurts, dak prescot, Matthew Stafford and Lamar Jackson yet will only name good qbs the chiefs played

[@tylerchastain7590]

His point was the chiefs defense have played against better qbs that the 9ers lol

[@omarandrade7524]

and they got cooked by burrow, and Jackson,

[@eric.echazarreta]

And failed to say that the 49ers were always ahead so they gave up a lot of pass yards when it didn't matter.

[@airgasmYT]

Joey B smoked them.

[@kingnaz8465]

@@tylerchastain7590he literally didn’t name dak Jalen hurts Kyler Murray joe burrow mat stafford Lamar Jordan love for the niners he literally names the the weak qb Kenny Pickett Daniel jones Sam Howell geno smith drew luck 😂😂😂

[@dskwared2u610]

CMC is the 9th highest paid player on the 9ers and he accounts for 5% of their payroll cap. What's going to happen when Purdy makes 18-20% of their cap because he accounts for less than 1/2% of their cap right now. Context matters.

[@NathanAnderson-o3i]

Exactly. We aren't going to know how good Purdy really is until he eats up a quarter of their salary cap such that he loses one or two weapons on offense. Unlike Brady, Mahomes isn't really giving teh Chiefs a discount. Brady was middle-of-the-pack salary-wise in their second SB run with Gronk, etc. If Mahomes had taken $27 mil instead of 37 this year, they would have been able to bring in an elite receiver like Deandre Hopkins.

[@MarvG3000]

Niners window ends when they pay Purdy. They better win now

[@jordanmorada11]

Ravens didn’t even run the ball no wonder they “shut down” the ravens run game

[@Mr315679]

ON THE OTHER SIDE .. KC only scored 30pts twice this season… NINERS 10

[@nwngenisys8969]

Steve Spagnuolo has Christian McCaffery's #, just trust me on that. :D I'm sure the Chiefs Defense will not disappoint in this Superbowl, not even... Of course Mahomes wants that 3rd ring BADLY... :D

[@Brandon-fn6id]

When the raiders beat KC in KC, I was shocked how good chiefs d was, yeah raiders won but raiders didn’t complete a single PASS AFTER THE FIRST QTR

[@raybloyd8359]

It's really bothering me that you started calling yourself "uncle colin" when no one has ever referred to u as "unc" lol

[@jr8028]

Chokemar Jackson

[@danielpittijr6283]

Hey, does someone know how many sacks Chris Jones has in all his Superbowl appearances? I will answer that for those who dont know. The answer is 0.

[@grimaceburgers4491]

Yet he destroyed the 49ers line in the last Super Bowl. It’s not all about sacks.

[@danielpittijr6283]

@@grimaceburgers4491 No he didn't, the Niners were up by 10 with 5 mins left. So he wasn't doing well. Mahomes and the Offense were unstoppable at the end.

[@nick2sick442]

The 49ers will choke like they always do 😢

[@4gegtyreeyuyeddffvyt]

Kirkland vodka is good stuff!!

[@georgefernandez676]

Ya know I'm going to start calling Cowturd.... Captain Obvious because it's sooo easy for him to make his point AFTER the fact which you get ZERO credit for! Anybody could do that

[@bro987]

From the eye test I knew the Chiefs had the best defense all year. Yes you lose games still do to the offense being mid during the regular season. Remember the 49ers had the best defense in the 2019-2020 NFL season and still lost in the Super Bowl to Mahomes. The Chiefs can still lose the Super Bowl. Any given Sunday. The X Factor will be McCaffrey. If he doesn't get stopped, it's gonna be hard for the Chiefs offense to keep up with the 49ers offense.

[@nicolasuribe5222]

Your are critizicing 49ers defense for allowing 21 points to GB but praising KC defense that allowed them 27, i do not get it? People underestimates that GB and Detroit are very good teams that in fact both beated KC during regular season. The SB LVIII is going to be awesome. The better team, not the better player will prevail.

[@johnharrison2094]

Consider this genius....teams that are struggling in a particular niche....tend to overachieve in the area they are inferior . it is the Niners esprit de corp that will take then to the BARDI, mindless overthinking analysits , not so much!...IN a word Niners !!

[@deionjohnson1138]

Also played Jared Goff, Jordan love both put up 30+ TDs this season with above average team winning records and stacked offensive weapons. Not to mention both defenses are loaded.

[@zachw1770]

Kc got some names Collin big Chris! Lajarius sneed Nick Bolton ! Chase young ain’t him anyway. Just a name kc got the better d line and secondary. Also way more depth!

[@AlexLopez-ic6fb]

This man just lies on TV and gets away with it. Sure everyone messes up but he lies everyday to make his points sound better. 49ers gave up 30 points 2 times. Look it up Cowherd

[@stephendanner4132]

Did you see Cowheards QB pyramid? Purdy not even in the top 20. He compares Purdy to a Chick Fil A and an In And Out Burger! 🤡

[@brandonmcdonald5091]

The chiefs haven’t had to face a offense like the niners the dolphins had the offense but tua fell short u got cmac kittle aiyuk and Deebo every level is elite and purdy is gonna show up

[@siviathompson3687]

NINERS ALSO FACED JACKSON, COUSINS. BURROW. HURTS. DAK???

[@uluckout1]

Cowherd said it SF is the underdogs!!!!

[@R-afghan]

Yes but Brock is better than all those you mentioned otherwise they were in super b instead of Brock

[@derekrau8236]

McCaphry is not better than Travis Kelce, it’s not even close.

[@28copland]

9ers offense is too much for kc and kc doesn't have enough offense to beat San fran

[@isaacdisanto1020]

Steve Wilks has had a really bad year. Whether the niners win the super bowl or not, he has to go.