The Herd with Colin Cowherd - What's Wright - Nick Wright REACTS: Eagles DRAMA, Hurts & Sirianni’s BROKEN relationship + SGA & Luka BATTLE for MVP

Episode Date: April 3, 2026

All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet.   Nick Wright recaps the 2025 Philadelphia Eagles tell-all story and what it means for Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni, and A.J. Brown’s future in Philly. Then, Nick previews the Los Angeles Lakers game against the Oklahoma City Thunder and how it plays into the MVP race between Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. After, Nick reacts to Lamar Jackson potentially skipping offseason workouts for the Baltimore Ravens as well as Kirk Cousins signing with the Las Vegas Raiders. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple

podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the

biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. She'll win. She's an outsider to win the French fame.

and she likes Clay. Listen, Leonard Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Welcome in, What Driving Nick Wright, episode 440. This episode of What's Right with Nick Wright,

as always, is brought to you by my great friends at Boost Mobile. De Manze, great to see you every time I see you. I am, I realize, oh, I bought De Manzee a really cool jacket in Japan that I have not shown you or sent you yet. And it's about to be summer in L.A. So, but I don't know, maybe on a rainy day. Good birthday president. Yeah, something. I do need to get around to that.

A lot to do as we have. a reminder for everyone, and maybe we can get some late additions right after we get done with this show. De Manzae and I are sticking around and we are recording a mailbag episode. That mailbag episode will come out tomorrow. We have some great questions already. Too many questions for one episode. So we're keeping an archive of them, but you can also submit some today. Maybe they'll make tomorrow's mailbag.

Maybe they'll make one in the future. So you can do all that. Reminder, everybody, like, rate, subscribe, review the channel. The subscriptions are really what do help us on the audio side and on the YouTube side. They help us more than you guys probably know. So now that that is all out of the way, we will get to straight in the voicemail brought to you by the wonderful folks at Boost Mobile. Kurt Cousin signed with the Raiders. I like this for them.

I think that this makes it to where they don't have to throw Fernando Mendoza right into the that they can have stability at the quarterback position for, you know, the first few weeks of the season if they don't want Mendoza to be the rookie week one star. Those two guys are very similar to Mendoza and Kirk Cousins. I feel like in their demeanor. Well, in personality for sure. Yes. In Dmito, yeah, I feel like it would be a good guy. I think they are, I think they are, I know Kirk is, and I think I know this about Mendoza, both very deep into their faith.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think that is a really good fit. Seem to have great dispositions for those two guys. And everybody, you know, when you have a number one pick of the draft, you obviously hope for Hall of Fame, MVP, Super Bowls. But if Fernando Mendoza ended up having at the end of his career, Kirk Cousins regular season career, you'd want a little more playoff success. that's a probably above average outcome, even for a number one overall pick.

So, you know, it's a guy who had a lot of success for multiple teams coming in and mentoring him. I didn't see this story. It's why I missed the cut. Tom Izzo was considered for the son's job, and he considered the son's job. And, I mean, it's not shocking because Ishibe is a Michigan State guy. It's also not shocking that Izzo didn't want to leave Michigan State. and Artemis 2 departs for the moon. This, you know, so a little behind the scenes here,

Daniel, our resident Nuggets fan, typically is on the controls on the show. Daniel's boss is Matt Ford, who used to be on the controls for the show. Matt Ford also has, I will call it, an unhealthy obsession with alien life and outer space. And he really wanted to get me on a tangent about the original moon landing and us going back.

I saw right through that, Matt. We have too much to do here. DeMonsei, let's get right to the show. The Spurs have won 10 straight and Wimby continues to prove his point with 41 points last night in 29 minutes. do you expect this performance to drop off come playoff time? So listen, I think there's a lot of reasons to be very optimistic about the Spurs and about Wimby come the playoffs. And I think that is where the 29 minutes a game thing can really factor in, where it's like, all right, in the playoffs, let's assume he's capable of playing 35 minutes a game,

that the 29 minutes a game is more of an artificial cap than an actual cap, then more minutes with Wimby on the court, more great defense, the scoring goes up. All of that, I think is a reason to think the spurs are very, very dangerous. And that if the spurs can be the first team since Bill Walton's Blazers to have playoff experience not matter, that they have all, they check every other box of a team that could win a championship. That part, I think is legitimate, fair, smart, cogent analysis.

With that said, DeMonsay, I'm going to get radicalized. It's not going to be, it's going to be a little Wimby's fault, and it's going to be a lot the media's fault if I get radicalized on Victor Wiminiama. because I have, for the last month, been told, scoring 40 points and playing mediocre defense is no way to win an MVP. And now the Spurs win a game against what's left of the Warriors, a Warriors team that had to have in the first quarter, a guy shoot a free throw with his off hand

because they didn't have enough healthy players. They're out of two ways. They're like, you know what? Sorry, pal. Who was it? I don't even remember who it was. But one of their guys was shooting with his left hand. Warriors team that had your old A.U.

teammate, L.J. Cryer, play 23 minutes last night and be their second leading score, fresh out the G league. Shout out LJ, by the way. That team scored 113. Wimby had the Spurs, you know, understandably played a, we're going to outscore you style of game,

and everyone's like, and everyone's like, holy shit, look at what Wimby did. Man, that feels like a double standard. Hey, man, He still recorded three blocks. Listen, and he's obviously, obviously, the best defensive player in the league. But the last two games, when people are like, look at Wimby, a tanker and a de facto tanker because they don't have staff,

the Bulls and the Warriors put up well above their median points for the year. 1 14 and 113 and the and the spurs one with Wimby focusing far more on his offense than his defense and everyone's like this is why this guy's unstoppable. And I'm watching it. I'm like, I thought that's what you're not supposed to do. I thought in 2026, the path to MVP was a nice tidy 25 points and holding your opposition in the 90s.

not point explosions. Because listen, I'm old-fashioned. I like a nice 40-point game. I think they're valuable and professional basketball. I like seeing Wimby go out there and just have Draymond Green threaten him to, or dare him to shoot. And he's like, okay, I'll shoot. I'll take these mid-range jumpers.

I'll do that, no problem whatsoever. But it The there is that The A lot of stupid memes That come to mind When I look at the reaction to Luca Averaging 40 for a month

And Wimby scoring 40 in back-to-back games Against awful opponents And so I am I am a little conflict is the wrong word. There's two things happening in my brain simultaneously. One is I believe the Spurs can win the championship. And I believe Wimby is only going to get better.

And I also think his disposition is one that will likely suit him very well come the playoffs and that I don't think the playoff stage is going to be too big for him. So I believe all of that and I also believe that him opening his campaign for MVP by saying and the third prong of my three prong platform is there's more to offense than scoring and everyone in the media being like, he's right, you know, have you heard a roll gravity? And then he scores 40 and back-to-back games. And everyone in the media is like, what can't this man do? That, to me, feels, I don't know.

You don't think it's kind of interesting, the timing of how Wimby has said everything. And then now he's focused on offense. He can do it. He clearly can do it. And it's like he can clearly do it on the defensive side. It's like, oh, if I want to play offense and drop 40, I can't. can. But if Luca wants to play defense and be dominant and do whatever, you probably couldn't. But Wimby just decided to.

So I don't listen. I don't know if Wimby, not I don't know. I do know that Wimby, at least as of yet, cannot consistently do what Luka or Shea or Joker, any of the three, do on offense. Now, can he pop off? Certainly. And is his ceiling right now higher than his 24 point per game average, obviously. I think all that's true. And can Luca do, can anyone do what maybe can do defensively? No. All of that is definitionally true.

What I find hypocritical by folks covering the league is they're yada yadaing Luca putting up 40 consistently for a month and then going head over heels over Wimby doing it a couple games in a row in games where his team you kind of went away from their identity of this lockdown defense egalitarian style of offense because he's gunning for an award.

Like that, again, I, I don't necessarily have a problem with guys gunning for awards. I have a problem with a media that has never liked that. And, you know, when after Russ, when they're like, oh, he's triple double hunting. You have heard different, went after Embed, when the he was like oh he's doing all of this just to win the mbp because it mattered to him later in his career than wimby is obviously and now wimby is transparently doing it and then after the game's talking about doing it goes on with scott van pelt and he's like yes it's very important to me and everyone loves it that to me is just it's just odd and so i again i

I don't, I don't, on a principled level, I don't even necessarily dislike it. Because I don't mind, I understand pro athletes. I understand anybody in competitive endeavors being like, I want to be recognized as the best. I want to go do things to where my accomplishments grow and grow and grow. I actually get that and to a degree relate to it. But this has never been covered like he is being covered, particularly for someone who even if we all believe eventually he will, as of this moment, has accomplished very, very little.

and that's that's all that I am saying here and so listen we'll see and I whether I like it or not because and it's not you can call the full transcript of every Wimby take I've had since he's been in the league and if you were to read it out aside from maybe some harsh commentary when he Chris Paul cheated in the skills competition. I don't think I've ever said anything actually negative about him. Now, I didn't pick him to win rookie of the year because I didn't think he'd play the 65 games needed. And I thought scoot would. The scoot take is not aged well.

But because my commentary surrounding Wimby has just been pretty positive I have found myself as like the most negative wimby guy in the media because I am just pretty positive about

his MVP chances this year and some of his quotes and all these things I am it's a skewed distribution it's you have 60% of the folks somewhere from putting him as a deity to future goat to already the best player in the world, 30% of the folks being like, man, he is, we've never seen anything like him

and he'll probably win a combined 20 defensive player of the year MVP's and championships. and me and maybe a couple others being like yeah right now i think he is the fourth or fifth best player alive and his team could win the title and people are like you fucking hater it's a really really interesting setup the likes of which i i'm not i'm not familiar for the comp for this could turn into like a yokechage type of thing man you are you weren't you were a little bit more negative on yokech but yeah no yokech i was here's the thing on yokech yokech my yokitch mvp opinions i stand by because it felt like we were changing the rules on the the boxes you have to check to win a mvp and then multiple mp's so i stand by those

but i was stone wrong about how great of a player he was going to be and maybe already was right right i was i was i was flat wrong about and i was far more like negative about joker like i was just wrong about him um i don't think there's anything i've said about wimby that even has the possibility of being classified as wrong because I haven't put a ceiling on what he's he can be I haven't I I haven't said well here's the reason he's actually his defense is overrated I I'm not doing but I'm also not a trafficking in the space that so many of my colleagues are which is giving him credit for in this MVP race for hypotheticals well what if he played more minutes what if he took more shots what if he

focused more on the offensive end. That, that, those are great questions to ask about can the spurs win the title? Those are wholly and entirely irrelevant questions to ask when it comes to who should be the 2026 NBA MVP. All right. Speaking of the 20, my top two MVP candidates play tonight, we'll discuss that in a second. But first, a reminder, today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock bet Florida's sports book.

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offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital LLC in all other states must be 21 plus and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call 1-833 play-wise. In Indiana, if you or someone you know as a gambling, problem wants help call 1-800-9 with it gambling problem call 1-800 gambler Arizona Colorado Illinois Michigan New Jersey Ohio Tennessee Virginia hey it's us the Jonas brothers and guess what we have some big news what's the news huge news we created our own podcast called hey Jonas we invented a podcast well we didn't

invent it we just contributed to us first people to do podcasts pretty yeah pretty wide range of podcasts around there but this one's extra special So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down?

Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. All right, DeManzay, let's talk about tonight's Lakers Thunder game. LA and OKC, two of the hottest teams in the NBA right now. They face off tonight. Luke will have a chance to even his odds with SGA, maybe pass them up a little bit.

We'll see. How telling will this game be for both teams? Listen, I don't think Luke, I want to be. clear. I don't think Luca has any shot to win MVP. I think that the he is, it is, it has become a two-man race and I think Luca is likely actually to finish fourth to finish behind Joker. And so I don't, it, he's in a weird spot where if Luca win, if Luca plays great and they win tonight, it oddly actually might just help Wimby more than it helps him because then the Spurs are only a game out of first place.

I do think, tonight I would anticipate the thunder. I would be very surprised if the Lakers win tonight because, and this is how precarious their ability to go on a deep playoff run. is, I think they would be better off being without, I think the third, let me rephrase it. I think in a series against the Thunder or a game against the Thunder, I think the third most important Laker is Mark is smart. I think against this team, I think it goes Luca, Braun, smart. even though Austin is over the entirety of the season

a more critical piece and a better player, certainly, obviously at this point, both of their careers. If they didn't have Austin tonight, then Braun just assumes that role and takes on more of the offensive workload. Without Mark is smart, they just have nobody with a shot to guard SGA.

Like their best point of attack point guard defender without Marcus Smart is probably Brony. Now, maybe Jared Vanderbilt. Yeah, I just think of Jared Vanderbilt. But he hasn't really, I mean, I think of him more as a wing defender, but yeah, you would put him out there before. But they're just so thin on that front. And by the way, we have talked about it. Shout out to Brony for getting real minutes and real games. And also, you know, again, I don't know if Al Horford's sister or my pal Stephen A

are still, you know, so desperately concerned about that young man and the other young men who were, you know, snubbed in the draft. But the Lakers had two picks in that draft. A first rounder named Dalton Connect and a second rounder named Brony James. and the second rounder is all of a sudden at the fringes of their rotation, and the first rounder Dalton Connect just put up an absolute stinker in the G-League last night. It was either the playoffs or the last game of the regular season, and he looks like he is a G-League player for the foreseeable future.

But that's neither here nor there. here though is what is interesting about this game de monseh and about the ramifications of it and the more i think about it maybe this is a positive for the lakers i'm not i've been trying i've been thinking about this all morning and I've kind of gone back and forth. If the Lakers lose, it makes OKC far more likely to stay in the one seat.

OKC gets another win. They still have that two-game cushion, really one-game cushion, a game and a half, on the Spurs. If the Lakers win, it obviously makes it more likely the Thunder are the two and would be the Lakers second round opponent. But I guess if they win this game in OKC without Marcus Smart, maybe they feel okay about that matchup.

Like I have been operating under the belief that the Lakers would far prefer play San Antonio than OKC in round two. that the discrepancy in playoff experience would be such an edge for the Lakers that they could overcome the Spurs depth potentially. Now, the Spurs would be the favorites in that series, and I might pick the Spurs in that series, but it's such a unique spot in the Western Conference Plowoff Race. Now, the other side of this is, and we're going to get to this,

in a moment. If the Lakers lose, their hold on the three seed becomes a little more tenuous because, by virtue of all of the tankers, none of the good Western Conference teams lose anymore. It's a really remarkable situation we have where the thunder, if we just look at last 10, the Thunder have won three in a row and they're nine and one in their last 10. The Spurs have won 10 in a row, they're 10 and O in their last 10. The Lakers have won four in a row, they're nine and one in their last 10. The Nuggets have won seven in a row, they're eight and two in their last 10.

The Rockets have won four in a row after kind of, you know, falling apart for a bit there. They're six and four in their last 10. and the Timberwolves without Anthony Edwards, they won their last game, but they're six and four in their last 10, which is why, despite the Lakers being on this crazy run, 15 and 2 in March, they haven't really gained separation.

Yeah, they absolutely could drop to the four. And I don't think it's possible or realistic they drop to the five. but Denver could catch them. And so Denver, but, and again, it's Denver's next game is against the Spurs. And so it's very hard to handicap what the playoff matchups are going to be because one versus two is totally in flux in Spurs Thunder. the spurs have two more losses than the thunder, but if they finish with the same record, the spurs get the one seed.

So that's a game and a half difference. And Lakers have the tiebreaker with everyone beneath them, Nuggets, Rockets, Timberwolves, but the Lakers also have, of those teams, the toughest remaining schedule with two games left against OKC plus a game against Phoenix and a game against goal. Golden State where maybe step is back.

So if my, my guess is the bracket ends one through four the way it is right now. OKC1, San Antonio 2, Lakers 3, Nuggets 4, and then the one flip is right now, Houston's 5 and the Timberwolves are 6, I think that flips. but if it doesn't, that's not exactly like, you know, the Lakers' gift of getting the three-seat is Minnesota in round one, which assuming Anthony Edwards is back for that series, that was a round one series last year. And, you know, the Timberwolves annihilated the Lakers.

Now, that was Lucas one bad playoff series of his whole career. All right, let's, Desmondsey, I know I bounced around here a little bit. Let's go back to the Luke and SGA MVP stuff for a minute. Yeah, so Luke and SGA both chose not to boast about their MVP, about the MVP race. Do you think that that was a mistake? I think it was a mistake by SGA because I think SGA could have put out a case that he would have been allowed to put out because he is the defending. MVP and they're the defending champion that would have felt pretty bulletproof. I think if SGA came out and said, listen, we've been the best team in the league wire to wire.

I am, this is my fourth straight year averaging more than 30 as a guard. I am shooting a career high from three and, well, a second career. or high, I guess, from three. And 55% from the field. I also lead my team and assists. And we as a whole take, you know, massive pride in our defense. Like, what more would you like me to do? I think people would have, even if the fans were like, stop foul baiting.

I think the media would have responded well to. of that. I think if Luca made a case for himself to be the MVP, it would have heard him. I think people, go ahead. Yeah, I mean, how people feel about Luca right now, yeah, they'd be really mad about it.

And so I think SGA, I think it might have been, you know, useful to ask GA to be like, hey, pull up the guard seasons with my level of scoring, my level of efficiency. Like, just let me see them. Let me see.

And you know what? This is, but, but sure, uh, and, you know, and I should have done this.

I'm making the case for him, but I'm going to, I'm actually going to check that myself right now. The seasons in NBA history, where someone has averaged 30 a game on greater than 50, 55% from the field. I can look that up easily, actually.

So I'm just going to do it real quick. 30 a game on 55% from the field. Okay? Here is the full list of seasons in NBA history in, you know, from oldest to youngest, so to speak. Kareem did it three times. He's obviously a center. Adrian Dantley did it four times How tall is Adrian Dantley

Adrian Dantley was I would consider him a wing But he wasn't a big So Adrian Dantley I think I think he was like 6-6 But he was he played small forward When he was doing it for the jazz Carl Malone did it once Yonis did it three times

And Shea right now So depending on how And I'm going to go, depending on how you consider, no, Adrian, I'm right. Adrian Dantley, if you go to his basketball reference page for all 15 years of his career, is listed as a small forward. So it's been done by a center, a small forward, two power forwards, and Shay this year. And the, and then the other thing that I would maybe check if I were Shea, if you wanted to do, was how many games of the Thunder going to win? Right now they're at 60 already, right?

So let's call it, let's put it at 62 wins because they'll definitely get, you know, at least two more wins. All teams by team wins. Guys to average 30 a game on teams that won 62 or more. Karim twice. Jordan, he won MVP. And did Kareem win MVP both of those years? Sorry, I hope this is interesting to the audience.

It's interesting to me. Yes. Average 30 or more on a 62 plus win team. The people who have done it. Kareem in 71, won MVP. Kareem in 72, one MVP. Jordan in 92, one MVP. Jordan in 96, one MVP.

Steph Curry in 2016, one MVP. James Harden in 2018, one MVP. And Shay this year. So, yeah, I think if Shay wanted to make a case for himself, it would be that. I'm having one of the greatest guard seasons ever. And every single guy, at any position who has scored like this and team has won, you know, 60, had 20 or fewer losses,

is I guess a way to put it, has one MVP. But have you seen his role of gravity? I just, I mean, listen, I think that as much as I love Luca, I don't think there is at the moment a compelling case for Luca. over Shea for MVP. And that's despite the fact that I think Luke is better than it. But I think MVP has to be about what guys have done, not just a lining up of who the best player is.

And you've got to be fair about it. So yeah, I think Shea could have made his case. I just made his case for him. It seemed pretty compelling. He's got you a retainer. I don't know. I don't know Tim Bond Tim Strawpole voters are going to. to watch this pod, but maybe it'll move some things.

Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call. it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers

was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel

and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsClyce brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsClyce on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more,

follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. All right, let's go to jail and hurts because I wanted to get this yesterday. Oh, yeah, so ESPN Drop the story on the dysfunction of the 2025 Eagles. Hertz and Siriani were scrutinized very heavily. More A.J. Brown frustrations came to light.

Is this way worse than what you thought? I don't know if it's way worse than what I thought, but here's what I... Confirms it. Well, I also find it interesting that this story can exist, meaning that you had 10 people with the Eagles. in various ways, kind of throwing shade at their franchise quarterback or their head coach. That this story can't exist in Kansas City. You can't write it.

You're not going to find three people, much less double-digit sources. They're going to be like, here's the problem with Patrick. This story can't exist in Buffalo. This story kind of existed in Baltimore. more. And the head coach got and that, but the head coach got is out. You know what I mean? Like the, um, it stories like this don't come out of thin air. And here is. So just kind of rapid fire takeaways on it. You, you said more AJ Brown frustrations came to light. I looked at a little bit differently.

I looked at it as this story to me, de Monzae, is a little confirmation as to why A.J. Brown being such a pain in the ass the last two years did not seem to hurt his popularity in that locker room or standing amongst teammates. that even if AJ Brown's methods of messaging were clumsy or unprofessional, that it seems like there were enough people in that building that were like at least someone saying something, that it, you know, created, inoculated him a bit from what I think could be problematic. If nobody was, if everybody was like, man, AJ, such a diva. Just wants his stats, everything else.

Then I think AJ would not still have been as stable in that locker room as he seemed to be. So that, you know, that to me jumped. Another thing that jumped from this article was them really zeroing in on Jalen's there's leadership style and play style. We'll start with play style. Jaylen's allergy to playing the position certain ways, more under center, more play action turning is back to the defense, more pre-snap motions,

those types of things that can make things easier for receivers and quarterbacks if they're willing to do it, and the way that truly limited their passing game. and Jalen not wanting to adjust from there. Another piece of the story that I thought was really fascinating was one of the most criticized moments of the Eagles season. Late in the year, 10-7 against Green Bay, when Siriani decided to go for a fourth down,

and I'm going to pull up the time score situation exactly because I remember us seeing when it happened, I came on the show and I couldn't believe it that Siriani not only went for the fourth down, now that obviously is his call. Oh, it wasn't late in the season. It was early in the season. Pardon me. I mean, the exact midway point of the year.

But so here's the time score situation. Green Bay is out of timeouts. It is fourth and six for the Eagles at the Green Bay 35-yard line. And there's 33 seconds left. And so Siriani chose not to kick the field goal, which I think probably was smart because you missed that field goal. You know, all of a sudden they're near midfield. and felt they were too close to punt.

I disagreed with that piece of it. I thought you punt, try to pin him back, whatever. He decided to go for it, which was, I thought, questionable. But then what we really criticized was the play call was a bomb down the left sideline from Jail and Harts, AJ Brown. This article revealed they just called that on their own. and that Jalen will occasionally just call stuff on his own or draw up routes essentially on his own that was not what they'd practiced or what the play design was.

Man, if you're going to do that, you need to have higher success rate at it than Jalen has had certainly last year. I think that's fair. And then here is another criticism and then the big picture piece of it. they said in the article that jalen's you know has this cobi bryant michael jordan's style of leadership this is maybe going to be a controversial take and i want to make sure i say it right i don't know that coby brian and michael jordan's leadership styles were good i think they were effective for them specifically.

And it would, that leadership style is not in general the right way to be a leader and can only work if your individual excellence is unimpeachable. Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah, I was about to say because it's Kobe and Jordan. Like that those guys are one of ones. Exactly. Exactly. So I just think that, again, people roll their eyes at my home stuff, but it's all true.

It's not at all Patrick's style of leadership, the Kobe or Jordan style. But he's probably the only quarterback in the league that if it were, could get away with it. Right. Like, what are we going to say to this guy? You know what I mean? He's the best. He is going to go down in history as the greatest or on the very, like Kobe on the very, the very short list of greatest.

What are we going to do? So I just, I think that could, if I used the wrong comp on the TV show yesterday when this came up, but I want to use an NBA comp. Like, I don't think the Kobe or Jordan style of leadership would, if when, not, I can't use him because they didn't, They didn't have any success. And Jalen obviously has had a lot of success.

If Tyrese Halliburton was like, I have a Kobe or LeBron style or Kobe or Jordan style of leadership, I think people might be like, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Listen, you're really good. Don't get me wrong. But we're not quite there yet. And then here's the football read on it.

It's very simple. And this is where the Russell Wilson comps just continue a pace. Because Russell Wilson, like Jalen Hertz, went to two different colleges, because one place didn't want him anymore. Like Russell Wilson, Jalen Hertz has won everywhere. Like Russell Wilson, went to two Super Bowls very early, winning one, losing one. like Russell Wilson, particularly early in his career,

had real questions about what a precise thrower he is. With that said, the one type of throw that from the very beginning he was excellent at was the deep ball, like Russell Wilson seemed to have very odd relationships with teammates. Like Russell Wilson, there was a real debate about how much credit he should get for winning a championship on that team with that style. And here is where Russell Wilson, to his credit, in the second half of his Seahawks career adjusted, once Russell Wilson stopped being this dynamic,

scrambling running threat, he did develop as a better passer. Jaylen Hertz, his first full-time year as a starter, ran for 785 yards. And the TD numbers are weird because of the tush-push piece of it. So I don't even know how to calculate those. His second year as a starter, he ran for 760 yards. His first year, it was 5.6 a carry. His second year was 4.6 a carry.

His third year as a starter, he ran for 605 yards. at 3.9 yards of carry is fifth year fourth years of starter ran for 630 yards at 4.2 at carry and last year he ran for 421 yards at 4.0 a carry if you are going to no longer be a true dynamic on any snap dual threat quarterback you must do what russ did and greatly improve as a passer. Russell Wilson, his second year, third year as a starter, ran for 850 yards. By, you know, by 2018, his seventh year as a starter, that was down to three, went from 850 his third year to 376 and no rushing touchdowns, his seventh year.

but that year he threw for 35 touchdowns seven interceptions had a 110 rating the next two years he had a combined 105 ratings 71 touchdowns 80 picks and threw for more than 4,000 yards each year so if the running is not going to be as big of a part of your game you he's he's got to get better as a precision, fully developed passer. Or he's got to lean into the running more like he used to. And this is the last thing I'll say on this demise. Siriani is obviously on the hot seat. Jalen Hertz seat is warmer than a guy who is 14 months removed from winning

Super Bowl MVP's seat has any business being. does that make like the you would think he had a three year minimum grace period yeah and it feels like it might be two year minimum grace period and then some did this not at all take away conversations go ahead this didn't take away any flack on seriani like like you don't think his seat got a little bit cooler with this? Well, it seems like some of the criticisms in the article was that Siriani doesn't, you know, won't criticize Jalen or won't, you know, isn't going to. So I don't know.

I, it did in that, I do give Siriani credit on that play that I talked about against Green Bay. Right. He went to the press conference and said he called it. Right. And, you know, throw him. So I do, he is good at taking blame for other guys stuff. And I think that's one of the reasons his players love him. And so I will give him credit for that.

All right. We're going to talk about another quarterback in a second. But first, Boost Mobile is proving that you don't have to overpay for great wireless. Unlock the savings with the $25 a month forever unlimited plan. It's a permanent price with no contracts and no price hikes. You can keep your phone and your number, but you save up to $600 a year. compared to the major carriers, stop overpaying and switch to a fair price at boostmobile.com today. Based on average annual single line payment of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile customers,

compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan. As of January 2026, for full offer details, visit boostmobile.com. All right, DeMonsei, let's go to your guy before we wrap the show. Yeah, so my new head coach, Jesse Minter, sounds like he doesn't know if Lamar is coming to the voluntary workouts. He said, quote, we'll see who walks in the door, end quote. With a new coaching staff in place, this isn't a bad look for Lamar as showing up to the workouts.

So, listen, and people have heard me say this a hundred times now, in the last CBA negotiations between the players and the owners, the players wanted more money, the owners held the line and said, instead of giving you more money, will essentially make you work less. Make training camp easier, have less mandatory days of offseason stuff. And one of the reasons I feel like the coaches were fine with the owners doing that was because they correctly assumed the media would shame players who don't show up for voluntary stuff.

so voluntary would essentially end up becoming de facto mandatory. The owners could keep more money, and there would be a real pressure on guys to show up, even though they don't have to. So I've never wanted to be a part of that. So I basically had a blanket policy of not criticizing guys who don't show up for the voluntary portion of the offseason. That blanket policy has had a caveat of

I do feel like it's a little different for quarterbacks. Quarterbacks are paid the most. They are almost a part of management themselves. Most control over the game. And their salary is so so disproportionate to everyone else's. I do think it's okay to ask a little bit more from them. Okay, so there is that piece of it. Now, what is also true is Lamar historically has not gone to these things.

Last year, the Ravens had nine voluntary practices. He went to one of them. He doesn't like to go. And aside from last year, you could never point to a season where it's like, well, look, sure it looks like Lamar needed that offseason practice. You know, he's been excellent throughout his career. with all of that set, he is coming off individually his worst season. The team is coming off collectively, their worst season. He does want a new contract.

And I don't think that, I don't think this is a negotiating ploy. I'm just adding that to the, you know, tapestry of what's happening here. And most importantly, this is the first time in his career. where in an off season, they have changed coaches. I think he should be there. And I don't think it is a massive indicator of how successful their season will or won't be if he's not there. But I think it's really weird that the new head coach Jesse Mentor seems to. to just be resigned to the fact that he doesn't expect him there.

You are the Lamar guy. How do you feel about this? Well, he hasn't officially not gone yet. Oh, yeah, that's totally fair. It is a new head coach. Yeah, I think last season was, no, no, no, the last season was the type of season where it's like maybe you should get in all the extra work and you can. Like if this were a different year, maybe I feel a little bit different.

But yeah, I don't I don't love it. I don't hate it too much. I mean, I know he's at least working out. Yeah, no, he's definitely. And so that's the other piece of it that makes the him not going to the offseason stuff so odd to me. He obviously works his ass off. Yeah. He's improved so much in different parts of his game. He's always in great shape. Like he, the, you can't, it's not even like in April. It's called. I know he doesn't like. the cold. It's not cold in Baltimore this time of year. Like, uh, it's, you know, it's not going to drop into the 50s where he has to worry about getting the flu as usual. Like, I don't, um, I don't. I don't. I don't understand. That's also, he's always done it this way. And, you know, but yeah, the, the new coach. It makes sense to go. It's so, hold on. The, I, I, I just real quick before we go. Um,

All right. I want to read all of these because this is so much fun. I mean, it's just so much fun. The Kurt Cousins contract details. Oh, yeah. Because you know what? I feel like I have done good work in my role of shaming some of the, NFL insiders on info they're putting out.

And so credit where it's due, I am going to start with Rappaport, who was the subject of a bit of my ire on the, who's contra? Oh, the Travis Kelsey deal. The one year $12 million, Travis Kelsey deal is reported as a $3.55 million Travis Kelsey deal.

Yeah. Because it had a fake year two option, 40 million bucks. Rappaport, I will read his tweet directly. The Raiders are signing QB Kurt Cousins to a contract that pays him $10 million for playing in Las Vegas in 2026, 1.3 paid by the Raiders, the rest paid by the Falcons, and 10 million in next March in a fully guaranteed roster bonus with no offset. There is a two-year team.

option for $80 million. So instead of reporting it as this massive deal, he's telling us, and then he follows up, essentially a $20 million payday for Kurt Cousins in Las Vegas for 2026, then we'll see. But the idea was that he wouldn't play for the minimum, now he gets a lot more. Rap report then follows up with $20 million is also bridge starter money, a sign that Kirk Cousins could indeed be taking the first snap in Las Vegas.

Rapsheet, love it. Well done. We got the actual information. Rapsheets Frenomey rival Adam Schaefter. Let's see how

he reported this. Hold on. Don't go to that yet. Oh, wait. Oh, that's great. Here we go. Comp update. Kurt Cousins will sign a five-year, $172 million deal with the Raiders that in reality, all right, love it. I'm good with this too, Schaefter. Well done. A one year fully guaranteed $20 million deal that contains a club option for two years at $80 million. Falcons will play pay Cousins eight points. 7 this season Raiders another 1.3 and Raiders agreed to pay its newly its new QB a fully guaranteed $10 million roster bonus on the third day of the 2027 new league year and maybe most notably sets on the new mark this will be 11 straight season which cousins contract will be fully guaranteed guys this is all we need to do we the now nobody's like holy shit are the Raiders not drafted Mendoza they escape Kurt

thousand to 170 million. 5 years, 172. So that those are all, um, you know, various contract mechanisms about teams being able to do void years or different ways to manipulate how much shows up on this year's cap. But it's a one year, $20 million deal. Everyone understands it because our two biggest NFL transaction reporters nailed it. Guys, I'm not ready to say my work here is done, but I do feel like we're moving towards a better, more informed public,

which has been my goal. All right, that'll do it for today. We're going to stick around and do a mailbag episode. A huge thanks to Boost Mobile and to Hard Rock, as always. Huge thanks to Blue Duck and to the volume. Huge thanks to Matt Ford for filling in Daniels, metaphorically, giant shoes, but I think literally probably quite small shoes, doing a great job. Talk to you guys tomorrow for the mailback episode. What's right.

Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to us. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an Acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Rockroom stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

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