First Things First - LeBron James destination grades, Bo Nix ranked ahead of Lamar Jackson, Is the Chiefs dynasty over?

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

(0:00) Chiefs dynasty ‘still in progress’, Bo Nix ranked 10 spots above Lamar Jackson (26:58) Surprised LeBron is taking so long to make a decision? (36:30) Can USMNT make the Top 10 in FIFA Rankings by 2030? (44:43) Cowboys Super Bowl mentality, Will Mahomes reclaim his spot as the top QB? (01:03:58) Brou grades potential LeBron destinations (01:18:38) Will Drake Maye have a Super Bowl hangover? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Hulu original series Furious is coming to Disney Plus. Starring Emmy Rossum, Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales,

using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. Live from New York. It's a show that misses the World Cup, which means the show is going to just be a little wacky. I really do. I mean, I'm going to keep it real. We've got a show today, tomorrow and Thursday, and then we're on vacation.

So these next three days are going to be a little experimental. We got to put our game face on. We do. I'm actually saying the opposite. Just like France and the third place. Then we are saying the same thing. You got to show up. You got to show up, but it's going to be a little silly.

I also can I say one thing with Bruce saying you miss it? Is it nothing? There's been very few things in the last year of the show that have made me happier than watching brew as the tournament went along. Get more and more and more. That's very true. Like, you know what I like? You're a pro, so at the beginning you did the work and you were ready for it, but I don't know how excited you were. But by the end, you were into it.

I loved it. By the end, once you started to get everything. That did help. I may never have that type of world. Also, coming up today, you were right about another thing of prediction yesterday. I added it to the show today. First hour, first and first. Wow, I'm in true.

It's in winners and losers. Today, NFL 100, Bo Nix, 10 spots above Lamar. Really? This is what we're doing. This fair. It's leading the players are doing. The players, I mean, I don't. Meanwhile, after not making the playoffs, is the Chief's dynasty stalled in progress or

absolutely over. And finally, are we doing that in like 30 seconds? We normally don't do a tease of something we're starting. You want more Zacharyisha Shay news? Okay, you know Dallas has three first reds, the number one overall picks. Oh, yeah. So do the Wizards.

We're going to lead with that. Good point. Okay. It's 50 days of football. Wizards are making some noise. Sort of hoarse. Yeah, noise like this. Br.

Some people, some people think the jazz might be. scary this. The jazz are going. They will be improved. I'm a Darren Pearson guy. Well, that's fine, but that doesn't mean they're going to be good this year. And also LeBron. This is this decision coming soon? No, it's not. Nope. Not at all. Not even close. It'll probably come when we're on vacation. And I don't even mean the vacation that's coming up. It could be a vacation after. We're starting in Kansas City Yahoo Sports Frank Schwab has got the Chiefs ranked 12. Just ahead of the 49ers. The headline here. Number 12 Kansas City Chiefs. They get to answer

whether their dynasty is over. Schwab, writing one of the NFL's biggest storylines this season will be where the chiefs stand in their dynasty if the dynasty is still in progress at all. And this is the nicer of the major articles about the chiefs today. What other one?

It just came out right before the show. Friend of the show, Connor Oar of Sports Illustrated. Oh, I like Connor O'Roy. You love him when he's ripping. Is that the one there is. No. No, no. He's a Boston guy. This is no. He does the 99, bold predictions.

Those are bold. Those are bold. Oh, you're thinking of Greg Kohn or something. But no, he wrote an article, 14 teams can win this year's Super Bowl. And the chiefs are not one of the 14. Who was the, we should have done that. Well, it just came out. But is that a bold prediction?

Like, I. It was the whole of the digital sports list trade. So this is in the zeitgeist, if you will. Yeah. Is the Chief's dynasty still in progress? Listen, first I want to, I want to be. fair to what I consider the dynasty rules and want everyone else to be fair to how they consider them. I look at the Patriots with Brady and Belichick as two separate dynasties. I look at it as

two separate dynasties. I look at it as one. I know you look at his one. And so the reason, if you look at the Patriots as 0.1 to 18 as one dynasty, then as long as Mahomes and Andy are there, it's never eligible to be over. Like the Patriots went 10 years without winning a Super Bowl. They missed the playoffs in that stretch. They went three straight years without winning a playoff game. And if you think it was one continuous dynasty, then the only way it can be over is like we know it's definitively over because the guys are gone. And then we could look back and say it ended earlier than we're going to. Even that, like, gap year. There you go. Gap or whatever it is. Gap decade. But that's not how I have, I view that as two

separate, two separate dynasties. And so it's certainly by my own rules, it's eligible to be over. Like, it could be over. I just don't think it is. And I think people have drastically overstated how rough the last few years for the chiefs have been because Patrick statistically has not been elite the last few years. In the last three years, no team in the league has been more successful. No team.

They have been to more Super Bowls than any team in the league in the last three years. They've won one. The Seahawks have won one. The Eagles have won one. If you want to argue the Eagles, because they beat the Chiefs head up in a Super Bowl, over the last four, it's the Chiefs buy a lot because the Chiefs have won two. And nobody else is. So I went as small as possible because of that.

Even including last year's six-win season, they have 38 total win. over the last three years. Only Philly and Buffalo have more both with 40. But here's the part brew that I think everyone is kind of misremembering about last year. Last year, at the midway point of the season, they were the favorites to win the Super Bowl. The odds entering week nine, the chiefs of the favorites. What was their record at this point? Five and three. After the tough start, everybody, there was the tackle that turned the tide. and people really believed that. Oh, yeah.

And they had scored 30 and four straight games. Mahomes was playing great to the tune of. Those are at least close. I mean, none of those teams. Right, all those teams. I mean, the Packers were, at least hated. That's all fair. I'm just saying that it was less year from hell than second half of the season from hell.

At that same moment, Mahomes wasn't just the favorite to win the MVP. He was the massive favorite to win the MVP, almost even money, again, at the midway point of the season. Now, from that moment forward, they only won one more game. Patrick played terribly, and he blew out his knee. But that, to me, was far more about the fact that they had played four consecutive 20 or 21 game seasons.

They had been to three consecutive Super Bowls. They had all, they did have the kind of hangover, if you will, of. We were a game away from becoming the greatest team of all time. We fell short and this year's harder than we wanted it to be. And they finally, for the first time in the Mahomes era, let go of the rope. But in the last seven years, they've been to five Super Bowls. So they need more than one down year to say, yeah, they're done. I think it's crazy to say that it's not still in progress.

Maybe we'll look back and say, nope, they weren't the same. But ending it now, I think, would be nuts. One thing in that article, he pointed out how most of the dynasties never had a losing record. Like the Patriots, if you consider it one dynasty or two, under Brady, they missed the playoffs to one year after his first Super Bowl. And then they missed it with Matt Castle, but they never had a losing record. The Steelers of the 70s, once they got rolling, never had a losing record for almost a decade. The Niners didn't undermine Montana and Young except the second year.

The year after they won the first Super Bowl was a strike shortened season. And for some reason, they were three and six. But most of the – he mentioned the Packers under Lombardi, never had a lose. They didn't have a year as bad as the Chiefs. That's unique. And beyond that, there are – reasons to say it's over. One is Mahomes

coming off the bad knee injury. Okay? And as Nick said, his last three seasons individually from a statistical standpoint, he hasn't been great. Kelsey, obviously, his age not the same. Andy Reed is not immune to a

bad stretch. Like his last two years in Philly, losing records, no winning records, missed the playoffs both times. And I think the personnel is questionable. I think the receiving core if whole can be good, but worthy. It's an unimpressive receiving. Right.

Rashie Rice will see how when he's back. And then defensively, they lost, you know, three quarters of their defensive backfield. So they got replacements, but we'll have to see how good those guys are. So I think there are reasons to question, to think the dynasty is over. I'm going to put my faith in my homes.

And I'm different than you in that. I do consider Brady. one dynasty over 19 years. I consider Tim Duncan. They went seven years without winning it from 07 to 14. I consider them one dynasty. The reason I do that, Nick, is because they were always good.

Like the Patriots, even though they win a decade without winning it, I mean, they had what we might think is their best team ever with Randy Moss, and they just didn't win the Super Bowl. They were always in the mix, always in the playoffs. They went three. That patched team, so like after that, the undefeated season and then the next year

obviously it was the year their quarterback blew out his knee and they missed the playoffs they went they had three years in a row where they didn't win a playoff game they got annihilated by Baltimore in the Ray Rice playoff game 33 to 14 and they lost a home playoff game to Mark Sanchez and the Jets

and then that you know then starting from 11 to 18 they made five Super Bowls in eight years and they won three of them. I just, I feel like if the chiefs the next two years don't win a playoff game, people will say obviously, definitively, clearly it's over. And they will be on the exact Patriot schedule except will have been to one more Super Bowl. And they will have had a losing.

A losing record. Yeah, and a losing record season. Yeah. But I tend to agree, as long as Mahomes is there and in his prime and playing well, I feel like the dynasty. is still kind of, as long as they're in the mix and making some noise, getting to the playoffs. I have the exact opposite of an analytical dynasty definition. I'm more of a hearts and minds guy, which I think is where you're at.

The Patriots always felt like the team to beat, even if they didn't win a Super Bowl, they're like, oh, we're going to circle this game. And I still feel like the Chiefs have that in the national stage and with opponents. Primetime games, the Rams have seven this year, Bill's Cowboys, Seahawks, Packers and Chiefs have six. If that number ever starts to dip, like if it was like, oh, four, and there's a bunch of teams above them, I'm like, oh, the dynasty really is over. America has moved on.

But I still think people are looking at their schedule, like, oh, and we've got the Chiefs. Even more so if you have to got the Chiefs and the Seahawks on your schedule, okay, well, we got Kansas City that day. So I still think that. I think Mahones would have to fall off for the Dynasty. And for him to fall off after nine. years would be unprecedented. Like no player at his level

has ever fallen off after falling off or just become above average. Like become not be a great player. He's always going to be great. I think he will but I'm just saying. I think as long as he's great, I think the dynasty is potentially

there. I also and I know we got to move on. I do think there's not a benefit to the year they had. Certainly there's no benefit to Patrick blowing out his knee. But part of the reason that I think they are still the team to beat in the AFC is because none of these guys got beat them last year. Like had they, you know, let's say Patrick.

Josh Lamar didn't take the throw. Well, and they didn't. Let's say Patrick doesn't blow out his knee and they sneak into the playoffs. Well, I remember when I was doing this has to happen and this has to happen. And they're nine and eight as a wild card and they get clipped by any of those guys in round one of the playoffs. That almost to me would be a bigger. puncture of their invincibility than they missed the playoffs entirely.

Like the fact that all those other AFC quarterbacks except for Joe and it's been a while since he was there still have only lost to him in the playoffs that Mahomes has, what, three career, four career playoff losses and two or to Brady, one's in the Super Bowl and then the one to, you know, Joe Burrow, that that's, it's different than had they made the playoffs and just gotten beaten by the Chargers in round one. That would be ridiculous. That would be, if you would suggest Herbert, the dynasty is over.

Speaking of ridiculous. Chiefs open their season against this guy, Bo Nix. Coming in at 59 on the NFL top 100. Three spots ahead of the Prince, Trevor Lawrence, 10 spots ahead of Lamar. Now, that does seem outrageous when you say it out loud. But when you look at the numbers, grew, more yards, more touchdowns,

and a tidy eight more wins than Lamar. Do you have an issue with Bo being far ahead of your guy Lambers. Numbers. I mean, it's not. I don't know. I mean, do you. Then he's going to be like, look at the passer rating.

Do you have an issue with Fred Van Vleet being ahead of Anthony Edwards? I don't know. Brandon Ingram's better than Janus. I mean, no, this is what we're saying. Lamar Jackson has been, has two MVP's. And Bo Nix doesn't even have two or one. pro bowl appearance. And we know how easy it is

to get in the pro bowl nowadays. Broke his ankle. In the playoffs. Okay. I think he would have made the playoff. No, he would not have. He wouldn't have made the pro bowl. He hasn't.

He hasn't made a pro bowl. Okay. And he's better than Lamar Jackson. He should, I have a problem with him being 10 centimeters in front of Lamar Jackson. I actually have a problem with him being 10 spots behind Lamar Jackson.

Jackson. He should be 20, 30 spots behind Lamar. What are we talking about? All right, Lamar, Jack, people don't understand injuries? He was injured last year. And as you showed him, he was hurt. He was hurt. Okay, hurt.

But he was hampered by his being hurt. And still had a passer rating light years ahead of light years. Except for that one. Passer rate is important. No. Yards for a two. Large percent for both Nix were tough. No, look.

Six point four is a tough number. But go ahead. I'm baffled. And I honestly, players, I got nothing but love and respect for y'all. But this is embarrassing. It's, he's too low. This isn't embarrassing. So this is, but your issue, let me just ask, I want to dig in seriously for a moment.

I feel like what you're saying is your issue is more is not so much that Knicks is 59. It's that Lamar is where he is. Like, do you like that you think. Lamar is too. Now, look, they didn't give him. any grace for being hurt, as you said. Which is surprising because players shouldn't really like him, but, you know.

So my, listen, my takeaway, did I interrupt? No, no, no. My takeaway is multi-layered here. First one is this. The players are worried that Lamar's best days are behind them. There's no other way to read this ranking because it is not purely historically a, we don't care at all about body of work, we don't care it all about if we think you're to bounce back.

It is just last, you know, evaluation of last season. That is not how this list has been done in the past. So him being this low means there are whoever's, and again, this is a very cagey how this list works and who votes and how they vote. But Lamar historically has done, I think, way overperformed in this list, in my opinion. You mean been higher than he should have been? I think Lamar back to back here. He's been top of two times.

Yeah, it's been the top quarterback and the number two player. I've never thought he was the number one quarterback in the league, even when he was coming off an MVP. So I thought, historically, I feel like the players have, Lamar has been a guy, players have held in even higher esteem than I do. And now this list comes in, it's like they're holding him in lower esteem than me. So that's the Lamar piece of it. The Bo Nix piece of it. My problem is with the question, because there's a far bigger outrage. And it's being ahead of Trevor?

Well, we don't have to do. I don't have to do any. Trevor went into Denver and took him up. Here's what I know. I know that Trevor and Bo Nix played last year. Trevor was the better player. Trevor was great. That would have been Trevor's best game.

They played head to head, and Trevor absolutely annihilated him. Trevor had eight more touchdowns, has more yards, has more yards per pass, doesn't have the great Sean Payton. I understand 14 wins, 13 wins, so be it. I thought Trevor played great in the playoff loss to the bills. Bo Nix played really well in a playoff win to the bill, so I get that piece of it. Here is the thing that I will say. If someone, are you going to make the case for Bo Nix?

Because I have some. Yeah, someone's got to, so I realized, like, I'm the Bo Nix guy. So I didn't know if you were going to, because my third point was going to be, you should be a Bo Nix guy. Okay, I don't want to be the Bo Nix guy, but Bo Nix needs to be represented on the show. Yeah. So I have to be the Bo-Nix guy. I have some evidence to help you. So here's my evidence.

You know what I love more than everything else. Advanced analytics? No, wins, baby. Yeah. Since he came into the league, he's fourth in wins. He's 24 in 10. Now, all the other numbers, completion percentage, that used to matter when I was growing up.

Wow. But it's 64. This doesn't help him. I thought you're trying to help you. I'm a wins guy. But a collision percentage, Drake May is number one. No one cares anymore. So I guess 20th doesn't matter either.

Total yards about 250. 63 touchdowns, 25, it's 12th, that's about where he is. I do like head to head, right? So he went head to head. It's the same thing you were saying about Trevor. Went head to head with Josh Allen. I'll play Josh Allen. Went head to head with Trevor.

Trevor outplayed him in Denver. That was like the first win in decades in Denver. Four TDs against Jordan Love. That was with no micah. He went out in the game. Beat Mahomes didn't throw a touchdown, but had almost 300 yards. Dak had four touchdowns on that porous. Dallas defense. And then Jalen

Hertz, who is my patron saint of just win, he had two touchdowns in a field goal in that game. It was like that epic comeback in the fourth quarter. It was a bad game for Jalen. So he has beaten, he's got a lot of pelts on the wall. So this is, the argument for him is

he's in a quarterback class that we talk about as one of potentially the best ever. You know, one as far as six first round picks, all of that. And the wins amongst those quarterbacks, if you can show him, Dust,

I mean, he's crushing. It's a lot, like, again, I'm not a Bo Nix guy, but if you are, if you want to make the argument of the guy's got the winning gene plus he is clutch, you have evidence for both pieces. So there's the wins.

And then what, here's, the story on Bo Nix last year was until his team got down, he was legitimately bad, and he was a big part of the reason they would trail. But once they trailed, he did cook. 21-3, that's a Giants game was crazy, the Eagles game was crazy. The Chiefs game, it hurts my heart when Sean Peyton came out at halftime, and he was like, you know, basically we've got him where we want them.

We're a second-half team. And I thought in that playoff game against the Bills, he thoroughly outplayed Josh Allen. I don't really believe in him, but that's the argument for him. I have a new tape. I have a new segment I'm going to invent. But you guys all need to co-sign it. And Miles is running our social media. Miles and Gianna run our social media.

I need you to co-sign it as well. It's called a men-in-black take. Okay? You've seen the movie Men in Black. Yeah, the Nirolizer, the Flash. You can say a take, but then you guys can never bring it up again. No, I don't, no. I don't accept.

He brings up stuff for the show. But it's say, hey, This is an MIB take. You can never be like, you said it. It's interesting for the conversation. Go ahead. We don't know. I could see.

It's a men-in-black take. I can just say it because then you guys will forget it. He could have easily beaten the Patriots in the snow if he played. Rick, get back on me. Yeah. Just say it. I mean, Jared Stiddle almost. Yeah, he could have been in the Super Bowl.

He could have been. And he would have looked better against that Seahawks. I don't know about that. Head down to Philadelphia, where Nick Siriani is embracing technology, and we did the story. You've been in the weight room. Zach Berman writing the athletic that Siriani was worried that his motivational stories were getting a little long in the tooth after six years. So he started using chat GPT to find more inspiration. The prompt he would type in, quote, give me a great, relentless effort, true sports story.

Brew, your reaction to Nick Siriani using Chat GPT to unearth great relentless effort true sports stories. I'm going to be honest. I don't have a problem with it. What's the difference than this

and Pat Riley, Bill Parcells, reading a book about somebody or going to the library and asking where are some books about you know, really inspirational sports? It's a little bit of a difference. It shows more effort. It's not.

You knowing that it's not like you're telling a story from your personal experience or you knowing something. It's research. The way we research now is AI, Internet, you know, versus. Not me. I'm there grinding the tape. Now, here's the issue I have. He should have kept it to himself. Well. Let your players be like, man, where's coach get these stories from?

My goodness. But now you're out there. Next time you tell a great story, players going to be like, man, I could have looked that up on it. freaking chat GPT. I got chat GPT too. Coach, I know it's how it is. Coach, it's got it. So here, you know,

so I was ready to not like this story because I am, as the show's grandfather. Yeah. Anti-A-I. Of course. I'm the way. I've never used it in any real capacity. I'm sure I'm behind the times. I'm sure in five years.

Not even for a recipe? No. I'm sure. I'm sure in five years, I'm going to look back and be like, I don't understand it. well as other people because I was late to it. And my general thought on it is it's because it is becoming a substitute for people to use their own brain power and their own thought process.

But when I read this article, I came to almost identical conclusion of Rue, which is, oh, this is not that different than just Googling relentless sports story and doing it. He's just trying to short circuit the research and then do the reading on his own. So that part individually I don't have a problem with, even though I was prepared to if it was, you know, chat GBT, write me a speech. My problem is very similar to yours. The day before the World Cup started, we had a long Nick Siriani profile on the athletic by Mike Silver, where he talked about how Seriani's a hothead, but don't call him a phony. And when he remember he yelled at that poor guy who was painting a school or something, he's like, why are you wearing Giants jersey, jackass? And then he's like in front of the journalist.

Now the day after the World Cup, we have the Athletic. My old radio buddy from college, Zach Berman, another profile on Nick Siriani. Too many profiles, buddy. I understand you are trying to, you know, there's a bit of a Philadelphia Eagles narrative, you know, hot seat, this information war. I, you know, Andy Reid's, you know, one of the four greatest coaches of all time. I feel like there have been more profiles written about Nick Siriani in the last six months. And there have been Andy Reed in the last six years. I think Sean McVeigh, once every two years, you know what I mean?

There's a long profile written about him. Shanahan, it's just like his beard just gets grayer and grayer. Like we are, Siriani is very open to letting the world in. Here is what makes me tick. And it's a little doff protest too much for my liking. With that said, I don't actually, since I read the article, great job by Zach Berman, have an issue with it. Before we go, I will tell you the three prompts.

I put the prompt in and I was fed three. Okay, please. Relentless efforts for you. I'll give you the top two. Number one. This guy was working at a grocery store, bro. Kurt Warner. Really?

Ends up being the Super Bowl. Kurt Warner. Kurt Warner. Can you believe it? Greatest show on turf. Number two. You'll never believe this one. You'll never be obvious.

You'll never believe this. The first one was obvious. Because heck, anybody halfway decent at basketball. It was going to be Michael Jordan didn't make his varsity. That's second? Cut from varsity to the greatest.

Number third, Bethany Hamilton got a shark bite and she was with the back surfing. That one actually is pretty good. I had a go to the guy who cut his own arm off when he was, they made a movie about it. Oh, yeah. 48 hours.

72 hours. How many hours? 97 hours? Yeah. 38 hours. That's tough. Could you cut your own arm on? I don't know.

I don't know. When you're underneath a boulder, though. Yeah. It is. I never know what you could do in that situation. In the morning meeting, I said we could skip that story because we'd be on until 27. What time? Almost on the top.

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You've got three hats on. Who are you to lecture me on switching your teams once or twice? He got you there and did. You know what? It was bad timing. You know what? It was bad timing. The fact that they won.

Take it. You know what a good take. I got to take that out. LeBron, not on the clock. Rich Paul outlining the schedule or lack thereof. with Max Kellerman on their podcast, Game Over. Take a listen. None of these people know anything.

Nobody knows nothing. And I say that respectfully because we haven't made it to where anybody knows anything. We're not making this about attention and a spectacle. It's not about a decision or anything like that. He has a choice to make. He has a business choice to make. We're not going to sit here and decide or allow someone else to decide when he makes that decision or that choice.

It's a business choice that he's making. Do you like how this has played out? Listen, shout out Rich and Max, and I got to say, I underestimated that podcast when it first came out. I remember when they first of the first episode in the nice studio, and it was like, that looks great, but how often are they going to be together? Rich is always traveling.

They've taken it very, like, very seriously. And they consistently make news. Not just about LeBron. Right. And so like the whiteboard thing was one of my favorite things. It also is a unique role because if you're an agent, you almost at times would have to like, not necessarily lie, but can't tell the, right.

Right, it's hard to whatever. You can't just tell everything. I truly believe what he said there that we played is the truth, and what I would add is this. I do not think this is taking so long because LeBron is trying to, to time the announcement for perfect media cycle. I think it is taking this long because LeBron has not decided. I truly believe that LeBron has narrowed it down to four teams,

the four teams being the teams that everyone is talking about, the heat, the Sixers, the Cavs, and the Warriors. I do not believe there is a team that is like, you know, barely holding on to fourth place. and I do not believe there is a team way out ahead of the pack, and I think it is something he has not yet decided on. And so, and I, you know, I say that because of my gut and because of a little information.

And so I think that he's going to take as long as it takes him to make his decision, and any of these teams, Brew, are obviously welcome and able at any point to call Rich and be like, hey, we're out. We don't want to wait any longer, but there's no other real business to be done for these teams anyway. It's not like they're waiting to sign

some major free agent that now can't be done. So I think LeBron's allowed to take as long as he wants and I'm fine with it. Yeah, I don't have an issue with how long it's taking. It's his decision. He can do what he wants. The teams as you said, Nick, don't have to wait

for him. The league doesn't have to wait for it. They can go ahead and make the schedule if they want without, you know, knowing where he's at. What's interesting about you say, I'm not sure. I feel like he's going to Cleveland. I feel like not from knowing as to report it, but like he's known he's going to Cleveland

or at least lean in that way. And I think what's odd about not, like you said, he hadn't made his decision, he's not taking according to Rich. They're not doing any, I mean, maybe they're researching on their own. own, but they're not taking pitches from teams. They're not bringing in

Pat Riley to talk to him or spolstra about what the team's going to look like or talking to Steve Kerr, you know, as far as we know from the reporting. So that's odd. I think though he may be talking it over really with his family.

It may be, because basketball wise, I mean, I don't know how long it'll take to decide, okay, you got Janus and these guys, kind of like Rich put up, all the advantages and disadvantages going to one of these four teams. But your family situation, that is, that's a lot to think of. His daughter is, I think, Costa Junior High, you're 12 years old.

His wife, you know, obviously the boys are, you know, out there in college or above. But that's a big family decision at that time, you know, will you be away from them? Will they go with you? What cities would they go to you with? So I think that's probably what it is. and I'm fine with him taking this time. He knows the rosters, forwards and back. He knows the cities largely.

Maybe there's an element of, like, different schools that are a better fit or whatever personal issues that they need to solve. Do you think there's anything to more roster moves happening? Where, like, oh, all of a sudden, Kyrie's on one of these teams, or all of a sudden, Joe Embed is not on one of these teams. So I do not believe, this is complicated. I do not believe LeBron is waiting for one of these teams to, sweeten the pot, so to speak.

Like, to waiting for, you know, James Harden to be signed and traded somewhere else or for, I think that there was a time, this is blind, this is just me reacting to what other people have reported, not doing my own reporting on this. I think there was a time where LeBron was hoping

the Warriors were going to get Anthony Davis. It seems like that ship has sailed. And I do not think LeBron is waiting on this thing I'm about to say, I just, this is my own reading of he leaves. One of the biggest things

the Warriors people are saying have going for them is his relationship with Draymond Green. I do not think necessarily the only way LeBron James can play next year with Draymond Green is him signed with the Warriors.

Draymond Green is still a free agent. And I do think that that is, I don't know how much that is going to play into any of this, but I think it is a non-zero possibility that Draymond and LeBron are teammates next year, and it's not in Golden State. Oh, that would. Think about, so do you think it's limited to those teams?

I think it's those four teams and what you're about to say is the fit on those for like Well, Miami would, unless there's a, it had to be a sign and trade, I guess, for Drayman. The much you're talking about for any of these things. Well, I think. I don't think Drayman is taking that. I think one of the teams that, you know, if a team could offer LeBron the mid-level, I think they could offer Draymond the mid-level. Right.

He opted out of more money. And he had made what LeBron's made on this career. Right. So, again, that's why I'm just, it is, it has been to me, Draymond's contract and future with the Warriors has been underreported as far as from people that could have better sources with the Warriors than me about what that's going to be. I have, you know, vacillated massively on where I think he's going, where I think the fit is. It, again, just feeling the way the wind is blowing you because Rich is correct that,

They are not talking to anyone about where they're leaning. There's flatly not. It did feel to me that over the weekend when LeBron put to voice what I had been saying for a while, which is he is not planning, it doesn't mean he won't, but he is not planning to play just one more year necessarily, I think that helped Miami more than any other place. I think that if this is a more than one-year thing, I think the infrastructure of Riley and Spow

it becomes such a bigger asset than if it's just one year. If it's just one year, then, you know, how much does it matter who the GM is, whatever it is? But if it's more than one year, then I think that matters a lot. And that's where, you know, the upside of a guy like Janus, the fact that Miami right now, it's like they don't have nearly enough shooting.

Could you find that if you have the other things in place? I think if it's a multi-year decision, which is what I've always thought it was going to be, and LeBron seemed to put voice to it, that helped Miami's case quite a bit that piece of it. I think I agree with that. If you're playing more than one year, it does help Miami. And it hurts too, the Warriors?

I think it... Yeah, the Warriors, I just think they don't have many moves they can make. I think it hurts Cleveland. I think it makes more... I think if he was just like I'm playing one last year, probably not going to win the title. If it's won last year, finish where I started. If this is my final chapter, and I really am going to try to win the title,

I think that hurts Cleveland more than, you know what I mean, than the others. But again, I don't know, and they are not talking. Professor Broussard will be here with grades for each of the team coming up in the second hour. Each of the fits. Each of the fits. Sorry, not the outfits. Not the uniform.

I thought about the uniform. My name is Peter Parker, but I'm also Spider-Man. This July, we're faced with a threat. That can be anyone. The world may have forgotten Peter Parker. I'm just a neighbor, friendly neighbor. But he hasn't forgotten them.

Sometimes Spider-Man has to do the hard thing. That's my responsibility. Talk to Banner? I didn't know you could get that big. Spider-Man, brand-new day. Theaters July 31st. Spain's the number one team in FIFA World rankings. Other teams moving up.

Brazil, Morocco, Belgium, Mexico popped into the top 10, taking Germany's spot, moved down to 12. Wow, we made our own graphic. Switzerland, up 5 to 14. The Swiss had a good run. They had a good tournament. Norway rode their way up 12 spots all the way up to 19. USA up 1 from 17 to 16.

It felt like we had a lot of passion just to move up one spot. You'll just see USA being a top 10 team by the next World Cup. Leave this up. Because we've got to do some math here. I think Belgium could fall. Belgium trounce. I understand, but they're old. They're old.

De Briner's done. Lecacu's done. They were old when we played them. I understand, but they're old. I think we can definitely be as good as Mexico. Croatia's on the, we would assume, because Luca Madrich is, you know, is done after this World Cup. Italy doesn't make a lot sense.

They miss the World Cup every year, but they win the Europe. I don't understand. So here's the thing. I don't think it's crazy, Brew, that the U.S. could get into the top ten. My question is, would that actually matter if we're talking about them going on a real run in this tournament? Or does it feel like the top five-ish teams are just levels better? All right, type of four, I would say. Then, oh, well, I mean, the top four, yes, those were the last four to make, but I'm saying.

But, you, I mean, because I think Portugal, Morocco is on another level. Right. And I think Portugal could have been and maybe would, like, that there's just a handful of teams that are levitating above. where we ever realistically could be within four years. That's the question I have. I think that's very true. Like, one, I don't think we'll get in the top 10. I do think if we were to get in the top 10,

it does mean we're playing great soccer and we're winning some of these tournaments or at least going deep or whatever. So our team would theoretically be better. But I still think going into the next World Cup, it'll be similar to this year, where it's like, let's get in the top eight. Let's get in the final eight.

And if we do that, it'll be great. But yeah, beating Spain, Argentine, any of those teams, like, I don't think that's even possible. And then we had to play. Let's suppose we just flipped with Mexico, right? We beat Mexico and we just flipped. Let's just for fun. And then we had to play Columbia.

I wouldn't feel good about that. Germany, we would get cooked. Croatia. Croatia wouldn't feel good either. Switzerland, I just saw them just have a success. Italy didn't make it, but they'd probably beat us. You're wow. You're so down.

No, but I'm just being honest where we're at. I think Japan, I feel okay about Senegal just because of the friendly we won. I don't feel good about Norway. Just because of Holland? Heck yeah, because of Holland. You know who else I wouldn't want to see? Cape Verde. No, I actually like us.

I like us where we're at. Really? Yeah, we're 16th. We're also ran. That's just the way, you know, so is England. That's who we are, but I'm saying, no. England has one World Cup. You don't want to get to the point.

And how many years of World Cup's been going on? 96. Okay, they got one. But this year, this year they had a legit, I mean, they got to the four. Yeah, they were in third place. They were in third place. You don't want to get to the level where we might actually be able to win. I just don't.

I'm trying to be, I'm trying to be a realistic. We're a Mountain West team. Like, man, we could play Alabama. Like, I don't know if we can. I just like, we can. We were scoring points. Like, all right. Well, you were to play Georgia.

Like, you don't want to play Georgia. That was, that's what I'm saying. I stepped into it. We could be Boise State. Prime Boise State. They did one year. We pop a little bit. Maybe we'll start playing on bluegrass.

That's it. I'm happy being Boise State. We're not even Boise State, though. Well, buddy, we can't. You're not supposed to be Boise State. We're Montana. What if Boise State had a $1 billion NIL and the biggest student buying world? Who do you want us to be?

Who do you want us to be in college football? A real estate. Don't say Alabama or Michigan or Georgia. Oregon. We can't be Oregon with Dan Lannie. No, no, no. No, no. No, no, new money.

A team that had no real history. history. Indiana? I was going, no, I was just thinking about like, my, embarrassingly, my real long-term college football history knowledge is shaky. But I feel like the two kind of what I would call new money powers

of the last 30 years are Oregon and Clemson. Two teams that were all, like, and that's why I'm saying, maybe I'm wrong. The, but that were fine. Oregon for sure. And then, like, Phil Knight was like,

this team's going to be awesome. Like, but T-Boon-Picking's, tried to do with Oklahoma State. Yeah, Oregon is the first thing. And Oregon was like, we're just going to put more resources, and we're going to force our way into it. Yeah.

And even though you look at Oregon, you're like, you're not Notre Dame or USC or Texas or Alabama or those school, Ohio State, Michigan, they forced their way into it. That's who, in theory, I'd like us to be. The thing is, we don't have, Oregon had access to. to the same players everybody else did, and with money could go get them. We don't have that same access.

No, I think that's correct. But you were asking me who I want us to be. That'd be nice. I don't think we can be Oregon. So my second question is, and this is, again, because the World Cup is just such a unique tournament in that has been going on for 96 years. Eight teams have won it.

You know what I mean? It's really seven if you think about it because Uruguay, you know, has not been what it was the first winner. But the newest World Cup power is Spain. They're like the new, you know, the least tenured champion. Now they're a multi-time champion. It really does frustrate me that we have not figured out why we can't be Morocco or Croatia. They don't, they, they, they do not have some storied soccer, you know, long-term history like some of these other nations. They don't, they, they don't have, it's, you know, it's not the number one singular obsession of the nations.

It's not a money thing. It's not a population thing. Now, Luca Madrid is one of the greatest players in world history. Hakemi is one of the greatest players in his position currently of his era. just frustrating to me that we haven't been able to develop a guy like that, our own Madrich or our own Hakimi, and then add to it the overwhelming resources

advantages we have to where we can be, again, I don't know that Croatia or Morocco will ever win the World Cup, but they are in the mix now and have been consistently in the mix. So I think, sure, we could pop up to 13, but they were in a final. Croatia

went to back-to-back semifinals and went to a final, and and then went to a semi-file under Madritch. No, of course we're not doing that. We can't get to a quarters. Saturday. The only time we got to a quarters, we got to play Mexico in the round of 16. U-20.

U-20, U-20, USA Haiti on FS2. I mean, yes, we're going to beat Haiti. We'll get locked in on the U-20 squad. I'm going to quiz you on Monday. One day, you're negotiating with suppliers. The next, you're installing a shelf in the back room. Running a business means moving in many directions all the time. TD's new small business banking accounts are built for how your business moves.

It's how we're making banking more human. Live from New York is the show that's debuting new segments. Coming up, today and tomorrow. I already invented a new segment, men and black segments. This is KW's way of saying he's in Summer Fridays. I am locked in like you wouldn't believe. You know how many notes I have on this Drake May thing? We're going to go into first things first overtime, not even schedule.

Just podcast exclusive. Talking about a Super Bowl hangover. Second hour of first things first today. Professor Broussard is here giving LeBron teen grades for fit. Fit only, okay? Meanwhile, it's Drake May going to suffer. Brew is going to do a segment and he previews it by saying this. This would be, yeah.

He doesn't quite know. It was a tough. Drew knows what he's going to say. Look at this. Does that get picked off? That's true. That was a good one. Usually that angle is like the touchdown.

He did throw up 200 yards in the fourth quarter. Wait to you see me break out that graphic as we get closer. This is fault. He couldn't do anything. Right now, for the first time in a few years, Patrick Mahomes has dropped out of the top QB spot and Jeremy Fowler's poll of the execs, coaches and scouts. Josh Allen's got the top spot now. Mahomes spoke to Yahoo Sports Daily on moving back up to the top spot.

Take a listen. You understand it. I mean, coming off injury and we didn't play as well as we were. play as well as we want it to be the last few years. You're going to drop in the rankings of some sort. But at the same time, there's a lot of good quarterbacks on that list. And I'm just happy to be a part of it, you know, you got to go out and prove it every single year. So it's my job this year to prove why I can jump up in the list back to number one. I mean, shout out to Yahoo Sports Daily for getting Patrick Mahomes. But man, that guy is not what? He is not going to. What? He's just happy to be

part of the list. Hey, I'm in the top. Hey, you know what? I'm in the NFL. Like, I don't know if, I don't know if I believe. I was hoping I can win another. You know, you're all happy about there every day. I'm happy to be on the team.

The Calbush you took me. Do you believe Patrick Mahomes were a claim the number one spot? Listen, obviously, yes, I do. I also think he is in an advantageous position because he has multiple ways to do it. So I think one way. that he would do it is if he just has another awesome statistical regular season

almost independent of team success like if he has a burrow-esque season if he has the year Joe Burrow had a couple years ago I think because he has so many so much team success already

people would be like okay you know he can win right we know he can win so like that would do it but also because he has been such an absolute certainty in the postseason, the Eagles Super Bowl notwithstanding. I think if he has another, what you guys would call mediocre statistical regular season,

but the Chiefs are good again, and then in the playoffs, he does what he has done five of the last seven years, which is make the Super Bowl. And this graphic here, these is him in the playoffs during these down years. The last three years. One year he didn't even make the playoffs, but it's the last three seasons.

So I'm not including the playoffs the year he won the MVP without Tyree kill or any of that other stuff. So those are awesome statistical numbers, not just that no quarterback has more than four wins. It's you're playing the best defenses in the league. And you're without a running game to speak of, without a star-wide receiver, he does have Travis Kelsey, obviously, and you're putting up these numbers. So I just think, Brew, for him, if he's awesome individually in the team struggles,

I think a lot of people will be like, okay, he's back. And if he's mediocre individually, but the team succeeds and gives him the opportunity to be who he is every single postseason, it's going to be really hard. And this is what I want to ask you before you go. let's say he has an 85 passing rating. Like it just goes down again this year. And the Chiefs go 12 and 5.

They're the three seed win the division. And they make the Super Bowl. And in the playoffs he does, and they're in the Super Bowl again. And it's another year where Lamar, Josh, Joe, none of them can beat him. That would be, and even in that scenario, and Lamar or Josh win the NBA.

like have a crazy good year. It's going to be really hard for people to make the case. If Patrick is sitting on six Super Bowl appearances, that someone in his conference who's never been there is better than him no matter what the touch-hound interception ratio in the regular season is. I agree. I agree with your two-pass for him to reclaim the spot.

And I think the latter one is the most likely. And I'm not saying I'm picking them to get to the Super Bowl or anything like that. but I'm really intrigued because I was saying wow his decline statistically coincides with Eric B. Enemy

leaving as offensive coordinator. All his great individual years came with Bionemi there as O.C. Now he's back. So I'm really intrigued to see is there a jump? I don't know if there will be or not. But I'm really intrigued to see

if there's a big jump for him. I also think that he won't presumably have the run we run like he has in the past or last year or the year before and stuff like that. So that's going to be interesting. I feel like he will not recapture the top spot next year. He may beyond that. But I do agree with it.

So I'm saying I think he has a solid year in the regular season. I don't see a spectacular. I'd love to see it. And maybe that's what I'm saying. Be in the meal helping make that jump again. But I'm not expecting it necessarily. But if they get to the playoffs and to your point, his numbers jump, even if his numbers in the playoffs don't jump, but they win, he's going to get the credit as the guy orchestrating it, and he should. And I agree with you.

He would, he would, I still think he's the best quarterback in the league. And I, but I think most people would have to say that if he could lead them to another Super Bowl. It's some, a clarification, which I think is fun to talk about this topic. Because Josh got number one, but I think they must vote one through 10. I'm not sure how they do it, but it's like weighted voting. Yes. So glass half empty, more people think that Mahomes is not the number one quarterback who do of people who voted. 58% to 41%.

At the same time, Mahomes got more number one votes than Josh. So Mahomes got 41.5. Josh got 34. But somebody had Mahomes as low as nine. Nine. And Josh, I think, was lowest was four. Right. So however you want to view it. So when I was looking at this question, I'm like, well, he does have the most, when he was interview, when Fowler was interviewing coaches, executive and scouts, more people voted Patrick Mahomes, number one than anybody else.

Correct. So has he really lost his top spot? Listen, here's the thing. I think we are in a tricky spot narratively. when a lot of people have a lot of different opinions on who the best quarterback in football is. But almost everyone agrees, I think the majority of people agree

if they are asked this question, okay, you can have any quarterback in the league in the playoffs, who do you want? He, I think, runs away with it. It would be hard not to vote him. And then when you add to, it that aside from Aaron Rogers, who, you know, is in the very twilight, there isn't a player in the league who is more decorated in the regular season. Lamar's close. You know,

Lamar has one more all-pro, so maybe you could argue, but nobody has, he has two league MVPs, nobody has more. You could argue nobody has had a better singular season than his first year as a starter of any of the current guys. Again, Rogers' his own kind of category. And then the fact that all these other guys are all sitting on one Super Bowl win. And, you know, or zero. You know, Jaylan's got two Super Bowl appearances.

Everyone else is sitting on one Super Bowl appearance or zero. And Patrick's sitting on five appearances in three

rings. That is tough. But then the flip side to it, and I understand this is, if you did the blind stat test of

him in the regular season in the last three years and removed wins. Because with wins, he's still as good as anybody. I mean, one of

his down years, they went 15 and one, and he was super clutch throughout those years. We didn't think they had like a great running game, great receivers. Somehow they won all these games. But he's like the 12th best statistical quarterback in football over the last three years.

But it also just feels like, yeah, but he's doing more with less and he's asked to do more. And so, and Josh has the strongest case, which is why the 0 and 4 in the playoffs against Patrick is so tough for him. And the fact that there's only one game, the 13th and second game, where Josh has, you know, played him equally in the those games. All the other ones you've lost and been thoroughly outplayed. And he is the best case of anybody, I think, to be the best quarterback in football. The ground seems to be moving, though, with like this locked in Mount Rushmore of current quarterbacks where... Well, time moves on. I know, but no one's getting, no one's aging out of it.

But Lamar's down to the 69 on the NFL top 100. Josh is here. Burroughs not making the playoffs. I think he's going to move out. And if Patrick, if he doesn't have a great statistical year, I know you're talking about two paths, I don't know if a mind-blowing aerial assault is on the board with the weapons that you currently have, do you? The reason I won't rule it out is people have totally forgotten that the year he won't, the last MVP he won, when they, won their second Super Bowl, the year they beat the Eagles in that Super Bowl. His number one receiver was Marquez Vald as Scantley. And he set the all-time record for single season total yards by our quarterback. So like now, listen, Kelsey was a better weapon than he is now.

I understand that. But they did not have a dynamic running attack. Their number, their running back was a seventh round pick. But Chico was a nice player, didn't run for 1,000 yards. Their number one receiver was a number one receiver was a dynamic. again, MBS. And they, he was throwing to

Jerich McKinnon out of the backfield, the running back. I know that I think that kind of, I think that poised to the personnel department. Like, he can do it with anybody. No,

I agree with you. But my point is he literally, he doesn't have worse weapons than he had that, worse receivers than he had that year. And I, I just think that Kenneth Walker signing continues to be undervalued. I think it will change the way teams defend the chiefs and open things up for Patrick Moore.

If he doesn't have a great individual year, unless they go win the Super Bowl or whatever, they got to get him for Justin Jefferson. You got to get him some of top. Then you trade two first round picks for Justin Jefferson. I'll do that. Yeah, that's what you do.

50 days he'll start the NFL season. 207 to the Super Bowl, brew. Cowboys planning to be there. Here are two quotes. One from a coach, Schottnheimer that we didn't discuss during the World Cup. It kind of flew under our radar and a more recent one from Dack. Take a listen.

I make no qualms that that's the goal. The Super Bowl next year is February 14th, 2027. It would be a perfect Valentine's Day. Yeah, yes, yes, yes, yes. In SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and we plan on being there. That's always been my mindset, you know, that's the one thing I truly love, I mean, truly love about the Cowboys organization and the fan base is that or nothing. That's what being a competitor is.

the competitor is. If that's not how you're wired it, that's not how you think. Whether you're a fan, whether you're a player, whether you're coach, then I think you're in the own business. And honestly, I don't want you on my team. So I love those expectations. Brew, did you like this from the Cowboys and Dak Prescott? I'm going to let you guys in on a little secret. Okay. Well, you know this already. I'm picking the Cowboys to win the NFCs. It's in pencil, but it's getting, it's half pinned. Oh, it is. I mean, this didn't help. But it's in, I got the Cowboys right now, NFCs.

I have actually been toying, flipping it around in my head. Could this be the year the Cowboys actually get to the Super Bowl? Yeah, it's that time. I've been thinking about it. I never thought I'd think about that since Dion Sanders and Michael Irvin were there, all right? But I don't like this. This bothers me. Like, what do you think Andy Reid or Mahomes would have said if they were asked these same questions?

Hey, you know, we just got to go out there. It's a long road. It's long season. But take it a day at a time. I think they might have said I love the expectations. I think Dax comments. He would say it's February 14th, we're planning on being there. Well, that's not.

That's Schottenheimer. Yeah. I'm saying I think Dax comments are okay. Oh, Dax first. What we show. And that comment by that, he was asked, I agree with Nick, that didn't bother me that much. Although he went a little further, which I don't think we showed. And they asked him better chance this year of getting there than, oh, yeah, this is our best chance of getting it.

Like, he went a little too far. Okay. I thought. And Schottenheimer really went too far. February 14th, I mean, I understand. That's every team's goal. That's what the coaching staff is talking about. but it's been 30 years.

Why do you have to say that? Y'all waiting for like a, I love it or something? No, I don't love it. All right? It's not coming. This is no misdirection. Just the way that you're cadence throughout a whole five minutes. And the way you're leaning, it's like a perfect dime.

There is no, I love it coming. I'm not saying I'll be ready for the show again. I'm not saying I definitely won't. I don't know, but I don't like this. You don't need to be. If Mangini was here, what would he be saying? Well, Manini doesn't like much. Take it one game at a time.

One practice. Let's get to training camp. Let's see what the defense looks like. I agree. KW, do you want to go? I'm off kilter now. They've already, but we booked our tickets. We told the players, the NFC Championship, don't pack an extra suit.

We're going straight. from there to the Super. What are we doing? So listen, I understand that this does sometimes become like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Like, the Cowboys haven't been to a conference championship game,

let alone a Super Bowl, in 30 years. They are, you know, we have that graphic I made of the NFC teams with the gold, silver, bronze. They are as, they are, yeah, they are the least accomplished team in the conference now that the

Lions have made a conference championship game of the last 30 years, like there's in the postseason, which is unbelievable. Yet they are covered in a way that the Cardinals are not. So the Cardinals coach and quarterback are not constantly asked about the Super Bowl, so there aren't opportunities for them to talk about the Super Bowl. It's easier for them to be focused on the next practice because that's all anyone's talking about. So I do want to cut them some slack in that regard because it's, you know, it's easy to pile on. I will say this. While I does not seem that I am as high on the Cowboys as it seems Brew is, pardon me.

I do think those odds that we're showing for them are a touch low. Oh, yeah. 16th best chance to win the Super Bowl, eighth best chance to win the conference, which means Vegas looks at them as decisive. The median team. 32 team league. There's 15 teams with better odds and 17 or 16 teams with worse odds. And the NFC, 7 teams for better odds, 8 teams with worse odds. I think that is undervaluing the Cowboys.

And I do think that if we were to remove this from public comments to private thoughts or discussions within the team, I do understand why in the building they might say, we absolutely could be the best team we've been since Dax's been here. That we are, that we, if we did rebuild the defense on the fly, he's, you know, there's no reason to think Dax ever been better than he is right now. He's, you know, he's fully healthy. We have two great receivers. Schottenheimer, I thought, was impressive as a year one coach.

They then spent the resources on upgrade. the defense after trading away Micah, and the NFC East feels open-ish, depending on what you think of Philadelphia, and the very well-covered and well-written about Nick Siriani and those Philadelphia Eagles. And, you know, we kept George Pickens, they traded away A.J. Brown.

Washington feels like it's all about, is Jayden healthy, but even if he is healthy, how good to the defense? And the Giants, you know, got... I don't know. Gosh, darn it. They got a, you know, a couple of bros as their quarterback and running back. And so I, and so, like, I don't know if they're ready to be a serious team yet. So it seems like the NFC East is open, so I understand why they would have Super Bowl expectations.

I don't know if they should be saying. Okay, we've got predictions week in about five weeks, Brew. We'll see if you're going from pencil to pen to permanent markers. I've been pondering the cowboys, but this is a check mark. We didn't know. It was a long setup for me. Yeah, I really thought. I thought I was about to be.

Y'all were looking at me. I'm like, what do you? Whenever you do the one elbow, I broke off. The one elbow is what really threw me. The first ever, all-electric 26th Subaru Trail Seeker is the EV for the Trail Obsessed, with up to 444 kilometers on a full charge and DC fast charging from 10 to 80. in about 30 minutes in ideal conditions. Plus, ample ground clearance and symmetrical all-wheel drive

make the 2026 Trail Seeker the most capable EV Subaru has ever built. Test drive it at your local Subaru dealer or visit Subaru.ca. Welcome back to First things first. LeBron is still looking at teams and won't be rushed. According to his agent Rich Paul, we're going to bring in Professor Bersard for grades on how he'd be. fit with his potential team starting with the heat. Janus got to look at some nice chairs.

That is sweet. The chair? That does look like a nice chair. They got a great locker room. I wouldn't mind sitting on that chair. And the trophies in the room. Oh, yeah. It's nice.

All right, Brewer, a grade for the heat. Okay, look, first of all, here are some of the things that went into that I considered when putting together my grades. The ring, chances of winning the championship. The fit with the players, the chemistry on the court and all that. What it would do for his image, right? Slash or legacy. Right?

And family, because I think that's a big consideration for him. That's what he said over the last week. All right, so Miami, you obviously have a great teammate in Janus. All right. And, I mean, imagine the pick and roll possibility. with Janice and LeBron. Defensively, Nick, they would. Bam, Janice and

Andrew Wiggins, who might not be the defender he used to be, but still a good Defiant. And Davion Mitchell is a good defender. LeBron. Yeah, LeBron would not have a lot of defensive responsibilities on that. The issue I do, obviously they lack, to me they lack shooting. I know Tim Hardaway Jr., Mitchell's improved his three-point

shooting last year, but I still don't consider him a great shooter. Wiggins is pretty good from three. But I just think there's a lack of shooting there. I think spacing could be an issue. And I also think LeBron and Yon. I just think it would take a little time because Yonis can dominate the ball too. But now not like Luca, but still, Luca at least was a great outside shooter.

So that gives you some space. Whereas Yonis not being a great outside shooter, wanting the ball a lot. It'd be a little iffy. You got a great coach, though, great organization. And here's the other thing, Nick. They would be S-Bob. And I think this year people will give them a little leeway, but within two years they would have to win a championship.

I would not give them any leeway. Okay. Then that's fair. I'm not giving Yonnes and LeBron. I get right. And more is it on Yonis, but the pressure would be on LeBron too because it's like you got Yonis and all that. So I think that if they didn't win it, does that, do people,

People look at that. You know, you had Janus, you had Luca, you didn't win. You know, so I don't think that's great necessarily the greatest thing for the legacy. I went B minus. Oh, B minus. B minus. There you go, bro. B minus.

So I would switch this to an A minus. Wow. Yes, because I think, I think, just go through your own kind of rubric. I think it is less clung. legacy wise than a team he's never been on. You know, than Philly or Golden State would be. It is not,

it's, I don't view the heat, even though Janus is the best player, as Janus's team, because he's never played there. So, like, even if Janus... You think it becomes LeBron's team? I think it's...

I think that ups the pressure, I don't know if that's the case. Well, I mean, it's, Yonis is the best player. But Janus, like, he's not joining Janus's team. Like, would both be joining this off season.

You understand what I mean? And so it's less about pressure and more about credit if they were to win. Like if you're going to get to Golden State later, let's say, and I don't think you're going to think Golden State can win it, but let's say they did. Understandably, if that happened, Seth Curry would get the lion's share of that credit. It's his team that LeBron joined. This, to me, you know, is a little different. and I

the lack of shooting is a problem but I think that a team with LeBron and Janice has a high enough offensive floor that you can overcome lack of shooting if you're a great defensive team and this is the only team

of the four options that I think could be a great defensive team. I think this could be the best defensive team in the Eastern Conference at the very least so I would put it a minus in a little unfinished business. So we're going to go out to a B-plus final score.

Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. New look 76ers. Jalen Brown joined the team that finished seventh in the East and ended the number two-seeded Celtic season and Brown's partnership with Jason Tatum. Drew, the grade for LeBron and Philadelphia.

Grade on paper. Okay. Would be S. Bob. immediately. It's a little Bob, to be fair. I mean, S. Bob has a better. It just fits. I agree.

Even though it's football. But it just, you know, I wish I could think of a comparison, but, you know, it fits. And that, again, if they didn't win it, that could, you know, once there's pressure on them to win it, it could be a knock if they don't. Do you think anybody that is to be taken seriously is going to be like in year 24 at age 42, LeBron couldn't get it done. I know people will say it, but I'm saying, are they just fools? I don't think they're expecting him to be the number one guy and lead them,

but when they look at Embed and all the rest, and LeBron, people, some people will say that. So I think that's something to consider. I don't, I would not, because one, I don't, Embed, he's going to be in and out of the lineup. And when you have a great player, in and out of lineup, it's tough. It's not like a role player. Put a role player in. So what? Oh, he's here to help break.

Change the way they play. Yes, they play two different ways. And then I've said this before. You have four perimeter players who have, and I don't think they're selfish players, but they all going to have agendas. Maxi, I think Maxie actually would have the least agenda. Yeah, he already got paid. He's a star, but he also, you know, I want to stay the star.

Yeah. Jalen Brown absolutely is going to have. have a chip on his shoulder and an agenda. And maybe not just for Boston, but for the whole league, which seems to be undervaluing him. Edgecombe is in his Mac. He's trying to prove I'm a star

so I can get a max deal. And then LeBron didn't love it appears being the third option. He's going to love being the fourth on occasion. I mean, I think he'd, I don't know where he'd fit in there. So I just think those are some issues. And then I didn't say this for the heat I meant to.

The family are just. Do they are they going with you to Miami? Are they going with you to Philly? My guess is they would stay in L.A., my guess. So I think that's as true. So my grade, it's a little better than the heat. It's a better than the heat. It's a B.

Huh. Because they do have a lot. You had some talent. You had some positives for the health. The positive is just that they got a lot of talent. You just think that they're a better. I think if he, am I right in saying this? If he picked the Sixers, you would probably pick them to win the East.

I'm not sure of that But they get some consideration And so They would get some consideration I would or wouldn't Would you? Would you? I got to tell you guys something

I was thinking about this exact story This question today on my own About the Cavs, Sixers, and the Heat And I did some soul searching about it And you know what I came to the conclusion Each of them is a LeBron James away From being the best team in the list Like I looked at it

And I was like you know what So even the heat you would have winning. Yeah, I think Janice and LeBron with Eric Spolstra as the coach, listen, the Knicks deserve deference, but it, you know, it has been so hard to repeat and to even get back. If we're just going to assume that the Knicks are going to be like every other champion in the last eight years, which is they're not getting back to the finals, which is not a fair assumption,

but I'm saying if you remove that piece from the chess board, would I be picking the Cavs and Donovan? No, I'm not picking them in a playoff series again. LeBron and Janus? Am I picking the, like you're saying, the Sixers without, you know, the Sixers without LeBron

and with Embed being the question mark? No, probably not. Philly, to me, has the highest upside. It's also the weirdest. And I don't know how much weird should matter. It's where I want him to go. Philly. Okay.

But that's, when I say where I want him to go, that is purely based on number of games I could personally attend. Like, I just, the being able to, him being on the northeast, I think would be cool. But it's just the weirdest. And so I would have come in B minus, but I'm not the professor. This team is not a world championship.

They're actually better. Hardin says, generally, I think we are the better team, but series-wise, we didn't show it. Cads were swept, of course, by the Knicks. And in game four, they lost by 37, which was good because they were down 45 at one point. What a brew. LeBron's fit with the cabs. Look, I love them on paper. I mean, you got two rim protectors,

and Evan Mobley's a great defender individually, as is Jared Island. I get it that Donovan Mitchell's not a great defender, but those three plus LeBron, I really like that. That's a team that has all the talent you need. They just haven't been mentally tough in the playoffs. LeBron would bring that, teach them how to win.

And look, I know Hardin, it's Hardin a clunky fit possibly. But with LeBron there, you know what? I don't rely on Hardin in the playoffs now. And I can handle him scoring eight points. All right. That's what Danny was saying when he was like, it's a big four and he's the fourth option. But yeah, if LeBron, yeah, absolutely. I mean, he is the fourth option, Hardin.

Now, if he wants to be a nice playmaker, great. But I am not, his eight-point game in the playoffs won't kill me because I got LeBron. And then, obviously, it's the best, it's the storybook ending. It's the best story. Particularly for one year, but even for two or whatever. It's a great story. And Nick, I think this, I don't, while I would give them as good a chance as the heat or the Philly, and maybe better of winning the East, I think I would give them a little better than those teams of winning the East.

So I think they'd have a chance to win the East. And once you get there, hey, you got a shot. I don't think they would be viewed as S-Bob. I think the story, the storybook ending would outshine. Is he going to win a championship there? And I think he'd have a chance to get to the finals. But I think people would be so enamored with the story of him going back that that would kind of over outweigh, oh, are they going to win it?

And not playing, you know, you know, man, he's back in Cleveland, you know, so, and family, I'm presuming,

could at least go back there. That's, that's on the time. I mean, a lot of his extended family is already there. He's still got his house. They could live there and all that. So I think,

and maybe there's a little bit of home cooking here, you know, but let me, let me give the grave first. And, A. Yeah, absolutely. I just told you all the good reasons.

And I got to do this. we got new batteries. Now, last week, it didn't work for me. It did not turn on me. It was out of batteries. Yes. All right. So this is where I hope LeBron goes would be a great ending, great story.

Leave love. There we go. That did make sense. Why don't you get a little love from that? We got the batteries. It's a got a and these are fresh batteries, right? It's got it. Yeah.

Perfect. I'm glad it's going to work. Are we ready? I'm happy. Okay. It didn't work. It must be Let's see if it works with it.

Quick analysis. You got 10 seconds. The thing is this. I need Dusty. I need 45 seconds. Here's why I don't want to press the button. This is what I was rooting for in the beginning. I've waffled a bunch on this.

And at one point I thought, like I think you think now, which is this is also the most likely outcome. I don't know that I think that anymore. Here is why I, I am. I'm shocked by this, but I am leaning Miami. I believe Cleveland, Philly, or Miami with LeBron can win the East. In Cleveland or Philly, if they were to make the finals, the guy who's going to have to match, whomever the other, the Western Conference juggernail that shows up, their best player is LeBron.

And in Miami, it's not. You mean defensively? No, I'm saying like, you know what I mean? Who's going to be our best guy in the final? I'm just saying like in, and I'm not going to try. If it's like, hey, our best guy's Donovan Mitchell trying to take down the spurs. No, I guess it's a little disrespectful to John. I don't mean it to be.

Our best guy's Jalen Brown trying to take down the spurs. No, it would be LeBron. Well, they didn't want Jalen won a championship. No, I understand. But he, I don't think he was the best guy on that team even though. And that team to me was more fully. formed. If he's in Miami, it's like, all right, we're

taking him with Spurs, the Thunder, or whomever. Janus is the in his prime superstar, and LeBron is the absolutely I think overqualified wingman for that. As opposed to these other places, I think he'd have to be

the lead guy. And in year 24 or 25, we're talking about these two years, that's asking a lot, man. It's asking a lot. Coming up after the break. Well, Drake May have a Super Bowl hangover. God, I've been waiting all World Cup to do this topic. Where do you want to live on?

He wants to live on. He wants Golden State. I think it's the best story. Better than Cleveland? Just don't get mad because the button doesn't do it. It's Cleveland. Hey, y'all's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if?

Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. Saturday night is baseball night on Fox.

Otani Soto, Dodgers, Mets, Saturday 7 p.m. Eastern only on Fox. Headed back to the gridiron, 50 days until the Super Bowl rematch, Seahawks, Patriots in Seattle. Drake, with a stoic answer on lessons learned from the Super Bowl performance, quote, I have to play better. You give your best. Sometimes things don't go your way. Well, you're exactly right. That's a good life lesson.

Yeah. Super Bowl hangovers. I'm a big believer in them. Very real. Last 30 Super Bowl losers, 13 missed the playoffs. 17 made the playoffs. 11 won a playoff game. Patriots won a playoff game.

Won a few of them. End up making the Super Bowl, winning the Super Bowl, actually. Does anyone think a Super Bowl hangover is on the board or more than on the board for the Mighty New England Patriots? Well, I was talking about Drake May specific. Oh, I thought it was a Patriot's specific. No, no, it was Drake May.

No, it was Drake May. It was going to be other Patriots, and then we saw him throwing these picks to little kids and his camp, and we were like, you know what, the hangover for him is more than on the board. So you can show the funny video or the good graphic. I don't care which. Because here is, oh, there's the video. He got picked by just pick six. It high steps him.

It was pretty solid. I mean, again, I'm not saying. Developing talent. I'm not saying it's everything, but it's small data point. Here's a bigger data point. The last 10 quarterbacks to lose a Super Bowl, or the last 10 times a quarterback has lost Super Bowl because Patrick's on there twice.

Every single one of them, the passer rating, I just picked that because it's going to catch all. Every single one of them, the passer rating drops. 10 for 10. Now, Drake is, you know, a historically great passer rating last year. He also had a historically big drop in the postseason, regular season and postseason.

That's what that little line is. 31.3 point drop. It's the worst in the last 30 years. And I don't know this is true, but I imagine that's as far back as the data goes. It might not actually be as far back as the data goes. So, yeah, I mean, I think a young quarterback who had been sailing so high

who had a rough postseason and then a very rough Super Bowl with now with more expectations plus a tougher schedule. Yeah, I think, I think nine and eight and not being a pro bowler after being the league,

a second MVP is, you know, a more than 5% slice of the outcome pie. Oh, sure. And so yeah, I think that's, I think it's, even though I like May, I think that's really on the board. It's absolutely on the board. It's absolutely on the board for a few reasons.

One, it's not unusual these days to see a guy, a young quarterback, have a great season, and then struggle. C.J. Stroud, J. Daniels, could happen to Drake. Two, Nick mentioned it, the schedule. Last year, Wilds, this is what your boy did against winning teams last. Oh, gosh. K.W. is going to get mad? It wasn't pretty. The losing teams, he cooked 13 and 1, 100.

18 pass rating. Against winning teams, they're only, they played seven. Eight, the pass rating just plummeted. Even the completion percentage, which you love.

He struggled there. And touchdown interceptions, eight to six, not something we like. The eight to six is, that's, to me, the most jarring of the stats.

Yeah, versus 29 to six. I mean, so, and here's the deal. Last year. Lost the bills and in the Super Bowl. Look,

you only played three games last year of the 17. in the regular season against winning teams. This year, Steelers and the bills twice. This year, 11 of your games are against teams winning records last year.

And one of the teams that didn't is the Chiefs. So the schedule is going to be so tough. That's why when Nick brings up the 9 and 8, that is not disrespect. They have a murderous road. type schedule. So I don't know if I, it'll be hard if the stats drop a ton. But this was a take that Nick mocked me on when I unveiled it.

I agree with this. I think he agrees too inside. I think everyone agrees with. I think Drake could be better. I brought it out with Brock Purdy. Correct. He could be a better quarterback this year, but the numbers aren't the same. Now, if they go so far south, that's one thing.

But if they're just not as good, then he still may be a better quarterback. 100% agree. KW's got an hour material. Nick agrees. have a lot of stuff. Yeah, I want you to do it before. Well, look, I'm not going to come out fire breathing. I think I believe in Super Bowl hangovers. So I do think that is a real possibility. I don't think it's going to be a doomsday scenario like you guys might paint. So I tried to look at why teams, not necessarily quarterback specifics, have struggled or have been bitten by the

Super Bowl hangover bug. The first one is just you played a lot of games. Maybe you were a little bit of an older team. Injuries get you. The Chiefs last year, Mahomes is done. The 49ers seemed to always, you know, pop and then get hurt. They went 6 and 11 when Brock only played a few games. Burrow obviously gets hurt. The other 49ers team, which had CJ. Burrow didn't get hurt after the Super Bowl.

They made it back to the AFC championship game. After the Super Bowl? Yeah, they went to the Super Bowl and then they played the AFC championship game. Then the next year he got hurt. Oh, okay. Yeah. So I screwed that one up. No.

But I think our depth around the O line and hopefully we have enough depth and we're a young team, maybe we avoid the injury bug, but if you get hurt, you get hurt. I don't think there's anything you can do about it. Coaching instability is one. Supernatural Funk. Eagles make the Super Bowl lose. Both coordinators bounce.

Supernatural Funk stays. We actually got more coaching because Zach Kerr's remains the D.C. Josh didn't go anywhere. But an odd offseason for the main coach. An odd one. That's KW. It hasn't been a smooth sailing off-season.

for your main coach. I'm just, he wasn't at the draft for a reason. Day three. I'm just saying, I'm, it's,

look, it could have been a little better. You could have been a little smoother. Sure. Do I think it's a little bit blown out of proportion? I'm just saying, I'm just saying a little, at least a little odd,

but go ahead. It's a little odd. The good news is that it seems it's past. Yes. At least. Yeah. Final one. Do you really think,

I think it was looking, at guys or teams that didn't really get hit by the injury bug or didn't really have coaching instability. The other category I put was, did you hit your ceiling as a squad when you made the Super Bowl? Cam's Panthers, Matt Ryan's MVP year, the Rams making the Super Bowl losing. They're like, Jared Gough can't take us any further. I don't know if anybody thinks Drake May in year three, in year two, has hit his ceiling and won't improve. No, go ahead.

As a player, not talking numerically. Like, I could see him going through his whole career and never being a vote. Yeah. Second MVP. No, I think that's the one addendum that I think counts that would go against the Patriots is there aren't many teams that make the Super Bowl that the next year aren't favored to win their own division. And that I think One thing that is You know

It works against the Patriots is They might have a top three quarterback in the league They're in a division with a team that definitely has one of those guys Like they might Their path back to the Super Bowl might be All Road Playoff games and all of that Which can be a very difficult You know, road to ho.