First Things First - Tyreek Hill landing spots, Tyler Reddick talks Daytona 500 win, Danny's Top 10 NBA Teams

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

(00:00) Which team should Tyreek Hill go to? (27:06) Doctor Danny diagnoses NFL team's offseason needs (39:05) What would another non-playoff season mean for Burrow? (45:46) Danny's Top 10 NBA Teams (01:06:05) Tyler Reddick joins the show (01:19:07) Should Cowboys trade Pickens? (01:27:05) Expect Lamar to return to MVP form? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York, the B team is back. That's what they all refer to us to. We're the A team. I figure I got to do that for Nick. That was really well done, Greg. Thank you. We were missing a little something yesterday. But the guys are back next week.

We are holding it down for you today. We have a very, very busy show, including the Daytona 500 champ will be in studio next hour. But we will get to Lamar Jackson and his quest to return to MVP form. It should come as no shock. to anyone that one of his own coaches believes that he can and will do so. Also, listen, he's going to be the number one pick in the draft, Fernando Mendezza. That we know.

Will it be to the Raiders? He's going number one. At least according to all the odds of him. But will he go number one to the Raiders? Clint Kubiak speaks on the looming decision for Vegas. And it was just a hit segment. So we're bringing it back. Dr. Danny in the house.

Danny Parkins, MD. What can't I do? You know what I mean? You're not all. Thank you. I can host. I can give takes. I can prescribe things.

You definitely are Dr. Danny. What was that? You definitely are Dr. Danny. I like Dr. Danny. Oh, you do? Thank you. I also pick winners. I bet handwriting like a doctor.

Let's just stick with it. I mean, it's just enough about you at this point. All right. That's a good point, Willie. Let's begin with today's program. I got great posture. Thank you very little. We start with Tyree Kill, who was released yesterday by the Dolphins.

He is now a free agent who can sign at any time. Tyree Kill, very active on social media with a lengthy Instagram post saying that Miami became his home. The journey doesn't stop here. Go down a little further. The Cheetah don't slow down. ever. So everyone's just waiting what's next. Just wait on it.

The Cheetah will be back. Born again. Chris Jones, you don't have to be a millennial detective to figure out at Cheetah. It's time prognosticating a return to Kansas City. But gentlemen, he's a free agent. He can sign anywhere. We know it won't be the Dolphins. 31 other teams could vie for his services.

Greg, where do you want to see Tyree Kill end up? Well, the obvious, the team in red where he first started his country. career with the Kansas City Chiefs. I necessarily don't want to see him there. I think that's a realistic option. The place where I would actually enjoy seeing him is in that division with the Chargers. The Chargers have a need. They haven't, Justin Herbert hasn't had a true number one since Keenan Allen pre-bears Keelan Allen. Right. The last version of King now. We should have had him on the team two years ago. Not the core version of that. And you give Justin Herbert a threat like that.

Quentin Johnson hasn't developed into what they were possibly hoping he would be what he was in college at TCU. But you add a guy like Tyreek Hill, given he's healthy, given he can still run the way that he believes that he will be able to. Justin Herbert with that type of weapon, if he's able to get protection, push the ball down the field. We know he has a big arm, one of the biggest arms in all of football. Tyreek Hill can run the route tree. He's a different type of a receiver than Justin Herbert has ever had, but will give him a deep threat like no other. I would love to see Justin Herbert with a weapon like Tyrook Hill. So before you go, Willie, because that was my answer too.

Was it really? Yeah, well. See? Oh, you think a Justin Herbert supporter wouldn't want one of the fast receivers in the NFL? Guilty has charged. Oh, yeah. If you go from Tua to Justin Herbert, if you get your speed back, Herbert's not underthrowing. No, not at all.

Herbert is not underthrowing you. And the question, of course, is will the Cheetah actually return to form? We spoke about it a little bit yesterday. This is a massive knee injury for a guy who's turning 32. So the truth is, though, while I think the Chargers make sense and the Mike McDaniel fit, Like, everyone talks about, oh, he could slide back in with Kansas City because he knew that offense. He was most recently with Mike McDaniel in Miami. He goes to be the play caller in Los Angeles.

So that transition would be smooth, especially because Tyreek Hill might need to join midstream. Like, he might not be available week one. So if he doesn't get back to week four, week six, week eight, as he recovers from that injury, you would like there to also not be a reacclamation to a new system if he could just come in to the offense that he was already running. I think that'd be another advantage for him if you went to the Chargers. But the truth is, given that I don't think he's going to sign for a bunch of money, I think basically any team that you throw out here makes sense, because I think it's mostly upside with Tyree Kill. Yeah, for me it's the 49ers. You talk about an offensive core

and the 49ers that they literally ran out of body towards the end of the year. Like they were playing, talking about B team. They were playing with their C guys, right? But they were able to beat the Philadelphia Eagles. I think if you're Tyree Kill, and even if you have 80% of him, this is a team who's ready to win. now, right? Because of Purdy, because of Trent Williams, they have some deficiencies defensively, but nevertheless, man, they still have Shanahan. And his system is pretty much mirrored to Mike McDaniels in Miami. On rhythm, throw the ball, get in a stride, and let the Cheetah do what he do. I think if you're the 49ers, you take a serious look at him, because you

do have the cap space. So if it's a money thing with him, you say, hey, man, we can meet your knees. We just need you to be the impact player. We know you can be with a healthy knee. Hopefully he gets it done in the offseason and recovers well enough. So Greg, he dislocated his knee and it's multiple ligament tears and he's turning 32 in like a week. ACL, LCL, PCL. So it's a shredded knee that happened in week four last year for a guy who relies on agility, cutting, speed, change of direction and all of that. Like you mentioned like the Chargers don't have a true number one. I don't look at Tyree Kill as coming back and being a true number one.

Or do you think that that is still like physically possible coming off of this injury? It's something that I haven't seen a guy with this type of speed, with this type of body structure in our game that's extremely explosive with this type of injury then bouncing back. I will say this, knowing the type of work ethic he has, knowing what type of regimen that he's on in terms of being in the off season, continuing to run, continuing to train his lower body, I wouldn't be shocked if he does come back. And he is a very similar version of what we were accustomed to seeing. If that is the case, then any team that he ends up on will be winning because of it.

Not necessarily in the win column, but will be better offensively. I will pose this to you, though, Willie, because you said the 49ers, because Tyreek Hill will have some say. If you have just gotten done playing with Tuatunga Violaa and one of your greatest, Your greatest weapon was to outrun everybody, and you were constantly underthrown. I don't know if Purdy has the arm to... From Purdy, dog. Come on.

Like, let's... You say a lot, but don't say Purdy doesn't have the arms to get to deliver. He may not have the recedes to catch the ball. If I am Tyreek Hill, this is something that I am concerned with. I'm not going to... If I have Patrick Mahomes, obviously, Tuotunga, Tua, and I have that... the options of obviously Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, some of these other quarterbacks that have bigger arms. Yes, Kyle Shanahan is great. I believe he will scheme him open. He would put

him in advantage of situations. But my greatest skill set is running down the field, leaving my defender a yard to two yards behind. Can my quarterback get me the ball? I don't know if Ron Purdy can. I don't think there's ever been a question for any receiver that's ever played alongside Brock Purdy. I don't think that's ever been an issue. But the issue for me, they have They haven't had the speed that Tyreek has. First of all, Debo has the speed. Brand now, you once again at one point had a speed. I think right now, if we're being serious,

I think to answer your question, is he a receiver number one? I think so because he demands too high, right? So you're talking about two safeties back there that have to put all eyes on him. I think, and to Greg's point, if he attacks this offseason and serious about his recovering he gets after it,

I can see him getting back to true form. The issue with Tyreek right now is the distractions. the stuff off the field. He has to put all that nonsense behind him because this is a team in the 49ers who's focusing on winning and getting it done. He's joining a culture right now

that doesn't have those type of distractions. So he's going to be in line of what they're doing in San Francisco. Well, the thing about, I mean, and that's why I think, honestly, every team in the NFL can probably afford Tyree Kill. You have more off-field allegations

and we'll see what comes of that. And then as we discuss him as a football player, 32 years old coming off of a massive knee injury. We're not talking about... And he has to be realistic about it. Right. We're not talking about 25 to 30 million guaranteed per year for multiple years. Like, this is going to be a short incentive.

That's why you chase the team in need, like the charges, like the Niners. Those are the teams you're aiming. And like I mentioned the coach yesterday. If the coach say goodbye to Michael Pittman Jr., that's a guy you won on that offense as well. Right. I guess my point is that if it is a one or two years. low guarantee, high upside, incentive-related deal. Like, Baltimore makes sense.

Buffalo. Buffalo makes sense. But basically every team in the NFL makes sense if Tyree Kill acts up, if Tyree Kill gets punished, if Tyree Kill isn't the same with his speed. And you can cut him because there isn't much guaranteed attached to the contract because of age, injury, and off-field issues. He is such a remarkable talent that I do think basically every team in the NFL is going to kick the tires on it because it feels like it's a low, fine.

financial commitment towards Tyree Kill in terms of guarantees. Whereas if he's right and the Cheetah is back, then it's all benefit and all upside for the team that signs it. I agree. And that's why I really lean on the Niners. And I think right now you're telling them on the division when you have the Rams and see they're receiving corn. You took out Seattle Seahawks and they're receiving court. They need firepower. And they're an aging roster, right?

So they have to figure out, man, we know where we are right now. This is what we look like. But how can we get more impact on production on the office side of the ball? Tariqo, I think Tyreek Hill feels that void. Well, it's he that I just mentioned almost in passing, the Baltimore Ravens are always going to be in the mix as long as they have a healthy Lamar Jackson. And their new defensive coordinator, Anthony Weaver,

was on the Ravens Lounge podcast yesterday after he got introduced and he was asked about his defense being challenged in practice by the aforementioned Lamar Jackson every day. Here's what the new DC had to say. I don't know that anybody stops Lamar. You just try to contain him as much as possible. As it pertains to us improving because of him, absolutely. I think whenever you're

practicing, you want to go against the best so you can be at your best. And who better to practice against the two should be three-time MVP of the National Football League. Coach is already in, pandering, like mid-season pandering for him. Two should be three. It's time MVP, just like a Ravens fan. Taking a shot at Josh Allen's. He played for him. MVP. No, I know. I'm just saying he knows. That's red meat to the base. Do you expect Lamar to return to MVP for him, Willey? I think he's capable. It's just a matter of the weapons around him, right?

That's what it worries me. And this offensive line that was horrible last year, I think if you look at the receiving court, the one guy that stood out was Zay Flowers. Everybody else fell to the wayside, right? Likely maybe a free agent who's gone next year. You talk about Andrews getting older. I think right now he's also dealing with the OC

who has to hopefully modernize the offense for the Baltimore Ravens. What does that look like? So I think there's too many deciding factors. It's physically can't even. be that guy, sure. I think there's too many things around him that may hold him back. Nevertheless, Lamar Jackson, win healthy. I don't know if there is, and we can argue it out, however you want to lay it out. I don't think win healthy if there's another five

quarterbacks better than him, honestly God, I think he's that impact from what he's that big time. And you say win healthy, and that's all that really matters. If Lamar Jackson is healthy, I expect him to return the MVP form, period. He has been MVP form. with or without weapons on the outside. Now, it definitely, as you age, you definitely need a little bit more assistance. Should he get some more assistance? Should they try to accommodate him

in terms of past catchers? Of course, offensive linemen, security, so he doesn't take those hits, absolutely. But when DeAndre Hopkins, in all respect to DeAndre Hopkins, phenomenal receiver, obviously he filled in great for them when he was needed. For him to be your third leading receiver

On that Baltimore Ravens offense, that can't happen. That can't happen. Obviously, we know who Zayflower is. We know Mark Andrews is the safety net. But there has to be a number two. They were hoping that Rashad Bateman would be that guy. It's one of the reasons why they extended him. He didn't show up to be that guy.

He missed a lot of games. He played 13 games, likely missed some games. He had a disappointing season as well, but we know the talent is there. If Lamar Jackson is healthy, regardless who you put out there, because you're going to roll somebody out there. He's going to be MVP form and MVP ready. I tend to agree with you. If Lamar is healthy, he still has enough speed and dual threatability

for another couple of years that I think that he can still be MVP-level Lamar Jackson playing like he's played for the last five years in the regular season. The question about Lamar Jackson is the postseason. He is a great all-time regular season player. But it's, to me, the question is about, big games. Yeah, it's, it's big games. And then it's also about, like, would I be buying stock in Lamar Jackson for the next five years, for the next 10 years? Like, when the athleticism does wane and the running and the dual threat ability goes away, is he going to be able to be an MVP as a pure passer?

As a guy, because he's gotten better as a passer, obviously. But I think a lot of his passing success is because teams are done. defending the threat of the run, right? I think that's like a fairly obvious football observation. Yes, yes. You have to defend the run. Obviously, no, he's a dual. And the threat of the run.

You got to keep him in the pocket so you can't completely sell out to pass rush because he steps up. But that's from a pass rush standpoint. From a secondary standpoint, they're not thinking about the dual threat of Lamar Jackson. They have to cover. And so when he's begun... But if you have to keep a spy in there, if you can't. rush the pass. When he's become more accurate over the course of his career,

he's simply been better throwing the football. There was a point in time where I would argue a lot of receivers would look to Baltimore and say, I don't want to go there because he's too much of a run threat. And he's erased that. He's erased that. Absolutely. Now you don't look at Baltimore and Lamar Jackson as him just being a guy that's just going to tuck it and run. I would love to see him do it more.

and protect himself. That is his superpower. That's what changes the game for this Ravens offense, particularly when we feel like they should be doing it and leaning into it more. In the postseason, in those big spots. Lamar, be what you've always been. And that's when we get a dialed back version, and that can't happen. But he will be MVP ready.

Yeah, I think that one of the issues is their identity. When you think about the Baltimore Ravens and what they do well, they play bully ball. They haven't been able to do so. I think certain things popped up on them that they didn't expect, one, the injury woes, right? They expect likely to be healthier, Lamar to be healthier. They didn't expect Derek Henry to have the fumble woes, right? There were certain things they just didn't put in account.

And I think because of their offense aligned, honestly, it really hampered them. I think we saw the same thing happen to the Eagles, right? Once that office aligned took a step back, so did the office. And it wasn't just because of the lack of talent. It's because also the production and the scheme. I think a lot of things kind of faltered. And when you talk about the Ravens right now, look at their office line, man. They're going to have to go shopping, right?

This is Lamar Jackson. These are the hits he's, that's how many times he's been sacked since 2019. Those are the hits he's been taken. So you're talking about an aging quarterback who you want to go into MVP for him. You got to keep him upright. And your only way you do that is by getting the office line can protect him and do what he does best. Coming down here with the football, creating an off script. And if he has to stay in the pocket being in rhythm, if you don't have an officer line that can create that for him,

We're not going to see the best form of a lot, Jackson. I'm not one to defend the, well, I do defend my offensive lineman. Is this a roll reversal? This is not all on. I'm going to say, he definitely does, they need to make sure that they get their center taken care of and obviously guard, whatever, interior alignment. But all of those numbers, those numbers are glaring. They're not all on the offensive line.

When you watch the mark. You're defending the officer line to an office of lineman? I am. When you look at these numbers and then you watch what we just watched, even in the red zone, Lamar Jackson has become this quarterback that wants to hold onto the ball, almost like Big Ben, but he doesn't have the stature. That's not. No, I mean, I'm just saying in terms of that's where the magic happened for Ben,

when he holds onto the ball and he gets you with extended plays. Lamar Jackson tends to hold onto the ball a little too long versus just, okay, Let me use my superpower. Let me get outside the pocket. Use my legs. Get what I can get, get down, reset, and then no harm, no file. Yeah, I've never seen it computed like that. Hits taken plus rushing attempts.

Like, it's clearly part of the style at which he plays that leads to that. So offensive line plus inevitable. If you're going to run that much, you're going to take more hits. Clint Kubiak is the new head coach, fresh off a Super Bowl win, of the Las Vegas Raiders. So he had his introductory press conference or the press conference show. and he was asked about his initial thoughts on how Fernando Mendoza looked playing in college and the possibility of him being the number one overall pick. It was not exactly a we're taking him statement here.

Not going to tip his hands. Take a listen. My exposure is very limited. I saw him play the National Championship game. I saw the interviews he's given after those games and how team oriented he is. But I look forward to getting to know the player better. but obviously a really talented guy with a bright future and we'll see we'll see where it ends up. But we got a lot of work to do to get to know him before that time comes.

So that's a good politician answer. I didn't think it was a politician answer. Really? No. No, I didn't take that either. He was with the Seattle Seahawks with Sam Darnold. He wasn't thinking about we're going to have the first pick in the draft. Oh, well, he's been the head coach of the Raiders now for a while.

No, no, no, no. This is a draft process. This isn't a brochure you get, hey, now that you're the head coach. This is what we got for you. I understand. But he said also when he got hired that the number one pick being there was pretty attractive. Well, that interview happened the day he got introduced as head coach. So that was before their parade the day after the Super Bowl.

So like, when do we think that he was going to have time? Let me, let me binge watch Mendoza really quick. Not even that. Can we respect his honesty? That's what like, like, respect. I'm okay with the Raiders or Clint saying, you know what? I like him, right? It looks okay on tape.

You want the national championship says all the right things. Like, I would let him date my daughter. He seems like that squeaky, clean type of kid. But at the end of the day, this is my first crack at it. Yeah? I want my guy, right? If I'm going to start this thing, I want my guy. And I'm okay with the Raiders saying or Clint saying, you know what,

I'd rather trade out of this. I rather, because I've played the Raiders, and I know where they're deficient at, everywhere pretty much. Receivers, office line, defensive line, the list goes on. If you're getting Mendoza, you understand that he's not an athletic quarterback, struggles to create out of the pocket. He needs better players, elite players around him, and the office line for him to be that guy. The Raiders have none of that.

If you're going to compete in a division that's, let's pause for a second. He's coming from one of the most complete teams in all of football in the Seattle Seahawks. Hands down. So he knows what it takes to get to the service. He's looking at this team and that young quarterback who's going to have to sit and develop with all the deficiencies they have in Las Vegas. He goes, I'm not dealing with that. Okay, but I, this is maybe me being a little bit of a stickler here.

Are you saying that the Raiders will pass on Mendoza or should pass on Mendoza? I'm saying they should. You're saying they should. 100%. Do you think they will? No. Okay. Because like, because the odds, and I know, like, sometimes I can, you know, be a little too beholden

to the gambling odds. He is an 80 to 1 favorite. Well, he's the cleanest quarterback in the draft. And he's the only quarterback in the draft that has a clear cut first round grade. And we know that those guys get overdrafted. Because I'm with you, given how many holes the Raiders have, and given that the comp for Mendoza seems to be, you know, he's a Jared Gough type who's a little faster but a little worse arm. Well, that can miss. Yeah. Well, like that. This is that. That's not what the quarterbacks look like in the NFL today. They're athletic.

That's what I'm saying. That can miss. And so, like, I just had Troy put together just to remind people. And I realized that, you know, you can say I'm biased and it worked out well. Like, I'm a fan of the team that did this last, traded the rights to the number one overall pick. Okay. And that was in a draft where it was Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud, who went one or two. This draft, there might be more demand than there is supply because a lot of teams need a quarterback.

Look at what the Bears got when they traded the number one overall pick for the draft. to Bryce Young. They got a pro bowl slash all pro caliber right tackle. They got a starting corner. They ended up getting the first pick in the draft in Caleb Williams. And Luther Burden, who looks like he could be a number one wide receiver. I like Luke to Bird. It was a legitimate heist for the Bears. And that was in a draft again where C.J. Stroud was two. So like, whereas this, it's going to be like there might be another quarterback taken at some point in the first round. If you can put up the rights to Mendoza for the Jets and the Steelers and the dolphins and anybody who needs a quarterback to go up and get him, have four or five teams,

you could get a heist for him. But I'm saying that as like what I would do, but I think this kid is so clearly what they're going to do because it seems like Tom Brady would want to mold this kid. Like he says all the right things, comes from a Big Ten program, comes from a winning programs, strong pocket presence, stand there in the pocket, read the difference. He feels, I will be floored if Brady passes on the ability to draft Mendoza. Floored by it. So here's a deal. I tend to have the opinion of you two as well.

I like Mendoza a lot. I like what he brings to the table. I think he's going to add value at some point. With the Raiders right now, as they currently are constructed, which is what we're talking about, it doesn't make sense. However, if you still hold on to Gino Smith and allow him time to curate, put Gino in there, we saw what happened to Gino last year. He went from Seattle having great success and then now no offensive line, no weapons,

and we saw what it looked like for Gino Smith. But he does be, he would be in a position to where not only could he learn from Tom, but he also can learn from Gino, somebody who's actually actually. and it doesn't have to start right away. And the only downside to that is because he is the only quarterback, what you're suggesting, they could get so much for him.

You get a king, you get a king's ransom for him. Yeah, but the problem is they won't let him sit, right? If the Raiders stink it up like they did this year, towards the end of the season, they're going to be like, get the kid out there, getting some experience. And you're going to give him that experience

with nobody around him. Like we see, I cover the Jets, right? I've seen this story before, if you will. Like, you forced the hand, the crowd, the fan base forced their hand in the organization, give us something to come back for. And that's going to be the pressure on this organization and this young man, and it's not fair.

Send them down the road, build the team up. And listen, whoever you bring in, hopefully, or how you build this team, may cool off Max Crosby. Because right now he got his foot on the door. He wants out. I also will just say prediction, future headline. When they draft Mendoza, Clint Kubiak says, of course, I knew it all along.

It was why I took the job. I think it was a no-brainer and it was a huge part of the reason why he took the job. And you guys could say, well, he learned that throughout the process of whatever, but I think he knew when he interviewed for this job. Oh, they have the number one overall pick and the national champion who's endorsed by Tom Brady is the presumptive number one overall pick. That's a good reason to take the job. Right, but I also think he's looking at the number one pick with options. I don't think he's looking at the kid like, oh, that he's locked in on him. Exactly.

All right. I'm a little bit more skeptical than you guys. Well, again, again. Dr. Danny in the house. Oh, he's back. Every team except maybe the Super Bowl champ has an ailment that I need to diagnose. I'll do so by putting on the stethoscope. I'm going to medical cure.

Next. But it's that time of the show. Everyone's got a problem. Everyone's got an ailment. For me to diagnose what is ailing the teams around the NFL. By the end of the week, we will have done all of the divisions yesterday, the NFC East. Now it is time for the NFC West teams, maybe the most competitive division in football, for them to step into Dr. Danny's office,

who will begin with the team with the most issues in this division, the Arizona Cardinals. Yeah, you got a lot going on here. This is a big yikes situation. Big file. Yeah, but, you know, it's a big file. But you need to figure out a way to get something for Kyler Murray. Because I think you're done with Kyler.

I think he's done with them. And I think he's done with them. That's an excellent point. It's like my doctor's assistant over here. But there might just be some team that's like we can make him the next Sam Darnold. He's a former number one overall pick. He's got a strong arm. He's got some very unique physical gifts, even if he is a little short.

Like, is someone willing to, is someone desperate enough to trade you something for Kyler Murray? Because if you look at what his cap hit is for this upcoming year, it's a top 10 cap hit in the NFL. It is not an easy contract to trade. But if the cap keeps going up like crazy, the Jets, the Dolphins, if Aaron Rogers doesn't come back, the Pittsburgh Steelers, like, who is going to be out there that is going to be willing to give Eric? Because if Arizona has to just straight cut Kyler Murray and you turn to number one overall pick into basically nothing, it's a huge organizational loss.

But if you are able to gin up a market for Kyler Murray, then that's at least something. Yeah, that team is the Houston, Texas. Wow. Get rid of CJ Stratt. It's a wrap. I think he's, I think he's, I think what we saw. That will not happen. Not at all.

But I love it. But continue. I love it. I'm just saying you have the number one defense in all of football. What lost you that game in New England? Let's be the, let's keep it a buck. I felt they should have benched him. I'm waiting.

I'm waiting. I'm going to half time. I said the same. They had Davis Mills who was winning them games in the regular season. It's true. And they said, no, we want to protect his ego. We want to make sure he's our leader. He's a damn that.

You get Kyle Murray on the Houston, Texas. If you can make that deal, forget about it. Now I need to think pick up the fifth year option on Stroud and just like a swap Stroud for Kyler. Doc, make it work, Doc.

I got to ruminate on that what type of draft picks would need to be thrown in. That is a take. While you're getting, while you're thinking about that, I'm going to veto that immediately. I'm representing the use of Texas. No, we have a problem enough.

We don't want that type of problem. Look, the Cardinals, to your point, they have got to get something for Kyler Murray, which is why it was interesting the decision that they made this year to just let them sit. Crushes his value. Crush the value. Like, you don't give a team any type of incentive to really, let me see what Kyler's out there doing. Oh, okay, I can work with that. And because you did that, now you're sitting here and all the teams are looking at is, well,

what else is going on with Kyla Murray? What type of individual is he off the field or in the in-house, in the locker room, not on the field? And then the one thing that you showed on your chart, the one glaring thing that you showed on your chart, was that number, that 52.6. That's a big number. I don't negate the money. I think you're right on that. Nevertheless, man, wherever he lands, a particular team that's in need, like I feel like the Houston, Texas is already a need of a quarterback. You're going to say what you're going about CJ.

Shra. I'm of the mindset. He's a plug and play guy when healthy. I've seen him perform. He gets busy, especially when the pieces around him are ready to roll. Remember his time with D. Hop? It was magical. You know what I mean?

He's very talented. So if you give him a number one receiver, he can get busy out there. He's very talented. All right. Let's get to the next team in the NFC West that's stepping into Dr. Danny's doctor's office. He swung on that one. I like it.

I think he belted it, 450 feet to center field. The San Francisco 49ers. This might be like the. most obvious, like, art imitate life. Like, all their guys are in the doctor's office. They are definitely in. This is like a legitimate. They've been with Dr. Danny all's season.

Yeah, exactly. So, like, so I want to know the root cause. It's not the power plant. Can we eliminate the power plant? I don't think it's the power plan either. But why, the data is there. And like, I can't just prescribe bubble wrap to the, to the whole team. Like, that's not allowed.

But they have been top 10 in terms of players missed due to injury in three of the last four years. This year, they were third in the NFL, but they've been top 10 in three of four years. So, like, I, you know, I'm a new doctor. I just completed my residency. I just completed my residency. So I don't know the cause of why this keeps happening to San Francisco. But that, more so than a pass rusher, you got to figure out why all of your guys keep getting hurt. Yeah, and if your guys are going to get hurt, you got to get some depth.

That would help. Because the one thing that I've identified with the 49ers is they are top heavy, meaning their starters are cream of the crop. They are really good. Aside from the receiver room, they have to address that, obviously, to support Brock Hardy, but you've got to find a way to get some depth. So if you can get depth, sometimes that can supplement for some of the injuries that you are, knowingly going to run into throughout the course of a season.

Yeah, a couple of things. One, they've been to multiple, they've dealt with multiple playoff runs, right? That ages you. That's one. Two, they have an aging office of line. Their interior of the office line struggling. You have Trent Williams, who's now getting into his late 30s. That's going to be another thing.

Also, I think if you're talking about this team as a whole, they play a brand of football that's physical. They run the ball with CMC and it's downhill in between the tackles and they pound the rock. That's their stabilizer for their offense and purdy Esoff play action. So you take those three things between long playoff runs, turning it around to another season. You talk about their play style, and you talk about the fact that they have an old aging roster,

those all add to injury issues. I mean, that's just what it is. So I don't know, you can't fault them from being winners, but when you've played long seasons, I've played long seasons. And I tell you, when the turnaround comes around, I'm still feeling last season in October. And that's just the nature of the game. The price of winning.

100%. All right. So let's keep moving on here to a team that easily could have won the Super Bowl, so not as many issues with my next patient. The Los Angeles Rams stepping into Dr. Danny's office. And what I would say is, given that there's not much on the chart, like most of your vital signs here look pretty good, take a big swing because you are getting,

you got a little long in the tooth, so you want to enjoy your latter years with Matt Stafford. Sure. And listen, Lesney doesn't use his first round picks. They've used, like, once in the first round in the last. six or seven years, it was Jared Verst. They keep trading in the picks, you know, for the Jalen Ramsey and other moves. So you now have two first round picks at this point.

Yeah, one total first round pick drafted from 2017 to 2025. You have two in this draft. You have the eighth most cap space. Matt Stafford is on a year-to-year deal. So are you going to trade? Here's what I would suggest. Figure out a way to upgrade your past defense. Look at where their past defense is.

Yeah. Okay, so that's what they're past defense is. I didn't know that. So five players. in their secondary are leaving in free agency, and it was a bad secondary to begin with. Overhaul. So, do you call the chiefs and offer a first round pick for Trent McDuffie? Do you trade both of your first round picks and move into the top 10 and take Caleb Downs,

the safety out of Ohio State? Like, we know less need is crazy aggressive. We know he has traded multiple first round picks to address the secondary before. I don't think they're going to just have a passive. off season when they've got that cap space in this draft capital and an old MVP quarterback. So my diagnosis is take a big swing. I got a swing. What's your swing?

Go get the league willis. If you're going to have Matthew Stafford eventually leave the building and you have a quarterback when we've seen the last playoffs show development and control and it looked like a QB1, I'm saying right now go make it work. See, that is, I'm saying do us take a swing to try to win a swing? Super Bowl with Stafford. Willis would be a plan for the, for the future. Yeah.

Yeah. So I'm with Danny on this one. Like I like the Malik Willis idea. He's going to go somewhere where he can start, though. Correct. But when you look at, man, Trent McDuffie, I don't know if one or even Caleb Downs, I don't know if one player is going to change that much because those numbers are glaring. Obviously, Trent McDuffie is a fantastic corner in this league, shutdown guy.

We know who he is. Caleb Downs, a rookie, putting that type of pressure on a young guy coming in. Can he have that type of impact? Would he be a great addition? Absolutely. But they need, you talked about the guys that are leaving. Like, they need a complete overhaul. So they have to find a way to try to piece this thing together, either in free agency or in the draft.

So use your picks wisely, which they will. They tend to do that. but you've got to get the secondary up to par because you have pass rush, but sometimes your pass rush can get worn down and you need to rely on the back end and they just weren't able to do that this year. Last team from the NFC West

to step into Doctors Danny's office is one of the cleanest bills of health I've ever seen. You're the Super Bowl champs. Yeah, I'm interested to see why they even step into the office. You're pretty healthy, so all I can say, you know, keep doing what you've been doing. But I hope you kind of did some herbal medicine thing here. Like, this is not a tried and true medical path.

Seymal. I hope that what you did to replace Clint Kubiak works. Here we go. Because the new offensive coordinator, he comes over from, oh, man, Fleury. I'm blanking on his first name. Brian Fleury, thank you. He's the tight end coach from the Niners. Yeah.

Never called plays. That's positive. Take away from a rival. Sure, work under Kyle Shanahan, sure. But, like, it's your third offensive coordinator in three years. Your last guy worked. head coaching job. The guy before that's the offense coordinator at Alabama, they don't love him so much down there. So like, did you nail this hire to keep it going with Sam Darnold?

I don't know. Like, is this a Kevin Petulow situation or did you hire the next one? I mean, I don't know. And to your point, we've seen this offensive coordinator position hurt teams, the Detroit Lions. Obviously, you mentioned Kevin Petulow. Yeah, the Eagles, the Lions would be the best examples. But when you lose an offensive coordinator, I think we underestimate the value of the individual, but we don't because we don't really lock in on the idea of how they see the game to call the game. And what Kyle Kubiak was able to do was not just create these great plays, guys like Ben Johnson not just create these great plays,

but how you call those plays to set up those other plays matter, and not every and anyone can just do it. So I'm with you on this one. I think that's a good call, but I also think they need to worry about what they're going to do with the runner back position? Because Kenneth Walker may be gone. See, I think they, see. Zach Charbonnet is coming off of ACL.

Yeah. How did they get there with a run game? No, no question. So that's a big concern for me. And I don't mean, I didn't mean to cut you off. Go ahead. They have the cap space that if they want to pay Kenneth Walker, they can pay him. Like, so I don't, I don't think he'll get franchise taken.

But, like, I would assume that if they want him back, they can just pay for them. But I also do they can upgrade at the position. Oh, one of the issues was a Walker, he can't catch, right? But he can tote the rock. So if you feel like, all right, we've seen the best of you, go get your bag. They're going to have to hit the draft and get somebody that can tote the rock like he did with Charbonnet. Do you think, though, because as I looked at it, they are a remarkable Super Bowl champion in how little they are expected to lose this offseason.

Like, most of the team is coming back. So I feel like Clint Kubiak, play caller, top offensive vine in the building. I think that's even if they lose Kenneth Walker, I think this is pretty clearly the biggest loss that Seattle will have. That and just try to resign your guy. If you desire to, like Kobe Bryant, obviously K9, what we're talking about, Kenneth Walker, guys like that. Tarik Wulin, if you decide to, there's guys in the draft that you possibly can get. But the key is ensuring that this offense resembles what it did last season. And it was great.

We showed you the number, second in the league in scoring and then carried them also in the playoffs. Time now for afternoon headlines, sponsored by Hilton. Garden in Hilton for the stay. Back to the NFL, Jamar Chase spoke with Sports Illustrated, reflecting on the Bengals, very disappointing 6 and 11 season. It's the third straight year where they did not make the playoffs. Of course, a lot of pressure on Cincinnati this offseason. Jamar Chase saying, I mean, listen, everybody pretty much knows what we need. I've said it in the media. All I got to do is sit back and watch. I can't control that. So all I got to do is control my production. I mean, at the end of the day, I'm just stating my opinion on what I think we need.

So, you know, I sit back, let the organization do what they do, and I just got to let my play do the rest. I don't think it's a terribly complicated message there from Jamar Chays. They probably need to add some defense. Oh, for real? Yeah, I didn't know they wanted to do that. I get the same. But seriously, it's been a while since they've been in the playoffs. What would another missed playoff year mean for Joe Burrow?

Look, it would flatly be disappointing. We've often consistently thrown him up there to be one of the best quarterbacks in the game, one of the elites. But when you don't get to see him at the most important time of the season, which is the playoffs, you start the question, does he raise the tide or is he just floating in the water right now? Because when we compare him to Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson's or the Josh Allen's, we look at, okay, what are they doing in the postseason? But he came in with three other guys. We came in and you.

Tua Herbert and him? Tua, Herbert. We can look at the graphic. Tua Herbert, I believe it's Jalen Hertz. Oh, yeah, Jordan. And Jordan. And Jordan Love was in. Burrow, five and two playoff win.

Obviously, though, 20, first round quarterbacks, all other one and seven. That's great when he has gotten there. but that was pretty much that one run. Obviously, the second year he did it in 22. Yeah, he's been he's been twice. He won three playoff games the first year and two the second year. Over Lamar. Obviously, he hasn't went over Lamar, over Josh Allen,

obviously over Patrick Mahomes. In Arrowhead. But we want to see more. The issue with Burrow is his health, he doesn't play full slate of games. Obviously last year he did. That was the second time he's played a full slate of games. season since the year after they won it.

You're right. And so it's frustrating and it's devastating because when we have the best players in the game, we want to see them at the most important parts of the season, which is the postseason, regardless, regardless if your defense is non-existent. We still want to know that you are good enough to elevate everything around you. And that just hasn't been the case. And I know that's a large, that's a heavy weight to shoulder, but there's other guys that's been able to do it.

Yeah, and this is why I think the whole playoff question is nonsense, right? Because the problem with the Bengals right now, they can't survive when he's not the quarterback. They're 9 and 28 when he's not on the field. That's an issue. They need to figure out depth-wise, from a roster standpoint, how can they survive that wave? Because consistently, he's been injured.

That's a great stat. I don't mean to interrupt you, be like, 9 and 28 without him means you just don't have a team. That's my point. So we can look at. the Bengals, and you're right, defense has been horrible. We know that, Greg. My issue with them is you continually put a roster together that can't survive without them.

We've seen other teams survive without their starting quarterback all out of San Francisco 49ers. Mac Jones comes in, boop, wins five games, purdy back in. They're off to the playoffs. Green Bay Packers have done it. 100%. So damn the playoffs, I'm looking at this team right now that owes him $5 million this year, 37 in the next year, and I think in 08 he's going to make $40 million, right? they're not

35, 37, 40. Correct. So they're not, they're not getting anything from him, right? And they're not getting anything without him. So if you're the Bengals right now, if you don't make the playoffs,

you may have to seriously say, hey, our time with Joe Burroughs up. Well, so we can't simply compete in a division that nobody knows who's going to be the division. You are taking swings today. Am I wrong? Well, you're,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're wrong. Well, so like, because Joe, because White,

if you don't make the playoffs, I mean, if you don't make the playoffs, yeah. And you don't have a roster that can compete. What are we doing? Yeah, but you got to have a quarterback. Right.

But your quarterback can't stay healthy. So you technically don't have a quarterback. If health continues to be an issue. It has been, though. I could understand that. One big injury. We're talking about multiple injuries. Ooh, that's, that's.

Listen, so I, it's funny. I thought about this question and I came to do almost the exact same conclusion, but it being the other way. Because I do not at all blame this on Burrow. Like, he has gotten hurt. and he has had offensive line issues, he has had defensive issues, he has had MVP caliber seasons in years where he had the worst defensive football, and they missed the playoffs.

So if they miss the playoffs, I think it's going to be hard to make the top five QB argument, even though I think he is there. But Joe Burrow has, like, hinted and, like, nibbled around the edges of, I'm falling out of love with football, am I going to retire? How long am I going to play this game? If Joe Burroughs awesome again, but they miss the playoffs again, and it is not because of Joe Burrow, what's stopping Joe Burrow from asking to be traded?

I don't think that the Bengals would give up on Joe Burrow, but I could see Joe Burrow giving up on the Bengals. If you have a top five offense and a top five quarterback, and you keep falling short of the postseason, and you've got a QB who's like, I just want to win. He won a national championship. He's in the Super Bowl, two years into the league. Well, they'll do something about it.

I get it, but that is on the organization. So I could see Burrow if they missed the ball. playoffs again and he's great, I could see Burrow hitting the eject button on the bangles. See, it's hard for me to see him hitting the eject button when the bangles could say, well, Joe, we gave you what you were, what you wanted. Two receivers in the bag. You wanted the receivers, we paid the receivers, we had to get rid of something. It just, that's what you asked for.

So we thought that was going to be enough. You overcome everything else, and that just hasn't been the case. Now, I'm not completely excusing ownership in the way that they've handled their roster because they have to be better on the defensive side. Gentlemen, it is a top 10 Tuesday. Okay, let's go. And we're going to talk a little ball because it's that time of year. It's going to be a perfect top 10.

Shout out to you, Nick. Hour number two of First Things First Rolls on. We've got a very busy show today. We're doing the O-T as well. What are we going to get to this hour? It's a Tuesday, which means it's a top 10 Tuesday. coming out of the All-Star break. Time to start ranking NBA teams as we are at the unofficial midway point of the NFL season.

And it's got an amazing story, and he just won the signature event and a career achievement. Tyler Reddick, Daytona 500 Championship. He comes in studio to tell us all about it this hour. But gentlemen, we begin with the NBA right out of the All-Star break. contenders, pretenders, teams have made their moves and here they are

as they get ready to go. And on Tuesdays on the O.T. I'd like to go through a little top ten list. We figured, you know what? Let's bring it to the association here in regulation. And there's going to be

some controversy. But it's a perfect list. I think it's perfect. And then everyone tells me that it's incorrect. And the comments are very mean. This is a thankless exercise. So let me tell you that.

I always want the people who have problems with the comments have comments. I always want the people have comment issues to tell me all 10 teams. Not just one team that should be in. You've got to take a team out. There's only 10 that can be in a top 10. Coming in at number 10, they're 9th in the Eastern Conference, but they're 10th right now, the Charlotte Hornets. Now, part of this, I will admit,

is I want them to get some recognition for how they've played their last month. They are an incredibly exciting watch. They are. And they've won 10 of their own. last 11 games. So start of the season, they were a young team. They were figuring out exactly what they wanted their identity. Over the last month, they are tied with the Pistons for the second best record in the NBA. Cavs the only team with a better win percentage in the last month. In that span, they lead in rebounding differential, fourth in made threes, sixth and three point

percentage, fourth in opponent points per game. Like, it hasn't been the whole year, but it's been the last month they are playing like the 10th best team in basketball. Last month, they're playing Better so I averaged out. Made them number 10. Coming into number nine, very trendy pick before the year. I think it's safe to say the Houston Rockets to this point have been a little bit of a disappointment because last year's Houston Rockets team was very good. And then you add Kevin Durant and you expect them to take it over the top.

But the feel of Houston to me is very similar to last year, which is last year. They were the best rebounding team by far. They just destroyed everybody on the glass, defensive glass, offensive glass. This year it's the same. Same thing. They're out rebounding their opponents by 469 rebounds so far this year. Second place is the aforementioned Hornets, a full 100 plus rebound differential less. Like Houston is the best rebounding team by far, but they still don't really seem to fully mesh on both sides of the ball. Though Shin-Goon continues to be absolutely amazing.

Coming in at number eight, the standings would say I'm low on this team. I'm sure Willie's going to have an issue with this later. And it is the New York Knicks. Like the Hornets, they are playing great basketball right now. They have 1.10 of 12, and that was off a stretch where they had lost 9 of 11. So they are on a stretch of good basketball. And I understand the argument that they should be given the benefit of the doubt because of how well they played last season. But I will admit that I am grading them down a little bit because I simply do not believe that you can win a championship with Jalen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns as your two best players.

I don't believe it. I think you need to have your best players, at least one of them, needs to be a two-way difference maker. And both of those guys are just liabilities on the defensive end of the floor. And so much of what they rely on is, hey, Brunson, go get us a bucket. It's real tough to do. Coming to number seven, maybe the story of the season thus far in the NBA, the Boston Celtics. They are fascinating because Jalen Brown, Who you remember was their finals MVP.

We do. Who you remember was, you know, the whole Team USA thing with him and Tatum and Tatum not playing. And like, who's the better player? It's been a fact. A couple days ago, Jalen Brown put this out on his Twitter and his Instagram, which basically was a side-by-side comparison of the Celtics at the All-Star break last year with Jason Tatum, this year without Jason Tatum. Now, Jalen Brown did not say, but he didn't say without Tatum. He was doing this to illustrate how impressive they have been this year.

But it seems like Jason Tatum is coming back, and he's coming back soon. So, like, does their defensive rating get worse, having to play Jason Tatum coming off of an Achilles injury so soon? Does Jalen Brown regress when Tatum needs the ball? Like, is their infighting? Does he make them better? Does he make them a championship caliber team? Obviously, he does. If he can return to form, like, they are having a remarkable season given who they lost,

But now if he comes back, how does that impact the team? Fascinating story. Coming into number six, the Minnesota Timberwolves. They're trying to make the Western Conference finals for the third straight year. Anthony Edwards is brilliant, vying for face of the league status, certainly one of the most entertaining watches and one of the most entertaining quotes in all the basketball. I actually kind of like their odds right now because the West is so stacked. You can get pretty long odds on Minnesota to both win the West.

And if you win the West, I think you're going to win the Champions. So it's a very crowded conference, but Minnesota has proven both in the regular season and the postseason that they can get it done. And now's where it starts to get tricky. Coming to number five, teams at the All-Star break, the Cleveland Cavaliers. I think I might be the only person in the world who likes the James Hardin trade for Cleveland. Allow me to further make the point. Let's look at the Cleveland Cavaliers offensive ranks in the Eastern Conference. Impressive.

Not only is that impressive, we would all agree, no matter what we want to say about James Hardin in the postseason, we would all agree that James Hardin is an elite offensive basketball player? Yeah, in the regular season. Okay. He's only played three games for Cleveland, and they're the best offense in the East. So he's one of the truly great offensive players of a generation has been there for three games, and they were already the best offensive team in the conference. I think that their offensive ceiling is so scary for the rest of the league. Comment on in a number four, Greg's Detroit Pistons. They've got the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Duren and Kate Cunningham just put on a show in the All-Star Break. They are remarkably impressive. Even though the Cavs are my pick to win the East, Detroit is my highest ranked Eastern Conference team right now. As they should be. But what I will caution you on is, and I know this because my team has been this team the fourth. I think the Pistons are the try hard team of the regular season, which means they are playing regular season basketball like it's the postseason. And that sometimes can carry you

to a one seat or a little bit of an overinflated regular season record. We saw it with the Hawks before. We saw it with my Chicago Bulls, when Tibbs was coaching them. We've seen him with Nick's teams. With Tibbs coaching, it's like, if you just play real hard and you're well coached and you're young and you play the regular, it's like, oh, you can win 55 plus games, but then in the postseason, when everyone plays that maximum effort, that edge shrinks a little bit, and I think that's what's going to happen to the Pistons, though they have a very, very bright future.

And Cade Cunningham, one of two players in the NBA, averaging 25 points or more and nine or more assists, him and Yokic. Pretty pretty good. Coming in at number three, separating these top three teams was very difficult. I put the spurs here because they've won. one six straight. That's a win at the Lakers. That's a win at the Warriors. That's a win against the Thunder. They're four and one against the thunder this year. I cannot ignore that given

that I think, you know, the defending champs and one of the best teams we've seen in the last 20 years in the NBA, and I'll get to Oklahoma City in a minute. The question of San Antonio is, how good can they be so soon? Because they are young. And Wembe, I mean, is Wembe already going to take the crown from Joker as the best player and go win a title in year three at 22 years old? How good can Dylan Harper be by the end of the year? How quick can they all mesh together? Like, they are better than anyone thought sooner than anyone thought, and they still have plenty of basketball left to play.

I literally spent like half an hour debating between three and two for the Spurs and this team, the Denver Nuggets. I gave the nod to the Nuggets out of experience and Joker. Like, what the Nuggets did last year against the Thunder and the postseason sticks with me. They took them to the brink. They have the best player in the sport. and if you look at Denver's offense, it is just an overwhelming thing. And this is with Yokic having the knee spray.

Their offense is unbelievable. Like I showed you the Cavs, those were Eastern Conference rankings. And that's like the JV League at this point. The Western Conference Finals is going to be akin to the NFC Championship in the NFL, where Rams Seahawks was the real Super Bowl. Western Conference Finals are going to be the real NBA finals this year. But with the Nuggets offense humming like it is behind Joker, they are just an unbelievable watch.

It seems like every time they get an easy look at the basket. But coming in at number one, I picked them three straight years. I was a year early on them two years ago. They lapped the field last year, the Oklahoma City Thunder. I don't know if they were just messing around with their food a little bit. I don't know if it was the Jalen Williams injury. I don't know if it was they got a little bit bored after the hot start. But if you look at it, even though they have already matched last year's total for losses,

This is the third best point differential per game of the last 50 years with last year's Thunder and the 96 Bulls who many people think is the greatest team in NBA history. Like, they just bludgeon people. And so to me, it is still clear that the Oklahoma City Thunder are the best team in basketball. Those are my top 10 basketball teams coming out of the All-Star Break. As always, Greg.

Perfect top time? No. Okay. Definitely not perfect top team. Look, your first three, obviously, OKC, unanimous. No one is arguing with Oklahoma City, I don't think. The two and three, you can flip, swap them if you want to. I think Detroit being atop the NF, the Eastern Conference, obviously they're the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Is that number five? What are we doing? So this is where I look at the Celtics, and I look at what they've been able to do again. You mentioned that you even showed Jalen Brown's post. Without Jason Tatum, they've been better. They're a better three-point shooting team this year than they were last year. Again, let me remind you, America, who was on that team. You had Christopps Porzengis on that team.

You obviously had a healthy Jason Tatum. You had Drew Holiday on that team. Like, the offensive firepower was there last year. What Jalen Brown is doing this year, averaging 29 points a game, he's in the runnings for MVP. He might get it. He might, he. Depending on what happens with SGA and the 65 game threshold, he might get it.

Correct. This team was not in anybody's conversation because of the injury to Jason Tatum. And if you talk about getting him back, what Joe Mazzula has been able to do, Peyton Pritchard, obviously, all these other guys, Derek White, they're playing great ball. But you have a guy coming back to your team. You think the possibility of them regressing, No, if you give him, slow play him into this lineup, allow him to get his footing, be a guy coming off the bench, get his legs underneath him, see what he can do, and you build up to the postseason, this team is a threat. They are definitely a real threat.

They are definitely a threat. And Jalen Brown, I think, is as good of an MVP case as anybody in basketball right now, assuming Joker doesn't hit the 65 game threshold that you need to win it because if he does, he's going to obviously win the MVP. I just, I don't know. You're working in a guy off of an Achilles and is he going to, how that is going to, how that is going to mesh with the team. It's, he's starting, he's looking good, right? All workouts, all arrows seem like they're up. I mean, Bill Simmons seemed to indicate that he could be back, like, first week of March. That we are close to Jason Tatum coming back, which would give him plenty of time, obviously, before the time. Listen, I tore my Achilles.

I know what the setback is. It's not so much you getting back to what you used to. It's about trusting your inkylis because this is a jumping sport, right? You got to get up and down the court, you got to rebound, you got to have lift on your jump shot. With Jason Tatum, his issue right now, and I get you, the Celtics are playing well right now. But nevertheless, with him, and I watched him in that series last year, especially against my Knicks, man, he was a problem. He was a big problem. And so if you're the Celtics right now, you still want him in the lineup.

even if he's 85%. Listen, they can't win a championship without him, so if he's able to come back and wants to come back, they're going to give him a shot to. What do you change? Yeah, I'm looking at this list, and I have a problem with the way you position those cavaliers over my New York Knicks.

Now, I get it. I'm biased. I'm a die-hard Knicks fan and will always be. But I have a problem with the fact that you don't have belief in Jalen Brunson and Kat. Now, I understand. Cat is struggling shooting-wise. I think he's shooting 35% from Three-Point Land.

He will come out of that. I believe so. But I also think one of the things the bright spots for this New York team is defense, right? They went out and got Jose Grand Theft Alvarado. They got Jeremy Sockin. They've got some pieces on this team right now that can elevate them in the playoffs. I get the Cavaliers can put up points. They have James Hardens, but I also looked at James Hardin to check his resume.

Can't find him in the playoffs. I was about to say his career. Yeah, his career. Can't find him in the playoffs. Damn good in the regular season. I think this next team right now. And I'm going to be honest, this is a team that. could beat anybody, but right now they also can lose to anybody. That's a problem. I understand that.

That is my issue with them, man. Like, again, it is obviously a very talented team, but so much of it is Brunson, go get a bucket. And if multiple guys, if your best players are not two-way guys, it's just, it's tough to overcompensate. And this is why I trust Mike Brown, because I think he understands right now. Yes, he's rolling out the same five that Tibbs had. Nevertheless, he's not, he's not against changing that five. I think he understands this team tapped out solely because they were gas, especially in that playoff series

against the faces. I think the Knicks right now, if they jail at the right time, and I feel they will, with Brunson, Kat coming out of the slump, don't respond to defensively, especially with the adding pieces. This team will, right now,

their third in the east, they can bump up to number two. I can see them landing at that spot and they won't be a legit threat. Now, they got a big game against the pissence. Who they've got it blown out by. Detroit,

Basketball. That's going to be a telling game. So I'm looking forward today. Mix this season against the Pistons, 0 and 2 with losses by an average of 34.5. It would be all right. I mean, that's. There's always the post. There's no reason to call that out.

I mean, we're talking about it's onward and forward. It's just the try-hard. It's just the try-hard. It's just the regular season. Yeah, that's how they are. This report legitimately surprised me today. The Los Angeles Lakers, according, it would be absolutely be open to LeBron James returning next season. And wording matters here.

This isn't just polite interest. It's an open door. after a season filled with questions about LeBron's future, I basically had him go into Cleveland for the retirement tour on the show yesterday. I did not think given reports of friction between LeBron's camp and Lakers' front office, given that there was nothing done on a contract before this year.

I just assumed that this was over after this year between LeBron and Lakers. I know his business is out there. I know he's building his dream home out there. I know they drafted Brony. I know it's a historic franchise, obviously. But, like, if you bring LeBron back, when do you officially transition to the Luka era?

Like, is anyone else shocked by this that the Lakers would be cool having LeBron back? So I'm not shocked that they said it. Now, it's one thing to say it. It's another thing to actually implement it and do it. Like, I think it's the Luka era now. It will never be full Luka. until LeBron is out of the picture.

I guess just like is it with Luca, LeBron. LeBron can do anything. He can fit in any system. He's a basketball genius. But like, you got to surround Luca. You do. With great defensive players. You definitely do.

And with he and Luca being on the court at the same time, especially in the postseason, it's just not great defensively. But LeBron James, you're not going to sit here at the break and say, you know what, we're out on LeBron for next year. That just wouldn't be great for the Lakers. No, I know. All the attention. Yeah.

Well, I'll say this. And I said this yesterday when we talked about it. I think LeBron, I'm going to take him by his words and say, hey, I just want to live. I think he's really in that state. I also look at Jeannie Bus, who also say, yeah, it sounds good. Yeah, we want him back. But we don't know where he's at right now. If you're LeBron James going to a Cleveland with the James Harder and the momentum that team has,

you're going to set them back. Let's be honest. I think it's a restructure. You stay out to Cleveland's way. I know it makes a good story to go. back home yada yada yada yada you're LA Laker your legacy right now is with this team you've been with the franchise for eight years right at this point you've done it all you've seen it all there's no reason for you to go back when you just we all collectively said this team is

about Luca they built around Luca with Austin Reeves and you have you brought in d'Andre ain't they still looking for another big if you're LeBron James I think you gracefully tap out I think you say goodbye even if you still are averaging 22 points in another awesome He thinks she's retired. At the end of this either. I think he should retire. With no farewell tour? That's what I said.

But why? But wouldn't you need a farewell tour? I'm not, I'm not saying that he needs it. But for one of, are you doing? About the legacy of LeBron James? No. But he might be.

Yeah. Like I don't see LeBron going out without a fair one tour. He's not going out without a farewell tour. And then the other. Not going to happen. I agree with you. And listen, the Lakers, they weren't in my top 10. I do not think you can win.

with Luca LeBron and Austin Reeves. It was proven. They can't beat Oklahoma. They got smoked in the playoffs last year. Right. They're not athletic enough. They're not defensive-oriented enough. Same thing that I said about it.

Not two-way players. Not enough of an impact on each. Any of those top west teams, I don't think they can beat in a series. Well, yeah, that's, so they, I just, I was very surprised by, because this isn't like someone came out and on the record. It was like, we want LeBron back. It was like sourced reporting.

The Lakers absolutely would want it. And so maybe in a world, where LeBron just wants to play with Brani and is taking some sort of crazy salary discount next year? We've seen that episode. I mean, he's watched it. He doesn't take financial discounts

because he definitely doesn't. He shouldn't. But maybe for his retirement tour a year, does he play for a mid-level exception or a minimum? You make it 51 million right now. He's not taking less than that. I tend to agree with you, but that's the only way I could see that making sense

is like, you know, sign a defense. and I'll play for the minimum and play with my son going. Because I just, I don't think this current version of them has any path to winning. I mean, as much as I want to sign for the minimum. Yeah. I know.

I know. It's hard to imagine. I bring a little to the table if I'm LeBron. He's worth way more than the minimum. No question. Very cool opportunity here coming in studio. He won the Daytona 500. His boss is Michael Jordan and it's an incredible story.

Tyler Reddick pulls up to the desk next. I'm first things first. Still green. Reddick on the bottom, Reddick Elliott, and Reddick to the top side. He's got help. Riley Herbst, his teammate. Reddick drops to the bottom. Alongside Elliot, in the wall goes Herps, and Tyler Reddick comes to the line. Wow. A shower of sparks behind him. Daytona proves yet once again, it's all about the last laugh. That's the only laugh that you have to lead. As it should be. Yeah, man, what a finish on Fox. Tyler Reddick, the Daytona 500 champ in studio. It seemed like you enjoyed watching that finish right there.

I mean, the last lap was wild. Honestly, the last couple laps were pretty crazy leading up until that moment, too. You know, for me and this, well, yeah, we can talk about the last lap. I mean, just my teammate, Riley Herb said amazing job. of pushing me back up into the mix, down the back straight away there. And yeah, just, it seemed like Zane was trying to set up Chase right as I got to Zane.

Zane thought, all right, I'll back up to Tyler and get a put, nope, I left him hanging and went around the outside of him. And it just put me in a great spot to have a lot of momentum coming to Chase. And I think he knew trying to block a run of that side was gonna be really hard to pull off. And so I was able to get to his inside.

He was definitely thinking, be able to box Riley in behind him and make Riley push him. and Riley tried to get to his outside, and obviously that's when everyone crashed. So, I mean, that's the technical side. Yeah, yeah, sorry. No, no, I know. I know.

You're good. No, it's fascinating, and it's the only lap of the race that you lead. So, I mean, it's an unbelievable set of circumstances, but like, does it feel real, man? Like, the last 48 hours, you're the Daytona 500 champ, and it happened in totally insane fashion. Has it sunk in? What's it been like? Yeah, it has sunk in, you know, to be able to, uh, Celebrating Victory Lane on the front stretch with my team.

In Victory Lane, with my team, my family, with my owners, yeah, it took time. You know, when I was standing out there in the grass on the car, jumping in arms of my pickroom members, all right there. It truly still felt like a dream. You know, it took some serious time for it to, holy cow, this is reality, it's really happened, you know,

because so much happened in a short It's not like I knew hours before it was over that I was going to win the race, right? Like so much had to happen and so much did happen with the seconds to go in the race coming to the line. So you talk about there so much happening. There were a few near misses with you being involved early in the race, mid race, and then obviously on that last lap, like as a driver, you're sitting in the car, you see things going down in front of you. That's the greatest part.

The first one on lap 10, I didn't even see. When you get clipped. When I get on the right side of the car, yeah. Very early in the race, BJ McLeod's kind of up in the pack, doing his thing. He's an underfunded team. And just something seemed wrong with his car

going down in the back straightaway. Like he started darting around a bit. And next thing you know, I just felt something hooked the right side of my car. And then my spotter Nick Payne said caution was out. I'm like, what just happened? And I'm like, I don't know, you just dang near got wrecked on lap 10. So whether it was that moment at the end of stage two, pretty much the entire field wrecked in front of me, like, days of thunder-esque, can't see anything, don't know where to go.

And I basically just like tuck up behind somebody, don't knock my nose off. And as it kind of gets slowed down and the dust and debris and grass settles, it's like there's a little path I could like dodge this car coming this way through the wreck. And then this one that was coming that way. had to get by. It was just all throughout the race. That was the one that was like, that was the one that was crazy. And I'm like, in that moment, do you feel like, man, luck is on my side? It's crazy as sounds. Those two moments at the beginning of the race and the middle of race are pretty routine for me on a Super Speedway being in the middle of that. That was kind of the the name of my game last year, you know, last year across all the Super Speedway races.

we, that's the, that's the wreck I think I had to snake through that I was talking about in stage. The name of the game for us last year on Speedways was surviving these kind of moments. When you add up all the races, you know, we scored more points than anybody else last year on the Super Speedways. And that, in a lot of ways, carried over into how we started our season at Daytona. Wow. Yeah. You were on the podium with Mike, and Mike got emotional. He said, man, thank you and thank your team and believing in the strategy.

I'm watching this. It looked like you was holding on for dear life, right? Like, how much strategy goes into preparing for this race and executing at the highest level right there? Yeah, I mean, you know, coming into this race, we have, and then, you know, it's an entire off season. It's, give or take about 100 days. You know, we race from February to November,

almost every single weekend with, you know, Easter off and maybe one other. And so, you know, the only time off you really have is in the winter. And, you know, it's your time to address the things you want to improve. For us, we didn't win a race in 2025, which is something I hadn't really faced in a number of years with how we've been competing at the level we've been competing. So we had a lot of hard conversations, a lot of tough conversations. And for us to come out of the gates like this, and even in the middle of the race, you know, stage one, it didn't play out the way we needed to. I made some decisions in the car that cost us points.

Same thing happened in stage two. And so the race kind of went down the path of how they went down the road for us every time in. 2025 and we did a good job of nope it's not going to be like last year we're going to reset for stage three and we're going to go do what we need to do and that's what we did you know through the green flag cycle we we had to pit with another group of cars we wanted to pit with our toy to teammates we end up pitting with the fords we didn't let that you know getting off of schedule mess us up we kept our head in the game and we cycle back onto the racetrack you know for the final time we were in position, you know, to duke it out and, you know, have a shot to win the race like we did.

Great job, man. So I'm a child of the 90s. I grew up in Chicago. I have to ask. What's it like having Michael Jordan as a boss? There's a lot of pressure that comes with it. I'll tell you that. Yeah. Like, can you, can you picture him as not Michael Jordan? Is that a ridiculous question? Like, every time I would look at him, I'd be like, hey, man, yeah, remember that shot against Utah? That was awesome. Like, is it possible to disassociate and just make him, you know, owner of the team, just a boss? It is really hard. I'm not going to lie. But, you know, he is, he is that Michael Jordan, but I know him as Michael Jordan, you know, he is, he is that Michael, but I also know him as

Michael Jordan, the team owner, Michael Jordan, the diehard racing fan, you know, when I got to spend some time with him in talking about what my future would look like, the possibility of driving at 2311, I got to learn from him firsthand in his words, how much racing. and how far back it goes for him. So to hear someone like Michael Jordan say of all the drivers in the garage, you're the guy I want driving my car the most. You know, it's just those words coming from

someone like Michael just like, I mean, it's crazy, right? It truly is crazy. So to understand that he cares about racing just as much as you do, and then have someone like Denny Hamlin there that knows racing like he does and just to have owners like that that just want to go out there and win so bad,

and are willing to put everything they can towards it. I mean, how do you tell someone like Michael Jordan, no? How do you, you know, how do you not come drive for him? And for me, being able to have the trust of him to drive his race car and in hopes of delivering and clutch moments to be able to do it and win races like the Daytona 500

and add this trophy, the Harley Gerald trophy to MJ's collection is a true honor, honestly. So I'm a competitive guy. I don't know if I'm as competitive as Michael Jordan. Yeah, I don't know if I am either. You're not, Greg.

Tyler, you don't know. I just have a hard time believing that, okay, you're hoisting the trophy right there with Michael Joy. Yeah, yeah. Has he ever, like, challenged you to compete? I think you want, no, I know he wants to get in the race car. It's just a matter of finding one, you know what I mean?

He can fit in it, yeah. So he, you know, he loves racing. Like I said, I got to hear so much about that and getting to know him. And, you know, obviously over time, right, I heard those words, but I've seen his interests, you know, his text messages, his presence at airspeed, his presence in our meetings, important meetings that we have, you know, after a tough day or after a great day or going into 2026. I mean, he truly integrates himself into the process. And, you know, it means a lot to me, but it speaks. I get to have more interactions with him than probably, you know, some of the people that work on the floor at airspeed back in 2311. And for him to put himself out. front like that and to be seen by all of all the men and women at 2311 that this means that much to him. It just motivates us all to go out there and give it everything that we have.

So Tyler, the Michael Jordan component, the race winning the Daytona 500, it's always going to be an unbelievable story. But your personal story, I think people should know. And if you're kind enough to share it with us, your eight-month-old son rookie recently had his kidney removed because of there was a tumor that was growing that was impacting his heart. And he was with you at Daytona, along with your wife and your other son, Bo. Can you just share the story for us? And he had a pretty cool milestone at Daytona, too, didn't he? Yeah, rookie got to, I mean, I watched him. He was over here patting the trophy, just like making eyes with it. You know, Ricky loved this thing. So yeah, my son, he, you know, from the time that he was born, it always, you know, me and Alexa

would talk about it, you know, he would just be in pain, he wouldn't sleep great. One thing that was very obvious is any time he would take in food or we would try to give him a bottle, just randomly, he would just, the entire bottle would come up. And there was just a number of things going on at the same time that just didn't seem like, you know, normal growing pains or things that, like, babies grow out of. And, you know, things were just going down the wrong path for a long enough You know, we were at the doctor, at the pediatrician's office multiple times a week addressing things coming up. And, you know, I wasn't loving, I guess, the answers, right?

And my wife certainly wasn't either. And so things just got to a point where we were genuinely concerned for the well-being of our child. And she decided, I don't like the answers I've been getting. So I'm going to take, I'm going to take rookie down to Levine's Children's Hospital. And there, they're able to understand pretty quickly, yeah, your son is in heart failure. And we figured out what was going wrong, but it took time to go through the systems, if you will, and understand what is causing this. And that period of time when we knew he was in pretty serious amount of heart failure, until we were able to understand what was causing it and have the plan of how we're going to address it, that period of time of going from thinking our kids healthy or being told our kids healthy or doing okay.

and these things will resolve themselves, so then finding out this will not resolve himself, he's got heart failure. That period of time from there until figuring out what the plan was gonna be to get him better was really, really tough for everybody. It was tough for my son, it was tough on me, and it was really tough on my wife.

So it was a hard time. I was very thankful to have a lot of great people surrounding me the entire NASCAR industry, supporting, helping, reaching out, doing anything they could to help, you know, make our lives easier. And so, yeah, to see rookie, you know, have successful surgery and then, you know, very quickly start to bounce back from the surgery and the heart failure was very promising to see for me.

And to have him as healthy as he is now and as happy as he is all the time and sleeping and eating. And then, you know, being a victory lane for one of, you know, my life's biggest moments was just awesome. And didn't he start to crawl at the Tadona? Yeah, he started crawling, you know, the Monday before the race when we got down there, yeah. I mean, honestly, that's a big thing for him, too. You guys both have these milestone things at Daytona. So congratulations.

It's an incredible story of perseverance for your family, for you as a racer. And thank you very much for coming in studio and sharing us with us. Congratulations. Unbelievable. Thank you. Tyler Reddick, the Daytona 500 champ with us on First Things First. Welcome back to First Things First. It's the front of his banner.

But Nick is on vacation. The only person we allow under the front of his banner is the other guy in the group chat. Andrew Philopony, terrific host at 90. 37, the fan in Pittsburgh. Franchise tag window open today. The deadline is March 3rd. And according to NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport and common sense, the Dallas Cowboys are expected to place the franchise tag on George Pickens.

But that move, according to Rappaport, does not slam the door on a potential trade. Pony, you covered George Pickens extensively in Pittsburgh. And, of course, you watch him cover the entire NFL. If you ran the Dallas Cowboys, would you franchise tag pickings or trade him? Well, I'm going to disagree, as we have over the years, with your common sense point on franchise tagging him. Because you don't win with guys like George Pickens. The last guy in the NFL I would want to give a big contract to is George Pickens. The baseline expectation for professional athletes is to give effort.

It's to try. And he doesn't seem to want to do that. And if we can roll on something here, I want to show you. There's a reason why this guy was traded for a third round pick. He went to the Steelers to the Chiefs. If you watched this play and he circled at the bottom, you might think, oh, Russell Wilson, another one of his boneheaded plays in the interception. It's his fault.

No, it's not. Off on the corner to the left side, you see him basically stop running. He was loafing. This is a loaf play right here, Danny. He's a lolly-gagging guy. That safety was supposed to cover him on a vertical route. Kurt Warner went through this on a whole video breakdown. He didn't run his route.

It turned into a red zone pick. That was the second to last game of the season for the Steelers in 2024. They lost that game. They ended up losing five in a row. Danny, on top of that, he showed up late for that game. He was coming off the hamstring strain. They didn't know if he was even going to be available. He wasn't there in time for the inactive list.

They just blindly put him out there. He quits on that play. We saw it in Dallas too. I mean, this was not an isolated incident what happened in Detroit with him where C.D. Lam goes out. in here's another one. We're going to show you again. Bombs away, Dak Prescott. Oh, this is George Pickens' favorite route.

Then he just stops. So why in the world would you want to give a guy like that a lucrative deal? He's made $8 million so far in his career. That's it. I think $28 million is too much and you don't know what you're going to get. If you can't trade George Pickens, I would just not bring them back and go into the free agent waters, sign an Alec Pierce, sign a Michael Pittman Jr. I think the Cowboys would be much better off doing that.

So I understand all of the questions about George Pickens. It's why he fell to the second round of the draft, wildly talented, lacking in some of the professionalism areas. He was also second team all pro this year. Like, he leaves Pittsburgh where you know better than I do, but it was a carousel of below average to bad quarterback play. Like, the best quarterback play that he got in Pittsburgh was below league average in the NFL. He goes to Dallas and he has CD Lamb opposite him and Dak Prescott a top 10-ish quarterback in the NFL.

And he's second team all pro with a career high in catches, yards, and touchdowns. So he got it and that is with some lollygagging. That is with reports that he still showed up late occasionally. That is with reports that he was fined by the team. I realize this is not a perfect football player, far from it. But he is wildly talented. And if you keep him on a one-year franchise tag deal, he will still be motivated to get the bigger bag next year.

And I don't see how you trade a third and a fifth for that guy and then just let him walk when as soon as he was inserted into a team with an actual competent functioning offense, he was one of the best receivers in football. Do you think you could get Alec Pierce for $28 million a year? I mean, roughly, somewhere in that neighborhood. Yeah. Is he a more reliable player?

Is he from a big play standpoint? Look at that guy's yards per catch. He's led the NFL in that category. Can I depend on him? Yes. He was motivated last year going into that final year before the franchise tag. He's a second round pitch. It's only a four-year deal.

He's still getting fine. There's still the stories of what happened to him out in Las Vegas. You don't know what you're going to get with George Pickens. Let me give you another story. I'm at a game in Indianapolis. It's Steelers Colts. I'm in the press box. I'm sitting next to a Steelers reporter who covers the team.

He's at every game. He says to me, this is like my magic trick. I'm going to tell you, based on his body language, out of the huddle, if it's a run play or a pass play. Danny, this guy got like 21 plays right. It was unbelievable. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. He's just that kind of mercurial guy. To me, you could give him the money.

And if he's not happy with his role in the offense or he just shows up to work in a bad mood, he rolls out of bed the wrong way. all of a sudden he's an albatross. He's a guy that's a liability. You can find to pair with Dak Prescott with C.D. Lamb taking attention from a defense, you can find a guy you can count on for a lot less money and a lot less baggage. So let's say they go your route and they trade George Pickens and they get back some degree of draft capital. Do you like the Cowboys prospects this year?

Because most people I think would say you just get a draft pick for George Pickens and at least this year, you are worse without George Pickens and all of the production that you'd be losing. Well, I think you're going to take some of that money you save on him and you're going to reinvest it in another offensive weapon. But my overall take on the Cowboys is this. I think they can have the best season they've had in 30 years. And that sounds like a lot. But remember, every NFC team is gone to the NFC championship game more recently than Dallas. It's been since 1995.

They were terrible. Listen to this stat, Danny. This is mind-blowing. In games where they scored fewer than 30 points last year, they were 1 and 8, fewer than 30. So if your defense just gets a little bit better, the guy they brought in Christian Parker from Philadelphia, this kid supposedly a Savon, he's 34 years old. He is a Vic Fangio disciple. If he gets that defense with Quinn and Williams for a full year, a little bit better.

I think Dallas can be a, I'm going to say it, a scary team in the NFC this season. You know, and the thing is, I actually agree with you, because I think that their offensive ceiling is so spectacular. I did not think that Dak Prescott had this in him. He clearly does. C.D. Lamb is excellent. I had questions about Schottenheimer as an internal hire after they moved on from McCarthy. The question, though, is you lose Micah Parsons, you take the step back,

and now it's like, well, they just have to fix their defense. Sounds like they need a Micah Parsons. They have the 12th and 20th pick in the draft. So you're spending money on a free agent, a veteran on offense, and then using those two top 20 picks on defense. Is that your formula? Yeah, why not? I mean, that's basically what the Rams have done.

The Rams offense is a veteran-laden unit. It's Matthew Stafford. It's not Pukinaku is not old. It's Devante Adams. That's where they've spent their money. Their defense, I think, was one of the youngest, if not the youngest in the NFL this season. season, money spent in the bottom five. So that's what I would do.

You're not asking this defense with a first year defensive coordinator to be upper echelon. The expectation isn't to be the Broncos or to be the Seahawks. It's to just not give up more than 30 points a game. And they were the only defense in the NFL that did that last year. Well, I expect George Pickens to be back on the Cowboys this upcoming year. I don't think you move on from him off the season that he had, but it's a pretty compelling case that you lay out. We'll talk to you coming up, Pony, during the OT.

Let's start the OT. We begin with Tyreek Hill. He's available. He was released yesterday by the Dolphins. He can sign with any team at any time. And the Cheetah is an active member of social media. And he had a long post on Instagram. I will summarize basically says, the journey doesn't stop here. He's learned everything every stop at the way. The Cheetah don't slow down ever. So to everyone wondering what's next, just wait on it. The Cheetah will be back, born again. Greg, I'll start with you as a former wide receiver. And there is, of course, Chris Jones, openly recruiting his former teammate. It's time. I can translate that. Where do you want to see the Cheetah end up, Greg Jennings? I would love to see him link up with Justin Herbert out there in Los Angeles with the Chargers. Justin Herbert hasn't had the opportunity of having a bona fide number one guy.

Obviously, I'm no disrespect to Keenan Allen, who is currently on the roster. But early, early age Keenan Allen, top tier. He hasn't had that as of late. And you talk about the ability to stretch the field, provide everything underneath, exploit the big arm that he has. Like, it just makes sense. If he can get back healthy, which I believe that he will try, a little bit of that post said this offseason,

Cheetah will be turned all the way up, locked in, focused. That better be the case because to come back from an injury of this magnitude, we're going to expect him to have to be locked in in order to be anything close to what he's been over his career. But if he's able to link up with Justin Herbert and be the cheetah that we've seen in the past, it would be special for Justin. Yeah, I would like to see him land on the San Francisco 49ers. You talk about a team that was a duct tape team. They were patched together pretty much.

I don't know defensively they have some knees. I need an S-rusher and some help in the secondary. But offensively, they need wide receiver help. You cannot expect to win when your leading receiver is going to be Juan Jennings, right? Like, you need an impact player. If he can go back to being the guy like we think, hopefully he can be, you know, with the rehab and him really attacking it thoroughly, I expect that shooter to be that impact player that he was with the Chiefs and the Dolphins.

He still demands too high pressure. I think he's still that type of receiver that can be a mismatch nightmare for a lot of defenses. I just want the kid to, not the kid, because he's a great. own man, so excuse my language. Nevertheless, I hope the distractions are behind him. And hopefully he does come back up and show up for this nine-the-team, because this is a team that's ready to win now, especially with an older roster. Pony, please tell me all right, because you're the guy that's more in the numbers. I like the way he's at right now. I just want to see more if he's healthy. Well, I think he needs a new role. I don't want to see him go back to

Kansas City. You know, I think about 32-year-old wide receiver who's used to being the center of attention, where can he thrive and succeed? And I'm I'm going to give you a team, the Detroit Lions, and here's why. Antonio Brown, remember that guy, 32 years old. He hooked up with Tom Brady again in Tampa. Why do they need wide receivers? Why do they need extra weapons? Because you never have enough.

So they put together that amazing offense with Godwin, with Evans, with Gronk. A.B. came in and was a difference maker for them late in the year. We don't know exactly when Tyreek Hill is going to be ready to play. It might be second half of the season coming off this knee injury. sliding into a system, he'll be somewhat familiar with Mike Kafka, his old quarterback's coach, an offensive assistant in Kansas City got hired by Detroit, so there's some familiarity there. I want to show you what this offense would look like, guys. If you put Tyree Kill in Detroit indoors on a fast track, look at that.

Gibbs, Montgomery, Amunra in the slot, Tyreek Hill is going to take safeties deep, Jameson Williams in the other outside spot. I look at him as the ultimate complimentary piece wide receiver now, not wide receiver one. And I think Detroit is an under the radar destination for him. It worked for AB, another guy with baggage

and a troubled wide receiver with huge talent. I can see it working for Tyree kit with the Lions, Danny. It's a fun idea because I said Pony that I don't think, you can't bring him in expecting him to be the one. But because 32, dislocated knee, multiple ligament tears. the off the field issues.

So I honestly think when you put it like that and you just put him next to all of the names, I don't think he's going to command a bunch of money. And I don't think he needs to be the number one. And I don't think there's going to be a huge guarantee. So if this is low commitment from the team to the player and it's an incentive-laden contract, but he's a first ballot Hall of Fame talent.

If he does recover, he basically makes sense everywhere. He worked with Mike McDaniel. So McDaniels with the Chargers. Sure, that makes sense. Kyle Shanahan, offensive genius, lions, turf and all those players. Why wouldn't it work in Baltimore? Why wouldn't it work in Buffalo? Like, I guess I'm having a hard time finding a place where it wouldn't make sense for the team to want Tyree Kill Pony.

Because, yeah, your argument makes sense. But if I don't have to commit much to the guy financially or with guarantees, it's just all upside for the team, isn't it? Well, and yes. And to me, if he goes to a place like Detroit, Troy, if it doesn't work, okay, they're not screwed offensively. He doesn't go there, you know, in Willie's scenario. Yeah, you've got Christian McCaffrey, but there's a, there's a good feeling or a good reason to think that there would be a lot of pressure on him to be the guy that he used to be because he would probably fit into that number one rule.

Same thing with the Chargers. He did not win two Super Bowls in Kansas City. He left, they won two without him. I think to finish. his legacy off as a player in the NFL to close the book and to have a final chapter that resonates for what is already a Hall of Fame career, if he wants to continue to enhance and elevate his place all time, I think being a guy who doesn't put up massive numbers, but is a part of a winning team. Oh, he used to be a distraction. He wasn't for this team that competed for a Super Bowl. Detroit in the last three games of 2025, Danny, only averaged 17 points a game. So their offense stalled, I think they could use another weapon like Tyree Kill.

All right, let's move on here to the Baltimore Ravens, a team that I just mentioned kind of in passing for Tyree Kill. But their new defensive coordinator, Anthony Weaver, was on the Ravens Lounge podcast. And when you see the video, it looks like a Ravens Lounge. It makes sense. It's a good name. He was asked about his defense being challenged in practice against Lamar Jackson and what he expects being around this talented quarterback. Here's what he had to say. I don't know that anybody stops Lamar. Right?

You just try to contain him as much as possible. As it pertains to us improving because of him, absolutely. Right? I think whenever you're practicing, you want to go against the best so you can be at your best. And who better to practice against the two should be three-time MVP of the National Football League. Nice little drive-by there at Josh Allen's MVP. Should have been three-time. But Pony, do you expect Lamar Jackson?

to return to MVP form this upcoming year for Baltimore? I do expect him to return to MVP form, but it will not be on NFL fields this fall. I want to show you guys where I think he'll be an MVP. If we can do that and pull that up, that'll be on Madden football. There you go. That's where he will be MVP caliber when kids get out their joysticks and play, or when he plays as himself like I used to do with Michael Vick and Madden football. football back when I played video games 20 years ago. No, he will not be an MVP this year.

He's got a 29-year-old play caller in Declan Doyle. He might be the brightest guy in the world as far as offensive concepts go. He's never called plays in an NFL game. He's not going to be great at it right from the very beginning. You've got Mark Andrews who turned 30, Derek Henry, who turned 32. I don't see them getting better in year one in a new offense. Lamar Jackson, before he had that hamstring strain last year, was not a lot of the same. an MVP. They started one in three. He got sacked seven times against the Lions in a loss. They had 10 points when he got hurt in the Kansas City game. He was not an MVP, didn't even come close in the month of football he played in 2025. I don't think that's going to get better

with a guy that's younger than their best players in Baltimore calling the plays there this year. No, absolutely not. Lamar Jackson won't come close to winning an MVP this season. Well, I tend to disagree with you on this one, Pony. Like when Lamar Jackson is healthy and when he has been healthy and he's available, regardless and despite who he has around him, he's an MVP caliber player. And so for that, I'm saying, yes, he can return back to MVP form. Yes, does he need help around him? Of course, we doubted Derek Henry could do the things that he's been able to do the last two years.

But he's continued to defy the odds and have great. great success. Lamar Jackson, if his superpower is using his legs and he finds a way to get back to that, he's become a great passer. We know that. Zay Flowers has been excellent. Does he need help in depth at that receiver position? Of course. You can't have DeAndre Hopkins, who we all love. We know the career. We know the resume. He's been fantastic. You can't have him being your third highest yard catching receiver. That just can't happen. He didn't have the help. But if he's available and healthy, Lamar Jackson on any field on any gaming network or any gaming console, real life MVP guy.

Yeah, listen, I think if healthy, he can go back to being what you're just talking about. But right now, I have a graphic right here to show that he's in trouble. He's been sacked 212 times, right? Look at the hits taken and in the rushing attempts. Right now you're looking at Lamar Jackson, who's coming off in injury play season, who's getting older, new scheme, as Pony pointed out, and you talk about the weapons around him aren't as efficient to be at MVP next year.

So Lamar Jackson, for me, yeah, when the weapons around him and there's a legit office line in front of him, we can see Lamar Jackson of old. But that's not the Ravens right now. They've lost the identity, and I think they've struggled solely because of the office of line.

The office line sets the tone like we know. I'm used to the Baltimore Ravens being the bully on the block, the team that comes in and punches you in the mouth. That's not the Baltimore Ravens we have seen as of late. And it starts with Lamar Jackson. So can he be, if healthy, sure. But he needs a lot of help around him. And I don't think the Ravens have them right now.

Well, that's why I kind of expect them to make a big swing. Like, as he gets older and there are at least some questions about how long his athletic prime will be there and how much of a dual threat he's going to be. I don't know. Zay Flowers can't remain his number one. No. You're talking about Andrews' age. You got the likely decision with free agency.

You talk about Derek Henry's age. Like father time undefeated. I think Derek Henry is a freak of nature athlete, but at some point he will slow down. I don't know that he has enough around him right now as we sit here in February, but I have a sneaking suspicion that come August or September, there is going to be some addition that has happened, Pony, to help out Lamar Jackson. Yeah, but what is it?

I mean, they might have to pay Tyler Linderbaum. I don't know, record-setting money, but I would think they're not going to let him walk to the Giants in free agency. If they did that, and Willie knows this because this is his area of expertise, their guards were terrible last year. They might have had, I know we're getting inside football, they might have had the worst guard combination in the league. Now you've got a center who might leave.

All of a sudden, your offensive line, you're blocking up, the middle is gone. Look, he wants to flush out and run anyways, but he's been hit 1,300 times since he came into the league. He wanted to run the ball way less last year. He also, let's put it on the table. He has tried to evolve as a quarterback, run it less, throw from the pocket more. He did that last year, maybe in part because of the injuries, but the numbers, the effectiveness were not anywhere near as close. You've also got to win a lot of games to be an MVP candidate, and I see enough holes on that Baltimore team to think they're not going to go something like 14 and 3 or 15 and 2 next year.

And if they don't, that completely takes them out of the MVP conversation. A lot of questions in Baltimore, and we'll be addressing them in a future edition of Dr. Danny later on this week. But looking forward to this conversation here because I think we're on a different sides. Clint Kubiak, the new Raiders head coach. He had a post-press conference show, and he was asked about his initial thoughts about Fernando Mendoza, how he looked in college, and the possibility of him joining him with the Silver and Black. Take a listen. My exposure is very limited.

I saw him play the national championship game. I saw the interviews he's given after those games and how team-oriented he is. But I look forward to getting to know the player better. But obviously, a really talented guy with a bright future. And we'll see where it ends up. But we've got a lot of work to do to get to know him before that time comes. So the odds makers say he is going number one. There, of course, is some question as to, well, he go number one to the Raiders

or will someone trade in to that spot? Willie, you're kind of in favor of a trade here. Yeah. So you think that it's on the board that the Raiders pass on Mendoza. Yeah, and I think you trust Clint Kubiak's tone there, if you will. He's saying, I haven't seen the kid. I was too busy winning the Super Bowl. I did.

I just came from the most complete team in football who happened to win the Super Bowl. I'm now in the organization with the team who's not complete, who there's holes all over the place, particularly on the office line and the receiving corps and on the defense. I mean, they have a lot of need. So if you're at the one spot, I think it makes sense to trade down and really build this team up from the inside out. I also think right now, if you're looking at Mendoza as a as a QB1, man, he's not an athletic quarterback, right? And he's also not a quarterback that could create with his legs. He's a quarterback that's stoic in a pocket and can dink and dunk and exploit you in multiple ways when he has weapons on the outside and he has an office line and can give him time.

I think he's, I think he needs time to develop. The Raiders don't have time. developed his team to compete in a division. That's very competitive. So if I'm the Raiders, build this team up, ship him down the road, and allow Clint Kubriac to do what he do best and build an offense. So for me, look, you're not going to pass on Mendoza if you're the Raiders. All those things are true. Can they get a king ransom for him? Of course. However, when you're Clint Kubiak, you know you have the number one pick. The idea is to pay, and you're an offensive head coach.

The idea is to pair your offensive minded young head coach with a guy at the quarterback position that you feel like can give you a long runway. They're not expecting him to come in this year and turn everything around and now all of a sudden

we're seeing the black and silver trying to compete for a championship. That is ideally what everybody hopes, but that is unrealistic. What is realistic is you get a guy on your roster that you feel like you can build for the future around all the while maintaining what you have in Geno Smith. You don't have to get rid of Geno Smith. You have a veteran on your roster already.

He struggled. I know he was in Seattle, had success. He had weapons around him. There's not a lot of weapons. In Indiana, Mendoza had a lot of weapons. He had a lot of pieces around him. It was ready made. That is not what he would be walking into, but that doesn't mean you pass on him because he is what you deem to be one of the best, if not the best selection that you can make in this draft. Yeah, I think you guys are way underselling this kid. To me, I believe he is the next Joe Burrow. I don't think you need to be an unbelievable athlete to play quarterback. You need to make plays in the pocket.

Look at these stats, by the way, on the Joe Burrow front. They're second to last year in college. They both put up pedestrian numbers. Joe Burrow is a junior at LSU and then at Cal for Mendoza. Identical, 16 touchdowns for both. Now look at what they did in their final college seasons. They both win national championships. They both go undefeated.

They both account for huge numbers. They both lead the nation in touchdowns. And Mendoza did it at Indiana. I mean, you've got to be a miracle worker. And Signetti was as a coach. And this guy was as a quarterback. Sam Darnold won the Super Bowl. Bowl and Matthew Stafford won the MVP. These guys aren't beating Greg Jennings in the 40-yard dash.

They're just not. Okay, so you don't need to be an unbelievable athlete to win from the pocket. And Mendoza, not a single one of those Indiana guys, in my opinion, will be first round picks. Good talent around them, not great. He will lead the Raiders to their first playoff win since 2002. I think he's going to be instantly great, just like Jaden Daniels was for the commanders two years ago. Well, then in that case, you can't pass on him. I mean, if he's Joe Burrow, and listen, your comp is very interesting because Burrow had... Was I the only guy that watched Indiana games? You guys didn't think he was...

No, I watched. I did watch him. And I watched him play in front of a really good office line. I also watch Joe Burrow do the same thing. The ratings have the 31st ranked office line in football. I'm not negating the kid has special talent and that he's a franchise quarterback pony. What I'm saying right now, in your words, if you're going to let him be a plug-and-play quarterback, what do you have protecting him? He'll be meatloaf by November. So like, I don't,

I don't, I play the position. If you can't protect your baby, baby, baby doesn't make it. A lot of babies, baby. Babies. I think it's foolish to bring a young guy in here with a coach who clearly understands what it takes to make a team who's coming off a Super Bowl team. At the end of the day, he's a talent. He has a lot of upside. I get that. But I also think this isn't a rubber stay-up situation. You talk about a quarterback coming in, excuse me, a head coach coming in and changing the culture right away.

We've seen Ben Johnson do it, right? We've seen coaches come and have an expectation. I believe in Clint Coobiat because of who he is and where he's coming from. I don't believe in Mendoza because of everything around him made him successful. That's my only pushback. You need more help. He's not the answer. Pony, I wouldn't

pass on Joe Burrow, though. I got to be out. Go ahead. I want you to respond to Willie, because That is a compelling argument in his favor. I mean, we just saw the Patriots play in the Super Bowl. Did they have a great offensive line? No. Did Drake May and Josh McDaniels make it work? Yes.

Did they have unbelievable threats at wide receiver? No, they did not. Okay, they were one of the top five scoring offenses in the NFL this year, Will. Go ahead, Pony. You can't do that. I mean, the Patriots had a defense that showed up in the playoffs and carried the – like there's nothing on this Raiders team. There's not one side of the ball that you can say, hey, this is what this kid can lean on.

So you can't use the Patriots because I think Drake May walked up on a lot of people. I also think because of Mike Vrable and Josh McDaniels, this office performed ahead of schedule. I also think, by the way, factual, they play one of the easiest schedules in the league. And when they got to the playoffs, they made it. They beat the top three defenses in the league and they landed in the Super Bowl. So there's a lot of things that were working in the Patriot's favor. Mendoza is walking into nothing, bare cupboards. You want to see the kid get his head knocked off from him?

What a shot at Brock Bowers? Nothing? They got one of the best tight ends in the NFL. They barely threw the ball last season. You can't find him. They did nothing with him. Well, hopefully Kubiak has him throw to him. Because they had Gino Smith.

Listen, if Dan Bruegler said he's a, the cop was Jared golf, but not as strong of an arm, but a little faster, that prospect can miss. Joe Burroughs' prospect, I would take it. You don't like that guy? No, well, listen, I said earlier, they're taking him. Like all the intangibles on Mendoza with Tom Brady involved in molding him, I am convinced that the Raiders are taking Mendoza and they're going to try to mold him in Tom Brady's image. Good luck. Pony.

Right. Tough to recreate that one. Pony, great stuff this week, buddy. That was interesting. And listen, I'm going to steal that Joe Burrow cop right now. I'm telling you right now. Those Joe Burroughs graphics were fantastic. Coming up, though, put the stethoscope back on as I died.

Dr. Dr. Danny. Sorry. This is the worst idea by our producers ever from. They gave me an MD. I didn't even need to go to medical school. This is so much fun.