JR SportBrief Hour 3

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Enjoy! It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.

Thank you so much to super producer and host, Brian Hickey. He's holding it down for us in New York City. And you, you're listening wherever you might be. You could be at home, be on a road. You could still be on vacation.

If you are, good for you. But we're here. We're back.

The show gets started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. We've had a busy one. We're about 30 minutes away from the Dallas Mavericks working to sweep the Minnesota Timberwolves out of the Western Conference Championships. And they're going to try to make their way to the NBA Finals to take on the Celtics.

Thank you so much to our guest last hour, Adam Hemelsbach, joining us from the Boston Globe. Talking about these Celtics. He's like, yeah, man, if they don't win the championship this year, there's going to be some upset people. They're going to be mad.

And I already know it. Anyway, speaking of happy, let's talk some happy things. Unfortunately, we we learned that we lost Bill Walton yesterday. We're going to have one of his his broadcast partners joining us in about 20 minutes. Roxy Bernstein, he's going to come through to talk about someone who helped change his life.

And Bill Walton. So I look forward to that conversation of Roxy having worked with him at ESPN, also the Pac-12 network that we know is pretty much going to cease to exist when it comes down to live games with the breaking up of the Pac-12. Mickey, what are they down to two basically right now to 12 is to Pac-12 is now the Pac-2, Oregon State, Washington State.

Yeah, they made it. They might as well think about a name change right there before they start trying to steal some other teams back. It's such a wild world in college sports. We got some football talk. We're going to get into the latest on Justin Jefferson's contract status, the latest with Jamar Chase, his contract status. And so there's there's a lot to do. And, you know, I'd mentioned that we'll discuss this.

We will. The personality of Jalen Brown, who just became the Eastern Conference Finals player. Hickey, what stupid name they give this guy? I think it's a Larry Bird trophy.

It is. It is the Larry Bird trophy. What an Eastern Conference Finals play. Is that what it is? Eastern Conference Finals MVP, the ECF MVP. This is like when a team wins the the AFC and the NFC Trophy championship and nobody wants it.

Nobody wants it. Now that's a piece of metal. Yeah. It's like, what are we doing with this? Like, we want to go to the Super Bowl. Like, we're going to celebrate this if we lose.

The answer is no, it's it's it's nothing. Something to be celebrated. And I'm not going to rush this topic because I want to I want to see who I can have join us, somebody that's participated in baseball to talk about it. Negro League stats. Are going to be officially integrated into the Major League Baseball record books.

It's done. OK, so names like Josh Gibson. He's going to be the hit king like this is a big deal for a lot of folks. So you want to think about the Negro Leagues for about 20 to 30 years, just totally separate from the American League and the National League. This is going to ruffle some feathers. I mean, people are going to talk about the quality of play. It takes real researchers to really say, well, you know, what did they look like in exhibition games?

And, well, when the league was finally integrated following Jackie Robinson, well, you know, who were the best players? I mean, there's a lot that goes into that. I don't have any issue in it because their stats, their numbers, you know, they don't they don't have life. It can certainly signify, you know, what somebody did.

But I think at the same time, you have to look at the fact that, hey, these these folks didn't necessarily even get a chance to play. I ain't no skin off my back. I don't care.

Not at all. I don't care about Barry Bonds getting in, not getting in. I got no problem with adding a Negro player stats because let's let's be real. By the time a lot of the Negro League players came over, they were pretty damn good. I don't think they showed themselves to necessarily be inferior players after the integration.

So good stuff. Negro League stats officially will be integrated into the Major League Baseball record books. That's what's going to cause some controversy, make some people mad. But here's their numbers, their stats.

There's been a lot of people in the record books who have been robbed and cheated out of their own records and numbers. So we'll see. And we'll talk more about that tomorrow. We'll bring on a special guest or two to talk about this. This new record here, if you want to holler at me, it's simple.

Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven is eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Let's get this out the way. I told you before the break, there's a couple of folks in the NBA that don't necessarily get respect. One is Tom Thibodeau of the New York Knicks, and the other dude is on his way to competing in his second NBA finals in the past three years. And that's that's Jalen Brown.

Let's talk about tips first. Tom Thibodeau made his bones as an assistant coach in the NBA with the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics, helping Doc Rivers win a championship with that defense. He then got a job with the Chicago Bulls, helped oversee Derrick Rose's run to an MVP. And then Derrick Rose blew out his legs, his knees specifically, and then he blew out his other knee and then he just blew out both knees again. And he's still rolling, not as the same player, youngest MVP.

And then he rolled into the dirt. Luol Deng from the Chicago Bulls. People say Tibbs played him too much. Tibbs goes to Minnesota. Well, Carl Anthony Towns isn't happy. And then he's with the Knicks and all the Knicks now are hurt.

It's just like it's not all his fault. And so someone who has taken notice is Josh Hart. Yeah, Josh Hart just he's been a part of the New York Knicks now for a year and a half. I mean, he's gone stretches of games, especially more recently, as the Knicks dealt with injury after injury that had nothing to do with Thibodeau freak injuries. And sometimes he's playing like 48 minutes a game. And so if anybody had a right to complain about being ran into the ground, it would be Josh Hart.

But he sat down on the Pivot podcast and he said that Tom Thibodeau just gets a bad rap. Listen to this. It might have been like that in Chicago or Minnesota, where it was since my year, year and a half I've been here. Man, it'd be light.

It'd be chill. We probably went live maybe like six, seven times this whole season during practice. Most of the time it's more mental. It's more we're running through these plays. We're doing 25 passes, figuring out if Jalen gets blitzed or if Julius gets blitzed, where are we supposed to be? And it's more the mental part where you have to lock in with his practice.

It's not really physical. We're not running up and down. We're not doing much. And coming from me, someone that hates practice, I hate practice, bro.

I hate turning them lights on at 730 at the Garden. I'm good. But for me, I'm like, oh, this is this is it. Oh, we good. We cool.

I'm chilling. So I think he got kind of an unfair narrative that kind of follows him around. He does. Without a shadow of a doubt.

How about this? Coach Thibodeau actually wins and he wants to play with players who want to win. Guys who play defense, guys who go out and play all.

I appreciate it. And so thank you so much, Josh Hart, for dispelling the rumors about Tom Thibodeau just running guys into the ground. And it really sucks. Nowadays, you have so many former professional players. They just say whatever they want and they'll they'll dig up things from 15 years ago that don't have a direct correlation as to what's going on now.

And it becomes gospel. The New York Knicks are playing. The New York Knicks are winning.

They're playing hard. And damn it, they wouldn't be where they're at right now if they didn't if he didn't have players that would go out there and ball out. So good on Josh Hart.

And now that gets a business about what's going on right now. We talked about earlier on in the show about how the Boston Celtics just wiped out the Pacers last night. The final score there, 105 to 102, Jalen Brown wins the Eastern Conference Finals player of the series, the Larry Bird trophy. And he deserves it. He averaged almost 30 points on 52 percent shooting, grabbed five rebounds, three assists.

Tatum, he was actually second banana this time, even in a closeout game, 26 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists. But Brown, he got the award. And so last night, while accepting the award, he told everybody, well, damn it, I don't I don't ever really win anything. So what a shock. I wasn't expecting that at all.

You know, I'll never win. I was just happy that we won and give credit to Indiana. You know, they they played as tough. I know, like people think that Indiana wasn't a good team or whatever the case be. I mean, I thought they were as tough as anybody. We played all season. They were physical. They were fast. They put a lot of pressure on us.

So shout out to them and respect to them. And so Hickey and I were just trying to figure out why why don't people like him? You know, is is is he too boring? He's from here in Atlanta, Georgia.

Wouldn't play it out in a cow. He ain't no stupid guy. Smart guy. He just I mean, there were rumors of him not being marketable. He had to respond to Stephen A. Smith about this last week. He's like, hey, name your sources. People say you're not marketable.

You're not likable. He's like, name your sources. And then, you know, even last night, you know, he got a little push and shove with Miles Turner, a couple double technicals. And so he was asked about that. And I think we can learn more about his personality. Listen to this. Miles is a is a good kid.

Let's start with that. And I think like, you know, throughout the series, you know, he kind of loses control of his body a little bit and likes to throw his body around. And we got the offensive foul. But, you know, I just was letting them know, just watch it. And I don't think it was nothing like crazy. I didn't push him extremely hard and nothing like that.

But emotions is fine. You know, he feel like, you know, he's at home. He got his family watching and stuff. His girl is probably watching.

So he had to do something. But, you know, Miles is a good kid. And I've known Miles for a long time. We good friends.

So, you know, it's all love. Damn, he's a good kid. They're basically the same age. They were both born in 1996.

A matter of fact, Miles Turner is older than him by a few months. Come on now. Hickey, maybe it's because he's condescending. Is that is that part of it right? Like that's a little. I think we're friends, but it's just giving him crap there.

I don't know. It is funny to talk about someone like you said is old. Like if you didn't know any better, you would assume like Jalen Brown's like 35 and Miles Turner's like 19. He called him a kid. He's younger than he is.

What are we doing here? Basically called him immature too by losing his head. Yeah. And last hour we spoke to Adam Himmelsbach from the Boston Globe. I asked him, why doesn't anybody like Jalen Brown? And he said he's different.

Listen to what Adam told us last hour. Well, he's definitely a different kind of guy. You know, his personality is different. Even even his vibe had a few wins in the playoffs that were like big time wins and players are all excited and he's up at his press conference really stoic and either unsatisfied, annoyed, something. It's just kind of it's kind of the vibe he gives off.

It's unusual compared to other players sometimes. But he's also kind of his own guy. And I think that's what the Celtics as a franchise appreciate about him. And he's done a good job this year. I think he spoke about this a little last night of filling in more of like a leadership role. They haven't had a lot of voices since Marcus Smart left. And he said, look, I took it upon myself realizing someone's going to speak up.

I want that someone to be me. And guys are listening to him. He's going to be 28 years old in the fall.

People forget you think these guys is really young. So he's been around for a while. So he has the attention of his guys and they're willing listeners when he speaks up now.

Yeah, he's he's just all business all the time. And so we don't know anything about him. You know, we see him play on offense and we see him play on defense. I mean, last year we didn't see the best of him. He was ridiculed online. Game seven against Miami. I remember the eight turnovers.

He was one of nine from three. People were talking about how he couldn't go left and he was just beat to a pulp. I mean, he's even said to himself, like, man, I I'm playing both sides of the ball. He's like, listen, people, I'm one of the best two way players in the league.

Listen to this. I think I'm one of the best two way wings, guards, whatever you want to say in this game. You know, I thought this year I've taken a level and I've increased it. I took the match up. I picked up guys full court. I chase guys off screens. I battle with bigs and and I felt like I should have been all defensive. And that that probably hurt me the most because that's one of the things that I set out in the season that I wanted to be.

But, you know, as a as time has gone by and I got to this point, like I just I stopped caring and I just embraced. I don't care who sees what. As long as my team knows my value, my city knows my value, my family. That's all I that's all I really care about.

But, you know, I like to set my set my hat on just being a versatile two way wing and can and can do both at any point in time. And the last kind of four minutes of this game kind of you saw that. OK. Hickey, if he doesn't care what people think, why is he on social media asking Stephen about sources who say it's not marketable or even talking last night? I mean, the whole press conference is just kind of pushing back on that narrative and defending himself for almost 11.

People feel sorry for him. Yeah. Just go play, man. Just go do it. I mean, you're a human being. You're entitled to have feelings, but just just try not to have it both ways.

I mean, maybe if you were just straightforward and didn't kind of try to punch back or be in defense mode and just just showed up, maybe that'd be fine. I think he's a great player. Is he flawed in a lot of cases?

Yeah. I think we saw some of those flaws last year. He runs too hot and cold at times. And well, this series, he was certainly hot. Is he going to be hot enough in the NBA finals?

We're going to find out. He's going to be open for the criticism. Let's see what he can do.

It'll go a long way to making him marketable and maybe even liked. We'll see the J.R. sport show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. When we come back from break, we're going to talk about someone who was universally liked.

You also put on that green and white for the Celtics, won them a championship in eighty six, helping to come off of the bench. The sixth man of the year. His name is Bill Walton. We're going to chat with someone who worked with him as a broadcaster. Roxy Bernstein is going to join us. He worked with Bill Walton on the Pac-12 Network, ESPN. And Roxy says Bill Walton helped change his life. Roxy Bernstein on the other side to talk Bill Walton.

It's the J.R. sport brief show on the Infinity Sports Network. Listen, as Selenia tells us why she chose to vaccinate her daughter. I definitely felt like the pros far outweighed the cons, the diseases that I am protecting my child against.

They're still here. And at the end of the day, it's my job as a mother to keep my child safe. Talk to your child's doctor and learn more at WhyVaccines.com.

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Estimated profit is the name of the song. Quite appropriate to talk about the life of someone who changed many, inspired many, helped many, spoke up for many, helped out many, was never afraid to talk to many, including myself. That happens to be the late Bill Walton, and we learned about his passing yesterday, and I wanted to talk with someone who could give us even more of a first person perspective because he worked with the man sitting down and doing play by play, whether it be at the PAC 12 network or whether it be with ESPN. Joining us is broadcaster and former partner Bill Walton, Roxie Bernstein.

Roxie, first of all, my condolences to you. I know how important Bill was to you and not just to your career, but as a person. He was the best, and he made us better versions of ourselves, and my life has forever changed. Getting to spend time with him and just being around him, and they don't come any better than Bill Waldy is truly in a class of one.

But Roxie, you talk about and you shared it online as well, how your life has changed for our listeners here. How did your life change being able to work and have Bill Walton as a part of your life? The way he treated people and the way that he had this insane energy to want to know everything about people, the way he interacted, and it was so visible to me that he cared deeply about people.

It didn't matter who you were, where you're from, what your background was. He had a genuine interest, and it was not fake. That was who he is. He was a curious person by nature, and he had this insatiable appetite for knowledge, and he wanted to know about you. And he had the way of making you think you were the most important person in the world to him. And it was truly, truly a trait that should be cherished by a lot of people, because regardless of who they were, he paid them with the ultimate respect, and he wanted to know about them.

Bill didn't really like to talk about himself. He was just a very curious person by nature, and very engaging and welcoming and disarming. And those are traits that I wish more people had, and it made me reevaluate how even I just treated people on a daily basis.

And without a shadow of a doubt, broadcaster Roxy Bernstein is joining us here, the JR Support Reshow on the Infinity Sports Network. You know, Roxy, I shared, I've had one interaction with the man, at least one that I can remember, at a dinner in New Orleans about 12 years ago. And everything that I shared with the listeners earlier in the show, you just, you confirmed what I experienced, and that, hey, this was a small, intimate dinner, and he talked and talked and listened and wanted to know more about me, and less about me, you know, speaking to him, even in a more relaxed and chilled setting. And it is something that, as you said, is something that, it'd be nice to forget sports broadcasters or athletes, if more people took an interest in just taking time to be a human. And that's what he is, and that's what he was. Is there one particular story that stands out to you from all of your interactions? Well, the things I've noticed over the years, just how welcome he is to people and how caring, whether it was soldiers that were wounded in battle, that he went out of his way to help them, whether they needed wheelchairs or they needed some type of help to physically get around.

Because I think it also has to do with all the pain and suffering that he went through with his own physical ailments from his career. And I think that really resonated with me. But it's also the care, like, when we get done doing a game, I might be done for the night, right? I'm done. I just signed off, you know, for the Hall of Famer, Bill Walden, I'm Roxie Bernstein. Thanks for joining us. Sport Center's next, right?

Or whatever it is. Bill would be there for at least the next half hour, and maybe even an hour, until every person that was waiting in line, there was always a long line that formed of people that just wanted to meet Bill, to get an autograph, to take a picture with him. Just to have some type of interaction with Bill. And he never disappointed. He never left early. He made sure everybody in that line was taken care of. And that goes into, he just celebrated wherever he was at.

That was the most important place to be. And the way he looked at people. And it was important for him to have those interactions. And there were some nights he probably didn't feel like doing it.

But you know what? He felt it was his responsibility. These people were waiting for him and he didn't want to disappoint anybody. And that's the kind of person that he was.

He was just so giving with his time and so gracious and so welcoming to everybody. Roxie Bernstein is here with us, the chair of our sport reshow. People don't always take into account how much work goes into a televised production of a game. From the research, the work with the producers and the talent, there's a lot that goes into the pre-production process.

We don't just pop up on the air, whether it be on radio or television. Can you talk about his dedication and love for the game? He was never short-staffing or short-changing anybody there as well. He worked his tail off. Now, a lot of people may have been frustrated with Bill because they wanted the basketball analyst. They wanted him to break down. Why was his pick and roll so successful, right? How did he get open for this layup?

That's what they want to know. But Bill wasn't about that. Now, could Bill tell you that?

Absolutely, he could. And Bill was the brightest mind I've ever been around as far as basketball goes. And when he wanted to be the straight nuts and bolts basketball analyst, he could do it. I don't want to say he was bored with it, but he needed some other stimulation.

And that's why he wasn't there. He wanted to entertain. He wanted to inform. He wanted the viewer to take something away.

And when the analyst say something, how often do you remember it, right? But you certainly remember stuff that Bill said. And the work that he put in as well, he wanted to know not only about the star player at UCLA or Arizona, about the last guy on the bench, about the student managers, about the athletic trainer, about the support staff, whether it's the director of operations, the academic people, the mental health coaches for the team, strength coach, whatever it was. Bill left no stone unturned.

And as I warned a few people when they had dinner with Bill when he was inquisitive about certain places, and be careful what you tell him because there's a decent chance whatever you tell Bill is going to get out on the air that night. But that's how he worked. He just tried to gather as much information. And then from there, try to determine what was the most pertinent. And if you had seen our desk in our table after we get done with a game, it looks like a tornado blasted through our our our television table, because he has so many pieces of paper with information on it, and he's just throwing stuff out.

And it's incredible the way he was able to do it. Hey, Roxy, as you said, you work with Bill Walton, we can both agree that it'd be nice if individuals a little bit more personable and just respectful of being a human. We know that there's so much in media that's cookie cutter, whether it's on broadcast already, whether it happens to be students. What advice would you share with anyone who's looking into the field, whether they want to be you or whether or not they want to do what I'm doing?

What advice would you give them based on your own experiences? Well, I mean, first off, in just in terms of the business is just get on the air, do whatever you can do to give yourself the opportunity. And the more you do, the more comfortable you're going to be in terms of yourself as a broadcaster. But then don't limit yourself just to okay, studying this, you need to have a broad perspective on things. And that would be also open the doors of it out my eyes to is it's not just about this, there's a bigger picture. And, look, Bill made me a better person, a better broadcaster, a better father. But as far as the broadcasting world goes, it's not necessarily about what's happening in front of you, you need to take everything in and just not have the tunnel vision.

And that's what Bill was so good at. Roxy, I appreciate the time. We know that there's there's so much change going on from the changes at the PAC 12 network and the loss of Bill Walton, just want to extend condolences to you. I appreciate the time and the words that you shared. If there's anything else that you'd like to say, I want to leave the floor to you. Otherwise, I just want to thank you for joining in and letting us know what a what a good human being is because you saw us all work with one. Well, all I'll say is, you know, I appreciate the time to talk about him. It's been helpful for me to just to open up and it's been cathartic for me to talk about and get these feelings out over the last 24 plus hours about Bill. But, you know, it's so true. And he was, he would say that I'm the luckiest guy in the world.

No, we're all luckier for having Bill Walton and the world is not as good a place as it was yesterday would with the loss of Bill. Well, thank you, Roxy. Appreciate it. Where can people follow you in your work?

They can, what, the R list formerly known as Twitter, right? X, I guess, at Roxy Bernstein is the best place to find me. Look forward to catching you all down the line in better circumstances, Roxy, OK? Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

No doubt about it. That Roxy Bernstein of ESPN and the Pac-12 Network, also a host, 95-7 the game out in the Bay Area. And then he was working with Bill Walton on those those Pac-12 games on some of those ESPN games. And so it's a it's a different situation when you had to sit down and work with somebody for for three hours and then you have to do pre-production with them. And then you have the dinners and then you have the drinks and you have the stories. People can really become family. And that's something that Bill Walton was an advocate for.

As Roxy just said, anybody that he spoke to, he made you feel like you were family. All the best to Bill Walton's folks. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4227. We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, we're going to talk about some potential changes in the NFL. We have some receivers who are not too happy and also think we might have an NFL that will change its approach in the offseason.

Well, if the players have anything to say, we'll discuss it. I'll fill you in on the other side. Hey, I'm Andy. If you don't know me, it's probably because I'm not famous, but I did start a men's grooming company called Harry's. The idea for Harry's came out of a frustrating experience I had buying razor blades.

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Visit carvana.com or download the app and sell your car from your comfy place. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Western Conference Finals underway. Minnesota and Dallas getting after it. About four minutes have gone by. Minnesota leads six to five.

Also, Hickey, you gotta be in a happy mood, right? The Rangers, they already won nothing on the Panthers here. Trying to take the 3-1 lead. Big difference from Sunday. What, your mood? Well, no, the mood was great on Sunday after they won.

But just the way the game is played where it felt like you're skating uphill the whole time with just the onslaught of shots from Florida. Balance, balance so far, which is a good sign. So far, so good.

Long way to go. Yeah, it's still the first period. The Rangers up 1-0. Trying to go ahead in this series of 3-1.

So we'll keep you up to date as everything continues on. And then Hickey, I found out due to social media, is also a Kaitlin Clark watch, OK? Because she does still play basketball. Right now, two bad teams are playing the Los Angeles Sparks and the Fever. Her team, the Fever, they're down 64 to 63.

But Kaitlin Clark is kinda hot right now. 21 points. She is 3 of 8 from downtown. She's 6 of 13 overall from the field. She also has five rebounds, four assists, three steals.

So this is probably her best game as a professional. We'll see what happens. They're in the fourth quarter, about six minutes to go. We'll see what else Kaitlin Clark can go out there.

Also has six turnovers. This is a bugaboo, we know. I think the passes and the double teams out of it is an adjustment.

But it'll take time. Hickey, she's a rookie, right? She's not a seasoned vet? No, not yet. I don't think, what has it been, six games she's played so far? Seven? Today is, is this eight? I don't know.

Today, dammit, this might be the eighth, how the, this can't be the eighth game. Wow. Ready?

Wow. Started May? Early May?

One, two, three. About a month in, right? Three weeks in? Wow. No, the first game was the 14th. It was two weeks ago. Is that right? Oh, wow.

Wow, yeah. Eight games? They play 40 games in a year. This season is 40 games. I'm assuming there's a massive rush to cram these games in. Because the women at WNBA, they are going to take a break for the Olympics, which pretty much run from, you know, end of July until almost the middle of August.

I think that the last day is August 11th for the Olympics. And so, yeah, WNBA, they cramming these games in here to take a break. Kaitlyn Clark already having played eight games.

Today is game number eight. The season just got started on 5-14. So that's two weeks. That's two weeks.

NBA players would have been sitting down and relaxing by now. Let's also keep in mind that I don't even think it was three weeks, maybe exactly three weeks, from the conclusion of her college run until she got started playing here in the WNBA. And so Kaitlyn Clark is still running and still moving, even though she's had to go through a transition.

So, yeah, people give her a damn break. And speaking of a transition, this is not the NFL's time. This might be the quietest, maybe not even the quietest on their calendar. I would say when you get to June, before the players get into a ramp up of realistic training camp at the end of July. But there are OTAs. And so we do have players and coaches and general managers who are talking primarily people who have been in the news due to trades and rumors and contracts and what have you. You know, somebody like Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys. And then you have other individuals like arguably the best wide receiver in the entire NFL and Justin Jefferson. Well, we learned earlier today and this has been rumored for several weeks now that Justin Jefferson is eligible for a contract. And yes, the Minnesota Vikings, they decided to go with McCarthy at quarterback. But there was a rumor that they were ready to depart with Justin Jefferson rather than pay him some ridiculous contract.

Thirty plus million dollars a year for a wide receiver. They were looking to get their hands on Malik neighbors who ultimately went number six to the New York Giants. We know that the Chargers selected right before them at slot number five. They selected Joe Alt out of Notre Dame.

And it's been said that the Chargers didn't want to move. And so if you're Justin Jefferson and you know that the Minnesota Vikings were looking to trade you, you're going to play a little bit of hardball, right? I mean, Justin Jefferson, when he's healthy and I think this is what Kirk Cousins, he was someone eligible to go out there and get, you know, 2000 yards receiving. I thought he was on his way before he got hurt last year.

I don't know if that's going to be the case with a rookie quarterback, but someone who thinks that they should keep Justin Jefferson is someone who used to lasso him up for the Minnesota Vikings. It's Jared Allen. He was on up and Adams.

And he said, listen, the Vikings got to pay this man. He changes the game. He opens up your run game. He's I mean, he gives you the ability to score anytime, anywhere. He is a quarterback's best friend. So if McCarthy is going to be your franchise quarterback, you cannot let him go.

You can't. He becomes he becomes a centerpiece of your team. And you got it. You got to protect him on the old line. And you got it. If you have the ability, that kid has the ability to be I mean, he is already so special, but I mean, he has the ability to change games and what that does to a defense, knowing like playing against guys, you know, that have been those game changers, you know, playing against the Megatrons of the world where you got you have to bracket. You got to put two on them. So even if he doesn't have a game where he has 200 yards or 150, whatever it is, the fact that you have to acquire two people to him all the time just makes it harder to play defense and makes it easier to play offense.

Hickey, I hate to say it, but when it comes to having and I don't know, maybe it's one year and then maybe this is a bad idea. Unless McCarthy is the second coming, having to pay Justin Jefferson, I don't know, $35 million a season. I think it's counterproductive when you don't know what the quarterback is and then you have you have a wide receiver eating up that much of the cap when you you don't know what the QB is.

It's a gift and a curse. You might have a discount with the rookie quarterback, but it's it's not sustainable in the long run. Yes, but I think also you can make the argument on the other side then of just like if you want JJ McCarthy to succeed. He was going to be a better quarterback and have more success because of Justin Jefferson's presence, kind of Jared Allen just said to not just in the past game, but in the run game because defenses can't just load the box or can't just put, you know, three guys on Jordan Addison because he's the only other threat you have and kind of make it harder for McCarthy. You have to respect him, put two guys on Justin Jefferson at all times.

He showed you he's good enough to still break a double team. I think he just makes a rookie quarterback's life a lot easier when you have that great guy on the outside you can rely on versus trading away for draft picks. And then you're sitting there going into week one with no real threat, no real weapon to throw the ball to. Yeah, I think right now they're screwed, which is why I think they wanted to go for for neighbors because there's a there's a chance to put it on what they'd have to give up.

Like, hey, were you totally in love with JJ McCarthy? Like they're screwed. They have to pay Justin Jefferson now. And I think at this point, I think they realize where they're at. It's going to be great and nice to have him.

It's a good problem to have down the line. But I don't I don't think right now, like what wide receivers getting paid all this big, huge money are ridiculous game changers. I'm on Rod St. Brown is playing for a team that's going to go out and try to win a Super Bowl. I wouldn't necessarily say that he is, you know, be one of my top five choices at wide receiver. Tyree kill is a one man gang opposite Waddle in Miami, and he has two.

They look to be for me on a on a treadmill. You think about Davante Adams like he's one of the highest paid dudes, and I just don't feel that the wide receiver, especially when you can get him free for young like Addison. It's hard paying a guy 35 million dollars. There's a lot of finger crossing that McCarthy is going to be damn good. Like, of course, a wide receiver is going to help. I'm just concerned like JJ McCarthy is going to have to be playing at like almost.

I don't want to say all pro level. He's going to have to be one of the best quarterbacks in the game if this is going to pay off for everybody, because then you get them on a discount. You can deal with Justin Jefferson's contract for a few years before you have to pay McCarthy.

And that's kind of the hope. I mean, if they were able to get neighbors, they they wouldn't necessarily have that issue, but they already play in a division that's just just tough. NFC North has no give to it whatsoever. And speaking of give and trading anybody, we know Stefan Diggs, he did get traded from the Buffalo Bills down to Houston. And Brandon Bean spoke to the athletic, the general manager of the Bills, and he kind of filled everybody in on on why they decided to move digs.

Listen. A player of his caliber, you weigh a lot of things on the situation. But, you know, I don't need to go through all the reasons why we decided to go ahead and do that. I would say from a cap standpoint, we decided just to go ahead and eat it now. And we think we can compete and do what we need to do by eating it now and then not walk into next year and go.

Because if we didn't, if we if we tried to come up with some way and split it up too many different ways, then now it's just like that albatross. You're just hanging on your neck all year. You look at your cap and you're going, oh, man, look at how much money we still have dead. Look, what he didn't want to say is that Stefan Diggs is going to be 31 years old later on this year. He's been a complete pain in the ass. He's been a complainer. And then we got off the hook for his contract in Houston.

They told you what they feel about him as well. They brought him in, they traded for him and said, here's all of your money. The rest of your deal is dead. You're basically going to be a free agent. You either like it here or you leave. It's really that simple. Help us out now.

Stick around or leave in a Buffalo Bills. Well, we know that they are hoping that they can fill out some of those spots. I know Kion Coleman is Mr.

Personality at the press conference. If he gave Jalen Brown some of that personality, things would be a little different. They have Curtis Samuel. They just added Mark Wiesvold.

They're scantling and Chase Claypool. The Buffalo Bills are just like, let's bring in as many wide receivers as we can and see who sticks. And at least these guys are going to want to play and not give us headaches and not have to pay them twenty five, twenty three million dollars. And Stefan Diggs, some things work out for the bills. They'll be OK.

But yeah, I don't know if they improve. They're going to have to hit the jackpot with one of these guys that they brought in. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network.

Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. Minnesota and Dallas is underway. Dallas is trying to sweep the series, but right now they're behind. I'm going to give you an update on the game on the other side of the break. We'll talk about the team that got eliminated last night in the Pacers. Luca and Kyria lighting it up. Mike Tyson says he feels better. There's a lot going on.

It's the JR Sport Brief Show, the Infinity Sports Network. Listen, as Selenia tells us why she chose to vaccinate her daughter. I definitely felt like the pros far outweighed the cons, the diseases that I am protecting my child against. They're still here. And at the end of the day, it's my job as a mother to keep my child safe.

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