JR SportBrief Hour 1

You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. It is CBS Sports Radio. I am J.R. It is the J.R. Sportbrief show. And I'm coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

Whether you want to buy a home or refinance your current one, Rocket can. I'm going to be hanging out here with you for the next four hours. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back. Go ahead and get ready for the weekend. Go get your money. Go home.

Whatever the hell it is you're doing, I'm going to be here with you. And we got a lot to discuss, a lot to talk about. Football is back. There are more NFL preseason games going on tonight. And unfortunately for some teams, things are not going swimmingly. The New York Jets, you got Zach Wilson going down already with an injury.

The Jets are cursed. We'll talk about that momentarily. Deshaun Watson back on a football field in Jacksonville. We'll talk about that momentarily. What does this mean for Jimmy Garoppolo?

We'll get into that. We have a Hall of Famer or excuse me, he's a New York Giants Ring of Honor inductee. His name is Jesse Armstead. You might remember him knocking heads at at Miami with the Hurricanes and then with the New York Giants. He's currently with the New York Giants, assistant to the general manager. We'll talk to Jesse Armstead later on this hour. We'll talk about Lamar Jackson and his contract. It doesn't look like things will will get done before the season starts or we'll see and wait.

Los Angeles Lakers still trying to figure things out with Kyrie Irving. Deion Sanders, Hall of Famer. This man is talking about the Hall of Fame being watered down. It's like the Hall of Good. They'll let anybody in. We'll discuss because I think across the board we can look at Hall of Fames and things are looking looking kind of easy.

They're looking kind of simple. Fernando Tatis Jr. suspended 80 games by Major League Baseball. He said, hey, you were using or you tested positive for performance enhancing drug. Fernando Tatis Jr. says the drug that I was using contained a substance that was helping me battle my ringworm. Well, tell me if I haven't heard at all.

So it's going to be an interesting night. If you want to holler at me, you know how to do it. The number here is 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. You can also identify me. I'm on social media everywhere.

That's at JR Sport Brief. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, all of that good stuff. Here's the other deal, people. You can always listen on the Free Odyssey app. The show, of course.

Hit rewind, hit pause, every single bit of it. And thank you so much to the man who helped put the show together. He's here with me and you helping to make sure that it runs smooth.

Our super producer and host, Dave Shepherd. Shep, how you doing, man? You cool? You smooth? I'm doing smooth. I'm doing good. It's a Friday night.

It is great to be with you, JR Sport Brief. Well, likewise, man. Yeah, Friday night. I know what they say about Friday night.

The freaks come out at night. By the way, Jesse Armstead, good snack, man. Well, yeah, Jesse, he's a good dude, man.

When he's not beating people up on a football field, but he's retired now. He did a lot of that. Yeah, he was. You know what I enjoyed about Jesse Armstead? Jesse just, he was a constant. When he was with the New York Giants, he just played. It's like every game he played, every game he had 10 tackles, every game he was there. He did his job.

There was no question. He was consistent. He was a constant. So we'll talk to Jesse Armstead in a little bit. And just a very, very nice guy.

Especially for someone whose job was to completely tear you apart. Shout outs to Jesse Armstead. That should be a fun conversation as I ask him about the New York Giants. And then ask him about the NFL at large.

And the NFL at large is an interesting place right now. Deshaun Watson played football tonight. Yes, we didn't see Deshaun Watson all of last year. The last time he played football, he was running around in a Houston Sexins uniform.

And now he's back wearing that number four for the Cleveland Browns. We know he has $230 million guaranteed. We know that he is currently slated to be suspended for six games. We know that the NFL, they want this man suspended for the entire season.

Well, there really isn't a middle ground yet because his appeal has not been heard. I mean, there were reports that Deshaun Watson was willing to settle for a suspension and a fine somewhere in the middle. Not the entire season. And so he goes down to Jacksonville. And in all actuality, it's a preseason game. But I must tell you, the game just went final. Cleveland beat Jacksonville 24 to 13. No big deal.

Doesn't matter. Deshaun Watson threw the ball five times. He had one completion for seven yards.

And that's all the work he got for today. Both Josh Rosen and Josh Dobbs, they were the ones out there slinging around the rock trying to figure out who will be the number two quarterback. Or maybe the number three quarterback. Because things are so funky right now in Cleveland that you have no idea who the hell is going to be behind Deshaun Watson. Jacoby Percette? Are they going to have to bring in another quarterback that can actually go out there and play? And some of the things chanted at Deshaun Watson in Jacksonville tonight, as you can imagine, they're things that we cannot play on the radio. You sick blank.

You know, and you can use your imagination. The things that were shouted at him when he was on the field. And so also today, he decided to talk to the local media. Not in Jacksonville, but actually in Cleveland. He hasn't done a lot of talking, especially over the past year and a half since all of these allegations have come out. And so he spoke to their local news station down in Cleveland prior to the game. And Deshaun Watson actually came out and said, listen, I'm sorry, I'm apologizing.

You know, he took another shot and a chance to apologize. Listen to this. I want to say that I'm truly sorry to all the women that I've impacted in this situation. My decisions that I made and my life that put me in this position, you know, I would definitely like to have back. But I want to continue to move forward and grow and learn and show that, you know, I am a true person of character and I want to keep pushing forward. Grow and learn. We fully expect that there will be some time that you are away from the team. What does your growth on a personal level look like?

How are you spending that time? I know I have a lot of work to put in, especially on the field, to be able to make sure I'm ready to play whenever that time comes, whenever I can step back on the field. But also the biggest thing is I want to continue counseling and I want to make sure that I'm growing as a person, as an individual for my decision making on and off the field.

And I want to make sure that, you know, I'm just evolving in the community as much as possible. And that's for the Cleveland community. That's the NFL community and beyond. He's going to be doing a lot of apologizing anytime a microphone is in front of him.

That was News 5 out in Cleveland. Shep, how long do the apology? Is he going to have to apologize every time he chats? Is this going to be for the next year? Are we talking two years every time? Yeah, I mean every opposing stadium, he's going to be pressed on that.

Certainly for the first time he plays in Cleveland. Jeremy, my question for you, and you've interviewed all these A-listers and you've been around all these people that know how to handle, quote unquote, these situations, you know, the extras and the entourage. How sincere does this sound or is this just him knowing what to say? You can't judge sincerity. You can't. Yeah, you really can't.

There's no there's no meter for it. It's it's necessary for who he is professionally. We know that. He's going to have to apologize. He's going to have to show contrition. He's going to have to say, well, you know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do this. I mean, for all the people every now and then who want to call me and say, well, he didn't do anything. What the hell is he apologizing for? So you can't measure sincerity. What you can do is say that this is absolutely necessary. He could be sorry.

I don't know if he is. Yeah, like like like at some point, like an errant judge, this is did this to some degree and again, much different dynamic. But there are certain individuals that have a State of the Union press conference that they can get the season, as you know. And they say, look, I'm going to be an open book right now. I'm going to be transparent. There's a lot of questions and there's a lot of things I can and cannot say. But I do want to address this to the best of my ability.

And I want to be forthright. But after this point, moving forward, it's only going to serve as a distraction. But I will give you and the media the time and attention that you want from this story, understanding why I'm such an important subject right now, not just on the field. Does he do that or does he keep answering questions? Because this is going to linger long after it should, in my opinion, because you and I both know the NFL leadership, it's nonexistent.

And if anything, there's too many cooks in the kitchen at this point. He can't say that. He can't do that? I don't think he can do that.

I think if he does that, he sets himself up to kind of brush aside the entire issue. It's a matter of having to take your medicine when he goes to these different markets and he sits down for these games. If he plays this year, that's if he plays.

Let's keep that in mind. But when he returns, whether it's some point this season or next season, he's going to have to take his medicine. I think for the most part, you're going to have football writers, they're going to be the ones talking to him. They may get tired of it as well. You know, I don't know how long it's going to linger. The attitude around him is not going to change. He's going to hear about it and be catcalled and cursed at and yelled at in stadiums that he goes to. And that's all a part of the punishment.

It's two different dynamics. When the Houston Astros, when everything came out about their cheating scandal and coaches had to get fired and people lost their jobs, everybody was ready for the Astros to go from city to city to city and get yelled at and get mocked and get picked apart to pieces. The Astros, it didn't really happen because the pandemic came.

And then kind of the vitriol kind of laid down, winded down just a little bit. He's going to hear about this regardless. It doesn't matter what happens. And so here the Browns are in this case. Everybody's just waiting on the suspension.

And there are even rumors going around that who knows, maybe Jimmy Garoppolo ends up on the Browns to carry the year, carry the season. Do the Cleveland Browns want to look at Jacoby Percette for the entire year? No. Do they want to look at either of the Joshs? No.

No, they don't. And if Deshaun is going to be gone an entire year, I don't know. Maybe there's a reclamation project here with Jimmy G. Jimmy G still might be released in a few weeks.

And how about this? There could potentially be another opening for Jimmy Garoppolo. Of course this took place. Of course it happened with the New York Jets. Zach Wilson threw five passes tonight against the Philadelphia Eagles. One of his passes, he overthrew the receiver.

The other Zach Wilson pass, he threw directly to the opposing linebacker. And then he also decided to run for a play. He ran. He pushed off.

Not a damn person touched him. And he went down. Zach Wilson came up. That right knee couldn't put weight on it.

He got help to the back and he has not been seen since. This game is pretty much winding down. The Jets beating the Eagles right now 17-14.

But ain't nobody thinking about that. The New York Jets just had their big time left tackle, turn right tackle. And Makai Becton go down. Cracked kneecap. The New York Jets just saw their quarterback, hopefully for the future. They just saw him go down to a knee injury and nobody touched him. They hope it's not an ACL. It might be an ACL.

It might be a sprain. We're going to find out. And this is a New York Jets team that's, they're not expected to do anything.

But they're trying to grow. You have all these new wide receivers and the Wilson to Wilson connection and Hall at running back. They brought in all these weapons for him to work with. Uzama from the Bengals. And now Joe Flacco might get the snaps. Is Joe Flacco going to go out there and try to revitalize his career?

I don't know. This is the most New York Jets thing possible. Young quarterback in the offseason is in the news for, I don't know, potentially sleeping with someone's mother. Dumb rumor.

Who cares? And then when he finally plays football, he maybe blows out his knee. The options have already opened up for Jimmy Garoppolo. It was only going to take one team to go through an injury or maybe a disaster in the case of the Cleveland Browns before Jimmy G would get his shot. And guess what, folks? It's only like the first full week of preseason games, of preseason action. Of course, there's a good chance that somebody else will go down. Why?

It's just the nature of the game. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. The phone lines are open if you want to give me a holler. That's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Jimmy G, should he be on the move? Should the Browns pick him up if Watson will be out the entire year?

If Wilson is out for an entire year or an extended time, is it worth it for the New York Jets to bring on Garoppolo? Coach Salah is familiar with him coming from the 49ers. The phone lines are open if you want to give me a holler. Also this hour, we'll have a conversation with New York Giants legend Jesse Armstead. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on a Friday night CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. JR wants to hear from you. Call him now at 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4227. It's the JR Sport Reshow here on CBS Sports Radio. Deshaun Watson returns to the football field tonight against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Only threw a handful of passes, only had one completion. It was just getting his feet wet.

He certainly got his feet wet in that regard as the Jacksonville Jaguar fans, I guess all three of them, cursed him out tonight. You sick blank. You sick blank. We still don't know how long he's going to be suspended. Could be the whole year, could be six games, could be somewhere in the middle. And we'll find out. Unfortunately for the New York Jets, their quarterback, Zach Wilson, it only took him until the end of the first quarter before he had to exit the game with a right knee injury. Nobody touched him.

Nobody touched him. They fear that it could potentially be an ACL. We'll see. And meanwhile, here you have Jimmy G, Jimmy Garoppolo. He going to end up on one of these teams. If Watson is going for the year, aren't they going to bring in Jimmy G? Coach Salah, he was the defensive coordinator for the 49ers when Jimmy Garoppolo was there when they went to the Super Bowl.

I mean, would he bring in Jimmy G? We'll see. Joe Flacco is still there, back up for the New York Jets. It's a wild world.

And it's only like week one fully for all the teams in the preseason. 855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. We're going to take some of your calls. In the next break, we're going to have a conversation with New York Giants legendary linebacker Jesse Armstead. Manny is calling from Flushing. You're on CBS Sports Radio.

Yeah. What's up, Jay? How you doing, bro? I'm good.

What's up, Manny? I'm good. I feel bad for you. I'm sorry, bro, for your Jets. I think they should be considered with Garoppolo because we don't know how long Wilson will come back. I mean, he'll be the best thing for the Jets since, I don't know, since before he was even born.

Yeah, well, you know, don't feel too sorry for me. It was just actually reported. Zach Wilson is in the Jets locker room. He's walking with a noticeable length. He does not appear to have a brace on his leg.

He's just wearing warm-up pants. That doesn't mean a whole lot of anything, but this is just the New York Jets way, man. That's how things roll. Yeah, thank God it's not that serious. But I want to get to the Deshaun Watson part. I mean, look, I understand what he's trying to do, but at the same time, I choose better to lay low and don't say anything because the more he would say, look, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. He's going to make the situation work, in my personal opinion.

Well, I mean, it's twofold. Once the season starts, and if he actually plays, and thank you so much, Manny, for calling from Queens, he's going to get asked football questions, I believe. I mean, how long?

Because even the media will get tired of asking him about it. And so first, we have to see how often he's going to play. When does he start playing? Is it midway through the season?

Or are we just in for a whole mulligan? Are we going to see this guy at all this year? And whenever he does start to play, I'm sure there'll be questions about it. As Shep mentioned last break, you know, maybe he has one initial conversation with the media, hey, I'm just going to focus in on football. That's possible.

I think that can only happen in time. And I mean, like, not playing this season at all. And so when he does get to playing, people are going to focus in on the ball, man.

People are going to take a look at football. And I think some of these other questions about his case, the suspension, I think they'll start to dissipate. Are people going to forget about him in the court of public opinion? Is coverage going to stop? Will it be lacking?

No, not at all. He's going to get that. Just unfortunately, everybody happens to be along with this for the ride right now. Mike is calling from Philly. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Mike? How's it going, man? How's your night going? It's going very well. Thank you.

Thank you for the time here. So I was at the game. You know, we saw Zach go down after a little scramble there.

It did take some time for him to get back up. So I'm not sure about the level of concern, but do you think potentially they stick with Mike White? This is a guy who led the NFL in one week in touchdown passing. Do you think there's a slight chance they just stick at Mike White for the year? Yes, there's a chance for anything. We certainly know that he had a hell of a start in replacing Zach, and then he went down. And so he's going to get a look. He's going to get a chance. He's going to get an opportunity. If you're the New York Jets, you have to evaluate what you realistically expect for this season. Everybody knows who and what Joe Flacco is. Joe Flacco, I'm sure, would love an opportunity, an extended opportunity to start and maybe pick up another starting job before his career really starts to go down and kind of slip him off to the pasture. And in the case of Mike White, I'm sure he relishes another opportunity and a chance to show that he can also be a starter and he's not a one hit or one game wonder. But having said that, we have to see what the end prognosis is here with Zach Wilson. Let me ask you this. You left the game early?

You quit? As far as the game there, we did get some good seats. It was an entertaining game. But we saw what we liked out of Jalen Hurts. We liked what we saw from the starters. He was very accurate down the field, just a good start. And it was the New York Jets defense, but we came to see what Jalen was made of tonight. Just knocked it out of the park. Good passing game.

Couple scrambles there. But we're just excited to see what the offense will do. Got to see a little glimpse of it tonight. But yeah, we left at halftime.

Stayed in the back of the truck. Had a good night. Okay. Didn't want to see the backups to the backups to the backups playing. I understand, Mike.

I wasn't interested in seeing Whiteside at tight end. You know what I mean? We kind of had to go. I can dig it. Mike, thank you for calling from Philly, man. Appreciate you. Absolutely, man. Have a great night. You as well.

Well, what a nice guy. How about that? Well, later on in the show, I think we also talk about Kevin Durant. There's no way in hell he can go to Philly, right? There's no way in hell you can have a basketball team with James Harden, Durant and Embiid. You can't do that. But I mean, hey, we just had a basketball team in Brooklyn with Irving, Harden and Durant. How'd that end up? Can't put anything past any of these guys.

It's rather interesting. And then also, Bob, you want to talk about the Eagles. Yeah, I would really love to see what Hurts does. Is he going to continue to get a chance as a starting quarterback? Are they going to run him out there this year and then get tired of him?

Is he going to advance? We know this is going to happen. He's going to continue to lead the league as one of the top rushers at the quarterback position. We know that the Eagles will be in a solid chance to potentially lead the league in rushing and we'll see what they do. At least the Eagles for right now, they don't have to worry about their quarterback. New York Jets, they do with Zach Wilson.

And the Browns, man, they're worried about everything. It's the JR Sportbree show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to take a break and when we come back, we'll have a conversation with Jesse Armstead. It's the JR Sportbree show, CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sportbree on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sportbree on CBS Sports Radio. It's the JR Sportbree show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. And right now we are being joined by someone who is a legend. And it's not just me saying it.

You can go to MetLife Stadium and see his name up in the ring of honor. It's my main man, used to hit everything that moves. It's Jesse Armstead. Jesse, how you doing, man? I'm doing great, man. Glad to be on here and just happy to be here right now.

Well, thank you so much. You know, here's the big question. What have you been up to? It seems like you keep things on the low a little bit. What have you been up to, Jesse?

You know what? One thing about me, you know, we've just been grinding around here with the Giants. You know, we've been trying to build from the inside. We had some stumbling over the last few years, the last five years.

Got to be honest about that. Every fan see that. But I feel like now that we start to lay a great foundation around the organization and the fans and everybody should be looking forward to it now.

Well, let me ask you this. We know we had a new coach. We have a new general manager.

What are your initial impressions about Shane and Debo? Well, I tell you what, they bring in brand new ideals and they look at they evaluate players very differently. You know, they they're they're active with the players. They want to understand the players. They want to go out there to the workouts. They want to be hands on. And it's contagious because they expect they doing it. You know, you got to go out there.

You got to do it and you got to do it just as hard as they do it. Giants legend Jesse Armstead here with us. When you think about some of the players who are being evaluated right now, there are guys who have been around your Daniel Jones, your Saquon Barkley's, there are new guys and we see Thibodeau.

When you look at some of the and I don't want to call them old, but they've been around for a minute now. You know, Daniel Jones, who and what is he? Saquon, who and what is he? Who do you feel on the team has the most to prove to this new regime?

Well, you know what? Just like you said, everybody when they came in with the ideals and everybody got to prove themselves to them because this is our first year here and you got to display yourself. And it's an open competition. I'd be on the football field right now.

It's not like the past. You come in here, your first rounder or second rounder, you got a position. No, everybody got to prove theirself and they want to make sure they put their mark on this team, their hand, their mark on the team. Well, we saw that that first game against the New England Patriots, the Patriots had their their backup, backup, backup players in there. The New York Giants had their starters. They were people already critical of what Daniel Jones was doing in that first game. People weren't all that excited. What are your thoughts and just seeing him so far in this training camp into the preseason?

Well, you know what? You get Daniel a lot of credit because his whole brand new offense he had. If you look over the past three years, three different offensive line coordinators and things like that. I think that as Daniel keep going on, he have opportunity to prove himself.

We're very vanilla in the New England game, just like they were vanilla. And so I think it's time to keep going on the game progress, getting the Cincinnati, you get to the Jets game. So it's to give everybody opportunity to prove theirself. And I think you have more opportunity to show that he can do it if he can't do it. Jesse Armstead here with us. Man, you made a living out of just knocking out running backs and getting the wide receivers.

That's what you did at a high level. Pro ball for all of this. Kayvon Thibodeau comes into the league and he was criticized for having or not having enough passion for the game or or outside passions. We don't hear any of that right now. You being a defender, you seeing him first close or up close and personal.

What are your impressions of? Well, you know what? It was very funny because Thibodeau came through the ranking just like I did. We were both the number one player in the country, top linebackers in the country, coming out of high school, went to college. He was top linebacker. I was top linebacker.

The only difference was I blew my knee out and brought me back down to the bottom of the totem pole. Whereas people had an impression of a person when you ranked very high that they don't, they're not dedicated. That person don't get where they are if they're not dedicated, you know. And Thibodeau just got to keep his head down, get the grind and keep working like he's doing. The kid go out there every day and sweat and earn it. He earned his keeps every day.

I'm very impressed with it. And his personality is starting to come out a little more. And he's just got to prove himself to people in New York City. One thing about New York, they want to make sure that you're grinding.

They don't want nobody to come in there and think they are prima donna. So I think he'll show his grinding abilities and he can be part of New York City. For all of the potential that we hear about him, are we going to see him in a Pro Bowl sooner than later?

You know what? He keeps working like he's working and do the things and the team come around as a team atmosphere and we win as a team. A lot of opportunities for him is out there. And he got the talent, the coaching, we have the coaching here. So it's all up to him now.

And I think that he will reach that potential. One thing, as you mentioned about the past four or five years with the New York Giants, we know when the Giants have won. It's always been about defense.

It doesn't matter if we're going from Harry Carson and L.T. on down to you and Strahan, et cetera. What do you think about the potential of the New York Giants in this defense? Are there players that we're not paying as much attention to? You know, you always have some people, but you look at we've got a big front, you know, got Leon. Leon came through and he was he was playing at an all pro level for us.

You know, you look at his one on top defense line was in the National Football League. You look big Dexter Lawrence. You know, I find a guy that's bigger and more athletic than Dexter.

And with our coaching now, you take the next step. Dexter would be all pro defense tackle. You know, we kind of loaded the outside linebacker position. You know, you got the X-Men over there. You got Zay at safety.

Turn around. You got the tip of the sitting at the outside linebacker. So we're getting stronger all around the defense. Now it's time to perform because New York wants to see some grinders.

They want to see some blue collar. I'm going to knock your head off. I'm going to get off that ground. I'm going to keep fighting from the start to the end. And that's the attitude you've got to have in New York City to survive New York.

And New York is a hardcore place. You know me? Absolutely.

Jesse Armstead here with us. We've seen the evolution of the game. It's more of a of a passing attack. It's not so much. Let's put the ball on the ground or balance.

It's almost like air it out. Even the running backs are or they have to be prepared with their hands to catch and pretty much go. What do you think about the evolution of that that linebacker spot? We see linebackers are smaller now. They're faster.

They're being asked to cover more of the field. You were fast and athletic, but now we're starting to see more of that. What do you think about the evolution of the position where the evolution came with me? When I came National Football League, everybody said I was a little linebacker. I didn't fit the description of, you know, the Lawrence Taylor, the pepper Johnson, the car banks, because they are like 6'4", 260 pounds.

And I was sitting at 6'2", 225, 230. But I could run like a run like a during and I can cover real well. And then it became Derrick Brooks, Tampa, one of Derrick Brooks had Dexter Coakley. They start going to a small linebacker and now you get to a point where it's hard to find the linebackers now in college football. So now you want to switch from getting a safety, trying to make him to a linebacker. And it's hard on the safe because I was not training like linebacker, you know, but that's how the game changed. Because now you got to be able to cover the back of the backfield. You might have to move out on the slot as a linebacker. And teams trying to find a mismatch. You had a linebacker in. They want to make sure that you cannot change personnel and put a mismatch with a running back, go out in the backfield. And it's a mismatch.

And I'm very fortunate that I could do all that. I just, it's not my era, but if I was in this era, it'd be great for me. Absolutely. You have a couple more INTs running all over that field.

Jesse Armstead here with us. Having said that, when you think about the offensive explosion and all the points that go up and the emphasis on offense. Do you enjoy the games as much or is it too kind of one sided? Well, you know, it's made one sided. You just look at the rules, you know, it's all about the quarterback. That's why the quarterback's getting paid. You know, don't want the quarterback to get hurt.

I don't have a problem with that. You know, today's game, but hey, that's part of it. You cannot touch him. You know, look at the receivers. The DBs cannot touch him after five yards. So the answer for the offense and the fans want to see points. But New York people want to see no defense.

So, you know, so we biased on this one. You know, but but defense always win championship when they come down to it. You know, come down to the months you get in November. So again in December and January when it's come down to running a ball and trying to use that clock. That's when you start depending on that defense.

So defense always win championships. You think about the quarterback started running around in the NFL. Everyone has a different skill set.

It's not cookie cutter, drop back and throw. You got guys who are darting around and running around and flipping the ball and going downfield. What quarterback when you take a look or watch the games is the best or the most difficult you find to cover? You know what? It's always that quarterback's a threat.

You know what I mean? I can run a ball and throw the ball. You know, you're a man coverage and covering. Next time you hear the crowd and you look behind you, you got this quarterback running behind your back.

You're like, oh, my goodness. So now I think that's the biggest threat. A quarterback can run, but also can pass the ball. So we talking about Josh Allen or would you go with somebody like Lamar Jackson?

If you had to grab a quarterback today out of all the ones who were playing, who do you think is the best? Well, it's always going to be a threat with Lamar Jackson. It's always a threat.

You know, you dealing with somebody that you're not going to catch. Got the skills of a running back. And he also can pass the ball real well. You got Josh Allen that's real big. You know, they can run the ball also. And that's a leader out there on the football field.

So you got two different type, but I just know it's a headache when you deal with a quarterback and I run in about on your team. Jesse Armstead here with us, New York Giants legend. Why do you think that Lamar is so controversial as a player?

People either hate his guts or they love him. They say, oh, well, he can't throw. You say that he's a he can pass as well.

Why don't you think he gets his just due? Well, you know, you always have your 50 50, you know, you also have people like, you know, once you know, but you look at a quarterback like him. Anytime you see somebody can run. Next nature is he cannot throw.

Somebody can throw. He can't run, you know. And so those always will be the combination when you're dealing with people, fans, media. And you just got to pick which one that you want to take your team to the championship. You know, it's a good debate, you know. I love how you love have either one of you know, but you know, get Lamar his credit and Josh Allen.

Yeah, I get him his credit, you know. Absolutely. When you think about the New York Giants, new regime, young team, young players building. What do you think is the outlook for this upcoming season? Is it a matter of, hey, we're here, we're rebuilding. What do you think the long term is for this entire year? The long term right now, you know, we get an instruction for instruction where you sit up there and you have to address your salary cap, you know, make sure that's lined up right with Joey Sheen. And now we, you know, you know, that's part is going to get developed the right way. You look at Dabo, he's making sure that the players are lined up and understand and getting the right coaching. And I think the foundation when you build in the house, that foundation is not right.

It's gonna be a problem. I feel deep down inside. We picked the right foundation. John Murray did a great job with this group.

Well, Jesse, man, everybody loves you. We'd love to see you back on the field hitting folks. When you talk about your day to day, what are you up to? What is your full role right now? Well, special assistant to the general manager. So my role go all over, you know, when dealing with the players from also going and looking at evaluating talent. Also making a determination sometime and someone did our description as a player.

And we're in. And that's one thing is very, I think, very strategic. We've got to make sure the right people is here as New York Giants because it take a special person to play in New York City. Absolutely. We know that that New York City comes with its gifts.

It also comes with its its trapping. Jesse, I do have to ask you. I know you played for them hurricanes, man. I know you were down at the you. What do you think about the new head coach and everything they're doing down in Florida? First of all, the new head coach, I played for years when we're playing three national championships together side by side. We want to win. We lost one. So I know his pedigree.

I know we fought in the trenches together. I know his mindset. And I know that he's bringing back out a lot of former players to get that mindset ready. And he's out there being aggressive and getting young talent.

And that's all you need. You have got the tradition. You land us against any college in a small window and you realize the talent that came through the University of Miami and a talent that's going to start coming back to the University of Miami. We see that coach crystal ball. One of the things I'm actually happy he got rid of was that turnover chain. Did you enjoy that turnover chain? No, that's all false stuff.

Get back to real things. Just knocking somebody's head out, making big plays, getting that interception, taking them back home, scoring that touchdown. We made everybody want to be the U. Every last one of these colleges coming through, they had tradition at university. When we came through in the 90s, the 80s and the 90s in 2000, in early 2000, everybody wanted to be the U. So we just got to get back our tradition back at the U.

It wasn't about change. It was about working with everybody and playing on the football field. I hear that.

Well, Justin, let me ask you this. I know you're in the front office, office guy now. Is there any chance that we see you more on the grass at any point in capacity as a coach? No, I don't want to go to the coach level, but I do have the skills and ability to help my guys. I got the flexibility for being in the front office to go down on the field and help out.

That's why I love the New York Giants. They give me the flexibility to be on the football field also. I can help the linebackers out. I can tell them things that I see from my point of view. Hopefully I can train them and train their eyes and things like that to make them make a play a little faster.

So I'm very fortunate to be flexible with New York Giants. Well, Jesse, I appreciate you taking the time. Don't sell yourself short. Forget coaching, man.

I know you could probably still go out there and knock some heads off yourself, man. All right. Thank you very much.

No doubt about it. We've been chatting it up with the New York Giants legend, Jesse Armstead. Jesse, thank you one more time for joining us. All right. Thank you very much. This is the JR Sport Reshow here on CBS Sports Radio.

Thank you, Jesse. We're going to take a break when we come back. We're going to talk Lamar Jackson. We're going to talk Tatis. Don't move here. CBS Sports Radio.