Hour 3 - NFL Mock Draft Time?

Mike Harmon and Kerry Rhodes discuss some of the early NFL 2024 mock drafts as teams take form near the end of the season.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Greetings, Welcome back in second half begins disco Ball still
spinning here Fox Sports Radio Live fromth tirerac dot Com Studios.
Mike Harmon alongside Carrie Roads, No Jason Smith. Tonight, Yankees
make a big trade. Juan Soto is a new member
of the Bronx Bombers as they look to reload. Think

(00:50):
about that lineup, the heart of the matter, the heart
of the order, if everybody's healthy. It's kind of like
trying to predict how many games Lebron James and Anthony
Davis will play together. Same thing, Jean Carlos Stanton, Aaron
Judge and now Juan Soto. How many games will we
get with those three players together as we get into

(01:11):
twenty twenty four. But it's a great theater.

Speaker 4 (01:13):
Don't do that to me.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
You know the real list man, You are being real,
you know me at this point. Look, I may get
a little bit hot takery, but there's wait thought they're
lying thing is there?

Speaker 5 (01:25):
Wait tomorrow, though, Wait till tomorrow at least give me
a day to a night to just dream about all
three being healthy, all one sixty two.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Did you think they put heanks coach singletary? Do you
think they put a giant picture of Soto up in
Times Square and then a bunch of folks huddled in
the cold New York early December let out a giant
scream Casmin's back.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
Probably I wouldn't.

Speaker 6 (01:52):
I know, they should have fired that guy. Probably, I
would not put it past them. They're gonna light the beam.
I know that, Sacramento. But we're talking about the state.
You could co op that if you want. Yeah, all right,
it's not the wrong with that. Like, if it works
and it gets people excitable, you do it. Hey, you

(02:13):
know early adopters and then the hangars on and followers.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
We've got them all. We're into the fourth quarter watching
a little bit of the Warriors and Blazers. We got
the Clippers and Nuggets going on. So much going on.
The NBA will get back to the d season tournament
tomorrow afternoon Tilt and then the grand finale of the
Final Four. Now we call it the Final Four get

(02:39):
although I think that's trademarked. I think they'd get sued
if they tried to promote it that way.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
Oh for sure, Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
The Big Game carry rhoads like we do every February
with all of those promotions that roll through. Look the
National Football League in twenty twenty three. I tend to
agree with Tom Brady got echoed some of my sentiments
for the last couple of years where we talk about
parody slash mediocrity versus bad football, and Jason laughs and

(03:08):
he mocks me. Alex has joined in on this a
little bit. Look, I love the NFL. I love college football,
but NFL rules what we do here in sports talk
radio except for you know, big events, big rivalry matchups,
bowl season championships, et cetera. But the NFL, every game
has a heartbeat, and there's two hundred and seventy two

(03:29):
of them, and when they go away, we lament every
day that we don't have a bunch of that, no
matter how bad they are right. So they've kind of
mocked me when I say, you know, hey, I still
enjoyed watching the chess match of a six nothing Chargers
Patriots win. They're like, I don't believe you. It's like, no, no, no,
it could rank two hundred and seventy second, but it's

(03:50):
still there as one of our data points, right, not
all games are going to be created equal. I like,
pizza is still pizza. It could be not the greatest pizza.
Maybe the crust is burnt, maybe it's still dowie, maybe
it's something you don't like, but it's still pizza. There's
only so much you can do to screw up a pizza.
We could talk about some other activities that people engage

(04:13):
in at any time of day but used to be
nocturnal activities for the you know, the minds to wander,
et cetera. Even when it's bad, it still has some value,
you know what I mean. So when we look at
the NFL, there's there's a lot of teams. There are
a lot of teams in these final five weeks that
we know, guys are trying to put stuff on tape,

(04:34):
Guys are trying to preserve their bodies, get ready for
the next contract, the next season, get out of here unscathed, yes,
and put themselves in the best position. There are many
teams where we know that that is the case. But
this year maybe there are more teams that have a
chance to still say, you know what, we got something
to play for Now. We may not be on the

(04:56):
same level as the forty nine ers or however, my
but you love the Dallas Cowboys or the I still
win a lot of games, even though David Karr wants
me bench Jalen Hurts in the Philadelphia Eagles. Got to
listen to the Whole show. Podcast goes up when we're
done here. Wherever you download your audio, give it five stars,

(05:17):
and then evangelize to your friends and family the best
holiday gift you can give. Oh cost of a card,
cost of a stamp, and the link here you go
twenty four to seven, three sixty fives, Fox Sports Radio
and all the other great things that iHeartRadio has to offer.
But we look at the playoff picture and most times
you'd say four and eighteen they're done. Well, that's not

(05:40):
the case this year in both conferences. If you're at
five hundred, you're still knocking on the door. If you're
a game below five hundred, oh, with a little bit
of help and a little bit of a run, the
opportunity may still be there to get into the back
of the playoffs. And once you're in, hey, all bets

(06:00):
are off. We got five weeks where injuries are gonna
claim more players. I wish it weren't the case, but
let's call it what it is. We're already into the
mid fifties in terms of quarterbacks that have started this year.

Speaker 4 (06:11):
Is it fifty something already?

Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, it's still behind last year's pace though, Wow, But
we're into the fifties when yeah, yeah, So the first
Browning start I think was number fifty. Last year we
were at fifty three.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
Got it?

Speaker 3 (06:26):
So, and then we'll watch how things flow from here.
But we're into the fifties, which means you're cobbling together
what you can. Yes, some of those initial game plans
go out the window. A lot of those early chapters
are gone, and we're simplifying things and we're wishing, wanting,
hoping to get towards the back end here. But you
look at the Chargers and the Raiders at five and seven.

(06:50):
Is it great? No? Has it been a miserable slog
for chunks of it. Yes, a lot of anger, a
lot of angst, but a little bit of a run
or two more injuries. The Chiefs, whatever they are, they win.
But again it goes back to the winning, ugly sustainability theories,

(07:11):
et cetera. And on the NFC side, I mean, I'm
seeing graphics that include the Bears and the Giants. Now
that might just be someone being funny, try to screw
with folks, but the reality is at four and eight,
I mean you're two games behind where the Rams are,
where the Packers are, where the Vikings are. So a

(07:32):
couple of wins, especially the way we were backloaded with
division games. Now, I don't like it for a lot
of reasons, schedule wise, because of the injuries, because of
the randomness. So we start to this time of year,
get a all right, I play you, then I've got
another opponent for a week, and then I come right
back to you. I don't like it, particularly weeks sixteen

(07:53):
through eighteen. I think that's asinine, absolutely asinine to have
Divisions deciding you got three division games down to stretch. Well,
what about the Ravens, Well they had them all in
the first six weeks they did. Yeah, yeah, right, because
we joked like they had played all their division road
games almost immediately, Like I get it. There's gonna be
in a you know, some imbalance and the making it

(08:16):
equitable is a very difficult thing for the programming. But
sometimes it just looks ridiculous. But where we're at right now,
this is about as exciting as you get. Right, It's
like Pennant Baseball with the extra wildcard. Have we got
teams that normally would be like, ah, goodbye, start looking
towards the drafts, like a little bit of luck, catch
lightning in a bottle. Suddenly we got playoff football. In

(08:37):
other words, it makes for a better television product and
more people tuned in, as opposed to, hey, go put
some more lawn gnomes out.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
That's all it is.

Speaker 5 (08:45):
It's just that it's trying to make it matter when
most of that stuff should be already decided at that point.
But you know there are some teams in that the
one that you just said, right, the Bears.

Speaker 4 (08:59):
The Bears.

Speaker 5 (08:59):
I'm actually encouraged by what I've seen from the last
couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
For sure, right you make the big trade defensively, Yes, now,
you got a guy up front who can getting after
it right and looking. The commanders probably could have used that,
and then they fired Jack del Rio after, Hey, how
come you guys were worse? We just lost over there,
motes sweats over there. Yeah, but for the Bears, you

(09:26):
got five games. Offense has had some pieces. Look that
game against Minnesota before the bye week wasn't pretty. But
you got Detroit, you got Cleveland, you got Arizona, got Atlanta,
Green Bay. Detroit defense has been gettable. You go back
to the loss thirty one twenty six. You move the
ball on them. Their defense has been suspect lately. Right

(09:48):
at the best Cleveland, who's quarterbacking? Are they going to
scoring points?

Speaker 4 (09:53):
You got? I don't don't.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
I liked it though.

Speaker 4 (09:56):
Don't count him out yet, don't.

Speaker 5 (09:58):
Cleveland's one of my teams that I I am still
not ready to get off of their I'm intrigued.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yes, Flacco, what he looked like this past Sunday. You
gotta figure out how to unleash and get whatever breakdowns
happening there with Amari Cooper, He's got to be a
factor more than a deco.

Speaker 5 (10:17):
But yeah, but Cooper's been He's a little banged up
to right now, which most people are, right.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
I was gonna say, if you ain't a start.

Speaker 5 (10:24):
But Cooper has a history of being injured too, So
who I think it's.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
Forge has been pretty good out of the backfield. But
I mean, one thing Joe Flacco is is decisive. I
always joke that guys at that point in their career
they have no conscience because they know it's done. Yeah,
let's go ahead and wing it right, go try to
make plays. You know, obviously for fantasy purposes. Everybody was
rushing to go find Elijah Moore and everything this week

(10:49):
because the offense does open, you actually have a downfield passage, had.

Speaker 4 (10:54):
A good run.

Speaker 5 (10:55):
That's a good safety blanket form. But so yeah, Cleveland,
I'm I'm not ready to dismiss him yet. But going
back to the.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
Show, that's their second game. Then you've got Arizona.

Speaker 5 (11:04):
Yeah, but Arizona's playing a little better as well with
Kylin Murphy.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
But they can win winnable.

Speaker 5 (11:09):
Again, it's a waitnable game. And then you got Atlanta winnable.
But Atlanta has a great defense though.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Right, I mean that's one we're seeing a little bit consistently.
Here's defenses that can get after and to play for too.
And then you finish the season at Green Bay who
might be fighting fighting either for the division or at
least for a playoff spot. But either way games you
should be yes, yes, And you know, hope is a
dangerous thing, as we learned in Yes, right, it goes

(11:35):
either way on you. But I guess the point I'm
just trying to make is it makes for a product
that all right, I'm tuning back in for sure. Right,
it's not all right, my season's done if I'm still
technically kicking like and look, it could be extinguished as
soon as the Sunday Sunday you.

Speaker 5 (11:52):
Want to see. But I got a question for you.
The way that they're looking now, the way that feels
is looking right now since he's been back healthy and
and we thought a lot of people thought com into
this year that I mean he was a long shot
and a.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
Little chatter yeah off rushing yards that he was doing right.

Speaker 5 (12:13):
So how how are you on him right now? Are
you still he can be a franchise guy or are
you just.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
Like he's there?

Speaker 3 (12:24):
I don't. I don't like the offense they run, yeah,
i'd like, but again it goes back to the conversation
we were having a little bit earlier about trying to
figure out intent. Yeah, an offense, right, because they've had
games where more than half of his attempts or add
or behind the line of scrimmage. How much of that
is necessity?

Speaker 4 (12:42):
Right?

Speaker 3 (12:42):
Certainly against Minnesota, you know they're gonna bring pressure. So
unless you're gonna run the ball thirty five times, you're
gonna go to the screen game. You're gonna have a
lot of quick outs just to get the ball in
DJ Moore's hands, Mooney's hand quick to comment or the
backs quickly, right, And so how much of that that
is game planning based on that defense versus where he's

(13:05):
at in terms of everything else. So trying to on
that giant pie chart, how much of that is gets
he's design versus all right, live to see another down,
limit the negative plays, just get it out, right. There's
some some of that is art science, and somewhere in
between there is I'm of the opinion that if you

(13:26):
got Carolina's pick at number one, I'm trading it for
as many picks as David Tepper's willing or not. David Tepper,
but whoever is going to come up and get it.

Speaker 4 (13:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:36):
Right. I wanted to take my shot at David Tepper
for all the trades he made, but we'll leave that there.
Because Dj Moore and Christian McCaffrey, they probably could have
helped your squad along the way.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
Yeah think so.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
Whoever the other quarterback would have been. No disrespect to
Bryce Young, but I'm at the point where I think
he should be in bubble wrap, and if I'm temper,
I'm ordering Andy Dalton on the field out of spite,
just so the Bears don't end up with the number
one overall pick. He I like that.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
I think he probably should.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
I I agree with you dangerous and win one or
two games just because you're getting nothing else. I don't
know what are you learning about Bryce Young? He's getting reps.
Are all reps good reps?

Speaker 4 (14:15):
No, they're not.

Speaker 3 (14:17):
Right, I don't I don't think they are. They had
arguments with other people like, well, he's got to be
on the field, Like no, I don't know.

Speaker 5 (14:23):
We've seen it, and right now he has not enough
weapons to get it done that. He's not protected. The
kids is out there, he's already undersized, and he's just
this is gonna be this is a lost year.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
They need to move on from it.

Speaker 5 (14:37):
And like you said, get get get Dalton in there
and get some you know, get him some more tape
to go somewhere else and and and like you said,
get some wins and that.

Speaker 3 (14:45):
Yeah, but but you know, if nothing else, you got
a spite like temper just seems like a guy who
would do that.

Speaker 5 (14:52):
In the middle of the year when this isn't He wasn't,
that wasn't even his guy first and foremost, right, Bryce
Sung wasn't the quarterback that he wanted. So there's already
disconnect there. So you talk about out a spite probably.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
Yeah, te Tepper's like, I want to get behind the
scenes there, you want to you want to do a
hard knocks I don't care about what's going on the field,
Give me what's going on in the owner's office on
that one. But to your point, like I would say,
trade that pick, get as much as you can. You've
got an offensive line that looks like it's starting to play.
Guys that were kind of dismissed or finding their way,

(15:27):
just like Neil in for the Giants, right, Yeah, he
was a disaster. Now you're like all right, I think
we have a Lynch, you know, a guy that we
can plug for a while here. Same thing with the
Bears Jenkins and a couple of others, Like, all right,
it's starting to look right Comet can play. Oh yeah,
I was not the biggest fan, Like he dropped a
lot of passes in big spots in the past, so

(15:48):
like I want to see him improve, and he did,
and he and he has and he's worked and DJ
Moore say nothing else, like he's gonna end up with
the best receiving season in Bears history, the real like
on the trajectory right now, and then you look at
the backfield. I don't think you have a lead guy,
but you got three guys that can play. So that's

(16:10):
that's intriguing, right downte Foreman Khalil, Herbert uh and Rashawn Johnson,
Like it's a three headed monster. Eventually you've got to
I think pick one and ride one more than a
all right, feel wish. But they can't stay healthy either,
So that's you know, always the question mark. But you
got other pieces that you still need to go. And
you brought in Sweat and extended him. So you got

(16:32):
your defensive line starting.

Speaker 4 (16:35):
I can see your face lighting up a little bit.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
But go get hither couple of pieces.

Speaker 4 (16:37):
Yeah, yeah, but you're excited about the prospects moving forward.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
I just like watching the chess pieces move, and I
think fields can play. I don't know who the coaches
that fully gets that. I don't think that's there. Like
I don't think it's the gets the offense and the
scheme that they're drawn up. But you know, I feebra Flues.
He's got years on the contract. They ain't fired. This
is Chicago, baby. We're broadcasting a lot from the tyrac

(17:03):
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An unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road azer protection
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The way tire buying should be. But to that point,
I saw a mock draft earlier that a familiar name,
one we've talked about a lot isn't in the number
one slot, which is kind of curious. I'll uh, yeah,

(17:25):
you know, I alluded to it with you earlier. We'll
get deeper into that and get your feelings. As a
man who laced him up and got in between the
white lines. Carry Rhodes in for Jason Smith Mike Harbin.
The Jason Smith Show Here with Me Mike Harmon on
Fox Sports Radio, brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive
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(17:48):
all your protection at one place. You can bundle and
save at Progressive dot Com. Yeah, it's mock draft season, people,
Let's get it going. We'll talk about it next here
on Fox.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Be sure to can live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 7 (18:10):
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Speaker 2 (18:24):
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Speaker 3 (18:39):
Now we rev it up. Get the head banging going on,
Patrick getting his dance on in the producing booth, no
question about it. Appreciate our team gathering here on a Wednesday.
Carrie Roads it for Jason Smith. I'm Mike Harmon. Thanks
for hanging with us here as we're watching the Golden
State Warriors put the final touches on a game that

(19:00):
was highly contentious against the Portland Trailblazers, even though the
Blazers hadn't had a field goal in about five minutes,
drain a three to make it interesting, and then properly
throw the ball away. Meanwhile, the Clippers with a seven
point lead over the Nuggets twenty one seconds remaining. At
Crypto dot Com, Michael Malone, don't call him Mike.

Speaker 4 (19:23):
He doesn't like that.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
Oh he does not like that, just like I don't Michael.
Sounds too formal for me.

Speaker 4 (19:29):
You don't like Michael Harmon. Yeah, it's not the same, Kise.
It's not the same kid.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
It's not the same, right, It's like the kids gotta
gotta be you know who he is? Like, I'm a
radio host. I'm an idiot. What do you want for me?
At Carrie twenty five Roads on Twitter? Find me over
at Swollen Dome. Now, there's a mock draft that went
up about fifteen hours ago by a guy named Chris
Trepasso for CBS Sports. Now, these are worth exactly what

(19:57):
you're paying for him free content. Right and between now
and the NFL draft, Look, we got five more weeks
of the regular season. Draft order is far from being finalized, right.
We're seeing the masterful tanking job of the Patriots to
get into the mix and all of these things. You
know at some point, like we talked about very early

(20:19):
in the show tonight, grab the podcast when it's done,
you know pretty early what you got. Yes, all right,
I'm a team that we're gonna have to ride the
razor's edge and we might be able to be in
that five hundred range and have a sniff at the playoffs,
or you realize, all right, no, matam, what my best

(20:39):
effort is and I may have a good crew on
one side of the ball or the other, it's going
to be a slogy. So we see that. But Drapasso
put this up and here's his mock draft as it
currently stands. Number one. He's got the Bears taking Drake May.
You're already wincing my eyes are I didn't even get
to it?

Speaker 4 (20:57):
Can I stop?

Speaker 3 (20:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (20:59):
Stop there, he's not going to be number one, but
keep going. Sorry, Mike, No, no, that's fine.

Speaker 3 (21:05):
But because I did the same thing, I went and look,
I'm talking about it, and we're talking about it here
on Fox Sports Radio. So he gets his name out
for good, good or bad? Number two Jayden Daniels. Okay,
a man who who's going to be part of the

(21:26):
mix here? Heisman right, where's he at? Right? Number three
the Cardinals. He's got them projected to take Marvin Harrison
Junior as another toy for Kyler Murray. Okay, that one
makes sense, that makes sense. Okay, I'm cool with that.
You got Fashanu the offensive tackle with the Commanders here, Okay, okay,

(21:51):
lot too. At five to the Bears, so bringing in
a pass rusher. And then number six to the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers. Caleb Williams, the third quarterback selected in this draft.

Speaker 5 (22:08):
Yeah, he's he must have. He must have a vendetta
with the Caleb.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
He didn't like the way he cried or something. There's
some didn't like him not meeting the media or maybe
his dog.

Speaker 5 (22:20):
Maybe he was one that was waiting for him to
come out in media deck, get that. And he didn't
come out. After the game, he left.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
And now you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
It's like legitimately though, Carrie, you know the final throws
of it, and he's not going to play in the
bowl game. Nobody expect him to play in the bowl game.
Most of these guys aren't playing in the bowl game
because they're going into the transfer portal. That's a whole, other,
whole other discussion point. Hey, Dylan Gabra, I'm out, and
just one guy after the next that that declared and

(22:49):
put themselves in the portal. And so now you're raising
your hand and go, I get it. You're just trying
to see who's got the largest bag sitting at the
other end. Is really I can't blame a guy, right,
particularly if maybe you're not projected, projected to be a
top three round pick, then maybe it's just saying, look,

(23:10):
college may be it, I gotta get every dime I
can in this next year. So while I'm in a
good situation, then nil, collective and stream here, here, here,
and here, where their quarterbacks are going to the pros already,
or their quarterbacks are graduating, that maybe there's an opportunity
to go swoop in and get myself a nice giant bag.

Speaker 5 (23:32):
It's it's scary, it's getting scary. It's getting scared. It's
getting crazy out there with that. I mean, I'm all
for the kids getting paid, for sure. But one of
the one of the the opposite d N a verse
for Florida State, he came out today and was like,
I'm looking in the range of a million dollars for
my next place that I go. I mean literally saying
it that way. And I was like, I was like, whoa.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
I appreciate the specificity. Yes, I was like, oh wow, okay,
so one.

Speaker 4 (24:02):
And so I saw that and I was like whoa.
And then.

Speaker 5 (24:07):
You talk about the transport the other guys in the portal.
I mean, you have quarterbacks that would have to be
a done with football or trying to scrape and claw
to make somebody's cap, you know, in all real reality here.
But now they're playing six seven years and going to

(24:27):
another school.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
And but you had the COVID years that kept guys
around and you could say that that was to the
detriment of some of the draft class, right when we
talked about what happened to Mac Jones or some of
the guys of the last couple of years, like, all right,
that COVID year it is. Then you go into the
drafts like, all right, that's a very real gap in
terms of games played, opportunities, et cetera. So real things.

(24:51):
So we see got like I joked about the Jeff
Hostet mustache, I'm plumber there at Louisville. But it is
the kind of thing where we're getting guys that are
staying long because they're and they're good college quarterbacks. Yes,
maybe not great, but depending on where you're at, you
don't have to be.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
We just got another one that transferred to Louisville.

Speaker 5 (25:10):
He was, you do Louisville. I do Louisville. I know
it's Louisville, but I.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
Do the bite my tongue like you do all my
tongue louis Louisville.

Speaker 5 (25:19):
Yeah, I say, they still get after me for saying
that you played there.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
You start there, You get back and talk to it.
Can do what you can do what I want, right,
do what you want you walk down the tunnel whenever
you feel like I did. I actually did that when
I was there. That was a good looking video. I
was good.

Speaker 4 (25:36):
That was a good one.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
Walk where I want.

Speaker 4 (25:38):
I want to go, almost pull the hammy, but I
made it through. It was all good.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
But I'll walk it with you next year. I run it.

Speaker 4 (25:44):
Okay, we'll walk it all right in tandem.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
Yeah, we'll figure figure out a game that makes sense.

Speaker 4 (25:49):
We'll do that.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
I haven't been to a game. I've traveled the Big ten,
I've traveled to a lot of Oh, we'll definitely go,
but I got I got a lot of need to
check out.

Speaker 5 (25:57):
It's beautiful too. Yeah, they've done a lot of rebad there,
so it's beautiful.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
But to the point, right, so the transfer portal. Go
figure out where you can extend your career for a
lot of these guys, get yourself, maybe a little seed
money towards the next step. But back to Caleb Williams. Yeah,
and look six tier whatever you know, throw with stuff
up against the wall right now, see what sticks. It's
all theoretical, trying to read the tea leaves and read

(26:23):
the mindsets of the people in charge. And let's face it,
in the NFL, there's probably six or seven more teams
that will change their coach and maybe they're gms before
we get to draft in so all that philosophical stuff
goes in a whole other direction. But for Caleb Williams
Down the Stretch mention, the media stuff mentioned at times,

(26:43):
you know, look, there's a camera on them every second,
for better or for worse. Right, if you're doing well,
you're the guy. If things are going badly as they
did for USC horribly, Down the Stretch defense was terrible.
Lots of shots, a body language expressions, then going into
the stands to mom and crying like, look, I get

(27:07):
it that part.

Speaker 4 (27:08):
I don't get that one, Mike. That one really irks
me the most.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
But that's what I mean, like right, So like that's
the kind of thing of like if I'm a talent evaluator,
like that guy's got to be my leader. So like,
I see, I wasn't as irket or whatever word is,
whatever the proper word is by that as opposed to
the media availability because as a leader of a locker
room and look, Lincoln Riley abdicated a lot of that

(27:32):
over the course of the year himself so he didn't
exactly set a good example. And whoever allowed all these
guys to make their decisions of not going and meeting
that like good or bad. Like, you don't have to
give them great answers. You don't have to answer it all.
You can nod, you can shrug whatever. I mean, you

(27:53):
gotta face the music as it were. But like, if
I'm a GM, I don't know how much it effects
how I'm thinking about things. But that's the guy that's
the face of my franchise. He's the guy that's got
to convince my fifty three to go. And other guys
could do that, but you need your quarterback to be
in that circle, right. They can't be just a guy,

(28:15):
all right, I got a defensive leader that's good. Oh,
quarterbacks the guy that makes it all, that stirs it all.
So if he's abdicating, you know, the responsibility of just
going and meeting the media, or he's going into the
stands dejected and break that look. Young guys different game. Like,
I've had these discussions and I try to wrap my

(28:36):
head around it. I mean, you've played in the league,
You've been in a lot of a lot of different
compositions of locker rooms. I mean, how does that sit
like if you're a leader and you're a veteran, say
on the Jets, and then bring a guy in and
he's got a little bit of that as well as
he may play at times, does that become a discussion

(28:57):
point in the locker room?

Speaker 4 (29:00):
It can? It can.

Speaker 5 (29:02):
I think the the beauty of the beauty of of
an NFL locker room is there's designated captains for different
portions of the locker room. Right, There's you have your
special team captains, you have your defensive captains, you have
your offensive captains. Right. If you're in a situation, I

(29:27):
mean you're in New England, you know Tom Brady's the
unquestioned leader. That's the second Tom Brady reference. And if
third time, I think, be exactly exactly and you'd be cool.
So let's try it right, right, And in the Indianapolis
Colts it was Peyton Manning, right, But when you look
deeper into those teams, I can tell you from first

(29:50):
hand experience it was Peyton Manning is the leader from
the outside looking in, and I'm sure in the locker
room he had the cachet. But there would be a
Dwight Freeney, who's probably looked upon just as much as.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
Liked.

Speaker 5 (30:06):
You go to New England, there will be big Vince
Woolfolk or you know, he's one of my favorite players.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
I've never had the opportunity to meet the man, haven't,
but that's that's like really one of my heroes.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
He's so one of the best to ever do it.

Speaker 5 (30:22):
So like, you have those people, so you're not looking
for any of these young quarterbacks that come in and
lead your team or lead your franchise right away.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
You have to earn that anyway.

Speaker 5 (30:33):
So if you're bringing a guy in, if you're doing
all the character eval's on these guys and you really
do the extensive work and spend the time with them,
you will know who you have. And if you're putting
them in the locker room, there's gonna be other guys
in that locker room that has more cache than he
does when he walks in, So you can ease him
into that situation. This stuff about him not having the

(30:53):
availability in the locker room after media, I definitely get
it because I understand the importance of it. But he's
a kid right now and they're going to make mistakes sure,
and it could be a mistake. But also this his
head coach isn't holding them accountable for that.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
But that's that's the biggest thing that comes from me
and right, and look around here, there was a lot
of sitting that I don't mean around here necessarily at
Fox Sports Radio, but media and everybody here, Uh looking
at Lincoln Riley with all the offensive genius whatever. Yeah,
Like he's failed as the leader of men and coach
for sure a million times in the two years for

(31:31):
sure that we've watched.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
Yeah, but that's the and.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
This is an opportunity. Like you got a guy defending
Eisman winner and you're going through some tough times. This
is when lessons and learning is done, right.

Speaker 5 (31:44):
Yeah, if you have a coach that what's exactly what
you said, that's a leader of men and deserved and
deserves the respect to be that person in that position.
If you're not given these guys the answer to the test,
that's on you. Because I'm sure if he was in Alabama,
he'd be doing the media. He'll be doing the media

(32:04):
after practice and after the game because Saban will hold
him accountable. If he's not being held accountable, that's more
on the men that are in charge of where he
is right now, so I wouldn't put it on him.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
Well, well, obviously room to grow and certainly a long
evaluation process, a long way to go. There's one data
point for us to just kind of look at and
go hey, yeah, And that's exactly what I did as
soon as I saw Dre's picture at number one. Look,
tell me it's a quarterback. I'll take Caleb Williams and
try to figure it out.

Speaker 4 (32:37):
Even this year, you look at his numbers.

Speaker 5 (32:39):
His numbers are still excellent, but it's just not good
noise around him and his team right now.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Well, and that's the thing, right he didn't help matters
in those circumstances as well. We're here live inthe tirerac
dot Com, Fox Sports Radio Studios. Let's turn it over
to our guy, Brian Finley with an update as the
games finish for me, what's yes?

Speaker 4 (33:00):
He can carry?

Speaker 3 (33:01):
Hey? Hey?

Speaker 6 (33:02):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (33:02):
How many ways can you say?

Speaker 6 (33:03):
Hey?

Speaker 2 (33:04):
Hey?

Speaker 8 (33:04):
What I can tell you is that every game in
the NBA has done tonight. Well, I know now who
you really want to be here. I'm sorry to let
you down or Tom Looney. I apologize that I can't
live up to those standards, but the Clippers got to
five hundred on the season with their one hundred eleven
one oh two win against the Nuggets at home, James

(33:25):
Harden getting busy in the lane with his twenty points
and eleven assists, while the Warriors team the Trailblazers one
ten to one oh six. Stephen Curry thirty one points
to his name, Luka Doncicz exploding for a first half
triple double headlined by forty points to finish things in
a one forty seven ninety seven victory for the Mavericks

(33:47):
as they stonewall the Jazz. The Rockets get to five
hundred with their one ten one oh one takedown of
the thunder Bowls over the Hornets one eleven two, one hundred.
These Spurs are three and seven seen on the year
after they come up short on the road against the
Chimberwolves one o two to ninety four. A win for

(34:08):
the Nets on the road one fourteen to one thirteen
against the Hawks, while the Heat are victorious away from
home one twelve to one oh three against the Raptors,
fifty points from Joel Embiid as he led the charge
in a seventy six ers one thirty one one twenty
six beat down of the three and seventeen Wizards. But

(34:28):
that's not even the worst record in the NBA, and
that is a distinction that goes to the Pistons. They
are now two in nineteen on the young season after
losing one sixteen to one oh two against the Grizzlies.
Keep in mind that Detroit had a lead in the
first half and unfortunately that doesn't carry over to the
win column. And one twenty one one to eleven caves

(34:51):
over the Magic. That's a final score Donovan Mitchell thirty
five points. And with all the rumor and speculation about
the trade between the Yankees and Padres, it has it's
been finalized according to multiple outlets, where the Padres are
sending over Key you could say difference makers in Juan
Soto along with Trent Grisham as part of a five

(35:13):
make that a seven player trade. But guys, as we
look at that trade, it's all about one Soto and
Trent Grisham, but namely one Soto. I think that's the
attention getting and hopefully, you know, as Carrie hopes, the
one Soto sweepstakes end up paying off for the Yankees.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
If nothing else. He's got another reason proudly to wear
that Yankee at Yes tonight. Thanks Brian at Brian Finley
where you find him on Twitter. Coming up next, we're
talking about accountability and it might also be backing up
the bus. I got a pro coach and I got
a college coach that kind of raised their hands on
different players on their squads.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Dirty pool.

Speaker 3 (35:55):
Obfuscation. We'll talk about that coming up next. Hey, winter's
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Speaker 2 (37:00):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
Greetings, Welcome back into the tirec dot Com Fox Sports
Radio Studios Jason Smith Show with Me Mike Harmon. No
Jason Smith. Tonight, my got Carrie Rhodes in his stead.
We're talking about accountability, talking about coaching and all the
responsibilities that lie therein both collegiate and pro. And for me,

(37:30):
there was an interesting story that came out Kirby Smart
and you know, discussing the loss that leads to them
being left out of the college football playoffs. I go
from number one to falling outside right, Well, he pointed
to one particular play in the SEC title game lost

(37:51):
to Alabama, Well, we busted a coverage with a freshman
linebacker in there, and they ran a wheel route on
kids in the game because the other two are down,
and they hit a wheel route for a free touchdown,
for a free touchdown free. So he took freshman linebacker
Raylan Wilson and he backed up the biggest damn bug

(38:13):
bus that we've seen. This is like in the dark night.
It's like, you know, I I take out the bus
driver thing, what bus boom and down the guy goes.
It's kind of what he just did there. He threw
him out there, either of men. He threw him out there.
And I was celebrating some of Kirby Smart's you know
wit and his you know acumen and everything as we

(38:35):
were talking about the playoff, because he was making the argument,
tell me there's four teams better than me, they don't
have to be. That's what the committee decided exactly. But
I mean this kind of thing, I mean, this, this
is absurd.

Speaker 5 (38:48):
Yeah, it's it's you get in these situations, man, and
things get sour sometimes. And obviously when you're in a
profess profession, when you have to win, and you've set
that standard that way. And you know he's been a
guy that's obviously protected his guys along the way a lot.

(39:08):
He's been a stand up guy. But you know this
had to hurt him to be undefeated, to lose a
game in Nancecy Championship and then completely be left out
of the four. I'm sure with Fuman had to get
something off his chest.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
That's a second quarter touchdown. It is, They all count,
they all matter, but in the end, you still had
plenty of football. That's a second quarter touchdown.

Speaker 5 (39:33):
Well, you know what it sounds like. It sounds like
something they probably went over sure in practice. I mean
like they've seen it a lot, and so for him
to not get it right, it's you know, it probably
still rang in its head.

Speaker 3 (39:48):
Yeah, because we had the other going to the level
of the pros, where you've got Sean Payton, who I've
long said he's going to set up Russell Wilson. It's
a long player to set him up as the fall guy. Yeah,
if things wrong, and you had that game clinching interception
against Houston and Peyton went out of his way to
signal times where Jerry Judy was open because a lot

(40:11):
has been made about his lack of production. The last
couple of weeks, things are surging for the Broncos defenses
flying around, but Judy not seeing a lot of targets, receptions,
et cetera. So he pointed out opportunities to have gotten
Judy the ball, including you know, some of the negative plays.
So without saying Russell Wilson's name, he's basically just standing

(40:33):
there pointing in his general direction. That guy.

Speaker 4 (40:38):
He's a.

Speaker 5 (40:40):
I think we actually talked about Peyton a little bit.
Oh we did we have. Yeah, I'm not a fan
of his, and I'd say that very openly, and I
it's like, you're one hundred percent correct. It's like it's
his he's trying to put out there that his system works.
It's not the system. There's somebody open it your tire,

(41:00):
just the guy has to find him. And it's just
for me the way this season started, the way that
he went after Hackett, even though a lot of this
seems to be true.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
Now and we never denied that.

Speaker 5 (41:11):
Yes, it was a little bullish on this part, and
this is the same thing I'm getting from this situation.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
Yeah, I argued, Then I argue, now he set it
up as Russ is going to take the fault. It
doesn't work. What's the common element? You blame the common Element.
It's now Russ may not be all. It was Hackett,
it was Russ and Amy watch me all right. Coming
up next, we continue around the world of the NFL.
He's Kerry Rhodes in for Jason Smith, and this is

(41:38):
Fox Sports Radio.