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For trusted protection, trust Pampers, the number one pediatrician recommended brand. It is the JR Sportbrief show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Much love and many thanks to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America.
Super producer and host Ryan Hickey is holding it down for us in New York City. And wherever you are, I hope you're safe. I hope you're well. I hope you're good. I'm going to be hanging out with you for the next four hours.
This is when the show gets started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. What a day. I mean, there's a few things that I was asking for last night, and I don't know if I got my my wishes granted, but we got some Celtics news. It ain't good news for the Celtics or Porzingis. Hickey, we didn't talk long about it, but we said one of the New York Jets going to have a new disaster come up. And it was I don't know if it's a disaster, but it's been less than 24 hours with Rogers, right? Yeah, we'll say it's not good news, right?
So it's something that's not positive. Aaron Rodgers decided not to show up for work today. OK, all right, fine, Aaron Rodgers. And we'll talk about that because there are quite a few NFL players that either, A, didn't show up to work or B, they showed up to work and they're looking for more money.
It sounds like the majority of the population. So we'll talk about that. I think we got more of an explanation as to why Kaitlyn Clark was not on Team USA basketball. Dak Prescott is talking and speaking of guys who showed up to work, maybe didn't. T. Higgins, he wants a deal. He didn't show up in Cincinnati. Amari Cooper, he wants a deal.
He didn't show up in Cleveland. We got a new cover athlete for Madden. I guess this would be Madden 24, Madden 25.
I can't keep up. Christian McCaffrey is going to be on the cover of the video game. And for people who believe in curses, Christian McCaffrey will probably have the worst season ever. Speaking of the Celtics, we'll get into Kristaps Porzingis momentarily. Jason Kidd coming through with some compliments for Jason Tatum. And so I guess Jason Kidd is an equal opportunist, you know, compliment giver. We'll talk about that. Also, we got a little bit more information surrounding Coach Dan Hurley and why he decided not to leave UConn.
A big portion of it might be because the Los Angeles Lakers, well, they stink. But Dom Amore is going to come through and join us from the Hartford Courant. And you know, to talk a lot of this NFL, who showed up to work and who didn't, Lije Duesable, a former New York Jet. He's going to come through and join us in about 20 minutes to talk about this this mandatory period in the NFL, as the NFL is just trying to add 18 games and take away preseason games.
It's just it's nutty. But there are times that you absolutely have to show up to work. And so we got a lot to get into, of course, at the end of the show. I'm going to share with you a few things that took place this day in sports history. It is Tuesday, June 11th.
How far back in time are we going to go? Well, you just got to pay attention and lock in to find out if you want to lock in and call me up. It's real simple. 855-212-4227. It's 855-212-4227. You can also find me online. That's where I am. I'm on the Internet, the cesspool.
That is all of the people screaming and arguing back and forth. I'm there, too. I am at JR Sport Brief.
I'm at JR Sport Brief every place, all over the place on social media. We've already talked to Hickey, asked him about Aaron Rodgers. But besides that man who decided not to show up to work, how the hell are you? Hickey, you good? I am good. I have no money coming out of my pocket because unlike Aaron, I am at work and it is mandatory. And I don't have a rare injury that, you know, Kristaps Porzingis is dealing with where, I mean, I won't even try to describe the name of it because I still can't pronounce it or really know what it does, but it sounds very serious.
So honestly, compared to everyone else in the world, I think I'm doing okay today. Man, this whole thing with Kristaps that popped up this afternoon. And I said last night that there's no drama.
There's no big storyline. Kyrie going back to Boston didn't live up to any hype. I guess everybody up in Boston is pretty much through with him anyway. And then we have the Kristaps story. When Kristaps plays in the first game, he's a man on fire. He goes out there and he drops 20 points coming off the bench.
In the last game, he has 12 points in 23 minutes. And then Kristaps has to get pulled in the fourth quarter. And Kristaps had all this to say the other night about how I would die out on the court.
And if it was that bad, then I'm still going to give it a go. Well, today the tune was changed a little bit. And it depends on who you ask because Joe Mazula spoke to the media. First of all, Kristaps Porzingis is now day to day, okay? After the game, after game two, it was, oh yeah, I'm going to go play.
Well, that's changed. And Joe Mazula, he said his injury, it's a serious one. He's doing anything and everything he can to be ready for the game tomorrow. It's a much, it's a serious injury. And at the end of the day, our team and the medical team is not going to put him in any bad situations. And so we've taken a decision to play out of his hands because of the importance of him. And so he's going to do everything he can to play and then we're going to leave it up to our medical team. That's what everybody is doing now. Everybody is so secretive because we can't give out state secrets about Kristaps Porzingis' leg to the Dallas Mavericks.
Everything has to be a secret, okay? Depending on who you ask, it appears that Kristaps Porzingis doesn't have the same calf injury, but he's now dealing with some type of a carpal tunnel of the leg. And anybody who's had carpal tunnel, you typically get it in your wrist, in your arms. It's when it goes numb, there's no circulation, like the blood has restricted the nerves and now you feel nothing, okay?
Imagine falling asleep on your arm and waking up and having no feeling. That apparently is what Kristaps Porzingis has going on in his leg. The team says, and Hickey's like, I don't know what the hell this is and I'm going to try. He suffered a torn medial, oh, this is the one, huh? Huh, Hickey, right? Oh my God.
Good luck. Retinal, retinal coolum, retinal coolum, retinal coolum, a torn medial retinal coolum. Uh-huh, I said that one, got it. Which led to a dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg.
Come on, Hickey, I did it, I did it. I'm glad you did because I'm going to sit that out and say what JR just said. Yeah, well, I may not be able to repeat it, but if I was in the spelling bee like that kid from two weeks ago, I'd probably ace it. And the Celtics say, after consultation with numerous specialists regarding this rare injury, his availability for upcoming games will be determined day to day. Come on now, they can't just say the man has no feeling in his leg, why they got to be so damn complicated about this? And guess who else spoke? The seven foot two man who always has issues and injuries with his legs, Christaps Porzingis, he spoke to the media today and he says, I'm going to do everything I can to play tomorrow.
Kind of a random situation, yeah, and I felt something and now I have to deal with it. So, as we said, it's going to be day to day and I'll see how I am tomorrow and obviously I'm going to do everything I can to be out there tomorrow. And we'll see. Are you optimistic?
I am, of course, I have to be. I'm optimistic and as I said, I will do everything I can to be out there tomorrow. Optimistic? Christaps Porzingis is going to be optimistic? I mean, how about Christaps Porzingis be realistic? This is a man who is 28 years old and it feels like since the minute he's been in the NBA, has just suffered leg injury after leg injury after leg injury. He has now moved into exclusive territory where Christaps Porzingis can now say, not only have I torn my ACL, not only have I torn my meniscus, but I've also suffered such a rare injury that the Boston Celtics don't even want to explain what the hell it is. So, yeah, in 2018, the man was an All-Star. Couldn't play in the All-Star game because he went up for a dunk in Madison Square Garden. He tore his ACL.
Come on now. In 2020, he tore his meniscus in the first round of the playoffs and the Dallas Mavericks said, get the hell out of here. They traded him to D.C. and he just recently signed a two year, 60 million dollar deal to play for the Celtics. Is he playing for the Celtics, though? In the first year or year one, which just completed, he played 57 games. He came back. He missed 40 games here, comes back in the playoffs, has an amazing game and then gets hurt in the second game. Like there's some guys that just they can't stay healthy. And Christaps Porzingis is on that list.
And so the media, I guess they were nice enough to ask him, not maybe not in this way. Hey, Christaps, aren't you sick of this? Aren't you tired of all these leg injuries? Isn't it a pain in the behind?
That's what he said. I mean, I've been through some stuff in my career and obviously this is a rough patch, you know, coming back and having something happen right away again. It's tough, you know, it's very like just a tough moment right now, you know, but. I feel pretty good. I feel pretty good.
Mine is good. OK, he feels good. Well, you know what they say when you're used to this and you've gone through these things, he's true to this. Maybe not this injury. Hickey, you ever had a carpal tunnel before? No, right? Thankfully, no.
Good. Remember, you remember Joel Zumaya on the Tigers? Yeah, good reference. Yeah, that man threw way, I mean, not way before, but he was one of the real fire ballers.
I'm going to throw 101 and 102. The man suffered carpal tunnel in his arm because he was playing too much Guitar Hero. That I forgot. That's that's a problem. And I see that that could get you with your wrist kind of positioned that way if you're playing for hours every day, that could that could do it. Too much wrist work, right? Is that what it's called? Wrist work.
Yes. So one song, Mississippi Queen, I think it is. It's like six minutes long. Play that five or six times in a row. Yeah, that'll give you some carpal tunnel. I've I've never I've seen people play Guitar Hero and it does some damage. It reminds me of that game. Have you seen the people play Dance Dance Revolution in the arcade?
I have seen. Yes, they had one actually at Penn State, like in the main like student center is right there front and center. A lot of people would play. Was there just there was always one kid that was better than everybody.
He just had the whole game memorized. Right. And he would be sweating.
He would be there for hours by himself going hard. Yes, there's always one. Now, let me ask you a stupid question.
Sure. You playing Dance Dance Revolution all day. You doing all that legwork and fancy movement on the stupid board.
You're working up a sweat. Did somebody get paid? Was there a Dance Dance Revolution competition?
Like what was what was going on? Not at least when I was there. That was just for the love of the game. Yeah. You got to pay to play it right.
Maybe not in school. Yes. You're right.
Sorry. You have to pay to play the game and all you get back is the satisfaction of you're the best. That's not a bad prize, but you're right. Yeah. No trophy.
Your bank accounts are not any heavier after three hours at the at the machine. Very likely. Maybe. Maybe Chris Staps Porzingis was was he playing Dance Dance Revolution in between games? Like what happened here? Is that how the the injury happens? If so, staying far away from that game. He got carpal tunnel in the leg, apparently. Go figure.
It's got seven foot two. I guess these type of things are going to happen. Meanwhile, Chris Staps Porzingis, if he's out, I still believe the Celtics will win the series. Are things going to change defensively?
Absolutely. He's seven foot two. He can block a shot.
Even if he doesn't block a shot, he can alter a shot by lifting his damn arms up in the air. And meanwhile, Luca Doncic, who we learned a couple of days ago on Sunday, he was basically a game time decision. They downgraded him. We learned that Luca got a shot. They gave that man a shot to go out there and play.
That's why he had his entire midsection wrapped up in Luca Doncic. Always short on words. He was asked how he feels and it's what he said. First, I feel good. I don't want to get any more details, but I feel good. OK. Everybody's so secretive.
What big secret is it when you're running around with a big old pack on the side of your body? Come on, Luca Doncic is a one man game right now, having to drop 30 points a game just to keep the Dallas Mavericks alive here. In the, well, I can't even say the postseason, in the finals.
Kyrie Irving, go out there and help that man out. And the Celtics, yeah, things might be a little bit more competitive. It might get tougher. It will get tougher if Kristaps isn't there. But I still got the Celtics winning. I'm giving them this series in about six games.
Maybe all of a sudden things get pushed to seven. I'm not counting on that. I'd love to see Porzingis out there, but come on now. He is a walking injury, an injury waiting to happen. Maybe Luca, he should have taught him some toughness when he was in Dallas. That's kind of harsh. Kristaps just needs a newer body. I don't know. Too late for that.
It got him a lot of money. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. 855-212-4227. Kristaps Porzingis has trouble showing up to work. Ok? We come back from break. We're going to chat with former NFL player. Current analyst CBS Sports HQ, former New York Jet, Liget Dozable is going to come through and join us. And I want to talk to him about all these NFL players who said, I'm not showing up to work unless I get paid. But why didn't Aaron Rodgers show up to work?
Maybe Liget Dozable has some answers. We're going to talk to Liget on the other side of the break. We have an explanation about Kaitlyn Clark being left off to the Olympic team.
There's another New York Jet who didn't decide to go to work. Christian McCaffrey is on the front of Madden. We're going to talk about Dan Hurley with Dom Amore from Hartford. And he's going to tell us all about what's going on at UConn. And we even got a guy who loves to eat hot dogs. He's been barred from Nathan's hot dog eating competition.
What a sad and cruel, cruel world. Liget Dozable on the other side. It's the JR Sport Reshow here on the Infinity Sports Network. Plug in a Hyundai EV and the extraordinary happens. It's not just the ultra fast charging capability and long range in the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6. Or the adventure seeking spirit of the Kona Electric. Or the groundbreaking 601 horsepower IONIQ 5N. And it's not just the comfort in knowing that every Hyundai EV is backed by a 10 year, 100,000 mile limited electric battery warranty. Hyundai's EVs transform a low hum into a loud adventure. They bring color to your journey and turn energy into main character energy. So forget everything you thought you knew about EVs and turn the extraordinary into something truly electrifying.
There's joy in every journey. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Reshow here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. We know the NBA Finals are going on.
We know the Stanley Cup Finals are going on. But this is also time for the NFL. Mandatory minicamps, right? Who's happy with their contract?
Who wants a new deal? Who has an excused absence? What excuse is a coach going to come up with to give us the latest of what's going on in the NFL right now?
Right now we're being joined by someone. This man has an Emmy. This man is holding it down on CBS Sports HQ.
This man held it down for 10 years in the NFL. It's my main man, Lije Dusable. Lije, how are you, man? I'm doing good. How about yourself? I'm happy.
Thank you for taking the time to come through. I got to say this. This is the best time of the year for an NFL player, right?
Right? Yeah, I mean, in regards to, you know, you're about to finish minicamp and get a six-week break before it gets real. When you talk about that, then I would say, yeah, I would agree with that. This is the best time because, you know, you get that camaraderie, you're building it with your teammates for this three-day minicamp. And a lot of teams will only do two days and they'll cancel that last day, especially depending on the attendance and what it was like throughout OTAs. A lot of coaches will feel like, you know, two days of minicamp is good enough work because we've worked so good for the last four or five weeks.
And they'll let everybody go. And then, like I said, you get that six weeks where it's not just a break, right? You're really fine-tuning your skill set, getting ready for, you know, this sixth month, if you're lucky, six or seven-month run to win a Super Bowl.
Well, Lijay, I want to ask you a question about the potential length of the season later on. But you played for the Jets. You still cover the New York Jets. Aaron Rodgers didn't show up. Rob Salah had to do the song and the dance today about, he told us, but it's not, you know, excused. And what's your analysis of this? They got their whole season once again riding on this guy. Yeah, to me it's not a huge story. Now, people will make it a huge story just because Aaron Rodgers is so polarizing, right? And, you know, all the stuff off the field that he's dealt with where we didn't know if he was going to potentially run for vice president or not.
Or, you know, him, you know, going into the wilderness and doing, you know, the treatment, the in the dark treatment. But with this one, I don't think this is a major story now. It's headlines, right? Because there's only three days in the whole offseason program where it's mandatory.
And it's these three days here. And for somebody to miss it, it's going to make headlines, right? But if you know anything and you've been following the Jets, Aaron Rodgers has been there the whole offseason. Not just OTA, he's been there for all season workouts as well. So this would be a little bit more concerning if he had missed like from a good portion of the offseason and wasn't there for many, many camp. But him and Robert Sola talked about this at the beginning of the offseason. He let him know that there was a conflicting date with an event that was very important to him.
Now, again, because it's mandatory, you still have to get fined for it. But I don't think this is a major story now. It sucks because we have people talk about the Jets, right? It's always about distractions, right? Is there something always going on with the Jets? And now this is something that you have to add to that because Aaron Rodgers wasn't there for the first day of minicamp.
No liege. Let me ask you this. You take a look at the the AFC East. We know the New England Patriots are rebuilding. Buffalo Bills are trying to figure out life without digs.
And that may be a little bit easier than people talk about. And then, you know, the Miami Dolphins, Tuatanga Veloa, looks like he has lost an entire person. Where do you think the Jets kind of slot in here?
Yeah, this is the thing. I'm going to preface this by saying the game is played on the field. But if you look at currently, based on the current roster, it's constructed for all those teams that you just mentioned in the AFC East. I'd be hard pressed to find too many people that say the Jets don't have the best roster, man for man. Now again, game is played on the field.
There's a lot of nuances that go to that. Can guys stay healthy, right? Tyron Smith, they signed him in the offseason. He has a history of not being healthy for a complete 17 game season. Now he is coming off an All-Pro bid last year.
But if I'm not mistaken, he missed three or four games last year as well, right? You got Mike Williams, who you signed, was coming off a major injury at ACL. How will he bounce back as well? Aaron Rodgers coming off an Achilles. How will he bounce back at the ripe age of 40 years old?
So those are the things that you have to ask, and something that I'm sure you're going to ask me about that we haven't talked about. Now you have a son Redick in a contract dispute, right? So you lose Bryce Hubb, who was a homegrown grown pass rusher who led your team in sacks last year.
He goes to the Philadelphia Eagles. You trade for a son Redick. And it seems like the conversations were had before making a trade for a son Redick where the Jets were saying that, you know, we're getting you for this year. We could maybe revisit the contract later on. And it seems, again, from reports, this is not me reporting from reports out there, that a son Redick was on board with that, and he was going to be there this offseason, and then he wasn't there this offseason. And now he's taking it a step further, and he's not even there for the first day of minicamp because he wants a new contract.
So this is a conundrum. And, you know, as a former Jet, and I associate myself with the Jets, this is what people talk about when they talk about potential dysfunction and distractions. You don't want these things going on as you get ready for the season.
I would say this. There's still a lot of time before the, you know, the training camp actually kicks off. I'm sure the Jets will work through this. We know Aaron Rodgers was a thing that was already talked about with Robert Salah. He'll be back in the fold. He'll be ready. But the son Redick thing is a bit concerning. A 10-year NFL vet, current analyst, Lige Duesable is here with us, the JR Sport Reef Show, coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You know, we typically talk about, you want to talk about tough divisions, you can also take a look at the AFC North. And we know that the Pittsburgh Steelers have now added two quarterbacks in both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
Tomlin now gets a three-year contract extension. Arthur Smith is there. What do you see that offense looking like? Are we going to see Fields sprinkled in? Is he going to run it in the 20s? What do you see?
Well, that's an interesting thing that I think everybody wants the question to. Who's potentially going to be the starter? Right now it seems like Russ has the reins and he's the guy out in front. I honestly believe that Justin Fields will ultimately take over as the starting quarterback. Just if you're looking at Arthur Smith's offense and what he's asked his quarterbacks to do, Russell Wilson doesn't tend to do. He likes his quarterbacks to throw the ball over the middle of the field in intermediate throws. And Russell Wilson doesn't like to do that.
He likes to, you know, play off script, throw those moon balls that we've all accustomed to seeing him do down the field. And that's not really Arthur Smith's offense. I know for sure Mike Tomlin wanted to get a little bit more aggressive with the offensive line and he wanted to run the ball. Well, if you know the history of Arthur Smith when he was at Atlanta and Tennessee, they're going to run the pill.
That's what they're going to do. And I think Mike Tomlin wanted to get back to that rugged grittiness, Pittsburgh Steelers way of life of running the football and playing good defense. So when you look at what they've done in the draft, two high draft picks, Fatanu and Frazier that they took will both potentially be starters this year for them.
And I think they actually fit the mold of what Pittsburgh is all about. This is going to be a tough, rugged offense that is going to run the football. So where does Justin Fields and, you know, potentially Russell Wilson fit in that? I think Justin Fields, when you look at what Arthur Smith just had and Desmond Ritter and what he was trying to do in Atlanta, I think Justin Fields has a leg up in that category. Now, again, I think Russell Wilson coming into training camp has the reins and it will be his job to lose.
But at the end of the day, I do believe Justin Fields will be the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And you mentioned the AFC North. Like, this is the toughest division in football. Could this potentially be the year that Mike Tomlin finally has a losing season?
I hate even saying that because that's something he just doesn't do. But you mentioned it. This division is a gauntlet. This is the best division in football.
Yeah. Well, thank God Tomlin got that contract extension. Maybe some of the fans of Pittsburgh can go out there and relax.
Alicia Dusable is here with us. This is going to be a fun season because you can go division to division. I mean, I'm even thinking about the NFC North. You got a couple of rookie quarterbacks. Second best division in football.
Yeah. You got you got two emerging quarterbacks. The Lions are Super Bowl contenders. The Packers shocked everybody.
We're going to see Caleb Williams in hard knocks in the offseason. What do you think is going to happen in the NFC North specifically with Caleb and the Bears? Yeah, I honestly believe in the NFC North. A lot of people of the Chicago Bears penciled into the playoffs. I think next year is their year. I think this year they'll be a tad bit better. I believe they went seven and ten.
I actually when I did their schedule breakdown, I had them going eight and nine. And it's because they do have a rookie quarterback right now. Again, I think there is going to be a philosophy change for Caleb Williams. He's got to acclimate to the NFL game. People tend to forget or maybe they don't. When he was a USC, he had to be Superman.
Right. Because his defense gave him literally nothing. They were giving up 40, 50 points a game. Well, that's a stark change from what the Chicago Bears defense looks like because the last six weeks of the season, they were the number one defense in football. Matter of fact, they were the number one rushing defense the entire year.
And then when Montez Sweat got traded for halfway through the season, there was like a light switch that went off. And this defense played at an elite level. Matter of fact, the last six weeks of the season, they led the league in interceptions and rushing touchdowns given up. So this defense played really well down the stretch.
So Caleb Williams has realized like he doesn't have to do it by himself. Right. He has a defense he can lean on.
Right. He has playmakers on the outside and veterans. Keenan Allen, D.J.
Moore. To me, he has the best receiver in this past draft. Roma Doonza.
I know a lot of people will say, you know, neighbors or M.H.J. were the best receiver. I think Roma Doonza, when it's said and done, will be the best receiver in this draft class. So it's going to be a big onus on Caleb Williams realizing he doesn't have to be Superman, but also an offensive coordinator, Shane Waldron. He has to realize that he has a rookie quarterback. Do not put him in situations where he has to feel like he is Superman.
Right. You have a couple of good backs. You have two good tight ends, three good receivers.
Make sure you spread the ball around. Put him in advantageous situations where he doesn't feel like he has to pull out that cape. They need to uplift Caleb Williams. He doesn't need to uplift that team.
Yeah, Lije Duzable is here with us. Analyst for CBS Sports HQ. Used to knock him down on the football field. And speaking of knocking him down, there's an anticipation that the 49ers do it again this upcoming season. They may have some wide receivers that they have to figure out how they're going to play them, whether it be IU can what have you. Are we seeing them going to run the NFC again?
Maybe push the Cowboys out the way? What do you see from the Niners? Yeah, to me it comes down to the Niners and the Lions.
Those are the two teams I think that will be vying for the NFC Championship to represent the NFC side in the Super Bowl. You kind of, you know, alluded to the Lions a little bit earlier in the magical run they had. As a matter of fact, they were a half away from beating the 49ers and going to the Super Bowl last year. But when you look at this 49ers team, right, there's been an overturn of the defensive line. Forever that defensive line kind of ran the team, right, with, you know, Eric Armstead and you also had Nick Bosa.
But there's kind of been a change there, right? They traded for Malik Collins. They also brought in Leonard Floyd from Buffalo.
And previously he was with Chicago in the Rams. So they've kind of mixed things up on the defensive line to try to get some help for Nick Bosa on the edge. And I think Leonard Floyd, his game has not been appreciated enough throughout the NFL.
He's been a consummate guy that always gets upwards to 8, 9, 10 sacks every single year and constantly gets after the quarterback and has big time plays. So we know what this offense is, right? The offense wasn't the issue last year when they allowed, you know, the Kansas City Chiefs to come back in that game and beat them in the Super Bowl. We know with CMC they're going to run the football. They're going to give him the ball at the backfield.
You talk about the weapons they have on the outside now. Again, Brent Knight is in the contract dispute. We'll see how that works out. Deebo Samuel will be there, George Kittle. And then they added Ricky Pearsall as well. So you think with this offense, they're going to continue to be who they are, right? It's going to come down to that defense. Can they get back to being that defense that they were throughout the season last year when they were a top five defense?
But they need that effort to get them finally over the hump and not just get to the NFC Championship game, not just get to the Super Bowl, but to win the Super Bowl. Because I believe Brock Ferdy is due for a special year this year. There's a sense that we've seen it from year one to year two. I think we'll see it in year three. And don't be surprised after this year, he becomes the highest-paid player in the NFL. Oh, what a story that'll be. I'm anxious to see that.
Le'Jae, last question for you, man. You've been through the gauntlet 10 years in the league. What are your thoughts on this potential expansion, whether it's two, three, four years down the line to 18 games? It seems inevitable.
I think you used the perfect word. Inevitable. I never thought while I was still around watching football, being an analyst, that we would go to 17 games. And that happened literally like a year or two after I left the NFL. So, I mean, when the commissioner puts or talks about something like that, which can't even be talked about until, I believe, the 2030 CBA ends around. So, they can't even discuss it, I think, until 2029. So, we're still a good four and a half, five years away from that. But I just think that they're going to eventually do it, right? I think they're going to take another preseason game away and they'll only be two.
And it just sucks, right? Because for a guy like me, that's an undrafted free agent that came out. Like, those preseason games matter. I needed all four of those games to make the team my first two years in the NFL. I can't imagine if we only had two games would I have had the career that I had.
Maybe I wouldn't have had the opportunity, right? Because with only two games, you got to assume one of those games is going to be used for the frontline guys to get ready for the season. And probably the second game will be for, you know, them to protect maybe the frontline guys, some younger guys play.
But like I said, when I came out, I needed all four of those games, right? I not only needed the reps, but I needed to show the team that I belonged in the NFL. And we're going to lose, I think we're going to lose a lot of that because, you know, guys are going to go in knowing who their 53-man roster mainly is already just because there's only two preseason games. So you kind of have to know what your roster is going to look like going into an 18-game season, especially when you're only playing two preseason games. So that's the one thing I despise about it.
Now, I'm sure some veterans will love it, right? Because it won't be as much training camp, won't be as much preseason games. But as far as the young players that are undrafted, late round draft picks, they actually have an opportunity. If there was an extra preseason game, it's going to suck for them.
Yeah, this NFL is, I know they say not for long. I need to figure out an acronym that says something about change. I'll figure it out. Hey, Le'Jae, man, where can people follow you and all your great work? Yeah, definitely. You can follow me on, well, like you said, CBS Sports HQ. I'm on there on a regular CBS Sports network. But on social media, at Le'Jae Dozable, that's L-E-G-E-R-D-O-U-Z-A-B-L-E, and that's Instagram and Twitter or X or whatever they want to call it these days.
Yeah, just a site that's full of all types of weird things. That's where we're at right now, Le'Jae. No question. No doubt, brother. We'll catch you on down the line.
Thank you for the time. Appreciate you. No doubt about that. That Le'Jae Dozable, and that's an excellent point that he made at the end.
You don't hear that too much or too often about people on the back end who may not make the team because they wouldn't have a chance to show off who they are. Thank you to Le'Jae Dozable for sharing his perspective. You can go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app if you missed the entire conversation.
855-212-4227. It's the JR Sport Brief Show. We're going to take a break when we come back on the other side. Speaking of not making the team, it looks like we have a couple of explanations as to why Kaitlyn Clark did not make Team USA.
It's up to you whether or not you want to believe it. Doncic. The step-back three.
You bet! Music. You set my world on fire. Music. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you so much to Le'Jae Dozable for joining us on the last break. Pretty cool.
Pretty awesome. Nice to get a professional's perspective on what the heck is going on with the New York Jets. What else is new? There's always something. There's always an issue.
There's always a problem. And I got to tell you, when it involves Aaron Rodgers, there's always something to discuss. So thank you to Le'Jae for joining us on the last break. We're going to talk more about Aaron Rodgers and some of the other NFL players who were missing in action at work today for a variety of reasons. In the case of Aaron Rodgers, it pretty much came down to, hey, I had a personal event that I needed to do. And then we have a bunch of other guys who just decided not to show up to work because they wanted to get paid.
And then also thank you to Le'Jae. Hickey, he brought up a very, very good point about how guys on the back end of the roster may not even get a real chance to make the team. It's going to be a foregone conclusion when we move to 18 games. It's like, hey, who is really on the bubble?
You get one shot. And then after that, it's who needs to warm up for the regular season because you don't want to just throw the football players out there in September. It's a great point because it's really not one that I thought of too much when you do go to 18 games and thus eliminate more of the preseason, which I think now is going to put a bigger onus on scouts. To not only make sure they're hitting in the draft, but these undrafted free agents that they bring in, make sure they're doing a good job so that when they're on the team, they can keep them, not lose them. And also at the same time, scouts looking at other rosters, making sure, hey, if this guy doesn't make it, we got to get him and make sure he's on our team because he can help him.
Maybe he didn't shine now, but we know he can contribute on our squad. The ends of the roster feel like they're going to be fluctuating all throughout the year. And they already do now anyway, but even more so once we go to 18 games and scouts, like their job is going to be a lot more important now because it's going to be a lot harder to decide who is the last three, four guys on the roster when you have just less time now to figure that out.
Yeah, I, you know, as a fan, and I understand from an NFL perspective, the NFL has the, and always has, the NFL, its teams. If we don't have one player here, then we can have another one. I mean, there are only but so many superstars, guys that are going to elevate themselves and then there's almost everybody else. There's that meat grinder of NFL players who pop up at training camps year after year after year.
Coming from the college system, the majority of them are. You got guys who are just trying out. And I mean, this is how you go from a training camp roster, where you got 100 guys in front of you. You probably got 40 spots that are pretty much already set in stone. And then you need to add another 10, another 13, and then you add, add another I don't know four to six, just when you want to talk about practice squad. It's one thing to show up and be one of 100, and then know that automatically that's going to be split in half. I just think about the quality of the games, as we go through an 18 game season, it appears that we already come out of the gate in the regular season and the players is kind of sloppy.
Maybe everybody's so excited, nobody cares. But then as we start getting through the slog of a season, going from week one to week 18, the players can't practice the way that they used to. It's already a violent game. Are they going to be conditioned enough. And these are questions that just permeate professional sports all over the place.
We got Chris Staps Porzingis here, who is dealing with like carpal tunnel in his leg he's seven foot two. They're paying this guy 160 million bucks, and he can't show up for his full season to save his life he can't even show up here in the NBA Finals and so it don't matter if it's basketball or football. It's a dangerous game. When it comes down to players and and health and availability. They can play for longer.
But I guess when you're not playing a full season I guess you can play for longer like this is a. It's wild stuff. And so, thank you leisure for coming through and sharing your expertise I also shared with you. After we spoke to leisure that we got a little bit more of an explanation. When it comes down to Caitlin Clark not making Team USA women's Olympic team.
And we've heard from quite a few people. How about Jen Rizzotti Team USA selection committee chair. She said it was our purview to create the best team that we could.
When you base your decision on criteria. There were other players that were harder to cut, because they checked a lot more boxes, she's basically saying, we put this team together as a basketball team to win games, and not to be some entertainment property out here. And it didn't just stop there. Diana Taurasi was talking to USA Today also spoke to Yahoo Sports, and she said pretty much the same thing.
Hey listen folks. It's not about a marketing team. It's about putting the best team together on the court listen at the end of the day USA basketball has a firm grasp of what they need as a team. I think people lose track of no matter what you have to make sure that little players fit coherently together to form the best team not to be the best player so you know whatever the 12 are. I think USA basketball has always done a great job of putting that collection of talent together.
And she didn't stop there. She said yeah we got to put together the best team. And it's hard to make the damn team listen to this. It's always a hard team to make no matter what.
You go down the line the last 20 years and you know USA basketball is special. You know, a lot of people sacrifice a lot of their time throughout the year in camps and you know in the junior basketball system. Man, hickey I feel like everybody's just making it well, everybody associated with the team is making excuses. That's what it comes across to me. I don't know if I'd use the word excuse. Maybe just dressing it up differently which again is probably a nicer way of saying excuse I guess you're right. Yeah, that's fair. It is just it feels like they're trying to explain their way, and maybe not, I don't say not prepared to explain their way but almost sounds a little defensive, if you will, of trying to explain their way. That makes sense. Yeah, but, yeah, but the thing is, like, this is still basketball team USA women it's not like they're going to face some difficult stretch.
And then on the reverse. I mean historically, and I cannot speak for the women and maybe maybe I'm wrong for this, but on the men's team for years, they've always had a thought process of. Let's at least put some of the future players on the team that we want to rock with into the future and sure there's a Sabrina UNESCO who's who's currently on the squad they have added some first timers, but the, the greatest score and college basketball history. The fact that not even just have her on the roster to sit and learn and get pushed around. I mean the whole everybody on the team ain't gonna play. And not everybody's gonna be out there I don't know how many minutes the women play what 40 minutes. They could have put her on the team. And maybe, just maybe she'll still get a chance via an alternate, just the excuses kind of ring hollow 855 212 4227 855 212 4227 is the JR sport for you show here on the Infinity Sports Network, we come back from break.
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