First Things First - Danny diagnoses NFC/AFC South, Caleb Williams MVP jump, Maxx Crosby to the Bears?

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

(00:00) Expect Max Crosby to join the Bears? (26:20) Danny diagnoses every NFC South team (38:38) Tiger Woods keeps door open for masters (45:14) Top NFL offseason storylines? (01:04:48) Knicks must figure out their Pistons problem (01:19:55) Will Titans have a Bears-like leap? (01:26:44) Doctor Danny diagnoses AFC South Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York. You all right, McVell? I know. My bet. I got to me. My bet. Got a water? Sorry.

I know. You're good. I almost got up out of here earlier. We need you, man. Keep me on my toes. It's a Wednesday after football season. We need you, Willie. Man, I got dark quick.

Oh, man. I mean, it was $259. 54 and we thought Willie was going down. Willie Cologne, Greg Jennings, I am here for now. Who knows what happens over the next three hours. We got a jam-packed show for you today, including there's a reason we're talking about this, not just for me. But what is Caleb Williams-Aceal?

You guys know I think it's high. But what about one of the best defensive players in football? You ate it. We will as well. Also, Willie's favorite topic. Can the Eagles offense be fixed if they just run it back? And are they planning to run it back? One of the people who most plugged into the organization says he knows what they want to do this offseason.

Also, don't look now, if Dr. Danny got a smock. Adding elements to the costume, I will diagnose all the elements facing the NFC South and AFC South over the course of the show. this week we're going through every division in football. You're feeling good? I'm better. Honestine. You're a fight. Dr. Daney's in the house. I need another doctor. You need to qualify to me? He might want to have another doctor. Questioning my credentials. Not at all, but that's a big fellow right there. I got a framed diploma on the wall from clown college. Let's begin with today's show. We begin, he's a two-time all-pro. He is Max Crosby, and yes, he also has a

podcast. And Willie noticed that he's like it seems like everybody has a podcast. It's original. They spent a lot of time with Caleb Williams as his guest talking about their mutual admiration, their love of competition. And Crosby also praised Caleb's talent and his future. Let's take a listen. Just to be open and honest, bro, like we talked about earlier, but respect at a different level, bro. You're one of those guys for sure and you're just getting started. Yep. I don't even know you, you understand yet how good you can be. Yeah.

And that's the scariest part. Yeah. You know what I mean? Just keep that mindset, keep doing what you're doing. So you guys tell me if I'm wishcasting here, and I maybe am a little bit. Bears are talking. And I, listen, everybody has biases. The people you can trust are the ones who admit their biases to you.

Okay. So I will admit my bias here. But I think Max Crosby plays week one next year on the Bears. Oh, wow. I just think there is, for a while now, there has been a admiration from Crosby towards Caleb, Crosby towards the Bears. He talked about him on his podcast earlier in the season, seemingly unprompted. They'd played against each other. He complimented Caleb.

Jay Glazer said that Crosby was done with the Raiders. Crosby hasn't confirmed that, but he also hasn't gone out of his way to deny it. Bill Barnwell came out and said, DJ Moore in a first round pick for Max Crosby. You give Mendoza a number one receiver. You give them more draft capital. You give the Bears an edge there. The Bears' last general manager traded multiple draft picks for Khalil Mack. This general manager, Ryan Poles, traded a second round pick for Montez Sweat.

Their first round pick is at the very bottom of the first round. It's not like a premium pick, so it's not as difficult to part with it. they need a pass rush desperately. Like I just think there are so many fit, vibe, connect the dots. Like, Drake May wasn't on his podcast. You know what I? Like Bo Nix wasn't on his podcast. Caleb was on his podcast.

So I legitimately believe Max Crosby will be a bear by week one, do you? So I believe that he wants to be a bear or anywhere outside of Oakland. Vegas, you're good. Vegas. I just don't believe that it's going to happen. And the reason why I say it's, I don't think it's going to happen is because when you get a new coach, a new regime, they're going to want to at least have something to hold on to. Now, obviously, it was a little different with Khalil Mack. And we were all shocked.

This is a little different. If Max Crosby comes out and doubles down. Oh, listen, it was a lot different with Cahillowell Mac because they hadn't paid Khalil. Correct. They've paid. But being that he just got paid. Yeah. Less than a year ago.

Yep. I just don't see them just allowing them to just go away or trade him away and get some assets that are okay but not awesome. Like DJ Moore had a couple down years, not saying he's not a really good receiver. He's a good receiver, especially when you go to a team that doesn't have that at all. But I just don't see that working out for Max Crosby because you have a young quarterback or, young head coach coming in who wants to establish something, have an identity somewhere, look in the locker room and say, that's one of our guys. Can you be the voice of the locker room?

That's always been Max Crosby when we look at the Las Vegas Raiders. I agree. I definitely think he's a pillar for the Las Vegas Raiders, but I also think if you're Dennis Allen, you're jumping on a desk to go get Max Crosby because I think if you get him, there signals that you're making a championship push. And I also think if you're Dennis Allen right now, defensive coordinator for the Bears, you understand, as you just mentioned, that means you don't have the blitzes more, right? You have a closer and you have somebody right now that sets the tone on the edge.

And by if you're Max Crosby, you finally, if you land in Chicago, have a quarterback, you believe in, right? He's never had that. And so you talk about his ability to be a bear. I think it helps all parties involved because if you're the Raiders right now, what's one place you're deficient at, the receiver position, right? So if you're able to make that trade between Cosby and Crosby and DJ Moore, I think right now, the Bears, it elevates you defensively. Especially, you got to think about, too. You know this DP.

If they lose J. Kwan Bristker, I mean, that's going to be a major hole in their secondary. So you're going to have to get home what your front for instead of blitz and light Dennis Allen likes to do. I think it makes sense. I wouldn't mind it. I think it's a sexy pickup. And the Bears, to you, I hate to say it, they're going to be must-see TV. Listen, they already got Caleb. They're must-sit-TV already.

They are box office. But, listen, I'm a big baseball fan. there's nothing more meaningless than a great closer on a bad baseball team because why are you trying to save games on a 75 win team? Yeah. Like a great pass rusher

is kind of football's equivalent of a closer. 100%. You get a lead, you force the other team into drop-back situations, passing situations, and then you have your defensive end, your edge rushers, tee off on the other team's quarterback, close out the games. I don't want to see great closers,

great pass rushers on bad football teams. And Max Crosby, he's an all-effort guy. He plays over 95% of the snaps. He doesn't come off the field. And at the end of the year, in a lost season, he wanted to play. And they shut him down. Well, he was dealing with the knee issue, too. Well, but he was trying to preserve him.

But he wanted to play. Yeah, but if there are talks about letting him go, you want him to be primed and ready to go, right? You don't want a team to say, like, well, I like him, but look at the knee. But I guess that's kind of my point. Like, if Crosby wanted to play, they. They shut him down. Jay Glazer says that was like the final straw and made Crosby be done with the Raiders. And if the Raiders were like, we can't risk Max Crosby getting really hurt in these meaningless games.

I think it's very on the table that, yes, it would be a blow to Clint Kubiak coming in and the identity of the Raiders. But if it's time for a youth movement in Vegas, time to move on. This is why I bring up Clint Kubiak because once you acquire a different head coach, a new regime comes in, now it's, incumbent upon them to not necessarily sell themselves because he's on the team, but sell him the message or get him to buy in to, look, I'm not, I didn't subscribe to what they were doing last year. I wasn't a part of what they were doing last year. This is how we view you. This is what we desire for you to be for us moving forward and how you fit into our success

moving forward and down the road. That's Clint's, that's what Clint Kubiak is tasked with. Now, we understand what they don't have and Max Crosby desiring other other opportunities. And as a fan, former player, as a fan, wanting to see the best play in meaningful games, important games. We're feeling as though we're being robbed of that with several players across the league. Max Crosby being one of them. It would be great to see him on a roster that has a shot to play in the postseason where we can see Max Crosby.

And all that he has provided that organization on display on the best stages that we have in the postseason. But I just don't see the Raiders building and saying, you know what, we'll probably build without you. I just think that you have to be honest with yourself. Can you build the Raiders into a contender fast enough where Crosby is still in his prime? No. I think that's- You can. But this is why if you're Max Crosby, you go in the offseason as you are currently in

and you sit down with the powers to be and say, hey, man, I've done everything you asked me to do, right? I wasn't a distraction when the team was bad. I've stepped on, I've been the face of this team and this defense. Allow me to put a cap on my career because we look at so many ballplayers, a la Joe Thomas, who one of the best offensive linemen I ever, you know, seen, loved everything about his game. But he dwindles in history because he played on the Cleveland Browns. He didn't win in the playoffs. He never had an opportunity at a Super Bowl.

So you just look at him solely as a great player who's a gold jacket guy, by the way, but not a Super Bowl champion. If you're a Max Crosby and you went through all this stuff with the Raiders, you want to finish your career with an opportunity to hopefully win a Super Bowl. You're not going to get that done to Las Vegas. No, you will not. But let's now discuss the substance of what Crosby said about Caleb. We know the highlights.

We know the prospect level. We know the accolades. and now he is with Ben Johnson. But I know how I feel about Caleb, but again, I will go last this time because, again, I will admit my bias. When I ask you, really, Caleb Williams is ceiling.

His ceiling is what? So listen, he has an opportunity to be an MVP in this league. He has an opportunity to win playoff games in potentially a Super Bowl. My biggest gripe with Caleb Williams is his play style.

I think right now we know he can make every throw in the field. We know he has ability to wear the cape. But he doesn't live with boring football. He struggles with that. That's the thing that's going to hold him back from being the guy. I think if he can learn to make those boring throws automatic on top of the dynamic throws being optional, that's a complete quarterback to me.

He struggles in that moment. I go back down to that last drive, DP. I mean, we saw one of the best throws. I mean, you probably jumped out of your underwear when he made that throw back at the end zone to commit. Then the last drive, all he has to do is dink his dunk all the way to the endzo. He throws a pick. And I'm saying, man, how. It didn't feel real in the moment.

So I feel like that moment, that window could be Caleb Williams' career if he's not willing to live into boring times, if you're not willing to be boring when you just have to be efficient and a game manager. If he can get over that, I can see him potentially be a two-time MVP of Super Bowl and wearing a gold jacket one day. So I'm going to say what I believe that his ceiling is. Obviously MVP, I'm with you on that, a guy that can put on a gold jacket, all those things. But Patrick Mahomes, although his career started very different, he came off the

gates blazing. He wasn't a boring player either. He was very sexy. It was very dramatic. And then once Tyreek left, he had to, I don't want to say he had to learn. He decided that, you know what, I have to play a different way to start sustaining the job. Taking the little, the dinks and the dunks and the different things that allow you to possess the ball a little longer. It changed how they looked for a minute, but it made him a more effective quarterback for the long run. As it pertains to Caleb Williams, as somebody who looks at him from the opposite side, if you will, as a, as a, yeah, the opposite, as a Green Bay guy.

Like, he, I've said this, he's scary, and he has the opportunity to not only be an MVP, be a top five quarterback next year when you look at the growth. And I'll put some numbers up here and show you some stats that that will support this. When you look at his rookie year, which wasn't a terrible year, you know this, you can speak to this, to the growth that he had this year. And I know we harp on his completion percentage. I believe he will address that. But passing yards increased.

Yards per completion. Like that was drastic. like the points per game, the difference, the third down conversions, that's sustaining drive, that's knowing where to go with the football, having options in actually going through your processes and making sure that you keep and possess the ball, those were areas of growth that I... Well, that doesn't even show the sack number. It doesn't. Which is maybe the biggest improvement year over here.

Absolutely. And I look at that, and yes, he had a dip in his completion percentage, but he was at to do so much more. He was challenged to play on time for a period of time. And then it was like, you know what? You got to be yourself. But find a way to try to balance the two to where when we need it, we know you can do it.

But you're going to have to be able to your point, play a clean brand of football to where you're playing with timing, you're playing with rhythm because that's what's going to give you the longevity of your career. However, all that being said, he different. He is simply, he is different.

And I hate to say it, he is just different. And if he gets those things, which with Ben Johnson in one year, we saw the growth. We look at their offense, mind you, and I'm talking,

let me talk to Willie because I don't even like talking. I'm enjoying. Everyone pretty much on their offense from a skill position is young. So they're all going to grow together. Loveland. We're talking about.

a room. Yeah, no, I know. That's why it's exciting. They're all going to grow together. See, this could be very scary. I strategically wanted you guys to go first because when you say he could be a two-time MVP and wear a gold jacket and you say he's scary and he's like, absolutely. It's like, if I say that, I'm a homer.

But I'm like, he. Well, let me say this. I note that he can possibly be a two-time MVP because I can see him winning 12 to 14 games a season. Yeah. And to be an MVP, you got to win games. I see him winning in those many games in the next three years. Wild sometimes makes fun of me for how much I like.

like to talk about my eye test. And like, I like, listen, I, I just watch a lot of sports, but then I also know the numbers. And so I truly, like, try very hard to, like, blend the two things together. And when I watch this guy and then I watch the rest of the league, I literally, every time I watch him, I'm like, can three guys in the world do what he just did? Can one guy do that? Like, oh, wow, like, well, that's like a Lamar play with his feet, but then that's a Josh Allen play with his arm. And then that's a Mahomes play. I legitimately, Greg, and you played with him,

and then you watched him this year for the Steelers, but a very different version. I'm like, I've always compared him to Aaron Rogers. He has insane arm strength plus athleticism and mobility. He's a killer, and he doesn't turn the ball over. And so that combination gave one of the greatest seasons I've ever seen. The Aaron Rogers 45 touchdown, six interception season in 2011. It's one of the greatest quarterback seasons of all time.

And if you just look at the start to Caleb's career, again, it hasn't all been perfect, and it's been multiple coaches and multiple play callers, and he took way too many sacks. But in terms of putting the ball on the end zone and not turning the ball over, it is a remarkable start. Now, listen, Mahomes is ridiculous. Mahomes is completely insane. But now, you got to remember, he also did sit his first year. So his first 34 games were basically year two and year three, as opposed to starting from jump, but still. The Holmes is completely insane.

But he is just, to me, it is very clear that if we're talking about ceiling, so it's not a guarantee that he will reach it. But if he reaches his 99th percent outcome, what is he? He's the best player in football. Like his talent is there. And then when you combine it with his coaching, Burden, Oduenz-A, they're bringing back their whole offensive line. We think they've got a top five offensive coach in the sport. So I think that that is why you hear Tom Brady talk about him like he does.

Max Crosby talk about him like he does. By the second half of the season, every game, the opponents were either when they were miced up or on the record, just being like, how did he do that? But I also think we have to, two things. One, Ben Johnson give him a lot of credit, as you just mentioned. Two, he has a run game. Manung guy has swift elevated that offense as a stabilizer. That comes with Ben Johnson. If we're being serious about it, they have to start a lot faster.

So many of his games, he showed up in the second half, he didn't play all four quarters. So you talk about growth, that's what he has to start a lot faster. Too many times he had to depend on him late minutes to kind of carry his team or have a heroic throw to kind of get out of building. All those things to your point, Greg, if you want a complete quarterback, he's going to have to polish those things up. Yeah, exactly. I agree. There's no guarantees here, but if he does, that he's a ceiling. And the reason why I sit here, you talk about Aaron Rogers and I had the opportunity, obviously, to play with him.

Like, those type of individuals, and I used to say this all the time when people used to ask me about, is he the best player in the league, Aaron Rogers being he. And I'm like, yes, because there are things that he can do that nobody else can, but all the things that everybody else can do, he can do it. That's Caleb Williams. He possesses the things that you cannot teach. Right. And he has them in a bunch of things. And so as long as he continues to have the desire to learn and grow, it is going to be.

This is what we saw last year. And I know we saw it with the Washington commanders and Jaden. It looked different the way that Caleb was doing it last year. Because it was, and this is no knock on Jaden because I still think he's phenomenal if he can stay healthy and all the things. if he can be challenged to manage what we're going to do in terms of all the motions, all the pre-snaps and struggle, the way that we all saw at the beginning of the season, embrace it, know it. We spoke to Ben Johnson on a couple different occasions, and he said,

it's going to be growing pains. It's going to be a process. It's not going to be great. It wasn't all off season. We saw a lot of interceptions in practice. If he has the mentality of I'm going to do and try every single thing in practice and use practice for what we should use practice for to get better, to try out new things. If that's his approach, he's, yeah, he's going to be the best player in the game. I love hearing a Packer say that.

Oh, man, I'm going to make that segment of my ringtone. It's be a long ringtone. I mean, I'm going to be realistic. Yeah, I'm going to be honest. All right, let's talk Philly here for a little bit because Derek Gunn, he covers the Eagles very closely. and he went on 97-5, the fanatic, Philly Sports Radio. And, of course, he gets asked the question of the moment in the week and the month and the year in Philly. What are the Eagles' intentions with A.J. Brown. Take a listen.

Let me emphasize, as we sit here right now talking, the Eagles want A.J. Brown in an Eagles uniform in 226. I believe he never really wanted to get out of town. He wears his emotions on his sleeves. He was frustrated. Not with just him not getting the ball more, but with the offense being, as inconsistent as it was. The weird thing is, as inconsistent as that offense was, this team still won 11 games and they won the division. So the talent is there. They just have to find a way to get that consistency back like they had in 2024.

All right. So he says that the Eagles want A.J. Brown back and they've got to get back to be inconsistent. Are the inconsistent issues? Are they fixable next year in Philly? Well, it's going to be tough. And I agree with them. They have the talent. The problem is they need a weekly identity.

We watched this team through all season. We didn't know who they were, week in and week out, right? And I think a large part of it because they, listen, they scored 46 touchdowns, but they gave up 34, right? They struggled, they always got out gained. They struggled to get first downs, but they gave up a lot of first downs. It was just a seesaw production from the Eagles. I think right now, I have a graphic right here to show you some of the issues.

Tell me, last on third down. It's solely because they couldn't win on first down, and when they got to third down, they were so predictable, that defensive set back and say, hey, we're going to allow Jaylon Hurst to beat us. It didn't happen. They didn't have a run game. The office line had a lot of issues. And they struggled and they took a big decline in the run game.

And defensively, man, I thought they were going to be better against stopping the run. When they lost, I desperately, I underestimated how much Milton Williams meant to that defensive line. Like, he was a big factor. And now it was a lot pressure on put on Jalen Carter. He was banged up. Jordan Davis was in and out. They didn't get the type of production I thought they were going to have this year and they struggled. So I think a lot of inconsistencies come from.

They don't have an offensive structure that can benefit or help what they have right now. And defensively, they need more help on that defensive line. So all those things are fixable, but I don't know if they can right now, but it starts with Jalen Hurst by far. So with Eric Dunn, I'm with him 100%. They should want A.J. Brownback. And I've said this, like, you don't get rid of a player that brings that amount of value to your offense and to your team. He's just the vocal one. And so we focus on him a lot.

having said that, they're not as inconsistent as we as we depict them to be. It's the run game. They fix the run game. They're just fine. Like when you, they're passing game numbers a little bit better because they were forced to do that

a lot more. But when I show you these numbers and you had the, you had their yards per game ranks, but from 24 the season that they wanted, this is what who they were as a. rushing offense. Obviously, points per game, they were up. They could run the ball better than almost anybody in the game. Yards per rush up, rush yards per game. That was their identity. It was a clear identity. This is still their identity. They just couldn't do it at the level of

which they did it in the Super Bowl run year. And if they can get healthy, if they can find out who they're going to have on that offensive line, if Lane Johnson, if he's going to retire, If he's coming back, what we have moving forward. And if we can be healthy and have a 2024 Saquan Barkley behind Jalen Hertz, they will be just fine. Well, I tend to agree with you because we talk a lot about A.J. Brown because he's fun to talk about. Yes. Well, he gives us a lot of fun.

You might not find it fun. I find it fun. Well, I'm going to tell you, if I was in his locker room as an offensive line, as you just highlighted, that's struggling, right? Like you talk about Lane Johnson being 36. You talk about Jurgens and Dickinson, both guys dealing with surgeries. Their play have declined. The fact that we have to talk about our receiver, right, who, by the way, is healthy.

Two, he's upset with Jamlin Hurts. And three, the reason why we're struggling right now is because we're not playing our best. So it feels like instead of us addressing the necessary answers, we're addressing somebody who's upset with not getting a ball. But he's upset at the inconsistencies. Like, if you get rid of AJ Brown, you are shooting them. messenger because his message was accurate. His message, and you do not get better losing A.J. Brown.

So I fully, A, I think it's entertaining as someone who doesn't have a dog in the fight. Like, I kind of reading a book. He's calling him out. He's talking about, don't trade me off your fantasy team while he's playing Madden. I'm here for the harmless anarchy of sports. But, like, are they fixable? Yeah, it's fit. We're a year removed from them blitzing the league. And so while I personally think that Jalen Hertz, is an extremely limited quarterback. If he goes back to having the best offensive line in football, which they were two years ago,

the best running back in football, which Seekwon was two years ago, and a top three wide receiver duo, which they were two years ago, well, then yeah, they'll be a consistent offense again with basically anybody playing quarterback. Yeah.

So, you know, like, honestly, I don't expect them to fix it. I don't think they will fix all of those things. they've changed offensive coordinators again, but is it fixable? All of those guys are still in their athletic prime in terms of the skill position that I do think it is fixable. Well, I think I missed on my point. I was saying that the office line played their tails off as much as they could. They fought through injuries.

It feels like one guy because he's not getting his production is not appreciating with the guys outside of him were trying to do to win games. Well, no, listen, I know it drove you insane how much we were talking about A.J. Brown off the field. And I was just like, I don't care. We're going to put it in the show. I mean, it was Instagram, it was Twitter, it was Mad. It was Twitch. But he's not going to change D.P. I don't want him to change it.

And neither do they. They want him to catch the ball. Absolutely. Thank you, Danny. Throw me the damn ball. Dr. Danny in the house. It's that time of the show, though, Dr. Danny in the house where I diagnose the ailments of each team around the NFL, and then I prescribe what would get them back to full health.

Right now, by the end of the week, we'll get through every division. It's time for the NFC South. I need a diploma. The hat is a lot. I appreciate the hat. It's a good looking at. Thank you very much. Commit to the bit.

NFC South. I got all my charts. I got all my patience. But we begin the last place team, the New Orleans Saints. As I look through this, New Orleans has had a hard time paying the bills. They have had the worst cap position in the NFL by far, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. But you've got a marquee player in Chris Olave. Yes, I see he's had some concussion issues in his pre-classion.

past, but Tyler Shook and him seem to really connect. Sign your guys who you want to sign early to keep yourself in a good cap space. So I would sign Chris Olavay now. It's the first time. He is extension eligible. In the games with Tyler Shook as a starter, he had six touchdowns in eight games. He had a career season. If you look to what the Saints cap position is now going forward, they're almost out of it. Right now, still sixth fewest cap space. Not great. But next year, ninth most, 28, Slated Dev, the second most. They are almost there.

So if you want to give out big money contracts, you want to do that earlier than later, you can spread out the cap hits a little bit, I would keep Chris Olive in New Orleans long time. Yeah, you definitely want to keep Chris Olive, and I'm sure he's gone. You've seen him several times for those concussions, so you passed.

Yeah, I mean, I cleared him as an independent neurological examiner. Yeah, but when you have a quarterback, a young quarterback, specifically, obviously a young play caller, head coach and Kellam Moore, you want to keep that nucleus together because you can grow with that. That becomes kind of your pillar of your offense, your foundational pieces of your offense. If they can keep that build around that, they will have something moving forward. Obviously, the Saints fans don't like the way they end the season, but they like what they saw

out of Shuck and obviously Olave that connection. Well, if you believe in Shuck, you better give him some office and line help. They get 49 sacks last year. So he may not make it through this season. I think nevertheless, man, they got a lot of issues. They got to clean this up. Defensively, they can't stop a nosebleed, so they got issues. You a doctor, too?

I'm prescribed a doctor's assistant. My man, I like it. My next patient is the Atlanta Falcons. And this is like a person who only works out one muscle group. Michael Pennix, you need to learn how to be a complete quarterback. You can only do a couple of things. And they hired Kevin Stefansky, I think to teach him this. This kind of, when I watched, I was like, man, he only, he throws outside the numbers.

He throws downfield and outside the numbers. So I had my research assistant, Troy, I was like, how many times this year did Michael Panix throw between the hashes, like straight up the middle of the field? Ten. All season. Wow. Ten pass attempts. That's going to be a bit of a problem. I mean, you look at this guy's spray chart.

Troy, is it, did you really, is this right? It's, it's, now, listen, strictly between the hash marks, so it's a narrow, it's a narrow lens. But still, the guy doesn't throw to the whole field. So how can you, how can you get Bijan everywhere? How can you get Pitts everywhere? How can you get Drake? You brought in Kevin Stefansky to figure out if you can make Michael Pennix a complete quarterback, Willie. Yeah, and it's interesting because they are, they have a lot of young talent, man,

but they don't scare nobody offensively. And I think you just proved why solely, and they only average 23 points offensively, which is, when you're talking about Pitts, Drake London, Bejohn, John Robinson, they should be lighting it up. They're not getting it done. So that's a hell of a stat, D.P. Yeah, they have talent defensively. Obviously, they got to see what they got at the quarterback position with Michael Pennings,

Jr. They have a decision to make, too, with Kyle Pitts. What are you going to do with him? Because he did have a good season last year, kind of finally started to bud a little bit. It was great at the end. What are you going to do with that type of investment? He was a first-round pick. Any fantasy football player knows that Kyle Pitts finally had great games in the playoffs. It had been years.

It had been years for those of us who had drafted him. My next patient, I play fantasy football, doesn't affect my integrity as a doctor, is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And you had a lot of injuries on the offensive side of the ball, but I'm feeling like you're going to be okay there. You guys are all trending towards recovery. So find some defensive difference makers here. Todd Bulls, I'm going to be on a hot seat. I'm not sure. But if you look at names we know, notable players on the Bucks defense, they're aging out.

I mean, we'll see if Levanti David even comes back, Vita Valle last year of his. his deal, Hassan Reddick, Dion Jones, James, all pending free agents. It was a very big surprise, at least to this doctor of football, that they drafted Emeka Abuka last year. It was a very nice player. He had a great season, but I was like, well, they had God when they had Evans. I thought it was a luxury pick to add a receiver. You got to get younger and infuse some speed on the defensive side of the ball in Tampa.

Yeah, you definitely got to do that. Obviously, we know who you got at safety in Winfield Jr. He's a staple on that defense. But when you look at the head coach and when your identity is defense, that can't happen. You have to invest in your defense. We've seen it in Pittsburgh. We see it with every defensive-minded coach. We see it with the offensive-minded coach.

You can't allow your side of the ball to be one of the major reasons why we fail as an organization. Yeah, I mean, defensively, allowed 411 points not good if you need some help with that, D&P. Write that down. Check your math on that. But I also think when you talk about the aging defense, one of the things that they struggled to because of their age, they couldn't close games, right? Baker had them in winning position. Go back to that game against the Falcons. They were winning that.

They were up two touchdowns late in the season against Kirk Cousins, and they couldn't close out that game. I think when you talk about the Bucks right now, as much as we want to talk about the aging players and at like a production on the defensive side of the ball, they may be dealing with a culture problem. Like, Todd Bowles called this defense out. He said, you've got to care about your job. I don't know if we have enough guys on that side of ball that care about their job and being the best they can be. So they're going to have to figure out the character, the character in that locker room because I think the division right now between the Panthers, the Saints, it's going to be different. I don't think it's going to be the NFC South. We just kind of just laugh about it anymore.

It's always wide open. It's always bunched up. So the last patient of the NFC South, you mentioned, the Carolina Panthers. And this is, your rates are spiking all over the place. A lot of highs, a lot of lows. and I would just say I wouldn't commit to something this inconsistent because he got a decision to make on Bryce Young. He's extension eligible.

That draft class is now extension eligible. I would certainly not pay him long term. I'd be fine if you decided to give the fifth year option if you wanted to control his contracts beyond this year because I do think he showed little flashes there, but do not commit to Bryce Young long term. I know there's a lot of talk of that in Carolina. We can show where he ranked.

They're trying to turn it around. My gut tells me he doesn't even get that fifth year option, but these numbers are not good enough. Those are ranks out of 33 qualified quarterbacks over the course of last year. And also the measurables in this chart, like call me biased, but there's just a little too much too in there. Like you're Kyler Murray. You're small. You're small. You are a small guy to play that position in the NFL.

And so, you know, I know it's been better than it was, but I wouldn't commit. Well, those ranks were improvement. That's what I'm saying. I mean, they were improvement. That's right. And it's scary to know that that was improvement. Look, he's still a young player. I can't even make excuses for him because it's past due time for him to really show that he can be the guy in this offense.

He's going to have an opportunity this year to see what he can do. I think they'll give him the opportunity. But not extending him, I don't even think that's on there to do. Or extending him. When you draft the guy number one overall and you trade up to get him, and then he's extension eligible. It's a disaster if you don't want it. Well, based off of the eye test and what we've seen, no.

I'm with you. So, okay, just for clarification, his production was bad because he didn't have anything around him. Like, he didn't have any office line help. They just got Rico Dado. The game of run game played better. He beat Matthew Stafford, by the way, this year. We've seen him show up in some games and looked like a functional. He looked like a functional quarterback.

So now that you've given some weapons, some proper offensive line, and you have a defense that's starting to play better led by Derek Brown, I'm sorry. I would commit to Bryce up. I would say, hey, young fella, along as we continue to build around what you can do well, let's see where this thing goes. Because who do you have behind him?

Nobody. Are you going to now go into the draft and say, oh, let's go pluck us a franchise quarterback? No, give him an opportunity. He's been in the mud. He has risen from the mud. He showed you late in the season that you match him up against the MVP quarterback and staff.

He can knuckle up. I mean, he beat the Rams. That means something. So between the receiving core, the office line, RICO Dado, a defense that's doing better, yeah, commit to him because he's showing you he can overcome adversity. That's pretty much his legacy right now. I would not get rid of Breitshend. That's all great.

It's compelling, compelling case. It's not about compelling. It's true. Where am I wrong? Tell me, where am I wrong? It's heartfelt. As a receiver, I'm just going to be honest. Here we go.

Because I know your, I know your take is always get them some offensive linemen. If you can protect the quarterback and you give him time and he shows you production of positivity and he's a functional game manager, you win ball games. There's a lot of quarterbacks that I've seen that doesn't, that didn't have protection. Caleb didn't have a great offensive line his first year. And you brought him so. But I'm just saying, but we saw something. We saw flashes. Even in his first year.

You're telling me this year, you didn't see nothing out of brush on that said that's a positive. But it's his third year is what he's saying. Okay. Josh Allen wasn't a guy until his third year. It took them to kind of boil them down. But we saw major flashes. We saw things that was like, oh, that was great. That's not.

We can, man, I don't know if anybody can do that. Tell me something, and I'm not trying to bash Bryce Young. But tell me, tell me what he does that you can't go somewhere else and get. Where are you going to go? That's my point. Anywhere. Did you see the, can we put the numbers up again? You can't even say where you're going.

Listen, if you allow the young man to grow, you just. acknowledge he's a young quarterback. Look at these numbers. You just also acknowledge we had, there's no talent around. You brought him into an organization that was depleted. That didn't have anything left around him. So now that we're starting to build around them, now we're going to say, okay, now's going to get a new quarterback, you have a receiver. You got proper office a line play. You got a runner back. You got a defense. Lawtherman Cook is year three. We live in this microwave society where we want, throw them in there, meal cook. That's not how the NFL works. Young quarterbacks need time

to develop. If you don't give them time. They do. They do. They chose not to give them time. They made a lot of investments on these draft picks. They need a return. He hasn't brought a return on the investment. I'm not willing.

I'm getting that great. If I'm the Carolina Panthers and yes, we won the division kind of by default. Oh, here we go. But like, so we're knocking the guy from winning? It takes the, it takes the opportunity. You got a fight to get there just to have the opportunity. You're right. I'm not going to knock them from winning because it's a team sport.

Like, it wasn't all on Bryce Young. They had great team success this year. How about we say that? But I'm not going to credit Bryce Young for the emergence of the Carolina Panthers finally making the... But you can't also knock him that the reason he's not there either. Man, we should talk Panthers more. But my point is what I'm thinking. This is a third rail issue.

I like it. I don't know about great team success losing at home in the wild card round. I don't know if it's great team success. Were they in the playoffs? They were in the playoffs. Did they have a shot light in the game? Yeah. That's the Steelers mentality.

Did we make the playoffs but have no shot? You got to be in the room to have a shot. D.P. Apparently. Coming up, the weirdest and the most wonderful, including a three-second quote. Or maybe my favorite athlete ever. That's how I'm swatting that take from Willie right there.

Get that junk out of here. That's what you think. Final thing with you in regards to your recovery, is the masters off the table for you? No. Oh yeah. He even smiled. The smirk said enough for me.

Willie? And what did it say? It's said like, I'm saying it, but I don't know, I necessarily believe it. This guy's coming off back surgery. We haven't seen him since 2004, and we expect him to play 24, 24, excuse me, thank you, D.P. And we're expecting him to play 72 holes at the Masters in April, starting April 9th. And he's already, like, I feel like he's saying it as a, I think he's trolling.

Can I say that? Is that fair? You're allowed to say it and then I'm allowed to disagree. I am. You go right ahead. Because I have a different perspective. Like for me, the fact that he said it, I don't believe that he's going to do it.

If he does, I know he won't finish. However, I'm locked in. If Tiger Woods is saying that he's going to potentially be in the Masters, everybody's going to be locked in. It opens a conversation if he's done or not. I wanted to lead the show with that. Okay? I could do three hours on that smirk.

Tiger Woods, I was thinking about you. So child of the 90s in Chicago, Michael Jordan most like, you know, made me fall in love with basketball, going to games to my mom and dad, he's greatest athlete of all time, greatest athlete in my life. But I stopped playing basketball in high school. Why? Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Isn't that surprising? But like Tiger Woods, he, I will play golf until I'm not able to walk anymore. I truly believe that there is no American athlete who means more to their sport than Tiger Woods means to golf. I think he means more to golf than Michael Jordan means to basketball. Like, more than LeBron needs to basketball. It's like a Caitlin Clark to women's basketball. Like bringing new generations of people, getting new people to play a new sport, all sorts of things. And so, like, can he win?

I think his days of winning on the PGA tour are over. I think it's too old, the Achilles, too many back surgeries. I think winning is over. But if he plays at the Masters, he's got the record for 24 consecutive cuts made. I'm locked in to see if he can make it a 25th. I just want to know what's the why. Like, what does he have to?

Just because he is the most competitive athlete we've ever seen. So it's that simple. I don't negate that. My thing is, I don't want to see, we've seen enough bad of Tiger Woods. We've seen him, like, crawl off the first. course. Like, I think that's, and I saw him win a U.S. Open on a broken leg. Like, you know what I mean?

Like, so he's like the anything as possible athlete, even if we know, like, in our brain that it's not possible. And it's that part. I just like seeing, I like seeing him out there, man. Yeah, I mean, it comes, it comes, Thursday is all about him. Fine. Great. Friday all about him.

And it's, and to be honest, if you are on the tour and Tiger shows up and he's, that's just more of an opportunity for you. Now the world is not watching. Obviously, you feel like I'm better than Tiger right now with what he can provide. But as a viewer, I don't care. I just not want to see Tiger. I want to see my heroes cry. I feel like he goes out that throws his back out.

You have to bring a stretcher out. And I'll just be. And I'll be disappointed. And I'll be walking away saying, man, if he didn't hurt his back, he had a chance to make the cut. And like, Willie, like, I've seen that before, too. Yeah. Like, you know what I mean? And how did you enjoy it?

It hurts. It does, but there is something about Tiger and the resiliency and the comebacks. And, like, the guy's got literally over a billion dollars. He has no reason after countless spinal fusion surgeries to keep trying to grind it up, to tee it up. He said at that press conference that even if he got an exemption to ride in a cart, he would not do it on a PGA tour event. He's like, I would do it on the Champions Tour, but he will not do it on a PGA Tour. so he will be trying to walk 72 holes at Augusta

against Rory and Scotty and all those guys and he is basically drawing dead to win the tournament but it's Tiger and so I'll be that and also just for the game like I'll watch him play on a simulator I'll watch him be the Rider Cup captain

I'll watch him in a card on the champion's store is there any and I'm just throwing this out there so don't come from my head I'm just it's a fair question it's a question that's into are you afraid of him embarrassing himself Right? Like that, for me, I don't want to see Tiger embarrasses. So I don't, I'm not.

He's 50 years old, man. I think, I think it's, I don't think that exists anymore. For me, it's more of, it's not even about him winning it. It's because we've seen him have just a moment, a shot. Yeah. And it's like, if there is anybody that can still pull off a moment, a shot, where he just captivates everyone. Can he chip in at 16 at Augusta again?

Yeah, of course. Just a shot. I don't even, it's not even about can you win it. I don't, I just give me, you're just waiting for something. Yeah, I think you play to win the game. I just, I get it. You feel like you don't have an honest shot. What are we really doing here?

Yeah, but it's golf, man. You can play it, you know, Gary Player will tee it up. You know, Jack Nicholas would tee it up. The old timers will tee it up because they get exempt into these tournaments. And they know they can't win. But they're the legends. He's going to, he'll play with Charlie. one day, you know, in these events.

When his son is eligible to make it. Listen, I understand more than ever being an athlete, as we all are. I'll throw you're in there, D.P. Wow, that's very good. I understand the mindset of never wanting to tap, right? Just a couple of athletes. Right, yeah, sure. Everybody's ever seen me walk.

I walk down the stairs like Frankenstein, right? My knees are shot. But in my mind, I still like, I can give it a go. But at the end of the day, when you put on your cleats and your pads, you got there with them young boys and the guys who were actually doing it, you're like, man, I'm going to sit my old butt down. and enjoy the sunsets, right? Like, that's what I feel like Tiger should do.

I'm glad that he wants to compete. I'm glad he feels like he still has that itch. But, dog, we've seen this episode. Like, we know how this is going to end. That's fine. I'm with Danny on, I'm moly on your side with this one. I'll watch Tiger Woods for the next 25 Masters, and I will be locked in.

With a back brace. Fine. I wish you would ride in the cart. Like, if they'll give him a cart, ride in the cart, Tiger. I want to see you play golf, man. Hour number two, hanging out. Willie said he just were three athletes talking tiger. You know what I mean?

Listen, between the three of us, we have two Super Bowl championships. The silence is death. Exactly. Well, you said you play high school ball. That's why I was giving you a little intramural. Yeah, yeah, yeah, thank you. Got to start some of it. State champion on the debate team, 2005.

Illinois State champ. A win to look it up. We have a busy second hour of first things. First as we come out of the All-Star break. Of course, it is time to talk Lakers, contenders or pretenders. Big names, not a whole heck of a lot of defense, though, in Los Angeles. But LeBron James himself weighed in on the matter. He's always honest.

Coming up, which team will make a Bears-like leap this year? So I can't pick the Bears because they already made a leap. And it's pretty much just my football dream that I can compare other. teams to a positive thing that happened with the Chicago Bears. But we begin the hour with the top NFL storylines that I want to see happen. You want to see it. These are not the biggest stories necessarily, but if I could be the czar of the NFL and just say this would be good for the league, this would be good for the league, in terms

of watchability and my own interest, top five things this offseason that I would like to see happen. You guys tell me if you agree or disagree. First up, we began in Kansas City, and I want to see the Chiefs used this ninth pick on a weapon for Patrick Mahomes. I understand the argument, best player available at a premium position, and if that happens to be a pass rusher, and you think that Ruben Bain from Miami can be Von Miller, that that helps Patrick Mahomes also, and obviously Von Miller's going to be a Hall of Famer, and I get you would not pass on it. So I don't need to hear that argument in the comments.

I understand. It feels to me like, given that he is coming off of an injury, Kelsey, whether he retires now or in the future, this is at most one more season with him. Rishi Rice, more legal issues potentially around the corner. Patrick Mahomes has not put up MVP caliber stats in four years. It's been since 2022. I feel like you owe it to him to use this rare time to try to find him a weapon. Whether that is Jeremiah Love, whether that is Carnell-Taylor.

if he falls, the kid from Ohio State, whether it's the other guy from Arizona State that people think could be a top 10 receiver. I know Brett Beach will say I'm just going to take the best player available, but I feel like he legitimately owes it to Patrick Mahomes to give him a weapon on offense. Look, I've been saying Jeremiah Love because I want to see Patrick Mahomes supported. I want to see him get the help. I understand the need for an edge rusher to assist that defense, to assist him. Chris Jones, all those things. I totally get all of that. But when you talk about a quarterback, you just laid it out, coming off an injury, we've seen their offense kind of stumble out of the blocks

every single year for the last three years. And it's like, wow, can they get something from someone? We were waiting, Rashid gets back. Oh, he's going to be the guy. And it just never really turned into what we believed it to be. If you can get, could you imagine Jeremiah Love being that guy that obviously is down in Atlanta with the Falcons and Bijon Robinson over in Santa Clara with CMC like Jamir Gibbs? If he has an opportunity to have that type of weapon on his side, in his backfield where he can hand it off and or give a little automatic completion to an extension of the run game, it's a no-brainer. In my mind, you help your quarterback.

Those sacks, those worries about him taking an extra hit, they're gone. You just dump it off. You just dump it off. I know. Let me guess. Right tackle? Boom. You nailed it.

I mean, it doesn't make sense. You got a 30-year-old quarterback coming off an ACL injury. We don't know what type of version of Patcham Holmes we're going to get. He needs office of line help. If you talk about all the success that he's had and currently he's dealing with a large part of that, he's taking some unnecessary hits. His process has been sped it because of a weak offensive line. He's going to need help.

I love Patrick Mahom. I think obviously one of the best to ever do it, yada, yada, yada, yada. But we have an opportunity, the chiefs have an opportunity to secure him, right? And the only way to secure him is by giving him protection. I don't, I don't knock on. He needs help on the outside and give you all that. But we used to seeing Patrick Mahomes upright, not running for his life. So the one way to do that is a very good tackle draft.

It's a very good office alignment draft. Draft and offense in line. It's a unique opportunity for him right there. And I will, mind you, they drafted Clyde de lair. Didn't work out. Last pick of the first round. They did. Andy Reid once upon a time had Brian Westbrook.

I do think that he's the type of coach who would take a running back that high. Next storyline that I want to see this off season, and this is a little bit of a cheat, but I'm lumping all three of these pass rushes together. Miles Garrett, Max Crosby, Trey Hendrickson. I want them all to find new homes. I like that. And I put it at somewhere around 0% that Trey Hendrickson is back in Cincinnati. So I know I'm going to get one of the three.

You talked about Crosby earlier. Go ahead. I think a caveat has to be, and the new home can't be to any of those teams. Yeah, they can't replace each other. Yeah, Trey Henderson can't go to Vegas. Yeah, yeah, that, that, like, and I said it with Crosby, and I'll say it again, I don't like great pass rushers on bad teams. I understand that it's a salary cap sport, and everyone's trying to build, and you can go worse to first,

but it really bothers me. And not in like a Wilds, when Wilds talks about Miles Gary's, he had five sacks against the Patriots, but they lost, so how valuable is a sack. It's just that it feels so wasted when the whole thing should be try to close out wins from play out in front. So I hope all three of these guys move this off season. I love that. I will love to see Max Crosby the land on the Bears or the Bucks. I think there will be two good destinations where he'll eat at.

Also, I said it earlier. I would love to see Miles Garrett go to the star. Find your way to Dallas. If Jerry Jones somehow can make it happen, that team right now, they go from being a team that could potentially win a Micah Parsons away. I'm saying that between Quentin Williams, that defense, all of us shown if they clear, they can find some help on the back end.

You have a new defensive corner in Christian Parker, who I think is, he said, we've heard it on this show. He's a defensive savant. You got to give him something. If you don't give him an elevated play that can elevate the defense, you're going to get the same result. So I think a Mac, a big splash, like a Miles Garrett to Dallas, could be everything.

So I love the headline. So I like this. I would like to see each one of them not only going go to a different destination, but go to a destination where they know that they're not going to be solo, pass rushing. Like, they have somebody. So, like, for instance, I want to see one of these guys in Detroit. Oh, I want to- With Aidan Hutchinson.

I want to see somebody with Aidan, like, either Trey, obviously, the talks was about Miles a couple years ago. Like, Max, could you imagine one of these guys with Aiden Hutchinson? Would Montez Sweat suffice for you? Rosby opposite Montez Sweat in Chicago? No, it's a softer blow if it goes to Detroit. I got you. I understand. Yeah, I can't

do that. But I'm with you on this storyline. I would like to see these guys in a different location. I just doubt if, well, Henderson, yeah. Yeah, Henderson, with the other two, Cincinnati's telegraphed it. Crosby, if you believe, Jay Glazer, he says it's happening. Garrett probably locked him in with

that contract, but still, like, I don't see the point. I don't see the point. You can't build Cleveland into a contender fast enough for Max Crosby to get there. Let's get to this next one, and I think you'll enjoy this one, Greg. I want Malik Willis to keep the band together in Miami. Okay. So the Dolphins not only hired Jeff Hathley, the Packers defensive coordinator. They also hired John Eric Sullivan out of their front office.

So it's a Packers front office guy, a Packers defensive coordinator, And I just believe that Malik Willis is one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the world. I don't know that he is a 10-year starter franchise like Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, difference maker, and Miami is going to be bad next year. So this might end up being a bridge. So he might choose a spot that has another weapon or two. But I think that if they choose to bring him, they know him better than anyone else, It will be a sign that they really believe in him.

And I thought it was incredible that Jordan Love went down. And we've seen it a couple of times over the last two years. And Malik Willis just looked good. So I firmly believe that this guy can be a starter in the league. Yeah, it's interesting to have someone who's evaluating the talent and trying to bring talent in. And then a coach who's seeing them on the field every single day running the opponent's offense and you having to defend him.

And Jeff Hathley, obviously, the defensive coordinator with the Packers last year. Malik Willis was going to be running that the scout team offense every single day. So like to know what you're getting and to believe in what you're getting, to not have to question what you're getting. Yeah, this would be an ideal move for Malik as well as those two because they know exactly what their investment would be and what it should look like. Yeah, I hate it. Okay.

Yeah, I hate it. Thank you for letting me out softly. The offense don't have an office line. just left the building. We should just put an offensive line on there. So you mean, you think what I'm saying is, go to a better option? The Jets.

They should go to the Jets. You talk about a head coach and Aaron Glenn, who's hungry, they have pieces, they have a really good office line. You got to run it back in Breece Hall. Frank Wright is going to be the new OC. He knows how to develop quarterback. Garrett Wilson on the outside.

You have a young titan and Mason Taylor. There's weapons and opportunity, and he will be protected. Young fellow Millick Willis, come to New York. Listen to Uncle Willie. Come to New York. They need you. So that, that on paper,

No, no, no. We're all going off paper. It looks, it sounds great. If I'm Malik and I come from Tennessee and then I find myself in Green Bay backing up Jordan Love and seeing the difference of cultures and seeing how things are run. You think Wyoming has a better culture? Well, you're in New York? But, no, I'm, yes. You think the Miami Dolphins have a better culture than the New York just, the team that pretty much had an open.

rebellion against Mike McDaniels. When guys talk about they were disrespecting their head coach in his face, the fact that he got fired is because he lost the locker room. And you wouldn't tell me the Dolphins have a better culture than the Jets? My brother, I love you, but please. So tell me the last time, they're in the same division, correct? That's why? You're speaking to somebody who covers the Jets?

And tell me the last quarterback that has been over there with you guys in the Jets and that green that has had some type of success? We're not talking about now. I'm talking about right now. I'm talking about right now. So am I. Right now. Can we agree that they just both have bad cultures? They both stink. But if you're talking about a culture that's better and has a higher trajectory from Malik Willis. It's the New York Jets. The Dolphins don't have anybody. They're in Capel. They don't even know how to figure they're going to unload to her. Well, listen, I think the argument would be that they're going to bring in Green Bay's culture to Miami.

But Malik Willis might say that there's a better option than both these teams out there. But there's a lot of familiarity in Miami. So that's where I think he's going to end. up, but I like him for the test. I just want to see him start. I think he can do it. Next headline. I want to see Will Anderson become the highest paid defensive player in the history of the NFL. This guy, Miles Garrett is the best defensive player, and he signs that contract. He got the four-year $160 million, $123 and a half guaranteed, and then he set the sack record. I get that Miles Garrett is the best defensive player in football, but Will Anderson Jr. is the second best, and he is much younger and he's up for a deal.

Like, it's the year where that draft class can start to get paid. And I would not pay Bryce Young long term. And I would not pay C.J. Stroud, long term. Damn right. But I'd pay the third overall pick long term. And Houston has a pretty successful track record of signing their guys early and when they first come extension eligible. They're like the exact opposite of the Dallas Cowboys in that way.

And so maybe signing him early, you don't have to top Garrett. though my gut tells me that you will. Look at the pressure percentage that Will Anderson has put up the last two seasons. This is a big sample size here. He is between the two highest paid defensive players in the history of football. Miles Garrett and Micah Parsons, a little bit higher than Miles Garrett in terms of pressure percentage. So, like, these guys all get paid a ton of money, not trying to pocket watch on anybody. I'm rooting for him to get the bag.

But honestly, I think people still somehow underrate him. even though he was the best player on the best defense. Yes, because he has a complete defense. When you look at both of those guys, Daniel Hunter, Stangley, Lattimore. The back end, there's such a complete defense. And he's kind of- He's kind of- He definitely is.

He's the heartbeat of that defense. You take him away and that defense looks a lot different. He's deserving of it. He's earned it. Should they do it? Absolutely. Do I want them to do it? Absolutely.

Absolutely. If they can find a way to hold on to some of these, because they're young, too. Yeah. So it's like you pay him that much money and you are not going to be able to hold on to some of these other guys. And your defense starts to look a lot different. But I mean, but he's the guy. Right? Like him one, Stingley two, and then everybody else you figure it out, right? Best Adrusher, best corner.

That's why they have general managers to figure that type of stuff. I should be everyone's general manager. I got a lot of good ideas. I don't hate it. It makes sense to me. I mean, you award young talent and somebody who can be the face of your defense. You know, Denele Helen is getting a little long in the tooth.

You've got Sheldon Rankin's who's up there. He's a little long in the tooth. He's going to be the leader in the face with a very good secondary led by Stingley. So it makes sense. The other thing is people, not to do too much cap on TV because people's eyes can glaze over, but people, it's like, man, you sign them to the big deal. That's going to hurt your cap.

Like, yes and no. You want to know how much you are going to pay these people. Because the longer it goes, the more leverage the player has. We just saw a story today. Patrick Mahomes signed early, and then he immediately restructured. Oh, you guys need to free up some cap space. You're willing to write me a bonus check? Cool.

Restructure, open up the caps. So locking up elite talent the moment they are eligible to be locked up, That's never bad business. Even at first blush, you're like, ooh, that was $175 million we just committed to one player? Like, in two years, that ages very well. Well, you also want to do it because he's a man of good character. They speak highly about him. You know what I mean?

You know, not to call on names, but there's question is about George Pickens' character, right? So that's why people don't want to sign them long term. This kid, since he left Alabama, has been a great age, so we want to reward that. All right. So I think there's a real shot that he tops Miles Garrett this offseason. All right. Last one, this one's going to, we'll see if you guys agree. We've got a receiver on desk.

We talk Lamar all the time. I want Lamar to get his wide receiver one, and Alec Pierce is the name that I am circling. Because they've got the 14th pick in the draft, so I could see them using that pick on a receiver depending on how it goes. But Zay Flowers cannot be your number one anymore. And Lamar is going to run less, whether it's this year or next year, the year after. It's already trending in that direction. And I do not think that they are about to trade.

for N.J. Brown, I think we are going to talk about that all offseason, then it ultimately will not happen. We're going to talk about George Pickens getting traded, and then my gut tells me it's not going to happen. Alec Pierce is going to hit free agency, because I think they're going to have to put the tag on Daniel Jones in order to secure him to work out his contract extension, which means Alec Pierce is going to hit free agency, which means 15 teams are going to call. So if you sign Lamar Jackson to lower his cap hit, you've got plenty of cap space. You need to work on the interior of offensive line.

No doubt I'm not forgetting it. You've got to bring back Linderbom if you can. But I don't see how you go into the next phase of Lamar's prime, which should still be excellent and not upgrade wide receiver one. Allo Pierce is 25 years old. He's coming off the best season of his career, played 15 games, had all sorts of different things with happened with quarterbacks, jumps off the film, obviously a very supreme talent.

I want to see it. I want to see Lamar with a true number one. I agree. I just don't see the Colts letting him out the building. That's unfortunately because I think when you took, I mean, I can see them let go Michael Pitman Jr. But not him because of the youth of production and potentially listen, if you're going to bring back Daniel Jones, you're going to franchise tag him. You're going to need somebody outside of Tyler Warren to be your guy. He's obviously been in the system. I like where you're at DP. I just don't see it happen. So I got a name that I feel like works. And you can argue is he a true number one? Can he be a number one? I believe he can be a number one.

Health is a concern. Romeo Dobs, Dobs. Romeo Dobbs is because he played with so many other guys, it's he's not looked at and viewed as a number one guy. He will be available. Obviously, you have so many guys on that Green Bay roster, you're not bringing him back. He's going to be available.

He's not going to be as high of a price as some of these other guys. You can probably get him at a lower number. And the production, he can bring it. So do you, do you think he's a better player than Alec Pierce? Because I do not. So I don't know if he's a better player. But can he be?

He might be easier to get. Definitely, I believe he's easier to get. And you can get kind of the same type of production. Knowing that you got Zay Flowers, he's a big target as well. I just think, I think the Ravens have been. It's been interesting. Like, they have so much talent, but they have, the whole time, they have not found a true one. Like, Zay Flowers, it was a first round pick, and he's a nice route runner.

But he's not a one. Yeah, but also. DeAndre Hopkins, way past his prime, tight ends, running back. They go get a one. A one is necessary, but they also have to figure out what they're going to do without, what they're going to do with Isaiah likely. Like, he, for me, is a big part. I mean, we go back to the last game against the Steelers.

caught that ball deep with 14 seconds left in the game. Isaiah likely, right? He's a security blanket next to Mark Andrews. That's big for Lamar Jackson. So I agree they need the number one, but likely would be office line. Likely would be my two major concerns going into this offseason. A lot of teams are going to try to talk about finding a number one and maybe only one or two end up changing teams. It's going to be tough for everyone to get what they need.

But coming up, these guys get to experience the coolest stuff in the game. Wemby and Surgic. Basketball edition? Oh, my. It's going to be cool. Gentlemen, you are in for a treat. It's been a while since you guys have been a part of packed stats. They're the coolest.

They're so cool. And it felt like it was time to do a little NBA edition of pack stats as we come out of the All-Star Break. How do you know that the stats are cool? Because they come, Willie, in a briefcase. And does anyone look cooler than me? This is a lot. Like, I've seen you in a suit, but this is ultra-cool Danny Pete. So you're saying it's too cool?

It may be too cool. It hit the lights. Impossible. It just got cooler. But you know what else is cool? What's that? Aliens. Victor Wenbanyama.

He's an alien. How do I know that? The Joker, Nicola. Yoakich at the All-Star game asked him to sign his jersey, and he wrote his name, and then he was like, can you put the little alien? Look, it's true story. That's the joker asking Wembe to sign his autograph with the alien logo. That's how you know it's real. Aliens are cool.

I don't know if they're anything tougher than that. Right? That is pretty bad ass. Hey, I'm the best player in the world, but can you please sign your name as an alien? And you can draw. And I don't know if you've been on the internet, but somewhat former president confirmed aliens are real. Victor Wenbanyama, he is dominating already. Top five player in the sport, but not just with his stats with wins.

The Spurs are 7 and 1. This is a pretty cool stat against top three seeds in each conference. Everybody knows and it's got in a lot of attention that they're 4 and 1 against the Thunder, but they're also 1-0 against Willie's Knicks. They're 1-0 against the Celtics and they're 1-0 against the Nuggets. And they play the Detroit Pistons, the other top three seats that they haven't played yet. They play them on Monday. I believe that this is a sign that they actually can make a legitimate run in the playoffs.

What say you? Yeah, they definitely can. The thing about watching this team is they're so young. I feel like they still don't play through when Bingama, the way that I would think that they should play through them. And again, this is me. But when you have a guy who is just unguardable. Brew feels the same way.

Brew wants him to get a lot higher usage more touch. Yes, and he should. He's deserving. They share the ball almost too well. And I know that sounds strange. They have the depth. They obviously have the talent. But when you have a guy who is literally an alien, something we've never seen, you play

through that until you need other things. And knowing that you have those other things. Now, this is a good team. They have depth. They can shoot the ball. They can go inside and out. They got guys that can create their own shot. Like they have a lot of things that that are going to allow them to make a deep playoff run.

And he's obviously one of the most important pieces. Yeah, I agree, Greg. I mean, Wimby's a cheat code, hands down. I also believe right now you talk about youth. That's the only thing I've seen them really kind of stubbing their toe on that the fact that they don't have youth going against a veteran outfit like Denver, the Denver Nuggets or possibly O KC. Nevertheless, you talk about what he does well, he can take over games, man. I mean, his impact in the all-star game and how he's going to play in the second half of the game. this season is going to be big.

I like the fact that he shows up with maturity. He's gritty. He's tough. And there's a system. I think the fact that he had, the spurs have an option. They can run through a system where they just give him the ball and let him meet. I think he's a big time player. There's an old adage, right, that you have to, like, crawl, walk, run in the NBA.

You got to make the playoffs, then you got to maybe win a series or two before you're ready to, like, break through. And I think that that is, like, a totally reasonable thing in all of NBA history belies it. But he's 7-7. You know what? You know, like, if he's 7-7 and no one can solve him, I don't know how good they can be this quickly. Because I think Dylan Harper is also exponentially getting better as you watch and play. They are a very scary team and they have come to play against the best teams in the week.

The lights are getting me. You know what else was cool? What's cool, Danny? Starting fights amongst your friends. I'm a big fan of that. I know you are, Willie. You got in a lot of fights. Well, I'm going to start a fight with these two gentlemen here on the desk because Willel.

Willie's New York Knicks have a real problem with Greg's Detroit basketball Pistons. The Knicks, they've been a great offense. No lies. Would rank sixth in the NBA if they played everybody other than Detroit. No lies told. But Detroit's playing harder than every team in the NBA. And they're only average in 85. Open the second half of the season, I should say.

Tomorrow night, Knicks Pistons Part 3. Jalen Brunson has really struggled in the couple of the season. of games against Detroit so far this year. Willie, how do you explain this cool stat? Well, listen, it's some fortunate that we tend to struggle against the pistons. Tonight is going to be a big game. We see how we respond coming out of the break. Nevertheless, man, I talked about it a little bit yesterday.

We need cat to show up. I like that. We've added more defense. I think the biggest key for the Knicks is we got to push the pace, right? I think we got to get to them before they get back with that help defense they show up with. I'm a big fan of Brunson, but sometimes the ball can get a little stagnant with him. If we can get McKell Bridges, O.G, and all those guys back in the play as a team, we have a shot right now. But listen, I credit Detroit. They're really good, man.

Yeah, well, so this is what it is, Danny. This is for you, Greg. Detroit plays a physical brand of football. Everybody wants to start to say, you know. Football, basketball, basketball. I hear you continuously saying they play hard. They play hard. They're playing harder than everybody.

Yeah, that's just who they are. are. All I'm saying is. I know what you're saying. Regular season, they're putting out a better effort. They're putting out a playoff effort in the regular season, which happens to young teams all the time. And then everybody else gives a max effort in the playoffs.

And it tends to shrink the game. When you are a young team, this is what you want to see out of a young team, especially against some of the elite caliber teams. Against the New York Knicks, you know what they bring. You've played them in a seven game series last year. Like, you know what they are. And you talk about being stagnant. has the length to where they can contest.

They can make it uncomfortable for Jalen Brunson. And I know a lot of people think that they can make it uncomfortable for Jalen. But he tends to get to his spot, get his shots off against Detroit. They don't allow him to do all those things. And so in Kat, you know, I watched Kat for years in Minnesota. I love Kat. I'm glad he's over here in New York. Well, I'm just saying as you bask in the Piston Glory,

that's not forget what the Pistons playoff resume looks like. versus the New York picks. Like, you just know the resume, right? Like, it's good as you stated to do what you look like in regular season, but it counts in the playoffs. And in the playoffs, they go home early while we move along. So I just want to. When is the last next championship?

I was going to ask that. What was the last Pistol's Championship? O four. Sooner than you're more recent than your. It doesn't matter. Stats, please. Oh, you guys know what else is cool? They suck.

You know what else is cool? Being like Mike. I want to be like Mike. Cooper Flagg. He's on a list. with guys who you know by one name, Luca, Mike, and Larry. Rookie seasons last 50 years have averaged more than 20 a night, more than six boards a night, and more than four assists.

And listen, shout out to LeBron. He fell just short of the rebound threshold. Or LeBron would have been on this graphic too, obviously an incredible rookie season. But I actually think that because Dallas is so bad and because Wembeyanama, has been so good that Cooper Flagg's rookie season is being under-discussed. He is an insanely versatile basketball player, and he entered the league to within nine days the same age as LeBron James, except he was seasoned with a year of college basketball. He is unbelievably good already.

So the interesting thing about Cooper Flagg is when we started the season, he's playing point guard, and I'm watching just like everybody else. I'm like, he looked uncomfortable. Now you can see the plan that they had was to get him comfortable, get him acclimated with bringing the ball up the court, feeling that type of pressure. He can do whatever he wants now.

He has grown into the type of player that can get his shot, that can create for himself, create for others, set your offense up, get it started. Like, it's been impressive to watch him. And the most impressive thing is, Once you, when you made that trade for Luca Donchik, everybody immediately was like, man,

why would you trade that? Why would you make that trade? I was one of those guys. I don't know if he can come in and produce on the offensive end in the volume that Luca was able to. Now, he's not there yet. But he is showing flashes that he can be that guy. And they didn't know that they were going to get Cooper Flack when they traded Luca.

Well, I'm saying. I know that part. But they lucked into him being a replacement. They definitely did with the lottery and everything. But now that you have him, you didn't expect him to be as potent offensively in scoring in volume the way that he does and has most recently. Like, he has been special. Well, I agree with you. I think we knew I've been watching him since he's been in high school.

I mean, it was well documented when he played in a scrimmage game against the USA team when LeBron and was there that he showed up and made your way. And it was like, man, this kid has that it factor. Now you see him with Jason kid and you see him build around him. That's why you send Anthony Davis up the road. When you talk about Cooper Flagman, him possibly being the best two-way player in the game right now, At this age, at his age, without a doubt. I think when you move forward, man, what's going to be crucial for his development, man,

is can he now on the defensive side of the ball have a bigger impact? It's just as big as he having on the offensive side. We'll see if that ever comes. You want some cool gloves? Want some leather gloves? They're not going to fit. Yes, you're probably right. All right, time now as we move forward.

We're talking a little LeBron in a minute, but it's time now for afternoon headlines sponsored by Ram Trucks Built to Serve. Yesterday on LeBron's Mind the Game podcast, hosted by LeBron James and Steve Nash, LeBron, he gave his thoughts on the state of the Lakers at the All-Star break. Take a listen.

When I'm talking about, like, what for our team to be, it's not trying to get his numbers. It's about how can we get enough minutes and chemistry on the floor and reps like you know, okay, this is what our fourth quarter line of looks like. This is, you know, how we end up. the quarters, you know, a lot of games are won, you know, in the last minute and a half of quarters. For us to be, you know, I think 11 games, 12 games over 500 right now, top six seed

in the West, I think it's pretty damn good under the situation that we've been in, but we've got to keep going, you know, because the West, it changes every day. So listen, any team with LeBron and Luca and Austin Reeves and you play in L.A. in that spotlight and your top six seed in the tougher conference. I understand why this question is being asked. Contenders, pretenders. Can I ask it a little bit differently? Does anyone view them as contenders? Can they win? No. I would say no also. I mean, no. I mean, I don't see it. Man, they struggle with rebound the ball. And defensively, they're not very good. And you talk about the way Denver Luggets are playing without Yokers once he gets rolling on top of the way OKC looks once they get SGA. I mean, I just think right now,

they're, LeBron's calling for them to gel. I don't think they're. I don't think that. they have enough time to jail. And I think the greatest team is trending right now. I just don't see it, man. But hey, they're with their six in the West right now? Yeah, and it's bunched up to LeBron's point. And I don't want to dismiss them because we saw Luca, the argument against it is, well, we saw Luca carry a MAV's team.

But that MAV's team with Lively in Washington, there were better defensive athletes and younger players around him. The only path for the Lakers, and it's not completely unreasonable to win a series, to disrupt some things, is I feel like they have to be the best offense in the sport. But I don't think LeBron believes that, right? Like, you got bounced by OKC. If you took roster to roster, they can't even hold up with OKC. They younger, way more ranged. Defensive SGA is being compared to Jordan at this point in his career.

Like, it's just night and day. So the hard part with the Lakers is once you get past Luca, Austin Reeves, Lerner, Ler's. LeBron, you don't have guaranteed buckets. You don't have the depth. When you look at it, we know the depth that OKC has. You look at the Spurs. They have depth. You look at Denver.

Now this year, they have depth. You look at the Minnesota Timberwolves. They have depth. Everywhere you look in the Western Conference, there is a wealth of depth until you get to the Lakers. And it's like, well, we have Luca. We have LeBron. Austin Reeves is playing awesome basketball.

and we don't play great defense. Right. Well, they don't play great defense. They're not terribly deep, like you just said, and they're not terribly athletic. And then you talk about, like, Minnesota is big and strong and crazy athletic. Oklahoma City is big and strong and crazy athletic.

The spurs have Lemby and a bunch of young, fast, crazy athletes. And so it's like, I just, it's a real tough ask for them to, I do think that they can win a playoff series depending on a matchup. I don't think they could beat the third. What matchup? Like, I mean, well, can they get to the four or five line? Like, if it ended up being Rockets. Rockets?

If it was Rockets, Lakers, and the Rockets destroy them on the glass, but the Lakers have a great series from three. Like, the Rock is the best rebounded team in the league. Like, Shand Moly, KD, like, they would show up. They would destroy the Lakers' points of the paint and on the glass. They would destroy them. But, like, but could you out shoot the Rockets for a seven games? game series and win. I think that they probably could if Luca and LeBron are completely dialed. But I think they're drawn dead against the Thunder for sure. And I think they're drawn dead

against the Nuggets for sure. And then the Spurs, probably. So I think they're in a really tough spot. So you think that they wouldn't draw dead against the Nuggets or the Timberwolves? They would have a shot. No, I said they're drawn dead against the Nuggets. They're drawn dead against the They're drawn dead against the thunder. Yeah, I mean, the wolves are not a good matchup for them either. Yeah, yeah, it's a tough spot, man. But my point is, LeBron knows that. He does.

He also, his future is in jeopardy. We don't know if he's walking or he's staying. Nevertheless, they got to continue to build. I think they should, if I'm the Lakers, man, you got to figure out what you're going to do with no wing presence. They need more help on the wing defense. Well, that's a problem for next year's team. Who can be the next Bears?

The question I never thought I'd ask. Max Crosby had Caleb Williams on his podcast. It was a great 68 minute listen. What an easy commute. It flew by today. They're talking about the second season in the league and how the Bears were able to take such a huge year one to year two jump for Caleb year one to year two, year one under Ben Johnson.

Take a listen to Caleb. I can't not credit to anybody, but probably Ben and his staff. The control they had of, of, the situation, the belief and confidence that they had in themselves. But also, I mean, they sacrifice to get this thing going.

I mean, Ben got, you know, Ben got hired and then, I mean, they were to work immediately. All right, so these are the new head coaching hires. So, you know, the question's basically going to be, which team can make a bears-like leap next year?

And so, you know, we can't You can't pick the bills because they were good. They just had a new coach. The Ravens, I suppose you could pick them, though I would mock you. Because it's a bit of a cop-out. So you don't necessarily have to be a last place team, though there's a lot of those to choose from. But Willie, why don't you, Willi, why don't you, will you go first? Who's a team that could make a Bears-like lead?

Well, hopefully I'm not too on the nose with this one, but I think it's the Giants. That's going to be a very popular worst of first. Yeah, I think it's John Hallball. You talk about they already have some pieces in place. We know about Jackson Dart. I think the office line, two of the ones. the right tackle, right guard, the right guard being Van Rotten. Both of those guys are going into free agency.

They got to sure that up. But you have neighbors. I like Theo Johnson at the tight-up position. I said it yesterday, well, earlier, excuse me. I think they have one of the best front sevens in the football. Hopefully you get more production out of Dexter Lawrence. You know he was dealing with some injuries. Hopefully he comes back into in big-time form.

But if you're the Giants, you finally have an adult in the room, right? You finally have somebody that can run an operation who's a proven leader. And I think that's, for me, you talk about stepping in the building. He commands the respect. The guys are excited. I think we see a big leap out of the Giants next year. I think they're going to be a very popular pick because not only do they get a new coach, but you also get neighbors back.

Yep. And you get Jackson Dart just being more season. So he's entering the period of his where he takes a leap. And I've said it before. I'll probably say it 100 times this off season. I feel like when I watched Jackson Dart, I got kind of sucked up into the, like, like the highlights and the narrative and the recklessness and the concussions. And then at the end of the year, I went back and like the NFL put out this like 27 minute thing.

I'm like all of it. Like basically highlights and low lights from every game. That kid is talented. He's like there is a, it's volatile. It's reckless. But there is a high ceiling football player in there. I have no idea if he will reach his potential. But like there is a high ceiling player in there.

So I think it's a totally reasonable thing. I like that pick. Obviously, I think it's going to be a popular pick. But just to add to that really quick, like with John Harbaugh having, obviously, Lamar Jackson coming into the National Football League being kind of not a similar player, but a run-first guy, not that Jackson Dart is a run-first guy, but he definitely used to lean on his legs. He'll be able to kind of hone in on what he can do best. But my team probably not going to be a popular pick.

I like it. Go out on a limb. The Tennessee Titans. Terrible pick. I don't like it. I know. I know. And I like it.

I'm saying this because, like, you got your quarterback. You got your young quarterback. You obviously had the head coach hire Robert Sala. He's going to flip that defense, if not immediately, within a year, for sure. We saw it when he came to the Jets. And then you got Brian Daibo, a coordinator who's proven, who knows what he's doing with young talent at the quarterback position. I like that.

Then they don't have a whole lot of pieces. Oh, right, that part. It's the lack of talent. However, however, when you can, when you have draft capital and you have money to spend, you can acquire pieces. You have a coach that has a vision. And mind you, let me show you who they've had to play last year.

They had the toughest schedule in the National Football League. We don't talk about, We at nauseam talked about the New England Patriots having the easiest schedule and the football. Look at these teams that they had to play. They had the AFC West. They had the NFC West. A lot of playoff teams.

Like a lot of playoff teams. And you're talking about a rookie quarterback coming in, being inserted, and asked to go through that gauntlet. Like you're going to have a tremendous amount of failures. But you're going to learn on the fly. And I think he's going to do that. You obviously, obviously, have your division. A lot of defenses that he faced this year.

Given year two with a new coordinator, new system, a coach that's going to solidify who you are, identity wise from a defensive perspective, this is a team that will definitely come to play and will not be the same, would not show the same way that they did this year. And we'll have a really good chance of just flipping it. So I'm going to give you guys mind before we get out of here. And that is the Atlanta Falcons. I love the Kevin Stefansky hire. I can't imagine being Kevin Stefansky and being an offensive coach and going from the weapons he had in Cleveland to the weapons he has in Atlanta.

And it is a winnable division. And James Pierce sounds like he's got some serious off the field issues and he was an impact player for them. Their pass rush, so they've got to figure out if their pass rush improvement is sustainable or if it was a one-year thing. But if they can figure out a way to make Michael Panix Jr. coming off of an injury a real complete quarterback who will actually throw to Drake London, who could be a top 10 receiver, and throw to Kyle Pitts, who's a top 10 tight end,

and get Bejohn Robinson involved, who's a top two or three running back. They have the pieces to win with an offensive coaching upgrade. Like, there should be a top 10 offense in Atlanta if you've got a good system and a good quarterback. And I think you hired a good coach to get it out of them if there is anyone in there. So we're all going out on limbs here, and I have no idea if they can turn panics around. But I do think that the bones of a good team are in place there. I'm with you. I think it's just a health appendix.

He's coming off his fourth ACL. Yeah, that is a problem. He's talking about a guy who, Valick, who has a lot of upside. Nevertheless, you don't know if you can roll him out there and he can stay upright, right, solely because of the injuries. I like Kevin's DeFancy. I thought he was a great, listen, two-time coach of the year. I think he's going to change things around for him. One of the sidemones from Wheaturn Wonderful made my week.

It's next. It's a productive week here on first things first is we're bringing all the NFL teams into Dr. Danny's office and I diagnosed what ails them and I prescribe a cure. And so we're doing every division by the end of the week. Today, it is time for the AFC South to come into the office. So I got four more patients here. And we will begin with the Tennessee Titans because I've got to be honest. They got a laundry list of issues.

But what I would say is there's some things that are fairly. we'll say optimistic. There's a little bit of hope, but you've got to know if this treatment plan is correct. So I say all of that to say, is this a fixer-upper or a tear-down as we mix analogies between the medical field and your home? You have Brian Daibles, your offensive coordinator.

You brought him in because of what he did with Josh Allen. You have Cam Ward. Is Cam Ward good? I honestly don't know. It was a bad draft class when he was the number one overall pick. So was he the number one overall pick by default? He wouldn't have been the number one overall pick or the number two pick or the number three pick. I know that in Caleb's draft.

Let's show Cam Ward's stats for last year. And if we remove Week 18 from the equation, in his first nine games, they were atrocious. The last seven that he played, it was okay. It showed legitimate signs of progress, especially in the time sacked. It felt like the game was slowing down a little bit for him. At the end of this year, if you know that Cam Ward, Is that dude? Successful season.

If you know that he's bad, successful season, maybe disappointing, but at least like you know. You can't go into next year, like a year from now and be like, man, I don't know if Cam Ward's the guy or not. You talked about this team earlier, Greg. So I would, I'll defer to you here on Cam. So we can put those numbers back up because I look at those numbers and from a different lens and perspective. now, especially when you put into account or take into account that they played the most difficult schedule in all of football. So you think that the last seven is super encouraging?

Absolutely. When you start a rookie against the, with having to play against the toughest schedule that you have in your league, they're going to struggle. Look at how they had to start. But the Denver Broncos defense, the Rams defense at the beginning of the season, which was crazy good. Texans in week four. The Colts were a great team at the beginning of the season. Obviously, the Texans, I can go on and on and on.

We understand that. But you look at that second half of that graphic that you had up there and you see a lot of positive things happening, him being a little better, him understanding. I got to get rid of the ball, knowing where to get rid of the ball. All these things are signs for trending in the right direction. new head coach, new coordinator. I think this team has a lot of avoids that they need to feel, but quarterback, I think they believe that they have that guy.

Yeah, that's why you go get Brian Daybail because you feel like it's a fixer up, or you just need the young fella need some guidance. But I think that's a graphic you showed, he was sacked 38 times early this year, right? Then in Trent, it was a lot. Right, 38 times for a young fella, right? When you don't have O-Line protection on top of

you don't have nobody to throw the ball to, that's a lot. But you see what happened when he came out of that week 10 by band, buy man, the numbers change, right? Then he doesn't sacks go to 17 times. So I think right now, I think he's growing. I think he has leadership. You get him some weapons. You talked about they have money. Hopefully they spend it on office and show up the defense a little bit. But nevertheless, man, what Greg is showing, what you're showing is growth through this season. So lean on that. You got a pillar and I start building around it. All right, let's bring the next patient into Dr. Danny's office in the AFC South. And I got in my hands here, the chart of the Indianapolis

Colts. And they have something that ails them that I got to be. honest, there are not a lot of treatment options for. They don't have a lot of options. So you only have one choice. Signed Danny Dimes and go for it. Mix in maybe a little prayer. Because you went all in on Daniel Jones and then you immediately traded your first round picks for Sauce Gardner and then he got hurt. And so Anthony Richardson, he was a top five pick. Doesn't seem like he's the answer. You don't have a draft pick to come out of it. I don't see any path forward for Indy other than paying Daniel Jones

committing to him and hoping that he's the guy. Because, again, through week 30, you can build the case. If we show the numbers through week 13 before the injury, like, he was really good. He was cooking. He was really good. And now, would I like to have more than a 13 week sample

before I commit nine figures to a quarterback after trading away first-trap pick? Yeah, I would. But you don't have that out. There is one treatment plan for Indianapolis right now. I would franchise tag him. I really would. Just do it one year?

Just do it one year. I think because of the injury, honestly. The injury is a lot for me. We don't know when he's going to actually hit the field. You don't want to pay for a guy, commit to a guy who, you know, you only may see him for half of the season. I think you franchise tag him, you give them the money, and then you go into the next year of draft looking for your quarterback. It hurts because I think to your point, prior to that injury, I'm like, man, they got their quarterback, right? Like Danny Jones has finally arrived.

They have all the... the office line, the run game, defense was showing up in major ways. But the injury was really kind of the knife in them. So hopefully, I hopefully comes back, but I would franchise that. Yeah, look, if you're Daniel Jones, you invested so much in your off season, obviously leaving the way that you left New York, going to Minnesota, learning a little bit, feeling like I'm betting on myself, I'm going to Indie. I want to be able to start somewhere.

You started, you had a great season, you get hurt, and you put yourself in this situation. So to your point, if you are management, you're like, man, do I invest a long-term deal on somebody that I don't even know if he's going to even be ready to go next year at all? But he's young. I totally, I understand that. He's a pretty good athlete. But I think he'll start. Like, when he left Minnesota, there was reports that people in the building didn't want to let him go.

Like, Minnesota wanted to hold on to him. But everybody was like, well, we got JJ. He was not going to be able to chance to just be the starter. I will be floored if they do anything other than commit to him. I just think that there was a fork in a road. They went down it, got a little bit of bad luck, and I don't see a way out of it. Next patient is the Houston Texans. And what are you laughing at?

I just want to see what the doctor is going to say. You know what the doctor going to say. We all know what the doctor going to say. I am flabbergasted by the narrative around C.J. Stroud. I do not see how anyone commits to him. They will give him the fifth year option, and I have no problem. problem with that, but he is extension eligible. If they give him $250 million just because they can and they have a history of signing players early, can we show, this is a first 23, last 23,

as in games. He's played 46 of them. The first 23 are legitimately impressive. I still think his rookie season is one of the most overrated seasons I've ever seen. You've been consistent with that. You say it all the time. He didn't throw a lot of picks and he threw a lot of touchdowns in one game and everything else was largely unproductive. But fine. Okay, you beat Joe Flacco as a rookie. I guess I have to give you a ton of props for that. I don't know why.

But last 23 games, you've been a below average football player. I think if they give him a nine-figure extension this offseason just because they can, I think it would be crazy. So slow it down. Fifth-year option is totally fine. Yeah, I'm with you on this one. I wouldn't pay C.J. Stroud right away. However, I don't believe that his rookie season was overblown. Like any rookie coming into this league and having the success that he was able to have,

it is a feat and it's a phenomenal feat. And he accomplished that. A lot of quarterbacks would love to have those numbers put up as a rookie. But what we've seen since, it's not deserving of a long-term extension. And that's the problem for, and they know that, they are fully aware. If you are a fan of the Texans, you know why you weren't able to get to the Super Bowl this year. Obviously, injuries and a large bulk of that pie goes to C.J. Straub. Yeah, pack his ass up.

And bring who? Pack him up, though. And bring who? Pack them up and give him some barbecue and say thank you for your time. C.J. Shroud cost him a Super Bowl this year. And that's, I'm being 100% serious. What happened in that new... First of me, he shouldn't have beat my Steelers the way he played in that game.

But it did, right? That happened. Then you go to New England and you absolute poop the bed. Bottom line. You don't have your guy out there. You go find the guy, especially with the money you have. The issue with C.J. Strau right now, and I think part of it is that he was sacked a lot early in his career. The protection was really bad.

The pieces were in and out. He's done, bro. He's cooked. There's no way if I'm in that front office after what I've seen in the playoff with my number one defense who can travel on the road in New England and you should have won that game, pack his ass up. And I thought I was down on him. Pack him up. All right, last patient in the AFC South,

Jacksonville Jaguars. Very impressive finish to their season. Not a ton of issues. I love the Jaguar. On paper. But I got to say, I am not a miracle worker, but James Gladstone better be.

Young general manager comes in, seen as this brilliant guy, makes this hyper-aggressive trade, moving up from 5 to 2. Travis Hunter, I'm going to revolutionize football is going to play both ways. They're abandoning that basically

after one year, you're going to be a full-time corner, maybe a little bit as a wide receiver. You need to find pieces to put yourself over the home. You've got to figure out, most likely on the defensive side of the ball, we'll see if they trade Brian Thomas Jr. This is what you have to work with, though. Because now in Jacksonville, the expectation is go win a Super Bowl.

No question. You have the third fewest cap space, and you got no first round picks because of the things that you did. So you got to figure out a trade, you got to restructure contracts, you got to hit on mid-round. picks. Like, James Glassstone, your first big swing did not work in Travis Hunter. So now you've got to be

a miracle worker here because Liam Cohn worked some miracles last year. Now, if you want to get over the hump, you're going to need some help from your front office. Yeah, for me, you guys signed Travis ATM back. You got to figure out what you're going to do with Devin Lloyd. So Katie, and Craig Newsom down the road because you're telling Travis Hunter, he's going to play more corner for you. Nevertheless, that defense has to stay intact. But I'm with you. You got to figure out something in the draft that can elevate the offense because I think Brian Thomas Jr. was a no show for you. If you're able to do that,

jazz are going to the Super Bowl. Wow. Wow. Early Super Bowl pick from Willie. You know my dark horse last year. They came on very strong. A lot of these things will be answered. Great quarterback play.

Consistent quarterback play, they'll be great. Well, they nailed it with their coach higher. Liam Cohen seems like a great coach. And if that continues to trend in that direction, they're going to be a really tough team to be. Yeah. And Travis Hunter, I'm still really, rooting for him. I hope he plays both ways, but man, it's going to be, if he is just a full-time

corner, L-I-G it. He is going to have to be great in order to justify that trade up.