First Things First - Jaylen Brown introduced with 76ers, Josh Allen vs. Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott ranked 31st

Episode Date: August 7, 2026

(0:00) Josh Allen “wouldn’t be” all-decade 1st-team over Patrick Mahomes, Can the 76ers share the ball? (22:31) Dak Prescott ranked 31st on NFL Top 100 (41:48) Carson Beck’s HOF Game performance something or nothing? (46:08) LeBron expectations on 76ers, More likely the Bills take a step forward or back? (01:04:54) Jared Goff best QB in NFC North, Will Zay Flowers and the Ravens play in the Super Bowl?  (01:17:51) Is Joe Burrow on a Hall of Fame trajectory? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify.

In Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19-speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility, and Optic delivers with precision to make every drive extraordinary. Let's take the Cadillac. Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the the Cadillac definition of luxury. Live from New York, it's the show that needs to do this publicly.

I already did it privately. Reached out to Denzel Washington, apologizing for leaving, remember the Titans off of our best movies list. So I apologize. That's fair. That's fair. That is up there. Did you apologize to Cuba Gooding Jr. and radio?

No, but I did like that diving movie. I don't know if diving counts as a sport. Of course it does. As a sport. Did you apologize to Adam Sandler? Happy Gilmore got left off. That's a pretty good one. How about Denzel again? Hurricane.

Hurricane was a good. Oh, that's better than Remember the Titans. No, I wouldn't go that far, but it was great. Hurricane's great. Remember the Titans is pretty good. Remember the Titans is awesome. Also, over the top arm wrestling movie. That was great.

And it applies to real life. If child custody ever comes down to an arm wrestling competition, you know what to do. They weren't battling. Oh, yes, they were. The reason he won the love and affection in life of the sun was because it wasn't a And he won the semi-truck by winning the arm wrestling competition. Without that, he would have lost the kid. Everybody knows that about over the top.

First our first things first. Today, hot segment. Is Nick overestimating the chief? No, that's not the segment. The segment is you think they're going to be bad. Is KW too afraid to say it on the air? A segment that will be great for a Friday and ruin the show for a month. But this is what you guys want.

You think, I think. Can I help you out? Yeah, go ahead. This might lead you to tell your true feelings. You're not beloved in Kansas City. Correct. They already not feel like. I have the key to the city.

No, you didn't get the key. They named a day after you and it got rescinded. If the city's locked, boop. The locksmith evolved Kansas City. Meanwhile, Jared Gough on top NFC North QB and the NFL 100. Wow. Will he hold on to that spot by the end of the year? We'll find out.

And finally, Hall theme game. Look, it's all. It was a decent. It was a good. Good game. Could the Cardinals be the sleeper team of the entire league? Okay. Well, that's, I mean, we didn't discuss that. Someone's got to be. Someone's got to be. Way too far.

Some people had the Cardinals going to the Super Bowl a few years ago. That's true. One person, you. Oh, God. No, that big. He popped up. My goodness gracious. Nick Wright, Kevin Wilde's brew with some guests.

Yeah, family and friends. And happy birthday to my dad. And happy birthday to your dad. Yeah. We're starting. He's friend who is excited to go see tonight. We're starting in Buffalo slash Canton. New article about the Hall of Fame potential of active NFL players from former friend of the show, Bill Barnwell.

This has caused some real consternation in the studio halls here. Nick even slid into his DMs and put him on blast. No, I didn't put him on blast. You put him on blast. I did reach out to blast. I did reach out to Bill. Go ahead. Allen would be the quarterback on the all decade first team if it were to be released tomorrow.

Although there would be at least some debate. And you know, there'd be some corner here and there. About instead awarding it to Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahon. He wasn't even listed second. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or, you know, we're Mahomes.

All decade. I was shocked by this. Were you? I have a very sad announcement. I think I know what it is. I have said for a long time that if I ever were to become president of football operations for an NFL team,

which at this point is probably, I don't know, like a 50-50 proposition if it does or doesn't. Sure. Trying to make some inroads. Yeah, absolutely. We have a mutual friend that might have just taken over a team. Like, there's a lot of paths there. That my first call for general manager would be to Bill Barnwell.

That job's now open, boys. Wow. I'm so stunned by this casual, almost throwaway, obvious line. He talked about the all-decade quarterback, the way I would think you would talk about the all-decade tight end. Like, obviously, it'd be Travis Kelsey. Now, there might be some debate for Kittle. Yeah. But obviously it's Kelsey.

That's right. And he talked about it for a guy who there is a stronger argument that if it were voted on today would come in fourth than an argument for him to come in first. I wouldn't have him fourth for the record, but you could make it better argument for fourth than first. So first let me talk about Patrick, then let me talk about the four guys who would be in contention.

Because Patrick's 20-20s have evidently become wildly underrated. And when we do the 20... This is where Patrick would be in NFL history based on just what he's done in the 2020s, which is not including a Super Bowl he won in 2020 because it was the 2019 season. So that does not include the 2019 season where in the postseason, he beat Josh Allen in the Bills, AFC championship game, won a Super Bowl. He would be one of the five or six most decorated quarterbacks of all time based on this decade alone. And it's not over.

It's not, no, but it's not over for the other guys either. And so there are Mahomes, Alan, Lamar, and Matt Stafford as far as this decade. Here's what there again, not career resumes this decade. They all have one MVP. Patrick has two Super Bowl MVP. The rest of them have zero. Patrick's won two Super Bowls. The rest have won one, one.

Patrick's been to four, the rest have been to one. There's only one guy on the list who has never been first team all pro. It's Josh. The idea. So that's why I said there's a stronger argument. If somebody wanted to say it's Mahomes, Lamar, Stafford Allen, that is, it's not the order I would have, broo. But it is a more acceptable opinion than having Josh Allen number one for the decade on this list. It was so stunning.

I thought it was AI. And the fact that Bill hasn't responded to my text or DMs makes me worry, he's been compromised. Well, the weird part to Bill's credit is, now he's getting a lot of pushback. It wasn't just to you, correct? That he has picked the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl, I think, six straight years. Six years in a row. He's not an anti-chiefs guy. And I think that's unfair.

People are like, I always, everybody thinks every national person hates their team. That's not true. He's not an anti-chiefs guy, which makes this opinion all the worse. Tough one. Yeah, I feel like Nick Wright or maybe me. Yeah. Or maybe Patrick Mahomes himself is being punked. This can't, this makes absolutely no sense.

And Nick will, I think, will like this. Okay. Because this means anytime this is brought up on our shows, particularly by me, he will no longer be the face of it, but this is an unacceptable opinion. Unacceptable opinion. You can't have this opinion. An unacceptable opinion.

You can't have this opinion. And I respect Barnwell too. I think he does a great job. You can't say this. This is like saying, I don't even want to disrespect a great NBA player, a top 10 player. But there are certain top.

10 NBA players, you just can't say they're the goat. What about Breeze over Brady for the 2010s? That's a good one. Well, look at the, like, that's it. I mean, yes, Brady went to five Super Bowls, one three, and in the 2010s, Breeze went to zero and one zero. But look at the passing. It's not a good

one. I'm saying it's a good one. Example of this. Yes. Yes. This is just an unacceptable opinion, period. The end. And look, Mahomes, you mentioned the Super Bowls, the MVP's, right? And he gets cut off of one because he won it 19, MVP.

He also has more passing yards than Josh Allen in the 2000s. In the 2020s. I'm sorry, the 2020s. And he's number one in that in the 2020s. Mahomes is number one. He has more touchdown passes than Josh. Only by one, but still, he has more. He has fewer interceptions than Allen.

All right. This is the number two. There they are. Alan has him clocked in Russia. touchdowns. Stone clocked in rushing touchdowns. Sure. But that's the 2020 is their stats. What it is.

And you see the passer rating. I mean, it's basically even. So you can't, obviously the Super Bowls is a Trump card, but you can't even go. Well, yeah, but Josh has been so much better statistically. He hasn't. And to prove that, Tom Brady was the all decade quarterback in the 2000s, all right? thousand aughts. 2,000 aughts, right?

So he had been to one three Super Bowls. Peyton Manning's individual numbers are way, he averaged 1,200 more yards per year passing than Brady, average nine more touchdowns per year than

Brady, yet Brady, because of those three Super Bowls, and Manning won one in that decade. He still, Brady was the number first team all decade, Manning was second team. this is now look I started to think

Nick you can argue Lamar for sure and I won't even bring in Stafford but yeah you you can argue him too ahead of Mahomes or ahead of Josh no ahead of Josh yes there's no argument for anybody ahead of Mahomes so I was researching for the bud list I was going to do this

and I didn't do it because I was just getting angry so I'm not a big conspiracy theorist yeah no you're not and Pete Crow Armstrong went on Kristen Cavalery's podcast I don't know if you guys listen to it. And he said, you know, it is. We got to listen to this one.

Okay. He said, she's like, what's your hottest opinion? He's like, well, my hottest opinion is Babe Ruth doesn't exist. And I was like, I'm going to do this for the bud list. And I'm like, well, how am I supposed to fight out of that corner? Like, he actually did. He had a bunch of home runs. So I tried to research how to fight with a conspiracy theory.

And it gave me a question that now I will tell you, which I would ask Bill Barnwell, even though this is obviously not a conspiracy. The question is this. This is how you fight conspiracy theories and what I would ask Barnwell. What would change your mind? Oh, Babers didn't exist. What would change your mind? So, okay, Patrick Mahomes is not the first team all decade quarterback.

What do you need to see to have you change your mind? I think the answer is, I don't even, what hasn't he? What is missing? At this point, there's nothing. MVP, Super Bowl, like wrong numbers in the last two years? And we didn't even mention it. In this decade that counts, again, the 2020 season and beyond, they've played in the playoffs three times.

And it's not just a Patrick's 3-0. It's Patrick has played basically flawless football in those three games. Josh played amazing in the 2021 loss. And then hit and miss in the other two ones. It is an utter absurdity that does make me wonder, because Bill is so sharp. I don't want to say it's misdirection. But this whole article was, who's in, out of the Hall of Fame. And he used this as the opening and closing argument as to why Josh Allen,

if he retired today, is a Hall of Famer. Yes. I don't know that I agree with that either. Really? He's a Hall of Fame? No, no, no. Not that he, I think he will be. But if Josh Allen today said I'm done,

I don't think Eli is getting in. I don't think Philip Rivers is getting in. I do not think Matt Ryan, who has an MVP, or Cam Newton, who has an MVP, both of those guys have been to a Super Bowl, are getting in. I think the idea, I... If Lamar retired today, you think that MVP... He's in. He has two. He has two MVPs.

He has three first team all pros. Josh, with one MVP, zero first. team all pros and a bunch of wild card wins rushing touchdowns and glowing articles. I don't know. Like, again, I think he is like 98% to make the Hall of Fame. But that's not what the article was. The article was, if the world stops today, are you in or not? I am not as confident as Bill is.

Wow. Like, do you think that's gross? I think it's interesting because we obviously project him playing this way for three to five years, if not longer. And so he clearly was on a Hall of Fame trajectory. I think you bring up an interesting point. Like it depends maybe on how his career, if it were to end today, how it ended.

If he just retired and said, I'm done with football, there's an argument that maybe not, maybe he doesn't get in. If he had an injury, God forbid, and was forced out. Yeah, that's different. Then I think he definitely gets in because, again, people project what he would have kept doing. But look, I do think he's clearly going to be a Hall of Fame. Me too, to be clear. But this is, again, you can't.

You know what there's not an argument about? There isn't any, if someone, you know who could retire today and there's not an argument on if they're a Hall of Hamer? The guy was actually the all-decade first-team quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. And that's if his career was just this decade. Forget the Super Bowl and the league MVP and the 50 touchdown 5,000 yards he had in the 2010s. It was just this decade and he had one league MVP

four Super Bowl appearances, two Super Bowl wins, two Super Bowl MVP's. He's a first ballot, no doubt, Hall of Fame. If he played mediocre to bad football the rest of his career and never won a Super Bowl again or got there, he's still a home. And he's one of the five greatest quarterbacks ever if he does that.

You read the whole article? Yeah. Was there any other quarterbacks of AFC East? Tide of Brian will have them. AFC East, other quarterbacks? Drake May was on the list, as was Caleb Williams. I think there are not AFCs sometimes. Oh, AFCs. They said just like basically in.

What was the title? No, it was. Pretty much in, I think it was. No, not work to do. It was keep it up. It was just like, oh, you're like in. When Alex Blow's winning the Indy 500, just like just keep, you're fine. Just keep it up.

Keep finishing. You're totally fine. You're talking to Super Bowl. Yeah, exactly. Headed to Campin. Good job. Go ahead. Jalen Brown's long awaited.

Philadelphia press conference took place yesterday. Here he is on a good problem. The Sixers have too many good players. Take a listen. To be honest, it doesn't have to be anybody's team. It just needs to be based in respect and work. And that's kind of like my approach. I want to earn everybody respect and trust, which take time.

You know what I mean? Obviously, it's a lot of guys with talent and his egos. But to win, you got to be able to sacrifice. You got to be able to have trust and communication. So I want to come in transparent. I want to come in with my agenda on the table. Look, this is what I'm here to do. This is what I want to do.

I want to win. Basically perfect answer. Pruy your reaction. Yeah, look, he did give the perfect answer. It's going to be a challenge. Now, don't get me wrong, they're going to be very good. They're going to beat some teams, a lot of teams, just on talent. And LeB., at times, being able to take over a game, Maxi, M.B.,

whoever it might be Jalen himself. But it will be a lot of. a challenge. Having five superstars slash stars and Edgecombe may have star potential on the court at one time is not easy. It's difficult

because somebody has to do the dirty work. Somebody has to set the screen. Somebody has to play defense. Somebody has to box out, rebound, all the things you know, the role players tend to do and so they have to figure out who's going to do that. So like

I said earlier, They're going to win 50 plus games without question. But I said it on Monday. If I'm Nick Nurse, the head coach, I'm establishing an egalitarian offense that's heavy on ball and player movement. So there really isn't a number one option, number two options, so on and so forth. The ball finds the open man, the open man scores or shoots. So that's how I would play.

Secondly, I think they need to try to score and transition in the time. ton because if edge comb hasn't touched the ball on several half court sets in a while or LeBron or whoever, it gives you the opportunity to get some of those buckets and stay in rhythm in the transition. And thirdly, that an egalitarian offense would help them defensively because if there's not the pressure on one or two guys to carry the off. There's been pressure on Maxie to carry the offense. there was pressure on Jalen Brown to carry the Celtics offense.

If you remove that, they can give more energy to defense. And Edgecombe, Brown, and Maxie all have the potential to be very, very strong defenders. Do you think Maxie, even at his size, can be a very strong defender? Yeah, at the point of attack. I mean, and look, he's going to give you a lot of offense, so I'm not saying he's going to be Patrick Beverly, but I do think he can still at his position be a good defender. So two points here. First one is Nick Nurse was on, I don't know, it was Philly Radio or Philly podcast.

And the guy floated to him about LeBron that people were already saying LeBron was going to play point guard some. And Nick really seemed to embrace that idea, talking about LeBron initiating the offense, not necessarily being the primary score, but the primary initiator. I think that is a great idea. I think LeBron playing a, you know, older stage J-Kid Magic Johnson, you know what I mean? How you did in the Olympics. Correct. Like he did in the Olympics, I think is the best use. Because the one thing that this team doesn't have a surplus of on the offensive end is passing.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Like for none of these guys but LeBron, would you even consider passing one of the ones? of their major skills or even minor skills, really. You know what? I mean, Maxie... Maxie's fine.

I'm not saying. But he's not like a good player. Right. And he's a score. Edgecombe is yet unformed. Jalen Brown, I think it's really the only real weakness in his games like passing ball handling. And Embed for a guy his size can have

some flashy passes, but he's not an elite passer. So there's that piece of it. The other piece of it, KW, that I truly believe is, if you were going to have a team of five stars or potential stars or superstars or previous superstars, these five guys might be at the exact right spot of their careers for it to have the best chance of working. So Joel Embed has won his MVP, has won the scoring title, has made all the money. The only thing he hasn't done is play big play

claims, right? So if whatever it takes. You would think, maybe not. As far as a sacrifice. Quickly, if they were all in their prime, they just win based on talent. Yes. Like, Wade and LeBron weren't that awesome of a fit, except defensively they were, but offensively, but they won on talent. That's what they would do.

But so Embed is the only, the only box he has less to check is winning. Jalen Brown, and I think you heard it there, is coming here with some. something to prove, and I think he recognizes my avenue to proving it is not necessarily going to be about what my points per game were, because I just had my career high in points per game, and everyone said I sucked. Maxi, I think it's really important. He has three years left on his deal and has already been paid. That's important.

Yeah, I think that's super important. And the fact that Edgecombe is going into year two, not year three, so he can't even get paid after this year. So no matter what this year goes like next year is the, you know, the bigger year for him. Yeah, just win. Right. Like, play in big games. Chat.

Yeah, sure. Chat or J-dub. And LeBron chose this. You know what I mean? LeBron had all the options and chose this. Because of that, I'm not guaranteeing that it works. What I'm saying is it's more likely to work than players of this caliber and this usage rate just being randomly lumped together than I think it would. Okay.

Yeah, look, quickly, the hell. And we know M.B.'s health is huge. But I mean, like, there's talk that LeBron, you could rest him, you can load manage. Nobody would frown on that at his age. M.B., you could load, manage. They are going to need those five to place a significant number of games together. Because they have to get used to playing with each other. So they got a lot to work out, but obviously the talent is tremendous.

Unfortunately, we are moving the Cardinal segment to later in the show. According to Dusty, it's only 22. Dusty just told me we have to move the Cardinals, Panthers, to later in the show. I said, okay, we've got to get to our hot story after the break. How concerned should we collectively be about the Kansas City Chiefs? That's next on FS1, the Fox Sports Channel Series, except. It's Dusty. A lot of people say we don't cover the small market teams.

I said, I got a big script. You must be ready to drop the hammer. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result?

Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. Predictions week is coming up August 31st of September 4th. AJ Brown makes the graph. A logoless helmet. It's a guardian cap. How do you make the graph? Oh, that's a guardian cap?

Are you sure about that? Of course. That's not our helmets. I thought some teams like you don't get the logos on during training camp. Oh, maybe. If that's a guardian cap, they're getting better. The guardian caps are starting to look cool. Are they getting smaller?

Okay, that could be one. Stay tuned. It's going to be star-studded. NFL top 100 coming in at number 31. Dak Prescott. Let's take a look at who has been revealed so far. Dak is ahead of, immediately ahead of, Burrow, Herbert, and Gough.

Still too calm on this list. Mahomes, Alan Stafford, Drake May. And we think, Darnold. I'm starting to get nervous. Rice Young is on the list. There is no way Donald is. But Darnold's jump. I expect to see Darnold already because this is different than other lists.

Right, because they don't, the playoffs. They did it in December. Yeah, they do it before the playoffs. So I'm starting to get nervous for Sam. But he was sad to last year. I already think that the list is not good. If Darnel's not on there, just in the list. Yeah, no, I mean, I think he will be.

My guess is he's going to be barely, like, golf was only two spots behind deck. I got to think Darnold's coming up very soon. Yes. Also, congratulations to Drake May officially a top five quarterback now. Also, it also, we just said the list. And on this note, just quick, before we into the actual topic. If Darnold comes in behind Drake May, you're going to find that outrageous, right? 100%.

Yeah. I believe in winning quarterbacks. Yeah. Against Drake May. Against Drake May. Head to head, outplayed him. Exactly. That's how it should work.

Okay, thank you. I'm consistent. Go ahead. Do you think DAC is primed to move up this list? You know, we come here 365 days from now. It's going to be higher or lower. He is definitely primed to move up. He could easily,

I easily see him moving ahead of Drake May, sorry. Tough. And Darnold, a year from now, no doubt. Now, the challenge is going to be that. Lamar, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert. Like, will they move ahead of DAC? But I think DAC is going to have a phenomenal year. All right?

Look, his last four healthy, like, fully healthy, He threw for about 4,500 yards or more and 30 touchdowns or more. Like when he's healthy, and that was not with two of the top seven, top 10 receivers in the league. He's got two outstanding receivers. He's got a good productive running back in Giovante Williams. Like, he's going to have a great year. This won't, this list we said is done in December, so this won't affect that. In our eyes, and I think most people's eyes, the way he moves up, let's say, to become a top

five quarterback would be the postseason. And it won't affect this list. But that's all. He has to play really well. Not that they have to even get to the Super Bowl, but if he plays really well, they win a game or two. I think he does have to get through that ceiling of the second round. I think he has to get a conference championship appearance.

I agree. If he was great in the first playoff game. let's say they won. Second playoff game, they lose a tough game to the Rams, but he's great. And let's say, I think he's going to be in the MVP race. Okay, sure. And so I think maybe that he could move into the top five. There's so few playoff games where the losing quarterback plays great,

where we're like, that was a win for them, no matter what, outside of Stafford. Was Stafford against the Seahawks? I'm trying to remember. Yeah, that way he played, I mean, that was. like 3835. That's what I'm saying that type of game. There's, yeah, but you're right. But everyone, we're usually fine one or two plays like that you could have gone.

That's decided the game. Yeah, I mean, it is the, you're correct that there aren't, there's not a bunch of, you know, epic quarterback duke duels and playoff games. Yeah. Which is what you're just, it would kind of have to happen. Normally it's somebody's defense wins the day against the other quarter. Oddly, Jalen hurts in the Super Bowl. That's one that gets talked about a lot.

He had the one mistake. So the question I found myself asking myself when I saw this list, so here's where DAC has been historically in this NFL top 100. So right after his rookie year when they went 13 and 3, and he actually, that game, he did. That is an example. They were the number one seed. Cowboys Packers, he was amazing in that playoff game and lost in the divisional round.

That was the game. You know. Yeah, exactly right. But I'm saying, and he did great on the, he did great. And then, you know, he popped once a couple years ago. On the sandal list, he's never done better than he did this year. He's been tier two a bunch of times, but as far as his overall numerical ranking and average, it was the best he's ever had.

So the question I was asking myself is, are we in the midst of a DAC Renaissance? Nice. Are we in the midst of like there being. Because where I will give a lot of the analytics community, which sometimes I agree with and sometimes we make fun of, credit on this player is for years, they have been very high on Dak Prescott. They have said that DAC is underrated, that what DAC does pre-snap is underrated, that the fact that he is an ultimate floor razor for the offense to bruise point, almost no matter who the coach, skill position, whatever it is around him, if he's healthy, you're going to have a good to excellent offense. they've always really liked DAC and thought that we have underrated him kind of in the national media.

Some empty calorie yards is the knock. I think, yeah, I mean, that has been the knock. The lack of playoff success has been the knock. I'm saying the analytics folks have always loved him. And now it does seem like there is... He's getting more love. He is getting more love. Like Colin who's always been, I don't

want to call him a skeptic, but you know, kind of tepid on DAC seems to be very, you know, bullish on him this year. brew who's been, I think, tepid on the Cowboys, as fair to say, might be bullish on them this year. And I do also think he benefits from the fact that his age of quarterbacks, his, like, draft contemporaries, there were a bunch of misses. He's like the only quarterback his age that's we talk about. You understand what I mean? Like, the quarterbacks that came into the league, like, 13 to... He was in, what, 14? He was in 14.

Right. He was, well, his first year was first year. I think it was 2016. But like 13 to 16 was basically the quarterback desert. And so there's not like 33-year-old quarterbacks. There's the super old guy, Stafford, and then the next oldest is basically Mahomes on down. You know what I mean? I think you hit it on the air with why.

Exactly. Why he is starting to get more respect because he's now done it for a long time. and he's the only guy in that group. Because obviously all the other greats we talk about are younger than him. Yep. So he is the only guy of his generation. And he's done it a long time

because I'm even giving him more respect than I have. Head to Kansas City. Chief's practice has featured a spry-looking Patrick Mahomes. A does he or does he not have a dad bod, Travis Kelsey. And sixth overall pick, Mansour Delane, wearing a yellow non-contact jersey. He has yet to put on pads.

Headline from Sports Illustrated, magazine of record, as you know, bro. As injuries pile up, do the chiefs have a cornerback problem? Josh Briscoe Redding, Spag's defense, training camp reps. System comfort always mattered, even if Delane is cleared for full contact in time for the chief season opener. I do now have some doubt that he'd get the every snap responsibilities I envisioned when the team drafted him. Now, he was supposed to be the answer. You're supposed to develop this position.

Should you be more concerned? This is a hot topic in the meeting. Hot topic. Take the case. that you should be more concerned. Yeah, make the case. Sure. In my own creative way.

I went and got my car looked at at the dealership, bro. This is going to be great. And they pride themselves on having great customer service. So the person that was helping me said, you know, hope you enjoyed your time at the dealership. I'm like, no, you put new tires on the car. I didn't enjoy it. He's like, you're going to get a customer survey.

My name is Brian or whatever. It's one through five. I just want you to know, and I don't think he was supposed to tell me this. I just want you to know, anything less than a five is considered unsatisfactory for me. I was like, well, that's not what the... You said that to you? Yes. You have to get all fives or he gets in trouble.

So I'm like, well, gee whiz, now you put your thumb on the scale. I don't want you to get in trouble. But I said that's an interesting way of looking at things because it's the preseason. Why don't we just look at like, where are you a five? and I took my favorite team and I took it against like my second favorite team, really two favorite teams, chiefs and the Patriots. How do I feel about Drake May? I'm at a five with Drake May. How do I feel about the weapons that we have? I'm at a five. Well, you shouldn't be. You should not be a five for your weapons. For the record, we were just in the Super Bowl. We averaged 29 points a game. We got Romeo Dobbs and AJ Brown was the best offensive acquisition in the entire league. Is there a better offensive acquisition than A.J. Brown in the entire league?

Well, I was doing my thing and then you interrupted me. So that's what we're doing. Okay, go ahead. I didn't know. They did play a bunch of tomato. I totally agree. They went to the Super Bowl. So you're a, the Patriots have perfect quarterback, perfect weapons. Got it. I'm saying I'm at a five. Well, I would rate the Patriots. I won't out of five. If you think there is a better offensive acquisition this year, other than A.J. Brown, I'd love to hear it. Kenneth Walker, but go ahead. Kenneth Walker, if you think Kenneth, Kenneth, Walker will have a bigger, yeah, because let's get to it. Because you guys lost

a receiver that you thought last year was better than AJ Brown. You think Kenneth Walker and A.J. Brown are in the same plane of acquisitions? I think that the, I think that the Chiefs upgraded at running back so much dramatically more than the Patriots upgraded at wide receiver because I was

instructed, I was told last year that Stefan Diggs was arguably a top five receiver last year from you and that made a Diggs was the number one combo. So he's gone. So AJ Brown can just hope to mirror that.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs went from the worst running game in the league. But that's not, I don't think that, if your argument is, the Patriots are going to be better than the Chiefs, that's totally legitimate. I'm not even,

I'm not even, I'm just, I'm setting the groundwork of what I was talking to with the deal of. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

Our defense, pretty good last year, but we did give 29 points to the Seahawks. I put us at a four. Not great. We did give up 19 points. We played some tomato cans. I'm out of four.

Okay. Health, I'm at a five. Okay. Nobody's really hurt. So that's where I'm at. Overall, I'm probably out of four. Upwards of five. You, I would say, are very confident in the chiefs.

Yeah. This is how I have, I've judged the chiefs, which also I have a favorite team. Mahomes cannot be at a five. Okay. Okay. Okay. Where was he last year? What do you mean?

Where would you say Patrick Mahomes? Holmes is more injured at this moment than he's ever been in his entire fear to start week one? I think he's absolutely totally healthy right now. Okay. I think he's been cleared for full contact and I think he's totally healthy. If you think Mahomes is right now the exact same as he was four years ago, you're going to give Mahomes a five coming off surgery. No, I don't think he, I don't think Josh Allen is the same as he was four years ago. I'm not talking about Patrick Mahomes.

You're saying Patrick Mahomes is a five every year, including the year. Again, on your, on your, on your, if you are asking me, on your, if you are asking me, on a one through five scale, grade my competence of the Chief's quarterback, it gets a five. We can do the rest of the things you would like. Sure. So if Patrick Mahomes has a five, I'm shocked by that. Patrick Mahomes had a knee race. Well, if he's not a five, then there's screws for the first time in his career.

Just because of the injury, the last three years, he hasn't been great statistically. I think that's fair. I'm just putting out of four. I'm down as a question. There's a one. I'm saying it's more questionable. You know, that's great. receivers. That's it.

Weapons. Weapons is right now a two or a three. A two or three. That's what I have. Travis is older. The wide receivers are right now very tough. Schefter said you guys went after Stefan Diggs didn't happen. I don't.

What did Schefter say? The Chiefs Dolphins Raiders reached out to Stefan Diggs. Okay, yeah. I don't, I am not saying Schefter is wrong. He should have went to the Chiefs. I am saying that if the Chiefs. It was just money. The Chiefs opted to not sign Stefan Dix.

Okay. Is what I would say to that. But go ahead. Maybe that I, again, I didn't hear, I didn't see the report. That's all. That's all it was. It was just a line. But I'm not giving, I'm not giving the homes a five.

I'm not giving the weapons of five. Defense, McDuffie and Watson are gone, and we just heard Delane is hurt. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not giving that a five. You were 22nd in Sacks last year. Chris Jones is a year older. I'm not giving that a five.

No problem. So I'm looking around. I'm like, where are the, The fives. For me, as a Patriots fan, Drake May is a five. We have two new wide receivers is a five. You think everything about the team's a five. That's not true.

I just told you the defense, the defense. The weapons in the quarterback. First of all, I did not even mention the coach, but yes, he is a five. Yeah, I know. The offensive line I have down is a four. That's their five. That's their five. It's, it's, Andy Reed, that's it.

No, he said. Okay. It's a five. My health is a five. I mean, again, I don't know that you think everything's a five. I thought you, I thought everyone that you listed. I did not. The defense can get better.

I'm still at like a four and a half, five to the Patriots. But I don't know what is a moral of the story. What is like a no doubt, no-brainer five for the Kansas City Chiefs this year? No doubt, no-brainer. Okay, can I go now? Yeah, go. The coach and the quarterback. The team that has been to five of the last seven Super Bowls and had a down year.

That's a five. The defensive coordinator that took the youngest defense in football three years ago, like he's going to have a young defense this year. And by the end of the year, they were one of the best. best defenses in football and remade the secondary on the fly. What I believe to be the absolute biggest upgrade at skill position any team made, which was the chiefs going from the worst running situation in the league to just 10th, I think is a bigger upgrade than any team made, even if A.J. Brown is a better player than Kenneth Walker.

I just think the upgrade there is absolutely massive. But I... But he's not a five running back. No, KW, I'm going to be, I'm going to do this very respectfully. You have just invented the scale based off Jiffy Loop. I am not, I am, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know how to like mix these metaphors. You're telling me I, that it's outrageous for me to say Patrick Mones is a five quarterback, but the upgrade of Kenneth Walker isn't a five either.

I don't know this scale. I am, I, the, the, the, the, the, I, the. The point that you have been flirting with all summer that I tried to bully you on the call this morning into making. It was not, hold on, was not that the Patriots will be better than the Cheaps. You've said that repeatedly. You're not afraid to say that. I'm not trying to make that argument. I'm trying to make my confidence on my team versus the confidence in your team.

I'm less confident in a team that got better for the Patriots at wide receiver, at offensive line, in general health, okay, then you are with a six-win team that I don't see where you guys got better outside of running back. And all of a sudden they go from six wins to 12. No, because I think there's, you're looking at the world as if it was a one, that last year is the only year that existed. And what I'm saying is they have the infrastructure of a team that wins 12 to 15 games every single year. What happened for them to win six games last year? The offensive line, which we didn't discuss, that they lost 35 games last year from starters on the offensive line. That's an overstatement.

They just lost, they lost the starter and then the backup and the backup. But, you know, they lost three-fifths of the offensive line from a quarter to a half of the season. The quarterback got hurt and missed the end of the season. The wide receiver got hurt and missed the beginning of the season, got suspended for eight games, six games of the season. all of those things. So some of my confidence comes from the infrastructure. Some of my confidence comes from who they have been every single year. But the point I was trying to get to, and I am still trying to get to, is I think it is totally valid if your belief is the Pats are going to be better than the Chiefs.

What I think your belief is is that the Chiefs are going to be bad. No. I think the Chiefs are going to miss the playoffs. I think certainly the Chiefs are candidates for me. missing the playoffs, that I don't see a team that, oh, this team bounced back. It remade the defense. It did. You might say they made it. Well, we don't know. No, your main, you were like, you traded up to get Delane. And then they traded another first round pick on your secondary. Yes. He hasn't put on pads. Yes. How could this be going worse for you? How, how could it be

going? He had, he still has yet to wear pads in practice. Yes. I think I'm a lot to say, oh, that's a little bit funky. Just like how Mahomes is ahead of schedule. He's not. I'm the one who brought up. I don't even know if the Delane injury was on everyone's radar. I'm the one who brought it up this morning. I, he has a shoulder injury. That for a number six pick, that is concerning. As far as the upgrade of the defense,

the other first round pick, the pick they got for trading Trent McDuffie, Peter Woods has been an absolute monster. And as far as him being helping the pass rest that you're talking about. But I, if you're, and this is, we're still, we're 15 minutes in. Brew hasn't gotten to say anything. And we still don't know what your opinion is.

You don't know what my opinion is. You don't know what my. opinion is. I'm trying to find out do you think right now in pencil, it's not predictions week. Not predictions. Right now, do you think the Chiefs are a playoff team next year? It remains to be seen.

You still won't say it. That's what I want to know. It's very much on the board that they're not. Yeah, but it's how I can see them making it. I'm not going to doubt Mahomes like that, but the idea that they're winning 12 games. You think that's, they got the fifth best Super Bowl odds. I don't care about the odds.

The odds were wrong last year. Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19 speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility, and optic delivers with precision to make every drive extraordinary. Let's take the Cadillac. Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca.

Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. Hall of Fame game last night, Cardinals Panthers. First look at Carson Beck. He goes 15 for 19, 188 yards, and a touchdown. Panthers win late, though. Here's Michael Flore on his rookie QV. Good but not surprised.

It's the same guy that I felt like he saw watching the tape. It was a cool environment for him to just kind of, you know, it's just another game, and that's the way he took it, and he's been in big ones. And, you know, I think that's just kind of, I think that's just kind of how his mindset works. I was proud of the way he played, and it's a good first stepping stone. Beck's performance, something or nothing, just the Hall Fame game, but not nothing.

Yeah, I'm not going to overreact, but it's something. He played well. He threw the deep ball well. He threw it over the middle well. The fade, back shoulder fade for the touchdown was a phenomenal pass. Like, he looked good. We remember he played six years in college, at obviously a high level, Georgia, Miami. When you say that, it sounds like you're like making like an extreme.

Like he played like six years in college. Well, that helped. He literally. Literally played out. He did play six years in college. Basically a veteran. Yeah. And of course, we saw highs in college.

We saw lows in college. So the key for him is can he do it consistently? This was a nice step. And with what, Jacoby Brissette, Gardner, Menshew on the roster. No, they want him to be. Yeah. He can be their guy. And it was a good debut.

Yeah. They're gonna. you know, hold out hope that, you know, every, not every few years, but Russell Wilson, obviously was third round pick, long time starter. Jack Prescott was a fourth round pick, long time starter. Brock Purdy. No, that's absolutely right. You're just going to just get a diamond in the rough.

Purdy is really a true extreme because he was so late. But the, like, the guy who, you know, going into the draft, people were like, maybe he sneaks into the first round and then ends up being second, third, fourth rounder. He was more in that mold, like Russell and Dak. He set that guy up. I know. That one wasn't great. But I, one spot I am consistent on is I care.

I remember last year you got mad at me. It wasn't even in Chief's conversation where I was talking about some, we were having some conversation about a young player or a new player to the league. And I talked about how much I cared about. It was a quarterback conversation. about how old they were. And you were like, you were like, I don't care about that. I care about it immensely.

You brought that up with Bo Nick. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So, like, the fact that he is older than Drake May, that he is one day younger than Caleb, who's going into year three, you know, older than Drake May was going into year three. He's only six weeks younger than C.J. Stroud, who's going into year four. He's six weeks younger than C.J. Stroud.

He is six weeks younger than C. weeks younger than C.J. Straub, who's going into year four. He turns 25 in November. And so I say that because he needs to look good relatively earlier than your typical mid-round

rookie because he should be far more refined. So it's less that a great Hall of Fame game is awesome more than a bad Hall of Fame game even though he's a rookie and it would have been a little concerning. But if you're Arizona, you know, Jacobi Reset's a great backup and a bad

starter. Like you would, you hope that he could supplant him at some point. It's a good start. Bo Nix was the, that was the knock on Bo Nix. And he came out and has won more games than every other quarterback from his class. Yep. Like he looks ready to go. Want to hear the wackiest stat

you've ever heard in your entire life about the Cardinals before we go to break? Jacoby Brissette went one in 11. Passing yards per game, which is the worst record of any starting quarterback. Passing yards per game, first. 290 yards a game. Yeah, I mean, when you're behind, you're going to throw to rock.

It's interesting. Brissette is a really good backup. Yeah, he's a great backup. I like Berset a lot. You like Brescent a lot? You like them a lot? Are you going to add for a backup? I also like that.

The first ever, all-electric, 2026 Subaru Trail Seeker is the EV for the trail obsessed. With up to 444 kilometers on a full charge and DC fast charging from 10 to 80% in about 30 minutes in ideal conditions. Plus, ample ground clearance and symmetrical all-wheel drive make the 2026 trail seeker the most capable EV Subaru has ever built.

Test drive it at your local Subaru dealer or visit Subaru.ca. Live from New York, the show with a major announcement for the second hour. Let's hear it. All right. I need to apologize to the show in the audience. During the break, I went to go get more coffee, and I couldn't figure out. I've been working with KW for six and a half years. I love the man. His national treasure.

I'm used to his somewhat wacky, long winding analogies. I usually enjoy him. I couldn't figure out why his stupid jiffy loop thing irritated me so much. And then I realized, brew, then I realized, I hadn't put my nicotine patch on today. Are you serious? So I'm on edge, boys. Are you kidding? I'm not kidding you.

Totally irresponsible. Did you put it on in the brain? No, I've got it right here. I'm about to put it on during the T's. I got to unbutt my shirt and do it. But you guys are lucky I didn't come across the tape. That is. The Barnwell's, the first thing I saw this morning was Barnwell and I have

my home. You haven't had your nicotine? All day. All day. You know what the moral of this story is. That's like me not wearing my toupee. Going up here. The moral of the story is you were right.

About what? There was. There was. I knew that. There was major. I think you guys should hug. No, we're not going to hug. Show the people it's all good.

It needs nicotine. I don't want to. Show the people it's all love. If my toupee fell off, we would add major problems. Not funny. You Amazon prime me a new toupee for Monday. Go, go. We got to go to video so I can unplug my shirt.

Wow. Up first things for us today. What are the chances that LeBron's 76ers chapter goes poorly. We found some anonymous executives. Yeah, who is that? I mean, who knows? You know, it's late, it's late August.

It's early August, but late in the week. Meanwhile, the newest Ravens quote, that brew will either love or hate. I don't think we even showed this to you, did we? Dusty whispered it to me. Whistly. I don't remember what it was. Why did he whisper it?

It's amazing. Can we caught me? You actually are taking your shirt off right now. I'm almost done. Can you just put it on your neck? Do we need Giannis to help? Parts of my body. The shoulder works best.

Giannis is in charge of social media. Yeah, go ahead. Josh Allen and the Bills are favorite to win the AFC East, and he said that the plan is to keep knocking on the door until he finally breaks through to the Super Bowl. Here he is talking about his former O.C. turned new coach. I've had some of my best career years in my career with Joe Brady at the helm, column plays, and now that I get to see him as a head coach and the way that he's just been authentically himself throughout this entire process. process and the way that guys respect him and really gravitate towards them.

It's been awesome to see. Is it more likely that the bills take a step forward or backwards, Brew? I mean, look, they won 12 games. They won a playoff game. You know, it's hard to improve on that. But I am going to say that they take a step forward. I'm high on the bills. I think the bills are going to have a great season.

And I'm just going to break it to you now. I know it's not predictions week. they're going to win the division again. I'm sorry. Well, again, it's interesting. We're taking a year off. Well, how many they win before that? Four or five?

Six, I think they're going to win the AFC East. I think Joe Brady is going to be very good with Josh Allen. I think Leonard, Jim Leonard with the defense, I think is really, I know Sean McDermott was a very good defensive coach and did a great job with them. But I think Leonard is really going to take them. Not that he's better than McDermott, but a fresh voice. Sure. Take them to do things differently.

They're disguising things, coverages a lot more. I think he'll take them to another level. And look, James Cook, I'm happy that it is the return of the running back, right? We've seen running backs have huge years lately. And now there's a couple years ago, remember, they're having trouble getting $9 million a year. And now, Bejohn and these guys are getting paid now, Jemir Gibbs. 74, 75 million. James Cook's making

48 million over four years. I'm sure he's looking after leading the league in rushes, rushing, looking at what they just got and saying, okay, he's making 48 after 4, he just signed it. And that wasn't a bad right. He signed it. It was very emotional. Yeah, I thought it was a great deal.

No, it was at that time. No, that's why I was, and the chiefs got Kenneth Walker for basically 14 and a half a year, a few months ago, then the market exploded. Like the market, yeah, it was the Kenneth Walker briefly was I think I don't think he was ever the highest paid because Saquan and CMC had gotten little tacked on years above it but yeah the running back the non-saquan CMC running back market was getting more than 10 million was a huge like a huge

accomplishment wow yeah so he you know he may try to he's going to play well no question and then add DJ Moore we know it's a number a legit number one receiver I just think they're going to be good I think they're definitely taking a step forward Okay. Don't get mad at me. I'm not. Oh, man. Did you do your little survey thing for Buffalo?

Not yet. Because I bet they wouldn't do as well as your pets. For you. I'm saying for you. QB is a five. QB is always a five. Not her, as long as you didn't have, you know, surgery.

Yeah. Yeah. No, but I'm saying by your own metric, they, I don't, you couldn't give their coach a five. Well, I just haven't seen him, but I don't know. A lot of that is just a coachman, No, I wouldn't ask. He was so high on McDermott.

Well, I think that there was, you know, it's a bit of the devil you know element with McDermott. Like you, for good or for bad, you kind of knew what you were getting. And now you are, it's similar with the Ravens with Harbaugh, you are really opening up the realm of possibilities there. I look at their, I don't think you have five weapons. I don't think they have five weapons. You know what I mean?

As far as that scale. I think their defense is a big question mark. I, because I haven't thought the last couple years, early in Josh's tenure as a great player, they had awesome defenses that fell apart in the playoffs. That's really not true. Patrick Mahomes dissected them in the playoffs. Other than that, they were.

And last year, they gave, what, 33? Yes, that's a tough one because he got all the extra possessions with the turnovers. But, yeah, you know, that is true. But no, no, my point is, I thought the last couple of years, Brue, they haven't had great defensive personnel. I thought early in Josh's career, they had great defenses. The last couple of years they haven't, and I think that's where McDermott was valuable to them.

So I'm curious. Like you guys like Jim Leonard, he went to Wisconsin, good guy, you know what I mean, good rep, but we don't know. Like that, that's a question mark. With all that said, if I had to pick, you know, I agree with Brue on, to me step forward means they get back to where they had been. as division champs, I think they will. I am not guaranteeing it.

It wouldn't shock me if the Pats win the division, but I think they will. I don't think they need to win more than 12 games. I don't think they have to improve their win total to win the division. You know what I mean? I think the Patriots are, you know, right for... Yeah, an 11-win season would be, I think, a really good season for the Pats this year,

and that would be three less wins. And am I picking them to make the Super Bowl? Probably not. You know what? Definitely not. But would a step forward just be, you know. Winning the division. Winning the division and not having a mortifying division around loss?

Because I consider the way they lost last year, all things considered and what it led to, a pretty disastrous loss. So I think a step forward. But I don't think it's a lock. It could be another. I would be absolutely shocked, shocked. if the Chiefs and the Ravens

don't take a step forward from last year. Now there's a big gap between six wins and 12, you know what I mean? You need to step forward when nine games sneak into the playoffs. I wouldn't be shocked at all if the bills don't take a step forward, but they're my pick. So predictions week is coming up August 31st, and one of the games we

play, everybody does it, is you get to pick a worst to first team. Wow, you know, this team is going to be the sleeper. They'll win. You know, last year we had the Seahawks and the four-win Patriots go to the Super Bowl. There is, we don't necessarily play this game because it's not maybe as fun. Great to bad.

Great to like, oh my goodness, can you believe it? It happens every year. Chiefs and Ravens. Chiefs and Ravens. And we can go through like, can you believe that the Rams all of a sudden fall apart? I'm trying to think of another team that like we thought everybody thought was going to just be excellent. 49ers do it kind of more often.

When I look at the bill schedule and we know that one of the powerhouse. teams every year just falls apart and we're left scratching our heads at the end of the year. This schedule combined with the coaching turnover question mark has me voting the bills are going to be the look maybe it was just a blip randomness. Who knows they were due for a down year. Can I? It's a tough skill. They are they could very easily not very easily, but this is what's going to happen.

What's going to happen? The bills have never started slow. Josh Allen hasn't. They were 5 in 5 the other year. Right out of the gate. 3 and 0, 4 times, 2 and 1, 3 times. Gotcha. If they start 0 in 3, which would be...

Isn't it true that if any team starts 0 and 3, they're in trouble? Teams that are 0 and 3 are 2 and 123 to make the playoffs. Yeah, but can't we do that with every team in the league? If they started on three, yeah. But not every team is playing. But you're saying near the Texans, which Josh has struggled to have two of the worst games of his career against. The Lions on a short week, which I just think is weird. But the short week does tend to favor the home team.

Like I. In the new stadium. And then the charges like, hold on. Are we in a must win against Justin early Justin Herbert? And then Patriots. It's I'm it's not predictions week yet. But no, I just, but I. I'm already starting to panic about the bills.

I think that's a little bit of wish casting. Like what is the Patriots opening schedule? Even worse. Right. Really bad. No, so that's. But I'm going to start freaking out. And so, and I don't, I was just trying to pull it up.

We've got sea. The Patriots schedule? No, what I was, what I was trying to pull up is because the bills are favored in three of those first four games. I'm not sure if they're underdogs in Houston. That's the Patriots. The Patriots on the other hand. And our underdogs in three of their first four years. You think that's worse?

That's not worse. It's not. It's not. Thank you, bro. It's easy. Thank you. Well, it's. You don't think it's worse, right?

Well, what, again. At least we have the Steelers, but they have not. I think the Jags are very. Yeah. But I guess the point that I'm making is the Patriots, and again, I am not using, whether it's the Chiefs having the fifth best Super Bowl odds or this conversation. I am not trying to act like I think Vegas is gospel. The reason I reference.

it is, it is supposed to be an unemotional evaluation. You know what I mean? Whether it be the odds or, sorry, Dust. Show me the Pats schedule, then show me the bill's schedule quickly, if we could. The Pats are literal underdogs, week one, week three, week four. And now if we go to the bills schedule, the only one I'm not sure about, which is why I was trying to pull it up, is if they're underdogs, the bills are literal favorites. week two, three, and four.

We're basically underdogs on the road. They're favorites at home. Yeah, well, yeah, of course. So I'm saying as far as just the odds of, and I'm looking at the week one odds right now to see if they're favored against Houston or not. No way. I'll take that a second. The bills are one and a half point favorites in Houston.

So the bills are favored their first four weeks. So you're talking. I call my wife, we're going to take out a second mortgage on that one. You're, you're, I mean, listen, you're, I mean, your normal bet size is $1. Go from there to second mortgage. I thought it might be. I don't know if people I haven't watched Josh Allen versus this Texas defense.

That's done nothing. But we've watched CJ Straub. It's totally, no, but it's totally fair. I like CJ Strauss. That's the only point I'm making. The point is like Bill's Pats win the division as far as the early. I think both teams have a nice buffer of we get four games against the Jets and Dolphins. Yeah.

So if Phil's and Pat both feel like split with each other, sweep those two teams, now all of a sudden you're at five wins, you really only need to go like five and seven against the rest of the league to make the playoffs. Or five and six, I guess, against the rest of the league. We're talking LeBron. Sam Amico spoke to two veteran NBA executives who didn't share Phillies' enthusiasm for LeBron's 24th season. Here's the quote. Buckle up.

He's still LeBron, or still has moments where he'll remind you he was once LeBron. But this is going to be the chapter where we watch him and say that he's stuck around too long. Someday we'll ask, remember when LeBron played for the Sixers and laughed. I mean, all right, so real quick, this is noteworthy because Sam Amico says this was a general manager. So it wasn't like a scout. This wasn't a. name personal. There's only 30 of these. You know what I mean? This is...

Yeah, no, I had veteran NBA executive, but if you had General Manager. No, no, no, no. When I read it, it said General Manager. It said what we have on there. And so, I mean, that's like a real, that's a real take.

And it is certainly, I will acknowledge, when no player other than LeBron has made it to year 23, and he's playing in year 24, when he's I don't even know at this point. Is he at 70,000 combined minutes, playoffs and regular season? Like, it is certainly possible that the clip, you know, I need the clip.

But as far as predicting it or almost saying it like it's a fate accompli, when we just saw him be the best player in a playoff series, LeBron led a team with the next five leading scores or leading minutes guys were Rui, Marcus Smart, Luke Kinnard, DeAndre Aden, and his son to a playoff series victory in which he led both teams and points and assists. This year, here's the six guys who did that. There are six guys who in a series this year led both teams and points and assists. The defending MVP, the three-time MVP, the finals MVP, and two of the best young players in the league. So I just, I do not anticipate, Brew, that we're going to look back on the 2026,

2027 LeBron James Philadelphia 76ers season and laugh about it as far as it being, again, I don't laugh at this, but like, ewing with the magic. Like, again, I don't laugh at that. Just don't even think about it. But just don't even think about it. Yeah. Yeah, look, like you said, it's, of course, on the board he turns 42 in December. All right.

But I don't see it coming either because you talked about earlier, Nick Nurse playing LeBron at the point, which makes a lot of sense. We saw LeBron as a point guard with the Olympic team, obviously surrounded by tons of talent, and it was great. That could easily happen in Philadelphia. He could run the point and get, which I think does make a lot of sense because LeBron can establish a tone

where they are sharing the basketball and I don't expect him to be their leading score. I don't think he should be their leading score. Now, his numbers, I would imagine, will drop, but he could average 17 points and 7 or 8 assists, and it's not like he still plays well. Like, he still looks really good. So I don't see this.

Look, he signed a two-year deal, so maybe next year the following season could he fall off? Sure. Right. I mean, I guess that's. on the table but no we've seen nothing to make us think he's going to fall in that bad.

If he's healthy and Embed is playing, what is your ideal stat line for like LeBron for a month of just, he's not on a heater and he's not slumping. This is just like, oh that's just right. I would say like

18 points, eight assists, six rebounds. And I was going to I was going to go. The, ideal stat line with a healthy Embed

16 points 10 assists. If people forget this the title season in L.A., LeBron James played point guard and was the league's assist champion. Like led the whole NBA, I think was the only player in the whole league to average double-digit

assists. And so like I do think with a, because it is their, I think Maxie Edgecombe, Brown, and LeBron can all be malleable-ish, I do not think Embed can be. If Embed is out there, Embed at this point of his career is great at getting buckets. And so when he's out there, you're going to have to, you know, that high pick and roll they did in the Olympics with LeBron and Embed. You got to run that, and LeBron's got to get him the ball.

Like that's where I think LeBron, with Embed out there, his scoring dips significantly and the assists go way up. 16 and 10 is easy. Two buckets a quarter? That would be a great stat. Steve Nash won an MVP all that. That's easy. As Jared Gough, the best quarterback in the division. That's next one.

First thing, first to all my toupee. Popping right off there. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture, are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows

to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. Welcome back to first things first.

Chris Sims asked newly extended Zay Flowers if he'd treat himself after signing a four-year deal. Here's what Zay had to say, bro. I'm going to do something after the Super Bowl. I'm going to wait until we play in the Super Bowl. Then I'll take care of myself. If we went to the Super Bowl, then I might take the whole offense on a trip or something. Okay, brew, traditionally you've been against this.

Well, with one team in particular, the Cowboy. Because they say it all the time and it's their owner who's not banging heads. This I love. Really? I'm with this. Zay, that's what it's about. it is all about the Super Bowl there. And for him to say, I'm not going out and getting the car of my dreams.

I'm not going out and getting the house of my dreams. I am waiting until the Super Bowl. That shows me everybody's locked in. That's all they're talking about in Baltimore. Super Bowl. And Zay had something to do with why they didn't get there against the Chiefs a couple years ago. Yes. So I love it.

I am totally with it. Again, you wanted to surprise us to agree with this quote. Was he talking about spending the money on himself or on his teammates? At first, I think, Chris said if they win it, right? But then in a nice gesture, he's like, if we win the Super Bowl, I'll take everybody. Oh, okay. All right. So I thought it was, because I was going to say, it's just a way to kind of shirk not buying everyone Rolexes now.

You know what I mean? Wait until after the Super Bowl. The wide receiver doesn't need to buy people Rolex. Well, once you become a $35 million a year guy, you can get guys your teammates something. I think traditionally, I think. Well, you'll pay for the trip to... I mean, not the whole team, but again, Lamar.

Everybody spend whoever's money. Can I say, just before we move on, Brew, I feel like this is the only team you would accept this from. And it makes me feel like your opinion is being colored by your fandom of Lamar and the Raven. Certainly if Jamar Chase

said this. I would tread lightly with what if AJ Brown said this, if whoever is available for the Chiefs said this. If DJ Moore said this, if the Chief said it, I don't think he would be bothered at all because they go to the Super Bowl basically every year. If Tyquan Thorin's like, well, we'll see. Well, once we go to

the Super Bowl. I think it's... Well, he's not Zay Flowers. That's true. If, if... Well, Zay's not... I don't have a big... Listen, I don't have, I don't really have a big problem when guys on almost any teams say this. When Me and Jeannie hates it

and we have, you know, kind of all fallen in line with coach. You know what the guy's talking about. He set the Super Bowl. It does bother me when Jerry Jones says it. And we didn't like it. We didn't like it when the bills hung the giant like banner, the Lombardi Trophy or whatever it is.

Yeah. I view that differently than one player trying to speak something into existence. And I also do view it differently, Tuesday's credit. It's a sliding scale of how close you've been, how realistic is it? You know what I mean? Like I, I think I would look, I wouldn't be bothered by it. But let's say this exact quote was said by Jemir Gibbs and by Bejohn Robinson. I think I'd probably look a little more askance at Bejohn.

You know what I mean? Gibbs, like they've been close like Baltimore. It's like, you know what I mean? The next thing we're going to do it. And so I don't have a huge problem with it with Zay. We have, we've just kind of patted this story, batted this story around, pardon me, and maybe we just don't need to do it. It is stunning to me that they gave him this deal.

That is a smart front office. It is a, and I just, it felt like one of the rare, it felt like an NBA deal in that. Some NBA deals the day they're signed, you're like, well, that's a bad deal. And that doesn't happen that often in the NFL. You know what I mean? Usually in the NFL, the, we don't,

the snap reaction isn't, that's crazy. except sometimes with quarterbacks where you feel like they were like Trevor, I know when he got his deal, people, whatever it is. This is a true real vote of confidence from the new regime in this player. I know it's the same front office, but I'm sure the coaching staff signed off on it, a true vote of confidence. It's the fourth most guaranteed money of any white receiver. Yeah. I'm stunned as well. And I like Zay Flowers.

It's a very good receiver, but he's not in the Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase. class. No, and to me, he is in the right now in that same class of DJ Moore as far as he's a number one. Yes. You know what I mean? Like he's your number one and that's fine. And that, which is why it surprised me when the bills gave up what they did for DJ Moore and then guaranteed part of his deal. This surprised me as well. But it's a real vote of confidence. All right. Headed to Detroit coming in at number 33 on the NFL top 100 is Jared Gough. Now they were last place in the NFC North. last year, but golf is first among the quarterbacks in this list. Good worst to first, Candace. Yeah, they're a great one. Goths 33, Caleb's 51, Jordan Love, 72, and not ranked or not ranked yet,

Kyler or JJ. No, there's just not right. It would be surprising, but it's not, journalistically, not ranked yet. Do we agree that goth is the best quarterback in the NFC? In the MC North. I agree that he deserves. to be the highest ranked going into this year, and I personally would have it in the exact order

they have it. I think Brew would probably have Jordan ahead of Caleb going into this year. I would have it just the way they have it. I would be very, very surprised if he's considered the best in the division or the highest ranked in the division after this year. Because I do think Caleb's going to take a leap similar to the one he took last year. And so if that's the case, I think that's enough to supplant Jared Gough. But right now, for all my civilian versus superhero stuff, his production is pretty unimpeachable. His consistency is right there.

He did it last year without Ben Johnson. They still scored a bunch of points, even though they ended up technically last in the division. But it's not like they didn't have the disaster season the Chiefs had. They were eight and nine, I think. They were eight and nine and tied with the Vikings. They ended up being last. He, yeah, he has, his body of work brew deserves this designation for the time being.

You use the right word, consistency. I mean, that's what he is. I can pencil in 30 or more touchdowns. The numbers are crazy to him. 4,500 or more yards. Really good. And Caleb, we know, had a problem with consistency. Jordan Love at times has problems with a little reckless, little consistency.

Just a bad decision here, there. He got a lot better last year at it. but has those issues. But the ceiling of love and Caleb are way higher than golf. And the thing with golf, too, is he has the best weapons of the group. You know, I know you got Justin Jefferson and Minnesota, but he's got Amunrae St. Brown and Jameson Williams and Sam Leporta. And then Jemir Gibbs at running.

Do you disagree with that? No. You're just saying Justin, okay, but outside of Justin's just. Oh, I wasn't even excluding the Viking. No, that was my curveball. Yeah. But outside, but you, you don't think they have better weapons than the- No, I think the Lions do have the best weapons.

I think Justin Jefferson is miles ahead of everybody else. But I wonder that we just like, all right, let's, it's a three-man race golf, Caleb. Oh, is this a Kyler? I mean, a little bit. Like, right at this moment, just hold on, at this moment, if we got, like, what we think about Kyler in Minnesota, is he higher or where are you more optimistic about Kyler right now than you were about Darnold when Donald popped

in there after bouncing around teams. Remember Garnold was Steve Young. They didn't kick that around. He had a year under Shanahan which helps a lot of course of that. But if he pops like Sam Darnold, we're going to be like, oh yeah, of course. You got Justin Jefferson, Kevin O'Connell, great defense

will steal you some wins so you don't have to light it up. You're playing inside. You're playing inside. The side of Darnel has been, has had better prospect, has a more successful. Proster prospect. Yeah, Darlin is number three.

Number one versus number three. I mean, yeah, I mean, just say the, the, I mean, Darnold was like, you know, a high smith. No, that's fair. Listen, I'm not going to act like I was bullish on Darnold when he went there. For the record, the Vikings were not bullish on Darnold either. They did not expect him to start. Yeah.

They drafted a quarterback to start who then JJ got hurt that preseason, which is why Darnold then started. And they let Darnold walk. Correct. But my point is, like, we weren't having a Darnold discussion in small part, at least because we thought it might be J.J. might be the quarterback. I am just flatly. I, this sounds mean. I don't mean.

I don't believe that Kyler Murray is an above average NFL quarterback and that starting quarterback. And so I don't, even with Justin Jefferson and even with Kevin, you know, Kevin O'Connell, the greatest coach ever who's, never won a playoff game. We lost a couple of home ones. I don't think that's going to, they're going to be able to rekindle that magic. I also think it's very interesting for Kevin O'Connell because the quarterbacks he's had the success with, like cousins and Darnold are very different than Kyler. I think what's more likely than Kyler has a Darnold-esque year is a, yeah, do the, is Justin Jefferson more valuable to the Vikings?

in a trade than he is on the team. I mean, that would be shocking. I mean, it would be shocking. For Justin Jefferson, I mean, it just would be a, StarWiders, users get moved. Huge trade. Here's my last argument for Kyler. We always, we, would be the best quarterback.

To have the best season. Is that a good? To have the best season and have the best season. Wow. They were eight and nine last year, and we all thought they were, you know, in our, they don't feel like they were. eight and nine. No, they feel like they were in last

place and the lions were the team in last week. Yes. Yes. So I'm like, all right. Can you, I mean, they had Max Brozmer starting his first game. He was doing wacky stuff.

JJ was out there getting booed by his own, you know, home team. I'm not saying Kyler has to win 14 games, but can he be three games better than the patchwork quilt of QBs they had last year?

So you want to go ahead. I mean, I don't. always I understand what you're saying. The reason I think that is more complicated math than it sounds like is. Are they the year-to-year fluctuation in defensive performance in this league is massive? And I think a huge part of their eight and nine last year was Brian Flores and that defense. Oh, they were nine and eight.

Oh, nine and eight. Gee whiz, they only need to win one more game. So that means so the lions were all, whatever, I, this is all. Flores, I do. They were both 9 and 8. They're all above 500, and the Vikings won the tie break. Yes, okay, thank you. Don't you think Flores?

I think you'll be good with that. Oh, I think Flores is great. No, I think Flores is awesome. I think Flores, if not for some lawsuit reasons and maybe some personality reasons, would be a head coach in this league already multiple times over. I just think that there is a level of we see it all. Like, the best offenses in the NFL historically, year to year, You know what I mean?

Like if you were the number one offense, you maybe dip to number four, and then you're three, and then you're seven. Defenses can have these massive changes year to year. I do agree if they get the exact same defensive performance they got last year, then yeah, they could win double-digit games just because Kyler, even with my pessimism, is better than what they had at quarterback last year. I don't anticipate that they'll have that exact same defensive performance. It would be my guess.

Turns up, bro, I just talk. I talked myself into the Vikings winning the NFC North on accident. Well, the problem with that is then you don't have a worse to first. I'm not sure that's because the lions are the easiest worst to first ever because they were nine and eight. We don't actually think they were worse. We don't know us high on the Cardinals. Watching caution back. We didn't mention J-Lo.

J-Lo is going to be the best quarterback. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to. reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. Saturday night is baseball night in America on Fox. Guardian's White Sox,

Orioles Rangers, Tigers, Giants. It's tomorrow at 7 only on Fox. Welcome back to First Things First. Former friend of the show, Bill Barnwell, he's in our bad graces now because of this Mahomes stuff. New article gives active NFL superstars their Hall of Fame progress reports. Lamar Stafford, Mahomes, and Josh Allen are all in. Joe Borough listed as having work to do. Injuries are the concern here, Fernwell writes.

The Bengals also haven't made the playoffs since, 2022. And while that shouldn't impact Burrow, given that he has already made it to a Super Bowl, more playoff success wouldn't hurt. Do we think that Burrow is on a Hall of Fame trajectory? No, not at all. Now, he is a Hall of Fame talent, Hall of Fame caliber player, but so far he is not on a trajectory. And I, and I disagree with Barnwell. I totally do. Right? Saying missing the playoffs for the last three years, three years shouldn't hurt him just because he got to the Super Bowl. Brock Purdy got to Super Bowl too. A lot of quarterbacks have gotten to the Super Bowl.

That doesn't give you a pass for the next five, six years of your career. And so Joe Burroughs never been all pro. No. He's never been top three in the MVP race. No. He's played only three full seasons in his career. He's only won more than 10 games once. All right?

And he's made the playoffs two times. in six years. How in the world does that speak to Hall of Fame trajectory? Now, again, I think the talent is there, clearly, but there's no way he's on a Hall of Fame trajectory. Yeah, I mean, I totally, usually, a little peek behind the curtain for the audience. Not our show is not a debate show.

What is, I, I, I, I, it's a fun hang. It's a fun hang. Yeah, a friendly hang. I tried to make it competitive sports debate. You guys said we're not going to do it. I'm fine with at times it is. Every once in a while. Although it got ugly of about a hour.

It takes me a fun hang. But the shows that are true competitive sports debate, you will only do a topic if, like, people vehemently disagree on it. They don't make up disagreements, but it's like, hey, where do you stand? That's not necessarily true. Okay, sometimes they might make up disagreements.

There you go. But our show, but still, even on this show, Conversations can be a little boring. Everyone's like, I agree, I agree, I agree. So we don't always do it. I just love you disagree. I figured we would all agree on this, and I still want to do it because I think the audience,

I think a lot of the audience is like, obviously the guy's going to be a Hall of Fame. Because he is discussed and considered, you know, in this tier of greatness, because at his best, he is great. And he does have, you know, as he is one of the only people with the Mahomes

in the playoffs pelt on the wall. There's only two active quarterbacks with that. Him and Jalen hurts. Jalen gets no credit for it at all. Burrow maybe gets extra credit. But I think that there is a you know, I do on the podcast

every year there's a new Hall of Fame class. I try to guess who next year's Hall of Fame class is. And the reason I think the pro football of fame so great is because it's so hard to get in.

So like last year we talked about all these great players who have been waiting who are going to, you know, Eli didn't get in, I don't know they ever will. Philip Rivers, Torrey Hall, these guys that have had to wait for so long.

And then next year, all of a sudden, Grunk is a first time eligible. Big Ben is first time eligible. There's one other no doubter that I just talked about who is also first time eligible. Richard Sherman is first time eligible.

So next year, there's the one other, no doubt, I'll remember in a minute. There are three short, there's only five spots. There are three surefire guys who jump the line. Sherman might as well. That doesn't even mention Antonio Brown and Cam Newton, who are also first time eligible. And I think Cam's not going to get in, Antonio isn't have to wait. You simply don't have six quarterbacks from an era. You know what I mean?

Around the same age, make it. And if we think Patrick is in because he is. Lamar is in because of the two MVP's because he is. Josh, it would be stunning if he's not. Burrow has a lot of work to do and has to really make up ground

to not be in the Philip Rivers. You know what I mean? Because the Brady Manning Big Ben from that era pre-Rogers post-far are like the guys. Then Philip Rivers and Eli Manning

are like, what about us? And the answer might be... Eli's in a whole different world, though. Right. Eli is a very different type of case than Burrow. But I just, I think he has a lot of work to do. The other day, Bruce Simmons was arguing that Drake May was the top four quarterback and he got pushed back on it.

And he's like, I won 17 games last year. I was like, yeah, that's a good argument. I looked it up. Joe Burrow has won 19 games in the last three years. I believe it. So I'm like, all right, if you've won 19 games in the last three years, And again, I know I'm like the sewer rat of, you know, quarterback analysis. I'm out there scurrying for garbage because I like quarterback wins.

Lamar Jackson is 76 and 31. Josh Allen is 88 and 39. Joe Burrow is 43 and 1. Tua is 44 and 32. So that's what that's, and you would think, well, the Tua and Joe Burrow, you know, Tua never, never did what? Lead the league in pass-or-ray, lead the league in yards, put up monstrous numbers every once in a while. But no, if you watch the games or if you're in the sort of, you know.

But you don't think two in Burroughs are similar at all. But in 20 years, people are like, hey, what's up with this guy, Joe Burrow? His numbers look a lot like. He is getting, and you've said it before, Nick. He gets so much credit. Even Barwell mentioned it by from getting to the Super Bowl that one year. Because like you said, they were 10 and 6. They didn't have like this great regular.

season. They were 10 and 6, and the next year, people should go back and watch the fourth quarter of the following year's AFC championship game and the opportunities they had to really put a knife through the chief's heart to win that game and the interceptions burrow through. The other guy that's first time eligible next year is Adrian Peterson. So, you know what I mean? So Big Ben Adrian Peterson, Gronk just walk in. Sherman has a strong case, which means every,

Almost everyone who was waiting last year is going to be waiting again. Who's the number one person waiting who didn't get in this class, do you know? I mean, there would be different arguments about it. Willie Anderson is off the Jari Evans, Marshall Yonder, the offensive lineman. I mean, the finalists who didn't make it. But it's just it's what makes it great. It's a very hard Hall of Fame to get into. And I think that there, Burroughs got to do a lot more.

Hey, y'all's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca.

Wayfair, every style, every home.