Alex Curry & Carmen Vitali React to HUGE Trades in the NFL, Jayson Tatum's Return & More!

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

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Curry with Carmen Vitally.
Thank you for spending your Saturday afternoon with us, Carmi.
Holy Trades Week. I mean, nothing official yet, but like
it felt like every single day this week we were
waking up to a blockbuster, big move.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
It just happened again. The Green Bay Packers got Zira Franklin.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
So dude, cancer, it's that time of year. Can't stop,
won't stop. Also, happy World Baseball Classic. We've already had
some incredible moments. If you haven't been watching it all,
don't worry, we got you covered. But you should have
at least seen Otani's Grand Slam in the Tokyo Dome
because like that's the atmosphere those moments should be happening in.

(00:47):
It was just Chef's kiss, incredible, Aaron Judge setting in
tone for Team USA. They play again today. We're gonna
hit all of those things today. Also trades, Uh no,
we just said that. We're talking about the two amazing
NFL guests that are going to be coming on to
talk about all these trades and free agency frenzy that's
going to kick off next week at the start of
the new league year. When that hits on Wednesday, we

(01:10):
have NFL Networks Cynthia Freeland coming on and senior NFL
writer at The Athletic Jordan rod Reig. I am so excited.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
She's a good friend. I'm super excited. I've tried a
couple of times again her on, but me is like
everywhere all the time.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Would be one of those people though, where you're just like, hey,
I'm sorry, I just got places to be. I'm wanted.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
She got in incredible, She's got an incredible talent for
uh and she's I mean she she was the rams
writer yes for The Athletic and has gotten in with
the like Sean McVay, the entire tree really and she's
said some incredible things like because of that, and then
now that she's a national it's so cool to see
her branching out and getting to do some really cool stuff.

(01:51):
She took us in. We'll talk more about it, but
she she just had an article that came out taking
you inside scouting reports, and it had everybody talking this
week on Twitter. It was awesome.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
We'd love to see it, love to see it. We
want more of that We also have a producer ian
with US Today, technical producer Chris Martin Wise at the
news desk. But let's start with those big trades, because
obviously nothing's official until Wednesday next week, the new league year.
But a few of these trades scream like we are
win now teams, and that's kind of the biggest takeaway

(02:27):
I got from a lot of these. Let's start with
like last night's blockbuster trade, the Max Crosby to the
Ravens Vegas, obviously trading one of the top edge rushers
in exchange for Baltimore's number fourteenth pick overall pick in
the twenty twenty six draft and a first round in
twenty twenty seven. Now, I'm not surprised that he got traded,

(02:51):
since Crosby has been there's been trade rumors since the
end of last season when he was quote shut down
for the final two games of the season. He wasn't
happy about it. You could kind of feel the divorce
coming between these two teams. The timing, I guess, was like, oh, snap, okay,
just when we thought like maybe it had calmed down
a bit, Nope, here we go last night. This is

(03:11):
what you get. What surprised me is that the Ravens
have never traded a first round pick for a player,
and they parted with two first round picks for Crosby.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
It was a tremendous asking price, which is kind I
think a lot of the I don't necessarily think trade
talks had cooled as much as people thought, all right,
maybe the asking price is coming down because it's not
as much of a hot button thing. And so, you know,
the Raiders had long put out there that they wanted
two first round picks for Crosby. They wanted the Micah
Parsons deal. Although there was a player involved in the

(03:41):
Micah Parsons deal too, so it's not quite the Micah
Parsons steal. But it seemed like, you know, with some
of the cooling of the chatter, that maybe teams weren't
willing to pay that. Yeah, And what we found out
from this whole scenario is that the Ravens obviously weren't
the only one that we're vying for Max Rosby's services.
But the next best offer was from the Dallas Cowboys,

(04:04):
who wanted to give up a first round pick and
a second round pick. They did not want to part
with two firsts and that's the surprising factor to me,
because listen, Max Crosby is an incredible player. I mean,
I think he's top three edge rusher, top three and
just edge in general because of what he can do
against the run and how complete of a player that

(04:25):
he is his style. But he's twenty nine, yes, and
he is coming off of injury. He had surgery to
hopefully fix his shoulder. So what the Ravens at now
are banking on is that that fixed him and we
see the Max Crosby of two years ago versus what
we saw this last season. Because what we saw this

(04:45):
last season, quite frankly, wasn't worth two first round picks. No, no, now.
Two years ago, sure, and that's where you were taking
a tremendous risk and a tremendous gamble if you're the Ravens.
And it's just it just proved to be something that
other teams weren't willing to do. There was a lot
of chatter here in Chicago about trying to get Max
Crosby because of the fact that they have an anemic

(05:08):
pass rush and they have for the last couple of years.
They need that dude on their line, and not to
mention Chicago has cleared a bunch of cap space this
last like this last week between the retirement, the surprise
retirement of Drew Dolman, you released Tremaine Edmund's your linebacker.
So there was other things that like they have now

(05:29):
cleared a bunch of cap space. They traded DJ Moore,
They cleared a bunch of cap space, and people were like,
is this to go get Max Crosby?

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Were they in the conversation? Were you hearing like Ammy, I.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
Don't think so, because this was not a price that
they were going to be willing to pay. They weren't
going to be willing to pay, and I think it's
the right. I went on Chicago TV. I went on
local local, Local, Fox, Yeah, and I talked about how
I don't want to trade away in mortgage in the
future for a guy that you have to take a
gamble on as good as he is, as good as
he can be. We don't know what he's going to

(06:01):
look like after shoulder surgery. And I just I wasn't
comfortable with not only do you have to pay in
draft capital to go get him, but then you have
to pay his salary and defensive end and edge salary.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
You're gonna have some creative accounting come in here.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
That's forty million dollars or more a year. And to
be creative, Alex is going to take some cooperation from
the front office and from the Bears ownership that we
just blatantly haven't seen or bluntly haven't seen from the
Chicago Bears. You have to front load so much of
that so that a minimal amount of that forty million
dollars a year hits the cap. And do you do

(06:39):
that by offering it up as a signing bonus, which
means you have to pay that player right up front
front And we have not seen that from the Chicago Bears.
And so I was like, between the draft picks and
draft capital you'd have to give up for an ascending
team on top of them having to pay him forty
million dollars a year. This didn't make a whole lot

(07:01):
of sense to me. And I think the Ravens are
very well suited for you know, they are in they
have a new head coach, but he's someone that's familiar
with the organization.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
But he also lemarg at that he's planning to call
the defensive plays. So if you're a new head coach
coach in mentor like you're in the new era you
need to make you need to take a big swing
right because this isn't a team and a head coaching situation.
We have a couple of those where you're going to
come in and you're going to get a lot of time.
You just had a legendary coach in Harbaugh get pushed out.

(07:31):
You are stepping in. This is a win now team
and this is a win now move. And the Ravens
needed a guy like Crosby because their pass rush last
season was tied for thirtieth in sack thirty first in
sack percentage, thirtieth in hurry percentile, Like this is a
piece that they needed to be better. And a guy
like Max Crosby, this man deserves to be on a

(07:53):
winning team and a team that fits his aggressive style.
And adding stars to a star studded team who has
a super Bowl or Bust mental is always a great idea.
And did you see Lamar's tweet just the happy thing
the boom, Like he knew they were just waiting like
this has been bruined for a bit and it was
just like, okay, the news is finally out now we

(08:13):
can talk about it.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Yeah, I'm I this. This now makes the Ravens a very,
very complete team. There are still some holes that need
to be addressed, but this is a franchise that's been
known for defense, and these last couple of years that
the anemic passers from them has been completely uncharacteristic and
it's not sustainable, especially when you're talking about maybe Lamar
Jackson isn't going to play the whole season because he's

(08:34):
a little bit injury prone. He usually has to miss
a few games. Can you have a defensive unit that
can steer the ship and can win win games if
he's out? Can you lean on that side of the ball.
And that's not what they've been able to do last
couple of years, which is why Jesse Mentor was brought in.
He's a phenomenal defensive coordinator. It got his you know,
it was coaching for the Ravens as a position coach

(08:55):
before he went to the West Coast. And now he's
back and there's a lot of cotton. There's a lot
to love about the Ravens. They are also now in
what should be one of the best, at least defensive
divisions in football and unfortunately Joe Burrow staring around.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Have you seen all the memes Joe Burrow just looking miles.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
He's in a division with all of them, like.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
The best and houses aligned. Do you see like the
the line just like.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
Three of the four best pass to do in the
entire league now reside in the AFC art.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
It's insane. I feel bad for Burrow.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
I felt bad for Burrow for years at this point,
like he just needs his defense to be like.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Please go up okay something if.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
His defense to be okay, And he's only needed that
for the last like a couple of years. And when
he's healthy and.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
He's just protect your number one asset. And like, as
we've seen the last few years, he has had MVP
caliber play, but the defense has been losing the games
for them, literally losing the games for it.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
It's it's it's honestly, if if anybody is under the
more pressure then like I think, I think the Cincinnati Bengals,
and I talked about this last show actually when I
was on with Tracy is like, this is a make
or breakoff season for the Cincinnati Bengals because of the
fact that they it's it's.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Put up a shut up times it is.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
I'm done.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
I'm done like like being worried.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
About Joe Burrow. I'm done feeling sorry for Joe Burrow.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Up to Burrow or the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
The Bengals because they're wasting Joe Burrow. They're wasting Joe Burrow,
Jamar Chase T. Higgins. Yeah, and because of the fact
that even though their offense is scoring thirty or thirty
two points, their defense is letting up thirty three or
thirty four points. Like it's that marginal Barrow where I'm like,
I just need your defense to be average. That's all
you need. And the fact that you can't do that
is a crime at this point, because you are wasting

(10:53):
this beautiful boy and Joe Burrow and all of his
talent with his receivers Sweet Joey B Sweet Sweet Joey B.
Dinosaur Levin Dinasar Fossil, Lovin.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Joey Ben Batmobile.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
Especially now that your other teams in your division now
are bulking up.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
They're coming at you. You are the number one target, and.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Now Pittsburgh is going to be very interesting to see
what happens. They're free agent wise with Aaron Rodgers and
this that and the other. But like I know, I
think the Bengals are under probably the most pressure, if
not in the AFC, like in the league.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
WHOA just because that's a hot take. I don't think
it's a hot take. The most pressure in the league, Yes,
because you're.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Zach Taylor's getting fired after this year. If they don't
do well, there's going to be a tremendous upheaval. You
could see Joe Burrow, one of the potentially the best
quarterbacks of this generation, try and force his way out
of there.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
So I would come come in and say, I think
we have like a three team tie here because you
have Ravens and Lamar Jackson under new a coach, and
then Josh Allen and the Bill's new head coach. These
are all top tier quarterbacks right when you have the
quarterback tier. These three quarterbacks for the last five years
have either been in that top with obviously Patrick Mahomes.

(12:13):
And if they don't have win now Super Bowl or
bus seasons, I think that like there's there's going to
be heat on all of these teams.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
I mean, but like look at the Bills and the
Ravens just they just ousted their head coaches. People aren't
getting fired necessarily, Like the head coaches aren't getting fired
if you don't get to the super Bowl this year? Yes,
is it super Bowl or bust? Like obviously because you want,
Like Joe Brady is familiar with that team just as
much as Jesse Mentor is familiar with the Baltimore Ravens.
And it's supposed to work this year. These moves were

(12:43):
made so it works this year. But when I talk
about pressure, I'm like, what's going to happen to this
entire franchise if they don't get go on a run
this year? And with the with the Cincinnati Bengals, I mean,
you could be looking at losing the best thing it
could have ever had into you and Joe Burrow, and
you could be you could lose your head coach. That

(13:04):
the GM situation is a little weird because but ownership
has a lot of personnel control there, and that's kind
of been the common denominator here as to why the
Bengals haven't been able to get over the hump. But like,
you're already losing Trey Hendrickson to free agency at this point,
who was your best pass rusher for multiple years and
you wasted that too, and that went so sour so quick.
So I just with the Cincinnati Bengals, like this is

(13:25):
the year that you have to do something Otherwise the
Cincinnati Bengals as we've known them over the last three
or four years is going to cease to exist, which
don't necessarily say about the boss.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
They thought like oh, when they fired their defensive coordinator,
Big Lou, like that was like, Okay, we're making a
change and we're going to improve, and they haven't. Like
nothing has really gotten better even since.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
I mean that's why LOUI even came in there in
the first place.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
I know, So so like how is nothing? How has
nothing changed exactly?

Speaker 1 (13:52):
That's why Like this is like this is a year's
long process of being like things need to get better,
things need to get better. Okay, things really need to
get better. Things really need to get better. Now you're
at like the apex of that where you're just like
if things don't get better, there is going to be
drastic changes, insane for Cincinnati where we're not even like
they're going to just go into a relevancy all over again,

(14:12):
which I don't want for them, and I don't want
for I don't want for Joey b obviously, but I
think he would force his way somewhere else.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
So how we got into this conversation was the big
trade of Max Crosby Crosby. This is what happens when
Max Crosby gets a year to Jane. When the Raiders
traded him to the Ravens and they gave two first
round Ravens gave up two first round picks. So now
let's look at the other end. With Vegas, they're obviously
in a major rebuild for their future. They have the

(14:39):
number one overall pick they will be taking if everything
goes to plan, like the Heisman Trophy winner, a national champ,
number one of all in all of our hearts for
Nanda Mendoza. They have a lot of draft capital now okay,
because I think what they had ten ten picks this
year before this, now what eleven another first round with
the Crosby trade. So my hope for them is that

(15:01):
they get enough to protect Fernando Mendoza, some o line
help and some major weapons for Mendoza, And like, who
are they going to go out and get in free agency?
Maybe one of these veteran quarterbacks to maybe ease him
in to his first season, Maybe start the first couple
of games, be a little mentor for him so he

(15:23):
doesn't just get thrown out in the heat.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
I don't think it would. I don't think if you're
Vegas that you need to go out and get one
of the Like you don't need to go get like
Gino Smith, because I mean, first of all, he was
already there. Second of all, like you don't need to
get that caliber of a veteran. What I do think
you need to do is get like like what the
Bears just did, which they had case Keenan in the
quarterback room for Caleb Williams. I'm like, that's great, do
something like.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
That reliable with the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
With the money you have and the capital you have,
Like that's that's a no brainer. Yes, But what I
really need them to do is go after the offensive
line with like I'm talking all across.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
The line, protect protect your boy.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
And then when it comes to weapons, you have Ashton Gent,
you have Brock Bowers. What you really need is like
that true number one wide receiver. You need a wide out,
and this is a good draft to go get one.
And you're also not under a whole lot of pressure
to do anything this season you just want again, like
the the Raiders, like acknowledging that they're on a rebuild

(16:24):
is like great, Now, just just prove to us you're
going in the right direction at this point, Like you
don't need to especially in the AFC West, you don't
need to win the division right now. You don't need
to do any of this kind of stuff. You just
need to a not get sweet Baby Fernando Mendoza kilt Sweetweepbapy,
and you need to show that you're in the right direct.

(16:45):
Like if having a five hundred season for the Raiders
at this point is I think the most that you
can hope for.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
And if you get so that's an insane like glood exactly.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
That's my point is like you don't even it doesn't
even have to be a winning season. You can have
an eight and nine season would incredible.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
That would be the years perfection.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
That would be perfect. That would tell us everything we
need to know that John Spytech and his team are
doing the right things in Vegas and trying to figure
out and heading in the right direction. So the good
news is you're not under a whole lot of pressure there,
but you do have a tremendous amount of capital to
infuse this roster with some really good developing talent so
that in two years, maybe three years, you're really You've

(17:25):
still got the rookie contract for the quarterback and you
have guys that are going to be with him the
entire time, and like that is all the makings of
a franchise that could turn around within the next couple
of years pretty quickly.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
I love that. Okay, we had so many more trades
to get to in this segment, but we just took
up that whole first segment talking about Crosby rightfully, so
because that was incredible, we got to take a quick
break here. When we come back, we're going to get
to a couple more trades. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

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Speaker 2 (18:37):
Welcome back to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Curry here
with Carmen Vitali. We are broadcasting live from the Fox
Sports Radio studios in Los Angeles. Thank you for spending
your Saturday afternoon with krme and me, and.

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Speaker 2 (19:07):
All right, we've got some big names on the move
in the NFL. We just hit Max Crosby to the
Ravens in exchange for two first round picks to Vegas,
one this year one next year. But let's dive into
the Rams and the Chiefs. Because the Chiefs sent Trent
McDuffie to the Rams for a first round the number
twenty nine overall pick, a fifth and a sixth round
this year and a third round pick next year. And

(19:29):
this was the perfect trade for the Rams. Getting a
corner was their biggest need and they historically don't do
crazy things in the draft. Plus they had two first
round picks this year, so to use their second first
round to make this big move very on brand for
the Rams. And the Rams are sitting in a great spot,
you guys. I mean they also reportedly just resigned safety

(19:50):
Camcurl to a three year, a thirty six million dollar deal.
Before all this went down, they had over forty million
in cap space have been like talks and reports at
a good chunk of that. It's going to go to
restructuring Matthew Stafford's contract, which they should. He is the
reigning MVP. Obviously some's going to be going to McDuffie.

(20:11):
And after all this went down, according to DraftKings, Rams
are now the favorite to win the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
The Rams were never ever, ever going to make two
first round picks, No, because they just ever they less need.
Has made an entire like strategy identity of just saying.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
F them picks, yeah, and he's going to get established
players instead.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
Listen, it's a strategy. They paid off for the Rams
because they are like routinely in title contention, they are
routinely like they win, yes, And it's kind of one
of those I put less need in the Rams up
there with like Howie Roseman and the Eagles too, where
you're just like, how do we let them keep getting
away with them? Because I also Trent McDuffie. He's been

(20:57):
one of my favorite players since he came out of
Washington years ago, like legitimately. And I actually I covered
the Super Bowl against the Eagles that was in Arizona
a few years ago, and I had talked to Trent
McDuffie at that point before, and I was in his
scrum at media night and people were talking and talking
and talking and he was just like, hey, she's she's

(21:19):
been here. I'm going to take her question.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
Hell yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
And I was like, oh, He's like, I'm likery, like
we met here and there. Whatever. He's like, I remember
you from like Draft night, whatever, my favorite and I
was just like ah, thanks, and so it was it
was just a really nice He's just a nice dude.
I remember talking to some of his Washington teammates about
him because they were on the Bucks when I was
with the Bucks and it was just I've been such
a fan of his and then to see him come

(21:43):
into the league and just make a tremendous impact. He
is one of the best corners in the league, I think,
Barnunn and just an overall really good human. So of
the Rams could you couldn't have. You can't tell me
that you were going to get anything better out of
that first round pick. You just can't. You can't, which
is less needs whole like Mantra apparently is just getting
proven players over the draft and developed that the Rams

(22:05):
have not drafted and developed a lot of their superstars
in the less neat era. So I'm really excited for
Trent to also go to a big market and to
see how like he fits in there. But I think
that this is again going to be a team that
is going to be in contention for the NFC title,
if not the whole thing again, and I'm happy for

(22:27):
I'm happy for him. I think this was a home
run rate. And you know, the Chiefs also have a
track record of doing stuff like this where you get
rid of a superstar in exchange for significant draft capital,
and they have proven that they can draft and develop,
so they did this with Tyreek Hill a couple of
years ago, a few years ago. Now they'll do it
with Trent McDuffie. Where they're getting rid of a guy

(22:48):
that is at the height of his amen is a
real asset, but what they're getting in return is something
like even more valuable to.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
That rebuilt franchisel.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
I don't know that you can call it a deplete rebuild,
but yeah, like you you're going to get. You have
significant draft capital now and again a proven track record
of being able to draft these guys and develop them
and field a great team in the process.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
I just obviously a little biased here, La native Rams fan.
They have so many things working in their favor right now.
They were already one of the more complete teams in
the league. They just filled their weakest position, which, as
you just heard Karmei go on, one of the best
there is there both on and off the field. And
the last time they won the Super Bowl it was
in LA and next season, where is the Super Bowl?

(23:33):
A feels like perfect timing.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
Just say that we had like fifty five years of
never having a home team win the Super Bowl in
their stadium, Yeah, and then we had it happened twice
in a row, YEP, which was it's just wild.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
It's beautiful, It's beautiful, all right, Martin, let's check in
what's trending.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
In men's college basketball? Was about eleven minutes left in
the first half. Fifth ranked flo Lorida has a sixteen
to nine lead over Kentucky, Wisconsin and per Due. Fifteenth
ranks Boilermakers leading twenty two to thirteen, twelve minutes left
first half. There ten minutes left in the first half
for Saint Louis and George Mason to mid majors.

Speaker 5 (24:14):
There twenty three a piece.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
Earlier today, we saw unranked Marquette upset Yukon, the fourth
ranked team in a nation, sixty eight to sixty two,
Danny Hurley getting ejected in the final second of the game.
The Packers traded defensive tackle Colby Wood into the Colts
for linebackers I here of Franklin. Franklin led the NFL
and tackles in twenty twenty four. Eagles defensive tackle In

(24:37):
Eagles and defensive tackle Jordan Davis have agreed to terms
on a three year, seventy eight million dollar extension. Connem
Or govern the Bill Center agreed to a new four
year fifty two million dollar contract, and Brandon Aubrey and
the Cowboys did not agree to a long term contract.
Attention to the kicker has been placed under a free
agent tender ahead of the twenty twenty six league year.

Speaker 5 (24:59):
In the n right now, the Rangers in the.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
Bruins tied to a piece with about eleven minutes left
in the second.

Speaker 5 (25:06):
Period, and in the NBA, the Orlando.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
Magic and the Minnesota Timberwolves about ten minutes left in
the third quarter. There Orlando Leeds sixty six to fifty seven.
Pallo Bancaro and Anthony Edwards going back and forth here.
Palo's got nineteen points on eight for ten from the floor,
Anthony twenty for six from eleven from the floor.

Speaker 5 (25:24):
This one again just getting started in the second half. Ladies,
back to you.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Thank you Martin, you're listening to Fox Sports Saturday and
Alex Curry here with Carmen Vitally. Thank you for spending
your Saturday afternoon with us. It is time for our
first guest, one of the smartest minds in sports, NFL
Networks analytic expert, host of Number Game and NFL IQ
and a Bessie of our show We Love You Cynthia Freeland.
I said, hey, guys, how then amazing?

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Before we start this, Alex, I need to just tell people.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
Wait, she told me about this when we were working
out the other day, So go okay.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
So I was at the combine, Cynthia was at the combine.
Before the combine starts, Cynthia calls me. She's like, hey,
I'm hosting a plates class in the middle of combine week.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
At eight am.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
Do you want to come? And I was like, obviously
I want to come, Cynthia, but really eight am on
a Wednesday in the middle of combine week. But sure, fine,
You're the only one that can get me up that time.
So you do. And then I show up and expecting Cynthia,
who is a certified plate's instructor since what two thousand
she I'm like, you know, she's gonna go easy on us, right, guys,

(26:34):
Like it's gonna be fine. Ever, I was somehow ended
up in the front row two of this and under
my breath Send could hear me every single thing. I
was like, God, I'm making all these noises because she
did not take it easy on us, and I was
sore for three days. I really appreciate it I didn't
realize it was eight am.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
Aggressive, Cynthia.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Well, everything starts, so I know.

Speaker 7 (27:01):
That's fair if you either you know, either do it
then or you don't get it in.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
So that's true because after it's a smooth schmoot schmoozing
schmoozing drinks.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Also, I can't find the true through uh strawberries and
cream freeze dried strawberries anywhere, Cynthia now, And I'm like,
you put you booked me on them, like can you
put me up? So good? They're so good? I can't
find them anywhere now, so good.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
Okay, I need to try.

Speaker 7 (27:25):
I got the plug for you.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
We love that. We love a good lug. All right,
So let's start with the blockbuster trade that broke last night.
Max Crosby to the Ravens. You've you know the Raiders
organization inside and out very well. Were you shocked by
the Ravens making this move? And how will this kind
of transform the Ravens? And then the draft picks that

(27:50):
they got over at the Raiders?

Speaker 1 (27:52):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (27:53):
Well okay, so first and foremost, I'm also I'm also
pretty close with Max Crosby. You know, all Michiganers, we
all true true but he's also been He was on
game day morning a number of times, so I got
a chance to speak to him, and he's just like
a great dude. But it was interesting. I was actually
pretty shocked that it all went down. Not that I

(28:14):
didn't think they'd get to first for him, but I
felt like the Raiders maybe were like, all right, make it.
It's like a huge offer because if he's unhappy, we
got to figure it out. But like I guess I didn't.
I thought that because I.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Know he is a he is.

Speaker 7 (28:28):
If not, I mean, I can't remember anyone Mark Davis
has spoken more highly about that's not a historical Raider
like he has some ones like you know, the Hall
of Fame, like historical ones that he's very like speaks
lovingly about. But he really really liked Max. But it'll
be interesting to see in a couple of months or
years how what the truth it really is, because you know,

(28:49):
obviously it was a little weird, like at the end
of last season with the like Max was posting those
like basketball things and playing basketball and then he got
a little clean up on his knee, and I don't know,
I'm not sure what the truth is. I think eventually
we'll hear the full the full thing. But you know,
the Ravens got a great one.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
They were not in a.

Speaker 7 (29:07):
Position to get a pass rusher that they thought was
It's a it's a decent pass rush class, like very
good athletes, but like maybe not guys that are as
well rounded as Max. If you look at what Max
has done better than anyone else in s ender of the
league seven years ago, it's at his position, which is
obviously a guy who's meant to attack the quarterback. He's
also the best run stopper.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yeah, so I'm true.

Speaker 7 (29:28):
I'm true edges people who line up on the edge.
No one's had more run stops than him since he
entered the league, So you know, it's it's a versatile player.
He's still got a lot of tread on those tires.
I'm not worried about his knee. I'm not worried about
his health. This is a guy who for an organization
who didn't have a lot to play for a lot.
I'm saying it very nicely. Yeah, he still like gave

(29:49):
them absolutely everything all the time. So I think it's
a I think it's going to be great for Max.
I think they're just I think in that division, this
is a really good time to capitalize on uncertainty. I mean,
if you think about it, when has it been a
better time to be in the AFC North Right Love
Lamar Jackson The Two Times NBC. There's some uncertaint around
the Steelers. Okay, there's some uncertainty around the Bengal I

(30:12):
mean the Bengals defense. I don't who are they going
to play with? We Go Brow's awesome, but like the defense,
and then of course the Browns are a giant question mark.
So I feel like if you're going to capitalize on
a time when you really could kind of get a
premier player that you know is worse, that pick is
better than you'd be able to get where they'd be picking.
I mean, I think it's I think it's a smart

(30:34):
decision to start your franchise off Jesse Minter. You obviously,
it's just he's got to make He's got to make
his mark.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah, I'm I'm excited that this is one of those
things where like, what were the Raiders really going to
accomplish by keeping masks for Rosby in particular, but then
now being able to have all of this ammunition to
go and truly have a rebuild in you know, as
they get the new quarterback and you have some time
while he's on the key contract and that kind of stuff.

(31:01):
But I want to talk still a little bit more
about the Ravens and what this does for Lamar Jackson
in particular, because they were uncharacteristically bad when the pass
rush last year. On defense, their defense just has kind
of come up a little bit in nimick the last
few seasons. You bring in Jesse Minter, and he's obviously
acutely familiar with what this Ravens scheme should look like,

(31:23):
what the identity of this team should look like. But
now when you talk about a guy like Lamar Jackson
who hasn't been able to like he misses a few
games each season, right, and that can put at least
a few games, I should say, and that can put
the Ravens in tough spots. Do you think now, with
the addition of Max Crosby and perhaps Jesse Minter now
calling this defense, is this a unit that can weather

(31:47):
the storm if and when Lamar Jackson gets hurt, and
does that allow him to play a little free? Yeah?

Speaker 7 (31:53):
I think the question now becomes how do the Ravens
get their O line to a place where they feel comfortable,
you know, like that is that is, that is what
it will come down to. Right, They've got Derek Henry,
which takes a little bit of the pressure off of
Lamar Jackson. I don't care that their wide receivers aren't
Premiere premiere. I mean, they flowers are there, blah blah blah.
They can in Mark andris whatever they've got.

Speaker 6 (32:15):
They've got pieces.

Speaker 7 (32:15):
It doesn't need to be Premier premiere because that team
is going to want to run.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
We know that.

Speaker 7 (32:20):
So as long as they can sort out their O
line and just get a little bit better and that
secondary gives them help to Kyle Hamilton. Now that you
have the front much more taken care of, I think
things are going to look a lot different because you know,
Jesse Miner wants to call a defense like you know,
in the same way that in the Ravens model, Right,
they want that. They want Kyle Hamilton to be the

(32:40):
center fielder to take care of everything with the pass
rush to support it. You saw what happened when Mike
McDonald was able to rush without having to blitz. Yeah,
I mean, I'm not suggesting that's the reason they won
the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
But it's a.

Speaker 7 (32:52):
Huge factor when you can play Nichole can live exactly,
when you can live in nickel and dime and still
get you know, we had like six different players with
you know, thirty five sacks a piece, like no other
team had that. Like that's crazy, that's a crazy number.
And it may not look like one guy getting all
the sacks. But they don't want to have to blitz.
They want to drop into coverage so that Jamar Chase

(33:13):
t Higgins, whoever happens to be playing for the Bengals
is not is accounted for. So I think that's what
that gives him the opportunity to do now.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
The Rams also made a big move to get corner
Trent McDuffie from the Chiefs. They also resigned safety Cam
Curl to three year deal. Is this Rams team truly
the win now super Bowl favorite? That you feel with
Stafford kind of, he's definitely nearing the end of his career.

Speaker 7 (33:39):
I think I think the West is going to be hard.
I don't like the division. I mean, I like, look
at the division, Like look at how many games San
Francisco one without any of their starters really.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
I mean they had.

Speaker 7 (33:49):
Christian McCaffrey and like a rotating cast of some of
the starters George Kittle for part of the year or whatever,
but like they didn't have anyone on defense. They're missing
Fred Warner, the thing, you know, Nick Bosa. There were
so many pieces missing, Like as much as I'd like
to say, like, I think that the Rams are going
to be good, but I think the NFC West is
going to be really hard. And I don't know if

(34:10):
I think sometimes that can be a problem because if
you're not you know, I don't. I think people under
like undervalue the like the way that the cadence of
the season plays out. Sometimes rest is good, meaning a bye.
Sometimes it's not. But I can tell you going on
the road in the playoffs that is harder. So I
think there's certainly a playoff team. But am I willing

(34:32):
to crown them as my super Bowl champs?

Speaker 1 (34:34):
No?

Speaker 2 (34:34):
Who are your super Bowl champs? Real quick before we
let you go?

Speaker 7 (34:38):
That's a great question. I haven't done it yet. I
always wait till after. I mean free agency. I think
this is going to be the wildest free agency we've seen.
I think quarterbacks are going to move around, So it's
very hard to say based on I just think, I mean,
we already know Kyler Murray's gone. They say they're not
getting rid of to.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
Us, but is that true?

Speaker 8 (34:57):
Right?

Speaker 7 (34:58):
Like do we like they tis? They don't know us
the truth? So you know, we need to see where
who's actually playing on which team and then we can
make a decision about who wins the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
That's fair, Cynthia. I can't wait to see all your coverage.
Free Agency Frenzy starts next week. You're gonna be talking
about on NFL Network, Numbers Game, NFL IQ follow Cynthia.
She is the best out there. We appreciate you always. Thanks,
Thank you guys, love you, I have you all right.
We're gonna take quick break here. When we come back.
It is the dues and the don'ts in sports.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Please.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio. Welcome back to
Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Curry here with Carmen Vitally.
We are broadcasting live from Los Angeles. Thank you for
spending your Saturday afternoon with carme and me.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
With the iHeartRadio app, you can stream us wherever you are.
Catch us and all of our Fox Sports Radio shows
live twenty four to seven in the new and improved
iHeart app. Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app.
Stream us live all day, every day, and be sure
to select Fox Sports Radio is one of your presets
in iHeart app, so it always pops up at the
top of your screen. Again, just search Fox Sports Radio
in the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Yeah, yeah, all right, guys, it is time for the
dues and the don'ts in sports.

Speaker 5 (36:11):
Highlighting the duh.

Speaker 6 (36:12):
I love that putting a spotlight on the don't.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
The subject brings me no joy.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
That's insane.

Speaker 6 (36:19):
It's time for the dues and the don'ts in sports.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
All right, karmee. I'm gonna start with a do do
take care of your fans. The Saint Louis Cardinals are
introducing a twenty nine dollars ticket package that includes unlimited concessions.
You guys, that means bottomless soda, unlimited hot dogs, chicken tenders, brats, fries, peanuts, nachos, popcorn,

(36:43):
and ice cream. All I hear is so I think
you should leave fifty vi burgers, fifty five fries, fifty
five buggets. But also like making sports and live events
more affordable in this way is such a smart strategy. Plus,
like you know, they're gonna like in their mind be like, well,
now that I'm saving all this money on food, I

(37:06):
should definitely buy more beer. And they're gonna sell so
much more booze because of this ticket package.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
Especially because they're gonna be thirsty with all of the
hot dogs, the chicken, like like all of that. I Like,
there are other there are definitely other teams that do
this too, because, like me, it'sball is such a long
season and you've got to figure out ways to get
gets so like, but this is this is I think
everybody at all of the major especially in North American sports,

(37:33):
can like get on board still like this because the
Atlanta Falcons have been doing this when since they opened
there's new stadium there, since they open Mercedes Benz Stadium,
all of their concessions are very very reasonably priced. And
they did that on purpose because of the fact that,
like you're already paying so much for the ticket in
football in particular, and it's like you're getting these deals
with concession dealers and and this that the other the

(37:55):
only the only issue I actually have with Mercedes Benz
Stadium is that they have a Chick fil A inside it.
But how often they're not open on Sundays?

Speaker 2 (38:02):
Dude? Yeah, well because chickle A is not open, I know,
but not even in the stadium.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
But not even in the stadium when like most of
the things that are played in that stadium are played
on a Sunday. So that's my one. That's my one
gripe with Atlanta, although I will say their press box
stuff is excellent. Softcer a softcer with a topics are
But yeah, like that's that's such an easy way I
feel like to get people to just enjoy themselves and
potentially spend more money.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
All right, I've got one and it's gonna get be
the no surprize to anybody. Do bring a little piece
of home with you, huh. Team Italy has an espresso
machine and they're dugout at the World Baseball and classic
coffee is a way of life, said Italy manager of
Francisco Servalley. It's hysterical all of the stuff coming out.

(38:49):
I mean, Team Italy just one eight nothing, I believe
over Brazil in Houston. And it's one of those things
where like you've we've seen all of these clips now
of players come into the dugout after hitting like three
run hovers and shooting espresso to the head. It's so
funny too, because like there's such a so in Italy
when you say I want a coffee, they'll get you

(39:10):
espresso immediately because that's what Italians think of coffee. What
it is, That's what it is. And like there's also
no limit to like people here. I feel like, like, oh,
you know, I've already had too cups coffee.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
I can't have a morning in the afternoon.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
You have to, you have to, like you there's a
departure from how you have to think about coffee when
you're talking about Italians and Italian coffee. Like I don't
drink coffee. I don't actually really like coffee that much. No,
I don't. I drink tea in the morning.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
I have well I remember that.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
Highly caffeinated tea. Yeah, but I have espresso. A I
have espress martini, but I have espresso at Like when
I go out to eat, I always order an espresso
after the meal because I've always known it. I've been
drinking it since I was like ten, because it's a
it's a digestive and it's just kind of part of
what you do.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
Okay, So I'm going to get this one in real quick.
It's doo lean into your culture. There is an Italian
wrestler who throws pizza pies at his opponents.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
Luisgi Primo is a professional pizza wrettler who performs as
part of the World Wrestling League represents US Pizza Team.
His entire wrestling character is built around pizza. During matches,
he tosses pizza dough, rolls it out with body slams
and hip tosses, tops it off with elbow drops, and
finishes his opponents with a pizza cutter move. If you
haven't seen this, like, look it up.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
It is clearly the algorithm showed me this.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
Okay, good, I was like, you did see this?

Speaker 1 (40:32):
Of course I saw that. It's like my algorithm is
just like it was so good.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
I was hysterically laughing this week. That was absolutely beautiful.
All right, guys, when we come back, we are headed
to the quarterback market. Plus we got more NFL blockbuster trades.
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 6 (40:49):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
Welcome back to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Curry here.
With Carmen Vitally coming to you live from the Fox
Sports Radio studios in Los Angeles. Thank you for spending
your Saturday afternoon with KRMEI and me. A last hour,
we hit a couple of the big trades. We hit
the Max Crosby to the Ravens, Trent mcduffy to the Rams.
We're gonna get to a couple more this hour. But

(41:13):
I also need to say Happy World Baseball Classic to
all who celebrate. We've already had some incredible moments. Shoho
Tani just putting on a show in Japan. He's had
multiple home runs, including a Grand Slim. He's a batty
eight thirty three Karmi eight thirty three with an obs
of two point a five seven like this, like he

(41:35):
is just.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
Can we keep that up when it comes time? Yes?

Speaker 2 (41:38):
Yes, But it's also like in Japan in the Tokyo
Dome going hamm. Team USA also set the tone with
Aaron Judge Homer last night, but they ended up ended
up winning fifteen five over Brazil. They played Great Britain
today at five pm on Fox. But what I love
about the WBC Karmi is that like m MLB players
don't get to play in the Olympics, so this is

(42:00):
their big tournament to be able to represent their country.
And when I covered the last one, every player shared
how much bigger these games felt and how much more
meant to be able to, you know, wear your flag
on your jersey, and we've seen that at world events
and this is kind of their only real place to
do that and to have that feeling. But you also

(42:20):
see like incredible future moments like last night, a seventeen
year old, you guys, a high school senior on Team Brazil,
Joseph Contreras, son of World Series champ jose Contreras got
out Aaron Judge with bases loaded, and you're just like, wait,
excuse me. This is a high school senior. He's still
in high school and he's in this moment right now. Wild.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
I think like, if we've learned anything from the Winter
Olympics this year too, like allowing NHL players back into
the Olympics, it makes it's almost like it's so much
better when you just get the best of the best
from every corner of the world getting to participate for
their country, and especially in a game that is as
international as baseball, as like, yeah, he's very Internet national too.
You know, you have guys from all literally all over

(43:02):
the globe that play in the NHL. Same with Major
League Baseball. You have guys from all over the world
that are now playing in this game or like in
the in the league. And I just think that, like,
there's no I don't think there's a downside to having that, Like,
I just I really we need to learn from that,
right what I think?

Speaker 2 (43:20):
Right, I think baseball is even more of an international
game than hockey. I mean, there's going to be a
lot of changes coming up in the new bargaining agreement
at the end of this.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
Season, for like we may only we may have to
go back to like a global tournament. We're not going
to get.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
Who knows, Like we're definitely like there is going to be, Yeah,
we're not going to get the normal start of the
season next year once everything, yeah gets to which.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
Makes it easier to stomach when you talk about starting
you know, all this competition early before the season really
gets going. It's obviously in the middle of spring training
and all of that other stuff. It's like, well, you
guys might not have to even do spring training.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
Dude, So wild wild, all right, Let's get back to
the NFL, though, right now, because this week, even though
nothing's official yet, obviously none of these trades become official
until Wednesday next week, the official new league year. In
the NFL, we talked about Max Crosby to the Ravens,

(44:24):
the Raiders getting all that draft capital, the Rams in
the Chiefs with McDuffie. Let's move to the Bills and
your Bears, because the Bears sent wide receiver DJ Moore
and a fifth round pick to the Bills for a
second round pick. Now, funny, how like so many first
reactions were like, so does that make AJ Brown a

(44:45):
first round pick? Like that's just kind of like first
kind of thought that came to head. But DJ Moore
wasn't the Bears top target Colson love Loveland, their tight end,
but he was. He was an asset right like not peak,
not peak of his game, but he's still a great player.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
He was he was supposed to be like the Bears
number one receiver and he was in the Bear's number
one receiver the year before, and like he's been. What
DJ Moore has done and what DJ Moore's superpower is
is that he has been productive no matter who was
throwing him the ball. Yes, we saw that in Carolina,
we saw that in Chicago as well, and so this
year he was a little bit less productive, but it
was because the Bears had more weapons. So it was

(45:27):
one of those like problems that you want to have.
It was it was Champagne problems, right, and it was.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
Like he was having coach like there was a new
system in place, like I have a.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
Plethora of other people too that you're trying to share
the ball like you're that Caleb Williams was trying to
distribute the ball. And so from a from an on
field standpoint, I think that DJ Moore's skill set became
a little bit redundant. As much as he understood this
game very very well, he understood what every single receiving
like spot needed to do on any given play. Like
Ben Johnson was very very complimentary about what DJ Moore did.

(45:58):
From a mental standpoint, and then from a lot room standpoint,
he was the veteran in that room, and it's a
very young room when you talk about guys like Romadonza
Luther Burden, who was their draft pick last year, like
this is this is a young unit that really needed
a veteran presence, and now that's what DJ Moore provided,
but now with Luthor Burden, like Luther Burden is essentially

(46:18):
the guy that can play all this all the different
receiver spots. Roma Dunsay is who you hope turns into
your X receiver, your guy that can just be that
outside threat, go up for those fifty to fifty balls
stuff like that. And then you've got Colton Leblin, who
is a phenomenal white like receiving tight end. He's like
he's as natural as anything and became a safety blanket

(46:38):
for the Williams over this last season, just as Ben
Johnson wanted him to. On top of the fact that
Ben Johnson's scheme is very, very run heavy, and so
there's just not there just wasn't a whole lot of
room for a guy like DJ Moore, who was also
making the most of any Bears receiver ever by the way,
like that was the most the Bears had ever paid
a wide receiver, and so at that point you're like,

(46:59):
all right, you can afford to offload it. And from
everything you know, I was at the combine listening to
GM Ryan Poles talk, listening to head coach Ben Johnson.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
Talk, did you have a feeling, Well, yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
Everybody did pretty much. So Ben Ben and Ryan both said, like,
you know, with success, we're gonna have to start making
some really tough decisions. And so we were all like, okay,
so DJ's gone. Yeah, and Tremaine Edmonds also their linebacker
was released as well to clear some cap space, so
to offload DJ's contract. And then like everybody was okay

(47:30):
with that regardless, and then when you see the return.
What really shocked me about all of this was the return.
I did not think I thought DJ's I thought it
capped out at like four. I tapped out at like
a four. And to see him get it a two.
As soon as that comes out. I was talking with
Roddy about this just just at the start of the show.

(47:51):
I'm like, yeah, as soon as you hear we'll give
you a second rounder. If you're Ryan Poles, you're saying, yep,
done deal, handshake you can't not take back. But like
we got and so I think that this is this,
this is a scenario. Warelessen, like DJ Moore is going
to go down in infamy as a guy that produced
some incredible moments for the Chicago Bears. But I think
everybody was okay to see him go okay and what

(48:14):
the best for him. I hope that I hope that
Buffalo is not done adding to that wide receiver room
because I don't definitely.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
But I think it was a good move for that
at all, right, because they needed another top target for
Josh Allen. Like if I don't have the potential to
be a good number want the wide receiver, and it's.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
I don't think he is a number one ride receiver.
And that's my only hesitation with the Bills is that
I don't think he is a number one ride receiver.
He's not a guy that's big that's going to go
up for fifty to fifty balls. It's going to be
that outside threat that you really need. If you will
have Josh Allen throwing the football. Yeah, that's supposed to
be Keon Coleman, but that relationship between the Bills and
Keon Coleman has soured and you don't know if it's redeemable.

(48:55):
So I hope they're not done. But this is definitely
a good piece to add because of the versatility that
Dj Moore brings. But the Bills still need that outside
threat Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:06):
I mean again, we've talked about make or break seasons.
I think this is one for the Bills. They fired
their head coach, Sean McDermott, promoted their OC to head
coach and Joe Brady. And the good news for Joe
Brady when he was OC and Carolina in twenty twenty
twenty one, DJ Moore was on that team and he
had over eleven hundred yards in both those seasons. So
they're comfortable, They're familiar with each other, and they kind

(49:26):
of have to do anything in everything this season to
get Josh Allen to a super Bowl because it's Super
Bowl or bus mentality for the Bills.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Yeah, and this is part of it for sure. There's
some stuff defensively too. They also just today or yesterday
today Connor mcgoverern they extended their center with which the
Center market is very very interesting in something and I'm
paying a ton of attention to given the fact that
the Bear Center just surprise or time. Yeah, although I
had a week heads up on that and it was

(49:53):
still like it was like a oh, but the Bears
are trying to convince him not to so I didn't
know if it was going to go through yet it
goes through. Uh, very very happy for him from a
human element, but it's hard out here if you need
a center. So the Bills locking that up with Connor
McGovern is it signals to me like you still need
a little bit more help along that offensive line, and
again you still need some weapons for Josh Allen. You
still have a couple of little holes on like defensively

(50:17):
and but then like you're you're a lot closer I
think now, and you're showing a willingness to go out
and get some dudes, which Joe Brady, now that he's
been handed the reins, he also like to borrow a
phrase from Cynthia, like you want He also wants to
make his mark. Yeah you have to, so he has
to say, this is my impression, this is my team, now,
this is what I'm going to do. This is this

(50:38):
is how I'm going to do something differently, because otherwise,
why did you fire Sean McDermott. Yeah, so there has
to be some difference now, and it's this is showing
kind of a willingness to go out and do that.
So I think it was I think it was a
good for both sides, For both sides, I really.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
Yeah, this was a This was a pretty equal solid trade.
Let's move to the Lions in Texans, because the Lions
sent or sending as of Wednesday, we think David Montgomery
did the Texans for a juice scrugs o lineman, a
second round pick, a fourth round of this year and
a seventh round next year.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
Yeah, this was a ton This This is again like
highway robbery.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
It was hard.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
I mean, David Montgomery is a great player, don't get
me wrong. Yes, It's interesting to me though, because I
think the reason that we think of David Montgomery as
being so good, especially with the Lions, is because he
had the compliment of Jamiir Gibbs. So David Montgomery didn't
have to be the guy because Jamiir Gibbs did all
sorts of things and they were nicknamed Sonic and Knuckles

(51:36):
because of their complimentary skill sets, and so like to
pay this much for a guy that hasn't been the guy, well.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
Yeah, his production kind of slumped a bit, Like, but
that's also because Jamiir Gibbs was a clear number one
last year.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Yes, And I mean, like that's the thing is like
David Montgomery didn't have to be again, did not have
to be the guy. He was the north South runner.
He is the guy that you know got those actually
those in those short yardage situations. He was the one
that just kind of bowling balled through the middle of
the formation. And like you have like like in Houston

(52:13):
now like he is expected to be the guy. You
don't have a whole lot around it.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
Well, they but they also had they had Joe mix in,
but mixed all of last season with the foot injury.
You're still unsure what his future looks at.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Are going to let him go? If you're Houston, are
they going to let him know?

Speaker 2 (52:32):
They're not going to keep him as like a like
a one two punch.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
I mean that's kind of that's what you know, Twitter
is to be believed in this that the other A
lot of people are speculating that, yeah, like that that's
not going to be part of the mix anymore. So
there they have a fourth round pick in Woody Marks
that is not in like Nick Chubb, but I believe
he's a free agent. So there's like, well there's there's
essentially you're asking Dave Montgomery to be the guy. Yeah,

(52:56):
and he hasn't had to be the guy since he
was in Chicago and so paying that much for him.
I think everybody like when when that trade came down,
it was like, well, Lions got the better end of
that deal for sure, especially because they still have Jamiir
Gibbs and you can make up for the lack of production.
You're gonna lose with David Montgomery a lot easier than
you could if you were like to have lost Jamiir

(53:17):
Gibbs or someone like that. So I think that that
absolutely the Lions got the better end of that deal,
even what we just talked about with the Bears and
the Bills, Like, yeah, it was a good it was
a good move, but like the Bears still ended up
on the better end of that deal, just with the
compensation that they ended up getting valuable.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
It's interesting because it's like you place the value on
a player based on the draft capital you're going to get,
and if they believe that he can still be there,
he can be that number one guy, like then that
valuable to their team. That's worth what they gave up.
You know, It's that's tough. Okay. I want to switch
gears though, and I want to talk about what's going

(53:55):
on in Minnesota because you cover the Vikings for a
long time, right Vikings. There's been a lot of movement
going on here. Their VP of Football Operations also their
interim GM, so they are exploring every opportunity with their
quarterback situation, and there have been reports that they're looking
to pick up a veteran quarterback to compete with JJ McCarthy.

(54:16):
And that's saying a lot without actually saying what you mean,
which what I take from it is JJ is not
your future. You can also tell, obviously by firing everyone
that they have that they feel like they messed up,
not keeping Sam Darnold, even Daniel Jones. They had a
lot of great options that went on to thrive, and

(54:37):
they're kind of living in that reactionary period of life
of well, look we could have had that and we didn't,
and we messed up, So now we got to punish
everybody who didn't make that happen. Read between the lines
for me, What do you see what's going on here?

Speaker 1 (54:56):
Yeah? I mean I letting firing quays a dopamensa after
Sam Donald gets the Super Bowl. It's just like I
try to follow people for team's actions rather than what
they say, because to me, that signified, yeah, you're just
reacting to this. You're like, oh, Sam Donald got them
to a Super Bowl and won them a Super Bowl,

(55:19):
and we let him out the door. But at the time,
when you let Sam Donald out the door, it made
all the sense in the world. It was theoretically a
good decision because you had invested a first round pick
in JJ McCarthy. He suffered the injury, you thought, Okay,
he's going to get a red shirt. Ear, he's going
to come back, he's going to know the scheme really
well from a mental standpoint, and he's gonna be able

(55:40):
to hit the ground running in his second ear. You
don't need to pay for a high end backup necessarily
because he's supposed to be the guy and we believe
in him because we drafted him in the first round.
And then when that goes to hell, you're like, well, okay,
this didn't work in hindsight's twenty twenty. But I don't
think it's necessarily. I think there were reasons perhaps, like

(56:01):
you know, the the draft classes that Questia Doha Menza
had brought in hadn't performed very well that you didn't
have Pro Bowl players in there. This that the other
you had cause to let him go, but the way
in which you let him go, and when you let
him go, let me know that you were reacting to
the fact that Sam Darnold won a Super Bowl. And

(56:21):
that's not a way to do business, especially because now
in the most important time of year, you essentially don't
have a GM like they did. They elevated their pro
personnel guy, and like you're essentially entering into like a
half rebuild, but you don't actually have a guy in
charge of that, and so there does that seem to
be a comprehensive plan, And then things like you let

(56:45):
go of John Allen because of the salary cap constraints.
You're like, you started this whole process forty six million
dollars over the cap, so like somehow you don't have
the talent other than Justin Jefferson on your team, but
you're oh the cap and you don't have a GM.
It's just an absolute mess. And then you hear things

(57:05):
like they're also open to trading Jonathan Grenard, who is
arguably one of their best defensive players. And the reason
that a lot of this happens for for Brian Flores
and his defensive scheme. You're just I'm I'm I'm tripping
over myself because like nothing makes sense with what the
what the vikings are doing. And this is what happens

(57:26):
when you have a lot of friction I think inside
the building and you have a lot of like just
dissent in general. Who's really in charge? You don't have
a clear picture of that anymore. You had your center retired,
Ryan Kelly, he retired, Aaron Jones, Javon Hargrave, those guys
are all gone just to clear some cap space, and

(57:46):
you still don't have a real good answer at quarterback.
Because I'm with you, Alex, I don't think they believe
in J. J. Mllerthy.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Now there's there, they're saying. They're saying what they feel
without actually saying it.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
With the lead me to believe that they wouldn't have
fired their GM if they thought that Sam Darnold won
a Super Bowl, but they had their guy.

Speaker 2 (58:07):
Yeah, no, absolutely, Okay, we're on the same page. We're
gonna take a quick break here when we come back, though,
we didn't get to our quarterback marketplace because there's gonna
be so many quarterbacks on the move next week. We're
going to dive into that. Next you're listening to Fox
Sports Radio. Welcome back to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm Alex
Curry here with Carmen Vitally. Thank you for spending your
Saturday afternoon with us.

Speaker 1 (58:29):
And for the best pregame show every weekend. Be sure
to tune into Fox Sports Radio is Countdown presented by
bet MGM Every Saturday and Sunday morning from nine am
to noon Eastern sixty nine am Pacific. We will count
you down to all the biggest games of the weekend.
Tune into Countdown presented by bet MGM, every Saturday and
Sunday morning right here on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
All right, guys, next week the quarterback shuffle is gonna
be so real. There are gonna be a lot of names,
a lot of guys on the move, going to be available.
Where do we think they're going to end up? What
are the situations?

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (59:04):
The one that like officially became official last week, Kyler Murray.
He was told he was going to be released on
March eleventh. He already put out a statement thanking Arizona
their former first overall pick in the twenty nineteen draft.
That whole situation is is tough. I think he'll have a.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
Market, Yeah, Pik, you'll have the last market.

Speaker 2 (59:29):
He's definitely going to have the Cardinals still. Oh, Kyler
thirty six point eight million in twenty twenty six, meaning
whatever team signs him will get him for the league
minimum of one point three million dollars.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
Yeah, I mean there's no downside, Steel, There's no downside. No,
and taking a shot with Kyler, who has the most
starting experience, he is pretty much like provided that, like
you know, Kirk Cousins, you know Smith, like if Tua
becomes available, like we can revisit that conversation. But as
of right now, Kyler Murray's still has the potential to
be a starter in this league, and he's going to

(01:00:03):
cost league MI amount to go get So I think
there's a ton of teams that will be in the
running for his services.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
As they should. So a couple of the big names
that I think are going to be that we know
we're gonna be available. Malik Willis, Packer's backup did great
when Jordan Love was out. He's going to be a
free agent. Kirk Cousins, Uh, we think Tua is going
to be released pending a trade feels it just.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
I don't think Miami's holding on to him.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
They shouldn't. But it's also like Tua's tough. If you're
a team looking to pick him up because of it will.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
Be Conversely to Kyler Murray, I don't think there is
going to be much of a market for two A
because I just don't think that you can count on
time bomb.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
It's one more major concussion, and.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Especially like for him, there aren't I can't think of
any situations or any teams that need quarterbacks that I
feel good about their offensive lines.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
Oh that's what that's the biggest thing. Like if you
pick them up, is he going to get protected, because
if it's not, he's going to be out in the
first couple of games.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Yeah. Like, I don't think there's gonna be much more,
especially when you consider too Like all right, so another
name too is Daniel Jones, who the Colts place the
transition tag on, But that doesn't prevent anybody from offering
him or from him seeking out other deals.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
It just like Anthony richards Able.

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
To Anthony Richardson, I don't think is there's not a market,
not in the way that there is for Daniel Jones.
Daniel Jones got like.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
God, I think they're gonna let him go. They're gonna
let him. They have to if they're if there, they
have to.

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
If so, there's the there's a franchise tag on Daniel
Jones right now by the Colts. That is not the
same as a regular or a transition tag. It's not
the same as the franchise tag. The transition tag means
that he is still able to test the free agency
market and then they have the opportunity to match that.
But if he gets offered a deal that the Colts
aren't willing to match, then he's he is out.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
So you think it's dangerous. It's a dangerous move.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
Us, especially when you consider that the Colts chose to
do that instead of tag Alec Pierce, their number one
wide receiver, who seems like interviews and stuff, that he
wants to test free agency. Now, yeah, maybe they did
that because they felt that they were closer to getting
a deal done with Alec Pierce. We haven't seen that
deal deal materialize yet, and it seems again that Alec
Peerce wants to test free agency. So now you could

(01:02:14):
be in a situation if you're the Indianapolis Colts where
you're losing both Daniel Jones, who had a seven to
one record at one point in this season for you
and your number one weapon, which is Alec Pierce, and
that it would be catastrophic for what the Colts have
been able to do and like the strides they've been
able to make. So I think Daniel Jones is a
really interesting topic and I think he's it's a really

(01:02:36):
interesting like I'm very interesting with what ends up happening
with him.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
You heard anything from like his team and his side.
Was he happy in India? I mean they brought him
in last year to have that competition with Anthony Richards.
He ended up winning that quarterback competition. Then I think
it's out.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
Of Daniel Jones's hands at this point just because of
the fact that he's dealing with the injury and so
like he had the fracture, the achilles thing, like that's
that's all it's gonna take me.

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
Well, like when could he be back realistically, I.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
Don't, I don't really, I don't really know. He could
be ready to go, I think for that, but like
that's a pickle injury you never want to do whatever,
But he's also not forty years old like Aaron Rudgers
was when he tore his achilles, so and same with
he's not even his oldest Kirk Cousins was when he
tore his achilles. So I'm very interest to see like
how that all materializes. But like justin fields, like is

(01:03:26):
expected to be released by the Jets, Yep, there's there's
going to be an interesting market while not being anything
to get overly excited about. I think if you're a team,
I think taking a flyer on Kyler Murray is a
no brainer. Weeds that or you don't. There's no risk
involved in that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
But these are big name quarterbacks, starting quarterbacks for franchises
that it could be a great bridge for you, could
be a great backup option.

Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
But do these guys see themselves that way.

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
Definitely not, definitely not. But as this as we've seen
in this league, you need to have a strong backup
quarterback situation. It is the most important position on the
team and we have had so many injuries the last
few years that if you don't have a top tier
backup situation like that could be it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
Yeah, but you have to find that the sweet spot
of a guy that is good enough to come in
relief that it's not a huge drop off, isn't going
to be start like Kirk Cousins is going to go
after starting money. He's going to go after a starting jobs.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
He can if he can like realize that he is
now in that veteran I am going to mentor you
and help you be the next big thing situation, I
think he could land in a really good spot. He
already made his big money. You did it. Now, if
you want to go somewhere, yeah, if you want to
go somewhere like, it's going to be the helpful mini bridge. Okay,

(01:04:50):
Now let's check in with Martin Wise and see what's trending.

Speaker 5 (01:04:59):
In the NBA.

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
Hey, right now the Orlando Magic in the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Speaker 5 (01:05:03):
Orlando leads one.

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
Ten to eighty eight with about three minutes left in
the fourth quarter. Pallo Banco had twenty five points, Desmond
banged with thirty, Anthony Edwards are thirty four points, Dayton
I'm sorry, Rudy Gobert with twelve.

Speaker 5 (01:05:17):
Points, eight rebounds.

Speaker 3 (01:05:18):
And Men's college basketball, but about fifteen minutes left in
the second half, Florida and Kentucky the fifth rank Gators
making work of the Wildcats here fifty three to sixty
I'm sorry, fifty three to thirty six the score with.

Speaker 5 (01:05:32):
Against sixteen minutes left in the second half. Sixteen minutes left.

Speaker 3 (01:05:35):
In the second half again for Wisconsin and perdue the
fifteenth rings boiler Makers. The Badgers in the lead though
sixty one to sixty and with eleven minutes left in
the second half, George Mason leeds Saint Louis sixty one
to thirty nine. Earlier today we saw an upset Marquette
upset fourth ranked Yukon sixty eight to sixty two. Danny
Hurley got ejected in the final second of the game

(01:05:57):
from making contact with an official. In the NFL, Packers
have traded Kolby Wooden, the defensive tackle, to the Colts
for linebackers I hear Franklin.

Speaker 5 (01:06:05):
Franklin led the league in tackles.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
In twenty twenty four, the Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis
agreed to terms a three year, seventy eight million dollar
contract extension. It's the same deal with Connor McGovern and
the Bills. This one's four years, fifty two million dollars,
with fifty to thirty two million guaranteed. The kicker of
Brandon Aubrey and the Cowboys unable to come to an
agreement on a long term contract extension, so the team

(01:06:29):
has moved on to a free agent tender at the
twenty twenty six league gear that these teams can offer
him a contract and the Cowboys can match it. The
Rams cornerback Darius Williams has retired after eight NFL seasons,
and last night the Boston Celtics got Jason Tatum back. However,
they're going to lose backup sending Nikola Vucevich.

Speaker 5 (01:06:47):
He'll be out for at least a month.

Speaker 3 (01:06:48):
He fractured his ring finger when Chris Middleton came down
hit him.

Speaker 5 (01:06:52):
Hit the ball. Growth back to you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Thank you, Martin. You're listening to Fox Sports Saturday. I'm
Alex Career here with Carmen Vitally. Thank you for spending
your Saturday afternoon with us. It is time for our
next guest, senior NFL writer at the Athletic Jordan rod
reg Thank you for joining the show.

Speaker 8 (01:07:08):
Hi ladies, it's so nice to be on with you today.
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:07:12):
Oh my gosh, Jorian, I'm so excited this day out
We've actually gotten to hang out quite a bit over
the last couple of.

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
Week you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
Super Bowl and Combine. We got to see each other,
although we didn't get to spend as much time at
Combine as I would have liked. But Hi, Jordan, how
are you hi?

Speaker 8 (01:07:31):
I'm doing well. Yeah, Combine. I was lurking for a
project on scouts that I just put out there for
the Athletics. So, uh, Carmen and I know we have
sort of separate lurking hours when we're working on these products.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
Oh my god, I love I love the lurk vibe.
I can't because I just like I call it the
creep Like I'm just like sitting and creeping, but like
it's just lurking.

Speaker 1 (01:07:53):
Is another great My eyes are just like from my
notebook and stuff, they're just like starting all over the place.
But I do if you let me start out, if
you want to ask Jordan about that, particularly because all right,
so Jordan did this wonderful piece for the Athletic just
about taking you inside what these scouting reports actually look like,
which is great because like it's one of those things
too where you know, you talk to scout if you're

(01:08:14):
someone who talks to scouts, like Jordan is like, I
am like whatever, you hear these things, and you hear
them talk about this stuff. Like I literally, right before
this article came out, Jordan, I was talking to another
he was actually an assistant coach in the NFC, and
he was telling me how they use fire emojis, palm
tree emojis, and ice cubes, and I just kind of

(01:08:35):
like lapped it on and I was like, yeah, of
course that makes sense. And then Jordan includes this in
her piece, and you see, like the entire Internet goes
just like bananas to find out that these guys use
emojis as a really quick ways of evaluating guys. So
I just I want you to talk through just kind
of what that process was like and writing this piece
and kind of like identifying the things that because I'm

(01:08:58):
so bad at that, like thinking like, oh, yeah, I
mean obviously that's a thing. Doesn't everybody know that?

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
And you're just you spell it out so well, Jordan,
Thank you so much.

Speaker 5 (01:09:06):
Well.

Speaker 8 (01:09:07):
I had a blast reporting that because I love talking
to people about how they do football essentially, and everybody
obviously has their own unique set of fingerprints on it.
Despite the fact that they're all evaluating the same exact
goal of prospects, and so all of the data and
all of the physical traits and all of the character assessments,

(01:09:28):
they are weighed in so many different ways by all
of these teams, and of course they need a language
to communicate all of that with each other. And this
is not every team that does this, but there are
a lot of teams that one of the rising trends
across these buildings, especially with the younger generation of GMS,
although there was a senior GM that's some pretty creative emojis.

(01:09:48):
I will say that it is a shorthand trend. So
whether it's symbols or letter tags they call some of
the pictures tags are emojis. To us, we're we're you know,
core millennials. We know these words. And so it's basically
like how when a coach puts together an assortment of

(01:10:09):
different plays tagged with different categories and colors and numbers
and symbols, tagged with different code words for the quarterbacks,
that the offense knows exactly what the play is supposed
to look like right as they hear those words. It's
the same concepts carried over into scouting where you're tagging
it with certain symbols matter, a shared language and alphabet
within your team that's been created by your specific organization

(01:10:32):
over time, that you can paint a picture instantly of
what a prospect is and the many, many, many layers
that all used to be, you know, thousands of words
and a scouting report. Now it's happening very very fast
and often digitally with these scouts, just to make the
process more efficient and to get them very much on
the same level of communication in the building.

Speaker 2 (01:10:52):
I love it so much. The world, all of us,
like every industry, is talking in emojis. But let's transition
to the big blockbuster trade that broke last night, Max
Crosby to the Ravens. How shocked were you by the
Ravens making this move and how much will he transform
Baltimore's defense?

Speaker 8 (01:11:10):
I was. I was a little surprised that it was Baltimore, honestly,
because Baltimore has been very i would say conservative over
the last several years in terms of the moves that
it actually will make, particularly in free agency, and it
was very clear that they badly needed pass rush help.
They have struggled with that for two seasons at this point,

(01:11:31):
but they just haven't been a team that has done
a lot of those types of signings or trades, particularly
when they involved first round picks. And I have to
think that this is jim Eric DaCosta not only saying,
you know, we are in our contention window and we
have to get Lamar to the super Bowl while we
have him in his prime.

Speaker 2 (01:11:52):
Yeah, but also.

Speaker 8 (01:11:54):
This is the new era of the Baltimore Ravens. This
is a new coach, this is a new type of
team build and model that they are basically making a
massive statement toward where it was often a very fundamental
and very good draft and developed team. They've struggled with
a lot of the players that they've tried to put
in key roles, especially in that pass rush, and I'd

(01:12:16):
say a lot of those guys on the offensive line
as well. And now they have to really make this
statement and say this is the team we're going to
be moving forwards because we have the quarterback in his
prime playing at an MVP caliber.

Speaker 1 (01:12:28):
It's interesting. We talked to Cynthia freelan last hour and
she was talking about how come Monday come legal tampering
that she thinks things are just going to hit the fan.
What are you expecting out of this free agency? Do
you think that we see some more surprise moves, blockbuster
moves or is this going to just kind of be
a flurry of not you know, mid mid range moves,

(01:12:53):
but like and how indicative is that of like what
we're going to see in the draft, Because I think
that so much of free agency is dependent on how
this draft class looks and what people think they can
get out of it. Have you seen kind of that
correlation and what do you think is going to happen
come this week?

Speaker 8 (01:13:07):
Yeah? Absolutely, And I think this is going to be
an interesting balance this year because I think this is
a real meat and potatoes draft. You can get some
really good defensive players in this draft. You can get
some good role player guys, especially in the middle round.
This is like a good safety draft. This is a
good draft where if you need the core of your
roster in particular positions, you don't want to pay large

(01:13:28):
amounts of money to and keep cheaply on a rookie
contract like that. This is to me, I'm not a
draft expert. This is your fiance carbon, but I definitely
am am. You know this is what I keep hearing
from scouts around the league about this being such a
meat and potatoes draft, and that often correlates into more
moves at the trade deadline certainly, but in free agency

(01:13:50):
as well as it opens up. I also think that
it's a larger trend, though. I think we're seeing more
activity because that's just the way that teams want to
build at this point. They want to they want to
be flexible, and they want to either bring in or
move off from players. Earlier, you're watching contracts shorten, mainly
to three year deals. At this point, you're watching the

(01:14:12):
money become massive. But these teams are not really scared
to eat dead money anymore for the most part. And
I think you also have a lot of teams that
think they're closer in contention than they actually are. And
when you combine all of those factors, you're going to
have a really, really active open to free agency. I
don't think there are any like marquee names that would
you know that. I think the Trey Hendrickson's of the

(01:14:32):
world we kind of know that's going to happen at
some point. Trade wise, I don't know that there's players
that I've really heard pop as probably being available that
would really shock the world. But I do think it's
going to be a very very busy free agency period,
and guys, who you know, if a team falls in
love with the guy and wants a trade for him,

(01:14:52):
they are just not scared to do it anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:14:54):
Okay, before we let you go. There's going to be
plenty of quarterbacks that will be or expected to be
free agents when the new league begins on Wednesday. But
I think the biggest name right now is Kyler Murray.
Whoever gets him is going to get him at league
minimum and absolute steel. Where do you see him landing?

Speaker 8 (01:15:11):
So I have a normal take and a crazy take.

Speaker 2 (01:15:14):
Give us both.

Speaker 8 (01:15:16):
So I definitely think he's somebody that the Minnesota Vikings
should and probably will very very highly consider because of
the cheapness of the contract, first and foremost, but also
he's a player with such talent. His ceiling is really
really high. Unfortunately for Kyler, his floor is also very
very low, and so some of the streakiness that he's
experienced over the last couple of years and then just

(01:15:38):
not it just hasn't been a fit organizationally for him
in Arizona either. I think that a fresh start in
Minnesota and something to prove and really in a good
system that really speaks well to its quarterbacks. With Kevin O'Connell,
I think that would be a great fIF for him. However,
I would not be surprised a crazy take income embrace
yourself ye that this Los Angeles Rams team wow, even

(01:16:01):
though I expect them to keep Jimmy Aroppolo as their backup.
He has been drawing interest from other teams as potentially
a starter. But they have been whispering and sort of
wanting to find like this Kyle Shanahan style reclamation project
quarterback for years. At this point, a couple of years ago,
when there are whispers about like Bryce Young, maybe he

(01:16:22):
was going to be available with the deadline, there were
people who sort of chattered about, oh, maybe if you know,
he would be a low cost acquisition, Maybe he would
benefit from some time in the Sean McVay system. Maybe
he would benefit and we could turn that into potential
future value for the organization. And so that to me,
this is the type of team that is always looking

(01:16:44):
at those types of moves.

Speaker 7 (01:16:46):
Now.

Speaker 8 (01:16:46):
They're very familiar with Kyler Murray obviously in the NFC West,
but this is a Rams team that I wouldn't It
would not shock me if they are a team that
would think about that type of quarterback, bringing that type
of especially cheap quarterback, in keeping him a year, and
then possibly trying to turn him ahead of the trade
deadline into value somewhere else.

Speaker 2 (01:17:08):
It's uh huh, it's not that crazy. Sean McVay Rehab
Center at the Rams. Jordan, that was a wonderful way
to end this. Thank you so much for coming on.

Speaker 8 (01:17:22):
Thanks you all appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:17:23):
Thanks Jarnan.

Speaker 2 (01:17:24):
All Right, we're gonna take a quick break here. When
we come back our feel Good Stories of the Week.
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back to Fox
Sports Saturday. I'm Alex Curry here with Carmen Vitellite. Thank
you for spending your Saturday afternoon with us. Now you're
listening to Blues Away and now and now we're gonna

(01:17:49):
take your blues away with our feel good story of
the week. You see what I did there? I do
I know? Okay, you guys are feel good story this
week is Jason Tatum's return to the court. He helped
Boston beat Dallas last night, but this is his first
game back in ten months after tearing his achilles last

(01:18:10):
May in the second round of the playoffs when they
lost to the Knicks. Obviously it's gonna take a moment
to get back to full game shape, but he played
twenty seven minutes, fifteen pointbound, many restrictions on him.

Speaker 1 (01:18:23):
Was the biggest surprise of anybody, but it turned out
it paid off. I mean, I know he went over
six to start the game, but then they'll put back
dunk right before halftime, and like from then on was
just on fire. I like, and it's so cool to
you know, he was. Not only did he not have
a minute's restriction obviously that meant he started, and the

(01:18:44):
way that the crowd was like that greeted him, and
like just like seeing all of the different things that
like we see of Jason Tatum when he walks on
the court. I'm such a big fan of him, I like,
I mean, I'm a Bulls fan. I grew up a
Bulls fan, so like I can't bring myself to samula
Celtics fan.

Speaker 2 (01:19:00):
I mean, I'm like, I can never bring myself to
say that I'm a Celtics fan.

Speaker 1 (01:19:03):
But I will say, like, you know, you miss certain
things from certain players because there's like a ritual behind
watching them play, and like things like him, you know,
going through the handshake line and like as intros are going,
and then he goes and he meets Jalen Brown and
they do their little signature jump, and then he meets
his little son, Deuce on the sideline like right afterwards,
Like little stuff like that, and like the atmosphere looked electric.

Speaker 2 (01:19:28):
Yeah, we almost forget the human aspect of these athletes
because we just talk about them in such a way
that it's it's a machine. But what you have to
go through to come back from an Achilles' injury and
the way he went out in the playoffs as the
defending champs and then not being able to help your
team get back to that moment, to then come back

(01:19:49):
after ten months, to have a great first game back
like this, and then to have the Celtics in a
position to be in a great spot come the playoffs.
I mean there's like five weeks left in the right season.
They're currently in second, only four games back from the Pistons.
Like Boston's in a good spot and like he can
have an incredible impact down the stretch, Like I thought

(01:20:10):
it was going to be a little more of a
slow role, but like without a minute's restriction last night,
like he looked good. He's only going to get better
the closer to thee.

Speaker 1 (01:20:17):
A little rest in that first half. But I encourage you,
if you if you want to read a little bit
more about it. Tom Westerholme of Boston dot Com has
an excellent article that paints the picture just so beautifully
about what it was like to be in TD Garden
and to see that.

Speaker 2 (01:20:31):
So I love moments like that. I'm getting I love
about it.

Speaker 1 (01:20:33):
I'm really I'm really happy for Jason Tatum and it's
a good story.

Speaker 2 (01:20:37):
It's a feel good story. Thank you guys for spending
your Saturday afternoon with Carme and Me. We'll see you
next week, same time, same place,

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Alex Curry & Carmen Vitali React to HUGE Trades in the NFL, Jayson Tatum's Return & More!