3.8.24 - JR SportBrief Hour 3

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Baseball lives right here on the free Odyssey app. It is the JR Sportbreeze show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. This is where I will be for the next hours. Of course, it's a four hour show.

I get started every single weeknight, every weekday, depending on where the hell you live, at 6pm Eastern, 3 Pacific. Super producer and host Ryan Hickey is holding it down for us on the boards in New York City. Thank you to everybody tuned in on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, the free Odyssey app, Sirius XM Channel 158, and everybody tuned in on a smart speaker.

It's been a busy show so far, and we're going to keep on rolling. We talked about Russell Wilson meeting with the New York Giants. He should be in Pittsburgh right now if he hasn't hopped on the private jet and left already. We learned that Bill Belichick did indeed get a call from the San Francisco 49ers to be their defensive coordinator, and Bill Belichick said, Nothing.

No, thank you. Saquon Barkley. There's some rumors and words that the Philadelphia Eagles are interested in bringing in Saquon Barkley. We talked about the Denver Nuggets. The Denver Nuggets keep on rolling. Last night, in what could be an NBA Finals preview, the Nuggets took care of the Celtics in Denver, 115 to 109.

Nikola Jokic had another triple double. We talked about Karl-Anthony Towns and his injury. We talked about the hype surrounding Anthony Edwards. Charles Barkley thinks that if the Minnesota Timberwolves stay in the number one spot, number one seed in the West, Anthony Edwards, he could be the MVP at 22 years old of the NBA. I don't think Minnesota will hold on to that number one spot, but we will certainly see.

And as we continue on with the show, there's more to get into. We know that Mike Evans, wide receiver of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he is staying in Tampa and he has some positive words about Baker Mayfield. We know that the college scene is changing in football. And so we're going to have some conversations with someone from UCLA. James Williams covers the Bruins.

And I want to not just talk about Chip Kelly. I want to talk about UCLA, their future in the Big Ten. And we've also got some word that college football is looking to put games on Friday nights.

I thought that was sacred for high school. We're going to get into that. We'll have James Williams joining us in about 20 minutes from now. And oh, yeah, by the way, this day in sports history.

There was a major, major event that went down, a global event that went down. I'll tell you next hour. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS.

When hit me up online, you can do so at J.R. Sportbrief. This portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial. Are you stuck in a timeshare and want out?

You can contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at Wesley Financial Group dot com. As we continue on with the show. I want to get this out the way. Hickey, remember earlier on, we heard from Tiki Barber about Saquon potentially leaving?

How Tiki basically said that, you know, you know, that Saquon, his legacy as a giant would be ruined. Remember that? Yes. Yeah. How can we forget it? You know what? A matter of fact, let's not remember it. Let's just let's play it and give the people an opportunity to hear Tiki Barber talk about Saquon and his legacy if he leaves the Giants.

Listen to this. The fact that Saquon would even contemplate going to play for that team in Philadelphia is insulting to his giant history and legacy. Go to Baltimore, go to Houston, go to L.A. Chargers. Do not go to the Philadelphia Eagles, because if you do, that appreciation and respect and reverence that we all have for you, Saquon, will be lost. It'll be gone. We want to still respect and love him. If he goes to Houston and he's down there with C.J.

Stroud and they do some great stuff and hell, he even wins a championship, we'll feel happy for him. Your jersey at 2-6 that we see all over the stadium, it won't be worn anymore. Gone. It'll be gone. Gone.

It'll be burned in some cases. Do not, without any doubt, go to Philadelphia. And we talked about legacy. And, Hickey, we both agreed that, look, if Saquon moves on from the New York Giants, goes to the Eagles, goes anywhere, there is no legacy. His legacy is he was an amazing player when he was healthy, but then he was also hurt. The Giants didn't want to tender him a contract or couldn't come to an agreement with one, and he moves on. You know, there was no major accomplishment. This is not, I don't know, Terrell Davis telling the Broncos at the end, hey, I'm leaving after two Super Bowls kiss my ass.

This is not any of that. Saquon Barkley is just, he might move on. There's another guy. A couple of guys in Tampa could have moved on. I told you Mike Evans is sticking around in Tampa. To the surprise of many, because maybe the NFC South sucked last year, Tampa Bay went to the postseason with Baker Mayfield leading the way. This is the same Baker Mayfield who basically got the boot from the Cleveland Browns.

An organization, you want to talk about legacy? Baker Mayfield was expected to lead them to the promised land. Baker Mayfield was expected to be the next guy in Cleveland. He was expected to help turn things around, and he did.

He was the number one overall pick. He ended up getting them to the postseason, something that they didn't taste in forever. Actually helped them win a playoff round, something that they haven't done in almost 30 years. And then they got an itch.

They wanted to scratch it. They wanted to bring in someone who's more talented into Sean Watson, although a little troubled, comes with his baggage, and Baker Mayfield, they got him the hell up on out of there. Baker Mayfield, who was a darling for the Cleveland Browns, now basically went into football purgatory. He had to play for the Panthers. He was out there with Sam Darnold competing and trying to be the starter for the Panthers.

Well, how did that end up? What happened to the Panthers? Oh, yeah, they got Bryce Young, and they're still hoping that he's the guy. He had to pick up the slack, play for the Rams for a couple of games, and then he gets an opportunity with the Buccaneers last year, and what does he do? Takes them to the playoffs, wins a round, throws three touchdowns against the Eagles. Ultimately, they lose to the Lions, but in the regular season, he threw for 4,000 yards, had 28 touchdowns to go along with 10 INTs. Not too bad.

Not too shabby. And so Baker Mayfield is now free. Mike Evans was also free until Mike Evans came to an agreement with the only team that he's played for for the past 10 years, a two-year, $41 million contract. Mike Evans is not going anywhere. Mike Evans also happens to be the first player in NFL history to wake up and say, hey, I got 10 straight seasons of 1,000 yards receiving. Last year, 1,200 yards, 13 touchdowns.

Nuts. More than a fourth of Baker Mayfield's passing yards went straight to this damn guy. And so Mike Evans spoke to the Tampa Bay Times, and Mike Evans said, first of all, my wife was key in my return to Tampa Bay. He said, wouldn't you want to spend your entire career here instead of going back home to Texas?

And so he stayed. He took the money. And then second to that, Mike Evans said, Baker Mayfield and I have a very good relationship. And then Mike Evans said, I think he's an elite quarterback.

OK. Now, is that a way to get a guy paid? Does Mike Evans really believe that he's an elite quarterback? Does Mike Evans look at his numbers and stats and go, he's elite? Or is he just trying to keep things status quo?

He's trying to be a great teammate. Hickey, does he really believe that Baker Mayfield is an elite quarterback? Deep down, I would say no, but also Baker Mayfield in 2023 was definitely a good to pretty good quarterback.

I mean, they got to the second round of the playoffs and he played well in their loss to Detroit. So he's not elite. I don't think Mike Evans truly believes he's elite, but he's definitely good enough to where you feel like you could be a playoff team next year. Oh, I would agree. When I think about elite quarterbacks and I say this, I put quarterbacks in three categories.

They are the ones at the back end where you feel that they are going to lose you the game. You go into the game saying, how is, I don't know, Sam Donald going to choke this away for us? You know, we can go down the list. I'm sorry to pick on Sam Donald disease. He's a bum. He's not a starter. Let's look at a guy who was a starter, forced to be one last year. Zach Wilson.

He's in the bottom 10 and he probably won't be a starter anymore. How is he going to throw the game away? Think about some other bum ass quarterbacks.

Take a look at someone like, I don't know, last year, Sam Howell. How is he going to throw the ball away? Throw the ball to the wrong team.

Hey, here in Atlanta. How is Desmond Ritter going to give the game away? You guys are in the bottom third. Then you got guys who just so happen to be in the middle. Starters who are just in the middle. Good.

Could crawl up. Someone like, let's say, Trevor Lawrence. Someone like Geno Smith. They're not necessarily garbage. They can elevate their games, but they're in the middle. And then you got guys who are in that top 10.

And then past that top 10, when I think about the elite quarterbacks in the league, I'm thinking about guys who just scare the living hell out of you. These guys win MVPs. These dudes win championships. There is a Lamar Jackson. No championship MVPs. There is a Patrick Mahomes. I got everything. There is a Josh Allen.

Yeah, I haven't won anything, but I need to win some stuff. My numbers look nice. Justin Herbert is not too shabby. Those are the guys that I consider to be elite. Is Jordan Love going to enter into that space? So is Baker Mayfield good?

Yes, he's good. But I'm saying, to say someone is elite, I want to give Baker Mayfield credit. Because it's not every day that a number one overall pick just gets jettisoned out of the building and is able to continue to pick his career up. And he had those flashes, not just with the Browns, but especially with the Rams right out of the gate.

And this past season, he's proven again that he can go out there and ball. And so I will assume that he's going to get a contract somewhere in the 35, maybe closer to the $40 million per year range. And I'm sure also that the Tampa Buccaneers are going to take the approach of, hey, let's bring him in, let's not overpay him, because we have a solid starting quarterback. And in the NFL, it's tough. Unless you bottom out and you are complete garbage, you're not getting one of these elite quarterbacks. You're not drafting potential number ones in Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels.

You've got to kind of settle for the middle. And for Tampa Bay, a team that won the Super Bowl a few years ago with Tom Brady and has now transitioned out, this is kind of best-case scenario, right? The fact is, though, unless Baker Mayfield does elevate his game to being an elite quarterback, which I don't necessarily think will be the case, Baker will be here. They'll be good enough to be good and compete in the NFC South until they're not. Like Mike Evans, at some point in time, he's going to run out of gas. There's going to come a point in time, I know this sounds nuts, but you're going to have another team in the NFC South that decides to step up.

And so Tampa Bay, enjoy this while you got it. Baker Mayfield is good. He's not elite.

He's not striking fear into the hearts of the opposition. He can win you a playoff game. He can be a winning quarterback. Mike Evans, congratulations, Baker Mayfield should give you a piece of his check, should give you a commission for bigging him up and helping to get him a new contract and a new job.

But elite, no, he's not. I'd even go as far to say, all things considered, if I had a choice right now between Russell Wilson and Baker Mayfield, I think I'd take Baker. I think there's an opportunity for a little bit more upside. Baker Mayfield doesn't necessarily, this sounds wild to say. Hickey, is it wrong for me to say I don't think he comes with the same drama as Russell Wilson?

Oh, not at all. I think you're spot on with that. I think you get similar numbers.

I think you get similar production. Baker Mayfield, every now and then he might say something that makes you go, oh, he's a little bit of a jerk. But there's no figuring out who he is. And to be honest, has Russell Wilson peaked? Probably. Has Baker Mayfield peaked? Maybe not. Maybe not. And so in this world, who would have thought in 2024 that Baker Mayfield, damn it, he might be a better QB than Russell Wilson.

It wouldn't shock me. I'd take this man over Russell right now today if I needed a quarterback. Good on him. Let's see how much he gets paid.

And good on Mike Evans for trying to help him out. But Elite, no, not at all. It's the JR Sportbree Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We are going to take a break. And when we come back, yeah, Baker Mayfield back in college, yeah, you could call him Elite, most certainly could. We're going to have a conversation with James Williams. This man covers UCLA for the Orange County Register. I want to ask him about Chip Kelly's comments about moving to Ohio State. I want to ask him about UCLA moving to the Big Ten.

I want to get his thoughts on what might happen this upcoming season with all the chaos that has surrounded just the team over the past couple of months. James Williams is joining us to talk UCLA and Big Ten in college. On the other side of the break, it's the JR Sportbree Show on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sportbree on CBS Sports Radio.

It's the JR Sportbree Show here on CBS Sports Radio. So much going on in the world of sports. We got Anthony Joshua knocking people out.

Francis Ngannou goes down. We got Russell Wilson meeting with the Giants. We got just Anthony Edwards dragging the Timberwolves on his back. And then we even got some college football action. So many conversations about changing playoffs. And we got March Madness upon us yesterday. We heard about Chip Kelly and his reasons why he decided to leave UCLA. He's like, man, I don't want all the work.

I just want a little bit of it. It's time to have a conversation specifically about UCLA football and Chip Kelly, its future, its move to the Big Ten. It's time to have a conversation with James Williams who covers the Bruins for the Orange County Register. James, how you doing, man? Thank you for taking the time to hop on. No worries, man. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on and hope you're doing well. I am, man.

Thank you so much. So we got a question out of the gate. What's your reaction to the comments made by Chip Kelly of not wanting to have the same responsibilities? And what's the overall vibe from UCLA fans after his comments?

OK. Yeah, no. Good question. That's the best kind of a big question there. So my reaction to kind of just what Chip Kelly said, you know, I went back and listened to it two or three times. One, I just couldn't do it anymore because I had been covering Chip Kelly. I covered him tenure other than the first year at UCLA. So it was kind of a lot of the same jargon and stuff he says every other time. But it was more so that he finally kind of admitted what a lot of us, especially those in the media that are covering the day to day for UCLA football. I've always kind of thought or been able to point to and say, you know, the recruiting wasn't always there.

They're missing holes here. Probably kept on some of his assistant coaches a little bit longer than he should have. So none of it was really surprising, I think. I think the most surprising part was he kind of admitted that he wanted just to kind of take a step back from the head coaching role and just call plays. I think that's where he fits in best as someone who's just calling plays, running it often and having fun.

And I think that's kind of what he alluded to in his press conference. Now, if you ask the fan base, they're just as excited as Chip Kelly is for him to leave and move on just because they've been waiting for something new. They weren't happy with the recruiting, even though they did have a year or two. I believe that was, I guess, 2021 looked pretty good for them. They did beat LSU. I know they had some injuries and stuff going on that year as well. But, you know, they've had some decent success, but nine wins doesn't cut it at UCLA. Apparently, they're looking for 10 wins or more. And I don't even remember the last time they've had 10 wins.

It's been a good while. But the expectations were high and they just weren't happy with what Chip Kelly was doing there. But I also think we'll never get the full story, at least not anytime soon, on what the real beef was between Chip Kelly and maybe the administration. There's just kind of a lot of different stuff going on behind the scenes that I think played a part in it. Other than what Chip Kelly's saying of, hey, I got to coach the quarterback to the bowl game for two weeks and had the time of my life.

I'm sure that's part of it, but there's probably a little bit more to it. James Williams is here with us, covers UCLA for the Orange County Register. You talk about the fan response. I don't want to say it was shocking, but it was like, hey, they've replaced him with Deshaun Foster? And we know he's brought in Eric Bienemy. Is Eric Bienemy going to be a shadow coach? Are people confused about this?

Down here, no, not necessarily. I think it's kind of interesting because, you know, Chip leaves and I think a lot of people are upset because of the time in which it finally happened. You know, the coaching cycle, or at least that big part, majority of the coaching cycle had already come and gone. And so, you know, the administration said they went about, spent a couple days telling the players, hey, give us 72 hours, we'll go ahead and find somebody. Supposedly they went to Mexico and talked to P.J.

Fleckin from Minnesota and whatnot. But the players made it very clear the moment Chip Kelly was locked out the door and the AD of Martin Jarman came in and kind of addressed what's going on going forward. The players said, we want Deshaun Foster. A lot of people thought that was maybe still kind of out of reach, just, you know, fans and whatnot.

They were a little disappointed because they were kind of aiming high as well with all the what ifs. Deshaun had just taken a job as the running backs coach for the Las Vegas Raiders just a week before. And a lot of people thought that was a pretty significant blow just because he is a Bruin alum himself and they thought he was kind of the backbone. And I think it really showed, at least with the players, on wanting Deshaun. And if you go back and look at the video when he was announced and brought into the meeting room there, the players swarmed him and embraced him and it's a new era in a way.

At least it's a good time right now. But it could also be kind of dangerous when the administration is listening to the players and saying who they want as coach rather than maybe taking a, hey, this is the guy we need to move forward kind of approach. So I think Deshaun Foster is a good pick but is also a gamble as well because he doesn't even have any coordinating experience, let alone head coaching experience. Well, James, when you talk about someone who's going to be joining him out there as well, it's Eric Bienemy. And Eric Bienemy, we know, I don't want to say he's going backwards but, yeah, he's kind of making a slow little bit of return here to UCLA. And what is his role expected to be and were people kind of like taking aback that, oh, is he going to be whispering a lot into his ear? What role is he going to play?

Yeah, I'm sure. You know, he was named offensive coordinator but also associate head coach. I'm sure he'll have a say. Again, Eric Bienemy himself hasn't necessarily been a head coach even though he's kind of, you know, been interviewed and been through the process. A lot of people think he should be head coach to some degree at the NFL level.

Maybe a little bit of a step back but maybe also a chance to kind of prove himself at that level. And I think as Andy Reid said, maybe even an opportunity for him, if an NFL opportunity to be a head coach doesn't come along, maybe there's something in the cards for him kind of going forward at the college level. So I think he'll have a little bit of a say but I think it's also just kind of refreshing from the standpoint of you don't have Chip Kelly who is the head coach and the offensive coordinator.

And it's kind of like, you know, there was really no blame on any other guy other than Chip Kelly, especially when it came to the offense, let alone the whole team. But now you're going to have a guy who can just focus on the offense with Eric Bienemy, a guy who has experience, a guy who's worked with the likes of Travis Kelcey and Patrick Mahomes and a lot of these other guys. And I think also on the recruiting trail, that may help a little bit too where you can, and I think there was even a video where he was wearing the Super Bowl ring when he showed up to Westwood and got to introduce himself to the rest of the coaching staff. He had that Super Bowl ring on so I think that will be out on the table when recruits come by and they're trying to woo some of these offensive guys to come play at UCLA. But you know, he's familiar with the area, he's a local guy, played high school football here in Southern California, not too far from UCLA. Also was a running backs coach back in the day, way back in the day, and also had some experience as a recruiting coordinator.

Obviously the recruiting landscape has changed quite a bit since then. So again, a little bit of a gamble just because you don't know what it's going to mean for the recruiting and the long term future for UCLA football. But for the meantime, at least you have a guy who's focused directly on the offense. And again, a guy like Deshaun Foster who can just dial in on everything that goes with the day-to-day for a college football coach as the landscape continues to change week after week, day after day, as it seems to be heading. James Williams is here with us. The JR Sport Reacher on CBS Sports Radio follows UCLA for the OC Register. You talk about the impact that Deshaun Foster and Eric Bienemy are going to have on recruiting. We know that Chip Kelly left the late in the game. What is this team going to look like next year on the field? Yeah, so that's kind of a good question.

It's something I've been thinking about. It's kind of interesting because normally when you have these coaching changes and whatnot, you have a guy who leaves and you have some of his players leave. Maybe they join him at that program. The new coach comes in. He has guys from another program. They come over to this new program. None of that happened.

None of that happened at all. It was kind of weird because you would have thought someone would have entered the portal, but no one entered the portal who didn't already enter the portal right after the season ended. So they're going to have a lot of guys back. They're going to be familiar with each other. I think the one thing is they're really going to have to kind of get dialed in to what the new operation is going to be under Deshaun Foster. I don't think it will change too much right away, but when you bring in a lot of new faces like they are with Eric Bienemey, for example, he's going to bring in some of his offensive coaching staff. There's been some names thrown out there, but nothing officially in terms of other assistant coaches. So there's going to be a lot of unknown from that standpoint and kind of what they're going to be able to kind of piece together here when it comes to the players and some of his coaching staff. But I think just the guys in the locker room, I think it's going to be kind of business as usual. Again, they wanted Deshaun Foster.

They know what to expect from him. So I think overall they'll be okay. Now, will they be winning eight or nine games this season?

No, I don't think so. And I think obviously for a first year coach, let alone a guy who has no head coaching experience at all, you know, there may be some bumps in the road as expected. It's a crazy tough schedule.

When LSU is a non-conference opponent, you're going to be playing Penn State on the road and a lot of the other things that come with now being a Big Ten team. So it's going to be an interesting year, but I don't think it's going to be a great year. But I think it'll be a step in the right direction. At least fans are excited at the what ifs and what could be here in the near future.

James, that was going to be my next and final question to you. Talk about the change off of the field as they're now going to be a member of the Big Ten. There's changes in travel. There's changes in competition. There's a whole lot of changes. How is being a part of the Big Ten going to affect the program as an overall?

Yeah, it's still kind of interesting. I think a lot of people in the UCLA community seem to be excited. They thought that there will be a little bit more money coming in. There's been at least some sort of debt with the athletic department there for UCLA. And I think over the next coming years they'll be able to kind of recoup some of that and be in a good standing. But yeah, there's still a lot of issues with the traveling and stuff that I think still needs to be figured out. I've talked to Martin German, the athletic director, over and over and he seems like, yeah, we're in a good place with how things are going to go. And I'm like, okay, we'll just have to wait and see. But again, I think it's just all interesting timing.

I thought Jim Kelly was going to stay around another year or two and kind of be that guy who overlaps and kind of helps get them to the Big Ten and get comfortable at least. But now you're just changing everything. So think about it this way.

You were already trying to figure out travel. How are you going to work out mental health for the players, academics for the players as they're traveling and doing all this stuff? But then you add a new coaching change on top of that, a new offense more than likely. So they're going in cold turkey with a lot of this stuff and it's going to be interesting how it plays out. Again, it's not going to be pretty. Maybe not year one, maybe not year two. We'll see how things look in year three and year four.

They're losing some talented guys that are going to be going into the NFL, including Liacu Lachi, who's going to be a first round pick. So there's going to be some holes that they're going to have to kind of fill in. But it's kind of what what needed to be done at the end of the day.

Just rip off the Band-Aid and and they ripped it off pretty fast with everything that's going on. Well, James, if any of the remaining students need help with their homework, just send them my way. I can help them out, OK? All right.

I'll send them your way. But, you know, there might be a few people. But again, they're smart folks over there.

It's the number one public university. They'll continue to tell you over and over when it comes to those sending in applications. So, yeah, I'll be sure to send them your way. Yeah.

Listen, they're going to be doing so much traveling. I'm just trying to help out where I can. Where can people follow you and all your great work keeping up with UCLA?

Yeah, real quick. Follow my work. I'm over at OC register dot com for all of my articles a day to day when it comes to the practices of whatnot. You can also follow me on Twitter at JHW Reporter and also at the Believe in UCLA football podcast, where we continue to talk about UCLA with former linebacker Josh Wood.

So much change going on. James, appreciate the time. And we'll talk to you down the line, hopefully with some good news. OK, from UCLA. All right. Thanks, my man.

Sounds good. Look forward to talking to you in the future. No doubt about it that James Williams of UCLA knows everything going on out there on behalf of the OC register.

Go ahead and check him out there. There's so much change. Coaches change. Players change.

Assistant changes. Conference changes. And then even in the conferences right now, it's like the Big Ten and the SEC are like in cahoots.

Right. Right now, this moment to steal more of the market share when it comes down to the college football playoff. It's it's a wild world in college football. It's like every time you think or believe that you have the answers, it's like the question gets changed. It's like it's like playing football every time you think you have a first down. They go, no, you need it. You need another inch.

And then you you need to go get more and more and more of this. So much change. It's ridiculous. We're going to take a break. And on the other side, I want to talk to you about some of these potential changes to the college football playoff. And it is also a potential issue with Fox getting ready to say we're going to put more college games on Friday nights. Forget your damn high school game.

Come watch us instead. I'll fill you in on the other side of the break. The phone lines are open as well. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief on CBS Sports Radio, the J.R. sport show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Eight five five two one two four CBS is eight five five two one two four CBS. I want you to think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all of your car care needs.

Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. I love Destiny's Child. I like Beyonce. Hickey helped me out that that was left because of UCLA or people are leaving. Help me out.

Oh, actually, neither. It was the title is irreplaceable. Right. And I figured, oh, you know, you got the rejoined talk about how, you know, cars giving you your flowers. I figured maybe do a little irreplaceable to kind of highlight all the love you're getting in the rejoined. Oh, that I'm irreplaceable. Yes.

Yes. You're damn right. If you're damn right. Eight five five two one two four CBS is eight five five two one two four CBS. The New York Knicks are smack in Orlando.

Fifty five to thirty nine. Jalen Brunson is and he's like invincible. Seventeen points. One rebound coming off of that leg injury only missed one game. He's irreplaceable. Hickey Jalen Brunson continues to light it up. And thank you.

Right before we went to break. So much to James Williams, who covers UCLA for the Orange County Register, you know, out in the West Coast. And there's just so much upheaval in college. It's hard to keep up. And so I'm going to explain to you all in a little while some of the potential changes, how the Big Ten, which now encompasses pretty much all of North America from the West Coast to the east in the SCC, look like they're trying to combine forces like Voltron to take a bigger piece and share of the pie when it comes down to the college football playoff.

And then there's also a good chance and not a good chance. It's almost a certainty that college football is going to start putting its own imprint on Friday nights. Yes, you could always watch college football on a Friday night, but we're going to even have a larger profile coming soon.

I'll explain and get to it. 855-2124 CBS. It's 855-2124 CBS. John is here from Tampa. You're on the J.R. Sportbreeze. Show us up, John.

Hey, happy Friday, J.R. To you. So you piqued my interest a little bit about your tier of quarterbacks and who we say are elite. I actually have five where you're elite, you're you're almost there to elite and then you have the middle and then you have garbage, almost garbage and then garbage where I put Baker Mayfield somewhere in the third level. My rankings would be Patrick Mahomes is probably the only elite quarterback in the league. And then you have Josh Allen.

Let me think of you thinking what happened. I would say Josh Allen, Joe Burrow. I mean, but you you have those things, those quarterbacks that can be elite. Well, well, define elite. I mean, to say that that we don't meet if somebody, at least for me, elite would be somebody that if if you were if you were on the other team, you're scared to really have them have the ball at the end of the game. OK, yeah, I kind of said that I find someone I look at someone being an elite quarterback as you go into the game hoping that this guy doesn't destroy you.

You have to game plan against him. Hey, if we want to if we want to use the definition of elite, it's real simple. A select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of a group or society. And so if we want to go by the definition of elite, there are 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL.

What group and it's not a set number, but what group of players have set themselves above and beyond what everybody else is. I will say there in the last probably 10 years in my at least in my grade, there's probably been three quarterbacks that are elite. No, John, you're missing.

John, you're missing a point right now. OK, if I'm looking at the current NFL right now, ensure we can't go out and predict who's going to be Washington's quarterback or, you know, New England. We can't do that now.

Come back in a couple of months. But for what we know for the quarterbacks who are currently active in the NFL. We saw 32 of them start last year. We saw more than 32 quarterbacks start. I think there was about 60 quarterbacks who ultimately started a game. But if we have to look at the dudes who consistently play and say, hey, this is the group of 32. Let's just pick an arbitrary number and say there are five or six guys that were above and beyond. I think we all know who that they would who they would be.

It's I don't think there's too much of a debate there. Now, does Baker. And I get I get that.

You know, I would I would put Josh Allen up there and I would. Well, we know we know who's in the thing. We know that. But here's the deal.

You're in Tampa. The whole point of what we discussed earlier was that Mike Evans, you OK? Eat some water. I know. No, I know what you're going to say. But go ahead.

No. Well, I'm repeating what I said earlier. The point is, Mike Evans said that Baker Mayfield, he considers him to be an elite quarterback. My response and I think the majority of people's responses is, well, he's not he's a good quarterback.

He's kissing the ass of the guy who throws you the ball. Good job. That's it. And I'm sorry to interrupt you, but Mike Evans did have one of his.

I mean, he I personally I think he's a Hall of Famer, but he did have one of the better years of the last. Yes. Fourteen hundred yards and 13 touchdowns. Yes. So what does that mean?

That that that now means that Baker Mayfield is an elite quarterback. What's your point? Maybe. Maybe to him. I mean.

Yeah. But we ain't talking about the one guy. Look, Justin Jefferson talks so much about how, oh, man, I want Kirk Cousins back. I wonder why it's because Kirk Cousins is going to get him the ball. I mean, look, if wide receivers were running the NFL, we wouldn't I mean, we want to talk about devaluing running backs.

We'd be in a completely different space by now. And so, yeah, I think I think most people, unless you are completely delusional, we know who the elite or the best quarterbacks are at any given time. Baker Mayfield isn't in that group as an overall, but he is good. He's good enough to take you to the postseason.

He's good enough to win you a game. But is anybody going to wake up and go, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield? No, no. There you go.

And that's that's the point. Hey, John, can I say one more thing about what you're going to bring up in the next hour? You've been here. You've been here a lot, John. Let let me let me get that part out. And then then we get to it later.

OK, absolutely. Thank you, John, for calling from Tampa. Hey, Hickey, John wants to host the show instead of me. He's like, hey, J.R., you teased it. So I'm just going to go ahead and let me do it first.

Can I do that? Hey, Clayton is here from San Diego. You're on the J.R. sport. Be sure. Go ahead, Clayton.

Quickly. Hey, J.R., good. Good to talk to you after the new year. It's been a minute since you got that promotion. I'm so proud of you, man. I've been watching you since the YouTube days.

But I wanted to talk about the Lakers and they should have the Laker's. Yeah, I know. I know your connection. Your connection. Go ahead, Clayton. It's not good.

Connections not good. Can you hear me now? Yeah, I got you. But then I'm also running out of time.

So go ahead quickly. Hey, I just want to say as a longtime Lakers fan, I wish that we would have maybe moved LeBron to the Warriors or whoever to reenact or reengage with what the team needs to do. And I know it's a hard subject for me to talk about, but just wanted to call in. It's been a while. And kind of get your take on on what they should have done, because they can't pay them.

Can't pay him the 50 million next year. Well, Clayton, first of all, thank you so much for the long time support. A J.R. sport brief as a brand, as me as a whole is getting ready to move to 15 years old. So I appreciate you on that one. And then what we're going to do, Clayton, we're going to take a break. And when we come back, hey, Clayton, have a good weekend, OK? You too, J.R., thank you, bud.

No problem. When we come back, I'll answer his question about LeBron James. We're going to talk about all these damn changes in college football, SEC and Big Ten getting into cahoots and and all this other amazing stuff. We're going to talk about football on Friday nights. Who owns football on Friday? We got so much to do. It's the J.R. sport brief show. You on CBS Sports Radio. Don't move. I'm not going nowhere. We'll be right back.