JR SportBrief Hour 1

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Financing subject to credit approval. Delivery fees may apply. It is. The JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Happy Tuesday to you. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to our super producer and host Ryan Hickey holding it down for us in New York City. I'm going to be rolling with you for the next four hours.

This is when I get started. 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. You can always tune in on the free Odyssey app, your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate, Sirius XM Channel 158 and a smart speaker if you have one. All you got to do is ask it to play CBS Sports Radio and then boom! The show pops right on up.

It's Tuesday. NBA is still in its, I guess they're still in their all-star break. The NFL, notable day. Players can start getting tagged. They got until July to get contracts.

Typically they don't. We got media personalities beefing with coaches. I thought we were done with the beef yesterday. Justin Fields utilizing social media to let everybody know how he feels about the Bears. Rick Pitino doubling down on his comments where he actually dissed his own players. It's a special man's birthday today. The round mound of rebound celebrates a birthday. The Brooklyn Nets named Kevin Ollie as their interim coach officially. It's just a lot going on and then we're going to have a conversation with Jeff Kerr from CBS Sports. He's going to come through, talk to us about the news in the NFL in about 20 minutes and then later on in the show we're going to have a conversation with Gary Rashburn to talk all things NBA. And then also how about this? The college football playoff expanded expansion to 12 teams has been improved.

So we got a lot to get into. If you want to participate in the show it's simple. The phone number is 855-212-4CBS.

It's 855-212-4CBS. If you are someone who utilizes social media then you can also reach out there. I am at JR Sport Brief every place all over the place on Twitter, X, Facebook, Instagram, all of that good stuff. Ryan Hickey, how you doing? JR, I am good. I am good today.

No complaints. That's good. That's good. That's good. Speaking of X or Twitter, Elon Musk, he hasn't completely, it's been ruined but he hasn't ruined it completely yet, right? It's going there.

But yes, it's not officially just totally destroyed. Okay. Every time I open up X or Twitter, it's a bunch of stuff and people that I don't follow and it's a bunch of things that a lot of times aren't appropriate. And I don't know if that has anything to do with me, probably does, but it's just like, I don't know this person. How did this get here? Well, can you imagine how old is Twitter X? Almost 15 years old now, maybe long, older, right? I feel like we're approaching 20 years now, like the original OG Twitter, like 06, 07. I feel like I want to just take a random shot in the dark of when it was created somewhere in there. Wow.

Time's flying. Well, Elon Musk will ruin it sooner than later. He finds a way to ruin everything, outer space, cars, batteries. It's just a walking evil genius.

Anyway, Elon Musk seems like an angry billionaire, miserable, miserable man. I'm a little surprised earlier today, and we're going to, we're going to get into NFL franchise tag and all that good stuff. I was surprised and maybe I shouldn't be. When earlier today, JJ Redick started popping on Twitter and X and going viral all over the place. And JJ Redick went viral because he was starting to eviscerate his former coach, Doc Rivers. And we know Doc Rivers just took over the Milwaukee Bucks. Doc Rivers was sitting down on ESPN, running his app with Doris Burke and Mike Green.

And then he got a call. The Milwaukee Bucks hit up Doc Rivers and said, Hey, we want you. And Doc Rivers, who just finished coaching the all-star game.

He was a little surprised. At the same time, since Doc Rivers took over the Milwaukee Bucks, they have a record of three and seven. Doc Rivers is blaming transportation and, and travel. And the fact that he just got there, he says the job is difficult. He says the job is tougher than he would have ever imagined. And Doc Rivers is just saying, well, we all know this was going to be tough.

A matter of fact, over the weekend where he coached the all-star game, he sat down with Sirius XM NBA radio and Doc Rivers admitted to the folks at Sirius. He's just like, I don't even know why they fired Adrian Griffin. And I have no idea. Listen to this. Personally, I, you know, be honest, I told our owners when they called, I said, I think I don't understand why you're doing this. You know? And they said, you know, one of the things they said was, well, it doesn't matter.

We've done it now. And we want you. And so that was a tough one.

I didn't, I, that was, that's where you had the hesitation. Doc Rivers has a $40 million contract to coach this team. Come on now. Did they have to pull his leg to get him to leave ESPN to go do this job? Doc Rivers is getting $40 million. And by the way, JJ Reddick who killed him, we're going to hear that in a second. JJ Reddick also works for ESPN. And so you could consider them to have been coworkers.

All right. That's, that's not to say that they were sitting in each other's face. I doubt it. Doc Rivers maybe hasn't seen JJ Reddick in months, but JJ Reddick sitting around on television coaching, or excuse me, talking on first take, he took a blowtorch to Doc Rivers. Take a listen to this. No one's going to react to Doc's audio there. We've been seven minutes since we showed that audio.

Nobody's going to react to Doc's audio. Do you want me to get it for you? I can repeat it. I've seen the trend now. I've seen the trend for years. What's the trend? The trend is always making excuses.

Get Doc. We get it. Taking over a team in the middle of the season is hard. It's hard. We get it. Just like getting traded in the middle season is hard for a player. We get it, but it's always an excuse. It's always throwing your team under the bus. They lose to Memphis. Oh, it's his players.

Memphis was playing G league guys and two way guys. Then you look at his quotes over the weekend. Now he wants to take credit for the James Harden trade to the Clippers working out. He wants credit for that.

There's just no, there's never accountability with that guy. Oh, well damn. I must not remind you. Doc Rivers coached JJ Redick when JJ Redick was a member of the Clippers for about four seasons. JJ Redick was a starter on the Clippers for four years. He dropped about 15, 16 points. He knocked down his three point shots and they lost every year that they went to the post season.

That also includes 2015 where Doc Rivers blew or his team blew a 3-1 lead against the Rockets. Well, Chris Paul got hurt, so I guess there's a, there's a reason there. And I don't know, maybe JJ Redick who's now 39 years old is certainly making his bones via podcasting and media now that he's hung them up. JJ Redick is, he's making noise.

Whether he has to destroy his former coach in public, JJ Redick is trying to, he's trying to earn his next paycheck. If I remember correctly. Hey Hickey, did you, did you hear about this? That JJ Redick is going to be replacing Doc Rivers in finals coverage? Did I hear that? Did I make that up or what's the deal?

No, you're 100% right. He's taken the third chair and he's going to slide on in for the biggest games of the year. Wow.

Wow. It's Jay, I'm not to say, is he ready? Who am I to say so? I, you know, I'm not listening to the games. I'm sitting here, you know, watching the games while they're on. Have you heard JJ Redick? Is he any good on commentary? Is he fun? Is he enjoyable? I don't know about fun.

I think he's good. I like JJ Redick, but he is definitely, you can kind of hear in that clip, he's very serious. There's no joking. It's going to, let's just say, not be the Mark Jackson and Jeff Angundi joyful watch like it was in previous years. Yeah, it should, but it should be fun.

The game has a serious tone already, you know? This is, this is the NBA fun. This is the finals? Like the finals are rough. They're tough. They, they, they build it up. Production wise, they build it up.

The teams already have a certain animosity by the time you get to the finals. It's already serious business. And I thought that Jeff Angundi and Mark Jackson did an excellent job and, and being serious when needed, but it still felt like, you know, you were at a bar with, with professionals. They didn't over-complicate things.

They would help break things down when need be. And so what you said, if JJ Redick is going to be serious, he's going to be there with Mike Breen and Doris Burke. Isn't it crazy to think that Doris Burke and Mike Breen might be the ones to, I don't know, add a little bit of levity or, or a little, little fun to the basketball game so it doesn't feel like life and death?

Oh yeah, it's going to be on them. The JJ is not going to have you laughing. He's not going to have you crack a smile.

This is what happens. What is because he's a Duke guy? Like, why is he like this? Good question. Maybe, you know, coach K just regimented.

No, no fun allowed. That's probably it. Look, JJ Redick played in the NBA from 2006 to 2021. It's 2024. And since then, he started a podcast and he's been doing media and running the rounds and ESPN and all this and the like. And congratulations to him. It is just one hell of a stretch to sit on ESPN and kill your former coach and someone who at one point was a coworker. And so, I mean, JJ Redick, hey, I get it. This is the same JJ Redick who was saying the NBA generations ago was full of firemen and plumbers. I get it. JJ Redick is going to say some things to go out there and start a fire. And if it's going to make JJ Redick some money and get him more exposure, like it's doing with the finals, I understand. It just doesn't make him likable.

You know, I know people like it when he's on TV. Oh, he set Stephen A straight or he set, what's the other guy's name? Not the Cryptkeeper. Who's the other one, Hickey?

I forgot the Cryptkeeper. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's setting people straight and people love it.

And I'm just like, yeah, that's good. Do I want to hear that on a basketball game? Do I want to hear that at the NBA finals? The man who thought, I don't know, Bill Russell was playing against firemen and garbage men is now going to be commentating the NBA finals.

And this is the same dude who just killed Doc Rivers. And do I think he should have did that? Man, he's free to do what he wants. I don't want to say it's in poor taste.

I think it's just cheap. Like you don't get anything from bashing Doc Rivers. Yeah, you're paid to express your opinion.

I'm sure the folks at ESPN love it, maybe. But then as an overall, it's just, Doc Rivers ain't bothering nobody. And if you're going to throw Doc Rivers under the bus, you played for the man. You were there at the Clippers.

Don't half-ass it. Give us details. You know, who did Doc Rivers throw under the bus while you were there? Or is it now going to make you, J.J. Reddick, look bad? Or maybe J.J. Reddick, does he have friends? Does anybody care?

I just found it real interesting. I can't remember the last time a former player went after his former coach. I know La Charles Sprewell tried to choke his own coach, but that was current violence. Hey, J.J. Reddick, man, do better.

And when I'm watching the NBA finals, I don't need to hear J.J. Reddick you know, destroying folks for no damn reason. Somebody give him a, I guess it's the Snickers, helps you feel better about yourself. Is it a Snickers hickey? It's the Snickers, right? That's right.

Oh, what's the slogan? Now I'm blanking. You're not yourself when you eat or? Something like that, yeah.

Eat the Snickers. Well, maybe he is himself. Maybe J.J. Reddick just needs a personality transplant. I thought we were done with all the mean, angry people yesterday. Rendon of the Angels hates his job.

That's an easy one there. We had a bunch of people angry about the All-Star game yesterday. People were ticked off about that. Rick Pitino was mad about St. John's over the weekend. It's just a lot of angry, miserable people. And it just stinks that it kind of bled into today. And it got lifted off with J.J. Reddick.

Just have a have a tic tac. Whatever it is, have a lollipop and relax. It's the J.R. Sportbrief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're just getting warmed up as we continue on with the show. Today is a big day in the NFL as players eligible for free agency can be hit with the franchise tag. On the other side of the break, we're going to talk to Jeff Kerr from CBS Sports all about it. I told you about Justin Fields.

This is like breaking up with your ex. It doesn't appear that Justin Fields is following any of the social accounts of the Chicago Bears. Antonio Pierce. This man wants to destroy Patrick Mahomes.

What a shock, right? I just told you about angry Rick Pitino. Rick Pitino doubled down on his comments. I wonder how long Rick Pitino has a job with the players like him.

The college football playoff has been approved to expand. We'll talk about it. Gary Washburn is going to join us to talk NBA. I got some news when it comes down to the All-Star Game ratings.

Yes, they were not good. And then we're going to celebrate someone who turned 61 years old today. His name is the round mound of rebound. It's Charles Barkley. And we were just getting started. We're just getting warmed up. Jeff Kerr on the other side to talk some NFL. You are locked in to the J.R.

Sport Brief Show here with you Tuesday night on CBS Sports Radio. Selling a little or a lot. Shopify helps you do your thing.

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Shopify dot com slash Odyssey podcast. A peanut butter M&M's production in a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring. But the runners up get nothing. One retired cop. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. That's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter. But you're on a roll.

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Financing subject to credit approval. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. It's the JR Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. A big day in the NFL. Yeah, the Super Bowl was just last week. We're already looking forward towards next offseason. Today was the first day that NFL teams can go ahead and slap the franchise tag on players that they ultimately don't want to move on.

They have until July to come to a full term agreement. There are some complexities involved with this. There's some big names who might be tagged, names that might not be tagged.

And obviously this has implications as we move towards the draft and free agency and training camp and on. So to talk about it all, joining us right now is someone who knows it all. Well, I think he knows it all. I don't want to oversell him. It's my main man, Jeff Kerr.

Covers all things NFL for CBS Sports. Jeff, how are you, man? Hey, JR. I don't want to say I know it all. I like to think I know it all, though. Well, let's not. Well, I said you know it all. So now you do. You don't have to back me up, OK? All right. That works for me.

No problem. So today for a lot of people understand the franchise tag. A lot of people don't.

Give it to us in layman's terms for people who aren't as hip. So pretty much this is for any unrestricted free agent. Now it's very unrestricted free agent that's played, you know, that that is play more than I think it's for a crewed seasons. I think that that's the actual amount I got.

Double check that. But pretty much the gist of it is any unrestricted free agent. You can put the tag on if you don't want to hit free agency.

But there's a designated amount there. It is the top five. It's the average of the top five salaries for that position. And that's how much you would have to pay that that player if you slap the tag on. But it also gives you to July 15th to work out a long term extension with that player.

Absolutely. And so, for instance, we saw this last year with someone like Saquon Barkley, who was tagged, didn't get a long term deal, but they put in a little extra something on top of it on top of it just to keep him around. And if you are tagged one time the next year, the tag goes up. And so you can only be tagged three times.

And correct me if I'm wrong, Jeff. It's cost prohibitive to just keep on tagging someone for like all three years. Yeah, that's correct. So now the one guy I pretty sure the Vikings can tag him, but I don't know how it works. This is with our team. But remember, Kirk Cousins got tagged twice by Washington. Now, does it count as the third time in Minnesota or does it get reset? I think it's I think it's the last time he can be tagged.

But again, that's another one I got double checked. But you're right with the Saquon Barkley thing. The tag would go up if you would tag him another year.

Remember, the Cowboys wanted to do this with Dak Prescott. They tagged him once and then it got a little tricky. So they had to sign the extension to kind of put them in the box, as you will. And so he had to get the contract extension. But yeah, that's where the tag can get very tricky. I always try to simplify it as much as I can.

It's OK. They can tag this guy. They got the July 15th to work out an extension.

If they don't, you place the whole year under the tag and you take the cap hit. Jeff Kerr is here with us. NFL writer from CBS Sports. You know, mentioning Saquon Barkley, he's not the only dude who's eligible to be tagged again. Josh Jacobs of the Raiders. He got tagged last year.

Same thing with Tony Pollard. When you think about who's eligible and available to be tagged, who do you think is most realistically likely to not be tagged and maybe move on to a new team? Well, Tampa Bay was one of those teams I thought they could attack Baker Mayfield. They could have tagged Antoine Winfield. Looks like they are going to attack Antoine Winfield. When I did my article for CBSSports.com, I said, you know, the guy I would tag and I know it's it's probably a dirty thing to do with your Tampa Bay because I think he was tagged before.

I can't remember. But Mike Evans, that would be that would have been the guy I would tag just because I think you need him in a Buccaneers uniform to win that division next year. You know, the one constant with that team between Jameis Winston, Tom Brady, all those guys, Baker Mayfield has been Mike Evans. He's still an elite receiver in this league. He still gets a thousand yards every season.

He's 10 for 10, again, a thousand yard season. So I would have tagged him. I would have paid him 21 million dollars this year and took that hit and tried to sign Winfield to a long term deal and try to take care of Baker Mayfield because Baker wants Mike Evans there. So you might as well tag Mike Evans. But it does look like Mike Evans is going to hit the open market. If he does, I think he's going to be one of those guys. He'll be signed within the first couple hours of free agency. Yeah, I would absolutely think that that Mike Evans would move on to, I would say, even a stronger contender, try to get right back into the postseason. Jeff Curris here with us from CBS Sports.

Anyone else? Any other players that we should take note on? For guys getting tagged, I thought Dallas might try to get him a Tony Pollard, but Pollard didn't have that great of a year last year. You could probably get him at a cheaper rate. I know you mentioned Josh Jacobs earlier. Jacobs would be a guy that I definitely would not tag. I probably would let him hit the open market. Or if he does want to come back to Vegas, you see how much you can get. I personally think you could sign Josh Jacobs for a multi-year deal, maybe a two-year, $16 million deal.

Again, I'm just throwing numbers out there. Is it big for running back? Absolutely, but it's a lot cheaper than playing for whatever he made last year, the $11, $12 million he got after getting tagged. There's a couple names out there that, and again, there are a lot of teams that just don't have a good free agent crop this year. Green Bay would be one. I don't think they need to tag anybody.

Philadelphia is the team. I don't think they really need to. Washington could be interesting with Cameron Curl. I don't know if they would necessarily tag him, but he's a very underrated player, and I think he's going to get a nice little pay bump and free agency, but I don't think they necessarily need to tag anybody.

Obviously, there are some easy ones like Arizona. They don't need to tag anybody. How are the Dolphins going to tag anybody right now? They're $51 million over the cap, the Saints. They're $83 million over the cap. That's what you've got to look at through the cap situations.

Let me ask you this, Jeff. I want to go backwards because I had mentioned Saquon Barkley earlier in the conversation. You just brought up Josh Jacobs and then also Tony Pollard. Here we are again looking at running backs in the face, and we know that they were quote-unquote devalued last year.

They have been devalued over the past several seasons, maybe the past decade. Someone like Saquon Barkley, is he sticking around with the Giants? A lot of those running backs that got tagged last year, they had off years. What's the deal with somebody like Saquon, especially for a Giants team that's just like, let's be real, they're rebuilding.

Do they need to keep him around? I think it'd be best for both parties if Saquon moved on. Look, Saquon was by far the best player in that anemic offense last year.

You saw firsthand how bad they were. Even with Dangle Jones. They had no pass catchers. Darren Waller always got hurt. That offensive line gave up 85 sacks last year.

That's an absolute joke. That doesn't help Saquon out. It made sense he had a bad year, but Saquon isn't the Saquon we saw at Penn State or his first couple of years in New York. I still think he's an effective running back. Let's put him behind a good offensive line and maybe in a limited role where he doesn't have to be the feature back. And the go-to guy every play is, I bet he is a heck of a lot more effective than he was the last two years in New York.

This is some tough going here. Jeff Kerr joining us, CBS Sports. Once we get past this tag period, obviously we know we're looking towards the NFL draft.

Any surprises, anybody that you think might move up there? I know the Chicago Bears, we learned that Justin Fields is on social media acting like the Bears don't exist. What's going on with some of the teams that need QBs, whether it be the Raiders or the Bears, the Falcons, what's going on there, Jeff? Well, Dan, you like how the Falcons basically said today that they're going to do everything in their power to get a quarterback this year. Like, well, you could have done that last year with a quarterback who's in Baltimore right now and called the Ravens bluff and you decided not to do that in Lamar Jackson.

So why would you want to be aggressive now in getting one? I'm still curious to see where Marvin Harrison Jr. ends up. We talk about the Caleb Williams, the Drake Mays of the world. Is he going to fall into like the Cardinals lap or the Patriots?

Do you choose Drake May or do you choose Marvin Harrison Jr.? That's a legit question. You know, absolutely.

It's like he's his dad, but bigger. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the guy's a bonafide stud and you see what Ohio State wide receiver is doing this league. And you have anybody who can throw a football. I think Marvin Harrison would be more than legit. You know, I always thought maybe the Bears would keep fields and just pair Marvin Harrison with D.J.

Moore and say, you know what, we got to learn what pick we earned this. But I think you got to get the quarterback at this point. You know, nothing against Justin Fields, but it feels like a desperate team will try to get him like the Steelers or the Falcons or so. That's another thing that plays out.

Like, if you can't move into the top five, Justin Fields is right there. And I'm sure if you pair him in a different offense and a different system, he can thrive. He can thrive. Yeah, it'll be intra.

I think he's an ideal fit here in Atlanta with all of their weapons, not so much pressure to go out there and deliver, especially the fact that the Falcons, they can they can run with the ball. They can. I think they should be able to throw the ball around if they have a quarterback to do so.

And so we'll certainly see what takes place. And as it relates, Jeff, to the franchise tag, and this is my final question. This seems so restrictive for the players. How the hell does this get by every CBA negotiation? I guess the owners got this much power, right?

Yeah, that's pretty much what it is. Like, I don't know how I would treat it if I was a player in the NFL. And I love to ask NFL players that were actually tagged because you wait, you're pretty much your whole life to be a free agent, get that guaranteed contract, that guaranteed money. But you kind of are getting the guaranteed money and you're getting it up front for a year.

But then you got to go through all this again. And in a way, it's like the teams have all that power. It's like, hey, yeah, we're going to pay you, but I'm sure teams, I'm sure you're the same way. You rather have a multi-year contract. I rather have a multi-year contract.

I would hate playing year to year. I mean, I'm sure the money's nice, but yeah, it's really weird how that always gets by in the CBA. But I feel like this also came back to when free agency started in 1993, when they decide, hey, look, we just can't let these teams lose everybody because they want to be a free agent.

So if they want the power to keep somebody, they're more than welcome to. But you don't see this in basketball. You don't see this in baseball. You don't see this in hockey. So I don't understand why it's a thing in football.

And I'm sure a player, it's bittersweet when they get tagged. Oh, absolutely. I mean, they hate it. And I mean, we hear that every year.

They absolutely hate it. Like you sign a four-year contract, you come out of your rookie deal or, and then the next thing you know, hey, you're not really free. We can give you the average salary of the best players and then we can do it again.

That's six years of just, hey, you're locked in here to us. And so, I mean, for a sport like the NFL, which is, we know if you break your leg, you're done, you can be discarded. I don't know if this is like massive security for the owners. I guess it is, but it is ridiculously restrictive for the players.

And it's just mind blowing to me that they, the players, they keep it around and who knows, maybe into the future won't be there, but it's just seems like it's in the dark ages, Jeff. Well, yeah. Well, here's another scenario for you. Say a team fires their coach and you're a cornerback, for example, you get a whole new defensive coordinator. You decide, I don't want to be here anymore.

I'm a really good player. The scheme doesn't fit, but they tag you. You're stuck.

You can't go anywhere. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's a wild system and we go through it every year and players get tagged and yeah, they still get paid. But if anybody, not that I feel bad for anyone deeply that much, it seems like the running backs always get the short end of the stick, regardless of what's going on. Because by the time they get drafted into the NFL and by the time they legitimately reach free agency, they're almost looked upon as being done already. And they haven't even had a chance to go get an another contract. So a hard knock life really for the running backs.

Yeah. I mean, look at Miles Sanders, for example, I mean, he got paid and now everybody says he's a terrible running back. I'm like, well, you didn't think he was a terrible running back when he was making pennies on the dollar. Now he's a terrible running back because he ran behind the worst offensive line in football, but he got his guarantee money.

So it's, it's his contract definitely did not help running backs in the future. Yeah. Wow.

Wild stuff. Well, Jeff, thank you for taking the time to join us. Where can people follow you and all of your great work with CBS Sports? You can just search me on cbssports.com. I just did the franchise tag primer, a free agency primer. You can follow me at Jeff Kerr, CBS, you know, Kerr, like Steve Kerr, just thinking the last name there, but yeah, that's pretty much where you can find all my work and there'll be more coming as free agency comes.

My favorite time of year, JR. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Terrific. Jeff, thank you for taking the time. We'll talk to you down the line. Okay. Yes, you got it, bud.

Thanks. No doubt about it. Thank you so much to Jeff Kerr covers all things NFL for CBS Sports. It is just so wild. The franchise, every time they bring it up, I, yeah, I'm used to it. I know how it works. I know what they use it for, how they use it for the life of me. When they renegotiate these CBAs, the fact that I guess it's a non-starter, the NFL owners have such a hold on the players and the negotiations that we don't even get an adjustment about, about any of this.

It is just, it's mind-numbing. You're listening to the JR sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports radio. We talked about some of those running backs.

Well, the guys who did get franchised last year, and maybe there's a point to be made that the running backs who get tagged, they don't, they don't always work out. And I'm going to tell you about some of them on the other side of the break. At the top of the hour, we're going to talk about Justin Fields because he is doing what teenagers, I guess I was going to say teenage girls, but I don't want to be canceled. He's doing what teenagers do when they break up with somebody. It's unfollowing a certain organization on social media.

Why, why, why? Or message delivered. We're going to get into it. Hyundai. There's joy in every journey.

2024 Santa Fe available early 2024. I'm Tony, and this is the Tony Kornheiser show. Well, that makes it sound a bit more serious than it really is. So what exactly is the show about?

It's been almost 30 years, and I still don't know. Right now we have some of the best voices in football come on to explain to us what we need to know in the college and pro world. And we get weekly picks from a monkey.

Do you really need more than that? I might just tell you about my bunker game and the latest failed entry in my quest to find the best coffee ice cream. No schmutz, please listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the JR sport brief on CBS sports radio.

It's the JR sport brief show here with you on CBS sports radio. We're going to talk about Justin Fields at the top of the hour. We don't know his future. We don't know where he's going to end up. We don't know if he's going to be traded. And we do know he's been very busy on social media, uh, deleting the team that has paid his, uh, his check for the past couple of seasons. So we'll talk about Justin Fields at the top of the hour.

Not unusual for someone not to be happy with their employer, right? It seems like just a quote unquote another day at the office 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS is the number. Thank you so much to Jeff Kerr from CBS sports for joining us in the last break as we, we took a look at the franchise tag. Uh, players are eligible to be tagged today, or should I say free agents are eligible to be tagged today. And, uh, I'm, I'm going to spend more time about how, how ridiculous, I don't want to say evil, but how bad this is for the players and how, uh, they just accept it.

But what do I know? NFL is a hard knock life for everybody all over the place. So we'll talk more about the franchise tag specifically later on in the show, but we did discuss some of the running backs in the NFL who have been tagged, who are eligible to be tagged again. Saquon Barkley got tagged last year and he had a bad year. He missed three games. He only rushed for 962 yards. Uh, the giants went six and 11 after going to the playoffs, uh, the year before that.

But you also have to keep in mind there, there was no Daniel Jones to help out. The offensive line was hot crap. Uh, somebody else who was tagged last season, Josh Jacobs led the NFL in rushing in 2022. He had 1600 yards last year. He had 800 yards rushing for the Raiders.

Uh, Jeff had mentioned Tony Pollard. We know that Dak Prescott got moved up or at least he had to go sign up in new England. And Tony Pollard, he took over for the Dallas Cowboys, had 1000 yards. It was his job to go out there and split carries with Dak. And he had almost the same amount of yards, but his yards per carry went down with a full workload from five per game to four. His touchdowns, he also had less.

He went from 12 to six. And so it is a hard, hard knock life for running backs when it comes to the NFL franchise tag. A matter of fact, when you want to think about the average amount of money that a running back might make it's, it's $11 million. Tight ends with the tag make more than running backs. 12, a safety makes 16 and a punter or kicker. Yeah, they make about five or six, but running backs are way, way down at the bottom of the totem pole.

Their salaries have just been depressed. And so when you are a Saquon Barkley or a Josh Jacobs, you're not going to be thrilled that you don't get that, that long-term security that you want. And you might just have to settle for the tag. And so Saquon Barkley drafted by the New York Giants, local product out of New York, his father is from the Bronx. He didn't go far to play out in Penn State and Pennsylvania. And Saquon Barkley at the end of the season, his end of year press conference, he's kind of like, yeah, yeah, whatever about this franchise tag.

Listen to Saquon Barkley. I'm kind of numb to it now. Like I did it.

I did the whole process last year. I know the dates. I know, I know, I know everything. But it's like, you know, I could do about it. It's really like truly out of my control.

So it's up to them. He's like, yeah, yeah, it's true, whatever. This is the same Saquon Barkley who he crowed last year.

I don't want to say crow, that sounds too negative. But he let everybody know how much he wanted to stay a giant. He didn't want to leave the Giants. He didn't want to hold out in hopes of getting a longer-term contract. And they, they sweetened his deal. They basically franchise tagged him and said, here's a, here's another million dollars.

Go sit down and be happy. And he showed up to work with no problem. Josh Jacobs looking for a contract from the Raiders.

Josh Jacobs, he spoke as well to the Las Vegas Review Journal. And he was like, man, I, I hope I stay in Vegas. I'm not stressing it at all, man. I mean, you don't see me putting out nothing crazy, you know, nothing like that. You know, I trust in God's plan. Obviously this is home for me, you know, regardless of how I play out, this is still somewhere I will forever, you know, keep a house and things like that.

I will forever call home. So obviously this is where I want to be. And however it makes sense, I'm on board. I like how he said, I'm not putting out nothing crazy or anything like that. And I guess something crazy means going online, going on social media and making a scene.

And I guess in that case, he's, he's right. Because at the top of the hour, we're going to talk about somebody who is, uh, Hickey, is it making a scene when you go online and unfollow your team? Is that making a scene or is that, is that so normal today?

It doesn't even matter. It's definitely normal. I would not say making a scene cause you're doing it quietly, but you're maybe being petty, we'll say, or trying to send an indirect message. Ah, indirect message.

And this is, this is normal. We're going to talk about Justin Fields in a few minutes, but the fact is that everybody utilizes social media to send out some type of messages. Is it, is it promotion? Is it to monetize?

Is it awareness? I mean, there's a million reasons to utilize social media. So at least kudos to Josh Jacobs for not bellyaching about his tag, because the fact is, yeah. So what you can complain, you can whine, you, you, you just have a whole fit about this franchise tag.

It's not going to change anything. And this is why these rules, I gotta be honest, they, they, they're nuts. They're crazy.

I mean, and, and you know what? It's not just the NFL to be honest, because major league baseball does it quote unquote on the front end with service time manipulation. They will have due to, are ready to be in the big leagues, but instead of bringing them up to compete on a full-time basis in the majors, they'll let them languish in the minors and then bring them up for a few days or bring them up at the end of the year. So they don't accrue a full season and then they have another year of control.

It is mind numbing. Look, I'm not no, no union representative. I'm not expecting our listeners to just say, Oh man, I also understand I'm in a union. I understand the complexities of the, the basketball union, the players association, MLB, NFL.

I'm not expecting anybody to know that, but I would think, and maybe I'm wrong and I know the answer and I'm going to tell you in a minute. I would think that these players who are the product, when we know there is no product without the players, you would think that they would have a little bit more, more leg to stand on to say, we ain't going for this crap no more. The professional ball players on the major league level can't advocate more for players who come out through the minors. Everybody comes out through the minors, unless you're some international player, everybody comes in through the minors.

Come on now. And then in the NFL, no one wants to say, let's get rid of this franchise tag. Nobody says, Hey, we ain't showing up to play unless there's a tag.

But this is, this is really what it boils down to. The owners are billionaires. The players are millionaires. Not all of them have millions at last. A lot of the millionaires lift check to check and they are not prepared to leave any money on the table. None. I don't know.

Maybe it's me. I think it would be a good idea to say, Hey, let's actually save money so we can move forward the future for the next generation. But come on now, who cares about the next generation, right? And so here we have it, the dreaded franchise tag in the NFL.

Here we have it. Service time manipulation in the majors. And everything just goes on business as usual because the guys who got the money, they're billionaires.

They got a little bit less here to worry about than millionaires just on the, uh, the check to check. It's a wild, wild world. It's the JRSportReshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4 CBS. It's 855-212-4 CBS. We're going to take a break. And when we come back on the other side, we're going to talk about, I guess, I don't want to call him a miserable millionaire, but he doesn't appear to be happy. It's Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears, at least for right now. Me, I'm of CBS Sports Radio, it's the JRSportReshow.

A peanut butter M&M's production. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners up get nothing, one retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. Um, that's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll.

The Ring of Comfort, coming soon to a Super Bowl new you. Okay, picture this, it's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever, or I can hop into my all-new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road. With available H-TRAC all-wheel drive and three-row seating, my whole family can head deep into the wild. Conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or click on the link at HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Hyundai, there's joy in every journey.

2024 Santa Fe available early 2024. I'm Tony and this is the Tony Kornheiser show. Well, that makes it sound a bit more serious than it really is. So what exactly is the show about? It's been almost 30 years and I still don't know.

Right now we have some of the best voices in football come on to explain to us what we need to know in the college and pro world and we get monkey. Do you really need more than that? I might just tell you about my bunker game and the latest failed entry in my quest to find the best coffee ice cream. No schmutz, please. Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.