JR SportBrief Hour 1

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Download the Odyssey app today. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. And we are coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios. Whether you're looking to purchase a new home or refinance yours, Rocket Mortgage can help you get there for home loan solutions that fit your life. Rocket, Rocket can. I'm going to be hanging out here with you for the next four hours and we got a busy night.

Why? Thursday night football. We got Tampa Bay hosting the Ravens right now. They lead 10-3 in the third quarter. The Ravens threatening to score and put a touchdown on the board.

In the world of the NBA. We actually got a good game going on right now. The Brooklyn Nets have come back here against the Dallas Mavericks. Well, game is tied 1-12 all. About nine seconds left on the clock. And how about the Brooklyn Toronto win-up? A basketball game? Wow.

That's new especially for the start of this season. And so I'll update you as things continue on there. I'm being joined by super producer and host Dave Shepherd. And thank you to everybody listening all over North America.

There is no show without you. If you want to talk to me, it's simple. We got a phone number here.

We have multiple lines. It's 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. You can also get a hold of me.

We have social media everywhere at JR Sport Brief. Shep, how are you this evening? I'm doing well, man. How are you, sir?

I'm good, man. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Obviously, we're going to keep you up to date with everything going on with Thursday Night Football. When the game concludes, we'll talk about it.

Get your thoughts and opinions. The Baltimore Ravens entering into tonight with a four and three record. A lot of close calls, a lot of missed opportunities, a lot of choking. And then meanwhile, we have Tampa Bay.

Yeah, a team led by Tom Brady that happens to be sub 500. So Tampa Bay trying to hold on to a victory here tonight so they can at least move their record up to an even four and four. As we continue on with the night, some other updates and things that have taken place today. Jamar Chase. Unfortunately, he's gone down.

Dealing with a knee injury. We have Caderius Tony. Or excuse me, Jamar Chase is his hip.

Caderius Tony. He's been busted up all year. He's been traded from the New York Giants to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Denver Broncos, they say that they're not ready to give the boot to Nathaniel Hackett or even many of their big time players. Bill Belichick has made it pretty clear at this point that we'll get Mack Jones.

And so we got a lot to do, a lot to discuss. Obviously, I mentioned the football game. You know, looking at the Brooklyn Nets, kind of watching the game in the studio right now, it's sad what's taking place so far in the season between the Brooklyn Nets and the Lakers. As a matter of fact, right now Brooklyn and the Dallas Mavericks, they're going to go into overtime tied at 112. Congratulations to Ben Simmons. He helped steal the ball on what the Mavs hope would be a game ceiling play.

He passed the ball out to Kevin Durant who slammed it home, tie game, and now we move into overtime. But this doesn't change the fact that in a few minutes, depending on the outcome of this game, that the Brooklyn Nets can fall to one and four. They enter into tonight's game against the Mavs with a record of one and three and it makes you go, damn. A team with Kevin Durant, a team with Kyrie Irving, and sure, this isn't the same Ben Simmons, but how the hell do you guys go one and three?

And we mentioned this last night. It's like a tale of two coasts. You've got the Brooklyn Nets suffering on the East Coast and then if you go out to the West Coast, the glamor franchise of the NBA is suffering the same way. Or I'd say probably worse, because at least the glamor franchise of the NBA, they actually have fans. Yeah, long established, well established fans. It's the Los Angeles Lakers.

They are 0 and 4. They're in terrible company right now. The only other teams that do not have one victory in the win column happens to be their former rival, Sacramento Kings, and then also a young Orlando Magic who happened to now be 0 and 5.

That's not the type of company that you want to keep. And it's interesting, if you look at both teams, both the Nets and the Lakers, it was only a few years ago where you could look at the rosters and you could look at the construction and say, wow, this is a potential finals matchup. Unless you felt that the Los Angeles Lakers were too old, unless you felt that the Brooklyn Nets were just too combustible, it appears that both have turned out to be true. I mean, the odds of us seeing a Brooklyn Nets Los Angeles Lakers finals in 2023 is just, it's almost hard to think about.

It's hard to think about either one of these rosters lasting for the next several weeks. There are already comments about Steve Nash getting the boot. This is the same Steve Nash who's one of the greatest NBA point guards all time, and Kevin Durant wanted him gone in the off-season if he was to return. They got Ben Simmons, who quite honestly is a shell of himself and is really dealing with confidence issues, has zero confidence in what he does.

It went viral last night. Kyrie Irving dishing the ball off to him as he cuts to the basket, Ben Simmons being a foot away from the basket and yelling at him to shoot. How the hell are you six foot ten? A foot away from the basket and don't even want to flip the ball up? It's like Ben Simmons has basketball PTSD. Oh, the best of the guy, he was a former all-star.

He was one of the best point guards in the game. And tonight, another flat evening, as they're in overtime right now, Ben Simmons, through 33 minutes, only has seven points, six rebounds, three assists on three of seven shooting. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving leading the way again. Kevin Durant with 30, Kyrie Irving with 35.

And it's like the same old recipe. You know, maybe this is why Kevin Durant wanted to leave because there is no big three in Brooklyn. This is not James Harden. Fat, broken James Harden would be able to contribute more than we've seen from, I believe, healthy but young Ben Simmons. And the excuses have been made for him already. The excuses are pretty much, oh, well, he hasn't played in a long time. Well, Zion hasn't played in a long time and that didn't stop him. And of course, he fell on his back and now he's hurt again. Kawhi Leonard also taking some days off. But when Kawhi played, he was active. Ben Simmons still looks afraid to play ball. Kyrie Irving before tonight's game. He pretty much was very optimistic.

He said, oh, it's going to be a piece of cake for us to find success. Listen to this. I'm not even going to overcomplicate it with you guys here. It just starts with just defensive pride and using our IQs for the best of our ability. We have a lot of long guys in terms of length out there on the perimeter. A lot of teams getting into our paint, offensive rebound, and that's the game right there.

Oh, yeah, that's the game right there. How big are they? Not big enough. They just played against the Milwaukee Bucks last night. That's a big-ass team.

Brooke Lopez is a gigantic human being. Milwaukee beat him 110 to 99. Earlier this week, they took on the Memphis Grizzlies, a tough, physical team. They got a bull in the paint.

And what's going on here? They lose to Memphis, 134 to 124. Brooklyn Nets are, they got some tall guys, but they're pretty thin. Ben Simmons is strong.

He ain't the biggest guy in the world. He has to go out there and defend centers. Kevin Durant is good on health defense, but we know if he's too, somebody's too big, they're going to move him out the way. And Ben Simmons has his own trouble with fouls. He's fouled out twice already this year.

And then I also told you he's afraid to take a shot. Listen to this from Kyrie. This is when he was yelling at Ben Simmons to do something you would think any basketball player would want to do, and that's, that's shoot. Nets out and running, Irving.

Simmons didn't even look at the basket, but that's a good decision to get it to KD. Shoot it, Ben. There are so many microphones on a basketball court, so many cameras that capture all of the action, capture everything that's being said.

Shoot it, Ben. This is not just going on in the stands. His own teammates are yelling at him to shoot it, to be aggressive. Steve Nash at the end of press conferences is imploring him to be more aggressive. What is it going to take?

One good game? A stretch of two or three games for Ben Simmons to snap out of this malaise? He needs help. He needs some easy dunks. He needs to get some easy baskets where he is just cutting to the rim. They need to start setting some things up for him because Kyrie's getting his, Duran is getting his, and Ben Simmons just looks like a deer caught in the headlights. He's scared. He's afraid. This is no different than the last time we saw him on a basketball court against the Atlanta Hawks.

Afraid that a Trey Young or anyone was going to foul him under the basket and put him at the free throw line. Except for this isn't the playoffs, this is the regular season. And by the way, the Brooklyn Nets are still losing. Right now in overtime, 125 to 116. Pulling up on about 90 seconds left in the game.

But if we go out west, I think this is even more of a disaster. You have the winless Los Angeles Lakers. Anthony Davis and LeBron last night, they lose to the Denver Nuggets. Russell Westbrook is not playing.

He's out with his hamstring injury. And the Lakers are just, they're worse than Brooklyn. Like they got no wins.

They have no hope. The guys on that team, if you thought Kevin Durant was miserable, man, what is LeBron James feeling like with this roster? What did you see as the difference in that third quarter when Denver made their push? At one point we all scored 29-11. How do you balance the sort of looking at the four losses so far at this point in the season with just everything going on?

What do you think the biggest thing you guys have to do to turn it around? We're going to make some shots. Well, he's going to find a different way and a different variation to say that after every game. After game one, it was we don't have snipers. The game two, it was just like, oh, yeah, but we can still find ways to win.

And here after the fourth loss, he's just like, oh, we got to figure out a way. You can't figure out a way if they don't have it. If the current talent on the roster does not have it, if they can't shoot, this isn't something that just automatically improves. It takes repetition.

It takes time. It takes practice, the type of practice and repetition that you do not have in an NBA regular season. The Lakers are hopeless.

They really are. It's not a move that they can make in this current season that will change their fortunes. Are the Los Angeles Lakers going to go undefeated or excuse me? Are they going to go winless for the entire season? No, of course not.

Nobody does that. But can they bring in a talent that's going to change their fortunes towards moving or getting a championship this year? The answer is no. Is Giannis going to become available to go to LA? Nope. Is Steph Curry going to move down south and go to Los Angeles?

The answer is nope. They've got no hope. Because if you've got to bet on moving Russell Westbrook, if you've got to bet on moving your draft picks, who's available that's going to make a difference?

The answer is nobody. And so here in the NBA, early on in the season, we got two teams, one on the East Coast, one on the West Coast, superstars, Hall of Famers, some of the best individuals and some of the best athletes to ever pick up a ball. But their seasons, it's going to be a lot of stat padding, a lot of numbers being made, a lot of looking towards the future. LeBron James is barring his health. He's going to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most regular season points. LeBron James, by the way, he already has more points than anyone in NBA history if you count the postseason. He's already there. Anthony Davis, a successful season for him would be just not to end up missing a stretch of games.

But the way he holds his back, you expect him to crumple and fall to dust. Russell Westbrook is just waiting for both shoes to drop so he can play elsewhere, and I don't think that will happen. And then in Brooklyn, Kyrie Irving is actually playing for a contract. And Kevin Durant, this man still feels like he's on borrowed time. Ben Simmons, just a lot of internal suffering.

And so who has it worse? Is it the Brooklyn Nets? Is it the Los Angeles Lakers? Who is furthest away from a championship? Is it the Nets? Is it the Lakers? We got two teams, top 75 players, Hall of Famers.

And it's crazy to say both of these squads are going nowhere. Los Angeles Lakers, the team that they have right now, probably isn't even going to be the team that they end the season with. And the Brooklyn Nets, how long before somebody gets the boot? Is it going to be Steve Nash? Or does he resign? Does Kevin Durant fondly say, please get me out of here? Do we end the season in Brooklyn watching Kyrie yell at Ben Simmons to strictly shoot the ball?

It's a possibility. Both teams, terrible. Who has it worse?

Man, that's a tough one. I'd say the Lakers, at least the Brooklyn Nets as a team have gone through most of their drama for now, as they get ready to lose potentially to Dallas and Brooklyn. But the Los Angeles Lakers? Man, this Russell Westbrook saga? I think that's worse than what's going on in Brooklyn, at least for right now. Let's see if Kevin Durant decides to request another trade.

There's nothing stopping him from doing that. It's the JR Sport Reef Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. The Lakers, they're a disaster. They're 0-4. Westbrook seemingly doesn't want to be there. Doesn't seem like the Lakers want him around. And then on the East Coast, you got the Brooklyn Nets. Looks like they're about to be 1-4. With Durant, Irving, and Ben Simmons.

And Ben Simmons looks like he's afraid to play ball. What team has it worse? Is it the Lakers? Is it the Nets? The phone lines are open, 855-212-4CBS. I'm going to ask Super Producer Dave Shepherd his opinion on the other side of the break.

And then speaking of worse, I think the Denver Broncos, I guess they're in a better position than anyone would ever expect. I'll explain. It's Thursday night. It's the JR Sport Reef Show on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Reef on CBS Sports Radio. JR wants to hear from you. Call him now at 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4227. It is the JR Sport Reef Show here on CBS Sports Radio. We were just talking about this game and now it's a final. The Brooklyn Nets, they lose to Dallas in overtime, 129-125. The Brooklyn Nets now fall to one in four. Here, are these numbers shocking to you?

I'll let you know a few of them. Luka Doncic, the man who's pretty much the pre-season favorite for MVP, 41 points, 14 assists, 11 rebounds. He shot 14 of 28 from the field. It's ridiculous. I always say Luka Doncic's gigantic Jason Kidd. Ironically, that's who's coaching him. And then you look at Brooklyn.

What a shock. Kyrie Irving, 39 points. Kevin Durant, 37 points. And then you got Ben Simmons, seven. And sure, Ben Simmons isn't a scorer, but what else is he doing? He only attempted seven shots. He played 37 minutes. I give him credit for helping to force overtime, throwing or stealing the ball, forcing an outlet pass to Kevin Durant, allowing KD to do something that Ben Simmons is probably afraid to do.

Dunk the basketball. So before we went to break, I posed the question, like, who has it worse? Is it the Brooklyn Nets?

They just seem like a bunch of dudes with individual issues. Or is it the Los Angeles Lakers who still have Russell Westbrook on the team who thinks he's, I don't know, still 25 years old? He's still shooting a ball like he's 25 years old.

But he's bullheaded. He fights with the media. LeBron is just throwing his teammates under the bus. Anthony Davis, it's like he's been hit with a bus after every game. I think the Lakers got it worse. Typical Hollywood drama.

Shep, what do you think? Who would you say has it as it worse? Who is in worse shape right now? Is it Brooklyn?

Is it the Lakers? They're both teetering. Well, JR, they're both in terrible shape. We both agree on that. This isn't them struggling.

This is them being absolute bottom dwellers. If you had to make a choice, and it's not a choice of the bold and the fortunate, you would have to say the Nets only because, JR, LeBron James, he does not look like the same player. Like, I'm still seeing Kevin Durant, who can have sustainable bounce. I'm still seeing Durant being able to be the most dominant offensive player on the floor. The Lakers have nobody at this point, given the injuries of Anthony Davis, where they can look at one individual and say, that could be the best player either offensively or defensively.

Now, JR, here's the question, and you said it. Ben Simmons, as great as he has been defensively, we know what he was two years ago. He was the best defensive guard in the association. That looks like it hasn't faltered. What has faltered, to your point, is he doesn't want to even attack. Forget shooting. He's never shot the ball.

He doesn't want to attack. If they can right that ship, JR, the Nets are going to cause a lot of trouble and havoc in the Eastern Conference. Oh, so you agree with me.

The Lakers got it worse. Yeah, cool. Well, I mean, listen, you said it. I mean, who's the company? I don't know. The Sacramento Queens, and you know the Queens at this point.

Wow. And then the Orlando, I don't know what magic is. Well, the Magic have one of the dumbest mascots I've ever seen. I don't know what they are. I don't know what the mascot is. You know what they are?

We can't wait for 340 more days till we get Victor. That's what they are. Have you ever been into that arena at Amway Center?

I have not, and I am fortunate for being able to make that case. Good. I went in that place one time. Felt like a museum. It's quiet. It's like Yankee Stadium. Well, this week, yeah. Right.

This is what Yankee Stadium, at least the home team will get booed. You hear something. But J.R., I mean, to me, LeBron has lost a step this season. He's not the same. He's still great, but he's no longer NBA elite.

That's the first time you can make that claim in 20 years. Oh, yeah, he's not in a like, oh, top three. You know, last week, two weeks ago, I gave you a top six list of players in the NBA. He's still, I would say he's still in the top six, but he's obviously not the same.

I got this all by myself. Player the guys around him just also happened to be trash. I mean, we have already started to hear the rumblings of, oh, my God, Lakers are so bad. Then might as well trade everybody might as well also trade LeBron James. I don't I don't foresee that happening.

Not not in the near future. At least he's on a two-year deal, paying him about 50 per. But the Lakers, terrible. The Brooklyn Nets, they got a little bit more hope to turn things around.

855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. Lee is calling from Cincinnati, Ohio. What's up, Lee?

Not much, J.R., but you got to tell me something. How in the heck does Brooklyn have more hope than L.A.? It's because just one person, Ben Simmons, he is, in my opinion, he is the most overrated player there has ever been in the NBA.

Ever. He just can't do everything that he just was supposed to do. That didn't do with the Sixers. He hasn't done with anybody else. He is just he is so overrated.

He is so overblown. And he hasn't lived up to anything close to his potential like he should have. Well, he's a three-time All-Star. He's been on the defensive team multiple times.

He's a 6-10 guard who averaged at his peak in his career almost 15-8-8, all-world defender. I wouldn't say that's someone who has, you know, been a bum, bust, or been crashed. I'm not saying he's a bum. I'm just saying he's overrated.

Why? Because when somebody gets paid what he has to, you don't do it on just one end of the floor. Let's face it, there's never been – Jordan was a great defender. Nobody ever even says anything about that, you know. But he was the greatest scorer that there's ever been. My point is that when you're that hyped up, when you are supposedly that good, you do it on both ends and he can't.

And that's where the problem is. Well, yes, that's been recently over this year. Can't say last year because he didn't play.

And then in the postseason. But outside of that, we have seen stretches. And yes, he's not ever said, let me go out here and bombs away. But when it comes to running and transition, when it comes to initiating an offense, when it comes to cutting to the basket, when it comes to passing out, we have seen him be good at what he does. It's why he's been an all-star despite the thing that's lacking in his game is shooting. So we can all notice right now he absolutely stinks. He does.

And if you want to look at what he's getting paid right now, he's still in the middle of this $177 million contract that he signed with Philadelphia. Yeah, he stinks right now. He does. Nobody could tell you otherwise. He can't tell you otherwise. His teammates can't tell you otherwise.

But we can't say that we've never seen him be successful. Overpaid? Yeah. Didn't play last year, had to settle with the sixes on his salary.

We don't know what that settlement was. And then right now, everybody's saying, oh, give Ben Simmons time. Give him time. How much time does he need to make a layup? Half a second. I can do that. Sanjay calling from Corpus Christi in Texas.

You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, Jayler, can you hear me? I can. You can talk a little louder, but go ahead. All right, man.

Yeah. So, you know, I think the Nets have a clear shot at it, man. They just have young guys. They have Kevin Durant. And Kyrie Irving, even though they don't play to their full access, I think that, you know, in the end, they're both really great players. And even though the Lakers do have a run, which is, there's no argument about it.

He is one of the greatest players that you've seen in the NBA. And they have also watched Brooke. You know, it's still like, it's not, I don't want to say lost cause, but, you know, the guys are not old, but they're not young enough to compete with these young guys who still have energy. Oh, okay.

No, it's, how about this? They just don't have the talent. That's it. They just don't have the talent. Watching the Los Angeles Lakers right now was just sad. Contavious Caldwell Pope, who's now on the Denver Nuggets. I mean, he was getting buckets yesterday, knocking down threes. It's like, Oh yeah. He used to do that for the Lakers.

How are you? This is, this is, I'm going to put a bow on this. It's a terrible, ugly bow, but it's fitting cause it's the Lakers. How do you shoot as a team? 22% from three, 22% from three, a bum garbage, bad three point shooting team will get you, I don't know, 30 to 33 for you want to make one out of three shots. Can you make one out of three? The Lakers are sitting at 22%.

Crap. I might as well pull some, I know some guys in the YMCA who could shoot better than that. And this is what LeBron James has to work with. He hopes for another title. What's it going to look like if Steph Curry's able to pick up another one? And Braun James, yeah, he can have all his records. He's going to be turning over in his sleep.

It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. When we come back, okay, Russell Westbrook, ultimately probably be gone. Definitely after this season at minimum. You know, Ben Simmons, God knows what's going on with him. In the NFL, we got Russell Wilson and his head coach, Nathaniel Hackett of the Broncos. Neither one of these guys should maybe be in Denver. Definitely the head coach.

But the general manager says, I'm keeping them. We're going to talk about that on the other side. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. I have all the respect for you, first of all, JR. I appreciate you bringing the truth every night. I listen to you on my way back from work at this time. Big fan, I just started listening to your show a few months ago. I'm hooked, man. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

Before I move on, I just got to say this. What the hell is going on with fans in New York? I mean, they booed Aaron Judge. And the New York Knicks win a playoff game.

People act like it's the end of the world. And a fan in overtime, I just told you about the Dallas Mavericks beating the Brooklyn Nets in Brooklyn. Like in overtime, Luca is standing kind of in front of his own bench. And there's a fan who throws like a cup of ice or just like literally lobs a cup over the scorer's table, over the announcer's table, onto the court.

And then we got 50, well not 50. I was going to call them minions, but that's not nice. What do you call those people, Shep?

What's the appropriate phrase? They ain't fans. We actually pulled it if you want to hear it.

I was talking about the people who had to clean it up, but we'll get back to that. Yeah, let's hear. What is this, Yes Network? You got it. Yeah, let's go.

What about your team and your learn about different guys, how they fit around Kevin and Kyrie? Somebody was just on the court, a cup, just flew out of the stands onto the court. Come on. There's a great iron eagle there, by the way.

Certain things you never expect to hear, right? Iron eagle talking about a cup being thrown onto the court. Iron eagle, he's also getting a new job, good for him. Moving Jim Nance on out the way, but you know what?

We'll get back to iron eagle. There must be something in the water in New York City. It's a treacherous place. You got to be careful walking down the street. You got to be careful in the subway. You got to be careful in the park.

Shep, what's going on in New York, man? Do something. Well, you're not here. That's part of the problem.

Okay, I guess. We don't have leadership in this city anymore. I'm not going to put this on Eric Adams' plate. That's the mayor, the mayor Eric Adams.

Yeah, exactly. Isn't he a police officer? He used to be. He used to be a very decorated one at that. So what does he do now?

He just parties, right? Jay, I was having this. Well, I didn't say that now, but... Oh, I did. Well, listen, no one's going to hear things.

I hear things. No one's going to be as absent minded as the Bill de Blasio guy before him, but I digress. Jay, my point is I was having this conversation with somebody today. People have become less sympathetic and significantly less empathetic since the pandemic. I think a lot of people feel they got the short end of the stick, whether it was politically, socially, economically, and that has had a very negative carryover effect on most people, particularly in metropolitan major urban areas, which is why you see restaurants now just basically safeguarding the outside because people would just come by and just literally slap the glasses and slap the food right off the table and literally assault people. And I don't mean just people.

I mean, like, elderly women. I don't know. It's terrible. Yeah.

Well, anyway, Luca Doncic is not an elderly woman. I didn't answer your question. I hope I did.

No, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. I asked you, why are you not helping New York? Oh, sorry.

You basically said it's too far gone. But outside of that, you know, it's crazy. Here's the deal. If you are inebriated enough to throw a cup at Luca Doncic, you don't just deserve to be in it, don't matter who the player is. You don't just deserve to be walked out of the arena, maybe put in cuffs.

You should be able to go one on one in the back room with Luca so he could beat your ass. I mean, that's only fair. What's fair is fair. I mean, the last time I saw somebody in the NBA get hit with a cup, it was Ron Artest and we saw what happened there. It should be fair game, man. And yes, I'm joking, but I do find it fair. If you knew the consequences that were, you could get beat up by someone who's 6'8", 6'9", 240, 250, then yeah, I think people would change their behavior. People think that they could just run around and say anything and do anything. There's a lack of just, as Shep pointed out, I think this is even besides the pandemic, it might have sped things up.

There's a lack of moral decency. You want to throw a cup at Luca? Oh, well, here, Luca, you can do what you want with him back. You want to throw something at Giannis? You want to call Russell Westbrook. Westbrook to his face while you know a tunnel separates you. Well, you should be able to go down into that tunnel with Russell Westbrook and see what happens. I think that would change people's behaviors. It's not going to happen. Two rights or two wrongs don't make a right.

But just because someone is not going to get an ass whooping, that doesn't mean that they don't, they don't deserve it. Shadel. Well, my main man, Shadel, calling from Louisiana.

You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Shadel? What's going on, JR? How are you, man? Doing good. Just got off. Good. What's up? Me and my boy, we've been here thinking about what we can do, trade scenarios to get a better quarterback here for the same. OK. He said he heard Mack Jones for Winston and we're going to get a first, or we give him a first round pick.

I said no. If anything, you know me, the Saints need to get Lamar Jackson. Well, I can tell you, I have no reason as to why Bill Belichick, who typically likes to cut and keep salaries low, he has Mack Jones on a rookie deal. James Winston is in the middle of a two-year deal right now with the Saints.

So I don't think that's happening. The other element is that Bill Belichick wants someone who's going to take care of the football. I don't think he wants anything to do with James Winston. And to your point, yeah, fine, Lamar Jackson would be an absolutely amazing quarterback for most teams looking for one. He's a former MVP, and yeah, the Saints would be great. But everybody would have to hope that things don't work out when it comes down to Baltimore. And at the same time, Baltimore can just franchise tag him.

So it's a complicated situation, Shaddow. How much do you think he's going to get guaranteed on a franchise tag? Oh, man. Well, I think the tag right off the top, I think it would put him in around the 50-mill range, I think 45 to 50 for the first season. And then it pretty much increases from there. And so every year that the Ravens don't come up with a long-term agreement, it becomes cost prohibitive. And if it reaches that point, they might have to trade him. I don't think that will be the case. I think at minimum, he'll be back with the Ravens next year. I think it would have to be a gigantic disaster if he doesn't return next season. Do you think he could get a 10-year, like, moment? No. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not happening.

I would be shocked, especially with his style of play. Do I think the Ravens will pay him? Yes. I think the answer is yes. Do I think he's going to get a deal in the 50-million-dollar range?

Yes, I believe so. I know what's important to him, and thank you, Shadel, for calling from Louisiana and getting ready to hit the break. It's the guaranteed cash, man. He sees what Russell Wilson is getting, and he looks at what Kyle Murray is getting. 150, you know, 160. He saw what Watson got. All of it guaranteed. That's the sticking point. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. We'll talk more tomorrow night. Iron Eagle and more. . . .