JR SportBrief Hour 1

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. Listen to and follow Superfly on the Odyssey app or wherever you get here. Budkins. It is the J.R. Sportbrief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Much love and many thanks to super producer and host Ryan Hickey holding it down for us in New York City. And there is no show without you.

Yeah, you. Everybody listening all over North America. You could be here in Atlanta with me. You could be in New York with Hickey.

You could be in California, Alaska, Toronto, Miami, San Diego, Vancouver, Seattle, Maine, the other one, Portland, Maine, Hawaii, all of the places. Shout out to everybody everywhere on the roads at work. The Uber drivers, the Lyft drivers, the Amazon drivers, the FedEx, the UPS, the officers, all my folks in the military. Thank you for your service. All my veterans, hospital workers, first responders, everybody. Thank you for tuning in to the show.

This is when I get started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. You listen on the free Odyssey app, your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate. You got serious, Sirius XM Channel 158. Got yourself a smart speaker.

Ask it to play CBS Sports Radio. A lot to do, a lot to get into as I stand here in the studio off of Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia. We're going to talk about Shohei Ohtani. Looks like Shohei Ohtani is already hitting home runs for the Los Angeles Dodgers and it's only spring training.

What a surprise there. Last night, I was able to mention to you LeBron James not happy or thrilled about the attention that his son is receiving at USC. Well, damn it. LeBron James had some thoughts and then he deleted them. Twitter is there for everybody, right?

Just express yourself and hope that no one sees it afterwards. What a wild, wild world. Chris Paul is coming back to action tonight. People are descending upon Indianapolis for the combine. I think folks have already descended on Indianapolis. We have some updates on Justin Fields that we'll share in a minute as the Chicago Bears general manager has spoken. We also have potential word on what the Falcons might do with their quarterback situation. Sean Payton has some words about Russell Wilson. The NFL has some information about fumbles out of the end zone. And then we got coaches that are even saying wild things.

Sean McDermott putting himself even deeper on the hot seat. If you ask me, I'll explain. Thinks that they're real close to a Super Bowl.

OK, tell me if I've heard that one before. And then also, we have some guests that are going to join us. Of course, of course, of course. To talk some some football. Alex, Alex Shapiro, who covers the Bears, is going to come through in a couple hours. Armando Saguaro is going to come through and join us next hour. So there's so many things to discuss. Indianapolis is all of a sudden the center of the sports universe, going from the NBA all star game, which sucked straight until the combine with coaches saying wild things.

At least the coaches who decided to show up in addition to the general managers. So we're going to give you an update on it all. Here's the deal. If you want to call simple phone number is eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. We paid the bill. The phone works.

I didn't check it, but I know it does. And then if you're online, if you utilize social media, it's real simple. I am at J.R.

Sport Brief, every place that exists where you can, quote unquote, be social. Hickey, how you doing, man? You hanging in there in New York?

What's going on? I am hanging in. I am feeling better. I still got the sniffles, but for the most part, the cold I'm fighting has passed. I'm a little nervous, though, listening to you the first few minutes. I really hope my germs didn't go south. Oh, no. My voice is just it's sore.

It's it's a little cooked. And so I may not have the oomph in my voice, but I'm still here. And that's all that matters, right? Yes. Your presence.

Number one. So what am I supposed to do? I have lozenges. I have tea. Am I supposed to have like a hot toddy? Am I allowed to do that?

Yeah. Listen, I won't say anything. Do you put a little honey, too, in there?

I can always help. You don't have to say anything. I just I just put it into the atmosphere, into the speaker, so we'll be OK. It'll make for a real interesting show. That's true. Very interesting.

Speaking of interesting, this is a conversation and a topic that's not going to go anywhere. And I know this is somewhere that Justin Fields would want it to go. And that's that's to have a conclusion about where he's going to continue the rest of his career. We know Justin Fields is currently twisting in the wind as the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears. They can keep him. They can get him help.

They could trade him. And then ultimately, what the big fear is, if you are Justin Fields, is that they find your replacement in Caleb Williams out of USC. And so the big thing here, now that the combine is underway, now that the general managers and some of the coaches have arrived, they're talking to the media.

They're giving updates. Even the Chicago Bears GM. Ryan Polls. And I like to say this because Ryan Pace is the old general manager who got fired and selected Justin Fields. But this Ryan Ryan Polls spoke about the quarterback he did not draft. And he had some words because Justin Fields is so nervous or doesn't want to follow the Bears. He doesn't want to hear or see anything about Caleb Williams, the Bears or the NFL. One of the first things that Ryan Polls was asked by the media today is if, if you decide to move on from Justin Fields, what are you going to do?

Are you going to trade him? You know, what's best for Justin? Like, well, what's going on? Tell us about Mr. Fields, Mr.

Polls. I do. If we go down that road, I want to do right by Justin as well. No one wants to live in gray. I know that's uncomfortable.

I wouldn't want to be in that situation either. So we'll gather the information. We'll move as quickly as possible. We're not going to be in a rush and see what presents itself and what's best for the organization.

Oh, well, I mean, if you've got to move fast, let's think about this for a minute. NFL free agency starts on March 14th. Excuse me, March 13th. NFL free agency gets underway.

It's about two weeks from now. The NFL draft isn't until a couple of weeks after that. And so if they are going to trade Justin Fields, then I think you might as well know that they're going to do it at the start of free agency and not at the NFL draft. Because what they're going to do is they would actually limit their options if they decided to just hold on to the man during the draft. You want to strike while the iron is hot and while teams are pretty much just just desperate here. You know, they want to know, can we get Justin Fields? And if we cannot, are we going to have to get a guy in the draft?

Ryan polls continued on. He's like, yeah, we want to do what's right and what's best for Justin. We don't want to leave him twisting in the wind. We might find out over the next two weeks if he's going to be traded. He was asked about keeping Justin Fields, but instead trading the number one overall pick.

Listen to what he said. It's hard to say right now, but it's got to help our organization significantly to move around because we saw what it did last year. And I'm looking for that type of return to continue to improve our football.

Let's let's let's remember this, OK? The Chicago Bears basically swapped out last year with the Carolina Panthers. They had the first pick back to back years, except for this year.

I think they'd be a bunch of dumbasses to decide to go out there and trade the pick for what? You got a quarterback staring you in the face and Caleb Williams. And I think we can we can put this to bed because there are folks who sit on in two aisles or one aisle and in two sections. OK, one group of folks, one section says that Caleb Williams is it's like the next Patrick Mahomes. And I laugh at that.

I go, oh, my God, just stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. And then there's another group who pretty much says that that Caleb Williams, that people need to stop comparing him to Patrick Mahomes. Or he's going to be a bust. And I say to myself, it's probably more somewhere in the middle that we only have one Patrick Mahomes. And if Caleb Williams can throw the football around without losing his mind in a press conference or crying or being sad or being mopey or taunting or being miserable.

I think he I think he can be good. That's just what it boils down to. And so, yeah, let's let's stop talking about Patrick Mahomes, but then let's stop burying the dude. Let's find a happy medium for Caleb Williams. Speaking of a happy medium, it's been pretty apparent he can be, I don't want to say miserable. He could be emotional. He can wear his heart on his sleeve. He can cry on mom's bosom or he can be, I don't know, short with you at a press conference.

He can tell you that I want to go home with my dog. I don't want to sit here and talk to you media. Something else that we've heard is that Caleb Williams might be trying to steer where he goes in the draft process. You know, there was a guy, Eli Manning, who made it very clear, I do not want to go to the Chargers. His family, his dad basically said, we do not want to go to the Chargers.

We want to go to the New York Giants. And the Chargers drafted him. But then they were able to trade him expeditiously as Eli Manning stood there miserable with the Chargers hat in his hand. He was traded to the Giants. And we know what happened.

The man walked away with two Super Bowls. Is that something that's going to happen with Caleb Williams? I don't think so. Ryan Polls was asked about this rumor, this thought, this concern that Caleb Williams could wake up and say, I do not want to play in Chicago. Listen to what Polls said. No, no, no concerns about that at all.

I would love to know why, if that was the case. Like I said, I think as a young quarterback and I've been around it, the infrastructure is important. I think we've made really good progress in terms of having really good infrastructure for whoever were to come in or if Justin were to stay here. A really, really good infrastructure? OK.

I mean, is this an infrastructure that obviously that they're still trying to build? You have D.J. Moore who even recently is saying, oh, no, no, we need to keep Justin Fields. Well, D.J. Moore is not trying to have another dude throw the football out.

I mean, he went through about five out in Carolina with the Panthers. He has a career year with Justin Fields and he doesn't want to have that swapped out. And so from D.J. Moore's perspective, I don't think it's so much about Justin Fields is the guy which he proclaimed. How do you know that?

It doesn't look like it, but it looks like you're the beneficiary. And so for Justin Fields here. Yeah, they're they're moving on. These press conferences are nice because Ryan Polls can't sit and stand in front of the media and just lay out his plan. But the media certainly has to ask. And it's it's all a game.

And so when Ryan Polls talks about doing right by Justin, oh, that's that's nice. You want to fill him in. You don't want to be twisting in the wind.

But when it all boils down. He doesn't care. He does not care. Ryan Polls, when asked about Caleb Williams and any thought and idea that Caleb would not want to play in Chicago. He says, I'd love to know why.

I think we have a great system. But ultimately, he does not care. He does not care. He will go out and strong on whatever the hell that he needs to to go out there and put this man in a Bears uniform and put him on the field. And also, Caleb Williams, I mean, for a reputation of being a a powder, a complainer, a whiner. He would only exacerbate that. He would only make his reputation worse by saying, I don't want to play in Chicago, which happens to be one of the best cities in this country.

I think it's one of the best cities on earth. And he'd look like a grade A loser if he decided to reject the Bears, a team that's been starving, starving for a franchise quarterback for ever. This is for Caleb Williams is his for the taking. He might have played out in USC, but this is someone who's real familiar with some cold from the DMV area. He knows what snow is.

He knows what chili is. And yes, Chicago might take it up another notch. But I think Caleb Williams in Chicago was the move. And I think if we garner any news or gather any intel from what we just heard, is that, yeah, the Bears, they are going to move fields, which I think is likely. They're not going to wait until no damn NFL draft. They're going to try and get a deal done at the start of free agency before the Chicago Bears ultimately go out there and lose options. The games have just begun.

They just started. And whoever takes on fields, they're also going to want to know if they're going to pick them up, extend him. So Justin Fields on vacation doesn't want to hear about the Bears or the NFL. I think he's going to find out more about his fate sooner than later, especially over the next two weeks.

Good for him wants to wait. Well, as much money he gets paid. I wouldn't complain about too much of anything. The J.R. sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports Radio is so much more related to the NFL combine that we're going to discuss. Looks like Sean Payton did some talking. Dan Quinn, new head coach of the Washington commanders, just did some chatting. We have some guests that are going to come through and join us as we talk about the NFL, the combine as we roll to the draft. And then speaking of free agents and getting paid and getting to the moolah, it appears that the biggest free agent signing in Major League Baseball history is already getting down to business.

And he's only doing half of his job. We're going to tell you about Shohei Ohtani on the other side of the break because a man showed up today. Who knows? Maybe he'll pitch. I doubt it. I'll explain on the other side.

There's so much to do. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. You're locked into the J.R. sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio. This time of year, baby, search cash the ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. 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. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief on CBS Sports Radio. It's the J.R. sport brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Right before we went to break, we talked about Justin Fields, general manager of the Bears. Ryan Polls spoke to the media today at the combine and basically said they're hoping for a resolution before the start of free agency. Free agency for the NFL begins on March 13th.

And so Justin Fields, who unfollowed the Bears on social media because he wanted a little break, did not want to think about football. I guess by the time he gets back or not too long after, he's going to have an opportunity to potentially know his fate. And for the Bears, this is a good move. They'll know what weapons that they have. You know, what are the draft picks they might have at their disposal as I think they're going to select Caleb Williams.

And so we'll keep you up to date, obviously, as that story continues to roll on. As I stand here in the studio, we're going to get into this later on in the show to the New York Knicks are getting ready to host the New Orleans Pelicans. And last night was one of the most ridiculous non-calls that I've ever seen in an NBA game as Asar Thompson basically was tackled on the court, basically rammed into the legs, the knees, and it cost the Pistons, who suck, a potential chance to hold on and win a game last night in MSG. So we're going to talk about some of the NBA officiating later on in the show.

The phone number here is 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4CBS. By the time we get to training camp, Justin Fields is likely to be wearing a New Jersey and Major League Baseball. Their training camp is underway. Spring training is under way.

And so in many cases, this means new faces and new places. And there is no bigger face and a larger place than Shohei Ohtani making his spring training debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Unless you've been living underneath a rock, you know that Shohei Ohtani will be making seven hundred million dollars over the next 20 years with the Los Angeles Dodgers. This is a 10 year contract. He has another 10 years of deferrals. They're basically playing him or excuse me, paying him, you know, half or not even half.

They're paying him two million dollars per year in the first 10 and they're giving him all the money basically on the back end. What a nice retirement plan for Shohei Ohtani. But today he showed up. He's going to be batting second behind Mookie Bentz officially in the lineup. We know that he will not be pitching coming off coming off of his torn UCL.

But what we learned today is that he still has power and he still has pop that Shohei Ohtani is still a bad man. His first at bat. Strikeout. Second at bat, a roll out in the third at bat for Shohei Ohtani and his Dodgers spring training debut.

Well, just take a listen to this courtesy of Sportsnet L.A. Swung out, hit high in the air to left and deep. This ball carrying this ball is gone. It is Dodger debut. Shohei Ohtani brings them to their feet. A two run home run.

That's what they've been waiting for. Is what else is is he expected to do, right? He's going to hit home runs to the shock of, I think, a lot of folks. He even steals bases. He stole 20 bases last year. Like, what is it that what what can't Shohei Ohtani do doing everything? And I'm not saying that he's given the Dodgers their money's worth, but he's certainly exciting people. God only knows what the papers or the websites in Japan look like. It's probably kissing his ass right now.

How great he is because he is picky. You think he's going to play through this whole year? No injuries. I hope so. I mean, pitching should definitely help that.

Unfortunately, the track record says otherwise. So, you know what? It's springtime. I guess sort of. We're going into spring.

I'll be optimistic. Yes. Hundred and fifty games from Shohei.

One hundred. Oh, it's not bad. Not bad. You know, a load manager here and there. I keep him rested, but he plays the majority.

Got it. Got to sit him out. You know, it's it's just wild to me that the Dodgers. Would you say that and for a Yankee fan, this might be this might hurt the soul a little bit. Aren't the Dodgers operating like the Yankees used to?

Is it just me? That and maybe even more. You're you're a million percent right. Where it's just like I forget Shohei.

It's Yabamoto as well. Three hundred million dollars. Like he's been over a billion dollars.

You are in what? Like a week. Yeah.

Money was literally no expense. And tell me, tell me how many pitches has Yamamoto thrown in a big league game? Zero. Oh, yeah. OK. And we've seen Shohei Ohtani. We know what he can do. But after having another surgery on his arm.

These are the type of numbers that people were thrown around. Ten years. Seven hundred million dollars. If I'm if I'm correct, the New York Mets offer him the same contract. I believe so. At least for Yamamoto they did. I don't know about Ohtani.

Yeah. Ohtani is just hanging out in Los Angeles. Just gets to hop over the Pacific and do what he wants. And for these contracts, seven hundred million dollars.

Like this is this is it. Like there's going to be a cap. Major League Baseball. There can't be another guy while Shohei Ohtani is still active. Who's going to make more than seven hundred bucks. It's impossible.

I can't see it. He's clocked in at 70 million dollars per year. And the Dodgers want him around so much. They don't give a damn the fact that he's not going to pitch this year.

And let's also factor this in. Maybe they thought about inflation, but what type of pitchers are you going to be 10 years from now? You're going to be a starter. You're going to be a spot starter. Is it capable of him to be a reliever?

That certainly sounds like it would take away from his ability to go out in games and bat. And so the Dodgers really just gave this man a contract and said, hey, we don't care. I think they're paying for the first five years. God knows what they get on the latter five years of the 10 year deal.

And we already know they're going to be paying him another 10 years after that, just in deferred money. This is 20 years of Shohei Ohtani. And I got to be real here. If I'm going to play in Major League Baseball.

Am I? I don't want to say I'm ticked off. It's it's a hell of a jump to go from Aaron Judge 40, 44. And now you're looking at Shohei Ohtani. He's like, I got 70.

Well, he's doubling up. And maybe he gave everybody a discount because if he wanted to, he could say, look, if the going price for a star pitcher is 40 ish. If the going price for a star outfielder is 40 ish and me and multiple time MVP, I need to get paid both.

Give me 80. Like this is this is just nuts. And by the way, for the life of me, I still don't understand how this is not like circumventing the salary cap. The fact that they are paying him most of the money in deferments that they don't got to pay him nothing now. And they got all this money available on their books to do things.

Yes. Like San Yamamoto. Baseball just seems, I don't know, just just crooked to me in that regard. There's just so much manipulation and so much moving and it's just it's sneaky. Like how is baseball on the level playing field when you can have someone like Shohei Ohtani scheduled to just just make 70 per for all intended purposes? And then you got teams whose payrolls are in that same range.

It's it's pretty sad and pathetic. And oh, yeah, by the way, Rob Manfred, who now gave us a date, I believe 2029, he says he wants to leave. He wants to expand the league. He wants to add additional teams or at least have them in the running before things start. They don't even know where the Oakland Athletics are going to play before they move to Las Vegas. There's also a public fund, I believe a teachers union out in Las Vegas who is starting to protest the idea of the Oakland A's even moving to Vegas. Baseball is just a weird, weird sport.

You have any thoughts on this, Hick? I mean, I guess from so from a fan perspective, I'll say this. I'm jealous of the Dodgers as a Mets fan myself, like I think honestly, any fan. I feel like when you're a kid, right, you grow up, whatever sport you want to watch, you always assume the owner is there to win first. Like it's not a business. They're there to win.

And then you as you get older, you're fortunate as well. Owners are cheap. They're not going to do whatever it takes.

Sometimes there are additions, but they're costing. They're not going to do it because they want to save money. And you're frustrated because you think your team can win. But your owner, your GM, whoever is not going all out to to truly put winning first. I look at the Dodgers and look, you're not wrong in calling it crooked, but also the same time, the fact that they're willingly spending a billion dollars and saying, screw it, we're going to do whatever we can to win and win a lot here. I'm jealous and I respect it. Like they are putting their money where their mouth is there.

They are. I feel like living every kid's dream of not having money be the like not having money to hold them back, I guess I should say from doing whatever it takes to win. Yeah, but it's just it is awful for the sport when you got one dude who's out here making 70 million dollars, right, making 70 million dollars. And then we have teams like the one that is supposed to be moving. Oakland's payroll is below 70 million dollars, like 40.

Think about Pittsburgh, the Pirates and a team like Cleveland, like their payrolls are at, you know, like 70, like almost the entire team is making what Shohei would typically be making on the books. Like, where's where's the balance in that? It just it just seems like there's there's no thought to, quote unquote, the smaller guys. There'd be a little bit more balance.

I guess what I would say to that. No, like I think it's more on the Pirates. Like if you're MLB, I would rather come down on the Pirates and the A's owners for not spending versus coming down on the Dodgers for spending. I don't know whether it's forcing the owners to sell, having a salary floor, like I don't know what mechanism you can do, but I think you have to have a floor.

And I think similar to what you get in the NBA, you need to have a mechanism that says, OK, you have now spent too much and now you're going to get taxed for it. There has to be something that says we want to maintain the competitive balance so we don't have a team just just running away. And we know baseball is an interesting game. You know, you can have a team that's not expected to do anything that's been put together in a, I don't want to say a budgeted way, but a bunch of young players like the Diamondbacks. Who would expected them in the World Series?

Nobody. But it's this seems like a fairy tale. You know, if I had to look at the Dodgers, I feel like they've been some of the favorites of the past several seasons. It's because they spend the money as much as people don't like the New York Yankees or Yankee fans not happy with the spend or who it's spent on. One of the key reasons that the Yankees are typically in contention is because the money that they spend.

And so if you got the resources, you got the assets, there's a better chance of you having success. And it just it just sucks for some of these other teams and not the teams, but the fan bases that have to deal with just just terrible, terrible owners who don't spend in a Major League Baseball. Quite frankly, they don't care enough. The other owners don't care. I know the Yankees care. They bellyache about having to share their revenue and their money because other teams just just sit on it.

I want to ask Rich Ackerman before he delivers the update, what are your thoughts on on kind of that balance? You know, it's nice to see Otani hit a home run today in his spring training debut. But the fact that he's he's on the books pre deferral for almost the same amount of money of I don't know, you know, Miami or Cincinnati is just it just doesn't seem fair for the sport. You know, the one thing I keep coming back to is what if I lived in Cleveland and here the Guardians have developed good pitching. They've developed good players such as Francisco Lindor for one and they can't afford to keep them. So they're doing everything right.

But what's the point? And what does that say to your fan base? It's like, you know, there's a kid in Cleveland that should be going and and his his hopes for every summer hinging on what Francisco Lindor is going to do.

Just like for me, it was Tom Seaver, you know, pick your athlete, whether it was baseball or anybody else. But there's there's something wrong there when because the Guardians have and the Indians before that have done it the right way, but can't afford to keep their players. And and why would you be interested in a team if, you know, every couple of years it's going to turn over and the heartbreak of the player that you've grown up to love is leaving?

Yeah, it's it's tough. I guess Rob Manfred looks at us and goes, this is going to be somebody else's problem. I'm going to be gone.

I'm going to be gone sooner than later. Let me add a couple more teams, see if I can do another TV deal and then bail before the you know what hits the fan. It's just it's crazy. You got a guy on one team, one player making more money than than other entire teams combined. And that's that's Major League Baseball.

Wild, wild stuff. The New York Yankees payroll is expected to be in the range of about two hundred and seventy five million dollars. This it's nuts. And then you take a look at Oakland, 40 million. And this is the owners. They don't care enough. They don't get enough votes to actually change things. Major League Baseball likes this this open system.

Otherwise, something would be done. It's the J.R. Sport Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Speaking of something that might be done, Davante Adams, is he going to be moving on from Las Vegas? And yesterday we talked about Justin Jefferson.

Is he going to be moving on from the Minnesota Vikings? Well, we heard from the general managers today and we'll give you an update on the other side of the break. You are listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Oh, well, thank you.

That's very nice of you to say. It is the J.R. Sport Reshow here on CBS Sports Radio. 855-212-4CBS.

It's 855-212-4CBS. Thank you to Rich Ackerman for coming through with that newsflash right before we went to break. You know, we opened up the show by talking about Justin Fields and we got an update from Ryan Polls, the general manager of the Bears, as to what they might do. The only thing that we got was that if they are going to make any decisions when it comes down to Justin Fields, it's likely to be sooner than later and likely much sooner, or at least no later, than the start of free agency here in the NFL, which gets going on March 13th. You know, he's not the only dude that's been in the news, Justin Fields, when it comes down to his future. You know, a couple of days ago, we talked about Justin Jefferson and, you know, whether or not the Minnesota Vikings should move on from him.

We know that he wants a new contract and then someone else who might be on the move or certainly has been rumored to be on the move is Devontae Adams. And I don't know why this has been in the news so much recently, especially since the team kind of retained Antonio Pierce as their full-time head coach. He went five and four after taking over for that disaster, Josh McDaniels. I can't recall a coach ever getting fired. And the players are smoking cigars in the locker room after their first victory with their new coach.

It's like uncharted waters, uncharted territory to be that celebratory. It lets you know right out of the gate how much the players despise playing for Josh McDaniels. So despite this, there have been talks about Devontae Adams potentially wanting out. Is it because of the quarterback?

Maybe, possibly, likely. Last year, he had to go through an injured Jimmy Garoppolo throw on the rock around. And then you had Aidan O'Connell who started the other games. And so even though Devontae Adams went out last season and still hauled in 103 catches, his yards were down.

1,100 versus 15 the year prior. Touchdowns went down. Only eight this past season, so 14 touchdowns two years ago. And so maybe he doesn't want to stick around because the Raiders don't have clarity at quarterback. But today, the new general manager of the Raiders, Tom Tolesco, who used to be the general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers. And by the way, he had a losing record. How he got a new job is just a prime example of how nutty things are in the NFL. Or at least for the Raiders. Hey, the other team didn't want you.

I'm going to hire you. Let's see how this works. Tom Tolesco spoke to the media, had a very simple and short answer as to whether or not the team was going to explore trading Devontae Adams. That's it.

That's it. Don't expect Devontae Adams to go anywhere. Let's see what the Raiders can do at quarterback. Are they going to go rookie in the draft? They're going to try to trade up in the draft to get a quarterback. Are they going to get their hands on a free agent? Is it Kirk Cousins? Is it Russell Wilson?

We don't know. We do know that they're going to be some some players that will be moving around Devontae Adams. He won't be one of them. And yesterday, speaking of another wide receiver in the NFL, a star wide receiver, Justin Jefferson. We talked about the fact that he would love to return to Minneapolis. It's been reported that he wants to reset the market in the pay scale for wide receivers in the NFL. Highest paid wide receiver is Tyree Kill at about 30 million per. We know the salary cap has been increased by about 30 million dollars. That's more money to go ahead and spread the wealth around. And so there have been rumors and reports that if the asking price for Justin Jefferson goes too high, that Justin Jefferson might be a candidate to be moved because if you're the Minnesota Vikings and there's no guarantee that Kirk Cousins comes back and there's no guarantee that you can come to an agreement with Justin Jefferson on what you're going to pay him next.

You got some figuring out to do. Do we just keep and pay a star wide receiver with no star quarterback to throw him the ball or do we move on from him? So that's a question that Kwesi Adolfo Mensah pretty much had asked today. Listen to this question about potentially trading Jefferson and then listen to Adolfo Mensah's response. Kwesi, along the lines of things being thrown out about Justin, maybe some that are false, is there a world where you would ever consider making him available to trade?

That is not something that's once crossed my mind. You got a blue player, a blue person. You try and keep as many of those as you can. Yeah, that's nice. That's good.

But the reality is, yeah, you can try and try and try and you can say you want to keep him. There's no guarantees that it'll do that. None.

None whatsoever. It'll be real interesting to see what the Minnesota Vikings do at the quarterback position. You know, Kirk Cousins has said that I am willing to take a discount for all intents and purposes. I think he wants to stay in Minneapolis. And I would think the same for Justin Jefferson.

And so can you kick over a few more bucks to keep him around? I think the most likely scenario is that they both return to Minnesota and that these Minnesota Vikings continue to be. I don't want to just dump on them, but mediocre to be good enough to be good, to potentially go to the playoffs and then be eliminated. And, you know, this is just the life of a Vikings fan. Hey, Hickey, what do you think happens with the Vikings with their star wide out in their beloved quarterback? I don't think there's any way they trade Justin Jefferson.

I don't really know the point. Like, yeah, he was a big contract. But if you trade him, what are you going to get? Two or three first round picks? Then you're going to hope to draft the next Justin Jefferson and hope you hit, which is, you know, meaning you're trying to draft maybe arguably the best receiver in the game. Good luck trying to do that and trying to hit again on a guy that I believe the Vikings jam when he says he hasn't, you know, hasn't really considered it. I think it's kind of more negotiations. I think he'll be signed. And I'm with you with Kirk Cousins.

I think it makes sense. I don't know where Kirk is going to go and right now have a better chance to win. The NFC is easier than the AFC. Also, like, you know, the team like the Steelers have been floated out there right as a possible landing spot for Kirk. I mean, does he really want to go to the AFC North Ravens, Bengals?

Good luck. Yeah, no, I wouldn't want to get beat up there. And, you know, there's so speaking of Justin Jefferson, I agree with you. I think they'll get a deal done. But I can understand if they were to get future draft picks.

It's it's I don't want to say it's a concession for this upcoming season, but it's a concession into the future that, hey, we forget. Forget finding the next Justin Jefferson. I think the idea would be, my God, we got to go ahead and find out who the next QB is. But I think given Kirk Cousins is he going to have options. But why at this stage of his career?

What do you want to just just start over? I mean, he has familiarity with what's going on out there with Kevin O'Connell. I have certainly heard rumors about, oh, my God, Kirk Cousins to the Falcons.

You know, he'd be the missing piece for all the weapons that they have. And it sounds nice. The NFC South has been pretty as be clear, has been pretty ass. You know, Tampa is trying to keep Baker and Mike around. And we know Derek Carr is out in New Orleans.

I'm not high on that. You got Bryce Young, who's still trying to, you know, emerge here in his second year after disastrous rookie season. And so, yeah, if I got to look at it on paper, Kirk Cousins in Atlanta sounds nice. I mean, before he ripped up his leg last year, this is someone who was leading the league in touchdowns when he went down. Kirk Cousins was having an amazing season.

So I don't think there's any reason to think coming off of injury and time off that he can't come through and pick it up. But I think the most likeliest of scenarios is that he stays in Minnesota on a discount. And that Justin Jefferson, especially with the cap exploding, Justin Jefferson might be the beneficiary. And so you can look at these two dudes as peanut butter and jelly.

They're a great complement. Fortunately for the Vikings, I still think they need to do some work on a defense. Let's see how long Mr. Kirk Cousins would even stick around out there. We'll find out sooner than later. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to take a break.

And when we come back on the other side of said break. We're going to talk about the Falcons. Yeah, because if Kirk Cousins is not the Falcons quarterback next year, who is it? Nobody wants to see Heinecke throwing the ball. Nobody wants to see Ritter throwing the ball. Falcons fans want somebody who can deliver them to the postseason.

It's a sad world. Everybody's looking for a quarterback. Maybe it's not too late for me to throw a ball accurately. Let me get in the gym, get on the field and get some practice in. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. More combine talk, NFL talk, NBA. We got you covered on CBS Sports Radio.

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