March 10, 2025 • 39 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses what the addition of Davante Adams means for the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC hierarchy, why the Pittsburgh Steelers trading and extending DK Metcalf doesn't make a whole lot of sense right now, the obvious teardown taking place in Seattle and where new-Las Vegas Raiders signal caller Geno Smith ranks amongst the best quarterbacks in the NFL. FInally, J-Mac explains why he's picking Nikola Jokic over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the race for the NBA MVP award.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is up, Straight Fiream, It's me Jason MacIntyre. Straight
Fire for Monday, March the tenth. Oh my gosh, the
NFL was popping this weekend. I know it's March and
that means hoops and college basketball, March badness, NBA like
or Celtics, a lot of it basketball happening. Of course,
I had a semi final game on Sunday, and of
(00:23):
course I got hurt early.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Not great.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Probably gonna have to miss the other two playoff games
this week. Not ideal. Sun's team advanced to the semifinals.
Daughter's team has a bye. March is a basketball month,
but the NFL was absolutely bonker. So I'm coaching my
son's team in a playoff game Sunday and one kid,
you know, it was at a golf tournament and he's
showing up late and he comes over and the first
(00:46):
thing he says to me, I'm not even kidding, coach.
The Rams got Davante Adams, and I was like what
I wasn't you know? I was locked in for warm ups.
I was like, do some scouting. I had no clue
that the Ram got Davonte Adams on a two year,
forty six million dollar deal. I know he's thirty two
and he's kind of been becoming a bounce around the
(01:08):
league guy going Raiders Jets, and now this, folks, that
feels like a steal. I'm floored. I was actually shook,
like I almost wanted to take a time out in
the middle of game, be like wait, whoa, whoa, hold on?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Hold on.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So then obviously the first quarter ends and I'm looking around,
I'm like, Davante Adams is on the Rams. So they
keep Safford, they got Pooka, Davante Adams comes aboard, they
got Kiren Williams, they got an improving defense. And my
first thought, I get right into take boat of my head.
Oh my gosh. Rams have to be the favorites in
that division. Now it's been the forty nine ers for
(01:41):
like the last four or five years as the favorites
going into the season, and now it's like, wait a minute,
I mean, listen, I don't want to say Cooper Couples washed.
Obviously he started to go downhill all the injuries, but
they basically just signed DeVante. I know it's just two years,
forty six mil, but this is essentially a one year
for like twenty six million dollars. That's basically what DeVante got.
(02:04):
They just reallocated Cooper Cup's money to Devonte Adams. Now,
some people also pointed out that they gave Alan Robinson.
You remember that guy. I mean, listen, he was a
major bust with the Rams. They gave him three years,
forty five mili and they thought that would be good.
And I drafted him in Fantasy that year. I mean,
he was terrible. Devantae Adams will not be terrible.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
He turns thirty three in December, so come playoffs, the
Rams will be in there. You know, we'll see if
he slows down. We do know receivers historically slow down
in the early thirties. Not everybody, but a lot of
tread on the Davonte Adams tires. But folks, I'm looking
at Cooper Cup gone DeVante Adams in I mean, listen,
(02:43):
Davonte showed up with the Jets and looked really good.
If you want to pick your poison with the Rams,
what do we do here? Do we load up on
hookah Davontae can to beat us on the field. What
if the Rams now, I think they'll probably go off
line with the first round pick but the kid Loveland
(03:04):
from Michigan. I'm telling you, guys, if they get him
at tight end, Higbee kind.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Of hurt a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
This Rams offense could be really, really good. Now, obviously
they lose a guard. And it's funny, you know, I
was going through some of the moves and Rob G's like, yeah,
Raiders stole a guard. Nobody cares, and he's right, you know, obviously,
when it comes to gambling, offensive line trenches matters greatly
comes to the Super Bowl, playoffs winning. Yeah, offensive line's huge.
(03:31):
But like in terms of talking about on a podcast,
not that sexy Rams must beef up the offensive line
in the draft. The rest of free agency should be
spent on the offensive line. But I don't know, guys,
Obviously you don't want to get lulled into that trap.
Oh this team got a wide receiver that's going to
put him over the top. We'll go through some skill
(03:52):
position guys, because a couple of big moves over the weekend.
But let's just let's be realistic. I don't think this
turns the Rams from I don't know what they would
nine games, ten games. I don't think all of a
sudden they're now at twelve or thirteen win team. That's
not really how it works, right. Yeah, Rams won ten games,
but they had a negative nineteen point differential. Now some
(04:13):
of that is because they had a bunch of guys
dinged up early in the season, and you had a
random outlier loss to Arizona forty one to ten after
losing a tough one to Detroit in overtime in the opener,
but they swept the Niners. I know the Niners weren't
at full strength and Niners vomited up one of those games,
but like, Rams had a couple like that. Loss to
(04:33):
the Bears was quite bad, but it came after the
Niners game, so you knew there'd be a bit of
a letdown. And I don't think they've played their guys
against Seattle in the final game of the season, so
they could have been Yeah, they started someone named Humble.
Oh no, sorry, charge, sorry Garoppolo. So yeah, I think
this This helps the Rams obviously, And the only way
(04:55):
to talk about outlook for next season in Super Bowl
is if everybody's healthy, every one in the Tire League
is healthy. That's not ever going to be the case.
But if the Rams are fully healthy and everyone else
in the NFC is fully healthy. I would still have
the Eagles at the top in the NFC, and then
I need to give it some thought because Rob, I
(05:16):
don't know. Washington went to the NFC Championship, but are
they going to run that back. We did see Houston
regress a little bit after their initial playoff run with Stroud.
I think Detroit's gonna still be really good. I think
Minnesota probably will be. There's still uncertainty there. Ackers were
(05:37):
eleven win team, so I don't think the Rams are
the number two team in the NFC. Can they go
to the NFC Championship, certainly, but I still think they've
got some work to do. I would probably still go Rob.
I would go Eagles, Lions commanders. I want to see
what the quarterback situation is, whether it's Donald or JJ McCarthy.
(05:59):
But I think the Rams have a strong case to
be third or fourth in the NFC in terms of
power rankings. Now you get us on the field neutral site,
I think that things could change, but I don't know.
Rob My gut tells me that this is a really
nice move for the Rams, but I don't know if
it puts them over the Eagles. Or anything crazy.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yeah, I would agree with you. And again, it is
an upgrade. Davante Adams at this point in his career,
even though I'm a big Cooper Cup fan, is a
flat out upgrade from going from Cup to to Davante. Like,
let's just get that out of the way, and a
lot of it. Really, if you're gonna get in real
x's and o's and the elite ball knowers of the internet,
we're gonna tell you what. Howard Nikua and Davonte gonna
(06:37):
work together? How is this gonna work?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And the big thing is.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Davante Adams at this point in his career is a
slot receiver. And that I don't mean to may be disrespectful.
A lot of great slabsies in the NFL. I'm on
Rossaint Brown is a slot receiver. He does not play
on the outside. His best work is done in the inside.
Davante Adams when he played in the slot last season,
was top ten in receptions and receiving yards and fifth
team than touchdowns, and he averaged over four yards of
(07:03):
separation from the slot, which was in the top five
amongst all wide receivers. That's with Gardner Minshew Aidan O'Connell
and the rapid Ladertari at Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. Say
what you want about Matthew Stafford, and last year was not.
I don't think a great Stafford year. He's a clear
upgrade from all of those guys.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
More importantly, even though.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Again I'm one of those guys who's not a huge
Pookin Nakula guy. I don't think Pooka is one of
the top five, maybe even ten wide receivers in football.
Have to really break it down, but I just don't
view him as a game breaker type of receiver. Jokes
on me, because all the numbers say that Pookin Nakula,
no matter where you line him up, is an elite
wide receiver from the slot first to the NFL and
(07:47):
yards per route run out wide first in the NFL,
yards per route run versus man coverage second.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
In the NFL.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yards again per route run against zone first in the NFL.
Yards per route run, no matter where they put him, again,
assuming he's healthy, because he the way he plays, gets
nicked up a little bit, Pookin Nakua is gonna make
things happen. And if pokin Nakua is making things happening
on the outside and this is not an illusion, then
you expect Devontae Adams to have a Pro Bowl type
(08:16):
season again, to be on the cusp even at advanced age,
of an All Pro season again. And it all comes
down to whether or not that young defense who everybody
is so excited about. That front seven is nasty. They
look great in the in the AFC Championship game, save
from defending the run, they can get after the quarterback.
If they can get their offense to be more proactive
(08:40):
and less reactive where instead of kind of just being
hanging around or coming from behind, and if they're playing
with the lead and verse can come off the edge
and they can wreak havoc in that way, then absolutely
the Rams can be, you know, a contender in the NFC.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Are you just gonna get to that point? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Are you surprised that, like the Chargers didn't get win
this and be like, yo, we'll give more than two
for forty six for DeVante? I would go to fifty.
I mean I go a little higher than that maybe,
I mean the Chargers have nothing at receiver. Look at
the Chargers' receivers, like Lad McConkey really really good, gets
open quick. But bo, he's like six six foot one five.
(09:22):
You know, we're seeing Tank Dell in Houston keeps getting hurt.
Like these small receivers. You need big guys. Look at Puka,
you guys see him. He's at every Laker game. Rom
Do you see how big he is?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, he stands next to these NBA players. Are like, Damn,
Pooka looks fricking like a linebacker. And now you get Davante,
who's quit one of the best route runners in the league,
and like, I'm just surprised nobody else came after Davante.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 1 (09:56):
Less of a surprise would be the DK Metcalf move.
He's traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a second round pick,
remember Pittsburgh, Sorry Seattle. On Friday, when the story broke,
we were on the herd. I was like, what are
you gonna get like a third for dk Metcalf. Coward's like, no,
maybe a first and a third or I was like,
no way, Nobody's giving first. So DK goes to the
(10:19):
Steelers for the fifty second overall pick and overall. Listen,
I like DK metcalf. He is a bit I don't know,
chirpy whiney. You know, one of these guys, these wide
receiver divas. You got to dodge them.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
DK doesn't get the ball, he gets upset. DK starts
getting penalties, and then some stats started to emerge about
how he has an opportunity to win a lot of
contested balls because he has the geno. Smith would just
throw him the lob on the feed, on the fade
route or the deep route. But he doesn't catch many
of them. It's not like Pickens on Pittsburgh, who catches
(10:54):
all of them. But then you're like, oh, well we
got Pickens and DK now, and I'm like, there was
a stat I forget where I read this, but I
copied and pasted it from the article. DK and Pickens
ran go routes or deep fades nineteen percent of the time,
each in the top eleven in the NFL. What are
the Steelers doing? Not only that, but they then paid
(11:16):
DK a one hundred and fifty million dollar deal which
will take him into his thirties and I'm like, so
you went and gave up a second round pick, then
paid him one fifty, and now you're pairing him against
like his mirror image. You guys have seen that Spider
Man meme right where they're like the two Spider Man
are like, oh, I'm shooting a spiderweb by you. It's like,
(11:38):
aren't Dky and Pickens kind of sort of the same guy?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Rob? Yes, yes they are. Jason.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
I'm glad see that's why you are an elite ball nowhere,
because you paid picking this kind of stuff. There's a
lot of casuals on the internet right now that are saying, oh, snap,
DK and George Pickens, they're gonna do damage.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Where are they?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Are?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
They a top three wide receiver do in the NFL?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
And it's like, you realize they got the exact same
guy in more ways than one. It's not just the
route trees and the way they run. Both guys are
at their best deep ball, you know, getting down the field.
In this case, the Pickens is a hell of a
lot better than DK in that regard because, as you mentioned,
DK doesn't catch it as the basses. But here's the
other thing. Both of them have a propensity for getting
(12:21):
into it, with the refs getting into it, with defensive
backs getting stupid penalties that cost their team, and both
of them seem to completely have a lack of self awareness.
The worst part about all of this, though, again in Pittsburgh,
if you had to choose your wide receiver corps for
(12:43):
all their faults, you could do a hell of a
lot worse than DK and George Pickens.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
The worst part about all of this is who the
hell is going to be their quarterback.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Okay, you would think if you're gonna get a guy
who excels with a deep ball, it'd be Russell Wilson.
But all the reporting coming out of Pittsburgh, the local
guys of the national guys say, you know, it's probably
gonna be Justin Fields. They really like justin Fields. Justin
Fields and Arthur Arthur Smith have like this ying and
yang thing going on where they really see each other
(13:12):
eye to eye. You know what Justin Fields was that
quarterback in Pittsburgh. Last year they were thirty first in
the NFL and early down pass right and here's the
worst one, thirty second in rate of yardage via passes.
They did not throw the ball with Justin Fields. So
what is the point of giving up a second round
pick plus thirty million dollars this season for a wide
(13:36):
receiver who's emotional, who doesn't run great routes, who gets
a lot of penalties, who drops a good amount of passes,
and then you're not even gonna.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Throw them the ball to begin with. I don't understand
what they're doing in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
I just went to Pro Football Focus to look at
the Pittsburgh quarterback situation. Do you want to hear the
depth chart? Rob, This is surprising. I'm ready Skyler Thompson
and that's it. That's the only quarterback on the roster
as of right now.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Skyler Thompson was the Miami backup and I think started
a playoff game in Buffalo. But because Fields was a
short term deal and Russ was short term, they're kind
of flying blind. This to me is a huge tail, Rob.
I don't think you go out and get DK Metcalf
and give him a contract and pair them opposite Thickens
unless you have a plan at quarterback. They're gonna go
(14:23):
get Aaron Rodgers or Sam Dartle. It's got to be
one of those two guys. I cannot imagine DK Metcalf
going to the negotiating table with the Steelers who's the
quarterback and they didn't have like a good answer. They
had to have one. If you go from oh, I
can't believe I'm gonna say this, If you go from
Gino Smith to Justin Fields, that's a downgrade. Ye, Like,
(14:44):
and I know Justin Fields has a ton of talent,
was a better college quarterback. I get all that, but like,
Gino's a better quarterback now. Now, maybe Justin Fields in
three or four years will be better, but he's just
not a or more confident enough to throw the ball
a lot. Yeah, there's got to be a next move
to DK Metcalf, I would guess it's gonna be Rogers.
(15:08):
I don't know that Donald's gonna work out doors, and
is he really just throw the ball down the field? Guy,
that's a Rogers. Let's do a back shoulder fade, you know.
So I'm gonna go ahead and gets Aaron Rodgers to
the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Of the options on the table, that will be the
one that kind of has makes the most sense. And
even let's say it is Rogers, And again, I would
rather have Rogers than Fields or Wilson. Do you trust
Aaron Rodgers in an offense orchestrated by Arthur Smith. And
that's even with the Steelers, you know, taking a quote
(15:38):
unquote leap at the end of last season when Russell
Wilson was kind of playing some good ball and I
foolishly thought they were a dark horse Super Bowl contender
when it got down a nutcutting time and it was
getting very serious there at the end, heading into the postseason,
Arthur Smith went back to what Arthur Smith likes to do.
He wants to run the ball. He wants to ground
and pound all game, regardless who.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
They have a wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
He had that issue in Tennessee, he had that issue
in Atlanta. He has that issue now in Pittsburgh. So
I don't know what their plan is.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
There's got to be something going on. And maybe it's
as simple as, hey, we're actually acquiring DK so we
can flip George Pickens.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
That's an option that that's another one. But then it's like, damn,
what am I doing. I'm now going to get all
the attention because they're they're number two receivers. What Calvin
Austin Ford Patterson, I don't know. They don't have I don't.
I'm not bullets on the stealers. I don't think anybody is.
But we should briefly talk rob about the Seahawks who
traded Geno Smith to the Raiders. We'll get to that shortly.
(16:40):
Then they trade DK Metcalf and they released Kevin Lockett.
Those are three of their four best Lockett, Tyler Lockett,
Tyler Locket.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
What I say, Kevin Lockett, Kevin.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Okay, Tyler Locke. Yes, Tyler Locket a really good receiver,
longtime Seattle guy. They're clearly just tearing it down. They
fired their offensive coordinator. It's just that that did not
work that side of the football. So what their game
plan is I don't know. I thought when the Gino
Smith news happened, I was like, oh, well, there's Sam
Donald's landing spot. That being said, if you're Sam Donald, bro,
(17:14):
what do you go? I mean? Jsn's awesome. He was
great in the slot. There are other receivers on the
roster right now. Are Cody White, I don't know who
that is, Jake Bobo, who I like the kid out
of I believe, Georgia UCLA, Jake bow U CLA I'm sorry,
Mike Bobo was the quarterback of Georgia. Damn slipping. Thank
goodness Rob's here, and then a couple of Derry Young
(17:34):
Jalen Darden. I don't know, guys. If I'm a Seattle
Seahawks fin right now, I'm a little I'm not thrilled.
They've got some work to do, and I don't think
this is I think we can cross them off the
list of playoff teams. I know they won ten games.
I I don't know Niners will be back, Arizona will
be competitive. I feel like Seattle is looking ahead. Now
(17:55):
here's a good nugget. Twenty twenty six. Seattle has the
most cap space in the end L. Now, I don't
know what that. This isn't like the NBA where you're
freeing up super max deals. I don't know that they
can go after anybody. I will. This stuff doesn't really
happen in the NFL, so I'll say it. But the
(18:15):
Bengals are getting a lot of criticism for how they've
handled basically everything. And remember last year Joe Burrow was
a little pissed and ended up like meeting with the
owner and all. Obviously, I don't see Joe Burrow leaving Cincinnati.
That being said, if I'm Seattle and I'm desperate for
a quarterback, I try to figure out a way to
(18:39):
go after a guy like Joe Burrow. Now, again, the
chance of that happening are like one percent, but Cincinnati's
notoriously cheap, right, and Burrow cannot be happy. They franchised
tag t Higgins another stupid move. Mike Esseki got paid,
they lose an offensive lineman. I mean, Cincinnati is just
a poorly run organization, and it's Seattle. This would be
(19:00):
the equival to the an NBA team. Hey, we're freeing
up cap Roop to make a run at Yannis and
then you know what, Giannis turns down to Toronto Raptors.
Thank you for why not? It's not happening. So I
don't know. Seattle feels like they're on the downturn.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Rub absolutely and just quickly on the Bengals. If you
are a Cincinnati fan, how pissed are you that if
you were a competent franchise, you could have got Jamar
Chase done at like thirty five million.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
That number is probably gonna be north of forty.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
You could have got te Higgins done at about twenty
two to twenty five minute. That's probably gonna be thirty
thirty five million. You could have resigned Hendrickson a year
and a half ago instead of now.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Miles Garrett gonna be gone.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
You know, resetting the market at forty is gonna throw
off the Michael Parsons situation.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
So we'll see what happens with them.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
But you know, that's another conversation as far as Seattle goes,
go down the rab hole with me, j Mac.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
What if.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
The Seattle Seahawks, because we don't know what they're doing,
they got rid of their two receivers, they got rid
of their quarterback, they got rid of one of their
offensive line, actually a couple offensive line, and I believe
I think Faton has gone there.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
It was one of their starting toascks.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
What if they're playing three D chess and they are
doing the quiet tank for arch matning in twenty twenty six.
What if this is a trust the process NBA style
move where they're saying, we are gonna get rid of
our high priced veterans, We're gonna load up on cap
space for next offseason. We are gonna be terrible for
twenty twenty five play our young guys. J San's gonna
(20:25):
make a make a lot of catches. You know, get
be our star, our guy to sell the tickets. There
be bad draft arch matting and surround him with massive
free agent twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Does that make sense to you?
Speaker 1 (20:41):
I mean, I listen, I think the Jets are gonna
it sounds like the Jets are doing that. So somehow
they're in the Justin Field sweet six.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I gotta be honest, I don't know how good arch
Manning is.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
He hasn't started enough.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
He runs a lot. You know, if he was such
a superstar, why does he barely play? You know again,
I don't maybe you know it's a seniority thing. And
quentin Ewers was pretty good, but we had Daniel Jeremiah on.
He thinks quentin Ewers could go earlier than many people.
So maybe it's just that art is not quite there yet.
But yeah, that that's gonna be an interesting one One
(21:15):
to watch is Seattle kind of quiet tanking or soft
tanking whatever they call it, because they have unloaded a lot. Now,
which as we mentioned, Gino's left Seattle. He's going to
your raiders. They whiff on Stafford, and you now have
Geno Smith running the show, Robald, and let me call
up the Raiders depth chart. Kind of a busy, busy
(21:38):
offseason here for your Raiders currently, this is what their
offense looks like. You've got who's this guy, Trede Tucker outside,
Jacobe Myers in the slot, some guy Wilkerson that I'm
not familiar with at the other receiver. The running back
situation is led by Zamir White, aka, they don't have
a running back. And then Brock Powers is the tight
(22:01):
end with your offensive line pretty good? What was his
seven wins? Eight?
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I mean, that would be a decent season for us,
you know, considering where we've been at.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
You know, my Raider is not exactly.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
A perennial playoff team, if you can put it mildly.
But this situation with Gino Smith is.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Solid. It's not spectacular.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
It's not that it's nothing to get you super excited,
but it speaks to the plan in Las Vegas when
they brought in Pete Carroll. The plan was not a
teardown rebuild. The plan was not, Hey, let's build for
the future. We're gonna draft, you know, we'll say what
should your Sanders. We're gonna move up to for cam Ward,
do whatever we gotta do. And this is gonna be
(22:50):
a four, five, six year plan. No, when they got
Pete Carroll at age seventy three, the plan was, we're
just gonna be respectable. We are not gonna be a
laughing stock anymore. Our goal is not necessarily to win
the super Bowl, but our goal is to no longer
be considered a laughing stock. If we can win eight, nine,
(23:11):
maybe ten games, if things break our way, injuries go
our away, whatever it is, that's gonna be considered a
successful run with Pete Carroll, and it's gonna set the
stage for the next guy to come in and keep
us going, you know, pass the baton forward.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
It doesn't lead me to believe that Pete Carroll's probably
gonna be like a multi year guy. They can't keep
just keep cycling through coaches every year, right.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
No, No, of course not.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
And I would say with Geno Smith, to get somewhere
between the twelfth to fifteenth best quarterback for a third
round pick, you do have a lot worse than that.
He's basically he's basically generous rob fifteen.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
You know how many bad quarterbacks are in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
We got, we got a minute, let's do it. Okay,
So Josh, let's start the AFC. Let's try the NFC.
Let's try the NFC. Jalen Hurts is one. Jen Daniels
is another. Dak Prescott, I mean, listen, I don't think
he's great, but he's better than Geno Smith, right, sure, Ye,
there's three, Jared Goff four, Jordan Love I mean, Rob silent, Tyler.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Wise, absolutely, but he's only played like nine good games
his whole career.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I can't go Kayleb Williams yet. Baker Mayfield, I do
think is there. I think they're in the same, but
I would give the Mayfield. I would give six. No Falcon,
no Panther, definitely not. Derek Carr. Stafford is seven, seven
or eight.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah, I'll take Safford in there. That's okay.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So that's eight. I don't Kyler Murray.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I mean I don't.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
I mean Kyler has more talent, but I don't think
Kyler Murray has played better than.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
We won't count. We won't count. We have to count
rock Perty.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I would count rock Perty. I like Rockberty.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
So that's nine. Now the AFC is a little top heavy.
Josh Allen ten tua, I'm you know, I don't I
don't need to take to Okay, no jet, I can't
go to Drake Bay yet, but Drake Bay will be
better than him, sure. Lamar eleven yep. No Steeler, Borrow twelve,
(25:12):
No Brown, c J. Stroud thirteen yep.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
I'll give c J. Strown, No Colts Nope.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Now Trevor Lawrence is going to you.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Do not put Trevor Lawrence ahead. I mean we're gonna
fight on this podcast. Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
All right, he hasn't been great, so I'm not gonna
take Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
I do.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
I think everybody would say he's got more talent nobody
on the Titans, Mahomes and Herbert. I think that's six fifteen,
that's fifteen bow Knicks.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
I think they're like the same. I think I think
I think.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
So he's I mean, listen, Trevor Lawrence, Kyler, Murriie bo Knicks.
That puts him in like the fifteen to eighteen for
Gino Smith.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
I mean, I said twelve to fifteenth a fift So
we'll say he's the fifteenth.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Best quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
He's just mid I think.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yeah, exactly, But I think he's somewhere. And I don't
really like ranking them because it's so fluid, you know,
but I would say he's in a tier. I think
his tier is somewhere with like Baker Mayfield, you know,
I think bo Nick is on the bottom of that
tier somewhere. If you want to say, Kyler Murray's on
that tier. If you want to see Jordan, because Jordan
love talent wise, absolutely, but he hasn't shown to be
(26:19):
a great quarterback yet. So if you can get a
middle of the road quarterback for the third round pick,
you could do.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Have a lot worse than that.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Yeah, no, you're right. So those were like the high
end NFL moves. Now we're recording this, you know, West coast,
late Sunday night, early morning, East coast, and before we
pivot to a little NBA talk, Rob, I'm just gonna
put this out there into the ether. But the great
Daniel Jeremiah from Pro Football, I'm sorry, he's been like
(26:50):
an announcer for the Chargers. He's over at NFL Network.
He put out a tweet Sunday night that said the
Panthers will be fun to monitor tomorrow. Now I don't
know what that means. I don't think anybody does. I
think it's purposely vague. That being said, one of the
most popular reactions is that they're going to be trading
(27:11):
or try to Now this is not from Jeremiah. This
is just reaction from the Peanut Gallery that they're going
to try to make a move for Michael Parsons. And
I suppose. Now here's the problem. They don't have a
ton of draft picks.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Remember they traded a.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Lot of Amway. They don't even have a I don't
think they have a second round pick this year.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I saw that.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
I think that's going to Chicago or maybe that's from
another deal. But like, I don't know any guesses what
the Panthers could be fun to monitor. Do you think
they'd say trade for Pickens or they already like, you
know what, we tried one of these problem receivers. It
didn't work out. I don't know any gut feeling who's
out there that they could go after.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
I mean, there's a lot of guys that could go after.
But if you are the Carolina Panthers, given what we
saw from Bryce Young to end the season last year,
where he looked like not just a competent quarterback, but
a guy with a lot of upside, that the one
that we hoped we would see when he was drafting
number one overall. I would not mind them making a
move for T Higgins oh and saying Cincinnati, the market
(28:13):
is the market. You know you cannot or you can't
afford him, but you're gonna choose to say you can't
afford him so rather than give up. I believe, like
the franchise tag, it's two ones plus you know the contract.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
I don't think something like that.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
When the Raiders first acquired devoncea adas years ago, it
was the same kind of situation, and I believe the
Packers rescinded the franchise tag and said, hey, we will
trade him to you for I think it was a
second and then you take the contract and you pay
whatever you're gonna pay him. I could see them doing
something like that.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Carolina Pants. They've been kind of a dormant franchise for
a minute. I mean T Higgins, that would be spicy boy.
How pissed with Burrow? Be geez?
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I think he's already pissed. He has to be pissed
on me.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, he's definitely gotta be upset.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports
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to listen live.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
We will quickly wrap up with an NBA obviously. The
big news Laker Celtics Saturday was pretty good. All of Boston,
you know, as expected, ran away in the third quarter.
Lakers covered first quarter again, folks, Fifteen of seventeen games
are covering the first quarter. Now. Lebron old is groin
sounds like he's going to be out a week, maybe two.
(29:28):
I honestly don't think it's the worst thing in the world.
You look at his schedule. They have a ton of
back to backs here in the next two weeks. Rest Lebron,
don't overtax Luca, take a couple L's. If you slide
in the West from two to three or four, it's
not the end of the world. You know, again, I'll
repeat it. I don't think the Lakers are afraid of Denver.
I don't think the Lakers are afraid of OKC. And overall,
(29:51):
the Lakers showed really well of late. No Ruie Reeves
still getting back to work. Lucas starting to come on.
I'm just telling you guys, the Lakers are But we
talked about him a lot rob real quick, and I
know we don't give them a lot of love on
this podcast, but man, this NBA debate about Yo Kich
or SGA for MVP is getting kind of spicy. And
(30:13):
I mean, listen, I don't want to steal Rob G's takes.
Like the producer's job is to come up with amazing
topics and funny stuff and hand it to the guy
who's willing to put his stick, his neck on the
line and say crazy stuff because who cares. I don't
care if I'm wrong. Okay, and Rob G had a
really fricking good one about SGA versus Yoki, so my goat.
(30:36):
Tell me again, I'm not a voter, Thank goodness. I
don't want to get involved in that crap. But if
you came to me instead, who's the MVP of the league,
I would say it's Jokic. I mean, you could yell
at me with numbers or do your blue in the face.
I don't care. I don't think Yokich is.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
The best player.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I don't think SGA's the best player in the league
is the awesome?
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Right?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Is he having a career season?
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Hell? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Are the Thunder the best team in the league? Well,
I think they're second now to Cleveland technically, but you
look at Jokic. He had a thirty twenty twenty game
over the weekend. Now, let me just repeat that. Thirty points,
twenty rebounds, twenty assists, twenty assists. How many twenty as
sis games in magic haf You know how many twenty
(31:18):
games assists for Isaiah Thomas Steph Curry? Twenty assists for you?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Kitch?
Speaker 1 (31:22):
That's ridiculous. And you know, I know Pat Patrick Mahomes
with his dad Bod kind of made those cool. He
still escapes defensive ends and is in good shape. Yokich
is the king of the dad bots. He does not
look like much at all, is dooey, serbian, and all
he does is just make incredible passes, his vision, his
IQ thick. Guy's amazing and I'm sorry for me.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
He's the MVV.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
However, I'm kind of with Rob. I don't think he's
gonna get it because the media that votes for it,
the dumb media. Sorry, guys, they're like, well Sgay's never
got one. We should give it to him. That's what
they did with Embiid. You guys remember that, and Pat
wasn't better than you? Could you be? That an awesome year,
but it's really goofy. So Rob, I'm gonna now grant
(32:06):
you a vote for the MVP.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
Who you got?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Nikola Jokic.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Oh easily agreement.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
And at some point, we guys are gotta be honest
with ourselves. The NBA MVP, if we're gonna be straightforward,
should be Nikola Jokic. And and for my money, he
should be the perennial favorite from here on Allen, because
if we're gonna really talk about who the most valuable
player is, there is nobody statistically that is more valuable
(32:38):
to his team than Nikola Jokic. This is the NBA's
version of Josh Allen versus Lamar Jackson. Anybody with two
eyes and with the ability to read could tell you
Lamar Jackson's numbers are better across the board than Josh Allen.
Nikola Jokic's numbers are are better basically across the board
(33:02):
than Shay Gilgas. Alexander Sga is having a phenomenal season.
Jokic's numbers are better. Yeah, it's better. The problem is,
as you alluded to, these voters, these get up on
their soapbox holier than now. I was listening to a
Brian Windhorse podcast friend of the show We Love Brian,
(33:22):
We Love Wendy and multiple guys who are on his show.
I believe at least one of them is an NBA
MVP voter said, you have to consider the fact that
he's already won two of the last three and the precedents,
it would say if he want three out of four,
which is why I cannot in good conscience vote for
(33:44):
Nikola Jokic for MVP this season. He'd have to do
something incredible for me to vote. Last I checked, SGA,
excuse me, Nikola Jokic is gonna have what is it,
the second greatest per season in NBA history. Last I checked,
Nicol Jokic is putting up higher points per game and
higher as this per game than any of his MVP seasons.
(34:07):
Sounds to me like he's doing more than he did before.
But because of the narrative, Oh the OKC Thunder, the
Little Engine that could, SGA is the only good player
that they have. He's the only All Star that they have.
Of course, you know A J.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Dubb. I know he made the All Star team, but
he's not really that good. SGA is the.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
One carrying him. Have you seen Denver's bench? Nikola Jokis
should be the MVP. Unfortunately, because of who we have
voting for it, the narrative is going to go to SGA.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
He's gonna end up winning it.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
You know, it's weird, Rob. I just looked up player
efficiency rating. ESPN's peer was created by this guy named
John Hollinger. It's an interesting stat. But I'm gonna read
off the top ten. Tell me what the common theme
in here is. I'm not going to even give a
hint as to what the team could be. One is Jokic,
Two is SGA, Three is Yannis for his a D.
Five is Zion, Six is Mark Williams from Charlotte, Seven
(35:02):
is Daniel Gafford. Eight is Wemby nine as cat ten
is in beat. What's a common theme there?
Speaker 2 (35:08):
A lot of big men?
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Yeah, all big men except for SGA. That's insane. So
every stat is kind of sort of skewed, is it not, Rob?
Speaker 2 (35:15):
I mean that's fair.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Yeah, Like, I don't know how SGA is on there.
I did see a wild stat that SGA leaves the
league in points, and if you went by just what
he's accomplished through three quarters of games, he's second in
the league in points, which I don't know. That like
kind of breaks my brain a little bit, like he's
set out so many fourth quarters because of blowouts that
he's just putting up monster numbers early. So I'm kind
(35:40):
of with you. Like again, I know, I've called SGA
a free throw merchant, and I don't think that they're
gonna beat the Lakers if they meet in the playoffs.
But just thirty twenty twenty now it got buried. I
think it was on Saturday night, right or was that Friday?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
I think that might have been Saturday night because the
Lakers game was on Friday.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Ooh, that might was that Saturday night? Yes, I think
it was Saturday night. No, No, that was Friday night.
It was Firday. This is one of the problems.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
So the NBA needs to put games on Friday and
Saturday obviously, because that's when people can go to games,
make it a big night out. Saturday is the marquee night,
and it's like, you know, it kind of gets buried
you come around Monday and it's like, oh, well, what
happened Friday night in the league? Oh well, Yoki's put
up a insane thirty one twenty two assists, twenty one boards.
(36:34):
By the way, he scored thirty one points on twenty
two shots. That's it. Now, here's what's scary. Rob alluded
to this just filed us away for the postseason. Nuggets
scored one hundred and forty nine points. The game went overtime.
They only played eight guys. That's it, eight guys. He's
still now this was the big knock him alone. He
(36:55):
doesn't play young guys a lot. I think he's being
forced at gunpoint to keep Christian Brown in the starting
lineup because he had to be move Westbrook back to
the bench. But like, there's no way that they're gonna
be going to the NBA Finals only playing a total
of eight guys. Here now, Dario Sarich, Jalen Pickett, Hunter Tyson,
(37:18):
these guys don't play. The Nuggets have to start resting guys. Man.
I don't know, Robert, I know you like to play.
You gotta play all the games. You need your guys
in the playoffs. And I'm a little surprised that the
Nuggets are not starting to power down just a little bit. Listen,
they're gonna be what are they gonna be? Two to
three at worse four? Like, does it really matter who
(37:39):
they played?
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Who?
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Who's beating them this year in Minnesota? I don't know,
but Lakers are tied with Denver for second. They're currently
win the tiebreaker, but I don't know if that's gonna
last long since the Lakers won't have Lebron in the rematch.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Yeah, and listeners need to understand that we are making
this Jokic case on the heels of them getting blasted
on Sunday by twenty four points in OKAC. I think
they're playing again tonight. I think it's one of those
weird back to back games OKC. No, I think it's
both of them are in OKC. I think if I'm
almost positive, But in Sunday's game, Jokic had played forty
(38:14):
one minutes. Because your point, they have no bench, they
have no one they can rely on because Aaron Gordon
left after like sixty six seven minutes because of the
cap injury. In the seven minutes that Jokic was not
on the floor, the Denver was minus fourteen. Okay, SGA
as great and he was great on so he had
forty ball again in the thirteen minutes he didn't play.
(38:37):
OKC was plus thirteen.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
So here's the thing, Rob, again, you know you kind
of nailed it on SGA. I feel like he was
going super hard for the MVP in this game, and
remember MB did that and it ended up hurting him.
SGA took thirty two shots, forty points on thirty two
shots even thirty five minutes.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Bro, I mean that's Kobe. That's two thousand and six
Kobe numbers. I love that.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
I again, I'm not in the least afraid of OKAC.
And I think, to the point about the benches, I
think Lakers are developing their bench here with Ruiyol. Reeves
had been out, now Lebron's gonna be out. I think
this is kind of a really good scenario for the Lakers.
And I know I sound like a Homer, that's fine,
but I also say it to Thibodeau man like he's
grinding dudes to the ground, Like come on, man. Anyways,
(39:31):
lengthy Monday podcast, It's Championship week, ladies and gentlemen. I'll
be putting picks on ig No Picks Sunday. However, Saturday
four to oh and hit Lakers first quarter for five
and Zho try to get hot for March Madness.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
We're back tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
See you
What is up, Straight Fiream, It's me Jason MacIntyre. Straight
Fire for Monday, March the tenth. Oh my gosh, the
NFL was popping this weekend. I know it's March and
that means hoops and college basketball, March badness, NBA like
or Celtics, a lot of it basketball happening. Of course,
I had a semi final game on Sunday, and of
(00:23):
course I got hurt early.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Not great.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Probably gonna have to miss the other two playoff games
this week. Not ideal. Sun's team advanced to the semifinals.
Daughter's team has a bye. March is a basketball month,
but the NFL was absolutely bonker. So I'm coaching my
son's team in a playoff game Sunday and one kid,
you know, it was at a golf tournament and he's
showing up late and he comes over and the first
(00:46):
thing he says to me, I'm not even kidding, coach.
The Rams got Davante Adams, and I was like what
I wasn't you know? I was locked in for warm ups.
I was like, do some scouting. I had no clue
that the Ram got Davonte Adams on a two year,
forty six million dollar deal. I know he's thirty two
and he's kind of been becoming a bounce around the
(01:08):
league guy going Raiders Jets, and now this, folks, that
feels like a steal. I'm floored. I was actually shook,
like I almost wanted to take a time out in
the middle of game, be like wait, whoa, whoa, hold on?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Hold on.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So then obviously the first quarter ends and I'm looking around,
I'm like, Davante Adams is on the Rams. So they
keep Safford, they got Pooka, Davante Adams comes aboard, they
got Kiren Williams, they got an improving defense. And my
first thought, I get right into take boat of my head.
Oh my gosh. Rams have to be the favorites in
that division. Now it's been the forty nine ers for
(01:41):
like the last four or five years as the favorites
going into the season, and now it's like, wait a minute,
I mean, listen, I don't want to say Cooper Couples washed.
Obviously he started to go downhill all the injuries, but
they basically just signed DeVante. I know it's just two years,
forty six mil, but this is essentially a one year
for like twenty six million dollars. That's basically what DeVante got.
(02:04):
They just reallocated Cooper Cup's money to Devonte Adams. Now,
some people also pointed out that they gave Alan Robinson.
You remember that guy. I mean, listen, he was a
major bust with the Rams. They gave him three years,
forty five mili and they thought that would be good.
And I drafted him in Fantasy that year. I mean,
he was terrible. Devantae Adams will not be terrible.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
He turns thirty three in December, so come playoffs, the
Rams will be in there. You know, we'll see if
he slows down. We do know receivers historically slow down
in the early thirties. Not everybody, but a lot of
tread on the Davonte Adams tires. But folks, I'm looking
at Cooper Cup gone DeVante Adams in I mean, listen,
(02:43):
Davonte showed up with the Jets and looked really good.
If you want to pick your poison with the Rams,
what do we do here? Do we load up on
hookah Davontae can to beat us on the field. What
if the Rams now, I think they'll probably go off
line with the first round pick but the kid Loveland
(03:04):
from Michigan. I'm telling you, guys, if they get him
at tight end, Higbee kind.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Of hurt a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
This Rams offense could be really, really good. Now, obviously
they lose a guard. And it's funny, you know, I
was going through some of the moves and Rob G's like, yeah,
Raiders stole a guard. Nobody cares, and he's right, you know, obviously,
when it comes to gambling, offensive line trenches matters greatly
comes to the Super Bowl, playoffs winning. Yeah, offensive line's huge.
(03:31):
But like in terms of talking about on a podcast,
not that sexy Rams must beef up the offensive line
in the draft. The rest of free agency should be
spent on the offensive line. But I don't know, guys,
Obviously you don't want to get lulled into that trap.
Oh this team got a wide receiver that's going to
put him over the top. We'll go through some skill
(03:52):
position guys, because a couple of big moves over the weekend.
But let's just let's be realistic. I don't think this
turns the Rams from I don't know what they would
nine games, ten games. I don't think all of a
sudden they're now at twelve or thirteen win team. That's
not really how it works, right. Yeah, Rams won ten games,
but they had a negative nineteen point differential. Now some
(04:13):
of that is because they had a bunch of guys
dinged up early in the season, and you had a
random outlier loss to Arizona forty one to ten after
losing a tough one to Detroit in overtime in the opener,
but they swept the Niners. I know the Niners weren't
at full strength and Niners vomited up one of those games,
but like, Rams had a couple like that. Loss to
(04:33):
the Bears was quite bad, but it came after the
Niners game, so you knew there'd be a bit of
a letdown. And I don't think they've played their guys
against Seattle in the final game of the season, so
they could have been Yeah, they started someone named Humble.
Oh no, sorry, charge, sorry Garoppolo. So yeah, I think
this This helps the Rams obviously, And the only way
(04:55):
to talk about outlook for next season in Super Bowl
is if everybody's healthy, every one in the Tire League
is healthy. That's not ever going to be the case.
But if the Rams are fully healthy and everyone else
in the NFC is fully healthy. I would still have
the Eagles at the top in the NFC, and then
I need to give it some thought because Rob, I
(05:16):
don't know. Washington went to the NFC Championship, but are
they going to run that back. We did see Houston
regress a little bit after their initial playoff run with Stroud.
I think Detroit's gonna still be really good. I think
Minnesota probably will be. There's still uncertainty there. Ackers were
(05:37):
eleven win team, so I don't think the Rams are
the number two team in the NFC. Can they go
to the NFC Championship, certainly, but I still think they've
got some work to do. I would probably still go Rob.
I would go Eagles, Lions commanders. I want to see
what the quarterback situation is, whether it's Donald or JJ McCarthy.
(05:59):
But I think the Rams have a strong case to
be third or fourth in the NFC in terms of
power rankings. Now you get us on the field neutral site,
I think that things could change, but I don't know.
Rob My gut tells me that this is a really
nice move for the Rams, but I don't know if
it puts them over the Eagles. Or anything crazy.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yeah, I would agree with you. And again, it is
an upgrade. Davante Adams at this point in his career,
even though I'm a big Cooper Cup fan, is a
flat out upgrade from going from Cup to to Davante. Like,
let's just get that out of the way, and a
lot of it. Really, if you're gonna get in real
x's and o's and the elite ball knowers of the internet,
we're gonna tell you what. Howard Nikua and Davonte gonna
(06:37):
work together? How is this gonna work?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
And the big thing is.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Davante Adams at this point in his career is a
slot receiver. And that I don't mean to may be disrespectful.
A lot of great slabsies in the NFL. I'm on
Rossaint Brown is a slot receiver. He does not play
on the outside. His best work is done in the inside.
Davante Adams when he played in the slot last season,
was top ten in receptions and receiving yards and fifth
team than touchdowns, and he averaged over four yards of
(07:03):
separation from the slot, which was in the top five
amongst all wide receivers. That's with Gardner Minshew Aidan O'Connell
and the rapid Ladertari at Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. Say
what you want about Matthew Stafford, and last year was not.
I don't think a great Stafford year. He's a clear
upgrade from all of those guys.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
More importantly, even though.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Again I'm one of those guys who's not a huge
Pookin Nakula guy. I don't think Pooka is one of
the top five, maybe even ten wide receivers in football.
Have to really break it down, but I just don't
view him as a game breaker type of receiver. Jokes
on me, because all the numbers say that Pookin Nakula,
no matter where you line him up, is an elite
wide receiver from the slot first to the NFL and
(07:47):
yards per route run out wide first in the NFL,
yards per route run versus man coverage second.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
In the NFL.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yards again per route run against zone first in the NFL.
Yards per route run, no matter where they put him, again,
assuming he's healthy, because he the way he plays, gets
nicked up a little bit, Pookin Nakua is gonna make
things happen. And if pokin Nakua is making things happening
on the outside and this is not an illusion, then
you expect Devontae Adams to have a Pro Bowl type
(08:16):
season again, to be on the cusp even at advanced age,
of an All Pro season again. And it all comes
down to whether or not that young defense who everybody
is so excited about. That front seven is nasty. They
look great in the in the AFC Championship game, save
from defending the run, they can get after the quarterback.
If they can get their offense to be more proactive
(08:40):
and less reactive where instead of kind of just being
hanging around or coming from behind, and if they're playing
with the lead and verse can come off the edge
and they can wreak havoc in that way, then absolutely
the Rams can be, you know, a contender in the NFC.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Are you just gonna get to that point? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Are you surprised that, like the Chargers didn't get win
this and be like, yo, we'll give more than two
for forty six for DeVante? I would go to fifty.
I mean I go a little higher than that maybe,
I mean the Chargers have nothing at receiver. Look at
the Chargers' receivers, like Lad McConkey really really good, gets
open quick. But bo, he's like six six foot one five.
(09:22):
You know, we're seeing Tank Dell in Houston keeps getting hurt.
Like these small receivers. You need big guys. Look at Puka,
you guys see him. He's at every Laker game. Rom
Do you see how big he is?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, he stands next to these NBA players. Are like, Damn,
Pooka looks fricking like a linebacker. And now you get Davante,
who's quit one of the best route runners in the league,
and like, I'm just surprised nobody else came after Davante.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Less of a surprise would be the DK Metcalf move.
He's traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a second round pick,
remember Pittsburgh, Sorry Seattle. On Friday, when the story broke,
we were on the herd. I was like, what are
you gonna get like a third for dk Metcalf. Coward's like, no,
maybe a first and a third or I was like,
no way, Nobody's giving first. So DK goes to the
(10:19):
Steelers for the fifty second overall pick and overall. Listen,
I like DK metcalf. He is a bit I don't know,
chirpy whiney. You know, one of these guys, these wide
receiver divas. You got to dodge them.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
DK doesn't get the ball, he gets upset. DK starts
getting penalties, and then some stats started to emerge about
how he has an opportunity to win a lot of
contested balls because he has the geno. Smith would just
throw him the lob on the feed, on the fade
route or the deep route. But he doesn't catch many
of them. It's not like Pickens on Pittsburgh, who catches
(10:54):
all of them. But then you're like, oh, well we
got Pickens and DK now, and I'm like, there was
a stat I forget where I read this, but I
copied and pasted it from the article. DK and Pickens
ran go routes or deep fades nineteen percent of the time,
each in the top eleven in the NFL. What are
the Steelers doing? Not only that, but they then paid
(11:16):
DK a one hundred and fifty million dollar deal which
will take him into his thirties and I'm like, so
you went and gave up a second round pick, then
paid him one fifty, and now you're pairing him against
like his mirror image. You guys have seen that Spider
Man meme right where they're like the two Spider Man
are like, oh, I'm shooting a spiderweb by you. It's like,
(11:38):
aren't Dky and Pickens kind of sort of the same guy?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Rob? Yes, yes they are. Jason.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
I'm glad see that's why you are an elite ball nowhere,
because you paid picking this kind of stuff. There's a
lot of casuals on the internet right now that are saying, oh, snap,
DK and George Pickens, they're gonna do damage.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Where are they?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Are?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
They a top three wide receiver do in the NFL?
Speaker 3 (12:00):
And it's like, you realize they got the exact same
guy in more ways than one. It's not just the
route trees and the way they run. Both guys are
at their best deep ball, you know, getting down the field.
In this case, the Pickens is a hell of a
lot better than DK in that regard because, as you mentioned,
DK doesn't catch it as the basses. But here's the
other thing. Both of them have a propensity for getting
(12:21):
into it, with the refs getting into it, with defensive
backs getting stupid penalties that cost their team, and both
of them seem to completely have a lack of self awareness.
The worst part about all of this, though, again in Pittsburgh,
if you had to choose your wide receiver corps for
(12:43):
all their faults, you could do a hell of a
lot worse than DK and George Pickens.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
The worst part about all of this is who the
hell is going to be their quarterback.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Okay, you would think if you're gonna get a guy
who excels with a deep ball, it'd be Russell Wilson.
But all the reporting coming out of Pittsburgh, the local
guys of the national guys say, you know, it's probably
gonna be Justin Fields. They really like justin Fields. Justin
Fields and Arthur Arthur Smith have like this ying and
yang thing going on where they really see each other
(13:12):
eye to eye. You know what Justin Fields was that
quarterback in Pittsburgh. Last year they were thirty first in
the NFL and early down pass right and here's the
worst one, thirty second in rate of yardage via passes.
They did not throw the ball with Justin Fields. So
what is the point of giving up a second round
pick plus thirty million dollars this season for a wide
(13:36):
receiver who's emotional, who doesn't run great routes, who gets
a lot of penalties, who drops a good amount of passes,
and then you're not even gonna.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Throw them the ball to begin with. I don't understand
what they're doing in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
I just went to Pro Football Focus to look at
the Pittsburgh quarterback situation. Do you want to hear the
depth chart? Rob, This is surprising. I'm ready Skyler Thompson
and that's it. That's the only quarterback on the roster
as of right now.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Skyler Thompson was the Miami backup and I think started
a playoff game in Buffalo. But because Fields was a
short term deal and Russ was short term, they're kind
of flying blind. This to me is a huge tail, Rob.
I don't think you go out and get DK Metcalf
and give him a contract and pair them opposite Thickens
unless you have a plan at quarterback. They're gonna go
(14:23):
get Aaron Rodgers or Sam Dartle. It's got to be
one of those two guys. I cannot imagine DK Metcalf
going to the negotiating table with the Steelers who's the
quarterback and they didn't have like a good answer. They
had to have one. If you go from oh, I
can't believe I'm gonna say this, If you go from
Gino Smith to Justin Fields, that's a downgrade. Ye, Like,
(14:44):
and I know Justin Fields has a ton of talent,
was a better college quarterback. I get all that, but like,
Gino's a better quarterback now. Now, maybe Justin Fields in
three or four years will be better, but he's just
not a or more confident enough to throw the ball
a lot. Yeah, there's got to be a next move
to DK Metcalf, I would guess it's gonna be Rogers.
(15:08):
I don't know that Donald's gonna work out doors, and
is he really just throw the ball down the field? Guy,
that's a Rogers. Let's do a back shoulder fade, you know.
So I'm gonna go ahead and gets Aaron Rodgers to
the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Of the options on the table, that will be the
one that kind of has makes the most sense. And
even let's say it is Rogers, And again, I would
rather have Rogers than Fields or Wilson. Do you trust
Aaron Rodgers in an offense orchestrated by Arthur Smith. And
that's even with the Steelers, you know, taking a quote
(15:38):
unquote leap at the end of last season when Russell
Wilson was kind of playing some good ball and I
foolishly thought they were a dark horse Super Bowl contender
when it got down a nutcutting time and it was
getting very serious there at the end, heading into the postseason,
Arthur Smith went back to what Arthur Smith likes to do.
He wants to run the ball. He wants to ground
and pound all game, regardless who.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
They have a wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
He had that issue in Tennessee, he had that issue
in Atlanta. He has that issue now in Pittsburgh. So
I don't know what their plan is.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
There's got to be something going on. And maybe it's
as simple as, hey, we're actually acquiring DK so we
can flip George Pickens.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
That's an option that that's another one. But then it's like, damn,
what am I doing. I'm now going to get all
the attention because they're they're number two receivers. What Calvin
Austin Ford Patterson, I don't know. They don't have I don't.
I'm not bullets on the stealers. I don't think anybody is.
But we should briefly talk rob about the Seahawks who
traded Geno Smith to the Raiders. We'll get to that shortly.
(16:40):
Then they trade DK Metcalf and they released Kevin Lockett.
Those are three of their four best Lockett, Tyler Lockett,
Tyler Locket.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
What I say, Kevin Lockett, Kevin.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Okay, Tyler Locke. Yes, Tyler Locket a really good receiver,
longtime Seattle guy. They're clearly just tearing it down. They
fired their offensive coordinator. It's just that that did not
work that side of the football. So what their game
plan is I don't know. I thought when the Gino
Smith news happened, I was like, oh, well, there's Sam
Donald's landing spot. That being said, if you're Sam Donald, bro,
(17:14):
what do you go? I mean? Jsn's awesome. He was
great in the slot. There are other receivers on the
roster right now. Are Cody White, I don't know who
that is, Jake Bobo, who I like the kid out
of I believe, Georgia UCLA, Jake bow U CLA I'm sorry,
Mike Bobo was the quarterback of Georgia. Damn slipping. Thank
goodness Rob's here, and then a couple of Derry Young
(17:34):
Jalen Darden. I don't know, guys. If I'm a Seattle
Seahawks fin right now, I'm a little I'm not thrilled.
They've got some work to do, and I don't think
this is I think we can cross them off the
list of playoff teams. I know they won ten games.
I I don't know Niners will be back, Arizona will
be competitive. I feel like Seattle is looking ahead. Now
(17:55):
here's a good nugget. Twenty twenty six. Seattle has the
most cap space in the end L. Now, I don't
know what that. This isn't like the NBA where you're
freeing up super max deals. I don't know that they
can go after anybody. I will. This stuff doesn't really
happen in the NFL, so I'll say it. But the
(18:15):
Bengals are getting a lot of criticism for how they've
handled basically everything. And remember last year Joe Burrow was
a little pissed and ended up like meeting with the
owner and all. Obviously, I don't see Joe Burrow leaving Cincinnati.
That being said, if I'm Seattle and I'm desperate for
a quarterback, I try to figure out a way to
(18:39):
go after a guy like Joe Burrow. Now, again, the
chance of that happening are like one percent, but Cincinnati's
notoriously cheap, right, and Burrow cannot be happy. They franchised
tag t Higgins another stupid move. Mike Esseki got paid,
they lose an offensive lineman. I mean, Cincinnati is just
a poorly run organization, and it's Seattle. This would be
(19:00):
the equival to the an NBA team. Hey, we're freeing
up cap Roop to make a run at Yannis and
then you know what, Giannis turns down to Toronto Raptors.
Thank you for why not? It's not happening. So I
don't know. Seattle feels like they're on the downturn.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Rub absolutely and just quickly on the Bengals. If you
are a Cincinnati fan, how pissed are you that if
you were a competent franchise, you could have got Jamar
Chase done at like thirty five million.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
That number is probably gonna be north of forty.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
You could have got te Higgins done at about twenty
two to twenty five minute. That's probably gonna be thirty
thirty five million. You could have resigned Hendrickson a year
and a half ago instead of now.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Miles Garrett gonna be gone.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
You know, resetting the market at forty is gonna throw
off the Michael Parsons situation.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
So we'll see what happens with them.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
But you know, that's another conversation as far as Seattle goes,
go down the rab hole with me, j Mac.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
What if.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
The Seattle Seahawks, because we don't know what they're doing,
they got rid of their two receivers, they got rid
of their quarterback, they got rid of one of their
offensive line, actually a couple offensive line, and I believe
I think Faton has gone there.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
It was one of their starting toascks.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
What if they're playing three D chess and they are
doing the quiet tank for arch matning in twenty twenty six.
What if this is a trust the process NBA style
move where they're saying, we are gonna get rid of
our high priced veterans, We're gonna load up on cap
space for next offseason. We are gonna be terrible for
twenty twenty five play our young guys. J San's gonna
(20:25):
make a make a lot of catches. You know, get
be our star, our guy to sell the tickets. There
be bad draft arch matting and surround him with massive
free agent twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Does that make sense to you?
Speaker 1 (20:41):
I mean, I listen, I think the Jets are gonna
it sounds like the Jets are doing that. So somehow
they're in the Justin Field sweet six.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I gotta be honest, I don't know how good arch
Manning is.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
He hasn't started enough.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
He runs a lot. You know, if he was such
a superstar, why does he barely play? You know again,
I don't maybe you know it's a seniority thing. And
quentin Ewers was pretty good, but we had Daniel Jeremiah on.
He thinks quentin Ewers could go earlier than many people.
So maybe it's just that art is not quite there yet.
But yeah, that that's gonna be an interesting one One
(21:15):
to watch is Seattle kind of quiet tanking or soft
tanking whatever they call it, because they have unloaded a lot. Now,
which as we mentioned, Gino's left Seattle. He's going to
your raiders. They whiff on Stafford, and you now have
Geno Smith running the show, Robald, and let me call
up the Raiders depth chart. Kind of a busy, busy
(21:38):
offseason here for your Raiders currently, this is what their
offense looks like. You've got who's this guy, Trede Tucker outside,
Jacobe Myers in the slot, some guy Wilkerson that I'm
not familiar with at the other receiver. The running back
situation is led by Zamir White, aka, they don't have
a running back. And then Brock Powers is the tight
(22:01):
end with your offensive line pretty good? What was his
seven wins? Eight?
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I mean, that would be a decent season for us,
you know, considering where we've been at.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
You know, my Raider is not exactly.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
A perennial playoff team, if you can put it mildly.
But this situation with Gino Smith is.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Solid. It's not spectacular.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
It's not that it's nothing to get you super excited,
but it speaks to the plan in Las Vegas when
they brought in Pete Carroll. The plan was not a
teardown rebuild. The plan was not, Hey, let's build for
the future. We're gonna draft, you know, we'll say what
should your Sanders. We're gonna move up to for cam Ward,
do whatever we gotta do. And this is gonna be
(22:50):
a four, five, six year plan. No, when they got
Pete Carroll at age seventy three, the plan was, we're
just gonna be respectable. We are not gonna be a
laughing stock anymore. Our goal is not necessarily to win
the super Bowl, but our goal is to no longer
be considered a laughing stock. If we can win eight, nine,
(23:11):
maybe ten games, if things break our way, injuries go
our away, whatever it is, that's gonna be considered a
successful run with Pete Carroll, and it's gonna set the
stage for the next guy to come in and keep
us going, you know, pass the baton forward.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
It doesn't lead me to believe that Pete Carroll's probably
gonna be like a multi year guy. They can't keep
just keep cycling through coaches every year, right.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
No, No, of course not.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
And I would say with Geno Smith, to get somewhere
between the twelfth to fifteenth best quarterback for a third
round pick, you do have a lot worse than that.
He's basically he's basically generous rob fifteen.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
You know how many bad quarterbacks are in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
We got, we got a minute, let's do it. Okay,
So Josh, let's start the AFC. Let's try the NFC.
Let's try the NFC. Jalen Hurts is one. Jen Daniels
is another. Dak Prescott, I mean, listen, I don't think
he's great, but he's better than Geno Smith, right, sure, Ye,
there's three, Jared Goff four, Jordan Love I mean, Rob silent, Tyler.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Wise, absolutely, but he's only played like nine good games
his whole career.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I can't go Kayleb Williams yet. Baker Mayfield, I do
think is there. I think they're in the same, but
I would give the Mayfield. I would give six. No Falcon,
no Panther, definitely not. Derek Carr. Stafford is seven, seven
or eight.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah, I'll take Safford in there. That's okay.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So that's eight. I don't Kyler Murray.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I mean I don't.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
I mean Kyler has more talent, but I don't think
Kyler Murray has played better than.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
We won't count. We won't count. We have to count
rock Perty.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I would count rock Perty. I like Rockberty.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
So that's nine. Now the AFC is a little top heavy.
Josh Allen ten tua, I'm you know, I don't I
don't need to take to Okay, no jet, I can't
go to Drake Bay yet, but Drake Bay will be
better than him, sure. Lamar eleven yep. No Steeler, Borrow twelve,
(25:12):
No Brown, c J. Stroud thirteen yep.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
I'll give c J. Strown, No Colts Nope.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Now Trevor Lawrence is going to you.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Do not put Trevor Lawrence ahead. I mean we're gonna
fight on this podcast. Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
All right, he hasn't been great, so I'm not gonna
take Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
I do.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
I think everybody would say he's got more talent nobody
on the Titans, Mahomes and Herbert. I think that's six fifteen,
that's fifteen bow Knicks.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
I think they're like the same. I think I think
I think.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
So he's I mean, listen, Trevor Lawrence, Kyler, Murriie bo Knicks.
That puts him in like the fifteen to eighteen for
Gino Smith.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
I mean, I said twelve to fifteenth a fift So
we'll say he's the fifteenth.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Best quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
He's just mid I think.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yeah, exactly, But I think he's somewhere. And I don't
really like ranking them because it's so fluid, you know,
but I would say he's in a tier. I think
his tier is somewhere with like Baker Mayfield, you know,
I think bo Nick is on the bottom of that
tier somewhere. If you want to say, Kyler Murray's on
that tier. If you want to see Jordan, because Jordan
love talent wise, absolutely, but he hasn't shown to be
(26:19):
a great quarterback yet. So if you can get a
middle of the road quarterback for the third round pick,
you could do.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Have a lot worse than that.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Yeah, no, you're right. So those were like the high
end NFL moves. Now we're recording this, you know, West coast,
late Sunday night, early morning, East coast, and before we
pivot to a little NBA talk, Rob, I'm just gonna
put this out there into the ether. But the great
Daniel Jeremiah from Pro Football, I'm sorry, he's been like
(26:50):
an announcer for the Chargers. He's over at NFL Network.
He put out a tweet Sunday night that said the
Panthers will be fun to monitor tomorrow. Now I don't
know what that means. I don't think anybody does. I
think it's purposely vague. That being said, one of the
most popular reactions is that they're going to be trading
(27:11):
or try to Now this is not from Jeremiah. This
is just reaction from the Peanut Gallery that they're going
to try to make a move for Michael Parsons. And
I suppose. Now here's the problem. They don't have a
ton of draft picks.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Remember they traded a.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Lot of Amway. They don't even have a I don't
think they have a second round pick this year.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I saw that.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
I think that's going to Chicago or maybe that's from
another deal. But like, I don't know any guesses what
the Panthers could be fun to monitor. Do you think
they'd say trade for Pickens or they already like, you
know what, we tried one of these problem receivers. It
didn't work out. I don't know any gut feeling who's
out there that they could go after.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
I mean, there's a lot of guys that could go after.
But if you are the Carolina Panthers, given what we
saw from Bryce Young to end the season last year,
where he looked like not just a competent quarterback, but
a guy with a lot of upside, that the one
that we hoped we would see when he was drafting
number one overall. I would not mind them making a
move for T Higgins oh and saying Cincinnati, the market
(28:13):
is the market. You know you cannot or you can't
afford him, but you're gonna choose to say you can't
afford him so rather than give up. I believe, like
the franchise tag, it's two ones plus you know the contract.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
I don't think something like that.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
When the Raiders first acquired devoncea adas years ago, it
was the same kind of situation, and I believe the
Packers rescinded the franchise tag and said, hey, we will
trade him to you for I think it was a
second and then you take the contract and you pay
whatever you're gonna pay him. I could see them doing
something like that.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Carolina Pants. They've been kind of a dormant franchise for
a minute. I mean T Higgins, that would be spicy boy.
How pissed with Burrow? Be geez?
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I think he's already pissed. He has to be pissed
on me.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, he's definitely gotta be upset.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR
to listen live.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
We will quickly wrap up with an NBA obviously. The
big news Laker Celtics Saturday was pretty good. All of Boston,
you know, as expected, ran away in the third quarter.
Lakers covered first quarter again, folks, Fifteen of seventeen games
are covering the first quarter. Now. Lebron old is groin
sounds like he's going to be out a week, maybe two.
(29:28):
I honestly don't think it's the worst thing in the world.
You look at his schedule. They have a ton of
back to backs here in the next two weeks. Rest Lebron,
don't overtax Luca, take a couple L's. If you slide
in the West from two to three or four, it's
not the end of the world. You know, again, I'll
repeat it. I don't think the Lakers are afraid of Denver.
I don't think the Lakers are afraid of OKC. And overall,
(29:51):
the Lakers showed really well of late. No Ruie Reeves
still getting back to work. Lucas starting to come on.
I'm just telling you guys, the Lakers are But we
talked about him a lot rob real quick, and I
know we don't give them a lot of love on
this podcast, but man, this NBA debate about Yo Kich
or SGA for MVP is getting kind of spicy. And
(30:13):
I mean, listen, I don't want to steal Rob G's takes.
Like the producer's job is to come up with amazing
topics and funny stuff and hand it to the guy
who's willing to put his stick, his neck on the
line and say crazy stuff because who cares. I don't
care if I'm wrong. Okay, and Rob G had a
really fricking good one about SGA versus Yoki, so my goat.
(30:36):
Tell me again, I'm not a voter, Thank goodness. I
don't want to get involved in that crap. But if
you came to me instead, who's the MVP of the league,
I would say it's Jokic. I mean, you could yell
at me with numbers or do your blue in the face.
I don't care. I don't think Yokich is.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
The best player.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I don't think SGA's the best player in the league
is the awesome?
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Right?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Is he having a career season?
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Hell? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Are the Thunder the best team in the league? Well,
I think they're second now to Cleveland technically, but you
look at Jokic. He had a thirty twenty twenty game
over the weekend. Now, let me just repeat that. Thirty points,
twenty rebounds, twenty assists, twenty assists. How many twenty as
sis games in magic haf You know how many twenty
(31:18):
games assists for Isaiah Thomas Steph Curry? Twenty assists for you?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Kitch?
Speaker 1 (31:22):
That's ridiculous. And you know, I know Pat Patrick Mahomes
with his dad Bod kind of made those cool. He
still escapes defensive ends and is in good shape. Yokich
is the king of the dad bots. He does not
look like much at all, is dooey, serbian, and all
he does is just make incredible passes, his vision, his
IQ thick. Guy's amazing and I'm sorry for me.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
He's the MVV.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
However, I'm kind of with Rob. I don't think he's
gonna get it because the media that votes for it,
the dumb media. Sorry, guys, they're like, well Sgay's never
got one. We should give it to him. That's what
they did with Embiid. You guys remember that, and Pat
wasn't better than you? Could you be? That an awesome year,
but it's really goofy. So Rob, I'm gonna now grant
(32:06):
you a vote for the MVP.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
Who you got?
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Nikola Jokic.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Oh easily agreement.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
And at some point, we guys are gotta be honest
with ourselves. The NBA MVP, if we're gonna be straightforward,
should be Nikola Jokic. And and for my money, he
should be the perennial favorite from here on Allen, because
if we're gonna really talk about who the most valuable
player is, there is nobody statistically that is more valuable
(32:38):
to his team than Nikola Jokic. This is the NBA's
version of Josh Allen versus Lamar Jackson. Anybody with two
eyes and with the ability to read could tell you
Lamar Jackson's numbers are better across the board than Josh Allen.
Nikola Jokic's numbers are are better basically across the board
(33:02):
than Shay Gilgas. Alexander Sga is having a phenomenal season.
Jokic's numbers are better. Yeah, it's better. The problem is,
as you alluded to, these voters, these get up on
their soapbox holier than now. I was listening to a
Brian Windhorse podcast friend of the show We Love Brian,
(33:22):
We Love Wendy and multiple guys who are on his show.
I believe at least one of them is an NBA
MVP voter said, you have to consider the fact that
he's already won two of the last three and the precedents,
it would say if he want three out of four,
which is why I cannot in good conscience vote for
(33:44):
Nikola Jokic for MVP this season. He'd have to do
something incredible for me to vote. Last I checked, SGA,
excuse me, Nikola Jokic is gonna have what is it,
the second greatest per season in NBA history. Last I checked,
Nicol Jokic is putting up higher points per game and
higher as this per game than any of his MVP seasons.
(34:07):
Sounds to me like he's doing more than he did before.
But because of the narrative, Oh the OKC Thunder, the
Little Engine that could, SGA is the only good player
that they have. He's the only All Star that they have.
Of course, you know A J.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
Dubb. I know he made the All Star team, but
he's not really that good. SGA is the.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
One carrying him. Have you seen Denver's bench? Nikola Jokis
should be the MVP. Unfortunately, because of who we have
voting for it, the narrative is going to go to SGA.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
He's gonna end up winning it.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
You know, it's weird, Rob. I just looked up player
efficiency rating. ESPN's peer was created by this guy named
John Hollinger. It's an interesting stat. But I'm gonna read
off the top ten. Tell me what the common theme
in here is. I'm not going to even give a
hint as to what the team could be. One is Jokic,
Two is SGA, Three is Yannis for his a D.
Five is Zion, Six is Mark Williams from Charlotte, Seven
(35:02):
is Daniel Gafford. Eight is Wemby nine as cat ten
is in beat. What's a common theme there?
Speaker 2 (35:08):
A lot of big men?
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Yeah, all big men except for SGA. That's insane. So
every stat is kind of sort of skewed, is it not, Rob?
Speaker 2 (35:15):
I mean that's fair.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Yeah, Like, I don't know how SGA is on there.
I did see a wild stat that SGA leaves the
league in points, and if you went by just what
he's accomplished through three quarters of games, he's second in
the league in points, which I don't know. That like
kind of breaks my brain a little bit, like he's
set out so many fourth quarters because of blowouts that
he's just putting up monster numbers early. So I'm kind
(35:40):
of with you. Like again, I know, I've called SGA
a free throw merchant, and I don't think that they're
gonna beat the Lakers if they meet in the playoffs.
But just thirty twenty twenty now it got buried. I
think it was on Saturday night, right or was that Friday?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
I think that might have been Saturday night because the
Lakers game was on Friday.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Ooh, that might was that Saturday night? Yes, I think
it was Saturday night. No, No, that was Friday night.
It was Firday. This is one of the problems.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
So the NBA needs to put games on Friday and
Saturday obviously, because that's when people can go to games,
make it a big night out. Saturday is the marquee night,
and it's like, you know, it kind of gets buried
you come around Monday and it's like, oh, well, what
happened Friday night in the league? Oh well, Yoki's put
up a insane thirty one twenty two assists, twenty one boards.
(36:34):
By the way, he scored thirty one points on twenty
two shots. That's it. Now, here's what's scary. Rob alluded
to this just filed us away for the postseason. Nuggets
scored one hundred and forty nine points. The game went overtime.
They only played eight guys. That's it, eight guys. He's
still now this was the big knock him alone. He
(36:55):
doesn't play young guys a lot. I think he's being
forced at gunpoint to keep Christian Brown in the starting
lineup because he had to be move Westbrook back to
the bench. But like, there's no way that they're gonna
be going to the NBA Finals only playing a total
of eight guys. Here now, Dario Sarich, Jalen Pickett, Hunter Tyson,
(37:18):
these guys don't play. The Nuggets have to start resting guys. Man.
I don't know, Robert, I know you like to play.
You gotta play all the games. You need your guys
in the playoffs. And I'm a little surprised that the
Nuggets are not starting to power down just a little bit. Listen,
they're gonna be what are they gonna be? Two to
three at worse four? Like, does it really matter who
(37:39):
they played?
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Who?
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Who's beating them this year in Minnesota? I don't know,
but Lakers are tied with Denver for second. They're currently
win the tiebreaker, but I don't know if that's gonna
last long since the Lakers won't have Lebron in the rematch.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Yeah, and listeners need to understand that we are making
this Jokic case on the heels of them getting blasted
on Sunday by twenty four points in OKAC. I think
they're playing again tonight. I think it's one of those
weird back to back games OKC. No, I think it's
both of them are in OKC. I think if I'm
almost positive, But in Sunday's game, Jokic had played forty
(38:14):
one minutes. Because your point, they have no bench, they
have no one they can rely on because Aaron Gordon
left after like sixty six seven minutes because of the
cap injury. In the seven minutes that Jokic was not
on the floor, the Denver was minus fourteen. Okay, SGA
as great and he was great on so he had
forty ball again in the thirteen minutes he didn't play.
(38:37):
OKC was plus thirteen.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
So here's the thing, Rob, again, you know you kind
of nailed it on SGA. I feel like he was
going super hard for the MVP in this game, and
remember MB did that and it ended up hurting him.
SGA took thirty two shots, forty points on thirty two
shots even thirty five minutes.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Bro, I mean that's Kobe. That's two thousand and six
Kobe numbers. I love that.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
I again, I'm not in the least afraid of OKAC.
And I think, to the point about the benches, I
think Lakers are developing their bench here with Ruiyol. Reeves
had been out, now Lebron's gonna be out. I think
this is kind of a really good scenario for the Lakers.
And I know I sound like a Homer, that's fine,
but I also say it to Thibodeau man like he's
grinding dudes to the ground, Like come on, man. Anyways,
(39:31):
lengthy Monday podcast, It's Championship week, ladies and gentlemen. I'll
be putting picks on ig No Picks Sunday. However, Saturday
four to oh and hit Lakers first quarter for five
and Zho try to get hot for March Madness.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
We're back tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
See you
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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