First Things First - Jerry Jones comments on Micah Parsons’ drama, Tom Brady praises Patrick Mahomes, Should Brock Purdy be worried?

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

Watch clips on YouTube! Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FIRST THINGS FIRST YOUTUBE CHANNEL⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (00:00) Jerry Jones speaks on Micah Parsons and Cowboys drama / Could this be Patrick Mahomes best team? / Is Texas being disrespected in Ohio State matchup? (25:22) Should Brock Purdy be worried about Brandon Aiyuk's injury? (40:34) Wildes' Weird & Wonderful / Can the Bengals afford a slow start? (47:43) Emmitt Smith comments on Micah Parsons' contract situation / Surprised Shedeur Sanders didn’t move up Browns depth chart? (1:09:23) Tom Brady praises Patrick Mahomes (1:19:57) What do you make of Travis Hunter’s debut? (1:25:08) Wildes' Weird & Wonderful (1:30:15) Final thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York, it's a show that was worn while I was getting makeup that I need to step up. And I said, you know what? Yeah. I warned both of y'all. What did you warn me? Just don't get out of your... Don't get out besides yourself today. Because we're doing the post-game press conference and Gianna is going to be keeping track of box scores.

And Brew dominated last time, but Bruce, I thought... I'm worried y'all going for your numbers. It was a nice kind of, though, last show, like young Kobe Shack. Like, I set you up, you had the mic shots. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. No, that's true. Who was wild? Bill Jackson.

Was it Phil Jackson or? Yeah, no. I don't know. You had zero good points. According to the official box, I'll give you Derek Fisher. I don't know, man. I was still. You know what?

Jerry West. You didn't even score. Jerry West. Yeah. At that point, you didn't score. Exactly. I don't want to be here. First hour of first things for scores.

Today, Patrick Mahomes says this chiefs. team could be the best Chiefs team ever. Oh, my. Is he being nice? No, does he really mean it? Oh, yeah, he's not going to say, you know what, the team we had two years ago. We're a little bit stronger. That's it wasn't that good.

They didn't even win the Super. Meanwhile, number one, Texas, number three, Ohio State opens the season on Fox. But the long horns are underdogs. Is this fair, smart, or wise? Or none of the above? Finally. Chador played great in the preseason, but he stays fourth on the depth chart. And I sprung this on you guys.

The new video that might throw a wrench into the Brown's plans. Wow. Did you see it? I don't know. There's a new video that might throw a wrench into the plans. Is it? I'm going to. It's a surprise video.

Deshawn Watson is back? Oh, bye. Talk about drama. It is a Deshawn Watson video. Oh, it is that? Yes. Okay, well, that's stupid. It throws a wrench into the plane. It doesn't throw a wrenching.

It definitely throws a wrench in the plan. The owner five months ago said we took a big swing on Deshawn Watson. That was a miss. The owner has made it clear they're done with that, which is good. You know what? I'm paying him. I'm giving him a shot. No.

I'm playing him. He's not going to be available. Gianna, one miss, one brick right there. I'm paying him. I'm playing him. Boom. One nothing. You guys were sabotaging the shot.

I'm giving them a chance. That's like a teammate missing a shot and you're sitting on a best happy. Power dribble. One nothing wild. It's actually two nothing. We're all the same team. I thought we were, Nick. We thought we were.

But apparently we've got a gunner on the team. Gunner on the squad. It's starting with the Cowboys. Jerry Jones on the quote, blue carpet. for the premiere of the Cowboys Netflix documentary, was asked how we've used the Cowboys role in the NFL and pop culture as a whole, bro. Here was his answer.

I do believe if we're not being looked at, then I'll do my part to get us looked at. Cowboys are a soap opera 365. The screen will begin when it gets slow. I'll start out. Please take your seats. And so it is, it's, Oh, it's wonderful to have the great athletes,

have the great players. But there's something more there. There's sizzle. There's emotion. And if you will, there's controversy. That controversy is good stuff in terms of keeping and having people's attention. Brew your reaction to this quote.

Thank you, Jerry. I mean, this is just confirmations for what I've been saying for the last six, seven years. Wow. Six, seven years. Yeah, because we're just, Remember, I had the radio show the eye come.

Before I joined you back. You have five to seven. Yes. No, six to nine. Six to nine. Yeah, seven to ten, actually. But I've actually used the term soap opera. Like, this is just proof that Jerry does not view the cowboys primarily as a football franchise.

They are primarily an entertainment enterprise. And I've said this before, but you know, we've been. on the scene, great movies that are sports-based, but they're really not about the sports. They're about the love story or whatever. Yeah, I wasn't the first they came to mind,

but loving basketball or something like that, where it's a Bull Durham. Yeah, there's a lot. Bull Durham wasn't about baseball. It was about the love. So the Cowboys are a drama, a controversy in a football setting. That's what they are. And that

is great for the bottom line. it's great for business. And that's why the Cowboys, despite having not won a Super Bowl in the last 30 years are the highest value franchise in American sports. Baseball, basketball,

they are the highest. And so it's great for that, but it's terrible for football because it creates distractions. What coaches don't want are unnecessary distractions. And that's what Jerry is constantly creating. Look at all the great

winners, the chiefs now, the Patriots, the Steelers in NFL, whether it's the Lakers or some team, the Spurs in the NBA. There might be drama, but it's drama based on the game. When Shaq and Kobe

had their drama, it hurt the team. Right? And so this is, this is part. He just summed up what they're all, what he and they are all about. And it's great for money. but it's terrible if you want to win Super Bowl. So I want to take it maybe a step further because, listen,

you have been saying this for years, and I don't think you've been, you're the only person who has made this point, but I think you're the only person I know of that this has been your main point about the Cowboys. I think everybody's acknowledged Jerry likes to be, you know what I mean, in the mix. But you have talked about back a couple years ago

when I was picking him to make the Super Bowl, because I liked the roster about the silliness associated with the team. And so I thought about that when I was listening to this quote because I tried to square that with the fact that Jerry this past off season did something very specific in a major decision that decreased buzz

that made them less of a circus or a side show or less attention. And that is his head coach pitch. He could have picked Bill Belichick, which would have been a massive story, and instead he picked as anonymous of a head coach as one could get in Brian Schottenheimer. And I thought about why is that? And so this is what I'm saying I want to kind of add to it. It's not just that the Cowboys are a soap opera.

It's that he has to be the son. Yes. It's not just that we need the attention, but I need to be the main. main character of this movie, and you have seen that throughout these Micahe negotiations, which aren't even negotiations because they won't engage on the negotiations, but not just with his daily impromptu press avails, but with him saying, let me make this clear. A lot of people that do contracts for the Cowboys, but a contract like this one is between me and the player.

Jerry Jones is doing this one, and by the way, come check out the new Cowboys documentary called The Gambler, not called America's Team. or whatever it is about, you know, about what me and what I've done, which then led me to something that I think might pique your interest because you and I think not just you, some of the audience as well, is kind of over this story because we all saw this story coming. I talked in January that there was going to be mica drama. Here's would be my concern if I'm a Cowboys fan.

Because I don't think Jerry's dumb by any, you know, stretching of the imagination. I think he's pretty savvy about this stuff. DAC is locked up. CD is locked up. The team is fine. They're probably not going to, though, be an A1 story based on their own merit on the field anytime soon. What is the only way for the Cowboys

to guarantee they can control future off-season news cycles? The answer to that is not lock up Micah Parsons. The answer to that, like, if they... Not even through this year? Yes. If they... You're trading or franchising?

Yeah, play this year out and then we'll resume negotiations, which have never, again, have never begun. He has not talked to the agent once. They haven't even started negotiations. So our shows take, I think, mostly has been it's probably getting done right. before the first day of the season.

And if I had to bet money, I would probably, after being burnt on the DAC bet that I made, say that's probably what's going to happen. But if Jerry understands the only way to continue this, you know what I mean, this level of intrigue and interest, because there's not going to be anything around DAC. He hasn't no trade. They haven't signed long term.

CD is a great player, but like, could the Cowboys trade CD Lamb? is not like we see receivers get traded and he's locked up. There's no other great young player coming up for a deal. So do I think in that regard it is now more on the board that they never call the agent, that this does become a staring contest and they roll it over into next offseason? Then Michael shouldn't play. Then Micah shouldn't play.

I totally agree with you on that. But I don't, we don't. You mean the first few weeks? Unless he's going to fake an injury, which I don't. The only thing he can do. Yeah, because he can't just sit out healthy. Well, he has that aching back. Exactly.

Okay, so the back won't get healthy. Yeah. But so, I mean, but if we are all in agreement that at this point for Jerry Jones, winning games and competing for a championship would be a nice bonus on top of his main goal, that signing Micah Parsons to a contract doesn't really achieve the main goal of staying in the the news. Like it doesn't, you know, of creating more buzz and intrigue around. And otherwise, every time we talk about the Cowboys, I can't get over the little small font of their win total. Like, this team's supposed to be, sorry, Hubbs, mid. You know what I mean?

Like when you say mid. Oh, okay. So you're welcome, Hubb. Go ahead, bro. Well, look, I agree with a lot of what you said, but I would be shocked if they don't sign Micah. But to your point, you know, before the season. To your point, once they sign, Michael, let's say they do it a week before the season. Now it's all football. And when you're mid, then you do fade away. I will give you that. Like if they're mid throughout the season, actually for the storyline, it'd be better if they're horrible.

Yes. You know, but I don't think everybody thinks they're going to be horrible. Right. If they're mid, then at some point we're going to stop talking about them. So that is true. but I just, that's where if you're Michael Parsons, you are, and other players, you are ticked off to the nth degree. Because Jerry's got all the money in the world.

Michael Parsons doesn't. I know he's made millions as an NFL player, but this is his big contract. And you are playing with that, Jerry is, in a sport where one game, one practice could change the entire course of his career. And he's not DAC, where a quarterback can have their, your ankle shattered and still signed the biggest contract ever because they're so scarce. Like, pass rusher is super valuable, but past rusher is also so reliant on athleticism and everything

that if- Particularly with him as a smaller. Right. If Micah were to suffer a catastrophic injury, it's not like Dak where, okay, you're going to get the contract anyway. Then everything changes for him, and he doesn't yet have, you know, the generational money that we talk about a player of his caliber having earned. You guys are both on the board. Head to Chiefs Camp. Patrick Mahom sat down with Kay Adams.

Was very optimistic about this year in building on these 16 unanswered points at the end of the Super Bowl. Take a listen. You're suck that guy. It's been a lot of fun out here to say, Joe's, you know, it's competition. I mean, we've been getting after offense and defense,

special teams are doing a great job. I think guys are hungry. And that breeds excellence. And I think all that competition that we're doing every single day is doing that. Do you think this is the best team you've had with the Chiefs? I think we have a chance to be. I always think we have the talent.

We have the talent to be the best team that we have. But you've got to go out there and prove it. And until we prove it, I'm not going to say we're the best. But if we go out there and win that Super Bowl, then we can say we're the best one. Okay, your reaction. So listen, I have very conflicted feelings about what the actual best Chiefs team ever is. Because I think, much like I think the best Patriot team ever didn't win the Super Bowl,

I actually think the best chief's team of my lifetimes, 2020. And they got clocked in the Super Bowl by Tampa and Brady. And so I don't know what we're measuring, you know, them against which year. But I thought that was the best combo of offense defense. You still had, you know, Peak Hill, Peak, Travis, all of that. Where I think this is absolutely on the board is the tangible and the intangible. The tangible is this. They had that awesome draft class a few years ago,

primarily of defensive players, who are now veteran-ish. You know what I mean? McDuffie, Carl Loftus are entering year four. Chris Jones is still great. This definitely has a chance to be the best Chiefs defense, the best defense of the Mahomes era. You then add to it that I think it's the best receiver group they've had since 2019,

when they had Tyreek, Sammy Watkins and Prime Kelsey in that receiver group. And I think that this should be as good of an offensive line as they've had. So you put all those things together. That should be, you know, they have the personnel to be the best.

But here's the most important thing. What they have that's not quantifiable, but I know it, is for the first time in three years, chip on his shoulder, Mahomes. So the last time they had chip on his shoulder, Mahomes, was after, the first time, in my opinion, and the only time actually, Patrick has truly failed as a pro,

which was the second half of the AFC championship game in 2021, and then they traded Tyree Kill. And then there was real, I think, legitimate doubt amongst the media, who is the best quarterback in football? Mahomes hadn't won Super Bowl in a couple years. He had just played poorly, Burrow had beaten him. They had traded away Hill. And he responded that year by having 56,6. 600 yards and 45 touchdowns in the regular season. That's a record for yards.

6,553, if you include the playoffs, with a skill position group that was, aside from Travis, Juju Smith-Schuster, MVS, their leading touchdown receiver was Jerich McKinnon, their leading Russia was a seventh round rookie, and they went 17 and 3 and scored 30 points per game.

And so, and I think that was, I've got something to prove to you guys, Patrick. I think they have that Patrick back and the right personnel. So yes, I think this absolutely could be the best Chiefs team. A lot of that's true. I mean, if they get it done, the receiving corps, I really like if they're healthy. And Rice and unsuspended. Yeah, he gets back and is the same player he was before he got suspended.

You kind of stole my thunder early because I do think Mahomes is being nice to use your phrase. Like, he didn't just, it's not like he's like, saying to Nick or someone, this could be our best team ever. You know what I mean? Like he was asked, could this be your best team? And I think the way he said, of course you're going to say, you won three Super Bowls,

you have the credibility to say that. You're not going to say no. So I think he sees the potential, like every year he thinks they can win the Super Bowl and they obviously can. So I don't think he's like seeing something here that he didn't see in some of the other. teams.

But to your point, you're right now, I'm partial to the old teams where they were more offensive. Yep. I do think you got to, obviously, you're not going to have prime Kelsey, even if he has a good season. He's not what he was in 22 or 19 when they won the Super Bowl. You would have, Xavier Worthy would have to not duplicate Tyreek Hill, but come close. Make us think about, wow, he's kind of having that type of impact.

I don't think Pacheco. Now, maybe last year I know he only played half the season, not even half, and wasn't the same. But they never had a great running. No, but he was, his early on, like. His first rookie year, 22. Yeah, he was really. And then Edwards Halear was, you know, they were nice tandem.

So I don't think Pacheco, maybe last year was just getting back from injury, but he was under four yards of pop. So if he has to get back to that guy, too, I agree with the defense. I think it was it 22. when they had a top 11 defense, not top 10, and the offense was best in the league. So that would probably have to go down as the best team. But I do think what you said is correct.

Like if the receivers are healthy and Mahomes does have his light show, then sure, it could be the best. You're kind of writing off prime Travis, but Travis came out with a big article in GQ. Here's what he said on his bounce facts. And here he is with an alligator. I think it might have slipped a little bit because I did have a little bit more focus in trying to set myself up. And opportunities came up where I was excited to venture into a new world of acting and being an entertainer.

Go ahead, sorry. So the pictures are amazing and very artistic and cool, I would say. I could see how people would take shots at them. Buried within like the Taylor talk and the entertainer talk is Travis Kelsen. out here grinding away in Florida and a big interview with his trainer about how he is going to be very fast and very effectively fast. So this made me think after reading the article that we are going to see a Kelsey Renaissance. Well, so listen, I do not think we are going to have a vintage Kelsey season. I do think he can be better than he was the last two years.

You know what I mean? Like the happy media vintage, vintage Kelsey is the greatest, the greatest. receiving threat in the history of the position. Okay, well, a little, all right, take it down a notch from there. No, no, that's what I'm... Yeah. So, I'm...

No, I wasn't, was that a Gronk response? No, no, no, I'm saying, I'm just saying it's here. Yeah, so, right, so I think he can... I think he will have a year where he will be one of the three best players at his position again. I think Bowers will be great. I think Kelsey will be great.

And then wild card tied in that has a great year. maybe the kid in Arizona. I shouldn't say the kid. But there's other guys who it could be. But what I think is maybe more noteworthy is this. I don't, listen, I am never going to doubt, and I don't think anyone should doubt how hard Patrick works. And I think Travis, over the course of his career,

has been an insanely hard worker, but he's saying he was working hard at a bunch of different things. I do think there was, after you win the Super Bowl, the way they did two years ago, the year with all the drops, and they go on the road and they go through the gauntlet. And then throughout the beginning of last year, Brew, you just consistently play blah and then win.

A sense of inevitability and invincibility. You know what I mean? Could, you know what I mean? Could permeate a team that I don't think is that rare across sports when a team consistently wins. The difference is usually in those other sports, it doesn't take one terrible night to ruin your year. You know what I mean?

The sense of we're just better than everyone. And then even if you are, do take a team lightly, you can, over the course of a series over power, and the Chiefs didn't have that opportunity. Chiefs Chargers, 24 days in Rio. We're going to head to college where number one... 24 days. Yeah.

Number one, Texas opens up the season at number three, Ohio State on Fox. The odd part about the odds. Longhorns are number one and two and a half point underdogs. First time since 1978. Number one team hasn't been. in favor in the opener. Is this disrespectful? Well, look, I'm from Ohio.

Oh, yeah. So go Buckeyes. All right. I thought you paid a lot of money for Michigan. I did. But my daughter's out of there now. So I'm back on the Buckeyes. But this is absolutely disrespectful.

Are we number one or not? Are we the best team in the country or not? I get it. It's in Columbus. It's in Ohio. But still, is the football field? There's still 100 yards. The ball is the same size.

Love it. I mean, I'm serious. If we're the best team in the country, then we're supposed to win. Don't make us number one in the preseason and then say, you know what? You got a week. You got one week to be the best team in the country

and then that's it. I mean, so it is absolutely. And it's not even like as great as Ohio State is, obviously defending national champion. They're number three. Penn State is number two. So it is completely disrespectful. It's actually good fodder for them.

I vehemently disagree. So listen, Ohio State has been an underdog at home once since 2011. They are always favored at home. And the one time they were was a Michigan, Ohio State game when both teams were competing in theory for a national championship. Michigan was a slight favorite in that game. This to me, the 1978 stat, Sorry to be a company shill for a moment, but I will,

is actually a stat about how unbelievable this game is. Because do you know why the number one team in the nation is never an underdog in week one? Because the number one team in the nation is never on the road against an awesome team in week one. They are usually either playing a patsy or it's a neutral sight game. And in a neutral site game, I agree with Brew.

If you are the number one team in the nation and you're playing on a neutral site, you should be the favorite. But when you're number one versus three and in the coaches poll it's one versus two and it's at the shoe, then you're going to be the underdog, especially when Ohio State might have

the number one player in the 2026 draft and 27 draft. Caleb Downs might be the best player in this upcoming draft. He won't go number one because he's not a quarterback. And Jeremiah Smith will be the number one player in the 27 draft. But they might have the number one pick too.

If Archmanning pops. They'll have the number one quarterback for sure. Listen, I think Texas is, obviously, these are two great teams. But this is, you're not going to be a favorite in Ohio State against a great Buckeye team. It's not. So should, if you were voting, would you bake that in? No. Of course not.

What they are saying is the voters think Texas and Ohio State, if they were to play at Arrowhead in Kansas City, neutral geographically and everything, Texas is slightly better. And if they were playing in tech, how about this? If they were playing in Texas, I think it's Texas by three and a half. And in Ohio State, it's Ohio State by two and a half. And on a neutral site, it's Texas by one. That's what I think. Does that make you feel better if you're a longhorn?

No. No. They actually did Texas a favor. But they also played in the playoff last year. Ohio State won. I know it's different rosters, but. Kyle Shanahan gives Brennan Ayuk a timetable, and it's not great. great news for pretty look he's already sad luckily they paid him next on fs one a box sports

channel serious xm a still recovering from his knee injury that he suffered in mid-october kyle shanahan isn't expecting him on the field until week five and that's an optimistic timetable that's not good take a listen to the issue and the update and a possible solution Yeah, so we should. See them around week six, which means that could be week 10, means it could be week five. But that's the area where I start thinking about it, which is a long ways away. I know it's not week one or anything like that. We're looking into everything.

We'll always try to do the best, but try not to just panic and do something to survive a tough situation at the expense of what would really hurt you later in this year and definitely next year. Now Dusty sold that to me as a quote about trading for Tyreek Hill. There's a little bit of a leap there. Well, in the article, they're trading for more fire. Is that on the board?

I don't think that's likely. Now, here's something that should excite you almost as much as Tyree Kill. One of your absolute favorite receivers who I've heard about for four years how much you like, who happens to be unemployed, Gabe Davis. They could, he could come in the Lbeckon.

I think they need to look at game. But, but coach, here's the deal. And you and I are going to get a front row seat to this. And it's going to be today, and it's already been happening slowly over the off season. It'll really be full in force all year. I'm glad the show's expanding

almost so just so we have more time to watch this happen. Watch the brew pivot. The slow pivot off purdy of, I never said he was great. Now, I might have said he could be Drew Breeze and he reminded me of Steve Young. But I never said he was great.

Drew Bruce. I'm sorry. Steve Young was Sam Donald. After Steve Young saw me say it, he starts saying Drew Brze. Because, the entire, and this is where Wilde's going to get annoyed. The entire house that Jimmy G. built is coming crashing down. Because so much of our purdy debate is really just shrapnel of an old Jimmy G.

debate. And all of these hypotheticals that Wilde famously said, I don't play fantasy football. I don't want to do hypotheticals. I do, but we are now seeing in real time. We got to see what would this Niners team look like if they just took a guy into the, and Jimmy G's role. And the answer was they'd get back to that. to Super Bowl.

And then what would Brock Purdy look like if all of a sudden, instead of having the most stack team, you started pairing the guys away. And we saw it for a season last year, but it wasn't enough because he had, I guess, a decent passer rating. And now Kyle Shanahan's already fresh off giving the guy $52 million a year, fresh off like, whoa, we don't want to jeopardize, you know, next season before this season even begins. And so Brew's a smart man. Maybe the smartest guy on the show.

he's not going to go down with a sinking chip. He's going to slowly, slowly pivot. It might even start right now. He's not a sinking chip. I'm the trip pivot is you becoming a QB wins. No, this is he's no. All I hear you say about parties, six wins. I didn't say that once there?

I didn't say he's got a better passerating than Mahomes last year. Than Jordan Love last year. Then C.J. Stroud last year. The past. Matthew Stafford last year. Look, Purdy, I think Coach Purdy can have a good year.

He can't do what he did two years ago. Why not? Because he doesn't, you need somebody to throw the football to. He's got your guy. Hold on. We have seen for two years what the great,

who I've said is Jordanesque and the best quarterback ever. Sports Illustrate. We've seen what he has looked like without really good receivers around. Won the Super Bowl and lost the Super Bowl. Oh, it's not QB wins, though. Individually, he's been great situationally.

He's been great in the playoffs, but his numbers have plummeted because he doesn't have, I'm saying because he doesn't have receivers and throw two. All right? What about everybody's all-American, Matthew Stafford. Last year, he was terrible without when Pugan Nakua and Cooper Cup were out. So you can't have the double standard of acting like, you know, looking over. over Stafford and Mahones when they struggle without receivers, but then you're gonna rip Purdy because he does play without receivers?

The question is, I think the Niners are gonna have another rough year. I would imagine people that believe in the quarterback, they have a healthy Christian McCaffrey, they still have Trent Williams, they still have George Kittle, they have a freshly receiver. You love Pearsall. I heard all the whole season. I got to stay healthy too. Purel's hurt all the time too.

I'm not saying, I said he can have a good year. I don't expect them to be fourth in the end of the end of the season. VP race. That's all I'm saying. In fairness to you, Brew, this situation has gone from, you know, rough to really rough. When you look at it, Juan Jennings is hurt and he's got the contract issue. You got Brandon Ayuk, we know where he is. Jordan Watkins, who they were excited about, just got a high ankle strain. Jacob Cowling, he has a hamstring.

Demericus Robinson just pled no contest to D.Y. He's going to be suspended. So now you've got Ricky Pearsall as wide receiver one, two, and three. So if we were talking about Jordan Love or any number of quarterbacks with this situation right here. You don't think the Packers would trade their healthy wide receiving corps for Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle? I'm just saying I want to see. And Ricky Pearsall? I want to see whether or not he can be a force multiplier.

But this room has gotten pretty rough here in a hurry. So, so. Hold on. Wait a second. How do the Niners' weapons compare? We don't even know what Christian McCaffrey is going to be. Hold on. How do the Niners weapons right now compare to the Texans and the Packers?

It's not as good as the Packers. Everybody loves the Packers. We know Josh Jacobs to run. And Matthew, he might not be Christian McCaffer. There's a great chance that Josh Jacobs is better than McCaffrey this year. Now, McCaffrey's a receiver and all that, but as far as running the football. So again. And then they got Matthew Golden and then a bunch of number two receivers in Greenback.

This is, do, am I out on a list? by saying even with these receivers injured that the Niners, their weapons are now about league average. You're out on the limb. Okay. Because weapons, you need receivers. They have a first round pick that you like. These last two years when Mahomes has had like a 93 pass rating, he's had Travis Kelsey.

He just hasn't had anything on the outside. Right. And you have George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. So I understand. Yeah, but I'm saying my point is, Mahomes has not looked great individually. He has not no, statistically. He has not had

individually great stats. That's all I'm saying. What he has had is unbelievable third down because he's the best quarterback in the league. And I'm not trying to put Maraumon. You keep bringing up Mahomes. My question is I think if we were sack up all 32 teams, the Niners now

all of a sudden are in that that, what did we call it, the fluid middle. How are they in the fluid middle? Who's their best receiver? Who's their best receiver? And a first round pick. You got to, you need somebody on the outside.

Right. That's Ricky Pearsall, who you told me all of us. Ricky Pearsall, first of all, he has to stay healthy. But he is. Right now. He has been injured every other month. But he's healthy right now. And he's good, but nobody ever said he was a number one receiver.

Okay, how does it compare to Josh now? I actually think Jouan jenny's needs to. Josh Allen? I've never put Purdy in Josh Allen's class. Drew Brees. Brew. He's true. He plays like Drew.

I mean, let me find the guy that we're on level footing with. All right, let's go Matt Stafford. How about that? Stafford looked terrible last year when Pooka Nacourne. No, but I'm saying right now, how do their weapons compare? With Duvante Adams and Kailenna Lerlian Williams? Really? Against Christian McCaffrey, right?

Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, and your guy, Ricky Pearsall. The Rams are a little better, a lot better? A lot better. I think they're considerably better. I thought Christian McCaffrey was. We don't know what Christian McCaffrey's going to be after a year off from injury. What's the point you're trying to make, that their league average so that if Purdy should stink? No, my point is, I think now, I think it's very cool.

How can you look at that receiving core? Because I think that the Niners now have, and I think coach might agree with me, now have pretty typical weapons. I think you have a great running back, a great tight end, a below average receiving court given the injuries. And you have a quarterback that you guys, you guys said they should pay. I said they shouldn't. Coach was ambivalent. I think they should have paid him and I think he's still a very good quarterback. But you need receive, wide receivers to throw to football. Jennings should be back. He should actually sit out. But we got to figure out where they got to

figure out what's going on with the contract. Is the cap, the cap, or is the cap the contract in the calf? And then they're excited about Jordan Watkins and he did a lot of good stuff in the month. He's out with the high ankle sprain. The difficult thing right now for San Fran is they can't practice with their group. Okay, and that happens during camp. But it's not just that, but defensively, your defense isn't working against top flight receivers right now. And I know that it's a really sort of different perspective on it, but you want your top guys working against the top offensive guys, and you don't have that.

Now your twos have bumped up to ones, your threes, everybody's bumped up, so you're not quite getting that competition. There's no way, Nick. I mean, again, of course, Kittle, we respect Kittle. McCaffrey, we think, will be good. Who has better weapons to the Chargers of the Niners? Right now. Who's the Ladd McConkey on the 49?

Christian McCaffrey is the Ladd McConkey of the Niners. No, he's not, because he's not a Y receiver. He's actually a running back. Okay, so again, but it's how your offense moves. And Christian McCaffrey, when he almost won MVP, I don't know what his receiving numbers were. I bet they were damn near what Lad did, last year. It's still a difference. But again,

we, because, and we're not a big Justin Herbert show, what, this is... I can't believe you're looking at their depleted receiving corps and saying they got league average weapons. What I'm looking at it is... They're out the whole season. They're out right now, but

we're not trying to fully now. What I'm looking at is this. I, for years, have been pillory for saying, I think the Niners would struggle if they weren't elite across the board. We now are walking into a season

where they have an elite running back and elite tight end and below average receivers. And the Niners folks are like, well, you can't be surprised if they struggle when that's been my take forever. Who's saying they're going to struggle? I think Bruce is saying they're going to struggle.

I'm talking about Purdy. Vegas doesn't think they're going to struggle. They're overrunners at NIA. They have the easiest schedule. So here's, I'll make a prediction. Once they don't struggle, it's going to be, who did Brock Bertie beat? Look at this week's schedule, the easiest schedule in the league. Oh, so what?

You went to New Orleans in one. So what? You beat the Giants. So what? You beat the Colts. Can I ask you a question? When have I ever done that? When have I ever done that?

Nick, you have a history of moving the goalposts with Brock Purdy considerably. So I, and I would argue that this conversation is evidence, I'm the only person who's kept him in the same place. I have had a very consistent opinion, which is, I think that if you are a league average quarterback, which he is, you can look, he's better than Jimmy Garapolo, you can look phenomenal in the Shanahan system with those weapons. But that if you don't have them, you are going to all of a sudden have an emperor has no close moment. You guys disagree. So he had no clothes? He was terrible last year?

I think he looked like last year a league average quarterback. Well, how did he have a better passer rating in so many of these stars? I'll be honest. I don't think passer rating is the end all be all that you. What about yards per attempt? How about that? You love that. I do.

I absolutely like yards per attempt. No, because I think that is a piece of it. Top five in a league. Very good at yards per attempt. I think there's a piece of it. But I think that the goal, I would think the goal post moving with respect KW would be you who's the only thing. you've ever cared about his quarterback wins.

It's the only thing you're. You're now talking about QB wins. Brock Purdy had a good passer rating. He had a great yards per attempt. And what you're focusing on is they were 6 and 11. No, I'm focusing on the larger picture that right now, what is our collective comp? So I will be on the record.

I'm not going to say they had a soft schedule. And if Purdy plays excellent and they surprise, I'm not going to be able to say, I'm on the record. I don't think they have some super stack team. I don't think that. You think they have a really great. No, I think they have league average.

I think you have a top three running back, top three tight end, and bottom five receiving core. That creates a league average weapon. We have no idea if McCaffrey's a top three running back. That would be a huge, that would be great. I mean, yeah, but he's, how old he's 29 years old coming off of another injury. That would be great. Yeah.

Let me also be clear to be fair. If McCaffrey is injured or if McCaffrey is a shell of himself, then no, I don't think they have league average weapons. I am baking in the Christian McCaffrey. What were the weapons last year? McCaffrey was out all year. I know. McCaffrey was out all year. My yuk was out half the season.

No, they were below average weapons. Below average. But you're holding that against Purdy. Yeah, I think when you pay a quarterback, which they now have, the hope is that he brings you to a certain floor. And I think that's what we've always talked about. I think that there was, there maybe was some, by me, draft bias against Purdy, and then there was the opposite of that last year, which was, ah, cut him some slack. That's fair.

And I think now that he's been paid, and now that they traded away Debo Samuel. They knew Brandon Ayuk tore his ACL. He was going to be out. They traded away Debo. They did that, and listen, I understand that losing Jordan Watkins for a month sucks. Well, when he became your number two receiver But that was their own choice. Those are their own choices.

Yeah, I'm not worried about them. They're going to be good. Yeah, they're going to be good. You kind of conceded that they weren't going to be good. No, I have not said that. What I said is I don't think Purdy will play, put up the numbers he did two years ago. I started my first statement was I think he can have a good season. But he won't put up the numbers he did two years ago when he was fourth in the MVP race.

Because you need somebody to throw. Mahomes hasn't done that. without the weapons. Neither as Stafford. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, but that was three years ago. And he's the best way. That was three years ago.

Wonderful, Philly's Reds, Kyle Schwaber, home run number 42. He takes the lead in the National League for home runs. But that only lasts a moment. A moment, correct. More wonderful. Otani back in Anaheim, home run number 42. He ties Schwerber in the National League.

Not enough. Angels hit that to Hawaii. are four in O against the Dodgers. Padres only one behind the Dodgers. Rockies don't make up any ground there, 37 and a half out. And wonderful Bill's camp, it's not a great highlight, but it's better than nothing. James Cook back at camp. He said, you know what, here you go, I'll just run around a little bit. That satisfy my contractual obligations.

That's a weird and one-old from the national pastimes. Bengals trying to get off to a hot start. Zach Taylor played starters in the first preseason game, as even having earlier practices so the day can get off to a good start. That's because the Taylor's Bengals, 1 and 5 in week 1. Started 0 and 3 last year. Here was T. Higgins' take with Adam Sheen. Me personally, I really don't like the narrative.

You know, getting out, you know, get to a high start. I just feel like at the end of the day, you know, we just got to execute as a team. Tell me why you don't like the narrative and why there's almost like a mentality. I'm going to use my words here and let you run with it because I hear it in your voice. boys, it's kind of like just kind of shut the F up and go out and play, right? You don't want to hear about that with the hot start. You just want to go out there and kick up and take names. I guess you could say it like that.

Yeah, man, just start with the narrative, man, just go out there and just play football, you know, and execute as a team. Coach, you like that? No. You didn't go out. Yeah, look, I like the idea of going out and executing it on a team. And I don't like the idea. that you're going to disregard the narrative. If you don't like the narrative, then change the narrative.

But the problem is they haven't changed the narrative, and we talk about it every year. And every year at the end of the year, it becomes the thing that's the reason that they didn't go to the playoffs. And even when you looked at right at the start of the off season, they were talking about the fact that they have to fix this slow start problem. They were talking about it in February,

and at least they're trying to address it with playing guys in the preseason, doing some different things. They talked about changing things in OTAs. changing some things in training camp, which to me, I don't know quite how we've gotten to this point. If we can just bring up the stat, this is through the first two games over six years. That's correct. That's that's Zach Taylor's record.

He's one in 11 through six years. And you think at year two, you're like, okay, we're going to have to do something a little bit differently than we did before. Year four, it's like, you know, we might want to address us. And now here we are. and people may be frustrated with what's being said, but it's what's keeping you from the opportunity with a franchise quarterback and all the money that's been put into these offensive players

to compete for something that Cincinnati, this window's not going to last forever. Joe Burroughs said it's a full career, man. Which is fantastic, but maybe sometime during his career will change the start. All of that is right. but I think, and I actually think T. Higgins feels like you feel, but I do feel like he is, he's not saying, oh, it's not a big deal.

I think he, as a team leaders, they were talking about on the interview, I think he's just like, look, we know, we're tired of hearing about this. And we, we don't want to, like, talk about it constantly to where these first two games become so big that, you know, we, it's almost paralysis by analysis. No, no, I'm saying he's, when he says we're going to go out, we just got to go out there and execute. I just think he's trying to downplay. You know how when there's big games and all the players say, I'm sure from the coaches, we're just treating it like a regular game.

I think he's like, we're just trying to not make these games too big, but let's go out there and do what we need to do and execute. We all know we need to win them. I just think he's trying to not let it get too big. The one game that won over that time period was in overtime against Minnesota. I get all that. We all know that it's not even just a narrative. It's a fact.

But I just think he doesn't want all the players walking around. He's like, man, these first two games, these first two games, these first two games. Why don't it should just be saying must win? Like, when we do the must win, that's a must win. For us, yes. They are 100% on a must win. Yes. In Cleveland.

100% that is a must win. I think T might also feel like, if I had played the first two last year, we'd have won. Because what is true, the last couple of years, with T. Higgins, they're 15 and 9. And without T. Higgins, they're 3 and 7. And so I think there's that piece of it. I also, listen, I think Zach Taylor has, of all the coaches that don't have a hot seat, his is the hottest. I think of every coach that we're not saying is like on the hot seat, he has the hottest seat. He's got the warmest seat.

No, no, no. He has the hottest cold seat. Oh, I was just saying the hottest warm seat. No, no. His seat's warm. I don't. You just think it's hot and cold? Yeah, exactly.

I think it's binary, but he has the hottest of the cold seats. Let that noodle around for a bit. And, but the, and I think that's fair, because I only can go three straight years with Joe Borough is your quarterback and not make the playoffs and keep your job. I just think that is. And to add to that, when the organization changes their philosophy and pays guys in ways they haven't paid, in the past. And I know we're, Hendrickson is, we're talking about that, but look at the, I don't want to mention it. Yeah, I was about to. But the fact that they've done what they've done with the receivers and with Joe Burrow, historically, that's not been their MO. So now,

organizationally, that increases the heat of the seat as well. I do think he's on a high seat. Yeah, I think he is too. Whose seat is hotter? If, yeah, he's on the high seat. Table? I don't think so. No, I can't, what do you mean? They're all hot. Dave Balls is hot, but now I think Daveylo likes the hot seat. I don't think there is any, I guess here's my point. Saying stuff is me. I look at Hot Seed as coaches who I would not be surprised if they're fired during the year. And I don't think that he is getting fired during the year.

If he starts 0 and 2, they're not firing. They're not firing him, but when he misses the playoffs, they're like, we actually wanted to fire you. Yeah. You know what, though. I agree. But you actually heat up. I don't think they fire him during the year. But, I mean, this is implausible.

If they were like two and seven or something. Oh, yeah, but I think they have too much talent. The offense is too good for them to tank. And, you know what I mean? And by the way, and by the end of the year, whatever kind of problem they had from Trey, not being at training camp, they should be over that twice. Shout out to the Hendricks.

Yeah, they love the show. Live from New York. Show that had a 25-minute Brock Purdy discussion. It was, they're always good. Anytime Bruce Brough furrows, he's into it. And he also doesn't stay mad at me, but he's a matter of excitement. I thought he was mad and then they'd go to break. He's like, that was good.

Yeah, exactly. That's what I'm saying. To let you guys go, Giannis winked at me and said, five mic drops. What? Five microbre. You can't have five micross. You can have one microse.

I'm just telling you what she said. You had infinite eye rolls off camera. I can't believe we're doing the. You were this way for someone of him in time. You were like, Christian McCaffrey's top three. I'm like, top three, what? Running back on the 49ers. You're out on McCaffrey now?

He's not top. He's not top three. I mean, he's not. What do you mean? At 29, you guys coming off these. You guys, you guys, honest to God. So it's Derek Henry, Bijon, and Seekuan. Someone's believing for Christian McCaffrey?

How about Saquine Barclay? No, he said it. He said Derek Henry, Bejohn, and Sequin. One of them would have to be out for CMC. And your boy, Gentie, who you love. I do love Ginety. I think, again, you guys have to remember your own take. You guys love Trayvion McHawain.

Trayvion Henderson. Get out of you. Tom Brady sat down with Joel Clatt here, what he had to say about Patrick Malins. He likes him. Meanwhile, despite a great performance, Chador does not move up the depth chart. Is this something at all? Maybe. Okay.

Meanwhile, Emmett Smith, who did miss games in a contract dispute with Jerry Jones years ago, decades ago, had this to say about Micah's contract situation at the premiere of the Cowboys Netflix documentary. Take a listen. I just hope that person to get this deal done. Right. Because for me, it's more important to have all this business stuff behind you. So the team itself can start to do the things that they came here to do. They came to training camp.

work on what, coming together as a team, foraging the hood as a brotherhood, building the chemistry that they need to build. And that, all the other distractions need to be gone. So you can focus on what you need to focus on. I've got terrible news for you, Emmett. How does Micah's negotiation impact week one? Go ahead. I mean, I think it's at the moment disastrous.

Yeah. I mean, they, the Cowboys don't have a lot of paths to go in. to Philly and win. But all of them involve a game-changing defensive play. You know what? I just, that's probably a little hyperbolic to say that's the only way they can win. But a Jalen Hurth's forced fumble would certainly go a long way. Yeah, a strip sack that you scoop and score or a tipped pass at the line of scrimmage that you then.

Philly needs to have some errors. And Philly is not a self-inflicted error type of team. You know what I mean? They need to be forced errors. Under 30. And so, yeah, I mean, as long as they're off all. Yeah, exactly. And so there is that tangible on the field impact to week one.

There is also the tangible but not quite as definable of are the other players on defense and for that matter on offense getting the most out of training camp without having the best player on the team on the field for those practices to, you know what I mean, see how they play off him or how they react to him, you know, on the offensive side. And then there is the totally intangible, just emotional toll of how ready for the season or locked in for the season are the other key Dallas Cowboys when they have in the back of their mind our key guy might or may not be here. So, you know, across the board, it,

hurts their chances. I mean, would the point spread be different if Mike had signed a month ago? Probably not. But it would certainly feel like the Cowboys are much more of a live dog going into that game than they are right now. And you also, you got a new head coach, a new defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator for that matter, too. But like, Micah, I get it.

He's sitting in on the meetings and all that and he's at practice. But he's not hitting. He's great enough where he can be effective. coming right off the street, so to speak. But it is going to hurt them that he's not getting these reps now. They're going to get pummeled in week one. Pummeled? Yeah, because I think Philly, I mean, it's a division rival, like Philly.

Of course you want to, you want to beat the heck out of Dallas, all right? So they don't want to just win. They want to destroy them. It's in Philly. They, what they realistically, if they're two and two after week four, because they got, they're at Philly, then they have the, the Giants, which won't be easy, but that's in Dallas, then Chicago and Green Bay. So if they're two and two and Micah's rounding in the form, I think that's good for them.

But it could be worse than two and two. And you guys are right from the practical perspective of if you haven't practiced and then you haven't played in any preseason games, and then let's say they do sign them right before the start of the season, you go into that game one. There's a risk of soft tissue injury because the intensity level ramps up so much. Then you have to figure out how much do you play him in that game. That's what I was going to say. Is he on a pitch count in that game? He might be on a pitch count.

Then it's he's been sitting in a meetings, but is he a reps learner? Does he need to be part of the defense to really understand where he fits? And so how well does he understand the defense? And then the flip side of that is how well does Matt Iberfluse, the new defense coordinator, really understand the best ways that Micah fits into the defense. So that's another component of it. And it'll be a boost from a morale. perspective, if he signs, then he's going to be better than, you know, the alternative.

And to go through another camp. We do this every year with Dallas. To go through another camp, what Emmett said is real. It's a distraction. People are worried about the wrong things as opposed to being focused on moving forward with a new head coach, a new system, and being able to be at your best going to week one as opposed to another year of this. Go ahead. No, go. Go ahead. It's also, when you look at, the other guys around the league that are holding in or are not around.

James Cook is a position that the whole league is hesitant to pay. You know what I mean? He's only really had one A-plus year. I think he has clearly outperformed his contract, but if I were running the bills, I really wouldn't want to pay him. You know what I mean? So I understand that conflict. Cam Hayward is one of the oldest players in the league,

got a contract adjustment a year ago. You know what I mean? And now is like, hey, I wasn't all pro. I'd like more money again. Now you understand, and again, I'm basically universally on the player's side, but I understand the series of being like, you know what I mean? Like, do we really want to pay this now for a guy in his late 30s? Earmuffs Wilds.

Trey Hendrickson, to Coach's point, did recently get a new contract. And the Bengals paid a bunch of other people. and it was pretty clear for a while they're going to try to hold their ground on at least one of these guys and he's the odd man out. The Micah thing is so absurd and so unnecessary.

There is not two sides to the coin. There is not a second side to we won't call your agent and have a discussion. And so that's the part of it if you're a Cowboys fan that is so frustrating is it is not the Zeke holdout

from a few years ago, what the Cowboys did end up blinking on that. But the Cowboys had real reason to not want to pay a running back three years into his career. You know what I mean? It's like, no, like, we're going to, we're not paying that position early.

They ended up paying the position. I would say, just from the negotiation standpoint, if this is the way they do business in Dallas, then this is the way they do business in Dallas. If he's always done it this way, Micah shouldn't be surprised that it's being done this way. His agent shouldn't be surprised it's being done this way. I don't think they've always done it

where they won't speak to the agent. I'm not sure exactly what the dynamic is. I talked to someone who was familiar with it and said it doesn't seem like there's a conflict between Jerry and the agent that's pre-existing. So maybe this is just the way that Jerry does business. So it's his right. He's the owner of the team, and we may not agree with it. But if you're the player and you want to get it done, there may have to be some give in that approach. Do you think there's a part of this that Jerry is enjoying,

not being Micah. Yes. Yes. No question about it. I mean, he said as much, we talked about in the first segment, like, this is a soap opera, his words. If no attention is being paid to us, I will be, I will stir something up. That's what this. If Micah were signed, we would not be paying much attention to the Cowboys. I mean, if they're the Cowboys, we'll talk about them a little bit,

but they would be behind Philadelphia, Washington. the Giants are looking pretty good. Like, we wouldn't really be talking about them. But now we are, so I think Jerry is enjoying this, which makes me think he's going to pay him, you know, before the season. I just don't have the same conviction that Jerry's is sold on making him the highest paid non-quarterback in the league as everybody else does. I mean, look how much he paid, DAC.

Exactly. Way more than he has. Exactly. And I think that may be, there may be some sort of regret to that. There may be some regret to what he did. with Zeeke. So now here we are again, and he might be thinking, is this really what I want to do? Or do I want to maybe think not just in terms of this year, but moving forward, having some flexibility to build the team?

I still think you talk to the agent. That's the piece of this that is, to me, indefensible. If his position was, I'm not paying this player. Then he wouldn't have sat down with Mike and agreed to pay him. You got to agree. You know what I mean? Like, according to Jerry's own words, you would be amazed at how much I agreed to pay, Micah. I overextended myself in that conversation in March.

Everyone. I pay everybody. In March, he thought, according to the Cowboys, they thought they had a deal done with the player. To then go from that to, we will not call your agent, which to me feels like a weird power thing, which is, no. I'm Jerry Jones and I don't have to.

I don't think it's a weird. I think it is a power thing. Yeah, and so... And the reality is he's Jerry Jones, and he doesn't have to. He owns the team. It's not like we're dealing with the GM that you can go to the owner and say, you know, go over his head. You can't go over his head, and if this is how he wants to do business, he may be wrong, and we may all disagree with it, but the question is, can you find some workaround to get this done?

Mike has got to buy the team. It's going to be hard with us. You know what it's like? That new contract. It's like your Franklin Delano Roosevelt story. Oh, my God. This guy, can I tell you something, America? No, I heard this story.

Did you hear this story? I didn't. He told a 20-minute story about Franklin, Eleanor Roosevelt's painting. Was it 20 seconds, the quote from FDR to the painter? That was kind of long. It was 20 seconds that felt like four minutes. That's whatever. It may have felt long.

But now you're right. Because who was in charge in that dynamic? FDR. He's like, you know what? I'll get painted when I want to be painted. And eventually Jerry Jones will come down those White House stairs and say, now's the time, Michael. But it's important to him that that's what you said.

That's what you said about FDR. It's a story with a lot of branches off the trees. Not about FDR. But it does make it. Being prepared, though, right? Why don't have to get some points? I don't know what this is. No, he's only doing it for the point.

Because this is only good. It's true. You see what I said is absolutely true. These dudes are guns. Not me. They're just trying, not even looking at the teammates. Not me. I'm like this painting.

Give me the rock. Drew and I are trying to win. Right. We're trying to coach it. I'm trying to win. I'm like Jerry Jones. I just like the, you're going for your numbers.

Shador looked good to start the Brown's first preseason game. Does that mean he moved up the depth chart? No. No, he did not. Brewer, are you surprised? He's still QB4. Well, and a video that you need to see to believe. Before we get.

to Chador in this situation. I did want to show this, because it was controversy yesterday, on Chadour walking in with the boom box and the staph. Oh, did you get? Yeah. People were correct.

Here's the bit. This guy with the wooden sickle is a Browns player. Tony Brown, he's a quarterback. And he always walks around with this sickle. It's a wooden sickle. He was barefoot in it. This is before the game. Shadour is nowhere to be found.

So my point is, he's even done that at Kevin Stefansky's offseason camps. Like they had the sickle. I don't know if he's been barefoot. But so my point is this is an eccentric teammate that I assume is a friend of Shadoors. They call him crazy Tony. They call him crazy Tony. I would have just been like, hey, guys, I don't think people know you as well as they know me. So maybe, you know, let's stagger the entry.

It's leadership. It's embracing a guy that says. eccentric. Maybe, you know, he's alone in the locker room. He's saying, this is my guy. We need. Reminds me as something John Quincy Adams once said. I was going to see if that side of the table wanted to apologize. Apologize. You all ripped him the shreds yesterday. Presently, coach. Coach was done with him. I did not know that the essential team. And I'm glad you brought that to my attention.

To next point, you don't mandate who you walk in in the line with. Maybe they're a good friend. choose who you are. So, brew. Maybe staggered. I didn't rip him to shreds, first of all. I simply said, if you are, in addition trying to move up the Brown's depth chart, you are also kind of auditioning

for 31 other teams. There is a chance that everyone didn't do the Tony Brown research you did. And instead, they just saw him walking in alongside a guy carrying a grim reaper weapon and a boom box. A wooden sickle. Okay.

Was that it called a... Was that his? But that's fine. That was his seat. He always, I guess is his boombox. He always got a soundtrack. Okay.

That's fine. All right. All right. But anyway, I mean, look, I do think that Shadour should be third. I think. Behind who? Like, who should be fourth? Like, oh, Dylan should be fourth.

Dylan Gabriel should be. I mean, and I'm throwing Pickett in there, but, you know. So Flacco, Pickett, Shoulder, Dylan. I think, coach, those two, essentially. I get it. Dylan Gabriel is a third round pick. Shador's fifth. To me, they should have entered camp essentially at the same level. Okay, Dylan's a little bit of, he's not a first round pick.

We're treating him like, oh, he's a third round pick, Shadour's a fifth. I mean, I get there some difference. And by all reports, now we haven't seen the whole picture, it looks like Shadour has outplayed him in the practices. We know Gabriel's numbers haven't been great. he has been going a little more advanced level. And then to see what Shadour did in that game against Carolina's ones, for at least some of it,

I just think that he should be a head. It ultimately doesn't matter. This next game is going to kind of determine which of them is the top rookie. But I think he should have been moved up. Yeah, and so Dylan's not a first round pick, and Shador is not a first round pick, and Shadur is a fifth round pick. And when you set the training camp depth chart,

It's not an exercise that anybody really wants to do because you're going through it and you're trying to have everybody compete and try to, the depth chart is completely fluid. And you want to establish that because you want guys to have to constantly be competing so that you can figure out who the best 53 are. The difficult thing with so much attention being on this is that everybody wants daily updates. And that's not how this competition is being evaluated. They're trying to actually look at it from a comprehensive perspective where ideally guys get like with like reps. And so as you're evaluating it, you can evaluate it based off them each getting the same opportunity. So it's not the stock market where every time you log on the internet, it's like, oh, no, but they did. But they did post, they release a depth chart before week one of the preseason.

And then they released the updated one. This wasn't, you know. Not by choice. No, I understand. You release a depth chart and you're like, and then they say, who do you want on? You're like, I don't care. Put it whoever you want on it. It won't matter because it's not going to be the depth chart we have at the start of the season.

So I do think, I think Shador could have gone 20 of 20 for four touchdowns. And they weren't going to, I think there was that depth chart, those four quarterbacks, Sefansky was going to, maybe he said I don't care about how you list anything, except these four quarterbacks. How we listed them before game one is how we're listing them after game one, just to try to minimize some of the noise. What I do think, though, is fair to say, and I believe,

if it was a third round corner and a fifth round corner, and these were their cornerback versions of their preseason, where one guy, according to the reporters at Camp, has played better than the other, the third round pick has played worse than the fifth, and the third round pick has

dealt with a nagging injury. And the fifth round pick in the first preseason game played a lot and played pretty well. We would say, oh, draft status be damned. You wouldn't move them up because, remember, you've got to cut these guys at the end of the season. So if there's a guy you want to get to the practice squad,

even if they're playing well, you'll keep on the back end of the roster so it looks like they're not playing well. No. Unless somebody's really studied your stuff. So you're not giving the rest of the league information. That's totally fair. I don't actually mean literally moved up

on the release depth chart. I mean, in-house in-house in-house in-house in-house in-house in-house in-house mind, you'd be like, oh, okay. It doesn't matter. took this guy 60 picks ahead of that guy. At any other position, I think it would be close to meaningless. You know what I mean? I think tell me if I'm wrong, Coach.

But you're right. And I think what we may not see, but could be happening, is he may be getting opportunities that he didn't get before. So now they're giving him maybe X amount more reps, or they're giving him a little bit more red zone. So they don't want necessarily the world to know because everybody's going to make a big deal out of it. So you can just build it into the practice and see whether or not,

the media can figure it out while you're doing it. So common the thought on our show collectively has kind of been someone's getting traded, right, one of the four guys, Flacco is going to start, and maybe Shador should be the first one to come in once Flacco kind of water finds its level. And then this video popped up recently the other day, I think, it's to Sean Watson, who all of a sudden looks pretty good recovering from his Achilles surgery. Does anyone think Deshaun Watson, if he's available, throws a wrench in this plan? I don't think Deschne Watson will ever throw another pass in the NFL.

Never. Oh, in the NFL, period. Oh. I think that he is obviously he is one of the more toxic players as far as the information surrounding him off the field. You take that aside. His play since he left Houston, by every regular or advanced stat has been bottom three quarterback in the league,

and he's coming off a catastrophic injury. And the Brown's owner has said, we whipped on it. And so I just think that... But if he wants to play and he's healthy, then you've got a real issue because... With the Browns, you think? Well, if he wants to play and he's healthy,

what are you going to do? Benjam. What do you mean? You could potentially bench him, but you're going to... activate him? Are you going to bring them up to the 53 men roster? I mean, I don't think that's going to be... Because Zandi could get picked up.

Can't you just fail him on his physical? I mean, you can do anything you want, but you also have to prove that what you're doing is legitimate. That's why there's a CBA. My question, I tend to agree with you, Nick, but I want to ask coach, would you, like, let's say he doesn't play this year, but he gets healthy.

Do you think no other team, I get it, the whole toxic, you know, the history, although that's a few years removed now. Do you think another team might give him a shot? I mean, you need quarterbacks. I know he's been bad when he's playing. I just don't know how Cleveland gets out of the money.

That to me is the biggest issue. After this year, they can do it. It's still, what is it still? It's insane. It's some ridiculous. It'll be like Denver with Russell Wilson. Figure. Tom Brady on Patrick Mahomes and Travis.

Playing on both sides of the ball next. Welcome back to the show. Tom Brady sat down with Joel Klatt. I had this to say about Patrick Mahomes. Take a listen. Everyone wants to win, but what are the habits and the daily habits and the actionable things you need to do every day to put your team in a position to win?

So Patrick Mahomes, to me, is the one that does that the most often. Sure. Because who he is, I mean, obviously his physical talent, how he understands what he needs to do offensively, and he brings a consistent winning attitude to work every single day. In the biggest moments, you can depend on. him the most. Yeah, that is correct. Good job. Go ahead. KW. Sorry. There's a rich question here. What's that? What is the question? Are we too focused on Patrick's

production over Patrick's results? Well, no, I agree with you. It's a rich question because he has the best production and the best results when it matters. So this is why I find this time of year the quarterback rankings to be so, what's the right word? idiotic and offensive, as I think the word I'm looking for, because the three guys, now again, as I've said to you, KW, if someone wants to make the case, Jalen Hertz is the best quarterback in the league, they have a better, there is a better line of argument for that than there is for any of the other big three. Because there is a silver bullet for Patrick versus each of them that is you can't recover from, at least in the right now, as we sit here today.

Patrick has his first or second in NFL history in every postseason stat. Not wins, he is second in that as well, but stat. One of the contenders, Lamar, the only bugaboo about him is his production plummets in the playoffs compared to his regular season numbers. So he is in that regard, the most important spot, he's out. Joe Burrow, if Patrick ever went back to. back years with Peak Hill and Kelsey. And it's like, you know what? Just couldn't overcome the bad defense.

We missed the playoffs. Then we'd be like, okay, how much, then what do we do with Borough? Burrow and back-to-back years has missed the playoffs with Higgins and Chase. And Josh, the Josh thing that I've listened to people say he's the best quarterback in the league, it makes my mind melt. Because if there was a quarterback in football that Patrick Mahomes were O'N. against in the playoffs. And I came on TV, and by the way,

had never once outplayed in the playoffs, not just the quarterback wins, but also outplayed him. And I went on TV and was like, you know what? I don't care. Mahomes is better than him. How many Super Bowms he's been to? Zero.

How many is he wants zero? You'd say you're an insane homer. So, yes, I've said it for, I'll say it again. Patrick is judged against Patrick at his best. Every other quarterback is judged against Patrick at his best. worst and none of them have been able to beat Patrick at his worst.

So yeah, I think there is a little too much nitpicking of the guy who, as we sit here today, is the second greatest player in the history of the sport. Yeah, I mean, Mahomes is transcendent. He's trans. I've said he's competing with Tom Brady. That's correct. He's not competing with Lamar, Josh. As great as they are, they're going to be Hall of Famers and all that, too.

If they start winning some Super Bowls and beating him, then he'll compete with them. But right now he's competing with Tom Brady. and I don't want to insult anybody who says somebody else is the best quarterback right now. But it just, I think every pundit worth their assault is, recognizes Mahomes is the best quarterback in the world. And no matter, and look, him being held to the standard is a compliment to him. He's the own, we hold him to his standard at his best, but also to Tom Brady.

And Brady's second half of his career, he was winning, obviously, and he also was putting up incredible individual numbers. And so it's like LeBron. LeBron's the only player alive that gets compared to Michael Jordan. That's a compliment. Now it can be, you know, you end up nitpicking so it looks like you're picking at him here and there. But it's a compliment. Same thing with Mahomes.

I want to see the light show. That's how great I think Mahomes is that when he doesn't play, he's winning at that level. But when he doesn't perform individually at that level, you're just, you want to. to see it. So it's, yeah, I mean, he's... Here's where I understand the nitpicking. And I agree with Tom that in the biggest moments you wouldn't want anybody besides Patrick in today's NFL. But when you look at Tom's career, Tom progressed significantly from the early time to, you know, when he was at his best. And the struggle people have when you look at Patrick, and I know we're comparing

him to Patrick, is what he did his first year versus what he did last year. And if we could bring that up to see how significant this is, these numbers are dramatic. So when you're going from 50 touchdowns to 26, the interceptions are about the same. The sack numbers are up. You could say that contributes to the other issues. We've got passer rating. The pass attempts, he threw one more attempt this year than he did that year. But look at the difference in yards.

It's like 1,100 yards. Now, at the end of the day, the record is the best record he's had in the regular season. but to me with Josh Allen and with Lamar Jackson, people are grading them up because they seem to be improving. No, that's fair. It's going in the opposite direction of Brady. Well, yeah. And so when you have this and we've all seen this,

it's hard for people to say things look different now, even though he's great and even though he performs the biggest moments. That's my point. In January, they look the season. But I'm just saying you understand, why people would look at this and go, we're like 25 less touchdown. No, no, no, no. I totally get that.

And the point that I've made that I'll make again, I hope for Bills and Ravens and Bengals fans, we at some point get to see what those quarterbacks look like when they've beaten the game multiple times. I'm curious. I'm curious what, Josh Allen, as a two-time defending Super Bowl MVP,

three-time champion, would look like in the next regular season. I am. Would he be just brilliant start to finish every game, or would he, I don't know. I can't give you the exact rationale. You're saying complacency. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I think we see that at times across sports, and since all of the other guys with respect had not really accomplished anything team-wise to put them in the category. When we talk about Hall of Fame quarterback, almost all of them, you know what I mean, have been to the Super Bowl, usually multiple times, most of them have won one. Josh and Joe's been to one. Josh and Lamar have not, but they're so individually great.

And the other piece of it is, it is not like Patrick is getting to the Super Bowl by beating the Steelers and the Texans. He is, and I'm just picking two teams that make the playoffs. The last three AFC championship games, he has played Joe Burrow. outplayed him, and then Burrow had the ball in his hands, chance to go win the game, and threw fourth quarter interceptions and lost, and hasn't been back in the playoffs since then. Then next year, he goes to Lamar's house against a Ravens team that I'm told all year is one of the best teams of the modern era,

and Lamar has the ball in the fourth quarter to a chance to make it a game and throws a pass into his coach called it a team meeting game over to go to the Super Bowl. And then next year, Josh Allen has the ball down three points, three and a half minutes left. Go see if you can win it and gets as many yards as his jersey number

and the game's over. So at one of these guys at some point is going to have to outplay Patrick in a big spot. And then we can say, oh, the Super Bowls were a long time ago, the MVPs were a long time ago. But until then, it's a moot point.

I agree with you on that. The one thing I say as far a regular season and the complacency. He has the carrot of Tom Brady out there. So there's really no reason for him to get complacent. I don't think he's complacent. But like, coach is right.

Something these last two years, he just has not, now he's been great in the clutch situationally in the playoffs, but the regular season, he has not been himself. So I, he should be because he's chasing Tom Brady. So I thought two years ago,

he was as good as he's ever been, and it was purely the drops that you called in week one. I don't think Patrick played poorly two years ago. Last year, especially early in the year, he was every game he threw one pass like what the hell was going on. But I also think you're saying he was chasing time. Last year, the chase was about the Chiefs trying to 3P. It was not about Mahomes trying to win league MVP.

And it was, it's such a weird year to look back on because it is, he didn't play that well. The office didn't score that many points. and he had the one of ten passer rating in the fourth quarter, led the league in fourth quarter comebacks, which is actually not something you won't have to lead the league in, led the league in game winning drives all of it, and I just,

I need to see one of these guys step up and do it. Now, this year it is different. This year it is, this year it is different. And this KW is when you say, come on, come on, KW. Come on. What do you want me to say? I mean, you know what you want to say. Someone did outplay him in a time.

Oh, who? Who? Who, KW? Come on KW. Despite what you may have seen on your televisions, 80 million people, Jalen Hertz does not have what it takes to win this football. He doesn't. The guy just doesn't have it.

He does not have it. You can present a defense to Jalen Hertz where he says, I don't know what to do. He can't. You guys, the world has convinced me. Jalen Hertz, not a Super Bowl winning court. He doesn't have what it takes. He does not have what it makes me.

I don't know what the issue is. I don't know what his problem is. Afternoon headlines sponsored by Ram Trucks. They are built to serve the Travis Hunter two-way experiment. Still on track, I thought. 11 offensive snaps, eight defensive snaps. No targets. Did miss a tackle.

connected with the prince twice. Brew, your reaction to Travis, I thought you were going to be all flowers and bouquets, but not necessarily. He was fine, me, he missed the tack. He kind of got trucked right now. Not truck, but he missed that tackle. But, Coach, I just feel like this was evidence of how,

I don't think he's going to be able to play full-time or should be playing full-time both ways. Full-time, one-way, situationally on the other. side of the ball. First, he's a small guy, and I get it, cornerbacks are small, but I think teams are going to go at him, too, because you know he's playing the whole game or he's trying to. So I think teams will run at him. I think players will try to, not hurt him, but run him over or burn him, wear him down. And I think,

like, that game, I get it, it's preseason, but he wasn't, there was like, oh, Travis Hunter is out there. He made no imprint on the game. And I think that if he plays both ways full time, it could be a lot of that. He'll have his plays, no question. But I think it will be a lot of, oh, Travis Hunter, okay, yeah, he's okay. Whereas I think if he focuses on one side of the ball and then his situation on the other, I think he can be a star.

Can I just ask you what about that game made you think he what they're not going to have him try to go full time? No, I think they are going to. Oh, but you think he's not. I think it's fair. Honestly, I think it's fair to give him a shot because he really wants to in his mind. But I just think they probably feel like in the back of their minds,

I would think he's going to realize game, week five, whatever it is, that this isn't a good idea and he should play one side of the ball mostly. Yeah, just because he wants to do something doesn't mean it's right for him to do it. And organizationally, they've got to figure out the correct mix.

And I'm different than a lot of people where I think it should be defense first and situationally, offensively, because you can control that more. And this is such a small sample size. But you watch it, and the catches were okay. I didn't think the run after the catch was very impressive. I thought it was unremarkable.

And then defensively, there were times coming out of his back pedal. He slipped. I don't know if the field was especially slippery, but just not as dynamic as I was hoping. it would be, and then the one where he's digging for worms trying to make the tackle. There's going to be a lot of really big backs. Right. And at some point, you're going to have to go up and tackle them.

And the other thing you do defensively is Jim. Every time he's the line of scrimmage, you know, try to work it, especially in those zone coverages, where you're hitting them as much as you can so that kind of like a boxer, if you hit him enough, you're going to wear down the later rounds. They didn't trade the fifth pick in next year's number one for him to play. one side of the ball and occasionally play the other. They did it because they think they could be getting not necessarily an all pro at two spots, but a pro bowler at two spots. And maybe it's unrealistic. I think kind of everything he's done so far is unrealistic. I think being the number one,

and I don't want to be flowery about it, but being the number one player in the country in high school and going to an HBCU was considered insane at the time. You know what I mean? Going to then stepping up to Colorado competition and being the best receiver and the best corner on a legitimate team. You know what I mean? Colorado last year they weren't a championship level team

but they were a legitimate back half of the top 25 team for most of the year was considered impossible and the Jags like I really like that he's with the Jags not because they have the Prince and I root for him

but because if he had gone to a team that it was like, well, we, you know, there's too much value in not to, you know, we have to take him. Like, let's say the Patriots drafted, what, it? Four. Yeah. The Patriots had the fourth pick. Let's say he was there.

And Will Campbell had gone three. Cam, Abdul Carter, Will Campbell, was the draft. And the Patriots are like, well, I mean, geez, this is, you know, this is a number one player in a lot of teams' boards. we have to take him, that team wouldn't necessarily feel like that we wouldn't have the proof that they believe he's as special as we know the Jags do. The Jags believe he can be a franchise changing player

and are gonna, you know what I mean, you don't trade the fifth pick and an unprotected, I know all picks in the NFL aren't protected, but a future one if you don't. And I think he can do it. I think he can do it. I think playing 20 snaps his first preseason game is a good first step, actually.

It'll be interesting to see what he matches up against. Weird and wonderful time. Start with the wonderful. Phillies Reds. Kyle Swarver, home run number 42 to take the lead in home runs. Phillies win their fourth game in a row. They're up six on the Mets who are struggling. So he's in the lead for just a few hours because Otani then returns back to Anaheim, the friendly confines of Anaheim. Home run number 42 for Otani. So now they are tied for you.

You know, the 57 Homer Pace, both of them. I like 57 as a home run total. It's nice. Near 61, 57. That's good. You don't like 60 better. You're saying it. I got to tell you right now, KW.

If it flop. If it flop. You like 57 better than 60. You are, buddy. You hear that, Giannis. Because 60, you got to hit 61. Why? That's nice.

Not really. 60 is better than 57. I'm sorry. I'm a 57 guy. I love 55. What I will say, listen, I didn't think. Wilde explained it well, what I will say is this. Now you're back.

Once you get to 60, in my head, I start asking questions. 57, I'm like, great season. 60, I'm really expecting. There are big guys that we've asked questions about they hit less than 60. Yeah, I know, but I'm definitely asking questions at 60. 60. Now with Otani. Well, there's different questions with Otani.

We're doing with real estate. The bills camp. You know, it's not a great highlight. It might be one of the worst highlights we've ever put in Weird and Wonderful. What is, what's he? Because it's, they must be close. I don't know about that. Like, what's he accomplishing by going out there?

I don't know. Show a good faith. So reportedly, he initially wanted $15 million a year. He no longer wants that. James Cook, I am here to tell you. If you can get your agent to get them two for 20, signed today. Yes.

Two for 20, 12 guaranteed. Take it, buddy. That position, burden the hand. Usually your leverage decreases the more you're getting pads and something around

and things like... What if you're not really trying? Can I say something? A lot of times you're like, well, here's how it really... He always pulls that card out. We'll have takes and it's like, well, here's how it really works.

Give me a break. My flag, football practices are more intense of this. Like, you got a Micah Parsons risks a soft tissue injury. If he's not out here doing this, nothing. Is this post practice? Is this pre-practice? Like, what drill is this right here?

You tell me, you're the expert. It looks like nothing to me. Nobody's moving on. It's probably like a pre-practice, you know, kind of loosen up. Just get that. Or could be a post-practice. I'm sure when you were out there practicing in Ohio. Brew was a different.

Nobody else on the field. This looks like a post practice kind of cool down, loosening up. Yeah, like I'd go 100% if I was on a team. I don't think he would, not in this drill. What is this? A's race. What is this in the show? Did you see what happened?

No. You've never seen this in your life. It's a foul tip that gets caught. Where's it? So that's a strikeout? Yeah, it's a strikeout. Oh, it's caught with his other hand. Oh, okay.

It's true. Pins it. Okay. Oh, well, it really caught him. Yeah. Okay. All right. That's why it's in the show.

Never seen it before in my life. Final wonderful. The Christina special. Justin Fields with, what is it again? Christina, what's the adjective? Stunning is usually. Oh, stunning. This just says pretty.

I thought you were like, also, pillowy. You guys saw Tyrod out for a bit. Yeah. I don't know what that means for the Jets. They're getting. excited out in Florham Park.

They should. Look at this pass. But coach, am I right? I'm hearing some excitement about the Jets. It looks like they're going to run the ball, 75 kind of hand. That's sense of me. The Jets, I'm not, I'm really hoping on, I'm pinning a lot of my Patriots hopes on just organizational incompetence. For the Jets?

Yes. Because I like Aaron Glenn. All of a sudden, I like, you got some good players. Justin Fields could pop. It's a bad beat for Jacks fans that Trump didn't make Woody the ambassador. Getting him in England's best thing that's happened to him recently. But now he's still there. That's the truth.

He didn't get anything. What was he asking for? Nothing? I don't know. You know what? I haven't followed up. Gianna, can we get our geopolitics expert on this? I'm not sure. I know that he thought he was going to go back to England, but he gave him to somebody else.

Huh? I think the Pillow. World Series Showdown. Coming up, we make our predictions. our predictions. Also, we could have a game seven in November. I always like that. I'm going to get my Mr. November signs ready. Major League Baseball postseason schedule announced. Wild card starts September 30th, World Series October 24th, with a game seven potentially on November 1st. We are, you say I always make fun of the world. We are working on some special Royals guests to talk about the Wild Card once they're eliminated so they can come on and get some. in front of, you know.

A lot of bad guys. Get some reps. Thousands of people on the who watch the show. I switch this up. Just give me one team that you want to see in the World Series. No, I'm giving you my World Series thing.

Go ahead, Brew. My pick is Dodgers, Astros. The Astros do look good. They keep eating the Red Sox. My pick's the same as my preseason thing. Royals, Padres. I'm not switching. It was what it was before the season.

I'm sicking with it. They're both in it. They're a game under. They're eliminated soon. Who do you? I like, because the Padres are flying up, but I will switch to the Phillies. Okay. Because Jalen Hertz likes the Phillies.

Who's your AEL team? Red Sox, obviously. You've got a great pitching.