June 30, 2020 • 50 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon react to the news of multiple players opting out of the upcoming NBA and MLB returns, explaining what it means for the immediate future of these leagues. Jason Cole joins the guys to break down the Cam Newton news. Jason and Mike give the truth about Cam Newton and the future of the New England Patriots. Plus, it looks like JR Smith is returning to the NBA!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two a m.
Eastern seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream
us live every night on the I Heart Radio app
by searching fs R. This is the best of The
(00:22):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Greetings and welcome inside. Happy Monday, The Jason Smith Show
with my big friend Mike Harmon. As we count down
to Hamilton's, which really released in four days, four days
from now. Hamilton's, Well, if you've subscribed, because if everybody
(00:48):
still subscribed, everybody's gonna subscribe to get Hamilton's for come on,
for six dollars a month, you're gonna get your money
sporting like a day and a half. And funny, I've
seen it live three times that I've listened to that
thing like a hundred fifty times. Doesn't matter. You have kids.
I have, I have a daughter. We're gonna be watching.
It's gonna be like going to Costco. Well, is the
membership worth it? Are you kidding? It's gonna be worth
(01:09):
it in the first time you go there. Yeah, every
I mean that that's the month worth Yeah, that's that's
cool for I don't think I'm going other than the
King George Parts. I don't think I'm gonna hammer it
too often. Wow, Rich, See, I see that's why I
think you are underestimating the power of your children. Dad.
Can we watch Hambleton's Sure? Uh, that's how I got
(01:29):
three and a half. Your daughter's fourteen. She won't come
talk to you either. Hey, listen, just because hey, just
because you brought her up to not like your White
Sox and the Bears and all these other things. Listen,
you can't just sit down when she's ten and when
she says, Dad, i'd like to do something, you know,
I want to I wanna. I want to write, I
want to do something creative. Want to give back to
(01:51):
this earth, to give back to the world. You go, No,
we need to watch the NFC Championship game from eighty
five against the Rams because we really shut down Dickerson
indeed or Brock. This is what happens to kids when
they get fourteen. Like, boy, my dad's really gonna want
to go back and watch Caleb Haney in the fourth
quarter against the Packers and how close they were. He's
gonna start saying how it didn't matter the color got hurt.
This is what happens. This is when kids grow apart
(02:12):
from you. Man. It's it's you know, it's really all
your fault. Well, I've I've blamed myself for pretty much
everything anyway. That's why I have such a cheery disposition
most of my life. But yeah, I've got one that's
in new soccer and only soccer occasionally a what does
this mean when she wants to go argue with the boys,
and then the older one who really couldn't care unless
(02:35):
we get to go to a live event. Then she
knows she's gonna get to eat. Well oh okay, well okay,
well well you don't. You don't feed your kids. What
do I have to call child services? I know the
point that to keep keep the piece and make sure
I can get past the fifth inning of a game.
That means the food's gotta keep flowing. And I'm texting
child services. Harmon does not if you've got them on
(02:55):
text messages that you've got some other problems going. It's
for you. It's been on for you. Why I've I've
been informing on you. I'm like Matt Damon from Departed.
Sorry spoiler, I've been informing on you for a long time.
Well you know what, he doesn't get away with it,
so be careful. Spoiler Twitter at how about a Fresco
Mike at Swollen Dome the Jason Smith's Show with My Car.
(03:17):
But obviously a huge weekend in the NFL. We got
Cam Newton is now a member the Patriots. Will have
more on that coming up in fifteen minutes. Jason Cole's
gonna stop by. Many many things to say to talk
about Canada, the Patriots. But today really was something that
we alluded to last week that you're starting to see
come to fruition, because I remember last week we said,
(03:41):
you know, yes, you know, NBA is coming back and
the end, MLB is getting ready, everybody getting ready to return.
But and and we've been this, this has been a
common thread for us for a while. When it comes
time to actually go play, it's not all the way
done until the players are actually there. And today what
if we seen in Major League Baseball Mike Leak, Ryan Zimmerman.
(04:04):
Both have opted out of playing this season and joining
their teams due to coronavirus concerns. Meanwhile, Fred van Vleet said,
we probably shouldn't be playing at all. One of the best,
probably should have been m VP of the finals last year.
I was like, I was the only one that said
he should be MVP of the finals last year. Said
they probably shouldn't be playing this year, but they're gonna
He's gonna go play. He's gonna go play with everybody else.
(04:25):
DeAndre Jordan's a tweet just a few moments ago he
has tested positive for COVID nineteen. DeAndre Jordan's will not
be joining the Orlando Bubble. Spencer Dinwiddie also on shore
on when he is going to restart after a positive
test of COVID nineteen himself. So here's today where you
have two Major League Baseball players say yeah, I don't know,
(04:46):
and you know there's going to be more, and you've
had more NBA players either test positive or express reservations
about going to play in the bubble. Before you say, well,
it's one player, you just need one play here, You're
talking about one player on a team of twelve. You
know that this is what if you have one player
on a team, Okay, you can isolate one guy, but
then there's one more you're isolating somebody else. This is
(05:10):
a time right now in our country where when you
have to want to put everything into the pot together
and say, Okay, what's gonna come out of this. It's
not for certain that we're going to see resumptions of
these seasons because the way things have been going in
the country the past few days. You want to go
over the past ten days with coronavirus cases spiking everywhere
(05:31):
and the w h O warning that the worst could
be still becoming if we're not paying attention, because look,
we didn't open smart enough, and that's on us, that's
on everybody that opened earlier, everybody who didn't open smart enough,
and and and try to keep distances in social distance
and do what we had been doing to flatten the
curve for a long time. You are now going to
see players get even more nervous, especially about going to Florida,
(05:52):
where Florida wanted to tout that hey, we're open for business,
we're great, and now you've heard nothing because they've had
the biggest spike in the country in COVID nineteen cases.
And so we just to think that this is still
a very frail time right now for both sports. Major
League Baseball's got to navigate the next few days before
they get people actually into camps. The NBA has got
(06:15):
to navigate the next few weeks and more players are
getting jittery and skittish and nervous, and who knows what's
gonna happen when it really comes to it. You know,
right now, I guarantee you if the players have to go,
the baseball players are gonna go, and they're gonna say,
you know what, first sign of anything, we're leaving. I mean,
right there there, they got one foot out there there.
If they go, they got one ft out the door
going Okay, one thing goes wrong and I'm done. I'm done,
(06:37):
and I'm going back. This is not the way we
should be going into the season. We should be going
in there. And things were fine. But I think the
world changed ten days ago when suddenly, when coronavirus, everything
was doing better and it looked like, you know, New
York City was kind of the um the the flashpoint
for the country. Things were okay, then they got really bad.
Then they started to flatten the curve. Except ten days
(06:59):
ago we saw many other states, over thirty states report
new highs and cases. And it's not this way in
every state, but it's enough to make enough teams nervous,
enough players nervous, and you have positive COVID nineteen tests.
You have players who are gonna be skinish going in
because it's gonna be them. They're the one saying we're
risking what we're risking. And the more time you have
to think about decisions like that, the more up in
(07:20):
the air these decisions get. These next few days are
going to be huge, but especially major League Baseball because
these are the guys that got to report first. These
are the guys we're supposed to see in the next
few days. And if you're not. If suddenly we saw
a first couple of guys today say I'm not comfortable
with going, maybe that means a few more feel comfortable
saying I don't feel really good about this, or maybe
(07:40):
this is These are phone calls of Tony Clark right
now saying, ay, I don't know about this. Things aren't
going that well. These next few days are so crucial
when it comes to the restarted sports just because of
what's happened in the past ten days. Yeah, I mean
you look at the Major League Baseball UH discussions. Ryan
Zimmerman had penned UH post that went out of the weekend,
(08:00):
and I covered it a little bit with LaVar Arrington
on on our Sunday show, just as a well, here
here's a guy writing three week old his mom with
ms SO talking about well, I'd have to be away
from from them for however many weeks, most certainly after
the season were to end, so extenuating circumstances. You know,
(08:24):
part of it. You start looking into the economics of it,
right for the players that got a chunk of money
or have already banked a ton of money, like in
the case of a Ryan Zimmerman, not on a huge
deal right now, but has certainly banked a lot of
money in his career. So the the ability to do
this perhaps a little bit easier. Right. You look at
(08:46):
Fred Vanvleet's comments saying, well, this is what they decided
to do, and if more people had opted out, maybe
I would too. So just from a he's in no
man's land right, trying to figure out what which The
league as a whole wants to go and just try
to be supported as he can. And it's that catch
(09:07):
twenty two, right, because how many people are gonna openly
criticize a guy for opting out, regardless of what the
family circumstances. Right, if Zimmerman didn't have a three week
old kid or his mom's illness, but still said he
opted out. I mean, outwardly, you're gonna have everybody go, hey,
you know, you gotta do you in this time. But
inwardly in the locker room whatever, you know. Take it
(09:30):
to any of the others that have opted out. I
can't imagine it's it's sitting a hundred percent well, no
matter what the extenuating circumstances are, right, there's still the
the profession job to do, et cetera, and getting back
to whatever normal is. Baseball is also different and that
you're gonna be traveling, right, You're not. Even though you're
(09:51):
at your home parks, You're you're still gonna have travel
series and they'll do their best to mitigate how much
you're in the air, how much of that the moving
arts are there, but you've added a lot more variables
by the way the season is currently structured, versus against
the NBA. The NBA is all right, we just got
to get you through these last three weeks and then
(10:12):
on once we get you inside. Now, the variable that
hasn't been handled well to my my thinking Jason, and
we've talked about it a bit on the show, is
what do you do with all those Walt Disney World
employees that get to go home every night, right, so
whatever they go and do in their off hours, and
then come back to the quote unquote bubble that is
(10:33):
got a gaping hole in it as you get ready
to start play at the end of the month. That's
the part that still remains to be seen. But I'm
with you. I think we'll see uh probably another another
few stars and big names at least raised the question
in their local newspapers or local radio before they get
report for duty. Yeah, I think it. It's sometime. There's
(10:56):
going to be that big call with Tony Clark. The
B A p. A Is gonna say, listen, we gotta
we need all these assurances that we're safe if we're
gonna go, we need one more big. Hey, we were
on top of everything just because you get on you know,
you get on the internet and you see Okay, here's
more spikes, here's more, here's more cases. We got to
get under control. We don't have it under control. We
(11:16):
have to get it. You're gonna see that. And despite
the fact that there's portions of the country that want
to push forward no matter what, and that that's my
thing is that I don't know that we're ever gonna
go back, We're ever gonna go back and not reopen
the country or is it going to be really individuals
who decide what they want to do. Listen, We're gonna
be at home until we feel safe, and others are
(11:38):
gonna say I'm gonna go out into the and and
shop and I'm not gonna wear a mask. And it's
we're gonna be living in two different Americas for a
while because I don't know that we can go back
to where we're at because the you know, opening back up,
I mean, unless there's some kind of specific governmental order
about wearing masks and closing things were that's how we're
gonna live. But no matter what, if you think this
(11:59):
is just gonna be put forward that the NBA and
Major League baseb was gonna say, yeah, positive tests here,
pot keep going, keep going, positive tests here, pots keep going,
We're keep going, We're still going, We're still going. Players
are gonna say, whoa, we're done. You know, never forget
the power of the players when it comes to this
is that they're not going to be told we need
to have you know, commerce go, we need to make
(12:21):
sure the economy goes, we need to make sure we're
making money at this. You go play. Players right away
are gonna say, yeah, not doing it. It will happen
very very fast. It'll be one of those things where
one day it's gonna be Okay, I get it, I
get it. Three phone calls are made and we're not
playing anymore. I mean that's how it's gonna go. So
it's not like, well, the play. The country's opening up.
So we're just gonna you know, everybody's gonna just get pushed,
(12:42):
you know, pushed into doing this and keep Whether you
want to do it or not, you're in to try it.
You're in to try, which I think it's great to try.
But the moment that players don't feel safe, or even
before they get there, they're gonna say they don't want
to go, and what are you gonna do? I mean,
you can't make them go. You know, the government and
and you know is gonna say you have to go,
you gotta report. You know what are you doing? You know,
(13:03):
Kevin Newsom is not gonna tell Justin Turner you gotta
get to camp. We need you. Gotta get that. That's
not gonna happen. So that's how it's gonna I need
to think that it could be, well, we're gonna try
and go and if there's positive tests, no players are
gonna say yeah, that's it. And then it's gonna be
what do we do now? So that that's really how
it's going to go. If you think, well, we're on
this path. That's why I mean this next week is
(13:25):
really really big. And if I'm the NBA in Major
League Baseball, I am doing all I can to try
to tell the players we got you, we got you. Look,
there's three d players. We've had fifteen positive coronavirus tests.
We are gonna isolate these people. We will test you,
we will get all the way through. Yes, these are fifteen,
but these are we have all of you safe. We're
gonna continue to test and the players that are gonna
(13:45):
have to decide if they want to go because for
all of us. If you and I worked in a
two person company, right and we found out, hey, fifteen
people have tested positive for coronavirus. I think they're not
people who have been around for a while. Maybe they've
been in and out of the office, and maybe you've
come across them, maybe you haven't. Would you still be
as as excited to go into work every day? Well,
(14:05):
we're gonna isolate you. Everything is gonna be good. Come
through the doors and come work. People are gonna say, no, yeah,
I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it well. But
remember that's what's gonna be for the NBA and Major
League Baseball too well. But from that point, it's there's
a difference between are you excited versus will you do it?
Versus with cash considerations, do you need to do it?
Because they Major League Baseball in the NBA can also
(14:28):
look at it and go, you know what, word here
and laundry. You love the superstars, and we recognize the pandemic.
There's other people that we could put in those jerseys.
NFL did it on strike ear You've had circumstances in
the past where you've had to find the replacements. Hell,
maybe Keanu Reeves got a couple of throws in his arm.
But the reality is, you know, that's why we're starting
(14:50):
to look at the potential of you know, how big
are those rosters right Major League Baseball putting in their sixties.
Sorry no Tebow for the Mets, but I trying to
make sure you've you've accounted for those And for the NBA,
we're seeing a lot and familiar names signing on two deals,
you know, with options into next year, and part of
(15:13):
that is just insurance over what's to come. So I
think there's ways around it, but it's gonna be an
interesting road for sure. With my finger man, yeah, there's there.
It's not like it's impossible, but it's just you can't
the NBA and MLB can't just say everything is gonna
be fine and think everybody's gonna report. I mean that
every day things change and they're they're okay. Now we
(15:35):
gotta do even more work. There's gotta be more handholding
and more convincing. The more close to you get come on,
It's like it's just like a realtor who's trying to
get somebody to buy a house. You know, you can't
just say, oh great, you're in. You got it? Great? Yeah,
I'll see it. The signing. No, No, your realtor is
calling you making sure things are good. They're bringing you
coffee and they're saying, are we good? Hey, did you
get your inspection done? We have? You know I have.
(15:55):
Here's here's get your inspection done so we can sign
the papers so I can make my commission. There's always
hand holding near the end. And there's gotta be a
lot of hand holding here between MLB and the NBA.
There's gotta be tons of it. They gotta be holding
both hands of everybody all the way across. It's gotta
be like hands across America. Uh, like from the eighties
and from the really overrated movie. Uh, you know it's
(16:17):
someone with board to remind them how much money is
at stake if they don't play. Yeah, everybody's got a
lot of hand holding, a lot of hand holding. Uh.
Twitter across Twitter across credit, Twitter across America. Twitter at
how about a fresca? That's Twitter at how about a fresco?
Mike at Swollen Dome, The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmen Live from the Geico Studios. We'll have more on
(16:40):
this throughout the night. But coming up next, Cam Newton
is back one year at the New England Patriots on Saturday.
No one's even talking about him. Sunday night, it was
you know, Cam Dowton can bring the Patriots to the
Super Bowl. What's the truth? We'll tell you coming up next,
Keep it right here Fox. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays
(17:02):
at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Joining us now
on the Hotline. I mean, you could call him an outcast.
I guess that would be a pretty good way to
describe he is the outcast of Pro Football Hall of
Fame voters. Currently, he is still a Pro Football Hall
of Fame voter as well as the editor in chief
of fansided dot com. Longtime NFL insider Jason cole j Cale.
(17:26):
What's happening, Buddy? I would say that they probably believe
that I'm miscast. Okay, why would you be miscast? I
think that's a pretty good casting as a as a
Hall of Fame voter. I mean, based on the fact
that I want to get Roger stock back and Drew Piers,
I mean bar Drew Pearson from ever being in the
(17:46):
Hall of Fame, which is which should be done, and
then trying to get Roger Stop back out of the
Hall of Fame. Are you? I mean, You're entitled to
your opinion, right, That's what we talked about. You can
you can have and you are you getting people on
Twitter saying do you really want to get Pearson and
not prepare to get start back out of the Like
(18:07):
did they really send you guys emails about that? Honestly, honestly,
I want to get our Cowboys fans like that? Stupid. No, no, no.
Here's the most common responses I get from your appearances
on the show. How fun you are, how happy they
are to have you on every week. I know you
gained listeners on Twitter, so you're welcome. And the other
(18:28):
one is, boy, did you ever know that Jason Cole
sounds like Andrew Luck? Those are the two. Those are
the two things been going on for you know, a decade, basically,
you know, ever since he ever since he became part
of the national sports consciousness. And I never made a
dime off of that, the fact that I can impersonate
(18:49):
him that well, and I never capitalized on that account. Tonight,
what you start a cameo account tonight. I'll do whatever
message they're going to forget who Andrew Luck was pretty soon.
Here's what we do. Here's what we do. I got it,
(19:09):
I got it, I got it. Listen, this will get
you all the notoriety in the world. We somehow we
figure out for you to do the interview. Yeah, well,
I mean, I mean, but this, but this is a
bit like this will be where people pick it up
and you'll be a legend. I mean you're a legend now,
but you'll be a legend of Zelda if you do this.
You do an interview with the radio station. That can't
really be in Indianapolis because they probably know his voice
(19:30):
a little bit too well, But maybe somewhere like in
San Francisco. Nonapolis was the place where they thought they
thought most of all that I was actually Andrew Luck.
I used to do parents there and they people will go,
why is the Andrew Luck on your show every week?
And I'm like, oh my god, they're so stupid an Indianapolis.
It's unbelievable. It's like it's it's it's worked like cowboys fans.
(19:54):
So you do an interview and you announce you are
coming back to play. Right, Well, here's what you do.
You spend a morning doing interviews as Andrew Luck. But
every radio station you give a different team you're coming
back to. So in Indianapolis you said I will come back.
I will come back, but I'm only coming back if
I can't play for And let's just keep naming teams.
(20:18):
Should I start with the Jets because you guys just
the most help. Oh sure, sure, We'll do interviews in
New York and say you're gonna play for the Jets.
Do interviews in Jacksonville, say you're gonna play for the Jaguars.
And then soon all these teams say, no, he's playing
with us. No, he's playing with us. No he's playing
he promised trade me immediately, Kansas City all there you go, yes, boom,
(20:48):
that would be the best. Now that would be a day. Listen,
you would lose your Pro Football Hall of Fame voting right,
and normally, my my wheels are real slow to turn
because let's just say, I'm not the brightest bulb. I mean, listen,
you would lose everything you worked for professional in your
entire life. But boy, for a day you would be
(21:09):
legend you would live for a book, that shelf of
books that I got together from you know, threebees, from
all the all the biographies I get sent. Yeah, that's
that's that's that's a big loss from family members looking
to get their person into the Hall of Fame. It's
I love all the teams that said me like packaging,
like they're like, look for you, Donnie Schell. Let's break
(21:32):
down his entire career this four page pamphlet for you.
Got it this way? Like in Braveheart when mel Gibson says,
would you be willing to trade every day from now
until the end of your life for one chance, just
one chance, would you be willing to trade your entire
professional life for just one day of making everybody believe
(21:53):
you love this? Coming back there? It's got to be
we're going to fool next year. We really are just
for fools. Go. I'm gonna schedule it. I'm gonna schedule
thirty two radio appearances on a coming out of retirement
(22:14):
to play for it is the only one I won't
do is Indianapoli is because I know I'm not playing
for the cults ever again. Alright, So from quarterbacks competite
like Roger Goodell. At the end of the day, he's
gonna get just shoot him. It would be like in
(22:36):
the movie Florida. He does, I know it, like the
book get rid of Him when you see all the
all the swat guys show up outside the house and
somehow the guy escapes, you know, somehow he's able to
find a way out of his house yet group And
(22:57):
I know Troy, I know that guy. Shoot it down.
He's crafty. Don't let him get away, all right? So hey,
so j Cole from quarterbacks who are not coming back,
and we're gonna play jokes with Andrew luck to a
guy you did finally come back. Well, what are you
making of Cam Newton and the Patriots? What do I
(23:18):
have his gu feeling? He's like, never gonna play for them,
Like I think, well, number one, they did this obviously.
They timed it up so perfectly. It's like, oh we
sawn Cam boot. Oh by the way, we just got
fined a million one point one billion dollars. Never mind,
don't even pay you know, we lost another draftic never mind, okay,
(23:39):
just we got Cam noot okay. So you know, like
it couldn't have been orchestrated any better, right, Like this
is a total whack the dog, right, So do I
think it's a good thing, you know, on it's on
face value, sure, whatever you getta you get a guy
who's that kind of experience and everything for been on salary.
(24:03):
I mean, I think his body is shot. I mean,
like I do don't think the guys healthy and it's sad.
But and I hope that I'm wrong, Like I really
hope that like this is that I'm totally off base
on this one, and that he can play again, right,
I hope he gets it back together. But I just
he's taken so much punishment. I mean, just seven seasons
(24:27):
with a hundred carries, and were all the sacks that
he took. He's just the guys beat up and and
so I just think that like they took him as
this is an interesting play to see if they get
something out of him, maybe they could use him in
certain situations. He's such a great runner with such great talent.
(24:48):
But I think that they really want to see what
step ups about. And maybe this is just I don't know,
I just get the feeling like this is a lot
of talk about something that's never gonna happen, sir, like
when they got Chad Johnson or Albert Haynesworth. You know,
I tweeted about that earlier, like it was all the
(25:09):
fans fair they got only they got this guy, Like
look what they're gonna do and all the different ways
that Belichick could use him and this and that is
like nothing. I loved it. The fact that, as you mentioned,
it came right on the heels of the penalties being
handed down on a case. It was like it was
like like Mike Rofalo, you know, reported it was like
(25:29):
it was seven minutes, like they just said, okay, right here, okay,
drop the fine and the draft pick. Like craft was like,
did we get this out? Okay, go ahead, you could
now announce the fine. It's fine. Were added Sunday night
news dumps. And that was the case that I would
guess the football love and audience didn't remember even existed.
(25:56):
What would they had that since today? What was that?
Oh yeah, third raft pick? Okay, camera, thank you? Can
we talk about that spot? I just it's just like
fresh meat. And here's the other thing, it's like you
signed this guy like of they eight of June, you
don't and you don't have a single like practice between
now and the start of maybe whatever becomes a training camp. Right,
(26:18):
And this is a total it's a total dog and
pony show. One. Now, wait a minute, let me throw
this out there to you not tell tell me the
percentage chance you think this is. This is the thing
the Patriots knew this story was getting out about the
penalties for you know, cheating and getting video in Cincinnati,
and they only signed Cam Newton, signed Cam Newton to
(26:41):
cover that up. Like this, this is this is like
you guys, look, this sounds like like all the President's
meant coming out again, Like this is this is what
I mean. You guys are Hoffman and Redford right there.
Tell me this is you guys are on top of this.
But Bob Kraft says, this is this is another embarrassment. Bill,
(27:03):
I can't believe we're gonna get dot these draft picks again.
And it's more money, and he goes, well, let's do something.
Let's sign Cam Newton. No one will pay attention to that. Oh,
what's it gonna cost us? Seven eight million? Sure? Okay,
let's do that, all right, great, Shallery, Plus this could
(27:23):
cost the ass nothing literally nothing like this. They got
him for less than they're paying their backup guards. That's
what this is. It really is something of genius. Uh,
absolutely it is. It is just the perfect shell game.
(27:47):
It is absolutely the NFL shell game, you know, absolutely,
like go look over here, you know, but look away
from the fact that we'd be penalized for the third
time because we were so left that we had cameras
on in the middle of a press box. Like that's
(28:07):
that's the old timer. Like we got fined because we
we put we set up cameras in the press box
and we pointed him at the opposite sideline. We're the
Patriots like they should. They were penalized, not because they
were so much guilty of things and really we're doing something.
It was they were penalized for being stupid. Like Roger
(28:28):
Goodes just looked this this and go, you're kidding me, right,
the Patriots filming in the press box seriously, like that
this is what we did. Oh god, what if I
go hiding in plain sight? But you should, Roger Goodell,
like sitting at his desk in New York. It does.
It just does a face palm, right just because like
(28:51):
those god, what they called the craft. It goes. What
am I supposed to do? Now? Well, just give me
a few weeks and we'll sign Camp Newton and I'll
have it already. Okay. You can follow him on Twitter
at Jason Coles sixty two at Jason Coles by the way.
(29:14):
Good of you to show up this time, you know,
after the last two Fridays, by the way, you know,
and because and just because of this, I had declared
on Friday that if you don't show up my third
third straight parents, I'd be taking over the show from you.
Oh okay, well listen. You know my tagline was going
to be my opening line after I took over a
few years. So welcome to a better Jason Uh. While
(29:39):
he's still currently is a Pro Football Hall of Fame voter,
maybe not after tonight, I see at fansided dot com.
J Cole has always but I appreciated my Friendily Dater.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific. Even when the NBA does restart, we could,
(30:03):
for the first time in nearly two years, see j R.
Smith on a basketball court as the Lakers are planning
to sign j R. Smith Smith huge boner and submit
his name as part of the franchise as roster for
the restart in Orlando. They've been discussing a trade since
(30:23):
Avery Bradley opted out of the season restart last week.
So j R. Smith, who hasn't played since October of
on his way back to the NBA and Mike, look,
this is gonna be great for everybody. We got Jr.
Smith back. I think it's gonna be awesome. I really
can't believe Lebron James okay, this, I really can't think.
I don't think he had to. I mean, I really,
(30:44):
come on, it goes through Lebron. He's got it, okay,
and he's got to give his blessings. I couldn't do it.
I could if this is a guy that didn't know
the score game one of the NBA Finals and ruined
a chance in a ring, I can't say, yeah, yeah,
come on back, yeah why not? I mean I couldn't
do it. I don't, I don't. I don't get it.
I couldn't do it one of my one of my options.
I mean that's not really when it comes down to, right,
what do we have out here in the free agent market.
(31:07):
We've already lost Avery Bradley. We know the Clippers are
bringing in Joke Kim Noah, the guy who works harder
than anybody in the National Basketball Association, So how do
we counter that kind of energy. I'm trying to say
this as straight as I can. But it's a guy
you know, right, It's a guy you've played with and
(31:27):
you know him from his worst, but you also saw
him at his best and he was a pivotal cog
for them in a number of skey circumstances in his
years there in Cleveland. So I don't know. It seems
to me that it's it's a it's a solid fit.
And there's no way that Lebron uh, this went through
without him. Okay, look, there's no way. Gede Buss just
(31:50):
said I'm gonna play a joke on Lebron and we
got a lot of stress going on with going into
the bubble do it. I can't believe he'd be the
guy that would say, Okay, yeah, yeah, let's do it.
Let let's let let's have him come in because look
like and the the impact of him j R. Smith
is a break glass in case of emergency signing. All right,
(32:11):
Dion Waiters is gonna play, Alice Caruso was gonna play
and suck up some of those minutes. K CP is
gonna play Rondo. They're all gonna play ahead. This is
if something happens and a guy gets sick, or a
guy can't play, or there's an injury, all right, then
we can give j R. Smith some minutes. I really
don't see this as being anything where he affects the
the game or the restart, except it's j R. Smith.
(32:33):
So you know, somehow he's gonna find his way on
the court in the final minute of a tied playoff game.
I mean, maybe he's not gonna play at all, but
sometime he's gonna be on the court for the final
minute of a big playoff game that matters, and he's
gonna wind up taking a shot. I mean, just jersey
on uh, and he's gonna run out there. No it,
it's been one we've been hoping for for the last
(32:55):
couple of weeks as we got ready for the restart. Uh.
I don't know that he plays any sort of meaningful minutes,
but he's a good, warm body of veteran guy and
a guy Lebron knows his tendencies, even if they are
sometimes bad. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
(33:15):
seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. The last forty eight hours, it's been well,
no one's talking about Cam Newton. Cam Newton was never
to be found. We talked more about Jadavean Clowney. Why
can't he find a home? Cam Newton was nowhere? Cam
Newton nowhere, nowhere, nowhere, nowhere. Then Sunday the Patriots signed
(33:39):
Cam Newton and suddenly it's you know, how far can
Cam Newton take the Patriots? Can Cam Newton take the
Patriots to the playoffs? And it's like everybody just forgot
that he was someone that nobody wanted and the only
team to make him an offer was the Patriots. The
Browns did a little bit of of sniffing around, but
there was no offer me, which maybe tell you what
(34:01):
the Browns think about Baker Mayfield. If something happens at
Baker Mayfield stinks, how quick is the hook gonna be
on him this coming season? But the Patriots say, all right,
let's go get Cam Newton and then today I might
feed my Carmen. It's like everybody on social media since
Cam Newton signed was showing like his greatest plays of
his career. Cam Newton's had many great plays, right, many
(34:23):
great plays, And it would and invariably the posting would
be like this, if Cam Newton can do something like
this from his m v P season of the Patriots
are going to the super Bowl, and it's some great
Cam Newton play where either he shrugs off a tackler
and throws for a first down or you know, runs
for a big first down and dives and you know,
look at this Cam Newton, you know, a play like
(34:45):
this in the Patriots offense. This is from If Cam
can do this, watch out and every posting I'm saying
to myself, everybody's just ignored. They want to ignore. They
think that by posting his best ofs, this means this
is the player Cam new is. You know, I can
post you know, some of Dwight Gooden's best games for
the Mets, you know, back in nineteen eighties. Six doesn't
mean he can throw the bakes ball like that now,
(35:07):
I mean I can post Hey, remember when Matt Harvey
did this back in Remember how great Matt Harvey was. Boy,
if the Mets would sign him back again, he could
be this great again. Well, it's not. It's not. It
is And there's a reason why Cam Newton was out.
There's a reason why nobody signed him. There's a reason
(35:28):
why any other team could have had him, and nobody
gave him an offer. And here are the Patriots who
make Cam Newton offer. And it's a good move for
the Patriots because I like it. And we'll get into why,
but let's just understand that you're not getting Cam Newton
of two thousand and fifteen. You're not getting that guy.
You're getting Cam Newton, who, for the past three or
four years has been an average quarterback, whose quarterback rating
(35:51):
has been below average for the past four years, who's
thrown sixty five touchdowns and forty three picks right his
overall one loss record is five hundred. This is not
the Cam Newton of It is a different Cam Newton
that has not been as good. That is, oh, by
the way, coming off an injury, losing his job to
Kyle Allen, hasn't played in a while, has to learn
(36:13):
a new offense. I don't think suddenly this is gonna
be boy, if I just put video of Cam Newton
from the past on this means he's gonna be great.
You can't just wave a magic wand to do it.
But I think people think that's actually gonna happen in
New England. That doesn't matter. We could put magic up
because Belichick can do it. He could wave a magic
want to turn Cam Newton back into a great quarterback? No,
I it's it's it's a low risk, and I like
(36:35):
I said, I like the move. But to think that
Cam Newton suddenly already just gonna be great just because
and that's what I'm getting for it, just because why?
Why is he been great? Because he used to be great? Okay,
but he's not great now, but he used to be great.
You know, I used to be able to stay up
until four o'clock in the morning, get up in the
morning at seven o'clock and go to work all day,
not need a nap, and be great and go out
drinking all night. I can't do that anymore because I'm
(36:56):
in my forties. I'm in my late forties. I used
to be able to do that, but now I can't.
And it's just because I can remember those days doesn't
mean I can do it again. And that's the same
thing for Cam Newton. People think that's just magically gonna happen.
You could throw that speedball by let me tell you, Uh,
life comes at you fast. And and with Cam Newton,
(37:16):
people are doing the same thing. And as they've done
with the analysis of Colin Kaepernick, right of well, remember
him at his best, like, okay, we will stipulate to
that when it was good, it was very good. A
lot of time has passed. Now Kaepernick doesn't have the
physical beating applied to him that Cam Newton hasn't. As
(37:37):
we talked with Jason Cole, I mean, think about the
hundred carry seasons seven times. I mean the average a
hundred four per season thus far in his NFL career,
not to mention the number of sacks and other hits
that he's taken along the way. So there's a beating
that shoulder that though there were six and two, the
(37:57):
shoulder injury sidelines him and then the is frank injury.
So is he gonna be able to run like he
used to? We know he's in the gym and he's
yoked up, and we've heard the we've seen the different videos,
and we've heard the accompanying soundtracks. So all good things there.
But the reality is you have no idea what you're
gonna get. So an incentive laden deal sure rolled the
(38:19):
dice as a wered, but this would go to show
me that on any of the data that got put
out by people that examined him, there was nothing on
there that was remotely close to him being Cam Newton
vintage right. And so I love the optimism. I'm intrigued
(38:39):
by it. I wish I had been sitting on a
stack of Cam Newton rookie cards, because they quadrupled in
value in twenty four hours since this news came out.
I had the Bill Belichick effect. What can I say?
You're immediately penciled into a deep playoff run. But it's
certainly the reaction. Look the over underwent up point five, right,
(39:01):
half a game for Cam Newton upon his arrival. That
gives him nine and a half win Smith. It's not
the world beating, although it's better than the Jets. Now
look here, here, look here's here. Here's the truth. I'll
tell you. The truth about Cam Newton is that it's
a good move for New England because it's a freebee.
If he doesn't even make it to the season, you
can let him go. You didn't invest anything remotely worth it.
(39:23):
You can't just say, all right, well boy, we're looking
embarrass we gottagg on our faces off. Cam Newton can't play.
It's a free Maybe Cam Newton shows up and just
maybe he gets in the way back machine and catches
lightning in a bottle and whatever cliche you want to
throw in there, and Cam Newton is good and suddenly, boy,
the Patriots can pat themselves on the back. And if
not the Patriots that they shrug their shoulders and go, well,
(39:44):
we thought it. But Cam's done. And what's the what's
the overwhelming opinion going to be in the NFL? Well,
Cam must be done. If Belichick couldn't turn him back
into who he was, he must be done. And no
one's gonna say hai, if the Jets signed Cam Newton
or the Lions signed Cam Newton or the Raiders signed
Cam Newton and he was bad and couldn't make it
to week one, everybody would just laugh and laugh and
(40:06):
laugh and look, you signed Cam new Da da da da.
But the Patriots because of the reputation they have, they
signed Caminets. Oh if they couldn't turn him into a
winner and nobody else can, sway, he must really be done. Alright.
So just realized that that's kind of where it's at.
Not every move the Patriots make is Look how smart
Bill Belichick is. He's ten times smarter than everybody else.
(40:26):
Sometimes it's just all right, why not? All right? You know,
why not? Let's go to Cam Newton? All right. The
big thing it tells me is that they've been lying
to us all along about Jared Stidham. Everything we have
been lied to because why would you bring in a
guy who's a big personality that players are gonna want
to see start because they they've seen Cam Newton, he
(40:47):
is a known commodity. They still have stars in their
eyes with Cam. Jared Stidham is a young guy that's
supposed to come in and try to win the job.
Do you want to do that to a young quarterback
and make him look over his shoulder at the charismatic
you know, former star back up who people really have
a strong desire to see on the field. Why would
you do that to the guy? I don't think the
Patriots would do that to him because they've never done
(41:07):
it before. They brought Tom Brady along very slowly. They
put him in when they thought he had a chance
to win the job. All right. They did the same
thing with with Brady, and and with Jimmy Garoppolo. We're
gonna bring him along slowly. He's playing when Brady is hurt.
We're gonna slowly give him a chance. He's gonna be
the guy. They're not someone who's gonna take somebody just
throw him right in there just because. So if Jared
Sidham really was ready, really was the guy, you would
(41:29):
not see them make any moves and Sindham would go
in as the quarterback. So this tells me it's just well, okay,
they you know, maybe something happened or something changed, There
was some kind of philosophical change, and suddenly it went
from Jared Sidham is the guy, and look at all
these articles the offseason about how great he's gonna be,
and you watch and now the Patriots go and bring
in a guy who is gonna make Stidham look over
his shoulder or could potentially beat him out. So all
(41:52):
this great stuff about how great Stidham is now you
look at and go by that was a snow job. Yeah,
they were snow on us with that. I think there's
still a lot of like of him in the organization
because it's not just the Patriots beat reporters that have
been saying that in terms of the the stidhum love
and what they've seen from practices and going back to
(42:13):
last year's training camp, there's some excitement about him. But
you've got an opportunity to bring in Newton. The North
Turner was going and banging the drum about how Cam,
if right, is the right fit for what maybe Josh
McDaniels wants to do. Right, you don't no longer have
a necessarily the statue s Tom Brady there, and even
(42:36):
if Cam's not a hundred percent of what Cam is
at his finest, he'll still tuck the ball and run.
You can still actually call goal line plays. Again, I look,
I look over at you, Indianapolis. You got a quarterback
now that you've got to have a lot of different
play calls that on the fourth down and fourth and
one or third and short because quarterbacks not taken Philip,
(43:01):
But with Cam you can change up the offense. Those
guys maybe get a little more yack opportunities with these
wide receivers that aren't world beaters in New England. Maybe
more game break kind of opportunities for Nikil Harry. It's
all wishing and hoping until we get on the field,
because we have no idea what Cam is. If nothing else,
(43:22):
he applies pressure and forces skid him to grow, right,
and if he folds, he's not your guy, right if
he goes who Yeah, but you still wanted to be
where you want to put a guy in a positive
frame of mind to get all the reps to not
have to worry about guys in the locker room saying, boy,
that really like to see Cam Newton in there. It's
not about competition as it is as much about you're
(43:45):
brought in somebody who really could could stunt his growth,
you know, because of how big a personality Cam Newton is.
And and that's the thing is, you know Cam is
still gonna be Cam. He's gonna come in You think
suddenly he's gonna just not say anything and just be
that guy and and and do live the Patriots way
of life. No, he's still gonna be Cam Newton. So
it's it's different and bringing in competition. It's different bringing
(44:06):
in Nick Foles than it is bringing in Cam Newton,
because Nick Foles is someone look for the Bears, you biscuits. Okay, dude,
if you don't straighten up. We got a guy that's
won the super Bowl. Here. Yeah, he's not had the
greatest track record when he's been in an accomplished starter
for a long time, but we know what he can do.
The pressure is on you. We need to see you
perform or we'll go to him. With Cam Newton, it's
(44:26):
we just brought in a guy that went to the
super Bowl, all right, and you know you can you know,
you think whatever you want, but you know the type
of personality and and and the type of image he
has and what people think of him. I think it's different.
You know, when you when you talk about bringing in
a guy who could potentially play if he has to,
if you stink versus, here's a guy that could just
come in and take your job. Well, I think with Cam,
(44:49):
at least from the outset, it's the he's got to
prove that he's healthy, he can get through the paces.
That's gonna be part one, and when are we gonna
be able to see that live. I know there was
that great little video making it's round. Even Madeline on
TikTok saw it at least three times of Cam Newton
going to throw a ball and goes, what am I
Tom Brady because it was a little bit flat. Ah,
(45:09):
I see say what he did there that was funny
or unless it wasn't, but either way, it's making its
round in the kids world there, so they at least
have some more knowledge of Cam Newton and his prowess
like the Bears right now. I don't know how many
poison pens were out as soon as this news hit yesterday,
given what they'd uh conceded in a trade to acquired
(45:31):
Nick Foles. So there's a lot of anger, but you
still have a guy that comes in healthy to fight
Trabisky for the job versus maybe a guy in Cam
that physically just doesn't get there. I man, it remains
to be seen. Like I said, they didn't make any
huge moves on anything in Vegas, so I think some
of the expectations are are very little at least out
(45:54):
of the gate here. But I'm I'm all for the
competition and the push in the locker room and if
it shows anything that any talk that the Patriots were
gonna give away twenty was rubbish. I got the word
rubbish in so they said rubbish. You said rubbish, right,
But because that had become the you know, popular, popular
(46:14):
thing of they're just working to get the number one
or two pick for next year, it's like no, I mean,
they're still working, still trying to find pieces, still trying
to advance. And let's face it, it's still the Dolphins,
Jets and Bills. No matter what strides they've made, until
they've gone gotten over, it's still questionable. You know, look,
(46:36):
we'll go we'll go over where he's going to affect
their wins and losses later on this hour, because look,
this is to think the Patriots not gonna suddenly falling
before and twelve team. It's not gonna happen. There are
there really gonna be two and fourteen and suddenly hey,
Trevor Lawrence, all right, yeah, ah, we fill all of
you now, we got Trevor Lawrence. No, the Patriots are
going to be a team that you know, before Cam Newton,
(46:58):
We're gonna be around five hundred and we're going to
be in the thick of the A f C East
race for the majority of the season because I look
at the Bills, go in is the favorite, and they
should because on paper they're the best team. But are
the Bills a twelve or thirteen win team? No, you know,
are the Bills a ten win team? Maybe? Yeah, So
you're five hundred, you're gonna be there. I fully expect
the Patriots to be in the thick of the race,
(47:19):
but you can't ignore the talent that's left the building.
It's been a lot of talent. And if you had
a choice between Tom Brady and Cam Newton be in
your quarterback in the get, everybody would want tom Brady
because Tom Brady has performed great more recently than Cam
Newton has. Because the injury is a big part of it,
and getting back to who he is and all the
hits he has taken and how he's been beat up. Look,
(47:39):
I've told you from the beginning, Cam Newton's prime is
gonna end very quickly because of the physicality that's afforded
him at this position, because of all the runs he's
had to make, all the physical plays he's had to make,
the pounding he has taken his He's a bigger guy
as well, so you know, his prime was gonna end
a little bit sooner. Thirty thirty one was gonna be it.
Now here's Cam Newton thirty. He's really on his last
(48:00):
chance because if he can't make the Patriots, as somebody
else gonna sign him, not gonna happen. He'll get cut
and that's gonna be it for Cam Newton. I don't
like Cam has anything left because if Belichick couldn't get
anything from him, nobody else can. But right now you
would say, okay, Tom Brady over Cam Newton, But the
Patriots kicked Tom Brady to the door because they wanted
to move on. So here's Cam. It's it's it's hard
(48:21):
for me to think that suddenly Cam is going to
just be great again, just be cause and will he be?
I don't even know if I could say there's a
better chance of him leading the team to the playoffs
or a better chance that he's not on the roster
week one, because if I had to take one of
the other, that's a tough choice. Right would you rather
him take that he leads the You gotta bet he
(48:43):
either leads the Patriots to the playoffs or he's not
on the roster week one. I would bet not on
the roster week one before I bet taken to the playoffs.
Is he gonna play question? You know I should put
that up. There's a poll question. Maybe that's a that's
a good idea. Mike Harmen, Well, you know, I quite
often just listen, uh and believe me. And when I
(49:04):
pat myself on the on the back here, I think
when it comes down to Cam Newton here, look, I'm
hoping we get the best of Cam because when he's
he's right and healthy, there's nobody more fun to watch
at the position. All right, probably Mahomes and Jackson are
up there with him now, but but Cam has been
a NonStop highlight reel coming into his you know, throughout
(49:28):
his career, he's been amazing. So if we can get
him right, and especially because he's not the Patriots, which
means every Monday, you'll be in here griping about what
Cam Newton became, so that'd be more fun and delicious
theater for the rest of us and for all of America.
Not to mention the between two Ferns segments that he'll
be doing with smoking a cigar and drinking a glass
(49:49):
of wine while telling you about the blay calling. I mean,
all of that is great. I hope to see him
at his best, and I hope that foot's healed and
ready to go. The fact that it's June twenty before
he gets onto a roster leaves me to believe that
there's still some healing to be done. But for now,
(50:10):
I'll go with the He's helping lead them to the playoffs.
How about that. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two a m.
Eastern seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream
us live every night on the I Heart Radio app
by searching fs R. This is the best of The
(00:22):
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio.
Greetings and welcome inside. Happy Monday, The Jason Smith Show
with my big friend Mike Harmon. As we count down
to Hamilton's, which really released in four days, four days
from now. Hamilton's, Well, if you've subscribed, because if everybody
(00:48):
still subscribed, everybody's gonna subscribe to get Hamilton's for come on,
for six dollars a month, you're gonna get your money
sporting like a day and a half. And funny, I've
seen it live three times that I've listened to that
thing like a hundred fifty times. Doesn't matter. You have kids.
I have, I have a daughter. We're gonna be watching.
It's gonna be like going to Costco. Well, is the
membership worth it? Are you kidding? It's gonna be worth
(01:09):
it in the first time you go there. Yeah, every
I mean that that's the month worth Yeah, that's that's
cool for I don't think I'm going other than the
King George Parts. I don't think I'm gonna hammer it
too often. Wow, Rich, See, I see that's why I
think you are underestimating the power of your children. Dad.
Can we watch Hambleton's Sure? Uh, that's how I got
(01:29):
three and a half. Your daughter's fourteen. She won't come
talk to you either. Hey, listen, just because hey, just
because you brought her up to not like your White
Sox and the Bears and all these other things. Listen,
you can't just sit down when she's ten and when
she says, Dad, i'd like to do something, you know,
I want to I wanna. I want to write, I
want to do something creative. Want to give back to
(01:51):
this earth, to give back to the world. You go, No,
we need to watch the NFC Championship game from eighty
five against the Rams because we really shut down Dickerson
indeed or Brock. This is what happens to kids when
they get fourteen. Like, boy, my dad's really gonna want
to go back and watch Caleb Haney in the fourth
quarter against the Packers and how close they were. He's
gonna start saying how it didn't matter the color got hurt.
This is what happens. This is when kids grow apart
(02:12):
from you. Man. It's it's you know, it's really all
your fault. Well, I've I've blamed myself for pretty much
everything anyway. That's why I have such a cheery disposition
most of my life. But yeah, I've got one that's
in new soccer and only soccer occasionally a what does
this mean when she wants to go argue with the boys,
and then the older one who really couldn't care unless
(02:35):
we get to go to a live event. Then she
knows she's gonna get to eat. Well oh okay, well okay,
well well you don't. You don't feed your kids. What
do I have to call child services? I know the
point that to keep keep the piece and make sure
I can get past the fifth inning of a game.
That means the food's gotta keep flowing. And I'm texting
child services. Harmon does not if you've got them on
(02:55):
text messages that you've got some other problems going. It's
for you. It's been on for you. Why I've I've
been informing on you. I'm like Matt Damon from Departed.
Sorry spoiler, I've been informing on you for a long time.
Well you know what, he doesn't get away with it,
so be careful. Spoiler Twitter at how about a Fresco
Mike at Swollen Dome the Jason Smith's Show with My Car.
(03:17):
But obviously a huge weekend in the NFL. We got
Cam Newton is now a member the Patriots. Will have
more on that coming up in fifteen minutes. Jason Cole's
gonna stop by. Many many things to say to talk
about Canada, the Patriots. But today really was something that
we alluded to last week that you're starting to see
come to fruition, because I remember last week we said,
(03:41):
you know, yes, you know, NBA is coming back and
the end, MLB is getting ready, everybody getting ready to return.
But and and we've been this, this has been a
common thread for us for a while. When it comes
time to actually go play, it's not all the way
done until the players are actually there. And today what
if we seen in Major League Baseball Mike Leak, Ryan Zimmerman.
(04:04):
Both have opted out of playing this season and joining
their teams due to coronavirus concerns. Meanwhile, Fred van Vleet said,
we probably shouldn't be playing at all. One of the best,
probably should have been m VP of the finals last year.
I was like, I was the only one that said
he should be MVP of the finals last year. Said
they probably shouldn't be playing this year, but they're gonna
He's gonna go play. He's gonna go play with everybody else.
(04:25):
DeAndre Jordan's a tweet just a few moments ago he
has tested positive for COVID nineteen. DeAndre Jordan's will not
be joining the Orlando Bubble. Spencer Dinwiddie also on shore
on when he is going to restart after a positive
test of COVID nineteen himself. So here's today where you
have two Major League Baseball players say yeah, I don't know,
(04:46):
and you know there's going to be more, and you've
had more NBA players either test positive or express reservations
about going to play in the bubble. Before you say, well,
it's one player, you just need one play here, You're
talking about one player on a team of twelve. You
know that this is what if you have one player
on a team, Okay, you can isolate one guy, but
then there's one more you're isolating somebody else. This is
(05:10):
a time right now in our country where when you
have to want to put everything into the pot together
and say, Okay, what's gonna come out of this. It's
not for certain that we're going to see resumptions of
these seasons because the way things have been going in
the country the past few days. You want to go
over the past ten days with coronavirus cases spiking everywhere
(05:31):
and the w h O warning that the worst could
be still becoming if we're not paying attention, because look,
we didn't open smart enough, and that's on us, that's
on everybody that opened earlier, everybody who didn't open smart enough,
and and and try to keep distances in social distance
and do what we had been doing to flatten the
curve for a long time. You are now going to
see players get even more nervous, especially about going to Florida,
(05:52):
where Florida wanted to tout that hey, we're open for business,
we're great, and now you've heard nothing because they've had
the biggest spike in the country in COVID nineteen cases.
And so we just to think that this is still
a very frail time right now for both sports. Major
League Baseball's got to navigate the next few days before
they get people actually into camps. The NBA has got
(06:15):
to navigate the next few weeks and more players are
getting jittery and skittish and nervous, and who knows what's
gonna happen when it really comes to it. You know,
right now, I guarantee you if the players have to go,
the baseball players are gonna go, and they're gonna say,
you know what, first sign of anything, we're leaving. I mean,
right there there, they got one foot out there there.
If they go, they got one ft out the door
going Okay, one thing goes wrong and I'm done. I'm done,
(06:37):
and I'm going back. This is not the way we
should be going into the season. We should be going
in there. And things were fine. But I think the
world changed ten days ago when suddenly, when coronavirus, everything
was doing better and it looked like, you know, New
York City was kind of the um the the flashpoint
for the country. Things were okay, then they got really bad.
Then they started to flatten the curve. Except ten days
(06:59):
ago we saw many other states, over thirty states report
new highs and cases. And it's not this way in
every state, but it's enough to make enough teams nervous,
enough players nervous, and you have positive COVID nineteen tests.
You have players who are gonna be skinish going in
because it's gonna be them. They're the one saying we're
risking what we're risking. And the more time you have
to think about decisions like that, the more up in
(07:20):
the air these decisions get. These next few days are
going to be huge, but especially major League Baseball because
these are the guys that got to report first. These
are the guys we're supposed to see in the next
few days. And if you're not. If suddenly we saw
a first couple of guys today say I'm not comfortable
with going, maybe that means a few more feel comfortable
saying I don't feel really good about this, or maybe
(07:40):
this is These are phone calls of Tony Clark right
now saying, ay, I don't know about this. Things aren't
going that well. These next few days are so crucial
when it comes to the restarted sports just because of
what's happened in the past ten days. Yeah, I mean
you look at the Major League Baseball UH discussions. Ryan
Zimmerman had penned UH post that went out of the weekend,
(08:00):
and I covered it a little bit with LaVar Arrington
on on our Sunday show, just as a well, here
here's a guy writing three week old his mom with
ms SO talking about well, I'd have to be away
from from them for however many weeks, most certainly after
the season were to end, so extenuating circumstances. You know,
(08:24):
part of it. You start looking into the economics of it,
right for the players that got a chunk of money
or have already banked a ton of money, like in
the case of a Ryan Zimmerman, not on a huge
deal right now, but has certainly banked a lot of
money in his career. So the the ability to do
this perhaps a little bit easier. Right. You look at
(08:46):
Fred Vanvleet's comments saying, well, this is what they decided
to do, and if more people had opted out, maybe
I would too. So just from a he's in no
man's land right, trying to figure out what which The
league as a whole wants to go and just try
to be supported as he can. And it's that catch
(09:07):
twenty two, right, because how many people are gonna openly
criticize a guy for opting out, regardless of what the
family circumstances. Right, if Zimmerman didn't have a three week
old kid or his mom's illness, but still said he
opted out. I mean, outwardly, you're gonna have everybody go, hey,
you know, you gotta do you in this time. But
inwardly in the locker room whatever, you know. Take it
(09:30):
to any of the others that have opted out. I
can't imagine it's it's sitting a hundred percent well, no
matter what the extenuating circumstances are, right, there's still the
the profession job to do, et cetera, and getting back
to whatever normal is. Baseball is also different and that
you're gonna be traveling, right, You're not. Even though you're
(09:51):
at your home parks, You're you're still gonna have travel
series and they'll do their best to mitigate how much
you're in the air, how much of that the moving
arts are there, but you've added a lot more variables
by the way the season is currently structured, versus against
the NBA. The NBA is all right, we just got
to get you through these last three weeks and then
(10:12):
on once we get you inside. Now, the variable that
hasn't been handled well to my my thinking Jason, and
we've talked about it a bit on the show, is
what do you do with all those Walt Disney World
employees that get to go home every night, right, so
whatever they go and do in their off hours, and
then come back to the quote unquote bubble that is
(10:33):
got a gaping hole in it as you get ready
to start play at the end of the month. That's
the part that still remains to be seen. But I'm
with you. I think we'll see uh probably another another
few stars and big names at least raised the question
in their local newspapers or local radio before they get
report for duty. Yeah, I think it. It's sometime. There's
(10:56):
going to be that big call with Tony Clark. The
B A p. A Is gonna say, listen, we gotta
we need all these assurances that we're safe if we're
gonna go, we need one more big. Hey, we were
on top of everything just because you get on you know,
you get on the internet and you see Okay, here's
more spikes, here's more, here's more cases. We got to
get under control. We don't have it under control. We
(11:16):
have to get it. You're gonna see that. And despite
the fact that there's portions of the country that want
to push forward no matter what, and that that's my
thing is that I don't know that we're ever gonna
go back, We're ever gonna go back and not reopen
the country or is it going to be really individuals
who decide what they want to do. Listen, We're gonna
be at home until we feel safe, and others are
(11:38):
gonna say I'm gonna go out into the and and
shop and I'm not gonna wear a mask. And it's
we're gonna be living in two different Americas for a
while because I don't know that we can go back
to where we're at because the you know, opening back up,
I mean, unless there's some kind of specific governmental order
about wearing masks and closing things were that's how we're
gonna live. But no matter what, if you think this
(11:59):
is just gonna be put forward that the NBA and
Major League baseb was gonna say, yeah, positive tests here,
pot keep going, keep going, positive tests here, pots keep going,
We're keep going, We're still going, We're still going. Players
are gonna say, whoa, we're done. You know, never forget
the power of the players when it comes to this
is that they're not going to be told we need
to have you know, commerce go, we need to make
(12:21):
sure the economy goes, we need to make sure we're
making money at this. You go play. Players right away
are gonna say, yeah, not doing it. It will happen
very very fast. It'll be one of those things where
one day it's gonna be Okay, I get it, I
get it. Three phone calls are made and we're not
playing anymore. I mean that's how it's gonna go. So
it's not like, well, the play. The country's opening up.
So we're just gonna you know, everybody's gonna just get pushed,
(12:42):
you know, pushed into doing this and keep Whether you
want to do it or not, you're in to try it.
You're in to try, which I think it's great to try.
But the moment that players don't feel safe, or even
before they get there, they're gonna say they don't want
to go, and what are you gonna do? I mean,
you can't make them go. You know, the government and
and you know is gonna say you have to go,
you gotta report. You know what are you doing? You know,
(13:03):
Kevin Newsom is not gonna tell Justin Turner you gotta
get to camp. We need you. Gotta get that. That's
not gonna happen. So that's how it's gonna I need
to think that it could be, well, we're gonna try
and go and if there's positive tests, no players are
gonna say yeah, that's it. And then it's gonna be
what do we do now? So that that's really how
it's going to go. If you think, well, we're on
this path. That's why I mean this next week is
(13:25):
really really big. And if I'm the NBA in Major
League Baseball, I am doing all I can to try
to tell the players we got you, we got you. Look,
there's three d players. We've had fifteen positive coronavirus tests.
We are gonna isolate these people. We will test you,
we will get all the way through. Yes, these are fifteen,
but these are we have all of you safe. We're
gonna continue to test and the players that are gonna
(13:45):
have to decide if they want to go because for
all of us. If you and I worked in a
two person company, right and we found out, hey, fifteen
people have tested positive for coronavirus. I think they're not
people who have been around for a while. Maybe they've
been in and out of the office, and maybe you've
come across them, maybe you haven't. Would you still be
as as excited to go into work every day? Well,
(14:05):
we're gonna isolate you. Everything is gonna be good. Come
through the doors and come work. People are gonna say, no, yeah,
I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it well. But
remember that's what's gonna be for the NBA and Major
League Baseball too well. But from that point, it's there's
a difference between are you excited versus will you do it?
Versus with cash considerations, do you need to do it?
Because they Major League Baseball in the NBA can also
(14:28):
look at it and go, you know what, word here
and laundry. You love the superstars, and we recognize the pandemic.
There's other people that we could put in those jerseys.
NFL did it on strike ear You've had circumstances in
the past where you've had to find the replacements. Hell,
maybe Keanu Reeves got a couple of throws in his arm.
But the reality is, you know, that's why we're starting
(14:50):
to look at the potential of you know, how big
are those rosters right Major League Baseball putting in their sixties.
Sorry no Tebow for the Mets, but I trying to
make sure you've you've accounted for those And for the NBA,
we're seeing a lot and familiar names signing on two deals,
you know, with options into next year, and part of
(15:13):
that is just insurance over what's to come. So I
think there's ways around it, but it's gonna be an
interesting road for sure. With my finger man, yeah, there's there.
It's not like it's impossible, but it's just you can't
the NBA and MLB can't just say everything is gonna
be fine and think everybody's gonna report. I mean that
every day things change and they're they're okay. Now we
(15:35):
gotta do even more work. There's gotta be more handholding
and more convincing. The more close to you get come on,
It's like it's just like a realtor who's trying to
get somebody to buy a house. You know, you can't
just say, oh great, you're in. You got it? Great? Yeah,
I'll see it. The signing. No, No, your realtor is
calling you making sure things are good. They're bringing you
coffee and they're saying, are we good? Hey, did you
get your inspection done? We have? You know I have.
(15:55):
Here's here's get your inspection done so we can sign
the papers so I can make my commission. There's always
hand holding near the end. And there's gotta be a
lot of hand holding here between MLB and the NBA.
There's gotta be tons of it. They gotta be holding
both hands of everybody all the way across. It's gotta
be like hands across America. Uh, like from the eighties
and from the really overrated movie. Uh, you know it's
(16:17):
someone with board to remind them how much money is
at stake if they don't play. Yeah, everybody's got a
lot of hand holding, a lot of hand holding. Uh.
Twitter across Twitter across credit, Twitter across America. Twitter at
how about a fresca? That's Twitter at how about a fresco?
Mike at Swollen Dome, The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmen Live from the Geico Studios. We'll have more on
(16:40):
this throughout the night. But coming up next, Cam Newton
is back one year at the New England Patriots on Saturday.
No one's even talking about him. Sunday night, it was
you know, Cam Dowton can bring the Patriots to the
Super Bowl. What's the truth? We'll tell you coming up next,
Keep it right here Fox. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Jason Smith Show with Mike harmon weekdays
(17:02):
at ten pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Joining us now
on the Hotline. I mean, you could call him an outcast.
I guess that would be a pretty good way to
describe he is the outcast of Pro Football Hall of
Fame voters. Currently, he is still a Pro Football Hall
of Fame voter as well as the editor in chief
of fansided dot com. Longtime NFL insider Jason cole j Cale.
(17:26):
What's happening, Buddy? I would say that they probably believe
that I'm miscast. Okay, why would you be miscast? I
think that's a pretty good casting as a as a
Hall of Fame voter. I mean, based on the fact
that I want to get Roger stock back and Drew Piers,
I mean bar Drew Pearson from ever being in the
(17:46):
Hall of Fame, which is which should be done, and
then trying to get Roger Stop back out of the
Hall of Fame. Are you? I mean, You're entitled to
your opinion, right, That's what we talked about. You can
you can have and you are you getting people on
Twitter saying do you really want to get Pearson and
not prepare to get start back out of the Like
(18:07):
did they really send you guys emails about that? Honestly, honestly,
I want to get our Cowboys fans like that? Stupid. No, no, no.
Here's the most common responses I get from your appearances
on the show. How fun you are, how happy they
are to have you on every week. I know you
gained listeners on Twitter, so you're welcome. And the other
(18:28):
one is, boy, did you ever know that Jason Cole
sounds like Andrew Luck? Those are the two. Those are
the two things been going on for you know, a decade, basically,
you know, ever since he ever since he became part
of the national sports consciousness. And I never made a
dime off of that, the fact that I can impersonate
(18:49):
him that well, and I never capitalized on that account. Tonight,
what you start a cameo account tonight. I'll do whatever
message they're going to forget who Andrew Luck was pretty soon.
Here's what we do. Here's what we do. I got it,
(19:09):
I got it, I got it. Listen, this will get
you all the notoriety in the world. We somehow we
figure out for you to do the interview. Yeah, well,
I mean, I mean, but this, but this is a
bit like this will be where people pick it up
and you'll be a legend. I mean you're a legend now,
but you'll be a legend of Zelda if you do this.
You do an interview with the radio station. That can't
really be in Indianapolis because they probably know his voice
(19:30):
a little bit too well, But maybe somewhere like in
San Francisco. Nonapolis was the place where they thought they
thought most of all that I was actually Andrew Luck.
I used to do parents there and they people will go,
why is the Andrew Luck on your show every week?
And I'm like, oh my god, they're so stupid an Indianapolis.
It's unbelievable. It's like it's it's it's worked like cowboys fans.
(19:54):
So you do an interview and you announce you are
coming back to play. Right, Well, here's what you do.
You spend a morning doing interviews as Andrew Luck. But
every radio station you give a different team you're coming
back to. So in Indianapolis you said I will come back.
I will come back, but I'm only coming back if
I can't play for And let's just keep naming teams.
(20:18):
Should I start with the Jets because you guys just
the most help. Oh sure, sure, We'll do interviews in
New York and say you're gonna play for the Jets.
Do interviews in Jacksonville, say you're gonna play for the Jaguars.
And then soon all these teams say, no, he's playing
with us. No, he's playing with us. No he's playing
he promised trade me immediately, Kansas City all there you go, yes, boom,
(20:48):
that would be the best. Now that would be a day. Listen,
you would lose your Pro Football Hall of Fame voting right,
and normally, my my wheels are real slow to turn
because let's just say, I'm not the brightest bulb. I mean, listen,
you would lose everything you worked for professional in your
entire life. But boy, for a day you would be
(21:09):
legend you would live for a book, that shelf of
books that I got together from you know, threebees, from
all the all the biographies I get sent. Yeah, that's
that's that's that's a big loss from family members looking
to get their person into the Hall of Fame. It's
I love all the teams that said me like packaging,
like they're like, look for you, Donnie Schell. Let's break
(21:32):
down his entire career this four page pamphlet for you.
Got it this way? Like in Braveheart when mel Gibson says,
would you be willing to trade every day from now
until the end of your life for one chance, just
one chance, would you be willing to trade your entire
professional life for just one day of making everybody believe
(21:53):
you love this? Coming back there? It's got to be
we're going to fool next year. We really are just
for fools. Go. I'm gonna schedule it. I'm gonna schedule
thirty two radio appearances on a coming out of retirement
(22:14):
to play for it is the only one I won't
do is Indianapoli is because I know I'm not playing
for the cults ever again. Alright, So from quarterbacks competite
like Roger Goodell. At the end of the day, he's
gonna get just shoot him. It would be like in
(22:36):
the movie Florida. He does, I know it, like the
book get rid of Him when you see all the
all the swat guys show up outside the house and
somehow the guy escapes, you know, somehow he's able to
find a way out of his house yet group And
(22:57):
I know Troy, I know that guy. Shoot it down.
He's crafty. Don't let him get away, all right? So hey,
so j Cole from quarterbacks who are not coming back,
and we're gonna play jokes with Andrew luck to a
guy you did finally come back. Well, what are you
making of Cam Newton and the Patriots? What do I
(23:18):
have his gu feeling? He's like, never gonna play for them,
Like I think, well, number one, they did this obviously.
They timed it up so perfectly. It's like, oh we
sawn Cam boot. Oh by the way, we just got
fined a million one point one billion dollars. Never mind,
don't even pay you know, we lost another draftic never mind, okay,
(23:39):
just we got Cam noot okay. So you know, like
it couldn't have been orchestrated any better, right, Like this
is a total whack the dog, right, So do I
think it's a good thing, you know, on it's on
face value, sure, whatever you getta you get a guy
who's that kind of experience and everything for been on salary.
(24:03):
I mean, I think his body is shot. I mean,
like I do don't think the guys healthy and it's sad.
But and I hope that I'm wrong, Like I really
hope that like this is that I'm totally off base
on this one, and that he can play again, right,
I hope he gets it back together. But I just
he's taken so much punishment. I mean, just seven seasons
(24:27):
with a hundred carries, and were all the sacks that
he took. He's just the guys beat up and and
so I just think that like they took him as
this is an interesting play to see if they get
something out of him, maybe they could use him in
certain situations. He's such a great runner with such great talent.
(24:48):
But I think that they really want to see what
step ups about. And maybe this is just I don't know,
I just get the feeling like this is a lot
of talk about something that's never gonna happen, sir, like
when they got Chad Johnson or Albert Haynesworth. You know,
I tweeted about that earlier, like it was all the
(25:09):
fans fair they got only they got this guy, Like
look what they're gonna do and all the different ways
that Belichick could use him and this and that is
like nothing. I loved it. The fact that, as you mentioned,
it came right on the heels of the penalties being
handed down on a case. It was like it was
like like Mike Rofalo, you know, reported it was like
(25:29):
it was seven minutes, like they just said, okay, right here, okay,
drop the fine and the draft pick. Like craft was like,
did we get this out? Okay, go ahead, you could
now announce the fine. It's fine. Were added Sunday night
news dumps. And that was the case that I would
guess the football love and audience didn't remember even existed.
(25:56):
What would they had that since today? What was that?
Oh yeah, third raft pick? Okay, camera, thank you? Can
we talk about that spot? I just it's just like
fresh meat. And here's the other thing, it's like you
signed this guy like of they eight of June, you
don't and you don't have a single like practice between
now and the start of maybe whatever becomes a training camp. Right,
(26:18):
And this is a total it's a total dog and
pony show. One. Now, wait a minute, let me throw
this out there to you not tell tell me the
percentage chance you think this is. This is the thing
the Patriots knew this story was getting out about the
penalties for you know, cheating and getting video in Cincinnati,
and they only signed Cam Newton, signed Cam Newton to
(26:41):
cover that up. Like this, this is this is like
you guys, look, this sounds like like all the President's
meant coming out again, Like this is this is what
I mean. You guys are Hoffman and Redford right there.
Tell me this is you guys are on top of this.
But Bob Kraft says, this is this is another embarrassment. Bill,
(27:03):
I can't believe we're gonna get dot these draft picks again.
And it's more money, and he goes, well, let's do something.
Let's sign Cam Newton. No one will pay attention to that. Oh,
what's it gonna cost us? Seven eight million? Sure? Okay,
let's do that, all right, great, Shallery, Plus this could
(27:23):
cost the ass nothing literally nothing like this. They got
him for less than they're paying their backup guards. That's
what this is. It really is something of genius. Uh,
absolutely it is. It is just the perfect shell game.
(27:47):
It is absolutely the NFL shell game, you know, absolutely,
like go look over here, you know, but look away
from the fact that we'd be penalized for the third
time because we were so left that we had cameras
on in the middle of a press box. Like that's
(28:07):
that's the old timer. Like we got fined because we
we put we set up cameras in the press box
and we pointed him at the opposite sideline. We're the
Patriots like they should. They were penalized, not because they
were so much guilty of things and really we're doing something.
It was they were penalized for being stupid. Like Roger
(28:28):
Goodes just looked this this and go, you're kidding me, right,
the Patriots filming in the press box seriously, like that
this is what we did. Oh god, what if I
go hiding in plain sight? But you should, Roger Goodell,
like sitting at his desk in New York. It does.
It just does a face palm, right just because like
(28:51):
those god, what they called the craft. It goes. What
am I supposed to do? Now? Well, just give me
a few weeks and we'll sign Camp Newton and I'll
have it already. Okay. You can follow him on Twitter
at Jason Coles sixty two at Jason Coles by the way.
(29:14):
Good of you to show up this time, you know,
after the last two Fridays, by the way, you know,
and because and just because of this, I had declared
on Friday that if you don't show up my third
third straight parents, I'd be taking over the show from you.
Oh okay, well listen. You know my tagline was going
to be my opening line after I took over a
few years. So welcome to a better Jason Uh. While
(29:39):
he's still currently is a Pro Football Hall of Fame voter,
maybe not after tonight, I see at fansided dot com.
J Cole has always but I appreciated my Friendily Dater.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific. Even when the NBA does restart, we could,
(30:03):
for the first time in nearly two years, see j R.
Smith on a basketball court as the Lakers are planning
to sign j R. Smith Smith huge boner and submit
his name as part of the franchise as roster for
the restart in Orlando. They've been discussing a trade since
(30:23):
Avery Bradley opted out of the season restart last week.
So j R. Smith, who hasn't played since October of
on his way back to the NBA and Mike, look,
this is gonna be great for everybody. We got Jr.
Smith back. I think it's gonna be awesome. I really
can't believe Lebron James okay, this, I really can't think.
I don't think he had to. I mean, I really,
(30:44):
come on, it goes through Lebron. He's got it, okay,
and he's got to give his blessings. I couldn't do it.
I could if this is a guy that didn't know
the score game one of the NBA Finals and ruined
a chance in a ring, I can't say, yeah, yeah,
come on back, yeah why not? I mean I couldn't
do it. I don't, I don't. I don't get it.
I couldn't do it one of my one of my options.
I mean that's not really when it comes down to, right,
what do we have out here in the free agent market.
(31:07):
We've already lost Avery Bradley. We know the Clippers are
bringing in Joke Kim Noah, the guy who works harder
than anybody in the National Basketball Association, So how do
we counter that kind of energy. I'm trying to say
this as straight as I can. But it's a guy
you know, right, It's a guy you've played with and
(31:27):
you know him from his worst, but you also saw
him at his best and he was a pivotal cog
for them in a number of skey circumstances in his
years there in Cleveland. So I don't know. It seems
to me that it's it's a it's a solid fit.
And there's no way that Lebron uh, this went through
without him. Okay, look, there's no way. Gede Buss just
(31:50):
said I'm gonna play a joke on Lebron and we
got a lot of stress going on with going into
the bubble do it. I can't believe he'd be the
guy that would say, Okay, yeah, yeah, let's do it.
Let let's let let's have him come in because look
like and the the impact of him j R. Smith
is a break glass in case of emergency signing. All right,
(32:11):
Dion Waiters is gonna play, Alice Caruso was gonna play
and suck up some of those minutes. K CP is
gonna play Rondo. They're all gonna play ahead. This is
if something happens and a guy gets sick, or a
guy can't play, or there's an injury, all right, then
we can give j R. Smith some minutes. I really
don't see this as being anything where he affects the
the game or the restart, except it's j R. Smith.
(32:33):
So you know, somehow he's gonna find his way on
the court in the final minute of a tied playoff game.
I mean, maybe he's not gonna play at all, but
sometime he's gonna be on the court for the final
minute of a big playoff game that matters, and he's
gonna wind up taking a shot. I mean, just jersey
on uh, and he's gonna run out there. No it,
it's been one we've been hoping for for the last
(32:55):
couple of weeks as we got ready for the restart. Uh.
I don't know that he plays any sort of meaningful minutes,
but he's a good, warm body of veteran guy and
a guy Lebron knows his tendencies, even if they are
sometimes bad. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern,
(33:15):
seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. The last forty eight hours, it's been well,
no one's talking about Cam Newton. Cam Newton was never
to be found. We talked more about Jadavean Clowney. Why
can't he find a home? Cam Newton was nowhere? Cam
Newton nowhere, nowhere, nowhere, nowhere. Then Sunday the Patriots signed
(33:39):
Cam Newton and suddenly it's you know, how far can
Cam Newton take the Patriots? Can Cam Newton take the
Patriots to the playoffs? And it's like everybody just forgot
that he was someone that nobody wanted and the only
team to make him an offer was the Patriots. The
Browns did a little bit of of sniffing around, but
there was no offer me, which maybe tell you what
(34:01):
the Browns think about Baker Mayfield. If something happens at
Baker Mayfield stinks, how quick is the hook gonna be
on him this coming season? But the Patriots say, all right,
let's go get Cam Newton and then today I might
feed my Carmen. It's like everybody on social media since
Cam Newton signed was showing like his greatest plays of
his career. Cam Newton's had many great plays, right, many
(34:23):
great plays, And it would and invariably the posting would
be like this, if Cam Newton can do something like
this from his m v P season of the Patriots
are going to the super Bowl, and it's some great
Cam Newton play where either he shrugs off a tackler
and throws for a first down or you know, runs
for a big first down and dives and you know,
look at this Cam Newton, you know, a play like
(34:45):
this in the Patriots offense. This is from If Cam
can do this, watch out and every posting I'm saying
to myself, everybody's just ignored. They want to ignore. They
think that by posting his best ofs, this means this
is the player Cam new is. You know, I can
post you know, some of Dwight Gooden's best games for
the Mets, you know, back in nineteen eighties. Six doesn't
mean he can throw the bakes ball like that now,
(35:07):
I mean I can post Hey, remember when Matt Harvey
did this back in Remember how great Matt Harvey was. Boy,
if the Mets would sign him back again, he could
be this great again. Well, it's not. It's not. It
is And there's a reason why Cam Newton was out.
There's a reason why nobody signed him. There's a reason
(35:28):
why any other team could have had him, and nobody
gave him an offer. And here are the Patriots who
make Cam Newton offer. And it's a good move for
the Patriots because I like it. And we'll get into why,
but let's just understand that you're not getting Cam Newton
of two thousand and fifteen. You're not getting that guy.
You're getting Cam Newton, who, for the past three or
four years has been an average quarterback, whose quarterback rating
(35:51):
has been below average for the past four years, who's
thrown sixty five touchdowns and forty three picks right his
overall one loss record is five hundred. This is not
the Cam Newton of It is a different Cam Newton
that has not been as good. That is, oh, by
the way, coming off an injury, losing his job to
Kyle Allen, hasn't played in a while, has to learn
(36:13):
a new offense. I don't think suddenly this is gonna
be boy, if I just put video of Cam Newton
from the past on this means he's gonna be great.
You can't just wave a magic wand to do it.
But I think people think that's actually gonna happen in
New England. That doesn't matter. We could put magic up
because Belichick can do it. He could wave a magic
want to turn Cam Newton back into a great quarterback? No,
I it's it's it's a low risk, and I like
(36:35):
I said, I like the move. But to think that
Cam Newton suddenly already just gonna be great just because
and that's what I'm getting for it, just because why?
Why is he been great? Because he used to be great? Okay,
but he's not great now, but he used to be great.
You know, I used to be able to stay up
until four o'clock in the morning, get up in the
morning at seven o'clock and go to work all day,
not need a nap, and be great and go out
drinking all night. I can't do that anymore because I'm
(36:56):
in my forties. I'm in my late forties. I used
to be able to do that, but now I can't.
And it's just because I can remember those days doesn't
mean I can do it again. And that's the same
thing for Cam Newton. People think that's just magically gonna happen.
You could throw that speedball by let me tell you, Uh,
life comes at you fast. And and with Cam Newton,
(37:16):
people are doing the same thing. And as they've done
with the analysis of Colin Kaepernick, right of well, remember
him at his best, like, okay, we will stipulate to
that when it was good, it was very good. A
lot of time has passed. Now Kaepernick doesn't have the
physical beating applied to him that Cam Newton hasn't. As
(37:37):
we talked with Jason Cole, I mean, think about the
hundred carry seasons seven times. I mean the average a
hundred four per season thus far in his NFL career,
not to mention the number of sacks and other hits
that he's taken along the way. So there's a beating
that shoulder that though there were six and two, the
(37:57):
shoulder injury sidelines him and then the is frank injury.
So is he gonna be able to run like he
used to? We know he's in the gym and he's
yoked up, and we've heard the we've seen the different videos,
and we've heard the accompanying soundtracks. So all good things there.
But the reality is you have no idea what you're
gonna get. So an incentive laden deal sure rolled the
(38:19):
dice as a wered, but this would go to show
me that on any of the data that got put
out by people that examined him, there was nothing on
there that was remotely close to him being Cam Newton
vintage right. And so I love the optimism. I'm intrigued
(38:39):
by it. I wish I had been sitting on a
stack of Cam Newton rookie cards, because they quadrupled in
value in twenty four hours since this news came out.
I had the Bill Belichick effect. What can I say?
You're immediately penciled into a deep playoff run. But it's
certainly the reaction. Look the over underwent up point five, right,
(39:01):
half a game for Cam Newton upon his arrival. That
gives him nine and a half win Smith. It's not
the world beating, although it's better than the Jets. Now
look here, here, look here's here. Here's the truth. I'll
tell you. The truth about Cam Newton is that it's
a good move for New England because it's a freebee.
If he doesn't even make it to the season, you
can let him go. You didn't invest anything remotely worth it.
(39:23):
You can't just say, all right, well boy, we're looking
embarrass we gottagg on our faces off. Cam Newton can't play.
It's a free Maybe Cam Newton shows up and just
maybe he gets in the way back machine and catches
lightning in a bottle and whatever cliche you want to
throw in there, and Cam Newton is good and suddenly, boy,
the Patriots can pat themselves on the back. And if
not the Patriots that they shrug their shoulders and go, well,
(39:44):
we thought it. But Cam's done. And what's the what's
the overwhelming opinion going to be in the NFL? Well,
Cam must be done. If Belichick couldn't turn him back
into who he was, he must be done. And no
one's gonna say hai, if the Jets signed Cam Newton
or the Lions signed Cam Newton or the Raiders signed
Cam Newton and he was bad and couldn't make it
to week one, everybody would just laugh and laugh and
(40:06):
laugh and look, you signed Cam new Da da da da.
But the Patriots because of the reputation they have, they
signed Caminets. Oh if they couldn't turn him into a
winner and nobody else can, sway, he must really be done. Alright.
So just realized that that's kind of where it's at.
Not every move the Patriots make is Look how smart
Bill Belichick is. He's ten times smarter than everybody else.
(40:26):
Sometimes it's just all right, why not? All right? You know,
why not? Let's go to Cam Newton? All right. The
big thing it tells me is that they've been lying
to us all along about Jared Stidham. Everything we have
been lied to because why would you bring in a
guy who's a big personality that players are gonna want
to see start because they they've seen Cam Newton, he
(40:47):
is a known commodity. They still have stars in their
eyes with Cam. Jared Stidham is a young guy that's
supposed to come in and try to win the job.
Do you want to do that to a young quarterback
and make him look over his shoulder at the charismatic
you know, former star back up who people really have
a strong desire to see on the field. Why would
you do that to the guy? I don't think the
Patriots would do that to him because they've never done
(41:07):
it before. They brought Tom Brady along very slowly. They
put him in when they thought he had a chance
to win the job. All right. They did the same
thing with with Brady, and and with Jimmy Garoppolo. We're
gonna bring him along slowly. He's playing when Brady is hurt.
We're gonna slowly give him a chance. He's gonna be
the guy. They're not someone who's gonna take somebody just
throw him right in there just because. So if Jared
Sidham really was ready, really was the guy, you would
(41:29):
not see them make any moves and Sindham would go
in as the quarterback. So this tells me it's just well, okay,
they you know, maybe something happened or something changed, There
was some kind of philosophical change, and suddenly it went
from Jared Sidham is the guy, and look at all
these articles the offseason about how great he's gonna be,
and you watch and now the Patriots go and bring
in a guy who is gonna make Stidham look over
his shoulder or could potentially beat him out. So all
(41:52):
this great stuff about how great Stidham is now you
look at and go by that was a snow job. Yeah,
they were snow on us with that. I think there's
still a lot of like of him in the organization
because it's not just the Patriots beat reporters that have
been saying that in terms of the the stidhum love
and what they've seen from practices and going back to
(42:13):
last year's training camp, there's some excitement about him. But
you've got an opportunity to bring in Newton. The North
Turner was going and banging the drum about how Cam,
if right, is the right fit for what maybe Josh
McDaniels wants to do. Right, you don't no longer have
a necessarily the statue s Tom Brady there, and even
(42:36):
if Cam's not a hundred percent of what Cam is
at his finest, he'll still tuck the ball and run.
You can still actually call goal line plays. Again, I look,
I look over at you, Indianapolis. You got a quarterback
now that you've got to have a lot of different
play calls that on the fourth down and fourth and
one or third and short because quarterbacks not taken Philip,
(43:01):
But with Cam you can change up the offense. Those
guys maybe get a little more yack opportunities with these
wide receivers that aren't world beaters in New England. Maybe
more game break kind of opportunities for Nikil Harry. It's
all wishing and hoping until we get on the field,
because we have no idea what Cam is. If nothing else,
(43:22):
he applies pressure and forces skid him to grow, right,
and if he folds, he's not your guy, right if
he goes who Yeah, but you still wanted to be
where you want to put a guy in a positive
frame of mind to get all the reps to not
have to worry about guys in the locker room saying, boy,
that really like to see Cam Newton in there. It's
not about competition as it is as much about you're
(43:45):
brought in somebody who really could could stunt his growth,
you know, because of how big a personality Cam Newton is.
And and that's the thing is, you know Cam is
still gonna be Cam. He's gonna come in You think
suddenly he's gonna just not say anything and just be
that guy and and and do live the Patriots way
of life. No, he's still gonna be Cam Newton. So
it's it's different and bringing in competition. It's different bringing
(44:06):
in Nick Foles than it is bringing in Cam Newton,
because Nick Foles is someone look for the Bears, you biscuits. Okay, dude,
if you don't straighten up. We got a guy that's
won the super Bowl. Here. Yeah, he's not had the
greatest track record when he's been in an accomplished starter
for a long time, but we know what he can do.
The pressure is on you. We need to see you
perform or we'll go to him. With Cam Newton, it's
(44:26):
we just brought in a guy that went to the
super Bowl, all right, and you know you can you know,
you think whatever you want, but you know the type
of personality and and and the type of image he
has and what people think of him. I think it's different.
You know, when you when you talk about bringing in
a guy who could potentially play if he has to,
if you stink versus, here's a guy that could just
come in and take your job. Well, I think with Cam,
(44:49):
at least from the outset, it's the he's got to
prove that he's healthy, he can get through the paces.
That's gonna be part one, and when are we gonna
be able to see that live. I know there was
that great little video making it's round. Even Madeline on
TikTok saw it at least three times of Cam Newton
going to throw a ball and goes, what am I
Tom Brady because it was a little bit flat. Ah,
(45:09):
I see say what he did there that was funny
or unless it wasn't, but either way, it's making its
round in the kids world there, so they at least
have some more knowledge of Cam Newton and his prowess
like the Bears right now. I don't know how many
poison pens were out as soon as this news hit yesterday,
given what they'd uh conceded in a trade to acquired
(45:31):
Nick Foles. So there's a lot of anger, but you
still have a guy that comes in healthy to fight
Trabisky for the job versus maybe a guy in Cam
that physically just doesn't get there. I man, it remains
to be seen. Like I said, they didn't make any
huge moves on anything in Vegas, so I think some
of the expectations are are very little at least out
(45:54):
of the gate here. But I'm I'm all for the
competition and the push in the locker room and if
it shows anything that any talk that the Patriots were
gonna give away twenty was rubbish. I got the word
rubbish in so they said rubbish. You said rubbish, right,
But because that had become the you know, popular, popular
(46:14):
thing of they're just working to get the number one
or two pick for next year, it's like no, I mean,
they're still working, still trying to find pieces, still trying
to advance. And let's face it, it's still the Dolphins,
Jets and Bills. No matter what strides they've made, until
they've gone gotten over, it's still questionable. You know, look,
(46:36):
we'll go we'll go over where he's going to affect
their wins and losses later on this hour, because look,
this is to think the Patriots not gonna suddenly falling
before and twelve team. It's not gonna happen. There are
there really gonna be two and fourteen and suddenly hey,
Trevor Lawrence, all right, yeah, ah, we fill all of
you now, we got Trevor Lawrence. No, the Patriots are
going to be a team that you know, before Cam Newton,
(46:58):
We're gonna be around five hundred and we're going to
be in the thick of the A f C East
race for the majority of the season because I look
at the Bills, go in is the favorite, and they
should because on paper they're the best team. But are
the Bills a twelve or thirteen win team? No, you know,
are the Bills a ten win team? Maybe? Yeah, So
you're five hundred, you're gonna be there. I fully expect
the Patriots to be in the thick of the race,
(47:19):
but you can't ignore the talent that's left the building.
It's been a lot of talent. And if you had
a choice between Tom Brady and Cam Newton be in
your quarterback in the get, everybody would want tom Brady
because Tom Brady has performed great more recently than Cam
Newton has. Because the injury is a big part of it,
and getting back to who he is and all the
hits he has taken and how he's been beat up. Look,
(47:39):
I've told you from the beginning, Cam Newton's prime is
gonna end very quickly because of the physicality that's afforded
him at this position, because of all the runs he's
had to make, all the physical plays he's had to make,
the pounding he has taken his He's a bigger guy
as well, so you know, his prime was gonna end
a little bit sooner. Thirty thirty one was gonna be it.
Now here's Cam Newton thirty. He's really on his last
(48:00):
chance because if he can't make the Patriots, as somebody
else gonna sign him, not gonna happen. He'll get cut
and that's gonna be it for Cam Newton. I don't
like Cam has anything left because if Belichick couldn't get
anything from him, nobody else can. But right now you
would say, okay, Tom Brady over Cam Newton, But the
Patriots kicked Tom Brady to the door because they wanted
to move on. So here's Cam. It's it's it's hard
(48:21):
for me to think that suddenly Cam is going to
just be great again, just be cause and will he be?
I don't even know if I could say there's a
better chance of him leading the team to the playoffs
or a better chance that he's not on the roster
week one, because if I had to take one of
the other, that's a tough choice. Right would you rather
him take that he leads the You gotta bet he
(48:43):
either leads the Patriots to the playoffs or he's not
on the roster week one. I would bet not on
the roster week one before I bet taken to the playoffs.
Is he gonna play question? You know I should put
that up. There's a poll question. Maybe that's a that's
a good idea. Mike Harmen, Well, you know, I quite
often just listen, uh and believe me. And when I
(49:04):
pat myself on the on the back here, I think
when it comes down to Cam Newton here, look, I'm
hoping we get the best of Cam because when he's
he's right and healthy, there's nobody more fun to watch
at the position. All right, probably Mahomes and Jackson are
up there with him now, but but Cam has been
a NonStop highlight reel coming into his you know, throughout
(49:28):
his career, he's been amazing. So if we can get
him right, and especially because he's not the Patriots, which
means every Monday, you'll be in here griping about what
Cam Newton became, so that'd be more fun and delicious
theater for the rest of us and for all of America.
Not to mention the between two Ferns segments that he'll
be doing with smoking a cigar and drinking a glass
(49:49):
of wine while telling you about the blay calling. I mean,
all of that is great. I hope to see him
at his best, and I hope that foot's healed and
ready to go. The fact that it's June twenty before
he gets onto a roster leaves me to believe that
there's still some healing to be done. But for now,
(50:10):
I'll go with the He's helping lead them to the playoffs.
How about that. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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