September 4, 2025 • 46 mins
Thursday on 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe, Pablo Torre reveals a potential scandal with Kawhi Leonard and Steve Ballmer, but he may be missing the other side of the story. And Senior NFL Reporter for TheMMQB, Albert Breer helps preview the season while the guys finalize their season predictions all the way through the Super Bowl.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the best of two pros and a couple
Joe with Lamar Airings and Brady Winn and Jonas Knox
on radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We are going to have our NFL picks coming up
later on AM.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Hearing reports that Brady Quinn might have gone a real deep,
real deep to UH to research and come up with
his picks for this upcoming season.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
All right. I mean, I'll tell you guys right off
the top, there's only one way I know how to
do it. Okay, I do it hard, I do it fast.
I get it one shot one shot wow, and I
can't and whatever the results are, I have to live
with them.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Because like I kind of came back after this one,
I was like, oh man, is that really how I
feel like it's gonna play out? But it does provide
you some instant insight into these schedules and what's gonna
happen for some of these teams. Like you kind of
come away going all right, that team's got a lot
harder schedule than I thought they were going to have.
(01:03):
Like I kind of I know the roster is good.
Then you start kind of going through You're like, all right, man,
they don't really have a buy till then, and you
know they got like a string of road games or whatever.
It is, Like, it's it's a good activity, man. I
would tell anyone to do it. I tell people all
the time. It's called playoff predictors dot com. You can
go do it. It's fun to do. But yeah, I
did it for every single game, not like LeVar, who
(01:26):
couldn't even name you last year who won the FC
South in his opinion or second for that matter.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
Apparently a sight on our on.
Speaker 6 (01:38):
Our intro sound because i sound like I don't know anything,
and I'm saying I don't know anything, and.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
I'm looking at what you did last year. Honestly, black
care less.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
I pick them right, I pick them straight. You know
that's hard to.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Pick the FC South at them, but I guess I
was text a.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
FC South didn't even count whatever. Whatever.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Yeah, it's up to you.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
You just dissolve the entire division, like nobody comes out.
Speaker 6 (02:07):
I mean, it wouldn't be a horrible idea. Or the
NFC South, I mean either one. It wouldn't be a
horrible idea. There's one team that that represents it at
one point time, you know, could be Houston at one
at a point in time, could be Tampa at a
point time in the NFC, like, but the rest of them,
(02:29):
it's like, all right, you know, it's been a while.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
It's been a while with the Saints.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Come on, So we're gonna hammer out the Titans throughout
the course.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Of Are they even in that?
Speaker 6 (02:40):
I don't even know the Titans Jacksonville?
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So we are out.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
We're going to hammer out those picks throughout the course
of the show. We're gonna spa on some of the
first hour, the second hour, the third hour. Can we
just discuss, at least for a short time, what the
f is going on with Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers,
because this is another quote unquote bombshell that was dropped
by Pablo Torre, who has got a knack for this thing.
(03:10):
He was the one who came up with the collusion evidence.
He's the one who scouted out where Bill Belichick was
doing the Walk of shame in Nantucket. Like he does
this investigative stuff and breaks down, you know, stories that
pop up in the world of sports. And apparently Kawhi
Leonard took a twenty eight million dollar payment for a
(03:31):
no show job to circumvent the NBA salary cap from
the Clippers. There was a company was that went bankrupt afterwards,
and so the thought is, well, to try and give
him a little bit more cash. We'll just you know,
this is the way we'll do it. This is the
way we'll come up with the monies to get that done.
And so Pablo Torre, after the report dropped yesterday morning,
(03:52):
was on the Dan Patrick Show, which you can hear
on many of these Fox Sports radio affiliates, and he
broke it down.
Speaker 7 (03:58):
You may recall how in twenty nineteen, the NBA investigated
the signing of Kawhi Leonard by the Clippers. This was
the Uncle Dennis story, him asking for all the sweeteners.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
The side deals.
Speaker 7 (04:09):
This was the Lakers, the Raptors, very mad, lots of teams,
very mad. NBA investigates says, this is a cardinal sin.
Salary caps are convention, but they find nothing. This is
a story that started because of a company called Aspiration,
which no one really remembers in fairness, but they had
signed some of the most famous people in the world
to be endorsers. All people who endorsed this climate change
(04:32):
company that planted trees to zero out your carbon footprint
like good guys, only for those same good guys to
have since been embroiled in what has been a concurrent
Department of Justice and SEC investigations that have resulted in
guilty please by one of the co founders of the company,
and Steve Bamber in this story put in fifty million
(04:54):
dollars of his own money into Aspiration. Here's the punchline.
The endorsement deal that was the biggest that Aspiration signed
given all those A List avengers, happened to be Kawhi
Leonard twenty eight million dollars, more than four times the
rest of the celebrity roster combined. And the kicker, you
might argue, is that he didn't do anything. It was
(05:16):
a no show job, did nothing, was an obligated to
do anything, which you can explain if you want, but
the point being it was a secret deal that no
one knew about until now.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So there you go, and there's the uh.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Well, I think you have to in order to make
this fair. And this is part of the tough, tough
thing I have with like Paula to Torre has done
a great job with a lot of his investigations, but
he's only providing you like one side of the story,
and in particular in this one where he does find
some things and he's able to provide this very tantalizing
story that you know, I kind of look at it
(05:51):
and sit there and see David Sampson, by the way,
who ran the Marlins, really smart, you know, business mind
who's kind of sitting there looking at as a part
of it, And I think you can draw a conclude like, yeah,
could this have been fraudulently could this have been a
way to circumvent the salary cap? Sure? Well, let me
read you Mark Cuban's response. I'm on team Balmer. Well,
(06:11):
you might think he's going to be right. He had
owned the Dallas Mavericks and majority of Sharre until he
sold it. As much as I wish they circumvented the
salary cap, Steve, isn't that dumb? All right? If he
did try to feed Kale money knowing what was at
stake for him personally and his team, do you think
he would let that company go bankrupt knowing all creditors
(06:32):
would be visible to the world. So let's just stop
there for a second. He put fifty million into this, right,
it's a lot of money. I don't care how much
money you have, fifty million into it's a lot of money.
Kawhi was only getting paid seventy a year from that,
so twenty eight million. So the other twenty two million
he's just throw it, just throwing away apparently. Now this
(06:54):
was all in an effort if you go back and
look at what Aspiration was to be able to offset
their carbon footprint, and it would kind of make you
feel better about, you know, some of your business operations,
et cetera. But the point is is that it kind
of starts to look a little bit fishy then of like,
all right, yeah, maybe he wanted to pay him seven
million additionally a year and get him that extra twenty
(07:14):
eight million, but then he just blowed the other twenty
two purely just to be able to get Kawhi Leonard. Maybe,
I don't know, maybe not. It feels like you'd want
to pay him the entire fifty million or find some
way of structuring that way. Cuban goes on to say
they got scammed by Aspiration, along with many others crimes
from which they pleaded guilty last week, which is true,
(07:37):
Like a lot of these people pleaded guilty to and
if that's the case, like they're all taking the fall,
then just so Steve Balmer and the Clippers could be
able to sign Kawhi Leonard like everyone's set up to
take the fall for him. I mean, they did a
three hundred million dollar sponship deal with the Clippers in
twenty twenty one. That's a huge deal. The better the
team does, the more value sponsorship has. It actually makes
(07:58):
perfect sense and says that if they stole money from
investors and want the Clippers to succeed, why not give
the stolen money to help keep their best player. Also
makes a lot of sense. So that's the hard part
about this is Pabloatore does this report, it's tantalizing. Everyone
runs with it and get the popolatry ever reached out
(08:20):
to Steve Balmer get his side of it. Isn't that
part of what journalism is. You hear both sides of
the story, You present the facts and let people who
read it then determine what's true and what's not.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I mean, at least they got the NBA in the news.
Speaker 6 (08:34):
Mean that brutal for me. God, I'm glad y'all love
this topic. I mean, God, dang, I mean, it is
interesting listening to you talk about it, but well, the reason.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Is there, you go. But the reason is there's there's
so many ramifications for this because like in the NBA,
for example, the president was set back when the Minnesota
Timberwolves this in two thousand with Joe Schmidt, Joe Smith,
and they took away five first round picks, which, by
the way, the Clippers won't even have how many first
round picks? Not sure what they do. They find the
team three point five million dollars and they avoided the contract.
(09:12):
So that is tampering.
Speaker 6 (09:13):
It's like tampering or fraud what would what would we
call it?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Well, fraud, you call it fraudule. It's just it goes
against the CBA, right because you've got a union, you've
got a collective bargain agreement that's been agreed upon, and
really for more the ownership side, you know, they want
things to be fair and on the up up and
have a level playing field. And they have a soft
cap for a reason because if you go over it right,
you end up paying a luxury tax. So there's all
(09:40):
sorts of, you know, reasons why this matters. But what
makes it really interesting is then you apply it to
like college football. Right now, college football is slowly moving
towards a world where you have a salary cap in essence,
right we have the House NCAA settlement that allows now
every school to pay out their student athletes, in particular
football x amount of dollars of the twenty two million
(10:01):
or twenty million roughly somewhere in that ballpark. Right. So,
the interesting thing about it is that the NCAA and
really all parties involved that that have created the College
Sports Commission the CSC. They are supposed to because now
collectives are still able to exist, players are still able
to go and get their anile deals. They were able
(10:22):
to actually go and look at all those deals to
try to provide some sort of transparency and make sure
everything's on the up and up, and they can determine
whether or not those deals are deemed worthy, like if
the athletes are being paid market value, if they fall
with from the guidelines of what's been put forth in
the House NCAA settlement. What becomes really interesting is who's
to say the CSC knows like what's market value or
(10:46):
even argue that. And typically when you have a union
with one side, you know you could take those things
up or their you know, negotiated within a collective bargain agreement.
The problem is that we don't have any of that
in college football. So if you would have applied this situation,
should someone ever say, hey, Penn Station have got that recruit,
they probably gave him, you know, a two million dollar
(11:08):
you know nil deal. Like if they end up saying
that the player can't do the deal the college Sports Commission,
he's just gonna come right back out and sue and say, yeah,
you guys, let's go to court, let's figure this out,
and he's probably gonna win. So that's that's what makes
this really interesting, is you're saying something right now that
it's not just interesting from the NBA and the fact
(11:29):
that they're even in the news and how this's all
worked out, it's it's also interesting and how it impacts
other sports and where other sports are at and their
evolution of becoming a professional sport like college football that's
inching their way there.
Speaker 6 (11:42):
So it's about figuring out managing, engaging loopholes loopholers.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Is that what I take from it.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Which is kind of what always the business has been.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
There's always been, right but that's what this is, is somebody
finding a loophole to pay more to be more enticing
to the player.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Is sure, I mean the problem in this case, well,
the Clippers did this in order to be able to
pay Kawhi more than what some of the other suitors
would be able to pay him. What's interesting about it,
like I said, though, is like I don't know how
you stop or how you look at this if you're
Steve Bomber and say, yeah, like he became a part
of the Clippers, Bomber owns the Clippers. But at the
same time, Bomber just essentially wasted twenty two million dollars
(12:26):
even if that was what he was trying to do
in helping out Kawhi Leonard and also to Mark Cuban's
first point, like, no one, no one's dumb enough who's
in that world at that level to do something that
becomes public And he had to have known that if
he was going to invest his money with an organization
(12:48):
and company who'd be basically were a bunch of scammers
who pled guilty to all this that you know it
was going to be eventually become public and all that.
Like I'm sure that wasn't the intent. Maybe Pablo tour
I would say in response to this, maybe he'd say, well, yeah,
that wasn't bombers and ten he didn't think they'd go bankrupt,
so he thought no one would ever know. But it
(13:10):
looks a little fishy right on both sides of it.
And that's why you wish Pablo Tory would have had
more from Bombers side of things.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
And also, you know he's gonna spend twenty two million
dollars for this, and on top of that, if he
gets popped, it's seven and a half million dollars in fines.
It's a loss of draft picks. I think they void
Kawhi's contract like it's going to cripple the organization for
all this to do business with somebody on on a
shady level. It just so Yeah, I think Mark Cuban
(13:40):
makes a lot of sense. They're supposed to have some
sort of you know, an interview or something. I think
they agreed to to go over a Pablotory and Mark Cuban.
But yeah, nonetheless, and also how many how many other
owners around sports you know are looking at this going well,
hopefully they don't to start.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
King let's let's as see, peel back the curtain if
you got really want to go there. I mean, we
could talk about Tom Brady. We could talk about all
the accusations that people used to make during the years
where he would take quote unquote team friendly deals. And
there was always a thought that Robert Kraft and Tom
Brady had gotten in more real estate deals, more involved
that were under the table, deals that that had gone
(14:17):
on for you know, two decades, where there was a
common thought that that's how they were getting it done.
Deals that weren't just in this country deals, international deals.
There are deals in Brazil. Like, there's all sorts of
different things that you know, I mean, let's just put
it this way, because let's say you have equity in
a company and maybe they maybe just to be Tom Brady, right,
(14:40):
someone's going to give you equity to use your name
like this. Maybe it's it's a company that does real
estate in Brazil, hypothetically speaking. And if you've got a partial,
you know, portion of this company, you haven't put any
money in, right, so you're kind of playing with house money,
right because you haven't done anything so far. And let's
just say that you in order to you know, sign
a contract that's not at the market rate, or or
(15:02):
you're allowing the team to sign you at a discount.
Let's say you're like, yeah, okay, that's fine, but in exchange,
I want you to invest in this real estate deal.
And so if you're getting a percentage of the equity
from that deal, maybe you're even getting a networking fee,
and they're getting some you know, a one percent of
whatever you're able to raise as the sponsor, you know
you're getting something back in return. That's real money in
(15:25):
a deal like that. So it granted all hypotheticals that
I'm presenting you, but ways you could go about doing
it where there's not as much of a money trail
directly to the athlete, but through another company where he
would be getting paid out. Does that make sense?
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Yeah, it makes a ton of sense. It's just a lot,
just a lot, but yeah, definitely makes sense.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
It's it's the lengths that teams go to in order
to find ways of operating in the gray.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
How bad do you want it?
Speaker 8 (15:51):
All?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Right?
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Got?
Speaker 6 (15:53):
I mean everybody wants it pretty badly. I'm assuming some
people want it more more than others.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Maybe not in Alabama. You know, a lot more back
in the day.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 9 (16:18):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller.
Would mean a lot to have you join us on
our weekly auditory journey.
Speaker 8 (16:25):
You're asking, what in God's name is the Fifth Hour.
Speaker 9 (16:28):
I'll tell you it's a spin off of The Ben
Mather Show, a cult hit overnights on FSR.
Speaker 8 (16:33):
Why should you listen?
Speaker 9 (16:34):
Picture if you will a world will We chat with
captains of industry in media, sports, and more every week
explore some amazing.
Speaker 8 (16:41):
Facts about human nature and more.
Speaker 9 (16:43):
Listen to The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
All right, right now, it is time to welcome in
the pride of Ohio State the one and only Albert Prier.
You know, they could have the marching band to come
out and put Corso on the field.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
All they want. There's only one. There is big time there.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
It is big Head hauncho of Columbus and it's the
one and only Albert Breer, Senior NFL reporter, lead content
strategist at the MMQB.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
You can get them on x at Albert Breer ab o.
Speaker 10 (17:21):
H I oh, I'm not the bush anymore, Brady, I'm not.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
You're not the bush anymore. You did it, al maybe,
actually it probably took you. Bring your whole family though.
You gotta make it a family affair and stop making
it these uh, these goose trips you go on.
Speaker 10 (17:36):
I might be stuck. I might be stuck now. But
uh but yeah, no, it was a great saturday. We
actually got to come over and say hello to all
the Fox people, so that was good. And uh, yeah,
I didn't realize you guys were You guys are right
there by the R pack that was that was the
old Markins when I was in school there, so uh
and that was a good setup and it was a
great atmosphere. And uh, I think I even gave you
(17:58):
guys like good gambling advice.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
He did not, Yeah, you did.
Speaker 10 (18:03):
Fourteen to ten and I wasn't far off. And Jonas
and Hammer the Under and whoever whoever did that, I
think did well over the weekend. So Uh, everybody's the winner.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Well done.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Uh, we have a bone to pick with you, though.
We do have a bone to pick because Micah Parsons
gets traded and I see this report you're talking on
Dan Patrick and you're saying, how there's what there's five
other teams involved potentially in trading for his services? Where
was that information with our show last week? Like what
happened there?
Speaker 10 (18:36):
Did I not say it?
Speaker 5 (18:38):
No?
Speaker 4 (18:39):
No, you did not.
Speaker 10 (18:40):
I put that on you guys. Well, you guys got
to ask me specific questions. I'll give you this.
Speaker 8 (18:47):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 10 (18:49):
Yeah, you got to ask Albert. If you ask me
a question, how good a teams are involved?
Speaker 6 (18:53):
I tell you, Albert, what information that you may use
on another show that someone may ask you that is
like very very like like exclusive information?
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Do you have any for us right now?
Speaker 10 (19:09):
Last week too, was in the story. I mean I
don't know. I mean, like I said, like, if you guys,
just if you guys wanted just to ask me the questions,
I'll give you the answers. I was just answering questions
on DPS show. I think last week when we talked
in fairness, the trade hadn't happened yet right, No, it
did not. Yeah, it had not happened yet. Yeah, so
that's just a timing thing, you know.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Yeah, well let's talk about those other suitors because I
look at it and say, okay, Kenny Clark two ones,
maybe this precedent for you know, that this sort of trade.
But was there not anything better? I mean, Micah Parsons
is viewed as a generational talent. Yeah, I would have
thought someone would have offered like two ones and a
two or maybe three ones. Let's get crazy with this thing.
Speaker 10 (19:54):
Yeah, I think the Cowboys sort of screwed themselves as
the timing of it, you know. And I I look
like it came to attention point obviously over the last
couple of weeks. But I think, you know, the Cowboys
probably should have had some more foresight on this and
created that tension point in the spring. Because here's the
reality is, like, when you get to this juncture in
the calendar, it becomes harder to pull off a trade
(20:15):
like this because teams budgets are set, the caps are set,
the rosters are set, and so you know, naturally you're
gonna have fewer suitors in August than you would if
you if you put a player on the market in
March or April, when teams have a lot more legal
room in all of those areas, you know, And so
just because of where we are in the calendar, I
(20:37):
think it became a little bit harder to move them
and a little bit harder to get you know, complete
full value for him. And you know, so the packers
wind up, you know, doing a deal at the rate
that they did it at, and it's the price isn't
all that different from you know what the what did
the Raiders got for Khalil mac with a six years ago?
Speaker 8 (21:00):
Now?
Speaker 10 (21:00):
I think there are seven years ago now. So yeah,
I think a lot of it's just about timing guys,
like as much as anything else. And you know it,
had the Cowboys pushed this thing to a head before
the draft, then we'd be talking about I thinking about
more teams involved. And then the other piece of that
too is you know, you probably have one of those
(21:21):
ticks on your team now if you're the Cowboys, right,
instead of having to wait until next April to have
any of the any of the windfall from the draft
capital on your roster.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
What has the what has the feedback been since the
trade in your circles.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Abe.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
I'm curious because it seems as though there's there's and
I don't get it, but there seems to be almost
a little bit of balance, Like, Okay, some people actually
like maybe they did a good thing by getting rid
of Michael Parsons. And then there's the other side that
I tend to fall on, which is there's no sensible
or lodge cool way you can justify what Dallas just did.
Speaker 10 (22:03):
Yeah. I think like the way most people in the
league look at it, LeVar is that this is two
teams that are sort of in different spots. And you know,
for the Packers, they've been close the last couple of years,
and they are in position to say, maybe we are
a great player away from competing for a championship, right
(22:24):
I don't think the Cowboys are necessarily there. And you know,
I think over the last few months, as this thing
did not progress right like, and as there was very
little steps forward taken between the Cowboys and might get
towards the deal, the Cowboys had to look in the
mirror and I think, you know, like a big piece
(22:44):
of the conversations that they had contemplating where they are
from a team standpoint, and you know, so I think,
you know, like really for Jerry Jones, for Stephen Jones,
for Will McLay, for Ein Schottenheimer, it's like, what do
we want to be and what do we want to build?
And you know, Shot, he's used that term the greatest
(23:07):
culture and in professional sports, and that's a little over
the top, but it kind of illustrates what he wants
to build there. And so, you know, if they had
gotten to a point where it was like, we can't
go forward with Michah Parsons, what do we want to build, Well,
you know, we want to lean into Dak Prescott as
a leader, and we want to lean into you know,
(23:28):
trying to to to rework the locker room. And if
Mike is not going to be a part of that,
that'll give us a little bit more space to do that.
And you know, that's why the idea of picking Kenny Clark,
and the Packers were a little surprised because Kenny's older
and Kenny's not an edge, so he doesn't replace Micah
Parsons on the roster, right, the Packers were a little
(23:50):
surprised and they asked for Kenny Clark, but that was
sort of a targeted thing for the Cowboys, and they
talked about the run defense thing, and that is part
of it. But another part of it is there's no
better pro out there than Kenny Clark, you know. And
so I think part of this is all right, like
if we are going to kind of reset, you know,
where we are from a franchise standpoint, if we are
going to concede and admit to ourselves that we're not
(24:12):
that close to pe for championship, but we're in this
thirty year drought, you know, how do we retool? How
do we reconfigure things?
Speaker 5 (24:20):
And uh, the season? So you're saying I.
Speaker 10 (24:24):
Think, yeah, I think to some degree, like they would
never concede, that they would never admit that. But I
think this is a concession from the Cowboys and implicit
concession from the Cowboys that we aren't that close, we
aren't a player away. We we we do need to
retool a little bit. And I you know, I would
actually give them some credit for that and being honest
(24:44):
with themselves about it, even if they can't be honest
about that publicly.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Maybe from your understanding, what was the opinion of Micah
Parsons in the locker.
Speaker 10 (24:55):
Room, it was very hot and cold. I would say
he pissed some people off with his with his podcast,
that's for sure, and some of the stuff that he
said there now look like there's two sizes to this, right, Like,
so Mike is a different guy. I don't think Mike
is ever going to be the best leader in the
(25:15):
on the team. You know, that wasn't going to happen.
But you know, the flip side of that is that's
the way a lot a lot of pass rushers are
different guys, you know, like you know TJ. Watt, you know,
like Miles Garrett, Like I can go back to some
of the guys that I've covered over the years, Von
Miller is a very different guy. Not a bad guy,
but just a different guy. You know. It's something that's
(25:37):
sort of I don't know why, but it's something that's
sort of specific to that position. And so you know,
Micah is a different guy, and what you've been around him,
you know, like he's a different guy. And like I
and I and I do think like that part of it,
like he rubbed some guys in that locker room the
(25:58):
wrong way, there's no question.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
And could I throw this out at you while you're
saying that just since you brought me in by saying
I know them, Is it a possibility because that different
that you're talking about is probably could be considered ultra competitive.
Got all those names you named are guys that are
ultra ultra Like if if you said, let's find caterpillars outside,
(26:22):
my caterpillar will be faster than your caterpillar.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
Like let's go shoot hoops, let's play horse.
Speaker 6 (26:28):
All them dudes you named are dudes that are going
to try to beat you in every single aspect of
anything and everything. Was he too intense for their locker room?
Were they too much of pussy's in the locker room
to be to be what they needed to be? Or
or was this a matter of they just were rubbed
the wrong way and in other ways?
Speaker 10 (26:48):
I think I think there were there were situations are
where he called people out. Did it rubbed people the
wrong way? Now, I like I think that piece of it,
Like you know, some people felt like some people felt
like Michael was out for Micah and again, like you know,
there's a fine line when it comes back who.
Speaker 6 (27:07):
Isn't out for who isn't out for themselves? In the league, though, I.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
Mean and that's a that's a real like f up.
Speaker 6 (27:13):
Way of saying it, Like he's not he's the only
selfish one in the locker room that's about himself.
Speaker 10 (27:18):
Like come on, yeah, I hear you, I hear you,
I hear you. You know, and I know you know, bar,
I'm just kind of conveying what I've heard, you know, Like,
but but I do think, but I do think that
that that definitely existed there and some people felt like,
you know, he had like like Micah had had certain
platforms and they felt like, you know, there were situations
(27:40):
where he was he was calling guys out where it
was uncalled for. And I again, like that's a fine line, right,
like sometimes sometimes that stuff needs to happen. However, however,
you want to break that down and look at it,
like there were those issues that existed in the locker room,
and one way to fix it, of course, would be
to empower him. And how does that go with the
(28:01):
other guys in the luck which you empower him by
paying them, right, and then you see what the result
of that is. The other way to fix that is
to trade them and you know, like again like I
don't want to make a sound like they're just getting
rid of him because they're not like they tried to
resfind him, you know what I mean. They offered him
a lot of money, So like this wasn't a this
(28:22):
wasn't a like we need to get rid of him
type of thing. I think I think it was more
when the efforts to get him resigned failed, that's when
they start to have those bigger picture conversations. That makes sense,
Like it's like, all right, like we try, we were,
we've tried to do a deal with him. Now we've
got to start to talk about what this looks like
(28:42):
if we walk away from him, what the benefit of
walking away from him is. You know, those bigger picture
conversations were provoked not by we need to get this
guy out of the building. Those bigger picture conversations were
provoked by we haven't been able to get a deal
done yet, so like, how far are we willing to
go to get a deal done? What are the pros
and cons to getting a deal done? When the conversation
(29:06):
about getting a contract done sales in March and April,
Now all of a sudden, you know, those bigger picture
conversations get opened up, and a lot of these sorts
of things are discussed.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
Albert. I want to switch gears here and talk a
little bit more about some teams with high expectations this season,
maybe no one higher than the Buffalo Bills and Josh
Allen Ranning MVP. Is there a sense though, that if
things don't go well this season for the Bills, they
might start looking elsewhere and looking elsewhere for a different
head coach. It feels like Sean McDermott's been there for
(29:39):
a long time. I love them personally. I'm not saying
this would be a smart move, but you know, owners
get you know, it's like when you don't win the
Super Bowl, everyone's like, well, why didn't we? And we
start sometimes chasing ghosts and making up reasons for what
we need to do in order to win one. Is
there a sense that there's a lot of pressure on
Sean McDermott despite the fact that you know they've been
(29:59):
incredibly successful.
Speaker 10 (30:01):
Yeah, you know, it's funny, is right? You just brought
that up, and I just I don't know why I
popped up, popped in my head, but I just thought
of Tony Tungjie with the Buccaneers. If you guys remember
and how he like rebuilt the Bucks and they had
been a laughingstock. And you know, he won and won
and one with the Bucks, but they didn't get over
the top. And then did the opportunity to go get
John John Grutin and they did it and won. I
(30:23):
think that's the sort of thing that you're talking about, right,
like where the guy's done a great job, but like
do we need a new voice And I don't think
that exists there yet, but you know, because I think
Sean has done such a great job remaking the organization
and I mean it's easy to forget what they were
before twenty seventeen, but they hadn't been in the playoff
in eighteen years. But yeah, I mean like this is
(30:47):
like so you know, like they've sort of moved off
of the old group of players that they that they
that they won with with Josh Allen this quarterback, that
first group and some of those guys have come back
with your Davius White. But I mean, you guys know
all the names of the guys that were that that
went through there, you know, like a high Jordan Poyer,
you know, Steph Diggs, all those guys they won with,
(31:09):
and now they've got this young group that they've paid right, Like,
so they've paid Greg Russo, they've paid for l Bernard,
They've paid Khalil Shakir. You know, they they they've they've
they've sort of leaned in now on this younger group.
And this younger group is just getting off the ground
at Olivers in that group, you know, and and and
(31:31):
we'll see what they can do. I I certainly think
there does come a point eventually when if you're knocking
on the door and you're getting the AFC title games
but you're never quite breaking through, that those sorts of
questions get asked. And yeah, I mean like if if
Josh Allen has another m v P type of season
(31:52):
and they get to the doorstep and they don't win,
I'm sure people will be asking those questions. I don't
think internally they're close to that, there anywhere close to
you know, asking those sorts of questions of themselves, like
do we need to move on from Sean McDermott. But
certainly the pressure gets ramped up if if, if you
can't break through.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
So Ab I have a question for you, because we're
doing these picks and we're going through the AFC, the
NFC picking division by division. One of the teams that
I struggled with was the Rams only specifically because of
Matthew Stafford's health the back issue that feels like it's
going to be a problem all year. When did this
first pop up? Because would they have given him the
(32:37):
contract they gave him had they known that his back
was in the shape that it was in going into
the year.
Speaker 10 (32:43):
The back has been something that has bothered him for
a while, Like, I don't it's not new, like it's
I think it's an accumulation of damage would probably be
the best way to put it. And this is the
guy who took a lot of a lot of punishment,
you know, and over all the years in Detroit, and
so they have confidence in where he's at because of
(33:04):
his ability to work through other things, Like he had
some for a quarterback, like as extential type injury, you know,
he had like a wrist injury and elbow injury that
like those sorts of things where you're like, you know,
if you know the quarterback, And he actually admitted this
to me a couple of years ago, like that it
was I mean, the wrist injury was scary for him,
Like didn't know, like, Okay, what's this going to be.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
You know, so.
Speaker 10 (33:30):
He's worked through these sorts of things in the past.
The back has been an issue in the past, you know.
I think as much as anything else, I think I've
kind of explained this to you guys over the last
few weeks, is like they felt, like, you know, over
the course of the summer that if he's at like
eighty five or ninety percent with the back, well, there's
(33:51):
no need to be like firing any bullets in August,
especially when you have Jimmy Garoppolo who can come in
and operate the offense and practice at high enough level
where everybody's going to get good work in, right, So like,
let's leave those bullets in the gun and there's no
need to to to wear them out in August where
it could affect him in January and February. And this is,
(34:12):
as much as anything else, is about being able to
get him through the year and have him at the
highest level possible when you get to January and February
and you hope you're competing for a championship. So I
think it's just sort of where he is physically. I
think it's why, you know, It's why I like these
questions of retirement have come up the last couple of
years because there is a lot of damage that he's
taken on, but he's already fought through so much that
(34:35):
there's confidence that he's going to be able to do it.
And you know, it really hasn't affected him as far
as giving the Rams an elite level of play from
the position. So you know, I would never minimize it.
It's not me that's got the back issue here, although
I do have some problems in my own of my
own and my old age. You know, I like, I
just think like for him, it's it's it's something that
(34:59):
he's he's found to to deal with these things, and
you know, like they've got confidence that he can do it.
Doesn't mean it won't flare up, doesn't mean it won't
have to be managed, but but they have confidence that
he can deal with it.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
All right, Albert, last one for me, we got to
get it from you. What's your super Bowl pick for
the season?
Speaker 10 (35:17):
So I picked the Bills to beat the Rams in
the Super Bowl. So interesting that you guys brought those
two teams up. Typically, Yeah, I think I would just
and sometimes like when I make these picks. Brady, I
can be like a little bit of a prisoner of
what I saw during training camp, because you can kind
of if you've been doing it long as long as
I have, like you kind of get a feel for
(35:38):
the way people are talking about their teams, you know,
when you're talking with them outside, it's just the normal
rosy stuff. The two teams that really came off as
like being very confident where they were over the summer
to me with the Rams and the Broncos. And with
the Rams it was like this quiet confidence where it
was like, I'm not saying it, but like, this is
a really good group we have here, and DeVante Adam
(36:00):
looks dynamite, and they'll be a perfect compliment for Pooka.
And you know, our offensive line should be the best
since we've been here, and our defensive line might be
the best in football. So I think the Rams have
as long as Stafford can make it through, I think
the Rams have a really good shout to win the NFC.
And I and I would say this too, like even
if they were going to lose Stafford for two, three,
(36:21):
four games, there's a high level of confidence that Garoppolo
could step in and then Buffalo. I would just say this, like,
if you went to a Bill's practice like five or
six years ago, you'd be odd by some of the
things that that Josh could do, could do like running
around and making things happen and everything else. And there's
this breakneck way to how he practiced back then what
(36:46):
it was this time watching him, everything now looks so
easy to him, and everything looks so calm, and it
just looks like, I mean, I'm serious when I say this,
it look like child's play, Like he was just picking things.
I'm going to do that, I'm gonna do that, I'm
gonna do that. It was just so the idea of
him still having like all that physical ability in his
bag and he can just now he can sit back
(37:08):
there and pick someone apart too. I just I'd be
surprised if he's not, like, you know, the best player
in the league again this year. And I think they've
got all those young guys I mentioned all those young
guys that they've they've drafted and developed to replace the
guys who are out now. They've got so many ascending
players on the team. So I like the Bills to
(37:29):
break through the Rams to get back to the Super
Bowl and then the Bills to beat the Rams in
Santa Clara.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
How about that?
Speaker 5 (37:34):
There?
Speaker 3 (37:35):
He is the great Alba Breer. See, so I guess
we did ask the right questions this time.
Speaker 10 (37:41):
A yeah, bad and and I'm racking my brain right
now to see if I lost anything on the table.
I guess the only thing you guys would need from
me now is like an Ohio State grandblin. Pick right.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
The topic. Do you like Ohio state money?
Speaker 5 (37:56):
Right there?
Speaker 10 (37:57):
I think I can get that one, right, I think
I can get that one night.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Yeah, to go a bay to bring those buck guys.
Good luck, buddy.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
He's the man at Albert Breer on x IS where
you can find him, senior NFL reporter, lead content strategist
at the m m QB.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Thanks Ap, we'll do it togain next week.
Speaker 10 (38:15):
All right, thanks guys. That'll be one.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
There is Albert Breer with us here on Fox Sports Radio.
We are brought to It's.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
Great out there. He's great, thanks plumbus. Yeah, yeah, he's.
Speaker 8 (38:24):
Been running a lot.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
He looks, you know, slimmed down from when I saw
him before. He looked like he was in great shape.
Have a good time with the fan.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
He spoiled his kids, though, Is that their first? I
think he mentioned it was their first?
Speaker 4 (38:34):
Uh yeah, the first, Yeah, the first.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Hard to match that one, by the way.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
We are brought to you by the Home Depot, and
you know, Albert's kids got their first impression of college
football and it was a good one.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
All right, so throughout the course of the show, we've
been dropping our season preview picks on the NFL season.
It is time to conclude with the playoffs with the
super Bowl. It's the big grand finale here lead to
lap you take it away.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Quarterbacks through this. Who goes first?
Speaker 11 (39:14):
Well, all quarterback is through it. But let's let the
quarterbacks start it off. Brady, who you got in your
playoffs scenario?
Speaker 4 (39:21):
So, as I've talked about before, Tampa Bay from the NFC,
they get the buy. On the AFC side, it's Kansas City.
So playing off in the wildcard round, I've got the
Jacksonville bill Jaguars hosting the Baltimore Ravens. I've got the
Ravens winning that one. Then I've got the Buffalo Bills
hosting the Los Angeles Chargers. The Bills hold the home
field advantage, they advance, and the Bengals beating the New
(39:43):
England Patriots the seventh seed to advance. On the AFC side,
in the NFC, it's a home team sweep the Green
Bay Packers, they take down the La Rams, the forty
nine Ers take down the Atlanta Falcons, and the Eagles
take down the Washington Commandos moving on to the divisional round.
I assume and all the way through you, sir, okay.
In the AFC, We've got the Bengals advancing to take
(40:06):
on the Buffalo Bills, and I have the Bengals advancing
to the AFC Championship game knocking off Albert Breers Buffalo
Bills that he's got I believe winning at all. And
then on the other side, I've got Kansas City beating
the Baltimore Ravens. They get the buye they're at home.
We all know the track record Vandy Reid and the
Chiefs as well as their record versus the Baltimore Ravens.
(40:29):
So unfortunately for the Ravens not able to do it
this year. On the NFC side, the Eagles hosting the
San Francisco forty nine Ers. I got the Eagles being
able to hold the home field advantage winning as the
number two seed, and then the Tampa Bay Bucks coming
off that buy hosting the Green Bay Packers, the Battle
the Bays, But it's the Green Bay Packers who will
(40:50):
find their way through to take on the Philadelphia Eagles
in the NFC Championship Game. Championship Weekend, the number one
seeded Chiefs hosting the Cincinnati Bengals, and I've got the
Chiefs advancing. The Bengals just can't get over the top.
But a matchup that I think we'd all love to see.
I know I would love to see. And then on
(41:12):
the NFC side, the Eagles hosting the Green Bay Packers.
All the weight and the pressure of everything trying to
get back to the Super Bowl and repeats, but it's
the Packers, led by Michaeh Parsons Jordan Love finding the
way to the super Bowl. A matchup for the ages.
The Kansasity Chiefs taking on the Green Bay Packers in
Santa Clara. But I've got the Chiefs getting back on
(41:37):
top of the NFL, and mind you doing so with
Taylor Swift.
Speaker 8 (41:43):
Performing at half time circle. You can't make this stuff up.
Speaker 4 (41:47):
You can't make it up. Wins the Chiefs, Taylor Swift
back on top of the NFL. It's written manifested. If
you will, it's all gonna come together.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
How about that?
Speaker 4 (42:04):
You're really gonna do this Wednesday?
Speaker 2 (42:06):
By the way, I think that's uh.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
And that was Super Bowl one and this is Super
Bowl sixty coming up, so on the sixtieth anniversary, a
repeat the first damn.
Speaker 11 (42:16):
Yeah, that's impressive, very impressive, all right, Jonas, how about
you taking off?
Speaker 4 (42:20):
What's your playoffs?
Speaker 8 (42:21):
Sinner?
Speaker 2 (42:21):
All right?
Speaker 3 (42:22):
So that was almost as impressive as this. Here are
my AFC playoff teams. I've got the Buffalo Bills winning
the AFC East. I've got the Bengals in the North,
the Texans in the South, and yes, I have the
LA Chargers the Bolts winning the AFC West. My wild
card teams out of the AFC are the Ravens, Steelers,
(42:43):
and Chiefs. But I've got Baltimore making a run as
a wild card team, finally getting over the hump and
getting into the Super Bowl over on the NFC. Who
will they play? They've got the Eagles winning the East.
They've got the Packers, the Falcons and forty nine ers
as division winners. Your playoff teams elsewhere as the wild
(43:06):
card spots are the Commanders, the Buccaneers, and the Chicago Bears.
But only one can advance from the NFC to take
on the Ravens, and that one is Lee to lapse,
Green Bay Packers who go to Santa Clara to take
on the Baltimore Ravens, and the winner is Lamar Jackson
(43:30):
and the Baltimore Ravens who win the Super Bowl super
Bowl sixty. If you look at the logo, if you
look at the logo, you see some purple, you see
some yellow, and a little bit of green there. As
Lee likes to point out, the logo of the Super
bowls a predictor of certain Super Bowls. But I've got
Baltimore winning it all coming up in Santa Clara in February.
Speaker 11 (43:53):
All right, two Packers making it to the Super Bowl
in both Brady and Jonas's brackets.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
How about you, var who do you got in the playoff?
Speaker 6 (44:01):
I hate when Jonas says the same things as me,
but I'll still say it. I mean, I feel like
I want to change it because Jonas doesn't get anything correct,
but maybe he gets it done here. I don't know
if I got Cincinnati into AFC, Buffalo, Houston and the
Chargers as divisional or conference division champion, excuse me. And
(44:23):
I have Baltimore, Jacksonville and Pittsburgh as wildcard teams.
Speaker 5 (44:29):
I believe out of that Buffalo.
Speaker 6 (44:32):
Will end up playing Baltimore and Baltimore will win to
make it to the super Bowl. On the NFC side,
I have Philly, Tampa, Bay, Minnesota, and Arizona winning their divisions,
and I see Green Bay, Washington and the Rams being
(44:53):
the wildcard teams. Now, the teams that will emerge from
there will be Philly, and I do believe Green Bay,
but I believe that Philadelphia finds a way to win
and they advanced to the Super Bowl, and you have
a Ravens Eagles Super Bowl, and I had Baltimore actually
(45:14):
winning the.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
Super Bowl sticks picks.
Speaker 4 (45:18):
I like it.
Speaker 6 (45:19):
I like it, man.
Speaker 4 (45:21):
I think we had a nice little display of like
all the teams that could be in it, no one
picked Cincinnati will be in the Super Bowl, right, No No,
I don't know. Man. As I was going through this,
it just it feels like it could be their year,
like bringing everything back, you know, the way they approached
the preseason. I don't know. Something feels like this could
(45:42):
be since his year.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
I was either going to go Baltimore or Sincy, and
I was either going to go the Rams or the
Packers in the NFC. But Matthew Stafford, the Stafford back
thing concerns me so much. I'm not sure what to
make of San Frank because the roster is still there.
Just will Christian McCaffer be able to get back those
old ways.
Speaker 4 (46:00):
It's hard for me to pick against Philly honestly, like
it really is, because I think Philly is so good,
but I didn't want to be too chalky with it,
and so I kind of threw green Bay in there.
But the Chiefs obviously. I just I think every single
year we get tired of looking at how doment they are,
how good they are, and then once we see them play,
we're like, oh, yeah, that's Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, all
(46:22):
this other stud players.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
You know.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
You know what I realized, you know, I realized and
going through the picks last night I was like, in
this entire Chiefs dynasty, never one time if I picked
them to win the super Bowl or even go to
the super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (46:35):
I am, well, you're an underdog type guy. You know.
You don't like That's right. You don't like ever, you know,
picking a team that's a favorite, you know, the common man,
bottom of the barrel.
Speaker 5 (46:47):
The common man.
Speaker 6 (46:49):
You are far from common all Dracula, Damn, that's true.
This is the best of two pros and a couple
Joe with Lamar Airings and Brady Winn and Jonas Knox
on radio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We are going to have our NFL picks coming up
later on AM.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Hearing reports that Brady Quinn might have gone a real deep,
real deep to UH to research and come up with
his picks for this upcoming season.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
All right. I mean, I'll tell you guys right off
the top, there's only one way I know how to
do it. Okay, I do it hard, I do it fast.
I get it one shot one shot wow, and I
can't and whatever the results are, I have to live
with them.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Because like I kind of came back after this one,
I was like, oh man, is that really how I
feel like it's gonna play out? But it does provide
you some instant insight into these schedules and what's gonna
happen for some of these teams. Like you kind of
come away going all right, that team's got a lot
harder schedule than I thought they were going to have.
(01:03):
Like I kind of I know the roster is good.
Then you start kind of going through You're like, all right, man,
they don't really have a buy till then, and you
know they got like a string of road games or whatever.
It is, Like, it's it's a good activity, man. I
would tell anyone to do it. I tell people all
the time. It's called playoff predictors dot com. You can
go do it. It's fun to do. But yeah, I
did it for every single game, not like LeVar, who
(01:26):
couldn't even name you last year who won the FC
South in his opinion or second for that matter.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
Apparently a sight on our on.
Speaker 6 (01:38):
Our intro sound because i sound like I don't know anything,
and I'm saying I don't know anything, and.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
I'm looking at what you did last year. Honestly, black
care less.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
I pick them right, I pick them straight. You know
that's hard to.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Pick the FC South at them, but I guess I
was text a.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
FC South didn't even count whatever. Whatever.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Yeah, it's up to you.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
You just dissolve the entire division, like nobody comes out.
Speaker 6 (02:07):
I mean, it wouldn't be a horrible idea. Or the
NFC South, I mean either one. It wouldn't be a
horrible idea. There's one team that that represents it at
one point time, you know, could be Houston at one
at a point in time, could be Tampa at a
point time in the NFC, like, but the rest of them,
(02:29):
it's like, all right, you know, it's been a while.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
It's been a while with the Saints.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Come on, So we're gonna hammer out the Titans throughout
the course.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Of Are they even in that?
Speaker 6 (02:40):
I don't even know the Titans Jacksonville?
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So we are out.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
We're going to hammer out those picks throughout the course
of the show. We're gonna spa on some of the
first hour, the second hour, the third hour. Can we
just discuss, at least for a short time, what the
f is going on with Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers,
because this is another quote unquote bombshell that was dropped
by Pablo Torre, who has got a knack for this thing.
(03:10):
He was the one who came up with the collusion evidence.
He's the one who scouted out where Bill Belichick was
doing the Walk of shame in Nantucket. Like he does
this investigative stuff and breaks down, you know, stories that
pop up in the world of sports. And apparently Kawhi
Leonard took a twenty eight million dollar payment for a
(03:31):
no show job to circumvent the NBA salary cap from
the Clippers. There was a company was that went bankrupt afterwards,
and so the thought is, well, to try and give
him a little bit more cash. We'll just you know,
this is the way we'll do it. This is the
way we'll come up with the monies to get that done.
And so Pablo Torre, after the report dropped yesterday morning,
(03:52):
was on the Dan Patrick Show, which you can hear
on many of these Fox Sports radio affiliates, and he
broke it down.
Speaker 7 (03:58):
You may recall how in twenty nineteen, the NBA investigated
the signing of Kawhi Leonard by the Clippers. This was
the Uncle Dennis story, him asking for all the sweeteners.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
The side deals.
Speaker 7 (04:09):
This was the Lakers, the Raptors, very mad, lots of teams,
very mad. NBA investigates says, this is a cardinal sin.
Salary caps are convention, but they find nothing. This is
a story that started because of a company called Aspiration,
which no one really remembers in fairness, but they had
signed some of the most famous people in the world
to be endorsers. All people who endorsed this climate change
(04:32):
company that planted trees to zero out your carbon footprint
like good guys, only for those same good guys to
have since been embroiled in what has been a concurrent
Department of Justice and SEC investigations that have resulted in
guilty please by one of the co founders of the company,
and Steve Bamber in this story put in fifty million
(04:54):
dollars of his own money into Aspiration. Here's the punchline.
The endorsement deal that was the biggest that Aspiration signed
given all those A List avengers, happened to be Kawhi
Leonard twenty eight million dollars, more than four times the
rest of the celebrity roster combined. And the kicker, you
might argue, is that he didn't do anything. It was
(05:16):
a no show job, did nothing, was an obligated to
do anything, which you can explain if you want, but
the point being it was a secret deal that no
one knew about until now.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So there you go, and there's the uh.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Well, I think you have to in order to make
this fair. And this is part of the tough, tough
thing I have with like Paula to Torre has done
a great job with a lot of his investigations, but
he's only providing you like one side of the story,
and in particular in this one where he does find
some things and he's able to provide this very tantalizing
story that you know, I kind of look at it
(05:51):
and sit there and see David Sampson, by the way,
who ran the Marlins, really smart, you know, business mind
who's kind of sitting there looking at as a part
of it, And I think you can draw a conclude like, yeah,
could this have been fraudulently could this have been a
way to circumvent the salary cap? Sure? Well, let me
read you Mark Cuban's response. I'm on team Balmer. Well,
(06:11):
you might think he's going to be right. He had
owned the Dallas Mavericks and majority of Sharre until he
sold it. As much as I wish they circumvented the
salary cap, Steve, isn't that dumb? All right? If he
did try to feed Kale money knowing what was at
stake for him personally and his team, do you think
he would let that company go bankrupt knowing all creditors
(06:32):
would be visible to the world. So let's just stop
there for a second. He put fifty million into this, right,
it's a lot of money. I don't care how much
money you have, fifty million into it's a lot of money.
Kawhi was only getting paid seventy a year from that,
so twenty eight million. So the other twenty two million
he's just throw it, just throwing away apparently. Now this
(06:54):
was all in an effort if you go back and
look at what Aspiration was to be able to offset
their carbon footprint, and it would kind of make you
feel better about, you know, some of your business operations,
et cetera. But the point is is that it kind
of starts to look a little bit fishy then of like,
all right, yeah, maybe he wanted to pay him seven
million additionally a year and get him that extra twenty
(07:14):
eight million, but then he just blowed the other twenty
two purely just to be able to get Kawhi Leonard. Maybe,
I don't know, maybe not. It feels like you'd want
to pay him the entire fifty million or find some
way of structuring that way. Cuban goes on to say
they got scammed by Aspiration, along with many others crimes
from which they pleaded guilty last week, which is true,
(07:37):
Like a lot of these people pleaded guilty to and
if that's the case, like they're all taking the fall,
then just so Steve Balmer and the Clippers could be
able to sign Kawhi Leonard like everyone's set up to
take the fall for him. I mean, they did a
three hundred million dollar sponship deal with the Clippers in
twenty twenty one. That's a huge deal. The better the
team does, the more value sponsorship has. It actually makes
(07:58):
perfect sense and says that if they stole money from
investors and want the Clippers to succeed, why not give
the stolen money to help keep their best player. Also
makes a lot of sense. So that's the hard part
about this is Pabloatore does this report, it's tantalizing. Everyone
runs with it and get the popolatry ever reached out
(08:20):
to Steve Balmer get his side of it. Isn't that
part of what journalism is. You hear both sides of
the story, You present the facts and let people who
read it then determine what's true and what's not.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I mean, at least they got the NBA in the news.
Speaker 6 (08:34):
Mean that brutal for me. God, I'm glad y'all love
this topic. I mean, God, dang, I mean, it is
interesting listening to you talk about it, but well, the reason.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Is there, you go. But the reason is there's there's
so many ramifications for this because like in the NBA,
for example, the president was set back when the Minnesota
Timberwolves this in two thousand with Joe Schmidt, Joe Smith,
and they took away five first round picks, which, by
the way, the Clippers won't even have how many first
round picks? Not sure what they do. They find the
team three point five million dollars and they avoided the contract.
(09:12):
So that is tampering.
Speaker 6 (09:13):
It's like tampering or fraud what would what would we
call it?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Well, fraud, you call it fraudule. It's just it goes
against the CBA, right because you've got a union, you've
got a collective bargain agreement that's been agreed upon, and
really for more the ownership side, you know, they want
things to be fair and on the up up and
have a level playing field. And they have a soft
cap for a reason because if you go over it right,
you end up paying a luxury tax. So there's all
(09:40):
sorts of, you know, reasons why this matters. But what
makes it really interesting is then you apply it to
like college football. Right now, college football is slowly moving
towards a world where you have a salary cap in essence,
right we have the House NCAA settlement that allows now
every school to pay out their student athletes, in particular
football x amount of dollars of the twenty two million
(10:01):
or twenty million roughly somewhere in that ballpark. Right. So,
the interesting thing about it is that the NCAA and
really all parties involved that that have created the College
Sports Commission the CSC. They are supposed to because now
collectives are still able to exist, players are still able
to go and get their anile deals. They were able
(10:22):
to actually go and look at all those deals to
try to provide some sort of transparency and make sure
everything's on the up and up, and they can determine
whether or not those deals are deemed worthy, like if
the athletes are being paid market value, if they fall
with from the guidelines of what's been put forth in
the House NCAA settlement. What becomes really interesting is who's
to say the CSC knows like what's market value or
(10:46):
even argue that. And typically when you have a union
with one side, you know you could take those things
up or their you know, negotiated within a collective bargain agreement.
The problem is that we don't have any of that
in college football. So if you would have applied this situation,
should someone ever say, hey, Penn Station have got that recruit,
they probably gave him, you know, a two million dollar
(11:08):
you know nil deal. Like if they end up saying
that the player can't do the deal the college Sports Commission,
he's just gonna come right back out and sue and say, yeah,
you guys, let's go to court, let's figure this out,
and he's probably gonna win. So that's that's what makes
this really interesting, is you're saying something right now that
it's not just interesting from the NBA and the fact
(11:29):
that they're even in the news and how this's all
worked out, it's it's also interesting and how it impacts
other sports and where other sports are at and their
evolution of becoming a professional sport like college football that's
inching their way there.
Speaker 6 (11:42):
So it's about figuring out managing, engaging loopholes loopholers.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Is that what I take from it.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Which is kind of what always the business has been.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
There's always been, right but that's what this is, is somebody
finding a loophole to pay more to be more enticing
to the player.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Is sure, I mean the problem in this case, well,
the Clippers did this in order to be able to
pay Kawhi more than what some of the other suitors
would be able to pay him. What's interesting about it,
like I said, though, is like I don't know how
you stop or how you look at this if you're
Steve Bomber and say, yeah, like he became a part
of the Clippers, Bomber owns the Clippers. But at the
same time, Bomber just essentially wasted twenty two million dollars
(12:26):
even if that was what he was trying to do
in helping out Kawhi Leonard and also to Mark Cuban's
first point, like, no one, no one's dumb enough who's
in that world at that level to do something that
becomes public And he had to have known that if
he was going to invest his money with an organization
(12:48):
and company who'd be basically were a bunch of scammers
who pled guilty to all this that you know it
was going to be eventually become public and all that.
Like I'm sure that wasn't the intent. Maybe Pablo tour
I would say in response to this, maybe he'd say, well, yeah,
that wasn't bombers and ten he didn't think they'd go bankrupt,
so he thought no one would ever know. But it
(13:10):
looks a little fishy right on both sides of it.
And that's why you wish Pablo Tory would have had
more from Bombers side of things.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
And also, you know he's gonna spend twenty two million
dollars for this, and on top of that, if he
gets popped, it's seven and a half million dollars in fines.
It's a loss of draft picks. I think they void
Kawhi's contract like it's going to cripple the organization for
all this to do business with somebody on on a
shady level. It just so Yeah, I think Mark Cuban
(13:40):
makes a lot of sense. They're supposed to have some
sort of you know, an interview or something. I think
they agreed to to go over a Pablotory and Mark Cuban.
But yeah, nonetheless, and also how many how many other
owners around sports you know are looking at this going well,
hopefully they don't to start.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
King let's let's as see, peel back the curtain if
you got really want to go there. I mean, we
could talk about Tom Brady. We could talk about all
the accusations that people used to make during the years
where he would take quote unquote team friendly deals. And
there was always a thought that Robert Kraft and Tom
Brady had gotten in more real estate deals, more involved
that were under the table, deals that that had gone
(14:17):
on for you know, two decades, where there was a
common thought that that's how they were getting it done.
Deals that weren't just in this country deals, international deals.
There are deals in Brazil. Like, there's all sorts of
different things that you know, I mean, let's just put
it this way, because let's say you have equity in
a company and maybe they maybe just to be Tom Brady, right,
(14:40):
someone's going to give you equity to use your name
like this. Maybe it's it's a company that does real
estate in Brazil, hypothetically speaking. And if you've got a partial,
you know, portion of this company, you haven't put any
money in, right, so you're kind of playing with house money,
right because you haven't done anything so far. And let's
just say that you in order to you know, sign
a contract that's not at the market rate, or or
(15:02):
you're allowing the team to sign you at a discount.
Let's say you're like, yeah, okay, that's fine, but in exchange,
I want you to invest in this real estate deal.
And so if you're getting a percentage of the equity
from that deal, maybe you're even getting a networking fee,
and they're getting some you know, a one percent of
whatever you're able to raise as the sponsor, you know
you're getting something back in return. That's real money in
(15:25):
a deal like that. So it granted all hypotheticals that
I'm presenting you, but ways you could go about doing
it where there's not as much of a money trail
directly to the athlete, but through another company where he
would be getting paid out. Does that make sense?
Speaker 5 (15:39):
Yeah, it makes a ton of sense. It's just a lot,
just a lot, but yeah, definitely makes sense.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
It's it's the lengths that teams go to in order
to find ways of operating in the gray.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
How bad do you want it?
Speaker 8 (15:51):
All?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Right?
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Got?
Speaker 6 (15:53):
I mean everybody wants it pretty badly. I'm assuming some
people want it more more than others.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Maybe not in Alabama. You know, a lot more back
in the day.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 9 (16:18):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller.
Would mean a lot to have you join us on
our weekly auditory journey.
Speaker 8 (16:25):
You're asking, what in God's name is the Fifth Hour.
Speaker 9 (16:28):
I'll tell you it's a spin off of The Ben
Mather Show, a cult hit overnights on FSR.
Speaker 8 (16:33):
Why should you listen?
Speaker 9 (16:34):
Picture if you will a world will We chat with
captains of industry in media, sports, and more every week
explore some amazing.
Speaker 8 (16:41):
Facts about human nature and more.
Speaker 9 (16:43):
Listen to The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
All right, right now, it is time to welcome in
the pride of Ohio State the one and only Albert Prier.
You know, they could have the marching band to come
out and put Corso on the field.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
All they want. There's only one. There is big time there.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
It is big Head hauncho of Columbus and it's the
one and only Albert Breer, Senior NFL reporter, lead content
strategist at the MMQB.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
You can get them on x at Albert Breer ab o.
Speaker 10 (17:21):
H I oh, I'm not the bush anymore, Brady, I'm not.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
You're not the bush anymore. You did it, al maybe,
actually it probably took you. Bring your whole family though.
You gotta make it a family affair and stop making
it these uh, these goose trips you go on.
Speaker 10 (17:36):
I might be stuck. I might be stuck now. But
uh but yeah, no, it was a great saturday. We
actually got to come over and say hello to all
the Fox people, so that was good. And uh, yeah,
I didn't realize you guys were You guys are right
there by the R pack that was that was the
old Markins when I was in school there, so uh
and that was a good setup and it was a
great atmosphere. And uh, I think I even gave you
(17:58):
guys like good gambling advice.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
He did not, Yeah, you did.
Speaker 10 (18:03):
Fourteen to ten and I wasn't far off. And Jonas
and Hammer the Under and whoever whoever did that, I
think did well over the weekend. So Uh, everybody's the winner.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Well done.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Uh, we have a bone to pick with you, though.
We do have a bone to pick because Micah Parsons
gets traded and I see this report you're talking on
Dan Patrick and you're saying, how there's what there's five
other teams involved potentially in trading for his services? Where
was that information with our show last week? Like what
happened there?
Speaker 10 (18:36):
Did I not say it?
Speaker 5 (18:38):
No?
Speaker 4 (18:39):
No, you did not.
Speaker 10 (18:40):
I put that on you guys. Well, you guys got
to ask me specific questions. I'll give you this.
Speaker 8 (18:47):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 10 (18:49):
Yeah, you got to ask Albert. If you ask me
a question, how good a teams are involved?
Speaker 6 (18:53):
I tell you, Albert, what information that you may use
on another show that someone may ask you that is
like very very like like exclusive information?
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Do you have any for us right now?
Speaker 10 (19:09):
Last week too, was in the story. I mean I
don't know. I mean, like I said, like, if you guys,
just if you guys wanted just to ask me the questions,
I'll give you the answers. I was just answering questions
on DPS show. I think last week when we talked
in fairness, the trade hadn't happened yet right, No, it
did not. Yeah, it had not happened yet. Yeah, so
that's just a timing thing, you know.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Yeah, well let's talk about those other suitors because I
look at it and say, okay, Kenny Clark two ones,
maybe this precedent for you know, that this sort of trade.
But was there not anything better? I mean, Micah Parsons
is viewed as a generational talent. Yeah, I would have
thought someone would have offered like two ones and a
two or maybe three ones. Let's get crazy with this thing.
Speaker 10 (19:54):
Yeah, I think the Cowboys sort of screwed themselves as
the timing of it, you know. And I I look
like it came to attention point obviously over the last
couple of weeks. But I think, you know, the Cowboys
probably should have had some more foresight on this and
created that tension point in the spring. Because here's the
reality is, like, when you get to this juncture in
the calendar, it becomes harder to pull off a trade
(20:15):
like this because teams budgets are set, the caps are set,
the rosters are set, and so you know, naturally you're
gonna have fewer suitors in August than you would if
you if you put a player on the market in
March or April, when teams have a lot more legal
room in all of those areas, you know, And so
just because of where we are in the calendar, I
(20:37):
think it became a little bit harder to move them
and a little bit harder to get you know, complete
full value for him. And you know, so the packers
wind up, you know, doing a deal at the rate
that they did it at, and it's the price isn't
all that different from you know what the what did
the Raiders got for Khalil mac with a six years ago?
Speaker 8 (21:00):
Now?
Speaker 10 (21:00):
I think there are seven years ago now. So yeah,
I think a lot of it's just about timing guys,
like as much as anything else. And you know it,
had the Cowboys pushed this thing to a head before
the draft, then we'd be talking about I thinking about
more teams involved. And then the other piece of that
too is you know, you probably have one of those
(21:21):
ticks on your team now if you're the Cowboys, right,
instead of having to wait until next April to have
any of the any of the windfall from the draft
capital on your roster.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
What has the what has the feedback been since the
trade in your circles.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Abe.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
I'm curious because it seems as though there's there's and
I don't get it, but there seems to be almost
a little bit of balance, Like, Okay, some people actually
like maybe they did a good thing by getting rid
of Michael Parsons. And then there's the other side that
I tend to fall on, which is there's no sensible
or lodge cool way you can justify what Dallas just did.
Speaker 10 (22:03):
Yeah. I think like the way most people in the
league look at it, LeVar is that this is two
teams that are sort of in different spots. And you know,
for the Packers, they've been close the last couple of years,
and they are in position to say, maybe we are
a great player away from competing for a championship, right
(22:24):
I don't think the Cowboys are necessarily there. And you know,
I think over the last few months, as this thing
did not progress right like, and as there was very
little steps forward taken between the Cowboys and might get
towards the deal, the Cowboys had to look in the
mirror and I think, you know, like a big piece
(22:44):
of the conversations that they had contemplating where they are
from a team standpoint, and you know, so I think,
you know, like really for Jerry Jones, for Stephen Jones,
for Will McLay, for Ein Schottenheimer, it's like, what do
we want to be and what do we want to build?
And you know, Shot, he's used that term the greatest
(23:07):
culture and in professional sports, and that's a little over
the top, but it kind of illustrates what he wants
to build there. And so, you know, if they had
gotten to a point where it was like, we can't
go forward with Michah Parsons, what do we want to build, Well,
you know, we want to lean into Dak Prescott as
a leader, and we want to lean into you know,
(23:28):
trying to to to rework the locker room. And if
Mike is not going to be a part of that,
that'll give us a little bit more space to do that.
And you know, that's why the idea of picking Kenny Clark,
and the Packers were a little surprised because Kenny's older
and Kenny's not an edge, so he doesn't replace Micah
Parsons on the roster, right, the Packers were a little
(23:50):
surprised and they asked for Kenny Clark, but that was
sort of a targeted thing for the Cowboys, and they
talked about the run defense thing, and that is part
of it. But another part of it is there's no
better pro out there than Kenny Clark, you know. And
so I think part of this is all right, like
if we are going to kind of reset, you know,
where we are from a franchise standpoint, if we are
going to concede and admit to ourselves that we're not
(24:12):
that close to pe for championship, but we're in this
thirty year drought, you know, how do we retool? How
do we reconfigure things?
Speaker 5 (24:20):
And uh, the season? So you're saying I.
Speaker 10 (24:24):
Think, yeah, I think to some degree, like they would
never concede, that they would never admit that. But I
think this is a concession from the Cowboys and implicit
concession from the Cowboys that we aren't that close, we
aren't a player away. We we we do need to
retool a little bit. And I you know, I would
actually give them some credit for that and being honest
(24:44):
with themselves about it, even if they can't be honest
about that publicly.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Maybe from your understanding, what was the opinion of Micah
Parsons in the locker.
Speaker 10 (24:55):
Room, it was very hot and cold. I would say
he pissed some people off with his with his podcast,
that's for sure, and some of the stuff that he
said there now look like there's two sizes to this, right, Like,
so Mike is a different guy. I don't think Mike
is ever going to be the best leader in the
(25:15):
on the team. You know, that wasn't going to happen.
But you know, the flip side of that is that's
the way a lot a lot of pass rushers are
different guys, you know, like you know TJ. Watt, you know,
like Miles Garrett, Like I can go back to some
of the guys that I've covered over the years, Von
Miller is a very different guy. Not a bad guy,
but just a different guy. You know. It's something that's
(25:37):
sort of I don't know why, but it's something that's
sort of specific to that position. And so you know,
Micah is a different guy, and what you've been around him,
you know, like he's a different guy. And like I
and I and I do think like that part of it,
like he rubbed some guys in that locker room the
(25:58):
wrong way, there's no question.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
And could I throw this out at you while you're
saying that just since you brought me in by saying
I know them, Is it a possibility because that different
that you're talking about is probably could be considered ultra competitive.
Got all those names you named are guys that are
ultra ultra Like if if you said, let's find caterpillars outside,
(26:22):
my caterpillar will be faster than your caterpillar.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
Like let's go shoot hoops, let's play horse.
Speaker 6 (26:28):
All them dudes you named are dudes that are going
to try to beat you in every single aspect of
anything and everything. Was he too intense for their locker room?
Were they too much of pussy's in the locker room
to be to be what they needed to be? Or
or was this a matter of they just were rubbed
the wrong way and in other ways?
Speaker 10 (26:48):
I think I think there were there were situations are
where he called people out. Did it rubbed people the
wrong way? Now, I like I think that piece of it,
Like you know, some people felt like some people felt
like Michael was out for Micah and again, like you know,
there's a fine line when it comes back who.
Speaker 6 (27:07):
Isn't out for who isn't out for themselves? In the league, though, I.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
Mean and that's a that's a real like f up.
Speaker 6 (27:13):
Way of saying it, Like he's not he's the only
selfish one in the locker room that's about himself.
Speaker 10 (27:18):
Like come on, yeah, I hear you, I hear you,
I hear you. You know, and I know you know, bar,
I'm just kind of conveying what I've heard, you know, Like,
but but I do think, but I do think that
that that definitely existed there and some people felt like,
you know, he had like like Micah had had certain
platforms and they felt like, you know, there were situations
(27:40):
where he was he was calling guys out where it
was uncalled for. And I again, like that's a fine line, right,
like sometimes sometimes that stuff needs to happen. However, however,
you want to break that down and look at it,
like there were those issues that existed in the locker room,
and one way to fix it, of course, would be
to empower him. And how does that go with the
(28:01):
other guys in the luck which you empower him by
paying them, right, and then you see what the result
of that is. The other way to fix that is
to trade them and you know, like again like I
don't want to make a sound like they're just getting
rid of him because they're not like they tried to
resfind him, you know what I mean. They offered him
a lot of money, So like this wasn't a this
(28:22):
wasn't a like we need to get rid of him
type of thing. I think I think it was more
when the efforts to get him resigned failed, that's when
they start to have those bigger picture conversations. That makes sense,
Like it's like, all right, like we try, we were,
we've tried to do a deal with him. Now we've
got to start to talk about what this looks like
(28:42):
if we walk away from him, what the benefit of
walking away from him is. You know, those bigger picture
conversations were provoked not by we need to get this
guy out of the building. Those bigger picture conversations were
provoked by we haven't been able to get a deal
done yet, so like, how far are we willing to
go to get a deal done? What are the pros
and cons to getting a deal done? When the conversation
(29:06):
about getting a contract done sales in March and April,
Now all of a sudden, you know, those bigger picture
conversations get opened up, and a lot of these sorts
of things are discussed.
Speaker 4 (29:17):
Albert. I want to switch gears here and talk a
little bit more about some teams with high expectations this season,
maybe no one higher than the Buffalo Bills and Josh
Allen Ranning MVP. Is there a sense though, that if
things don't go well this season for the Bills, they
might start looking elsewhere and looking elsewhere for a different
head coach. It feels like Sean McDermott's been there for
(29:39):
a long time. I love them personally. I'm not saying
this would be a smart move, but you know, owners
get you know, it's like when you don't win the
Super Bowl, everyone's like, well, why didn't we? And we
start sometimes chasing ghosts and making up reasons for what
we need to do in order to win one. Is
there a sense that there's a lot of pressure on
Sean McDermott despite the fact that you know they've been
(29:59):
incredibly successful.
Speaker 10 (30:01):
Yeah, you know, it's funny, is right? You just brought
that up, and I just I don't know why I
popped up, popped in my head, but I just thought
of Tony Tungjie with the Buccaneers. If you guys remember
and how he like rebuilt the Bucks and they had
been a laughingstock. And you know, he won and won
and one with the Bucks, but they didn't get over
the top. And then did the opportunity to go get
John John Grutin and they did it and won. I
(30:23):
think that's the sort of thing that you're talking about, right,
like where the guy's done a great job, but like
do we need a new voice And I don't think
that exists there yet, but you know, because I think
Sean has done such a great job remaking the organization
and I mean it's easy to forget what they were
before twenty seventeen, but they hadn't been in the playoff
in eighteen years. But yeah, I mean like this is
(30:47):
like so you know, like they've sort of moved off
of the old group of players that they that they
that they won with with Josh Allen this quarterback, that
first group and some of those guys have come back
with your Davius White. But I mean, you guys know
all the names of the guys that were that that
went through there, you know, like a high Jordan Poyer,
you know, Steph Diggs, all those guys they won with,
(31:09):
and now they've got this young group that they've paid right, Like,
so they've paid Greg Russo, they've paid for l Bernard,
They've paid Khalil Shakir. You know, they they they've they've
they've sort of leaned in now on this younger group.
And this younger group is just getting off the ground
at Olivers in that group, you know, and and and
(31:31):
we'll see what they can do. I I certainly think
there does come a point eventually when if you're knocking
on the door and you're getting the AFC title games
but you're never quite breaking through, that those sorts of
questions get asked. And yeah, I mean like if if
Josh Allen has another m v P type of season
(31:52):
and they get to the doorstep and they don't win,
I'm sure people will be asking those questions. I don't
think internally they're close to that, there anywhere close to
you know, asking those sorts of questions of themselves, like
do we need to move on from Sean McDermott. But
certainly the pressure gets ramped up if if, if you
can't break through.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
So Ab I have a question for you, because we're
doing these picks and we're going through the AFC, the
NFC picking division by division. One of the teams that
I struggled with was the Rams only specifically because of
Matthew Stafford's health the back issue that feels like it's
going to be a problem all year. When did this
first pop up? Because would they have given him the
(32:37):
contract they gave him had they known that his back
was in the shape that it was in going into
the year.
Speaker 10 (32:43):
The back has been something that has bothered him for
a while, Like, I don't it's not new, like it's
I think it's an accumulation of damage would probably be
the best way to put it. And this is the
guy who took a lot of a lot of punishment,
you know, and over all the years in Detroit, and
so they have confidence in where he's at because of
(33:04):
his ability to work through other things, Like he had
some for a quarterback, like as extential type injury, you know,
he had like a wrist injury and elbow injury that
like those sorts of things where you're like, you know,
if you know the quarterback, And he actually admitted this
to me a couple of years ago, like that it
was I mean, the wrist injury was scary for him,
Like didn't know, like, Okay, what's this going to be.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
You know, so.
Speaker 10 (33:30):
He's worked through these sorts of things in the past.
The back has been an issue in the past, you know.
I think as much as anything else, I think I've
kind of explained this to you guys over the last
few weeks, is like they felt, like, you know, over
the course of the summer that if he's at like
eighty five or ninety percent with the back, well, there's
(33:51):
no need to be like firing any bullets in August,
especially when you have Jimmy Garoppolo who can come in
and operate the offense and practice at high enough level
where everybody's going to get good work in, right, So like,
let's leave those bullets in the gun and there's no
need to to to wear them out in August where
it could affect him in January and February. And this is,
(34:12):
as much as anything else, is about being able to
get him through the year and have him at the
highest level possible when you get to January and February
and you hope you're competing for a championship. So I
think it's just sort of where he is physically. I
think it's why, you know, It's why I like these
questions of retirement have come up the last couple of
years because there is a lot of damage that he's
taken on, but he's already fought through so much that
(34:35):
there's confidence that he's going to be able to do it.
And you know, it really hasn't affected him as far
as giving the Rams an elite level of play from
the position. So you know, I would never minimize it.
It's not me that's got the back issue here, although
I do have some problems in my own of my
own and my old age. You know, I like, I
just think like for him, it's it's it's something that
(34:59):
he's he's found to to deal with these things, and
you know, like they've got confidence that he can do it.
Doesn't mean it won't flare up, doesn't mean it won't
have to be managed, but but they have confidence that
he can deal with it.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
All right, Albert, last one for me, we got to
get it from you. What's your super Bowl pick for
the season?
Speaker 10 (35:17):
So I picked the Bills to beat the Rams in
the Super Bowl. So interesting that you guys brought those
two teams up. Typically, Yeah, I think I would just
and sometimes like when I make these picks. Brady, I
can be like a little bit of a prisoner of
what I saw during training camp, because you can kind
of if you've been doing it long as long as
I have, like you kind of get a feel for
(35:38):
the way people are talking about their teams, you know,
when you're talking with them outside, it's just the normal
rosy stuff. The two teams that really came off as
like being very confident where they were over the summer
to me with the Rams and the Broncos. And with
the Rams it was like this quiet confidence where it
was like, I'm not saying it, but like, this is
a really good group we have here, and DeVante Adam
(36:00):
looks dynamite, and they'll be a perfect compliment for Pooka.
And you know, our offensive line should be the best
since we've been here, and our defensive line might be
the best in football. So I think the Rams have
as long as Stafford can make it through, I think
the Rams have a really good shout to win the NFC.
And I and I would say this too, like even
if they were going to lose Stafford for two, three,
(36:21):
four games, there's a high level of confidence that Garoppolo
could step in and then Buffalo. I would just say this, like,
if you went to a Bill's practice like five or
six years ago, you'd be odd by some of the
things that that Josh could do, could do like running
around and making things happen and everything else. And there's
this breakneck way to how he practiced back then what
(36:46):
it was this time watching him, everything now looks so
easy to him, and everything looks so calm, and it
just looks like, I mean, I'm serious when I say this,
it look like child's play, Like he was just picking things.
I'm going to do that, I'm gonna do that, I'm
gonna do that. It was just so the idea of
him still having like all that physical ability in his
bag and he can just now he can sit back
(37:08):
there and pick someone apart too. I just I'd be
surprised if he's not, like, you know, the best player
in the league again this year. And I think they've
got all those young guys I mentioned all those young
guys that they've they've drafted and developed to replace the
guys who are out now. They've got so many ascending
players on the team. So I like the Bills to
(37:29):
break through the Rams to get back to the Super
Bowl and then the Bills to beat the Rams in
Santa Clara.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
How about that?
Speaker 5 (37:34):
There?
Speaker 3 (37:35):
He is the great Alba Breer. See, so I guess
we did ask the right questions this time.
Speaker 10 (37:41):
A yeah, bad and and I'm racking my brain right
now to see if I lost anything on the table.
I guess the only thing you guys would need from
me now is like an Ohio State grandblin. Pick right.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
The topic. Do you like Ohio state money?
Speaker 5 (37:56):
Right there?
Speaker 10 (37:57):
I think I can get that one, right, I think
I can get that one night.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Yeah, to go a bay to bring those buck guys.
Good luck, buddy.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
He's the man at Albert Breer on x IS where
you can find him, senior NFL reporter, lead content strategist
at the m m QB.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
Thanks Ap, we'll do it togain next week.
Speaker 10 (38:15):
All right, thanks guys. That'll be one.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
There is Albert Breer with us here on Fox Sports Radio.
We are brought to It's.
Speaker 4 (38:21):
Great out there. He's great, thanks plumbus. Yeah, yeah, he's.
Speaker 8 (38:24):
Been running a lot.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
He looks, you know, slimmed down from when I saw
him before. He looked like he was in great shape.
Have a good time with the fan.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
He spoiled his kids, though, Is that their first? I
think he mentioned it was their first?
Speaker 4 (38:34):
Uh yeah, the first, Yeah, the first.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Hard to match that one, by the way.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
We are brought to you by the Home Depot, and
you know, Albert's kids got their first impression of college
football and it was a good one.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Errington, and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
All right, so throughout the course of the show, we've
been dropping our season preview picks on the NFL season.
It is time to conclude with the playoffs with the
super Bowl. It's the big grand finale here lead to
lap you take it away.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Quarterbacks through this. Who goes first?
Speaker 11 (39:14):
Well, all quarterback is through it. But let's let the
quarterbacks start it off. Brady, who you got in your
playoffs scenario?
Speaker 4 (39:21):
So, as I've talked about before, Tampa Bay from the NFC,
they get the buy. On the AFC side, it's Kansas City.
So playing off in the wildcard round, I've got the
Jacksonville bill Jaguars hosting the Baltimore Ravens. I've got the
Ravens winning that one. Then I've got the Buffalo Bills
hosting the Los Angeles Chargers. The Bills hold the home
field advantage, they advance, and the Bengals beating the New
(39:43):
England Patriots the seventh seed to advance. On the AFC side,
in the NFC, it's a home team sweep the Green
Bay Packers, they take down the La Rams, the forty
nine Ers take down the Atlanta Falcons, and the Eagles
take down the Washington Commandos moving on to the divisional round.
I assume and all the way through you, sir, okay.
In the AFC, We've got the Bengals advancing to take
(40:06):
on the Buffalo Bills, and I have the Bengals advancing
to the AFC Championship game knocking off Albert Breers Buffalo
Bills that he's got I believe winning at all. And
then on the other side, I've got Kansas City beating
the Baltimore Ravens. They get the buye they're at home.
We all know the track record Vandy Reid and the
Chiefs as well as their record versus the Baltimore Ravens.
(40:29):
So unfortunately for the Ravens not able to do it
this year. On the NFC side, the Eagles hosting the
San Francisco forty nine Ers. I got the Eagles being
able to hold the home field advantage winning as the
number two seed, and then the Tampa Bay Bucks coming
off that buy hosting the Green Bay Packers, the Battle
the Bays, But it's the Green Bay Packers who will
(40:50):
find their way through to take on the Philadelphia Eagles
in the NFC Championship Game. Championship Weekend, the number one
seeded Chiefs hosting the Cincinnati Bengals, and I've got the
Chiefs advancing. The Bengals just can't get over the top.
But a matchup that I think we'd all love to see.
I know I would love to see. And then on
(41:12):
the NFC side, the Eagles hosting the Green Bay Packers.
All the weight and the pressure of everything trying to
get back to the Super Bowl and repeats, but it's
the Packers, led by Michaeh Parsons Jordan Love finding the
way to the super Bowl. A matchup for the ages.
The Kansasity Chiefs taking on the Green Bay Packers in
Santa Clara. But I've got the Chiefs getting back on
(41:37):
top of the NFL, and mind you doing so with
Taylor Swift.
Speaker 8 (41:43):
Performing at half time circle. You can't make this stuff up.
Speaker 4 (41:47):
You can't make it up. Wins the Chiefs, Taylor Swift
back on top of the NFL. It's written manifested. If
you will, it's all gonna come together.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
How about that?
Speaker 4 (42:04):
You're really gonna do this Wednesday?
Speaker 2 (42:06):
By the way, I think that's uh.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
And that was Super Bowl one and this is Super
Bowl sixty coming up, so on the sixtieth anniversary, a
repeat the first damn.
Speaker 11 (42:16):
Yeah, that's impressive, very impressive, all right, Jonas, how about
you taking off?
Speaker 4 (42:20):
What's your playoffs?
Speaker 8 (42:21):
Sinner?
Speaker 2 (42:21):
All right?
Speaker 3 (42:22):
So that was almost as impressive as this. Here are
my AFC playoff teams. I've got the Buffalo Bills winning
the AFC East. I've got the Bengals in the North,
the Texans in the South, and yes, I have the
LA Chargers the Bolts winning the AFC West. My wild
card teams out of the AFC are the Ravens, Steelers,
(42:43):
and Chiefs. But I've got Baltimore making a run as
a wild card team, finally getting over the hump and
getting into the Super Bowl over on the NFC. Who
will they play? They've got the Eagles winning the East.
They've got the Packers, the Falcons and forty nine ers
as division winners. Your playoff teams elsewhere as the wild
(43:06):
card spots are the Commanders, the Buccaneers, and the Chicago Bears.
But only one can advance from the NFC to take
on the Ravens, and that one is Lee to lapse,
Green Bay Packers who go to Santa Clara to take
on the Baltimore Ravens, and the winner is Lamar Jackson
(43:30):
and the Baltimore Ravens who win the Super Bowl super
Bowl sixty. If you look at the logo, if you
look at the logo, you see some purple, you see
some yellow, and a little bit of green there. As
Lee likes to point out, the logo of the Super
bowls a predictor of certain Super Bowls. But I've got
Baltimore winning it all coming up in Santa Clara in February.
Speaker 11 (43:53):
All right, two Packers making it to the Super Bowl
in both Brady and Jonas's brackets.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
How about you, var who do you got in the playoff?
Speaker 6 (44:01):
I hate when Jonas says the same things as me,
but I'll still say it. I mean, I feel like
I want to change it because Jonas doesn't get anything correct,
but maybe he gets it done here. I don't know
if I got Cincinnati into AFC, Buffalo, Houston and the
Chargers as divisional or conference division champion, excuse me. And
(44:23):
I have Baltimore, Jacksonville and Pittsburgh as wildcard teams.
Speaker 5 (44:29):
I believe out of that Buffalo.
Speaker 6 (44:32):
Will end up playing Baltimore and Baltimore will win to
make it to the super Bowl. On the NFC side,
I have Philly, Tampa, Bay, Minnesota, and Arizona winning their divisions,
and I see Green Bay, Washington and the Rams being
(44:53):
the wildcard teams. Now, the teams that will emerge from
there will be Philly, and I do believe Green Bay,
but I believe that Philadelphia finds a way to win
and they advanced to the Super Bowl, and you have
a Ravens Eagles Super Bowl, and I had Baltimore actually
(45:14):
winning the.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
Super Bowl sticks picks.
Speaker 4 (45:18):
I like it.
Speaker 6 (45:19):
I like it, man.
Speaker 4 (45:21):
I think we had a nice little display of like
all the teams that could be in it, no one
picked Cincinnati will be in the Super Bowl, right, No No,
I don't know. Man. As I was going through this,
it just it feels like it could be their year,
like bringing everything back, you know, the way they approached
the preseason. I don't know. Something feels like this could
(45:42):
be since his year.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
I was either going to go Baltimore or Sincy, and
I was either going to go the Rams or the
Packers in the NFC. But Matthew Stafford, the Stafford back
thing concerns me so much. I'm not sure what to
make of San Frank because the roster is still there.
Just will Christian McCaffer be able to get back those
old ways.
Speaker 4 (46:00):
It's hard for me to pick against Philly honestly, like
it really is, because I think Philly is so good,
but I didn't want to be too chalky with it,
and so I kind of threw green Bay in there.
But the Chiefs obviously. I just I think every single
year we get tired of looking at how doment they are,
how good they are, and then once we see them play,
we're like, oh, yeah, that's Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, all
(46:22):
this other stud players.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
You know.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
You know what I realized, you know, I realized and
going through the picks last night I was like, in
this entire Chiefs dynasty, never one time if I picked
them to win the super Bowl or even go to
the super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (46:35):
I am, well, you're an underdog type guy. You know.
You don't like That's right. You don't like ever, you know,
picking a team that's a favorite, you know, the common man,
bottom of the barrel.
Speaker 5 (46:47):
The common man.
Speaker 6 (46:49):
You are far from common all Dracula, Damn, that's true.
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