First Things First - Kyler Murray visits Vikings, Ravens ‘gutted’ by failed Maxx Crosby deal, Bills offseason, DUD List

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

(0:00) Kyler Murray to visit Vikings, Ravens GM ‘gutted’ by not landing Maxx Crosby (26:03) Bills sign Bradley Chubb, Should the Eagles trade A.J. Brown for Maxx Crosby? (40:42) Criticism of Bam Adebayo’s 83 point game not fair? (44:43) DUD List (01:01:47) Concerned about personnel losses for the Seahawks? (01:14:48) A.J Pierzyński joins the show (01:24:14) Ravens wanted Maxx Crosby & Trey Hendrickson, Should USA still be WBC favorites? (01:45:52) Kirk Cousins an option for the Steelers, Are the Bills building a contender? (01:57:09) He Said We Said (02:06:39) Over/Under 22.5 points for Bam Adebayo vs. the Bucks? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Incredible upset last night for Italy taking down USA. And Mexico's fans are back in number and in high spirits. Scenarios here. Look, whoever wins this game is in. The United States can sneak in if Italy wins or if Italy allows five or more runs in a nine-inning loss. Vinay Pasquatino. That ball's hit pretty well.

it pretty well. Right field and deep. Durand back to the wall. He is there. Leaps. Pasquintino to right. And that's deep. And that's gone. Pasquatch. What a night for Pasquantino, the leader of this team. That one, I'm not sure if he got it all. Let's see. It's deep. It is gone. He's him three. That was unbelievable, huh? You're welcome, USA. We were thinking of you guys over at your hotel. We were thinking of you guys. So I'm glad you guys could join us in the party.

Live from New York, it's a show that is personally thanking the Pasquatch. A win for everybody. What an Italian American. Great for Italy. Great for the United States. Great for espresso, Greg. Love his response. You're welcome.

A good. He said he was beamed up from having an espresso. Hey, I'm gonna get locked in. This is iced coffee, but you know I'm crushing Cortados earlier the day. Yeah, no, you're ready to go. Every time I make a good point, down the hatch.

I'm only gonna have one espresso all day. First hour, first things first. Today, Kyler, meeting with the Vikings. We're expecting some news, but not yet. Would this pairing make them the faves in the NFC North. Maybe not in Vegas, but in your mind. Meanwhile, USA survives. Is this now our tournament to win? Or are we worried about the Dominican Republic? Who's just, the vibes are on 27 out of 10. And finally, Danny reveals who's under duress the much sought after Dudlist? What a name

the Dudlist. You're very worried about the Dudlist. He was texting me while I was trying to get radio is in the no excuses power plant, Craig doing my pull-ups. Danny's. I don't know about the deadlock. That's not what I asked you one question. Danny Parkins. So you did reach out. Yeah, I reached out. It was a level of concern.

Greg's locked in though. Greg Jennings. Greg doesn't respond. Always. We're going to start the show. Starting in Minnesota. We're Kyler Murray is meeting with coach Kevin O'Connell. Maybe GM Kevin O'Connell. Is that filled that spot or just?

I mean, basically. Yeah, they have an interim GM. It's just an open spot. Yes. Yet to fill that position. Here's Kyler's last 25 games. Kyler is an interesting quarterback because you can pick some graphics that this guy's top 10 QB and then you pick some other ones. No, he is not.

Danny will start with you. How good if this happens would Kyler make the Vikings? He makes them incredibly scary, is what I would say. Like, as a fan of a team in the NFC North, I would still like the Bears over the Vikings. And I think Packers fans would like the Packers over the Vikings. And I think Lions fans would like the Lions over the Vikings. But no one would want to play him. Like, he represents a very scary ceiling for them, is what I would say.

Oh, yeah. Because I think we all respect Kevin O'Connell. Like, we've seen Kevin O'Connell get a lot out of Kirk Cousins. And we've seen Kevin O'Connell get a lot out of Sam Darnold, obviously. And then they thought they could get out of J.J. McCarthy. And they didn't. And now you get a humbled, motivated, playing for the minimum, Kyler Murray, but a talented guy auditioning for the next stage of his career.

And like you said, there has been portions of a ceiling that have made him look like a top 10 guy. but just compared to what Minnesota had last year, if we just gave you Kyler's baseline against what the Vikings had last year, Kyler's baseline is way better than what they had, and they won nine games, and they won the five at the end of the season, and they brought back Brian Flores,

and that defense shut down the lions, and that defense shut down the Packers. So they wouldn't be the favorite in my mind, they wouldn't be the favorite in Vegas, but they would be one of the most intriguing teams in the whole league going into next year because if this Sean McVeigh disciple and Kevin O'Connell, who has gotten so much out of relatively mediocre talent guys compared to Kyler Murray, who's one of the more talented prospects that we have,

he just represents a very high ceiling for them, Greg. Yeah, I think high ceiling is a great way to put it. And that ceiling being high is a Super Bowl contending team. You got to understand why their general manager got fired. Their general manager, Quasi, got fired because they didn't deliver, obviously, with the Sam Darnold deal

and JJ didn't pan out. They were missing a quarter, they felt like they were a quarterback away. If you are able to, which I believe they should not, don't even let Kyler leave. You got to have a quarterback on this roster outside of JJ McCarthy

that can raise your floor and have your ceiling be. what we believe it all to be at least a playoff team deep run. Their personnel on this team is set up for just that. Defensively, we know they're going to be really locked in and good defensively. We know they have a tremendous amount of weapons offensively. The only question revolving around this team is under center. And yes, Kyla Murray has had issues.

But when we look at Kevin O'Connell and we think about what he brings and what he provides in terms of stability, being able to allow a young quarterback or a quarterback to maximize their talents and who they are within his offense, this makes it, to your point, a very intriguing and scary offensive team, and thus, because of their defense, an awesome team to be rooting for if you're a Vikings fans. Now, they will have pause because they've been in these positions before, where they've had opportunities to be really good and then it fizzles out and it doesn't work out. But Kyla Murray has to, he has a job to do, which, and I'm saying this as if he's not

going to get let out that building because I believe that he's going to be a Minnesota Viking. Kyla Murray has to be better, not just in short stints, because we've seen Kyla Murray to your point, to the graphic you put up, we've seen Kyla Murray for stints throughout the course of a season, not even a full season, have even a full season. elite numbers and elite showings. Yeah. But we have yet to see him go from week one to week 17, 18, and do it for the duration. Can he do that?

Can Kevin O'Connell, is Kevin O'Connell the guy that can get him in position to do that? All right. So we all like Kyler with the Vikings. We all like to different degrees Caleb and the Bears. We all like Jordan Love and the Packers. And whom is, who is golf in the, and golf and the Lions who came in the last place. So if this happens, who is going to be last place in the NFC North?

It feels like, well, if they're competing for this Super Bowl, we all think those are all Super Bowl adjacent teams. But someone's just going to be like, no, it turns out we're in last place. So they all are Super Bowl contenders, and one of them will finish in last place. Nuts. It's the best division in football, and it is definitively, the best worst team in football.

If you took all eight divisions and you said, all right, who's the worst team in the AFC North? Well, it would be Cleveland. Who's the worst team in the AFC East? Well, it would be the Jets or the Dolphins, a couple of contenders. NFC West, great division. Well, it would be Arizona. Whoever is

the worst team in this division is really good. Yes. And I think that's what's going to make this division. It's going to be real... It's going to be really tough to get the one seed coming out of the NFC North. A lot of people, like in our jobs, will have like three NFC North teams

making the playoffs. The team that finishes the last place could have a winning record, you know, which we've seen before in the 17-game format. So like it's a stacked division. And even as I agree with you, they're a Super Bowl contender,

I still think this is the team that people would pick to finish last, even though they have the best division. because Kyler, to your point, there are legitimate questions about his work ethic. Yeah. Right?

Like Caleb, no one questions his talent and no anymore. No one questions his intangibles. Goff, well established. Jordan Love, well established. The ceiling of Kyler is pretty established, but I think the floor is by far the worse than the division.

And so this is why, again, it makes it so intriguing because even with, if you are the Minnesota Vikings and you add Kyler Murray into the equation, they still have, in my opinion, the worst quarterback in that division. Like, not, I'm just not,

if we're going off of talent, he's very talented, and one would say, yeah, he's more talented than Jared Gough, but he's not, he hasn't proven to be better than Jordan Love. He hasn't proven to be better than Jared Gough. Caleb, with the season that he had,

a lot of people think that he'll take another step being a better pastor of the football in terms of completion percentage. That's wild. Three number one picks. And I slightly misspoke. We have seen Kyler be closer to his ceiling, but I guarantee you if and when this happens and they speak on it, Kevin O'Connell and Kyler will speak to that he has not yet played his best football.

Right? Of course. Darnold played his best season statistically with Kevin O'Connell. Cousins played his best season statistically with Kevin O'Connell. Like, Kevin O'Connell will believe that. that he can get a better version of Kyler Murray than we've ever seen before. I might be selling some Kevin O'Connell stock. I'm talking to my stock broker and be like, hey, how's the Kevin O'Connell stock?

How's that look right now? You're looking to diversify your portfolio a little bit? I just thought the Sam Darnold, like, oh, see, you know, look what he did with Sam Darnold. Then Sam Darnel won the Super Bowl. So when Sam Darnel couldn't get it done, I think a lot of it was maybe Kevin O'Connell. When Daniel Jones went into that building and won a playoff game, Daniel Jones, you know, what are you going to do? I don't know.

Kevin O'Connell can't come in last place here. So, Greg, you live there. I think I have this right. I feel like nationally we're a little higher on Kevin O'Connell than people. Or is that true? Than people in Minnesota are. There are questions about him. See, that's the intel I want.

More recently, correct? Like the big short. More recently, yes. Like in the last season. Absolutely. Last season. Why? Because of what hasn't manifested with J.J. McCarthy.

Interesting. I'm locked into Kevin. For, yeah, you are. I'm locked. You definitely are. I'm locked it. Like with J.J. McCarthy not showing any signs of, yes, he's our guy. Like there was no real collective feeling and sentiment of Kevin, he's done his job once again. Now, maybe with Kyler in the building and competition, it may bring out the best in a young JJ McCarthy and it possibly give him time.

I still think he loses out to Kyler. But Kevin O'Connell is in a situation where it's like put up, man. Okay. It's that time. 43 and 25 in his career as a coach with the Vikings. All right, moving on back to Baltimore. Ravens GM, Eric DeCoste met with the media yesterday and addressed how his deal for Max Crosby fell apart. Greg, he's just crestfallen.

Okay. Take a listen. We live in that age of skepticism and people question, especially people that don't really know me or know the Ravens culture and the Ravens' organization. So I understand it. Every decision we make is based on this idea. Is this the best thing for the Ravens? It's very, very challenging. Again, I understand how people might, maybe from afar would feel that way.

But nobody's more upset about this than me, gutted by it, actually. And so I regret, a big regret for me. But we will move on as a football team. Got it by you. Do you guys think he needed a tissue? He's gutted. He's devastating. Your reaction, Greg.

Get out of here. It's hard for me to buy that. It's just really hard for me to buy it. Like, I do believe that going in, they wanted Max Crosby, of course, which is why you make the trade you sign up for it. Let's do this thing. We'll give up our first round picks for that type of a player. And then you start to see what walks out the door in terms of.

of free agents that you admit that were on your roster that you could have possibly signed that you you didn't that left and went somewhere else and then it's like those picks kind of start to mean a little bit more they kind of really need those picks and then to in that in that same presser he goes on to add that well we wanted tray and max that's where I'm like okay you make the deal on Friday for Max Crosby. Monday is the opening of free agency. Why didn't you sign trade then? You gave other teams opportunity.

You gave trade the opportunity to possibly end up somewhere else. But you had a vision and a plan to have them both. That's why it's hard for me to buy this. Like I get it. You got to come out and say something, but I felt like he dug himself even in a deeper hole once he made that statement of, man, I was going for both of them. Let me just show you this. It feels like this debacle, let's call it, might be a little extreme, has brought the knives out for the Raven. Here was the article in The Athletic from Mike Sando and Jordan Roderick. A veteran agent called the move a shock, but quote, not a surprise when you see.

think of who was involved. That was consistent with what two executives said about the Raven's reputation for, as one put it, effing with people. So what was your reaction to that and DeCosta's quote? So I knew, you know, the producers told me that you had pulled that,

so I didn't feel like I needed to pull other pieces of evidence. There's plenty out there. That's what I'm saying. Like, when he's talking about, when Eric DeCosta is talking about, like, people from afar, like he makes it sound like he's talking about, like, somewhere between, like, people on social media or

talking heads like us, who are degrees detached. Craig's Super Bowl champion for the record. Talking heads like us, Super Bowl champion. You only caught two more touchdowns in a Super Bowl than me. That's a fair point.

That's a good counterpoint. But then, like, you read the athletic, ESPN, you know, Ian Rappaport. They're quoting GM's, executives, they're like, oh, they got cold feet. Oh, they're just messing with people.

Oh, yeah, this is going to impact how we do business with them. Like, it's not us making it up. The league doesn't believe what Eric DeCosta is selling because, and I said this yesterday, and I've consumed it all for 24 hours, slept on it, whatever, if they didn't have Trey Hendrickson, I'd buy it. Like, if Trey Hendrickson was a bill and they flunked him on his physical, and they didn't have a place to pivot off of their big pass rush. She need to be like, oh, man, I bet you he is gutted.

I bet you Ravens fans are gutted. But he gets to keep his two first round picks and he got Trey Hendrickston. Yes. It's impossible to believe what you're saying. It's impossible. Here's the other quote. I didn't pull a quote panel for this. I'll just read it to you, Greg, and get the reaction.

Because we're big on, and Brew is obviously big on, the Ravens being S-Bob and going for it. And this felt like a little bit more of a, well, you know, long runway. Lamar's got plenty of time with us. We want to always be in the mix. The fact that, same from the same article from Mike Sando and Jordan Roderick, the fact that they were conservative on the physical is more aligned with how they are as an organization, an executive set.

Do you think this move, in a way, is a larger sign of how they've treated Lamar's career and never really just going all in? So it's, yeah. Does that make sense? I know it was a little. Yeah, it was a little. But like for me, I feel like they are moving.

They wanted to move. They made the move to make it seem like, you know what, we're all in on Lamar. And it felt that way when we found out the news about Max Crosby. This is the year. We need to get the Super Bowl for.

For the first time, it was like, they are going all in. They're making a risky move, a bold move. And it was like, that's the first time we felt this way since Lamar Jackson's been

MVP-level Lamar. And then once you back out, it goes back to, well, I don't know if they really believe that they can really get it done this year. They're just hoping that Lamar raises the tide again and he gets back to the MVP level. Just a catchaway and Mark Andrews, you know, Isaiah likely so and all that. And the reality of it is, is you need a lot of things to go right along with Lamar being excellent to win, period. And if the more talent you have on your roster, like a Max Crosby, and this is no knock on Trey Hendrickson. No.

Trey Hendrickson is a great player. But I would believe that we all agree he's not Max Crosby is better and younger. Yes. And if you get that type of an impact player, it just feels different. Of course. Sometimes feelings matter. Oh, I like that. All right, we're going to look at the Crosby side of things.

The Raiders are, quote, still hearing from teams, according to Dan Graziano. But the ordeal seems to have recommitted Crosby. He tweeted a gif of The Undertaker emerging out of an upright coffin that was on fire with the caption, everything happens for a reason. Believe nothing you hear in half of what you say. Wow, past that. See. I'm a Raider.

I'm back. Run that stuff. Danny, what are the chances this works out with the Raiders? Slim and none? I don't buy it. Call me a skeptic. And I know Raiders fans were all over the comments of all of my. the first thing's first videos from yesterday, very mad at me for how, oh, that take aged like milk,

aged like an avocado, because I said he won't play for the Raiders again. And then after the show, he puts out that gift and the whole thing. I don't think Max Crosby will play another game for the Raiders. I still don't. And I sympathize with Raider fans. Like, imagine being a Raider fan. Max Crosby is basically the only bright spot for your franchise for the last half decade or so. And it's a really bright spot.

Well, that one Mac Jones play was pretty good. Yeah, that was a good. Outside of that. Outside of that, thank you, was the official Mac Jones historian of the show. But like, great player, better story, reps the Raiders, wants to be a Raider for life, but you just can't win with them.

But then you get new coach optimism and number one pick optimism. And it's like, and then you trade away Max Crosby because it makes sense. The 29-year-old pass rusher doesn't, his timeline doesn't line up with Fernando Mendoza. optimism. And you wrap your mind around that. And then you whiplash back and now you have Max Crosby again, which I'm sure you're, again, you don't have to get rid of the jersey. You can

wrap your mind around in the moment. But it's very hard to see a world where Max Crosby is still a dominant player by the time Fernando Mendoza is a dominant player. It's very hard to imagine those two things lining up. So this is a really bad spot for the Raiders and they're going to end up trading him for 70 cents on the dollar because 70 cents is more than zero to try to help out Mendoza. So I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up playing for the Raiders this year and I obviously wouldn't be shocked if they end up trading him. The reason why I say I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up playing for the Raiders this year is because they have the cap space. But to your point, and I mentioned this yesterday, once you move on from a player and you start signing all these guys,

you're not signing them believing that Max Crosby is the trade isn't going to go through and he's going to come back and then we get all these guys plus Max. No, we're signing and acquiring these guys and acquiring these assets and draft picks because we're looking at what we're going to bring in and how we can continue to build around that. And so I think it just changes how they now right in the immediate have to approach things. And so you play the waiting game. if you are the Raiders and you are going to trade Max Crosby, which I think we all kind of feel like that's eventually going to happen. Like, it's the smart move because you really want to build around your young, talented, if you feel like he's that talented Mendoza.

Well, more on this later, but just quickly final word on this, Greg. He didn't have to put out the tweet of the Undertaker coming out of a coffin that was on fire. He did. It did seem like that he was into it. It's not just lip service or like, I'm going to be honest. I truly believe Max is one. He's one of the very few players that's just like, man, just am I playing?

Where am I playing? That's right. I'm not saying he's not disagree. He hasn't been. He wanted to play through his knee surgery. But he's the type of guy. If I'm here, I'm here. And it goes to show when we were getting the reports, he's back in the building the very next day.

Rehabing. Like, that's just the type of guy. Got a lot of time between now. It is a lot of time. He does. Team USA advances courtesy of the pass squad. watches three home runs. Also three espresso. Italy wins nine to one. USA wins the tiebreaker with Mexico. Here's how the bracket shakes out. It is now single elimination. We've got

Canada and then we'll play the winner of Korea versus the DR. On the other side of the bracket, Puerto Rico versus Italy, Venezuela versus Japan. We're still the faves here, Danny, Dominican Republic number two, Japan, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Italy at 6th, Canada. Way out there. All right. Are you surprised we are still the faves? So this is a little bit of a gambling, like, piece of

it. They're just the biggest favorite in this round. Canada's the easiest opponent. The other teams that have to face off are a little bit closer to each other. So we have the easiest quarterfinal matchup and are one of the powerhouse teams. And so, listen, Team USA lost to Canada

in the first WBC back in 2006 and but they had them on the slaughter rule back in 2023 so they should win comfortably against Canada but then when you play the D.R. I mean Vlad Jr. Machado Soto, Tatease, O'Neill, their lineups like our lineup. It's unbelievable. It's so good. And they've been mashing. So let's just like assume it holds form and the next round is the D.R. against Team USA. You're flipping coins. Yeah. It's. It's single. elimination baseball at this point. So they're the heavy favorite simply because they're the biggest favorite in this upcoming round. But after that, it gets real tough.

So at some point, you would think that that Italy game, losing that game and being put in that position where you're depending on somebody else to get you in, there's a wake-up call. And it's like we can't just rest on our laurels and just think we're going to just roll out, let's roll out the ball and we're better than everybody because we have we have to, we have have lost. Yeah. I expect them to be locked in. So for this round, yeah.

Slaughter rule, I think for the duration, if they are all locked in, they deserve to be the favorites. Okay, there you go. Confident? I really want to see, as a fan of sport, I really want to see United States

versus Dominican Republic, March 15th in Miami. I might go down there, to be honest with this. Yeah? Quick day trip? Yeah, go down. Hey. Yeah. Yeah, no, you nailed it.

Those fingers together. I didn't know it. I didn't realize. There's a finger. I've been doing the U, the wrong way. That's why I say roll tide most of the time. When you throw up the U, you say roll tight? No, I just say roll tide.

So the Eagles trade for Max Crosby. That is next on FS1, the Fox Sports Channel, on Sirius XM. Podcast has just taken over several true crime podcasts. We are now the number one podcast. And I asked you on, like, are you sure we should be in the true crime categories? You said, no, it's just all categories with the number. one podcast. Well, true crime's getting a little predictable. It's always the husband. So there we go. We did it. And also our YouTube channel is just flying up the charts.

Also the number one YouTube channel in the world. Back to the drawing board on Max Crosby destinations. Philadelphia? Hmm. Friend of the show Robert Mays pitched the idea to to Bill Barnwell on a podcast and tweeted, AJ Brown for Max Crosby on June 3rd. That's when the Eagles dead cap hit wouldn't be as It's easier to trade it with the money. Who says no? Danny will ask you, who says no here? I think good thing of several people.

The Raiders say no. Oh. Interesting. I mean, this is going to be great. A.J. Brown obviously would be a true number one receiver for Fernando Mendoza if A.J. Brown was interested in being a true number one receiver for Fernando Mendoza. You were, you just had a trade of Max Crosby for two ones, including the 14th pick.

A.J. Brown was traded in 2022 for a one and a four. And now he's older. And he's been reading books on the sideline and been winning Super Bowl. Winning Super Bowls. Very productive. Very productive. But do you think he's worth more now than he was four years ago when he's four years older? I just, I don't think that if you're going to go bring in a receiver to help out a young quarterback, now it worked with Stefan Diggs, you know, but they didn't have to give up a player of the caliber of Max Crosby. I, I just think when you're trying to reset a culture in Vegas, first-time head coach, rookie quarterback, the volatility of A.J. Brown is something you want to introduce to that situation after you have a culture established, not to establish the culture. I don't think the

Raiders would want any part of this. So I don't think the Eagles would say yes. I think the Eagles would say no. Really? I absolutely do. I think we underestimate the value of A.J. Brown because we're lost and we get so consumed by all the other stuff, the noise, the distractions, him talking out in the media and just saying exactly what everybody else within that locker room feels. He's just saying. And we get lost with that. And we forget how productive he is and the value that he brings to that offense. You remove A.J. Brown from that offense.

We look at that offense completely differently. They already struggle in the passing game. Yeah. We believe that they have a 1A, 1B, Devante Smith. None of us has ever really ever seen Devante in this league play a true number. number one role where it was just him in supporting cast. He's been with AJ. Been great not saying he couldn't do it, but we haven't seen it, especially when your

quarterback is Jalen Hertz and the level of production is inconsistent. Like, I just don't believe. But Greg, listen, I've defended AJ Brown, the messenger plenty because I think that he is telling the right message in terms of he's speaking truth to Jalen Hertz's struggles. And most of the guys in the locker room seem to back him up either publicly or silently. But you would agree that, like, Max Crosby is more of a checks all the boxes exactly what a coach would want. I think, yes, would they like to have, Max? Yes, but getting rid of A.J. Brown puts you in a position where, man, our offense struggled last year.

We'd struggled mightily, specifically in the passing game. And now you remove one of our better pieces in the passing game for defense. I get it. I totally, I just don't think that they would sign up for that because I don't truly believe the Eagles believe that Jalen Hertz can overcome all of that without A.J. Brown. So the reports are that A.J. Brown was still going to leave the Eagles. Maybe that's because I'm reading a lot of Patriots reports, but it's like late a third and a five I've seen. We'll see. You think that Howie's just like, that's what I, the way you were passionately talking about like this, this offense is in trouble. I feel like Howie Roseman, that's what Howie Roseman is saying.

He's like, you don't find a player of A.J. Brown's caliber. And he's hard to replace. I was like, oh, I guess you want to hold on to A.J. Brown. Yeah, I could see A.J. Brown staying in Philly. I just think if the news broke on June 3rd that A.J. Brown was traded for two first round picks. I would fall out of my chair. But Max Crosby was just traded for two first round picks. Well, not really.

He was for a moment in time. I mean, I just, I don't know even know how we're supposed to report on it. Like, was he traded for two first round picks? In your mind, I mean, officially yes. Officially, but it also, like, the team saw, holy, hold on, two first round picks. I did the math on it. Fail him on his physical. Sure.

Okay. Like, I don't know in 10 years if we're doing, like, look, let's see who was traded for two first round picks. He would not be on a graphic in 10 years, but, you know, less than 100 hours ago. Yeah. He was traded. He was traded for two first-off, including the 14th pick in the draft. Like, I'm, I am pretty confident that the league views Max Crosby as a more tradable asset than A.J. Brown. Bill's making moves on their defense side in Bradley Chub, three years, $29 million guaranteed.

Second major move of the off season, along with DJ Moore. Greg, we'll start with you. How should Josh Allen feel about free agency so far in Buffalo? Josh should feel really good about free agency so far. look, you got a right receiver that gives you depth. Look, I don't think that DJ Moore is the same receiver that he was when Chicago first got him. He's going into year nine, I believe it is. So obviously there's some tread on the tires.

I think he still can be very productive. And he's proven that he can be a one. So you got a receiver. You needed a receiver. You address that. And on the defensive side, you get a guy that's very productive as a pass rusher when he's healthy. Now, the Buffalo Bills last season endured a lot of injuries. You bring in an older guy.

We talked about this kind of yesterday as it pertains to Max and Trey and the age. If Bradley Chub is healthy and he's able to be on the field constantly, he tends to produce. You pair that with a healthy Michael Hoyt, who in two games had the two sacks and obviously the Achilles injuries got him. But and then I'm drawing a blank on the D tackle that was injured, bicep. At Oliver? Ed Oliver. That's a great, that's a great defensive front that can apply pressure on quarterbacks and possibly get the ball back to a guy like Josh Allen.

So I think there's a lot of optimism there. I just think we're underselling the value that's that Sean McDermott brought to that team defensively. That's right. Matt. So I think he loved the DJ Moore trade, helps him directly, a guy who's been productive everywhere, dropped off in Chicago. We talked about the reasons why. But I'd imagine he's very frustrated by the Bradley Chubb signing because it's just, it's nibbling around the margins. They have not solved pass rush since he's been there. They keep trying. Yeah. But they don't.

You talk about going on Miller. Well, yeah, but you talk about going all in. It's like, oh, man, we almost got Trey Hendrickson. Yeah, I mean, we were, we called on Max Crosby. We made an overture on Micah Parsons. Brandon Bean won some sort of power struggle between him and Sean McDermott. They had both been there since 2017. I had Josh look this up.

Who are the all-time Bill's sack leaders just 2017 to now? This is a very sad list. Because you think about it, Greg, if you have one of the highest scoring teams in the league over this period of time, because you have one of the best quarterbacks, you are playing with the lead a lot, so you've got a lot of opportunity to rush the other team's passer. That's a lot of mediocre in terms of pass rush production since 2017.

Now, Bradley Chubb entered the league in 2018, he would be their most productive guy. He had eight and a half sacks last year. He played in every game. But as to your point, he has massive injury history, just like Bosa, who they just lost, has injury history, just like Epinessa has injury history, just like Oliver has injury. Like, they, I'm sure they'll draft an edge rusher with their, you know, late first

round pick this year to keep throwing some resources at the problem. But they've had this whole time of Josh Allen's prime to go out and get a blue chip closer for the defensive side of the ball and they never have done it. love them. Who? You, you're very confident in the bills. Is that all Josh Allen? I'm worried about the defense. I love Josh Allen. I think he's the best player in football, but I just, it, if they, Trey Hendrickson, if he's a bill, it's like, oh, yeah, you got one. You finally got one. The guy who's always productive. They've never been able to do that for the defensive side of the ball. I'm interested in this, Trey Hendrickson. I'm not as high on Trey. They did get D. Alfred.

Okay. I'm just, I just. That isn't another person that they got. Indirectly helps. Yeah, Josh. Yeah. I'm selling my stock on the bills as well. You've been selling it since last year. And I was right. Colts signed Dale Jones to a two-year $88 million deal.

Could get up to $100 million, Greg. Colts were flying high before the wheels came off. We lost eight of their last nine. Over under this year, only at eight and a half of pedestrian eight and a half. I asked Josh, our esteemed researcher, I said, Josh, make me the dopest Daniel Jones graphic you can pull out of your statistics. bag. He said, I got you. First and team points. Six in completion percentage. Fifth in total yards. Fifth in yards per pass. Twenty-four touchdowns was eighth. Passer rating, ninth

best. Everything's screaming top 10 quarterback there, Greg. What's Indy's ceiling? I see what you did there. What? I mean, it's just right there. It's just the numbers. It was right there. However, I got to be honest, I'm a little nervous for the Colts. What? Yeah. What? What? What? Why are we doing this segment? Only because, not because Daniel Jones isn't worth that. But coming off an Achilles injury, number one, it's tough to have this type of expectation, high expectations for a team when you're a quarterback is he injured the Achilles late in the season.

He's trying to get back for week one. We've seen Aaron Rogers. come back from the Achilles. He was older, obviously. We seen Kurt Cousins, and we saw what it looked like with a couple other quarterbacks that are kind of around his, as far as athletic ability goes, in his world. Well, Daniel Jones is. He's more athletic than both of them are right now in terms of when they got their Achilles ruptured. However, if you're rushing back a Daniel Jones to this team, I think it's to your detriment. And when you look at what this division looks like now, it's going to be tough. It's just simply going to be tough. And so I don't know

if I rush him back. I believe he deserves the money. He deserves to get paid because when he is healthy, you put the numbers up. I didn't have to say it. You put the numbers up. It looks good. So the money is fine because the cap is so huge and it's only two years. And so you can get out of it quickly. And once they went down this path, you didn't want to hold a guy to a one-year thing on a tag. The money piece of it is fine. We don't want to debate that. It's just terrible luck. That's what happened. Like, Daniel Jones was playing great for a very small period of time, and they were real excited about it because they were like, oh my God, we were okay when we had Gardner Minshu, and we were okay when we had Anthony Richardson. And now we have a top 10

quarterback. So like maybe Shane Steichen is this great offensive. Like let's sure let's go all in right now. Who knows how long Jonathan Taylor's prime will be as a running back. Like this is our moment. And they trade for sauce Gardner. Didn't love it at the time because I don't love trading multiple first round picks for non-quarterbacks. I'm consistent on that. But they do it. And like two weeks later, he ruptures his Achilles. It's just a devastating injury. And so now you don't have first round picks and then you have to bank on him getting back to that form when that injury can often be a two-year thing for a quarterback, but you have to make a decision on the money before the two years comes up and you have to make a decision on the money for Alec Pierce and there's no other free agent-wide

receivers available so you overpay him. So you've overpaid sauce, you've overpaid Alex Pierce, now you've okay slash little overpaid Daniel Jones and you're banking on an injured quarterback to get you back in that spot whenever in your division has gotten better. So it's just It's really, really, really bad luck. If they still had their first round picks, because he got injured right before the sauce gardener, it'd be different. But I just think they're stuck.

Hand the ball off to Jonathan Taylor. First he carries, third in yards, first in touchdowns. Go badgers. See, it's another one I guess. You love college football. Go badgers. Do you? Jump around.

Best of the World Baseball classic next. But before we go, let's unmask a friend of the show on The Masked Singer. Take a listen. Oh, Alexie! Wow, that was something. 24 hours out from BAM's historic 83 point game. Opinions on this, Greg, vary.

Even within the league, okay? Take a listen. And then I watched the last three minutes and that was different type of basketball. And I saw only made six threes, but 40 free throws or something like that. Tells the story right there and the Washington Wizards. I'm kind of salty that he bested Kobe. It's one of my favorite players for sure. But I'm gonna just say to that. Yes, man. Joelle did it efficiently and he did it in three quarters.

Okay. Greg, do you think the criticism around Bam's 83 point game was unfair? Absolutely. Like, when are we going to get back to just celebrating someone? Oh, gee, what it's... The accomplishment. Because my... I want someone please. Here's my... My issue with this just stands. If it were any one of their teammates, if that had been Luca... scoring 83.

If that had been Kevin Durant scoring 83 or someone on the rocket scoring 83, they're not sitting up there talking about it in that light. Now, it just so happened, yes. Like JJ, we get it. It was ugly. It didn't look great,

but the game was ugly. It was out of hand. And so what else are, we playing for? Well, bam, let's go for 83. Or let's go for Kobe's 81. Why not? They had the option and opportunity to do it. He had bust them for 62 already. Let's go. I have no problem with it. We should be celebrating and they win the game. A guy gets 83 points. If it were you, you would be, man, I had 83. And bam, and then every. And every. And every, Everybody's shooting you down.

Yeah, Danny, but you're playing against toddlers. I could probably score 83 against toddlers. I mean, hopefully. I've ran some of those basketball practices. They can't dribble. It's, it's, he's getting plenty of praise. LeBron, Katie, Janice, Brunson. People are coming out of the woodward.

He is getting plenty of praise. And I don't even really think the criticism is of them. And I don't often just. totally agree with everything JJ said. He was pretty kind there. The last three minutes of that game were interesting. Watch it. I don't know how we deal with footage here,

but if we just collectively, we just aired it, uninterrupted, and let's just watch the last six minutes of that game together and be like, I don't exactly know what sport that is, but it's not basketball. You were okay with it, Greg, the game within the game. I thought that was intentional fouls, missing free throws.

challenging calls up to your point. Yes, it was different. It was something that we typically don't see. And why don't we see it? Because typically you're in a competitive game and if a guy isn't anywhere close to getting some type of feet like 81 points or plus 80, then you don't see that. But because he was so close and he had an opportunity

to do something that we've only seen done one other time, literally, I don't know anybody that's seen will get 100. we've only seen Kobe really do this. Yeah. Like, we got an opportunity to see history be made. Like, and it's not even the most points ever scored in the basketball game. So I don't, I just, just celebrate. Bam, way to go, man.

I'm rocking with it. I don't want to hear no more of it. Well, stay tuned for the douglas. Special edition of the Bud List with Danny Parkins, the dudlist next on first things first radio on FS1. Hi from New York. show that's just having a heck of a day and drinking plenty of coffee in honor of the pass watch in three home runs. Every good point I make on this show, I said I was going to have a shot of espresso. So far, no shots. But this next hour, I'm going to nail one.

This is your hour. Second hour, first things for us today. Would Kyler Murray make the Vikings the faves in the NFC North? And who's going to be in the last place? We discussed. Meanwhile, AJ Prisinski joins the show to talk about the world baseball. classic is this tournament now ours for the taking now that we snuck in thankfully but right now of course it's time for the most motivational segment in all sports it's also time we read some viewer mail we get tons of viewer mail for the year of 2026 some in envelopes some just handed to me like a note that you got in middle school dear wilds love the show thank you are we getting a negative segment from danny today or does he still be

believe in anyone. And as a bonus, do you know anyone named Steve? So it could be Steve and Danny's on her dress list and deliver the segment that Dusty wants called the Studs and Duds list, sincerely Ryan and Brian. Ryan and Brian, we do not know anyone named Steve. And yes, Dusty always tries to get a segment of studs and duds of free agency in. And Nick usually poohs it. He really doesn't like that. He does not like it at all. Even we have to do like Winners and Duds. So we're trying to split the baby there. For this Bud List, is it going to be super negative?

Because before it has been. Well, yeah, the first time I did Danny's Under Dress List, it was the people that I did not believe in. And the reviews from the leader of the show were, that was a lot of negativity. And so I decided to just channel Chris Broussard and be motivational. I think that's a great idea. Three guys that I am positive about that are under duress.

You ready? Here we go. Number one, Kevin O'Connell. Head coach and general manager. Maybe. And quarterback whisperer and on the hot seat. Never won a playoff game. And never want a playoff game.

All of a sudden it's like, okay, Kirk Cousins has made a trillion dollars and he's gone. And Sam Darnold won a Super Bowl and he's gone. gone and you get a lot of credit for that. But you signed off on losing Darnold because you loved J.J. McCarthy and you traded up a spot to get J.J. McCarthy. But now J.J. McCarthy is either

going to be benched or maybe traded when you signed Kyler Murray. But if you read the reporting around Kyler Murray, he hasn't, not only has he not signed yet, there's talk that he will do it. He will sign. But he's also going to take Zouliu. calls with other teams who might be in the 2027 quarterback market.

I don't even understand that. I don't really. Does that make any sense to you? It's it's odd and Kyler Murray is kind of odd. But it's like, oh, so is Kyler going to, he just wants to have an introductory call with Sean McVeigh and the Rams? Well, that's interesting. In case Matt Stafford retires and does he want to talk to Domeco Ryan's and the

Texans in case C. In case C.J. Stroud doesn't quite work out. Don't use this segment to start taking shots at C.J. Stroud. Whoa. Just because he mentioned to Caleb and gave him a vote of confidence and all of a sudden Caleb started playing great. It might have a little to do with it. So Kevin O'Connell, you're going to be the head coach

and the general manager. I know they have an interim through this draft process. And you are going to get Kyler Murray, we think, for one year. No pressure. It's just maybe you on the hot seat. Maybe Brian Flores leaves eventually to be a head coach. Justin Jefferson is still in his prime.

And Kyler Murray is not even committing to you long term. So you've got to maximize this mercurial player with a ton of talent in one year that is a Super Bowl window. But oh yeah, by the way, you're picked to finish fourth because you're in the toughest division in football. But I think Kevin O'Connell is a great coach and a great play caller. I think if Minnesota was foolish enough to fire him, 10 teams would hire him. So Kevin O'Connell, I believe in you.

Good. That's nice. Thanks. Bam, Audubio. See, this is going to be tricky. Don't worry, I'll throw the needle. Coming off an 83-point game, we should be celebrating it. And I'm willing to celebrate it to a point because I watched the game.

43? Very impressive. of the first half. Over 60 through three, very impressive. How you actually got the modern scoring record, I'll be honest, I didn't love. But like members of baseball testifying before Congress, I'm not here to talk about the past. His point prop for tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks is a robust 22 and a half. How did the other all-time great individual scoring players perform in the The day after, the game after, they're born. Wilt had 100.

Next game, it was a casual 58. Quiet 58. A quiet 58. Kobe after his 81, he just got right back in line with his scoring average and dropped 30. Like it was no big. Roll out of bed, give you 30. He can't have 18. This is a great question.

I mean, it's a lock for 16 and 9. This just has 16 and 9 written all. Now, the Buck's defense is terrible. Maybe Bam tries to put a 40 piece on top of it to kind of justify. Or maybe he's like, you know what, I did take a lot of shots the other night. And he tries to pass a little bit. I'm going to move the rock a bit. But I'm very interested to see how aggressive Bam is tonight.

We're now talking about you with Kobe and Will. You're playing a bad defense. You're playing for something. They're not playing for anything. If Yonis is guarding you, Bam, passed the ball. Go out there, hit that over on that player prop. I will be betting over 22 and a half because bam, I believe in me. That's good.

He did it. Why you sound so surprised? No, but you did. You did. I am a good. No, because you've been a little bit of a Bam critic. Yeah. Not even Bam critic.

Maybe a spolster critic. I was a critic of what happened. Yeah, I was critical of it. But if the player prop, if it was set at 68 and a half points, I would take the under. camera the under-off. But at 22 and a half, I'm willing to take the over. Last but not least, and this is, Brew's not here, but I feel like this is the only person

to put on it today at number one. Yeah. Lamar Jackson. And I asked Josh if we could confirm that Lamar has the most appearances all time on the bud list. And he said, whatever you want. So this is the most. We don't keep track of that.

We should keep our own stats. No, it's just not. I don't think that's time well spent, Josh. I would love to know. Anyway, the Baltimore Ravens, they tried to trade two first round picks for Max Crosby. It didn't work out. They turned around and gave $100 million to Trey Hendrickson. He doesn't play on Lamar Jackson's side of the ball.

They lost Tyler Lindelbaum. He protected Lamar Jackson who's just coming off the highest sack rate season of his career. Eventually, Mark Andrews is going to lose a step, and Isaiah Legley was going to step into the fold. Nope, he's now a New York giant. Lamar, we're waiting on the contract news, expected to be the highest per year quarterback in the history of the NFL, shattering Dack Prescott's number. He'll renegotiate, restructure, whatever the case may be. But the point is, all the resources from Trey Hendrickson to the head coach hire to the guys they lost in free agency have been allocating resources to the defensive side of the ball. Yet, I think they're S-Bob.

Brew thinks they're S-Bob. Vegas has them as the favorite in the AFC and the third overall favorite in the entire league to win the Super Bowl. But they're coming off of a disappointing year for the quarterback and the team overall. But Lamar Jackson, you're a multiple-time MVP. The organization believes in you. And so do I. So Lamar Jackson, number one, on Danny's Underdress list. Great butt list, positive.

A little dash of criticism there, but mostly positive. I can't help that. I thought that was a win. I thought that was good. going to be very positive with my addition. Oh. And I'm throwing Max Crosby on the Bud list. Why?

I'm going to start off saying it. Because I believe in you. Oh, that's good. Unlike other teams that possibly saw your scans and didn't like what they saw, there's a phrase that we often hear in sport, best ability is availability. Max Crosby is typical. typically always available, even willing to play through injury and produce an impact.

Max, regardless if you start the year as a Raider or wherever, be ready, I know you will. Attack your rehab, I know you will. Improve every consulting doctor that even got to see your scans, that now all of a sudden even their teams are particularly saying, I'll disengage too. You know what you need to just do? Wherever you suit up, wreak havoc like you've always wreaked havoc, and you will quiet everything.

The only thing that cannot happen, Max, is something that we all, every player that puts on a uniform, hopes to avoid injury. because all that we will say is, wow, I guess the Ravens were on to something. But Max, I believe in you. I don't care where you suit up this year. That's what I was going to ask. I really just want to see you on the field so you can dominate and prove that everything

that was talked about that was rescinded by the Ravens is put to bed because you're available and when you are available, you're one of the best. Max, I believe me. I want the bills to make an offer for him. So you don't even want your bears to make an offer for them?

Well, listen, I mean, I obviously want the bears to make an offer for him too, but in terms of the most intrigue of what would hurt the Ravens the most, because I just think what the Ravens did here is just clearly dirty pool. The thing that would hurt the Ravens the most, like you could argue Cincinnati because it's in the division.

A little Trey Hendrickson, Max, Graws, Yeah, switch up. So if he's not going to be a bear, I wanted to be the type of thing that could add maximum pain to the Ravens if Max Crosby justifies your belief. And I think that would be Buffalo. I remember when Jeannie was big on Max Crosby or trade of the Browns? He was big on teaming Miles Garrett with somebody, which I really like. I'm headed over to March Madness. Yeah, this is March.

And everybody knows I'm a huge Miami fan. I'm always throwing up the you. Sometimes, you know, I don't quite do it right, I'm told. We have a lot of Miami alum on the staff and on the set. Like, you're not doing it right. I'm like, you know what then? Fine. I'm going to switch it up.

Guess what? Miami of Ohio now. Wow. Yeah. Now I'm a Miami of Ohio fan. And a lot of people are complaining that they don't deserve to be in the tournament, even though they are 30 and O. They woke up today, 30 and O.

And you can look at their resume. Again, this was from this morning. This one's actually from this afternoon. 31 and 1. Points per game, second best in the whole country. Field goal percentage, best. Let's look at teams that went undefeated in the regular season. Again, because they woke up undefeated, they lost this afternoon.

It was Miami of Ohio, Zaga, Kentucky, and Wichita State. And they're making noise with a great mascot. So, shockers. What happened today? Well, they went and played UMass, Yikes, had a lead, lost it in the fourth, courtesy of Ramsey's, one of his childhood friends, is the point guard for UMass.

Danny Carbuccio, so shout out to Danny, Ramsey's friend, unfortunately, knocked out Miami of Ohio. So you would think, you know, one loss gets you into the tournament. into the tournament. Not the case. Headlines coming out of this game already, Danny. They fired up the old printing press of the USA today. Don't be fooled by Miami, Ohio, 31 and 1 record. It's built on cupcakes. Well, let me tell you something about easy schedules. It's prime time season, Greg, to rip on easy opponents. Maybe you score 83 points against

a team that's just tanking. Does that not count anymore? Yes. Yes, it does. Maybe you have a weak strength of schedule. You get to play the Jets twice. Hey, you get to play the Saints. You get to play the Titans. You get to play. Well, guess what?

You get in the tournament, you make it to the Super Bowl and get stopped. That doesn't mean you didn't belong in the playoffs. You get out there, the ball's bouncing around. You won 30 games. They deserve to be in. Oh, what about me? I played a tough schedule, I lost 10 games. Exactly.

You lost 10 games. Get out of here. Cook! Get Miami of Ohio in and get what. I'm back in on the U-2 of Ohio. You lost in the quarter-finals to UMass. They lost once. Here's the other thing.

This is the worst. This is the worst. Let him cook. The fact that they lost should be a good thing. Look, we lost some games. Our opponents were pretty good. The fact that they're undefeated, like, undefeated. The Patriots got penalized for winning 14 games.

If they were like the business, who played basically the same schedule and didn't win 14 games and lost to the Falcons, which we beat, lost to the Dolphins, which we beat. Miami, you're the Patriots. Good news. You're going to make a run in the playoffs. Maybe people get injured. Maybe it would be a rainy day in the stadium.

Maybe you turn the ball over too much. Then you're going to play University of Washington and just get crushed. Nevertheless, you deserve a spot in the playoffs. I believe in you. What a tape. I mean, you got herring. There's trauma. They're the page.

Enough with the easy schedule. I have more data. It's a one big lead. You know what? Here's a somewhat fictitious story that may or may not have happened to me. It kind of did, but I'll exaggerate a little bit. At a carnival. Go to a lot of carnivals.

I did, actually. Okay. A fight breaks out. And it's all like, Keros, you know? Separates. Guy turns around. Who wants some?

Not me? I'm just here observing. I'm trying to go to a carnival. I'm trying to throw a dart at a balloon. You want some funnel cake. Who wants some? Not me. That's what Miami was doing before the year.

They sent Markett, Kansas, Ohio State, BYU, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin. Who wants them? You know what they're? Not me? We don't want any. Oh, no, no. So you got to go play Marshall. Nobody wants them.

So the fact they're trying to schedule these games are getting avoided. So it's not their fault. They're trying to make their schedule. Patriots just playing who's showing up. They're trying to put good teams on their schedule. Nobody wants a piece of Ohio. Put him in the tournament. The end.

Send Kevin Wilde some Miami Ohio gear. Do they do this in Miami of Ohio? They do not. They should. They party. Why not? Because it's not the U. It's not the U.

The Red Hawks. saying it but it stands for the you. I got the university part. I could see if it was like a hurricane part. I know each. Each school has its own thing. I don't know. I might make it a thing.

Everybody should do the you, every university. University of Connecticut? The U. I was with you until the carnival school. Sunday on Fox, the IndyCar series roars into Arlington for the first time ever. The inaugural race begins with a star-studded, Texas-sized part.

I'd like to go to a Texas-sized party. I get stuck going to Connecticut-sized parties growing up. Everything's bigger in Texas. Much of nothing. Java House Grand Prix of Arlington, Sunday at 1230 Eastern, only on Fox. Welcome back to first things first, Greg Jennings and Danny Park. It's eagle signed Treek Wollin away from that dominant Seahawks defense.

That would have been good before the Super Bowl. One year, $15 million deal. Here's how the Seahawks have fared post-Supertumble. Every team has had some changes. But Super Bowl MVP going over to the Chiefs, Mafay over to the Bengals, Tariq 1, to the Eagles, to Kobe Bryant, to the Bears. Interesting bottom line there. Each player played over 60 games with Seattle, all drafted in 2022.

Is this something, Danny, that you think the Seahawks should be concerned about? Not at all. I think all of this was expected. And just look at the last two Super Bowl champs. Like the Eagles, after they won the Super Bowl, they lost Milton Williams. $100 million contract, right? Massively productive player. The Chiefs a couple of years ago, it was a trade, but they're like, man, we can't keep Ligerius Sneed.

Top cornerback, premium position, had to lose them. So Super Bowl champion losing players happens all the time. And I think compared to just the last couple, those guys are not as high a caliber as play. as the previous champs lost. And the drop bar on that graphic actually speaks to why they shouldn't be too concerned. All of those guys are drafted by Seattle? John Schneider is on a nice little heater in terms of a general manager building his team through the draft, nailing the Darnold move,

signing the guys, right? They have a very deep roster. And so, Greg, you know it better than anybody. There is turnover for every team every year. No matter how young you are, no matter how good a cat position. you in, no matter what championship you won, there will always be turnover. So for a Super Bowl champion, if we put together the top 15 players on the Seahawks, they're probably bringing back 13 of them, 14 of them. So they are just fine. This is a, honestly, in terms of comparing

it to other champions, this is nothing in terms of what champs have lost in the past. So I'm with you as if, as it pertains to them being just fine. I think they'll be. fine, but it's hard to lose really good players and key players, obviously, as the graphic shows, and sustain the type of success you have, specifically on that defense side of the ball. It helps when you have a defensive-minded coach and Mike McDonald, and I would say that we all believe in who he has established himself as a head coach in this league. Why it's concerning a bit is because you're in.

in a division and you're watching the Rams who was right there. And you took advantage of their defense, specifically their secondary, and you see them, if you're a Seahawks fan, going all in. And they are just retooling. Like, you know what? We're going for it again. Or we're going for it because we know what that team in our division did to us and how they got to where they were to hoist that Lombardi trophy.

And the Niners. as well as the Niners. But more specifically, like the Rams, so I don't want to make it seem like it's just something to gloss over. But when you have a plan and you talked about them being drafted, and Snyder, who I was with in Green Bay when he was younger, and obviously he's done a terrific job, a tremendous job, of being able to sustain the type of quality players

that the Seattle Seahawks have had over the years, you believe in who you are and what you can provide this roster as they currently are constructed with what you do in the draft and what they will continue to do in free agency. So I'm not personally concerned but as a fan

because you're looking at the division it kind of gives you a bit of like angst. Just quickly, do you think they got better though? No. You can argue they didn't get worse but we think the 49ers got better. We think the Patriots got better. We'll talk about them.

We think that the Rams got better. No, I think Greg's point is... I'm at my radar of like... You only got a little worse. Like, all right, but that's dangerous. Yeah, I think they got a little worse, but the Rams are all in for this year. The Seahawks should have younger roster.

They're not all in for this Super Bowl. They've got a pretty wide window, I would say, in Seattle. Okay. Head up to New England, where Mike Vrable, reuniting with another former Titan. Kevin Byard coming over from Chicago after leading the league with seven interceptions last year, which the Bears led them.

the league in interceptions. Greg, we'll start with you because I think Danny's a little biased and so am I. What's the headline for you here? This was a loss for the Bears or an ad for the Patriots. Initially, it's a loss for the Bears until I found out, oh, they got Kobe Bryant. And then it's like you got a younger player who was very productive for the Seattle Seahawks, obviously Super Bowl champion. And then you look across at the Patriots and your safety,

Jalen Hawkins, great safety. You lose him and you get Kevin Byard. Win, win. A little older player, but very productive, understands the scheme, obviously, that he's going to be involved in. So it's a win for both. I think it stings probably a little bit more for the Bears because of how bad that defense was and the level of productivity that he provided specifically and security on the back end. And it's hard to, when you don't get pass rush to sustain as a secondary, but when you have

somebody like that, a quarterback, if you will, in the back end like Kevin Byard, who's seen it all, you can still make plays. And that is what they did. They took advantage of balls that were in the air and got the ball back to their offense. He was a large part of why they were successful. So I want to pump you up even more about it. Because it's a loss for the Bears, but so Kevin Byard is 32 years old. He signs a one year, $9 million deal.

The Bears got a 26-year-old on a three-year, $40 million deal. The Bears got a better player in terms of longer runway in his prime, better present-day athlete. The Bears, the Bears upgraded in terms of they were going to lose Byard or Brisker. Now they're probably going to lose both, but they added Kobe Bryant. But Byard's awesome, man. Like, you mentioned that he led the league in interceptions with seven. He has multiple seasons with five interceptions. He has an eight interception season.

And beloved teammate, leader in the locker room, you mentioned that he played with Vrable for five years. So, you know, quick to reunite with his coach. And I don't know if you know this, Greg, but it's just, I imagine you'll respect the hell out of it. He's played in the league for 10 years. Yeah? Never missed a game. That's the most impressive part. He is one of the toughest.

like lead by example, play through pain, show up, beloved teammate, culture, tone setter guys. So they will lose a little bit of that for the Bears. So that is a loss. But the Bears needed a long-term answer at safety, which is why they did this with the investment in Kobe Bryant. But for a one-year bridge safety, if such a thing exists, Byard's a great ad for your squad. Greg, let me ask you, what do you make of Vrable? getting the band back together.

A lot of guys that he brought in are variable guys that he has a relationship with, either from Titans or there's some connection to his time at Ohio State. And to me, it felt like that's why in year one, there was an immediate team. There was a real, like, I know, I was like made fun of because I was, I made fun of.

I did a poor job presenting how special I thought the Patriots were, before the door or destiny. I'm like, I don't know. They just feel like a team. And now it's like, oh, it's Vrabel, almost like a college coach recruiting guys to come in. Like, I need, this is the type of player that I want. And they all love him. And he seems to really rock with them.

If you remember back when he was fired, a lot of his players spoke out. Like, they were disappointed. We in the media. We were shocked because we speak so highly and we feel so highly about Vrable. but it's about buy-in. And when you develop relationship with players, and we can make it seem like it's cheesy when he's standing in the locker room

and he's high-fiving and he's celebrating with his guys and he's constantly doing that. But he does that all the time. And guys buy-in to a guy who's just approachable, who's going to be real, honest, and expect nothing less than a standard that is always known and spoken. about. That's Vrable.

And I thought what Vrable did was cheesy, and you thought good better best was cheesy. Good better best was Velveeta, dude. Good better best was absurd. Your guy is handing out orange slices and caprices. Good better best was insane. Mike Vrable, this is part of the reason, like, and I, and I, if it was the NBA, A.J. Brown would force his way to New England. It's not. but the variable at the combine

talking about how he has a relationship with AJ Brown that goes beyond football and they text each other good, bad and different and they have like a real bond that just if they both decided to retire they would continue that relationship makes me think old. It's the reason why I ordered that AJ Brown jersey. You already haven't made?

And AJ reciprocated that sentiment. Yeah. They're like real. I don't know. Yeah. It's real. It's why we got to the Super Bowl, not just the easy schedule, okay? All right.

The vibes and the easy schedule and Drake May. All right, final story. Pete Carroll still believes in Gino Smith, their one-year reunion, only netted four wins in Las Vegas, but Carol expects Gino to thrive in New York. Remember, Gino is out there cooking in Seattle. Fourth most yards, fifth best completion percentage, 27 wins is good for six best.

71 TD is good for eighth best. The problem is he went 2 and 13, 19 touchdown, 17 interceptions with the Raiders. We'll start with Greg. Greg, are you buying a Gino bounceback season for the woeful, historically woeful Jets? I am buying a Gino Smith bounce back. I think he's going to be what they, I have been hoping for in terms of a stabilizer at that quarterback position. I didn't necessarily love the comments that Pete Carroll said. I didn't love it because it's like we could have coached him better.

Yeah, but it kind of sends the message of, number one, it kind of outs you as a coach. And as Gino, it was like we, I feel like it was more than just the coaching. It was what you didn't provide him up front and what he didn't have. But in terms of him being back in New York, getting a second chance, they've struggled at the position for it. Danny, I see you shaking your head. I'm not saying that the New York Giants are going to win a I'm sorry, the New York Jets are going to win a ton of football games. However, I don't believe that we're going to see the version of Gino Smith

that the Las Vegas Raiders had last year. Well, I mean, he was arguably the worst quarterback in football last year, so that's okay. No. He had more interceptions than games played. He had 17 picks. He was bad. He had 17 picks and 15 games.

So, and he was. I absolutely think that Gino will be better with the Jets than he was with the Raiders, because it's almost impossible to be worse. But if he bounced back to what he did the previous three years in that graphic, they'd be talking about, well, should Gino be here for a couple of years? And that's what I just can't see happening. I can't see Gino being good enough this quickly with what they have to surround him with, with the Jets, for them not to be in the market for a rookie quarterback the next year.

I hope he's good. It's a one-year thing. AJ Prisinski talking World Baseball Classic next. Right in the first and out. You're balled up on Greg. Joining us now to talk more the World Baseball Classic. A.J. Prisinski. AJ, we're watching.

First of all, thank you for joining us from a beautiful residence in, is it, I believe. It looks lovely. I think so. It looks wonderful. Don't make fun of my hotel. I'm not. I like the art. I like the art.

We finally, Team USA got through, thank goodness. Thanks to the Paskwatches, three home runs last night. What did you think of the Paskwatches performance and the espresso intake? He was caffeinated, like he said in his interview. Also, the first three hits he had gotten in the tournament, so he was super excited. And we love Italy. We love Italy if we're Americans and we're baseball fans because Italy not only beat America, but then they put us in the next round.

So we love Italy. We love the Pasquatch. I think there was a lot of nervous people in that USA hotel, but Italy got it done. So I know anything can happen in baseball, AJ, and I know the lineup is stacked, but they did have their little blemish here. Are you at all surprised to see the Team USA is still the odds-on favorite in this tournament? No, because they still, for me, have the best team. Now, did they lose a game? Yes, but they've also lost the game in every tournament, including the one they won in 2017.

So they got through. That's the most important part. Their lineup is still crazy good. Their pitching is still really good. They just have to get it lined up. And when they do, and they have reinforcements coming, they're getting rid of some of their so-called, I don't want to call them lesser,

because they're not lesser players, Matthew Boyd. And some of the other guys down there, Clay Holmes, the kind of the piggyback guys of the starters. And now they're just going their starter, Logan Webb, Paul Skeen's, and then they're going to go bullpen with Mason Miller and Bednar, just a bevy of closers and other matchups that they have. So, no, I think they're still the favorite.

I still think they have the best team, and I think they still win. AJ, have we all been sleeping on Italy? I mean, obviously they took us down and then they put us in. Have we been sleeping on this team? No, they have big league players. Look at their lineup. They have big league players. I know certain people on the show are Cub fans,

but there's a couple white socks guys on that team Italy that are pretty good. So I'm just saying, listen, they're pretty good. Aaronola's had some pitch some big games for the Phillies in his career. Their starting lineup is a legit line. Kyle Teal, Jack Caglio, Pasquantino, Antanachi, who that deek was unbelievable. I've never seen a guy dive to pull off a deak like that and it worked. So cool.

So listen, I think Italy is a good team. I thought we all thought Mexico would beat him and move on. it would be U.S. and Mexico, but Italy's feeling it right now. And the more, hey, I'm all here for espresso shots and having fun. The double cheat kiss is amazing. So good. And you've got a blazer, too. I don't know if it's just one blazer or there's several blazers for different sizes.

It's like the mafia, right? It's like the mafia blazer, too. I think I was just a normal. Put it over their shoulders. Oh, I see. I'm going to get myself with a nice blazer. All right. in Miami, March 16th, March 13th, is going to be Korea versus Dominican Republic.

The winner of that game plays USA Canada. I assume it's going to be USA versus the Dominican Republic. These two teams have just been like electric. What are you expecting out of that game if it happens? Runs, lots of runs toward, lots of, again, I said this last time I was on, If you haven't been to one of these games in Miami with one of the Latin American countries, i.e. Dominican, Venezuela, who are left, go if you can get a ticket. You see the bat flip.

You see just everything happening. Every time the Dominican, if they advance, plays scores a run against USA, it will be like they won the World Series. It will be a party. And it should be because this is fun. It's an exhibition. There'll be bat flips. Now, USA doesn't do it like that. But Dominican and Venezuela, they are a party every time they get a hit.

It's amazing. It's so fun. Can I tell you? I don't know if the USA team vibes are on 11 like everybody else. We can't. I think they are. I don't know. They do it different, though.

They do it different than the Latin American countries. If you haven't seen it, then you don't understand. They're not even, they don't care. They're not showing each other up. It's not like they're showing. You saw them. They were hugging. Venezuela and Dominican were hugging after they played.

They're hitting homers. They're hugging the other team. It's crazy. It's how baseball is supposed to be, Maybe not supposed to be played, but it is the most fun version of the game. Yes, it's not supposed to be played like that, but it is fun. They're having touchdown celebrations after every hit. They pull out their things.

They all got their skits. They all got their dances. It's awesome. So we already previewed the next game. Is there anything to worry about with Team Canada against Team USA other than it's baseball? It's baseball. They have big league players on Canada. They have the Neller brothers who were both solid big leaguers.

I think Mike Soroka is starting for Canada. He's a good player. They got some big leaguers coming out of the bullpen. It's not like Canada has never played baseball. They have a good history of baseball. And don't forget, the Blue Jays almost won the World Series there in Canada. So that should count for something, right? But USA should win this game.

They should win it fairly easily. But again, we thought that about Italy. And it is baseball. Don't ever forget. It's baseball. Anything crazy can happen. Greg, usually we've been asking, switching questions each time, but I wanted not to get too deep into the interview. And I asked you in the commercial break, I was like, please do not tell the story of you either routing up Greg or whatever it is.

Oh, locking him up. Me and Jay Cutler, he knows. Look at his face. I don't know what the story. Someone has to set the state. Let's go, AJ. Let's hear the story. Don't go more.

Tom Shaw, he remembers. Me and Jay Cutler used to. He was the receiver. you know, coming out of college, going to the draft. I was out benching them. I was out running the 40 on them. Cutler and I would just dice them all up. They were like, hey, why don't you guard Greg?

Locked him up as a cornerback. Now, keep in mind, I was like a 30-year-old catcher at the time. So, you know, I don't know, Greg. You have to explain yourself. Wow. The things that we tell ourselves in our dreams, it's okay. It's okay. We didn't have fun.

We didn't have great. Great times down there, but none of that is true. This is the rare. I was going to say this is the rare routing you up and locking you up. None of that is true. The 30-year-old catcher is fascinating. None of it is true. Both sides.

All right. AJ, we have our pitching matchups coming up. The pitching gets to go up. I heard on the broadcast last night. It's hard in their earlier rounds, pool play. It's hard for your pitcher to win. the game, but they can lose you the game. How do you think these pitching matchups play out now that the pitch counts go up?

Well, you should be able to get five at least out of Logan Webb for the U.S. and if they advance and you get probably five out of Skeens against Dominican. Listen, Dominican, did they win? U.S. wins. Skeens versus Dominican. Do you not want to see that in Miami in the semifinals? Against probably, I don't know who's going to start, Al Contra for Dominican, Brian Beah, whoever it is.

Christopher Sanchez, who was really good for the Phillies last year, that's a heck of a matchup. That's something you want to pay money to. So the pitch counts go up, so it becomes more like a real game, right? So you can go five innings and then you bring in, if you're USA, Mason Miller and Bednar, like I talked about earlier, and then some of these other arms, lefties and righties and all these guys, Gabe Spire, I haven't seen him from the Mariners. It's filthy. So I think it becomes more like a real game.

And a little bit more of the handcuffs are off, Mark DeRosa, the USA coach. So it becomes more of a real game. And also for the Dominican and for the other teams, the handcuffs come off a little bit more. Anything that you see is like this tournament, there's such great vibes. Everyone's so into the sport. Opening days two weeks away, momentum for the game at all, WBC into April baseball? I certainly hope so because people are tuning in. As you guys know, I've seen it on the Fox broadcast.

There's huge numbers. Baseball's thriving right now. let's just not mention the work thing that we're going to have to talk about for the next, like, 10 months. Something about where there might be a word, something, I'm not going to use the word. But right now, baseball is going. Can we not figure this out people? You know, Bruce Meyer, Rob Mavry, can we not sit down now and figure this out instead of waiting to the last minute so everyone thinks they have all the power? Let's just figure it out now. Amen.

I like that. AJ, thank you very much. You're on the broadcast. and we'll have you in after the quarter final next week. I'm already booking you next week, but we'll see you then. Sorry, Greg. Yeah, sorry, Greg. I was expecting you to put up more of a fight there.

You were just like, oh, you're right, outbenching you too? It can't just feed the truth. My goodness, gracious. I have respect for my... AJ's faster than you. We all heard it. We all heard it. Thanks, AJ.

Thanks, good. Live from New York, it's first things first. overtime today is Team USA back on track to win the whole thing? I hope so. Meanwhile, can the Raiders this is when Hobbs was running the show. Can the

Raiders make it to the playoffs with Max Crosby? It's very you know what? Weirder things have happened. A few. Someone's got to be worse to first and it's not who you think. You don't think it's going to be the Giants of the Lions? It's just too easy.

It's always a weird team that's worst to first. And finally, does Bam have to have a huge game tonight? He cannot score in the teens. He's got to have at least 25. 16 and 9. No, he has to have a huge game. I thought he just plays and gets to his average, which is, yeah, right around 20. I mean, that's typically what players do. I don't know, Wilt followed up 158. I wonder if Fress was on, B, BAM. Wilt felt good about that 58. We thought it was disappointing 50. He went home and he's like, what's going on?

He's just looking at the mirror. Come on, Wilts. You step up. Slack it. You had 100. We're starting in Minnesota where Kyler is visiting coach slash GM perhaps Kevin O'Connell. Minnesota looking for a quarterback after moving on from Kirk Cousins. Also moved on from Dale Jones.

Never heard talks about that. Moved on from Sam Donald won the Super Bowl. Now they're looking at Kyler Murray. Kyle has had some stints where he's been excellent. Last 25 games, almost completed 70% of his passes, 254 total yards. He can move on the ground. 33 touchdowns, only 15 interceptions,

six rushing touchdowns. Passer rating, a little south of 95. If Kyler ends up joining the Vikings, how good does this make Minnesota, Danny? I think it gives them a very high ceiling. But that's what I'll say. I think it makes them how high is that ceiling? That's a Super Bowl contender.

What does that mean? It means going to the Super Bowl? Listen, when they had Sam Darnold, they won 14 games. Is that not an answer to your question? I don't, Kevin O'Connell's never won a playoff game. Kyler Murray's never won a playoff game. Kyler Murray had a work ethic clause put in his contract. He represents a low floor, but I think it's totally possible that he has a high ceiling.

And if you have Brian Flores and you have that defense and we saw them have that winning streak to end of the year, we saw them shut down the lion's offense, we saw them shut down the Packers offense. I think that if Kevin O'Connell, big capital I, capital F, if, if Kevin O'Connell maximizes Kyler Murray, the Vikings, the rest of their roster, 2 through 53, is a Super Bowl caliber roster. And so I just, I wanted to think of something that would represent what the potential ceiling in. is there. If you look at what Matt Stafford was before he got to L.A., it's very similar to what Kyler Murray has been so far in his career. This is interesting. And so Matt Stafford goes to L.A.

And he's all he teamed up with Shaw McVeigh. Who was his OC? Kevin O'Connell. We know that Kevin O'Connell, again, has had success building up quarterbacks, Kirk Cousin, Sam Darnel. So is it on the board that, Tyler Murray, when he gets into the McVeigh tree, when he gets Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison,

still playing in a dome, much better defense, doesn't have to do as much, doesn't have to be a miracle worker, gets to play within more of the modern NFL system. Is it at all possible? I'm very interested in this. That Tyler Murray can live up to, oh, you're one of the best athletic prospects that's ever coming to the league. Because that is what he is,

in terms of high school production, first round draft pick, mobility, arm strength. The only thing he doesn't have physically is height. Now, he has work ethic questions. That is an intangible thing that I can't put onto that graphic. But in terms of pure raw talent, he is doing what Stafford did in terms of, I'm gonna go get coached by the best,

and we'll see what he can become. That's the ceiling. That's an impressive comparison. Look, I'm with Danny on this one. The ceiling for this team, is the Super Bowl, literally representing the NFC and being the NFC champion, if he's able to, to your point, maximize it.

Like, I just want you to get this in your mind if you are an opposition of the Minnesota Vikings' offense and Kyler Murray's under center. You got Justin Jefferson split out to your right, Addison split out to your left, Aaron Jones and Company in the backfield. We'll see what they do at running back. We'll see.

They have to get better at. running back, but you got Kyla Murray in the shotgun. He literally fakes the handoff. You don't know if he's going to run, if he's going to pass. It puts immediate and immense pressure on the safety and your linebackers to make a decision. And any wrong decision, Kyler can take advantage of it in ways that we haven't seen Vikings quarterbacks be able to take advantage of it. So he just adds a completely different element that we just haven't seen.

seen in Minnesota in a very long time, which is why it's so intriguing, which is why Kevin O'Connell and staff and executive, you cannot let this one slip through your hands. You have to sign Kyla Murray, and I believe that they will. They're going to. Because you had a situation where you had a quarterback that you didn't believe that was going to do all the things that we saw Sam Darnold end up doing and them being a great team and being able to compete for the number one seed and so on. We know the story.

You didn't know that he was going to provide you that, but you know that he did provide you that, and you allowed him to walk out the door, and you know who J.J. McCarthy is today. You know who he is today. You also understand what Kyla Murray has done throughout the course of this league, not under your tutelage.

You're in a position where, if you're Kevin O'Connell, you have to get this one right. You have to produce something that looks like the trajectory of Sam Darnel. He doesn't have to perform. You don't have to win 14 games, but this team at the quarterbacking position this year has to look like something that we're excited about. And I'll just say this too, Greg, real quick.

Like every other division has a team that you know is going to be sorry. The NFC North doesn't have it. And if they have Kyler, Vikings fans are hearing you and me, a Packer and a Bear fan, be like Minnesota can win the Super Bowl. And I would imagine if I can Detroit win the Super Bowl? Yeah. Right. Can Green Bay? Absolutely.

Can Chicago. Absolutely. No other division can say that. The closest is the NFC West, right? Rams, Niners, and obviously Seahawks, three of the four all believe they can win the Super Bowl. Yeah. Every other division is two. You can squint and maybe talk about this Raiders playoffs question coming up.

So maybe the AFC West. I guess maybe the AFC West. I stepped on that. No. Honestly, that's why it's a little scary because there's a bust component to it. Kyler might not just work hard. He's been paid.

And that's the part that cannot happen. I'm not worried about that at all. Maybe call me naive. So that's the part that just simply, if you're Kyler Murray, because your future is on the line in terms of, I think he'll be a starting quarterback after this year, even if it doesn't really work out in Minnesota.

But you can't have the narrative surrounding moving on if you are to move on, it being, yeah, the work ethic just wasn't what we needed it to be. Or the same things that we were hearing out of Arizona, that cannot be what we continue to hear. He got benched for Jacoby Bressat. Yeah. Like, we have to, that did happen.

So I can't dismiss it out of hand while. The challenging part in why I love the NFL offseason is I'm not sure who's definitely going to be bad next year. Definitely. When I'm just looking at their opponents, like, all right, Malik Willis is with the dolphins. Are you, it's not like. I'm positive they'll be better. Okay. I mean, maybe when, yeah, you, uh, positive, they'll be bad.

Are you positive the jets are going to be bad? I'm not positive. I'm saying one-off wins. I'm like, I'm trying to get to 14 wins with their opponents. Like, man, I'm not getting to 14 wins with Buffalo coming in, with you're going to New England, you're going to San Francisco. I think it's tough to get to like a big win total. I'm like, all right, I guess I have to mark off Jets, Washington, Carolina, I guess is supposed

to be a win even though I see the Rams lose Carolina. Yeah, Carolina is a playoff team. Washington's getting Jaden back. That's the beauty of the NFL. It's a worst-the-first, parody-driven, salary-caps, salary-floor league. But there are a few teams that will be bad. Yeah. Every year.

They're either going to win 14 games or also just be in the Super Bowl or just miss the playoffs. And both wouldn't be surprising. It's so strange. Raiders have Max Crosby back. He's tweeting out pictures of The Undertaker. This time the conference is on fire, so you know it means he's locked in. Great gift usage. Here's some notable additions.

Okay, just hear me out on this. All right. Jalen Naylor, Linderbom coming over from the Ravens, pay coming over from the Colton, Kobe Dean coming over from the Eagles, Quay Walker from the Packers, Karen Johnson from the Bills. They get their picks back.

You got Mendoza at one, got a new coach. Just treat it, honestly, okay? They get Max Crosby back, not the picks. Sorry, they don't, they don't, yeah, that would be sick though. Yeah, if they got the picks and Max Crosby? They should add as a penalty. That's what they add.

Just, you know what? We did you dirty. I have one. Are the Raiders sneaky playoff contenders, okay? Not playoff contenders, sneaky playoff contenders. Sneaky. No.

Come on. No, they're not. We have to be realistic about this. Sneaky, though. That's why the word sneaky is in there. And I understand. I understand. Jaden Daniels a couple years ago did something

that we hadn't seen a rookie quarterback do in a long time, if ever. I would say that. And now we've seen other quarter. Bow Nix had a successful season. What was his defense? Yeah. Great. That same with us.

C.J. Stroud had a successful rookie season. What was his defense? Great. Like, that's typically the way this works out for you to get into the postseason. Jones. It's true. We had a good job. Yeah, yeah.

I don't see this defense with even these acquisitions, them being one of the best defense in the National Football League, let alone even in their division. And so we got to remember who is in this division. And I understand somebody has to go worse to first. Doesn't always have to happen. But the Raiders, I love the story. I'm excited. I hope they have a better season, but no, they're not a sneaky.

I'm sorry, Hubs. So when it's predictions week, do I think I will pick the Raiders to make the playoffs? No, I don't think so. But that's not sneaky. No, right. When seven teams make the playoffs and you have a new coach and a new quarterback and you made a trade for the future in the Max Crosby trade and that got rescinded. The Raiders are better today with Max Crosby on the team than they are without Max Crosby and future picks. For this year, again, I think the Raiders are devastated by this development.

They wanted to get draft picks to line up with Mendoza's timeline because they're not trying to win now. But if all of a sudden you can't trade Max Crosby and you have a top 10, certainly top 10 pass rusher, arguably top 10 defensive player back on your team, with an offense that all of a sudden you like three out of your five offensive linemen, including your center and your left tackle. You like your quarterback. You like your coach. You like your running back. You like your tight end.

You upgraded a little bit at receiver. Sneaky. Sneaky. I think it's sneaky in two years. Yeah. Not sneaky this year. Sneaky on paper. Listen, they got to go through the Chiefs, the Broncos, the Chargers in that division.

the history of first-time head coaches with number one pick quarterbacks is littered with four, five, and six win seasons. I did that on a Pax stat a couple of months ago. The only one that was double-digit wins was Andrew Luck and Chuck Pagano, and that was a weird outlier because of the Peyton injury. So, like, the odds are very against it. But it doesn't feel like the Titans last year. To me, it doesn't.

Like the Titans felt far away. The Raiders feel closer as far as draft. And I think this is fair. because of the Crosby thing. Because you're right, their defense, without Crosby, their defense could be the worst than the NFL. With Crosby, it should just be bad.

But not, we see teams with bad defenses make the playoffs. Yeah, but that means they have an awesome offense. Well, they got a lot of new pieces on offense. Eric Dacosta said the Ravens wanted to team Max Crosby up with Trey Hendrickson. Cool. Greg, are you buying that idea? Not at all.

I'm not buying it at all. Look, and I'll tell you simply why I'm not buying it, and it's straight to the point. You acquired the trade for Max Crosby on Friday. Yeah. Free agency opened on Monday. We didn't see Trey Hendrickson get signed to the Baltimore Ravens. Tuesday, when we were on this show,

we didn't see Trey Henderson get traded, or I'm sorry, get signed to the Ravens. While you still had Max Crosby, So why would I believe all of a sudden later after we were off air and you know what, Max Crosby trade is no more, let's pivot, let's get Trey Hendrickson. I am more prone to believe that they knew once they signed Max Crosby and they identified once Linderbom was gone, likely is gone. You don't, there's still questions surrounding Madibuque on the defensive side.

They need those picks. Yes, would it be amazing to have Hendrickson and Max Crosby? Yeah, I think any team in the National Football League would sign up for that. But no, I just don't, they had the opportunity to do it and do it ahead of rescinding this, this trade. Yeah. I mean, the word real here is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Like, was it a possibility? sure. I mean, if Trey Hendrickson was going to sign another one-year deal,

then, yeah, I bet 25 teams called on him. But for a four-year, hundred-plus million-dollar contract, I don't think that was also the plan with giving up two first for Max Crosby and bringing that salary on board. This is the cover story. Like the devil is in the details, and then he's like, you know, no, of course. We were trying to have Crosby and trade. We were trying to have both. Do you think there's going to be any, like, ramifications to this?

Like, is there, like, punitively? I don't know if there was some funny tweets on, like, if Bill Belichick, I wish I had it. Someone was, like, if Bill Belichick is, like, mad that he didn't figure out he could do fake trades and cancel him and send it back and just cause chaos. Listen, I think that's a funny social media thing from Patriots fans, probably, that came in your algorithm. So I like where your head's at. I don't think it's that ridiculous.

Like, I, my initial reaction when I found out that they had signed Trey Hendrickson, I was like, the league has to investigate. That was like my initial, because it's. But it's pretty foolproof, like we just don't like the meniscus. Right. I don't know what you do. I don't know what recourse there is. If we all think, let's just say there's a chance that we kicked around that this is totally on the up and up.

And it's, everything is exactly how it is. We did not like the way his knee was here. We canceled the trade. He failed the physical. That's it. There's no other story. That is very much a possibility. I'll even give that most of it. If the idea that it wasn't that way, and as league executives have been reported that they feel like he got cold feet, what is the what is the invested? What are you supposed to do? No, listen, it's just, as Bruce said the other day, it's not against the rules, but it's against the spirit of the rule. Bad business ethics. Bad business ethics. We agreed to a trade. You traded for a player who has not been cleared to play.

He had surgery. You walked out because of the medicals. Like, could you get five independent knee surgeons to look at the x-rays and if all five of them cleared them and then say that that was something that the Ravens should not have done? Maybe in some hypothetical world, but the Ravens are like, but our doctor says no. Or is it just like, Greg, tell me. You can't do it. Or are you supposed to flip the evaluation, like before you do the trade? Like, like, you know, put the exam before the trade.

That seems weird. Yeah, you can't. I don't think you don't want to open up medical records to everybody. I don't know. So it feels like they just got away with perhaps something a little uncouth. Which is what some of the reporting is. They're like, yeah, we're not surprised that the Ravens did this. You know, like that they just, they played within the margins, like the Patriots.

Well, I do like that. Yeah. Yeah. You recognize it. Well, now it's just something you can do. All right, final, I take a quick glance at the WBC bracket. USA are the favorites followed by the Dominican Republic and Japan. USA advancing last night, courtesy of Vinnie Pascontino's three home runs.

So we win the tiebreaker with Mexico. USA, Dominican Republic, who we would face in the next round, Japan and Otani, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Italy, Canada, somewhere far behind where we play. Canada's in the top spot. Do you think USA deserves to be the favorites? They do because of what you just said, that Canada is way far away. So it's just a product of the other seven teams that have matchups all have a tougher quarterfinal matchup than team USA has. So it's a math problem.

The U.S. is the biggest favorite to advance to the semis, so therefore they're the biggest favorite in the tournament. But as soon as they advance and they play the DR in the next round, assuming the bracket holds, they will be a coin flip against the Dominican Republic. I don't know what the pitching matchup in that game will be yet. But they will be either a very small favorite or a very small underdog because the DR's lineup has Vlad Jr., Machado, Soto, Tatez, only, it's just as stacked as ours. So they deserve to be the favorite because they are the most likely team of the 8th to a advance the semis. It's that simple.

Greg? I really couldn't care less if they deserve to be the favorites. What I want to see is them play with a sense of pride and intensity, not taking any team for granted. Because when you... Mercy rule. Yeah. Mercy rule.

There we go. That's what I call it. I like that. My dream final four outside of my March Madness Final Four, which I'm very big. Clearly. Yeah. D.R. in the U.S., Italy and Japan. And then ideally, I think we want, I think you want USA versus Japan. And another Otani, like, I know Trout's not on the team, but another Otani-trout-esque matchup.

Yeah, you want Otani against the U.S. And I know Pasquatch and front of the show and they helped the U.S. get in. Puerto Rico's fun, man. They're a vibe. It's a fun team to watch celebrate baseball. This USA DR game is going to be so good. It's going to be incredible. It's going to be one of the best.

Look at you looking ahead though. I know exactly. I am. That's exactly what you're going on. I'm not. Canada, no. You of all people looking ahead. What are you talking about?

You are the. No, one game. That's my old Belichick. Now I'm looking past. If Canada. Oh, you get to the Super Bowl. Little hockey payback. Oh, I'm saying you look at.

No way can Canada beat us at baseball. It's a hockey payback. No way. Baseball. Hanging out on the OTC with my guys, Greg Jennings and Willie Colon. And let's talk Willie Steelers. And this is going to be a fun litmus test. Can we find a Steelers story that Willie isn't positive about?

Enter Kirk Cousins. If Aaron Rogers doesn't work out, apparently Kirk Cousins is among the top options to go to Pittsburgh. Willie, my friend, I don't know if you have your terrible towel. I would have you did something with it. I'm going to tell you guys. You guys love to hate him. Somewhere around here. This is a litmus test.

If Willie can be positive about all things, Steelers, you fired up for Kirk Cousins is the fallback plan? Listen. Oh. I think if they were to, listen, this would be plan B for the Steelers if they don't get Aaron Rogers back. I think he would add stability instruction to a young quarterback room. He can still command an offense. He can still play.

But I say this. I'm serious about this. I don't think this is, I think this will open up the window for the Steelers to give the keys to Will Howard and say, let's see what you got. Let's see what you can do. And if it doesn't pan out and things don't work out or he hasn't met a standard to which the Steelers are comfortable with, then they could turn to Kirk Cousins and say, hey, man, let's save this. Go save the. Oh, so you think Will Howard would start and Cousins would be his backup? Yes.

Not the other way around. Correct. That's how I see it. Oh, okay. So I read this as they would still. be delaying the youth movement of Will Howard. And Kirk Cousins is your starter. Because we have to chase the highest floor possible.

I think this gives them an opportunity to say, all right, Will, get out, let's see what you got. And then once again, if things just don't look good, offense is bad, D-K goes rogue for whatever reason, because he's not getting the ball yada yada yada yada, you could turn to Kurt and be like, hey man, let's give us what we need. Yeah, for me, if you're waiting to Dan, again with Aaron Rogers, that means you believe that you can win and you want to win

and you're not ready to turn the keys over. And so if Kirk is available because Aaron Rogers is saying, I'm done, I'm not playing, that's your next back option. You're not, because you're basically waiting, letting us all know, you're not ready and willing to hand the keys to this franchise to Will Howard as of right now today. And so I don't know, I wouldn't love it, but it's a stealer move. I'd be furious by it. Because first of all, I think Aaron Rogers is going to be the starter for the Steelers at this point.

If you, Kirk Cousins cannot win. And come on. At this point, with that mobility with yet another new team, like, why? Why? Why would we think we saw him in Atlanta? But it's not about winning. It's about getting to January. Right?

And so. But we saw him in a dome. You know, like in a dome. Right. At his age, coming off of an Achilles with Bejohn, with Drake, with better weapons in Atlanta than the Steelers having Pittsburgh. Not as good of a defense, obviously, but better offensive weapons. And we saw him look bad. So now he's going to go to the cold.

outdoors with worse weapons a year older, come on now. It has to be, now. Now listen, if he's backing up Will Howard, then fine. I got no problem with it. But I would assume that Kirk Cousins would be doing that to either be in a competition where he should be able to beat out former sixth-round pick Will Howard, or he is going to be the starter. And so my gut tells me it's won Aaron Rogers,

but if you go to Kirk Cousins, I just don't get it, man. I would not understand. I think the Steelers believe they have a defense that can win a lot of games. They definitely believe it. They need a competent quarterback. If you get, if you're bringing Kurt Cousers, say you start, fine. We understand why because he's competent. You know he can win at the line of scrimmage.

He can do a lot of things. But if you start Will Howard, it gives you another option for Kurt to sit in the win and say, listen, you're 37 years old. You got some injuries. Maybe a couple games off and use you when we really need you can continue to be the, you you know, drive this team where we need to be, and that's in the playoffs. Yeah, I'm, no, I'm not buying that one. Look, number one, Kurt Cousins wants to and believes he can still be a starter in this league.

Yeah. And so I don't think he signs up with the team. We're talking Steelers, with the Steelers, if Aaron Rogers is out of the picture, knowing that you're going to be, you're not going to be the guy. I don't even think he signs up for that. He probably retires, right? Yeah, because you then bank on the team that like something happens during the season, late in the season. He's been training, staying in shape, and then look.

Doing media. Let's call Kirk Cousins. He's available. We saw this with Philip Rivers. It can and probably will happen. Briefly before we move on. Yeah. Do your people in Pittsburgh, like, do they think Will Howard represents a high ceiling or is he just a guy that's on the team?

It's a good question. I honestly don't have an honest answer. about that. Okay. I don't know. Because like people talk about him in Pittsburgh. Well, we just got to give it to Will Howard. My assumption based on where he was drafted. There's, there's no data on him. We don't know what he can do. We just know that he won a national championship with Ohio State and he's the Steelers. He's a young quarterback that's on the team. So he just needs, he needs time. Yeah, my guess is he's also not the answer there. But they'll get Aaron Rogers back. Let's go to Buffalo, who've had a very interesting off season. Former

Pro Bowler Bradley Chub coming off an eight and a half sack season, signed a three-year, and a half million dollar deal. They've also re-signed their center, Connor McGovern. They brought back Dawson Knox. They traded for DJ Moore in their most high-profile move. Greg, that's a lot of moves for a team that is, as Brew would say, Super Bowl or Bus? Ask, Bob.

Do you look at the bills as the quiet winner of the soft season? It's hard for me to look at them as a quiet winner. Just because I understand you address needs, I don't think that you address those needs with the quality of individuals that you could have addressed them with. Interesting. And I'll start on the defense side of the ball. If you were, I would be more excited if they would have been all in on Max Crosby or Trey Hendrickson, or even Jalen Phillips. Like, go get somebody that you know.

A bigger swing. Take a bigger swing. And then DJ Moore, we all know that they needed Y receiver help. They get it. But I don't know if DJ Moore at this stage in his career, really good player, but I don't know if he's capable of being what he was in Carolina or what we saw him in year one in Chicago. Like I just don't, I don't think that's the version of DJ Moore that they're going to get. Do I think he'll provide production and productivity?

Of course. But so I don't I don't even know if I would consider them a quiet win. I think they've got, they've improved their roster. But how much of an improvement does it make for them in terms of wins and losses and how deep they go on the postseason? I think they end up fizz out about the same. Yeah, I think they answered the bell. I think the DJ Moore acquisition is a big win for them because they dinked and dunked their way through the season last year. and they saw the end result.

And that was Patrick, excuse me, Josh Allen on crutches, right? Like they need more, they need to expand the playbook. And I think not only getting kind of McGovern, but they got Dawson Knox. They have now a clear security that can play a true slot, and they have a guy on the outside that can win on all three levels in DJ Moore. So for me, this opens up the playbook. We don't have to see Josh Allen put on the cape in the fourth quarter as much. And I think this gives them an opportunity to really get over the hump,

Because year after year, they've been close but not good enough to beat the teams that we felt that it should be. And right now, if you're the Buffalo Bills, you have to feel good about what you've been able to do. Yeah, have they been superstar pickups? But no, they've addressed the needs they needed to upgrade the roster. So I think I'm a little higher on DJ Moore than you. DJ Moore and Caleb just never got on the same page. And I think that there are real reasons. for it that have nothing to do with DJ Moore really slipping as a player.

Like I think Caleb got drafted with Roma Dunzee. They worked out for the draft together. They had a real bond immediately. Then there's a new system, obviously, with Ben Johnson coming in. Ben Johnson's first pick is Colston Loveland. There was a huge initiative to get him involved. Then Luther Burden came on late. And I just think DJ Moore, for whatever reason,

kind of got lost in the sauce a little bit. That guy is 29 years old. So he should not be past his athletic prime. He has had four 11,100-yard seasons in his career. One of them was with Kyle Allen, one of them was with Teddy Bridgewater, one of them was with Justin Fields. He has produced with a lot worse quarterback. So I think DJ Moore is going to be good.

And I also want to add DJ Moore, by the start of the season, will be 29. Josh Allen is 29. So they got somebody that they can rely on trust and has relatability to Josh Allen. They need an adult at that position. Keon Coleman, I think they simply just didn't trust. And they're not going to go into the draft and get a young guy and ask them to be the end-all be-all at that position. So they got a guy who they can rely on.

And there's some synergy there. So I love everything the bills have done does for it. The Bradley Chub piece, I'm with you, though. They got a lot of injury history. When I look at their offense and how they run their offense, yes, we saw a glaring need for a receiver. I don't know how much of, it's not going to be Stefan Diggs type of a run offense where it's heavy DJ more. Like if that was the type of volume that we would get and productivity we would get, then it's like, okay, wow, I'll sign up for that.

I know he's a really good receiver. Is he that version that was in Carolina? No. Is he that version that was the first year in Chicago? No. I understand Romano Duse and the relationship with he and Caleb and all those things. I get all of that. But at this stage in his career, can he be productive?

Yep. Will he be that number one answer that the Buffalo bills and we've been waiting for them to get? We're going to see. Offseason edition of He Said We Said. Now people are starting to talk about all these moves. We'll hear it and react coming up on the OT. Hanging out on the OT, little game. Willie loves it.

It's called he said, we said. My faith. Yeah, why not? All right. He won a Super Bowl MVP, and then he got to go to the team of, well, the era in the NFL. New Chiefs running back Super Bowl MVP, Kenneth Walker up first. Take a listen.

Why was Kansas City a hit for you? Because there's a winner, winning a coacher. Tonga's baby. You'll meet a lady. No, no, it's always been. Yeah, so winning coach, you know, watching over the years, been to plenty of Super Bowls, and, you know, they know how to win, so I feel like it's a great fit for me. Even the babies are excited for Kenneth Walker going to Kansas City.

I haven't seen really anyone come out and say this isn't a good fit. You know what I mean? Everybody just watched his last performance. Well, no, I know. But it's just you don't, maybe someone has and I've missed it and there's been some sort of like, I'm with you. I haven't heard anything. And I also think people who feel like him paired though with Eric B. Enemy, they're going to get a lot more out of him. And so he's a tough running back, shifty, he can run between the tackles. Like he's not the best pass catcher. But he's

definitely better than what they've had as a recent. Oh, I mean, he's the best running back in the Holmes has ever played with. Yes. Right? I mean, he's, he's better than early Kareem now. We got to see the production. Kareem Hump was nice. He was a dumb. Grim Hutt was a bad boy. Kareem. And he put up in the early. numbers. Grame Hunt was, he was different. You got guy.

What I will say is he's the first, like he's a home run hitter. Yeah. And so you give him a crease, he can take it the distance. They haven't had that. And look, it's just exciting because we've been waiting for Mahomes to get some help in the backfield. And so naturally with his talent, his ability, I think he'll get more past opportunities out of the backfield just naturally because.

because you're playing with Patrick Colhoms. He's going to drop it down to you. He sees you open. You're going to be better in those areas. He wasn't asked to do those things in Seattle. Yeah, and they win. It's a huge need that they were able to just throw money at. And he's coming off of, like you said, a dominant game.

Oh, I thought we were about to see the baby. Yeah, the baby would have loved to see the baby. The baby that was cheering off camera. That's my daddy. All right. Next up, I mean, you think he's happy? You got $45 million guaranteed to go move to South Beach. Cheers Malik Willis, new Dolphins quarterback.

How long have you been waiting for a team to look at you and say that, hey, this is your team, this is your organization? I don't think up at a timeline on it. I think it happened when I was prepared. I think when I came in the league, I wasn't prepared. That's not a knock toward my coaches or myself. That says what it was coming from the system. came from. I've had a chance to learn the last four years since I've been in the league. Went through four different offenses and seen a bunch of different defenses. I'll just think I've grown a lot and

grateful for the opportunity once again. Greg and I are, I don't know which one of us owns more stock in Malik Willis. Me. You? Okay. Okay. So I guess my question to you is how are we going to grade this thing because that team is bad. They are. That is a bad roster by design, but it's a bad roster. But I really like what he says and I really like how he plays. Yeah. Look, first and foremost, like to have self-awareness and to be able to be honest with yourself

openly and publicly the way that he just did, it shows a level of maturity that a lot of, a lot of us don't see when we see guys at that podium. What I will say is you will have to be able to separate winning and productivity as it pertains to the Miami Dolphins offense and team. Like if you see good football being played, good quarterback play being had and made, you have to look at that because I don't think they're going to win a ton of games because they don't have a great roster in supporting cast around him. But I do believe that he is going to kind of quiet that talk around.

Why would you give him that amount of money? Why would he, he's only played however many snaps will he puts on his little, his little full screens. Yeah, I don't believe it. I know he can't hide that money, that Louis V's shirt, that chain. he's been spending that money. Listen, I'm not going to give a man $45 million when he's only played six games and only throw 155 passes in its entire NFL career.

I'm not saying he's a bad man. He went to Liberty. Liberty's a Christian school. I played Liberty in college. There are a bunch of Boy Scouts over there, right? So I expected me to talk with a sense of eloquence, if you will. Nevertheless, man, I just don't feel like with a bad ropster or a guy who hasn't played a lot of football, he's going to bring any light to a team that's in purgatory.

Right? If you're the Miami Dolphins, get somebody who can elevate the roster solely with his play. He doesn't have enough on his resume that make me believe he can do that. That's my only great. You don't think he can elevate with his play? No. That's the difference. You're making a sample size argument.

You haven't seen enough of it. You're saying what you've seen, small sample impressed you enough. What in that Ravens game with a bad past day? defense in the Baltimore. So it's not just that Ravens game. It's a Chicago game. It's the game he filled in last year. Like in the moments, based on what we, if you watch the Green Bay Packers and you

watched him fill in the first time last year, it was different. Like it wasn't what it was this year. It was, okay, let's make sure we have some RPO's in there, get them out on the edge, get him the ball in his space. This year, it was full offense. We got offense for Jordan Love up. You know what? Malik can run this offense too.

That was what was so eye-opening. And his accuracy, his poised, everything just looked completely different. He looked like an absolute different player than what we've seen, obviously, in Tennessee and his first few years in Greenback. Like, I love what I've seen. I love the maturation process. He understands it's a slow burn. And he's willing to be better.

on himself. Maybe the way we'll judge it is a year from now. Are the Dolphins drafting a quarterback or not? And they will be. Okay. And that's the difference. I tend to think that they won't be. So I lean towards you. I can't wait to watch it. Next up, Eric Acosta speaks. This is going to be a tough one to listen to. Let's do it together. That's what we always try to do. Every decision we make is based on this idea. Is this the best thing for the Ravens? It's very, very challenging. Again, I understand. how people might maybe from the far would feel that way. But nobody's more upset about this than me.

Gutted by it, actually. And so I regret, a big regret for me. He's gutted and he's just crying with $100 bills like in that scene in Dumb and Dumber with Lloyd and Harry in the bed, giving $112 million to Troy Henderson. I'm just so sad. Oh, I got Trey Hendrickson. I'm just so sad.

Anyone buying this? Anyone buying that he is gutted? No. Like I said yesterday, I just, I wish, I want him to be thorough and keep it a buck, right? Like those two first round draft picks, he simply just couldn't let walk out the door. Bottom line, this is why the Ravens are here. This is why he said he turned around and said, listen, Denise got it can't do it. Like, just keep it to space.

I know you said what he can't say it. Well, the more he opens his mouth, the more people like, come on, though. Like, it ain't that enough. Yeah. And it's that part for me because he continued to add. to, you know, the vision was to have Trey Hendrickson and Max Crosby. You know what? I just thought of it.

Who do you think is more upset than him? Spy Tech, the GM of the Raiders, because he wanted to trade Max Crosby away. Yeah. And now he has him back and he doesn't have draft decks to line up with his QB. He's like, no one's more upset than you. I can think of some people. Absolutely. I think it's because when you, it's like, it's like, you know, you get money coming in.

you already planning how you're going to spend it and what we're going to do with it, have things allocated. That was Spiteck. That's the writers. He had a plan for the 14th pick. Absolutely. What he was going to do to pair of Mendoza. Your draft board just completely changed and got altered.

Yeah. So I can think of a few people that are maybe more gutted. And also Max, I mean, he was in a building when this dropped. Yeah. So like, Max Crosby probably pretty gutted. Right. Could play for a team that could win a Super Bowl? Or go back to Vegas.

Rebilt. So, you know, Bam, Otabio. We'll set the over under tonight at 82 points. We'll see if the guys are going over or under against the beloved buck. All right, here we go. Bucks heat. This is very exciting. Fresh off an 83-pointer for Bam Otabio.

They get the Bucs tonight. One of the lesser defensive teams in the league, although better than the Wizards. Our friends of Draft Kings have set BAMS over under at 22 and a half. Boys, we on the over or the under on 22 and a half. Willie, your initial gut instinct tells you under. Under. Yeah, I don't know why. I want to say over, but you just asked me that question and it was like under.

Okay, you're feeling like a right. He averages 20 a game. I know. Coming off 83. Greg? They're playing the bucks, right? Greek fruit fruit's playing over under I'm under as well under as well see I'm gonna go over now feel bad I feel weird I feel weird I honestly think like listen I

had poked a lot of fun and how he got to the 83 you and the rest of the world because I thought it was what's it called not basketball but I actually think that there has been so much noise around it that he'll hit his over tonight that he's that he will he will follow it up and it'll be a little out of character he's been on a heater though that's what even outside that 83 he's He's a very good player. He's a very good player. He's not 83 good, but he's a very good player.

So I'm expected a big night from Bam. Hey, I'm supporting him. You don't roll your eyes with me. I'm supporting Bam. You hate it. I'm a longtime Bam guy. I'm a long time Bam guy. You don't like the Bamme?