JR SportBrief Hour 1

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Minimum $10 per order, additional term supply. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I hope you had an amazing weekend. I hope you had a good day. I hope you're great. I hope you're well. I hope you're smooth. Either way, I'm going to be hanging out with you for the next four hours. Happy Monday. This is when the show gets started every single weekday at 6pm Eastern, 3 Pacific. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you so much to our super producer and host Ryan Hickey holding it down for us in New York City.

And you at home in your car and your vehicle at work at home at school, no matter where you at. Thank you for listening. Appreciate you. All right. We got a lot to discuss here over the next four hours, as we do every week night here on the Infinity Sports Network. Final four teams set in the NBA, Pacers, Celtics, Timberwolves. How about that? Minnesota Timberwolves advancing past the reigning champions.

And then we got the Dallas Mavericks. Wow. Yeah. Luca got some help now.

Luca got some help. We're going to talk about all the matchups. We also have some great guests who are going to come by to talk about it all.

We'll get into that. Also, we got OTAs here going on in the NFL because there's always something going on in the NFL. Justin Jefferson not showing up to work. He wants that bread. He wants that paper. He wants his cash. Tuatanga Veloa.

He also wants his bread, his paper and his cash, except for Tuatanga Veloa decided to show up for work. So we'll fill you in on why these two individuals are doing what they're doing, whether they showed or not. As we continue on with the show, outside of basketball, we had some other action here over the weekend. I saw some race car drivers.

They decided to punch each other in the face. That's great. Scottie Scheffler played. He did. He didn't win, but he played. God bless him.

Even pushed his arraignment back. So we got a lot to discuss, a lot to get into. And if you want to holler at me, you can do so. The phone number here is 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227.

You can find me online. I am at JR Sport Brief, and you can always listen to the Infinity Sports Network live on the free Odyssey app. You can tune in on your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate. If you have Sirius XM, it's channel 158.

And if you have yourself a smart speaker, just ask it to play the Infinity Sports Network. You know, I told you about the teams that have advanced here in the NBA playoffs. We got some teams that lost. Yeah, the New York Knicks. They went down in the craziest way. Jalen Brunson getting hurt. Oklahoma City, I guess, too young to be in the building competing right now. And so we'll talk about some of the teams that took some L's as well, because let's be real.

Over the next several days, we're going to be talking about the winners and not the losers. Hickey, how was your weekend, man? You made it, huh?

I made it. The weekend would have been a lot better if the Pacers missed a shot. Maybe just one that didn't go in.

The weekend would have been a lot better, that's for sure. 39.79% shooting in the first quarter, right? Yeah. And it did not really change that much from the first quarter to the fourth quarter.

No, they ran them roughshod. You know, we'll talk about these. Well, we got plenty of time to talk about the Pacers. We'll get into the Pacers in the Knicks next break. Let's talk about the game that concluded last night. Let's talk about the game that pushed the Minnesota Timberwolves into the Western Conference Finals, okay?

The Timberwolves came back from a 20-point deficit in the third quarter to beat Denver 98 to 90. I'm watching the game and I'm looking at things slowly tick away. Speaking of making a shot, as Hickey said, the Pacers couldn't miss a shot. All of a sudden, we get to the second half and the Nuggets couldn't hit a shot to save their lives. I mean, even someone like Jamal Murray, who finished the game with 35 points, he had 24 of those points in the first half.

And he's been up and down throughout the course of this series. Jokic had 34 points, 19 rebounds. He was two of 10 from deep. And then Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr., they were missing in action yesterday. Porter Jr. with seven points.

Gordon with four. And so the Minnesota Timberwolves started chipping away. So for a young team, which is big as hell, and then they also play amazing defense. They had a 2-0 lead, and then they blew that 2-0 series lead. They had the force of Game 7 here.

They came out victorious. Karl Anthony Towns had 23 points. Anthony Edwards, he had a crap game offensively. I mean, even in the press conference, he said he sucked 16 points on 6-24 shooting. I mean, Jaden McDaniel showed up.

He had 23 points. And so these Timberwolves, which have been a joke for years, trading for Rudy Gobert and drafting Anthony Edwards and holding on to Karl Anthony Towns. I mean, even bringing in somebody like Jaden McDaniel, having Mike Conley, this is a damn good basketball team.

And they're going to be in the finals here. Anthony Edwards knows that this is a good team. He knows that he has a good coach.

Nobody talks about him. This is Anthony Edwards talking about Chris Finch and what makes him so damn good to lead this team. He's just a great coach, and he don't sugarcoat anything with anybody. Like, if Kat's f***ing up, he's going to get on Kat. If I'm f***ing up, he's going to get on me. If Rudy's f***ing up, he's going to get on anybody that's messing up throughout the game. And I think that's what makes him the best coach in the NBA to me, because no matter who it is, no matter how high the player is on the pole, he's going to get on you from start to finish. And it starts with the head of the snake, and he's the head of our snake.

And we all listen to him, look up to him, and he does a great job of making sure we're ready to go every night. No, they were ready to go. They could have laid down and died yesterday. Let me remind you, this game took place in Denver. Those fans were in shock.

I was in shock. I'm like, come on, now Denver got this? By the time we pulled up to halftime, the Nuggets led 53 to 38.

That's a runaway game. You got to give credit to the Minnesota Timberwolves. And hey, talking about Chris Finch, he says that he tells the truth.

Anthony Edwards says he tells the truth. Well, Mike Malone tells the truth too, right? I think Mike Malone was a little too honest, very angry, can't blame him. I mean, one of the questions that he was asked after the game was about blowing that 20-point lead, and let's just say head coach of the Nuggets was not too happy. How hard is it just to absorb a loss like this after going ahead by 20?

Next question, man. The season's over. That's what's hard. F*** being up 20. The season's over.

You don't understand that. The season's over. It's hard. Stupid ass questions. Damn.

I mean, listen, when you go out there and give it, you got to be able to take it. This is the same Michael Malone who stood on a podium last year and had a couple of drinks. Hickey, how many drinks do you think he had? Definitely double digits. Whoa, double digits. Is that possible?

To be able to stand up and talk? Oh, yeah. Ten beers?

Yeah. He was talking and the confidence was like, yeah, ten beers. Ten beers?

Oh, my God. Over what course of time? A few hours. You know, three hours.

That's not crazy. Ten beers over three hours? When you win a championship, you think Michael Malone's just sipping on a beer, you know, having one for an entire day? I'd be in the bathroom. I wouldn't be on the podium, man. I'd be in the bathroom.

I'd have to run back and forth. Ten beers in three hours? Man, you got to get your weight up, I guess. Well, Hickey, I'm not hanging out with you, man. Well, damn.

Wow. Michael Malone, he's going to have plenty of time to sip on those beers right now. But he talked a lot of crap when they became champs last year and now y'all lost. So you got to live with it.

You got to get over it. Nikola Jokic, he said this, especially when you think about the new general manager with the Wolves. Nikola Jokic said the team was built to beat us.

Look how big they are. I think they're built to beat us in some way. I mean, just look at their roster. They have basically two All-Stars, two probably first defensive players in the year. Mike Oney, who is the most underrated player in the NBA, probably.

I mean, I love the guy. He's so good. He always makes the right play. Even if he didn't shoot as well, this was the name. This game, in one moment, he was the leading rebounder in the game for them. So, you know, it's from the bench, they have a sixth player of the year. They have Kyle and Walker, who was really good for them. So one team that they can do literally everything.

They can be big, small. Yeah, well, I know where he's at. He is on a plane back to Serbia to race his damn horses. That's what Nikola Jokic is doing. This is the same guy who didn't want to participate in the Nuggets parade last year and then hung around a little while and partied. I know he ain't worried about nothing.

He's probably back home on a plane right now, this minute. And the Minnesota Timberwolves, well, they're thinking about moving forward. Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, I mean, I think they may have had a drink or something after the game because they were pretty crass. You know, if you thought Anthony Edwards was a little blunt after the game, him and Karl-Anthony Towns on the stage together, they were asked about taking their lumps and becoming a better team.

And they said, hey, look, we, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the organization's been getting hit for years. Usually in NBA history says you have to lose and lose big before you win. What is it about this team that says we lost last year?

Yeah, that's different. You have to lose at a bigger stage. Usually teams use the playoffs. We lost last year. We lost the last two years. God damn. How much more we got to lose? How much you want us to lose? We've been losing for 20 years. I mean, that's just the truth. God damn.

Yeah. You're going to have to go back to some guy named Kevin Garnett. The last time these Minnesota Timberwolves actually got some respect. And I, I think they were in a good spot.

I think they're in a good position. You know, this is actually going to be a good series. I'm not going to say I'm a convert here when it comes down to the Dallas Mavericks. But I mean, damn, some of their bench players have stepped up.

Derek Jones. This man was just a dunker. Now he's knocking down threes. This is going to be a very good Western Conference finals. Certainly didn't expect Minnesota to be here. Didn't expect Rudy Gobert to potentially go out and win a champion. Didn't think that Rudy Gobert after that trade where they sent the whole world over, Rudy Gobert would potentially be playing in the NBA finals.

Well, now they are, they're one stop away from doing so. Anthony Edwards, he said, listen, winning that game seven, going on the road, overcoming a 20 point deficit. Oh, we just let everybody know we can beat anybody. I mean, it showed us who we are because the coaches believed in us, even though at halftime, even in the third, we was down 20.

They like just keep making runs, keep making runs. And it showed us who we are, man. Once we really lock in on the defensive end, because offensively we played OK. But once we really lock in on the defensive end, man, we were a hell of a team to beat. Yeah, they stopped them in the second half.

Ridiculous. And you hear every reference from Anthony Edwards is all about the head coach, Chris Finch. And so let's hear from the coach who's coaching behind the bench because of a blown out knee. Chris Finch is saying, man, our guys, oh, we making moves. We're getting ready to make history.

For sure. It's a big moment for our club. You know, you know, everybody talks about the last 30 years, which mean nothing to me. But it does mean a lot to a lot of people to see this team root for this team, the cities behind this team and to beat a team like Denver on their home floor.

You know, the way we did, of course, is going to mean a lot for sure. They knocked off the defending champs. And granted, it's not the same team. If I took a look at the Nuggets, I'd say to myself, oh, there's some big differences here. Bruce Brown wasn't there to play defense and knock down threes. Jeff Green wasn't there to rebound, play defense and run the floor and transition. This was a different squad.

It was didn't have the same type of depth. They're gone. So the Minnesota Timberwolves move on in the Denver Nuggets. They're home.

And in the case of Nikola Jokic, he is probably really home on a plane back to Serbia. Congratulations to Minnesota at all. The teams that were here are here. Them in the Pacers didn't expect it.

Not at all. We got plenty of time to get into the actual matchup between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Dallas Mavericks. We'll talk more about that later on in the show. We are just getting started. We're just getting warmed up.

It's the J.R. sport ratio here on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break and we come back on the other side. I told you the other team I'm a little shocked to see here in the final four. It's the Indiana Pacers. I'm going to tell you exactly what I think about this team. Let's just say it's not positive on the other side of the break. It's the J.R. sport ratio.

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Minimum $10 per order, additional term supply. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief. You hear that? You hear that, Hickey? A beer. Not 10 beers, but a beer. A beer is fine. I'm just saying if you win a championship, I'd hope maybe celebrate with more than just a beer. Oh, no, I'm drinking.

Well, well, first of all. I'm never won a championship. I'm not an athlete.

Never too late, but OK, probably right. Not not a goal. I don't want to. I don't want to win nothing.

Well, you know what? That's I don't I don't care about stuff like that. Show me the money. I don't need to win nothing. And if I did win the championship, if I did play ball or something like that, then. I'd want a contract and I'd probably be having something a little bit stronger than some beer. Maybe that's what Michael Malone was sipping on before the before the parade.

Yeah, likely. Possibly, possibly a congratulations to the. The Minnesota Timberwolves for knocking off. The champion Nuggets. It's nice that the NBA is open right now.

And as I told you, we got some new squads in here. OK, you think about the final four that we're looking at right now. We got the Boston Celtics. We got the Pacers. We have the Nuggets. And then we have the Mavs right before we went to break. We talked about one of the teams that's moving forward. That's the Minnesota Timberwolves. But now it's time to talk about the other team that went forward yesterday.

The Indiana Pacers go into Madison Square Garden and they smoke the New York Knicks. The final score, 130 to 109. This was not competitive at all. This was one of those games that you sit down and watch and you say, well, dammit, when is the bleeding going to stop? Because right out of the gate in the first quarter, the Indiana Pacers had thirty nine points. They made almost 80 percent of their field goals. This was abuse.

OK, this was abuse. And then in the third quarter, when Jalen Brunson had the lead with a broken hand, that's that's pretty much it. Right. You knew the Knicks were cooked. And that was the most appropriate way for them to go down. Because everybody on the New York Knicks has gone down over the past several weeks, over the past several months.

Brunson finishes with 17 points. Divacenzo was relied on to drop everything. He had thirty nine. But this is this is sad. Even Oji Ananobi, trying to come back from a busted up hamstring, was only able to play five minutes.

The man could not move. And so the young Indiana Pacers, highest scoring team in the league, up and down the court. Pacers finished the game shooting 67 percent. It's a record for an NBA playoff game.

They won the advance. Pacers haven't been this good. I don't even want to say Danny Green and Granger.

I don't know. Paul George. I don't even want to say that they haven't been this good since maybe, I don't know, the 90s. Reggie Miller. I think those late 90s teams, early 2000 team that went to the finals and took on the Lakers.

I think that team would wax this Pacers team. But these young Pacers are feeling themselves right. Tyrese Halliburton is feeling himself. He's on his way to the Olympics. He's now an all star. He's trying to become a fashion staple in a fashion plate. He had twenty six points yesterday to help move these Pacers forward to the Eastern Conference finals.

But I think Halliburton is feeling himself a little too much. You know, before we get to him, let's take a listen to the head coach. This is the head whiner in charge, Rick Carlisle.

It took him one game to complain about the officiating. Rick Carlisle said the Pacers. We went into Madison Square Garden. We beat the Knicks. And this was a big, big deal. I just told our team, when you win a Game 7 in Madison Square Garden, you've made history.

It's very, very difficult to do. This is this is the most raucous crowd in the NBA. Hickey, wasn't that the man that was complaining about the refs after Game 1?

He was talking about big city, small city. Isn't that the same guy? Same guy that's on the Virgiteers.

Yes, sir. That man was whining and crying. Against the New York Knicks team that has basically dropped like flies. And then Rick Carlisle had the nerve last night after the Game 7 victory where the New York Knicks had me, you, Hickey and Jalen Brunson before his broken hand on the court. Rick Carlisle was like, oh, yeah, I'm so happy the team stuck together. We're not all perfect players or perfect coaches, but this group really. When things get tough, got tough today, they just problem solved their way through it and really kept the energy from within. So I'm really happy for them.

Come on now. The Indiana Pacers should have destroyed these new. Let me not say that because the New York Knicks actually do something. They played hard. This is the best New York Knicks team that the Knicks have had in about 25 years. They play hard. So let me not disrespect the Knicks who just went out there and tried to bust their ass and busted their ass to a Game 7. Let me not disrespect them. Pacers should have handled business. OK, everybody dropping like flies.

And this is the part that gets me. Tyrese Halliburton and Hickey, we talked about this last week. Tyrese Halliburton is showing up to the game. He's having good games.

He's having bad games. He's going missing in action. And he's showing up in, you know, Halloween outfits. He's showing up in couture. He's showing up and stuff, you know, that just fell off of the runway.

And I'm like, man, why don't you win something and then put something on? And so what did he decide to wear yesterday? Tyrese Halliburton, after the game concluded, showed up in a Reggie Miller hoodie from the 90s where Reggie Miller gave Spike Lee the choke signal that the Knicks choked. This is what Halliburton wore to the press conference. He had Reggie Miller's face on his shirt. I don't know why another human being would do that, but he did. And he was asked about it.

And this is what Halliburton had to say. Yeah, I mean, we text every day. I mean, this has just been a good mentor for me. But I mean, I'm just wearing a hoodie.

I like to be comfy on the plane. I have no idea. I honestly don't know. I got this hoodie like two days ago. So appreciate whoever gave it to me. Well, it got sent to his house. He appreciates whoever sent it to him. Reggie Miller is his mentor. Does that mean he has to be as annoying as Reggie Miller?

I get it. We live in a world where everybody has to troll everybody. People are trolling online. People are trolling like even here on the radio. Like, people troll.

But Halliburton, still go out there and do something first. Why are you trolling? You trolling the Knicks?

You trolling the fans? Because the New York Knicks players didn't do anything but basically go out there and out hustle you and outplay you. You beat a New York Knicks team that was undermanned. Julius Randle has been out with a shoulder issue. We got to think about Jalen Brunson breaking his hand in the final game of the season.

O.G. and Inobi can't run. Josh Hart has an abdominal issue. Bogdanovich has a busted foot.

Oh, yeah, that's right. Brunson also had a busted foot. Robinson had a busted up ankle and the injured busted up in the hospital. New York Knicks still took you to seven games. And you're standing around, sitting around in a Reggie Miller hoodie trolling. Tyrese Halliburton, didn't didn't Damian Lillard tell you about this already?

Don't you know that eventually your day will come? Like, I don't know how proud you should be about beating a match unit of a basketball team that took you to seven games where you were up and down and disappeared in some of them. And your own head coach had to cry after game one like Tyrese Halliburton.

I don't know. He's looking kind of lame to me. Like, just just win a game and keep it moving. In this next series of the Boston Celtics, wipe their asses out and send them packing and send them home. And maybe Tyrese Halliburton won't be running around trying to time to troll people. Maybe Tyrese Halliburton gets some humble pie. Win something first.

Killing me with these these outfits. Hickey, your thoughts, man? I do like I will say to the winner goes to the spoilers, right? You win the game, you're allowed to talk. My only issue with the Reggie Miller sweatshirt is if you're going to wear that, be a man and wear before the game.

Like walk in with it. Make your statement of we're here to win. We're here, you know, we're here ready to go. We're not afraid of anything. He played great in game seven.

The whole team played great. It's just a little cheaper when you wear it. Like you almost like save it all in case we win here. Let me wear this.

No, like call your shot. Sure, you may get clowned if you wear it before the game and you're on the other end of that and you lose. OK, but at least be confident enough to go into the game of I'm going to wear this before the game. I know damn well after the game we're going to win and I'm going to be seen in this again. You know what?

You're right. Tyrese Halliburton. He didn't wear this hoodie before the game. Tyrese Halliburton showed up in a different outfit. This man went to the arena and showed up wearing a shirt to wear if they lost and a different shirt, the Reggie Miller shirt, if they won.

And Hickey, I'll tell you this much. If they won and he played like garbage, would he be putting on that Reggie Miller shirt? If he was one of 20 from the field, would he wear that Reggie Miller shirt?

I'd venture to say no. Like if you go and talk it, then man, talk it the whole damn way. Don't show up after the fact, after you beat a busted up injured team and then talk crap. Do better. I don't know.

Do better against the Celtics. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. Speaking of showing up, NFL OTAs are going on right now. We got a couple of guys. Well, one guy who showed up to work. We got another guy who did not show up to work.

And it's all about the money. I'm going to give you an update on who showed up to work and who didn't on the other side of the break. The wait is over.

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Who the hell wants to do that? It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network, 855-212-4227. That's 855-212-4227. You can find me online. I am at JR Sport Brief.

How about this? Next hour, Michael Grady, play-by-play for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He's going to join us next hour to talk about this young team that is surprising the living hell out of everybody. But let's pause this NBA talk for a minute and discuss another team in Minnesota.

Let's talk about a team that plays, I don't know, five minutes with no traffic from the Target center. Let's talk about the Minnesota Vikings, because the Minnesota Vikings just drafted a new quarterback and J.J. McCarthy got him over from Michigan. The Minnesota Vikings still have Kevin O'Connell as their head coach. The Minnesota Vikings are still trying to make some waves in NFC North that's continuing to evolve. Bears got Caleb Williams. Jared Goff got himself a new contract. And when it comes down to the Vikings, the biggest story coming out of Minnesota right now happens to be the contract status and situation involving Justin Jefferson.

This is you know what? I'd say he's the best wide receiver in the game. You know, if I was Justin Jefferson, I'd be kicking, screaming and crying about the fact that Kirk Cousins is now here in Atlanta, Georgia. As Justin Jefferson is heading into the final year of his rookie contract, they have been working on a new deal, a new extension.

This last year, they haven't done so yet. We know that training camp gets going. Training camp starts in July. Well, Justin Jefferson has been M.I.A. All offseason. OTAs for the Minnesota Vikings started today.

There was no sign of Justin Jefferson. All throughout the offseason. Pop up for a day. Here, here, day, there. All voluntary.

You don't have to show up. No. Justin Jefferson. He's making it very clear with his actions that he wants his deal. He wants his money. He wants his contract.

Kevin O'Connell. He said it last week. He feels very strongly that we will get a deal done. This is what he told up in Adams. I know everything's going to get worked out there.

Justin knows, you know, the love and admiration that I have for him. And he knows he's such a big part of what we do around here. And that's on the field.

That's off the field. Bring such a great energy to our building every single day. And he's the ultra, ultra competitor as far as when he steps in between the white lines. Very few people are able to do the things that he's able to do. But it's how he goes about his business, how he works, how he pushes his teammates to get better. Justin Jefferson's a huge part of this organization. Man, every year, Justin Jefferson plays. He's been around since 2020.

Tom Floss feels like he was just drafted yesterday. I don't know. Maybe Covid has something. Did Covid make time fly by? It took forever. It felt like it was forever when we were in it. But then it's I feel like five years of my life just disappeared. You're right. It's both the longest time ever, but also just yesterday.

It's very weird. But it's what now? We're twenty, twenty four. Four years removed. Five? Five years? Five years? It feels like a lifetime ago.

It does. Four years. You're right. Four years.

March 2020. What a fun time to be alive, wasn't it? Damn. Anyway, I need four years of my life back.

Go to Father Time. Hey, I want to vouch for this. I accepted this job before the pandemic. Right. And then boom, the pandemic hits like a week before I start the job.

Wow. It's like, what are you what am I doing? I got to talk about Michael Jordan documentary every day because there's nothing to talk about. Remember that fun, right?

Every event, every member of the Chicago Bulls, every member, all of them. Well, hey, here's here's the towel guy flipping quarters. Yeah, the guy in the back room flipping quarters. Look, man, I don't miss those days, but that's when Justin Jefferson was drafted. And so maybe that's why Tom feels like it just flew on by, because you can rely on this man to haul in.

I don't know my fifteen hundred. He's trying to get to two thousand yards in a season. He's trying to get that the big the big numbers. Last year, he had to deal with a hamstring issue. Then he had to deal with the chest issue and he still put up stupid numbers. One thousand yards, five touchdowns and only 10 games tack on another seven and tell me he wouldn't be right back at seventeen hundred.

And I don't know, 10 plus touchdowns. This is what Justin Jefferson does. And what I appreciate appreciate about the man is that he ain't shy. He's speaking his mind. And unlike Tyrese Halliburton, he's speaking his mind before they get the business. OK, because it was only a couple of months ago that Justin Jefferson was on Sirius XM NFL radio and he made it very clear. I'm trying to get all the money.

I want to break the bank and I want to be a part of an organization that wants me and to really give me what I deserve. So, you know, I feel like, you know, eventually, you know, the Vikings will, you know, do what they need to do to have me in the building. But, you know, I don't really know at this very moment.

You know, only time will tell. I feel like I have the right people in my circle to, you know, negotiate and to, you know, do what's right. I feel like this whole process of how we handle things and how we, you know, went accordingly with the season and the contract stuff. I feel like we did a great job with it.

OK. That was that was February. It's May. They're going to get a deal done. They're going to pay this man. He's going to be the highest paid wide receiver in the entire NFL.

The template has been set. Ain't nobody else to go out here and pay this offseason. OK. A.J. Brown got his deal. Thirty two million dollars a year. Amman Ross St. Brown got his deal with the Lions. Thirty million a year. And we know Tyreek Hill. He got his deal and they gave the Miami Dolphins gave him 30.

So we know what the numbers are. So if A.J. Brown is making 32 and Amman Ross St. Brown is making 30. You think Justin Jefferson, he's going to make a what, a cool 35? Now what you do and pay me a thirty five million dollars a season. And if you're the Minnesota Vikings, I mean, guess what? You got you got no choice.

You don't. J.J. McCarthy got to wake up and throw the ball as somebody. It's only a matter of time. Hickey, when do they get this deal done? July?

They want to make the Vikings sweat or do they just get it done early? I like that. I feel like the summertime is going to be a good time for like a nice little news bomb.

So I'll say I'll say July. Yeah. Make him sweat.

What's the what's the point? Try to take him for as much as you can. Especially the fact that he went from a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback, even though Kirk Cousins is coming off of an Achilles tear. A little bit more familiarity with what Kirk Cousins brought to the table. Not not so much with Sam Darnold and J.J. McCarthy. Hickey, J.J. J.J. is going to beat him out for the job to start the year, right? I would hope so. No disrespect to Sam, but I would hope so.

If I am Justin Jefferson. And I see Sam Darnold step on the field, I'm rolling my eyes. I'm looking at the coaches. I'm going, do you know this man is going to throw the football to the other team?

Not me. He's going to throw the ball to the other team. Just sit him down. J.J. McCarthy is going to have that job in no time. Let's see what he does. Sam Darnold will throw the ball to the wrong team.

You do not want that. Speaking of throwing the ball, I told you, Justin Jefferson. Well, he didn't show up to work negotiating tactics to let everybody know I ain't showing up to work until I have my new contract. Tua Tonga Veloa showed up to work.

Yeah, we talked about Tua last week. He's also up for a new deal. I guess it helps his cause that Jared Goff just got an extension from the Detroit Lions. Jared Goff now making fifty three million dollars per year. And if you're Tua Tonga Veloa, you say to yourself, can I make that much? If you're looking at the guy drafted right next to you and Justin Herbert, he's making fifty two and a half.

You're saying, can I get that? But then you look at Lamar Jackson, he's making fifty two. And this man got MVPs like to adjust. If I'm to adjust, just settle. Just settle for the 50, man. Just take 50 mil and go about your life. This is the same Tua Tonga Veloa who last year was basically having press conferences about whether or not he was going to continue with his career. Take the money. Continue playing in Miami.

Have fun throwing the ball to Waddle and Hill and now Odell and see how far you could take it until you're playing outside in the freezing cold and just be cool, man. This is not that difficult. At least Tua showed up to work. God bless him. Someone who has absolutely nothing to do with Tua Tonga Veloa. Is Drew Rosenhouse. He wants to talk about everybody's contract, he says, and he sold this to the the Mose No show. He's like, hey, I think he's going to get the same contract as a Jared Goff. I think it has to be in the ballpark of Jared Goff. To me, they they're comparable players. I think when you look at Tua's statistics comparable to Goff, they're pretty close.

And I would be surprised if it's if it's not a similar deal. You can make that argument, but it's not just the numbers, it's the accomplishments, right? It's it's what you actually do when it comes to winning and losing.

Like, help me out. Is that not a stat that matters? Is that not a stat that you have to take into account? Like, I've seen Jared Goff go through some ups, I've seen him go through some downs, I've seen him be traded, I've seen him embraced. There have been more question marks about Tua Tonga Veloa and his durability, his performance, his performance in the postseason. Like, come on, we can look at singular stats in the postseason. Excuse me, the regular season. But the postseason is what matters. And so if I'm the Miami Dolphins and I'm taking a look at Tua Tonga Veloa and he wants to tell me, hey, I did what Jared Goff did. Look at the numbers. I'm going, no, bro. What did you do in the postseason? What have you done over the past couple of years? Didn't you just sit around here last year and have to think about whether or not you even wanted to play football because of concussion issues?

Like, come to reality. In Drew Rosenhaus, this man knows more about contracts than I do. I've never negotiated an NFL contract.

I've never taken an agents test. I'm just a guy who's watched football and read a lot over my whole damn life. That is a poor, poor argument for Tua Tonga Veloa to make the same amount of money for a guy who has, A, been in a Super Bowl and then B, almost went to another Super Bowl with another team last year. All I do is pull up the tape, pull up the tape of Tua freezing on the bench. I pull up the tape of Tua. Hickey, it's not a nice tape. I pull up the tape of Tua on the floor and say you wanted to quit.

You thought about quitting because you couldn't stay healthy. Like, Hickey, what type of contract you think this man is getting? I know what's $3 million. You think he's making $53 million?

I do not. I mean, there's, I think, a strong argument for him to not make $50 million a year. I'd agree. Yeah.

Like you just said, I mean, isn't it, forget about what you have accomplished, right? Isn't a large part of why these quarterbacks are getting $50-plus million a year what you think they can accomplish, right? Well, I think the only dude in that case, yeah, Joe Burrow, sure, he went to a Super Bowl. Jared Goff has been to a Super Bowl. Justin Herbert is a quarterback built to go to a Super Bowl, I think, if he has the right system around him. Lamar Jackson hasn't gone, but Lamar Jackson has two MVPs.

Like, where the hell would Tua fit in any of this? He wouldn't. He's not right now even in the Dak category.

Oh, damn. Well, I mean, at least in terms of accomplishments, at least Dak has been to the playoffs routinely. You know, he has a playoff win.

I'd say that. You know, I'd put him in the Kyler Murray space. Kyler Murray's making 46. Deshaun Watson is making 46. Kirk Cousins is making 45. Okay? And, yeah, we got to throw Patrick Mahomes out the window because he'll get any type of contract that he wants whenever he's ready to rip it up. He ain't hurting for money. Kyler Murray ain't done nothing.

Okay? Jalen Hurts is making 51 and he been to the Super Bowl. Now slot yourself, you, Tua, somewhere between Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts. We're talking about a nice 48? I don't know.

But, Tua, anything over 50 is going to make me go, what? He ain't Joe Burrow. He ain't even Jared Goff. It doesn't matter what Drew Rosenhouse is trying to sell you. Maybe he needs to hire Drew as his agent.

Maybe things will work out for him. What a weird, weird comment. Wow. If you line all these dudes up and you said, hey, which quarterback do you want to start with? Tua?

Uh-uh. I'm taking Joe Burrow over Tua. I'm taking Jared Goff over Tua. I'm taking Herbert over Tua. Lamar Jackson over Tua. Jalen Hurts over Tua. Kyler Murray?

Eh. I'm taking Deshaun Watson over Tua. Josh Allen is making 43 mil. I'm taking him over Tua. This is why Tua showed up to work and Justin Jefferson didn't. Justin Jefferson knows he's the best at what he does. And Tua knows, hey, I got a shot because I ain't that good. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network.

855-212-4227. We're going to take a break when we come back on the other side. I have to write the eulogy for the New York Knicks season as well as the Oklahoma City Thunder.

At least they got bright futures, right? Yeah, we'll discuss it. If I had a time machine, I wouldn't go back in time to ride a dinosaur or hang out with George Washington. I'd go forward three days from now to see this avocado perfectly ripe just in time for Jeff to make his guac.

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