Master Chief vs. Yoshi

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.

Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons 3-7 on Sports Hub Triad. I've been on the phone all week trying to figure out what's going on with Cam Newton. And the last two nights I've spoken with the few people in the league, people who are plugged in, and behind the scenes, here's the perception of Cam Newton and his market. He's not going to be handed a starting quarterback job.

He's more than likely going to have to compete in order to get on the field. It's like a game of musical chairs, and the music's going. Ryan Tannehill, he resigns with the Titans. Marcus Mariota leaves Tennessee to go to Las Vegas, where Derek Carr's already at.

The music's continuing to play. Tom Brady, he makes his decision. He's going to Tampa Bay, so that spot's filled. Jameis Winston and Cam Newton, they are the last two guys who are circling the pile.

Is Andy Dalton going to be moved from Cincinnati? Nick Foles, he's traded to the Bears. So the Bears, they've found their seat. Or Foles, he's secured the seat for the Bears.

So what else is there? The draft is probably going to produce a couple of guys as well. So I'm painting the image right now, Robert, of a musical chairs game where Brady is seated, Phillip Rivers, he's seated in the Indianapolis chair that's left. You got Marcus Mariota in his seat firmly, Nick Foles. So if you can picture it, it is Cam and Jameis Winston circling the NFL musical chairs circle. And who's going to get in the final chair in this instance? Aaron. Well, Jameis can't see the chair and Cam's too injured to get to the chair.

Once he sits down, I don't think he'll be able to get back up to play the next round. Right. 3-3-6-7-7-7-1-600 on Twitter at sportsubtriad. Robert Walsh is the producer of this show. Aaron Gabriel, he's in today.

So that's what I'm being told. People connected to the Panthers, people not connected to the Panthers, national media that have covered Cam for a very long time. The perception in the league is the big concern he's never been asked to win without his athleticism. He's a lot like the high school kid who had the great looks, who was popular, picture him with the letter jacket, maybe was the starting quarterback, the most popular kid with the suave hair, Tyler Cameron-like looking. This guy. He doesn't have to develop a personality. Nah, he's handed everything. This guy looks like Leo. Okay, here he is. Let's give him his pick of the litter when it comes to who he wants to take the prom.

You know, this guy, anybody wants to be one of his friends. But then high school ends and you might have some success in your 20s, good looking people, doors they open wide for these people. But sometimes, you know, you might not be as lucky at the end of your 20s and in your early 30s, you might lose some of your hair and you might lose some of your looks, right?

So what are you going to have after that? There are incidents where people who were given everything because of their looks then become the person without a personality when the looks soon fade. That's to a degree how Cam is right now. He's knocked out everything with his athleticism and just dominated the opponent doing things that no other quarterback's ever done. He's built 6'5", 250. It's an unbelievable sight when you go into the Panthers locker room, you just see the guy in compression shorts.

You're like, holy bleep, man. Is this a defensive end or is this the guy throwing passes? That's Cam and this isn't breaking news to anybody. Like he could be a good quarterback, but we don't know if he's healthy. You can't really give him a physical because of everything going on with the coronavirus, but teams are petrified to give him a starting opportunity because they don't quite know where it's gonna head. While you might say Jameis Winston can't see the chair, well, Jameis Winston, he plays more than anything else. Like his passing numbers are more effective than Cam's has been in recent years.

So that's the concern. When you look forward into the market, you got potentially the LA Chargers who might be there. I'm sticking with that pick. I don't really buy Tyrod Taylor being the quarterback they move forward with right after they were reportedly offering 30 plus million dollars to Tom Brady. You don't just say, yeah, I want the biggest star and then yeah, we'll just settle for Tyrod Taylor now in our new stadium.

Like I don't really buy it. I think once he gets released, the Chargers, they're going to take a look at Cam because you could put them on posters, you could sell tickets. There is a great lifestyle fit there too, just like there is for the Miami Dolphins because I would take Cam over the one year with Ryan Fitzpatrick. If it doesn't work out, you're probably going to draft a young quarterback anyway.

You don't want to throw them into the fire immediately. Tua Tagovailoa, maybe a Justin Herbert in that spot. I expect Cam to be released and those two teams to take a look at him. But there will be secondary markets for him if it's not LA or if it's not Miami. I don't think it's the Washington Redskins because they're still paying Alex Smith a ton of money and he's not ruling out a return to play. You also got Dwayne Haskins in place there, who was a first round pick from a year ago.

I understand the familiarity with Ron and Thomas Davis. I'm not going to rule out Washington as an option, but I just don't see that one happening. Jacksonville, not a good cap situation. Already traded away a veteran quarterback to Chicago and they're paying his salary this year. So I don't see that being a fit. Cincinnati, if you're going to bring in a veteran quarterback, why not just keep the one you have with Andy Dalton on the roster?

You at least know that guy's going to be healthy. Jacksonville doesn't make sense. Cincinnati doesn't make much sense.

New England doesn't seem like a good culture fit there. So I really think it's down to the Chargers and the Dolphins. If he plans to be a for sure starter, the secondary market's going to be this criteria. You got to have an unproven starting quarterback and a not so promising backup. And two teams that I haven't heard anybody talk about, and I'm not necessarily saying these teams are interested in Cam, but they fit this criteria.

So I'm just going to throw it out there. The Tennessee Titans and the New York Giants. The Titans, they just signed Tannehill, but how did Tannehill become the starter? Because they weren't so confident with Mariota, brought in Tannehill and those two, they jockeyed between each other and Tannehill eventually won out. Like it's probably best for Tannehill if somebody's there who threatens his position. Cam would do that.

And if Cam wins out, I don't think it's a bad situation for Tennessee. The Giants, they haven't publicly committed to Daniel Jones with this new coaching staff. Dave Gettleman, he had a rocky relationship with Panther stars. Jordan Gross, reportedly Steve Smith for sure. Josh Norman called him the penguin from Batman on the radio, which is pretty funny if you've ever seen Dave Gettleman, what he looks like. But Cam Newton had a good relationship with Gettleman.

All things considered, those two were okay with each other. So if Gettleman likes Cam and sees low risk there, well, why not bring him in? Why not? They have a ton of cap space. Top 10 in the league, I believe, in cap space.

I think actually top five in cap space. The Giants, it wouldn't be crazy to think they bring in Cam Newton. I've heard crazier ideas. Yes, Robert?

I've got a crazy idea for you. Another team in your secondary market. What about the Arizona Cardinals?

Oh, wow. Behind, I pulled up their depth chart right now. Behind Kyler Murray are two undrafted free agents being Drew Anderson and Chris Streveller.

Exactly. But Kyler actually was really good last year. Yeah, I think, but the way he runs, he takes off a lot. Like Tannehill, he's in the league for six, seven years, maybe even longer than that.

It's just, there's unbalanced there. That 10 games, it's a small sample to think, oh, this is who you're going to be for five more years. And then also, looking at the backup quarterbacks for the two I mentioned, you got some kid out of Toledo I never heard of, and some kid out of Monmouth I've never heard of who's the backup for the Giants right now. So, you're right. That might fit the market.

Young quarterback, we'll see if that's something Steve Keim in Arizona might take a look at. But I'll tell you something we need to take a look at. It is our bracket of the day. It's our video game characters bracket. It's the last of our five brackets and five days to revive March Madness, since we don't have college basketball brackets to be filling out as we love to do each year. We've done the 90s kid bracket, we've done the 2000s pop music bracket, romantic comedies bracket, a color bracket yesterday. Big upset. Royal purple beating sky blue in the championship. Let's get to the video game character bracket. This is the only one that Robert Walsh actually filled out the field for. Let's hit a region.

Let's go to the button mash and reach it. Number one seed Scorpion facing Knack as a 16 seed. Scorpion without a doubt going to go through to the second round. Eight seeded goose from what's goose from the untitled goose game you play as a goose who just causes some problems around the farm. I think that's going to get beaten by ninth seeded rain, not Rain Man, but Ray Man.

Rich fried potatoes. Ray Man is through to the round of 32. Sans from Undertale faces 13th seeded Owl Boy.

I like Sans to advance through to the second round. These are computer games, button mashing, so you're either hitting WASD or you're just smashing the hell out of the X button. Shovel Knight as a five seeds facing 12 seeded Frogger. Why is Frogger the 12 seed? He doesn't have any great skills besides evasion, but evasion. Elusiveness. Also a synonym for evasion, but Frogger is through. He's slippery.

He's hard to get a hold of. Raiden is a six seed facing 11th seeded Earthworm Jim. This one's actually pretty close for me.

Robert, where are you headed? I'm probably going Raiden considering he's a god and Earthworm Jim is a guy named Jim whose head is an earthworm. Sub-Zero is definitely advancing against 14th seeded Pajama Sam. Did you ever play those as a kid? I did.

Thunder and lightning ain't so frightening. Seventh seeded Eddie Gordo is facing Qbert. Qbert?

I love the Ayrton. What the hell are these games? These are some off the wall, man. I mean, you could have probably spread some around from the OG region. Captain Falcon's a 15 seed. Alright, look, I didn't come at you for razzmatazz being 16. I didn't come at you for any of your seeding. Don't come at me. I'm not.

Qbert is going to pull off the upside. Oh, man. Over Eddie Gordo. He's a dance fighter.

Disrespectful. It's a capoeira. Ryu. Ryu. Ryu. From Street Fighters facing 15th seeded Cuphead. It's going to be Ryu. And Ryu is going to advance against Qbert.

For sure. Qbert didn't stand a chance, man. Raiden versus Sub-Zero.

It's going to be Sub-Zero. Sans versus Frogger. That elusiveness. Or give me another word other than elusiveness, Robert. Slippery.

Slippery. Frogger to the sweet 16. Rayman pulls off the upset.

9th seeded. Rayman's going to beat Scorpion. This is absurd. This is ridiculous. Rayman's arms are not connected to his body.

Therefore, he gets a lot of hacking calls. Dustin Hoffman's on to the sweet 16. Rayman versus Frogger. It's not the same movie, by the way. He's doing Sling Blade. That's not Rayman. I didn't say it was!

That's what he said. He's been doing that voice since we said Rayman. I know.

I don't know why he's doing that voice. That's not to do for Rayman. No, that's, uh, forget it. I didn't say that what he was doing is from Rayman. I'm making the proper joke here. God, this is a mess. You don't want to pick Qbert to beat Eddie Gordo. No, just keep doing this.

Just keep doing the voice that you're doing. Rayman. Rayman versus Frogger. Rayman's on to the Elite 8. Ryu takes out Sub-Zero. And now we got Ryu facing Rayman in the Elite 8. For who goes to the Final Four? What are we doing? Ryu! Ryu takes out, what a historic run by Rayman.

Them french fried potatoes. It's a very limited impression that he has. My favorite part of that movie is after he kills the dad. He calls 911. He's like, you're gonna need to get down here. I done killed this man. He really appreciates you listening and thanks you from the bottom of his twisted little heart. Congratulations.

You've won over a complete imbecile. The drive with Josh Graham on Sports Hub Triad. At the start of the week, I promised you this. We will never go on the air and say we have nothing to talk about. Because quite frankly, I think we have a lot that's not related to the words corona or virus.

Actually, no promises on the front end there. Like, we might need to draw into some corona related material. Michael Irvin, he's been on the Twitter saying that he doesn't care how coronas get their lime yesterday. That was the hot take he decided to put out there into the public, to put out there into the world. As Herm Edwards once said, don't press send. Play to win the game, playmaker. That's what you do.

So, we will always have something to talk about and we're gonna try and keep it fun. Because that's what sports radio is supposed to be. Now, I have heard the shows where people are depressed and they don't know quite what to do. And I'm not downplaying the severity of what's going on. But, I feel like if you're listening to this show right now, you're probably wanting things that are happening in the sports world.

Versus me talking about the things that we don't have. Just reiterating the fact that there are no NBA or NHL games going on. That there are, there were supposed to be today NCAA tournament games being played in Greensboro at the Coliseum. And obviously the NCAA tournament's been cancelled. So, my promise to you during this time is that we are going to stick to sports.

Which is an amazing thing to say because usually that said in like the political way. Hey, I'm not gonna stick to sports or hey sports guy stick to sports. No, this is just me saying to you that I get it.

You probably want to get away from all the virus talk. So, rather than talking about us not having a March Madness tournament. We put together brackets every single day this week. 90s pop music bracket or make it 2000s pop music. 90s kid bracket is what I was thinking about. We did that too.

Romantic comedies. We had a colors bracket. And today it's a video game characters bracket. And we're in the final four.

And me and Robert, we've been arguing about this the last hour. Like it is intense. It is not pretty. Curse words are being thrown left and right.

Like things that can't make it onto the air. Seconds before the microphones are turned on. Arguing about this video game character bracket. So, here we are. We're in the final four.

So, let's dive straight in. The madness continues on Sports Hub Triad. It's the video game bracket. We've reached the final four. For the first time this week. No one seeds making it to the final four.

None. So, it's been a wild tournament. Where we have number five seed Yoshi out of the OG region. Facing six seeded John Marston from Red Dead Redemption.

The Red Dead video games. That's out of the PlayStation Heroes region. Out of the Shoot'em and Punch'em region. It is number two seed Master Chief going up against in the button mashing region. It is Ryu, the second seed from Street Fighter.

Let's start with the left side of the bracket. Yoshi a five seed facing six seeded John Marston. I think it has to be Yoshi. Because Yoshi, he has more fighting experience I think over the years.

I know John Marston has the two popular video games. But Yoshi, he's done battle in Mario Party. He's done battle in Super Smash Bros. Every single one of those games. Like Yoshi has versatility that John Marston just doesn't have. And also, since it's a video game. Like Yoshi, he's somebody who's thrived at different levels. Like he's been great in 3D, great in 2D.

John Marston doesn't know anything other than the three dimensional video game world. So I gotta go with the OG. It was the most powerful bracket. He was the most well prepared. Yoshi, as a five seed higher seeded than John Marston is in his own region. He's the one that has to advance to the championship game, yes? I don't think Yoshi gets out unscathed.

John Marston is the definition of a badass. He's gonna put Yoshi through the ringer. Maybe Yoshi comes out on top. But his tongue is just a little bit shorter. And that Yoshi is just a little bit quieter.

Do that one more time. Number two seed Master Chief is facing Ryu. For a right. For a championship facing Yoshi. I think Master Chief has more weaponry he can go with. Are there 3D versions of Street Fighter that I just don't know about? I mean, no, I don't think so. Yeah, they probably are.

There's still platformers like that. But when you're talking about the weaponry, that's correct. Ryu, he does have some energy attacks. Hadouken. The Hadouken. Like that. But you're gonna run out on that. Hit it again.

Hadouken. I just wasn't ready for that. And I think he's gonna run into a buzz saw with Master Chief. We've been saying it all week. This guy is the best at defense. He's got a multitude of moves on offense.

The guy can score any way he wants to. And it's literally like bringing a fist to a gun fight. That's exactly what it is. Oh, Hadouken. Yeah. Master Chief is on to the championship round.

Okay, this is where friendships are gonna end. This is where opinions differ in the studios. It is Yoshi going up against Master Chief. A five seed versus a two seed. I think Yoshi is gonna get Master Chief in a shell a handful of times.

I think that's gonna happen. Yoshi, he's the hardest one to kill. Him and Kirby in Super Smash Bros. Like he has the double jump. The butt bomb is so hellacious.

Like so devastating. Like Master Chief, he isn't seeing any of that. Let me tell you something. I'm telling you what, he might run into some ghosts or a banshee. But he's not running into a butt bombing dinosaur. Okay, here's what's gonna happen. Okay, maybe Yoshi gets some licks in early because he has to be aggressive.

He had a tough matchup in the final four to get to the championship. And he knows the only way he's gonna beat Master Chief is if he does it quickly. So maybe he hits some of those.

Maybe he gets some butt bombs. But when he puts them in his shell, he's pulling out that plasma sword. And he is ripping Yoshi asunder. There will be two separate Yoshis. It will be plural. And there will be no more.

It's gonna be needlers all in his tongue. Master Chief has got the weaponry. He's got the experience. And he had the lighter load in the tournament. First round, he had to take out Duke Nukem, who probably blew himself up.

Hence his name. There's no one in this tournament that I think is more ready to face Yoshi than Master Chief. And it's gonna come out on top. On Twitter, at SportsHubTriad, at Josh Graham Radio, you can vote who's the better video game character.

Master Chief or Yoshi, 336-777-1600. We haven't opened up the phones much today. But we're doing this right now because this is the most important thing that we have. And I'm not saying... Look, we had Kevin Harlin today. We did. We had Adam Gold, who's got a brand new show coming out Monday. Monday, right here on SportsHubTriad. And we've got a top ten list we haven't even got to yet. Top ten teddies in honor of Teddy Bridgewater. That's in five minutes. And I don't give a damn about any of that other stuff. This is what's important right now.

336-777-1600 is the phone number. Aaron, how do you see it? I didn't have Yoshi making it that far. How far did you have Master Chief? I had Master Chief losing to Raiden in the Final Four. Because Raiden's like the god of thunder.

Yeah, he is a god. And in Mortal Kombat, they rip people's heads off. His hat has a blade on it that you can throw.

Yeah, that's a nasty dude. Who did Raiden lose to? Aaron, that's not the point. What happens here if Master Chief is facing Yoshi? I don't care about your hypothetical bracket. Yoshi gets blasted out into Bolivian, to quote the great Mike Tyson.

Into Bolivian. Here's the thing. As much as I love Yoshi, and I think he's going to put up a fight, I actually agree with you guys. I think it is Master Chief. I think Master Chief is going to win the video game character bracket. Most of the voting we have so far is favoring Master Chief as well. So Master Chief takes down Yoshi. Robert, care to close us out the way that the Yoshi Master Chief segment needs to be closed out with?

Alright. We've got, in honor of Teddy Bridgewater, I have my top ten teddies. In addition to that, my way too early NFL top ten rankings after the first wave of free agency.

Keep it on the drive. This is the wildest stat I saw today. And it comes courtesy of ESPN Stats and Info. Twenty-two running backs were taken in the 2015 NFL Draft. After Todd Gurley was released by the Rams yesterday, not a single one of them is still with the team that selected them. I've got my top ten teddies, which is a fun list with wordplay and such, in honor of the Panthers signing Teddy Bridgewater to be Cam Newton's successor.

We'll do that in just a few minutes. But I got my way too early NFL top ten, which includes a team right now, a team that didn't make the playoffs last year that I think is a top five team in the NFL. And it's not Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

What a great tease that is. Let's get to the top ten list. Number ten! This is my NFL top ten, not my top ten teddies. Number ten, it's the Denver Broncos. Do we have a bell or something there?

Ah, that's Shakira. Man, I miss football. That seems like it was decades ago.

It was just last month. The Denver Broncos, I love this football team because it's a good organization. Good organizations aren't kept down very long. I'm not a huge fan of the signing of Melvin Gordon today, but it should be a good backfield, Gordon being there alongside the Denver Broncos. He's there alongside Phillip Lindsay, who played at the University of Colorado.

A.J. Boye is a good corner after the loss of Chris Harris. You have some shoring up of the offensive line with Graham Glasgow, who they gave a big deal to.

Jerrel Casey is an inside rusher that they bring in as well. So the Broncos, with Drulock down the stretch of the year, having some success, I think they're going to get back into the playoffs. They're going to be a top 10 team in the National Football League. Number nine, the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks, I thought they overachieved last year just because of the injuries they had. Theoretically, a lot of guys should come back from injury. I like the signing of Greg Olsen.

I think it's going to be a big help to Russell Wilson. As long as Russell's in place, it's hard for me not to have the Seahawks as a top 10 team, who right there in the playoff mix could be in, could be out, just because of how difficult their division is this year. The Rams, they were nine and seven last year. The Cardinals, they're going to be better, picking up DeAndre Hopkins as Cliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray go into year two. And of course, you have the defending NFC champion, San Francisco 49ers, there as well.

More from them in a minute. Number eight on the top 10 list, the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas is going to get back into the playoffs.

I love the upgraded coach, Mike McCarthy over Jason Garrett. It was smart for them to give Dak Prescott just the franchise tack. Remember, his salary was less than $5 million his first four years with Dallas. Now, that doesn't include some of the incentives he received. That doesn't include some of the endorsement deals that he's received. But he hasn't been paid a lot by Dallas. He's going to make between $31 and $34 million this year. He knows it's the best situation for him to be in. Quarterbacks, they're coddled.

They are generally healthier and lead longer careers than other positions. That's why I think this is a lot different than Zeke Elliott, who's been paid as a top 10 pick. And his career is going to be a lot shorter than Dak's is going to be just because of the position he plays. Dak's going to be fine playing on the franchise tack. Amari Cooper, they bring him back. Smart to let him test the market.

You save some dollars there. He knows it's the best place for him to be in order to have a chance to win a Super Bowl. So you have weapons, a good offensive line, good rushers. They added Gerald McCoy as well, upgraded coach. Dallas is the eighth best team in the league.

They're back at the playoffs. Seven, the Buffalo Bills. The Bills are seventh.

And I love what Brandon Bean is putting together. It seems they're building a similar culture that Carolina had under Ron Rivera. Josh Allen, he's getting better year by year. The Patriots, they're not really going to be a contender this year. They're not going to be down long.

Great organizations usually aren't. Back to what we were talking about with the Denver Broncos there. But this year is going to be the Bills window, bringing in Stefan Diggs, bringing in a handful of other guys since the quarterback's on a cheap rookie deal.

Buffalo going to be the winner of the AFC East. Number six in my NFL way too soon rankings, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I think this is one of the three best teams in the NFC. You got the Bucs with a head coach who has proven, who had turned around a dysfunctional organization in the Arizona Cardinals going to the NFC championship game where they of course lost to the Carolina Panthers in the 15 season. But it's also a team that has the same ownership group that signed Tony Dungy, that signed John Gruden, won a Super Bowl. They just never have had the quarterback, dating back to their first ever quarterback, Steve Spurrier, and then going through the Doug Williams years, going through the Trent Dilfer seasons, Brad Johnson, Captain Checkdown. Okay, Vinny Testaverdi, Jeff Garcia, Josh Freeman, Jamis Winston, never an elite quarterback, now they have one. And Brady, he has maybe the best tandem in the NFL, and Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, not to mention O.J.

Howard there as well. They picked up a tackle today. Rumors are that so many free agents want to be a part of what Tampa Bay is doing. So Tampa, they're a few moves away from being the elite team of the NFC. I think they can do it, but right now they're a top three team in the conference and the sixth best team in the NFL in my estimation. Fifth, same division, it's the New Orleans Saints.

I got to go with coach, quarterback, consistency, defense. Tampa Bay, they still need to sure up that secondary. I like New Orleans, even though they lost Eli Apple to Vegas.

They have confidence in P.J. Williams, the former Florida State Seminole to line up across from Marshawn Lattimore, who's been a lockdown corner pretty much. You bring in Malcolm Jenkins, who I think is a great pickup from the Philadelphia Eagles.

Remember, Malcolm Jenkins, he was originally drafted by the Saints 11 years ago. So I think they've gotten better, I trust the consistency there, and New Orleans, they know exactly what they're doing, so I have to give them the slight edge over Tampa Bay. Number four, this is the team that I think is going to make the biggest leap in the NFL this year.

It's not the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it's the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts, they're going to make the biggest leap because they've addressed their two biggest holes. Quarterback and interior defensive line. Quarterback, I mean, Jacoby Brissette, he was good last year. I liked Jacoby Brissette, I thought they were going to make the playoffs before he got hurt.

Gets injured in the Pittsburgh game, he comes back, he's never really the same player. I thought it would have been enough to get to the finish line, but Phillip Rivers, who I think is going to be a Hall of Famer one day, the numbers they justify that, it's a huge upgrade at that position. And for Phillip, this is the best offensive line I think he's ever been playing behind.

He has good weapons, not great, probably not as good as he had in Los Angeles, but very good backfield, good weapons to throw the ball to. Defensively, they couldn't stop a run last year. Now they pick up DeForest Buckner, the three technique D-linemen from the San Francisco 49ers.

So that's really going to sure things up there. It's a well-run organization, Chris Bowerd, the GM, the owner, he doesn't really meddle much in the football operations anymore, Jim Mercy. They just kind of let coaches work. I love Frank Wright, I love Chris Bowerd, this offensive line, now the D-line being shored up. I think Indianapolis is going to be a top five team and one that could contend for a Super Bowl. Number three, the Baltimore Ravens.

Robert's ears perked up there. Once again, I think the Ravens, they're going to have success. It's going to be a revenge tour for Lamar Jackson. The big question is, can he do it in the postseason? It's not really going to matter what he does in the regular season. It's a lot like James Harden.

It reminds me of that. Hey, you're great in the regular season, we know that. Now you need to do it in the postseason. I think he's going to be great again in the regular season. They still have great weapons around him, young weapons that he can work with. And then on defense, how about this, Robert? Michael Brockers, Kaleis Campbell, that line's going to be okay. They lost Pierce, right? Yeah, Pierce signed with the Vikings.

Lost Pierce, bring it to great linemen. I think Baltimore is going to continue to trend upwards, not take a step back. Number two, the San Francisco 49ers.

San Fran, they're still the best team because, okay, they're losing to Forrest Buckner, but they have the 13th overall pick in the draft and they have the 31st pick. They might lose Emmanuel Sanders too, we still don't know. But if they lose both those guys, this is the deep wide receiver draft and a deep D-lineman draft.

So they could fill both those needs in the draft. They're not losing pretty much anybody other than those two, right? Like a young team that's only going to get better, the Niners are the runaway favorite to win the NFC at this moment. The number one team, of course, is the Kansas City Chiefs. Pat Mahomes, he said the HBO is the shop that he just now learned how to read defenses. Come on, we saw what he did to the Niners in the Super Bowl.

They're not losing a ton. The Kansas City Chiefs, they lost a corner and fuller. But aside from that, Tyreek Hill, he's back. Pat Mahomes, most importantly, he's back.

The D-lineman, they're back. Like Kansas City, they're going to be running it back and I don't see anybody in the AFC you can legitimately say is a stronger contender in the NFL than the Kansas City Chiefs are. But you might find it surprising, the Eagles aren't in the top 10, the Patriots aren't in the top 10, the Steelers aren't in the top 10.

Those are my top 10 NFL teams. It's a very serious sports segment that we've done here. So let's completely flip the switch, which has become like an internet meme now. I saw Hannah Brown and Tyler Cameron doing the flip the switch.

Kate McKinnon and Elizabeth Warren did the same thing. The switch that's being flipped is our top 10 list that we do for fun each week. In honor of Teddy Bridgewater, I have my top 10 Teddy's. Robert, we haven't done this for a couple of weeks, hit the music. Oh, yeah!

Woo! I did not miss this. Top 10 Teddy's. Aaron, have you began to write down guesses where you think this might go? Robert, he's helped me out with a couple in previous lists.

You didn't help me at all with this one, so any guesses on your part too? Don't say them out loud, but do you have any written down? I got one Teddy and one Teddy only.

All right. Number 10, Teddy Brushki. Number 9, Yogi Berra.

Don't push me because I am close to the edge. Teddy Brushki, probably a rough week for him. He's always on TV defending the New England Patriots. The definition of a patriot home. That dude is homegrown and definitely home for us.

I was listening to Dan Lebatard years ago. They call him Baghdad Brushki. If you need somebody to talk about the Patriots and back them no matter what, you got Teddy in the bank here. That's the guy to go to.

Yogi Berra, just a perfect name for this list. Number 8 by Number 8 Teddy. Ted. Was Ted 1 better than Ted 2?

Yes. Look what Jesus did! Look what Jesus did!

Look what Jesus did! I spit my drink all over the person in front of me when I went to watch it in theater when they did that. Leap U Thunder. Number 7! My number 7 Teddy. Thank you for coming to my Teddy Talk. I mean, why not?

That's what I'm saying. Do you have a favorite Ted Talk? Teddy Talk?

I haven't watched him in a minute. Mark Ronson had a really good one that I remember talking about sampling. That actually might be my favorite one. If you haven't seen that one, I strongly suggest you do.

Him talking about sampling and music, which songs have been sampled the most, and how they should probably be considered for Grammys even though they have this policy where if a song is sampled a certain way that you cannot be considered for Record of the Year or Song of the Year. That's a really interesting one. Number 6! My number 6 Teddy. Pookie Reese. A bum.

That's what he is. A bum. Pookie Reese is not a bum.

I think that old man was referring to you. I think that probably warrants the Nickelback music. Pookie Reese. That is a definition of a Major League Baseball Nickelback.

That's exactly what he is. Number 5! My number 5 Teddy. Teddy Atlas. What did you think I was going to say?

I mean, what did you think I was going to say? How do you not have that one written down here? It's Teddy Atlas. I like Teddy Atlas's, what do you call them? Metaphors?

Oh yeah, those are fantastic. Number 4! My number 4 Teddy. Teddy Bear.

Bryant. The man was a fool, but don't make a murderer out of him. Is that the same old man? I think that was Charlie's grandpa off Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Oh, can I hear that one more time? The man was a fool, but don't make a murderer out of him. Wait a minute. When did Charlie's dad accuse someone of murder? No, I think it's the same actor.

Not actually. Oh! I don't know his real name, so that's the only way he's getting credit. That's incredible. Number 3! My number 3 Teddy. Teddy Valentine. Oh God. I want to die. That's probably what a lot of people have said when Ted Valentine officiates their games.

Like, these reviews are really long. That happened at the Duke Carolina game, like the classic one. They were looking at a monitor for God knows what reason for 2 minutes and 15 seconds just for the call to stand. It's when Andrew Playtech was going out of bounds with about 15 seconds left to go.

That was a strange moment, like he's just at the monitor. TV Ted always going to be doing his thing. Number 2! My number 2 Teddy. Winnie the Pooh Richardson.

They called him the Sandman because he likes to put people to sleep. Winnie the Pooh Richardson. You remember him, Aaron? No, I don't recall Pooh Richardson. Winnie the Pooh Richardson.

He was a Minnesota Timber Wolf. Also just an all-time great name. Did my Teddy not appear on your list so far?

We got one more to go. My number 1 Teddy. The number 1 Teddy on my list. Teddy Grahams.

Honey, you've got a big storm coming. What Teddy did you have written down? Ruxpin Graham. Ruxpin. Teddy Ruxpin. Holy bleep, man.

Had one as a kid. Beat the crap out of him. I would love for Josh to be in like a Batman reboot, but like the 50s version so he can be like, Holy bleep, Batman. That's all I can think about. Every time he says holy bleep. You still get scared? Yeah, no, I don't get scared. I just don't know.

I just wish you'd just say it and make me dump it one time or something. He'd be a great riddler. Yeah, so that's the top 10 list. Oh, by the way, if I ever have a boy one day, his name's gonna be Theodore Graham. There's no doubt because Teddy Graham, that's the coolest kid on the block. You are really trying to get your kid to get beat up. Josh really wants him to know what he thinks. No one's beating up Teddy Graham.

He wants to know what the inside of a locker looks like so bad. I don't think Teddy Graham's getting beat up. High school me would have definitely bullied a kid named Teddy Graham.

What was high school you like? Bullied a kid named Teddy Graham. Yeah, me and Aaron would have gone along. We would have been like, that guy's name is Teddy Graham. You guys are so mean.

Yeah, look where I was. I was bullied in middle school before I became the kid that just everybody liked. I was just really social and fit into every social circle. You never became the kid that everybody liked. I would love to go to Josh's high school reunion and be like, okay, he said that everybody loved him.

Now I want you to put your hand up if you've been... I didn't say love. I said like. Like like, not like. I don't think anybody disliked me. I just imagine the response would be, hey, you know this guy Josh Graham, he used to go to school here. He says to everybody, wait, who? My class is a class of 69 people. Nice.

Who? I think people were going to remember who's in your class in the class of 69. That's crazy. Were you like in a private school? No, it wasn't private. It was like a public charter.

It was a public charter. I had like 400 kids in my graduating class. Yeah, I had 69 people. Well, I would have came in last for sure if there was no competition. No.

Well, there you go. It's one of those things. I just remember I was in middle school and, yeah, people were pretty rough on the bullying front when I was like in eighth grade. What was that ratio like? Were there like 40 girls and 29 guys?

I would love to be in the minority on that side. That's an excellent question. But also, there's four different classes, so it's not 69 people in the school. Oh, sheesh. So you might have like five boys in your class and then girls have to go to prom with you. That would make so much sense. I get it.

All right, what do you got and take it to the house? What do college Robert Walsh and some thieving Nebraskans have in common? Let's find out next.

The Try with Josh Graham. He's confident, smart, witty, vicious, brutal, vindictive, a monster. This is an evil man. Maybe, but he knows his sports. Back to The Drive with Josh Graham on Sports Hub Triad. So you might have heard it from Patrick Johnson earlier today.

You might have saw it on the Internet as well. But there's gonna be some programming changes here at Sports Hub Triad and those changes center on our next guest, who is going to be on noon to three starting Monday every day here on Sports Hub Triad, other than Saturday and Sunday. You get the point. Adam Gold is now with us on the soon-to-be from the soon-to-be Adam Gold show Monday. I got to know, though, how many names did you run through, show names, before you arrived at Adam Gold show? That kind of creativity came immediately to me.

That was his first shot. I just thought, wow, this would sound cool. Let's just call it the Adam Gold show. They actually told me that that's what the name of the show was going to be because they know my personality. I don't care.

They could have called it three hours of radio and I would have been okay with it. And we'll get to more things on the show in just a second. Adam is somebody that I remember when I was first getting into sports radio. Don't you make me feel old. I'm not gonna make you feel old. I'm just trying to say, hey, that I can vouch for Adam Gold. This guy was with Joe OVS all these years. Oh, yeah.

I'm vouching for Adam Gold here. This guy, excited to hear the show Monday at noon, but give me a sense. What's your game plan going to be during a time that is unprecedentedly slow? Because today I get it. In Greensboro, we would be having NCAA tournament basketball games at the Coliseum right now.

However, I don't think people are listening to the show to hear about what we don't have, especially sports radio. Well, I mean, yes, I understand what the calendar says. The calendar says March 20th.

But what do you do on July 20th? I don't think we're talking that much baseball, even though I know you're a baseball guy. It's the off-season, right?

It's the off-season. So you have to be more creative about what you talk about. You talk more about concepts and ideas and rules and leagues and people and personalities, which is actually what drives my show anyway.

The cool thing about what I really like about what I do is that it's not game-dependent. We will never break down what we think is going to happen during a game. I may say, I think this team is going to win, and here's why, but that will be a very small part about what we do. We will, of course, talk about games after the fact, but games are such a small part of what I love about sports talk that I'm not so concerned with what we're going to talk about. Because I think there's more than enough subject matter, especially if you consider that, for the most part, we don't talk a lot about professional baseball. And that is the entirety of the summer because, frankly, NFL training camps are also boring to me. So to me, it's just a longer offseason.

I'm really not that concerned about subject matter. We're not going to break down inside linebacker groups for the Panthers? Oh man, I've got my top 11 Sam linebackers. Adam Gold with us, our new... Sam Mills is 1-11. Oh, no love for Dan Morgan. It's surprising. No, Sam linebackers, they're all going to be... Oh, just Sam linebackers.

Got it. Adam Gold's with us, our new early afternoon host. He's on Twitter.

Shoot him a follow. Alright, here's the deal with Cam Newton. So I've been making a couple of calls this week, talked to a national media member who didn't want to be named about the specific... Who knew Cam Newton very well, who said that, hey, this is a guy, according to people in the league, is being viewed as a backup quarterback right now. Somebody who might be able to compete with a young quarterback or a team that only has one quarterback right now. Maybe like the New York Giants, maybe a team like the Tennessee Titans.

Teams that aren't being thrown around at the moment. Those are what... That's what people are saying in the league right now. There's not a lot of places for Cam at the moment.

How do you see it? Well, I haven't spoken to national media members who have offered that opinion. Cam's a starter. Cam will always be a starter until proven otherwise. I think the only question is, is Cam healthy? If Cam's foot was such, to use the old Ron Rivera soundbite that I think we buried for the last five months. If Cam's foot was such, Cam Newton would be hugely attractive to a team. Frankly, if Cam's foot was such, he might be hugely attractive to the Carolina Panthers.

I have no idea. There aren't that many opportunities. You've got New England. You've got possibly the Chargers. Of course, the Chargers could end up drafting a quarterback really high in the draft.

And at that point, they would probably turn the keys over to that guy. But I also think that Washington is a possibility for Cam Newton. They don't really have a quarterback. Dwayne Haskins may be their future, but he's not ready. So if it comes to that, and I don't think anybody's going to trade for him.

I mean, why would you give the Panthers anything for somebody they're going to release as soon as they can? I remember in Raleigh when Eric Stahl was the star center for the Hurricanes. He was always the most popular person to be talked about on the call-in shows after games. And people would often complain about him until he left, where people then started saying, Oh my gosh, this guy was the most talented person we have. And we love Eric Stahl.

Those are Carolina Hurricanes fans. How do you think Panther fans are going to remember Cam's time here? Because Bomani Jones was with us earlier in the week. He said, not Tom Brady, not Pat Mahomes, not anybody moves the needle on a national basis like Cam did. And heck, that could even be related among Panther fans. Well, I mean, that's probably both positive and negative about Cam nationally, because he obviously has a fair amount of detractors.

I'll give you a preview of what's coming up on Monday. The Panthers are willingly throwing away their only era of relevance in the National Football League. They have been good before. They have appeared in two Super Bowls, one of course with Cam. But they have never been relevant unless Cam Newton has been their quarterback. And the Panthers are willingly tossing that away.

I'm not even arguing with that decision, but that's what they are throwing out. They're one era where they mattered to an audience outside of the 704 area code. I would add the South Carolina corresponding area code to Charlotte, but I don't know it.

843 I think maybe. Adam Gold with us, our new early afternoon host. It's the Adam Gold show Monday at noon. I don't want to do 21 questions because that's a bit too much, but maybe a few quick hitters here to let the audience know more about you. You've been doing sports talk in this state for how long?

22 years. The last time you missed a Final Four? Last time I missed a Final Four, I did not go in 06 and 07. I've been to every Final Four since 99 other than that.

And of course this year we don't have one, but every Final Four other than 06 and 07. Preferred way you take your barbecue? Whipslaw. I like Western better than Eastern. Whoa, okay.

See, this isn't pandering, is it? No, no, no. I like Western better than Eastern. I think they're both better than mustard, which is to me trash. I would never eat it. I would just throw that in the garbage.

But I prefer Western to Eastern sauce. I'm very happy for you, Adam. I'm looking forward to hearing the show on this station every day starting on Monday, and we'll be chatting with you sometime soon. Thanks for doing this, buddy.

You got it, man. So for those who might be confused again with the programming changes that we're having here at Sports Hub Triad, it's going to be the Adam Gold show from noon to three starting on Monday. And I'm excited about it because when I was, again, not to make Adam feel old, just starting to get into sports talk radio, it was his show and Joe Oveus' show, which is I think its final episode airing today. That was the show I started listening to, and Adam does a terrific job. And I know you guys are going to love what he brings as somebody who's been doing sports talk radio in this state for over two decades. So we look forward to the partnership with him, and it's going to be great starting on Monday. In the AFC, I see four non-playoff teams from last year making the postseason this fall. This is in my way too early NFL projections. I'll reveal those four teams next on the drive.