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!

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Just use Instacart, Brian. What's the first thing you'd do if you'd had more time in the day? Take a nap? Read a book?

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That's BetterHelp H-E-L-P dot com slash grow. This is Richard Deitch, the host of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitch. Multiple times a week, our podcast will get you interviews with the most notable names in sports media. From broadcasters to dealmakers to people doing great work behind the scenes. Here's Huey Brown. Anytime that you win an award, it's not just because of the announcer and the analyst.

It's always because of the production team. That's the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitch. Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

It is the J.R. Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in, locked in all over America on the free Odyssey app. That's right, it's free.

And you can listen to CBS Sports Radio anywhere. That you got a connection of course. Who doesn't like free?

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If you got a smart speaker, you can also ask it to play CBS Sports Radio. Me, you can find me online. I'm on the internet. I am at J.R.

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It's 855-212-4CBS. We have talked about the NCAA tournament. We have talked about the Steelers.

Damn it, we've even talked about the NIT. As we continue on with the show, we're going to talk about Kenny Pickett. Is Kenny Pickett looking, I don't want to say kind of soft, but Kenny Pickett's just, it's like, hey, I'm playing for the Eagles now.

Whoop-de-doo. You ain't going to play, man. Unless Jalen Hurts gets injured. You ain't, you ain't playing. I can't wait to tell you about something that took place this day in sports.

I'm going to go ahead and do that next hour. We have more athletes, even more athletes who are starting podcasts. Caitlyn Jenner and Lamar Odom. Hickey, what the hell are they going to talk about? Well, I think they have a lot in common, right? They know the family pretty well. They're going to talk about Kardashians or sports? Well, I don't know.

I've not seen the preview. Have they defined what they're going to talk about? They said they're going to talk about sports.

That's what they said. Interesting. Well, I mean, Kim is in the sports scene a lot, so. Kim Kardashian? Well, she's, you know, around the sphere of sports, and she rumored to be dating that OBJ, so that's a topic.

Oh, I guess right. I can't wait to hear Caitlyn talk about it, right? Not really.

Not really. Not, not, not, not a must listen. I am not going to listen to one episode of Lamar Odom and Caitlyn Jenner.

I will not. Hey, and then also LeBron and Rettick. Yeah, JJ Rettick and LeBron James are starting a podcast. We'll, we'll get into that stuff next hour. We're going to keep on talking football. We're going to keep on talking college basketball.

Hey, thank you so much. Earlier on in the show, we had Mike Defabo join us. He covers the Steelers for the athletic. And about 40 minutes ago, we had a conversation with Ken Pomeroy of KenPom.com. I hope you took a look at his, his ratings before you decided to fill out your bracket.

Maybe it's too late. Make sure you go ahead and check out KenPom.com. Thank you to statistician and mathematician and numbers efficiency guy, Ken Pomeroy for joining us. Probably the most utilized ratings and ranking system in college basketball.

As we continue on 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS is the number that's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Right before we went to break, I talked about the NIT in college basketball, how nobody wants to go to the NIT. Nobody cares. Rick Pitino was already ticked off that his team didn't even make it into March Madness. You could say the same thing for Providence.

They like, Hey, we ain't going then we do not care. Listen to Providence head coach Kim English. He went off on the analytics used to judge his tournament team.

Yeah, I think the analytics are **** right. I think you could schedule bad teams in your non-league and beat the snot out of them and beat them by 50 and 60. I think I think coaching for so long has been a gentleman agreement. I mean, you have a large lead at the end of the game. You know, for health reasons, you take guys out to get some other guys opportunities to play you take guys out. But right now might be a change in college basketball. We're beating teams by four scheduling to beat teams by 40 and 50 might be a thing to do. Yeah, well, the name of the game is the beat people up beat people up and then you have a better chance of getting in the tournament says Kim English. Sure. And then we also talked about how these teams aren't going into the NIT. They don't want to participate in a second rate tournament. I get it. I understand. And then we talked about how it's also odd that that college basketball currently has the transfer portal open before the tournament even begins makes absolutely zero zero cents.

None, none, none, none earlier today. Someone decided to make a statement. I believe that also doesn't make too much sense.

Well, it makes sense, but I think it's a weak minded statement. Earlier today, RG three Robert Griffin, the third former Washington commander, former Raven, former Baylor quarterback body basically betrayed him or maybe he was left out there to be betrayed. And now commentator RG three highly touted the prospect.

Didn't get the most out of him. And you might say it's because, well, Shanahan threw him to the wolves. So RG three decided to share some comments about Caleb Williams following the trade of Justin Fields to the Steelers. It's very clear Caleb Williams is going to be selected by the Chicago Bears.

It'd be a shock if he wasn't. And so RG three decided to share some advice for Caleb Williams and just take a listen to this. Caleb Williams should pull an Eli Manning and demand that the Chicago Bears do not draft him number one overall after everything that's happened with just Justin Fields. Can Caleb Williams really look at that and say, you know what?

This is the organization that has my best interests at heart. And they're going to help develop me into the player that I want to become. Caleb Williams is on record saying that he wants to be legendary. He wants to rewrite history and he wants to be the best that he can possibly be. And when the most games he can possibly win after the bears took Justin Fields, the 11th pick in the draft and turned him into a sixth round pick in the 2025 draft by trading to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Can Caleb Williams really look at that and say, you know what?

Yeah, this organization is going to help get me where I want to go. I don't think it's saying that I thought Ryan polls was having an amazing off season up until this trade for Justin Fields because you trade Justin Fields so you can get some players back to help your team out this year because Ryan polls and Matt Eber floss, the head coach for the Chicago Bears, they're in a lame duck season. They have to win this year or they're going to get fired.

And don't get me wrong. Hey, hand the football off to Deon J. Swift throwing the ball to Keenan Allen and DJ Moore and Cole commit. Those guys are phenomenal.

This ain't anything about them. This is about Caleb Williams and what team out there gives him the best chance to be successful. Only he can deem that. Yes, I do think him going back to Washington where he's from, he's a D.C. kid, went to Gonzaga College High School.

OK, I think that's the best spot for him. What type of quittin ass mentality is that? I'm just saying. Look, we we know. That if you're a prospect.

If you got juice, if you got power, if you're good at what you do, you got a little bit more juice, you got a little bit more say so as to what happens with your career. But Eli Manning and his family. Yeah, Peyton was already in the league.

We know about his dad, Arch. They were able to kind of push some buttons and just say, hey, we don't want to go to San Diego. We don't want to go to the Chargers.

We want to go to the New York Giants. And it's easier, a little bit easier to push that button when you got a brother named Peyton who's already in the league. That's a power play.

We haven't seen that power play in the better part of 20 years. And for Caleb Williams, who at this stage of his career, you got Deion Sanders saying, oh, Chicago Biz need to be careful. Oh, you're going to put Caleb Williams on the call.

What a what a bad idea. Be careful. When you got people questioning. His maturity. His heart. Can he take criticism? Is he growing?

Is he going to go cry in mommy's arms when the Bears lose a game like these are questions. Whether they happen to be legitimate or not. These are legitimate concerns. They exist. It's out in the atmosphere. You don't have to agree with them. You could think they're nonsense.

They're in the atmosphere. The last thing that he needs to do right now, Caleb Williams. Is start making a fuss about where he goes and what he does, because he's going to look like a bus if he goes anywhere and he doesn't have success.

You know, put your chin down, show up to work and bust ass. I would actually think it shows a lack of confidence here. You are the quarterback of a franchise.

These teams are selecting because they are bad. OK, there's no guarantees that him going to Washington is going to save his ass and necessarily improve his chances of going out there and have his success. OK, we got Dan Quinn, who's the new head coach of the Washington commanders. We also know that Cliff Kingsbury has come on board to be the offensive coordinator. Look, Cliff Kingsbury has a very nice resume when it comes down to working with quarterbacks, whether it happens to be Baker Mayfield or Patrick Mahomes or Kyler Murray here in the pros. Don't ask Cliff Kingsbury to run your team before an offense.

Yeah, not too shabby. But that doesn't mean that that that he's going to be make or break for this dude's career, Caleb Williams. And we know the Chicago Bears never had a guy throw for 4000 yards, never had a guy throw for 30 touchdowns, which is ridiculous to think about in the modern NFL. And I just find it weak minded to say I don't want to go here because I think the team is going to suck. So please send me here instead. Well, I don't trust the team to develop me, so I'm going to go here. Man, if you're so damn good, you go to the team and change it.

You do it. If I got to think about some of the top prospects, they help turn and change the tide. Do you have players who've been short changed?

Yeah. You know, I could think about David Carr, the brother of Derek, selected by the Texans. This man was nothing but a punching bag when he was drafted for a team that was an expansion squad that just made it back to the NFL. He had no offensive line. He was a crash test dummy.

He was shell shocked. Not the best of circumstances now was it for an expansion team. But when you're the best, just go out there and work. Make the change happen. You're supposed to be the best, right? You know what I've heard about Patrick Mahomes in comparison to Caleb Williams? Oh, well, Caleb Williams is the next Patrick Mahomes. We ain't going to have no next Patrick Mahomes, but that's some high praise. And so if you're that damn good, you help turn the team around, right? Now what you do as a quarterback? You're that damn good. Flip the script and show, yeah, he had a guy at the head coaching position who he's helped now go into the Hall of Fame and Andy Reid.

The man was shot out of a cannon. Was Andy Reid throwing 50 touchdowns that first year when he was there? Am I expecting this from Caleb Williams?

The answer is no. I just think if you're good, you're going to let it show regardless of who's out there. It kills me when people talk about some of the other quarterbacks in the league that don't get a chance and didn't get a chance. Daniel Jones didn't get a full chance to show what he is with the New York Giants.

Garbage. Justin Fields, they didn't help him out. He didn't get a chance. Oh no.

Those are two examples. Did they end up in the best circumstances? No. No, they didn't. Did they make the best of the situations that they were in? No.

No, they did not. I just think it's a real, I don't want to say arrogant. I just think it's a real quitter move to say, I ain't going to play for the Bears because I think you suck.

I think that's more of an indicator about your own, your own confidence about what you can do. You know, I think if you would say, and I can't speak for the man, but I think Tom Brady would say, hey, you put me on any team, I'm going to help turn it around. I think if you take Patrick Mahomes and you say, hey, go out here and do the work, any team, I think he's going to say, I can help turn things around.

I think if you took Peyton Manning, if you took Drew Brees, I think if you took some of these legendary quarterbacks, I think if you said Dan Marino, look at what Dan Marino said, prime example, Hall of Fame caliber player, regardless of who was around him, broke records, regardless of who was around him. He threw the ball to both marks. It got him nowhere, eventually destroying the record books.

Never won the big one. Come on. When you're good at what you do, you can elevate the people around you. I think it would say more to Caleb Williams that he would say, yeah, I embrace the challenge as opposed to running to where he thinks things are easier for these dumbass questions that these these NFL prospects get asked at the NFL combine about their mothers and their their ideas and whether or not the earth is flat.

You know what shows me that you've got something inside of you, that you actually embrace the challenge and don't run from it. Eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS.

We got enough people running away and quitting the challenges. We don't need one of those to be a leader of an NFL team. I'd be more concerned if Caleb Williams said, I don't want to go to the Bears because they're not good. Send me to the commanders.

I see a scaredy cat. Eight five five two one two four CBS. It's eight five five two one two four CBS. I'm going to take your calls on the other side of the break. Let me know what you think about what RG three said. Should Caleb Williams avoid the Chicago Bears? Should he run away from the Chicago Bears? I'll get to your calls on the other side of the break. And then also speaking of running away, we heard from Kenny Pickett today. Kenny Pickett had some words about why he decided to leave the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It's the JR sport brie show here on CBS Sports Radio. I'm not leaving anywhere. I'll be back on the other side of the break. Don't move. Your fever is high and the pressure to log in at work is too. But when you finally decide to take care of you, there's Instacart. Just because that one perfect coworker of yours is attending all meetings, camera on while she's sneezing, coughing and aching doesn't mean you have to do the same.

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If anyone needs anything, they can just redirect their questions to that one perfect coworker of yours. What's the first thing you do if you'd had more time in the day? Take a nap, read a book, talk with a friend? When you know what's important to you, it's easier to fit it into your schedule. Therapy can help you figure that out. BetterHelp offers affordable online therapy that comes to you. Start the process in minutes and switch therapists any time. Learn to make time for what makes you happy with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash grow today to get 10% off your first month.

That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash grow. This is Richard Deitch, the host of the sports media podcast with Richard Deitch, multiple times a week. Our podcast will get you interviews with the most notable names in sports media, from broadcasters to dealmakers to people doing great work behind the scenes. Here's Hubie Brown. Anytime that you win an award, it's not just because of the announcer and the analyst.

It's always because of the production team. That's the sports media podcast with Richard Deitch. Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio.

It's the J.R. Sportbrief show here on CBS Sports Radio. I want you to know that this portion of the show was brought to you by Wesley Financial. Stuck in a timeshare and want out?

Contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at Wesley Financial Group dot com. Right before we went to break, we played you some of the comments by RG3, basically saying if he were Caleb Williams, he would go ahead and make a power play and tell the Chicago Bears, I ain't going. I'm not coming. I'm going to Washington. Let Washington select me.

Don't touch me. And I can understand the sentiment behind that. But I would think for a prospect in the NFL, someone who's going to make a guarantee 30 plus million dollars just on their rookie deal, regardless of how things go, that you would have enough gumption, enough inside of you to say, hey, I'm going to show up and help turn things around for Eli Manning. Look, Eli Manning decided to make a power play or at least the Manning family decided to make a power play.

And what did it get? Eli Manning. It got him two championships. Outside of that, he had a damn good career. He was an average quarterback throughout the course of the regular season, but he was able to turn it up when the games mattered the most. OK, he won two titles. Would he have won two championships in San Diego? Probably not worked out for him.

Not everybody's last name is Manning. And I just think in the position, yeah, if you can choose where you want to go, knock yourself out. But I think it also shows that, man, you ain't ready, especially someone who's been heavily criticized the way that Caleb Williams have. I don't think it's a good idea. Not by any stretch. Not for him, at least. Yes, sure, everybody. Yeah, I don't want to go to the cold. It's too cold.

I don't want to go. Oh, no, I don't trust Shane Waldron as my my offensive coordinator. Shane Waldron got this job with Eberflus because he helped helped out.

Geno Smith helped turn Geno Smith's career around. Give him some type of credit. Right. Eight five five two one two four CBS. It's eight five five two one two four CBS. Shaq is calling from Louisville. You're on CBS Sports Radio. The J.R. sport re-show. What's up, Shaq? Hey, J.R., how you doing? Excellent.

What's going on? Yeah, I'm going to say this as a Bears fan. I hear what you're saying. There's some truth in what you're saying. But I'm not totally against it because I feel like we we've been a trash organization for a while and it sounds pretty good that the hero stuff you're talking about.

And I understand it. But you got Eli even go John Elway. And I feel I feel like if you look at Patrick Mahones, he landed like people say his first year, his first year, he didn't play.

He red shirted. And he wouldn't and he wouldn't have been the rookie of the year. The offense of the year on his own team, possibly. I don't know, because they had a hunt who looked like running back.

They were so they were so loaded. So it's like if he went to, I don't know, Detroit, if you went to like any other mismanaged third world team, it'd been different. And comparing that to Brady, Brady was like picked so low that he was happy to be in the league.

So if I was a high ranking, like if I was a quarterback, I would at least consider it. And I'm coming from a bears man. So I totally I think we mismanaged fields. We're going to mismanage this player. I like there's no hope like the Green Bay Packers.

I know a lot of them. And they complained about they had a new quarterback. Oh, man, we got a new quarterback. I was like, wow, you actually got to build a quarterback who's quality.

That quarterback, his play last year would have been one of the best seasons we've had. I don't even know. So I guess what I'm saying is, I heard what you're saying. There's a lot of truth in leadership, what you said. But I would say also to be a good leader, like I got a military experience, you look at the battlefield and you look and say, hey, what is the best fit?

What is realistic? So if you have an opportunity to influence it, you do. Now, you don't go running if that's what he's doing. Totally wrong.

But I would say it would be only why. But from a bear's yeah, but from a bear's perspective, I hear what you're saying. That's that's and that's a loser's mentality. And I get it.

The team is stuck. You're waiting for a quarterback to go out there and at minimum throw 4000 yards. I get it.

I understand it. And I'm not comparing Caleb Williams and his draft status to where Tom Brady was selected or where Patrick Mahomes was selected or when he played behind Alex Smith. That's that's not what I'm basing any of it on. What I'm talking about is strictly on talent. Like if you have the big dog, if you have a big dog in the room, if you have a big dog in the building, if you're going to go out there and be the big dog, then just go be it. You know, if Patrick Mahomes ended up on the lines and I can't what if things forever.

Nobody knows because it didn't happen. I think that he would still be good on the Detroit lines. I don't think Patrick Mahomes would wake up and all of a sudden be Zach Wilson if he was playing in Detroit, the bad version of Detroit before they turn things around.

And that's ultimately my point. You know, if I want to start taking other quarterbacks like look, people swear up and down that Daniel Jones hasn't gotten the help. And who does Daniel Jones have to throw to?

And who's protecting Daniel Jones? Well, look, if I put Daniel Jones on the Kansas City Chiefs as they currently constructed, man, I don't even know if they're making the postseason. OK. And that's not to say that the Chiefs, they got Kelcey out there and Rashid Rice has turned things around and and got hot at the end of the year.

And the Chiefs aren't all that hot more recently when it comes down to offensive weapons. But sometimes you just got to look at who the person is and who they are. It's real easy. Yeah, it's it's a team.

It's the same reason that people have all these ridiculous conversations about, oh, is it was it Brady or was it Belichick? It's a team. You need a coach.

You need a structure to succeed. But more importantly, you need that player who's that dog, who's that alpha, who's that number one to take you there. And I just think in the case specifically for Caleb Williams, specifically to him, man, if you're taking that attitude, I'm just going to go, well, here you go.

Like you haven't even proved anything. We can look back. We can look back at all the quarterbacks that have been selected recently. Look at everybody that's fallen apart and hit the you know what. There's Mac, there's Mac Jones and there's there's Fields and there's Zach Wilson. Ain't no guarantees for anybody out here.

I just think it's a bad way and a bad foot to get off on. And you haven't even thrown a pass yet. I hear you. But I say I would say, though, if you if you have the opportunity, like you said, it's a team, it's an organization. What they always say. General manager, head coach, quarterback, right? I'm a better man.

General manager. I had hope. I don't. Owner don't have hope. So if I'm looking at it, I mean, you're like with Kim Couch, who know what he would be?

He got he broke his own sack record several times. I hear what you're saying. And I don't think you should go with that mentality. But from John Elway to the Manning family to whatever I think is only wise, I will question your judgment. So if you wouldn't go ahead. He I don't think he's in that space. And thank you, Shaq, for calling from Louisville.

I mean, even if I got to think about Elway, he had the ultimate options. This man could have said, oh, I'll go play baseball. Oh, yeah, I'll go put on some skates.

Oh, yeah, I'll go play gymnastics. I do not think Caleb Williams is in that. I don't think he's in that category. I don't think he has that juice. And I think if he did try to pull it, people would be looking at him going, man, get out of here. Like, what are you going to do? And I think he'd be putting more pressure on himself by saying, I ain't going here, man. You're going to you're going to double down. The expectations are going to go higher.

Why make your life more difficult if you're confident in what you do show up? And I'm not someone who thinks of the ilk of what Shaq just said. He goes, OK, well, you know, owner, president, general manager, coach, quarterback. No. Player. Player, who is the player? Who is the star? Who's the one who's going to go out there and help you win games?

Who is doing that? Come on now. There's a guy we want to think about the ultimate winner.

I can think back four years as everybody sat around and watched the last dance with Michael Jordan. There was a big old fight between player and front office. Well, I put the team together.

Oh, well, I'm out here busting my ass playing. It's a team concept, but I don't care if you don't have players, you do not win. It don't happen. And the GM, he can try and try and try every now and then.

You might get lucky and nail that one dude. The GM don't go out and play. The players deliver it. 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS.

8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS. Art is calling from Boise, Idaho. Hey, Art, you're on the JR Sportbreeze show. What's going on? Hey, JR, I love your show. I missed the first part of it.

I just got done outside. Hey, I think I I agree with you. It takes the team, you know, and being put in the right spot that I think that Caleb Williams, I mean, he's got to be under a lot of pressure. All those kids are. I mean, what they're in the early twenties and especially now coming off this NIL still stuff, there are already millionaires coming into the league and then they're just in your young twenties. And I just, you know, you got my homes, he had Alex Smith, you know, to kind of mentor him and, you know, Brady, you know, he had blood, so if you think about it and, you know, obviously Rogers had farmed to kind of mentor him. I mean, GM teams, they put these guys out there in the middle, even the Manning's, you know, they had their dad to mentor him after you show him the ropes. You know, it's they put so much pressure on this one kid and they forget there's 10 other guys out there. Elway made it to the Super Bowl twice or three times.

And then he finally won it twice when he got to go. Yeah. Yeah.

So I mean, they forget me. You got to have that left tackle. You got to have a receiver.

You got to have a center, for gosh sakes. I mean, you got it. It's a movie.

It's a lot of movie parts. Yeah. In a larger point, and thank you, Art, for calling from Boise. The larger point that I was making is, yeah, you need a team to go out there and win. I was just saying he doesn't need to be out there dictating who he will and who he won't play for.

Like, don't do it. I mean, we saw I remember in the NBA, Steve Francis, like, hey, don't draft me. I ain't going to Vancouver. And ultimately, he didn't go. It took him incentive to Houston. Like, you don't want anybody who doesn't want to be there. I understand that. Sometimes you as a team in a franchise, you got to be smart.

Absolutely have to be smart. Hey, Deion Sanders says, hey, if you're a Chicago Bears, you better be careful selecting Caleb Williams. He's been out in California for a while now. You got to be you got to watch out. I ain't running from nothing. Hey, shut up.

I'm here in Atlanta shots, the bone crusher. You got a whole song, never scared. Hey, you know that song?

I think so. If I heard it, it sounds a little familiar. It's it's a very brooding, ominous song. And it's like, I never scared. I never scared.

What? I ain't scared of nothing. Go out there and bust ass. And you know what? Here's another musical reference.

Not not physically die, but go out there and die trying, man. Go go all out. Eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS.

I'm gonna get some more your calls on the other side of the break. We're also going to hear from Kenny Pickett. He had his introductory press conference today.

Say he's a guy. He decided to leave Pittsburgh. He wanted to move on. Was that soft? Was this decision soft?

Was it time for change? We'll hear from Kenny Pickett on the other side. I'm gonna get to your calls as well. You're listening to the J.R.

Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. That's right. If you are Caleb Williams, if you're the big dog in any situation, you don't be scared. Like bone crusher just said, don't be scared.

What are you scared of? Face the challenge head on. You're supposed to be the best of the best of the best.

Then go out there and prove it, dammit. Never scared. Come on. It is the J.R. Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. Also never scared.

Not of a damn thing. Eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. Somebody who might be scared.

Maybe not. He just needed a new start is Kenny Pickett. We're going to hear from Kenny Pickett in a moment. He had his introductory press conference today with the Philadelphia Eagles. We know that Kenny Pickett moved on, decided to move on from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And now he's playing for his closer to hometown, Philadelphia Eagles. Eight five five two one two four CBS. We got Mark from Tampa. You're on the J.R. Sport Brief Show. Go ahead, Mark. Mark, you're live on the radio. Jacob, Jacob's calling from here in Atlanta. You're on the radio. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Go ahead, Jacob.

Hey, J.R. I'm still in my bracket on ESPN for March Madness. And I don't know why I just like felt something for NC State that they ought to win it all because they've already been Duke and UNC. I don't know. I just felt it.

You felt what? That they won it all. North Carolina State? Yes.

OK. I mean, we got to watch and find out. I know they just won the ACC tournament and we got to we got to wait just like everybody else. I wish I could tell you something, but do I think they're going to win it all?

I don't think so. I think when you get into these with these conference tournaments and you're playing every single day, there's there's more likelihood to have an upset, especially against teams you're a little bit more familiar with. So am I going to take North Carolina State to win it all?

Not necessarily. But if you got a feeling, go for it. You're not old enough to play lottery, right? Yeah. Wait, you can't play lotto.

Yeah, I can play. OK. All right. I was going to say, yes. There is an argument that NC State is like, wow, they beat Duke in North Carolina. Georgia Tech also beat them on both those teams also. Now, come on, Jacob. Now, we know about Georgia Tech.

What does that mean? Hello. Hello.

Yeah, I'm here. Georgia Tech stinks. What do they got to do in anything? They just beat them.

Yeah, they're supposed to. Yeah. OK, Jacob. Well, thank you, man.

Good luck with your bracket, OK? OK. Thank you.

Thank you, Jacob, for calling from Atlanta. Hickey, I wish I could have told him to play lotto, right? I feel bad. It's like he can fill out a bracket, but he's not old enough to play like the mega or something like that. Well, it's like you can go in the army and fight for your country, but you can't drink a beer. Well, we don't want him drinking a beer. No, no. How old do you think he is? I forgot.

He told us before. Eleven, twelve. Eleven.

Eleven, twelve. Yeah, he's filling out brackets. I wonder if he's hustling the kids at school. Well, he's listening to you. Probably has a leg up on him.

If he's listening to me, he's hustling the kids at school. In terms of sports knowledge, we'll say, with the brackets. Very more knowledgeable than maybe the kids that are picking their nose and looking at the stars. Ah, no, they play Fortnite, right? Is Fortnite still popular? I think so, yeah.

The young kids, I think so. Fortnite Roblox. Fortnite and Roblox, I think is where it's at. Hey, 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.

855-212-4CBS. You know, I mentioned Kenny Pickett. As we had our conversation about Caleb Williams, RG3 said that he should tell the Bears, I ain't coming, don't pick me, don't draft me. That way he can ensure that he ends up on the commanders. And I said, ah, that's a punk mentality to decide to leave. Like, just take the challenge head on. Go to Chicago, go to the Bears.

If you're any damn good, then you'll go out and show out. And the fans will appreciate it because they've been waiting for somebody forever. Literally.

Forever. Also, we know over the weekend that Justin Fields was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And it didn't even take that. After Russell Wilson was signed by the Steelers, Kenny Pickett wanted out. And it was reported that, listen, he didn't get the proper communication from the Steelers as to what his role was going to be. He felt and thought that he was going to be in a competition with whoever they brought in.

And obviously that did not take place. Russell Wilson was going to get the majority of the snaps as QB won. And then, you know, Kenny Pickett was going to have to show that that he was better. And Kenny Pickett, through his two seasons, has thrown 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

And so, yeah, you'd be stupid to not understand that the writing was on the wall. And so Kenny Pickett and a 2024 fourth round pick ends up going to the Philadelphia Eagles. Keep in mind, folks, Justin Fields got traded to the Steelers for a six round pick. You know, how the hell that happened is beyond me. Anyway, Kenny Pickett, the newest member of the Eagles, he spoke to the media today and he described his new situation and how things ended. He's from the Philadelphia area, grew up, played in New Jersey before he went to Pitt. And he said, man, it's real cool coming home.

Pretty unbelievable, honestly. I've been coming to games at length since I was like five years old. You know, I have great memories of my dad taking me here, my grandfather, all my family members coming out to the games together and just having great memories. And the fact that hopefully I can help provide some great memories for some other families not coming up.

It's pretty surreal and a full circle moment for me. All right, all right. Cut the crap. No more of a nice guy, sentimental. Oh, it feels so good to come home. Cut that crap out.

Kenny Pickett, I need to know why. Why did you decide to leave Pittsburgh? You know, I just thought it was time. You know, it just it just felt like it was time from, you know, the things that transpired and, you know, wanted to get a chance to go somewhere else and continue to grow my career. And the fact that it's in Philly, you know, the place that I grew up, you know, found love for the game here with a great coaching staff, you know, great players.

I'm looking forward to meet all these guys in a couple weeks when everyone gets back into town. But, you know, I think it's an awesome opportunity here to join this team. As the backup?

I agree. I mean, if this team hits the skids and I know now they got Saquon Barkley and offense. Listen, I get it. Eagles a season ago, we're in the Super Bowl.

I understand it. You're going to be the backup, man. You think you'll get a chance to play? What are you going to do, just finish this out and stick around and then go to another team? That seems more likely. You waiting on Jalen Hurts to go down with an injury? Like, what are we doing? It's this is less about the Eagles and more about the Steelers. That's it.

That's it. He knew that he felt bad. I want to say that he was he's kind of running away. He needed a fresh start.

And you know what? When you ain't going to play, what difference does it make? You want to tell me that Kenny Pickett couldn't learn anything from Russell Wilson. You want to tell me that that Kenny Pickett is going to learn by being in Philadelphia. But what's he learning from Jalen Hurts? He going to teach him how to squat, how to do a great bench press. What is he learning?

I'm sorry. He's running away. And granted, for the betterment of his career, he saw the writing on the wall. The door was closed in Pittsburgh and that's why he left.

That's it. They closed the door and he didn't believe in himself enough to do anything. He wasn't happy. So he left. Kenny Pickett continued on, said, look, when it came down to leaving the Steelers, I gots no regrets.

I think the communication is what it is, is behind closed doors. You know, I'm confident in the way that I handled it. I handled it the way I should have handled it. You know, I'm excited to be here. It worked out so well that Philly was the place I ended up landing in. So I think everything happens for a reason.

And, you know, I'm right where I'm supposed to be. Oh, OK. Yeah, there were these reports about, you know, being misled and he was told at the end of the season and we had this conversation earlier on in the show with Mike DeFabo from The Athletic. He covers the Steelers. He said at the end of the year, Kenny Pickett pretty much thought that there would be an open quarterback competition. Right.

Come on. And they bring in Russell Wilson. Does it appear to be an open quarterback competition? And so Kenny Pickett ultimately said, I doors closed here for me, I'm gone. And so he has to be traded. And now he's a member of the Eagles. Good luck to Kenny Pickett.

Unless he has some type of Geno Smith ask turnaround of his career. He's likely going to be a backup. Speaking of a backup. Hey, congratulations to Josh Dobbs. This man is the new backup quarterback, the Brock Purdy out in San Francisco.

Life is really tough. We got a lot of highly touted picks who are just I would say they're on the back end. But teams have said, listen, you're done.

We done. Time to cut our losses. Hey, Hickey, with the quarterbacks nowadays, there's no development. It's like you got to develop while you play.

Otherwise, we're getting you the hell up on out of here. That's the new NFL we're in right now. Two years. That's all you get.

If you can't show it in two years, you are out the door. Kenny Pickett, the latest example and anyone that's really given up so far early on in QB. No one's really been wrong, you know? Yeah.

No. You know what? We're going to take a break when we come back on the other side. We're going to talk about some of these quarterbacks that have just been given the boot. Time's up.

One year, two years, maybe three. And then you're gone. Show me what you got or you get shown the door. The J.R. sport brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Want to talk more football, more college basketball. Got some announcements on the media side. We have some athletes who are dropping new podcasts.

Us? We're not going anywhere. We're just taking a break. And on the other side, we're going to get into it.

It's the J.R. sport brief show, CBS Sports Radio. What's the first thing you do if you'd had more time in the day? Take a nap? Read a book?

Talk with a friend? When you know what's important to you, it's easier to fit it into your schedule. Therapy can help you figure that out. BetterHelp offers affordable online therapy that comes to you. Start the process in minutes and switch therapists anytime. Learn to make time for what makes you happy with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash grow today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp H-E-L-P dot com slash grow. Hey, everyone, this is Brett Boone.

Would you know it? I've got a podcast going strong in our fourth year. Tune in as I sit down with my friends. Some of the biggest names in sports, media, entertainment for a lot of fun and in-depth conversations. As you know, baseball has been my life. It's been in the family for a long time, but it's a lot more than that here. It's sort of like taking a ride in a golf cart around a beautiful track. Join me every week for multiple episodes on the Brett Boone Podcast available on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.