JR SportBrief Hour 3

Hey Mel, Bri here. Gotta work from home today because the whole family caught a nasty- Daddy! Hey, Mikey!

If you're gonna puke, find the popcorn bowl! But my availability is 110%. Coincidentally, so is my fever.

Kidding. Mel, I'm so cold but hot. But I'm gonna get you that budget. Just as soon as- Mikey!

Popcorn bowl! Press 1 to use Instacart and get your family's sick day essentials delivered in as fast as 30 minutes. Press 2 to keep working.

Do not press 2. Just use Instacart, Brian. 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 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 weekly picks from a monkey. Do you really need more than that? I might just tell you about my bunker game of 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. It's the JR Sportbrief show here on CBS Sports Radio. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Super producer and host Ryan Hickey. He's coming to us live from New York City. Thank you so much to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. Listening on the free Odyssey app, your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate, Sirius XM Channel 158 and everybody tuned in on a smart speaker. Thank you so much for locking into the show. We'll be hanging out with you for two more hours.

We've already had a fun show. Let's get started every single weekday at 6 PM Eastern, 3 Pacific. The phone number here is 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. If you're on the internet, I'm at JR Sportbrief. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all of that stuff. JR Sportbrief all over the damn place.

Thank you so much. Pete Futek joined us last hour from collegefootballnews.com. We discussed the upcoming college football playoff expansion. We talked about the fact that it might expand again in two years. We talked about that there is no pack 12. The big 12 or big 10 goes from east coast to west coast and west coast to east coast.

It's just a wild world in the space of college football. Also heard from Justin Fields as to why he unfollowed the Chicago Bears. He said that he just needed a break. He doesn't want to look at football, doesn't want to see the Bears and the NFL on its timeline because he just needs to go on vacation. Okay, reasonable.

Just turn your phone off completely then, okay? We heard from Antonio Pierce. Antonio Pierce is like, hey, we're going to treat Patrick Mahomes like the Pistons treated Michael Jordan. Kevin Durant and Charles Barkley are at it again. Charles Barkley letting everybody know that he doesn't feel that Kevin Durant is a leader.

That Devin Booker needs to take command of the team if they are to win a championship and be competitive. Speaking of competitive, I think Dan Hurley, head coach of the Yukon Huskies, a little too competitive with the fans out in Creighton. Creighton beat Yukon again. And Dan Hurley, although he won a national championship last year, he wasn't too keen on the fans and Creighton yelling at him, F you, Dan Hurley. He threatened to go beat up one of the fans. Don't worry, nobody got beat up.

So everything is A-OK. It's wild in college, man. I mean, we hear that. I guess maybe, Hickey, would New York be the only place where an entire stadium, well, New York, Philly would chant like F you to a player, right? That'd be the only places. Yeah, definitely Philly, New York. Yeah, I would say so. Maybe Boston. Boston I think would put it in those three cities. Mm hmm.

Yeah. I can't imagine going to like a Twins game or a Timberwolves game and the fans just yelling, you know, F you. I don't know anybody. Just they seem too polite in Minnesota. Everybody's so nice. Minnesota nice. Yeah, I don't I don't know why.

It's maybe it's the weather, something in the water. Maybe anyway. Shout out to all the nice, wonderful people up in Minnesota, specifically the Twin Cities. If you're not in the Twin Cities, then my bad. Anyway, as we continue on with the show, it is Wednesday night.

I'm about to deliver to you a new top six list. And with the NFL Combine starting next week, you heard me correctly. The NFL Combine starts next week. It also takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Wild. We just had the NBA All-Star Game All-Star Weekend there. And then the combine will get underway. Players will show up. They'll get weighed. They'll be examined. They'll be poked and prodded like cattle.

And then there'll be an action on Thursday to Sunday. Well, most of them, because if you're a big enough name and you got the quote unquote juice, do you need to compete in the combine? Do you need to show everybody how far you can throw or do you want to just show what you can do at home at the college's pro day? Do you want to make the scouts come to you instead of you going to the NFL? It's called leverage.

Despite that fact, I wanted to get ahead of things. And so tonight I want to share with you some of the top prospects in this coming NFL draft because quite frankly, the NFL dominates every and anything. And even coming off of the Super Bowl, there's so much attention being paid to all of these athletes. So without wasting any time, I'm going to request the fancy music and then we can talk about some of the best prospects that will be in this draft.

Six, five, four, three, two, one. It's time to get JR's latest top six list only on the JR sport brief. It is the JR sport free show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Prepare yourselves. College athletes will be insulted next week. College athletes will be told that they're too fat, that they got bad knees, that damn it they won't be able to make it in the NFL. Draft stocks will fall and draft stocks will rise because it's the NFL combine. And so I'm getting ahead of it, giving you a top six list of the draft prospects that you need to pay attention to. There are no surprises on this list, at least I don't think. I just want to highlight the names.

I want you to hear from some of the individuals who think highly of them and in some cases hear from these individuals themselves. So let's start off. Who are some of the top draft prospects? It's a countdown. It's a top six. So where do we start?

Number six. We got to go down to one of my favorite places on earth. I could be sitting in charms right now. I'm going down to Baton Rouge. I'm going down to Louisiana. I'm going to LSU. I'm going to check in with that lonely ass tiger in that cage. And I'm going to talk about Malik neighbors. Yeah, the wide receiver.

This man is not big. Well, anyway, I got to, I got to go back a second. Hickey, have you ever been down to Baton Rouge? No, on the bucket list though. Oh my God.

They'll go to New Orleans and just take the drive much easier. Okay. Okay.

Good to know. Yeah. Yeah. It's good. And they got the tiger, Mike, you heard, you know, the tiger, right? Love Mike, the tiger.

I get it. He's eating the best food and all of that. The tiger just sits outside the stadium, man.

How was, how was that? Okay. Does he look miserable? He's by himself. He's a tiger. Yeah.

In Louisiana. That's also true. They, they, they give, they give me good reasons. They give me good reasons, but then I still go, this is a tiger by himself in Louisiana, outside of football stadium.

What are we doing? Hey, he does eat meat in the shape of the opponent. They're flying. That's pretty cool.

Can't get that in the wild. Yeah, I guess, I guess that makes them happy, right? Little things. Listen, I'm not one of those Peter people, right? I'll eat a steak.

I'll eat some chicken. I don't care, but I mean, damn, I, every time I see Mike, I'm like, man, save him. Anyway, besides Mike, every time I think LSU, I just always think that tiger. I've seen it.

I see it all the time. Anyway, Malik neighbors, this man on the receiving end, thank you, Jayden Daniels on the receiving end to almost 1600 yards receiving last year to go along with 14 touchdowns. There are a lot of other wide receivers that get, get attention. LSU has been pumping out wide receivers like nobody's business. Louisiana pumps out wide receivers like nobody's business. And if you want to think about one of the best wide receivers in this class for 2024, Malik neighbors should be that dude. I mean, they're comparisons, hopefully not inside his brain, but they're comparisons to Antonio Brown.

What? He's six feet tall. He gets to where he wants to go. Nobody can catch him. He catches everything. He was asked on the SEC network. What makes him a dominant receiver?

This is what he said about himself. I feel like it's just a chip on my shoulder that I bring, you know, when I stepped onto the field, just a dominant mindset that I have, you know, when the ball is in the air, I just feel like it's always mine. You know, I just feel like, you know, my, my quarterback trusts me enough to for me to make that play. And so I just, I just come down with the ball every time he just, he just throws the ball up to me.

Yeah. Malik neighbors. I got him on number six here on the list. I think he's not going to be the only a pass catcher on this list. He's at number six. What do we got next?

Number five. Oh, Hey, this guy plays down the road, or at least he did his name, Brock Bowers. This man left California.

It's a play for the Georgia Bulldogs, a much safer mascot. At least he has air conditioning in his dog house. Brock Bowers last season, this man had a high ankle sprain. He was gone and came back like a month later. He had some special surgery, tight end rope, no screws. They just threaded his leg together.

I guess he came back and while he was gone, he returned and he was still their leader and like receiving yards and touchdowns. He's a beast. He's like the next great tight end in the NFL. I don't know.

Pick one. Is he going to be Kelsey? Is he kiddo?

He's going to go out there and block. So he's probably a little bit more kiddo than he is Kelsey. I mean, two seasons ago, he won the, well, the John Mackey award. He wasn't healthy last year. He won the John Mackey award as the best tight end in college football. And when he played as a freshman, he had 13 touchdowns as a freshman at the time Nick Saban was asked about Brock Bowers.

And this is what Saban had to say. I think this guy is one of the premier players in college football. I know he's just a freshman, but this guy's got great size. He's a good blocker. He's physical, he's tough. And he's got wide receiver skills in every way, shape or form, which makes it difficult being a bigger guy for bigger guys to cover him.

And it makes it also difficult for smaller guys to cover him. So this guy is just a phenomenal football player all the way around. Man, good for him. I'm still saying to myself, this man left California to play for the Georgia Bulldogs out in Athens.

There's a little bit of a difference, little bit of a difference about between Napa and Athens, Georgia. Good on Brock Bowers. I don't know where he's going to be next.

He's going to be making a lot of money, moving a lot of people out the way and catching passes in the NFL. Brock Bowers, number five on my top prospects list. Hey, what's the next number?

Number four. Well, we got to go a little bit further up from Georgia. We have to cut through the Carolinas, both of them. We have to head to the University of North Carolina and we got to look at the quarterback, Drake May. North Carolina, man, I didn't sit down and watch them last year. I did not. They went four and four in conference play.

They were eight and five. Drake May and not just his fault, but he had a worse year than he did the year before. When they won the ACC championship over Clemson and then the man threw for 38 touchdowns and seven interceptions. But this is where people get excited about Drake May. People see Drake May and they go, prototypical quarterback, stand in the pocket, deliver the ball, giant strong arm can make every pass.

Is he as mobile as some of the other guys? No, not quite, but he's a prototypical quarterback made out of the Peyton Manning lab or something like that. Anyway, someone else who feels very strongly about Drake May is Tim Hasselbeck. Yeah, you know, remember Tim Hasselbeck used to play for Seattle and he looked old, looked like an old quarterback that used to be an astronaut.

Looked like it at least. Well, he was on the Dan Patrick show and he was talking about Drake May like he's a second coming. Listen to this. I think when people sit down and talk to Drake May, I think that it's going to look like there's nothing wrong with them. I think when you talk through, he's going to be a better pro than college player. His size, his athleticism, the way he moves. Like he to me is already like we'll be in a class of just physically talented and that also like like size, ability, how he sees things to Herbert and Mahomes and Josh Allen.

Hey, Hickey, is Tim Hasselbeck on his payroll? Like what was that about? I mean, that's as great of an endorsement as you possibly have.

Nothing can get better than that. Nothing. They're going to talk to him and go, there's nothing wrong with him. What? I've never heard that about any prospect, anybody. Nothing wrong with him. Maybe Tim Hasselbeck wants a job.

I don't know. Anyway, look, let's see what Drake May does. My concern, if there is any about Drake May, obviously Tim Hasselbeck doesn't have one. Everybody's moving and I get it unless, unless Drake May wakes up and he's Justin Herbert and he could be. I don't know how many of those quarterbacks that we legitimately have left in the NFL. And I don't know if Drake May, if he goes outside of the pocket, is he going to be out there, you know, getting ready to take a hit? Is he ready for a hit in the NFL?

There's only one way to find out. I got Drake May at number four on my list. Top six draft prospects in 2024 combined starting next week. What's the next one?

Number three. Now here's another quarterback. Why do I have this guy in front of Drake May?

Because he actually moves. His name? Jayden Daniels. He just won the Heisman award. He was throwing 14 of his 40 touchdowns to Malik neighbors. And not only did he throw 40 touchdowns to only four interceptions, the man rushed for another 1100 yards and 10 touchdowns on his way to that Heisman award in New York City.

Jayden Daniels turning things around at LSU after trying to put things together, really doing the job at Arizona State. And here's the thing for as big as people say Drake May is Jayden Daniels. Yeah, you might say he's skinny, but the man is not small. He's not short. He is six foot four. You don't think he's gonna fill out? You don't think there's high potential there?

High reward? A matter of fact, this past week out at the Super Bowl or at the Super Bowl, TMZ ran into Jayden Daniels. And of course they did.

They run into everybody. They asked him why he should be the number one pick and why he should be the top quarterback selected. Listen, there's a lot of great quarterback, a lot of great other guys in the draft that deserve to be in the top discussion. I should say for me, just, you know, my leadership and everything, my leadership qualities, I've been through adversity and my competitive nature. A lot of people are not so competitive until they actually get to meet me one on one and actually have a conversation.

So later down the road in the future, hopefully in those type of meetings, GMs and owners and coaches, you know, they figure that out about me. I didn't know that TMZ could have a normal interview with somebody. I had no idea. I thought TMZ asked you questions. Hey, what did you eat for dinner? So are we going to see you in Dumb and Dumber 8?

Like, I didn't know they could ask legit questions. It was a rather simple one. Why should you be selected number one overall? You have an answer. I don't know.

If I go on TMZ right now, somebody's going to be asked about eating the donut or who they're dating. Anyway, Jayden Daniels, if I want to think about a prospect, Jayden Daniels seems built for the current NFL. Throw the ball, run the ball. I got him number three prospect.

Where do we go next? Number two. This is, this one is too easy.

It's too easy. This man just played at Ohio state. He's six foot four. His dad is a hall of Famer in the NFL right now. I don't want to say he is his dad, but taller. He is his dad, but bigger and faster and stronger. It's like they pumped his dad full of something that Barry Bonds took naturally and boom, out here is Marvin Harrison Jr.

Following the footsteps of his dad. His dad is six feet flat in the hall of fame. The man won a Super Bowl, although he was kind of busted up and towards the end of his career at that point, but Marvin Harrison could lead the league in receptions. He could lead the league in receiving yards. He could lead the league in touchdowns. He could just dart down the field, find open space and Peyton Manning would find him and off to the races Marvin Harrison went. Well, his son, his son can do all of that and then he can also jump over you.

This is a, this is a wild situation. A matter of fact, I want you to listen to College Game Day because Marvin Harrison Jr. talked about what his dad wishes he had and then his dad, well, his dad wanted his height. Listen to this. What's one part of your game that you think your dad wishes he had? Definitely my height.

I'm like four inches taller than him, so I think he wished he could be 6'4". I don't think I needed anything else, but there is one thing that I wish he had from my game. You got to complain for the ball. You got to complain.

Monday morning, if I have five catches, 70 yards, we can't do nothing else until we have a meeting because I'm not getting the ball. Yeah, that's kind of wild, isn't it, right? He's like, yeah, I want him to complain to have the ball. That's what I want him to have. I want him to have, quote unquote, it. Some wild stuff, man.

We have some father's sons in the Hall of Fame. This is going to be, this is going to be a wild one if this can happen. 855-212-4CVS is 855-212-4CVS. We are going to take a break.

When we come back on the other side, I'm going to share with you the person that I find to be the number one overall prospect in this year's draft. It's the JR Sport Reef Show on CBS Sports Radio. When the whole family comes together to watch the game, nobody wants to miss a second of the action to run to the grocery store. With Instacart, you can get all your weekly groceries in as fast as an hour.

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Offer valid for a limited time, $10 minimum per order. Additional terms apply. 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-Track 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 call 562-314-4603 for more details. Hyundai, there's joy in every journey.

2024 Santa Fe, available early 2024. Dana Carvey and David Spade here. You might know our podcast, Fly on the Wall, featuring guests from across the entertainment industry.

We decided to do a spinoff called Superfly, and it's fun. It's just two of us riffing on current events, pop culture, catching up, impressions. Joe, Trump's trying to be a dictator. Yeah. She says, you know, bump on the tater tots.

Joe, no. Listen to and follow Superfly on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you.

I appreciate you a lot. It's the J.R. Sportbrief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. NFL draft combine gets underway next week. The players will show up.

Feel like they're going to camp, right? You'd show up to work. You get your knapsack and then they measure the hell out of you. Stand on that box. Bend over. Touch your knees. Touch your toes. I don't know what the hell they make them do. Interesting the draft combine is. They poke and prod the dudes.

Hey, get an x-ray. What hurts? A lot of cases they want to devalue a lot of these players, but if you're a top prospect, you don't have to worry about it too much.

If you are a top prospect and the film speaks for you, maybe you don't have to work out. And then they ask dumb questions. Hickey, what type of dumb question do you think they're going to ask this year? They're going to ask if somebody's mother is a worker.

How do I say this? An adult worker? Yeah, are they going to ask a player if his mother is an adult worker this year? Probably. I mean, there's always one question that some idiot has to ask to see how the kid responds to adversity. Is this your mother on OnlyFans? It's 2024. Somebody has to ask.

Is this your mom on OnlyFans? I don't know. I can't wait for the questions. Something gets leaked next week. It's going to be, I don't want to say fun, but embarrassing. It's going to be interesting to say the least. Anyway, speaking of prospects, I don't know if any of these guys are going to get asked any of these ridiculous questions. Some of them may show up and not even run or participate in drills.

It may not be necessary. So today, tonight I'm giving you a list of the top six draft prospects in 2024. And I'm about to share with you who I have here at number one. At number six, I gave you Malik Nabors out of LSU. I mean, for all the great quarterbacks that we have, the NFL is certainly booming right now when it comes to young wide receivers making a mark right out of college. At number five, this man is not a wide receiver technically. He's a tight end. He's from here in Georgia for the Bulldogs.

His name is Brock Bowers. I mean, even going down for a month with a high ankle sprain, this guy showed back up in less than a month's time and he was still leading the Bulldogs in every receiving statistical category. At number four, I gave you Drake May out of North Carolina.

Now look, am I sitting around watching North Carolina lose on Saturday? No, I'm not, but I certainly understand why he would be enticing as a prospect. Big, tall, strong. Looks like a lot of big, tall, strong, successful quarterbacks that we've seen in the NFL over the past, I don't know, 15 to 20 years, whether it is a Phillip Rivers or a Justin Herbert or a Peyton Manning.

Maybe not a Peyton Manning, it's only one of them. And number three, I gave you Jayden Daniels. Why do I have Jayden in front of Jake? Because if I have to think about a prospect, it's someone who's able to not just throw the rock, but move around. Jayden Daniels is not a small man. Six foot four at the quarterback position, also able to go out there and move around on the ground as well.

I think he's going to be a threat in the NFL if he can get through coverage. Number two, I gave you Marvin Harrison. Yes, the junior, the son of Marvin Harrison senior, who for years was on the receiving end of passes from Peyton Manning, was Peyton Manning's number one target in his career. I don't know how many times I heard that. Peyton Manning throws to Marvin Harrison. Must have heard it a thousand damn times. And Marvin Harrison, he's bigger than his dad.

Huge. They talk about Marvin Harrison senior or excuse me, junior, like he's already going into the damn Hall of Fame. And we've had a lot of father son combinations like that play football.

I think they'd be the first father son to potentially be in the Hall of Fame, flat and period as players. And so if I got Marvin Harrison junior at number two, if you want to talk about draft prospects, then that leaves us where? Number one. What a world.

This is a new world, folks. The number one overall prospect wears nail polish. The number one overall prospect, he loses games or he lost a game and he went and cried in his mother's arms. The number one overall prospect stood or sat in a press conference and seemed like he didn't give a damn about anybody he was talking to. Is this man a number one overall prospect or is he a potential head case? I share with you Caleb Williams.

Yep. Caleb Williams. Unfortunately, this man had to go out there and play for a team that that stunk in USC. Maybe that's why he cried after they lost to Washington.

He's like, man, I can't even finish my career on a high note. Last year, thirty six hundred yards, thirty touchdowns, five interceptions for USC. They went eight and five the year before that. This man won the Heisman. Forty two touchdowns, five interceptions.

This man threw five touchdowns at the Cotton Bowl and they ended up losing that game to Tulane. He can be a little eccentric. He can be emotional. Is that going to work in the NFL or is his talent going to speak?

Is he going to mature? Without a shadow of a doubt, I think the talent is there. It drives me nuts when people say Patrick Mahomes because I don't I don't see Patrick Mahomes. I know one Patrick Mahomes. If Caleb Williams is Patrick Mahomes light, I guess he would still be a starter in the NFL. But he ain't no Patrick Mahomes.

And a matter of fact, let's let's give you both ends of the spectrum here, because some people hate him and some people love him. Meryl Hodge. He was talking to NBC Sports in Chicago, somewhere where Caleb Williams might go. And Meryl Hodge basically said, Caleb, he ain't nothing special. I've only watched Caleb Williams three games last year, three this year, someone halfway done. OK, the one thing that I that is clear he is not special. He is not something unique like a Patrick Mahomes. And I hope the Bears don't think, well, let's let's let's try to make up for our mistake when we pass up Patrick Mahomes and go get the Patrick Mahomes.

The kid is not Patrick Mahomes and even remotely close to that. Oh, wow. Ouch. Meryl Hodge laying a smackdown on this guy.

Wow. That's somebody that doesn't like him. Somebody that does like him actually also played for USC quite some time ago, he was a pro bowler and.

This was a guy who had to suffer on the Cincinnati Bengals before there was success. It's Carson Palmer, Carson Palmer was talking about this man, Caleb Williams, and he was talking to Rich Eisen and Carson Palmer was just like, he's going to be amazing. Caleb is the whole package. He's big enough. He's fast enough. He's quick enough. He's got so much velocity on the ball in the pocket. He's got even more velocity on the ball outside the pocket. He's mature beyond his years and he's got a chance to go into next year's draft as a two time Heisman winner, which hasn't been done since Archie Griffith and whatever year that was decades ago. I'm excited about Caleb's year, but I think from a pro NFL perspective, he has a chance to be one of the great ones, no doubt. Eh, if I got to think about quarterbacks and I get it, same position, same school. Do I want to listen to Merrill Hodge or do I want to listen to Carson Palmer? I mean, it just it makes a little bit more sense. I think I'm going to lean more towards what the quarterback says, and also I think what I've I have visually seen.

And are there more prospects? Let's be real. I ain't sitting around evaluating and think about offensive linemen.

Let somebody else do that. And the only other person that I looked at and said, from a positional standpoint, Roma Dunze from Washington. And I think a lot of his success and my apologies, I think it came because that the penics is just they were throwing the ball all over the damn place. I mean, you think about some of these wide outs in the game right now, someone a little bit more nimble, like a Malik neighbors.

I think he can go out and get yardage in the NFL by himself without having to rely on a pass ridiculously pass heavy system. 855-212-4CBS is 855-212-4CBS. Phone lines are open. You have any ideas or thoughts on a prospect? By all means, knock yourself out and chime in. On the other side of the break, this guy, I don't know if he's a prospect. He did say he I think he said he's the best player in the NBA right now. I'm going to tell you who it is on the other side. You're listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. It's the JR Sportbrief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. 855-212-4CBS.

It's 855-212-4CBS. Right before we went to break, I gave you a new top six list because that's what we do every single Wednesday night. And with the NFL Combine starting next week in Indianapolis, I decided to tell you about the top six draft prospects. Some of these individuals will not be working out.

Some of them do not need it. They're just going to show up, height, weight, sit down, do some interviews and they're going to leave. You want to talk to me, come do it at our pro day.

As simple as that. So my top six draft prospects are number six, I gave you Malik Nabors. And number five, I gave you Brock Bowers. And number four, I gave you UNC quarterback Drake May. And number three, we got to go down to Louisiana, Jayden Daniels. And number two, Marvin Harrison Jr.

Yes, the son of Marvin Harrison. And at number one, Caleb Williams. So we got plenty of time on the football side. But before we move on and do anything else, we're going to get into this at the top of the hour. The NBA season gets started, restarts tomorrow, right? We got some big matchups, the Lakers and the Warriors are going to go on. And then we've already got some news on LeBron James and his status. Let's just say LeBron James not expected to be available, not expected to play after the All-Star break.

So we'll get into that at the top of the hour. But now that we're coming out of the All-Star break, and everybody's getting ready to keep on moving. We're getting more interviews and we're getting into the stretch run. And so one of the names and one of the teams that a lot of people are going to pay attention to, and this this is why we had Gary Washburn on last night from the Boston Globe covers everything NBA, not just the Celtics. And we talked about the Celtics. Well, shadow of a doubt, the Celtics have been the best team in the NBA this year.

They certainly have the best record as they continue to move on throughout the year. 43 and 12 right now. Jason Tatum is lighting it up again. Twenty-seven points, nine rebounds, five assists. And everybody's just like, OK, let us know if you go back to the finals because you look like the best team in the East.

And let us know if you actually win. Last year, a disappointment as they lost to Miami in seven games. The year before that, they win.

They couldn't do anything. And Jason Tatum is ready to just get over the hump. He's ready to get over the threshold. And so he sat down with ESPN and he let everybody know how confident he is. OK, he told ESPN, listen, he's the best player in the league. Who do you think is the best player in the NBA right now?

Uh, myself. Is that you always had that kind of confidence? Because I don't I asked you that question a year ago and you said it was Giannis.

So what's given you that confidence? I got a lot of respect for a lot of guys in the league. Giannis for sure. Jokic obviously just won.

And the league is in a great place. I truly do believe everybody I step on the floor. I'm the best player. There's nothing wrong with that.

Hickey, isn't that what he's supposed to believe, right? Yeah, that's one of those where you get criticized if you say you are the best and then you get criticized if you say you're not the best, because, well, why don't you have confidence? Why do you have self-doubt? Why are you saying someone else is better than you? Yeah, that's that's such a simple question. I mean, even listen to how she asked it, like there was an expectation. It was a setup that it was he was going to say himself.

Let's listen to the beginning, just the beginning again. Who do you think is the best player in the NBA right now? Yeah.

What is he going to go? It's LeBron. Oh, it's Jokic. Like, of course he's going to say him.

Nothing wrong with that. And then there are games when Tatum is on the court, where he is the best player. Here's the thing about the NBA right now.

I don't think there is one single player who can lay claim to just quote unquote being the best. There is not a Michael Jordan. There's not a LeBron James in his prime.

Steph Curry getting older. You know, you got somebody like Joel Embiid who can't stay on the court. If you want to say Jokic is the guy, I think you can get away with saying that. But outside of that, I wouldn't even put Jokic way, way, way, way, way above everybody else, especially not from a talent perspective. There's so many different diverse talents and skill sets in the NBA right now.

It's, it's pretty fun. Embiid is not Jokic. Jokic is not Curry. Curry is not Tatum. Tatum is not Giannis.

Giannis is not, am I missing anybody, Hickey? Probably not, right? No, I think he hit out of them all. Yeah, I think, I think I did.

And it's nice that they all different. Would you say that there's one of them? Yeah, we know some of the accomplishments, but would you say from a talent perspective, that one guy just sits upon the top of the totem pole more so than anybody else? No, I think you're right.

And I think that's a good thing too, by the way. But no, I think right now there's no clear cut one guys above everybody else in the league and it's not even debatable. No. Yeah. And it might be that way.

I assume it's going to be that way for a long time. I think if anybody quote unquote burst through, maybe, maybe it's one Benyama and we won't know that I guess for a few seasons, like it's pretty awesome what he's doing right now. Offense, defense, thank God he's been able to stay healthy. Knock on wood, somebody with his talent, you don't want to see him go down. You don't want to see him get injured. And so things are wide open. We know in the case of John Moran, there was an expectation because of his, his style and how he plays and, and just a lot that, that John Moran was going to be the guy, right?

John Moran likes playing around with guns. They weren't going to let this guy be the man, be the guy. And now he's out with a shoulder issue. So he's been gone for the better part of a year and a half now. And so Jason Tatum from all star weekend, he was also asked about his standing in the game. And Jason Tatum is just like, Hey, face of the league.

I think he could be me. Obviously LeBron has been front and center basically that entire time. That's basically the face of the league.

I was curious as he's nearing the end of his career, who do you see as stepping into sort of that presence going forward whenever he does eventually leave the stage? And is that something you've envisioned you potentially being able to do? Absolutely.

But yeah, when, when LeBron retires, you know, the face of the league, that's tough, but you know, we win a championship. I got something to say about it. I know that. Wow. Wow. Wow.

That's, that's, that's almost in the same boat. I think if there was one singular player who was the best and better than everybody else, I think whoever was the leader on that team would, would be able to lay claim as being the face of the league. It ain't going to be Jokic. Jokic could win another title this year. He could win another title in what, four months. Ain't nobody going to look at Jokic and call him the face of the league. Not happening.

The guy wants to go on vacation, avoid parades and ride horses. I don't know if Tatum becomes the face of the league by winning one championship. He'd have to go out there and win two and three and he's entering into his prime right now. He's going to be 26 years old next month, 26. Happy birthday. Happy almost birthday, Jason Tatum. Matter of fact, his birthday's like in two weeks.

Good for him. And he's exciting. I've seen him in person, talked about him and I'm like, what does he remind? Is there a player he reminds you of? Hickey Tatum. In terms of his style, it is kind of Kobe ask.

I know that's obviously his idol and someone he's mirrored his game after, but especially the way he kind of turns around kind of that elbow feels like Kobe. I had a conversation with a buddy of mine after watching him play here in Atlanta one time. And I said, he reminds me of Tracy McGrady. And my friend then had a better point. He said, Jason Tatum is like Tracy McGrady, but less athletic. And I said, you know what? I think that's true.

I think that's accurate. Jason Tatum has the ability to play inside and shoot over and go over smaller defenders. He also has a great outside game. He can fly through the air. He ain't Tracy McGrady flying through the air. I think just from height, weight, body size, I would love to see him. And I think one day he will get a championship and maybe he can transcend that into being the face of the league.

But hey, first you got to get over the hump. You got to win that championship. And for Tatum, hey, it might be coming sooner than later. There's so much parity in the NBA right now. I think Jason Tatum might have one of them championships lined up.

And he's a good dude too. It'd be nice to see. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Speaking of nice guys, next hour, we got a lot of people with a lot of thoughts on where Russell Wilson is going to go. Some people think they got the inside scoop. We're going to talk about that. LeBron James already ruled out for the start or the restart of the NBA season. We got a lot to do.

It's the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio. OK, 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 track all wheel drive and three row seating.

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