Alex Curry and Carmen Vitali talk Falcons, Bears, and more!

Alex Curry and Carmen Vitali talk about the Falcons drafting Michael Penix Jr at 8th overall after paying Kirk Cousins over $100 million in the offseason, the new era of Chicago Bears football, a look at the six QB’s taken in the first twelve picks of the NFL Draft, and much more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to Fox Sports Saturday at Alex Curry here with
Carmen Vitally. Thank you for spending your Saturday afternoon with
Carmeen and me. Happy NFL Draft Day three. We're currently
in the fifth round, and you guys, remember, don't sleep
on these late round picks, because what we had the
goat Tom Brady, who was a sixth round pick.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
As Carmen just reminded me, he won't let you ever
forget that.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
I'll let you ever forget it. Pick number one ninety nine.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
We go brock Purty, very last in the draft.

Speaker 5 (00:31):
Who irrelevant quotation marks not so irrelevant after all.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
We can't call that mister irrelevant anymore after that. But
what an emotional couple of days, right, I love seeing
these big men cry, especially in the first couple of rounds,
going on stage picking up Roger Goodell and just kind
of swinging him around like.

Speaker 5 (00:50):
It's just or you get the guys that are completely
stone faced and like the second and third rounds who
thought they were should be taken in the first. Yeah,
they're all like their families. I like pipe them up
and they're just completely like.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
No, I didn't go where I wanted to go. So no,
I'm upset. It's like, Bro, you were yourself.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
You were fine, you were drafted, you were drafted.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
You're in the NFL, like you were drafted into the NFL.
Now prove it. I get it because it's like you.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Said, hey, use all the motivation you can get what
signing bonus isn't going to be as big each round
that you go down, So like, I kind of understand that,
but just like.

Speaker 5 (01:22):
But if you ball out, then you don't have that
fifth year option on the table, and if you're not
in the first round, so they get paid.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Earlier silver linings, but not on yourself. And it's like,
come on, like, appreciate the moment. It's your entire life's
work and dreams coming true in this moment. So yeah,
I don't know. We've got some great guests for you
guys today. We got NFL writer Nick Shok joining us
in thirty minutes to talk all things draft. We have
Lions reporter Danny Rogers joining us live from Detroit.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
In hour two. We have producer Bro Benson with us today.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Technical producer chuse Profette Martin Why is at the news
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Speaker 3 (02:32):
Have you been to the horse races out here yet?

Speaker 4 (02:33):
I haven't yet. Actually, it's weird, weird enough.

Speaker 5 (02:36):
We lived here when I was like six, oh, and
we used to live right by the Santa Anita Ratio.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh okay, so as a child, it's a time I've
been to.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
Saner Okay, so we should go back.

Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:46):
I remember placing, like placing a bat again in quotation marks,
Like going up to the little window with my dad
and being like, I think this horse is gonna win.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
I mean that's all I feel. Anyway, I'm like, what
is the coolest name? Yeah, that's what I'm gonna go
for all right, Well back to the draft, you guys,
because let's be honest, Detroit nailed the vibe.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Day one draft attendance was a record.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
More than two hundred and seventy five thousand people were
there for Day one. The previous record was two hundred
thousand in Nashville and twenty eighteen. They had legends come out.
They had Eminem, they had Megatron, they had Barry Sanders
and current.

Speaker 5 (03:19):
Guys Anna Hutchinson. You had Domin Ross and Brown fresh
off that contract. Yes, you had Jared Goff.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
The entire crowd it was like still like figuring out
the contracts that need, yeah, help me do after this season.

Speaker 5 (03:30):
But it was really funny because Amen Ross Saint Brown
got up there and started the Jared Goff chant.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (03:35):
I also happened to think, I mean, all those guys
looked like they were two three, four shots and I
love it.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
For as honestly, well, it's a party.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Day two, they had the National Chances Michigan football team
walk up to the stage with the trophy, which minus
JJ McCarthy because he was like already at his destination,
which is okay, but let's start the show with the
biggest WTF surprises in the draft, and I think everybody
had this same reaction the Atlanta Falcons taking Washington quarterback

(04:06):
Michael PENNOCKX junior with the eighth overall pick. But Penni's
being a top quarterback isn't. The WTF surprise is the
fact that the Falcons just signed and paid Kirk Cousins
a four year, one hundred and eighty million dollar contract
with one hundred million guaranteed. So you would think if
they're in that win now super Bowl mentality or bust,

(04:28):
they would go out, maybe get them some weapons. But
once the initial I think kind of that shock war
off and you start to really think about it. I
don't have a problem with Atlanta stocking up on the
most important position in the league, especially with how stack
this draft class was. Kirk Cousins is coming off a

(04:49):
major injury. This is insurance for their future. What I
do find weird was all the conversation that they said, Hey,
we're gonna tell kirk Cousins if we decide to drop
a quarterback, and then word came out that that didn't happen.

Speaker 4 (05:04):
No, he was not call when they were on the
clock about to make the pick.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, so you already have a little bit of miscommunication,
possible awkwardness with Kirk on a new team in a
new city and knowing that he is immediately training his replacement.

Speaker 5 (05:19):
I don't like anything about this. I don't like it
from a team building standpoint. I think it's irresponsible to
if you are in win now mode, which again you
look like you are, especially given how weak the NFC
South is supposed to be, you have a chance at
the field, even with the NFC in general. Why you
go out and get the one hundred eighty million dollar

(05:40):
quarterback and then you don't help him out with the
first overall pick your best case scenario, And what Terry
Fontna said was that we're cool if he doesn't play
for the next four or five years. So you're going
to forego the biggest cheat code in the NFL, which
is having a quarterback on a rookie deal in favor
of paying a core taking this guy but not getting

(06:03):
not getting Kirk Cousins some help in the first round.
And if you knew that you were going to draft
a quarterback, or if there was a chance you were
going to draft a quarterback, why in the world do
you pay Kirk Cousins not only that one hundred million guaranteed,
ninety million of that guaranteed came when he signed on.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
The dotted line.

Speaker 5 (06:19):
Yeah, like you are paying that, Like that is insane
for a quote unquote bridge quarterback now, which is what
Kirk kirk Cousins has been, no matter how many years
that bridge ends up being.

Speaker 4 (06:31):
I totally understand why Kirk is.

Speaker 5 (06:33):
Pissed because he's or why he's mad because he said
I needed help, I need help right now. And then
if you're Michael Pennix Junior, I feel bad for him too,
because he is not a developmental prospect like JJ McCarthy
or everybody likes to compare.

Speaker 4 (06:50):
The situation to join Love and the Packers.

Speaker 5 (06:51):
First of all, packer'sn't the only ones that can get
away with sitting a guy for.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
Three years at ben Rogers.

Speaker 5 (06:57):
And also you had Aaron Rodgers for a long time.
He started on a decline when you drafted Jordan Love.
Now he went and had two MVP seasons after that,
but he was on a decline. Also, you don't have
ownership pressures like you do everywhere else when you when
you're Green Bay.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
So I don't like comparing those two situations.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
I don't like this for Michael Pennox Junior because he's
an older quarterback prospect with injury issues as well. He
would do well to play right away, and now you're
gonna let him sit and get cold, and then what
come into the league at twenty six years old in
a couple of years when you can get out of
Kirk Cousins contract. I don't like anything about this. I
don't think this is a smart team building at all. Now,

(07:35):
if Kirk gets injured, yeah, and that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
And he is coming off a major injury, why did
Why did you? Because they needed someone They probably didn't
know if they were going to be able to get
a quarterback that they liked on the board.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
With a A.

Speaker 4 (07:52):
I get that. I just don't understand.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Again, they're not going to be.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
This was Rahie Morris's quote, not knowing if they're going
to be able to pick this high again because of
the guy that they got in Kirk Custins.

Speaker 5 (08:05):
Again, so makes it weird that you spent a top
ten pick on something that wasn't going to help you win.

Speaker 4 (08:10):
Now, if you think you're going to be good.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
They said, Kirk is our quarterback, but adding Michael Pennix
is thinking about our future.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
So again, like it doesn't.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
The initial shock was like wait, why, wtf, like you
just got this. But the silver lining in all of this,
like it could be good for his development. You never
know how a rookie quarterback is going to do that
first year in the league. And he's not being asked
to be a savior like Caleb Jaden, Drake may JJ

(08:41):
and bow nixar right, he is going to be sitting
behind a veteran quarterback who was well liked in this
league and who has had success. Now again, the awkward
part is Kirk was not aware of this and he
is in a new situation, a new locker room, on
a new team. But the good news we all know
Kirk is a great guy, like if you you've personally

(09:01):
worked with him. But for all of us, we got
to see kind of behind the curtain on the Quarterback Series,
and I think everyone really fell in love with Kirk there.
And then we heard from Pennix recently who shared that
he actually had a conversation with Kirk.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
I'm gonna keep it, you know, just between me and
him right now, you know, but it was definitely a
good conversation, and you know, I'm super excited to work
with him. And he said he's the same with me.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
So I mean, he said, what you have to say.
I was gonna say, but that's all you say in
this moment.

Speaker 5 (09:35):
I again, I'm gonna say this. I still do not
like it. Also, now, say Kirk does struggle a little bit, Yeah,
because he has thirty six coming off an achilles injury.

Speaker 4 (09:46):
Yeah, now is how it is?

Speaker 3 (09:48):
This is biggest injury he's ever recovered from.

Speaker 5 (09:50):
Yes, yeah, this is the biggest injury you can recover
from in the NFL.

Speaker 6 (09:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (09:54):
Well, I don't know why we're treating it like there's
a whole conversation for another time. Is who Kirk Cousins
says as a quarterback and what you're going to get
from him coming off an injury like this that we're
kind of dismissing.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
But so maybe that's what they saw. Maybe that's what
they saw it.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
Maybe that's why in the back of their mind we're like, Okay,
we have our guy, but then you have someone then
you don't we need sell dollars on Kirk cut irresponsible
there Again.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
That's what Kirk gets.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
He always gets the biggest contracts he has like an
insane agent.

Speaker 4 (10:21):
Atlanta didn't have to Atlanta, what didn't have to be
the one to pay him.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
But that's probably how they got him. That's how they.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Got him, That's what I'm saying. But they needed someone,
and I don't think they knew what they were going to.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
Do pick eight.

Speaker 5 (10:34):
I get that's a little out of whatever the top
three conversation, but there are things that you can if
you need a quarterback at that point, go get a bridge. Also,
they have Jacoby Brissette, don't they, And like he is
a bridge quarterback, you already have that. Also, I like him,
So I don't think this.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
Chance, well, this is future.

Speaker 5 (10:54):
The best case scenario is that Kirk does really really well. Yeah,
then you waste Michael Penick Junior's contract, You've wasted his age,
You've wasted a top ten pick where you could have
gotten better.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
I don't think you're wasting him because all he's going
to do is learn and develop behind correct behind your contract,
And like is it bad to like that is the
most important position in the league and now you're you're
like rich in that position, Like that's like the.

Speaker 4 (11:24):
Play two quarterbacks at the same time.

Speaker 5 (11:26):
That's nothing like being rich at the wide receiver position
is awesome because you can play multiple wide receivers and
you can ensure against injury. You cannot play multiple quarterbacks,
and if you do, then you There's a saying that
I got from coaches all the time, if you have
two quarterbacks, you have none. And that's so true because,
like I said, if Kirk struggles, now you've got a
guy on the bench that people are like, bring in Penis,

(11:47):
bring in Panics, bring in Penick.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
You're saying, they turn the locker room, and it turns
the fans against like the entire ordinary.

Speaker 5 (11:52):
It creates a quarterback competition where there doesn't need to
be one, which then makes these guys feel like they
have to go out.

Speaker 4 (11:57):
There and just sling it all all the time.

Speaker 5 (12:00):
I watched this with Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jameis Winston in
Tampa Bay. Yeah, and it was so true. If you
have two quarterbacks, you have none. I again, I'm I
totally am on board with Kirk being pissed because you
didn't do something to help the team right away.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
I totally I would understand.

Speaker 5 (12:17):
I Michael Pennix Junior was pissed because I don't think
that this is a good situation for him. I think
he needed to play now and again because he's older. Yeah,
Also he has injury issues. He's had multiple knee surgeries.
So you're gonna take a guy that's.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
Maybe that's good. He's getting a little exa.

Speaker 5 (12:34):
He's a year removed from both of those, so that's
why he didn't run it at Washington. He wasn't like,
I think you rushed for eight He rushed eight times.
Yeah last year for Washington, which okay, so he's now
a year removed from that.

Speaker 4 (12:46):
You want to play. Oh so if you're a top
ten pick, you want to play.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Of course he does great place.

Speaker 5 (12:52):
I don't want to do anything about this. I don't
like anything about it. You cannot change my mind. It's
not good team building.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
No, but it happened, So it happened.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
So I try to do is find the silver lining,
because you can't change it.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
What's done is done.

Speaker 6 (13:04):
It.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
It was a WTF moment, every fan reaction, every media reaction.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
I thought one of the shocking moments in the top
ten was going to be a crazy trade.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
Up, and we didn't get that. And then we believed
quarterbacks taken in the top twelve, like it was.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
There were so many things that, like I thought might happen,
I did not think. I don't think anybody had the
Falcons taking a quarterback at number eight on the Bengo card.

Speaker 5 (13:30):
Actually, Jonathan Jones did a week before from CBS Sports
is a friend of mine, and I was like, did
you really call that?

Speaker 4 (13:35):
He's like called it a week ago and I was like,
that's did he call Penix? He called Penix to the
Falcons at that pick?

Speaker 5 (13:41):
It was, Yeah, I think that maybe there was some
insider knowledge there, which I guess.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
Hey, listen to John.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
Jan that's the only one, love jj I.

Speaker 5 (13:49):
I mean the fact that this is what we're talking
about and not the fact that Bonex is a top
twelve pig is kind of wild.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Also, okay, so you think that's a WTF moment, is
both being a top twelve pick. Although I mean, he
had the most college experience out if any quarterback projected
this year, sixty one games in his last season at Oregon,
second and passing yard's most passing touchdown.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
He was a Heisman finalists.

Speaker 5 (14:12):
A statue can't he's not He's not like an athletic enough,
when you're looking at this quarterback class, he doesn't really
have an upside because you're right, he has played a lot.

Speaker 4 (14:24):
I think he's a great player, don't get me wrong.

Speaker 5 (14:27):
And in any other quarterback class, especially when you're talking
a couple like last even maybe not last year two
years ago, especially though where you had one quarterback go
in the first round. Yeah, you would see Bonix be
a first round pick. Yeah, but he's the oldest quarterback
in this class, so you know exactly what you're getting
from him. I do not understand making him a top
twelve pick even later in the first round would have

(14:47):
been more. But at the same time, if you're surprised
by this, then you don't know Sean Payton.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
Yeah, he said that was his offense.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
Like all Also, Sean Payton is going to be bullish
about anybody and point they weren't able to do to
do the deal to trade up, yeah, to get anybody else.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
So now you he needs.

Speaker 5 (15:08):
To get the postgame or the postgame the post draft
presser of Sean Payton saying, like you know, he said
all the right things about after they met with Bo
Nicks and he was like, oh, this is like that,
that was nuts, Like he's really got something.

Speaker 4 (15:20):
I don't. It's it's it's wild to me that he
was the top twelve.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
But I mean there's a lot of comps between Bo
and Drew Brees, which obviously is no punds like bread
and butter. If anybody you can figure out how to
make him successful, he's multible.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
It's Sean Payton.

Speaker 5 (15:35):
He's multiple and that's Sean Payton's ego. That's why I say,
if you were surprised by that, by Sean Payton being
the one to do this, then you don't know Sean Payton,
because he does have the ego and he does want
to mold these guys so that he can then take
credit for.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
He needs to.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
He needs his guy.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
He also needs to prove like you made the right
choice Denver picking me over Russell Wilson, that you just
shipped out the door and are still paying his contract.
So this is what he needs. But guys, we have
so much more draft to talk about. We're gonna take
a quick break here when we come back. Why the
Bears won the draft. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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listen live.

Speaker 7 (16:18):
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It's me three time pro bowler LeVar Arrington and I
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Speaker 2 (16:59):
Welcome back to Sports Saturday. I am Alex Courier with
Carmen Vitally. We are broadcasting live from the Tark dot
Com studios.

Speaker 3 (17:05):
In Los Angeles.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Thank you for spending your Draft day, NBA Playoff day,
MLB Baseball Day.

Speaker 5 (17:13):
There is so much, so much going on.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Right now, so we appreciate you deciding to hang out
with us because we have a good time and we
hope you do too. But let's continue talking about the
draft here. We're still on they're on round six now.
But the number one overall pick, you guys, the Bears
have arrived. Welcome to the show, Chicago. Not only did

(17:36):
they get the best number one pick we've seen in
a while, Caleb Williams a generational talent, but with their
number nine pick, instead of getting an edge rusher, which
is something they needed and I think past Bears that
might be something that they would go for, they went
and got a top tier weapon for Caleb. Washington's wide receiver,

(17:58):
Rome Adunza. And what I love is you could already
see the chemistry between these two guys at the draft.
We know that they were on the same plane to
Detroit because Caleb tweeted, YO just saw Roll on my
flight to Detroit.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Big fan.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
And then we saw them kind of like goofing around
backstage at the draft. But like, let's dig into why
this is such a big deal for the Bears in
Chicago because they have never had that guy at quarterback.
They've never had a quarterback throw more than four thousand
yards in a season. They've never had a quarterback throw
thirty touchdown passes in a season. So what Caleb Williams

(18:35):
could mean for this city and this franchise is something
we have never seen before in Chicago.

Speaker 3 (18:42):
What's the vibe in the building.

Speaker 5 (18:43):
I well, I grew up in Chicago. I know this
is this iteration of the Chicago Bears. I said this
on Golick and Gojo and Golic I was on the
other day the other morning. I don't know her. I
don't know these Chicago Bears. I've never seen Chicago Bears
like this exciting on paper, with the offensive firepower they have,
it looks like they're finally going to break those records

(19:08):
which have become commonplace. Four thousand yard passers is like
the standard for a good quarterback this year or these days.
Thirty touchdown passes is not something that should be aspired to.
But even Rubba Dunsay was told what the Bears receiving
record is, ye passer, Yeah, receiving yards record is and
it was like it was sat a long time ago,

(19:29):
three thirty eight hundred yards something like that, and he's like,
in a career that's literally how he said it, because
it was so unbelievable that that's there's so many offensive
records that just are so such low hanging group because.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
They've been living in the past or like nineteen eighty five,
it has been in history.

Speaker 5 (19:47):
It has been an organizational identity. Defense has been an
organizational identity for my entire life and even before that.

Speaker 4 (19:56):
So this could mean fun football in Chicago. I listen.

Speaker 5 (20:01):
I love football for the grittiness of it, for the
toughness of it, for the violence of it all. That's
why Lance Briggs is my favorite player. But that is
not the fun, flashy football that we see now. And
the Bears have never been fun and flashy. That's never
been them. But then you bring in a guy like
Kayleb Williams, who was the definition of fun and flashy

(20:23):
and productive and confident. The call of him getting the
call Ryan Paul's is like, yeah, they're making me wait
five minutes on this or wait till the five minute
mark to do this. But you know, like it was
so like it was so uneventful because these guys have
been talking and they've known that this was the case
for months. I just I can't wait for Chicago to
have something to celebrate. But I want to caution against

(20:45):
having these expectations right away. On paper, they look amazing.
They look like they could contend for the division. They
look like they're a playoff team. All of the team.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
I think they're a playoff team.

Speaker 5 (20:56):
I think that they're going to I will think they
will flirt with playoff contention, Okay, but I don't want
that to be the expectation.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
I mean, that's going to be the expectation with all
the hype around a generational talent like him.

Speaker 4 (21:09):
I don't like calling him a generational talent either.

Speaker 5 (21:12):
I don't like it at all. We have these generations,
we just say that's what everybody was saying Trevor Lawrence was,
and Trevor Lawrence is a great player. But when you
put the label of generational on these guys, you're putting
so much.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
Pressure on them.

Speaker 5 (21:24):
And in a city like Chicago that is a football
town through and through, despite their lack of recent success,
I don't want those expectations on this group, especially because
they're all new. Keenan Allen is new, Roma Dunes, a
new Kayleb Williams new, they've got new offensive line, they've
got a new offensive DeAndre Swift you've got a new
offensive coordinator. You need to give these time, these guys

(21:46):
time to figure it out, and you need to make
sure that the defense is what you think it is
and what it was in the back half of last season,
which was a top five unit. That as long as
you see that progress and the way that they're kind
of gelling, and by the end of this next season,
if they look like a playoff caliber team, whether or
not they're record.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
You're saying year two, give it to year two. Let's
see what happens.

Speaker 5 (22:08):
What I'm saying is hold off judgment, hold off expectations.

Speaker 4 (22:12):
Entire year two. It is in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
Especially with all of the hype around a guy.

Speaker 5 (22:19):
And especially with the on paper the roster, because you
look at these guys and yes, the Bears have DJ Moore,
Keenan Allen, and then Roma Dune say, is your wide
receiver three? Yeah, that already he could be the best
wide receiver three in the entire league.

Speaker 4 (22:35):
But I don't want to put that expectation on him.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
You're coming to the NFL, all the expectation is going
to be on you, especially when you had the number
one overall pick and you're a team that has never
had a quarterback throw more than four thousand yards or
never had thirty touchdown passes in a season.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
There are going to be high expectations regardless there.

Speaker 4 (22:53):
Which is wild to me because the bar is so low.
That's where I'm.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Break those like success exactly. Yes, I have an exciting season, compete.

Speaker 4 (23:03):
Exactly, that is. That is what I want. I don't want.

Speaker 5 (23:05):
I don't want to put playoff expectations. I don't want
to put division expectations, especially when you're in a division
with the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers, and then
whatever Minnesota ends up being. This could be tough, the
toughest division. It's going to rival the AFC North. Yeah,
And I don't want to put expectations of like.

Speaker 3 (23:22):
Hardware, there is hard expectations.

Speaker 4 (23:25):
I don't I don't want to put those on them.
I just don't want to do it.

Speaker 5 (23:27):
And this team, Yeah, Well, to his credit, he's not
shying right from it.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
No, and he shouldn't. That's why I think it's going
to work out. He knows, Like again, he came from
a big time school. He's had big time awards, and
he's an nil guy who's made big time money.

Speaker 5 (23:43):
All right, and that I do think his transition to
the league will be a little bit easier because of that.
I think just in general, these guys taking accountability for
themselves their careers and being businessmen really aids in transitioning
to the NFL lifestyle. But on the field, I mean
Caleb's coming out of the PAC twelve. I I listen,
I'm a PAC twelve girl. I went to Arizona State.
I have under no illusions of how hard the PAC

(24:05):
twelve is. It's not so now. You are not going
up against SEC competition. You're not even going up against
some of the big, big time players, big hitters in
the Big Ten. You were going up against the PAC
twelve for the most part, with marble defense.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
With a horrible he literally he literally got owned, yes,
like he got destroyed.

Speaker 4 (24:22):
And I think that that's.

Speaker 5 (24:23):
Good because that gives him a little bit of adversity.
You're going to face adversity with the Chicago Bears in
year one. That is what the NFL is about. It
is a when, not if, when it comes to facing adversity.
O Ye, how he reacts, That's when I think I
will have more expectations of Kayleb Williams is after seeing
how he reacts to the inevitable adversity that will happen

(24:43):
in his first year in Chicago.

Speaker 4 (24:44):
I'm just so excited.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
All right now, Let's check in with Martin Wise to
see what's treading.

Speaker 7 (24:50):
Milwaukee Bucks point guard Damian Lillard.

Speaker 9 (24:52):
He's diagnosed with a Grade one Achille strain, doubtful for
Game four of the playoffs tomorrow at Indiana. The Pacers
lead the series two games to one. Cavaliers at the
Magic in Game four of the four or five series
in the East, Orlando one one, twelve to eighty nine,
series now tied two apiece. Franz Vogner thirty four points
thirteen rebounds, Thunder and the Pelicans down in New Orleans.

Speaker 7 (25:13):
Thunder lead the series two to nothing.

Speaker 9 (25:15):
They also lead at halftimes sixty to forty six, shake
Gilgers Alexander with fifteen points.

Speaker 7 (25:20):
At the end of regulation.

Speaker 9 (25:22):
In hockey, the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders
tied two apiece, going to overtime there at Carolina leads
the series three games to nothing, so the Islanders.

Speaker 7 (25:31):
Fighting to extend their season.

Speaker 9 (25:33):
In the NFL draft, who saw the fifth round just
conclude about eleven picks.

Speaker 7 (25:37):
Ago had two major quarterbacks go there.

Speaker 9 (25:39):
Jordan Travis is now going to be Jordan Travis from
Florida State is not going to be a New York Jets.
Spencer Rattler from South Carolina is going to be a
New Orleans Saint. Last couple picks in the draft so far,
we have eleventh pick in the sixth round, Casey Washington
to the Atlanta Falcons.

Speaker 7 (25:52):
That's the Illinois wide receiver.

Speaker 9 (25:54):
Jakes McKellen running back from Alabama also going to the
Atlanta Falcons.

Speaker 7 (25:58):
And Jordan Won of jo and drives his favorite targets.

Speaker 9 (26:01):
Johnny Wilson, why receiving from Florida State is a Philadelphia Eagle.

Speaker 7 (26:05):
Alex and Carmen back to you guys.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
Thank you Martin. You're listening to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm
Alex Courrie Heer with Carmen Vitali. We are broadcasting live
from a Tirek dot Com studios in Los Angeles, and
it is time to bring in our first guest, someone
that I got to know in Vegas at the Super
Bowl and I'm so excited to have on our show.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
Please welcome NFL rider Nick Shook.

Speaker 6 (26:25):
If it isn't my two favorite ladies in the business,
how are you o?

Speaker 5 (26:30):
Fabulous lattery will get you everywhere, now keep it and
I have known each other full disclosure, Shok and I
have known each other for years now.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
Oh I no, you introduce. You introduced you brought the
crew together.

Speaker 5 (26:39):
The crew together, and we were like that. We went
to that bar at the Cosmo like multiple times.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah, well that's where NFL Network was saying, and that's
where like, that's great when all these big events happen,
the hotel lobby.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
Bar is where everybody meets everybody.

Speaker 6 (26:54):
That's just the way life works, especially that week it
was down there. It was big. Was there at some
point j R? Smith? Farman vitally outside?

Speaker 4 (27:03):
Oh I forgot we saw Jr. Smith clear I love it.

Speaker 3 (27:06):
All right, Nick.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
One of the biggest surprises day one at the draft
the Falcons taking Michael Pennix junior, despite just giving Kirk
Cousins a four year insane contract this offseason.

Speaker 4 (27:18):
What are your.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Initial thoughts and how do you see this playing out
in Atlanta?

Speaker 6 (27:22):
So initially I laughed because the timing of it, obviously
is an ideal and it's head scratcher you know, because
you just spend all that money on a quarterback. But
what we failed to recognize, I think in snap judgment,
is the fact that Kirk Cousins is thirty six years old,
He's coming off of a torn achilles. He was the
most mobile dissarly. But it's going to affect pocket navigation, right,
So why not plan for the future with a guy

(27:44):
that you fell in love with, with the guy who
has probably the best arm in this.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
Then don't get another guard.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
You're you're you're helping my opening argument. You're helping my.

Speaker 5 (27:54):
Open Can you believe I am on an island here
in think?

Speaker 6 (27:57):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (27:57):
This is it's the future you got. Do you think
about the beach coming up? An achilles injury?

Speaker 4 (28:02):
Absolutely?

Speaker 3 (28:03):
You're injured?

Speaker 4 (28:03):
Absolutely great?

Speaker 3 (28:05):
Okay, keep going next?

Speaker 4 (28:05):
Sorry, yeah, sorry.

Speaker 6 (28:07):
The majority of everybody is saying that too, And I
think they didn't handle the process well. Not informing Kirk
that they're even considering it until they were on the
clock is not good. That's poor business, right. But when
you're talking about roster construction and long term planning, Look
how many quarterbacks started the game last year? I can
tell you sixty six. You know how work every single
one of them on a week by week basis.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
It's a lot of guys.

Speaker 6 (28:25):
Need good insurance. And the Falcons just spent the last
three years living in quarterbacking no man's land. It was
Taylor Heineke, it was Marcus Marionta, it was des and Ritter.
None of them panned out, and they were good enough
to potentially make the playoffs even with bad quarterback play.
They finished seven to ten each of those years. Right,
So why not We'll give you a backup that you
might actually like and would like to see at some

(28:46):
point if Kirk does go down or he has issues
with the abilities or whatever, and also somebody we can
plan for a long term. You know, a lot of
the complaints is, well, he's been in college for so long.
He's not like he's coming out at twenty one years old.
Who cares, He's still in his twenties. He's ten years
younger than Kirk Cousins. And if you really love the guy,
say you want two good years out of Kirk and
then he starts to fall off a cliff and you

(29:07):
can get out of that contract as a post June
first cut in twenty twenty six, it's twelve and a
half million dollars a dead cat. That's nothing compared to
what we see other teams bite the bullet forar with
guys like Russell Wilson with Denver RIGHTOK, why not plan?
I got it?

Speaker 4 (29:20):
I got it?

Speaker 5 (29:21):
But he answer me position, Please answer me the question
of what the biggest cheek code in the NFL is.

Speaker 10 (29:27):
Well speed number one and two two trenches and I
would reverse that.

Speaker 5 (29:30):
No, No, it is having a quarterback on a rookie
contract that is productive and a good quarterback for you
because you don't have to spend the money on that contract.
You are wasting years of Michael Pennock Junior's rookie contract,
which affects how you can build your team because by
the time that you have to play him, you're gonna
have you're going to be up against his next contract

(29:51):
at that point without having a full evaluation on who
he is as a quarterback. Not to mention what happens
if Kirk struggles a little bit, but it doesn't necessarily
have to do with the injury, or he's not actually hurt,
he's just struggling. Then you have a guy that you
drafted top ten breathing down his neck and now you
have a quarterback position, a quarterback battle, and that is

(30:13):
not good for anyone. That's not good for the locker room.
That's not good for the two quarterbacks that are involved.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
It could be a total mess in Atlanta.

Speaker 5 (30:21):
I get planning for the future, but if you thought
you wanted to plan for the future this year, then
get the Bridge quarterback and then draft this guy. I
know that they're picking eighth, but you if you absolutely
needed a quarterback.

Speaker 4 (30:34):
We saw the Minnesota Vikings get their guy.

Speaker 5 (30:36):
Regardless, Atlanta absolutely could do that because guess what, they
picked three spots ahead of the Vikings original pick. So
I can't get on board with this. I think it's irresponsible.
And yes, how they handled it with Kirk Cousins, I
feel bad for the guy, and I feel bad for
Michael Penick Streeter because he deserves to play right away.

Speaker 10 (30:55):
Okay, but it's time going to come back to you
with this, and I love you because we can go
back and forth and things like this until this on
sets and then.

Speaker 6 (31:00):
Rising again and we double edged sword.

Speaker 4 (31:03):
We do.

Speaker 10 (31:03):
We definitely do.

Speaker 9 (31:04):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (31:04):
It's a double edged sword because the rookie contract is
great except when you have to throw that rookie into
the fire and he doesn't deliver a la Zach Wilson
with the Jets, Suddenly that rugby contract doesn't matter. In fact,
you're parting on the rookie contract because you're getting out
of that cheaper rate. That's the compromise. That's the compromise
that they failed to do when they went and sign
Kirk Cousins. Exactly what the other side is too, is

(31:26):
if Kirk struggles, If he does struggle, he was going
to struggle whether Pennix was there or not. So it's
still a better position to have Pennix there than not,
I think, in my opinion.

Speaker 5 (31:34):
I just I think your best case scenario, Kirk goes off.
He's the quarterback you think he is, and you hate
sit Michael Pennix, you her for.

Speaker 7 (31:42):
Years, all right.

Speaker 6 (31:43):
I have to say I'm shocked after that. You have
been the lead that you've been, You've been the lead
voice on the Jordan Love experiment, and the blocks is.

Speaker 5 (31:53):
Not no, we went down. This is not Green Bay.
This is not the situation with Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
What do you mean you have a rookie quarterback sitting
behind a successful veteran who was well like, who's you're
gonna get to learn and developed.

Speaker 5 (32:05):
Aaron Rodgers was there so much longer he had started
to fall off a cliff when they drafted Jordan lev Also,
green Bay has a track record of this working out
for them. Also, also they don't have own an owner
that has these extra pressures that every other team does
on decisions like this, so they can afford to be patient.
Nowhere else in the league can anybody else get away

(32:27):
with that? It is green Bay and green Bay only
Not to mention, like, like I said, they've done this
multiple times, so you can trust them.

Speaker 4 (32:34):
I do not have that trust. Not to mention, who
does the.

Speaker 5 (32:38):
Owner have the trust? Wet it might not be there
by the time we're going to agree.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
To disagree on this with Carmen. Let's talk about the
Bears real quick. So we only have you for a
little bit longer, a couple of minutes longer. Taking Caleb
number one, they stuck with offense with their second pick,
taking Rome at number nine. Now, they have never had
a quarterback throw more than four thousand yards in a season,
had a quarterback throw more than thirty touchdown passes in
a season. How quickly do we see these two playmakers

(33:06):
improve Chicago's offense.

Speaker 6 (33:08):
I mean, I think it's an instant improvement, But I
also think that the standard was pretty low to begin with.
You just kind of pointed it out so fast. It's
actually remarkable when you dig into some of these franchises,
how few of them have actually had quarterbacks routinely break
four thousand yards considering where a quarterback play is. But
like Joe Flacco with the Browns was the first quarterback
in franchise is three to throw for three hundred plus
in four straight games and they've been around for like

(33:30):
seventy years. Okay, it's insane that some of these franchises
haven't experienced you know, last year.

Speaker 5 (33:34):
And seasons weren't as as common as they were like
you know up until like fifteen years ago.

Speaker 6 (33:40):
Yeah, but.

Speaker 4 (33:42):
A strong time.

Speaker 6 (33:45):
So I think that you'll see an improvement. But I
also don't want to place such high expectations on Caleb
Williams that he's just going to come in and transform
the franchise overnight. They are a lot better on paper
than they were two years ago. And last year, that
defense came around to the back half of the season
last and really, you know, proved to be their strength,
and all they really were missing is offense. And since
then they've upgraded the receiver room tremendously with Keenoan Allen

(34:06):
and Roma Dunsay. And then you have the quarterback. But
it's going to be an acclamation process for the guy
because he's still a rookie and he still is going
to have to work out some kings. No quarterback comes
out of the NFL perfect, right. There are some guys
who are generational talents. You could see Andrew luck types.
Trevor Lawrence was advertised as that to begin with. Then
he went through one year of Urban Meyer and it
was rough. It was rough before he got back on
track and even and then he still kind of hit

(34:28):
or missed some times. Last year was a season full
of near misses for him and the entire Jaguars offense.
So I think the same thing could be true for Caleb.
So let's exercise some patience here. Keep the optimism high though,
because last year.

Speaker 10 (34:39):
Everyone was talking about the Bears.

Speaker 6 (34:40):
They're going to go back to the playoffs. They're gonna
be a better team if you talk to Bears fans,
and they obviously didn't live up to those expectations. It
was easy to do that. Coming this time around, I
could entertain such a notion.

Speaker 5 (34:51):
We are about me and I were back on the
same page. I've got Yes, I've got one last really quick.
Who's going to be the tougher division, AFC North or
NFC North.

Speaker 6 (35:00):
That's tough. I'm gonna go NFSTY North. And maybe that's
a bit of homers and because I live in Cleveland
and that's where I'm doing this all from right now,
but yeah, that's I mean, that's it, that's it.

Speaker 10 (35:09):
That's a damn good division.

Speaker 6 (35:10):
It was a damn good division last year. I mean
the Steelers, the Browns, the Ravens all made the playoffs,
and the Bengals they were a Joe Burrow away from
being in the playoff run as well. They were in
the playoff for like.

Speaker 10 (35:19):
The last two weeks.

Speaker 6 (35:20):
So every team in that division could win the division,
and every team in that division could come out as
one of the favorites in the AFC not named Kansas
City right now, So I have to go with the North.
But I love that the NFC North is rounding into form.
It's always a good division to be competitive.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
Nick, you were awesome can. We're gonna we're gonna have
you back.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
On again real soon.

Speaker 6 (35:38):
Here.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
We appreciate you for joining us. Love it all right
when we come back the dudes and the don'ts in sports.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ooh, that's it, there
we go. Welcome back to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex
Curry here with Carbon Vittally.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
We are broadcasting live from the Tyrek dot Com studios
in Los Angeles.

Speaker 4 (35:58):
Explosive like the Bears offense.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yes, but as you said, no high expectations, so.

Speaker 4 (36:07):
Explos it without me having expectations. That's time.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
Yeah, yes, they can. It's one of my favorite lines.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
All right, guys, and it's time for the dues and
the don'ts in sports highlight.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
I love that putting a spotlight on the don't.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
The subject brings me no joy.

Speaker 4 (36:26):
Are you on crack?

Speaker 1 (36:27):
It's time for the dues and the don'ts in sports?

Speaker 4 (36:31):
All right?

Speaker 2 (36:31):
We got a lot of good things for the dues
and the domes. I'm gonna start with a funny do
celebrate your accomplishments. Jim Harbaugh gets a fifteen and O
Michigan tattoo in honor of their national title this season.
When I saw it, like the social media posts, I
was like, no, that can't be.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
That can't be real.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Right on his shoulder, like his shoulder the M and
the fifteen and oh that's it.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
Just gonna rocket for the rest of your life.

Speaker 5 (36:58):
Do you see his face? Yes, deadpan, and then he
like looked at it. He's like smiled and yeah, no
very dad.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
Big big Harba fan who's also like living in his RV.

Speaker 4 (37:11):
Out here in California. Thank he's moving now.

Speaker 5 (37:13):
He did, but he did, all right, I do call
your shat okay because new Bears offensive tackle Kieran a
megan A Megga gee, gosh, this is gonna a Megga gee.

Speaker 4 (37:25):
I got it right. I got it right. Grew up
in Chicago, actually went to.

Speaker 5 (37:30):
My rival high school, and last year met Matt ebra
Flute at the golf club that his dad belongs to
and told Matt Ebraflues he was going to play for
his hometown team that Now all of these tweets are surfacing,
like him saying things.

Speaker 4 (37:47):
About the Chicago Bears like just along with the rest
of us, like all of.

Speaker 5 (37:51):
Our our the thoughts about the Chicago emotions, like justin
Fields and Justin Field's only cool, uh and and releasing
the episodes.

Speaker 4 (37:59):
So about releasing the.

Speaker 5 (37:59):
Entire offensive line a couple of years ago, which is justifiable,
don't get me. Especially he's an offensive lineman, so he
knows what he's looking at. Yeah, hilarious, Absolutely love it.
This is what happens when you get a hometown guy.
You're gonna get a guy with a lot of heart
and Riotbles loves that.

Speaker 6 (38:12):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
Okay, do have fun with draft Knight and family messages.
We got a little bit of everything here. But Drake
May's brothers had a message for him once he was
drafted third overall the Patriots, and it was hilarious.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
You expect like emotional things.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
His first brother pretty boy, next one overrated, and final
a beach.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
I like, you know, I made that a little.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
PG, but he just starts hysterically laughing, which he said, which.

Speaker 4 (38:38):
Is hysterical because Drake May is not little.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
And then you had Caleb Williams mom's message and he's
just like I was crying watching it, Like it was
just the emotion everything around this night and this moment
and what it means for all these athletes, Like I
was crying the next day, like watching all their hype videos,
like with them being drafted and then like the momage
of all their top plays.

Speaker 5 (39:04):
I adore that, And honestly, that's why I really like
Drake May because he's the youngest of all those boys,
and so you know.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
That he's like he can take.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
He's been a punching back his whole life.

Speaker 5 (39:12):
All right, I've got it, don't Okay, But it's like
a positive don't don't doubt your friends. Because the Vikings
put out a video after they traded up to get
Dallas Turner. Yeah, and it's a close shot of Kevin
O'Connell's face and it says and Questy's coming over and
Questy dopaments o their general matters coming over and he's saying,
we're getting him Turner, and Kaos just looks He's like really,

(39:35):
and the smile spreads across his face, his eyes get
super wide. It's the most memorable thing I've ever seen
in my whole life. But like, these guys work so
well together, and I'm getting to cover them as a
joy because it really does seem like Quissy and KOs
are in lockstep, and so Kevin O'Connell is just so
thrilled about this. I love that, and I'm like, why
did he even doubt? Don't don't, don't doubt, Quissy, no

(39:56):
doubt he got him. Now that they have, they got
their quarterback taken away or you know, squared away. So
now they went out and got one of the best
offensive players in the draft.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
It was wow, good job, Viking. That was great.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
Okay, do match your shoes to your car.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
I don't know if you saw this, but Luca pulled
up in a sixty eight Camaro matching his Jordan's. They
were this pink and purple swirl vibe our love, and
the car had like a little like Jordan like emblem
on the back of it.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
It was so swaggy, so beautiful.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
We love a white boy with swag, we do, we do.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
I just love all kinds of swag because swag is confidence.
And if you got confidence and swag, like, we're fine,
everything's gonna be all right. Okay when we come back.
Six quarterbacks went in the top twelve. But who will
succeed and who will fail?

Speaker 3 (40:46):
We're gonna break that down. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Welcome to our two Fox Sports Saturday and Alex Curry
alongside Carmen Vitally. We are broadcasting live Entire dot Com
studios in Los Angeles.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
They thank you for spending your Saturday afternoon with Krmee
and me.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
We've got Lions reporter Danny Rodgers joining us live from
Detroit in about thirty minutes and happy NFL Draft weekend.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
You guys.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
I got to start out by giving a mad shout
out to the Rams for absolutely crushing the vibe.

Speaker 4 (41:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
Here in LA they built a full football field on
the beach in our town of Hermosa Beach, and kids
have been like playing on it all week.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
They're keeping it up through I think like Tuesday or Wednesday.

Speaker 4 (41:29):
Okay, I didn't realize.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
Next week they had their like draft party, like where
they were actually making their selections.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
Yeah, at one of the top party houses in Draft House.

Speaker 4 (41:38):
They do a draft house every year.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
I mean I've reached there, like they have.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
They throw some of the best parties in town.

Speaker 4 (41:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
I love that.

Speaker 5 (41:47):
Oh Yeah, I liked like the Rams take full advantage
of being in La slash like southern California, and I
like that there they were highlighting like different areas.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
Yeah, because Malibu last year than they did her Mosa
Beach this year.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
Stand to the beach town which like.

Speaker 5 (42:01):
I was taking my walk and down the beach and
I on Wednesday and I was like I smelled something.
I was like, what does that smell? And then I
turn and look over and they're painting the turf.

Speaker 3 (42:10):
Oh yeah, no, they have like full turf on the
beach here.

Speaker 4 (42:14):
We just had a ton of activations on a a.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
Job that's beautiful. They absolutely crushed it.

Speaker 4 (42:19):
Well.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
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athletes safe. So to learn more of is it safety
runs first dot com? That's safety runs first dot com.

Speaker 4 (42:48):
We love to hear it.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
We do now comen.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
We've seen a lot of crazy things go down this
week weekend during the draft, fourteen offensive players went before
a single defensive player. Bill Belichick so on showing some
personality on the Pat McAfee show. I don't know if
you saw that.

Speaker 3 (43:04):
It was like a lot it was.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
It was the most like personality. It's it's like what
he's been holding back the whole time.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
He could have been fun.

Speaker 5 (43:15):
He could have been I mean there was the dog
like during the COVID. Yeah, like you saw that. I'm like,
all right, well he must have more personality. Yeah, then
we're giving him credit for.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
We also saw Roger Gondell dropping hints that he would
like to replace a preseason game with a regular season game.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
Bringing it to eighteen games.

Speaker 4 (43:33):
It's only a matter of time. I mean, stuff like
that ends up happening.

Speaker 3 (43:35):
Joe Burrow was.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
One of the first to respond, saying, so like two
bye weeks, but then that would put super Bowl to
President's d a weekend, giving everyone that Monday off after
super Bowl, which, like.

Speaker 4 (43:45):
I don't, I don't hate that idea as long as
you did.

Speaker 5 (43:47):
You would have to put it in two bye weeks
at this point because now with the bye weeks getting
later and later, it's some teams are going fourteen weeks without.

Speaker 4 (43:55):
A buy, which is nuts.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
That's crazy.

Speaker 5 (43:57):
And I get that you get the mini bue if
you play Thursday, and if your team does it, it's
it's not the same. And it puts undue pressure on
these guys, especially now that we're having a Christmas game
on why.

Speaker 3 (44:06):
I'm so sorry about that.

Speaker 4 (44:09):
I'm just never gonna see my family for a major holiday.
It's nime no.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
But but you're going in sports like I like knew
that going in. I was like, hey, I'm gonna miss weddings.
I'm gonna miss But you don't celebration.

Speaker 5 (44:18):
Christmas every single year because you figure that if Christmas
falls on a Wednesday, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
I can go on and I in studio, I've worked
Christmas Eve, Christmas the last.

Speaker 4 (44:27):
Oh I've done. I do it all the time.

Speaker 5 (44:28):
But you just you think that maybe maybe a couple
of years you get actual time with your.

Speaker 3 (44:32):
Family psych not in sports.

Speaker 5 (44:35):
Well, so yeah, athletes, you've got to be going on something.
I have already fired us today about the Pennix Junior.

Speaker 6 (44:40):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
Well, we're about to get into that like kind of
again because the other crazy thing is we saw twelve
quarterbacks go in the top twelve. That was the most
ever taken. So we're going to go through and explain
who we think is going to succeed or fail and why.
So let's start at the top. Number one. Caleb will
going to the Bears. I think this will work. They're

(45:03):
taking a completely different approach to their offense this season,
instead of putting all the pressure on a rookie quarterback
just like hey, go figure it out, which was kind
of what happened to justin Fields. It was like there
was a kidski before him, and yeah, they're giving him
some weapons and surrounding him with pieces that will help

(45:23):
him succeed.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
And we saw that Thursday night with the number one pick.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
Instead of getting the edge rusher, as they said off
the top of the show, they went and got a
top weapon for Williams with rome A Donsay, And like
obviously they added Keenan Allen, DeAndre Swift, they have DJ
Moore that there's more of an offensive focus for this
Bears team than we have ever seen this.

Speaker 5 (45:48):
Literally in my entire lifetime. I want to give Ryan
Holes a flowers because this was a very curated, intentional
plan that he put in place as soon as he
got to the Chicago people act like they lucked into
the first overall pick after trading with Carolina, if you
don't think that Ryan Poles was taking stock, because first
of all, the Bears had multiple offers and moved down

(46:09):
last year from the number one overall pick, which they
earned down to number nine, which ended up being with
the Panthers, because there was multiple offers, and Ryan Poles
looks at the Panthers and goes, yeah, I could bet
that they're gonna have a high first round pick, and
sure enough, they got him the number one overall pick.
So much so that the Bears having the number one
overall pick and Caleb Williams going to the team picking

(46:32):
first overall was such an incredibly unique situation because the
Bears did not Yes, the Bears did.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
Not warrant the number one overall pick.

Speaker 5 (46:40):
They have a better roster than most teams picking number
one overall have, so this was an opportunity to take
advantage of having an actual environment to develop a young quarterback,
which the Bears have never had.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
Like you mentioned before, the Bears have never had that guy.
They've never had a guy throw more than four thousand
yards in a season they've.

Speaker 5 (47:00):
Been in a quarterback, They've never set that guy.

Speaker 4 (47:02):
That's the thing is, they never set a guy up
for success to do that. Ever, that I'm.

Speaker 5 (47:07):
Talking about franchise history, talking experience here where this entire
franchise has had a defensive identity for the last five
in the past, Mass.

Speaker 4 (47:17):
Good luckman is the last guy that you can hang
your hat on as the Chicago Bears quarterback.

Speaker 5 (47:20):
And that was so long ago that the game has
completely changed. So now you get the fun, you get the.

Speaker 4 (47:25):
Flashy football and kaylab Williams is the definition. We talked.

Speaker 5 (47:28):
We talked about it, you know, last Hour is the
definition of fun and flashy and on paper this should work.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
Yeah, welcome to the show, Chicago Bears. Good job, Ryan,
feel like you have finally arrived. Good job Bryan Polls
to the new NFL. Okay, let's go to the second
quarterback taken Jaden Daniels to the Commanders, the Heisman winner
out of LSU. This is a lot of new for
the Commanders. You got a new owner, a new coaching staff,

(47:57):
new head coach, new offensive coordinator, new.

Speaker 4 (47:59):
Quarter a lot of new guys on the roster.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
It's a lot of new now they did pick up
some new familiar faces, if Austin Eckler, if he can
stay healthy veteran presence, which is great. But this one's
tough for me because there is so much new. It's
a lot of positivity, there's a lot of hope, but
because everything is so new, I feel like I need
to wait a month and see, like, just is it jelly?

Speaker 4 (48:26):
So yes, yes, this is great.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
Keep expect temper expectations, different different expectators.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
Is by no means the same. This is not the
same at all. CARNI, I am not allowed.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
High expectations for the Bears and Caleb Williams, I don't like.
This is new owner, new coaching staff, new quarterback, a
lot of new faces on this roster.

Speaker 3 (48:49):
Yeah, well it's so old it is rebuilt.

Speaker 4 (48:51):
It is and I appreciate.

Speaker 5 (48:53):
You know, Jayden and Daniels was responsible for all of
LSU success last year because that defense was horrendous. So
Jane Daniels had to go put up forty to fifty
points every single game, and I watched him do it
very impressively. He's gonna fit right into Cliff Kingsbury's offense. Yeah,
he never went under center at LSU. Jane Daniels didn't,
and Cliff Kingsbury doesn't ask his quarterbacks to go under center,

(49:14):
so that's great. But yeah, he's gonna have Daniels kind
of still pushing the ball down the field with the
remnants of that air raid offense that Cliff Kingsbury used
in college, which he took some of that to go
to the NFL. The one concern I have is Cliff
Kingsbury trying to make Jade and Daniels into Kyler Murray.
They are two different players, and I think Jayden Daniels
absolutely scrambles. He is not a running quarterback. That is

(49:36):
the differentiation is not He knows how to scramble and
he will do it. Yeah, but you like he's not
big enough to at the NFL level to design runs
for him like this. This kid is like I know,
he weighed in at the combine like over two hundred
pounds and that was like soaking wet after probably drinking

(49:56):
two gallons of water. Like, there's no like, he doesn't
weigh that much and he's very small. So we're going
to have to have a good offensive line that can
protect him. Now, granted, Jane Daniels can't get himself out
of trouble. He's done that. But yeah, he has a
tendency to look down when he's scrambling and doesn't necessarily
see guys open down the field. So that's something you're
gonna have to coach him up on all that other stuff.

(50:17):
I just don't want him to I don't want Coff
Kingsbury to make try to make Jane Daniels t Kyler Murray.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
Okay, we'll see so succeed or fail.

Speaker 5 (50:25):
I Jerry the jury, right, I hate I'm a glad
of tempering expectations.

Speaker 4 (50:30):
Are you kidding? Okay, let's see how this all goes.

Speaker 3 (50:32):
Let's go to number three, Drake may to the Patriots.

Speaker 2 (50:36):
First reaction, I was a little surprised they didn't trade
down for a haul, because yes, they needed a quarterback,
but they need so many other things too. They don't
have star receivers, star weapons and protection.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
They're online ring twentieth.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
Last season, defense was middle of the pack, fifteenth in
points allowed per game. Once again, a lot of new
new head coach and Jared Mayo who's never been a
head coach before. It feels kind of like a similar
situation to Jones of like this. I think Drake May
is in the toughest rookie situation.

Speaker 4 (51:07):
Oh yeah, he's basically Bryce Young from last year.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
Yeah, so I think this is And.

Speaker 5 (51:12):
Like I get so, John Mayo was promoted from within.
This was the succession plan. Apparently all along he had
language written into his contract that he would succeed Bill
Belichick when he.

Speaker 4 (51:20):
Was gone, So you have some continuity when that happens.

Speaker 5 (51:23):
Yeah, but I was begging the Patriots to have a
little bit more self awareness for all of those reasons
that you just mentioned, not to mention when the stuff
that we heard from the Vikings after picking JJ McCarthy,
it very much reading between the lines, sounded like they
were prepared to give the Patriots both of their first
round picks this year and next year's first.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
That's crazy.

Speaker 5 (51:44):
So to turn down three first round picks to then
take Drake May who was now coming into a terrible
situation under so much pressure.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
I know of Drake May no protection.

Speaker 5 (51:56):
I don't think Drake may is the project that people
were making him out to be in the last couple
of weeks. I think that was more to get him
to fall. I think he is a great quarterback, with
an even higher ceiling. Yeah, but you are not setting
him up for success in the one. I tweeted right
after this happened that I was bummed, and this is
the reason, because I want to see Drake may set up.

Speaker 4 (52:14):
To succeed, because I think that he could.

Speaker 5 (52:16):
Be one of these incredible caliber quarterbacks. But only so
much of what determined success in this league.

Speaker 4 (52:23):
For a quarterback.

Speaker 5 (52:24):
The supporting cast is the supporting cast, and what situation
they go into and New England just doesn't.

Speaker 4 (52:28):
They don't even need the bare bones, they don't have anything.

Speaker 3 (52:31):
They need so much, they need so many a haul,
they needed.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
All and they didn't get down three for cos I
don't know.

Speaker 4 (52:39):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (52:40):
Okay, let's move on.

Speaker 4 (52:41):
We don't have number with so many quarterbacks get there.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
I know we've okay, we've already talked about this one
a bit. At number eight, Michael Pennock Junior going to
the Falcons.

Speaker 3 (52:51):
This was the biggest w started.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
Again situation for most Atlanta fans, But it happened. So
let's dive been a little bit because two things can
be true in this situation against me. Now, this could
actually be a great learning situation for Pennix to develop,
even though it's an awkward situation for Kirk Cousins. Okay,

(53:15):
I'm not surprised that Pennix was a top pick. He's
a pure pocket passer. He has great accuracy. He's got
a beautiful throw and spin on the ball. The weird
part of this whole situation is that the Falcons just
paid Kirk Cousins one hundred and eighty million dollars over
four years with one hundred million guarantee, and he didn't
get the heads up that they were taking a quarterback
until they were on the clock. That is the uncomfortable,

(53:39):
irresponsible miscommunication.

Speaker 5 (53:41):
Part of this whole situation is irresponsible. So thing is irresponsible.
I'm gonna I'm not gonna let you have this without
challenging it.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
Yeah, and I will challenge you right back, because now
they have two great quarterbacks at the most important.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
Position you can't play in the league. You can't.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
But you also have Kirk Cousins, who's an older, coming
out order quarterback coming off of the biggest injury that
you can come off of late in his career. He
hasn't played a game since and this is this is insurance.
As we heard them say Kirk Cousins is our quarterback. Now,
Penis is Insurance. This is not a top ten pack.

Speaker 3 (54:15):
I think this will not.

Speaker 4 (54:17):
A top ten pack.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
I'm going to say this is going to work.

Speaker 5 (54:19):
No, I'm going to say this is going to be horribly,
horribly wrong. And I'm so sorry to Michael Pennix because
this is not his fault. It was not his choice,
and I wanted Michael Pennix to start right away.

Speaker 4 (54:29):
He is ready to start now, and I am.

Speaker 5 (54:33):
I am so much in favor of giving guys time
to ease into the NFL. So a bridge quarterback to
the Michael Pennock junior era in Atlanta would have been phenomenal.
A plus love that this is not that you do
not pay a bridge quarterback one hundred million dollars guaranteed.
That is not the thing here. And to create a
quarterback competition for both, He's going to be a Dutchman

(54:53):
to both. There is no way that you did not
make things worse for Kirk Cousins by drafting Michael Pennock junior.
And there is no way that you playing Michael Pennock
junior without something bad happening to Kirk Cousins or taking
something away from Michael Penick Junior later on down the line.
It's completely like the cap hit that Kirk Cousins has.

(55:14):
Even if Michael Penix Junior plays in two years, that's
gonna affect him.

Speaker 4 (55:18):
Like this is just I don't even have words.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
I know you don't think it's going to succeed.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
Let's move on to the next quarterback at number ten,
JJ McCarthy to the Vikings.

Speaker 3 (55:28):
This was the first trade up.

Speaker 4 (55:30):
One spot, just one little spot.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
But I could see this working. He's a national champion
who's coach. Like Harbad had been raving about him.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
He's coming into a situation that will help him succeed
with a lot of good pieces in place. They have
wide receiver death, they have a good O line. They
were twelve last season. The only hesitation is the NFC
North is now a stacked division. The Lions proved they
are the top team last year. Packers and Jordan Love
did well, Bears getting the number one pick in Caleb Williams.

(55:59):
Vikings did sign Sam Darnald this offseason.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
So is there a world where they sit JJ.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
Yes behind Sam? Or is it a straight up quarterback
competition here?

Speaker 5 (56:09):
No, no, no, no, You're not doing that again with
a first round, top ten pick. What you're doing is
you're bridging the Kirk Cousins era with the JJ McCarthy era,
and you are letting Sam Darnald be the guy to
start so you can ease JJ in because JJ does
need reps, he needs development. He is the project, but
he has the traits that Minnesota really liked.

Speaker 4 (56:31):
And he's coming into a situation.

Speaker 5 (56:33):
Where you have a former quarterback and head coach, a
former quarterback as your quarterbacks coach.

Speaker 4 (56:37):
You also have tons of weapons justin Jefferson, Jordan Madison,
T J. Hockinson, Aaron Jones.

Speaker 5 (56:42):
Now you have a good offensive line and you got
a defense that could potentially be top five, especially with
the addition of Dallas Turner. Now, so you can ease
him into this situation when you feel like he is ready.
This is the exact situation in Minnesota. Is what you
want for your young rookie quarterback, you could I think
that that situation is even better than the Bear situation.

(57:03):
The Bear situation is the best a first overall pick
has come into. Yeah, the situation in Minnesota is the
best situation of a rooking.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
Quarterback team to help him succeed.

Speaker 4 (57:13):
Absolutely, this is the best of the of this draft.

Speaker 5 (57:16):
This is the best situation a quarterback is coming into
is in Minnesota. I think this is absolutely going to work,
and I think it's going to take a little bit
of time, but in the long haul the Bikings. Bikings
are going to be better for it because while they
may there was rumors they want to drink may while
they may not have gotten their ideal quarterback, they got
the ideal situation when they got to get J. J.

(57:37):
McCarthy and Dallas Turner that now opposite hit of Jonathan Grenard.
That the who they got from the Texans this offseason
in free agency. Twelve and a half sacks last year.
So now you're gonna pair another guy on the other
side of him, another first round pick, potentially the first
you know, the best defensive player in the draft.

Speaker 4 (57:54):
Yeah, I love it. I love it so much.

Speaker 7 (57:56):
With John Bacon.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
One more at number twelve, Bonix to theos. Now, this
was one of Carmens if you were listening in the
first hour WTF moments, because she does not believe that
Bonick should be a top twelve quarterback.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
Will he succeed.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
I think yes, he has the most college experience out
of any quarterback prospect this year sixty one games. In
his last season at Oregon, he was second in passing yards,
most passing touchdown, a Heisman finalist, and Sean Payton now
has his guy. Boenicks fits the offense that Sean Payton
likes to run. And this is Sean Payton's chance to
show and prove he can do what he came to
Denver to do a lot of contents between Bow and

(58:34):
Drew Brees, which is Peyton's.

Speaker 3 (58:35):
Bread and butter.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
If he could be even a fraction of what Breeze was,
I think they will succeed.

Speaker 4 (58:42):
Yeah, if he can, if he can, if he can't.

Speaker 5 (58:45):
So his experience in college, though, I also feel like
works as a detriment to Sean Payton. Wants to mold him.
Sean Payton wants to make him into the next Drew Brees.
Sean Payton has the ego to think that he can
do so well. Now Bonis is going to have to
unlearn things from college and realize them under Sean Payton.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
Yeah, and its like, isn't that what like any college
quarterback is doing?

Speaker 3 (59:04):
Once you get to the NFL like it's a different.

Speaker 5 (59:06):
Oh, lets you get a guy like JJ McCarthy who
is very, very raw and needs and needs reps and
is actually mobile like mold double there it is moldable
five times fast. I like Bonix as a quarterback. Please
do not get me wrong. He is a good quarterback.

Speaker 6 (59:21):
Game.

Speaker 4 (59:22):
This was two years ago.

Speaker 5 (59:23):
He would have absolutely been probably the first quarterback taken
off the board. But I just can't get on board
with him being a top twelve pick and also being
asked to be the guy in Denver because who else
do you have?

Speaker 4 (59:33):
Zach Wilson. That's that's tough.

Speaker 3 (59:35):
Yikes, yikes.

Speaker 4 (59:37):
I'm gonna say no, I don't think it's gonna I
don't think it's gonna go.

Speaker 2 (59:39):
Well, I'm gonna give Sean Payton the benefit of doubt
and say, yes, all right, we're gonna take a quick
break here, but when we come back. Is a Lakers
playoff run done?

Speaker 3 (59:46):
Tonight?

Speaker 2 (59:47):
We'll explain more next on Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back
to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Curry alongside Carbon Vitally.
We are broadcasting live from Tar dot Com Studios in
Los Angeles.

Speaker 4 (59:58):
Such a hype up.

Speaker 2 (59:59):
Thank you for spending Saturday afternoon with us, because we
know there are so many things going on right now
between the draft, baseball, playoff basketball, and we've talked about
it all today.

Speaker 3 (01:00:10):
Oh we sure have literally everything.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
Except for what playoff basketball that's coming up next.

Speaker 5 (01:00:18):
Now also coming up right after the show. Yeah, our
podcast will be going up cool. If you missed any
of today's show, be sure to check it out to
search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and
be sure to follow, rate, subscribe, do all of those
wonderful things and review the podcast. Just search Fox Sports
Radio and you'll see the show posted right after we
get off the air. Alex and I will absolutely post

(01:00:38):
it to our social media. Follow us to wonderful producers
getting it up right away.

Speaker 4 (01:00:42):
It's great.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
Yeah, okay, well guys, let's get let's get to some
basketball because I feel like tonight might be the last
time I get to cheer on my Lakers because the
Lakers are cooked.

Speaker 3 (01:00:54):
Let's be honest.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
Denver's that team like the West runs through Denver. Now.
They are the defending chain with the best player in
the league and the joker, the best one two punch
with the Joker and Jamal Murray and the Lakers have
had leads in all three of their losses. You guys,
they blew ten point leads in each game, led by
twelve and game one, led by twenty, in Game two,
led by twelve, and Game three. But the nail in

(01:01:17):
the coffin was Murray's buzzer beater in Game two in Denver,
with eighty falling into their celebration on the bench.

Speaker 3 (01:01:28):
That deflated That deflated the Lakers.

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
You could see it in their postgame presser to be
up by twenty in Denver, and if they were able
to bring the series back home tied one one, that's
a completely different series, a completely different series. But it's
just the vibe in the locker room is off. I
talked to Lakers reporter, my friend Niki Ka, who told me,
you know, they weren't pissed, which when you're down three

(01:01:53):
games in a series you should be. It was more
of an acceptance that they know how much better Denver
is than them, And to me, that alone, right there
is a death sentence. But right now, let's check in
with Martin Wise and see what's trending.

Speaker 9 (01:02:13):
Milwaukee Bucks point Guardamian Lillard diagnosed with a Grade one
Achilles strain. He's doubtful for Game four of the playoffs
tomorrow at Indiana. The Patriots lead the series two games
to one, Cavaliers at the Magic at Game four of
the four or five series in the East, Orlando one
eleven to eighty nine series now tied two games apiece
with Franz wagnerho had thirty four and thirteen rebounds in

(01:02:35):
that At the end of overtime, the Carolina Hurricanes and
New York Islanders still tied to a piece. They're moving
into the second overtime now with nine minutes forty two
seconds left in the first period, the Panthers trailing the
Lightning one to nothing.

Speaker 7 (01:02:48):
Florida with a three to zero lead in that series.

Speaker 9 (01:02:50):
Overall, the Jets have traded a defensive lineman, John Franklin
Myers to Denver in exchange for a twenty twenty six
sixth round pick, less than a week after trading quarterback
Zach Wilson to Denver as well, and in the NFL
draft the sixth round winding up right now, we had
two different a few different placekickers get drafted right now,
most recent one from Arkansas. Cam Little is now a

(01:03:13):
Jacksonville Jaguar. Kamal Hayden, cornerback from Tennessee is now a
Kansas City chief and Boston College offensive guard. Christian Mahogany
a member of the Detroit Lions.

Speaker 7 (01:03:24):
Alex Carmen back.

Speaker 3 (01:03:25):
To you guys, Thank you Martin.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
You're listening to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Curry here
with Carmen Vitali. We are broadcasting live from the tire
dot Com studios in Los Angeles. Now, we talked about
this off the top of the show. Just the vibe
in Detroit, right with over two hundred and seventy five
thousand they have attendance.

Speaker 5 (01:03:46):
Now they have the all time record for all of
the rounds. The governor of Michigan came out to announce
the Lions sixth round or fifth round pick and said
that they now have seven hundred thousand in attendance accounting
for all three days offt Oh, my gosh, Detroit is right.

Speaker 4 (01:04:02):
Where do you football town?

Speaker 6 (01:04:05):
Like?

Speaker 3 (01:04:05):
Where do you put all of those people?

Speaker 1 (01:04:09):
Like?

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
That is absolutely insane.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
But let's talk about because they had a lot of
legends passed and present in Detroit coming together for this draft. Megatron,
Barry Sanders, Eminem Jared kaff out there like they like
those they brought out everybody. And the Lions had a
legendary season last year, the first time in thirty two
years that they won a playoff game. So how do
you see them repeat and keep pace with the rest

(01:04:34):
of the division with all those heavy hitters, because.

Speaker 4 (01:04:37):
They've gotten better.

Speaker 5 (01:04:39):
And I was very curious to see how Brad Holmes
was going to approach the draft this year because of
the fact that in the last couple of years the
Lions have needed everything. Yeah, and Brad Holmes is now
infamous for taking best player available. You saw him and
like his guy to not necessarily like anybody else's.

Speaker 4 (01:04:58):
Best player available.

Speaker 5 (01:04:59):
Yeah, last year you saw him take a running back
in Jamiir Gibbs in number twelve, followed by a inside
linebacker in Jack Campbell at number eighteen. Those two positions
in particular almost never go in the first round. This
is something that you can see you see teams get
value for later on in the draft. Yeah, but it
worked out because both Jamiir Gibbs and Jack Campbell are starters.

(01:05:21):
Not to mention there the two second round picks after that,
Brian Branch and Saan la Porta also starters, so he
was able to take whoever was there that they liked.
Now you don't have as many holes. Yeah, and I
was like, okay, So now is Brad Holmes going to
change up his draft strategy a little bit where he's

(01:05:41):
going to go after the positions that he needs. And
sure enough, that's what we've seen. They've traded up multiple
times now I think three four times at this point,
but even in the first everything, so they have corners.

Speaker 4 (01:05:57):
Yeah, they drafted.

Speaker 5 (01:05:59):
Multiple defensive backs because that was their biggest issue last
year and the year before. They thought they addressed it
going into last season, but then you get guys that
are getting hurt.

Speaker 4 (01:06:08):
You had CJ.

Speaker 5 (01:06:09):
Gardner Johnson go down after the second game of the season,
and now you realize you have to insulate that position
at all costs. So they went out and they got
Terry on Arnold, who was arguably the best corner.

Speaker 4 (01:06:20):
In the draft.

Speaker 5 (01:06:21):
And then you keep going with this position group and
sure enough trading up to get their guys. So it's
a little bit of a departure for Brad Holmes. I
still think it's going to work and com Hell or Highwater.
Destroit is going to field a complete secondary this season
because that is not going to be what keeps them
out of a Super Bowl run.

Speaker 2 (01:06:41):
Okay, well, but let's look at the NFC North like
in general, because I think it's shaping up to be
one of the toughest divisions this season with some big
new names. Obviously, Detroit like made their presence known last year,
they are the team to beat in the NFC North,
but like Green Bay and Jordan love like, I think
surprise everybody with how great of a first full.

Speaker 3 (01:07:03):
Season he had with this team.

Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
And then you have the Vikings getting JJ McCarthy, Caleb
Williams going number one overall to the Bears.

Speaker 3 (01:07:10):
How do you see this division shaping up next season?

Speaker 5 (01:07:13):
That's why I you know, I asked Shook about it
because last hour, he is in Cleveland, he's grown up
a Browns fan.

Speaker 4 (01:07:20):
The AFC North was the toughest.

Speaker 5 (01:07:22):
Division last year for all the reasons that he mentioned,
but the NFC North is coming for them this year. Yeah,
because there are obviously the two obvious ones are Detroit
who won the division last year, Yeah, and then green
Bay who made it to the divisional round.

Speaker 4 (01:07:35):
With the youngest team in the league.

Speaker 5 (01:07:37):
By the way, these guys are creating a foundation for
sustained success. That's what Green Bay does very very well.
They know how to build their teams. They've been doing
it the same way for the last three decades. That
is a tried and true method, and clearly Brad Holmes
has a track record now too. These teams are now
they've gotten the taste of winning. They know what it's like,

(01:07:57):
especially in the Packers case, so they're gonna be tough outs.
But then you have the newcomers in the Chicago Bears,
who aren't used to recent success, but on paper have
one of the most complete teams in the league right now.
I don't know how that's gonna go in practice, which
is why I want to temper expectations. And then no
one's giving the Vikings a shot either, which I think

(01:08:18):
is hysterical given the fact that you have the best
receiver in football and Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, who was
a breakout rookie last year, TJ. Hockinson, one of the
best tight ends Aaron Jones now in your backfield. By
the way, inner division.

Speaker 4 (01:08:33):
Was what the Packers was.

Speaker 5 (01:08:34):
They released him, Vikings picked him up, got a good
offensive line, and now you've got a unit on the
defensive side that could potentially be a top five team too.
So I don't want to discount the Vikings because if
this all goes according to play with JJ McCarthy and
they're able to develop him by the halfway mark of
this season, they're going to have a real push to

(01:08:56):
make maybe sneak in the wild card.

Speaker 7 (01:08:58):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:08:59):
I'm not gonna put and expectations on the.

Speaker 3 (01:09:00):
Meme, but I'm gonna say top to bottom.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
Like looking just I have all the divisions up in
front of me right now, top to bottom, NFC North,
AFC North, it's gonna be. It's gonna be like every
other division has like one to two teams that you're like,
those are betting games, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:09:21):
You hear, I'll tell you what the Houston Taxans have. Yeah, And.

Speaker 3 (01:09:28):
But it's not.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
But it's not like there's a lot of top to bottom.
It's still not top to bottom. Now, Okay, Day three
is almost done with the draft. We've had a lot
of legends come out of these late rounds. We kind
of mentioned it, right like a Tom Brady who was
a sixth round. We're currently in the sixth round right now.
Do you see is there any big names that like

(01:09:49):
you're kind of watching, like a late rounder that wasn't
maybe a Day one that you're kind of keeping an
eye on, thinking like this is someone to watch out for.

Speaker 5 (01:10:00):
It's interesting because of the guys that, especially any of
the not so covering the NFC North's I'm very plugged
into that division in particular. It's interesting because I think
that the player that is going to have the most
immediate impact, Yeah, is the Bear's last pick, which was

(01:10:21):
a punter. You had Tory Taylor out of Iowa, who
was the best punter in college table and got a
ton of work because I was offense was absolutely atrocious.
I mean, Tory Tory was on the field more than
their quarterback. I'm not kidding, like it was just sign.
I get that he has a lot of experience. I
get that he's the best punter. I'm never really gonna

(01:10:43):
be on board with drafting a specialist because especially with
I mean the fourth round, you can get.

Speaker 2 (01:10:50):
But they took the punter before they got their edge rusher, right.
That was kind of because that was something big that they.

Speaker 5 (01:10:57):
Needed but they needed and I think it might have
been one of the things where they didn't want to
have to give up future assets to go and get
a punter. But then I'm like, like, I understand both
sides of it, Like that's a huge need. The Bears
were not a good punting unit last year. But I
caution against judging these guys from their body of work
in college because the pro game is so different, even

(01:11:19):
from a mental standpoint, Like, I'm old enough to remember
Mark kicking, and he's a.

Speaker 3 (01:11:23):
Good friend of mine. I know we love Marquette, we do.

Speaker 5 (01:11:27):
But he lasted a couple of years in the league,
did well, but then kind of fell off cliff and
then I saw him punting in the USFL last year. Yes,
and then I also when he comes to punters and kickers, kickers,
I almost get more because of the rule changes. But
I also was part of the Buccaneers that traded up
to the second round to get apparently the best college
kicker ever in Roberto Aguayo. Now I get the second

(01:11:50):
round is completely different than the fourth, But it's just
it's too much of a gamble for me to spend
valuable assets on. Even though this punter is going to
be the one to actually affect games for the Chicago Bears.
I just hope it works out because otherwise that's gonna
be kind of a blemish on what was otherwise a
fantastic draft for the Chicago Bears.

Speaker 2 (01:12:10):
It's just so crazy because again, every draft pick is
a gamble, Like you don't know how somebody is going
to pan out.

Speaker 3 (01:12:16):
Once they enter the NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:12:17):
It is a completely different game, different speed, bigger guys,
more intent.

Speaker 3 (01:12:22):
So it's like you hope, well, you hope it all
works out, but you never know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
All Right, It's been fun though, and it's still going on.
Like again, i'd set off the top like Draft day
just warms my heart because it's a lifetime of work,
a dream coming true in a single moment.

Speaker 3 (01:12:40):
Oh yeah, it's so beautiful.

Speaker 2 (01:12:42):
All Right, We're gonna take one more break here, but
when we come back, never give up on something that
is yours. Listening to Fox Sports Radio, Welcome back to
Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:12:53):
Welcome back to.

Speaker 2 (01:12:53):
Fox Sports Saturday and Alex carry Heer with Carmen Vitali.
We are broadcasting live from the Tire dot Com Studios
in Los Angeles. We've had such a like an eclectic
group of music today. Dude, Christmas killing it last week too.
I swear it's been he's been on it.

Speaker 3 (01:13:09):
Can we get like, what's the inspo?

Speaker 1 (01:13:11):
Bin?

Speaker 3 (01:13:11):
What's the vibe?

Speaker 6 (01:13:12):
Like?

Speaker 3 (01:13:13):
Just what we're feeling each commercial break?

Speaker 7 (01:13:15):
No, I it's just whatever the vibe is.

Speaker 3 (01:13:17):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:13:18):
I'm right now.

Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
Okay, Okay, what we've gone alternative, We've gone like all
over the place.

Speaker 3 (01:13:24):
But I love it.

Speaker 4 (01:13:24):
Literally went top thumping.

Speaker 3 (01:13:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:13:29):
It puts a smile on our face and anyone else
is gonna put a smile on your face.

Speaker 3 (01:13:33):
Our feel good story. Great transition of the week, I know,
transition queen over here.

Speaker 2 (01:13:37):
Okay, Reggie Bush finally got his Heisman trophy back after
fourteen years of forfeiting it, and you guys, it's about
damn time, Like this is.

Speaker 4 (01:13:49):
It's about damn time. That's what you should have played,
Chris Ah.

Speaker 3 (01:13:53):
It's just let it be a life lesson to people.

Speaker 2 (01:13:57):
Never stop fighting for what is yours and stop believing
in yourself. Because he got punished for something that is
now part of the nil college football landscape, and it's
hard to punish someone for something that is now being
celebrated and taught there's classes, students are making millions of dollars.

Speaker 3 (01:14:18):
Yeah, off of all of this.

Speaker 5 (01:14:20):
Real ones, real ones always knew Reggie Bush as a
Heisman winner and knew that trophy hadn't gone anywhere. I
really appreciate though that Johnny Manziel was like, you know what, No,
enough is enough. I am not coming to the Heisman
ceremony anymore until you get Reggie back his Heisman.

Speaker 3 (01:14:36):
See, that's the coolest thing is it's a brotherhood.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
Well now he gets to be part of all the
Heisman celebration stuff moving forward because it's an elite club
and he deserves to be there. He was the best
of the best during his time and too, I can't
even imagine what that feels like to have something ripped
away from you and to live in that like but
that like it's almost like your identity getting taken away

(01:15:02):
from you for something that's.

Speaker 4 (01:15:03):
Part of it.

Speaker 5 (01:15:03):
Heisman winner is something that precludes your name whenever you.

Speaker 4 (01:15:07):
Are brought up.

Speaker 2 (01:15:08):
It's how you are introduced. Yes, it's like when you
it's if you win an Emmy, if you're all.

Speaker 5 (01:15:14):
The super Bowl, when you have a gold jacket, if
any of that, like that is that is right up there.
You will forever be known. They always say they can
never take that away from you once you get it,
except they did take it away from Reggie Bush, and
I hated that for him, but real ones never never
lost faith. I'm just glad that he finally has it back,
and I right he can he can participate in all.

Speaker 3 (01:15:33):
Did you see the Nissan commercials? There is that what
it is?

Speaker 4 (01:15:37):
Oh, the Heisman House is the thing on the on
Nissan commercials because Nissan sponsors either the award itself or
they're just a College of Alell sponsor.

Speaker 5 (01:15:43):
So all of the guys are like in the house.
Like you've got like Tim Tebow driving.

Speaker 2 (01:15:46):
The car that comes up like with some like cook
and something.

Speaker 5 (01:15:51):
So yes, that's like you Now, Reggie Bush is in
the Heisman House.

Speaker 8 (01:15:57):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:15:57):
I'm just so like what Reggie says.

Speaker 2 (01:16:00):
Personally, I'm thrilled to reunite with my fellow Heisman winners
and be a part of the storied legacy of the
Heisman Trophy. I'm honored to return to the Heisman family.

Speaker 3 (01:16:09):
Because that's what it is.

Speaker 2 (01:16:09):
It's really like getting to be back with your family,
your brother, and I love it there was did you
see did I just say this?

Speaker 3 (01:16:17):
Did you see like the.

Speaker 2 (01:16:18):
Billboards around town that were like give Reggie as Heisman back,
like they were like full pr push, which was amazing.
But Carvin, we have one more.

Speaker 3 (01:16:28):
We have two feel.

Speaker 2 (01:16:29):
Good stories of the week here and our second one.
It's all good vibes here. We're all ending on great vibes.
That's what we do here. Caitlin Clark reportedly signing a
twenty eight million dollar deal with Nike, which includes her
signature shoe.

Speaker 3 (01:16:47):
Like again, but let's give a round.

Speaker 2 (01:16:50):
Of applause here, because there's a lot of shock when
people realize how much she was going to be getting
paid in the w NBA, Like it is shocking when
you when you find out I found out a couple
of years ago, like what we're actually making and I'm like,
that's over how many years?

Speaker 3 (01:17:06):
What that's like not even.

Speaker 2 (01:17:09):
Like an NBA draft D's like signing bonus, especially for someone.

Speaker 4 (01:17:13):
Right league minimum in the NBA.

Speaker 2 (01:17:15):
It's ridiculous, Like this is someone who her jerseys for
the Fever sold out in every single size on draft night.

Speaker 4 (01:17:25):
So Tayler Williams then broke that record.

Speaker 3 (01:17:28):
Taylor Williams just broke. That's Chicago fans for you.

Speaker 4 (01:17:31):
Sure is.

Speaker 2 (01:17:32):
They are ready for this new next generation everything happening.

Speaker 3 (01:17:36):
But these shoes are gonna fly off.

Speaker 5 (01:17:38):
To Oh I'll be I'm gonna try to get get
a pair, but like I don't know that I'm gonna
be able to. It's gonna be like, you know, one
of those I need a plug, I need, I need
a sneakers plug first of all. I need a sneakers
plug anyway, because that's how you get any of these shoes.
But they're gonna fly. They're gonna be one of those
ones that are like sold out within minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:17:54):
Yeah, and I want to get your T shirt plug
my teacher. Oh yeah, Homage you have it? Oh gup, hey, Homage,
got my girl up.

Speaker 2 (01:18:03):
Alex Curry, Yeah, there be some cool stuff to wear
on our show, because that would be really cool.

Speaker 4 (01:18:08):
They're wonderful to me.

Speaker 5 (01:18:09):
I've just taken to wearing all my homage and home
field for that matter, homefield is college, homage is pros.
I've taken to wearing all these shirts on our radio show.

Speaker 4 (01:18:16):
So there's already but.

Speaker 3 (01:18:17):
There's already been like the Kaitlin Clark effect.

Speaker 2 (01:18:19):
We've seen it just with most of her games are
now going to be nationally broadcast, which has and.

Speaker 5 (01:18:26):
Hopefully this whole Kaitlyn Clark effect extends to the commissioner
of the w NBA talked about wanting to renegotiate the
media rights deal and now looking for double what they
were getting before, which will have the trickle down effect
of paying these players more, of giving it the giving
the w NBA to do it deserves and these athletes
that do they deserve. Not that it's going to necessarily

(01:18:48):
catch up to the NBA super quickly, no, but the
product has been great and hopefully yeah, like Kaitlin Clark,
the CLA. The biggest thing about the Kaitlin Clark effect
is that it hopefully means prog for the sport.

Speaker 4 (01:19:01):
As a whole. Yeah, that is that is like this,
those are the stakes here.

Speaker 2 (01:19:05):
Not even just the sport as a whole, but for
women's sports in general, because what it comes down to
is brands believing in the product and putting up the
money the same way that they're putting up money for
the men the men's yes, exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:19:16):
And that is going to again have the domino.

Speaker 5 (01:19:18):
Effect of like, all right, well, if these brands are
paying all this money, yeah, and then the like it'll
go both ways because if the league is more visible
and more eyes are on these players and there are
more nationally televised games, guess what brands are going to
pay more for that because that's more exposure for them.
And it's a symbiotic relationship that can work very very well.
And Caitlyn Clark is the catalyst for a lot of this.

(01:19:40):
Not to say that she's the first person deserving of being.

Speaker 3 (01:19:42):
Knowl she is the most.

Speaker 2 (01:19:44):
She is the first polarizing figure woman basketball player that
is shifting the culture. She's getting people who didn't watch
I would say, maybe didn't even watch basketball, tune in
to watch her play.

Speaker 4 (01:20:00):
And you again, like I want to go.

Speaker 5 (01:20:02):
There are plenty of exceptional women's players that played there
for her, and it's just now kind of catching fire.
And I'm really really glad that there's such a good
steward of the game in Caitlin Clark.

Speaker 2 (01:20:13):
You know what I've noticed too, a lot of the
playoff NBA sponsored commercials now have the WNBA and the.

Speaker 5 (01:20:21):
NBA logo'm because they're getting on the WNBA film.

Speaker 3 (01:20:24):
This feels like there's movement, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:20:26):
Guys, thank you so much for spending your Saturday afternoon
with Carmea and me. I hope you have a great
Saturday and Sunday and we'll see you all next week