It is! The JR Sportbrief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in all over North America.
I hope you had a tremendous Monday. I'll be hanging out with you for the next three hours. This is when the show gets started. Well, it got started an hour ago.
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How about this? In 20 minutes, we got Jeff Howe joining us who covers all things for the athletic, all things NFL. Next hour, we're gonna have a chat with Justin Termini from Sirius XM, NBA radio. And then later on in the show, we're gonna have a chat with a Major League Baseball legend, a two time All Star, a two time World Series champ. His name is Johnny Damon, the freshly shaven Johnny Damon. Yes, he still maintains the shave when he's visiting in with the New York Yankees.
I'm gonna ask him about that as well. So we got Johnny Damon coming through later on in the show. And we've already talked about quite a bit, the bangles and their tagging of T Higgins, whether or not he's going to get a long term contract extension, I'm not banking on it. We talked about Cam Ward, NFL combine is done. And people are saying that Cam Ward has now become much more of a clear cut quarterback number one over Chador Sanders, who did not throw. And then we talked about Sam Darnold, where his future should lie as a quarterback in the NFL. You know, pending on what the Las Vegas Raiders do in the draft, if they pick the door, Chador, Sam Darnold might be a prompt candidate to go out to the desert, I think that would be a good idea for Sam Darnold. You know, when we have this chat with with Jeff Howe, in about 20 minutes, I'll get his thoughts on some of these these free agent quarterbacks. And, you know, we had a caller last hour, we even brought up some of the wide receivers. And it's just like, picking a slim at the wide receiver position right now, when it comes down to free agency, T T Higgins would have been the best wide receiver available. But he got tagged. And you start thinking about some of these other names there. They come they come with a little bit of baggage, maybe a little bit of age Amari Cooper's DeAndre Hopkins, Chris Godwin's of the world, who just blew out his ankle.
And so there is no, there's no clear cut here, clear cut answer on who's going to help just turn the tide from a wide receiver position. But over the weekend, if you weren't too caught up in the NFL combine, if you weren't too caught up in, I don't know, John Cena being a bad guy. Hickey, how does this how does this set him up for movies?
He just has to be a bad guy in all the movies now too. I don't know. Right. I'll be honest. I saw a lot of commotion about that.
I did not really get the significance slash what it means. So I don't know. I guess he's, he's like, if LeBron, if LeBron, who's a great pitchman in sports, I don't know. He named somebody who's a pot. Who's a nice guy who is a nut. Wow.
This is actually, it should be easy. Who's a nice guy in sports that sells stuff. I don't know. Shaq or Shaq current player. Shaq told Shaq yelled at Colby, tell me how my ass tastes. Do you remember that? And do we talk about it here on this show about what he, oh, we did talk about it.
What he did is some teammates. Yeah. Yeah. He's not a nice guy. Wow. This is difficult.
Like it's pretty nice. Okay. A pitchman. No Patrick Mahomes. We understand what his family does. Right.
His family does crazy things, but it's just like, if it's like if Patrick Mahomes was at a make a wish foundation event and he literally said, you know what? Screw all you kids. I'm leaving.
And then he just took the gifts and left. Wow. Yeah. Yep.
That's how it is. Interesting. Wow. Yes.
Screwed them kids. Yeah, it is. It was a busy weekend, but Deebolt Samuel was traded for fifth round pick. And when you think about Deebolt Samuel, you go, oh wow, that's the wide receiver. Oh yeah. He can run the ball.
Oh yeah. He can catch the ball. Oh, look at all the ender rounds and pitches that they run for him. Kyle Shanahan utilizes this guy like a Swiss army knife. He's a former all pro.
He got moved for a fifth round pick because he's entering into the final year of his deal. And so now this is pretty cool. We will see Jayden Daniels with an additional weapon. This will be fun. We'll see what Cliff Kingsbury can do with him as the offensive coordinator and the commanders. And they still need a whole hell of a lot of help on defense. I know they're still trying to figure out what happens with Jonathan Allen, but the commanders, they surprised the living hell out of everybody last year. They were one step away from the Superbowl. Like it's still crazy. And they, they looked the lions in the face and they said, no, we're going to take on the Eagles.
And then they got smashed by them. But to know that they got Deebolt Samuel on the team now, you would think that Deebolt, he's going to show up in good shape. He's going to play the good soldier role because he wants a contract extension. Like the writing was already on the wall, giving all the injuries and the drafting of Ricky Pearsall coming out of Florida with the 49ers. I know Brandon IU blew out his leg. Are they moving him?
Unlikely. Christian McCaffrey got a big deal. They better hope that he can stay healthy.
You still have Kittle. You now have to pay Brock Purdy. It's only a matter of time before we find out what type of massive contract extension that they hand him. And so yeah, Deebo was like, you know what? Just, just move me. We had to deal with an entire off season last year, Brandon IU whining and crying like a baby about not being moved. He wanted to go to Washington. Well, now it's Deebo Samuel and Calvin Johnson, one of the greatest wide receivers of all time. He was on up and Adams today. And he says, you know what? Deebo on the commanders?
Excellent fit. What they have there in Scary Terry to be able to add a veteran, two veteran receivers that know how to make plays that can get open, that can run after the catch. I mean, if Deebo comes in the cap and it's extremely fit going into this year, I mean, I mean, I don't know what to, I mean, what they can't do. The defense, obviously, you know, always continue to tighten that up. But on offense, man, they, they have a scary office. If you got to basically number one receivers.
Oh, come on, man. We've been waiting on this like Jayden Daniels throwing the ball at Terry McLaurin and then having to figure out where Zach Ertz was that, that they could have done better. And now they have now Deebo Samuel, he, he can, he can lose a little bit around the waist. I know you want to take the beating, be an NFL player, take a little bit of a beating, but he looked a little pudgy there with the 49ers.
And I'm not going to say that he quit last year with the 49ers, but the team stuck. Maybe they were able to zero in on him a little bit more, but only 670 yards receiving to go along with three touchdowns. That, that, that's a, that's a poor year.
And that's without me using any additional adjectives. That's just a miserable year for Deebo Samuel. And for a wide receiver, who's 29 years old, looking for his next payday. When you think about how dynamic of a quarterback that Jayden Daniels is, I mean, he led the team in rushing last year with more than almost 900 yards on the ground.
You think about that element. Washington is going to scare the living hell out of people on the offensive side of the ball. It's just a matter of what they do on defense. And so have they caught up to the Philadelphia Eagles yet?
Ah, hell no. You know, would I still take a look at Washington and say, they're going to knock off the Eagles? No, let me know what they do on a defense first, but 12 and five last year with a rookie quarterback who had a chance and an opportunity to be the first rookie QB to start in the Super Bowl. That's pretty damn good.
And they just got him a new weapon. Now, speaking of the team that did win the Super Bowl, this sounds sounds bad, but they're starting to cut the fat. The Philadelphia Eagles have already let Darius Slay know you're done.
You finished here. This guy's been to the Pro Bowl six times after spending five seasons in Philadelphia. The previous seasons he played up in Detroit. That time is over, and we knew this. The Philadelphia tried to reset the defense, and it worked last year when they drafted Cooper DeGene and Quinon Mitchell. Like the writing is on the wall.
Do I take the two guys who just came out of college and cost me nothing? Or do I want to save some cash by telling Darius Slay it's time to go? And Darius Slay pretty much said I know I was going to be a cap casualty.
And you think about Philadelphia and the free agents that they want to resign on the defensive side of the ball. Milton Williams up front, Zach Bonnet, linebacker coming over from the New Orleans Saints, Josh Swett on the edge. Darius Slay was he was unnecessary. He was superfluous. He was he was extra. He's like that extra burger that they told you not to eat. And you still wanted to do it.
Darius Slay did say this on a St. Brown podcast a couple of weeks ago. He says, you know what? They may cut me. They may tell me to take a hike. I still want to play one more year. Listen to this. Yeah.
So what they want to do, you know, I might resign back, hopefully, you know, if I ain't, then we'll see what we're doing, because I do want to play one more year for sure, though. Do you like you like Detroit? You said, huh? I love Detroit. I got nothing but love. That's my second home. I love Detroit. I love Detroit. I love Detroit. I love Detroit.
For sure. The two spots I would love to always be at is either Philly or I mean, Philly. No, I mean to. Well, we know we know where he is not playing. He is not playing in Philadelphia. You know, would they take him back in Detroit? Well, we'll find out soon enough. But Darius Slay, multiple time pro bowler, now a Super Bowl champion this go round here with Philadelphia.
They're giving him the boot. And I'll say this. Washington is they're not they're not in their space yet.
Like, you know what? They could beat them twice in the regular season. I still want to give them the edge over the Philadelphia Eagles. You know, if I want to be impressed, do it in the postseason. It doesn't even have to be in the championship game. You don't have to go out there and, you know, give a reverse beating of what Philadelphia just gave you this past year.
You got to knock them off in the playoffs. And so I give Washington credit for turning the tide. They got to work on that defense.
And, you know, how about how about also and Deebo Samuel probably helped this. Jayden Daniels doesn't need to rush and run the ball all the time. Like he should not be the leading rusher on the team. I'm not a fan of that. We've seen how that worked out for the other guy down in Baltimore.
I don't know if we want to see that from the other guy up in Washington. But this is a good move. They got to work on the defense and get him some more weapons and take advantage of of him and his athleticism before you got to start paying Jayden Daniels.
I don't know, 60 and 65 and 70 million dollars a year. Good move. Not good enough to move or nudge the Eagles in any type of way.
Hickey, what are your thoughts? Deebo will show up. You'll have 800 yards receiving.
You'll have 300, 400 on the ground. What do you think happens here? I think it's a great fit. Like you said, especially the creative offensive coordinator with Cliff Kingsbury, I think you'll fit in. But I'm with you in the sense of I don't think the commanders are anywhere close right now to taking in the Eagles because they weren't a wide receiver away. They need help on the offensive line. They need help stopping the run. They allowed Saquon in the two regular season games to almost go for 300 yards. As we saw in the NFC title game, they put 55 points on him.
That defense needs help. And you mentioned before that Jayden Daniels having almost 900 rushing yards, that could be looked at both positively and negatively. He's very dynamic, but also he can't do it all himself. I think what helps his development in year two and beyond is having some pressure off of his shoulders. They don't have a consistent run game outside of him, which is a little concerning. So it's a nice move. I think he'll fit in with this offense, but they still have other boxes to check before they are able to take down a team in Philly that even with cutting Darius Slay, you still expect them going to 2025 with really little to no weaknesses on the roster.
None. And you would assume that at least two out of the three of the defenders that I had mentioned that the Philadelphia Eagles will likely bring back. And for Washington, yeah, it gets real tricky. We think about some of the quarterbacks that we've seen develop over the past few years, whether it's a Josh Allen, it's a Lamar Jackson. They've all gone through these spaces where it's, well, I can run the football and so I can get the yards myself. But as we've seen them mature and move towards being MVPs, they started throwing a ball around and Jaden, I would say, is a more developed passer than both of them, especially for what we saw given their rookie years.
Jaden, I would say, is far ahead. The guy was almost in a Super Bowl. I mean, Josh Allen and Lamar wish they were knocking on that damn door when they first had their first years to go out there. So Austin Ekler dealing with his injuries and Robinson being the number one slash two running back, they need a little bit more clarity and defined roles as to what's going on. So good on Washington for bringing in Deebo. I know Brandon Iyuk was the one complaining to get out there last year, but it's Deebo Samuel and he's going to go out there and play his ass off for the simple fact that he wants to get paid. He's playing with a dynamic rookie. It's going to take a lot of the attention off of him.
We know Brock Purdy was running absolutely nowhere. And so Deebo, he got a big year in front of him. So if you out there playing fantasy and trying to win some money, pay attention to that guy.
Go ahead and do so. It's the JR Sportbree Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. This portion of the show is brought to you by Ethos Life, the easy way to get life insurance in 10 minutes, up to $2 million in coverage with no medical exam. Just a few health questions. Get your free quote at checkethos.com.
Not available in all states. We are going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to have a conversation with Jeff Howe covers all things NFL for the athletic. I'm going to ask him about Deebo heading to Washington.
What may happen with Darius Slay? We'll get into some of these quarterbacks and wide receivers who need to move what we saw and what we did not see at the NFL combine and whether or not the combine still has the juice that it's had in the past. We'll have that conversation with Jeff Howe on the other side. You are locked into the JR Sportbree Show on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sportbree.
It's the JR Sportbree Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. NFL combine is done. We've got NFL players who are getting tagged. We have players who are getting released. We have guys who are getting new contracts. We got the start of the league year next week to talk about it all, what we've seen, what's going on now, what we'll see over the next few weeks and months. Joining us right now is Jeff Howe, who covers all things NFL.
He does it for the athletic. Jeff, how are you, man? Doing well. How are you? I'm excellent.
Thank you for taking the time to join us. I want to go through a few things that have taken place. Of course, it looked like a lot of smoke and mirrors to kind of poke and prod around. Matthew Stafford returning to LA. Do we know what that number looks like or will look like yet?
Not yet, which is surprising given how quickly this stuff usually tends to come out. I know he was asking for 50 plus per season, which he has every right to do so given the way that he's performed for the Rams and the way the market's really taken off. I don't know what they settled on, but I know, of course, the Rams were hesitant to an expansion because he's kind of year to year at this point with retirement and sort of has been, at least from the team's viewpoint. Talking to people around the league, it was the biggest story in Indianapolis last week at the Combine. I didn't speak to a single person who thought that the Rams were ever going to move him or that Stafford was going to find the massive contract from another team that would have still enticed him to want to leave a team that just made the playoffs to go to a rebuilding situation in his late 30s when it took him basically a decade to experience playoff success in the NFL because of the start with the Lions.
It always made the most sense for the two sides to come to some sort of reasonable conclusion. We just got to see what that number looks like. Jeff Howe is here with us from the Athletics. Speaking of coming to a conclusion on a number, am I correct to think with all the money that the Bengals have already doled out, will have to dole out, that they can do all the talking that they want in the world about T. Higgins and long-term deal. This is likely going to be his final season with Cincinnati, no? The way this process has played out is extremely confusing because this is an organization that, you know, remember going into the Joe Barrow talk at those negotiations, it was like, all right, you know they're not going to let Joe Barrow out the door. They're going to have to step up and pay this guy. But this is an organization that historically has not had those superstar contracts.
And now you're going to tell me that you're going to pay Joe Barrow, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, and we'll see about Trey Hendrickson. But just looking at, we're looking at a potentially unprecedented situation if the Bengals do step up and pay T. Higgins, which if they are going to really truly follow through with this and tag him tomorrow, I mean, which it certainly looks like is going to happen. It's just, it's not sustainable to keep him on that one-year deal. So it just makes more sense for them to try to spread out those cap hits in the future years.
The problem is they're giving T. Higgins all of the leverage in the world. And he already, in my opinion, already had it short of the franchise maneuver, but he's going to come in at over 30 per season. And Jamar Chase is absolutely going to break Justin Jefferson's record of 35 per season.
He's going to get a whole lot closer to 40 if not break it. There's never been, you know, last season, the Eagles had Devante Smith and AJ Brown, both at 25 plus. It worked out great for them.
There's no buyer's remorse there, but that's the exception. You know, the only other team in the league that had two receivers at 25 plus was the Miami Dolphins and they didn't do so hot. And that model has not worked for them yet. There were, I think it was four other teams that had two receivers at 20 plus they combined for one playoff win. So now you're going to tell me you've got an organization that historically has not doled out these superstar contracts. And now you're going to try to build your team with a quarterback at 55, a wide receiver at 35 plus and another wide receiver at 30 plus for the first time in NFL history. All the while, you just, those three guys, those three superstars, the quarterback and the two receivers just played as well as they could have conceivably played last season.
And they still didn't make the playoffs because they had so many issues on the offensive line and on defense. So in order for this whole thing to work, they better start hitting at very close to a hundred percent draftery because they have a lot of other problems on the roster to hammer out. Oh, it sounds, maybe they're trying to break the stigma that they're a little on the cheap side. Maybe, maybe that's it.
I don't know. I mean, if there's anybody to deal with, it's certainly these three. It's just, I'll believe it when I see it. And Jeff Howe joining us from the athletic, I feel the same way. We all know that teams want to try to get that rookie quarterback in and try to get them showed out before they got to pay him the big bucks. We all know about Cam Ward, Chidor Sanders.
I know that Jackson Dart got him and garnered a lot of attention over the weekend as well. What are your thoughts on how this will play out with all these teams that need QBs and what has been said isn't the biggest QB draft? Yeah, it's a really tough year for a handful of teams. That's why, that's why the Stafford thing last week sort of took off because it was like, oh my goodness, you've got all of these uncertain veteran quarterbacks who are about to hit the market for agency or trade. And then you've got all these uncertain rookie quarterbacks coming out in the draft. And then Matthew Stafford potentially falls in your lap. Now again, we knew that he wasn't really going to move, but that was, that was the biggest carrot on the end of the stick that teams like the Giants and the Raiders could have possibly foreseen.
But now you've got to turn your attention to what is the best scenario for your organization? And you've got a unique situation with the Raiders with Tom Brady taking over as minority owner. I covered Tom Brady for 12 years in New England. I can't imagine he's got a heavy appetite for poor quarterback plays. So he's going to try to solve that position as quickly as possible, but how's he going to do it? I mean, Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll have certainly been connected.
That was, that was brought to my attention. I mean, before the season even ended, uh, as a possibility if Pete Carroll got that job. And then you look at Kirk Cousins, you know, the, the one attractive thing about him is you're probably betting on him having a better year coming off the Achilles. And because of the offset language in the contract, assuming he gets released by the Falcons and you, you got a situation like Russell Wilson and the Steelers last season where you could play, if you're the Raiders or whoever brings him in, you're only on the hook for the minimum base salary.
So you're talking like 1.2 million or something like that. So that's pretty attractive if you're still in a rebuild and just trying to keep your head above water. Uh, but you know, that's, and then you've got Sam Darnold who for basically three months of the season looked like he was a lock to get 40 to 45 million annually. And then because the Vikings offensive line crumbled in the last two games, his, his market is a much bigger question mark, but then you, so it's like, what are you going to really do here? And then if you go all in on the draft, you know, cam ward physically has a lot going for him. He's, he's got to have better tape. He's, he's made a lot of mistakes against substandard defenses. So the big question is how quickly is he going to be able to adjust to the NFL?
Uh, should or Sanders? I think there's a gap between those two and Jackson dart might even be catching up to should or Sanders at beauty's in the eye of the beholder with these guys. But the other risk here is more of a hidden risk is that the 26 draft class is supposed to be dynamite with the quarterback. If arch Manning comes out and there's a handful of other guys who have teams really excited. So if you, if you draft a guy in the top five and you whiff, you might also be taking yourself out of the running for a quarterback in 26.
So this is, this is a really, really tough decision for these teams. And then, you know, you have the fact that everybody knows how desperate the giants are to get a quarterback, but you've got Joe Shane and Brian Deval whose jobs almost certainly hinge on getting the right quarterback in town and getting immediate success out of them. And Jeff, how was joining us on the JR sport brief show when you talk about these, these quarterbacks who are available and who might be available next year, we know Travis Hunter also helps. I don't want to say complicate what this draft looks like, but we know he can be selected as a corner and have a package of plays at wide receiver. Where do you think he's most likely to end up knowing that some of these teams may just say, Hey, let's, let's, let's tank and try again next year.
Yeah. I mean, that's the thing I can't get out of my head is when the Titans were starting their off season process and they said they weren't going to pass on a generational talent at number one. And, you know, I know they have people there who really like Cam Orton. I strongly believe Cam Orton is under consideration for the number one pick in Tennessee. But when you play generational talent that early in the off season before the scouting process is really anywhere close to completion. I mean, Travis Hunter is the name that jumped out at me and you know, I really like Abdul Carter calling him a generational talent.
You know, I'm not sure I would make that leap. I think he's got a chance to be elite defender. So I think Hunter could go as early as number one. And I know the Browns really like him too. So I don't see him lasting on the board very long.
It's just these teams have to figure out like, if it's still the quarterback musical chairs is just, it's going to take a while for that all to settle. If the teams I talked to by and large thought that Hunter was going to be a corner, a full-time cornerback, who could play maybe upwards of 15 snaps a game at wide receiver. And, you know, to Travis Hunter's credit, he hasn't walked into these meetings with teams and been like, oh, I only want to play this one position.
It's like, hey, you know what? You draft me, you play me where you want to play me. And that's a really cool sign of his character because, you know, I was looking at the numbers the other day. You average out the top five average annual value, average annual value contracts at wide receiver, somewhere around $32 million. Again, if you're a top five wide receiver in the NFL, if you're a cornerback, it drops 10 million per year.
So think about the amount of money that he's leaving on the table. If these teams really do want to draft him a corner and have him as a spot receiver, which I do believe is the most conducive way to have some, or the most, the best path to have some success at the NFL level, just because of the workload and all that other stuff. But the fact that Travis Hunter is not saying, hey, you know what?
I want to be a receiver exclusively when you're that talented enough to do that, you know, that shows that's a really strong example of the great high quality character that he's bringing to the table. Oh, Jeff, we know that the NFL has certainly televised and made this more of a prime time exhibition during the combine that it has been in recent years. We also know that teams don't necessarily send out as much scouts and talents as they used to. We don't see some of the top guys performing so they don't lower their stock.
Has the draft lost a little bit of its luster without the big names competing? You know, it's always fun to watch these guys compete, especially the quarterbacks, you know, when they have a chance to share a field together. But I also see the other side of it, like from a business sense, the amount of money that these guys have on the table, the amount of money that they're starting to make in college, too. It doesn't make as much sense to go out there and Indy where the equipment's a little new.
Sometimes the field can be slippery in this type of environment. And you're throwing the guys that you basically just met, whereas you can do this whole thing in a controlled environment in your pro day. And they've got they've all got these QB gurus, you know, speaking of that position specifically, but you know, the other positions have it as well. They've all got these QB coaches who are able to script 60 to 75 passes and they are able to go through this script day after day after day. So by the time their pro day comes around, you know, they've been going through this for two weeks or maybe they want to maybe they have a late edition like a day or two before and talking about like one or two plays. But like these guys have this thing down to the science. So I absolutely understand why they're pushing it off to the pro days.
And you know what? The other thing like people are going to watch the combine. It's going to do ratings no matter what. I think you could also make I'm not I swear I'm not trying to advertise for the league here.
That's not my place. But like the other thing is now you're you're adding a lot more TV interest for the pro days because you can just turn on these workouts in mid to late March. Yeah, the more content the merrier. We see the NFL is good at that.
That salary cap continues to rise and rise and rise every year. Hey, Jeff, I appreciate the time. Where can people follow you and all your work with the athletic? I'm at Jeff P. Howe on Twitter. I keep telling myself I am on Blue Sky somewhere.
Same name, but I keep forgetting that I have it. So I'm just trying to keep all this stuff straight. You can find me on the athletic under under my author bio, all the stories and stuff that we put out.
Yeah, I'm probably I hope I'm not too hard to find, but I appreciate you guys having me tonight. Of course, of course. I know things will be busy over the next, well, forever.
This is where the NFL runs and does business. Now, Jeff, appreciate the time. We'll catch you soon, OK? All right. Thanks a lot.
Appreciate you. No doubt about it. That's Jeff Howe, NFL insider for the athletic.
It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We talked about it. You heard it from him. When it comes down to paying some of these wide receivers, it is just that it's a whole new world and how the Bengals are going to try to fit things together. I think they're selling their fans just a load of garbage. That's just the reality of it. Eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven.
That's eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven. I think T. Higgins is going to be in his last year with these Cincinnati Bengals on this twenty six million dollar franchise tag. Speaking of of shoveling the fan base, a lot of garbage. We know what the Dallas Mavericks did weeks ago by trading Luka Doncic to the Lakers.
Looks like the Dallas Mavericks are now punching the fans in the stomach again. I'll explain on the other side of the break. And then also speaking of wide receivers getting money. What happens with Davante Adams? His name isn't thrown around the same amount as some of these other guys, but eventually the New York Jets are going to give him the boot.
Where does he go? We'll talk about that as well. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief.
It is the J.R. Sport Brief show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you so much to Jeff Howe for joining us from the athletic to talk about everything going on in the NFL. It's been a well, I feel like it's been nonstop since the conclusion of the Super Bowl. But of course, now with the NFL draft come combined finishing up over the weekend, we got guys who are going to get cut.
Darius Slay, Davante Adams. Think about T. Higgins being franchise tagged, and apparently they may tag him tomorrow with the intention of trading him. So we'll see what happens with T. Higgins, who is ultimately going to get paid like a number one wide receiver, whether it happens to be in Cincinnati or elsewhere.
We'll find out sooner than later. If you missed a conversation that we just had with Jeff Howe, go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. I want you to think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all of your car care needs.
Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Now, I told you about Davante Adams and we'll get to Davante in a second. The NFL is always delivering content to fans. NFL Combine used to be something I could watch in the middle of the day.
No mas. Now you got to sit around and watch it in prime time and you got to give the people what they want. I mean, damn it, that's something that I learned in a movie. You got to get the people what they want. You got to keep them going. If you're a fan of the Dallas Mavericks, they already punched you in the gut. They already took your soul away when they traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Now, the fans in Dallas, they have another reason to be upset with these masks. The Dallas Mavericks are raising ticket prices for next year. The Mavericks, after moving Luka Doncic to LA, disappointing all of the city, the state, the Dallas Mavericks, have said that they are increasing.
This is what they said to front office sports. The Dallas Mavericks remain fully dedicated to delivering the best live game experience in the NBA. As a part of that commitment, ticket pricing adjustments for the 25-26 season will reflect ongoing investments in the team and fan engagement. They really actually said that it's going to reflect investments in the team and fan engagement. The last time I checked, the Dallas Mavericks decided to de-invest in the team by giving Luka Doncic the boot. Mavs told season ticket holders their renewal packages will increase by an average of 8.61% next year.
Wow. Dallas Mavericks fans are not happy. First, you get rid of Luka. And then, well, you just kick the fans while they're down. Picky, the new ownership group with the Mavs, do they know what's going on right now?
I'm assuming they do and just don't care, which is probably worse than having their head buried in the sand, right? Uh-oh. Uh-oh. They're not approaching, you know, Oakland or the former Oakland Athletics territory, are they?
I really hope not. And I'm choosing to not believe, I don't call it, I guess it's not a conspiracy theory, but I guess a thought out there about this whole trade to begin with. But I will say everything they've done and said, including this latest ticket markup here, since the Luka trade, has been as bad as it could have gone and has just continued to alienate fans every single week.
And this is the part that you gotta, like, no, people aren't stupid. The league understands what's going on. The league knows this is not good for the Dallas Mavericks, it's not good for their fans. But if you're the commissioner, you understand that you work for the owners.
And so, yeah, you can certainly, you know, lend advice and talk and, hey, I need you to talk to this guy and talk to this team. But ultimately, they will go out and do whatever the hell they want to do. And so it's kind of crazy that the Mavs are raising ticket prices right now. Hickey, you mentioned the conspiracy. Luka Doncic changes his mind on long-running Lakers fan conspiracy after the trade deadline move. I didn't believe it before, but they say if somebody is out a long time, then they play against the Lakers with a chuckle. So I didn't believe it at the time, but obviously it's the Lakers. So I think that is normal. Okay.
All right. Worst conspiracies in the world, but the Los Angeles Lakers are just mowing teams down right now. And the Dallas Mavericks are I guess they're waiting on Anthony Davis to show up and be consistent. So I don't know how you can write a statement about how you are reinvesting in the fans and the team. And you just got rid of a guy who took you to the finals.
That's it's like the ultimate slap in the face here. So you know what? When we get to next hour, we're going to have a conversation with Justin Termini from Sirius XM, NBA radio, NBA today host in the afternoons. I'm going to ask Justin his thoughts on, you know, what the hell is going on with, with Dallas and yeah, Mark Cuban is not the, not the primary owner, but now he's just, he's just there. I remember when he sold the team, Hickey, do you remember he said that he would still have say over basketball decisions. And that was, that was a rather odd thing to hear, but you see what's going on now.
He got no saying nothing. That is correct. Yeah. So that agreement, whether it's a handshake agreement or whatever it may be, I don't know if it expired. I don't know if it was just, Hey, just we'll say this to just get him to sell and revoke it. But yeah, clearly if he thought that was going to happen, it is absolutely not happening. Yeah, no, that's a, that's a bad deal. I've never heard of someone selling the majority of something and then still saying, Hey, you know what?
I could still do what the hell I want with it. Okay. Right.
You wouldn't buy a house from someone who then also would still live in the house with you. Oh no, no, no, no, no. I mean, hey, maybe for a couple of billion Hickey, maybe there's some big ass houses that these guys are dealing with. How many residents you think Mark Cuban has? Oh boy. At least, at least five. You got, you have to have one, you got to have two places in Texas, right? Two.
I'm trying to, you know, spread across the country here. Hmm. Right. No Dallas. I figure you live in Dallas. Like why have a second house in Texas? Well, you gotta have a big, you gotta have a mansion in Dallas and then you gotta have a place downtown somewhere.
You know, you gotta, uh, like a penthouse or something like that. Yeah, of course. Okay.
So if you're going to don't want to go, you know, too far after a late game. There you go. I see. Okay. Okay.
I could, I could buy that. Mark Cuban has to have a place in New York, right? Definitely.
Have a place in Los Angeles, maybe. Right. Somewhere in that area.
Yeah, absolutely. And I don't know, maybe, maybe Northern Cal, I don't think he goes to Northern California much. I know he's made his money in tech. Uh, I don't know.
What is that? Four places. I think he's like a skier. Like, could you see him out? Like bright as a house in Montana as well.
Is it house in Montana as we learned this week? Like, could he be like one of those guys? Yeah, of course. And I don't, I don't think he goes down to Miami much, but what do I know? Right. I don't, I don't track his plane. Like they do with what's her name?
Uh, Taylor Swift. They track a plane, man. You seen that? Um, I thought that was illegal. I guess not. How's that illegal? Well, I guess it's really not illegal.
I should say, but doc singing on social media was always a big thing of you're going to get banned. If you do that, if a plane goes up in the sky, is it not? I mean, unless it's a government plane, is it not up for grabs to track it? And like you said, plenty of people, she, she is the only one people care about her emissions, where she's going, what her flights look like. Yeah. I saw something that said she took, uh, an eight minute flight that could have been like a 45 minute drive for her.
I did see that as well. You know what, if you got the money, the time is money, man. That's a lot of how much, how much do you have to pay for gas for that? Damn eight minutes in the air. Oh man.
Hickey. I think the shortest flight I've ever been on is maybe 45 minutes, eight minutes in the air. Eight minutes is crazy. One from one county to the next.
I don't even know what the elevation would be on that one. That's a flex right there. Yeah. Hey, what did you do? Who drives 45 minutes? I got to go to the next town over.
Let's hop on the PGI really fast. Yeah. Eight minutes, whatever. And Travis is going to play NFL.
He can't wait to fly on her plane whenever he's done. Okay. Uh, eight five five two one two 42 27.
That's eight five five two one two 42 27. Hey, in about 30 minutes or so, we're going to have a conversation with Justin Termini from Sirius XM NBA radio. I want to get his thoughts on what's going on with Dallas. You know, how, how impressed is he with what's going on in Golden State and then also Los Angeles, the Lakers man in number two in the West.
We'll have that conversation in a bit. When we come back, we're going to get into some more football. I mentioned Davante Adams. We'll talk about what his future may hold. And then with all these quarterbacks moving and shaking, we have one quarterback who he's actually bigging himself up. I'm going to tell you about a QB who you don't hear about a lot. It's the JR sport reshow, infinity sports network. Don't move.
