It is the JR Sport Brief show on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Super producer and host Ryan Hickey is coming to us live from New York City. And thank you for listening because without you, there is no show. There is no Infinity Sports Network, so thank you for listening. Much love to all my people just enjoying themselves on a Tuesday.
My people at work, my people at school, my people at home, my people relaxing, my people passing the time. I'll be hanging out with you for the next two hours. This is a four-hour show. It gets started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. You can always listen on the free Odyssey app, your local Infinity Sports Network affiliate, Sirius XM Channel 158, and a smart speaker if you have one.
Ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. We've had a fun show already. Thank you so much to Chris Doering, former wide receiver for the Florida Gators, wide receiver in the NFL, current analyst and host on the SEC Network for coming through and joining us to talk all things SEC.
And we've had a busy show so far. We talked about some of the big names in the NFL who have been cut so far today. Guys like Caderius Toney gone from the Chiefs, Desmond Ritter gone from the Arizona Cardinals, Bailey Zappi booted from the New England Patriots.
Those are just a few of the names. And then of course, we talked about Connor Stallions is there's a new documentary on Netflix called A Sign Stealer where this man sits around and we get part of his interview with the NCAA to determine whether or not he was a cheater. And he basically said things like, yes, I gave tickets to people and they sent me the recordings of the sidelines at the games.
But some of these people, I don't know who they are. I just resold my tickets and they just so happened to send me video footage. Yeah, that's that's how that works. At least that's my understanding or not. We talked about the Kelsey brothers on the receiving end of a one hundred million dollar deal to distribute their new well, not new podcast. They're getting Amazon money to distribute their podcast. Good for them.
That's good for them. Dak Prescott. He has all the leverage in the world when it comes down to his upcoming contract or ongoing contract negotiations, I should say. And as we continue on with the show, how about this? We got another guest. Rob Motti is going to join us covers all things NFL for the Associated Press. And so I can get his thoughts and opinions on a variety of things like Odell Beckham Jr. Are we ever going to see this guy? Are the Rams going to shock us again? What's going on with his son Redick?
Holdout number? I don't know. Whatever day it is.
And same thing with Trent Williams. Is he going to show up to work or is he going to say, y'all figure it out? And when you do figure it out, pay me and I'll show back up. We got a lot to discuss. Rob Motti joining us and a little more than 15 minutes.
And so, you know, as we get ready for that conversation, man, we have so many guests even tomorrow. Mike Sando is going to join us at some point from the athletic. And he had a very interesting article out for the past, I don't know, about decade. There's been a survey of NFL executives and coaches who pretty much share with the world what they think about the best quarterbacks in the game.
Now, I think to the shock of absolutely no one. Patrick Mahomes is considered to be the best overall quarterback in the league. You take a look at all the coaches, all the executives and what they say and what they believe. Mahomes is numero uno.
Now here's the deal. These quarterbacks are ranked in five tiers. Now, I will give Mike credit because me, I do three categories.
You're either good, you're in the middle or you suck. Hickey, that's pretty clear, right? Is that too simple? Too simple of a categories? No, I think sometimes you overcomplicate a lot of things.
You just get right to it. Okay. We got good guys, the guys in the middle. And the guys in the middle, they're close. They're either closer to being good or they're closer to being ass. But you can't put that in the athletic because that would be, there's no journalistic integrity. You can't, Hickey, that's an opinion. That's not journalism anymore, is it?
Mike didn't name the tier five, the ass tier? Well, yeah, let's take it easy, Hickey, all right? Still early in the day.
You might get some more clicks. If you call it that. I'm just saying. You're trying to be deceptive, deceptive marketing. Is this what you do? Look, I mean, it's proven to be successful for a lot of other companies.
You can just label, I mean, look, but you're saying you're describing how they play. It's not your fault if people take it another way and click on the article to think they're seeing something else. That is what people do. You're correct.
Well, you know what? Let's go backwards. Instead of starting with Patrick Mahomes, which is Hall of Fame, one of the best of all time here. Let's go to tier five. I screwed up five tiers.
These guys in the fifth tier, you tell me if you want any of these guys as your quarterback, OK? Oh, here we go. Oh, oh, oh, wait, wait, wait, Hickey, there's nobody in tier five. Oh, come on.
Am I missing this? Oh, this sucks. Well, anyway, these are guys to be tier five. What my mind stops at 30.
Where's the other two bums at? I guess because the rookies, they don't count. Oh, OK.
So I guess that's technically, I guess, tier five. Well, let's go backwards. Here's some quarterbacks that you don't want. Jacoby Percette. Sam Donald. Bryce Young. Oh, no, Will Levis. Anthony Richardson.
Oh, no, Hickey, am I am I speaking out of turn here? I'm messing up. It's OK. Gardner Minshew. Justin Fields. Daniel Jones. These are all tier four quarterbacks. Who happen to be unproven players. There you go. Not enough information to classify or a veteran who would not ideally start all 17 games. There you have it. OK. That doesn't mean that these guys are garbage. It just means you haven't seen enough of them or you think there's so much garbage that they won't play the whole season. There you have it. What would you say Dan Jones falls under?
Is it the unproven player because he's always hurt or the guy that you would not ideally want to start 17 games? Both. Both. And it's not good. It's not good. It's terrible.
It's bad. Do you know how many Saturdays in New York I had to explain to giant fans over the past, I don't know, three years that it's not just because he doesn't have, I don't know, Randy Moss and Jerry Rice to throw the ball to like some of it happens to be his own decision making his athleticism and he's athletic. He can run, but he runs in a straight line. He's not going to deceive anybody.
His decision. That's a combination of of things that he does that doesn't have anything to do with the players that he's throwing the ball to. Of course, I would look like a better quarterback if I could just throw the ball up to Superman. But everybody can't play with Superman. Sometimes you gotta work with what you got. This is why we got a guy like Patrick Mahomes who just mean for all intents and purposes last year, his best wide receiver was a rookie.
And he still went out there and won a Super Bowl. And that rookie is a dumbass making dumbass decisions off the field like trying to kill people in the car. Do better. Anyway, Daniel Jones. Yeah, a guy that you don't yeah, a guy that you don't want to see may not even be available in tier three.
Here you want a definition. A lot of guys in this tier. These are kind of your your average quarterbacks. These guys are OK.
They're good. Well, the definition here by Mike, a legitimate starter, but needs a heavier running game or a defensive component to win a lower volume drop back passing offense suits him best. You do not want this man having to throw 40 plus times to win you a game, maybe even more than at 30. Yeah, let's go backwards.
These are guys in the middle. Russell Wilson hanging on by a thread. All you got to do is ask Pete Carroll.
I know what he says. He does not want Russell Wilson to cook and neither does Sean Payton. Geno Smith. I'm just happy that we even talk about Geno Smith. Sorry, Derek Carr. Nobody wants to talk about him. Baker Mayfield, happy that he can throw the ball to Godwin and Mike Evans.
Hickey, I have a feeling all these guys are just going to retire together. I mean, Baker Mayfield. Could you imagine if Mike Evans wasn't there? They'd be like Baker.
Go get a job somewhere else. They would. Why are they going to pay Baker Mayfield? They got no Mike Evans. They still got Chris Godwin. Come on, that's he's good, but he ain't good enough.
You got to work with both of them. You're right. Deshaun Watson is right here in front of Baker. OK, if his shoulder is broken, if it's not, OK, you know, Colin Murray, we talked about this, Hickey.
Oh, we talked about this with Calvin Beecham last night. And Colin Murray is to me, he's he's good, but just he's too small, I think, consistently to do some damage. But surprisingly, Trevor Lawrence here, 16. Tua Tonga Veloa, 15. Tua Tonga Veloa is the top of the tier three quarterbacks, a legitimate starter who needs a heavier running game or a badass defense. Now, here we go. Now we're moving to tier two. He's some good ass QBs right now.
Let's go backwards. Jordan Love got more proof, had a hot end to the season. Nice. Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins is going to win you some games, but is he going to tighten up when the games matter? Brock Purdy. Well, yeah, Brock Purdy is good. A matter of fact, earlier today, George Kittle, his tight end, he was on Pat McAfee show and he said that Brock Purdy, how could he get better? He said Brock Purdy got a better body. Most impressive thing with Brock right now is like, he's like turning into a mini McCaffrey slash Bosa and just has huge quads. And it's just like, I'm a tall and lint, like I'm skinny guys. Like I just don't get that. Like I have nice quads, but they're not like Bosa, which is it.
I'm a little jealous, but it is what it is. But Purdy just, he fits in that category really well. And yeah, you know, he looks a lot better, like just bigger, faster, stronger, which is nice to see. And it just looks more mature.
Oh, okay. He's been through some things now, huh? He has, and he's also won a lot too. And he wants to win that big old contract.
I know that's what he's waiting on. Congratulations, Brock Purdy, with your big quads. Jalen Hurts.
He got big quads. They do the tush push. I don't know how much they're going to do that now with Kelsey gone. Jared Goff, Dak Prescott, looking for that new contract. CJ Stroud, Aaron Rogers, seven. Oh, we got guys tied. Justin Herbert, Matthew Stafford.
There you go. Tier two. And then you got Lamar Jackson. No, no shock or surprise there. And so according to NFL executives and coaches, who are the best three quarterbacks in the game? And number three, you got Josh Allen.
No surprise there, right? He's in conversation for MVP every year. Just don't turn the ball over.
And number two, you got Joe Burrow. Is he going to stay healthy though? He's going to break a hand. He's going to break an elbow, break a knee, break a shoulder.
We don't know. Joe Burrow. He actually said it a couple of months ago, a couple of weeks ago. He says he feels very confident heading into this season.
This is the new blonde hair version of Burrow. You grow and learn every year. You know, I know I'm pretty damn good. I have been going to continue to improve year to year, day to day.
And I think that's how you have to approach it. I'm focused on continued improvement and I've, I'm really happy with the off season that I have. I'm really happy to have this training camp to continue to hone my skills and improve. And improve and, you know, build this team chemistry for this run. We're about to go on. Joe Burrow is good when he plays. My championship pedigree all the way back to college. Come on, man.
And then there's Kermit the Frog. Sorry. It's Patrick Mahomes. The Raiders reminded me.
Oh, Hickey, let me, uh, oh, but it sucks. The Raiders don't even have, oh, wait, is he, is he here? No, wait, wait, wait, wait. Oh, there he is. Gardner Minshew at 25.
Yep. Good job by the Raiders. Anyway, the team that's trying, well, they beat their ass all the time.
The chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, number one, numero uno. He said at the beginning of training camp, he says the offense, the way we played last year says we got some things to prove. The end result was awesome, but I mean, I think a lot of us still have a weird feeling in our mouth because I mean, we really didn't play the football the way we wanted to play all year long. And it wasn't fun. I mean, all the, every single week having to try to just continue to get better and better and results not paying off the way you wanted to.
It wasn't a lot of fun. We have a lot of those same guys back and they know how that felt. And so we're going to try to prepare ourselves better this year so that we can play better throughout the season and obviously try to end with the same result.
Yeah. They, they want to win a Superbowl. They want to be the first team in the Superbowl era to three P to go back to back to back.
They'd be the first. Hey, I give my saddle some credit and we will ask them about this tomorrow. Patrick Mahomes numero uno and a guy that you don't want. Well, you don't want Jacoby Brissett because he's just a, just a placeholder.
No disrespect to Jacoby. Hope his shoulder feels better soon. It's the JR sport re-show here with you on the infinity sports network.
We're going to take a break. When we come back, we know that quarterbacks, they drive the bus for an entire organization for an entire franchise. We're going to talk all things NFL. Look at some of the biggest storylines in the league.
As we count down to the start of this season, Rob Motti is going to come through and join us. He covers the NFL for the associated press. You're locked into the JR sport re-show on the infinity sports network. You're listening to the JR sport brief. It's the JR sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network. College football has given us a football appetizer.
The NFL is not too far behind. And unfortunately we got started moving towards the season. Today was cut day. We saw some names get cut.
Some familiar ones are Bailey Zappi, Caderius Toney. We have other players who aren't healthy enough to play. We have other players who don't have contracts to talk about what's left of this off season and what we have in store for this actual season. Joining us right now is Rob Motti.
He's a senior NFL writer for the associated press covers all things NFL. Rob, thank you for taking the time to join us. Oh, great to be with you. I appreciate it.
No doubt about it. I guess we can start off with some of the news that we received today. I mentioned some of the names that that were let go and cut Caderius Toney, Bailey Zappi.
No big surprises today when it comes to cut down day. Yeah, I think Caderius Toney's a name that there's a lot of familiarity with. He was a first round pick by the Giants, got traded in season two years ago, made a strong impact in winning the Super Bowl with the Chiefs, helping them in that game when they beat the Eagles. But then things didn't really escalate well for him from there. And there were some rough moments for him for him last year. And with all the additions that the Chiefs made, that was one that we saw coming. Another first round pick in 2021, Caleb Farley from the Titans' cornerback.
He's gone. So that's three years later that they give up on a first round pick. You don't see too many teams doing that. Usually you want to be able to give a first round pick at least his entire rookie contract. But Farley at 22, taken three years ago, he's gone now.
He's looking for a job. But really, you know, Bailey Zappi, I think we saw that coming. Mike White, who was released yesterday by the Dolphins, who started seven games for the Jets a couple of years, 21 and 22, combined seven starts. I think a lot of folks saw that coming.
So it's not a lot of surprises. There's some guys, as you mentioned, who are going to start the year on the public, meaning they're out for four weeks. But for me right now, beyond the cuts, it's the guys who aren't in camp, who are holding out or holding in, whatever it may be because of contract disputes that are really, it's time for them to get something done and to make it happen because they're running out of time. Rob Monti is joining us courtesy of the Associated Press.
Well, let's talk about a few of those names. Hassan Redick, the man that the New York Jets traded for, and there's obviously a dispute as to what was said and not said. Do you think we're going to see this man show up to play against the 49ers?
There are ultimately, if he wants to get paid, he's got to show up. I think that this was just a lot of foresight by the New York Jets when the Philadelphia Eagles were willing to move on from a premier edge rusher, a guy who had a tremendous impact on them making the Super Bowl two years ago, and is just one of the elite sack men in the NFL. They were willing to move on because they didn't want to restructure his contract, give him an extension, and they traded him to the Jets. The Jets had to know that he wanted a new deal, that he wanted his contract reworked. To be able to make that trade and not have any at all desire to rework it, to redo it, to whatever the Jets are thinking, for a team that is in win-now mode with a small window with a 40-year-old quarterback coming off an Achilles, they're a better football team with Hassan Redick on the field, even though he's never played it down for them, than they would be without him out there on the field. So, they got to find a way to get this done, but he's under contract, he's getting fined every day that he's not there.
So, if he wants to continue to get paid, they know they hold that over him, but it would behoove them to make something happen, to bring in Hassan Redick. You got a playmaker on defense, a guy who could really impact the game. He impacted the NFC title game when the Eagles beat the 49ers by knocking Brock Purdy out of the game. That basically won that game and sent the Eagles to the Super Bowl. So, he's a big-time playmaker and the Jets got to figure it out. Rob, opposing them that same night, the San Francisco 49ers, they're having their own issues with Trent Williams.
We've seen him sit out with Washington. Do we see the same thing this year, but this time around with the Niners? And that's another situation where the 49ers know how much they need Trent Williams. They can look at their record when he was out of the lineup with injuries last year. I would argue that he's probably more important to the 49ers' success than the other guy, Brandon Aiyuk, their wide receiver, who's got a contract dispute because of what he means to the run game.
Protecting Brock Purdy's blindside, all of that. Trent Williams is the best, if not the best, one of the top two or three left tackles in the NFL. And I know he's older and he's got years left on his contract, so that makes it a little bit difficult. But you would think that the 49ers, and they certainly understand his value and his importance, can find a way to make him happy, guaranteeing more money, paying him something more upfront. I think he's going to be out there.
Something's going to happen. The 49ers realize what he means to the team. So I would anticipate him being in the lineup on the field Monday night against the Jets, but it may take another five or six days to get this done. A guy like that, he doesn't need much training camp.
Just plug him in and I'm sure he'll be ready to go. Rob Mighty here with us from the Associated Press. Those are guys who can actually play, all things considered, if they were, you know, under contract. Odell Beckham Jr. has signed a deal months ago with the Miami Dolphins. He is on the PUP list. We got Tua Tongaveloa saying, I haven't even thrown a football to this guy. There's an undisclosed injury here. He had surgery in the offseason. What are we expecting from Odell this year? Nothing? Like, are we going to see him in December?
What are we doing? Yeah, if you're still haven't drafted his fantasy, certainly you don't want to think take Odell Beckham anywhere at all. He's a guy that you might anticipate coming back later on, but that's a team that goes with their run game and Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle and anything that Odell Beckham Jr. can give the Dolphins this year is just icing on the cake. He's got some veteran leadership.
He's been part of the championship team, although he got injured at halftime or in the first half of that Rams Super Bowl a couple years ago. Tua did speak about how they've developed the relationship off the field. He just hasn't thrown him a pass.
There's no chemistry on the field. It's going to probably take time. Whenever he's ready to go physically, it's going to take some time to develop that, but I'll tell you what, if he's able to step into the lineup at some point later this season, he's going to be a guy that defenses are going to have to account for because he's still Odell Beckham Jr. And then with Tyreek Hill, with Jalen Waddle and the run game they have, he could certainly improve that offense and take it to new heights if he can get himself physically ready to go. So the teams talk about, right, you're adding guys at the trade deadline. Maybe the Dolphins don't have to make a deal. They can add Odell Beckham Jr. to kind of give that offense a little bit of a jolt later in the season. Well, Rob, Odell isn't the only dude coming off of a surgery or an injury. We have quite a few players and quarterbacks who are trying to bounce back. A Deshaun Watson in his shoulder. We can look at Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson's shoulder.
Well, Kirk Cousins, I should say, with his Achilles. Who do you think stands to have the best bounce back season with the team having the best success? I like what the Falcons have been able to do, not only bringing in Kirk Cousins, but some of the pieces that they've brought in, certainly on the defensive side, the offense that they have, the three first round picks, the previous three years before Michael Pennix with Drake London, Bijan Robinson, and Kyle Pitts. They've got the players there. They brought in Darnell Mooney.
They've got a new head coach. I think they're in a position where they can really compete for the NFC South. The Buccaneers have won it three years in a row, but nobody has really, in that division, stood out and been a team that you saw as being a double-digit win caliber.
I still think 9 or 10 is going to win the NFC South, so I like Atlanta's chances, and I do like their head coach. I think since 2006, JR, we've seen a rookie head coach, at least one rookie head coach, go to the playoffs, so that may be my pick. I haven't finished my season preview yet, but as far as overall impact, Aaron Rodgers has a lot to prove.
You know he's someone who certainly is aware of what folks say about him. He was brought to New York to the Jets to end that playoff drought, but not just take him to the playoffs and get to a wild card, but to be the first QB to win a Super Bowl since Joe Namath. I don't think they're in position to get there just yet, especially with the Hassan Redick situation the way it is, but I do feel that if Aaron Rodgers can stay healthy with that defense and some of the pieces around him, they could win the AFC East, especially with some of those losses that the Bills have suffered. So Aaron Rodgers could make the overall greater impact. Kirk Cousins being in an NFC South certainly can step in and help the Falcons, but you know who's going to be drawing the headlines, and it's going to be A. Rod and it's going to be the Jets, and as far as Deshaun Watson, this is a big year for him because he really hasn't lived up to expectations. He hasn't proven to be the quarterback that the Browns really gambled on, gave that guaranteed contract to coming off all of the off-field issues he had and brought him in. They go to the playoffs last year thanks to Joe Flacco coming in off his couch in November, so it's a big year for Deshaun Watson, and you wonder what the Browns will do if he doesn't get off to a good start and if he does struggle with Jameis Winston there. Well, it's going to be Jameis time real soon. I can't wait for the memes and the jokes.
Hey, Rob, let me ask you this in general. We know the team at the top of the heap. It's the Kansas City Chiefs.
You got to knock them off. Do you see them going for or actually completing a three-peat, and who has the best chance of knocking them off if that's not the case? I think they're certainly positioned well unless they suffer injuries. If the Chiefs stay healthy, as long as Patrick Mahomes is out there playing, they will have a chance to win every game with Andy Reid coaching. This is a team that has an elite combo at coach and quarterback, the likes of which we haven't seen since Belichick and Brady, and yet they're only halfway there, and I don't know that they're ever going to get there to six. That's a whole lot that you need to happen, and it includes staying healthy, but they're in a tougher division. You've got Jim Harbaugh now in the AFC West. You've got an improved Broncos team. You've got the Raiders who are always going to play the Chiefs tough, and then there's a ton of teams in the AFC, whether it's Aaron Rodgers leading the Jets back to prominence, Buffalo trying to finally get all over the hump with Josh Allen, who's under a ton of pressure. You look at the South that's got Jacksonville and Houston with C.J. Shroud and Will Anderson, what they were able to do, and don't discount the Colts if Anthony Richardson can stay healthy, and then the North is always tough, J.R., right? There's a lot of teams there, and you know Lamar and Baltimore want to get back and get over that hump and get that W, so there's a lot of teams gunning for the Chiefs. All said and done, I haven't finalized my prediction. I kind of want to pick an Eagles-Chief Super Bowl rematch. I'm two days away from having to make that decision. I'm kind of leaning towards it, but so much can happen, especially in a tough AFC, and I didn't even mention the Dolphins that we talked about.
They also are going to be competitive enough to be a contender for knocking off the Chiefs. Rob, I gotta ask you, this last one before we roll out has certainly been a topic of conversation over the past 24 hours, especially with C.D. Lamb getting his deal. Do you see Dak Prescott getting a contract before the season? We got a little less than two weeks at this point. What do you say?
A great question. You know, if you would have asked me this two or three weeks ago, I would have said no, and I thought when Dak came into training camp and talked about this being a business and watching other quarterbacks like Montana and Brady and Peyton Manning and other greats finish their career elsewhere, and I started to think that the writing, the foundation was laid for a breakup, but we've seen some conversations that have been a little bit more productive, and I know Dak's team is going to want to get it done. I think it would be in the Cowboys' best interest to get that done rather than go through the season with a lame duck quarterback and the possibility if he's on the open market, somebody can come in and do to them what Atlanta did to Minnesota by nagging Kirk Cousins away and giving Dak 60, 65. So I would say the odds are higher that it gets done before the start of the season. It wouldn't shock me if it didn't, but if I had to lean one way or another, I'd be probably at 55, 60 percent that it does.
Yeah, I'm leaning that way as well. Hey, Rob, thank you so much. Where can people follow you in all your work with the AP? I know you do a lot with the awards and what have you, a busy guy. Where can people keep up? They can follow me on Twitter at Rob Motti and everything I do is on apnews.com as well as just anywhere out there, 15,000 or so different publications and they use the AP. Well, absolutely.
AP is everywhere. Rob, thank you so much. Appreciate the time and the expertise. Appreciate you, man.
Have a great night. No doubt. Thank you so much to Rob Motti joining us from the Associated Press.
I love the AP. Gets right to the point, straightforward. No, no fluff. Get right to the point. It's the JR Sport Reshow here on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break because for all the quarterbacks that he mentioned, I want to bring up one in particular and maybe this actually lends to one of the points that were made last night when we had Kelvin Beechermorn from the Cardinals. I want to talk to you about a QB. He's right.
Nobody's talking about him. I'll tell you who it is if you haven't guessed by now on the other side. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief.
It's the JR Sport Brief show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Hey, thank you so much to Rob Motti from the Associated Press. Covers all things NFL for joining us in the last break. Man, I can't wait till we actually get the damn games.
I can't wait. He also believes the Kansas City Chiefs are at the top of the totem pole. And if anybody knocks them off, well, it will be cool to see the Eagles back in the Super Bowl. That'd be nice.
It'd be nice to see the Ravens in the Super Bowl. Buffalo Bills. I quit on them. Sorry. I quit on them.
Ain't got no hope on those guys. Oh, yeah. By the way, you want to holler at me? Simple. 855-212-4227.
That's 855-212-4227. Now, I didn't mention this. We did have an amazing guest on yesterday. Always a pleasure chatting it up with tackle for the Arizona Cardinals. Kelvin Beecherm, he came through and joined us. And, you know, well, at the beginning of this hour, we did a whole walkthrough on a couple of the players in the athletic that happened to just be ranked at the quarterback position.
Right. And then I pretty much told you that you take a look at what the athletic did. They broke the quarterbacks down into tiers.
And you look at the top of the totem hole. You can see Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen. But then if you look at one quarterback in particular, I had mentioned to you, Kyler Murray. He's in the third tier. Somebody that needs a little bit of help on offense, a little bit of help on defense. He's actually ranked a 17th out of 30. He's good enough to be a starter. He's kind of right in the middle. He's average. And that's how I feel he is. And when you think about some of the weapons that he has to work with and coming back from his injury, hopefully all the way healed now. I'm supposed to feel enthusiastic.
I'm not. They've already had to deal with injuries. And James Connor is good. He's not good enough. If you're asking me, are they going to do better than four wins?
I think they will. But postseason, I'd be shocked if the Cardinals went to the postseason. I'll tell you this, though, the man who joined us last night, Kelvin Beecher, he said he actually is impressed with what Kyler Murray has done so far. And he's just like, you know what? Don't holler at me if you're going to hop on a bandwagon.
Listen to this. I really feel that he's really starting to master this offense, to be honest with you. And when you have that ability from your quarterback, when he has great command of the offense, he can master the offense. He knows where things are supposed to go. He knows, you know, if the play call happens to come in wrong, how to put everybody in the right position.
That is a skill in itself. And I really believe that he's really taking steps forward to be able to master this offense and put himself in a position to be the franchise quarterback, which we all know he can be and execute in that limelight and execute within that obligation. So we're really excited to put and see him put his next, his next, you know, kind of series of games together to continue to pad his resume and continue to be, like I said, the franchise player that we all know he can be. I think it'll be a few years before we see that. I don't think that's coming this year.
I really don't. Even with Marvin Harrison, you know, it was one thing to see Kyler Murray running around, throwing the ball out to Hopkins, and now you have, I guess, a younger, bigger, more improved version. And Marvin Harrison Jr., I expect a lot of highlights.
I don't know if it's going to translate into victories. Yeah, sure, Kyler Murray will throw a bomb into the end zone and all of a sudden game winning touchdown, but consistently, I don't think so. That doesn't mean Marvin Harrison Jr. won't end up being a pro bowler or an all pro, or maybe he'll be a hall of famer like his dad. But I never seen a one-two combination do it all by themselves, let alone a guy who's a rookie receiver. But Kelvin Beecham did tell us this about Marvin Harrison Jr.'s talent.
If you throw it in his area, you're coming down with the ball. Man, he's looking good, man. I'm excited to see what happens when we go to Buffalo. It's going to be a phenomenal environment. I love playing in Buffalo.
It's a great place and a great football city to play in. So to see his talent is on display, I'm looking forward to it. And I've told a number of folks this as of late, when the ball is in his vicinity, he ends up with the ball. And however you want to call it, or however you want to measure it or quantify it, whenever the ball is in his vicinity, he's usually the guy that's coming out with the ball.
And that's a good trait to have. Hickey, Cardinals, you giving them what? Six, seven wins this year? Seven wins? That feels fair. Yeah, I think they'll improve from the win total last year.
What was it? Four, I think off the top of my head. Seven feels good. And it feels like even within those seven, they'll be one of those tough teams where it's not a rollover, easy win, make you earn it. Remember the 2020 Dolphins that we thought were tanking and were going to be one of the most historically bad teams we've ever seen? That second half, they still lost a lot of games, but they were tough. They pushed teams.
They really got it to the second half close. I think we could see that this year, the Cardinals where they'll lose a good amount of games, again, six, seven wins, but they make you earn the wins. Yeah, they won't be pushovers.
They don't have a lot too. It can't be any worse than they were last year. Any bit of an improvement is certainly going to be a good one. I am a little surprised in looking at the rankings and maybe not so much because this guy was also hurt at the end of last year was Trevor Lawrence. Like he is only right before Kyler Murray when it comes down to these rankings, they have him at 16 right in front of Kyler Murray. And I guess a part of that has to deal with his injuries.
And if I've been waiting personally for Trevor Lawrence to quote unquote, break out Pete Prisco, I spoke to him around this time last year and he pretty much said like that he was going to be his MVP. I mean, dating back to when he was playing here locally in Atlanta, Georgia, and then when he went to Clemson, he was supposed to be one of the top QBs flattened period in the entire NFL. And for him to kind of be in that next tier of good and average and yeah, he's getting paid 50 plus million dollars.
This money doesn't necessarily mean it's going to translate into victories. He's supposed to be one of the best of the best. And if he doesn't take the step this year in A being healthy and then B actually doing some damn winning, I may just call him average forever. I mean, earlier this week, Sirius XM, NFL radio, Trevor Lawrence said, I feel good about the Jags.
I'm glad he does. I like our team. I really like where we're at.
You know, I hate doing the whole preseason. What do you, what are the, what are the goals? How far do you think this team can go? Obviously we want to win a Super Bowl and that's our goal, but we really just have to take it one week at a time. And that starts with Atlanta this week and putting together just a good final preseason game, being clean, efficient, putting ourselves in a good spot, going into that open week to get ready for Miami. And from there, obviously, like you said, we got a challenging division. We got a bunch of good, good young quarterbacks in our division and good teams in general. So it's going to be, it's going to be a challenge.
Yeah. It's just too, too competitive. As he said in the AFC South, like I don't see any of those teams like clearly jumping above the others. Texans, Jags, Colts, Titans, they might be the worst in the entire division.
It is going to all beat the living hell out of each other. I don't know if this bodes well for playoff positioning. I mean, by the time they get to the postseason, somebody is going to be at a major disadvantage if they don't want a division. And all things considered, it looks like the Texans will win the division. And then the Colts and the Jags are going to have to try to pick up the pieces. The Titans?
Eh, whatever. Will Leviss has to figure it out. He's the, he's the smallest, lowest guy on the totem pole. Heck yeah, I know Anthony Richardson's your guy. I take Anthony Richardson over Will Leviss. Thank you. Big compliment. I would too.
You're welcome. I mean, Will Leviss, good luck. Let's just put it that way. That's a slap. Is there more slap together team in the NFL than them? No, they just continue to make moves. It is, it's really weird. Not weird per se, but like it's just like they make all these moves and they make some good signings and good trades, but you still look at it's like, ah, it just still feels like a last place team. Man, they're a copy and paste team. They're a team that somebody would, the computer would reject this team on Madden. That's what it is.
The computer be like, no, I'm not bringing this guy in. They're not this guy either, but it's a real NFL team. Good luck to the Titans. Watch them be good. It's the JR sport reshow here on the infinity sports network. We're going to come back on the other side, give you a recap of who got cut, who's not at work. And then you know what? The Kelsey brothers, they're not the only ones who got a new podcast. I'll fill you in the other side. It's the JR sport reshow, the infinity sports network. Don't move.
