July 17, 2025 • 59 mins
Nick Wright addresses the latest position rankings from NFL executives, coaches, and scouts and gives his take on how players like Jalen Hurts and Tyreek Hill should be rated. How does Nick rank Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and Lamar Jackson as the league's top QBs. Does Justin Herbert belong in the top ten following another lackluster playoff performance with the Los Angeles Chargers? Then, Nick dives into his Kansas City Chiefs re-signing Trey Smith and what it means for the team going forward, as well as their chances at winning the Super Bowl. Later, Nick predicts the major NFL training camp QB battles and weighs in on the Bradley Beal buyout. Finally, as always, Nick and Damonza answer your questions. #Volume
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Wrighten. This episode of
What rpen Nick Grit is presented to you by boost Mobile.
Of this episode three forty nine, I am back after
a whirlwind thirty six hours in Las Vegas, where I
got to be a part of what, in many ways
is arguably the most historic and unbelievable World Series of
(00:25):
Poker Main Event Final table ever, with one of the
greatest champion stories in Michael the Grinder Msrocky winning the
World Series of Poker Main Event in the same year
he won his fourth Poker Players Championship and just getting
snap inducted into the Hall of Fame. And on that note,
(00:48):
so here's the deal. Because I was debating, I was like,
there's so much to talk about with the poker stuff,
and I know that some of you guys are super
into it and some of you guys are not, but
they're It was really it would have been really cool
to be involved in any World Series of Poker Main Event,
But as it happened, as it turned out, if I
(01:11):
could have picked any of the last twenty years as
far as interesting, amazing storylines, historic, all of it, the
number one draft pick is the one that wrapped yesterday
and I was there and a part of it. It
was truly unreal. So I want to give that event
its own show. And so and demon's good to see you.
(01:37):
We for the second time ever, and I'm not gonna
say who it's going to be, but for the second
time ever, we are going to have a guest on
the show. And I've decided that the our standard because
we had low Wayne on early on and Low Wayne
(01:59):
is certainly in the argument for greatest ever at what
he does, or greatest living at what he does. So
I think, at least for the time being, because the
person we're having on tomorrow is in the argument for
(02:20):
greatest living and or greatest ever at two different fields,
at two different things. And so he will join us
live from Las Vegas tomorrow. If you are a big
poker fan, you probably have and you can put in
the comments who you're guessing it is. There's really only
(02:42):
one person who fits that bill that might be the goat,
not just in card playing but in something else as well.
That person will join us for a full world series,
and here's a hint on who it might be. Also,
a little Pacquiao fight preview, as I believe this person
(03:04):
is also in the discussion for world's pre eminent boxing expert.
He joins us tomorrow, so we will do a full
world series recap, storylines discussion with our second ever guest
on What's Right, and again, I part of the reason
I'm not saying who it is is to keep up
(03:25):
the suspense. The other part of the reason is because
his commitment on when I was like, hey, let's do
it tomorrow, it felt like a loose commitment, and I
am now making it a hard commitment. But one of
the goats, if not the goat, will join us tomorrow
on What's Right with the right breakdown the World Series
(03:46):
of Poker and talk a little boxing in the meantime.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
How are you I'm doing pretty good, Pops. How are
you doing?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I'm doing well. I don't know if Demonzi's MIC's a
little low, at least in my ear it is, so
if we can boost that up a bit, speaking of
boost streight to voicemail brought to you by boost Mobile.
Speaking of Lowayne loll Wayne, one of our guests, he's
gonna walk out with dust employe. Pardon me, poier Son.
(04:14):
I don't know, but I am so frustrated that I
have mispronounced Poorier's name three times now. I did it
one of our ad reads once and it's not a
tricky pronunciation, but I got in my head once I
mispronounced it, no pouriet. See the back end of it
is what's supposed to be tricky because it's French. No
(04:36):
Ea pourier. But I'm screwing up the front end because
I'm thinking about the back in my apologies, Caitlin Clark.
This is now concerning the amount of lower body you know,
dings and issues she's had this year. Injury prone. I'm
not ready to put that label on it yet, but
(04:58):
I am ready to say this year might be derailing
due to injury. And I think that's a concern for
her and obviously for the fever, and a little bit
for the league. And then also they're you know, missed
the cut, Noah Essenay, just getting absolutely posterized and then
being getting the mean treatment and all of that. I mean,
(05:21):
just it's the face is what really just kills it.
And uh, this is for really what I'm about to
say here is really just for the first thing's first
production room that is watching this pod live right now.
Kind of looks a little bit like elite producer Ramsey.
(05:42):
Just a touch, just just just a touch, especially when
Ramsey Ramsey sometimes has the braids to like that. Like,
I'm just saying just a little bit, all right, demanse,
let's get to the show a few minutes and go ahead.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
So the yearly top tens have come out of off.
We've got the quarterbacks. So executive coaches and scouts all
vote on this. Patrick Mahomes, your guy was at number one.
Weirdly enough, Jalen Hurts was number nine. Nick sirian Who's
asked about this and if Philly carried Jalen Hurts to
the Super Bowl? Sirianni called bs, So what is this?
(06:18):
Is this disrespectful? Obviously Hurts has two Super Bowl appearances
in the last three years. It's thirty seven to ten
in the last three seasons. What's what's going on with that?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Justin Hurts? So I do think it's Yeah, So I
do think it's disrespectful. And I think that people have
to be willing to move their opinion based on things
that happen after you have formed your opinion, Like it
(06:47):
is totally fine, and this is maybe self serving of
me to say, because I'm gonna describe kind of my
opinion evolution on Jalen Hurts. I think it is totally
fine to be like, Listen, there were times last season
that I thought the weak link of the Philadelphia Eagles
(07:12):
offense was their quarterback. That and that can be. That
was actually the exact, that exact opinion of mine. It
was the subject of the animated more than a little
awkward conversation I had the night before the Super Bowl
(07:37):
with or two nights for the Super Bowl, one of
them with Jalen's mother, when she confronted probably too strong,
approached me and I at first didn't If you guys
didn't hear the story. We were at a super Bowl party.
I'm standing there. A woman walks up and she's like,
(07:58):
to ask you a question. I said yeah, and she
was like, why do you talk so bad about Jalen Hurts.
And then I'm like, well, I don't know that I
talk bad about him, and we and she's like, no,
you do, and then you know, I give my defense
of my takes. She comes back, and then about six
seven minutes into it, I say, miss may I may
I ask you a question? And she said yes, I said,
(08:20):
are you Jalen's mother? And she said yes, And I
was like, oh boy, we're in a We're in a
trickier spot than I had thought. And one of the
things that I said to her, I was like, listen,
I just I want you to know the things I
have said and the things I haven't said, right for
good or for bad. I was like, and something I
(08:42):
have said that I'm sure you would think is totally unfair.
As I did call him the weak link of the
Philly offense. I was like, now, contextually, you should know
I did say that within the framework of they have
a top three offensive line, a top three receiving corps,
(09:04):
and a top one but top three running back. So
if he just simply is not a top three quarterback
in that framework, he would be the weak link because
everyone else is. But it so it wasn't that was
going the weak link of a bad team. However, I
was saying last year that I thought they were going
(09:26):
to get into spot demons when they had to throw
the football and they weren't going to be able to
throw the football like those That was and so that
and I would have last year had Jalen Hurts pretty
firmly outside of my quarterback top ten. I absolutely would have.
(09:46):
I don't think it is at all contradictory to then say,
but then I watched the NFC Championship Game and the
Super Bowl, and his performance in those two games by
(10:07):
itself made me totally reevaluate, and his consistent ability to
play his best in the biggest sponse, which is the
most valuable trait a quarterback can have, made me reevaluate.
(10:29):
Like and so, I think people far too often get
tied and married to their prior opinions. Coward's the best
at not doing this. And you know, shamelessly is the
wrong word, but almost like he he will have a adamant, strong,
(10:53):
vociferous opinion and a week later be like, change my mind,
like and.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
So information right, And that's what he says.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
He's like, I got new information and so, and I
think that. So again, we've got to be careful about
what we've said and whether so if I said and
I did not, but if someone has said I'm telling
you this player will never be a top five quarterback,
(11:27):
then it is a little tougher. You can still come
back and be like, I was wrong, you know, but
it's it's a little tougher. I don't think people at
this point are fairly evaluating Jalen Hurts based on his
(11:47):
ability to play his best in the biggest spots, and
I think that that should whatever credit that people want
to take away from him, I think fairly because he
is not a guy that over the course of a season,
(12:10):
if you built the offense around Jalen hurts passing game,
I don't think you'd have an elite offense, I think,
and I do think that's fair to ding him for.
I don't think that the negative credit he gets for that,
(12:30):
what I believe is a fact, should outweigh the positive
credit for the fact that we've seen him now on
two deep playoff runs, and you can't point to a
single game on those two deep playoff runs where you're like, Ah,
Hurts wasn't good enough for them to win. Hurts didn't
(12:53):
do enough, like you just can't. And he had to
go two years ago toe to toe with Patrick in
a Super Bowl. He had the one fumble, which is
why I thought Patrick outplayed him. But still he played
an a minus level game. The offense scored thirty five points,
he accounted for four touchdowns and then last year he
(13:17):
had to go toe to toe with Jade and Daniels
in a playoff game when Daniels was the hottest quarterback
in the league. Phillies offense scores fifty five points. And
then in the Super Bowl he has the fourth and
five pass down the sideline. He wait, I think it's
the NFC Championship game. He had the fourth and five
(13:38):
pass down the sideline. The Super Bowl was the kill
shot start of the second half. He was great and
so go ahead, Pats.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
So where would you have him? Like you because you
said you had him still the outside of the top
ten last year. With the information that you have, now,
where would you have him?
Speaker 1 (13:54):
So I have a I've developed a new opinion on
how we have to rank the quarterbacks. I don't think
that it is fair anymore to say it's a big
(14:15):
four and then we can debate after that that because
so here's to me where I'm at going into and
it can obviously change when a new season comes, like
the new season has to matter. I believe the top
(14:37):
three has to be in this order. Patrick Josh Lamar.
I think that is the only because what is the
knock on Lamar? And at this point, there's only one left.
(14:58):
He does not play his best in the postseason, and
I'm not gonna harp on that. I think that is.
You know, two years ago, folks were mad at me.
I was making too big of a deal of it.
Last year, folks were annoyed with me. I was making
too big of a deal with it going into this year, folks,
But grudgingly without saying it's like, okay, yeah, Nick Klock
(15:20):
this the whole time that it was, and.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
He showed something different. I was just about to say
Lamar didn't play badly. Though Lamar played pretty well. He
might have had a rough first half, but.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Oh yeah, I mean rough first have to cost in
the game. But it was still I mean, you're right,
it wasn't. It wasn't as bad as some of the
other But again, this is what I'm what I'm about
to say here is actually a defensive Lamar. The point
I'm making is this, Demonse, I do not think it
is fair to penalize Lamar so much for bad playoff
(15:51):
performances that he drops beneath the player who has not
been in the playoffs the last two years and Joe Burrow, like,
for all we know Joe Cool had his Emperor has
no clothes moment with the playoff loss to Patrick Mahomes,
(16:13):
and from now on in the playoffs, Burrow is just
gonna be a shaking shell of himselself. But we haven't
seen it because he hasn't been in the playoffs since then. Now,
to be clear, I think the odds of that are
almost zero percent that Burrow all of a sudden is
gonna freak out in the playoffs. My point is you
can't say Lamar playing poorly in the playoffs is worse
(16:38):
than a guy not even getting to the playoffs. You
just can't. And one of the other reasons that two
years ago I had Burrow ahead of Lamar firmly was
Lamar's injury risk. Lamar the last two years, aside from
his annual bout with the flu, Lamar has been incredibly
(17:02):
durable and Joe's miss time have been banged up, So
I think it has to and the I don't think
I need to defend Mahomes being number one, But the
argument against him is he hasn't had the go the
last two years. Gaudy regular season numbers. The problem is
(17:25):
anyone you want to put up against him, He then
has played in the playoffs and thoroughly outplayed and beat them.
So it's not just his team is one. He has
played better than Josh in both the playoff games the
last two years. He has played better than Lamar. He
has so it's just not it's Mahomes has to be won.
(17:46):
I think Josh right now, do you demand say you're
the Lamar guy. Do you think it's fair to have
Josh two? Yeah, yeah, I think it's fair like that.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I think it's pretty close. But yeah, then Lamar after its.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
And then Lamar three play right and last you know,
Josh one MVP Lamark could have Josh. You know the
So I that's where. So here's my point and the
reason I said all of that. I think it is
fair if somebody says Joe Burrow's four, by the way,
(18:24):
I probably agree with him for the record. But if
somebody says Demons Jalen Hurts is four, and what you're
losing in the prolific stats Joe Burrow gives you, you're
adding in toughness, availability, the push, push, and huge playoff moments.
(18:48):
And Joe's biggest accomplishment ever is being one and one
against Patrick in AFC championship games and Jalen's one and
one against Patrick in Super Bowls. So the point I'm
trying to make is when you say it's a Big four,
(19:08):
you're saying you can't argue anyone outside of that top
four is better than anyone in it. And I don't
think you can make a credible argument, even with all
the flowers I've given to Jalen Hurts right now, that
Jalen's better than Lamar, Josh or Patrick. I do think
you can make an argument over Joe, and I love Joe,
(19:32):
but he's he starts here slowly. He does have now
Jalen has this as well, obviously embarrassment of riches on
the outside catching the ball. And I do think that
there is a he probably has. The Fact that Josh,
(19:57):
Patrick and Lamar are three of the most dynamic and
successful rushing threats the position has ever seen has to count.
And people might say Nick Patrick's not in that class,
not in the regular season, but if you look at
quarterback career yards per carry, playoff yard rushing yards, playoff
(20:20):
rushing touchdowns, if you remove Neil Downs, Patrick's right there,
and he's had iconic you know, so that he's kind
of more choose yeah, say it again.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
He's more tactical with when he chooses yes well.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
And I just don't. He's not as fast as you are,
and he's not as bruising and big as Josh, so
he has to be more. So if you're here, is
what my rankings would look like. If I were doing
I would go one Patrick two, Josh three, Lamar four,
(21:05):
Joe five, Stafford six, Jalen Hurts seven, with an asterisk
of it's probably too early, but I give it to him.
Jaden Daniels eight, Baker. And then it gets trickier.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Did you say golf already? Did you say golf? You
didn't say golf.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
I didn't say golf, and I didn't say Herbert. And
this is now where we will do the Justin Herbert
part of the conversation, because that's what really christ galling
to you. Was Justin Herbert ahead of Jalen Hurts. Correct, Yeah,
what has he done? The answers nothing? I mean, the
(21:56):
answer is nothing, and it is yes. Right. So Justin
Herbert was the same high school class Demanse as Nicky Bosa.
He was the same draft class as Justin Jefferson Ceedee
(22:19):
Lamb and Joe Burrow. And the reason I say those
things is because we don't look at any of those
other players as like, well, once they reached their potential,
you know, those guys were like, oh, those are second
contract veterans that you know, they are who they are.
(22:41):
And it is.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Keep making a seem like Justin Herber is about to
pop out, is right? And by the way, maybe.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
And I want to make this clear, he might. He
might be on the precipice of putting it all together.
I'm not because he is very talented, he's huge. He's
actually a better athlete than his previous coaches prior to
Harball gave him credit for it because he can Ronnie
ran it Oregon. There's a lot to like about Justin Herbert,
(23:12):
But five years in correct, five years into your career,
you have to be evaluated on your career like that's
the and Justin Herbert it is. And this is where
having him ahead of Jalen Hurts is to me, really
(23:36):
really unfair. Jalen Hurts has repeatedly played his best in
the biggest spots, and Justin Herbert has repeatedly played his
worst in the biggest spots. And people will say, Nick,
a lot of what you're talking about here is quarterback wins.
(23:58):
It is not. And I want to get on the
record about this. By the way, they're people need to
be discerning enough to recognize that. For many of us.
I'll talk for myself, I am. The pushback on quarterback
(24:24):
wins is it should not be binary. Did they win,
then the you know, quarterback gets an a. Did they
lose then the quarterback didn't do enough? It should not
be like that. You should be able to be discerning
enough to say, how well did that player play within
(24:50):
that game? And you know, did the team win despite him?
Did they lose despite him being excellent? Like and so
it if Jalen hurts, if they had if he hadn't
played awesome in that Super Bowl and that NFC Championship game,
but they had just won, then it feels a little
(25:11):
different than the fact that they won and he played great. Right,
So when I talk about Mahomes, I don't if you
guys notice it because Mahomes hasn't had the regular season
numbers the last couple of years. I don't say just
say he beat Josh and Lamar in the playoffs. I
say he out played and beat. He had the better
(25:36):
individual performance as well, which brings me to Herbert. Herbert
has played two actual playoff games and one playoff adjacent game.
The playoff adjacent game was the Week eighteen winning your
in tie and you're in losing your out game against
(25:56):
the Raiders three years ago. Okay, justin Herbert in that game.
Now you see at three hundred and eighty yards, he
threw the ball sixty four times, completed fifty three percent
of his passes, had a passer rating of eighty six
yards per attempt. They lost, So they lost and he
(26:21):
didn't play great. Then the next year in the playoffs,
they are up twenty seven points on the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It is one of the biggest collapses in NFL history.
(26:43):
He has one touchdown, no picks, and eighty five rating,
completes fifty eight percent of his passes, and critically doesn't
make a single big play in the second half when
they only needed one. And then last year plays quite
simply one of the worst playoff games any alleged star
(27:07):
quarterback has ever played in the history of the league.
He walked in and so that's that is where the
Herbert he had three interceptions all year, he had four
in the playoff game. He completed forty four percent of
his passes. He had a passer rating of forty and
that was So this is where and then I'll end it.
(27:29):
I think the jail and Justin Herbert thing is most
galling at the ranking Justin Herbert. Last year, Demonse was
asked for that Chargers team to be Jalen Hurts of
(27:51):
twenty twenty two. Take care of the ball, make a
couple big plays. We have the number one defense in
full ball. We have a running game, just you know
what I mean. And then if we need you down
the road, hopefully you can do it. And he just
(28:11):
threw pick after pick after pick. They had the number
one defense in the NFL all year long. He had
you know, people were like, oh, he's sacrificing his own
personal numbers, you know, to take care of the ball
and for the sake of the team. And then in
the playoffs was brutal. So you cannot have a guy
(28:33):
who's zero to two with a sixty career playoff passer rating,
who for his the has had zero you know, Oh
my god, high high pressure. Well I shouldn't say y
pressure but doesn't have you know, the old coward thing
(28:55):
about Tatum. Close your eyes and what do you see? Like,
what do you see when he's justin huge moment? He
can't be where he is on this list.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Hurts and Tatum are a little similar victims of their roster.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
I oh no, maybe, well, victims and beneficiaries. I mean
that's the thing is like that there is, Yeah, but
that's so. I so, I just so I think my
top eight well, of course I think my top eight's
right because it's my top eight. But I think having
(29:34):
Herbert ahead of Hertz is kind of stupid at this point.
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Speaker 1 (31:26):
All right, demonse, let's get to the wide and so
it should be noted real quick because we wouldn't do
this much time on these lists if it was just
like a writer or a website's opinion. This is like
the NBA GM survey where I forget who does it
for ESPN? I want to give them credit, Jeremy Fowler.
(31:49):
You know polls executives from the entire league has them
vote on a top ten and that. So this is
lists like this I actually value because it gives you
a a kind of eye into how the league is
seeing guys.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
All right, so go ahead, Yes, So the same poll
drop for wide receivers, they had Tyreek Hill at number
three despite last year. Do you think the Tyreek is
due for a bounce back season? You could probably attribute
that to a couple of things with Tyreek Hill Tyreek
Hills last year.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yeah, But the question is are any of those things
going to be different? Right? You know what I mean?
Like you you could attribute them uh to you know,
the quarterback personal stuff, you know, the hours before Week one,
getting throat, put in handcuffs, dealing with a wrist injury,
(32:40):
a lot of.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Stuff's start off the season like that.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, but that also was the only game all year
he had like an explosive touchdown. I mean, so that's
so here's what was concerning I think for Tyreek. He
had that eighty yard touchdown in Week one. Here are
his longest receptions in every game after that ten seventeen, seventeen,
(33:11):
twenty one, eight thirty, twenty eight, twelve, eighteen, twenty thirty,
twenty one, twenty one, twenty four, twenty five, thirteen. That's
that's weird for Tyreek to have two or one play
all year longer than thirty yards. Is not touchdown longer
(33:34):
than thirty yards, just play longer than thirty yards. That
is a rarity, right. We've never seen that from him
in his career, and he was coming off arguably the
best year of his career eighteen hundred yards thirteen touchdowns,
despite only playing sixteen games, and so gun to my
(34:00):
head demands, I still if you were saying, you know,
take any receiver you want in the league, and Justin
and Jamar are gone, I'd still take Tyreek.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
But I I am, I have my antennae up that
last year might not be the fluke, that last year
might be the norm at this point in his career.
It's certainly on the board. Like I think that's the
end of the year is.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Pretty weird with Terry Hill and the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Oh well, yes, there also correct, there also is does
he want to be there? You know though that piece
of it, which I think is not nothing right like
that is a a real factor and is toua you know,
gonna be good. I think that's you know, those are
(34:59):
all real factors. I was personally, and I want to
get your take on this. De Monsey very surprised that
Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Was not number one. Yeah, same, Yeah, I thought.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
We all just kind of acknowledged, Well, he's obviously the
best quarterback I'm sorry, the best wide receiver. Yeah, and
I think that that and I know Chase had a
mont listen, Chase won the receiving triple Crown. I get
(35:36):
that Justin Jefferson was the centerpiece of an offense quarterbacked
by Sam Darnold that won fourteen games, and you know,
the like he was to me, it's pretty clear justin
Jefferson's the best receiver in football. And it's no disrespect
(35:57):
to Jamar Chase. I I was very surprised that, and
maybe I shouldn't have been because Chase had such a
great year. And by the way, I think Chase is phenomenal.
I think both. I think both of these guys. Yeah,
I would just have my It would have been Jefferson one,
(36:17):
Tyra erse, Jamar two, Tyreek three, And I think that's fair,
I mean the and then after that, I think it
is a debate. They have c D four, AJ Brown five.
That's probably right, but you could flip it like you
(36:38):
could have AJ five. Uh. It really did surprise me
that uh Malik Neighbors Demons was already seven. Like I,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
I have that much of it here.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Well, I mean, listen, he had no quarterback and know
still twelve hundred yards. I just don't know that. I'm
I'm not certain that Neighbors was better last year than
Brian Thomas Junior. And so now Brian Thomas Junior obviously
had better quarterback play having the prince when before he
(37:17):
got hurt, but still so the and I thought the
I do think the Puka disrespect was wild. Yeah, Like
this is where there is real draft slot bias. That
is that people say I'm guilty of with Purdy, and
(37:40):
that's fine, but Puoka. Now, I also understand Puoka last
year missed six games. But despite missing six games, yes exactly,
he was ten yards short of a thousand yard season.
He was excellent for them in the playoffs, and as
(38:00):
you mentioned, he came back from the injury and instantly
was awesome. And so I think Puka deserved to be
in that top ten. Like I personally would rather have
Puka than at this point neighbors right now, this moment,
(38:21):
neighbors or I wouldn't rather have him than Ceede Lamb,
but I'd rather have him than neighbors or Nico Collins
and dude hands pooka yea.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
I like him a lot.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
No, I like him a lot too. I didn't see,
but I don't. I don't think Ceedee Lamb to me
is you know, a clear cut top five receiver, And
I don't think I think Puka has an argument, but
I think CD. I do agree that CD's high end
is higher than Puka, but I just thought having him
essentially twelve behind McLaurin and Garrett Wilson, Like, I don't know, man, Like,
(39:01):
that's that's not how I how I saw it go ahead.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
So it's that time of year. Xavier Worthy said that
Andy Reid told him to get his hamstrings ready. No,
this is your team. It sounds a lot like last year,
like mahomes, you know, we're ready to have some fun
and stuff.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Well yeah, but then everyone got hurt. I mean that's
the thing. People are like, Oh, man, you guys said
this was gonna happen last year, and yes we did.
And then Hollywood Brown gets his rib cage caved in
or no, that's not right, his collarbone broken and then
it didn't heel into the rib cage properly or she
(39:41):
Rice yah, Yeah, gets his knee blown out in week three,
but Jacko breaks his leg and they and all of
a sudden, they're starting running back as Kareem Hunt, who
was unemployed and their starting wide receiver got cut by
the Patriots and Juju like, so do I think that Worthy,
who came much like Rashi, came on very strong at
(40:04):
the end of the year. Worthy with Rashi if he
is fully healthy, And then again, I'm not a huge
Hollywood brown guy, but he will be like an interesting
part of the UH to have out there as a
threat that, yeah, we could have a And I also
think the Chiefs not having the three pet kind of
hanging over them, with the added pressure and all of
(40:27):
that week to week will help him. So yeah, I
do think that the Chiefs offense and its receiving corps
will be explosive for the first time in a couple
of years. All right, speaking of the Chiefs, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
Yeah, So it's July and it's your podcast obviously, so
we're gonna talk about the Chiefs and their guards. They
just signed.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
They gave Tray Smith the biggest contract of any guard
in league history, and they're bringing back most of the
squad from last year. Is now the time to hammer
the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Well plus eight hundred, I think it. I don't think
the odds are going to get more favorable to bet
than that, because I think they're going to slap the
Chargers in Week one in Brazil and then beat Philly
and then the odds changed drastically. I will say this,
I like them. They have Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith,
(41:18):
both locked up to long term deals. They they believe
they took their left guard of the future, Kingsley Suamataia
in the second round last year, and they think that
they got an absolute steel with Josh Simmons out of
Ohio State as their left tackle. If they're right about
(41:41):
those two guys on the left hand side, then they
and they now have the center and guard taken care of.
That doesn't that only leaves right tackle And this will
be Juwan Taylor's last year almost assuredly on the team.
And then you'll see if the guy they signed, uh,
(42:06):
what's the guy's name? The backup left tackle for the Niners,
who they signed ostensibly to be the left tackle, but
you see if they slide him over to the right what,
Oh my goodness, I can't remember the guy's name, but
everybody knows what I'm talking about. And if you don't
hold on, Chiefs, what I can't believe this. This is
embarrassing left tackle. Jared Moore. Jalen Moore. Jalen Moore is
(42:31):
his name? I right right as I googled it, I
thought it was Jared Moore, but then I saw it
in was Jalen Moore. But so The short version of
this is because that was the other thing they happen
with the Chiefs offense last year. They had some of
the worst tackle play in the league, and Mahomes was constantly,
you know, running for his life. So that has to
(42:53):
be cleaned up. All right. This is a message that
applies to ninety nine percent of you listening right now now,
because that's how many of you can be covered by
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(43:14):
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(43:36):
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like rate, subscribe, review to the channel on YouTube and
(43:58):
on spotify on I to him all that, let's do
the Bengals story real quick and then get into these
quarterback battles.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Bengals first round pick Shamar Stewart has still not signed
his deal. There's reports or rumors, not I should say reports.
He's been working out with A and M and it's
possible that he might opt out of playing with Cincy.
What's going on there?
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yeah, listen, I don't think he's gonna opt out of
playing for Cincinnati and re enter the draft. My guess
is he ultimately does blink on this and the weird
contract language they want, my guess is he'll give it
to him because financially it just can't make you. It's
so easy to fall to the second round, and then
between first and second round money is so big. What
(44:40):
it does mean for Cincy, though, is they once again
will have unnecessary noise and distraction and nonsense around them
going into the season. They still don't have the Trey
Hendrickson things squared away, and I'm yet the to that
he's going to be a very trendy and popular demands
(45:03):
a pick for uh, you know, to be one of
the teams that missed the playoffs last year. That makes
it this year for obvious reasons, they got hot at
the end of the year. They have burrowed all that.
I get it. I just don't know why they won't
this year will be different than last year. Why it
won't be the same thing where they score a bunch
of points, they can't get any stops and I and
(45:26):
why this isn't going to be for the fifth straight
year a year they start slowly and so I am
not a buyer on the Bengals. I'll give you this
right now, my right now. If I were to pick
the AFC playoff picture again this it's July seventeenth. It's
(45:47):
not my official predictions, but if I were to pick it,
AFC East winner, Buffalo AFC North winner, Baltimore AFC South winner,
the Jags AFC West winner, the Chiefs, with the wild
(46:09):
Guards being the Raiders, and then the two other I
don't think you're gonna get three AFC West teams in
And if I were to pick one, I'd pick the Chargers. Yeah,
(46:32):
three AFC West teams in last year, So I might
go Raiders, Chargers, and then that leaves room for one
team and oh what the Texans is who you're thinking.
I'm worried about Houston, man, I'm worried about their offensive line,
(46:52):
and I'm worried about their lack of healthy weapons on
the outside. Maybe but maybe Houston. Again, I've gotta spend
more time on it, But I think the I think
the surprise AFC playoff team would be the Raiders and
the Jags. And I think since the reason I even
sending you this is I think Cincinnati misses can miss
(47:14):
the playoffs again. I absolutely think they can have a
year similar to last year. All right, let's go ahead
and go to training camp quarterback stuff.
Speaker 2 (47:22):
Training camps cross the league are starting up, and all
eyes are on the quarterback battles around the league, Like
the Giants, the Saints, Brown so we even have like
five quarterbacks. The Colts are all looking for their quarterback one. Still,
which team situation are you most interested in right now?
Speaker 1 (47:36):
Well, I'm not really interested in really much of these,
but I can tell you who I think is gonna
win all of them. Like that, to me is the
most the most interesting thing is just getting on the
record with who is going to win it. So in
New York it's Russell Wilson, Jamis Winston and the rookie
they drafted, Jackson Dark. I think to start the year
(48:00):
will be Russell Wilson and then they might at some
point switch over to Dart. But I think Russell's gonna
win that quarterback battle. In New Orleans, I think they
are going to because this is a depressing quarterback battle.
Tyler Shuck, Spencer Rattler, Jay Hayner. I think Tyler Shuck
(48:22):
is gonna be the quarterback next year for the New
Orleans Saints, and he's gonna break camp as the second
round pick starting the Browns. I would be very surprised
if it's not Flacco. I think they start the year
with Flacco and they potentially trade Pike it and the Colts.
I think this is almost a lock. It's gonna be
(48:45):
your guy. Daniel Jones, Anthony Richardson like still dealing with
shoulder stuff and maturity stuff. Oh that's the other thing
with the Texans. To get back to it, the CJ.
Stroud shoulder soreness thing has hit my radar as as
something to watch, So Daniel Jones gonna be the starting
(49:05):
quarterback for the Colts. So I would go Russ with
the Giants, Shuck with the Saints, Flackle with the Browns,
and Daniel Jones with the Giants for week one. So
all right, we can we can go on to the
quick NBA stuff.
Speaker 2 (49:20):
The Clippers man, they bought out Bradley Beal. He's headed
over there. The Son's brought out the Sons. Yeah, the
Sons bought out Bradley Bial. He set it over to
the LA to play with the Clippers. They'd have three
of the eight highest scoring players from twenty twenty. Does
this do anything? I don't think it does.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
No. I mean everyone's gonna make the same point, which is, well,
Bradley Beal at fifty million, this is a problem, but
at five million is a bargain kind of. I mean
it's the same thing they said about Russell Westbrook when
he went there, like, oh he was bad at fifty
but at five and he was fine. But Bradley Beal
had it wasn't just the contract was his. He didn't
(50:01):
want to come off the bench. He wanted to be featured.
I think he's gonna have to come off the bench
and not be featured there, or maybe he starts, but
it's still gonna be Harden and Kwi show.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
I just.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
I don't mind the Dice roll, but I am not
bullish at all about Bill getting anywhere close to being
back to you know, his mid Wizard's tenuere form. And
so I look at the Western Conference to monse as
(50:35):
in these buckets. Bucket number one is the defending champ
Okay see, I think they they brought everyone back. They
they're young, there's no reason that they shouldn't be going
into the year. The favorites bucket number two, Houston and Denver,
both I thought had awesome offseasons added in Denver's case
(50:59):
a bunch of smart pieces, in Houston's case some smart pieces,
but also a real superstar and Kevin Durant a tier
beneath them. As presently constituted, I have the Lakers and
the Timberwolves, and you can say I shouldn't have the
Timberwolves in the same class as the Lakers. They beat them,
(51:22):
you know, in five in the playoffs. I also think
the Timberwolves losing Nikhil Alexander Walker, the Lakers adding a center,
even though it's not a center, I love like those
two moves, you know, draw those teams even ish, and
then that next group is where I would have the Clippers,
(51:43):
the Warriors, the MAVs, maybe the Spurs, depending on Whimby.
So that's where I see the Clippers. I don't look
at them as anything more than you know, a potential
six seed at best at if everything fell right, maybe
they could win a round. But no, I'm not buying
(52:06):
into the Clippers kool aid. Again. By the way, if
you want to ask some listener questions, now is the time,
because we're gonna get ready to wrap up because I
do have to get to first things first. But first
we've got a new segment. It's time for On the Rise,
brought to you by our friends at Boost Mobile. We're
breaking down players who found a way to stand apart
(52:27):
at NBA Summer League, just like Boost Superior Network and
five G Towers. So this player was a top five
pick last year and then his coach simply wouldn't play him.
He now is on his team goes into this year
in my opinion, as one of the absolute favorites, and
(52:51):
they might end up being my pick to win the championship.
And in part it's going to be because of their depth,
and he will be a part of that. That player
is Reed Shephard for the Houston Rockets, a sniper out
of Kentucky who last year couldn't get off the bench
because he wasn't couldn't defend, and now in Summer League
a few days ago goes twenty eight points, eight rebounds,
(53:15):
four assists, four steals, three blocks in thirty three minutes.
He then followed that up with an eighteen point game
where he wasn't all that efficient. But here's why I
think this is noteworthy, and here's why he's the player
on spotlighting and on the rise, brought to you by
our friends at boost Mobile, Because Flatley, if the Rockets
(53:36):
are gonna break through and the Rockets are going to
be a real contender the way I believe they can be,
they needed to go from having some of the least
shooting in the league to at least being passable from
the perimeter, and by adding Durant, and if all of
(53:58):
a sudden they get real con intributions from Shepherd, they
could go from a lack of shooting to a surplus
of shooting. And so the fact I love that he
had the force steels three blocks because I think what
Ema wants from him is just showing effort on the
defensive end. And I think Read Shepherd, who I loved
(54:21):
him coming out of college, is going to be a
guy who plays high some high leverage minutes for the
Rockets this year. And you want to see a guy
like that dominate when he's in Summer League. And that
one game where he had twenty eight eight, four, four
and three was enough for me. All right, demonse, let's
get some listener questions.
Speaker 2 (54:42):
Please, Isaiah asked. Jalen gets respect even though he has Avengers,
but Party gets deemed for it.
Speaker 1 (54:49):
So this is this is what is so puzzling to
me about some of these people. And I work with
one of them that want us to discuss brock Purty
as if last year didn't happen like like, so, I
just want the games to matter. So the because Wild's
(55:11):
always gets mad at me, He's like, there's nothing brock
perty can do, And the answer is no, he actually
last year was the opportunity he didn't have. All the
Avengers guys were hurt. Okay, Brock shows what you do
and he wasn't good and the team wasn't good going
into last year, Demonse, I think most people had Purty
(55:34):
and Jalen Hurts ranked around the same. And then Jalen's
awesome and they win the Super Bowl. Purty's not good
and they finished last in the division, and it's like, oh, okay,
I guess he's gonna move backwards.
Speaker 2 (55:49):
Perdy's guys hurt. Jalen Hurts again in that situation, What
would he have done without DeVante Smith?
Speaker 1 (55:56):
So I think that I actually do think that Jalen,
because of what he can do with his legs and
because he's a different type of player, that he would
not fall off in the way Perty did. But I
the I mean, I just folks, for some reason want
(56:19):
the fact that Perty was not good last year to
just not count. It's unbelievable, like they of I I
can't believe how many people want like this is not
the time to come at me about brock Perdy coming
off that season. They just had all right go to
(56:41):
Danny's question.
Speaker 2 (56:43):
Danny asked, if you could put any retired Chiefs player
in their prime and add them to the current roster,
who would it be. I know who it is? Who
s Jamal.
Speaker 1 (56:52):
Charles Smart, answer is probably the no, no, no, no, You're
right that that's who I was gonna say. But that's
that's just because he's my favorite, ye and he's so awesome.
The smart answer, though, probably is Derek Thomas. If you
just bring in one of the greatest pure past rushers
(57:15):
in league history off the edge for this Chiefs team,
it would be like adding uh Max Crosby, a better
Max Crosby to the Chiefs. That would be pretty sick.
Matt asks Tony g No, it would be either Derek
Thomas is the right answer, Jamal Charles is where my
(57:38):
where my heart is? Go ahead, and that's the next.
Speaker 2 (57:43):
One to mans Uh Noah Rodriguez, How did you end
up hanging out with Speed and kay Sinet and how
were they?
Speaker 1 (57:50):
How I ended up hanging out with them is confidential.
How were they? They were awesome, particularly Kai Uh, but
Speed was super cool too. But the I can't. I'm
not gonna reveal what brought us together in that room.
One last question before we.
Speaker 2 (58:10):
Go, Matt ass producer Daniel is watching while playing video
poker in Las Vegas right now? Is there a worse
use of time in Las Vegas?
Speaker 1 (58:19):
People love video poker? Some people just play it for
the free drinks. I don't really I've never dove into
the world of video poker. It seems like you could
maybe play it for like fifty cents a hand and
then get you can play it at the bar and
get free drinks because of that, so maybe it's fun.
I'm not sure. It is eight thirty in the morning
(58:40):
out there, but I'm not big on slots and video
poker and that type of thing. Not really my thing.
All right, Special show tomorrow recapping the World Series of
Poker with a goat our second guest ever that as
soon as I have the exact details of it, I'll
tweet them. So you guys can have a follow us
(59:01):
on Twitter, Instagram, all that. Also subscribe to our YouTube
page and our iTunes and Spotify. That way you get
the updates when we have them. Thank you to Volume,
Blue Dock, DraftKings and Boost Mobile. Thank you to Monse.
I will see you guys on TV in a few hours.
We'll try
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Wrighten. This episode of
What rpen Nick Grit is presented to you by boost Mobile.
Of this episode three forty nine, I am back after
a whirlwind thirty six hours in Las Vegas, where I
got to be a part of what, in many ways
is arguably the most historic and unbelievable World Series of
(00:25):
Poker Main Event Final table ever, with one of the
greatest champion stories in Michael the Grinder Msrocky winning the
World Series of Poker Main Event in the same year
he won his fourth Poker Players Championship and just getting
snap inducted into the Hall of Fame. And on that note,
(00:48):
so here's the deal. Because I was debating, I was like,
there's so much to talk about with the poker stuff,
and I know that some of you guys are super
into it and some of you guys are not, but
they're It was really it would have been really cool
to be involved in any World Series of Poker Main Event,
But as it happened, as it turned out, if I
(01:11):
could have picked any of the last twenty years as
far as interesting, amazing storylines, historic, all of it, the
number one draft pick is the one that wrapped yesterday
and I was there and a part of it. It
was truly unreal. So I want to give that event
its own show. And so and demon's good to see you.
(01:37):
We for the second time ever, and I'm not gonna
say who it's going to be, but for the second
time ever, we are going to have a guest on
the show. And I've decided that the our standard because
we had low Wayne on early on and Low Wayne
(01:59):
is certainly in the argument for greatest ever at what
he does, or greatest living at what he does. So
I think, at least for the time being, because the
person we're having on tomorrow is in the argument for
(02:20):
greatest living and or greatest ever at two different fields,
at two different things. And so he will join us
live from Las Vegas tomorrow. If you are a big
poker fan, you probably have and you can put in
the comments who you're guessing it is. There's really only
(02:42):
one person who fits that bill that might be the goat,
not just in card playing but in something else as well.
That person will join us for a full world series,
and here's a hint on who it might be. Also,
a little Pacquiao fight preview, as I believe this person
(03:04):
is also in the discussion for world's pre eminent boxing expert.
He joins us tomorrow, so we will do a full
world series recap, storylines discussion with our second ever guest
on What's Right, and again, I part of the reason
I'm not saying who it is is to keep up
(03:25):
the suspense. The other part of the reason is because
his commitment on when I was like, hey, let's do
it tomorrow, it felt like a loose commitment, and I
am now making it a hard commitment. But one of
the goats, if not the goat, will join us tomorrow
on What's Right with the right breakdown the World Series
(03:46):
of Poker and talk a little boxing in the meantime.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
How are you I'm doing pretty good, Pops. How are
you doing?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I'm doing well. I don't know if Demonzi's MIC's a
little low, at least in my ear it is, so
if we can boost that up a bit, speaking of
boost streight to voicemail brought to you by boost Mobile.
Speaking of Lowayne loll Wayne, one of our guests, he's
gonna walk out with dust employe. Pardon me, poier Son.
(04:14):
I don't know, but I am so frustrated that I
have mispronounced Poorier's name three times now. I did it
one of our ad reads once and it's not a
tricky pronunciation, but I got in my head once I
mispronounced it, no pouriet. See the back end of it
is what's supposed to be tricky because it's French. No
(04:36):
Ea pourier. But I'm screwing up the front end because
I'm thinking about the back in my apologies, Caitlin Clark.
This is now concerning the amount of lower body you know,
dings and issues she's had this year. Injury prone. I'm
not ready to put that label on it yet, but
(04:58):
I am ready to say this year might be derailing
due to injury. And I think that's a concern for
her and obviously for the fever, and a little bit
for the league. And then also they're you know, missed
the cut, Noah Essenay, just getting absolutely posterized and then
being getting the mean treatment and all of that. I mean,
(05:21):
just it's the face is what really just kills it.
And uh, this is for really what I'm about to
say here is really just for the first thing's first
production room that is watching this pod live right now.
Kind of looks a little bit like elite producer Ramsey.
(05:42):
Just a touch, just just just a touch, especially when
Ramsey Ramsey sometimes has the braids to like that. Like,
I'm just saying just a little bit, all right, demanse,
let's get to the show a few minutes and go ahead.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
So the yearly top tens have come out of off.
We've got the quarterbacks. So executive coaches and scouts all
vote on this. Patrick Mahomes, your guy was at number one.
Weirdly enough, Jalen Hurts was number nine. Nick sirian Who's
asked about this and if Philly carried Jalen Hurts to
the Super Bowl? Sirianni called bs, So what is this?
(06:18):
Is this disrespectful? Obviously Hurts has two Super Bowl appearances
in the last three years. It's thirty seven to ten
in the last three seasons. What's what's going on with that?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Justin Hurts? So I do think it's Yeah, So I
do think it's disrespectful. And I think that people have
to be willing to move their opinion based on things
that happen after you have formed your opinion, Like it
(06:47):
is totally fine, and this is maybe self serving of
me to say, because I'm gonna describe kind of my
opinion evolution on Jalen Hurts. I think it is totally
fine to be like, Listen, there were times last season
that I thought the weak link of the Philadelphia Eagles
(07:12):
offense was their quarterback. That and that can be. That
was actually the exact, that exact opinion of mine. It
was the subject of the animated more than a little
awkward conversation I had the night before the Super Bowl
(07:37):
with or two nights for the Super Bowl, one of
them with Jalen's mother, when she confronted probably too strong,
approached me and I at first didn't If you guys
didn't hear the story. We were at a super Bowl party.
I'm standing there. A woman walks up and she's like,
(07:58):
to ask you a question. I said yeah, and she
was like, why do you talk so bad about Jalen Hurts.
And then I'm like, well, I don't know that I
talk bad about him, and we and she's like, no,
you do, and then you know, I give my defense
of my takes. She comes back, and then about six
seven minutes into it, I say, miss may I may
I ask you a question? And she said yes, I said,
(08:20):
are you Jalen's mother? And she said yes, And I
was like, oh boy, we're in a We're in a
trickier spot than I had thought. And one of the
things that I said to her, I was like, listen,
I just I want you to know the things I
have said and the things I haven't said, right for
good or for bad. I was like, and something I
(08:42):
have said that I'm sure you would think is totally unfair.
As I did call him the weak link of the
Philly offense. I was like, now, contextually, you should know
I did say that within the framework of they have
a top three offensive line, a top three receiving corps,
(09:04):
and a top one but top three running back. So
if he just simply is not a top three quarterback
in that framework, he would be the weak link because
everyone else is. But it so it wasn't that was
going the weak link of a bad team. However, I
was saying last year that I thought they were going
(09:26):
to get into spot demons when they had to throw
the football and they weren't going to be able to
throw the football like those That was and so that
and I would have last year had Jalen Hurts pretty
firmly outside of my quarterback top ten. I absolutely would have.
(09:46):
I don't think it is at all contradictory to then say,
but then I watched the NFC Championship Game and the
Super Bowl, and his performance in those two games by
(10:07):
itself made me totally reevaluate, and his consistent ability to
play his best in the biggest sponse, which is the
most valuable trait a quarterback can have, made me reevaluate.
(10:29):
Like and so, I think people far too often get
tied and married to their prior opinions. Coward's the best
at not doing this. And you know, shamelessly is the
wrong word, but almost like he he will have a adamant, strong,
(10:53):
vociferous opinion and a week later be like, change my mind,
like and.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
So information right, And that's what he says.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
He's like, I got new information and so, and I
think that. So again, we've got to be careful about
what we've said and whether so if I said and
I did not, but if someone has said I'm telling
you this player will never be a top five quarterback,
(11:27):
then it is a little tougher. You can still come
back and be like, I was wrong, you know, but
it's it's a little tougher. I don't think people at
this point are fairly evaluating Jalen Hurts based on his
(11:47):
ability to play his best in the biggest spots, and
I think that that should whatever credit that people want
to take away from him, I think fairly because he
is not a guy that over the course of a season,
(12:10):
if you built the offense around Jalen hurts passing game,
I don't think you'd have an elite offense, I think,
and I do think that's fair to ding him for.
I don't think that the negative credit he gets for that,
(12:30):
what I believe is a fact, should outweigh the positive
credit for the fact that we've seen him now on
two deep playoff runs, and you can't point to a
single game on those two deep playoff runs where you're like, Ah,
Hurts wasn't good enough for them to win. Hurts didn't
(12:53):
do enough, like you just can't. And he had to
go two years ago toe to toe with Patrick in
a Super Bowl. He had the one fumble, which is
why I thought Patrick outplayed him. But still he played
an a minus level game. The offense scored thirty five points,
he accounted for four touchdowns and then last year he
(13:17):
had to go toe to toe with Jade and Daniels
in a playoff game when Daniels was the hottest quarterback
in the league. Phillies offense scores fifty five points. And
then in the Super Bowl he has the fourth and
five pass down the sideline. He wait, I think it's
the NFC Championship game. He had the fourth and five
(13:38):
pass down the sideline. The Super Bowl was the kill
shot start of the second half. He was great and
so go ahead, Pats.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
So where would you have him? Like you because you
said you had him still the outside of the top
ten last year. With the information that you have, now,
where would you have him?
Speaker 1 (13:54):
So I have a I've developed a new opinion on
how we have to rank the quarterbacks. I don't think
that it is fair anymore to say it's a big
(14:15):
four and then we can debate after that that because
so here's to me where I'm at going into and
it can obviously change when a new season comes, like
the new season has to matter. I believe the top
(14:37):
three has to be in this order. Patrick Josh Lamar.
I think that is the only because what is the
knock on Lamar? And at this point, there's only one left.
(14:58):
He does not play his best in the postseason, and
I'm not gonna harp on that. I think that is.
You know, two years ago, folks were mad at me.
I was making too big of a deal of it.
Last year, folks were annoyed with me. I was making
too big of a deal with it going into this year, folks,
But grudgingly without saying it's like, okay, yeah, Nick Klock
(15:20):
this the whole time that it was, and.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
He showed something different. I was just about to say
Lamar didn't play badly. Though Lamar played pretty well. He
might have had a rough first half, but.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Oh yeah, I mean rough first have to cost in
the game. But it was still I mean, you're right,
it wasn't. It wasn't as bad as some of the
other But again, this is what I'm what I'm about
to say here is actually a defensive Lamar. The point
I'm making is this, Demonse, I do not think it
is fair to penalize Lamar so much for bad playoff
(15:51):
performances that he drops beneath the player who has not
been in the playoffs the last two years and Joe Burrow, like,
for all we know Joe Cool had his Emperor has
no clothes moment with the playoff loss to Patrick Mahomes,
(16:13):
and from now on in the playoffs, Burrow is just
gonna be a shaking shell of himselself. But we haven't
seen it because he hasn't been in the playoffs since then. Now,
to be clear, I think the odds of that are
almost zero percent that Burrow all of a sudden is
gonna freak out in the playoffs. My point is you
can't say Lamar playing poorly in the playoffs is worse
(16:38):
than a guy not even getting to the playoffs. You
just can't. And one of the other reasons that two
years ago I had Burrow ahead of Lamar firmly was
Lamar's injury risk. Lamar the last two years, aside from
his annual bout with the flu, Lamar has been incredibly
(17:02):
durable and Joe's miss time have been banged up, So
I think it has to and the I don't think
I need to defend Mahomes being number one, But the
argument against him is he hasn't had the go the
last two years. Gaudy regular season numbers. The problem is
(17:25):
anyone you want to put up against him, He then
has played in the playoffs and thoroughly outplayed and beat them.
So it's not just his team is one. He has
played better than Josh in both the playoff games the
last two years. He has played better than Lamar. He
has so it's just not it's Mahomes has to be won.
(17:46):
I think Josh right now, do you demand say you're
the Lamar guy. Do you think it's fair to have
Josh two? Yeah, yeah, I think it's fair like that.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I think it's pretty close. But yeah, then Lamar after its.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
And then Lamar three play right and last you know,
Josh one MVP Lamark could have Josh. You know the
So I that's where. So here's my point and the
reason I said all of that. I think it is
fair if somebody says Joe Burrow's four, by the way,
(18:24):
I probably agree with him for the record. But if
somebody says Demons Jalen Hurts is four, and what you're
losing in the prolific stats Joe Burrow gives you, you're
adding in toughness, availability, the push, push, and huge playoff moments.
(18:48):
And Joe's biggest accomplishment ever is being one and one
against Patrick in AFC championship games and Jalen's one and
one against Patrick in Super Bowls. So the point I'm
trying to make is when you say it's a Big four,
(19:08):
you're saying you can't argue anyone outside of that top
four is better than anyone in it. And I don't
think you can make a credible argument, even with all
the flowers I've given to Jalen Hurts right now, that
Jalen's better than Lamar, Josh or Patrick. I do think
you can make an argument over Joe, and I love Joe,
(19:32):
but he's he starts here slowly. He does have now
Jalen has this as well, obviously embarrassment of riches on
the outside catching the ball. And I do think that
there is a he probably has. The Fact that Josh,
(19:57):
Patrick and Lamar are three of the most dynamic and
successful rushing threats the position has ever seen has to count.
And people might say Nick Patrick's not in that class,
not in the regular season, but if you look at
quarterback career yards per carry, playoff yard rushing yards, playoff
(20:20):
rushing touchdowns, if you remove Neil Downs, Patrick's right there,
and he's had iconic you know, so that he's kind
of more choose yeah, say it again.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
He's more tactical with when he chooses yes well.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
And I just don't. He's not as fast as you are,
and he's not as bruising and big as Josh, so
he has to be more. So if you're here, is
what my rankings would look like. If I were doing
I would go one Patrick two, Josh three, Lamar four,
(21:05):
Joe five, Stafford six, Jalen Hurts seven, with an asterisk
of it's probably too early, but I give it to him.
Jaden Daniels eight, Baker. And then it gets trickier.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Did you say golf already? Did you say golf? You
didn't say golf.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
I didn't say golf, and I didn't say Herbert. And
this is now where we will do the Justin Herbert
part of the conversation, because that's what really christ galling
to you. Was Justin Herbert ahead of Jalen Hurts. Correct, Yeah,
what has he done? The answers nothing? I mean, the
(21:56):
answer is nothing, and it is yes. Right. So Justin
Herbert was the same high school class Demanse as Nicky Bosa.
He was the same draft class as Justin Jefferson Ceedee
(22:19):
Lamb and Joe Burrow. And the reason I say those
things is because we don't look at any of those
other players as like, well, once they reached their potential,
you know, those guys were like, oh, those are second
contract veterans that you know, they are who they are.
(22:41):
And it is.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Keep making a seem like Justin Herber is about to
pop out, is right? And by the way, maybe.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
And I want to make this clear, he might. He
might be on the precipice of putting it all together.
I'm not because he is very talented, he's huge. He's
actually a better athlete than his previous coaches prior to
Harball gave him credit for it because he can Ronnie
ran it Oregon. There's a lot to like about Justin Herbert,
(23:12):
But five years in correct, five years into your career,
you have to be evaluated on your career like that's
the and Justin Herbert it is. And this is where
having him ahead of Jalen Hurts is to me, really
(23:36):
really unfair. Jalen Hurts has repeatedly played his best in
the biggest spots, and Justin Herbert has repeatedly played his
worst in the biggest spots. And people will say, Nick,
a lot of what you're talking about here is quarterback wins.
(23:58):
It is not. And I want to get on the
record about this. By the way, they're people need to
be discerning enough to recognize that. For many of us.
I'll talk for myself, I am. The pushback on quarterback
(24:24):
wins is it should not be binary. Did they win,
then the you know, quarterback gets an a. Did they
lose then the quarterback didn't do enough? It should not
be like that. You should be able to be discerning
enough to say, how well did that player play within
(24:50):
that game? And you know, did the team win despite him?
Did they lose despite him being excellent? Like and so
it if Jalen hurts, if they had if he hadn't
played awesome in that Super Bowl and that NFC Championship game,
but they had just won, then it feels a little
(25:11):
different than the fact that they won and he played great. Right,
So when I talk about Mahomes, I don't if you
guys notice it because Mahomes hasn't had the regular season
numbers the last couple of years. I don't say just
say he beat Josh and Lamar in the playoffs. I
say he out played and beat. He had the better
(25:36):
individual performance as well, which brings me to Herbert. Herbert
has played two actual playoff games and one playoff adjacent game.
The playoff adjacent game was the Week eighteen winning your
in tie and you're in losing your out game against
(25:56):
the Raiders three years ago. Okay, justin Herbert in that game.
Now you see at three hundred and eighty yards, he
threw the ball sixty four times, completed fifty three percent
of his passes, had a passer rating of eighty six
yards per attempt. They lost, So they lost and he
(26:21):
didn't play great. Then the next year in the playoffs,
they are up twenty seven points on the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It is one of the biggest collapses in NFL history.
(26:43):
He has one touchdown, no picks, and eighty five rating,
completes fifty eight percent of his passes, and critically doesn't
make a single big play in the second half when
they only needed one. And then last year plays quite
simply one of the worst playoff games any alleged star
(27:07):
quarterback has ever played in the history of the league.
He walked in and so that's that is where the
Herbert he had three interceptions all year, he had four
in the playoff game. He completed forty four percent of
his passes. He had a passer rating of forty and
that was So this is where and then I'll end it.
(27:29):
I think the jail and Justin Herbert thing is most
galling at the ranking Justin Herbert. Last year, Demonse was
asked for that Chargers team to be Jalen Hurts of
(27:51):
twenty twenty two. Take care of the ball, make a
couple big plays. We have the number one defense in
full ball. We have a running game, just you know
what I mean. And then if we need you down
the road, hopefully you can do it. And he just
(28:11):
threw pick after pick after pick. They had the number
one defense in the NFL all year long. He had
you know, people were like, oh, he's sacrificing his own
personal numbers, you know, to take care of the ball
and for the sake of the team. And then in
the playoffs was brutal. So you cannot have a guy
(28:33):
who's zero to two with a sixty career playoff passer rating,
who for his the has had zero you know, Oh
my god, high high pressure. Well I shouldn't say y
pressure but doesn't have you know, the old coward thing
(28:55):
about Tatum. Close your eyes and what do you see? Like,
what do you see when he's justin huge moment? He
can't be where he is on this list.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Hurts and Tatum are a little similar victims of their roster.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
I oh no, maybe, well, victims and beneficiaries. I mean
that's the thing is like that there is, Yeah, but
that's so. I so, I just so I think my
top eight well, of course I think my top eight's
right because it's my top eight. But I think having
(29:34):
Herbert ahead of Hertz is kind of stupid at this point.
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Speaker 1 (31:26):
All right, demonse, let's get to the wide and so
it should be noted real quick because we wouldn't do
this much time on these lists if it was just
like a writer or a website's opinion. This is like
the NBA GM survey where I forget who does it
for ESPN? I want to give them credit, Jeremy Fowler.
(31:49):
You know polls executives from the entire league has them
vote on a top ten and that. So this is
lists like this I actually value because it gives you
a a kind of eye into how the league is
seeing guys.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
All right, so go ahead, Yes, So the same poll
drop for wide receivers, they had Tyreek Hill at number
three despite last year. Do you think the Tyreek is
due for a bounce back season? You could probably attribute
that to a couple of things with Tyreek Hill Tyreek
Hills last year.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yeah, But the question is are any of those things
going to be different? Right? You know what I mean?
Like you you could attribute them uh to you know,
the quarterback personal stuff, you know, the hours before Week one,
getting throat, put in handcuffs, dealing with a wrist injury,
(32:40):
a lot of.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Stuff's start off the season like that.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, but that also was the only game all year
he had like an explosive touchdown. I mean, so that's
so here's what was concerning I think for Tyreek. He
had that eighty yard touchdown in Week one. Here are
his longest receptions in every game after that ten seventeen, seventeen,
(33:11):
twenty one, eight thirty, twenty eight, twelve, eighteen, twenty thirty,
twenty one, twenty one, twenty four, twenty five, thirteen. That's
that's weird for Tyreek to have two or one play
all year longer than thirty yards. Is not touchdown longer
(33:34):
than thirty yards, just play longer than thirty yards. That
is a rarity, right. We've never seen that from him
in his career, and he was coming off arguably the
best year of his career eighteen hundred yards thirteen touchdowns,
despite only playing sixteen games, and so gun to my
(34:00):
head demands, I still if you were saying, you know,
take any receiver you want in the league, and Justin
and Jamar are gone, I'd still take Tyreek.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yeah, yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
But I I am, I have my antennae up that
last year might not be the fluke, that last year
might be the norm at this point in his career.
It's certainly on the board. Like I think that's the
end of the year is.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Pretty weird with Terry Hill and the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Oh well, yes, there also correct, there also is does
he want to be there? You know though that piece
of it, which I think is not nothing right like
that is a a real factor and is toua you know,
gonna be good. I think that's you know, those are
(34:59):
all real factors. I was personally, and I want to
get your take on this. De Monsey very surprised that
Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Was not number one. Yeah, same, Yeah, I thought.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
We all just kind of acknowledged, Well, he's obviously the
best quarterback I'm sorry, the best wide receiver. Yeah, and
I think that that and I know Chase had a
mont listen, Chase won the receiving triple Crown. I get
(35:36):
that Justin Jefferson was the centerpiece of an offense quarterbacked
by Sam Darnold that won fourteen games, and you know,
the like he was to me, it's pretty clear justin
Jefferson's the best receiver in football. And it's no disrespect
(35:57):
to Jamar Chase. I I was very surprised that, and
maybe I shouldn't have been because Chase had such a
great year. And by the way, I think Chase is phenomenal.
I think both. I think both of these guys. Yeah,
I would just have my It would have been Jefferson one,
(36:17):
Tyra erse, Jamar two, Tyreek three, And I think that's fair,
I mean the and then after that, I think it
is a debate. They have c D four, AJ Brown five.
That's probably right, but you could flip it like you
(36:38):
could have AJ five. Uh. It really did surprise me
that uh Malik Neighbors Demons was already seven. Like I,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
I have that much of it here.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Well, I mean, listen, he had no quarterback and know
still twelve hundred yards. I just don't know that. I'm
I'm not certain that Neighbors was better last year than
Brian Thomas Junior. And so now Brian Thomas Junior obviously
had better quarterback play having the prince when before he
(37:17):
got hurt, but still so the and I thought the
I do think the Puka disrespect was wild. Yeah, Like
this is where there is real draft slot bias. That
is that people say I'm guilty of with Purdy, and
(37:40):
that's fine, but Puoka. Now, I also understand Puoka last
year missed six games. But despite missing six games, yes exactly,
he was ten yards short of a thousand yard season.
He was excellent for them in the playoffs, and as
(38:00):
you mentioned, he came back from the injury and instantly
was awesome. And so I think Puka deserved to be
in that top ten. Like I personally would rather have
Puka than at this point neighbors right now, this moment,
(38:21):
neighbors or I wouldn't rather have him than Ceede Lamb,
but I'd rather have him than neighbors or Nico Collins
and dude hands pooka yea.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
I like him a lot.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
No, I like him a lot too. I didn't see,
but I don't. I don't think Ceedee Lamb to me
is you know, a clear cut top five receiver, And
I don't think I think Puka has an argument, but
I think CD. I do agree that CD's high end
is higher than Puka, but I just thought having him
essentially twelve behind McLaurin and Garrett Wilson, Like, I don't know, man, Like,
(39:01):
that's that's not how I how I saw it go ahead.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
So it's that time of year. Xavier Worthy said that
Andy Reid told him to get his hamstrings ready. No,
this is your team. It sounds a lot like last year,
like mahomes, you know, we're ready to have some fun
and stuff.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Well yeah, but then everyone got hurt. I mean that's
the thing. People are like, Oh, man, you guys said
this was gonna happen last year, and yes we did.
And then Hollywood Brown gets his rib cage caved in
or no, that's not right, his collarbone broken and then
it didn't heel into the rib cage properly or she
(39:41):
Rice yah, Yeah, gets his knee blown out in week three,
but Jacko breaks his leg and they and all of
a sudden, they're starting running back as Kareem Hunt, who
was unemployed and their starting wide receiver got cut by
the Patriots and Juju like, so do I think that Worthy,
who came much like Rashi, came on very strong at
(40:04):
the end of the year. Worthy with Rashi if he
is fully healthy, And then again, I'm not a huge
Hollywood brown guy, but he will be like an interesting
part of the UH to have out there as a
threat that, yeah, we could have a And I also
think the Chiefs not having the three pet kind of
hanging over them, with the added pressure and all of
(40:27):
that week to week will help him. So yeah, I
do think that the Chiefs offense and its receiving corps
will be explosive for the first time in a couple
of years. All right, speaking of the Chiefs, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
Yeah, So it's July and it's your podcast obviously, so
we're gonna talk about the Chiefs and their guards. They
just signed.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
They gave Tray Smith the biggest contract of any guard
in league history, and they're bringing back most of the
squad from last year. Is now the time to hammer
the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Well plus eight hundred, I think it. I don't think
the odds are going to get more favorable to bet
than that, because I think they're going to slap the
Chargers in Week one in Brazil and then beat Philly
and then the odds changed drastically. I will say this,
I like them. They have Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith,
(41:18):
both locked up to long term deals. They they believe
they took their left guard of the future, Kingsley Suamataia
in the second round last year, and they think that
they got an absolute steel with Josh Simmons out of
Ohio State as their left tackle. If they're right about
(41:41):
those two guys on the left hand side, then they
and they now have the center and guard taken care of.
That doesn't that only leaves right tackle And this will
be Juwan Taylor's last year almost assuredly on the team.
And then you'll see if the guy they signed, uh,
(42:06):
what's the guy's name? The backup left tackle for the Niners,
who they signed ostensibly to be the left tackle, but
you see if they slide him over to the right what,
Oh my goodness, I can't remember the guy's name, but
everybody knows what I'm talking about. And if you don't
hold on, Chiefs, what I can't believe this. This is
embarrassing left tackle. Jared Moore. Jalen Moore. Jalen Moore is
(42:31):
his name? I right right as I googled it, I
thought it was Jared Moore, but then I saw it
in was Jalen Moore. But so The short version of
this is because that was the other thing they happen
with the Chiefs offense last year. They had some of
the worst tackle play in the league, and Mahomes was constantly,
you know, running for his life. So that has to
(42:53):
be cleaned up. All right. This is a message that
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like rate, subscribe, review to the channel on YouTube and
(43:58):
on spotify on I to him all that, let's do
the Bengals story real quick and then get into these
quarterback battles.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Bengals first round pick Shamar Stewart has still not signed
his deal. There's reports or rumors, not I should say reports.
He's been working out with A and M and it's
possible that he might opt out of playing with Cincy.
What's going on there?
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yeah, listen, I don't think he's gonna opt out of
playing for Cincinnati and re enter the draft. My guess
is he ultimately does blink on this and the weird
contract language they want, my guess is he'll give it
to him because financially it just can't make you. It's
so easy to fall to the second round, and then
between first and second round money is so big. What
(44:40):
it does mean for Cincy, though, is they once again
will have unnecessary noise and distraction and nonsense around them
going into the season. They still don't have the Trey
Hendrickson things squared away, and I'm yet the to that
he's going to be a very trendy and popular demands
(45:03):
a pick for uh, you know, to be one of
the teams that missed the playoffs last year. That makes
it this year for obvious reasons, they got hot at
the end of the year. They have burrowed all that.
I get it. I just don't know why they won't
this year will be different than last year. Why it
won't be the same thing where they score a bunch
of points, they can't get any stops and I and
(45:26):
why this isn't going to be for the fifth straight
year a year they start slowly and so I am
not a buyer on the Bengals. I'll give you this
right now, my right now. If I were to pick
the AFC playoff picture again this it's July seventeenth. It's
(45:47):
not my official predictions, but if I were to pick it,
AFC East winner, Buffalo AFC North winner, Baltimore AFC South winner,
the Jags AFC West winner, the Chiefs, with the wild
(46:09):
Guards being the Raiders, and then the two other I
don't think you're gonna get three AFC West teams in
And if I were to pick one, I'd pick the Chargers. Yeah,
(46:32):
three AFC West teams in last year, So I might
go Raiders, Chargers, and then that leaves room for one
team and oh what the Texans is who you're thinking.
I'm worried about Houston, man, I'm worried about their offensive line,
(46:52):
and I'm worried about their lack of healthy weapons on
the outside. Maybe but maybe Houston. Again, I've gotta spend
more time on it, But I think the I think
the surprise AFC playoff team would be the Raiders and
the Jags. And I think since the reason I even
sending you this is I think Cincinnati misses can miss
(47:14):
the playoffs again. I absolutely think they can have a
year similar to last year. All right, let's go ahead
and go to training camp quarterback stuff.
Speaker 2 (47:22):
Training camps cross the league are starting up, and all
eyes are on the quarterback battles around the league, Like
the Giants, the Saints, Brown so we even have like
five quarterbacks. The Colts are all looking for their quarterback one. Still,
which team situation are you most interested in right now?
Speaker 1 (47:36):
Well, I'm not really interested in really much of these,
but I can tell you who I think is gonna
win all of them. Like that, to me is the
most the most interesting thing is just getting on the
record with who is going to win it. So in
New York it's Russell Wilson, Jamis Winston and the rookie
they drafted, Jackson Dark. I think to start the year
(48:00):
will be Russell Wilson and then they might at some
point switch over to Dart. But I think Russell's gonna
win that quarterback battle. In New Orleans, I think they
are going to because this is a depressing quarterback battle.
Tyler Shuck, Spencer Rattler, Jay Hayner. I think Tyler Shuck
(48:22):
is gonna be the quarterback next year for the New
Orleans Saints, and he's gonna break camp as the second
round pick starting the Browns. I would be very surprised
if it's not Flacco. I think they start the year
with Flacco and they potentially trade Pike it and the Colts.
I think this is almost a lock. It's gonna be
(48:45):
your guy. Daniel Jones, Anthony Richardson like still dealing with
shoulder stuff and maturity stuff. Oh that's the other thing
with the Texans. To get back to it, the CJ.
Stroud shoulder soreness thing has hit my radar as as
something to watch, So Daniel Jones gonna be the starting
(49:05):
quarterback for the Colts. So I would go Russ with
the Giants, Shuck with the Saints, Flackle with the Browns,
and Daniel Jones with the Giants for week one. So
all right, we can we can go on to the
quick NBA stuff.
Speaker 2 (49:20):
The Clippers man, they bought out Bradley Beal. He's headed
over there. The Son's brought out the Sons. Yeah, the
Sons bought out Bradley Bial. He set it over to
the LA to play with the Clippers. They'd have three
of the eight highest scoring players from twenty twenty. Does
this do anything? I don't think it does.
Speaker 1 (49:38):
No. I mean everyone's gonna make the same point, which is, well,
Bradley Beal at fifty million, this is a problem, but
at five million is a bargain kind of. I mean
it's the same thing they said about Russell Westbrook when
he went there, like, oh he was bad at fifty
but at five and he was fine. But Bradley Beal
had it wasn't just the contract was his. He didn't
(50:01):
want to come off the bench. He wanted to be featured.
I think he's gonna have to come off the bench
and not be featured there, or maybe he starts, but
it's still gonna be Harden and Kwi show.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
I just.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
I don't mind the Dice roll, but I am not
bullish at all about Bill getting anywhere close to being
back to you know, his mid Wizard's tenuere form. And
so I look at the Western Conference to monse as
(50:35):
in these buckets. Bucket number one is the defending champ
Okay see, I think they they brought everyone back. They
they're young, there's no reason that they shouldn't be going
into the year. The favorites bucket number two, Houston and Denver,
both I thought had awesome offseasons added in Denver's case
(50:59):
a bunch of smart pieces, in Houston's case some smart pieces,
but also a real superstar and Kevin Durant a tier
beneath them. As presently constituted, I have the Lakers and
the Timberwolves, and you can say I shouldn't have the
Timberwolves in the same class as the Lakers. They beat them,
(51:22):
you know, in five in the playoffs. I also think
the Timberwolves losing Nikhil Alexander Walker, the Lakers adding a center,
even though it's not a center, I love like those
two moves, you know, draw those teams even ish, and
then that next group is where I would have the Clippers,
(51:43):
the Warriors, the MAVs, maybe the Spurs, depending on Whimby.
So that's where I see the Clippers. I don't look
at them as anything more than you know, a potential
six seed at best at if everything fell right, maybe
they could win a round. But no, I'm not buying
(52:06):
into the Clippers kool aid. Again. By the way, if
you want to ask some listener questions, now is the time,
because we're gonna get ready to wrap up because I
do have to get to first things first. But first
we've got a new segment. It's time for On the Rise,
brought to you by our friends at Boost Mobile. We're
breaking down players who found a way to stand apart
(52:27):
at NBA Summer League, just like Boost Superior Network and
five G Towers. So this player was a top five
pick last year and then his coach simply wouldn't play him.
He now is on his team goes into this year
in my opinion, as one of the absolute favorites, and
(52:51):
they might end up being my pick to win the championship.
And in part it's going to be because of their depth,
and he will be a part of that. That player
is Reed Shephard for the Houston Rockets, a sniper out
of Kentucky who last year couldn't get off the bench
because he wasn't couldn't defend, and now in Summer League
a few days ago goes twenty eight points, eight rebounds,
(53:15):
four assists, four steals, three blocks in thirty three minutes.
He then followed that up with an eighteen point game
where he wasn't all that efficient. But here's why I
think this is noteworthy, and here's why he's the player
on spotlighting and on the rise, brought to you by
our friends at boost Mobile, Because Flatley, if the Rockets
(53:36):
are gonna break through and the Rockets are going to
be a real contender the way I believe they can be,
they needed to go from having some of the least
shooting in the league to at least being passable from
the perimeter, and by adding Durant, and if all of
(53:58):
a sudden they get real con intributions from Shepherd, they
could go from a lack of shooting to a surplus
of shooting. And so the fact I love that he
had the force steels three blocks because I think what
Ema wants from him is just showing effort on the
defensive end. And I think Read Shepherd, who I loved
(54:21):
him coming out of college, is going to be a
guy who plays high some high leverage minutes for the
Rockets this year. And you want to see a guy
like that dominate when he's in Summer League. And that
one game where he had twenty eight eight, four, four
and three was enough for me. All right, demonse, let's
get some listener questions.
Speaker 2 (54:42):
Please, Isaiah asked. Jalen gets respect even though he has Avengers,
but Party gets deemed for it.
Speaker 1 (54:49):
So this is this is what is so puzzling to
me about some of these people. And I work with
one of them that want us to discuss brock Purty
as if last year didn't happen like like, so, I
just want the games to matter. So the because Wild's
(55:11):
always gets mad at me, He's like, there's nothing brock
perty can do, And the answer is no, he actually
last year was the opportunity he didn't have. All the
Avengers guys were hurt. Okay, Brock shows what you do
and he wasn't good and the team wasn't good going
into last year, Demonse, I think most people had Purty
(55:34):
and Jalen Hurts ranked around the same. And then Jalen's
awesome and they win the Super Bowl. Purty's not good
and they finished last in the division, and it's like, oh, okay,
I guess he's gonna move backwards.
Speaker 2 (55:49):
Perdy's guys hurt. Jalen Hurts again in that situation, What
would he have done without DeVante Smith?
Speaker 1 (55:56):
So I think that I actually do think that Jalen,
because of what he can do with his legs and
because he's a different type of player, that he would
not fall off in the way Perty did. But I
the I mean, I just folks, for some reason want
(56:19):
the fact that Perty was not good last year to
just not count. It's unbelievable, like they of I I
can't believe how many people want like this is not
the time to come at me about brock Perdy coming
off that season. They just had all right go to
(56:41):
Danny's question.
Speaker 2 (56:43):
Danny asked, if you could put any retired Chiefs player
in their prime and add them to the current roster,
who would it be. I know who it is? Who
s Jamal.
Speaker 1 (56:52):
Charles Smart, answer is probably the no, no, no, no, You're
right that that's who I was gonna say. But that's
that's just because he's my favorite, ye and he's so awesome.
The smart answer, though, probably is Derek Thomas. If you
just bring in one of the greatest pure past rushers
(57:15):
in league history off the edge for this Chiefs team,
it would be like adding uh Max Crosby, a better
Max Crosby to the Chiefs. That would be pretty sick.
Matt asks Tony g No, it would be either Derek
Thomas is the right answer, Jamal Charles is where my
(57:38):
where my heart is? Go ahead, and that's the next.
Speaker 2 (57:43):
One to mans Uh Noah Rodriguez, How did you end
up hanging out with Speed and kay Sinet and how
were they?
Speaker 1 (57:50):
How I ended up hanging out with them is confidential.
How were they? They were awesome, particularly Kai Uh, but
Speed was super cool too. But the I can't. I'm
not gonna reveal what brought us together in that room.
One last question before we.
Speaker 2 (58:10):
Go, Matt ass producer Daniel is watching while playing video
poker in Las Vegas right now? Is there a worse
use of time in Las Vegas?
Speaker 1 (58:19):
People love video poker? Some people just play it for
the free drinks. I don't really I've never dove into
the world of video poker. It seems like you could
maybe play it for like fifty cents a hand and
then get you can play it at the bar and
get free drinks because of that, so maybe it's fun.
I'm not sure. It is eight thirty in the morning
(58:40):
out there, but I'm not big on slots and video
poker and that type of thing. Not really my thing.
All right, Special show tomorrow recapping the World Series of
Poker with a goat our second guest ever that as
soon as I have the exact details of it, I'll
tweet them. So you guys can have a follow us
(59:01):
on Twitter, Instagram, all that. Also subscribe to our YouTube
page and our iTunes and Spotify. That way you get
the updates when we have them. Thank you to Volume,
Blue Dock, DraftKings and Boost Mobile. Thank you to Monse.
I will see you guys on TV in a few hours.
We'll try
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