First Things First - Chiefs better with Tyreek, Darryn Peterson sits 2nd half, Anthony Edwards best player in NBA?

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

(00:00) Should we still consider the Ravens an elite team? (26:06) Dr. Danny diagnoses the NFC North (37:22) Reaction to Darryn Peterson playing 3 mins in 2nd half (44:29) Would a Tyreek reunion instantly make the Chiefs better? (01:04:05) Dr. Danny diagnoses the AFC North (01:18:38) What’s next for Kyler Murray? (01:26:33) Danny’s Eye Test: Who’s the NBA’s MVP at the All-Star Break? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York, it's a show that, thank you, Greg. Yes, indeed. Is sparring a little bit on the question of the day with a 2024 quarterback. There's wide range of answers there. Yeah, yeah. It's disappointing where you have Jay. I'm sorry. It's disappointing where you have Caleb.

Yeah, and it's disappointing that I had to remind Willie. He did it. That J.J. McCarthy exists. Is that a Willie proff? There we go. There we go. People can check the edit when that comes out on the whole YouTube page. Wide range of emotions there.

Let's see. Speaking of a member of that class, Caleb Williams, are they a candidate to step forward or step back? We make the case and discuss. Also, Kansas City Chiefs, we know they got a top pick, the ninth pick in the draft in Patrick Mahomes' prime. They got cat problems.

What is the big move expected from the Chiefs this off season? And Dr. Danny back in the house twice today. NFC North and AFC North on the clock, which means I've got the problem and the cure for Greg's Green Bay Packers. You got problems. I thought you were going to talk about my stable. I mean, that's coming up later. That's coming up later. That's the 4 o'clock hour.

You get a whole hour. It's just a portion of the doctor visit. We're going to see specialists for your team. My team's in really good shape. I've got to be honest. But we begin today. After a disappointing season, we all kind of saw this, that the refresh was coming in Baltimore. And coaching staff got introduced.

Jesse Minter had his press conference, new head coach in Baltimore. And he was asked about coming into a team that has massive expectations and the expectation of hit in the ground running. going into the year. Take a listen. We want everybody to have high expectations from the outside. We want to build standards inside that match what we want the results to be. And I think if we do that, we have a hungry group

that is coming off of a year that they're not as proud of as some of the previous seasons. And so there is a hunger amongst the players to get right back to work and hit the ground running. This is a fun one because the Ravens have the third best odds to win the Super Bowl,

tied with Buffalo. They are the co-favorits to win the AFC with Buffalo, yet they just fired their head coach and they have the 14th pick in the draft. Greg, I'll start with you. Do you still consider the Ravens an elite team? Well, of course they are an elite team. Just because you have a down year doesn't mean that you are not capable of being elite team. When you look over the course of the Ravens last year, the year before previous years, this has been a dominant team and this is why they are elite. They have an elite quarterback. Obviously, we know they're running game, who they are offensive. defensively, defensively, they find ways to get better and improve at the right time.

But there are not a lot of teams that just win and win at a high clip. But the Ravens are one of those teams. I have a graphic for you guys. You guys can tell me, would we suggest that these top teams, when you look at the Eagles, lions, bills, all over the last three seasons, 36 wins, pretty elite, correct? We look at those teams and give those teams opportunities to win and a chance to win. The Ravens are right there tied with the defensively. defending the Super Bowl champs, Seahawks.

And then you got more win than Kansas City. And then you have you have the Chiefs right there. So you got three of the, the past three Super Bowl champions with top wins in the National Football League. All three of those teams just because they haven't had success as of recent, they are, they are elite. You have an elite quarterback. You have a roster that you feel really good about going into this offseason.

we were all suggesting, man, the Ravens has the best, they have the best opening. All they need is a head coach that understands what the task is at hand and to see if he can get over the hump. And we expect this team to come out of the north. I know Willie, what you're going to probably say, you're going to have to account for that. But we expect this team to come out of the north, be in the mix because they have Lamar Jackson. Yes, this team is elite. No, they're not. Okay.

Let's keep it a buck. On paper, yes. They look like an elite team, but when you finish eight and nine and missed the playoffs, that doesn't make you elite anymore. What coach, Mentor now head coach of the Ravens just said, the standard. The standard for the Ravens is playing physical football. We haven't seen that. You talk about the interior line, office line of Ravens, depleted.

You're talking about the only weapon on the outside is Zay Flowers. You talk about two titans who were spotted. She'll likely dealt with some injuries. Mark Andrews was in and out of the lineup and wasn't as consistent. Derek Henry had issues. I mean, the bottom line, at one point, they were a lead. I give you that. But you're talking about currently, they are not elite.

And the teams right now who are elite, like the Broncos, the Seahawks, the Rams, the Bills, those teams play a brand of football and are consistent and have their ability to make deep runs in the playoffs. I don't see that happening with the Ravens. Obviously, with them not being in the playoffs last year, what I struggled with is, defensively, they have lost their identity. When they lost them at Bikway, that was a huge blow to their deal. It was. Because he was their number one run stopper.

And you talk about in the back, and Marlon Humphreys, we couldn't find him on tape. So you have all these deficiencies on these teams and all these guys you depend on, they haven't showed up. And outside Lamar Jackson coming off this injury-played year, I'm not confident they're going to go back to elite form next year. So I don't believe there. So I got to push back really quick because this is why I put that graphic up there, because the Kansas City Chiefs had a down year.

Would you say that the Kansas City Chiefs are an elite team? Not right now, no. Not right now. No. Would you give them a chance to compete for a championship? Would you say that they're one that can compete for a championship next year? Not right now. No, I'll move on.

You can't ask me a question if you don't get my response. You're like, well, look at the chiefs. You've got a quarterback coming off of ACL. You have Travis Kelsey's future fleeting at this point. He may be retired. He'll be going to come back. You have a defense that may be losing Trent McDuffie. Huge.

Sam Chanel may be leaving. Huge. They don't have another edge rusher. So there's issues that would say, hey, man, this team may be regressing. And that's my point. Well, I guess what I would say is, is that the Raven, like, your graphic did not move me as much as I think you wanted it to because they, they have been an elite regular season team. Of course. And they have underachieved relative to their seed time and time again in the postseason.

So the question is, are they going to do that again? They have to, they have an interesting needle that they need to thread. Like, they, Lamar Jackson's do a $75 million cap hit. So they have to sign him to an extension. Yes. because then they had to open up some cap space to do some things, to help their interior of their offensive line, maybe to keep Linderbaum.

Like they've got pending free agents, guys that they would want to bring back. They've got the 14th pick in the draft. So they've got to nail a lot of things. But I will say this, what I like is, I love that Jesse Minter higher. Because people sometimes because I'm a Herbert guy,

they're a, oh, you're a Chargers guy. I'm like, I'm not really. I was a Herbert guy. But when I paid as close attention to Herbert as I did, you have to pay attention to the Chargers. Jesse Minter did an incredible. job. He got their defense to overachieve. And the story

of the Ravens has been underachieving. And so I if we can show what the Chargers did defensively against what the Ravens have done defensively the last two years when Minter was the defensive coordinator in L.A. I think we would all agree that there is more

talent in Baltimore than there is in L.A. I agree with that. On the defensive side of the ball. They put more people in the Pro Bowl. They put more people in all pros. But look at the ranks. The Chargers defense actually overachieves. So if Jesse Minter can come in and get the talent on Baltimore to actually play up to their level and overachieve relative to their talent, that's their path to still be in an elite team. Well, this is the issue.

You brought in Declan Doyle, ex-bear head coach, right? And now you got to. Ex-Berry assistant coach. Of course, my apologies. Yeah. You got to see how he gels with Lamar. That's one. Two, the Ravens historically don't attack free agency aggressive.

They kind of let the fire go by and they say, all right, let's figure out who we really want. They don't go into the off season, this off season, and this free agency say, hey, man, we got this big name. We got this big name. Let's throw money at it. Let's get them. That's not what they do. So you're talking about a roster you already have. You're not aggressive in free agency.

You got a new officer coordinator who you don't know is going to jail with Lamar Jackson. There's some serious concerns. And we don't know what the interior of the officer line going to load back. Because Linda Marble to say, hey, I want the bag. Do you have the money to give them back? I don't know because this is going to possibly get another one number one receiving. So are you saying they are not an elite team? I think that they are an elite roster.

I think they are an elite roster. They have elite paper. So how do you, okay, the regular season does matter, correct? No doubt. And in order? Eight and nine last year. And in order to, so your Pittsburgh Steelers, they're an elite team? They went to the playoffs.

I'm asking, are they in the league team? They went to the playoffs. I'm going to ask, are they an elite team? Of course, they're not an elite team. Okay, I'm just making sure we're being really. They are better than the Ravens. No, they are not. Why are you?

I understand that they went to the postseason. So the playoffs don't matter? The playoffs do matter. It feels good. You want to get to the post season. But if we're just saying, okay, how you perform in the postseason is the standard of if you're elite, then we can't do that. That's a completely different question.

I'm with you. on that. And I think Lamar should be excellent this year because Lamar is generally speaking excellent in the regular season. Brew always talks about them being S-Bob. What am I supposed to get out of a Ravens team that wins 11 or 12 games in the regular season

and then underachieves in the postseason? You know, I just, I struggle with that. Which is why I'm interested in seeing if Jesse Minter can actually get them to play up to their talent level, play up to their seed level. And one of the reasons why

we were talking about Harbaugh not being the guy moving forward is because we felt like, man, he can't get them over the hump. Well, if there is this idea that we believe that they are close and they just need somebody to see if they can get them over the hump, well, that to me says we believe that this team has an opportunity to contend for a championship, which then tells me they're an elite team because we don't say that across the board with every team. Buffalo, do they have a chance to, are they an elite team? Yes.

What makes them an elite team? 12 wins, an MVP quarterback. 12 wins, MVP quarterback. And a defense, in a run game with James Cook. I mean, I really want a playoff game. They want a playoff. Okay, I was going to say, you got to talk about the playoffs because they got won. It's none of your basis.

Doesn't matter or does not matter. I mean, it does. Oh, here we go again. So it does matter. So a down year eliminates you from being an elite team. If you don't make the playoffs, yes, Greg, the Baltimore reason they make the playoffs. They win eight and nine and missed the playoffs. What am I saying?

Am I speaking Chinese? You kind of are. I feel like you are right now. I feel like you're not listening to you. No, because 8 and 9 and you missed the playoffs, you are not elite team. I think that's a fair statement. I don't think they had an elite year. If you have an elite roster, an elite roster survives this season.

It didn't. You had poor offensive line play. You couldn't stop the run. Your secondary was a no-show. You had an injury-play quarterback. Derek Henry had turnover issues. That doesn't make you an elite team. this past season.

Now we're, we're moving. I can only go off this season. No, we're, we're talking about the Ravens. Why are we thinking into the crates? We're talking about the Ravens as we're talking about the 2026 upcoming season. Am I the only one thinking about it? Okay, so stay there. If we're talking about next season, we can only go about what happened this season to see if they're going to be good or relevant for next season.

No, no. It might, does that not? No, listen, I think it's a reasonable. I honestly think it's a totally reasonable disagreement you guys are having. Like, I just, like, I, like, you can't evaluate next to me. season without this season. I'm sitting back and enjoying it and eating my popcorn because, like, they had a lot of holes this year and a lot of problems that we did not expect them to have based on preseason

expectations coming into this year. But it also felt like they really underachieved their talent level. Thank you. And so if they get, if they play to their talent level, which they didn't, which they didn't this year. They didn't. But if they played to their talent level, they should get back to being what they've been the last few years, three, four years, which is one of the best.

regular season teams in football. You want to emphasize the regular. I understand all their issues in the postseason. That is true. But great, you can't evaluate next season without looking at this season that past. That's the standard. So Willie asked me, answer me this question. Riddle me this.

Batman. What was one of the best openings in all of football in terms of, there was 10, there was 10 openings. Yeah, yeah. What would you, where did you have them ranked? Steelers won. Do you want me to, what do you want me to say? Yeah.

Why do you laugh? Steelers one, Giants two, right? Bills. Bills. You can't ask me the question to get mad. See, I feel like you're doing any and everything to just continue to lower their. Look, they were one of the better openings. Why?

Because you believe that if you get that job, I have the quarter of, back in place. We know they have a physical brand of football. Regardless of what Derek Henry did early in the season and sometimes late in games, early, fumble, cool. That's not his typical MO. We know what he's going to bring to the table. Do they need to address things? Absolutely. Every team this offseason is looking to improve their roster. The Ravens aren't out of that equation. They are right there in the thick of it, right at the front of the line saying we got to get better, we got to improve. They believe that they did that with their head coaching higher, their defensive head coach, their defensive

coordinator. Obviously, unplugging someone from a great mind next to Ben Johnson all season long. We'll see what that does in far as unlocking and taking Lamar to another level in this offense. We'll see. These are all things that they have to walk out. But if we're saying that this roster, as they are on paper, which is all we can go off right now, looking at their roster? Do we expect for them to have success? Yes. Greg, they finished 11th and scoring, 18th on defense. That's not the Ravensway. I played against the Ravens win at the highest. I know what this team is capable of. They're underachieve. They're not them. And it's okay to say they're not elite. I'm not saying they

didn't underachieve. But my point is, if you're elite, you achieve. That's what makes you elite. The Seahawks, Rams, Broncos, Bills, Eagles at 11 and 6, even as all the madness with them. Those are elite teams. The Ramans aren't. And we could all sleep at night saying that's okay. No. Yeah. I love it.

I completely disagree. It's okay. It is. Everybody falls from grace. We witnessed it this season. I understand and recognize your bias. No, no, no, no. Don't do that.

Don't do that. Don't pull my Steelers card. This is me keeping it in a buck with you. Who was talking about the Steelers? Why else would I be biased? Probably the Steelers. Okay. I was just saying.

I mean. All right. Again, the odds makers agree with you. They say that they are the third best team in football. The two-time MVP and all of a sudden, nope, they can't do it. Right. You know who was in Cancun before anybody else? That two-time MVP.

Same time as everybody. All right, well, let's get back. Well, it seems that they don't make the playoff. They all work. I see what you say. Right. I think it's how it works. Let's talk a little bit more Caleb Williams.

He had that conversation with Max Crosby. We got into it yesterday. But he talked about Ben Johnson in a way that, you know, frankly, I loved. Take a listen to it. Our relationship has been, it's been fun to build and grow. And it's going to be fun for these next couple years because he's a total maxis. I was like, yeah, he's like, he's like, he's like, he's like us. He wants to whoop everybody's.

Yes, he does. Because he is the right kind of crazy person that you want as your head coach. So, gentlemen, the case for the Bears here, or the question it is, Bears more likely to take a step forward or a step back. And I felt like I had to sit on the sideline a little bit for the Ravens conversation. So allow me. I know the case for regression for the Bears, and even as a Bears fan, I think it is a totally fair question and case to make.

So I will do it. I know the reasons why people are going to think that the bears are going to step back. And part of it is because they like the Lions and they like the Packers. There's more to that. No, no, I know. Here, I think, are the three fairest things for the Bears and their case for regression. It is, turnovers are very tough to duplicate. They led the league in takeaways.

Tough to, maybe even if they're ninth in takeaways, they won't be first, right? It's very tough to do that back-to-back years. I think that is totally fair. They will not lead the league in fourth quarter comebacks. It's tough to have seven fourth quarter comebacks in a season that led the NFL. And this one, I think, is getting maybe overlooked a little bit national. but they were remarkably healthy with Willie's beloved offensive line. Like, left guard to right tackle.

They all played over 90% of the snaps. Yeah, that is. That is damn near impossible. Damn near impossible. And especially from what it was two years ago to this year, it was night and day. So I think all three of those things are likely to backslide. And I will concede all three of those points. The case for them stepping forward, though, I also took a lot of time and care.

And I put that together. just throw that up there, please. Yeah, that's right. They have Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. Like, that is the case of the seven. And I know those pictures are a little, you know, extra, and that's fine. But I think that that is the case for it.

Because I could make the case for they're going to, you know, spend money in their front seven or whatever the case. But, like, honestly, if we all sat here yesterday and said that Caleb Williams is an MVP best player in the league type talent, And we all agree that Ben Johnson is a Sean McVeigh, Kyle Shanahan-level offensive mind and play caller. And then you look at those two dudes and you get Caleb year two with that guy plus all of the other under 23 talent. Loveland, Burden, Adunze, Managai. Like, they can have the best offense in football next year that to me can overtake those obvious cases for regression.

So I will say step forward because I think their offensive ceiling is limitless next year. Yeah, I'm on the regression side of things. I get it. I think any time you have a young team that arrives early, the league tends to have a counterpunch. And you talk about the officers in line who's having some left tackle issues. They're moving Joe Thuny to the left side who's going to be opening at the left guard position. You're talking about right now you're looking at Caleb. And not that he was a secret before, but I think the impact.

he had last year, the league will figure you out. I mean, it's just the nature of the NFL. And I also think right now they're in a division where I think the Detroit Lions will be coming for blood. They're going to be a lot better. I think your Green Bay Packers with Jordan Love, they're going to have them figured out. I think you're going to have a healthy Michael Parsons. That's going to have an impact.

The Vikings, hopefully, if JJ McCarthy can get healthy, they're going to be played at a different level. So right now the Bears valid what they were, 5 and 12, oh, 2004, 24, excuse me, they know I went to, I think, what, 11 and 6 last year, I can see this team being 10 to 7 next year. Like, that's my, that's where I, that's where I haven't placed. So I'm with you there. I don't necessarily evaluate a step back or correlate the two of your record is just going to be worse. But if you don't, if you do perform better in the postseason, which I believe that they will,

then I think that's a step forward. I'm not necessarily. really allowing those two to be married. They lost them the divisional round of the playoffs. If they take a step forward, because the division is good. The division is really good. And I think it's going to be up for grass,

but I think they will have a shot to win the division. Largely because you talk about their offense, we all know about their offense. We know what Caleb can do. We know what Ben Johnson brings to the table. But this defense, even with what they had this year, I looked at that defense and I felt like I was scratching my head trying to figure out why they were so bad because they had talent on that defensive side of the

ball. It just didn't perform to the level of what we saw in the postseason game when they decided when Dennis Allen said, you know what, let's go after them. Let's go after Jordan Love. Let's just make it hard on them and not sit back and let them pick us apart. If this defense and you can look at the defensive numbers improves and the offense takes a slight step back, But this defense improves in all these areas, then yes, they take a step forward. Why? Because when they need that defense to be at its best in the postseason, if they have a chance to make it there, I feel like they can make a deeper run.

One of the questions of why I felt like this team couldn't make a deep run was because of this defense. They were going to give up too many points. They couldn't get the stop when needed. If they find a way to improve that side of the ball, and that side of the ball alone, the obvious is right in front of us. Caleb's going to improve. I think that offense is going to continue to grow. The offensive improvement is going to come from just improving from within.

Of course. Experience. Defensively, once you find some pieces and you get them in-house, which I believe that they're going to put their money and we'll see what they do in the draft, but that's going to be their focus, then yeah, this team is going to improve. Not necessarily that they will win the division, but their record might reflect, you know, 10 or 11 wins again, maybe even 12, but I think where the improvement comes

is in the postseason where they can truly be confident and believe that they can make a deeper run versus this year again out of the division round. What the loss of Declan Doyle means to Caleb Williams? Ben Johnson's gonna be fine. You would think so, right? But you would expect, like people underestimate, and I think this is one of the why Jaylon Hurts has regress.

I've had persistent coaches. I've had coaches where they just see a different of you, right? They see inside you where other coaches can. I think when you lose a coach like that, who you've grown rapport with, who you grew with this season, now a trust issue plays a factor, right? Now a schematic scheme plays the issue. I know for a fact, because I've had position coaches when a new guy got in there, but that

guy really don't know me. He's going to ask me to do things that I'm not comfortable with. I know you've been in that position. Yeah. And it plays a factor, especially when you're Caleb, because Caleb now understands, this is on me. It was my car before, but now I'm really driving this thing. So if you don't have that guy next to you.

guy next to you that you believe in or that believes in you or trusts you, then it can be a cause for concern. So for me, the reason why I don't look at that as a concern, a major concern, is when you're in those meeting rooms, offensive meeting rooms, and you have a play caller that is your head coach, the first year, the loudest voice and the most constant voice is his. And Ben Johnson, when you listen to him, when you listen to Caleb, he doesn't talk about Declan Doyle. I'm not saying they don't have a relationship and they didn't have a rapport. But he was in constant communication with Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson was challenging him.

Ben Johnson was critiquing and correcting all of the things that we, informing him, how we want this to look, how I need you to run this offense, what I expect from you running this offense. Declan, in year one, you can't say here, Declan, Declan, you take this on and I'll just oversee. No, no, no, no, no. You're going to be completely hands-on because this is my baby.

This is my first head coaching gig. This is my offense. The expectation is for me to level up this offense, and he did that. So the loudest voice was always going to be Ben Johnson's, and I think that they will continue to grow, and whoever comes in will really do the same thing that Declan Doyle did this year. Yeah, I mean, I can just tell you, Ben Johnson and Caleb worked so closely together,

and Ben Johnson basically lived at the facility. He was doing everything. I'm not saying that Declan Doyle is not a great coach. I will be surprised if the Bears lose and they'll be like that was the reason for it. How much improvement can they make? How good can they be? I was talking about this with a friend the other day.

So the Bears can be the best offense in football. A lot of teams believe that. But how many people like Dallas believes it, the Rams believe it, or the Jaguars believe it? There's probably Buffalo believes it. There's probably half a dozen teams that really think that they can be the best offense in football. If you can do that, you can cover for a lot of us.

other issues and they are going to spend money on the defensive side of the ball this year. So I think that's the case for them to step forward. Can they be a complete team? And if Caleb Williams is an MVP candidate, you're going to be good. Well, I think they kind of proved that this year because even go back to the Saints game when Caleb wasn't out as best, they had a run game that showed up, right? The defense had a good day. So there's aspects and levels to this team that can respond.

So I'm fine with the Bears right now. We'll see what happens next year. Well, all the NFC North teams have at least something that I got to die. diagnose Dr. Danny back in the building for the NFC North. Well, the doctors in the house. Call myself Dr. Danny. It makes me more, you know, approach. More polished.

To the kids. Yeah, exactly. So all these teams have an issue. We'll do the NFC North here. Committed. Look at me. Look at me. Go. Went to the finest medical school in all the land.

I got my NFC North patients here that have walked in to the office. And we begin with the Minnesota Vikings. Vikings. For a last year, The best place team, I have to say, Yeah. Got a lot going for you. Nine wins last season.

Some really impressive things on defense. You just have this one glaring issue that's jumping off the chart, but it's an important one. It's the quarterback. J.J. McCarthy's been a main story. You got to figure out a way to make him a side story this upcoming year because I think that they are going to commit to J.J. McCarthy for this year. They'll bring in some level of competition, but I don't think it's going to be as big of swing as some Vikings fans would want.

JJ finished the last four games pretty solid, so I think they traded up for him. I think they're going to ride with JJ. If you look at the Minnesota defense from last year, last two weeks of the season, they held Detroit to 10 points, they held Green Bay to three points, Brian Flores, they were able to retain him. It's the highest

paid defensive coordinator in football. They won nine games. If they can just figure out a way to make J.J. McCarthy not the only thing we talk about with this franchise, Greg, you live in Minnesota. They're not that far away from being a very dangerous football team. Yeah, you're spot on.

I mean, there's no surprise that you have to fix this situation at the quarterback position, whether that's continuing to develop who he is, building his confidence, encouraging him to just be more and not necessarily force the ball down the field, but what being more looks like is what we saw with Caleb in running the offense and making it look smooth, being on time, being on schedule. A large part of his success is going to weigh on whether or not they can have an established running game. Because when you have a young quarterback that's not a season that has inaccurate sees about his throwing at times, not on the same page with his receivers, you have to be able to turn around and hand the ball off.

If they can do that, they might get a little bit more production out of J.J. McCarthy, but he has a lot of work to do. I like that you threw up their defense stats because they do have a damn good defense. but the interior of their defense line was horrible. All right, they struggle mightily to stop the run. And if you're the Vikings in this division, when you know you got the lions and you know where the bears look like running the ball, you have to find some big uglies in the middle to plug those A-gaps, and they simply didn't have it this year.

They're going to have to go on the draft and get some big uglies that really can help them out in their run defense. All right, let's see the next patient in the NFC North, and it is the Detroit Lions, my NFC Super Bowl pick from the last two. Three years? So I believe in this team. Clearly. Got it. Got it. Got a lot of it. If at first you do not succeed, try, try again. Those spoiler alert, I might be picking a different NFC North team next year.

Don't do it. For the Super Bowl. But here's what I would say, you need to get Aidan Hutchinson some help. Yeah. Like, I know there's a lot of talk on rebuilding the interior of that offensive line. We'll see what happens with Frank Ragnow. You got that going for you there. But I would trade for Max Crosby. Now, I know there's 15 teams, and we'll maybe get to another one here in a minute. that you should trade for Max Crosby. But Aiden Hutchison is one of the best defensive players in football, period.

And he doesn't have any help. If we look at the gap between what Hutchison does in terms of pressuring and bringing down the other team's quarterback over a three-season sample size and who the next highest total is in pressures and sacks, it's an Atlantic Ocean size. He was right there for me. Michigan size. I blew it. Between Hutchison and the next guy.

So while a lot of teams should be looking to trade for Max Crosby, I'd put the lines pretty high up on that list. Yeah, I don't disagree with you in that aspect. But I also think they've got to find somebody to be offensively. I thought the carousel between, you know, Dan Campbell taking over the offensive rings. I forgot who's the new OCD got right now? I apologize. It was Morton. Yeah, escaping.

But nevertheless. Well, that was who it was last year. It was. It was now, Drew. Yeah, Drew. His name is, I apologize. But my point is they got to find some continuity in that regard. I thought they were too up and down from an identity standpoint.

If they could figure that out, I expect the reliance to have a big year next year. I think the way they built from a culture standpoint, the weapons they already have in place, I see a big bounce back year for me. So I know we want Aiden Hutchinson to have help. This was one of the things that I said that either a day or two ago about Max Crosby being on the long side of him. alongside them, but if they can just stay healthy. That would help. Yeah.

Like they're in the doctor's office a little too much. All I'm in the doctor's side of the ball, too. I've been seeing a lot of lions in my office. And it's like, look, if this team can just stay healthy towards the latter end of the season and find a way to be healthy at the most important times of the season, then this team can do some damage in the postseason. They just haven't been the last couple of years. Yeah, that was certainly the case two years ago where they had that record setting

number of guys on IR on the defensive side of the ball. And then it really did repeat very late in the season last year. So it's not just that they have defensive injuries. Last year was they had defensive injuries at the worst time. Yeah. They were out on the year before. September, October, November. Right. Yeah. To Greg's point, it's two years in a row. All right. We got the next team, Greg's Green Bay Packers coming into Dr. Danny's office. And I got to be honest, this is a patient that's giving me a lot of problems over the years. A lot of problems. Yeah, it's always, you know, blowing up my in-bubhouse. They're questioning. They're getting second opinions.

Oh, what happens we're going to get some second opinions? They're just kind of a problematic patient for me. Based on where your practice is located, we're definitely going to be a problem. Go across state lines, you know? But I got to say, there's a glaring issue on this team. If you look at their depth chart, we're like, they just don't have enough talent in the defensive backfield. And I would think that they should go out and get a cornerback. Because their offense, even if they lose a receiver or two, their offense is humming.

Jordan Love is really good. The receivers are really good. LaFleur is really good. You have to sign an impact cornerback. Whether that is Jalen Watson, if they take him from Kansas City, if it's Rieke Wullen, I'm not sure if he fits in the scheme as well, but leaving from Seattle, there will be cornerbacks that get money and change teams.

And I know Green Bay doesn't love spending in free agency traditionally. But if we look at the five-game losing streak for Green Bay to end the year, and I know this is correlated with Micah Parsons' injury, and I know he solves a lot of it. So I'm not saying you have to spend at a Micah Parsons level, but if you can get him some help behind him, the Packers are one of the teams that are actually built to be a top five offense and a top five defense.

And if you do that, you can win a Super Bowl. So I would be looking for the secondary for Green Bay. Well, it's one of the reasons why they brought in Trayvon Diggs last season to see what he turns into with a full season and the full off season. But one of the names that's looming around Green Bay. and free agency is Greg Newsom, like a corner out of Jacksonville

that had a very good season. So I'm with you there. They have to improve this area, especially when you look at the fashion of which they lost some of those games, specifically to the Chicago Bears. Caleb beat them with their perimeter guys, getting behind them and burning them in late game fashion.

Yeah, they just have to win for agency. They have to keep the court together. You're talking about Quay Walker, she did a big right tackle that the Packers had, that got hurt. If they can keep those guys in house, they can make a run. I think for them right now is they got to get back to running the ball from a volume standpoint. They have a running back. They have an office line, but they need to stabilize. I think so many times late in games, it was so much pressure to put on Jordan Love to be the answer. Valic, he's more than capable.

But I look at Caleb, I look at some of these other quarterbacks. When things get hostile out there, they can lean on the run game. I don't think they did that enough this season. I think it cost them. It did go away for them for a decent portion of the season. Now, see, this is the exact opposite. This is an exemplary patient. They're just doing what I tell them. Diet, eating right, exercise. I mean, honestly, I can just probably throw it out.

No, don't throw it. Don't throw it. Okay, well, listen, yeah, no, there were some serious issues also on the defensive side of the ball. And so, you know, call me a broken record or maybe, you know, I'm, you know, in the pockets of the drug industry and I always prescribe the same thing. Trade for Max Crosby. It's the same exact thing. Honestly, he solves so many problems. The Bears' defense.

We got him up there twice. That's what I'm saying. Listen, again, there's probably 20 teams that if Max Crosby's available are going to at least make the call. But he can be the piece to put, because then Montez Sweat becomes your second pass rusher instead of your first. And then the investment you made in Dio, Dengbo, the kid from Indianapolis last year, doesn't matter as much. Then you have a Caleb Williams crazy competitor-like motor on the other side. of the ball. You just go ahead.

And I apologize for cutting. Go back to what Greg said earlier. Now you don't have to blitz as much, right? Like, think about what the Seahawks, the Texans, and what that front for does for your defense, right? It takes the pressure off their secondary when you got to edge rushes or guys at front that can get home and really suppress an offense. So yeah, I'm with you.

Go get mask. Whatever you got to do, go get. Well, the numbers for the Bears past defense last year, or really their pressure defense, 22nd in sacks, 24th and hits, 25th in pressure, in terms of some of the rates. They were actually even worse than that because they ran the ball so well. There were fewer possessions for the Bears. So, like, their front seven was a massive disappointment led by their pass rush. He solves a ton of problems.

Yeah, look, it could be Max Crosby. It could be Trey Hendrickson. Like, they just need some help. And I would, obviously, if they get help, it helps out the back end. Clearly, they need linebacker help. They need to focus your attention on defense. You're right, Greg. They also need to save you.

healthy help, right? Yeah, they may lose. Brisker may be gone. Yeah, they've got, Jaquan Brisker and Kevin Byard both could be gone. My guess is they keep Bired and lose Brisker. Brisker's had concussion issues. They had a lot of injuries in their secondary last year. They did.

They were hurt. Jalen Johnson was hurt. When those guys were back, they looked better at the end of the season. So I don't think they're back for is as bad as it looked like over last year. They need Front 7 help, though, for sure. Max Crosby, solves a lot of problems. Well, also, you mentioned a name earlier this week that I thought, I didn't even think about it on the Giants, Cabo on Tibado.

Yeah, he might be a surplus in New York. He could probably be a half. But he's a guy who I feel like hasn't been unlocked yet, right? Like, if you give him legit responsibilities like, hey, kid, we watch you in Oregon, all we want you to do is go get it. That can be an upside for this defense, especially because he's young, and he can be mentored by his sweat. So I think that would be a great addition as well.

Yeah, I don't think he's coming back to the Giants. My guess is they try to move him, shed some salary, move that to the offensive side of the ball. NFC North, pretty strong division, not the biggest. of issues. All right, now, this one is just straight up weird. Last night, Kansas freshman Darren Peterson's having himself a half. He's probably going to be the number one pick in the draft based on talent. But then he takes himself out of the game, apparently due to cramping, though he doesn't

really speak on it after the game. He's missed games already this year with hamstring and ankle injuries. And the thing that made this game unique, you see him kind of signal to Bill Self after he hits the three there just a couple minutes into the second half that he needs to come out and Bill Self's all angry. That's not just us doing body language. Bill Self wasn't exactly hiding his emotions after the game. Take a listen.

We've had it more than a couple of times. And I didn't anticipate that tonight at all. I thought he was good to go. But obviously, we only got 18 minutes out of him. Yeah, he was going to come out, I think, before he made a three. And then he makes the three. And then he said, give me. So, you know, I didn't know.

know that he'd be done, but obviously he was cramping. All right. So we have officially, you know, reached on this show, sometimes Wilde likes to ask the, is this something or nothing question? We are clearly into something. Absolutely. Territory with Darren Peterson because let's just put up the timeline of events here. So for people that are not locked in on college hoops.

And people, again, they think this could be an all-time draft and they think he's the favorite to go number one. So he misses seven games early with no doubt about it hamstring injury, but some big games. Misses the game against Duke at Madison Square Garden, misses their tournament in Vegas. Then he misses a couple of nondescript games with cramps. Then comes out of the last, the end of the UCF game, then their rivalry game against K-State, then leaves early, doesn't play the second half against BYU. That's meaningful because DeBansta is probably his number one.

one competitor for the number one pick, then straight up doesn't play against Arizona, number one team in the country, and then what happened last night. And so obviously you guys as athletes, I want your perspective on it, but I sometimes like to think of myself as a bit of a crisis PR rep when these types of things happen. He's getting terrible advice. Like, he's getting terrible guidance here. You think somebody's telling him to do this? Well, so he is He's repped by, I looked it up, he's repped by a big time agent. These are college basketball. He's making millions of dollars to play basketball.

He has an agent who reps NBA people at a big agency, right? The only reason that I think he's getting bad counseling here is he is not explaining what is going on. And if there is a reasonable medical explanation. So where did the cramps come from? That's what I'm saying. Why do you keep getting cramps? Is there a medical?

condition. Is there a reason? Because what is happening now is, are you load managing? Yeah. Like, are you load managing your college career? And are you, and again, I am not, I don't know. But when you keep doing this without any real explanation and your coach says, Hall of Fame coach, Bill Self, he has a ton of credibility in that program, in that state,

in that sport. He's like, he's in a Hall of Famer. Correct. Oh, I thought he was going back in and he wasn't. he needs to, because at some point he's going to need to explain this to the NBA. So you may as well explain it now because based on your talent, you're going to be the number one pick in the draft. And I think I would still pick him because he looks like Kobe. He looks like Dwayne Wade.

But if he doesn't love basketball, I need to know. And I don't know if that's what's going on, but all of those questions come into play when you don't explain what's going on. I hear all that. I think if I was one of his teammates, like you understand from a ball player when you're in the locker on what he's, your dependability is your currency, right? Like, I got to trust when he comes down to winning that you're going to show up and you're not choosing your health over winning.

Like sometimes you've got to play through things. I've never tapped because of a cramp. I've walked out there on the field on one leg because I was playing with my team and we was all searching for that one thing, which is a Super Bowl, I was going to put my life and my body on the line. If that's not the goal,

if that's not what we're all doing here, that's a problem. The fact that he's choosing his NBA future for whatever he's being told. But that's what I don't know what it is. But that's a character. My thing is, when you're a GM, we talk about all the time. GMs can look at how fast you run, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever.

But there's no matrix on your heart, right? There's no matrix on your Y. When your Y is, if they can't see that in your play, I'm not drafting you because you're choosing you before the team. So, and this is where, and I hate to take it down this road, but this is where NIL just creeps into your mind. Because if players, and I'm all for college athletes being. I'm all for them getting their due.

But when you're making the amount of money that some of these college athletes... They're pros. Let's keep it a buck. Yes. They're pros. And it changes how you approach. Like, you're no longer just simply playing for the love of the game, the chase, the desire, the hunger, to accomplish the goal that you've always set out to accomplish as a little

jet, as a little kid. Like getting to the NBA, that's like, I'm going to get it when I get there. but when you get it prematurely, you start doing, and I'm not saying this is what he's, but it gives this feel. And Bill Self says something after the game. He's like, you know what? Unfortunately, but fortunately,

the guys on the team, we've been here before. We've had to play without them. So we know what to do. We know how to still continue to play and have success without our best player, without the best player pretty much in the country. And it's disappointing because, with the rate he was going last night.

He was cooking. He could have had a Burry burger. I'm not kidding, man. You watch him and you're like, oh, okay. Anthony Edwards, Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant, like elite,

souring guard. I like where you went, Greg. You talk about NIL. We don't see this out of boozer from Duke. Right? We're not seeing this out of the kid from BYU. DeBANsta. There are guys that are up there with him,

and this isn't an issue. Right. He's not the only one and done making millions of dollars to play college basketball. That's the problem. Like, what's really going on with you kids? Which is why, again, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that there is some sort of actual medical condition that they cannot get a handle on that is causing him to have, like, chronic recurring cramping.

I hope so. I want to give him. But my point is that he is going to have to explain that to the NBA teams that are trying to draft him eventually. So you may as well do it. Now, Kansas can win the national championship. You're being paid millions of dollars. You are a professional now.

You're not just a pro in the NBA. But you're saying it, D.P., he doesn't get that out because of the bad. Right? I don't know. This is life of a professional. He's got to do it. He's handling this very poorly. Live from New York Hour 2 of First Things First.

Show that never takes an hour off. We're here for the love of the game. Yeah. For the love of the game. Come on, man. Every day. Let's do it. Tomorrow's the day that I mail it in before vacation.

Today, I'm Max Ever. Not even. I forgot my bosses were listening. No, maximum effort. Maximum effort all day, every day. We got a big hour for you, though. What are we doing? Well, speaking of basketball,

Batman, Ant Edwards, is a bad man. But is there a case for him to be the best player in the NBA? A shocking name was thrown into the conversation by a pretty reputable source we will discuss. And back by popular demand, Dr. Danny in the house for Willie's beloved AFC North. We got it. decided to dedicate an entire 30 minutes for fixing the Pittsburgh Steppness. Because we got to send him to a lot of special.

I just tried to get me in line, man. But they made the playoffs. Y'all got to hurt my steel of heart. Well, there's more to just make the playoffs. Dr. Danny will discuss. But we begin. Former Chief Safety, the Honey Badger, Taran Matthew. He's just an opinionated guy.

And he waited on the future Tyreek Hill, his former teammate on the Bayou podcast. And Honey Badger said, a return to Kansas City might be best for both sides, but that's not all he said. Take a listen. I'm not counting him out. I'm not counting him out coming back being, you know, just as dominant, you know, as he was before. When we left the Chiefs, people didn't really, they didn't feel the loss of Tyrone Matthew and Tyreek Hill because they went to Super Bowl, right? The same year. Right, right.

I remember looking at them, I woke up on mom, like, you know, I was in a chamber. Even all that success they had, you could still sort of feel that, man, if he said, you could still sort of feel that, man, They had Tyron and Tyreek, right? They'd be just a little bit better. Given with the Chiefs of Sort of experience the last three years at the WI received position, he may be the next best teacher for them. I love that clip so much. It's like, listen, I mean, when we left, they weren't the same.

But no one said that because they kept winning Super Bowls. And his co-host is just not. He's like, that's true. That's exactly true. That's exactly right. Dropping dimes today. It's so funny. Despite the fact that they were not the same,

they just kept winning. Greg, would a Tyreek reunion immediately make the Chiefs better? Well, it definitely won't make them worse. So if it won't make you worse, I guess you get a little bit better. Now, here's the question. Is Tyree going to be available? Is he going to come back the same caliber player?

Is he going to come back at all? These are the realistic questions that I think if you are in the running for landing a guy like Tyreek Hill coming off that type of injury, you're going to ask these questions outright. You're going to want to see he's going to have to pass a lot of physicals to just even get on the field. But saying that if he comes back and he is healthy and he is available, absolutely. He improves them. He makes them better. He's an automatic connection. The one thing that Patrick Mahomes loves to do, and he will continue.

to do this as long as he plays the game. He plays off script. He gets outside the pocket. And when he was outside the pocket with Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelsey, it was like backyard football at his finest, the most structured, unstructured, guaranteed backyard football success that you would ever see in the National Football League against elite defenders. And no one did it better. if he's able to come back and give them three quarters of that.

Yes, he makes them better. Yeah, he definitely makes them better. I mean, he's the type of player. You know, he could take a good play and then all of a sudden is like, uh-oh, he's gone, right? But that comes back to what you were saying. Are we getting a healthy Tyreek back? But I also think if you're the Chiefs right now, you have to find, yes, you need a run game. Huge.

I'm going to continue to stand on that. But you have to get to the point where Patrick Mahomes is playing free, right? we haven't seen that side of to the point when he was in the lineup, when Patrick was making these off platform throws, when things were unscripted and he was just, he's like, hey, he's down there somewhere, right? Like throw it to Tyreek. They got to get back to that. And I think a large part of that is because Patrick didn't trust his receiving court.

He didn't trust those guys. And those guys up front started playing shaky for him. So I think if he gets possibly Kelsey back, who knows. But if he gets him back, a guy he can trust, a guy he can know, hey, man, I'm going now, I'm throwing this thing down here. he's going to get it, he can go yard, it only makes the cheese better. So I know Colin is the king of the analogies, but like, to me, Tyree Kill cannot be the engine. It's not the main thing anymore.

No. So would he make them better? Sure, but I do not think that you can bring in Tyree Kill and be counting on him to be the reason that you are better. It's a luxury item. It's the TVs in the back of the seat in the car. It's nice to have, but you can just use an iPad. It's just not, he's 32. He has off the field questions.

He has on the field questions. And he is a guy predicated on speed and agility and change of direction coming off of a massive multi-ligament plus dislocation knee injury. So it's getting the band back together. It's the light show. It's one of the most exciting offenses we've ever seen. But it was also, I mean, 2019 is seven years ago at this point. And now, he's been great since then, so I'm not saying he is. But, like, he is not, there is no way that Tyree Kill goes back to Kansas City.

And all of a sudden is like, it's 5,000 yards, 50 touchdowns. He's going for 1,500 yards and 10 scores. Like that is, I feel like that is impossible just based on his age and the injury. But a piece, a gadget? Like, I don't even know if he's going to be available week one. So, like, does he make them better? Yeah, because I feel like it is all upside. Like, we are going to talk about Tyree Kill in Kansas City until he signs with the team,

and then we are going to show highlights from when he was on Kansas City. But that guy that you see in those clips, in name and body, it's the same person. But I think in production and, like, actuality, there's almost no chance that he recreates that magic in the future. Do you disagree as a receiver? I don't disagree. But his mentality has to be, I'm going to be that guy. But that's a different thing, though, man. Of course, athletes will believe that they can do it.

So when you are, when you have the type of speed, look, I was a fast guy, I was not that. Basically nobody in the history of the league was that. Exactly. When you have that type of speed, the threat of just going deep. Sure, 80% of Tyree kill is still faster than 90% of the guys. on the field open so much stuff up. Like, I'm not going to discredit Travis Kelsey in his career because he is phenomenal.

I think he would have been phenomenal if Kyrie Kiel was never a receiver in this league on his team. Travis Kelsey, a lot of what he got was exposed to him and available because of how good he is, but also because you could not focus on the middle of the field when you have that guy outside the numbers making you backpedal the number. way that Tyreek makes you back pedal. And knowing that you have a guy in Patrick Mahomes that has that trust that can, he can just put the ball up and he'll just go get it.

The one thing I will say and reason why I feel like this works if he comes back healthy, not that he's going to be the same type of impact player, but because when you, when you've seen the way a guy cuts at the top of routes, gets in and out of his breaks, you don't have to relearn that. It's more, it becomes more of a timing thing. Like I see that. If you're Patrick Mahomes, it's like I see, oh, I remember that. And now it becomes like muscle memory.

Now you're doing it in practice and it's like, man, it's almost like you never lost it. Every single year, he's had to come into a season trying to learn what I have. Am I going to have these guys in the time that he thought he was going to have all the guys together, injury starts to mount up. And so he constantly had to do that all over again with another group of guys with Tyree Kiel. If he's available, if he comes back healthy, that wouldn't be the case. And you wouldn't have to pay him a whole lot of money. Yeah, I think he just gives you an answer, especially in this division when you talk about the Broncos and the charges and everybody else.

Like, Tyreek is the guy that can help you in the red zone. The chief struggled in the red zone this year. He's also that guy who can be dominant on third down like a Puka Nukua. Like he has those abilities, what you need from Patrick Mahomes and him. Hopefully they can get that old thing back. But it has to start with Patrick. has to throw Patrick letting Patrick be Patrick. I felt like too many times this year he was confined

because of the lack of weapons on the outside. And right now, our office line that's still trying to figure themselves out. If Patrick can get that one two thing back with Tyreek, I can see him being a legit threat and January proof when things get high in the playoffs. So, all right, you, Luce. I would just add this really quick.

The reason why I talk about his mentality, his mindset, is because if he comes back and you get depth, automatically he's depth on your roster at the perimeter position, at the receiver position. But he also has the mentality that he's a number one. And you are on the defensive side. You're a defensive coordinator and you see Tyreek Hill checking to the game as the number, as the, as the third option. You are not thinking like, okay, that's their number three option. Let's just let him go one-on-one with this guy.

That's not your mindset. But based on reputation, like, based on reputation. Okay, well, so maybe like at the beginning that happens, but then after a couple of weeks, if you're like, oh, that's not the same Tyree Kill because Father Time is undefeated. That's what we're going to find out. That's what we will have to find out. I'll just say this.

If they, and this is a couple of ifs, but it's just how my brain works. So go with me here. If they use the ninth pick on a defensive player. I pray they don't. Okay, but let's just say they do. Pass Russia, right? Big need for them. If they use that.

And then Tyree Kill is the biggest addition they make. So I don't like that. I don't like that. I just don't think that's enough. I don't like that. I don't like that. Okay, right. So that's kind of my point is that like he, it's the cherry on top of the Sunday. It's still an ice cream Sunday that's delicious, whether it has a cherry or not. Cherry's nice to have. But, you know, like, I just don't, I don't think you can rely on we're getting number one receiver, instill fear into the defense, athlete, first ballot Hall of Famer. I don't, all that. You hope it. But I don't think you can count on it. So if they are to sign Tyreek Hill, they will have already done their due diligence.

We've seen him run. We've seen it. We've had him out there on the field. We know what we're signing up for. We feel like what we see is going to add value to what we have currently. And so I don't think they would even sign him. If they watch him train, they put him through a workout, they assess him, and he's a shell of himself. I don't even think that's an option.

I also recognize if they don't get a run game, a true run game, they're going to be in trouble with him because how he was able to have those explosive plays is off of play action. So if they can't be dominant in that fashion and then say, hey, when they load those box, you can let the cheetah go, that's the light show, right? If they don't get that back, that aspect,

it doesn't matter if he's back in true form or not. I think I did better with the ice cream analogy than the car. More of an ice cream guy than a car guy. I know that shocks you. Time now. Good afternoon headlines sponsored by Kraft Mac and Cheese. Best thing ever.

So during the recent episode of the Game Over podcast, Rich Paul, you know, he's a, you might know he knows LeBron James pretty well. Pretty close. Power, power agent. Well, he made a bold claim about who he believes at this moment is the best player in the league. Take a listen to Rich. I still think it's a community, but I think that community is led by Anthony Edwards. I think Anthony Edwards is the best player in our league today.

Did you just say Anthony Edwards is the best player in the NBA? He's the best player in the NBA. Yes, he is. You can't watch a game on any given night against anybody and look at that game and say, oh, that person is better than Anthony Edwards. I can, though. That's the thing. And I want to disagree with Rich, who doesn't rep him anymore, did in the past,

but I didn't wrap him anymore. But I checked that just to see if that was what was going on, which would be fair. I suppose everyone's got their biases. I just always say, trust the people who admit him. Like, Joker's better, right? Like, he's better. SGA is better. But what Anthony Edwards has done

is really a remarkable thing for a 24-year-old bat. I think people kind of afraid. He's still only 24 years old. And so, while I do not think that you can really make the case that he's the best player in the world, because when you say something like that,

it causes people like me to actually take you literally and parse greatness and be like, well, no, no, no, Joker's better. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And SGA is better because he scores more points, but also does it on the defensive end. There's a little bit better rebounder. And then, you know, I would throw Janice in there still and, you know, Wembe's coming. But, like, fourth to seventh is where Ant comes. And he's probably closer to fourth than seventh.

But then I did a little digging on it today. This is what Anthony Edwards is doing this season. Okay. He's got to, he's averaging over 29 a game on over 40 percent from three. Mm-hmm. If he does that for the full year, That is the entire list of NBA history guys who have done it in the season. Larry Byrd, Michael Jordan, Damian Lillard, Steph twice, and Joker.

So it is a very exclusive club of guys that have done it. Plus, when you add in that he shows up in the playoffs and has been to the Western Conference finals in back-to-back years, like there is a case, I think it's a losing case, but there is at least a case that he deserves to be in the conversation. Yeah, look, I think when you listen to Rich Paul and you understand, like, the landscape of the NBA right now, there's a lot of international players that are like, man, he's the guy.

He's the, whether you believe as SGA, whether you believe as Joker, whether you believe as Janus, whether you believe it's Luca. Yeah, Wembe. You go Wimby, you go down the list, and before you get to an American player, and I think in terms of excitement, absolutely. I put Anthony Edwards. That's a different question.

I mean, he's, he's, he's a phenomenal player. I've seen them in person. I've seen them several times. I understand. He's a phenomenal player. Impact, that, that falls into the equation of what makes you the best player. Your impact. And he has a great impact on his team.

Obviously, they've been in the final four, if you will, the last couple seasons. And he's been the driving force behind that. But when you look at impact, the, the impact that the Joker has, The impact that Wimby has, even when you look at usage rate, they go through, not saying that the Timberwolves don't go through Ann Edwards. Yeah. But Luca, the Joker, their usage rate, it's like when you think of their offense, it has to go through them. It has to be whether they're assisting, whether they're rebounding, whether they're scoring. It's all about them.

Now, if he decides, if he makes up in his mind, I can be a shutdown player. I do think he can be a better defender than SGA, a better two-way player. I absolutely do believe that. As far as efficiently scoring, though, SGA has them in that category. Yeah, I think the bottom line, listen, he's top three in the NBA in scoring. The problem with Ann Edwards at his young age, she just doesn't have the rings, right? Like, that's the issue. Like, as great as he is, and I think he's a phenomenal score, I think he's ironsley of total package.

I do consider him, I know we've argued this before. I think he is the face of the league. And for me, when you're in the face of the league and you on the road, do you want to go see him play? Yes, I want to go see Anthony Edwards play. And I also think right now, once he starts stacking one or two rings, I, listen, man, I think he's up there. Like, he's the face. Like, he's the guy. I have no problem with those guys.

But I say that to say, I would put him over SGA. Like, I would put him over, Joker. The only thing I's holding him back from those guys is simply the championships. Okay. We'll put that. I mean, the championships and the MVP's. They go hand in hand. Well, no, no, I know.

But I guess what I'm saying is you're like, like, SGA won the title. You won the MVP. Right. Yokech has a title. He's got multiple MVP's. And Anthony Edwards doesn't have any of those things yet. So if he, if he wins the title this year, let's have that conversation. If he comes out of the – but he hasn't yet.

And those other guys that are – I mean, Joker leads the league in assists. and rebounds and his seventh in scoring, and his team has a third and third in the West, has a better record than Minnesota. So it's just, it's tough. When you do these things at the very top, we're parsing around first team all NBA, you've got to be a top five player in basketball

to make the team. That means if you're sixth, you're better than 98.9% of the league, but you're just that very, you know, so it's hard to be. It's hard to be the best. player in basketball. It's okay if you're the fourth best player in basketball. It's okay. I just,

I've watched them enough this season to know that there's not too many people out here doing what that young man is doing at that age. I agree with that. I agree with that. He's special. Like, we've been privileged to see a lot of special ball players, but at that age, carrying that franchise with that charisma, like charisma, he's raw, he's real. I think

he's everything right now. And again, that stuff, if the, who's the most entertaining player? Who's the face of American basketball? Like, yeah. The face of the league stuff, if you want to factor, and like, hey, he killed it in the Adam Sandler movie and he does good in his commercials. And, like, honestly, like, if he's so charismatic.

He's like, he, all of that is. You put him in front of the camera and it's like, that's the guy. But when you, but to actually, you can't watch a game on any given night against anybody and say, oh, that person is better than Anthony Edwards. I'm like, there's like a few guys that I can. There's a few guys that I can. And that's not a knock on Anthony Edwards, because he might get there.

He's 24 years old. I kind of feel like that's what Rich Paul is, to like because he he knows he's nowhere close. He's got it on the Tom? Yeah, he's nowhere close to reaching his ceiling yet that I watch from based on what we're seeing right now, knowing that he's 24 years old, knowing how young he is. It's like, man, he's doing this already and knowing how diligently he works at his craft, improving his three point percentage, working on his mid-game, turn around shot now.

He's the fact that he goes at Katie and LeBronny's any chance he's. And he was a crazy. He loves that. Yeah, he does. I love it. He does. All right, well, Dr. Danny is in the house. By the end of this week, we're going to go through every division in the NFL.

Willie's AFC North. Let's go, baby. It's on tap. All right, well, this won't hurt at all. Just step into my doctor's office. Dr. Danny back in the house. I'm telling you, this segment's been great for my idea. I've really enjoyed it.

Just tell everyone what's wrong with him and how you would fix them. I'm like, hey, I had to play general manager for 13. 32 teams. It's been a lot of fun. AFC North scheduled all their appointments for this hour, so I got a lot of charts here in my hands. We're going from worst. You got some work to do, Doc. I don't got yet. That's right.

Some ugly football was played in this division this year. Up first, though, the Cleveland Browns. Heavy. Heavy. Okay. Big five. You don't have much time left. Here's what I would say.

draft good players. That helps. Don't roll your eyes, Greg. You might say that's obvious medical advice, like eat healthy and work out and get your eight hours. But honestly, I thought what the Browns did last year was crazy. Draft using a third round pick and a fifth round pick on Dylan, Gabriel, and Shadour Sanders. You're taking mid and late round flyers on guys when you don't have the infrastructure of your team.

It's one thing, it's at least a debate if the Raiders do that with Mendoza. when they don't have the rest of the team around him, if they believe that he's truly special. But if you don't have an infrastructure in place to drop in a quarterback, try to hit on those picks. The kid Jared Wilson, he wasn't great in the Super Bowl, but he was an offensive lineman drafted one pick after Dylan Gabriel. He started 13 games for the team that won the AFC.

You can find starters in the third and fifth round. So the Browns have the sixth and the 24th pick this year. Don't reach for a quarterback. Just draft. blue chip players. Look at all the problems that the Brown's offense had this year. Time sat, rushing, third down, turnover, yards, points. How often they punt it? Like, just draft, linemen, receivers, corners, they are a true best player available team. I would say this year. Don't take a quarterback. I just may, this might sound crazy, but I seriously would

consider trading Miles Garrett. I don't think that's crazy at all. I think you really have to look at all the deficiencies. I mean, obviously, those stats talk about it all. But you have to say, hey, man, we've been here enough. Miles Garrett has hinted about leaving. I think you go to him and you say, hey, let's figure this out because you're only going to build this team up fast by getting assets and getting people in that building. I can really help you win, especially you have a quarterback right now who's young. You have an office line that needs help. You got to start figuring out if Shador is saying is whoever's going to be your answer for next season, He's going to need some protection, and they don't have it right now.

So I would sit down on Miles Garrett and like, hey man, let's talk business. What do you want this to look like? So the last time we felt like the Browns had something going for themselves offensively, they had an established run game. When you don't have, you talk about, you've been talking about this all week long, about the offensive line play of physical brand of football, especially in that division. You got to solidify what you have up front to assist whatever quarterback you're going to have

under center this year. I don't care which one you have. You need to be able to support them with a running game. And so that's where my focus would be. If Miles Garrett helps that, I doubt if Todd Monkin coming in, and new head coach is like, yeah, we're going to actually trade him. Wait, wait, I came here because he was one of the staples. I also threw that out there because Jim Schwartz is going, right?

And Miles Garrett or Swartz, they love each other. Very vocal about him. They wanted him to be the head coach and Jim Schwartz. If that's the case, I'm looking at Tom Monk, like, listen, I'm trying to build this thing up. you being the leader of this locker room, you can't be a distraction from it. Because that's going to cause a mutiny. I can't afford that right now,

especially with a young quarterback. So at the end of the day, if you're the Browns, this is something you have to seriously entertain while you're here. Like, hey, man, we got to get better. I see what we can throw you out there and what we can get for it. I can just see them using the 24th pick on a quarterback.

And it's just like, what are you guys doing? Just find good players. High Simpson, Alabama. Yeah, it's going to take some time. All right, next appointment. Got to stay on the schedule here. The Cincinnati Bengals, walking into the office.

I'm surprised you could pick that file up. Here's the thing about the Bengals file. Like, I'm sure most people are going to, like, there's a lot of things to jump off this chart about their defensive issues. There's no problem. I definitely could address that. Offensive line. Your quarterback's battered and bruised and all that.

But I would honestly be looking between the ears here and just talk to Joe Burrow. Just talk to him. What does that conversation sound like? Joe, are you happy? No. What can I, well, what can I do, Joe, to make you happy? Provide us with a winning product. Okay.

How about winning is what puts smiles. I'm saying trade me. Get me out of here. But that is what you have to prevent. Everybody knows that they need defense. And I agree. And everyone knows they need offensive line help. And I agree.

But Joe Burrow was talking about falling out of love with football. spending too much time rehabbing, not doing enough winning, the physical ailments. He's talked about the price of fame and all the things that have happened there. Like, if you, without Joe Burrow, there is no franchise in Cincinnati, okay? He covers up a lot of your warts. They were one and eight last year without Burrow. They're five and 12 since 2021 without Burrow. That's not just, like, yes, that is an injury statistic.

But also, if Joe Burrow is unhappy with Cincinnati and he asks for a trade, you're back to be in the bungles. Figure out what would make Joe Burrow happy. Nothing's going to make him happen. You've given him everything. You've given him the bag, the receivers. Yeah, you need office and line help. So does a lot of people in the league.

The problem is right now he's costing you a lot of money. You can't make any moves. 35 this year, 37, and it escalates from there. And you've gotten nothing from it. I threw out the stat earlier this week, 9 of 28 when he's not your starting quarterback. You can't even survive that. Is there anything in your files that says that

Zach Taylor needs to be addressed. Because this is like the only team that nobody addresses Zach Taylor. That's called T, my friend. I'll tell you why, though. That's an ownership issue. They've never, since Mike Brown has taken place. Greg's right, no. No, I know.

They have never paid a coach not to coach for them. They let them all coach out their contracts. Yeah, but 100% of them. Marvin Lovers, like, okay, good. You held on to him. But Greg's right. You don't change your head coach and you don't change your staff. I am trying to deal within the realms of reasonable, like,

I'm not sending someone over to Germany for stem cell therapy. I'm talking about what I'm able to prescribe. Well, you want to stir the pot, stir the pot. But they won't fire them. They might after this year, now that it is, you know, with the contract situation, but that's not available for them right now. You ready for the next patient? It's my favorite.

Yeah. Yeah. Joe got me to give them to you. Here's the problem with the Ravens, according to Willie Cologne. I don't like him. All right. I think that there is a real sense of urgency here to sign Lamar Jackson in the next couple of weeks. I think you need to be honest with yourself and say, we have one of the best players in football.

And we have no problem paying him like one of the best players in football. But everybody knows that his cap hit for next year is not tenable. Right? If you're going to actually try to continue to win, it's the second largest in the NFL. Now, at least he plays, unlike Deshaun Watson, who has the largest, nice contract by Cleveland. Very fine. But if you then flip to all of the guys on Baltimore that in theory they would want back, their own free agents, those are real players. Now, some of them are, Tyler Huntley is a luxury, Ricard is a luxury, Linderbom is not. No. That's why he's on, I'm assuming that's why he's on the top of the list. Yeah, right.

Urban and Jones are not, like that's part of the strain after they lost Mattibouquet, right? Like, they have a lot of guys who they're going to want to retain. So they are not likely to, no pun on Isaiah, like you, they are not likely to get better by a bunch of external high profile additions. Yeah. Other than the 14th pick in the draft. But if you get that cap number down by Lamar before. free agency, you can at least do a little bit more and be a little bit more flexible. Yeah, that's the obvious. And whatever it is that you need to do to sweeten the pot, if you will,

tell them you're going to try to bring in some type of a receiver, whatever the receiver it is that you like, maybe Lamar, to get you to sign a deal to where we can have space to get some of these guys that we know we want to have signed that's already on our roster. You got to get it done if you're the Ravens. But, you know, his contracts have been tricky in the past. You know, there was the almost-fraid of him situation a couple of years back. There's the lack of an agent situation. There's the fact that he deserves, based on his play, to be the highest-paid player.

You know, if he's up, this might be tricky, but they needed to be done soon. The bottom line is you got to stop asking Lamar Jackson to erase your flaws and erase the flaws. He needs help. And we talked about it earlier of what they look like on paper. They don't have enough right now. You know, Zay Flowers isn't enough. We've said that.

Isaiah likely may be gone. Mark Andrews, you can't find it. He doesn't have the same impact like he's had in previous year. You need office and line help. You have to go to Lamar. But listen, dog, I know you want your money until you deserve it.

But we can't move unless you help us move. Right? We can't be a contender. We can't be elite. We can't be who we used to be if we don't have money to spend. You're holding us up. Very much like Joe Burrow.

So you're going to have to ask Lamar. Is it about you or winning? That's what you ask them, because they cannot sign them to that contract, expect you to be competitive next year. Well, they're about to. But you can sign them to an extension and lower the cap hit for this year, right? Because they're trying to win the Super Bowl this year. There's no reason to read the next file, by the way. Oh, yeah? Like, I don't think there's, I think it's time to go to Burrack. I'm a professional, and it's their appointment. The best for last. We did this, we did this in fairness. The appointments were scheduled based on how they finish in the division.

Exactly. Then the Steelers finish. This feels like a closed door appointment. So they get to go last. And I will tell you this, Willie, as I look at your team's chart, you're not going to like what I could just subscribe. Yeah, you can just talk to him. He's not, you're not going to like this.

You got to hit the reset button. Because there's a lot of things in here that on paper are pretty good. I know a lot of these names. There's a lot of talent. In fact, as I've heard, Went to the playoffs. Won the AFC North. That's my Willie Colon.

But here's what the last five years have shown you in Pittsburgh. It's fine. It's okay. That is not the standard being the standard. That is not excellence being the standard. That is a mediocre football team that has made the playoffs more often than not, has never had a losing record, but hasn't actually gotten anything done. And if you run it back with Aaron Roger,

we can just make it Steelers for the last six years. And they'll grind out nine or ten wins, and they'll grind out a playoff appearance, but they're not going to actually be moving towards anything. It's tough medicine. It doesn't go down easy, but it's what's best for you, my friend. Listen, I agree. Like, a lot of people go like this.

Well, I don't agree with you. What I'm about to say is Aaron Rogers, if he's back with the Pittsburgh Steelers, allows the Steelers to have a playoff window. and it allows the Steelers to continue to build why you have a competent quarterback that can lead your offense. If you go and get Will Howard,

do you allow them to start? That's going to be a step backwards. The Steelers will never be in the business of just losing games. That's not who they are. You guys may not like it. The world may not like it. But what Steelers like to do is win.

You want to have an opportunity to win. It may not seem like you have a shot year after year, but you also have a place at the table when you have a competent quarterback and somebody can drive your office. So can I ask you a question? Yes. So are they trying to win the Super Bowl?

Every team is trying to win the Super Bowl. Is your team trying to win the Super Bowl? The Steelers would never take on a season without trying to win a Super Bowl. Okay. But can next year's team with Aaron Rogers win the Super Bowl? I think next year's team with Aaron Rogers, a receiver number two in a run game, and a head coach of Mike McCarthy who has been proven to win games, has a shot at winning the Super Bowl.

Okay. So that's where you and the doctor is history? What would y'all want me to say right there? I'm not trying to trap you. I'm saying that like, well, I don't want you guys to give me this exhausted face. Like, I'm sorry you guys don't bleed the black and gold like I can. You haven't been privileged to.

No, I'm just trying to tell you how we cook in the kitchen. I understand. I guess my point is that like you keep talking about seat at the table, make it to the playoffs. I don't hear you talking a lot about being excellent. And that's, and that seventh trophy.

Yeah, because excellence necessarily doesn't guarantee a Super Bowl. Having a shot gives you a shot at the Super Bowl. That's what I'm. me. There's a lot of residents. The best team doesn't win the Super Bowl, the most opportunistic. There's a lot of individuals on this team that could qualify for assisted living. Oh, here we go. Oh, like you got to re-school it. Age joke. Yeah, you got to retool this thing, man. Are we age shaming on this show? I mean, I'm not really trying to, but it is

what it is. Like, this team has to get younger. They have to be willing to make an investment in the investments that they have. Will Howard, you're talking glowingly about him? We'll put him out there. Let's see what he got. Let's get some guys around him. But can't we look, but can't Aaron be a bridge? I'm with you.

If he's a bridge, he's a bridge. But like at some point, you guys love bridges too. Yeah. Literally. You like, you love you love bridges and Pittsburgh's the city of bridges. I was just about to say. You love a lot of people.

The playoffs and not winning playoff games. It's the damn. thing I've ever seen. How about winning in the playoffs? Ridge. Yesterday, new Cardinals head coach, Mike LaFleur, addressed really the only question on any Cardinals fans' mind that a lot of other teams are paying attention to it. What is the future of Kyler Murray and Arizona look like? Take a listen. We're going to hold ourselves to a standard as coaches first. It'll start with me, obviously, and then we'll hold our staff to a standard, which trickle down to those players.

Be close to the combat and obviously for agency after that. What do you guys expect to make a decision about, Kyler? Yeah, those just like everything else in our roster, just open conversations right now throughout this building. No time frame on that. Well, I'm here to tell you that there is a time frame on the Kyler Murray decision, and we are days or weeks away, not months. On March 15th, Kyler Murray's base salary becomes guaranteed with Arizona.

So they will not want to be on the hook. for that extra roughly $20 million because they are already on the hook for about $78 million over the next two years. So Kyler Murray is going to be an ex-Arizona Cardinal very soon. And so the question is, can Arizona find a team to trade for Kyler and take on that contract so they can get something instead of nothing for the former number one overall pick. So Arizona is going to try to trade Kyler in the next couple of weeks. We'll see if they're able to be successful in that.

But remember, Kyler Murray has already made about $170 million in his career in terms of money due in career earnings. So if I was Kyler Murray, I would be rooting very hard to be outright released. Because then you can shoot, you get your money anyway from Arizona, but then you can choose where you would want to go. And not that he's asking me, but I would say, try to be the next Sam Darnold. And that is not be a backup. There are too many quarterback needy teams. You are going to have an opportunity to start. But I would not rush to the cleanest path to start

or even necessarily the most money. I would make an investment in myself and look to Darnel who said he ended up being with Kyle Shanahan, with Kevin O'Connell. And if you're getting all that money from Arizona, the money's coming to you. So if you were a free agent, could you go to Minnesota and compete with J.J. McCarthy?

And all of a sudden, And if you beat out JJ McCarthy, now you've got Brian Flores' defense, Kevin O'Connell, call him plays, and you're throwing the ball to Justin Jefferson in a dome. You've got the third most rushing touchdowns of any player since you entered the league behind Josh Allen and Jalen Hertz. I've seen you complete 68% of your passes in a year. You're only 28 years old. You can be the next Sam Darnold if you play this next part of your career correctly.

All right, Greg, Willie. there's a lot on the table here for Kyler Murray. And the Jets, I know Jets fans want to trade for him. Steelers fans have talked about him. Vikings fans are talking about him. Dolphins fans are talking about. A lot of teams need a quarterback. I do think if he plays this correctly,

he could be in line to be the next Sam Donald. What do you think is next for Kyler? So I don't believe he's going to be released because... You think someone trades for him? Well, look... Do you think he stays? No, I don't think he's going to be there. But if you're the Arizona Cardinals,

you made an investment, you want to get some type of return. If you just release Kyler Murray, you don't get any type of return on that investment. But if people know that he's going to be released, you know, they're not going to get a premium draft pick for Kyle Murray. And that might be the case. However, you want to find yourself with something to show forth instead of just letting him walk out the door. Now, you talk about being the next damn Darnold. I don't think his ego will allow him to sit and to feel like he has to compete. I'm not saying he's going to run from competing, but he's a type of player that feels like I'm the guy. So the Jets makes sense. The Vikings make a lot of sense,

but we know he's going to have to compete. Regardless of how we how we feel about J.J. McCarthy and where he is in his quarterback development phase and process, he's going to have to compete, and he might very well win that job outright. I don't know if he wants to take that route. Miami's another place, a possible destination for them. But the Jets, RPO type offense where he can lean into that run game, Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson on the outside, that looks very appealing. And if you are the Jets, you're excited about that because you were hoping to have that with Justin Fields this past season.

You knew what he was from an athlete at the quarterback position, but from a pass thrower, he was not that. He's not Kyla Murray. You would get that. And Garrett Wilson would then be happy in your passing game will somewhat thrive. Yeah, I'm going to throw out another team. You know how I felt about the Houston, Texas, possibly, getting it. But another team I like in that division is a Colts.

Because you got to think about this way. You don't know what's going on with Daniel Jones because of the injury and when he's going to play. On top of that, it's inevitable that Anthony Richardson is going to be gone, right? You now have a quarterback who's a functional quarterback with an offense already in play because of the office line and the run game. Now you got to figure I was going to happen when I was Pierce and what happens with Pittman. But nevertheless, man, you got a quarterback who gives you who's a dual threat quarterback, right?

And so I like him in that offense. I like him in that building. I like the fact that he may possibly have a fresh start with options. And if you're Kyle Murray at this age, you say to yourself, man, I want to win. I haven't won, right? I played five games last season. Like the building has already shown with Jacoby Brissette, we can function without you. Now you have an opportunity to land.

Indianapolis and reset your career and possibly have a start in a playoff game with legit weapons. So I like that as an option. I don't mind what you talked about in Minnesota. But if you're Kyle Murray at this point, you have all the intangibles. You need to be plugged. You're a plug and play quarterback to me. The Colts make sense too. The Colts makes sense. I mean, if they can have them for such a cheap amount of money. Yeah. You know, like if he gets outright released. I still do think that they are going to sign Daniel Jones because of the move they made for him and the contract. And if he gets released, I think it brings a lot of teams into the equation. Something, Greg, you said about like the ego of like he believes he's the guy. So would you,

like if you were advising him, if you were his agent or his best friend or whatever, would you say go to the Jets because you're definitely the guy? But it's a worse situation than Minnesota. But Minnesota, if you beat out J.J. McCarthy, that's a better situation than Minnesota. It works because of that defense, though. The Jets' defense. Like, offensively, I think it works for him, but the Jets don't have a defense. Minnesota has a defense if you can beat out J.J.M. So to your point, like, what I would advise him to do is to go compete. Kyler, I know that you're better than J.J.

Right, that's what that's what I say. I'd say the same thing. I just don't believe he is of the mindset to where he would feel like I should even, even need to compete at this stage in this juncture in my career, right? Exactly, which is why I think he would take the starting job. Of course. The starting job in the worst situation. Of course.

I mean, okay. And so the whole purpose of this was like what I would do if I were him. And I know it's a weird position to put myself in. But honestly, like, he's made the money. If you go to the Jets, a situation that you don't have elite offensive coaching, right, compared to Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota. But they got Frank Wright. He has a great resume.

He's been successful. I just, I think it is a cleaner path to actually living up to your draft type and winning if you go to a place like Minnesota, even if there is the potential for the embarrassment of losing out on the job to J.J. McCarthy. All right, gentlemen, let's talk some hoops. The All-Star break ends tonight. We are at the midway point of the season, though, obviously we're more than, more than half the games are played. but the unofficial midway point of the NBA season. And SGA is the favorite, about a two to one favorite, to be MVP again.

And the odds makers would tell you that it is a two-man race. Kate Cunningham at 14 to 1. Detroit has the inside track for the one seat in the Eastern Conference. Wemby at 35 to 1. But remember, you have to play at least 65 games in order to qualify for postseason awards. And Joker again at 3 to 1 is averaging a triple double. but he's missed 16 games already this year with the knee injury. Those odds feel about right to everybody?

Like, where would you place your – would you lay it? Two to one with SGA? Three to one on the Joker? A gambling man? Anybody? Yeah, I mean, I'm not a gambling man, but I would – SGA is the front runner. All right.

Well, so let's apply the old eye test. Oh, there we go. I will tell you who actually is the first half – We're going to do this looking backwards before I tell you who I think we'll actually win. Because those odds are a projection for forward, but the first half MVP will apply the eye test to it. I see the league, of course, very clearly. So if we could, get the bottom row up there, please.

Jalen Brown, Victor Wenbanyama, and Luca Donchich deserve to be in this conversation. Now, Luca, he leads the league in scoring. He's third in assists, and he's fourth in made threes. He has simply been one of the best offensive players in the sport. He is back to form, in shape, Luca, all the things that we talked about this offseason. It is his team. He has been dominant.

Victor Wenbanyama is the best defensive player in basketball. Like he just, he leads in blocks, he's fourth in rebounds, and one thing I love about the eye test, it's the blend of the stats and actually watching the games. Teams just dribble in and then they like hit the abort. As they should. They're like, never mind. They just spit out.

As they should. I've never seen more NBA. teams dribble away from the basket than I do when I watch the Spurs play. It's the damnedest thing in the world. And then Jalen Brown is basically averaging 29, 7, and 5 on the two-seat in the east without Jason Tatum. He's been spectacular. And I've always really liked the who's actually better, Tatum or Jalen Brown argument because Jalen Brown got finals MVP and then Tatum wasn't involved with team USA. So I think that's a fun debate that is still going to exist there in Boston. But as we go to the second row here for the eye test, the odds on favorite SGA comes in on the second row along with Kate Cunningham.

SGA's case is very simple. He's the best player on the best team. It is very similar to last year's case, except last year's team lapped the field. They have the best record in the league. But they got 42 wins. Detroit has 40. They're up four games on Denver in terms of in the win. problem right now. So he's the best player on the best team, the second leading score in the

league. He's an amazing basketball player, but it's not as overwhelming relative to the competition. And Cade Cunningham, man, him and Joker are the only two players that are averaging nine assists a game. Talk about it. Only two. Him and Joker. Now he's second to Joker who leads the league, but he's doing it in addition to averaging 25 a night, and he's the one seed in the Eastern Conference. So best player on the best seed in the East, who is responsible for carrying the scoring load and the playmaking load, it's a massively incredible talent.

But at number one, and again, this is the first half MVP, MVP at the All-Star break, it's the Joker. He is doing what he always does, which is average a triple double. He leads the league in assists, he leads the league in rebounding, and he's fourth in scoring. But last year, even though he averaged a triple double, I said I would have to be. given the MVP if I had a vote, and I should, to SGA. Because SGA's team, I think, had finished for like 19 more wins than the Nuggets. This year, he's only got four fewer wins.

So that, to me, makes it more of an individual thing than a team thing. And I will give Joker the first half MVP at this point. Gentlemen, Greg, I'll start with you. Do you see the league as clearly as I do? I mean, I see it pretty clear. I'm going to go to the bottom. Like, what, what, what, Jalen Brown has been able to do, like I would raise him up.

And again, this is, this is being very nuanced. We're nitpicking here, no doubt. Super nitpicking. But there was no one picking this Boston Celtics team to be where they are in the Eastern Conference right now with no Jason Tatum. Second in the Eastern Conference, Jalen Brown is a two-way player. You get it on both ends of the court. The production offensively has been lights out.

He's shooting great from the field. Like this team thrives off of his energy and his output. They've been getting every ounce of it and needing it all. Offensively, they've been better this year than they even were last year with all the weapons that they had. Like Jalen Brown has been fantastic for this team. You know I'm a K guy. And for me to be talking about Jalen Brown. Yeah, fair.

It's warranted. If we can throw the eye chart back up real quick, because unlike the mountain, the eye test is left to right. We don't cop out here. So Jalen Brown's in my fourth position. He's in my fourth position. I'm just letting you know. I see the league.

I see the league. I'm good to know. Joker 1, SGA 2, K to 3, Jalen Brown 4, Wembe 5, Luke 6 in terms of how I am seeing Luke. So I'm with you. It's very, very close in terms of Jalen Brown being moved up. Mr. Willie? Yeah, I'm going to be honest. you may not like this, but I'm going to take Wimby and I'm going to bump him up to number one.

Like, you got to stay. Listen, you're 22 years old. Listen, availability matters. SGA's missed time with a dominole strain. Joker's been in and out and out. He's missed 16 games because of the knee. You're talking about who's been consistent. And that's Wimby defensively, averaging 24 points in game, 11 boards.

He's a friend. He's the face of the franchise and the future face of this league. And when you talk about him going to the playoffs with the spurs, they are ahead of schedule. And he's a legit threat comes in the playoffs. He's a problem for everybody in the West. So you're talking about MVP. I don't see how you look no further than Wemima. He's played in 40 games.

SGA's played in 49. So SGA's been there with the availability. Best defensive player in the sport by far is an argument that I concede. You know what I feel? Because, like, SGA makes an impact on the defensive end. Jalen Brown makes an impact on the defensive end. None of them sniff the impact that, that Wemby do. Like, to me, Wemby is going to win.

like 10 defensive player of the year awards before he's done. But can I, I want to transition this for just a little bit. Because I think this next piece of this is very interesting. Okay. Which is, so this is what I would do if the award was given out today. But the NBA, in an effort to deal with the load management crisis, a very well-intentioned rule put in, in order to be on all NBA, in order to be an MVP, in order to get defensive player of the year postseason award recognition, you have.

to play a minimum of 65 games. And I think that's going to make SGA the winner. Because, and it's why he's the big favorite right now. So I expect SGA to win MVP because Joker is having a better year than SGA right now. But he had that knee injury. He's missed 16 games. You can only miss 17 to hit that threat, right? 82 minus 17 games missed is 65.

He's missed 16. You know my math is shaking. No, I know. I got you. I got you right here. We can just carry the one for you. Just being honest. Yeah.

But like SGA, barring an injury, is going to play 65 games and qualify. Now listen, maybe Joker plays every game the rest of the way or only misses one. And so maybe he does. But for a big man who has dealt with injuries this year, who doesn't, frankly, seem to care that much about awards. Like, yeah, he cares more about his horses than awards. Right. But he cares about hooping. He cares about basketball.

But like, I don't know that he is going to be like, the coach says, hey, it's your third game in four nights. We'd like to sit you. Maybe they do a ceremonial thing and he plays for a few minutes. But he's going to try to be fresh for the championship. So I actually do expect SGA to pull away with this. And then I think future headline take on top of the take, they're going to address the 65 games. minimum in the off season because Joker's averaging a triple double again. And you kind of have to address it when you have a player who's he didn't miss time because

of load management. Exactly. It's just it's a significant injury. Right. Yet an knee spread. Nothing he can do about it. Yeah. I can't play, guys.

So I mean, to be penalized for that is, I think you do definitely have to address that. But it's an interesting, like, what do you do? Like, is it like a commissioner exemption where you're like, well, the 65 game thing matters for load management, but if it's a one-time injury? I think you treated case by case. I think that's fair. So, so commission, commit, I think he said, hey, Joker plays 62 games, but he missed 15 of them with one injury.

He's eligible. Yeah, because there just decides. I'd be fine with it. But like you said, because it's production high, right? Like, you used production is ridiculous. It's ridiculous. So at this point, if you're the commissioner, you understand that you have the Joker and you have the Denver Nuggets who are winning, right, with him and without them.

But nevertheless, you still look at this situation. you say, listen, for everybody moving forward, it doesn't matter what you look like. It's about how you're showing up. So from a production standpoint, if your production's high, you've got to go and exempt the rules. It's a lot of power for the commissioner,

but I don't have a problem with it. Yeah. Because it's just judgment. Judgment. Judgment call. Are you resting because of rest and cheating our paying customers, or are you resting because of a legitimate injury?

If it's a legitimate injury, you can still be eligible. He doesn't question his character either, right? Like, he's not a guy who's... No, Joe. Joker plays. SGA plays. But so it's going to really impact awards season right now if Joker misses any more time. What do you smirking?

I'm smiling because, Kay, we on deck, man. We on deck. Don't worry about it. He's only missed six games. I know. And an injury to SGA, Kade could get in there, man.