First Things First - LeBron signs with 76ers, Caleb Williams ranked 51st, Ben Stiller joins, Will Aaron Donald return?

Episode Date: July 27, 2026

(0:00) LeBron James signs with 76ers (26:18) Caleb Williams ranked 51st on NFL Top 100, Can Aaron Donald still make an impact? (40:24) Will Mendoza start Week 1?  (45:10) Ben Stiller joins (56:26) How will LeBron fit on the 76ers? (01:10:08) Mahomes to practice in training camp, How can the Patriots avoid a Super Bowl hangover? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You're richer than you think. Live from New York, it's the show that despite some appearances to the contrary, is not on vacation. It's first things first. Today is LeBron building another super team in Philadelphia. Also, Caleb Williams is not a top 50 player in the NFL, number one in my hearts. Should he feel disrespectful? And finally, yes, I'm a man of my word.

I spent a literal night in a museum. Nick Superfan Ben Stiller will join us later on to discuss and hopefully let me off the hook for my terrible prediction. Nick Friedel and KOC are here with us. We'll get to LeBron in just a second. But first, you know what, Friedel, the cot was about yay wide and yay long. I can see you dig in a night in a museum. Would you have been there with me?

There's no way I fit in that cot, but I would have been there with you. It was kind of fun. I got to be honest. Like 500 kids screaming after midnight in a museum, not my favorite idea of a good time on a Friday night, but it's a good premise for a movie. I got to give it to him.

Let's start, though, with the king. LeBron James is taking his talents to Philadelphia on a two-year, $8 million deal with the Sixers. LeBron went to Twitter to say, quote, this is my last decision. I'm not going for money. I'm not going for family. What am I really playing for at this point? I still want to sacrifice.

I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship. As mentioned, Nick Friedel and Kevin O'Connor are hanging out with us. We appreciate it, gentlemen. KOC, we will start with you. Of all the landing spots, and he literally could have gone anywhere if he was willing to play

for the minimum, what did you make of LeBron Landing in Philly? So much for nothing left to prove, as he said almost a decade ago now in 2017. This is not about family, not about money. It's about chasing that fifth ring. And my first reaction to it when it happened, Danny, was kind of like I respect it because there was a safety in going to Miami or going to Cleveland. There's no losing in doing that. He's going to a new city where it's high risk.

This could work. It could lead to another ring, but it's also high risk in the sense that Joelle LeBeed has injury issues. Jalen Brown will see how he fits. There's a lot of downside. You could be hated there. And so I was shocked that he actually did it, that he actually chose a new franchise. But I'm very excited now that we could have a chance for him to become the first player in NBA history to win a ring with four franchises.

And so I'm excited to see how this very much plays out. Guys, I just cannot believe he went to the team with Joe LNB. Because that roster looks great on paper. They've made a lot of different changes. But if you want to win a title, Embed has to stay healthy throughout the postseason. And he looked great in that Celtic series. And you thought, oh, here we go.

And you get to the Knicks. And you're like, who is that guy out there? He can barely move. So while it is going to be a lot of fun to watch and Philly is going to be absolutely the most interesting team in the league, especially to start the year, the fact that LeBron is banking on Joelle Embed to get him to that last ring was a shocker to me

because I don't believe he can stay healthy. I don't think anything we've seen in the last few years would lead you to believe that he can make it all the way through that stretch. And while the regular season, you can get away. with him missing some games. You want a ring. You need him. And I don't see how he's going to be out there the whole time.

So there's a ton here. Because, I mean, in fairness to Embeded, it wasn't the knees, right? It was an appendectomy. It was not exactly like the same type of thing that you would think is going to be a recurring factor there. But clearly, the most games he's played, the last three years is 39. I'm with you, Nick. I wouldn't count on Embed being healthy either.

This is maybe a weird top takeaway. But the first thought I had when he signed with Philly was, Wow, he really was going to sign with New York. Like, if the Knicks didn't win, Rich Paul was telling the truth, because Philly has basically everything that the Knicks had until they won. Like, the Knicks' last title was in 73. The Sixers' last title was in 83. They're in the Eastern Conference, which, while Deep does not have teams like the Thunder

and the Spurs at the top, rabid sports fans, passionate sports city, tries, like KOC said, to be the first guy to win four titles with four different teams and you go to Cleveland, he's already won in Cleveland. Could you ever top that? You go to Miami. You've already won in Miami. Could you ever top that? This is like new challenge, sports craze city, eastern time zone, eastern conference. And it feels like it had basically everything that New York had without being able to live in New York. And now our friend and colleague Dave McMedaman is reporting that he's going to live in New York, at least part time. And he's going to And he's going to commute to Philadelphia.

So it feels like, and maybe this is oversimplifying in Kevin, but it feels like the Knicks won the title. And so he just subbed out New York for Philadelphia because it checked the rest of the boxes. That's 100% what it was. Rich Paul, if he was honest about anything, it was exactly that. And as soon as the Knicks won the title, he's not going there. And Rich Paul also said, you know, he would need Jane Lynn Brunson to go out and recruit him. Everything that I've heard, everything that's been reported as well is that Janele Brunson

didn't recruit LeBron James, that he didn't want LeBron James to join this team. And understandably so, they already have a championship team. You don't want LeBron to come make it his show for his retirement toward the next couple of years. Philadelphia gives him a lot of the same benefits of taking, as you said, Danny,

a franchise that hasn't won in decades, and you could be beloved as the guy to help put them over the top. But the reality is for him, he did want New York, at least he's getting to live in New York. Guys, the part that always hits me in the last few days, too is LeBron, as always, is no dummy. It's an easier path in the east, and they're going to have to get

by the Knicks in order to make it happen, but you want no part of San Antonio. You want no part of OKC. Those teams are ready made not only to win next season, but in the years ahead. So the Sixers have a lot of new pieces. He signed the two-year deal. I'm a little

curious if he gets all the way through both years and if it ends up being just a one shot in Philly, but I'm with you both. If the Knicks had been there, he'd be playing at MSG, and he'd be the guy that everything kind of revolved around with Brunson. Because they won, this offers a different type of challenge, and it's something that I don't think I've really felt good about the whole way, but it makes sense because the guy still wants to win, and he still wants to be a part of a hell of a story. And if he goes to Philly and does that, he's going to get both. I wonder what you guys think about this, too, just in terms of a lesson in team build.

Like, obviously this is a crazy scenario. LeBron James, arguably the greatest player of all time, still a top 20 player in the NBA, saying it's not about family, it's not about money, and willing to play for the minimum. Like, other teams can't replicate that, right? We've never really seen a scenario like that in the history of basketball. But it seems pretty obvious that if Jalen Brown wasn't a sixer, LeBron isn't a sixer, right? He wanted teams to be aggressive to make moves.

And yeah, to your point, Nick, like, can you count on Joe Al-M-Bee? Probably not. But on paper, that is a very exciting team. That is one of, if not the most talented teams, certainly in the Eastern Conference, if not the whole league. And the Cavs were not willing to part with Evan Mobley, it seems. For Janus, for Jalen Brown. They were more in the interest of standing pat. The Warriors were not able to go out and get Anthony Davis. There is something to, like to the victor goes the spoils here, Nick, and like Philly was hyper-aggressive. They moved on from Darryl Morey. They brought in Jalen Brown's huge contract, even if it's analytically unpopular. Now how does that trade look? Like if you, I gave up two firsts, two seconds, and Paul George for Jalen Brown. We already thought Philly won the trade. But now in the calculus of that Jalen Brown trade, we can add, and it got you LeBron James.

I just think that there's a lesson there in be aggressive. try to get your team as good as possible because you never know what the next move is going to be that can take you over the home. Danny, I agree with you 100% and I'd add this. Bob Myers is really good at this. And we saw that in Golden State.

We saw how he built that team and we saw how he connected with stars. Kevin Durant came there for a reason. He had Steph and Raymond and Igu Dada and Clay. Everybody bought in because they trusted Bob Myers to make everything happen. and they trusted the culture that Steph and Steve Kerr created. Bob Myers is now running things in Philly,

and he knew what he was doing, talking to Rich Paul. He knew the messages that got across, and the biggest message of all was, we're going to get Jalen Brown, and we're going to make things happen here, and we're going to get your attention. So everything lined up in place, and everything that Philly did points back to,

Myers is one at the highest level. He knows how to build teams, and he has the trust of guys to be able to do it again. And I think you look at the recent champions as well, whether it's big moves like Oklahoma City flipping giddy to go get Caruso and adding Isaiah Hartinstein or the Knicks doing deep depth moves, like adding Jose Alvarado at the deadline. He had his big game in the finals helping leading that 29-point comeback

or Boston three years ago adding guys like Porzingis and Drew Holiday. Aggression is rewarded when it comes to winning, championships. I think that's necessary in today's day and age in the NBA. And so for LeBron, I'm sure he recognized that, whereas these other teams, the Warriors have done literally nothing. The Cavs were unwilling or unable to make big moves. The heat, of course, got Janus, but they had a bunch of other holes and a lack of assets to make further additions. And I think for this Philly team, it was Jaylon Brown. But also, I think it's Anthony Simons. It's Dean Wade, Wade, who was one of the key figures on the Cavaliers during their postseason win against the Pistons as an offensive player.

They made some additions on this bench and got Contavius Caldwell Pope and still have a first-round pick that they can deal as well. So the Philadelphia 76ers ace this offseason and absolutely, as you said, Danny, their aggression was rewarded. And then this is probably just, it's a little inside baseball, but you guys are insiders, so you'll go with me here. There's a level of comfort. Like, LeBron is a power broker and Rich Paul is a power broker and clutch sports. They are a power broker within the NBA. Like if we throw up, this apparently has just made its way into social media in the last 30 minutes or so,

but it's Tyrese Maxie and LeBron working out, getting shots up. Pop quiz, Nick Friedel. Who represents Tyrese Maxie? Mr. Parkins, I think clutch should be on the jersey patch this year for the Sixers. Honestly, that's next level for them. I think that's what needs to happen because there's so many different

powers in play and they could really get a bang for their buck with putting the logo on that jersey every night. But yeah, so Maxie, a clutch guy. LeBron, obviously a clutch guy. Nick Nurse, the coach, a clutch guy. The GM was the runner up to LeBron for Mr. Basketball in the state of high. He's known him since he was in high school. Like, Bob Myers goes on the podcast. Like, there is just a, hey, we get what you're doing. Right? Like, the Sixers signaled that to LeBron. camp very clearly of like something emerges here. There's an issue. There's discontent.

There's only one basketball. And I know we'll talk about that a little bit later on in the show. But like I would imagine they made LeBron feel very comfortable that like, yes, we're all on the same team. Literally. We're on the same team of the Philadelphia 76ers. But we're literally all on the same team here. And if a problem arises, we're going to work through it together.

That's 100% true, Danny. And I think part of that for LeBron is you do want to feel wanted. And you look at the other teams, Janus didn't recruit LeBron in the same way that Maxie and in Brown and Embed were. Other teams were not going all in in the same way that this Sixers team was. And so all the questions about sacrifice that we'll talk about later, as you said, I do think it at least bodes well. It's a positive sign today in late July that the team was willing to sacrifice,

at least in their conversations with LeBron. And now we'll see if it actually happens on the court. All right. So let's stay in Philadelphia here. LeBron finds himself playing alongside, you just saw it, a star-studded cast. Joel Embed, Jalen Brown, Tyrese, Maxi, which of course immediately leads to, well, it's a super team. Charles Barkley weighed in saying, quote, the number one knock on LeBron for older guys like myself has always been, yo man, you always stacking your team.

He's stacked in Miami. He's stacked in Cleveland. He's stacked in L.A. Now he's stacking it in Philly, so that to me, I'm going to still. have the same criticism I've always had." End quote. Guys, so the question is, is this a legit knock on LeBron? My answer to that would be, where did you want him to go?

He's 42 years old. If he went to Cleveland and he's with First Ballot Hall of Famer James Hardin and second team All-NBA Donovan Mitchell and former defensive player of the year, Evan Mobley, do we get to say that that's a stacked team? If he goes to Miami and he's with top five player in the world, Janus, and Bam out of bio who scored 83 points and they can recruit people to South Beach, is that a super team? Like, I would have maybe heard this argument if he would have assigned for the minimum and

went and played for the Thunder or the Spurs. Like, I would have at least listened to the argument in that same. But the Sixers are not the favorite in the Eastern Conference. What was he supposed to do, Nick? Like, was he supposed to go play for the Brooklyn Nets? Like he's 42 years old. He is prioritizing winning over family and money virtually unheard of in the NBA. And he's still getting criticized for that.

So if he would have signed for the max, he would have been criticized for taking money. If he signs for the minimum and tries to win, he's criticized for that too. I've been critical of LeBron when I felt like it's necessary. But this feels ridiculous to me. Well, Dan, if he goes to the Warriors, nobody's saying this, though, because they can't win next season. So is that what people are? wanted? They wanted to go somewhere where he can't win? What he wants is to kind of have it both ways. He wants to go to a team that may not be ready, ready made right now, but they're really

close. And I don't necessarily blame him for that. But to Barclay's point, this has been the knock on LeBron for 15 years now since all the Miami stuff because everybody always said, oh, you're pairing up with your friends, the future Hall of Famers. I remember talking to Reggie Miller for a story on step about playing with one team in one city for your whole career. And Reggie told me if Michael Jordan had called me and said, come play with me in Chicago and leave Indianapolis, I would have told Michael to go bleep himself. Well, enjoy your zero ring, Reggie. Yeah, this is always the way, though, that these old guys think.

They think stay in one place, make it happen in that place. and if you don't make it happen, there's still some real integrity in trying. What one of the biggest legacies LeBron has in the game is that he changed the way people think about it. And he played with his friends, and he won at a very high level. And whether you agree or disagree with him, that knock is never going away because older guys always think, I wanted to put my flag in one place and stay there and play it out. And LeBron didn't want to do it that way. ruffled some feathers because of it.

I think it's unfair to LeBron in the sense that his decision to create the heatles in 2010 with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosch was in part of response to what happened in 2007 with the Celtics, getting Paul Pierce having him joined by Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. And then the Lakers go out and get Powell Gasol to join Kobe Bryant, building their own stack squad. LeBron James building the heat there and then going to Cleveland and then going to to L.A. That was the era. This is the same era where Kevin Durant left the thunder after blowing a three one lead to join the 70s free win, Golden State Warriors, the Lakers with Kobe Dwight and Nash,

the, the nets with Pierce, KG, Darren Williams, Joe Johnson, OKC head, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony. This was the era of basketball with super teams. And this Sixers team now, as you said earlier, Nick, they aren't without flaws. There's major questions about Joel and B. There's definitely questions about Jaylen Brown sacrificing for this team. These guys are old injury prone. There are questions with how they fit. So I don't

put this team in the same category as some of these past super teams we saw from 07 through the 2018, 2019 season or so. That's a different time. That was the era of basketball. And I don't think the old heads should be knocking players for joining together because

that was the nature of the game. Guys, that was 15. years ago. Like LeBron joining the heat, if people didn't like that move, at least that was peak of his powers, LeBron, peak of his powers, Dwayne Wade, peak of his powers, Chris Brown, all in their prime.

Like, I understood the argument back then to dislike it. He's 42 years old. I just, is it his fault that he's still awesome? I find it to be, where could he have gone? I guess other than Golden State. Utah. Right, but that's so unrealistic.

Be like, yeah, yeah, go play for Golden State. And then you know what Chuck would have said if he would have went to Golden State? He would have said what he said about the Lakers the last couple of years. Why are we talking about them? They can't win. They're not a contender. Why are as everyone on all these networks spending all this time? And I love Chuck, by the way.

So it's not personal, but it's just like he crushed him for being in L.A. Because we talked about it for being in L.A. And then he would have done the same thing because we would have talked about him in Golden State, even though they wouldn't have had a real chance to win. Now he goes to a team that has a chance to win and he gets crushed for that. Like with some people, LeBron just will never win, Nick. That is absolutely true, but the pattern remains. And what Charles said is the truth, even if you disagree, Danny,

because everywhere he's gone since he went to Miami was always loaded and was always ready made. And I see what you're saying, and it's hard to be popular. but it doesn't change the core of the Chucksters argument. Well, they tend to be popular because they get to add LeBron James. That also helps. You also add one of the best players of the sport tends to help. Let's go on to the other teams, though, that missed out on landing LeBron, including the aforementioned Golden State Warriors,

four-time NBA champ, Steph Curry, of course, weighed in on missing out on the LeBron sweepstakes saying, quote, well, that's why you don't envision anything until it happens. There's a lot of moving parts. All right, KOC, which team missed out the most? Which team is hurting the most by this decision for LeBron to go to Philly? It is the Gold State Warriors. Without a doubt, it's the Warriors.

They had no other options this soft season. They tried and failed to pursue Anthony Davis, didn't happen to lure LeBron James. They didn't have another move for Jimmy Butler. They've been unwilling to package what the number of picks required that it takes to go out and get players. They weren't in on Janus. They felt a few years ago.

weren't willing to put enough on the table to get Lowry Marketing. They tried to get Kevin Durant. He didn't want to go there. They settled for Jimmy Butler. This is a franchise that going back to the two timelines hasn't really gone on all in around Stefan Curry. And I think if you're Steph at this point of your career in your late 30s, still one of the five, 10 best players in basketball, you got to seriously be looking at the situation here and saying, these front office's actions are not that of a front office that actually wants to win around. me. And if you're Steph, I think he ultimately, more so than the Warriors as a franchise, but Steph individually, he's the biggest loser here because once again, the Warriors

struck out. And I think for him, he's going to take a seriously look here and wonder, do I want to be here moving forward if I want to continue competing for rings or do I have to go somewhere else, just like LeBron has, just like these other players have, in order to add a fifth ring to my finger. KOC, I agree with you that it's the Warriors, but I think it's more on optics because they basically brought back the exact same team aside from rookie Yaxel Lendaborg, and they were trying to get LeBron and it didn't happen and they keep missing on these bigger picture moves. There's a couple things, though.

Steph has only ever said to me and everybody else he wants to finish his career with the Warriors. He wants to play with one team. So I take him at his word. And maybe to your point, maybe it changes here in the next year or so, but that would really shock me if it did. The bigger issue to me is you could have plugged LeBron on this team, and I still don't think they're that much better. I never got the sense that there was a real push for Anthony Davis because I never got the sense that they wanted to get into that kind of extension with a guy who always gets hurt. So they couldn't get Janus, and they couldn't get Janus guys in large part because they whiffed so badly on James Wiseman and Jonathan Cominga years before in the draft.

If you want to be mad at the Warriors, you get pissed off all day. about that. But specific to this summer, they want to keep their books clean. They want to continue to try and help stuff when they can. But I don't begrudge them in not making some huge move because I think the gap between where they are right now is the 10 seed and where they want to be closer to where San Antonio and OKC are is gigantic. And there is a ton of frustration in the bay. That team is used to winning and competing for titles. They're not close. close right now. But I can't get outraged the way that so many fans are because I see where the books are at. I see what's happening. And I think, all right, they're leaving themselves at least

a possibility in the next year or two to go out and get somebody else. But fans don't want to hear that because they've been hearing that for the last few seasons. I think that you guys handled the Warriors piece of it. I think that's kind of most people's answer to this. And I totally understand it. I would just lob one take in the direction of the Cleveland Cavaliers. They made that move for Hardin

and it obviously did not work in last year's playoffs. He opts out. We're expecting him to sign a multi-year deal to stay there on a lower number. Seems like they were not willing to move on from Evan Mobley to get into the Janus sweepstakes. I love Evan Mobley. I can squint

and understand it, but Janus is better than Mobley. certainly they didn't get Jalen Brown. If they would have gotten Jalen Brown, maybe they would have gotten LeBron. Now all of a sudden, Cleveland has really just lost pieces and has to run it back with a team that was non-competitive in the Eastern Conference playoffs or the rounds that they needed to be competitive in last year. And they're just going to basically say, hopefully we get better by time spent together where if they would have been a little bit more aggressive, maybe LeBron James is doing the bookend thing to his career and finishing it where it, it started. So I understand the argument because at least Cleveland should be a playoff team. They could be a top four seed. There's still a ton of talent there, which you cannot say about

Golden State. But I do think that if Cleveland figured out a way to be a little bit more aggressive, LeBron James KOC would be finishing his career back home in Northeast Ohio. I think it's a good argument, Danny. And in part with them, you mentioned they could be a top four seed, but they could also be in the playing. Correct. The sixers got better. The Raptors should be getting Kauai at some point. The Pistons. may have gotten better, assuming they get Jalen Duren back, adding John Collins. The heat added Janus, the Celtics will see about them. They should still remain competitive.

And then the Pacers are getting Tyrese Halliburton back in a full season of Avita Zubat, it's one of the better setters in the NBA. And so that's seven teams that I mentioned alongside the Cleveland Cavaliers. It's very possible Cleveland finds itself in the play-in, considering this team. Yes, they got to the East Finals. That's what Cavaliers fans always say. But they took seven games to get through a young Raptors team without Kauai. Seven games to get through a phony pistons team that had no shooting, no spacing, and then they got just slacked by the New York Knicks.

That's the true gap for Cleveland is what happened in the East Finals. And now other teams are closer to that Knicks level. And I don't think that bodes well for Cleveland at all. Guys, it's time for a long crying Cleveland because LeBron was the last best hope. That team is not good enough. Donovan Mitchell is a really good player. He's not the number one guy. James Harden, good luck.

With that extension, that team has talent, but they're not winning a title. With LeBron not ending things there, that's a wrap for whatever this core is. Yeah, but they're very expensive. And so that core is going to be together for a little while. And that's why I just can't stop thinking. They're like, man, they needed to just be 10% more aggressive, and it could be a totally different ending to the story. Guys, I know we'll talk to you guys a little bit later.

It's obviously a huge story with a ton of tentacles throughout the NBA. But it is list season. and Caleb Williams showed up on one of them. Feels like he might have been a smidge disrespected on the NFL top 100 list. We'll discuss. Coming up, first things first. My name is Peter Parker, but I'm also Spider-Man.

This Thursday, 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 in theaters Thursday. Back in on first things first. Let's talk bears. Caleb Williams officially announced as the 51st player on the NFL top 100 players list. He is the ninth quarterback listed ahead of guys like Jalen Hertz, Lamar Jackson, Jordan Love, love to see it. Baker Mayfield and Brock Purdy.

I'm joined now by Coach Manjini and Willie Cologne, Great to see you guys. All right, Willie. I'm sure people can assume my answer. What do you think of this ranking for Caleb? Too high, too low, just right? I do think it's too high. Too high.

Yeah. Nice to see you too. And it feels fraudulent, right? Because when you watch the Bears last season, you know, we watched them take their sack total from 68 to 24. That was that offensive line, right? Oh, my God. That was the protection. That was the fight up front.

We watched Ben Johnson actually add structure to the offense, right? Tagging on the run game and allow that run game. to eat between the 20s and allow Caleb to be more efficient and see things clearer. So it feels more organizational than Caleb solely carrying that offense. And so when you talk about him being ranked higher than Jordan Love, I struggle with that because he wasn't better than Jordan Love last season. Like he wasn't better than Jared Golf. If we can show the stats right there, golf and Love were better than Caleb Williams.

Caleb Williams is a rising star. No doubt about it. I know people will love everything he was able to. do being clutching the fourth quarter, second half quarterback. But listen, the reason why this offense has so many bites at the apple was because the defense was bad. So it forced the office to go out there and have a couple of chops at it. So am I a believer in Caleb Williams?

Yes, but he's ranked too high in my book. This guy's in mid-season form. The whole thing with Caleb last year was the offensive line all of a sudden. My God. All right, coach. Go ahead. I'm with Willie. Oh, my God.

In a lot of ways. Look, I give the offensive line a ton of credit. They played better, but I give Caleb credit for that, too, for not taking those sacks. I think that was the best thing that he did was be able to bring that number down so substantially. And when you look at his season, the expectations were so low that because he performed the way that he did, it was dramatically, it was taken dramatically different than the year before where the expectations were so high. He benefited from playing not very well the year before. And to your point, there's a lot of guys on that list that had as good, if not better seasons.

Let's bring up Trevor Lawrence. Boom. For example. Get him, coach. There's 13 wins versus 11. There's 4,07 versus 3942, 38 touchdowns versus 30. So right on down the line, there's better numbers. I do agree with Willie too that I think his arrow is pointing up.

I just don't think it's pointing that much further up. In Danny's eyes, he's already crowned. So we're talking against the king right now. Well, I do have eyes. And I do watch Caleb Williams do things that maybe three players on planet Earth can do with his physical talents. You've got those eyes with stars in him, though. He's doing it in a year, too. Okay, but I will surprise you.

Because you could dunk. Don't make you a great basketball player. Okay, but not many people can do things like that. And so if you can do things like that, I'm thinking that you might be able to hit the layups. And he's in his third year in the league. And you're talking about guys. their sixth year in their league or fifth or sixth year in the league in Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence. So yes, some of Caleb is a stock projection and I'm happy to own as many shares of

the stock as you guys are willing to sell me. But it might surprise you. I will say just right to answer this question. I'm not coming out here saying that Caleb Williams should be universally regarded as a top five quarterback in football. And yes, there are. He shouldn't even be top 10 though. Okay. Well, so here's where I disagree with you. Because yes, some of it statistically 16th in QBR and still didn't throw for 4,000 yards. I can give you a million stats where he isn't there. They were 6th and yards. They did win a couple of playoff games.

And I don't like the NFL player list. I've just talked to enough players to know that they don't care about it. They don't follow as like they like to project. They vote for their friends. They vote for their position group. They vote for their teammates. It's open balloting. It's not like there's not names that to pick from.

It's just based off memory. It's a flawed list. But I do like the ESPN one, the one that Jeremy Fowler puts together. because he talks to scouts, general managers, coaches, and they rank it. And there is some continuity between the lists. These are the eight players that are ahead. And I'm projecting a little bit because the whole top 100 list hasn't come out. But I'm assuming that those eight players will still be ranked on the players' top 100 list.

I have no problem with anybody saying that those eight players right now are better than Caleb Williams. The execs had Lamar ranked ahead of Caleb, but they had Caleb 10th. And the players had Sam Darnold ranked ahead of Caleb, again, assuming he comes out still on the list. So, like, about the 10th best player in football with those eight names in front of Caleb, like, if you think that Trevor Lawrence is the issue and you think Jordan Love is the issue, the execs disagree. The executives did not have Jordan Love as being better than Caleb Williams, nor did the players. Well, because I think they're judging it on how, who affects the defense more, right? That's a pretty good way to judge it. The thing that's struggle with the list, is it just purely based on last season, or is it based on last season and their body of work?

Is it based on last season? And a projection. That's why I struggle with the list. Everyone brings a different bias into it, for sure. Not everyone's voting the exact same way. Because I think if you held a quarterback draft, there weren't many executives that would be like, oh, yeah, I'm going to go and not take Lamar over Caleb. Now, maybe there'd be some, but I would imagine the majority would still lean towards Lamar. I also say this.

I think for everybody who may be on the fence, like myself, I put my hand up there about Caleb. I think this is the season where we shouldn't have this conversation next year, right? Like, he should cement himself. Like, you know, he's a top five quarterback because of the body of work he's done, he's going to put forth. I think if you're Caleb right now, you can't be a second half quarterback and think you're going to be a top 10 quarterback.

Like, you have to put a whole body of work, play all four quarters, and put together things on tape where we say, no, he's up there with the elites. I don't know if we can say that right now. And don't you think he's being great on a curve because of how poorly the year before went? Sure. Yeah, because I think what it is is what you said a little bit ago about, like, are some people doing this based on the year and a projection?

Because I personally am saying, well, year one, he was sacked at a rate that we had literally never seen in the history of the NFL. It was like David Carr level bad, right? And then he gets Ben Johnson and it immediately improves exponentially. His interception rate is fantastic. So it's like if he improved that much from year one to year two in the league in year one in Ben Johnson, I am expecting year three in the league, year two with Ben Johnson, for there to be a similar projection going forward. Why would it be unrealistic to expect if he got that much better from year one to year two for him to not get that much better from year two to year three?

Well, it's a little bit like outstanding teams. People view him differently going into this year than they viewed him last year. I feel like validated. Yeah. So now when you start feeling him differently and guys start studying him differently, he's going to have more challenges that he's going to have to show us he can overcome. It's not like, hey, here's a bus that we're playing against. Here's a real guy that we're going to have to figure out a little bit more aggressively. We're going to have to start keeping the list here.

You would take Trevor Lawrence over him and you would take Jordan Love over him? Yeah. Hold on. I just ask you. I'm just evaluating the list. I'm just asking you. You can say Trevor Lawrence is better. I'm not Nick.

Okay, okay. I'm just pointed out there. I'm going to remember this come week six when Caleb Williams is the favorite for MVP. Let's talk Rams here. I love these workout videos. This is a workout video of a player who is trying to come back to the NFL. They're already the heavy favorites to win the Super Bowl, maybe even getting closer to Aaron Donald making an official decision to rejoin the team.

Here's Sean McVeigh, the coach of the Rams, on the process they're affording Aaron Donald to take his time. For those of you guys that do know Aaron, he's very diligent. Anything that he does, he does all in. And so he's going through a very strict regimen and process that was similar to what he did when he played, see how his body responds and feels. And then we've had some things that we'll just kind of, you know, check up on each other. And then we'll see when we have more information, whether or not we're going to give it a go

or whether or not he's going to continue to enjoy what he's been doing for the last couple of years. If that is something that he wants to do, we are going to, you know, try to be able to make that happen. I think this is happening. Coach, do you buy that Aaron Donald can still make an impact? Well, I love what he's doing right now, and I think it's the right thing for him to be approaching it the way he is. To come back and play football after you've been out for, what's been three years now. This would be the third year. Yeah, this would be the third.

That's a really hard thing, not just physically, but mentally to get yourself back into that mindset. and the fact that he's exploring to see whether or not he's really in that space for him to do it, I think is the exact right approach. From the Rams perspective, why not say, let's see where we are midway through the season. Let's see where we are three quarters of the way through the season. Then we can bring you in kind of like a closer in baseball. You play out the last little block of the season and the playoffs. And maybe he's not ready to do all 17 games, but he'd be ready to do a stretch of games

where he could really have a high level of impact and come be fresh legs and a healthy body and an impact player late. Yeah, listen, I think he definitely changed games, but I don't think he should be expected to carry the defense, right? He's 35 years old coming off the couch. As a retired guy, that couch gets real comfortable. You guys have nice couch.

So it's just different. And I also think... Well, they got that other dude that they picked up. Miles Garrett helps. Right, but also, but I think when you look at what Aaron Dowling brought to the table was his elite first step, his leverage, his hand placement. Like he did things during his time where you say, man, those are elite things. Now you're asking a 35-year-old guy to come out and be that guy.

He was never a big guy. He doesn't have that raw power like a Leonard Williams or that big power, massive body like a Dexter Lawrence. He's not that guy. So now with age, there's going to be some, he's going to digress a little bit. So now you've got to say, all right, how am I going to use him if we're going to give him a go? Is he going to be a weapon guy for us?

Is he going to be a closure like a Chris John? Is you going to be a guy where we say, hey, man, on passing downs, we need you to go hunt. Or are we going to put you out there and got to have it moments? Like, if that's the game plan, I'm for it. But if it's a situation where you're asking him to come in and be, you know, Jesus and Cleats like he was when he played, I think you got to push back on that. It would surprise me if that's what they're asking. And I love the, like, Roger Clemens idea of, yeah, just, you know, see if Darnold's looking. Or, see if Stafford's looking good.

And, you know, come in in in November and see if you could save us. But, listen, Colin Coward's the analogy guy at this network, and it might surprise people, given that I'm like 160 pounds soaking wet. But I love ice cream. Like, ice cream is my vice. And this feels to me like you got the ice cream Sunday, you got the chocolate, you got the vanilla, you got the strawberry, you got the sprinkles, you got the whipped cream, you got the hot fudge.

This would be the proverbial cherry on top of the Sunday. You don't need it to make the Sunday great. The Sunday is already great. Like, they're not good. So can Aaron Donald make an impact? Sure, he can, but he could come back and register zero pressures, zero tackles, and zero sacks, and they're still going to be the favorites to win the Super Bowl. Like, he is a pure luxury ad for them.

They don't need him in order to win. Did that analogy not stick with you? You look very good. Yes and no, I think when you bring a player like that back, he's a little bit more than the cherry. And it's one of those things where you have to game plan and be aware. aware of where he is. And as soon as you start forgetting about those guys or you start underestimating players of that caliber, even at 35, even coming off the couch, you can get into a lot of trouble. And I agree with you, they've got a very talented group, but to bring

him back late and add him to that group and add him to the offensive coordinator's problem set. I guess my point is, isn't it all upside? No. No. To some degree, I mean, yeah, I mean, to some degree, but I also think they're baking on his leadership because we, like to you just, like we all saying, we expect the Rams to be contending for a Super Bowl. If that somehow doesn't come a ride during the season, they're banking on his leadership to calm a locker room down that has high expectations. So as much as you want his on play to be good, there's some guys in our locker room who feel like, man, we're all in. We can't get any better than what we are right now. And if things go crazy, you have Aaron Donald to lead on. So I think he's a little

bit of a safety net in that regard to. See, that's why I like the idea of bringing them back late. This way here, he can see how the season's going. Correct. If he comes in and things go south earlier, there's major injury, and the season's not going the way it is, he's going to get back to retirement mode midway through season. And I'd rather say, okay, let's let this go midway through, see where we're at, then Adam.

And it's easier to get through seven games, you know, eight games than it says that entire season and training camp and all the other things. Ice Brandon Graham. He did it last season. Yeah, listen, if you come back at the buy, yeah, I'll come back. I'll play the Chiefs in week 13 and make a run for the Super Bowl. Sure, I think that that makes all of a. More palatable from a salary cap standpoint.

Listen, you've got Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald on the field. I mean, that changes past protection. Like that's... Yeah, who are you going to slide to? All that comes into play. All right, we're going to disagree on this one, too. Will Fernando Mendoza start week one? I'm going to say yes.

They're going to be patience. Yeah, I know. Time now for afternoon headlines sponsored by Ram Trucks. Nothing stops RAM. Yeah, I got distracted. But coach asked if I would jump through a table lid on fire. The Raiders had a busy offseason. They signed Kirk Cousins, then drafted Fernando Mendoza.

But he says, listen, yeah, it's not a quarterback competition. We're just friends in a room competing. Take a listen. Everybody in the quarterback room is a top-tier quarterback. And it's going to be competing with each other. not competing against each other, competing with each other, pushing each other to be the best quarterback

we can possibly be for the Las Vegas Raiders and to enable to then as win as many games as possible. Coach, any chance, Mendoza's the week one starter? Yeah, I would say there's a chance, but it's an outside chance. I don't think organizationally that's what they want them to do. I think organizationally, the reason you bring in a guy like Kirkhusen, and look, we see it year after year

where you've got a quarterback drafted, high in the first round, in this case, number one overall, and you bring it a veteran who ideally can at least get through the first part of the season, give that guy a chance to learn. Now, typically you get to game four or five and it switches out, and I think there's zero chance he doesn't start at some point during the season and early in the season. I just don't think he's going to start at the beginning of the season. Yeah, you just want the radius to trust the process, right? You didn't sign Kurt Cousins to protect Mendoza's feelings.

You signed him so that Mendoza doesn't play early, right? Like, you want this situation to go as smoothly and seamless as possible. But I also think the coach can attest it is there's a checklist for Mendoza, right? Like, you want to see him. Can he handle the huddle, right? Can he stay on schedule with the football? Can he do things from an operational standpoint where you feel like you can trust him out there? Because I tell, and I'm glad coaches here, for a lot of young guys start in the training camp.

because I'm working out in gyms and I've seen all these guys preparing for camp. And they asked me, hey, Willa, how do I get on the field? The coach has to trust you, right? They know what you can't do from the neck down, from the neck up. Can they trust you? If they can't trust you between the ears, then you put my job at stake. So I think for Mendoza, man, I think he has to understand, like, listen, there's a checklist. There's things you're going to have to do.

And I'm not sure we're going to see all of it in the preseason. So that's why you take your time through this and kind of, you know, let him get some crumbs along the way. You know, Kirk doesn't have the physical abilities for, like, like running or making plays with his feet anymore. But he has the answers at the line of scrimandage that he can operate in that fashion. And look, he was 5 and 3 as a starter last year. He hasn't been great over the last three years.

He's two games over 500. But he's more than competent enough to go and lead the Raiders in the early part of the season. And we want rookies to play at a high level right away. And they don't get enough credit for how big a transition this is. New coaching staff, new city, new playbook, the volume of plays that they have is so much bigger. The volume of defenses that they have to deal with is so much bigger.

So there's this expectation that, oh, he's a great player. We're going to plug him in. He's going to play right away. It's a serious, serious transition. And to piggyback off that, in 2013, when I got to the Jets, man, we had Gino Smith as a rookie. And one of the things we realized, as much as we wanted to protect him in the pocket and make sure he did all the things he needed to do to be an efficient quarterback,

you also got to protect his confidence, right? because if you have a couple bad games out of the gate, you start feeling like you don't belong there. And now you've got the media. And now you've got now social media is here. And now you've got people starting to question like, man, do we make the right decision? Let's get the old man out here to kind of calm flames. That's not good for Mendoza.

So just be patient. And let's see what the young fellow looks like. I just want to show you guys the history of it. The recent track record is number one picks play in week one. That doesn't mean that it was the right decision for all of them. And like there are success stories on there. are guys who really struggled and everywhere. So you can find the data point to support either argument of sit, rest, whatever.

But you've got to go back a full decade to get a number one pick quarterback who made his debut past the midway point of the season in Jared Gough. So my thing with this has always been, Kirk Cousins shouldn't really even factor into the equation. Like if Mendoza is ready, Mendoza should play. If Mendoza is not ready and Kirk Cousins gets hurt, then Aidan O'Connell. should play. Like, you should only play Fernando Mendoza when Fernando Mendoza is ready, but when he's ready, he should play as soon as possible so that you can figure it out. But we will get to more with

Coach and Willie Cologne in just a little bit. Over the weekend, I spent a literal night in the museum paying off a bet for being so wrong about the Knicks. And Ben Stiller is going to join us coming up to talk about why I did that on first things first. 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. I did spend a literal night at the museum this weekend. I did not get him of sleep. If the Knicks win the title, I will spend a literal night in a museum. Whoa. Yeah.

The cons that they have you sleep on made for children. should have picked the Knicks because this is my cot for the night. So I got a bad back on a good day. So I woke up very sore but got to see Dum Dum and Dexter. My kid Owen was absolutely thrilled, saw the dinosaurs. We woke up the next morning after he stayed up later than he never stayed up before and he goes, Dad, the animals really came to life. And I'm like, they did.

He said, yeah, when you were sleeping, the museum game to life. I was like, oh, that's pretty cool. But it was a great time. Probably shouldn't have picked against the Knicks. If the Knicks win the title, I will spend a literal night in a museum. I'm glad the next one, I have a great time. And joining us now, the actual star of Night at the Museum and Nick's super fan, Ben Stiller. Ben, thank you for joining us.

I did it. Am I off the hook now, officially? You spent a literal night in a museum. I commend you. You're a man. of your word, as I said. And it was fun. I mean, Owen seemed to have a good time.

Owen had an amazing time. He said, now he gives this up pretty easily, but he said when we were to, he's like, Dad, that was the best night of my life. And he also said that everything came to life while you were asleep, right? Yes. He was so excited about seeing dumb dumb. Right. So you missed out while you were asleep because everything did come to life.

It's the magic of the Natural History Museum. Exactly. And I'm sure the showering and brushing your teeth in the morning was equally magical. You know, that's the thing that they overlook, is it's a program made for kids ages 6 to 12, but they have to be accompanied by an adult. There's a lot of thought that goes into the 6 to 12. There's not a lot of thoughts about the comforts of the adults. Try being on guard duty every night, five nights a week.

Come on. Much more glamorous, it's less glamorous than it seems, right? No, that is absolutely true. I don't know how you pulled off. They didn't give us many instructions to work with. But I will say, and I don't know how aware you are of this, you have created a cottage industry because we did this tour at the museum. And, you know, it's a museum curator who's telling us about the history of things and how they

got the artifacts and everything that's so special. And there's just hundreds of kids being like, can we see dumb dumb? And she's like, I don't like referring to it as dumb dumb. It's an ancient artifact that's very special. But there's literally a waiting list of thousands for people to be able to do this what you've created here, Ben. Well, I'm happy to hear that. I'm not affiliated in any way initially with it. So I don't have no liability for if anything happens overnight.

But I'm glad that people are enjoying it. And it seems like a fun thing. When I originally decided to do the movie is because I thought, oh, this would be the coolest thing ever if I was 10 years old. I actually thought it was cool when I was reading. So I thought, you know, this is. It's like you're living out some sort of a fantasy, right? It was, it was a fantasy. I mean, it was your fantasy.

It was your fantasy of the Knicks winning the title, the chip, and you got to live it out by spending time because I know that's what you saw happening. Talk about your all-time backfires. I got to say, I, you know, I've made a lot of bad predictions, but they've never quite paid off. I like how you said I will spend a literal night in a museum. But you actually did go to the museum naturally. It could have been any museum.

It could have been any night. Could have been any night. I'm literally a night. Yeah, literally a night. I'm a man of my word. I take it very seriously. Do you feel like the doubt maybe propelled the Nix? Because you know, you need someone to, you need a villain in a story.

Sure. I think that propelled the Nicks all season probably, right? It always propels the Nix. I mean, I think even now, you know, as champs, people are still always doubting. And, you know, though I feel like. Now it's a little bit different because we've done something that, you know, that I don't think, you know, a lot of the Knicks fans didn't even think would happen, I think, you know, after that many years of waiting. And now there's like a newfound, you know, confidence in the team which we really feel, I think, as fans. And, of course, watching all this crazy, you know, chairs on the Titanic moving around the rest of the East.

It's fun to watch that too. Yeah, are you ready to be dattered again when everyone picks LeBron? Yeah. Yeah, I think, honestly, I think that does always fuel a team. It seems, and for Nick fans, for sure, I think it's exciting that LeBron's in the East, you know, as a basketball fan. I think that's going to be fun. It used to be like, you know, like, once a year you get to go to the guard and see LeBron. Like, this is going to be fun to actually be able to play him, you know, and, you know, knock on when we get to go to the playoffs and face him.

That'll be fun too. I mean, what did you? Rich Paul said that if you guys didn't win, LeBron was going to be a Nick. That's an alternate universe. I heard that. Yeah, I heard that. I mean, look, there were so many years of Nick fans hoping somebody was going to come and be the savior, you know? And, you know, ironically, you know, the person who came said, I'm not a savior, but was the savior in jail, Brunson.

I think the fact that it's such a team of people who were doubted in one form or another, and it wasn't a big star, it wasn't, you know, some super team being created. This was like an organic thing that happened over four or five years, really. I think, you know, as a team came what it was. So now that it happened and you've had a chance to process it, better than you expected? Did it live up to everything that you dreamed it would be? A million times better.

Really? I literally smile just thinking, I just, did you say it? It makes me smile. I think it's, but it's really like any fan. I've never had that experience as a fan, you know, my whole life.

I mean, I was eight years old when, you know, in 73. So, you know, I kind of remember it. But, you know, I can, I'm like those, you know, the clips come on or I watch one of the players talking about, you know, game four or whatever it is. It just, it immediately just makes me happy. And I, like, watch the clips and it'll start. like, you know, going, yeah, like it's, it's just such a great feeling to feel that community.

It's the community that was, you know, that was supporting the NICS and then came together. And New York had this explosion of just love and, you know, kind of appreciation and connection with each other. You know, New Yorkers connecting with each other. It's pretty cool. So I'm in Chicago and I could kind of relate with the Cubs when they won in 2016. But then I felt myself, it had been 108 years, but then I felt myself getting greeted. I was like, they got to go back to back. They got to do it again. Like, have you turned the page and started thinking about defending the title?

A little bit, still enjoying this, I think. You know, I think it's still time to enjoy over the summer. And, you know, as watching all the moves being made, it's really interesting, you know, because it is like a lot of, you know, teams, I think, are adjusting. So the East is obviously a whole new thing now. I think, though, I'm still enjoying it. I think fans are still enjoying it. I think the team, it feels like they're still kind of, you know, taking the moment in.

You know, not and of course, you know, it's going to be back to work. And, you know, that's going to make next season even more exciting, I think, for the fans, honestly. Is there a team in the East that's the most satisfying to be? Because there's like a New York Philly thing and New York Boston thing. And like, they're all now gearing up for you. You're the hunted. Yeah. I mean, you know, there are great rivalries, Indiana, of course.

Yeah. You know, I'm curious to see what happens there. you know, yeah, I think this Philly thing is going to be really interesting to see how that team coalesces. And I don't think any – you know, what I think I learned as a fan this year is that you can't really predict anything in terms of watching how our team developed over the season and the highs and the lows. And there were a lot of lows, you know, really up until just before the playoffs, I think, you know, maybe even until, you know, after game three of the Atlanta series, like we were, you know, we're like, what's going on here? you know, can we do this? So, so it's, it's really, uh, unpredictable what's going to happen. I think, I think there's so many factors, health, you know, just team attitude, you know, the way the players adjust, you know, like with Philadelphia, it's interesting to see like, how are those guys all

going to work together? You know, Ben, I also learned this year that you shouldn't predict things. I got it wrong. Yes, that's right. That's right. But look what beautiful stuff came out of that. You know, you're able to finally realize your dream of spending a night in a literal museum. So what's the bet? A long, long, sleepless night in a museum. So what's the bet for the repeat? Dodgeball? What happens?

I got to go to Fat Camp. What happens if the next repeat? Oh, man. I don't know. Dodge ball. Dodge ball is always fun. Dodge ball. Yeah, but that would just be a game.

That wouldn't be. I had to see something like, I guess I feel like I have to have some. something on the line, too, so we should think about it, okay? All right. Yeah, we'll come up with some stakes and... What's your prediction for the Knicks? I mean, they're, you know, probably losing the second round, something like that. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. You know, Janus, LeBron? Okay, how about this? How about this? It's not a literal night in a museum. It's... I was going to say five. Two literal nights. I honestly don't know if I could take two nights on that cot.

You get me a better. Well, yeah, all right. You're all in on Janus and LeBron. Go for it, man. All right, all right, fair enough. All right, and then if my team wins, you got a co-hosts. And if your team, the Bulls, who do you? Yeah, my team's the Bulls.

What's your prediction with the Bulls? I'm hoping for like 35 wins, you know. Okay. Caleb Wilson is the future. I'll see you in four years, maybe. Not a lot of optimism. Yeah, we can't be a bull's-nix bet unless the spread is involved. No, no, yeah.

Yeah. But, Ben, thank you so much for honoring. Thank you for joining us today. I know you broke the Internet from the set of severance. And can't wait for the Knicks doc. Congratulations, the whole thing. And we'll do it again, all right? Thanks, man.

And good on you for having that night. And Owen, come on. Owen had a great time. And that's what it's all about, right? It's all about it, man. I got a lot of parenting points for that one. He absolutely loved it. Thank you, Ben.

All right, man. All right. Appreciate you. Congratulations to Nick's superfan, Ben Stiller on his Knicks, winning the title and me being historically wrong. More first things first after this. Saturday night, it's baseball night in America. And this week, two iconic clubs shine under the lights in prime time as Ben Rice and the Yankees' fate.

Pete Crow Armstrong, he should be the MVP favorite. And the Cubs Saturday, 7 Eastern on Fox. But we start in Philadelphia, where LeBron James has now officially signed his two-year $8 million deal to finish his career with the Sixers. LeBron took to Twitter to say, this is my last decision. I'm not going for money.

I'm not going for family. What am I really playing for at this point? I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete. To win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning. winning another championship.

So we'll take a quick look at their starting lineup. Of course, this is projected, and there's going to be a lot of load management you would imagine with LeBron and Joelle Embed. There is only one ball, though. I checked and was able to confirm that. So KOC, Nick Friedel, back here with us. This is the fun part, boys.

And I will admit it's a little bit of a emotional letdown talking to you two after talking about it still are my new best friend. It's not a big deal. KOC, I'll start with you. Let's do the X's and O's basketball thing here. What is LeBron's role? What is this going to look like? You're going to see LeBron James and Tyrese

playing a lot of point for this team. Maxi's development as the speed and then LeBron as the brains. They have two different types of creators who can help initiate this offense and the half court. And that's what I think it's going to look like. And for LeBron James, ultimately, I think he's the one type of player this roster was missing. They have the big and B, you can run offense through.

him he can play down low can play outside they have the go-to score and jaylon brown they have the speedy guard and maxi the athletic guard and edgecom what they were missing was the connective piece the glue that lebron james can provide this roster and so ultimately i'm sure when he looked at all the other options he had he saw himself as a player who can help lead the team in certain situations for philly but also be a guy who can just screen and cut and make the extra pass on the sixers roster and That's exactly what he's going to add to this team as a piece that helps highlight all the strengths of the other players and makes them better. Guys, what's crazy about this, given that LeBron's one of the greatest we've ever seen in the league is he's really the fill in the gaps guy. And COC, I'm with you.

Like he's going to end up running things and he's going to split time with the ball. But he can do whatever they need. He's done everything. He can fill in any position. If somebody gets hurt and they're going to, go down for a while, LeBron can step in and fill in those gaps. So Philly knows that it has one of the greats, but one of the reasons why they have to feel so good is that he still has the ability, even at the advanced stage that he's at, to play at such a high level anywhere on the

floor. And no, you don't want him to get burned out early in the regular season, and you like for everything to be stretched a little bit more and give him some space to do what he wants. But in a pinch. There's nobody you'd rather plug in anywhere right now than LeBron James, given what he's already accomplished. So I think there's a few obvious things here, right? Like obviously Nick Nurse is going to have to manage Joe Ellen Bede so that he's healthy for the postseason. LeBron's 42. He's probably not playing on a lot of back-to-backs. You want him healthy for the postseason. So I think in the regular season, there's going to be plenty of Jalen Brown gets satisfied and gets his and Maxie gets his and edgecombe will still have time to shine and develop. But there was this moment,

and we talked about it a bit on the show, and we're going to bring it back here, but there was a moment that was caught on a cell phone by a fan that was court-sided at a Lakers game late in the season when Luca and Austin Reeves were out. And I just want to play it for you guys here, because I think it leads to something potentially interesting in Philly. Don't like, who about for you, though? You're giving the shelf, you know? He said they put me on the shelf, you know? Like, that was when Luca was out, and he had those amazing games late, those statistically

great games late. And the only thing basketball-wise that surprises me about Philly is how much of LeBron is going to have to do what KOC just said. Like, set the screens and do the dirty work. Is that what LeBron wants to do? Or does he still want to truly? run the show because if we look just at the shoot, the field goal types, the simplest way to count usage, he leaves a guy in Luca who took the most shots per game to team up with the guys

who took the second and third most shots per game. And then if you actually do usage rate over the last two seasons, his teammates, fourth, sixth, and 20th, and Maxi's number is increasing over the last two years. Obviously, LeBron is a basketball genius. And I tend to believe that basketball players figure it out over the course. Like that basketball players play basketball, position lists, all that stuff. So I'm not sounding alarms here. But if LeBron didn't love high usage rate play off the ball with Luca, now COC, doesn't he have a couple of those guys in Philly? And Jalen Brown wanted to be the number one. And now he's some nights going to be the number four or the number five. I don't think this is nothing all of those guys being such

high usage rate players. I think it's a little bit of a question there to your point, Danny, with what this team is going to look like, what's the hierarchy going to look like? And we'll see how that plays out over the course of the season. But I do think with Luca, it's not just Luca, it's Luca plus Austin Reeves with the Lakers as well. Luca is a guy who dominates the ball of his hands. Austin Reeves, who can play without it as well, but likes to dribble. play out of pick and roll, slow things down a little bit as well. And so the Lakers style of play with sharing the ball there was things slow down. The offense is very much Lucasentric.

With the Sixers, we'll see. It's hard to predict, right? I think with- But it should be faster, to your point, right? It should be faster. Exactly. And I think that's part of the appeal here when you have athletes like Maxie and Edgecombe running the floor. Maxie is one of the quickest players, decisive players as well in the league.

And so I think with this Sixers offense, that's where I think LeBron probably sees appeal. And I can help and support these guys. And I can be the guy sometimes is the one initiating the offense. But then in other situations, he could be that connector. He can be that screener. He's shown at different stages of his career, willingness to do that stuff. So I'd imagine we're going to see a hybrid with Philadelphia in the ideal dream of this roster with what it could potentially be. Guys, I think the L.A. experience for LeBron actually helps him going into.

to Philly because he knows that he got put on the shelf for a little bit and he was the third option and he saw where he could pick his spots. And KOC, to your point, Philly's roster is loaded. So he doesn't have to do it at all every night. He can take his moment and go, all right, this guy's got to go on. Or Jalen Brown's got to go on a night or Edgecombe, whomever it may be, he just has to be prepared for the postseason. And so often when you get a new team and you're trying to weave in different,

people, you have these ups and downs in the regular season. I think that part is important and they have to learn each other. But so long as they're ready to go in the middle of April, guys, so be it. So I think he knows exactly what he's getting into. There's a reason he picked this place with all this young talent. And if those guys play at a high level and can learn from watching and listening to him, he's going to do his part. And when he needs to take over in those moments, especially later in the season,

and he'll be ready to do it. All right, you mentioned April. Let's fast forward all the way to June and stay in Philadelphia. Turns out, if you add Jalen Brown and LeBron James in the same off season, Vegas kind of likes your chances. And the odds of winning a title increased. The Sixers are now tied with the champion Nix

for the third best odds to win the title behind the Spurs and the Thunder who are tied for first. So pretty interesting looking at the odds makers here. Nick, LeBron said compete for a championship, but is it officially title or bust for LeBron and the Sixers. It has to be. When you make these moves, Danny, and you add LeBron James on top of everything else. That's the only thing they're going to be judged by. Nobody in Philly's going to be like, yeah, we got to the second round again. We got bounced, and they're going to be

really happy about that. So they've got to win a title. If they don't, it will be a failure. I don't think it changes LeBron's legacy at all. But as far as this Sixers group and whatever they may or may not become, if they don't win a title in these next couple years, everybody will look at this group, shake their head, and wonder what might have been. Of course, it's title or bust. Without a doubt it is, LeBron didn't go here to get to the conference finals with the Philadelphia 76ers. He came here to win a championship.

He said so himself. I'd think in his eyes, he would even admit it's title or bust for the Sixers. And that wasn't necessarily the conversation with his past decisions where there's talk about, well, we know it's going to take time with the Lakers. We've got to make trades. This choice is about this season. And if this team looks like they're sputtering mid-year, they need to be aggressive with making moves. This is that type of roster where they need to go all in around this season, especially given, as we talked about earlier, the West does have the juggernuts with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs.

But in the east, there's still no clear-cut favorite. There's still just a bunch of really good or great teams. The Knicks included, who I think should be considered the favorites, but the Sixers are right there behind them. So I'm obviously with you guys. If LeBron's willing to say it, why would I hold him anything short of it? I don't really see much downside for LeBron specifically. Like everyone talks about Philly and how tough of a market it is. How much are they really going to turn on him?

He chose you and he's playing for the minimum. He's playing for the minimum. Like, it is just extra. Like, it's just every, it's a bonus. So maybe there's a world where something can have, like, LeBron's going to give you effort. LeBron is going to play. LeBron is going to play at a high level.

I would think that Joel Embed has to be sitting here being like, okay, if I can't win with this, with LeBron playing for the minimum, then it was obviously never going to happen. The most games he's played in the last three years is 39. I know there is some debate in the sports science community about whether or not you should play more to stay healthy or you should sit to stay healthy. But clearly with Embedd in his knees,

they have erred on the side of trying to sit and preserve him. Do you think there's any world? Like, how aggressive will they be? Because I don't think they can win a title without a healthy Joel Embeded given that there's a good chance you'd have to go through Victor Wenbinoa in the finals. I am fascinated about what they're going to do with Embeddy. Does he play 30 games this regular season?

Does he play zero games this regular season just in order to guarantee that he's healthy for the playoffs? Because I think like title or bust for 76ers, We're asking that through the prism of LeBron and his legacy because he's one of the greatest of all time. But the key to me to the Sixers actually having a shot to win the title, KOC, is actually Joel Embed. Look, I think you're spot on that Embedd needs to be healthy in April, May and June. I think the Sixers can win 50 plus games if Embed played zero regular season games. Exactly.

But to win the finals, they need Joelle Labid because there are other centers. Ariel Hec Porti, the backup to the backup last year with the New York Knicks played behind Mitchell Robinson. and then they also have a Dembona who's a solid hustle center, but not necessarily a guy who's going to be an enforcer for you for 30 minutes a game. And then LeBron James, he's played some small ball five as well, but you don't want to lean on that for too long. You need Joelle Abed to stay healthy. And if Embedd's not healthy, I think that'll raise big questions

about what you do with that big $58 million contract with three years remaining. Guys, here's the problem. Even if MB didn't play at all in the regular season, and it was all about getting him ready for the playoffs. There's no guarantee night to night that he can stay on the floor, even resting as much as he did. There is so much question around all the injuries that he's dealt with and his inability to stay out there.

Danny, to the much larger point, if Ambide can't stay out there and LeBron's serious about playing two years, I absolutely expect the Sixers to do everything they can to move him a year from right now. because you cannot go into next year if he can't stay healthy and go, I don't know, well, maybe now's the time. You've got LeBron. You made the move for Jalen Brown.

You've got Maxie and you've got Edgecombe. You need somebody else who can be out there every night. If it doesn't happen for Joelle this year in Philly, I think that's the end of Joel in Philly. I don't know what the market is for another year of an injury with Joel Embed and $60 million per on that contract. But I agree. They would definitely be trying to move him

and there are massive expectations in Philly. Guys appreciated as always. Coming up, we'll bring Coach and Willie Cologne back out here because Patrick Mahomes has been cleared to play. Does that mean he is on the fast track to returning to MVP forms? Coming up, first things first. Thanks for hanging out with us back with Coach and Willie talking chiefs. Patrick Mahomes officially made his return to the practice field just 221 days,

but who's counting after undergoing ACL surgery? Here's the quarterback on how he's feeling. Take a lesson. When you talk to guys that I've done kind of had this injury I have, a lot of times are stronger. I feel stronger than I've ever felt as far as strength and lifting and stuff like that. And so now it's just about getting that quarterback stuff down, the stuff moving in the pocket quick, making those quick movements, reacting and doing stuff like that.

And so I feel like I wouldn't play my best football at the end of last year before I got hurt. And so I got to find ways to get better, kind of navigating the pocket, running the offense better, and getting the ball out of my hands and letting other guys make plays. And so I think this injury. help me kind of focus on those little things as I kind of get back to being who I am. So he'll be back for week one. Willie didn't have that one.

I did. But what are your, who's counting? But what are your expectations now that he will have a full training camp and he will be playing week one? Well, I expect them to be Patrick Mahomes. Obviously, there's some limitations with the knee. I do think right now the goal for Patrick and Mahomes going to the season is getting the ball out of his hand quicker. If he can do that, that's going to help him out. Because I think right now, from an officer standpoint, like, there, this still is, I think,

if I was a grade the roster, I think it's a B roster, right? I do. I think they have some issues in the receiving corps. I think they need another back that can be explosive next to Kenneth Walker. Who knows what Travis Kelsey can give you at his age. I think the officer line is going to be better. Supposedly Justice Simmons is back in the building. He looks healthy and there's all the ports there that he's in good shape.

So right now it's about, all right, what can be? can we do with what we have right now? Because if you're Xavier worthy, they've been looking for him to be a vertical threat. That hasn't necessarily popped off the tape. Rashid Rice, they need him to be kind of a switch army knife a little bit. That's still in question. So there's questions on this roster, especially on the offensive side. Defensively, you know the gaps, but I think offensively, as long as you got 15 in the

building, there's hope. So we'll see what happens. Yeah, I don't know. If Patrick Mahomes is Patrick Mahomes from the last season, whether that's going to be good enough. So collectively, there are 25th in Rush, Rastard. for game. They're sacked the 11th most with 47. He was sacked 6.3.4% of the time, which was the highest of his career, coming off the year before, which was the highest of his career. And then he had the lowest quarterback rating at 89.6, the first time he's ever been in the 80s in his

career. So it wasn't Marquis Patrick Mahomes by any stretch last season. Now he's coming off the injury. They haven't added that many pieces to this offensive group. So which player are we going to get? How much is the injury going to affect him in terms of the things he talked about, being able to move around the pocket, do all those things that we're so used to seeing him do? And he's got to play a lot better. I'm not taking, you know, any responsibility from the rest of the group, but we've got to see a better version of him than we've seen.

I know running back is a devalued position, but Kenneth Walker is the best running back. Patrick Mahomes has ever had, no? He's better than Kareem Hunt. I think Walker's really good. And if Simmons is healthy, that's a pretty big upgrade for their offensive line as a first-round left tackle. So to me, my gut tells me that we're going to be talking about Mahomes in the best terms

that we've talked about him since. He hasn't had MVP stats since the 2022 season. He was the Super Bowl MVP and was unbelievable in the 2023 playoffs. But it's really been a few years since we've seen Patrick Rahms be dominant statistically. My gut tells me by week four, we're talking about Mahomes having a running game more than we're talking about anything from this injury. I don't think this injury is going to matter that much once we get into the season. Yeah, that would be huge. If they're willing to consistently run the ball and they're able to do it effectively.

They gave them a lot of money. I assume that they're going to. Yeah, and I hope they do because that'll help the offensive line. That'll help the play action. that'll help everything that we just talked about, it should be a real positive. If they have to play eight in the box to stop Kenneth Walker, that opens up some things outside in terms of what he can do in the passing game. So, yeah, that should be a huge part of answering the questions that they had last season.

And the other thing is, when you go to three consecutive Super Bowls, you have the three shortest off-season back-to-back-to-back. So having a long off-season, it's not what anybody in Kansas City wants. but that helps too. You know, where Travis Kelsey is, he's had a pretty busy off season. Hopefully, you know, we're getting, you know, somewhere close to what he was last season. I mean, ideally better, but at least close. I'll say this.

They don't have an alpha-one receiver, but I do think because of their resume and their pedigree and because of the schedule, we can pop it up, like, I think the schedule gives, their schedule gives them a lot of break. Like their first three games right out the back, I mean, the Broncos, they can catch an L, But you got the Colts, Dolphins, Raiders. They could be three and one coming out a September plus. The league made that schedule just in case Mahomes' ACL wasn't good to go. I'm 100%.

They absolutely gave them. Party with Denver, though. Okay, fine. You have to start with the division game. Yeah. But DP, look at coming out of the Bywick. They got murderers real. And then after that, it lights up.

So with what they have and everything, the limitations with Mahomes, they can still, they won't win the division. The division will be the Broncos. But. Oh, wow. Well, nevertheless, they can make the playoffs of what they have right now. So you're – listen, I won't write off the division and I won't write off Mahomes, man. He's one of the greatest talents in the history of the sport to play it.

I think that a straight ACL tear with sports science these days, most guys seem to recover from that and make it seem like it's a nothing injury. It is absolutely a serious injury to us mortals. These guys are not – they are not like the rest of us. I get that. But Brady coming off of ACL is different because Brady stayed in the pocket. His special power is improvising with his feet and pushing the pace. with his feet. So it's different. His mobility will be in question. And that's always the

problem with guys who are rely so much on mobility and their ability, whether to run with the ball or move around the pocket. When they get injuries like that, it's how much of that has stayed and how much is gone. We talk a lot of Kenneth Walker, I predict this season, boys. Let's talk, Pat's here. It took Drake May. Just two years to make it to the Super Bowl. But, as the two guys to my left and right know, he knows that it's going to be difficult to make it back. So here's Drake May on avoiding the dreaded Super Bowl hangover. Take a listen. Obviously it stings, but I don't think it's very hard because you're still hungry. I think you've got something to chase. And I think that's one of the best things about, you know, experiencing

it and you obviously not getting to where we wanted and finishing off how we wanted, but you experienced it and know what it's like and know what it takes to get there. And we've got to be even better because, you know, our standard from last year, if it just played the same way, we won't make it there. So Willie, you won a Super Bowl, tried to defend it as a player. Super Bowl champ. What's the key for Drake May and the Pats to avoid the Super Bowl hangover? Yeah, I don't love that he led with it.

It's not very hard, because that makes me think that he doesn't understand how hard it is. And that was the biggest issue. After we won our first Super Bowl, we went into that next off-season, not really knowing what we didn't know, and that you have to do all the things that you did the previous season,

but you've got to do it better because everybody, granted they didn't win it, but being in it, being in it, everybody's measuring themselves against you. But that's what I was going to ask is, is it different? Like, the obvious motivation is they lost the Super Bowl. It is, well, look, I've never been that situation, so I can't really talk about it. But it is, it is difficult in the sense that every single week you're getting someone's best shot.

Every single week, you need to be up. Last year, they came in and, and similar to the way we talked about Caleb Williams, there wasn't the expectation. So teams took them differently. then they're going to take them this year. So the idea that this isn't going to be hard. We didn't wake up early enough in that next season. We ended up going nine and seven. We tied with the Jets and the Dolphins,

and I think the Jets went to the playoffs that year. As we got further along in the season, if we'd got in the playoffs, I think we would have had a real shot. But we didn't realize what it took early on. Yeah, it's interesting. So I got drafted in 06, and it's right after Steelers had beat the Seattle Seahawks in Detroit, right?

And so when I got to the team, being a rookie, I got to see this team try to figure it out again. And then when I won my Super Bowl in 08 and coming back and trying to see this team figure it out again, the only bridge that was common between both situations was that East Guy in our locker was waiting for the magic to happen, right? They was always waiting for somebody to make the play. It was always waiting to like, well, we're the Steelers. It always works yourself out.

And Coach is right. Getting dialed back in is one aspect, but also realizing everybody's looking for you. Everybody's going to give you their best. Even the coaches, like everybody's looking for an edge on how to beat you and getting guys to get that hunger back. It's hard to feed the full tick, right? And we had a lot of big belly ticks in there who just didn't have that dog compared to what they looked like last year.

So it's very hard. And I think from a scheme standpoint, you know, this Pat's team, this offense and line, there's a lot of questions. They give them the most sacks in the league last year. So when I heard Drake Mays talking about like it's not going to be hard, like I thought he was talking about not hard. to turn the page from it. And I would think, like, you win the Super Bowl,

you get the parade, and you get to go to Disney World, and you get to be on the cover. You lose the Super Bowl, you have to watch the other team have confetti fall on them. Like, that's the ultimate motivator, if you want to talk about the soft factors. The Patriots, to me, strike me as the most obvious pick ever for, because we always have, like, a worst-to-first team.

And then a team that made the playoffs that's going to miss next year. We always try to have, like, these little categories in our predictions. They seem like the most obvious candidate for better team worse record. Like better team worse. They're not going to win 14 games. The schedule's going to be harder.

Coach, to your point, they're going to be the hunted, right? They knocked Buffalo off in the AFC East. Like they were in the Super Bowl. Drake May got MVP votes. Like obviously people are going to be circling the Patriots on the schedule. But it's year three for Drake May. They add AJ Brown. They were a really year.

young team. They added competition on the offensive line, even if we still have some serious questions about it. Like, I feel like they could be a 10 or 11 win team, be a better football team, but have a worse record and not go as far as. Well, one of the things that helps them is the division that they're in. And the Jets obviously are struggling. Miami's, they're going through their problems. Buffalo. Should be four wins right there. Buffalo, you change the head coach. We don't know what that means. They think it means that they're going to go to the Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl, but anytime you change the head coach and you have that uncertainty and all that transition, there's a learning curve in Buffalo as well. So their position-wise in the division,

I think, is fantastic. And what you're hoping for is, let's say they don't realize how hard it is, that they can survive the division, win the division, and then get to the playoffs, and by then, hopefully they figured it out. And you also want to see them get a legit run game that can help Drake May out. You honestly, Drake May banged his shoulder up. season. They showed them was not in good shape. When you have Romande Stevens and now you have Trayvon Henderson, there's an expectation that these two backs can carry this offense between the 20s. And I do think Romeo Dobbs is an upgrade for Stefan Diggs, right? So I think they're going to be better in that department. And you got to hope AJ Brown delivers, right? So there's a lot of question marks that

have to happen for the pets to be sufficient. If not, it's going to be a lot on that young fellas that still deliver. It is a lie that, you know, heavy as the head that wears the crown, they've got a ton of expectations. But, I mean, listen, if Romeo Dobbs is an upgrade from I do. He was a moss in the red zone. Okay, well, then you also have A.J. Brown. Like, that is a lot of firepower added to that team that was already crazy successful last year. But

the firepower also, you need chemistry. And that team last year seemed to have really good chemistry collectively. So you're adding those pieces and you're adding talent, but that talent all has to fit together and be pushing in the same direction. You see that stat there on the bottom line. Four of the last seven Super Bowl

losers missed the playoffs the following year. Obviously, it's easier now. We've expanded the If you had the bet right now, it's not predictions week. Pat's in the playoffs, out of the playoffs. I'm going to say out. Out. Wow. Okay. Coach. See, I would say in too. There's just a lot of question marks.

I got more question marks with more AFC teams than I can come up with before I get it. They might be a wild card team. I think the division helps them. Yeah, the division definitely helps them.