Jason Fitz & Buck Reising talk NFL Training Camps, Baker Mayfield, & MORE!

On a new edition of a Fitz & Buck takeover on a FOX Sports Saturday, the guys go over some of the overreactions around NFL Training Camp so far, then dive into Baker Mayfield constantly being asked about the Cleveland Browns & how necessary are movie sequels at this point?

 

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hello, and you were listening to Tracy Sandler and Steve
Hartman and Fox Sports Saturday. So much to discuss. We
talked about baseball in the last hour. Just wanted to
bring up Aaron Judge going on the IL with the flexerstrain.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
I just bring that up because this could really affect
the Yankees.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
I mean, if it's not the end of the world,
I guess when he comes off the IL, he's only
going to DH But the Yankees are not the powerhouse
they were last year. I don't think they'd nessarly were
the powerhouse last year that they were last year.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
But that's just coming from me.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
But anyways, could affect them going forward.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
I don't know, Steve Well.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
I mean, you lose your ace pitcher to start the season.
That doesn't help.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
No, it definitely does.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
And so from that point on, you're really dependent on
your offense. And let's face it, I mean, Aaron Judge
is the biggest offensive force in the American League certainly,
so if he's down for any period of time, that's
going to have an adverse effect on the Yankees.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yes it is, but we are now going to switch
gears back to the NFL. You guys, as we mentioned
in the first hour the first week of training camp,
and it's a perfect time for us to overreact to everything.
So with that in mind, Steve, I want us to
go kind of lightning round, division by division.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Who we each think is going to win their division?
Are you ready?

Speaker 4 (01:16):
I am ready to they We're all all right.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Let's start in the AFC East. Bills, Dolphins, Patriots are Jets.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
So this division is so lopsided in favor of the Bills.
It's like the old New England days when they basically
feasted on the Bills and the Jets and the Dolphins.
Now it's the same thing with the Bills. I think
the Dolphins are going to be worse than expected. New
England is obviously trying to rebuild again, and the Jets

(01:42):
are the Jets. Yes, So I mean it's to me
this is such a one sided division, which gives, by
the way, the Bills the golden opportunity to get that
number one overall seat. That is what it's going to
take if Buffalo wants to get to the super Bowl,
is to get that number one overall seat in the
AFC and have a ticket through Buffalo to get to

(02:03):
the super Bowl, and I think this could be the year.
So yeah, Bill's in a runaway over a very weak division.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
I agree with that. AFC North, this one's harder. Bengals, Brown,
Steelers and Ravens. Can I go first, go for it.
I'm going to pick the Ravens, but I think the
Bengals could do it.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
I agree with that the Ravens are the best team
in this division. They really are. And I know Bridget's
going to be joining us a little bit later on
from Ravens camp, so we'll talk to her about that.
The other teams have questions. I mean again, I picked
Joe Burrow last year before the season to be the
league's MVP, and if you ignore the Bengals record, he,
in my opinion, he was the MVP. I mean, he

(02:42):
was so dominant on a team, but no defense. And
this is the problem when you have a cheap organization
led by Mike Brown. The Bengals are never going to
spend the kind of money. I mean, the fact that
you're haggling over your best defensive player just is beyond belief.
But that's the part for the Bengals. The Browns have
no quarterback until they actually have a quarterback. And so

(03:02):
you know, the interesting thing is is that Mike Tomlin
has owned John Harbaugh the Steelers. They own the Ravens.
It doesn't matter if the Ravens are a better team.
For whatever reason, the Steelers have their number. But yeah,
I agree the Ravens should win that division.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
And honestly, the Steelers didn't even come into play with me,
and I know that they feel like they've gone all in,
but I until I see it, I do not believe that.

Speaker 4 (03:25):
This is my question is this. I know there's a
lot of doubters, and I'm believing I'm not the biggest
Aaron Rodgers famine on the planet, and he can be
a cancer on a team. I believe that. But how
are they worse at quarterback than they've been over the
last four years? I mean, they're not gonna be worse.
I mean, is he better than Kenny Pickett? Is he
better than whatever they had a year ago? Yeah? He's
better and he did start all seventeen games for the

(03:46):
Jets a year ago. So I think they made an
upgraded quarterback. How much I don't know, but I think
the Steelers will once again be right, they always are
like a ten win team, sneaking into the playoffs and
making no noise.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
I could not agree with you more because I agree
with you not worse. I just don't think it makes
the impact to get them to the next step. All right,
the AFC South, this is an interesting division. The Titans,
the Colts, the Jaguars, the Texans. I mean I'm picking
the Texans up.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
Okay, so I mean we'll eliminate the Titans. All right,
So the Titans are out? Who is a shuck? That
is that? The guy's name is that? The guys name that?
This the Tennessee quarterback? Now that's the Saints guy. H
So Tennessee these days, I get I could get confused
with some of these quarterbacks right now. So Tennessee has
got Cam Moore the number overall pick, obviously, and we'll

(04:36):
see how he does on a very bad football team.
But you know, when I look at this team, I
still go back to Jacksonville, like what happened?

Speaker 5 (04:43):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (04:44):
I mean a year ago, A lot of people, including
Chris over here, was really hyped up on Jacksonville. W
Where are you not hyped up on Jacksonville before last season?

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Listen?

Speaker 6 (04:53):
I when I said that preview, I said, I do
this fully knowing that I have fallen for the Jaguars
trap for a about three years, where everything looks right,
it should be good enough for this roster, everything looks
like that, it should align for them for the AFC South.
And still when we get to the season, bub kiss
falling on your face, repeatedly shooting yourself in the foot,

(05:14):
emptying the clip, reloading another clip, shooting yourself in the foot,
some more, looking up, saying here's what happened, and then
Trevor Lawrence gets hurt that it just seems to happen
every damn time for the Jaguars. How they're gonna use
Travis Hunter.

Speaker 4 (05:26):
I don't know. We're gonna find out. But the bottom
line is Jaguars are on my short listed teams that
are going to exceed expectations. I have nothing to wait
wait wait, wait, no, no, But I just think Jacksonville
in that division could rebound. And the Texans to me,
came out of nowhere two years ago. I know they

(05:47):
made the playoffs, they got the win against the Chargers,
but overall it was a little bit of a backstep,
certainly for CJ. Stroud so I don't buy into the
Texans the Colts. You know, the Colts still have to
decide Andiel Jones going to be your quarterback? Is that
really going to happen? So I am going to go
out on the limb and pick Jacksonville to rebound and

(06:08):
win a very weak AFC.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
Suff it.

Speaker 6 (06:12):
The worst part is is I look at you, I'm like,
there's no one else there to stop them, unless you
really think the Colts are going to turn around, and
they will.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
I believe in I believe in the Texans coach so much,
but then that just maybe believing the coach too much.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
Yeah, well, I have no question he's a quality coach.
He's proven over two years obviously, But I just I
just have a sense that there's going to be a
hiccupy Texans, and it's coming this year.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Okay, I'm now we're off to the vision that I
think is kind of the most interesting. Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders, Chargers.

Speaker 4 (06:46):
So, Tracy, I've said this, there has never been a
division with four better coaches at the same time than
this division has. In twenty twenty five. You have three
coaches that have won Super Bowls and Jim Harbo has
been to a Super Bowl, won a national championship in mission.
We have never seen a division top to bot him.
Have four coaches of this caliber. Sean Payton and Pete

(07:06):
Carroll are certainly Hall of Fame candidate's down the road.
Andy Reid is a first ballot guy. That being said,
I think we're in for a turnaround in this AFC West.

Speaker 7 (07:17):
I do too.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
And if you look at top rated offensive defensive lines,
the top two teams in the league are the Philadelphia
Eagles and the Denver Broncos. And Sean Payton gets another
year out of bow Knicks where he doesn't have to
learn the system on the fly. I think Denver is

(07:41):
very capable of winning twelve or thirteen games. I think
it's over for the Chiefs. The humiliating loss in the
Super Bowl. I've come out and said, I think Patrick
Mahomes has played in his last Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Wow that I'm gonna agree with you on the Broncos.
I don't know if I agree with that on Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
Time will tell. I mean, I can understand why you
think it.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
Well.

Speaker 4 (08:00):
Travis Kelce is at the end of his career. She's
going to try to sneak him one more year only
because of they got humiliated in the Super Bowl. He
doesn't want to end his career that way. He may
end his career with not even making the playoffs this year.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
He might.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
I definitely do not disagree with that.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
I am all in on the Broncos, which is hard
for me because you know, my guy, Jim coaches the Chargers.
But I think they are going to win this division.
They did, they upgraded their defense and it's it's gonna
be good.

Speaker 4 (08:25):
I think Jim Harbor should have gotten Coach of the
Year last year. I don't know. I mean, I mean,
you talk about they had a running back, Darbins, who
had every single noble leg injury. The idea of signing
him seemed bizarre considering he basically missed the three previous years.
They squeezed everything out of him. You know, they've they've

(08:45):
upgraded running back, no doubt about that. But I am
still hesitant on Herbert. Yeah, there's some of the things
that I was told about Herbert when he was at
Oregon because he's such a physical specimens of smart guy
and everything else. I didn't buy into it. And then
two years in he's a Pro Bowl starter, but he

(09:05):
hasn't progressed.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
No, he is not. And he had some bad interceptions
in that playoff.

Speaker 4 (09:10):
Game well as many. He threw more interceptions in one
playoff game than he did the entire year. My guess
is Chargers are in good hands with Jim Harbaugh. But
I think they're going to take a step back before
they take a step forward this year.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
Okay, well I can see that. All right, we're going
to move over to the NFC.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
The NFC East, well, probably easy, but the cow maybe
not easy. Cowboys, Giants, Eagles and Commanders. I'm going to
pick the Eagles. I still have all in on the Commanders.
I just am not going to go against that Eagles
team and their performance in the Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (09:43):
All right, I'm not. I'm going to shock you with
this one. First of all, it's been twenty years since
a team repeated his AFCAST champs. Think about that NFC East.
It's been twenty years, that's all since the team won
back to back NFC East championships. Okay, so the Eagle
are out and everyone's jumping on the Commanders. But the

(10:03):
Commanders again had a breakout season a year ago. This time,
my prediction was the Dallas Cowboys were going to win
the Super Bowl. I could not have been more wrong.
Seven wins season, everything says that is a organization that
is in a mess right now. I got the Micah
Parsons situation, or Michael Parsons as Jerry Jones called him

(10:24):
the other day, what a mess. But despite that, I
think Dak has a bounce back year. I think the
Cowboys again are going to be a surprise team. I
don't think this division is going to be as good
as people think, and I think they're going to come
down a little bit. And I think the Cowboys are
going to come out of nowhere and be crowned NFC

(10:45):
East champions.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
I we now have two things July twenty six, twenty
twenty five that should we.

Speaker 4 (10:51):
Should both mark that down.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
Mark that down.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
I cannot trust the Cowboys, but hey, this is why
they play the games.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
Let's see the.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
NFC North, which is a really good division. You got
the Bears, the Lions, the Packers, and the Vikings. I
am one hundred percent going to pick with my heart,
so let you go first, and everyone knows, so I'm
going to pick because I'm picking with my heart all right.

Speaker 4 (11:13):
So here's the interesting thing. A year ago the Lions
won fifteen games. They're over under this year is ten
and a half. The Vikings won fourteen games. This year
they're over under is nine and a half.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
That's wrong.

Speaker 4 (11:25):
The Packers they won eleven games this year nine and
a half. The Bears, who won what four or five games,
they're eight and a half. So they think this is
going to be a tighter division. The Bear is going
to be much better. Everyone's going to be much worse.
Here's what we do know. Three teams in the playoffs
oh and three last year, and they were miserable all
of them in the postseason. I think it's an overrated division.

(11:47):
The Lions are a team that had an opportunity a
year ago and they got blasted at home by a
rookie quarterback, embarrassing the Vikings. I'll put it this way.
I've known Kevin O'Connell so long I watched him play
in high school. Okay, okay, that's how long I've known
Kevin O'Connell. But he has a rookie quarterback essentially, and

(12:08):
that's going to be the quick big question is how
quickly can he get JJ McCarthy going, and he can say, well,
if he did it with Sam Darnold, he could do
with JJ. I'm just going to.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
Say JJ McCarthy's perfect, so he'll be great. Well that's
with my heart.

Speaker 4 (12:19):
Well that's their heart. We'll see, we'll see. I'm not
an anti JJ McCarthy guy. The Packers are in limbo
right now, but I'm going to have to lean to
the Lions. But it's it's going to be maybe ten
or eleven wins. I think this division as a whole
is going to take a major step back from a
year ago.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
So I'm picking the Vikings with my heart because anybody
who listens to the show know how much of JJ
because of Michigan. However, if I wasn't picking with my heart,
I would actually pick the Packers.

Speaker 4 (12:48):
I'm not against I mean, any of these three teams
could do it. The Bear is going to be it's
going to be another rough here for the Bears. But
I think any of those three teams are interchangeable. So yeah,
I could see the Packers winning, but I'll lean slightly
to the Lions, oly.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
NFC South, the Falcons, the Saints, the Buccaneers, and the Panthers.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah, it's it's just a sad It just all sounds
so sad. It does.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
But somebody's gonna have to win that division. I'm gonna
go with the Buccaneers because.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
Why not, Well, you go with the Bucks. I mean,
I'm a Baker Mayfield guy. The only problem I had
with Baker Mayfield is, you know, it's hard for him
to put together consecutive really good years, and he has
the last couple of years in Tampa. They actually have
the longest current streak in the NFC of making the playoffs. Wow,
that's which is pretty remarkable. But my pick in this
division is the Atlanta Falcons. I am a huge Michael

(13:37):
Pennox guy. Okay, and I voted for him for the Heisman, Trace,
I have a Heisman. Vote for me.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
You're not the one who voted for JJ McCartney.

Speaker 4 (13:44):
I did not vote for JJ McCarthy. I voted for
Michael Pennix as he beat Bo Nicks twice that year.
And remember the votings obviously before all the playoffs in
the bowl games. So I believe that Penix is going
to get the job done. And again nine to ten wins,
that's that's the best. You're gonna squeeze out of the
NFC South, but I'm going to pick the Falcons to
win the NFC South.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Last was certainly not least the NFC West, the Rams,
the Cardinals, the forty nine Ers, the Seahawks. I made
it pretty clear on social media this week who I
think is going to win and I can tell you
guys in a minute, but I'll let Steve go first.

Speaker 4 (14:20):
Well, I'll put it this way. Seattle and Arizona to
me have quality quarterbacks, and so Kyler Murray proved a
year ago really coming back that he's still a quality quarterback.
He needs a lot of pieces around him, and I
think Stam Darnold's season with Minnesota wasn't a fluke. I
think that's going to work for him fine in Seattle.

(14:41):
But they're not really in the conversation. So it comes
down to a forty nine Er team that was awful
a year ago for a multitude of reasons and a
Ram team that surprised many with winning that division and
adding DeVante Adams with Pooka Nakua. I don't see how
the Rams don't come away. The jury's out on brock Party.

(15:02):
I mean, when everything was going well Brock Purty was
certainly a legitimate MVP candidate a year ago. When he
was told to shoulder more of the offense, he wasn't
able to deliver at the level you win in this league.
So I'm gonna go with the Rams.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
I am also going with the Rams, not because I
think the jury has had on Rock Purtty, but I'm
going with the Rams because they were the best in
the division last year. They only got better. Those young
guys in that defense only going to continue to improve.
And I actually am going to go ahead and say,
before we go to break, I think the Rams are
going to.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
The Super Bowl. What we will be right back? This
is Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 8 (15:38):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 3 (15:51):
You are listening to Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
I'm Tracy Sandler here with Steve Hartman for the best
pregame show every weekend. Be sure to tune into Fox
Sports Radios count Down presented by MGM every Saturday and
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MGM every Saturday and Sunday morning right here on Fox

(16:13):
Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Steve we are right,
I would say, right in the middle of the WNBA season,
the Minnesota Links look kind of unbeatable, super fun to watch.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
What teams are you excited about?

Speaker 4 (16:32):
Well, it's sort of an overview of the WNBA right now.
And I'll be honest with Tracy. Obviously, the WNBA started
getting some real attention a year ago with the addition
of Caitlin Clark. I mean, you can spin it a
thousand different ways, and I've had a number of friends
that have been associated with this league from the very beginning.
So that being said, I think that it's really a

(16:56):
you know, whoever comes out on top, you know. I mean,
the Aces obviously have been very dominant recently. My old
buddy Mark Davis, you know, having Vegas team. They're excited
for Mark, But you know, this is more about the
end result of this league being able to take that
step forward. And I, for the life of me, I

(17:17):
still do not understand why this Caitlin Clark situation has
not been more embraced from the opening day than it
has been. I mean, I understand there's jealousies. Look, and
I get a female perspective on this. They say it's
the women. Have told me the jealousies amongst the women
are different than they are for guys. And it's not

(17:38):
like guys don't have immense egos that they're constantly competing
against each other. And I don't know because obviously I'm
not a female, so I don't know what it is
about her star power that has been not overwhelmingly embraced
by a league, because she's obviously given eyeballs to the
WNBA that were never there before. But if they don't
follow through on this, because right now she's hurt. We

(18:01):
saw ticket prices cut in half for that All Star
game because she was not going to play in that game.
We don't know her situation because of the injuries. She
has really struggled this year is to shoot the basketball
the way we expect. And that's the thing. She's an
iconic figure. She is someone like a Muhammad al Lee
or Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods that has been able

(18:21):
to lift a sport. I mean, it's a very short list,
and Gaylan Clark is that she is right now, She's
one of the three most recognizable basketball players on the planet,
and so if she can't for whatever reason, whether it's
battles constantly within players of the league or injuries, hold

(18:42):
her back from living up to the expectations of what
she is as a player, I unfortunately think it's going
to have a devastating effect on the future of the
WNBA at a time when they really had a golden opportunity,
and honestly, I think they fumble the ball. And it's
very frustrating because, like I said, I know a lot

(19:03):
of women that have invested a lot of time, a
lot of effort to make this league happen, and I
just a goalden opportunity to slip through their hands.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
Well, I think as far as injuries are concerned, she
is dealing with an injury right now, but she's not somewhat.
I don't think she was dealing with injuries all of
the time, So it just maybe this season, and obviously
it's really affected the fever they've they're now thirteen and
twelve six in the standings. They did beat the Las
Vegas As this Thursday night, but it's affected them. I
don't really know, to be honest, and I know this

(19:32):
is something that gets talked about a lot.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
I don't know that it's jealousy.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
I think I think people are paying much more attention
to the WNBA now than they were, and it's a
physical game and they're playing a sport, and so I
don't know that it's.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
A jealousy thing.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
But I do think the WNBA is obviously embracing Caitlin Clark,
but I feel like jealousy makes it maybe a little
too simplistic and maybe unfair to the athletes.

Speaker 4 (19:59):
In my I remember when Tiger would hit the scene,
there was a ton of jealousy from PGA players, like,
what's happening here? Okay, so he looks different?

Speaker 1 (20:07):
Is that it?

Speaker 4 (20:07):
And it's like, no, he actually has the game to
back it up. I mean that was the whole point.
People forget this. When Tiger won that first Masters at
age twenty one, he did not win another major for
two years after that. It wasn't until the ninety nine
PG and then of course he won on his historic run.
And so there was a lot of pushback, obviously initially
until they realized that eyeballs were everywhere on golf, and

(20:31):
not only was you know, okay, he's winning, but now
my second place money is more than it was when
I was making first place money thanks to this one guy.
It is going to be very interesting moving for it. Look,
I mean, you know our w NBA All Star MVP Callier.
I'm she had a tremendous game. She's leading the league
in scoring right now. You mentioned Minnesota. They only have

(20:51):
four losses on the season. They're having a tremendous year.
They're just dominating home. They've wiped out the Aces. So yeah,
I mean, that's that's a good team. But you know
or these women, you know Kelsey Plumb, he comes to
Los Angeles, you know she's a star player. How much
attention is she actually getting. So it's very hard for

(21:13):
me to read, but based on what's happening right now, yes,
the Links would appear to be the team in the
driver's seat. Would you like to make it a longer
season for the WNBA?

Speaker 3 (21:23):
Huh, that's a very good question. Maybe a little bit longer.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
How many games would you like to see see people
constantly complain like the NBA season is too long? Eighty
two games? Cut it in a half. All right, Well,
if you cut it in half, you got a WNBA season.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
Let me tell you who I'm not cutting in half,
the great Martin Wise. I so pride myself on these
transitions that I sometimes it's a reach, but wow, we
got Martin Wise for our sports of deep break.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
So, Martina, do you have an answer to Tracy's question,
who do you like right now to win the WNBA?

Speaker 9 (21:58):
I'd say the Liberty.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
Okay, Liberty, You're going to Liberty.

Speaker 9 (22:02):
I'm the Liberty.

Speaker 10 (22:03):
Also, like signing a Meesman is like a clear ring
chasing move, and at this stage in my life I
kind of support that type of thing.

Speaker 9 (22:12):
Okay, show, I'm here for it.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
All right.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
Here's why you know the w NBA has truly a
arrived because when you listen to Countdown on Saturdays and
Sundays here, oh yeah, that's all they do is talk
about w NBA.

Speaker 9 (22:25):
That's a lot of money you can be made in
that league.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
Apparently, well what they bound what the players for? Steve
Well I talked to Jeff Schwartz about this, all right,
and then goes here's the thing. The odds makers still
haven't figured out the w NBA. The NBA is tough
to win on the wn B A if you actually
do a little homework, it's like stealing money.

Speaker 10 (22:44):
Well, because you know the average person.

Speaker 9 (22:47):
I wouldn't say the average WA fan.

Speaker 10 (22:49):
The average person knows Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and maybe
the feast A Collier or Asian Wilson.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
That's it.

Speaker 10 (22:56):
Maybe, I mean, but probably the tops list tops up
at five. Yeah, like you said, if you and ask
you like I said five. So like I said, but
I'm locked in, like I make a lot of money
on the WNBA, So I think.

Speaker 4 (23:07):
I bet people make a lot of money on the
w NBA. That's why that's why countdowns using.

Speaker 9 (23:12):
I'm not betting baseball and all that.

Speaker 10 (23:13):
No, I mean Jonathan India one for five today, that
one a three run home run, Guardians win, go, I
mean Royals win, Y'll figure five to three.

Speaker 9 (23:22):
I'm not betting that. Two five hundred teams.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
How you supposed to pick?

Speaker 10 (23:25):
Yankees beat the Phillies, said, Phillies beat the Yankees ninth
to four.

Speaker 9 (23:29):
Bryce Harper with his fifteenth.

Speaker 10 (23:30):
Home run of the season, Aaron Judge going on the
injured list with the flex restrain. They're also what is
it what four games back now up Toronto in the
Al East. Texans running back Joe Mixon will be out
in the majority of the preseasons.

Speaker 9 (23:43):
The ankle injury we.

Speaker 10 (23:44):
Re evaluated closer to the start of.

Speaker 9 (23:46):
The regular season.

Speaker 10 (23:47):
Traylon Burgs, Tennessee Titans wide receiver would fracture colin bone
during open practice today. The Titans also signed Romel Keaton
wide receiver. Vikings wrap up Josh Mattellus to a three year,
thirty six million dollar con Tex extension. He was a
sixth round draft choice in twenty twenty. You'll stay with
the team now for three more years. Dolphins signed for
free agent quarterbacks Jack Jones and Mike Hilton after already

(24:09):
burns toward his acl and Justin Fields took part in
seven on seven work because he works his way back
to a full workload from that dislocated toe that had
him on the cart on Thursday. Dislocated toe. If just
about Steve, think about this, Think about how much stubbing.

Speaker 9 (24:24):
Your toe has to hurt.

Speaker 10 (24:25):
Oh, my gosh, so much and how much you were like, yo,
cart me off after stubbing my toe.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
I like people making.

Speaker 10 (24:31):
Jokes about Justin Fields and it's dislocated to tell yeah,
go stop your toe on the bed and see if
you don't want the cart.

Speaker 9 (24:36):
That's all I got.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
I could not agree with you more, Martin. Toe injuries
are real toe injuries.

Speaker 4 (24:42):
The great Jack Lambert, the legendary middle linebacker of the
Still Curtains Steeler Defense. His career ended with turf toe.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
All right.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
Shortly after the show, our podcast will be going up.
If you miss any today's show, be sure to check
it out.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
Just search Fox Sports.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to
follow and review the podcast in rate it five stars. Again,
search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and
you'll see today's show posted right after we.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
Get off the air.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
So excited to welcome NFL Networks Bridget Condon, who also
frequent co hosts of the show and we love her
coming to us from Raven's camp. Hello Bridget, a friend
of the show, friend.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
Of the show, family of the show, Family of the show.

Speaker 11 (25:22):
I wish I was there sitting next to you, but
I guess this is the second best option.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
Well, you kind of were because you were on our
TV earlier, so you were here.

Speaker 4 (25:30):
Watching you, Bridget. But yes, for me to have to
sit in this seat is not the easiest consider Could
you see.

Speaker 11 (25:37):
The flat dripping down my face?

Speaker 7 (25:39):
No?

Speaker 2 (25:40):
No, it was you were You were doing fabulous from
Ravens camp and I've been very excited to talk to you.
You and I kind of touched on this last week.
What is the feeling at Ravens camp? Is this like
an all or nothing season? Do you get that sense
so far?

Speaker 11 (25:54):
So here's the thing. There is so much excitement at
Ravens training camp because of the pieces that got this
offseason with DeAndre Hopkins and Jaiye Alexander. But they've won
two back to back AFC North champions We know championships,
we know how great Lamar is. He had a career
season breaking all these records last season. The one thing
that's not on his resume, guys is that super Bowl,

(26:17):
And of course that's the elephant in the room. But
for this team, it's just about right now, like let's
get the little minute details done during training camp and
we'll think about the super Bowl in January. In February.
I do want to mention though, you say, like is
this now or never? I know a lot of people
think it is for Lamar, but he still is such

(26:39):
a young player. He's only twenty eight years old. Peyton
Manning won his for a Super Bowl a month before
turning thirty one. John Elway was thirty seven, So there
is still time, though I know a lot of people
feel like it's this season or nothing.

Speaker 4 (26:52):
All right, So when we look at Lamar Jackson's record
regular season games rigid seventy and twenty four, postseason three
and five, I mean that is a dramatic difference. So
until he actually does it. If he does it, the
jury's going to be out. So I mean, conceivably he

(27:13):
should have won a third MVP. I really thought the
reason Josh Allen got is just voter fatigue that like
which we just can't give Lamar the reward every year.
But what is in the mindset of Lamar Jackson and
does he have some creeping doubt or questions of why
he has struggled during the postseason when he has made

(27:34):
the regular season basically his constant party.

Speaker 11 (27:38):
Well, I think there are a couple of things. He
was asked about it this week and he said, you know,
we don't finish like I'm pretty much trying to finish
camp the right way to get ready for Week one,
not trying to think about the Super Bowl. As I
kind of alluded to in the first question, you guys
asked like, so he thinks like it's because we don't finish.
But when you look at this roster and this team,
they have had issues with ys come the playoffs with

(28:01):
like some injury. So I think that's why they went
out this offseason and got some of the help that
they did get. I mean, remember they Flowers was injured
during the playoffs last season, and so that's a huge
weapon for Lamar. You know, I think Mark Andrews a
couple of years ago, or because I was coming off
of a knee injury two years ago, if I'm remembering correctly,
So there has been issues where you know, his main

(28:22):
targets are curt But I don't know what it is
because as you mentioned, like he's so good in the
regular season, what happens in the postseason. And when you
look at the teams that are successful, their defenses are
good in January and February, and they have death.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
So I have a question about someone else over the
Ravens who's been tremendously successful, has won a Super Bowl
with them several years ago.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
However, they do keep falling short.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
Do you think there's any sort of maybe hot seat
is a strong word, but maybe a luke warmness seat
for John Harbach?

Speaker 11 (29:00):
I don't think so. Like I think if we want
storylines in July, like, throw it out there, let's debate it.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
We need storylines in July.

Speaker 11 (29:06):
Bridget No, that's why I love you, Like, I totally
see where you're coming from. But just by being there today,
like they would have to lose the division for John
Harbaugh's seat to get even a little bit toasty, you know,
because they've won back to back AFC North championships. They've
done a great job in the off season of getting

(29:28):
pieces for this team. Yes, they need to win in
the playoffs. That is the big elephant in the room.
That is the big thing that this Baltimore Ravens team
needs to do. But there's still a very good team
and I think you know, it starts by the coach,
John Harbaugh, and these players respect him. It's not until
you have a team that you can't get through to

(29:48):
anymore when front offices have to make a decision. And
I don't think they're there at all right now.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
Good because I hate to see anyone with the last
name Harbaugh fire.

Speaker 4 (29:57):
Yeah. Well, I mean, but here's the thing. I mean,
you know, when you look at John Harborough's first five seasons,
he won nine playoff games. In the twelve years since,
he's won four, and one of the problems that they've
had is that he has a losing record all time
to Mike Tomlin. So where's the buzz right now on

(30:17):
Ravens camp here? Bridget about who they consider the biggest threat.
Is it going to be the Steelers, Aaron Rodgers? Is
it gonna be Joe Burrow? The Bengals. I'm gonna leave
Cleveland out of the mix right now until they actually
have a quarterback. But I mean Pittsburgh has been a
thorn in their side in recent years.

Speaker 11 (30:36):
Yes, but here's the thing, there's so many question marks
with Aaron Rodgers, and I think we can't it's way
too early to even know what this Pittsburgh team is
going to be. I understand to your point, like the
Ravens and the Pittsburgh have this crazy rivalry and it's
always going to be like hard, no tough, physical football
when these guys match up. But when you look at

(30:58):
the Bangels. I feel like they've given them more trouble
late in the season playoff time than the Steelers have
in recent years. And with the healthy Joe Burrow now
they have Jamark Chase, They've got Tee Haigens. Still, that
is a that is a dangerous team too. You look
at these offenses that can put up a lot of numbers.
That's that's the Bengals. So, I mean, it's just the

(31:20):
AFC North is going to be one of the toughest divisions,
especially if Cleveland gets his quarterback figured out. I mean,
they could still be a decent team. But yeah, I
think it's just the most important thing for this Ravens
team is like building that depth so that you're not
really thin late in the season.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
So, Brigide, since we're looking at July storylines and all,
is there a player since you've been up there that
people are talking about but maybe the rest of the
NFL world isn't as familiar with, but that they're really
excited with in Baltimore.

Speaker 11 (31:52):
Yeah, absolutely, the safety Malachi Starts. He was their first
round pick. He went layer twenty seven overall, Like that's
when the Ravens had their pick. He has been a
spark for this team. Obviously they lost some pieces at safety,
they needed help in the dB room, and he is
just like being what they wanted to and more, Kyle

(32:16):
Hamilton says he's miles ahead of where he was at
that point. And so for Kyle Hamilton a vent now
to say that about a rookie seaks volumes And I
also think, I mean, people know who he is, but
Dyana Alexander, like he brings a swab to this defense
that maybe they haven't had in the past. And he's
like getting in people's faces that practice, breaking up passes,

(32:37):
engaging with the crowd, and so you know how it
is like sometimes you need a guy like that to
pump everybody else up and elevate them too one percent.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
And when you said that, I was like, Yeah, that
really isn't something we've seen in the Ravens defense.

Speaker 4 (32:49):
Well, very quickly, I just want to ask you about
the Derek Henry situation. Obviously, an unbelievable year last year
for the Ravens. How confident are they of a now
thirty one year old Derrick Henry holding it together and
having another healthy season.

Speaker 11 (33:03):
Look, he not only played for them last season, but
he played a lot. He was what seventy nine yards
away from surpassing two thousand yards rushing. He had his
best season of his career, setting Raven's records in his
first year. So we had a chance to interview him
today and he said, like he feels that much better,
like having that extra year with Lamar, And in talking

(33:26):
with people around the ORGS organization and at practice today,
they say that he's so valuable to Lamar because he
kind of takes some of the pressure off. Right before
he got here, it was Bill Lamar show. Now there's
Derrick Henry that there are some other stars, which in
turn helps Lamar as well. So I understand that he's
thirty one, and I actually had our research team look

(33:47):
that's up for me. The average age of retirement for
running backs is like twenty seven and two hundred days,
so he is way past that. But the way he
cares for his body, he still does the avocados moovies
in the re have. I don't he doesn't look like
your average thirty one year old running back because he
takes such good care.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
Of his buddy, Bridget. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Lots of good stuff from Ravens Camp wonderful to get
to talk to you on a Saturday.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
You guys, we will be right back. This is Fox
Sports Saturday.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
We are coming to you live from the Fox Sports
Radio studios.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
I am Tracy Sandler with.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Steve Hartman and Steve I'm going to assume this is
your first feel Good Stories of the Week segment as well.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
Well.

Speaker 4 (34:30):
I it was my maiden voyage and the dues and don'ts.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
And you did great, by the way, thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (34:37):
And yes, I have never in all my years of
radio ever had a segment I was a part of
called feel Good Stories of the Week. So this is
my first time doing this.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
Well, welcome and it's a very nice way to end
a show.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
I would you like to go first?

Speaker 4 (34:52):
Wow, I'll let you go first on this one.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Okay, my feel good story. My first one is Nick
Kurtz of the Oakland A's. Yes, today, had a tremendous night.
Four home runs, a double, a single. He was six
for six on the night. He had nineteen total basis basis,
he is the first rookie ever with a four home
run game. Aside from all of that, which, by the way,
for A's fans had to be so fun, and A's

(35:17):
fans deserve some love and some fun.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
His family was there to see it, were they really? Yes?
And I think that I.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
Mean a tremendous night for him stat wise, obviously, maybe
one of the greatest offensive nights we'll ever see. But
for his family to be there and get to see
that night, that just makes it extra stush.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
I mean arguably. I mean, when we talk six or six,
I believe his six runs scored, he's only the sixth
player to do that since nineteen hundred four six gut
runs in a game. Obviously the first rookie d four
home runs. Now, of course the last home run was
off a position.

Speaker 3 (35:50):
Player, it doesn't matter, it's still going to go there.

Speaker 4 (35:52):
That's sort of that's like a lob over the middle.
But that unbelievable. And by the way, this kid has
been doing it all season long, and he's really kicking
in a year think about it. I mean, out of
wake for his first round pick just a year ago,
and unbelievable game. I am going to go with something
I was talking about last night on local TV here
in the Los Angeles area, and that is the Little

(36:14):
League Soft Fault World Series. Alady and So Westchester del
Rey is a school that we are a team that
we had followed here in southern California, and they beat
a team out of Arizona to qualify to go to
the World Series. And you know, I don't know how
people know about the Softball World Little League World Series,

(36:37):
but it's been around for fifty plus years. I mean,
it's it's as a long history, but I know that, Yeah,
a lot of people don't. But now it's getting more
attention with the growth of women's sports out there. So
I was very excited to see the girls. They were
absolutely going and these are just like, you know, the
twelve year olds and they're going absolutely nuts and everything else.
Watching them play is great. You know that sometimes you're

(36:59):
blown away by what they can do. Other times you're reminded, Yeah,
they're twelve years old, and you know, I'm making some
of the mistakes out there. But I like the fact that,
you know, it's getting a little more attention now, the
Little League Softball World Series.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
Oh I love that. I absolutely love that.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
We were talking a little bit about the WNBA earlier,
and I want to congratulate Paige Beckers on being the
first player in WNBA history to have more than three
hundred and fifty points and more than one hundred assists
in the first twenty games of their career, and that
is pretty amazing. And obviously the talent is just continuing
to roll into the WNBA. But I thought that was

(37:36):
a pretty fantastic accomplishment for her to get.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
So I feel good about that.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
Really, I want to add one more here, and we
got the hard to believe, I mean feel good. How
about the start of the NBA NFL season, which is
coming up obviously here with the Hall of Fame game
on Thursday. But one of those remember there was only
four inductees. They decided he had a conscious effort the
Pro Football Hall of Fame because it seemed like they

(38:03):
were expanding the classes eight people. It was just too many.
So they really made a conscious effort to make it
much tougher to get in, and so they only had
four guys go in. And one of those four is
Eric Allen, longtime defensive back and play with the Raiders,
play with the Eagles, And I've known Eric forever and

(38:25):
he is literally one of the nicest people that I've
ever met in my life. Associated I mean, you talk
about a great guy, great team, a great player who
I never thought was going to really be afforded, you
know the distinction of being called a Pro football Hall
of Famer. I can't wait to see his speech. But

(38:47):
if ever, just the good guy, well deserved, not overlooked,
should never have been overlook should have been in years ago,
finally getting his day in the spotlight. Eric Allen, congratulations
on being a Hall of Well.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
That is fantastic and I cannot believe we are already
coming up to the Hall of Fame game. The rest
of the preseason starts a week later.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
I'll tell everybody Tracy, because you're going to be everywhere
in the week's.

Speaker 9 (39:12):
Ahead, are you not.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
I Am going to be all over the place, So
get where exactly I will.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
Be up in forty nine ers training camp, but keeping
a very close eye on the young men in Santa
Clara and how they are going to progress this season.
A lot of Brock party, as you mentioned, it's a
big season for him. They have a lot of young
new players on this team, so interesting and fusion of youth.
They have a preseason game in Las Vegas. They have
joint practice with the Raiders, joint practice with the Broncos

(39:38):
in Santa Clara, so I'll get a first hand look
at this Broncos team.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
So I will be kind of all.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
Over the place in the next several weeks, and then
once the season starts, I will be at a football
stadium potentially near you every Sunday, some Thursdays, and some Mondays.
But I'm excited about it. It's a lot of fun,
and I've had a lot of fun today, Steve, Thank you.

Speaker 4 (39:58):
Tracy. Has been a pleasure for me to hang out
with you today, even if I go back in time
too many times, but that's the way I operate over here.

Speaker 3 (40:06):
No, I like it.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
I like hearing it you guys, thank you for joining us.
Coming up next, Jason Fitz and Buck Rising, Fox Sports Saturday.

Speaker 12 (40:13):
Goodbye, you're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
He's Buck Rising, I'm Jason Fitz.

Speaker 12 (40:21):
It's Bucking Fits taking over Fox Sports Radio on Saturday,
talking a lot of football with you. His training camp
is underway, and my god, we need it. We've all
been sitting here desperately waiting for football. And there's some
big news that involves my beloved Raiders. Some controversy could impact.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
The future of the NFL. We'll get to that in
just a second.

Speaker 12 (40:41):
But Buck, I gotta ask you, the world last night
was erupting over Happy Gilmore too.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Now I just hear me out, Adam.

Speaker 12 (40:48):
Sandler movie suck and I don't find his stuff to
be funny at all.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
And I'm just gonna say that, like right out of
the gate.

Speaker 12 (40:54):
The number of times I've tried to watch Happy Gilmore
and everybody's like, oh, no, no, no, try it again.
So last year I was one and I was flying
somewhere and they had it, and I was like, Okay,
you know what open mind knew me. Sometimes your tastes
change over years. I'm going to try this again. I
made it like thirty minutes into it, and I was
texting some of my buddies and I was like, if
you really think this is hysterical, we shouldn't be friends anymore.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
I just I don't get it.

Speaker 13 (41:17):
You have to wear the end relationships with people. If
they think Adam Sandler movies are funny, well, it just.

Speaker 12 (41:22):
Means that we have a much different sense of human
And this is where people are like, well maybe you
just don't like, you know, juvenile craft, humor and the
Hangover is one of my favorite movies, might be my
favorite movie of all time. So, like, I am not
particularly like a high brow humor guy. I just think
Adam Sandler is a one trick pony that I don't
really like it. He does a trick that I don't
particularly find funny. So but that being said to each

(41:45):
their owner, and I'm not gonna yuck somebody's jump. So
everybody last night seemed wildly excited for Happy Gilmore too.
In fact, one of my producers at Yahoo was throwing
a whole party, having friends over, making.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
It a whole thing.

Speaker 12 (41:57):
I am always skeptical of a sequel that's waited a
long time, like sequels that are just you know, when
Star Wars came back with the prequels like that, oh
it was just you know sometimes these things just just.

Speaker 13 (42:11):
The prequels of Star Wars are my original Star Wars
because of the age differentiation between the two of us.

Speaker 12 (42:16):
And I'm so sorry that you had to like jar
Jar had to be your first thing. Like that's just
I was in a packed theater, I was people were
dressed up everywhere in the theater that night.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
I had goosebumps when the music played, and then jar
Jar came.

Speaker 12 (42:30):
Out and I was like, what my entire childhood is
just being nicked on right now.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
And so look, that was my experience.

Speaker 12 (42:37):
But watching social media explode last night, I'm watching people
that were tweeting and posting on Instagram with tremendous excitement
then telling me it's the worst movie of all time,
the worst thing they've ever sat through, couldn't make it through.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
I don't know what people expected, but I think there's
a life lesson here, like don't make the sequel.

Speaker 5 (42:55):
All but the movie.

Speaker 13 (42:57):
The movie studios are out of original ideas, like that's
that's what this this These are cast grabs. And also
on Monday, you sat there and looked at me and said,
you know what, it doesn't matter how great Scotty Scheffler
is at golf, if Scotty Scheffler doesn't have the personality
that would bring in additional attention that would vault him

(43:20):
into a different stratosphere of greatness. So I present to you,
Jason Fitz Happy Gilmore too, with every cameo under the
sun that you could possibly get for viral attention and
Internet fame and attraction and all these different things to
prop it up further beyond a terrible I haven't seen
it yet, but I'm sure a terrible plot.

Speaker 5 (43:40):
Like I can't I can't imagine this is going to
be a good movie.

Speaker 13 (43:42):
Respectfully, I have respect for Adam Sandler. I love that
he gets his people involved. You know, I'm I like
fewer of his movies than the vast majority of people do,
but the ones that he has that I like their hits.
You advocated for something that is basically Happy Gilmore too,

(44:03):
and now you're saying, don't even make it. Don't bother
what happened?

Speaker 12 (44:07):
Wait wait, wait, more people paying attention to Happy Gilmore
than we'll ever pay attention to anything.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
Scotty Sheffler toss the problem.

Speaker 5 (44:13):
That's the problem.

Speaker 12 (44:14):
That's just that's that's modern that's modern art. I mean,
I'm not gonna disagree. Look, I didn't say it was
a good thing. Like people off oftentimes it's funny because
I you know me well enough.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
There are some people in my life that are like
a cynical cynical. I'm not cynical at all. I'm ever
the realist.

Speaker 12 (44:32):
I look at everything and I'm like, hey, figure out,
Like look at the game, figure out the game play
the game like, I don't.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
I don't see if.

Speaker 12 (44:38):
You're like the music industry has changed so much since
I was in it. I don't look at that. And
I'm not the person pounding the top of the piano
that's three feet from me saying, oh.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
My god, uh Spotify needs to go away, Like.

Speaker 12 (44:49):
I'm not like, I'm the person when I get asked
all the time about AI taking over music, I'm my god,
it's inevitable. AI pop stars are gonna take over everything.
That doesn't make me cynical. I'm ever the realist, right,
So like, at some point, having a phenomenon is more
important than being good. Scotti Scheffler is very good, he's great,
he's amazing, but nobody will care until he's a phenomenon.

Speaker 1 (45:08):
And he can't be a phenomenon because he's not interesting enough.

Speaker 12 (45:10):
Happy Gilmore is the other side of the teeter totter
or the seesaw, depending on where you grew up.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
Happy Gilmore.

Speaker 12 (45:17):
Obviously, again, I haven't seen it, but the people that
I know that we're looking forward to it have made
it clear that they felt it was a trash product.

Speaker 13 (45:24):
So now you have that's on them, though, don't look
forward to this thing, like you almost have to take it.

Speaker 5 (45:28):
No, no, no, I Hey.

Speaker 13 (45:30):
That's on you, Like that's on you if you got
yourself excited for Happy Gilmore Too, thinking it's gonna be
anywhere in the same stratosphere as the joy that watching
Adam Sandler punch Bob Barker in the face and then
Bob Barker knocked his ass out brought to all of
America and arguably the world. Okay, that's on you if

(45:51):
you are looking at Anchorman two, Happy Gilmore Too, all
these Lilo and Stitch, but it's the real Lilo and
Stitch is opposed to the cartoon Lee Low and Stich.
Like we're just out of ideas as a creative society,
it seems. So we're just gonna slap a bunch of
famous people in a movie and try and rerun the
old stuff up to see if we can't fool some

(46:12):
people into thinking that this is.

Speaker 5 (46:13):
A an original concept.

Speaker 13 (46:15):
Now you have to treat these things as completely even
though it's got a lot of the same cast and
it's got the same name.

Speaker 5 (46:22):
Like Gladiator two. Gladiator two should be.

Speaker 13 (46:25):
Sent into the sun, all right, Don't think about Gladiator
when you watch Gladiator two. If you don't, you might
enjoy Gladiator two a little more unless you.

Speaker 5 (46:35):
Went into that movie thinking.

Speaker 13 (46:36):
Oh, this is going to build upon one of the
best stories and one of the best movies that we've
ever seen, and it's gonna blow my mind and oh
my god, look at that cast.

Speaker 5 (46:43):
And it sucks. All right, If you are going to get.

Speaker 13 (46:47):
Excited about these things, the mistake is yours because you
cannot try and recreate the magic that the originals brought
to the game.

Speaker 12 (46:56):
Okay, and you know that I am a Halloween fanatic
and I love me some horror movies. One of the
things that I love about the genre of horror is
that we all know the sequel's gonna suck. So from
the minute we go in, we're like, I'm embracing the
fact that this is going to suck, and I'm going
to find joy in this lesser product. Like I understand
that Halloween whatever you know, six was not as good

(47:19):
as Halloween one to me. You know, I understand that
Halloween four kind of like four, but Halloween. I understand
that these products are different as you go, right, but
I don't go in with the expectation that I'm going
to get the original, Like the original Scream is probably
my favorite movie of all time. I will still see
Scream seven, and I know Scream seven is gonna kind
of suck, but I'm gonna be into it because there's

(47:41):
nostalgia around Scream. Like, I don't expect greatness. I feel
like people with Happy Gilmore, we're expecting greatness. And that's
the problem. And this is, to your point, maybe part
of the reason that sports continues to dominate the landscape
and everything we're talking about, because I genuinely think it's
really hard to create anything new. People give it him about,
like there has been so much. We're a spot where

(48:04):
it just feels like wild new idea. When's the last
time a new scripted sitcom came out? Did everybody just
absolutely flock to I don't. I don't know, like do.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
They even still did? They still make them? New?

Speaker 12 (48:16):
New movies are harder and harder for people to care about,
you know, It's just I don't, I don't know original
ideas are. It just feels like everything's been done. Maybe
that's why sports continued to dominate.

Speaker 13 (48:28):
No, they they script the NFL season, haven't you heard?
That's the greatest scripted sitcom going in America right now.

Speaker 9 (48:34):
You can't.

Speaker 13 (48:34):
It's DVR proof, baby. I love because Christian Wilkins situation.
You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried. Your
beloved chat GPT could not come up with as drama
and as comedically uh comedically funny a situation as your
beloved Las Vegas Raiders are getting ready to go through
or are currently going through.

Speaker 12 (48:54):
Which because my my favorite team can't have nice things.
That's the real thing that I've learned here. Christian Wilkins,
when he was in Miami, played a higher percentage of
snaps than any other interior defensive lineman during his time
there was a model citizen. Was an absolute, oh my god,
thunder of the Gods player and one of the rare
times buck that I have in my entire life.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
Watched my favorite.

Speaker 12 (49:17):
Team acquire somebody and gotten texts from everybody that covers
the league saying, hey, this is a home run his
one hundred and ten million dollar contract. It was like, hey,
this isn't good, this is great. Like big names that
cover the sport were texting me saying, oh my god,
you should be overjoyed. Christian Wilkins next to Max Crosby
is going to be just a damaging defensive line. And

(49:38):
you've got two guys that never miss plays, you're just
talking about always on the field. Then what happens last
year He has a Jones fracture in his foot during
the course of a game.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
Also in the same season that Max was so wildly.

Speaker 12 (49:51):
Injured that he missed time for the first time, and
the two of them never really got going, which is
part of the reason the defensive line was never particularly
what people thought it would be on a defense. It
turned out to be really horrid on a team that
wasn't as good as expectations, even.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
With low expectations.

Speaker 12 (50:05):
So now imagine my shock this week when Christian Wilkins
is not only released, but he's released from the Raiders,
and they do it in a way where they basically
challenge the guarantees that are remaining on his contract, refusing
to pay them because of a rehab issue. And this
boils down book to a team saying we don't believe

(50:25):
that he was doing the proper things in his rehab process.
They believe he needed another surgery. He refused the surgery.
They did not see a way that he was ever
going to get back on the field, so they cut him.
They cut a superstar in this league flat out saying
we don't think this has been done the right way.

Speaker 1 (50:41):
This is a dangerous.

Speaker 12 (50:42):
Precedent, brother, Like, this is a wild situation where a
team comes in and says, we want a surgery.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
You don't want a surgery, we will cut you and
we will void all of the guarantees on your contract.

Speaker 12 (50:52):
That's why the NFL Players Association is absolutely fighting this thing,
because if you start to get into differences of opinion
on how medical issues should be handled as a reason
to void guarantees, that is a slippery slope.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
Down the path of the future of player guarantees.

Speaker 13 (51:08):
Uh yeah, because the NFLPA has got a very proud
platform to stand on.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
These days, I'm absolute stupidity.

Speaker 13 (51:14):
Did you just read that JC Tretder interview that Jonathan
Jones with CBS did. By the way, and I love
Jonathan Jones. He's a buddy of mine.

Speaker 12 (51:22):
I know a long time, but I don't know, but
he's getting a box of chocolates a month for the
rest of his life.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
He got the Jelly of the Month club from JC
Tretder because that's fair.

Speaker 13 (51:34):
Anyway, here's a couple of things that I think are
worth mentioning.

Speaker 11 (51:39):
Here.

Speaker 5 (51:39):
You remember the way that it ended with Kawhi Leonard
and the Spurs.

Speaker 13 (51:42):
Yeah, there was a disagreement about the way that they
were handling the rehabilitation the Kawhi Leonard needed for his
knee issues and issues that he's that he's had across
a period of time. But at some point, and the
details never really got out there. In Hi Leonard is
a very very private person, so it probably never will.

(52:03):
But there was some level of trust between the player
and the organization that was broken irreparably, and Kawhi Leonard
made his way out of San Antonio, which we all
thought from the exterior is a completely stable and well
run organization and one of a model, a model franchise
in the world of professional sports. They couldn't possibly have
done anything wrong here. What's wrong with Kawhi Leonard? What's

(52:24):
his problem? Who's this uncle Dennis guy that's get it
making a mess in the middle of all this? It
was a very very confusing time. And then he goes
to Toronto, he wins a championship, and I know that
Kawhi Leonard has not been the model of health for
the rest of his career, but there was enough to
make you curious about what went wrong or what he
felt betrayed by what it is that the Spurs did.

(52:45):
It never really got out there. This Christian Wilkins thing,
to me, is a lot more cut and dry because
it's a new regime. You just hired a new general manager,
John spytech right, new regime with no connection to the player.

Speaker 5 (52:57):
Shout out Tom.

Speaker 13 (52:58):
Telesco, by the way, for absolutely recon your finances. I
love when these people get fired and they end up
on television. I think Tom Tellesco just recently started doing
stuff for serious XMNFL radio, and I don't know the
man at all. But it's like when I watched John
Robinson hosting Good Morning Football and nobody wants to ask
him about AJ Brown winning in a Super Bowl.

Speaker 5 (53:17):
For the Philadelphia Eagles. I don't want to hear from
you about anything else. Get off my screen.

Speaker 13 (53:21):
And John is somebody who I like and who I
enjoyed working with, even though you know it collapsed very
very quickly here in Tennessee. New regime, no connection to
the player, that's one there is going to be a
lot of concern about a Jones fracture, specifically for a
man that size. That's a difficult thing for a player
like that to recover from. So the team is going

(53:43):
to be hyper focused and hyper scrutinized on what they
believe the proper recovery and rehabilitation and surgical procedures should
be because it's going to be a bit tenuous for
an investment that size, for a player that size. And
I'm guessing FITZI that at some point through the arbitration
process he gets some of that money back, so I
don't think he's going to be completely left without a

(54:04):
dime here. We'll await the findings that the arbitrator comes
out with, because there's going to be two sides to
the story. We haven't heard from Christian Wilkins on this.
The Raiders put out a statement basically saying, Yeah, we
didn't think this guy was ever going to be able
to get out on the field, and he wasn't taking
our medical advice, so we got rid of him.

Speaker 5 (54:23):
I think that's okay.

Speaker 1 (54:25):
I think that's okay. I think it was the right
it was the necessary move.

Speaker 12 (54:32):
I'll tell you why. We'll continue this Christian Wilkins conversation.
He's buck rising on Jason Fitz. We're hanging out with you.

Speaker 8 (54:37):
It's bucking fits on Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at foxsports Radio dot com and
within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.

Speaker 12 (54:52):
Oh, the irony is Big Time Rush is playing tonight
in Connecticut, thirty minutes from my house.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
You have to go. Who knew my buddy? My buddy's
the drummer on that on that reunion tour. So I
have to go. I feel like Big Time Rush?

Speaker 7 (55:07):
And if you go, can you send me video? Please?

Speaker 1 (55:09):
Are you a Big Time Rush fan? Were they what?

Speaker 7 (55:12):
I'm sorry?

Speaker 1 (55:13):
Do I know?

Speaker 7 (55:13):
But does everybody know who they are?

Speaker 14 (55:15):
And I don't thank you?

Speaker 1 (55:19):
I mean like, look, if, by the way, I got
the hookup? Who want Big Time Rush ticket? I mean,
I feel like I got the hookup for this?

Speaker 12 (55:27):
Oh?

Speaker 13 (55:27):
Is that really the selling point for you to finally
get me to come visit you in Connecticut. I've got
no other reason to go to Connecticut, but I got
Big Time Rush tickets.

Speaker 9 (55:34):
I know the drummer.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
Maybe you should? You should come.

Speaker 12 (55:36):
You should come this week because I'm going to see
Christopher Cross and Toto with Africa, all right. That I mean,
now that is that's a lot of eighties like I
mean yacht rock. We could slow dance in the crowd,
like I think I could even get your side stage
during Christopher Cross.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
We could, you know, say anything takes me awake?

Speaker 5 (55:55):
Oh is that Christopher Cross. I had no idea who
you're talking about there either.

Speaker 13 (55:58):
Toto, I know because shout out Marks go Field, who
is one of the foremost quarterback bloggers out there in
the universe, even though I think I don't think Mark's
still doing NFL draft analysis on a regular basis anyway.
Big fan of Africa by Toto. But I don't think
that the thing. I don't think the thing that's going
to get me to visit you in Connecticut is slow

(56:20):
dancing to what's the name of the band Big Time Rush?

Speaker 12 (56:24):
Well, I mean Big Time Rush was tonight. You can't
get here in time for tonight. I'm sitting with little
big town in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
Humble brag.

Speaker 12 (56:30):
That's a fine. I'm sitting with a little big town
in Connecticut.

Speaker 5 (56:33):
Blow right now, I can.

Speaker 1 (56:38):
Come on, dad, was it?

Speaker 5 (56:41):
Then it may take me down to the little Yeah.

Speaker 7 (56:43):
Yeah, see that's a banger.

Speaker 5 (56:47):
Cannot have my fine authority you start.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
Sorry, I'm sorry, Yes, you can have your fine authority.
Usurped and it just happened. I'm just saying, I'm sitting
a man.

Speaker 7 (56:56):
You're crapping on a big time rush.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
Like honestly, nobody's telling me who they time rush is that.

Speaker 5 (57:01):
That's a fair point.

Speaker 7 (57:03):
Logan Carlos Kendall and sounds like Abercrombie Boys. They are
Abercommy Boys.

Speaker 15 (57:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (57:11):
It was a show that came out in Nickelodeon. Oh, Nickelodeon. Yeah,
and then and then after that they ended up getting
It's kind of like Hanna Montana, you know how like
she got big. It's exactly the same.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
Are they like a one direction any kind of thing?

Speaker 7 (57:24):
Yes, but better because they have.

Speaker 1 (57:27):
One direction is elite.

Speaker 13 (57:29):
Uh, let's not compare anybody to Let's not compare anybody
to Miley Cyrus.

Speaker 5 (57:35):
Can we not? That's offensive?

Speaker 14 (57:36):
No, I'm just saying the concept of it, not her
in general versus Nickelodeon.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
I don't know if you've seen these, No, Nickelodeon all
the way.

Speaker 12 (57:44):
I don't know if you've seen these Spotify things with Miley,
but she went in and did like a Billions Club
performance for Spotify that it's on YouTube. It is absolutely insane. Like,
I mean, just kudos to Miley Cyrus. Miley's killing the game.
I don't care what you say, Buck, like, so if
you're if I wasn't sure if you're spreading Miley hate
or not. I was just making sure that we were

(58:05):
on the same page because Miley uh is a goddess
at this point.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
Like, I mean, just just absolutely crushing it.

Speaker 13 (58:10):
What do you think you're doing by painting me into
a corner that I'm anti Miley Cyrus? Why come rushing
to her support? Because Mary compared her to big time Rush.

Speaker 7 (58:18):
I didn't compare her in that way.

Speaker 5 (58:20):
That's not what the audience heard.

Speaker 11 (58:21):
Mary.

Speaker 7 (58:22):
I just choosing to hear what you want to hear.

Speaker 13 (58:25):
I as sure as hell I am now because if
you start my fine system, I won't stand for you.

Speaker 7 (58:29):
Whistle for it. No, you're not on the program.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
Buck got whistled.

Speaker 12 (58:33):
There we go bigger than the program.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
Oh clip this off and you.

Speaker 5 (58:41):
I just get Christian.

Speaker 1 (58:42):
You've got Christian Wilkins. I'm sorry, man, we're gonna have
to release Buck Rising.

Speaker 5 (58:46):
We are afraid that he is not fully guaranteed nerds.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
Oh my god, Oh my god, this is what's happening.

Speaker 7 (58:52):
For that again, it's disrespectful.

Speaker 4 (58:54):
That's fine.

Speaker 5 (58:54):
I'll pay it because I got the money too.

Speaker 10 (58:56):
Oh my god, you're being a LAISTI.

Speaker 1 (58:59):
There we go.

Speaker 12 (59:00):
This is all now, you guys are finding out who
the real Buck Rising.

Speaker 1 (59:03):
I feel like this is law and order.

Speaker 12 (59:04):
When the guy on the witness stand finally breaks and
just starts saying all the things he shouldn't say.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
That's what's happening.

Speaker 12 (59:09):
You're getting a picture of the real Buck Rising right now.
And that makes me Jack McCoy, who, by the way,
might be the biggest badass in television history.

Speaker 13 (59:17):
So my Apple Watch that I just started wearing is
telling me that I'm yelling too loud because it sent
me a decibel warning.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
Wow. Okay, so we're out there with the Apple Watch.
Now they're thank you. This is how's it feel? Buck.
Christian Wilkins gets cut.

Speaker 9 (59:32):
By the raiders.

Speaker 1 (59:32):
We were talking about that, he's Buck Rising.

Speaker 12 (59:34):
I'm Jason fitz hanging out with you on Fox Sports Radio,
and Buck, I think part of this too is you know,
the team had an idea of the rehab process, Christian
Wilkins had a different idea. We've explained all of that,
but I also think that there's a moment of new
regimes make statements. And I've watched every ounce as a
Raiders fan of Pete Carroll talking about competitiveness and they

(59:57):
only want people to want to be there and all
of these things that every coach says. But you know,
when you talk to people inside the building, they'll tell
you it's an electric energy.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
It's different.

Speaker 12 (01:00:05):
There is something about it that is transferring and palpable
in all these things.

Speaker 1 (01:00:09):
But I think that there's a statement. This was an easy.

Speaker 12 (01:00:13):
Opportunity for the team to simply say, hey, we're going
to make a statement transaction that tells everybody.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
We mean business.

Speaker 12 (01:00:20):
Every new regime sort of does this when you couch
it under the guys of like, hey, he's not going
to be ready. They don't think he's going to be
able to play. The team's statement on it was very
clear that they believe he's just there's not a path
to him getting back on the field. We don't know
how other teams will view it, but I think the
Raiders were also taking an opportunity here to make a

(01:00:41):
poignant statement about where they want their franchise.

Speaker 5 (01:00:43):
To be right now.

Speaker 13 (01:00:45):
Oh sure, And that's what happens every time there's coaching
turnover or front office turnover. In this case, both John
spy Tech and Pete Carroll coming in together and replacing you.

Speaker 5 (01:00:59):
Know what a been I mean, FITZI, I know you're
a Raiders fan.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
Be nice, be nice and be nice.

Speaker 13 (01:01:07):
Well, they're just not terribly well run here in the
last couple of years.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
Thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:01:11):
I thought that was very diplomatic.

Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
I was very well done by you.

Speaker 9 (01:01:14):
Go ahead.

Speaker 5 (01:01:15):
Well now I'm worried that I'm gonna get fined.

Speaker 13 (01:01:18):
I think that it will. At least they are trying
to send a message, though not just to their organization.

Speaker 5 (01:01:26):
That statement.

Speaker 13 (01:01:29):
Is gonna put Christian Wilkins on blast everywhere that he
has a conversation with next assuming that he wants to
get back on another roster and compete in twenty twenty.

Speaker 5 (01:01:40):
Five or if.

Speaker 13 (01:01:41):
I don't know what the nature of the injury, I mean,
I know it's a Jones fracture.

Speaker 5 (01:01:45):
I don't know how recent when did he get hurt?

Speaker 12 (01:01:47):
Fits he got hurt Week five or six of last seasons.

Speaker 13 (01:01:51):
Okay, so it's been an extended period of time at
this point.

Speaker 12 (01:01:53):
They did, they did a procedure on it, and he
just didn't heal right from the procedure, and then the
question was does he need a second surgery?

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
And that's where he doesn't want one.

Speaker 12 (01:02:04):
The team wanted him to get one, They couldn't come
to an agreement on it, and they just don't. The
team doesn't believe that his foot has been healing properly
in a way that without a procedure he's ever going
to get back on the field that way.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
What's their stance.

Speaker 13 (01:02:17):
Why don't we let Martin update us on what's going
on in the world of sports, and then we can
circle back to this, because I do have some thoughts.

Speaker 10 (01:02:24):
Right now, we got two of the best teams in
the American League, the Tigers and the Blue Jays, scoreless
scouples on the mound for Detroit, top of the sixth
inning right now, obviously, George Springer at bat. Earlier today,
we saw the Phillies be the Yankees nine to four.
Bryce Harper with his fifteenth home run on the year.
Aaron Judge is on the injured list now with the
flexer stream. The Royals walked off the Guardians five to

(01:02:46):
three on a Jonathan India three one homer in the
tenth inning. Texans running back at Joe Mixon will be
out of majority of the preseason with an ankle injury
and be re evaluated closer to Week one. Tennessee Titans
rride receiver Trailing Berke stuffered a fraction collar bone during
open practice today. The Titans also signed v frel If
you know, you know wide receiver romel Keaton VFL Mark

(01:03:08):
vf L. You know what I wrote it down, VFL
and this lects you struck again. I literally have it
right here VFL. If you know, you know, trying to
be funny, and that's what I get. Hand up my bed.
I try my best. I'm Seana, Michigan fan. I don't
know anything about the sec football stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
I respect.

Speaker 9 (01:03:22):
Speaking of Michigan.

Speaker 10 (01:03:23):
Johns Man tell us three year contract extension for the
safety for the Minnesota Vikings. He was a sixth round
draft pick in twenty twenty, so now he's got thirty six.

Speaker 9 (01:03:31):
Million coming his way over the next three years.

Speaker 10 (01:03:33):
The Dolphins signed free agent cornerback Jack Jones and Mike
Hilton today in the wake of Already Burns tearing his
acl justin fields. He dislocated his toe on Thursday, but
back on the field Sat Friday doing some drills. Today
he did seven on seven as he works his way
back to a full workload. Dodgers lead the Red Sox

(01:03:54):
two to nothing, Kershaw on the mound in the bottom
of the first sinning. Tampa Bay and Cincinnati score in
the fourths, Miami Milwaukee scoreless in the second, the A's
with a one nothing lead over the Astros, Cubs and
Socks scoreless and a shydown battle, and the Guardians with
a one nothing lead over Kansas City in game two
of a doubleheader. The Braves lead the Rangers won nothing.

(01:04:16):
Back to you, guys, he's Buck rising. I'm Jason Fitzwer
hanging out with you. Is Bucket fits takeover on Fox
Sports Radio.

Speaker 12 (01:04:23):
You had some thoughts on Christian Bilkens Buck that I
want to give you the floor and the opportunity to
tell everybody, But first you can stream the show and
all of our Fox Radio shows live twenty four to
seven and the new and improved iHeartRadio app just search
Fox Sports Radio in the app and stream US Live
and one of the newest features in the app, you
can select Fox Sports Radio is one of your presets,

(01:04:43):
just like the preset on a radio dial. So be
sure to preset Fox Sports Radio in the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
It'll always pop up at the top of your screen.

Speaker 13 (01:04:50):
What do you got, brother, Well, I just want to
read this quote from Pete Carroll because obviously he was
asked about at the press conference after the statement was
put out on why they released Christian Wilkins. It took
a long time to make our decision. We watched our
way through the whole thing. We're keeping really clear with
what we said. I think there was no clear path
to his return, so we just.

Speaker 5 (01:05:11):
Had to move on.

Speaker 13 (01:05:13):
Now what you see happening with NFL organizations, and Pete
Carroll is one of the best at this, specifically, what
it is to bring in a culture of success and
buy in that is required to get fifty three individuals
on a regular season roster, plus coaches, plus practice squad,

(01:05:34):
plus everybody one paying attention to you and moving in
the right direction. The culture thing is very very nebulous, right.
It's not something that you can wrap your hands around.
It's not something quantifiable necessarily. It's something we all talk about.
We all bring up. Coaches mention it, players mention it.
But it's really tough to notice unless one you're in

(01:05:57):
the meeting rooms and in the locker room and understand
the dynamic between the players, or two somebody brings it
to your attention that this is something that clearly lacks it.

Speaker 5 (01:06:05):
Would you say that the culture of.

Speaker 13 (01:06:07):
The Raiders organization in the last decade has been one
of success fits.

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
No, No, it's been a one of hot garbage. Yes.

Speaker 12 (01:06:14):
Go.

Speaker 13 (01:06:15):
Would you then agree that Pete Carroll understands what it
is to create a culture of success, whether it be
college or proc So I'm not saying that you have
to trust Pete Carroll here implicitly, but I'm saying that
they identified something in Christian Wilkins that they didn't feel
was going to be appropriate for the dynamic that they're

(01:06:37):
trying to create between the players, the locker room, and
the organization. And it doesn't mean that they'll be proven
right for it, because he is obviously a good player
and it should be, you know, in coming upon the
organization to make it work to an extent for a
certain caliber of player, which Christian Wilkins prior to last year,
has been for every year of his career, He's been,

(01:06:57):
like you said, model citizen in Miami, hugely reductive player.
I don't know that i'd put him in an elite category,
but he's obviously above average and was compensated as such.
So when they're getting pushedback, whatever the pushback look like
on Christian Wilkins and his team side, on the organization
and the direction that they're heading, they're looking around and saying.

Speaker 5 (01:07:17):
Is it worth it?

Speaker 13 (01:07:18):
Is this guy so worth it that we could afford
to get a little worse of defensive tackle on the
Raiders defense wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination
last year, Like they're going to have to figure this
out in a meaningful way, and they did draft what
two interior defensive linemen this year.

Speaker 12 (01:07:31):
They didn't really address the defensive tack like a couple
of things to your point, they didn't really address the
defensive tackle position this offseason. And number two, they restructured
his contract to put a bunch of it into guarantees
this offseason because they believed they could push some of
that money right, So that tells you they believe in
the player at.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
The time moving forward.

Speaker 12 (01:07:50):
Part of the reason too, that we have to acknowledge
that I think they've come in and they've done it
this way, is because if he gets on the if
they believe there's any chance he gets on the field,
and there's another issue, they're on the hook for even
more money. I don't think they wanted him, you know.
And look, we live this around Tennessee way back in
the day around certain players that were traded. I think

(01:08:12):
it was McNair when he was locked out of the
Tennessee Titans locker room because hey, they knew he was
going to be traded. They didn't want to take a
chance that he was injured, and so they just cut
him off there, right, Like, I think you got to
look at this if you're the Raiders.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
They restructured his.

Speaker 12 (01:08:25):
Deal in the offseason to give him more as a
signing bonus now and it changed all the money, and
then they see that this isn't healing, and they see
all of these pieces come together. I don't think they
expected this to happen, but at some point you got
to look at it and say, well, dang, we're going
to cut our losses.

Speaker 1 (01:08:41):
It screams cut our losses in this situation.

Speaker 12 (01:08:43):
And the fact that they did it in a way
that they're fighting for that money to not be paid
shows you they didn't want to get him on the field.
They didn't want to take the chance to hear at
the footgain, they didn't want to change take the chance.
They owed him more guarantees, and I just I genuinely
believe they don't think that he is either going to
play or be of version of Christian Wilkins that they
thought they were getting from day.

Speaker 5 (01:09:02):
One, which is fair.

Speaker 13 (01:09:04):
And this is the biggest problem when it comes to
and you know, I wouldn't pretend to be a scout
or an NFL personnel executive or a general manager or
anything like that, but you and I have both worked
around enough of them and talked to enough of them
on a regular basis that at least you get a
semblance of how it should be or how in a
perfect world, they would like for it to go when
they're putting together their version of what they want a

(01:09:24):
team to look like.

Speaker 5 (01:09:25):
It's the problem when you try to or when you.

Speaker 13 (01:09:27):
Try to buy essentially a roster to get it back
to a certain place. I just witnessed the Tennessee Titans
spend two hundred and twenty eight million dollars around with
Levis last year to be the worst team in football
for all the good at did them. Calvin Ridley, Jerious need,
Lloyd Kushenberry, Kenneth Murray Cheetosi. Two of those three players
or two of those players aren't even on the roster anymore.
Snead has played five games and looked objectively bad after

(01:09:49):
being a two time Super Bowl champion and arguably one
of the best corners in football in the Kansas City
Chiefs roster and Calvin Ridley was a product of bad
quarterback plays. So I'm not out on Calvin by any
stretching the imagination, but organically regenerating a roster is really
the only way to do this, because once you start
paying at the top end of the market in free
agency to supplement what you don't have, you run the

(01:10:12):
risk of something like this happened because you're paying Christian
Wilkins for what he did in Miami. If you're Vegas
and now you're worried about all the different things that
could happen with Christian Wilkins, when he starts to get
up there in age, when his body starts to depreciate
a little bit, all of a sudden he's missing games.
He's never missed games in his career. But as soon
as he gets to Vegas, he's out six five, six
weeks in, as you mentioned, or whatever point in the

(01:10:34):
season it was. And then you have to take the
finances into consideration, be.

Speaker 5 (01:10:38):
Like, okay, this is one. This is not my son cost.

Speaker 13 (01:10:41):
If I'm John Spytech, I'm looking rather Tom tellsco got fired.
This is not something that I want on my books
moving forward, because I'm trying to draft organically develop player
as a result and retain the ones that are worth
retaining and if they aren't, keep cycling through. In a
perfect world, it very rarely has happens that way, and
we know that the draft is an imperfect science, but

(01:11:03):
Christian Wilkins is not. I wouldn't call him the poster
child for this is just the most recent example of
the NFL decision makers are going to handle these things
as cutthroat as humanly possible when the money starts to
get that large, because they need those resources dedicated elsewhere.

Speaker 12 (01:11:20):
Which is why I will remind everybody here thousand percent right,
the way you build your team to be better. If
you're a fan of a team that sucks, the only
way you're gonna get consistently better, not just have one
big year where suddenly win ten games and you shock
the world, but consistently good. You got to consistently nail
the draft. And I will remind everybody every single second
you're spending right now looking at upcoming free agency is

(01:11:43):
a waste of your time because this year, particularly in
the offseason, the NFL was stunned. Teams were stunned by
where the salary cap actually landed. It came in so
much higher. So what does that mean. That means that
every single fan that sat there and said, yeah, but
in two years we get all this salary cap money
and that's all we're gonna read this team. That's the
dumbest thing you can ever bank on. Because at the
end of the day, teams get the money to be

(01:12:06):
able to keep the players they want to keep. That
happens every single time. So if you're sitting here looking
at it and saying, well, look at all the money
we're going to have available to spend two years in
the salary cap. That's the dumbest exercise ever because the
good players are kept. There's enough money now onder the
salary cap for good teams to keep their good players.
So I know that we live in a nose epics society.

(01:12:27):
Everybody just wants a shot that makes them lose a
bunch of weight. But the way you do it is
like long term, you just got to go in and
do the work year after year after year after year.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
That's that's the simplest solution.

Speaker 13 (01:12:38):
Remember what we talked about earlier with training camp highlights
and more access to information actually making people dumber instead
of smarter. Yeah, armchair GMing is a case in point
in the middle of all that. It has to drive
executives in the NFL insane.

Speaker 12 (01:12:51):
Yeah, a thousand percent. And again I'll go back to
old man like, it wasn't that long ago. People didn't
even really understand what a GM did, and now everybody's
prepared to be a GM in the NFL. It's wild,
all right, It is time for the single greatest game
show in the history of sports talk radio. Would you
rather coming up next? It's Bucking Fits on Fox Sports Radio.

(01:13:14):
He's Buck Rising. I'm Jason Fitz it's bucking fits hanging
out with him on Fox Sports Radio on Fox Sports Saturday.
Had a blast hanging out with you a lot this summer.
Hopefully you guys have gotten the chance to hang out
with us a lot of different times that we've been on.
But if you've hung out with us at all, you
know we end every single show the same way with
the single greatest game show in the history of sports

(01:13:37):
talk radio.

Speaker 1 (01:13:37):
Buck Are you ready for this? We're gonna try and
do it in synchronicity. Are you ready?

Speaker 5 (01:13:41):
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
It's time for what you rather? Did we get it?

Speaker 9 (01:13:49):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (01:13:50):
I got it?

Speaker 1 (01:13:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 12 (01:13:51):
I thought that was good. All right, brig He's gonna
give us a question. You'll decide, we'll decide would be rather?
I say, You've got to be very careful when you
say bucket or fits it. Somehow we managed to never
screw that up.

Speaker 13 (01:14:03):
Also, why am I the guy in the imaging that
bucket means, oh, that's no good, Like I'm some kind
of well.

Speaker 12 (01:14:09):
Because you're an elitist, because you are a one percenter
that I'm just.

Speaker 5 (01:14:13):
Trying to shame me for being a one percenter. I said,
I rather enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (01:14:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (01:14:18):
Not only is he an elitist, but he's a proud elitist.
That is a very weird space to be in. Bre
all right, give us a question, we'll figure out what
we rather.

Speaker 7 (01:14:26):
Are you ready?

Speaker 1 (01:14:27):
I think so? Yeah?

Speaker 7 (01:14:28):
Okay?

Speaker 14 (01:14:28):
Would you rather have to wear a tuxedo to bed
every night or pajamas to every formal event for the
rest of your life?

Speaker 13 (01:14:35):
Oh see, now pajamas is the correct answer. But I
don't feel I feel like I would be going astray
from my elitist personality if I said that, I wouldn't
be willing to wear a tuxt to bed every night.
What if it's a tuxedo t shirt type of pajama?
Can I get away with that?

Speaker 1 (01:14:50):
Yeah? So would you rather?

Speaker 5 (01:14:52):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (01:14:52):
I mean, like, don't you me? And the answer clearly is.

Speaker 12 (01:14:56):
And by the way, I'm weirded out by the fact
that both of you say pajama hamma.

Speaker 7 (01:15:00):
I've never heard pajama.

Speaker 1 (01:15:03):
I've always heard pajama.

Speaker 13 (01:15:05):
Don't take his word for being the actual pronunciation is
two against one.

Speaker 1 (01:15:08):
Here break jama. No, I say pajama jama. That's just
the three one pajama.

Speaker 5 (01:15:14):
The fine systems back on my side.

Speaker 12 (01:15:16):
I would always take the pjs. There is nothing less
comfortable than a tuxedo. By the way, tuxedos suck. I've
worn them so many times in my life, humble brag.
They are not comfortable.

Speaker 5 (01:15:27):
Yeah, that's come on.

Speaker 12 (01:15:29):
If you grow up playing classical music, you wait like
you wear tux I wore my first touch when.

Speaker 1 (01:15:34):
I was like six.

Speaker 3 (01:15:35):
How many tuxes do you own?

Speaker 1 (01:15:37):
Currently? One? But yeah, for most of my have three
oh three? What do you Batman? Well, Bruce Wayne over there, like,
what are you going to where you need a tuxedo?

Speaker 7 (01:15:47):
Barney is a Buckmobile?

Speaker 13 (01:15:49):
Barney from harm I do have the Buckmobile and it
does kind of look like the batmobile.

Speaker 5 (01:15:53):
Sugar Sugars, he's the best.

Speaker 7 (01:15:55):
Wow, I'm okay.

Speaker 14 (01:15:56):
So I just heard that there's a wheel involved, So
I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:15:59):
The kid's been the wheel.

Speaker 3 (01:16:00):
Go ahead, Yeah, oh.

Speaker 5 (01:16:05):
Delightful.

Speaker 7 (01:16:08):
Okay.

Speaker 14 (01:16:09):
Would you rather have a pet parrot that roasts your
outfit daily or a cat that critiques you're cooking out loud?

Speaker 15 (01:16:16):
Like Gordon Ramsey, I'm gonna take the pet parrot and
it says something about my outfit because I I basically.

Speaker 12 (01:16:28):
Wear the same thing every day, So I would get
used to it, like I I literally have eight of
the same black T shirt, Like there's no variety in
my wardrobe.

Speaker 13 (01:16:36):
You would test the parent's ability to try and come
up with different roasts when you're just wearing the same outfit.

Speaker 5 (01:16:41):
That's funny.

Speaker 12 (01:16:41):
What's the pair gonna say that's a different than yesterday?
Oh wow, you're wearing a black shorts and a black
T shirt Like that's all I ever wear, So you
know I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:16:49):
I'm in on the parrot. Plus, cats just suck. Everything
about cats.

Speaker 5 (01:16:52):
Suck you.

Speaker 9 (01:16:54):
Take it back.

Speaker 13 (01:16:58):
Wars have been started for less fits because the idea
that Francis my cat would grab me by the face
like Gordon Ramsey does and say, what are you an
idiot sandwich while I'm making my breakfast would only make
me love her more.

Speaker 1 (01:17:12):
Francis Francis the cat God, You're a one percenter?

Speaker 3 (01:17:16):
What did cats judy you?

Speaker 1 (01:17:18):
Fits?

Speaker 4 (01:17:18):
Like what?

Speaker 3 (01:17:19):
I don't understand people.

Speaker 5 (01:17:20):
I grew up on piano benchity salty about it.

Speaker 12 (01:17:23):
I've had some condescending cats in my life, but no,
it's more just a general like cats think they're better
than you and everything, and every time you walk in
the road, they're like you're lucky to have me here,
and then you got to scoop their poop, like come
out on all of them rejecting, or.

Speaker 13 (01:17:38):
Or you be one and you get one of these
eight hundred dollars letter robots that does it for you.

Speaker 12 (01:17:43):
Yeah, until the until the cat decides when they're older
that they're just gonna poop wherever they want.

Speaker 1 (01:17:48):
You're gonna have this a week.

Speaker 12 (01:17:49):
Hit me when your cat hits fifteen and suddenly it's
just like tinkling all over your room. And then, let
let me know, like the cat pee. Oh, you can't
get rid of that smell.

Speaker 5 (01:17:57):
It's a smell.

Speaker 1 (01:17:58):
There's nothing cats to do that, Like, I know, there's
not not.

Speaker 5 (01:18:01):
A s I will stand for the slander. Spin the
wheel or don't we all need some WD forty at
a little slow on a drawback there?

Speaker 3 (01:18:14):
Okay?

Speaker 14 (01:18:15):
I would you rather get suck doing the wave alone
in a full stadium or be caught on the kiss
cam next to your bus?

Speaker 7 (01:18:26):
Oh that's a.

Speaker 13 (01:18:30):
So so this is a cold place CEO type of situation.

Speaker 5 (01:18:34):
I oh, but that you know what that guy's gonna
he had to resign and disgrace or whatever.

Speaker 13 (01:18:38):
But well, you know that dude's gonna start a podcast
and make millions, and so he's got a hot tour
his way to the top.

Speaker 5 (01:18:43):
No pun intended.

Speaker 12 (01:18:46):
I've done the wave alone in the statement doesn't bother me,
Like I'm all in on that. Like you've ever been
to a Vandy football game, you might do the wave alone.

Speaker 13 (01:18:53):
So like, but that's that's not because nobody wants to
do the way. That's because nobody historically until Diego Pavia
has been in Vanderbilt football staff.

Speaker 12 (01:19:01):
Vandy's the only football stadium I've ever been told to
sit down in because I was standing up.

Speaker 1 (01:19:05):
So yeah, like, there we go.

Speaker 5 (01:19:07):
This some old man trying to read the newspaper.

Speaker 13 (01:19:09):
Behind you while a football game is going on in
front of you.

Speaker 12 (01:19:11):
They were very I was like ten rows off the
field too, and I was told to sit down.

Speaker 1 (01:19:15):
Never sit down.

Speaker 12 (01:19:16):
When you listen to Fox Sports Radio, we're always having
a good time. Shout out to Brie and to Mary
for making the show sound good and for dealing with
Buck because he's insufferable. He's the worst. Go see Big
Time Rush tonight if you're in Connecticut. Thanks for hanging
out with Buck Rising. Jason fitz Keeping on Fox Sports
Radio all not Long have a good weekend.