JR SportBrief Hour 1

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

It is the JR Sport Brief show here on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Thursday night. I hope you had a good Thursday.

Hope you had a good evening or good afternoon. For the next four hours I'm just gonna be good. I'm gonna be here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

This is when I get started. 10 p.m. Eastern time, 7 p.m. Pacific. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you so much to super producer and host Dave Sheppard. He's coming to you live from New York City and we got a fun four hours for you.

Guess what? NFL preseason is here. Tonight is the start of games. You got football. It's officially back. This is the middle of August.

Is it the middle? I guess the 10th is still the early portion but before you know it we're gonna blink and it's gonna be September and the real games will be underway. We got a rookie quarterback in action tonight.

Didn't have the best debut but who cares? We have another rookie quarterback who will be in action this upcoming Saturday. People are real intrigued as to what he will do. Speaking of Saturday, the Basketball Hall of Fame inductions will take place up in Springfield, Massachusetts. I love Springfield.

I love it. Springfield got good food, got good people. Springfield, the college is up there. I love Springfield. Popovich and Wade.

Novitski. It'll be fun. We'll talk about it. For people looking, oh by the way there's a there's a casino in downtown Springfield.

That's nice too. But anyway, Phil Mickelson, he's a big gambler. If you didn't know, we found out more details about his alleged gambling. Seems like he wanted to gamble on some games that he competed in himself.

He says no but we'll talk about it. Hey this happened this week as well speaking of gambling. Barstool Sports sold back to Dave Portnoy if you know who that is. You probably know Barstool and he bought it back.

Or maybe they didn't want it. It's probably a combination of both. We'll get into it and there's so much more that we need to discuss. If you want to holler at me, it's simple. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. And if you follow me online at JR Sport Brief on social media, you would have already known about everything that we'll discuss tonight. Shep, how you feeling today? Did you have a good day?

I did, JR. Thanks for asking, man. How about yourself? I'm okay. What'd you do today if you don't mind me asking?

Not at all. Welcome my dog. What'd you do? Worked a little bit. Hung out with some friends. It was a lovely day, man. It was rainy in New York though. It rained in New York today? Just a little bit, yeah. So it was like a summer shower in the afternoon?

Like what happened? It was more of a shower. It seemed like more of a flood. But time in Central Park is always beautiful, man. Oh that's nice. Well New York City is filthy so it could probably use more showers. That's a good, that's a fair point there. A lot of people would agree with that. The more showers the better for filthy New York.

But anyway, New York City could certainly use some sunshine, some rain, and some optimism. And I gotta warn you here, people. Listen, because the NFL preseason is here, we do not need anybody jumping off of a ledge.

We do not need any overreactions. If anybody draws any type of conclusion about any type of player over the next three to four weeks, don't pay them any attention. Ignore them. Act like they didn't say it.

Act like it doesn't exist, because it's a complete waste of time. The NFL preseason is basically a Petri dish. It's basically, let's try this, let's try that, let's not try this, let's save something for the regular season. And for rookies, it's a matter of getting your feet wet. For dudes who are trying to even make a team with no contract, it's a matter of no mistakes and trying to prove yourself.

And so don't get bent out of shape. So for instance, tonight, minutes ago, the Houston Texans, they just beat the Patriots 20 to 9. And of course, someone who made their debut tonight was CJ Stroud. Yes, CJ Stroud made his debut as an NFL quarterback. You want to know how his night went?

I'll tell you. One drive, seven plays. He threw an eight-yard pass.

Hooray. Yes, eight-yard pass. He was sacked. And that's not good. He had a four-yard run.

Yeah, whatever. And then he was intercepted. Not good. Patriots then went out there and kicked the field goal. He came back. He threw an incomplete pass. He had a five-yard pass and a two-yard run, a whole lot of nothing. What CJ Stroud will remember tonight, first time on an NFL field throwing an NFL football, he'll remember an interception. He'll remember that sack.

He might even feel it right now. And welcome to the NFL. Good for CJ Stroud.

Don't draw too much into it. Who cares, right? Bryce Young, he'll be in action this weekend against the New York Jets.

Good for him. Somebody else, you want to think about the quarterbacks. I'm waiting to see this dude because he's a freak. You know, being here in Georgia and keeping up at the SEC, I got a chance to see, I don't want to say all the good teams, but I get a chance to see some great teams.

I get a chance to see some great prospects and someone that I'm very interested in seeing. My apologies to CJ Stroud and Bryce Young. I want to see what Anthony Richardson can do because this quarterback, this guy, he's a freak.

I mean, we had to go through the entire NFL draft process and we had to listen to the criticisms of Bryce Young. He's too small. He's not tall enough. Are his hands large enough? Is he going to make it in the NFL? He's too tiny.

When it comes down to Anthony Richardson coming out of Florida, oh, it's different. There are no concerns about his size. There are no concerns about his athleticism because throughout the process of the NFL draft combine, we have never seen anyone his size perform the way he did, especially at the quarterback position. Especially given his immense size for a quarterback, 244 pounds, one of the heaviest quarterbacks to ever weigh in at the NFL draft combine. And despite being one of the heaviest, he's one of the fastest ever. Michael Vick, RG3, Reggie McNeil.

Yeah, sure. Think about who that is. Those are the only three quarterbacks who were faster than Anthony Richardson. Michael Vick weighs or weighed 210 pounds.

RG3 weighed just north of 220 pounds. Anthony Richardson has a listed size of 6 foot 4, 244 pounds. Anthony Richardson is about the same exact size of George Kittle. Anthony Richardson is about the same exact size given an inch short of Cam Newton. Anthony Richardson is Ben Roethlisberger without an inch. Anthony Richardson is bigger than than Von Miller. Anthony Richardson is an inch taller than Derrick Henry.

And they all weigh in that 245 range. Anthony Richardson is a bull of a quarterback. And so we'll have an opportunity to see him play for the first time this Saturday as the Indianapolis Colts, who we know are disaster, the Colts are going to take on the Bills. And the only thing I want to see is Anthony Richardson. And I'm not going to draw any ridiculous conclusions following one game. But the only reason this past year that I would turn on the Gators, I don't give a damn whether they won or lost because I know they sucked. The only reason why I watched the Gators, even put them on the television, was to see what this physical freak was going to do. Selected number four in the draft, Jim Irsay has made it very clear that he wants Steichen to go out there and play him.

And they're not wasting any time. Gardner Minshew is going to have to watch from the bench because Anthony Richardson is going to get the first start. And this is what he had to say about getting some action in his first preseason game. When did you find out you were going to be the starter for the preseason? A few minutes before practice.

Coach let me know. I get to go out there and showcase what I'm able to do with the ones a little bit. And the first NFL experience, I'm excited for it. But the same rodeo, you know, just get to play ball again. Did you get a little rush, though, from finding out that you're going to be out there right away?

A little bit, not really. I knew I was going to play regardless, so I wasn't really stressing whether I was going to start or not, because I was going to get my reps. But, you know, I'm excited. I get to run out there first and, you know, hopefully put up some points early. I hope he can put up some points. And yeah, sure, if he throws an interception, I ain't sweating. Come on, C.J. Stroud threw one tonight.

No big deal. It's going to take a portion of the season to really evaluate who and what Anthony Richardson is. And similar to the Green Bay Packers, the Indianapolis Colts, for the better part of the last two decades, they've been spoiled. They basically went from Peyton Manning to Andrew Luck.

And now they're hoping they're waiting. They have their fingers crossed for their next franchise quarterback. We know up in Green Bay, there was that man named Brett Favre. There was that other guy named Aaron Rodgers. And now they got a dude named Love, and they are hoping that Love can be their next franchise quarterback. Highly unlikely that any team can go Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame, Pro Bowl, Pro Bowl, Pro Bowl, when it comes down to quarterbacks.

And so I wish Anthony Richardson nothing but the best of luck, but it's going to be tough. We haven't just talked about the Indianapolis Colts being a joke just this off-season. The Indianapolis Colts were a joke last year. Jim Irsay pulling his buddy off of television. Hey, hey, Jeff Saturday, come here, come here, come here, come here, here. Can you coach the team?

Yeah, coach it, good. Matt Ryan, one of the classiest individuals in the NFL. Now he's a broadcaster. Now he's collecting money. Matt Ryan is just like, man, playing for the Colts last year?

It was a bleep show. Frank Wright gets the boot. Jeff Saturday comes in, he's like, Frank Wright gets the boot. Jeff Saturday comes in. Jeff Saturday is a terrible coach. Oh, well, JR, no, JR is going to work. You know, JR, don't say, it sucked.

It was garbage. Hey, Shep, you think me and, nah, that's just, is it disrespectful, Shep, if I say me and you can out-coach Jeff Saturday? No, he saw what he did.

Saw him give up a 28-30 point lead last year. Okay. Yeah, me and Shep could out-coach Jeff Saturday. I feel like being disrespectful tonight. Good.

Hope your feelings are hurt. Indianapolis Colts sucked last year. And now they got to deal with this issue with Jonathan Taylor. And now Anthony Richardson, who the hell is he throwing the ball to that's actually any type of established outside of Michael Pittman Jr.? Come on now. I want to see Anthony Richardson flourish.

He's a freak. I don't know if we'll see the backflips and the cartwheels that we saw in college. I'm sure the Colts will tell him, Hey, hey, hey, we don't need you backflipping your way into a torn ACL.

So please relax. But if Jonathan Taylor isn't there, this ain't going to be pretty for the dude. If you thought last year was bad for the Indianapolis Colts, only four victories. Now you got a rookie head coach and Shane Steichen, and you got a rookie quarterback and let's not act like we don't, we are not going to see Gardner Minshew. Gardner Minshew is going to play.

Come on. That's not to say that Anthony Richardson's season will be a failure, but I'd be shocked if Gardner Minshew doesn't pick up some slack. If he doesn't pick up some reps, whether it's due to performance or due to injury.

I hope not. The Colts need Jonathan Taylor. Anthony Richardson needs Jonathan Taylor, if anything, just to have some balance, man, because this team, oh, it's going to suck.

It's going to suck again. I just hope in the process of it over the next year, a couple of years, that they don't drag Anthony Richardson in his career into the toilet. Some of these athletic, ridiculously athletic quarterbacks hit or miss. Yeah, sure. Anthony Richardson can run with the best of them.

Oh yeah, sure. He can jump with the best of them. Oh yeah, he has an arm with the best of them, but can he play quarterback? Can he hold onto the ball? Can he move it into the end zone? If the answer is no, he's going to be a bust.

Nobody wants to see that, but it's certainly quite a possibility, especially when your offense is absolute trash. Hey, good luck to Anthony Richardson. I'm going to watch, or I'm going to look at the highlights this upcoming Saturday. I'm going to wish and hope for the best, but nothing in August is going to determine what happens in September, October, November, December, unless Jonathan Taylor comes back and he can actually give him a hand. Tonight, we saw CJ Stroud. I saw him get sacked. I saw him throw an interception and no big deal. On Saturday, we'll see Bryce Young. On Saturday, we'll see Anthony Richardson. Regardless of what happens over these next few preseason games, folks, do not ring the alarm.

Wait until the regular season. Guys are just trying to get their feet wet. They're trying to earn their jobs. They're trying to walk away without an injury.

They're just trying to get some reps, trying to get some experience so they could study what the hell they do on tape. Hey, good luck to all the rookie quarterbacks. Anthony Richardson playing for the Colts. Oh yeah, he's really going to need it. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We are just getting started. That's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We're going to take a break. The phone lines are open. On the other side of the break, we're going to look at a team that was really just competing for a championship.

Damn it, now they're just competing to stay afloat. I'm going to tell you about that team and their quarterback situation. It's Thursday night. It's the JR Sport Brief show on 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 Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. CJ Stroud makes his debut in the NFL tonight. He throws an interception. He gets sacked.

No big deal, right? Who cares about the score? But the Texans end up winning 20-9. He ain't play but a couple of series. But hey, that's the preseason, right?

Everybody goes out there and they get their feet wet. He's not going to be the only quarterback of the rookies getting his feet wet. Bryce Young will be taking on the New York Jets in the Carolinas this upcoming Saturday. And Anthony Richardson, he's going to get his opportunity and his shot, I mentioned to you before the break, against the Buffalo Bills. And so Anthony Richardson is going to be making his debut with a crap, crap team with the Colts.

And this is what happens. I mean, they draft you for a reason. They're at the top of the draft for a reason. It's because they sucked last year.

These are the worst of the worst of the worst. And they're hoping that you could turn things around. Unfortunately for the Indianapolis Colts, they have a running back that they don't want to pay. And that makes the offense even worse. Okay, so good luck to Anthony Richardson coming out of Florida with the Gators. Now, I mentioned to you, the only reason I even would watch the Gators last year would be to see what he does. How's he going to transition into the NFL? Can he actually be a quarterback and not a freakish athlete? Well, let me tell you about someone else who's probably, maybe, potentially going to get his shot at quarterback this year. Ironically, he was also a Florida Gator. His name? Kyle Trask.

Yup. Tom Brady is gone. Tom Brady was on safari in Africa a couple of days ago. You can look at the pictures with his family. He's in Africa. Good for him. I don't know if he's home. Don't care. He's not in training camp. Tom Brady will not be playing in the NFL this season, and hopefully he's gone for good. Sorry, but it's time.

And so what does that mean? The Tampa Bay Tigers are going to have to start over. Sure, there's no Jamis Winston here, but who do you have now? You have Kyle Trask, who they drafted in 2021, and they have Baker Mayfield.

Yes, Baker Mayfield, who they just signed a few months ago. Let's keep in mind, and you want to talk about how bad rookies came out of the NFL this year. You want to talk about how bad rookies came out of the NFL this year.

Let's keep in mind, and you want to talk about how bad rookies can be or the potential for rookies. Baker Mayfield was selected number one overall in 2018. The Browns said, we'll take Deshaun Watson.

No, thank you, Baker. Baker Mayfield had to go to the Carolina Panthers and battle it out with Sam Darnold, who was an interception machine with the New York Jets. Now he reportedly is doing better in training camp with the Niners.

Good for him. Baker Mayfield then asked for his release, and then he has a great game. He leads like a game-winning drive against the Raiders. I remember that.

I think it was Monday Night Football. It's like, oh, Baker Mayfield is here with the Rams. Let's see how long that lasts. Matthew Stafford can't feel his arms or his legs, and so Baker Mayfield goes out and gets the job done.

And now he's a buck. Exciting, right? So exciting.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have gone from Tom Brady, the most accomplished quarterback in NFL history, to Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask. This is like going from the penthouse to the outhouse. This is like going from from Caviar to McDonald's. Hey, Shupp, you like McDonald's? Not anymore. Yeah, Shupp used to, but not anymore.

Shupp eats caviar now. I wouldn't go that far. The Bucks. This is going to suck for them. Sorry, Mike Evans.

Hopefully Baker Mayfield can find you. And so what does this mean? It means the Buccaneer fans, they're not excited. Organization, not excited. The NFC South, not a damn thing exciting. Man, the Buccaneers are going to be worse than, I don't know, probably the Falcons.

What a world we live in. But who's going to be quarterback? Is it going to be Baker Mayfield or is it going to be Kyle Trask? Someone who is also excited about the possibility of watching Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask play is the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You can tell he's excited because Todd Bowles, he was asked, hey, what the hell is going to happen with the quarterbacks? Is it going to be Baker to start? Is it going to be Kyle?

Like, how are you going to do this? And listen to the excitement in Todd Bowles' voice. Yeah, he'll start this week. Kyle will start next week and we'll kind of go from there.

Was there any particular thought about what the court order was? Not really. We just go and we switch them out. It just happened to be that term. Oh, wow. Exciting, right? I can feel the enthusiasm. I'm excited for Tampa Bay Buccaneers football. How can anybody listen to that man and want to buy a ticket? Not that the fans are that stupid.

But I mean, who the hell is going to show up? Who's buying a Baker Mayfield jersey? I don't even, are they selling? Shep, can I buy a Baker Mayfield Buccaneers jersey? You think I can walk into the team shop and get one? Well, no one else has bought any, so there's got to be plentiful. Oh, no.

Ouch. Did people buy Baker Mayfield jerseys? They did have to in Cleveland. They did, right? And before he snapped a, you know, took a snap in the NFL, I'm sure they did.

They saw him play and, you know, he had a decent rookie season, but never delivered on the hype. Oh, man. Do you, Shep, were we working together when the Browns actually went to the playoffs? That might've been the year before. It might've been a few months before.

Yeah. I couldn't believe it. He had a decent third season. People were so, oh my God, Baker Mayfield. And I'm like, yo, he had a great eight, nine game stretch.

Hit me up when he does it again. And now here he is on his third team. This is the first round pick in 2018. And the Browns said, nah, no, thanks. We're going to bring in the guy who had the, the sexual assault issues and we're going to pay him a whole lot of money and you can just leave. Like I know Netflix has a whole documentary out right now on Johnny Manziel. Johnny, another, another Browns quarterback, Johnny Manziel didn't study. Johnny Manziel had a drug problem. Uh, Johnny Manziel was in and out of the NFL here and gone. And the Cleveland Browns selected Baker Mayfield and then said, nah, we don't want you no more. We're going to get Deshaun Watson. We don't care how many massage therapists he was hanging out with.

We going to go with him. Like Baker Mayfield must feel like crap. And I'm sure the 30, 34, $5 million that he got, it makes it feel almost so much better.

But I mean, damn, it's like the Teddy Pendergrass song. It feels so good. Loving somebody when somebody loves you back. Well here, look, nobody loves Baker Mayfield. Browns didn't love him. Carolina Panthers didn't love him. The Rams brought him in only because Matthew Stafford couldn't feel his arms or his legs.

And now he's on Tampa. You go from Tom Brady to Baker Mayfield. If I'm a Bucks fan, man, I'm just Marco Belletti. If you're a Bucks fan, what the hell do you do?

Uh, you know what? I don't really feel bad for you. Take your Super Bowl and run. You got a mercenary.

You got a title. Now live with the rest of us and where you're looking for a quarterback. Tough. Damn, damn tough.

Yeah, I understand. Somehow, some way, Kyle Trask is probably going to get his shot. The Buccaneers are probably going to be so bad. It's going to come a point in time where Todd Bowles stands up in front of the media, he puts everybody to sleep, and then he announces in a low voice that Kyle Trask is going to take over at the quarterback position.

It's inevitable. I feel bad for the Florida QBs. Hey, good luck to Anthony Richardson and good luck to Kyle Trask. Maybe he learned something hanging out in the same quarterback room as Tom Brady. Good for him. Maybe he passed on a little bit of knowledge. Maybe he has Tom Brady on speed dial.

I don't know. Baker Mayfield ain't helping him. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Speaking of passing on knowledge, Mike Vrabel, not afraid to share what he has learned. I'll tell you about what he is doing.

Very unique as a head coach. I'll tell you on the other side of the break. 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 do think you're one of the best people in radio right now, hands down. I've heard everybody.

You got the gift, and I appreciate, you know, your intelligence and your honesty. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. Oh, look, there's another NFL preseason game going on right now. Minnesota and Seattle. Drew Locke versus Nick Mullins. Ugh.

Is all of this necessary? Regular season can't come soon enough. I mean, I get it.

People are competing for jobs and, ugh. How many preseason games are they playing? Three or four? Did they chop it down? They chopped it, right?

I should know this. Obviously, everyone was talking about going 18 and then chopping into two. That's in the foreseeable future.

Yeah, but there's so much yapping. Let's see. No, they're still doing four preseason games a team. Oh my God. And they think people love the NFL that much, they're going to tune into scrubs.

Oh my God. I shouldn't say that, JR, but the reality is you said it. Half these guys aren't even going to be in an NFL roster in one month from now anyway. It's, but it's not, see, is the NFL preseason for the fans or is it for the, it's for the teams. Like, it's not for the fans. Wait, JR, is it for revenue?

Because I think these teams can have scrimmages and you're going to get the same result and you have the same expectations and understanding of who's worth keeping and who's worth cutting. This is just for, this is just for dollars and television rights and advertising. Ancillary, yeah. Yeah.

More so local like. Like who's running? And I've been to my share of, have I? I'm trying to think about it. I've probably turned down preseason game. And I'm talking years ago.

Years. I don't even know if I've been to a preseason game. Cause it's like, Hey, you ain't got to take people. People give the tickets away. You know, I guess it's cool if you don't go to an NFL game, it's cool. You can go, you can experience it. I understand it, but damn, I don't want to go to a game and I don't know who the hell these people are. Like who's that guy? Like, no thanks. And so, yeah, each team plays four NFL preseason games.

And as I said, I think Shep and I are on the same page here. We could coach the Indianapolis Colts. Well, we could have coached against Jeff Saturday. That would have been an easy thing to do, but I'll tell you this, someone who is going to get an opportunity to coach his first game.

And this is, this isn't something that happens. NFL coaches are meticulous. I think you could say some of them are jerks. They got their hands kind of wrapped around everything that's going on. It's an exclusive job. It's a small club, but Mike Vrabel is doing something that, that really hasn't been done before. Terrell Williams is one of his assistant head coaches. He's been an NFL coach, defensive coach, now his assistant coach.

He's been in the league for almost more than half a, well, yeah, almost about a decade, really. 25 years coaching period between college and the NFL. Mike Vrabel basically said, Hey man, you coach. Nah, nah, not coach a series, not coach for a quarter, but for this upcoming game against the Chicago Bears this weekend, Mike Vrabel basically said, you run everything from start to finish, even the, the, the preparation multiple days before you figure out the rotations, you figure out the minutes, you figure out the injuries and who plays and who's eligible to play. And this is, this is days before the actual game.

And so we don't see this. So kudos to Mike Vrabel. We know he's one of the smartest coaches in the NFL. Maybe he learned a little bit of something from Belichick, but when it comes down to clock manipulation and, and running the clock, utilizing timeouts, getting the ball back, Mike Vrabel is one of the best coaches in the entire league. And so maybe he is so comfortable with himself that he's allowing Terrell Williams to go out there and just coach.

And it is amazing experience. And Terrell Williams, he's been clear, he wants to coach in the NFL. And he talked about Mike Vrabel giving him this chance and giving him this opportunity.

Take a listen. Vrabel deserves a lot of credit. And the thing you guys don't know, like you see him and he comes up here and I know how Vrabs can be.

Trust me. I know how he can be, but what, what you don't see is what he's able to do for us as coaches and for our families. Like he's, a lot of guys have been promoted. A lot of guys have gotten jobs from here. A lot of guys have gotten jobs from here. Um, this guy, I'll do anything for Mike Vrabel before assistant head coach and before, um, being put in this position because there, and there's really one reason. And I know that this guy cares about my family. All right.

And trust me for a guy like me, that, that means a whole hell of a lot. Well, good for him. He's a minority coaching candidate. We know the NFL hasn't necessarily brought in a whole lot of black coaches. You, at this point in time, you have Mike Tomlin, Todd Bowles, D'Amico Ryans recently brought in for the Houston, the Houston Texans. Mike McDaniel identifies as biracial. There aren't too many black coaches here running around in the NFL.

And so good on Mike Vrabel for giving him that chance and giving him that opportunity. You got to be real secure and comfortable with who you are to kind of just say, Hey man, you do it. I ain't worried about what I'm doing in my job and what's going on with me, but you go out there and do it. It's good. I don't think it's going to help the Tennessee Titans in the long run, but yeah, I don't, I don't like Tannehill.

What can I say? Tannehill sucks. Tannehill's name might as well be interception. He sucks when he's entering into the last year of his contract.

I wish they could just get him the hell up on out of this sooner than later. Let's throw Will Levis out there, see what he can do. Let the rookies play.

Why not? Hey Shep, what happened with the other preseason? So outside of the Browns and the Jets, obviously playing that meaningless Hall of Fame game.

Oh, Hall of Fame. Right, right. They play four games.

All other 30 teams play just three. Yeah, so they did cut it down. I thank God.

Well, that's good, right? I guess, no. Well, I mean, you're still getting the same haphazard, you know, half-hearted product. This is just, you know, this is just not fun to watch. There's nothing enticing about it, honestly. You know, to be honest, I don't care about any league's preseason games. It's nothing but, it's like, hey, they're playing preseason.

Hey, the games are around the corner. But what is exciting about the NBA preseason? Nothing. Nothing.

I agree. What is it? How long is spring training? A month? There's nothing exciting about spring training. It's like, oh, you get a chance to turn on baseball in the middle of the day and you get to look at the sun in Florida or Arizona.

Okay, nice. There's nothing exciting about that. NFL preseason, there's going to be, there's probably all things considered, we're going to have more injuries take place than we have any noteworthy information or news. Come on now. We're going to have more injuries.

Listen to me. We're going to have more injuries than any noteworthy news here in the NFL preseason. And so all it is is a benchmark.

All it is is a marker. Here are the games and let's get on and get closer to the regular season. That's it. And so as Shep mentioned, yeah, the Browns and the Jets, they played that Hall of Fame game.

So now they're going to have four. And let's be real. Is Aaron Rodgers even going to play a preseason game? Do you want him to? If he goes out there and he sprains an ankle or somebody hits him and he turns to dust, the New York Jets season is over. If you're going to have him get just smashed to pieces, you might as well save it for the regular season. Leave it for the rookies. I mean, I just told you about CJ Stroud.

CJ Stroud didn't even go out there and play more than two series before they decided to pull him. Is this an NFL fan's dream? I don't know. Is it, is somebody gambling? Does that make it interesting?

I think that would be the only thing that makes an NFL preseason game interesting. But why would anybody even put money down when you don't know who the hell the guys are? It's an interesting scenario.

855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. Hey, Shep, did you hear about Phil Mickelson and his gambling? Yeah, it's a lot of money. More than a billion dollars thrown out there to gamble? It's unreal. I mean, when you're that gifted and that talented, you really need to be engaging in that type of, you know, potential loss in your life. It just doesn't add up, JR.

It really doesn't. If you think the money is going to come back, right? Yeah, but there's no risk when you're one of the, I would say JR, honestly, when you look at the sport of golf, he's got to be one of the five most talented golfers in the history of the sport. Like, he's that good. Like, he's winning majors in his 50s, right? And so that's, you're a lock. You're a lock to make millions and rake in millions.

What are you doing risking and risking it all when you have a family nonetheless? I guess he feels that he can always get it back somehow, right? I mean, Saudi Arabia gave him, what, $200 million to play golf for Liv?

Well, too bad for Phil. They offered Tiger almost a billion. So maybe that's his way of sticking it to Tiger. Yeah, at least Tiger didn't take the money. He can take the money. And I know a lot of people, in order to be invested into sports, they got to spend the cash.

They got to put the money in. Let's look at the NFL. How many NFL fans? I mean, we got people who live in Texas who will follow what a singular NFL player does in Detroit.

We got NFL fans in Miami who will pay attention to what a guy is doing in Seattle. And it's not because they are a fan. It's because they got to win money. They want to win money. Does gambling make sports more interesting? Does gambling make sports fun?

Does it give you an added incentive? I mean, we see fans at games yelling at players. You cost me money. You screwed me up.

And we've been here and seen this. Imagine being a player and going out there going out there and betting on yourself. Are you doing it for entertainment purposes? Are you just trying to go out there and make an extra buck? Are you trying to utilize insider information?

I don't know if gambling on preseason games can make it interesting, but I know a whole lot of fans who take out their wallet during the course of the regular season just to have some fun. It's the J.R. Sportbrief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. 855-2124 CBS. That's 855-2124 CBS. I'm going to get to your calls. We're going to talk about this gambling stuff. Don't move.