The Rundown with Desmond Johnson - Panthers Training Camp - August 3rd 2019

Everything you know Will change. Like to have everybody's attention for a moment. You the man!

Now what's that mean? You the man. And now, ladies and gentlemen.

Well, now all of a sudden, you're stepping up to the next level of competition. Um Alright, alright, alright, alright, listen up, listen up! Welcome to The Rundown. Here's Desmond Johnson. Saturday, Sports Love fans.

Welcome to the rundown. We are back from summer break. Just in time. football. From the Four Man Rush podcast, Kevin Avery will be with us today to discuss his observations from Carolina Panthers training camp.

Down in Spartanburg, we'll update you on Bowman Gray's scoreboard heading into the races today. The voice of the Madhouse Randy Pettit will be in the rundown hot seat to discuss the suspensions of Bowman Gray drivers John Brown and Jason Myers. And what it means for the point chase with three Saturdays to go. Plus, we look at the NFL top 100 for 2019, pick our hits and misses, much, much more. I am your host, Desmond Johnson.

I am in studio, joined by my man Rod Funderberg. New official addition to the rundown, Brandon Blakeney in the house. Yes, sir. Aaron Gabriel running our ones and twos. Sawyer Dylan is on vacation.

He'll be back with us next week. 336-777-1600 is the number to call or chime in on any of our topics today. And our Twitter poll question for today, I'm going to let Aaron tell the public what that is. And you can find that at SportsHub Triad on Twitter right now.

So go and vote on it. Aaron, what's our Twitter poll question for today? Good morning, Triad. Twitter poll question for today. Should the Dallas Cowboys pay Zeke his money?

or let that man hold out.

So, pretty simple, straightforward question. Yeah, I hope the fans definitely tune in on that one. Give us your ear, let us know what you're thinking, my man. Yes, because I am the biggest Dallas Cowboy fan. My man's the destiny.

That's right. Yeah, that's right. Thunderbird, I am here. Listen, I got the best, the best jersey on. Tell everybody what jersey I got.

What jersey you got on right now? Oh, oh, the Thunderbird jersey. Oh, okay.

So, he got the Cowboys custom. Cowboys custom, baby. Y'all didn't know I played for Jerry Jones back in the day. There's a camp body. That's a camp body.

That's a camp bud. 336777-600. It's the liberty to call to chime in. Go vote on that poll. We'll give you updates on that throughout the show.

Hit us on Twitter, SportsHub Triad, or at Sports Carolina One. Tell us what you think about everything we're going through right now. First, a little bit of business we need to take care of. If you want to see the Winston-Salem Dash this season, you're running out of time, so you only have a couple of weeks left in the season. We've got tickets for $7.

Check out the Sports Carolina monthly Winston-Salem Dash deal. Go to sportscarolinamonthly.com. Click on the Dash ticket special at the top of the homepage. Get your ticket vouchers and enjoy. Baseball action in the triad.

Single game tickets are only $7. It's a $16 value. These are premium home plate seats, guys.

So definitely take the kiddos out to watch the Dash exclusively from SportsCarolinaMonthly.com. This is good for the August 9th through the 11th home stand.

So that's actually next week, next weekend. And there's only a limited supply available.

So go buy those now. The Wyndham Championship going on in Sedgefield. Me and Rod got a chance to go out and eat brunch there. Was it Wednesday? That was on Wednesday.

Was that morning? I had a ball. Yeah. And I'm going to tell you what. I never take pictures of my food, but I took a picture of my food that day and sent it to some people.

And you're talking about jealous? Yeah. Oh, man, it was good. We had everything from omelets to waffles with the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries on top. It was crazy.

We had, if you wanted salmon, you could have salmon. You could have turkey. It was everything. It was healthy. Yeah, Brussels sprouts.

Man, it was great. It was awesome. Asparagus, whatever you wanted. And then they had the dessert. Everything from peel on pie, chocolate cake, New York-style cheesecake.

They had it all. Any kind of beverage you wanted. And I mean any kind. Yeah, any kind. Like Largaritaville was on the top of the egg in the morning out of the window.

So, but yeah, no, shout out to Haskell Shelton, our man Johnny O that was with us. You can check. Check us out, franchise player sport podcast. We'll talk a little bit about that a little bit later on in the show. Let's go ahead and get into this.

Episode. I did want to. I'm going to give you updates on the Wyndham that's going on right now. They've already teed off. Round three is already in progress.

Bion Hung on. I might have butchered his name. He's been killing it. Yeah, he's leading right now. He's 13 under par.

Bryce Garnett is in second, 12. 12 under par. Both of them are going to tee off together at 2:10 this afternoon. Webb Simpson's tied for third. Excuse me, with a bunch of other guys.

He's actually in a large group of people, tied for third. We'll give you updates on this. throughout the show. Because there's a bunch of people about to start teeing off here at 10 o'clock throughout the rest of the morning.

So we'll definitely get into that and keep you posted throughout the show as well. Let's get into, I wanted to start off the show with the NFL Top 100. It is complete for the season. There's some pretty big jumps and some pretty big fall-offs for this year. I wanted to take a look and see if any of these players got it right.

Now, for those that don't know, the NFL Top 100 list, this has been an inaugural, well, this has been a list that's been on since 2011. It's determined by votes by NFL players only, and it's collected by NFL Films. This year, they collected 1,098 ballots according to the league.

So. Just if you don't know right now, Aaron Donald was voted number one. Ah, the season. The defensive tackle for the Los Angeles Rams. He's the reigning defensive player of the year.

And he is only the second time since the list started that a defensive player took the top honors. J.J. Watt did it in 2015. And it's the first time in the top 100 countdown that had two defensive players finished in the top three in voting. Donald finished number one.

We had Drew Brees at number two, Khalil Mack, number three. And I would actually switch those two up based on the season that both of them had.

Well, I would switch Breeze up. Yeah, I would switch Khalil Mack and Drew Brees, to be honest with you. Khalil Mack is just a total game changer. Oh, yeah. At this point in his career, Pat Mahomes, the Raininet League MVP, number four.

And then Todd Gurley at number five. Just looking at some of the rest of the top 10. Tom Brady, six, Antonio Brown, seven. Aaron Rodgers, eight. Julio Jones, nine, and Von Miller, ten.

Let's just start with the top ten. The first thing that sticks out to me is Drew Brees at number two. Cause like I think Sometimes when I see the players are voting on this list, some of the players don't understand what the list is supposed to be. Like, it's not a list based on who was the best last year. It's a list based on who you think is going to be in these spots at the end of the upcoming year.

And, like, that's a different type of vote.

So, I'm so I'm supposed to sit here and think the players think that Drew Brees at 41 years old is the second best player in the NFL? I don't even think he should be higher than Pat Mahomes on this. No, I don't think so. Definitely not. Yeah.

Definitely not. I mean, Drew Brees, he should be a little further down. I mean, if you want to make him top 10, that's cool. I'd have him around 10 yards or whatever. If you keep him top 10, I'd have him at 10.

For sure. Not this hot year. For this upcoming year, yeah. Yeah. But number two seems a little kind of.

Far-fetched to me. Like, that just seems way too high. It's built on longevity at this point. Right. And then, you know, you never know.

This could be one of those deals where guys say, hey, the Saints got the short end of the stick last year in the NFC Championship game. Kept them out of the Super Bowl.

So, you know, maybe they have a chip on their shoulder. Maybe Drew Brees is planning on coming out. That could be the only reason that I would believe they would rank Drew Brees that high if it's voted on by the players. They lost Mark Ingram, the Saints. And we haven't done, we're doing our division previews starting this week as well.

NFC and AFC East a little bit later in the show, but. They lost Mark Ingram, the Saints. I was looking at their wide receiver stats when Michael Thomas signed it happen earlier this week. Michael Thomas had like a hundred some catches or whatever. The rest of the guy, I think the next Wide receiver had like 30 or something like that.

Ted Ginn only had like 17 catches last year. Like, it's Michael Thomas and nothing else. Michael Thomas and everybody else. Yeah. So they're basing Drew Brees' ranking on that.

I thought he threw for 5,000 yards last year. He didn't. He didn't even crack 4,000. He completed 74.4% of his passes, which is insane. That was Ben Rofflesberger that threw for over 5,000.

Okay. Drew only threw for $3,992. It was more short pass than usual. He was going downfield, busting it open. I don't think he can.

I think, I mean, he's 41, 42, right? Or 42. Brees is 41. Yeah, Brady's 42. Brady's 42.

So that's the top 10. Mahomes probably should have been the top-ranked quarterback based off of what happened last year, what people think is going to happen this year. And he's second on here behind Breeze. I agree. And I would have Aaron Rodgers ranked ahead of Drew Brees, actually.

Aaron Rodgers is an interesting one because I'm starting to feel more like. Aaron Rodgers is being put this high on these lists because of his name, but not really. What has he done the past five years to justify him still being the top 10 guy? He looked banged up last year. He was banged up, but I tell you what, Aaron Rodgers is tough, and this guy plays ball.

Like a couple years ago in the playoffs, there was no way in the world that they should have beat the Cowboys. And Aaron Rodgers rolls out of the pocket, rolls to his left right-handed quarterback. And I mean, hits his tight end in stride on the corner. No one else could kiss the ball but the tight end. And it hurt.

And then you remember Rodgers got hurt at the beginning of the season. I forgot his leg or something. Yeah, they were losing. He comes out the second half, and what does he do? Brings his team back and they win.

Keeps the playoffs. I would rank Aaron Rodgers ahead of Drew Brees in the top 10. I wouldn't rank him ahead of our very own Aaron Gabriel's Mr. Patrick Holmes. I wouldn't do that.

But I would have Aaron Rodgers ahead of Drew Brees.

Now, looking at the wide receivers here. Antonio Brown's the highest-ranked wide receiver at seven. I'm really surprised DeAndre Hopkins wasn't in the top 10. He was number 11. Yes, he just missed it.

I think DeAndre Hopkins has got this crazy game. It's like you can't really name one specific play that DeAndre Hopkins did. You're just like, oh man, did you see that play Hopkins did? He's just real consistent. But like.

Julio, Odell Beckham Jr., Antonio Brown, they have specific plays you can call back on and be like, You remember when I don't know, Odell did this, or when you know what I mean? Hopkins had a catch like that last year that kind of made you forget about Odell's catch a little bit. Yeah, I mean, talking about that between the legs catch, yeah. Yeah, that was nuts. They called it back, they called it offensive PI.

It was, but they called it offensive PI. That don't count. No, it counts, bro, because he caught that between his legs. I don't care. It was bananas.

It was nuts. And I'll have to be honest with you. I don't get to see Hopkins very often live. Normally, when I'm seeing him play, it's because there's a Sunday night game, Monday night game. But usually the one o'clock games, I don't get a chance to see him.

So that could have something to do with it. Michael Thomas from the Saints, we were just talking about came in at 13. Alvin Kamara came in at 14. I think that's a little too high for Kamara. I'm sorry.

I know what Kamara does, but I see him, and I know I have a guy just like that in Christian McCaffrey in Carolina. And honestly, if I had to choose between the two, I'm picking McCaffrey. Like, McCaffrey's bigger, especially this year. He, I don't know what he did. He's definitely bigger.

He's definitely bigger. He didn't lose any weight. I think he said he gained five pounds, but you can look at him and see he's gained a bunch of muscle and he can catch. He's a wide receiver. He runs the best.

Route tree of any running back in the entire league. He does. And he's Cam's safety blanket. He's going to take over the safety blanket role that Greg Olson had for the past. You know, six years or whatever, it became McCaffrey last year.

Where if Cam couldn't get it down the field, he just let everybody run out and he just dumped into McCaffrey and let McCaffrey get 15 yards. I'm like, you should have been doing that for the past five years. I mean, it helps everything all the way around. I think Cam's finally going to get it. We're going to talk Panthers in the next segment here with Kevin Avery from the Four Man Rush podcast.

If you haven't got a chance, definitely check that out, especially this time of the year, because they give a lot of insight, a lot of game tape, a lot of articles on the Panthers. They've been in Spartanburg during the opening week of training camp, so we'll get some looks from him. Speaking of the Panthers, I was trying to see. Where they are on this list. And I think Christian McCaffrey is the highest ranked one at four.

No, I'm sorry, Luke Keekly is the highest ranked one. Yeah. And that's a 24. Um Then you got Christian McCaffrey at 42. I believe, I think the Panthers only had four on here.

Gerald McCoy is in the 70s, 75, and then you got Cam at 87. Which I think might be a bit too low. And I think a lot of it has to do with the players not knowing what the situation was going to be with his shoulder when they voted. Yeah. Because the only other quarterback.

Rated below Cam Newton, surprisingly enough, is Carson Wentz at 96. And I think that's the same way with him, that they didn't know what he was going to be like coming back from injury. But Carson Wentz has only completed one full season of football. Like the past two years, he has not been on the field. When the season was near the end, that's always some kind of freak accident.

Nick Foles isn't back, save him this time. Yeah, but like, I don't trust Carson Wentz anyway. I know he's a good guy, good player, but yeah. Cam, what do you think about Cam? He drops.

He was number 25 last year. Drops from 25 to 87. I think it's based off that injury, just people not being sure. But I think he's going to be in for an MVP type of season this year, to be completely honest with you. Yeah, I do too.

And I don't want to get too excited about it, but I'm looking at the roster and what they did in the offseason. And the only hang-up that everybody had about the Panthers was Cam's shoulder. Was Cam's shoulder going to be all right? If it's all right, Panthers can challenge and do this, that, and the other. I think it's all right, or not all right.

I think it's better than what people thought it would be. And Curtis Samuel is showing out in training camp right now, it's his third year. DJ Moore is showing out. It's his second year.

So you got two really good young. Rookie contract wide receivers. Chris Hogan is another guy. Chris Hogan's underrated pickup they got. They revamped the defense.

Bruce Irvin coming over from Seattle. Um, Gerald McCoy to help in the middle. They still have Danteri Poe, KK Short. I mean, like, they are loaded on the edge. Yeah, Burns, they drafted.

And then you got Ron Rivera reverting back to the defense. Running the defensive coordinator. Which he should have been doing anyway. You know, I was thinking about that too. It's like, it's funny.

An NFL it feels like it's more common to have Offensive-minded guys be the head coach and the offensive coordinator. But how many teams have the defensive-minded coach also be the defensive coordinator? It doesn't seem like that happens as often, but it should, shouldn't it? I mean, Like, Rivera shouldn't have to answer questions about that to anybody. And if he does, he should just be like, Sean McVay runs the offense in LA.

I mean, There's guys that run the defense, I guess. Yeah, maybe Belichack. Andy Reed. Andy Reid runs the offense in Kansas City. And he runs the offensive.

And nobody questions it. Jason Garrett was running the offense in Dallas for the past three, four years. Yeah, until Jerry Jones put a stop to that. Yeah, he did. He's like, no, sir, this is not going to work anymore.

But no, I agree with you. I think if you, as a coach and you've been an assistant coach, wherever you made your bones, whether it was on offense or whether it was on defense, you should come back and there should be no reason that you're a head coach, that whatever your specialty was, that defense or offense should be top notch if that's what got you a head coaching position. I mean, granted, don't get me wrong, when you're a head coach, I know you have leadership responsibilities. You now have to be a leader of men, but there is no way if you're a defensive coordinator that your defense should slide.

So I'm glad to see Ron Rivera back on the defensive side of the ball. And I think really that's what's going to help them to get into the playoffs and win a championship. You know, I've always been big on defense. That's just my thing. If your defense is playing well, I think you got a shot.

Real quick, I'm noticing here that. Uh, Bobby Wagner looks like he's the highest-rated linebacker, and he just got a big deal from Seattle.

Well, except for Von Miller, but Von Miller's number 10.

So, he's the so it was Von Miller, then uh, Bobby Wagner, and then uh, looks like Luke Keekly. He's the highest middle linebacker. See, that was my question. You taking Bobby Wagner over Luke Keekly? No.

Yes. Really? Bobby Wagner is a monster. Over Luke Keekly's. And it came in the same draft class.

That's what I'm saying. I'm still taking Luke. Based off Luke Keekly's. I don't know. Bobby Wagner.

Running pick sixes back. That dude is sideline to sideline. No disrespect to Luke Keith because he's a monster as well. But that could be a little hometown bias, which is understandable. Yeah, the only reason also given Luke Keekly's concussion history, I got to take Bobby Wagner.

That would be my reasoning if I took Wagner, is I'm not sure with Keegly, you know, getting hurt. Because when I saw him go off the field that time and he was, you know. Jacked up, had tears in his eyes right there. I was like, wow. Could that possibly affect you later on?

You know, how bad are you actually injured? You know what I mean?

So I don't know, but I mean, they're both going to come at me with the Homer thing with Luke. But I mean, it's not like Luke ain't got the stats to back up. Oh, he does. They're both great linebackers. You literally can't go wrong with either one.

They're both definitely compared to preference. Because this is like one of the things that's bothered me ever since Bobby Wagner got this deal. Because first I was like, well, dang, they got to give Luke the same type of money because he's going to be up here in a year or two himself. And I mean, Wagner has championship experience, too. That makes a difference.

Yeah, he does have a ring, and Luke does not. And they both 100 tackles each year, over 100 tackles in both their seven seasons in the league.

So, I mean, it's close. The only thing I see that might could separate them in 2018 is Keekly missed non-tackles. And. Wagner only missed five out of 276. See, that's so nitpicking, I guess.

Bobby Wagner. Bobby Wagner didn't get juked by an 11-year-old at a summer camp this year, did he? Luke Keekly got his revenge on that 11-year-old right after, too. He was in a position where he needed to get revenge on an 11-year-old. And that 11-year-old knew what was up at that point.

They didn't tell you he was the number one running back in 2035. Right, exactly. Wow.

So, but Bobby Wagner, okay, five-time Pro Bowler, four-time all-pro, he's got a Super Bowl ring. Luke Keekly. Six-time Pro Bowler, five-time all-pro, 2012 AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. Wasn't Luke Keekly Defensive Player of the Year in 2015? The year they went fifteen and one, didn't Luke win defensive player of the year?

I'm not sure. I don't know. I know J.J. was a bit more like that. No, that was Von Miller.

Von Miller won it that year. Could have Schwarz Keekly won a Defensive Player of the Year award. Or maybe Vaughn does have. Keith Luke forgotten. I thought it was the 2015 season, but maybe I'm wrong.

I don't know. But he was rookie of the year, 2012. I mean, they're pretty much the same player.

Well, I mean and then I guess the question will be, you know, which player makes the folks around him much better? You know, because then that's going to come into play too. If you're a guy who can bring your team around you and you can pull them together and make everybody play well, you know, I'm probably going to pick that guy because that means you have leadership skills and leadership qualities that can translate on the field.

So, uh, but like I said, I don't think you go wrong with either one, Wagner or Keekly. Yeah, they're both quarterbacks out there. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, that's what I love about Luke so much. Luke Keekly was the 2013 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

I knew he had one on here. Pro football. reference needs to step their game up because they don't have they don't have it on his stats anywhere But I knew he had won one. I just couldn't remember when it was. But all right, so they're kind of the same guy.

So I hope David Tepper is paying attention because he's got some money he's going to start paying out here a little bit, really, based on this season coming up. And how Keekly plays, the defense plays, Cam plays, because Cam is going to be coming up for a contract here too. After next year, and they'd be wise to get him locked in after the season is over, unless they want to pay my man $150 million or whatever, because the market's going to get reset. Again. uh probably next year Because Pat Mahomes will be up.

They can finally sign after next year's over with and a bunch of others. He's going to break the book.

So, but I mean, we'll talk some more Carolina Panther talk here. Coming up, the Panthers started their training camp while we were gone. Luckily, we have some of the best in the business to break it down for us. Kevin Avery from the Four Man Rush podcast joins us to discuss all things Panthers next on the rundown. You're listening to The Rundown with Desmond Johnson.

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I was listening to a stone's throw with Ryan Stone last week. The new episode was up, and he was talking about the NFL quality podcast. Definitely check that out. Franchise players is myself, Rod Funderberg, John Oszewski, and Haskell Shelton is like our Our our shadow like Member. He's there.

He's there in the spirit. He's that blue guy. Yeah, he's there. He's there. So we're the franchise players sports podcast.

Definitely look that up as well. The new episode is out. Should Cam Newton be a Hall of Famer if he retired today? Interesting discussion about that.

So definitely go check that out as well. The Carolina Panthers open up training camp this week, and we've got a lot to discuss. On the line with us right now, he is a part of the Four Man Rush podcast.

Some of the most in-depth analysis of Panther moves, plays, and more. Please welcome Kevin Avery back to the show. Kev, what's up, man? I know you're traveling right now. Thanks for doing this for me.

Hey, no problem. Ashley Beta here. I'm down here in um Hinesville, Georgia, uh, just beside Fort Stewart. Where I used to be stationed at when I was in the Army.

So, yeah, I'm just down here visiting my best friend and his family with my daughter while she's still here with me. Oh, cool, cool. And we do thank you for your service, sir. I know you were down in Spartanburg for, as you usually are, the opening week of training camp for our Carolina Panthers. And I've got some questions for you because I know we've seen some stuff on Twitter in terms of like little clips here and there of Cam throwing a ball to Curtis Samuel or Cam, you know, doing this or that.

I want to know, because you saw it with your own eyes. First off, Cam Newton, that's the question all Panther fans want to know. How has he looked to you now that he's on the field throwing passes with that shoulder? All right, well to make Cam Newton looks Looks good. he made an interview stating that how it's still a work in progress and There's a lot to be There's a lot for him to goes into him being able to produced on the field and that The process is not complete, but he's definitely.

Trending in the right direction, the most thing that was anticipated by Panthers fans was. seeing his throw in motion Now for those of us that probably didn't pay attention last year, when he was on his first year with Dolph Turner, that actually began this new throwing motion But obviously, with him getting injured, particularly after the loss to Pittsburgh. it was kind of all forgotten about.

So this new Thor motion is not exactly brand new. per se, but it's just gotten a lot more attention now since the second surgery. But Overall, there's a much tighter flow. The velocity on it is nice. I'm seeing Pinpoint, no more of those High, you know.

jump balls that we used to say.

Now a couple have selled. I'm not gonna Make it sound like, you know, Cam Newton's you know, batting a thousand here, but I mean, you're just seeing the touch, you're just seeing the the velocity, and you're definitely seeing the range, you know, from opening night takeoff last Thursday, where was that? At Gieb Stadium at Wofford College. you know, those two long passes to wide receiver Curtis Samuel and tight end Chris Manhurtz were like a thing of beauty. It was like textbook Cam Newton, like pre-injury.

So it definitely was something. definitely something enjoyable to watch Cam, you know, put that Touch. It was good to see a pass go beyond 10 yards again. Let me just say it like that as a fan. Right, absolutely.

And I actually re-watched the all-or-nothing Amazon Prime series on the Panthers last night and the day before because I had already seen it before. A, I'm mad at Amazon Prime because as I started re-watching it, they started bleeping out the curse words. Like, if you watched it the first week or so it was out, you heard all the cursing and all its glory from Rivera, Norf Turner, like all of them. Like Greg Olson, there's a lot of F-bombs and just all kinds of stuff that you normally don't get to hear when you're watching an NFL game on Fox. But when I went back to re-watch it, they bleeped over all of it.

So, it took a little bit of it away from the intensity of it. But one of the things I wanted to talk about with you was. Eric Washington, the defensive coordinator, still in name, defensive coordinator. What role do you think he's actually going to have since we all know Ron Rivera is going to be actually running the defense this season? And we did see a stark difference in the defensive play at the end of last season once Rivera took over the defensive play calling duties.

What do you think Eric Washington's actual role is going to be, even though he's still defensive coordinator in name?

Well, with Eric Washington, even though Wanda Red is taking over, quote unquote, the play calling aspects of it. let's not just diminish the important role that Eric Washington still has with the team. Ravela in multiple interviews has said that Air Washington is a big part of the weekly game planning. He's still going to be part of you know, installing the the plays and the schemes and the counters to what the offensives will do.

Now what this does allow is for him to get back to the defensive line and have more hands on aspect, which as we all know from his time here as defensive line coach in twenty eleven up until twenty eighteen before he got promoted defense coordinator. You know, the Panthers have led the league in uh sets from that time frame.

So his hands-on approach. Which when he got promoted was taken over by former defensive line coach who came from Michigan Brady Hulk. And as we all know, HOTE was let go of, I believe, early December when Rivera made the changes. But you know, it's good to see Eric Watson back hands on. With the defensive lineman, I think that's his natural strength.

But he still has a bigger role as far as What's going to be let up? It's kind of like he's going to set up, help set up the defensive play calls for the upcoming games, but Rivera is the one that's going to be calling the. actual play.

So Air Washington is still a a big part of what the defense is going to be doing. He's just more focused on the defensive line. Aspect of it this time around. We're with Kevin Avery, part of the four-man rush. Uh, brand, I should say, at this point, because it's more in a podcast, and I'm gonna give you an opportunity to give uh, I know you guys have a new website that just opened up.

I'll give you a chance to drop that here towards the end as well. I think Rod's got a question for you. Hey, Kevin, Rod Funderberg, how you doing, man? What's up, Big Rod? How you been doing, man?

You got it, Big Daddy. Everything is lovely. Man, I got a question. You were talking about the defense here. One of the things I noticed, you know, the Panthers are going and leaving their old 4-3 defense, and they're going to be playing more of a 3-4 scheme this year, which in most cases, this could line up to have some open holes to be able to run the ball.

Do you see for an offense to be able to run the ball against that 3-4 scheme? Do you see the defense giving up more running yards this year than they did last year since they are switching to that hybrid 3-4 instead of going to that or staying at their 4-3 with that extra down lineman that can really clog up some gaps and give a hindrance to the run game of any offense that they're playing? Which, of course, we will see exactly what will happen in the opening week because they will be playing Todd Gurley and the Rams. But what do you think will happen as far as the run? uh average percentage of that of that defense happening this year.

Yeah. Well, with all due respect, this allowed an opportunity to kind of correct you a little bit. The Panthers are not dumping the four, three aspect Oh, I think a lot of fans are you know kind of Kind of like overdoing the whole 3-4 concept. What it is is that, and these are the words coming out of Ron Rivera's mouth. is that when it calls for a three four What?

It's a hybrid. At my time at training camp, I've still seen plenty multiple looks. in the forty front. And when I say a forty front, that's four D fronts alignment now. We're in a base, that'll be four linemen, three linebackers.

We're in our nickel sub packages, four down linemen, two linebackers, five DBs. And And then in the four minute rush, when I uh posted my rush review, Which is my daily observation that I'm seeing with my own eyes. I actually do that account when they're doing individual. for our team drills. And it's pretty much a nearly an even split.

It's kind of like one practice I put down that It was thirty-two forty front sets and about twenty eight three fourth sets.

So Um there's still a lot of there's still a lot of four three being used um by the Panthers so far that I've seen in training camp and in cultural verse words and space like whatever the offensive Formation and You know, down and distance, that's going to dictate what we're going to do.

Now, this is where position flexibility really comes in. We got multiple players that we brought in that can play different positions, you know, defensive and outside linebacker. We got guys that can play corner and safety now.

So you may see the same group of eleven guys line up in a four-third front and then on the next play, they're going to switch around and now be in a thirty front.

So definitely want to keep that in mind with the position flexibility. That even with the same group of players, with the type of players we brought in, that you're really going to see the Panthers. been able to show multiple fronts from the same personnel, which is going to be huge from a timing aspect to throw off the um throw off the offense. But as far as the run game fits goes, Um as someone that played in a thirty front when I um played in high school, It's not gonna be a huge thing. I know everybody thinking that th third body, that fourth lineman missing might be something that Causes a run-gap fields, but if you think about it, Baltimore Reagans, Pittsburgh Steelers over the last 15, 20 years have predominantly been 3-14s and they have been Stingy, salty against the run defenses.

Primarily, you know. 10 and run defense for the last 10 years or so, so it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be. Run gaps wide open, but no, you have to play your gap responsibilities. Right. We're on the line here with Kevin Avery here with us on the rundown.

Kevin Avery from the Four Man Rush brand, checking out the Carolina Panthers here. I got a question about center Ryan Khalil, who unretired on Thursday and signed with the New York Jets for $8.5 million for one season. Kev, did you feel like this was due to the Panthers not wanting to bring Khalil back or that there wasn't any room for Khalil to come back to Charlotte after they had signed the top? Free Agent Center in the game and uh Matt Paratis from uh Denver. Right.

Well, I think this is Something that you know, lying pillages Eventually got talked into because remember, he started off the 2018 season making it known that. This was going to be his last season, so this was before Matt Carradus was even in our radar or anything.

So I just believe that the Jets just gave him eight point four million reasons to you know, come back and try this again. And from what I read in the p in the early reports, they've been talking to him for the last two months. before he finally, you know, decided. One of the reasons why he admitted that he took it was because USC alumni Sam Donas, the quarterback. And he wanted the opportunity to You know, help out a fellow, you know, alone to kind of help him develop and grow in.

I know a lot of people have not had high expectations of the Jets, but quietly they've amassed some pretty decent talent and adding a guy like Ron Khalil to the offense line even in his post prime years, it's definitely going to help solidify them.

So I think that that it wasn't anything to do about the Panthers. It was just Hey, you know If you're going to offer me $8.4 million to Yeah. Play, and you know I'm passing my prime, then why not? Personally, I have no problems with it. He earned it right, he gave us the 12 best years.

Easily the top offensive lineman Particular center we probably ever had. Of course, you can argue Jordan Rose as well, but I think he earned the right to be able to do that. And I was kind of bothered by the venom by some of the Panther fans towards him on Twitter.

Social media about it, I think he earned the right to make that decision. Yeah, I saw that too, where it was kind of strange to me that. There was a lot of Panther fans, or not a lot, but there was a segment of Panther fans that I was seeing in Facebook groups the past two days that were like. You know, mad at Khalil, almost like he was a cheating girlfriend or something, like that he wasn't allowed to do this because he spent his whole career with Carolina. But this is the nature of the NFL, and especially with linemen.

Normally, we were talking about this on the drive with Josh Graham earlier in the week. Offensive linemen, usually, when they're done, done, they shed weight so quick. Like, if you look at Jordan Gross, he lost like 100, 120 pounds or whatever in like six months and just melted off. Even Rob Gronkowski, he's lighter than he was, you know, that he's look at Jeff Saturday. Yeah, yeah, they all slimmed down.

I don't think Khalil did.

So I think Khalil maybe was having some doubts about potentially retiring. And by the time he decided maybe he wanted to come back, the Panthers had already moved on. The Jets are going to offer $8.5 million to play one year, where, to be perfectly honest, he might not make it through the season anyway. Yeah. That sounds like a win-win.

Hey, Kevin, this is Rod again, man. I got one more question for you on the offensive side. As you know, we won't. Cam Newton to do well, we want him to have an outstanding season. But just in case something happens and Cam needs to get sidelined, uh.

What do we have in our backup quarterbacks, or is there a competition even going on between Will Greer and Kyle Allen? I mean, are we comfortable to know that they're there, or is there work that needs to be done with these guys? What's going on with our backup quarterbacks? With back a quarterback position in all the years that I've been following training camp, I can honestly say that this by far has been one of the more. Talented backup quarterbacks position.

Yes, because here's the thing: you know, people automatically want to. label Will Greer because we're taking a third round picking him as the automatic backup. But both Back up quarterbacks Tyler Allen and Taylor Honey. Heineke had definitely been like, nah, bruh, hold up. You know, we've been here.

We. The playbook, you're gonna have to earn these reps, and when they've gotten in. When I tell you that That the Confidence that Cal Allen got when he got the week 17 start against New Orleans Saints has carried over. I mean, we're talking about a guy that's dropping You know, as it's you're spending them built for dimes, man. I mean, he's and I know a lot of people want to talk about what Cam's doing, but again, with me being there seeing it.

I mean, he's just as impressive been with his past and his decision making. Like he's no longer doing the just the check downs like he was kind of doing last year. You know, he's he's targeting guys. He's you know, he's making plays.

So And also Taylor Heine as well. He's someone that, you know, with a little bit of scrambling mop. Mobility. I've seen him have a little bit of read option success. I've seen him you know, do some rollouts and hit guys on the s Breed Soul.

Honestly, all three quarterbacks have been performing well. It's definitely something to notice. particularly with the preseason, how well these guys operate, they're really really stand out where At the end of the day, we're going to have two good backup quarterbacks And hopefully we can staff someone on the practice squad. uh in case an emergency hits. On the line with us, Kevin Avery from the Four Man Rush podcast.

We got enough time for one more question with Big Kev and another signing that the Panthers had this past week to kind of cap off what they've been doing this entire offseason. I gotta say, before I even ask this question, Marty Herney's done a fantastic job in his second stint as Panthers GM in terms of the money he had to work with and the talent he's brought in and the draft that I think they had this year, too. I think it's going to really be a foundation year for the Panthers going forward in terms of what they do. But they brought back an OG, Trey Boston, safety Trey Boston as a Panther again after signing a one-year, $3 million deal on Thursday. Kev, would you say that's a signing?

That's a sign that Rivera and others don't trust safety Rashad Golden, or more pointing to the fact that Rivera likes to play with three safeties in certain sets, and it was a depth move. Yeah, this is definitely a move that I think was a combination of adding quality depth because the last couple of practices for Sean Golden In spite of having a very solid camp, He's been having some lower back tightness and a little bit of soreness, so he's set out the last two practices that they had. But this was where I moved in my personal team that had a lot to do with two practices here. One, Terry Boston coming down off his high offseason demands. Like he was looking to make around Anywhere between $8 to $10 million a year long-term contract.

That's what he was. You know, you know, pretty much put out there. And, you know, he'll say even as recently as two months ago, you know, he'll sit this season out because he feels like he knows his worth.

So that was one of the reasons why, you know, the Panthers had reached out to him way back in you know, in the free agency period, but you know, with with talks like that, we was like, nah, we we'll we'll work with what we got.

So I think it's a combination of Turtles and colleagues. coming down off his side of the mans and The fact that long of error, if you notice Rivera over the years, he used a lot of three safety packages. And this is something that I've noticed Um that in the training camp parts that I observe, like with different defensive fronts and looks and alignments. I've seen three safeties out there, so it's a combination of Um of different looks and They mentioned that Galden was originally drafted to be groomed into the what is called the Big Nickel. package and basically what a big nipple is is a hybrid a safety that has coverability to check running backs and tight ends that line up in the slot.

Not necessarily wide receivers, but tight end tight ends and wide receivers that, you know, get motion out the backfill or anything in the slide and someone that can you know, monitor and keep that guy in check. Kind of like how what we had doing with Shaq Thompson the last uh few years with uh obviously mixed results.

So Uh trade boxing salaries and demand coming down. Yeah, yeah. proceed big nickel, which Rivera said we're going to want about 35, 40 percent on defensive snaps, so that's definitely a low for him to play. I think those were the more factors that led to Trey Boston being signed. Kev, give them the.

I know you guys just built a new website finally for Four Man Rush. It's been highly anticipated. You guys are building a really huge following. I'm very thankful that you're able to. Call in and give us some Panther thoughts.

And I'm hoping you're going to be able to do this throughout the season with us as we follow these Panthers through this 2019 season. Give them the website address, brother, and how they can get to the podcast and all the info you guys throw out each week on Carolina. Throw that out for the public force. Yeah, sure. Definitely follow us.

On our website, all you do is basically type in the name D T H E, the number four. Man M-A-N Rush dot com. Uh that is our website. that website we had specifically in in mind with you know, the current social media patterns with how people like to you know, view the um content. It's a website that links you to all of our other social media accounts.

Our podcast on Pod Beam, our expansive video library on YouTube. and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well. This is something that we spend a lot of time doing, and it's something that has gotten a lot of great reviews so far, so definitely check it out. there as well. Also real quick, there's about the dime.

We got some four man rush of parallel that's about to be coming out very soon as well. We actually got a sample pack But we're just kind of testing out right now to see what's going on.

So Stay tuned for that as well. But definitely the fourmanrush.com. the place where you can get all your detailed Panther content. Yeah, definitely keep me posted on the apparel stuff too. We can talk about that as well.

So, Kev, thank you so much for doing this for me today. I'll definitely be back in touch with you maybe as soon as next week. We might have you back on again for the Panther segments going forward. Appreciate the insight, and I hope you have a fantastic weekend. Yeah, I appreciate it too.

And like I said, whenever y'all guys need me, if you have room in your schedule, you can definitely have no problem coming on. I'll let us till you guys in and Be the insight that our fans deserve.

So keep pounding. All right. Appreciate you, man. That's Kevin Avey from the Four Man Rush Podcast. Kev comes with the fire every time we have him home, man.

He is fantastic. I love having him on the show. Definitely. We'll probably have him as our Panther insider throughout the season. And if you haven't had a chance to check the Four Man Rush podcast out, go do it.

If you're a Panther. Um If you're a Panther fan and you want to know, you know, why do they run this play or why is that player sitting over here? They break it down like game tape coach, like game tape footage. They've got guys writing articles for them on the Panthers.

So definitely check them out. But coming up, NBA star Carmelo Anthony is still unsigned. Would you want Mello on your team? And have we seen the last of Anthony in the league coming up next on the rundown? You're listening to The Rundown with Desmond Johnson, powered by SportsCarolinamonthly.com.

Shut up, shut up, sit down. Stand by. You're listening to The Rundown with Desmond Johnson. Just like new day. Don't forget that you can get to see the Winston Santa Dash for only $7 at swordscalermonthly.com.

This is for the August 9th through the 11th home stand limited supply available. If you go check it out right now, there's only a few tickets available. Go get that. There are $16 value tickets, premium home plate seating, only $7, no limit on them until they run out.

So definitely go and buy some of those dash tickets as they finish up the 2019 season. You are listening to the rundown back from summer break. I'm your host, Desmond Johnson. Rod Funderberg in the house, Brandon Blakeney in the house. Aaron Gabriel running our ones and twos.

And um Before we get into uh this NBA segment here, let's get a quick check on our Twitter poll. Um the Twitter poll question of the day regards Rod's main man, Ezekiel Elliott, who is somewhere in Cabo right now, probably asleep 'cause it's like six in the morning in Cabo, I think, right now.

So he's prob he's probably asleep right now. But Aaron, what's the uh what what's what was the Twitter question we put out on Sports Hub Triad and what are how are we looking right now on the poll? On SportsHelp Triad, Twitter poll question of today: Should the Dallas Cowboys pay Zeke his money or let him hold out? According to the triad, our listening public. 71% say, screw Ezekiel Elliott.

Let that sucker hold out. Yeah, I don't know. Compared to 29% that say, pay the man his money. I wonder if some of that has to do with like Zeke's off-field antics the past couple of years, painting him in a certain way. Zeke takes it into account.

Yeah. He's still the NFL Russian leader from last year. Through the past three years, he's led the league in Russia. And so was DeMarco Murray behind that offensive line. You saw what they did to DeMarco.

They just said, you know, see you, buddy. Get on out of here. I was going to say, without my man Zeke in the lineup, Dak Prescott is 4-4, 500 quarterback. They're not the same team. They're not.

Play action isn't the same. The whole team is built around a running game and having a running back like Ezekiel Elliott and not having him. They're like, ah, well, we can. What was it that Jerry Jones said earlier this week that you don't have to have a Russian champion to be the. Super Bowl to win a Super Bowl.

No, but it's really nice if you have it. The last time you did Emmett Smith was. The Russian champion. Exactly.

So I know it ain't 1991 anymore, but still. Behind unquestionably the greatest offensive line of all time. Hey, don't Dallas have like the best offensive line of football right now? It's up for great. They do.

Or one of them. No, I don't know. No, we don't have the best. The best offensive line. We've lost two offensive linemen.

Over the last couple of years, one went to Denver and then the other one was hurt with some kind of sickness that he had. I still got Patreon Collins. We have Tyron Smith. Tyron Smith, Tyron Smith, Zach Martin. Zach Martin.

Frederick. Frederick the Center. Yeah, man, that's still good. There's those three. I don't hear that pimp.

Big body. The Cowboys still got a defensive line. Just a nice line. But listen, you got to remember that offensive line, defensive lines, those are the hearts of any football team. You know what I mean?

And without the line being there to even open up the hole, Zeke can't do much either.

So, really, you know, when you look at it like that, you should be paying the offensive linemen if they're worth their salt. But they don't get any contracts. That's the thing. They have. They've been signing offensive linemen to Big Deal.

So maybe that's what Zeke's looking at. He's like, hey, man, what about me? I will say, though, Darren McFadden didn't look like Zeke behind that almighty offensive line. I forgot about Darren McFadden. Gosh.

Just saying. Darren McFadden didn't look good anywhere. He didn't. And listen. And I mean, and I tell you this too, man.

When it comes to contracts and paying people. You know Zeke deserves his money, but The players' union didn't do anything for the rookies. As you know, when rookies come out in first rounds, They can be signed to five-year deals. Yeah. So when it was signed, when they were doing their players agreement, bargaining agreement, and all that good stuff, there was no one there representing the rookies.

So, to be honest with you, the rookies really got the short end of the stick. Because now, as you guys know, running backs have been devalued. Running backs used to be stars, now they're devalued.

So, you're talking about, you know, if you're a running back for five years. What do you have left after five years, especially if you've been ran into the ground? They get one big deal. Yeah. They basically get one big deal.

It's not like quarterbacks get like three big deals, but like running backs, so I get what Zeke is doing. Like, I'm in my prime right now. Like, pay me right now, so I'm good down the road. I think he'll get. They'll throw an extra two, three years guaranteed or something at the end of what he's got right now.

And that'll probably finish all of this. But we'll see what's going on. But we're going to get into the NFC and AFC East and a couple of segments down the road here in the second hour. I wanted to address. Carmelo Anthony.

Hootymello The hooded one. Sweet Melon. Apparently, that's his nickname on basketball reference.com. Never heard anybody call him Sweet Melon. I call it a girl.

Yeah, I ain't calling a girl. Hey, hey, Sweet Melon. What's up, man? What's going on? I might call his wife that's a whole other conversation, a whole other show.

Apparently, somebody did, and that was a problem. Yeah, that was a huge problem.

So, Carmelo appeared on First Take Friday with Stephen A. Smith to address things regarding the last two years of his career and stops in Oklahoma City and Houston. Footage is out of Carmelo putting in work this offseason.

Now, granted, it looks like he's at a YMCA dressed in all black, just putting in work on people.

So, it's not exactly the same thing, but my man hasn't played since really the beginning of last year. He only played 10 games with Houston. Got cut short. And no one has signed him.

So, my question to the panel: would you want Mello on your team? And have we seen the last of Carmelo Anthony in the league? Absolutely. I would want him on my team, specifically if I'm a franchise, let's say, like the Charlotte Hornets, lacking star power, needing to fill up some seats, and that just happens to be owned by the same business partner that I'm signed to, shoot. Sneaker deal watches, apparel walls.

I'm glad Brandon brought that up because that was where I was going to. The Hornets have nothing. Right now, that makes you go, oh, let's buy two tickets, drive down to Charlotte, and watch the Hornets play. Like, they lost that when they sent Kimba, or they didn't sign Kimball. PJ Washington, I'm sorry.

I don't know what that's even going to be. He's not filling any seats in Lexington. He's not filling any seats in Charlotte.

Now, you got some tools with Miles Bridges and some young guys. Dwayne Bacon might have a breakout year this year. Like Devontae Graham. Devontae Graham. Martin Twins, maybe.

Maybe. But none of that makes me be like excited to go watch Charlotte play. You sign Carmelo to like a vet minimum deal or something like that. You got Rozier out there too with him. That's scrappy.

That's scrappy. I mean, you put Carmelo on the Hornets right now on their roster. And he gives you 20 a game. Because I mean, he was averaging 13 a game in the 10 games in Houston, 16 in a 74-game season in OKC, and part of that was off the bench. And he was the fourth option.

Yeah, he's the fourth option.

So in Charlotte, he would be the main scoring option with this team. He'd be the veteran that could lead Miles Bridges and these young guys and show them the right way to do things. And we forget how well he played when he was a Denver Nugget. Right. The beginning of his career.

Yeah, we forget the type of player he was, which propelled him to be able to go to the Knicks and be the man. But I think at the Knicks, you know, that was kind of the beginning of his downfall. But that wasn't even his fault. With being over there with Phil Jackson, Phil Jackson, what happened once he got there, but that's what I'm saying. That's fair, how he got there.

Right, right, right. It was his fault how he got there. But I'm just saying, the organization that he went to, I don't think he knew what he was getting into. With Phil Jackson being there, Nolan James being the owner. Oh, my goodness.

That was just a cluster.

Now, they had talent too because J.R. Smith was on that team. And people forget how good J.R. Smith was. The younger people.

They were dunking on people. They automari Stardimey's still healthy. And they had a squad. They were competitive. Yeah, during the Marlberry years, even like right before, they were not a bad group.

But when Phil Jackson got there, That thing went under. I don't understand to this day what Phil was trying to do with Carmelo because it was like he was trying to lower his value by talking about him in the media. Yes. But they needed his value high to trade him out of there.

So he almost sabotaged the Knicks on purpose, and they haven't really recovered from all of that. Oh, he, and then it just goes on to prove your point even more, taking Frank Tilakina in the first round. Yeah, I don't even understand what they're doing. All of this is really hindsight. All of this is real in hindsight because.

When that first went down, and everybody heard, oh, Phil Jackson's headed to the Knicks, everybody thought, oh, this is a great move. This is a fantastic move. I did, because who would have thought Phil Jackson would stink it up?

Now, he's a great coach, but front office guy. He's no Jerry West. No, he's not. He's not.

Now, Mello, just looking at his bio, 10-time all-star, 2012, 13 scoring champ, six-time all-NBA. He's got two Olympic gold medals. Greatest Olympian of all time. Yeah, maybe. Actually, does he have two or three?

I think he has three. He played right now. He was on the 08 team and the 2012 team. I think he played. Was he on 2000?

I think he played with the last one, too. I think he did. Yeah, so he might have three. We got to put some respect on Mellow. We do.

We do. He could still come in. Make a 15-man rotation, still be a guy off the bench to give you a spark offensively or a potential starter, depending on where you put him at, you know, the quality of the team. But Mellow still has some tread on the tire, still a score, and the game is about buckets, fellas. We know that.

I agree. But according to Houston, he has he cannot make a 15-man rotation. Houston did not raise it. Which is crazy. It's nuts to me.

It's nuts to me. I mean, so what was the issue in Houston? Was this a personal issue? I think him and Mike D'Antoni still had issues from their New York days. A little bad blood.

A little bad blood. Because, I mean, I think Chris Paul was instrumental in pushing to get Carmelo signed to Houston. And Harden was like, okay, another score. Fine. Let's do it.

But I think Chris Paul was very instrumental, the banana boat guys, to get him in there. Definitely. And then super, super early, Mike D'Antonio was like, nope, this ain't going to work. I don't want him on my team the whole season. Because it's really weird to just be like, after 10 games, not you're getting traded or whatever, but we're letting you go.

Like they didn't even bother to see what they could get for Carmelo. And then no one else signs him after that. Like something's wrong because he's being blackballed. But my question is, why? Because I'm thinking back to his career.

And for some reason, Carmelo's always had this stigma with him that he's a locker room cancer or he's all about himself. But I can't think of a single locker room instance where. That's been proven. You know what I mean?

Like, it's been more locker room instances, but I remember after one game, he was waiting for somebody at the bus. That was Kevin Garnett. I think that was Kevin Garnett because Kevin Garnett was talking junk about Lala, if I'm not mistaken, on the court.

So Carmelo was like, I'll see you outside. And literally, he was outside the bus waiting for him. Yeah. And I don't even know if he watched that. He was talking about Lala's sweet melons.

That's what it was. Exactly.

Because you know how Kevin Garnett was. Oh, he's a wild. Kevin Garnett. Yeah, he's probably one of the wildest dudes ever. One of the greatest trash talkers in the NBA.

Yeah, I would definitely. That's something we need to do one day. Best trash talkers in the NBA. Carmelo Anthony, though, is basketball's only Triple Olympic champion. Um, winned it three times, yes.

And then I think otherwise, in respects to Carmelo Anthony's game. I was going to say, is it a role thing? Because we remember the press conference when he came in with OKC and they asked them, you know, are you going to come off the bench? And it was funny to him. You know what I mean?

And he laughed at it. He was like, what's funny? They want me to come off the bench. It was only funny to him because everybody figured you should probably be coming off the bench, bro. But I will say he did eventually accept that role.

And they blew up OKC. It wasn't just Mellow, because as we see now, The whole team's pretty much up out of there. Victor La Depo is no longer there. Russ is no longer there. You know, all those guys are out of there.

So I don't think you can even put that blame on Mello. I think that it didn't work. Those guys underachieved. But to be fair, Paul George and Russ underachieved as well. That's true.

I mean, they lost to Portland first round. Yeah, like that's ridiculous. That's never 40-foot three-pointer. And Dane hit him with the bye-bye. Come on.

I mean, you know, and that brings up a side question. Is Oklahoma City the biggest waste of collected talent like ever in the NBA? If you go back and look at that NBA Finals team, three unemphatically, yes, Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Serge Abaca, James Harden. Was Stephen Adams on that team, too? Yes, Stephen Adams, yes.

Oh, that team is gosh, it was like if they had stayed together, like Harden got sent off because of what, like, I think like two million dollars or something crazy that they didn't want to spend, not per year total. And then the salary cap rose the next year, and it was like they could have just kept him easily, and they didn't. And you think that they would have chose at least one of them to stick by. I think they chose Russ. They chose the wrong guy.

I love Russ, but you got to throw the whole bag at Durant.

Well, Russ on that team, it became evident that Russ was the alpha dog. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. Russ was the guy. You know what I mean?

And they liked Russ. Alpha Management liked Russ more than they liked Durant. And I think Hardin wanted his own team as well because he was kind of like he was the sixth man. Yeah, he's coming off the bench on that. I can't wait for that 30 for 30.

Yeah. Oh, on the thunder. You know what's coming. It's going to come eventually. I'm interested to see what Harden and Russbrook do in Houston because I don't think it can work.

Like, because people keep saying, oh, they played together. Not really. Harden was Westbrook's backup. They played some sets together, but it looked like they were out there all the time playing with each other.

So we'll see. We'll see what happens. They might need another extra basketball. All right. Yeah, they need two.

Exactly.

They need two. But go back to Carmelo. Right. That's what I was going to ask. Who should sign Carmelo?

Charlotte. Charlotte, sign him. Or Portland. Dame Lillard's been in the news saying that he would love to see Mello get a farewell tour. They could use another extra.

I could see him in Portland. They just signed two very young wings. They got Nazir Little, and they also have the Wake Forest. Oh, Jalen Horde. Yeah, yeah.

So, I mean, he could come in, mentor those guys, kind of help them out. He's got to want to do this, though. And it sounded like from the first tech interview that he's accepted that if he comes back, he's going to be in that role.

So he needs to go someplace where. He's saying he wants to go someplace where He has a chance to win a title, of course, but he also is thinking, I just want to play. You know, I just want to play ball.

So I think he would settle for going to a Charlotte or a. Dallas popped in my head for some reason. Like, I think he would go to one of those places that may not be a contender, but he'll be able to play and still show that he can play. And then maybe the following year, you know, be that eighth guy, ninth guy on a roster. He does not need to go to the Lakers.

And if it is a winner, why does he not need to go to the Lakers? I think. Because he's gonna have and he said it on first take. He he's friends with LeBron. They're close.

They all him, Chris, Paul, all Dwayne Wayne, they talk every day. But he doesn't feel like he needs to. Use that friendship to get employment. And he feels like if he goes to the Lakers, that's all it's going to be viewed as: you're only here because LeBron and his boys are running the team at this point and they brought you on because that's how you got to Houston. But when it comes to playing basketball, the LA Lakers are going to need some scoring coming off the bench.

They do. And then again, LeBron James. Name me two players LeBron James has made worse. That's true, too. LeBron James makes everybody better.

Kevin Love. Nah, I can't answer it. I would say he made him worse. I can't do it. He didn't make him worse.

You got a thing against Kevin Love anyway. He was the third option. He had Chris Bosch. That's what happened. Like, he was the third guy.

And he was still averaging 18 and 11. That's what I'm saying. Kevin Love. I want Kevin Love and Charlotte, too. I want everybody.

That's not going to happen.

So let me ask you this then. What about the Clippers? They're going to need some scoring coming off the base. They got on the same as the line of the ball. You know, the problem with Carmelo is that he's an ISO player in a world where the NBA has changed away from ISO.

Like 2012, you could beat ISO. That's why Oklahoma City was good because just give it to Durant or give it to Westbrook, let him work. That's why the Knicks were decent when they had Carmelo because it was still an ISO world.

Now it's like the San Antonio Golden Estate. Move the ball around type of play and like get to the open guy. And Carmelo hadn't figured out how to fit in that offense yet. And that's his main problem. I think that's why people are staying away from him because they don't know if he'll fit.

You can't be a ball, but that's just you can be an ISO guy in Charlotte. I mean, yeah, he can. I mean, right? He can't score at will. And that's the thing.

Yeah, he's still getting buckets for sure. If it's a one-year thing, I think he should consider the Knicks, though. Give my man a farewell tour if that's how it's going to be. Knicks would be interact. But he didn't kind of leave that kind of on a sour note.

No, he made the decision. He said, Look, he said, I do not want a, you know, see you later world in tour or anything like that. And I commend him for saying that because that's saying, hey, I can still play this game. I am not at the end. Like you said, Brandon, he still has more tread on the tire.

I think so.

So I commend him for not doing the end tour. Don't do that. Yeah, yeah. Don't come back just to do that. Yeah.

Yeah. But I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what happens with Carmelo. Do you think he's played his last game?

Like, real quick, I don't think I think he gets back in the league, but I just hope they don't give him the Mark Jackson treatment because it seems like he's getting black. It's not fair. If he doesn't get signed. By September, October, it's done. I don't think anybody's going to pick him up.

Because at that point, he had been gone over a year and nobody's kicked a trade on tires. At that point, nobody's going to come around and be like, hey, what's Carmelo Anthony doing out here in Freak? Carmelo signed. Let me ask you this. Had Carmelo been more of a guy who could play some defense with somebody at Sanda?

For sure. Probably. Yeah. Because there's a rebound or something. He's a scorer.

He was a scorer his whole career. And. But you can't do that no more. You got to be averaging 20, not 14. Right, exactly.

I know I asked this to uh well, actually, you know what, Aaron, I'm gonna skip it because uh, you already kind of gave you. I was gonna ask uh Aaron as one minute with Aaron. Maybe we'll try to squeeze it in later in the show, but we got to take a quick break. Coming up, Bowman Gray news. We take a quick look at the leaderboard heading into the races tonight.

Plus, the voice of Bowman Gray, Randy Pettit, checks in with our new segment, the rundown hot seat. And what exactly happened between John Brown and Jason Myers at the Madhouse last week? If you haven't seen the video of this, definitely Google it and go check it out. What is the fallout from that as well? We'll get you updated as well.

Plus, rundown hot takes. Each of us will give a hot take on the world of sports next on the rundown. You're listening to The Rundown with Desmond Johnson. Your hands and stomp your feet. Yeah!

It's going to be one big party. Back to the rundown with Desmond Johnson. Who are the franchise players? Des Rod and Johnny O bring you a new sports podcast weekly, franchise player sports podcast. New episodes currently available.

Everything from the announces of the NBA draft to our most recent one. If retired today, would Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton? Be a consideration for the Pro Football Hall of Fame? And that question might sound crazy on the surface, but if you listen to the podcast, we get in depth with it and really. uh debate whether or not he would be Someone that might be in the Hall of Fame if he retired today.

So, definitely search and download from Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and of course, at sportscalemonthly.com. Quick Wyndham update: the Wyndham Championship going on at Sedgefield Golf Course out towards kind of Jamestown, sort of Greensboro. It's kind of out there, like countrywide, but it's really nice if you get a chance to go. Check them out this weekend. The leaders won't tee off until.

Later this afternoon, after we're off the air, Byung Hung. On I don't know if I said that right. He's from South Korea. He's the leader right now at 13 under par. Bryce Garnett from the United States is at 12 under par.

Then you got a glut tied for third, including Webb Simpson, who went to Wake Forest. Local guy. He's at 11 under par. Josh Teeter from the United States is at 11 under par as well. Just some notable names here.

Um, I do see Billy Horschell has moved up 41 spots to be tied for 12th right now with an under nine. Uh Jordan Speeth is tied for twelve. along with uh A couple other Americans as well. I actually got to see Jordan Speed on Wednesday. Didn't get to talk to him, but I did get to see him.

Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool. Yeah, man, that that was that was a cool event that we went to Wednesday, for sure. And that is over in West Sedgefield area. Right. Well, the golf course is Sedgefield.

I guess it's really, I guess it's kind of Jamestown, really, where it is. It's over in the natural area. Yeah, it's gorgeous. It's gorgeous out there for sure.

Now, it's Saturday.

So I'm looking out the window to see what the weather looks like. Cause usually I go through the Bowman Gray scoreboard for you guys. And then we're like, you know, luckily, hopefully, you guys will be able to be able to get it in. And then it rains or something and you don't get it in. But.

If you need extensive Bowman Gray coverage over the rest of the season, definitely go to sportscoronthly.com. Randy Pettit, who we have on the line, he's going to be in the rundown hot seat in just a couple of seconds. He writes fantastic recap articles and profile articles on the drivers, as well as being the host of the Triad Racing podcast with Randy Pettit. That's also available on our podcast network, Spotify, Google, Apple, all that good stuff. And the newest episode's out right now with track star Amber Lynn, who has been in and out of the news the past couple of weeks there as well.

There's an episode on the Myers boys, the Gregg family, and much more.

So definitely check that out when you get a chance when you get out of here. Here's your race results from last Saturday in the Modify. There were two modified races. Lee Jeffries won one, Burt Myers won the second. And Sportsman Tommy Neal was a sportsman winner.

David Creed won street stock. Chuck Wall won stadium stock. And Justin Whitaker won the second stadium stock race last Saturday. The 2019 point standings going into tonight's race is August the 3rd over at Bowman Gray. In the modified series, Burt Myers has an eight-point lead over Tim Brown, 469 to 461.

Jonathan Brown is in third at 453. And Jason Myers is in six at 396. Keep that in mind as we bring Randy on the line here in just a bit because that's going to be super important regarding our conversation with him in the hot seat. In the Sportsman Series, Justin Taylor has a pretty comfortable lead over Tommy Neal. He's the leader at 529 with about, I think, three races to go.

In Street Stock, Jeremy Warren is your leader over Jacob Creed. Billy Gregg is in third. Stadium Stock Series, Chuck Wall is your leader, but only by two points. AJ Sanders is right behind him, 480 to 478. Brandon Brennan's in third, and Grayson Keating's in fourth in the stadium stock standings as well.

And those are prone to flip here over the next couple of days as I bring on my man Randy Pettit. But first, we had our man DJ do this fantastic imaging for us for this new segment, the rundown hot seat. Aaron, go ahead and hit me off with my hot seat music.

Something like it happened. Seem like it hot. You're listening to the rundown. Hot. See.

Hot. See. Hot seat. Give it to me, Mazza. with Desmond Johnson.

On the line with us on the rundown right now, he is the voice of Ace Speedway in Burlington on Friday nights and Bowman Gray Racing on Saturdays. He's also the host of the Triad Racing podcast with Randy Pettit, available on all major podcast outlets. Go get it right now. If you are a Bowman Gray fan and you have not listened to any of the Triad Racing podcasts, you will not be disappointed. The newest episode is on driver Amber Lynn, a female in the sportsman series, if I'm not mistaken, that's really tearing up things out there and a super popular racer.

Go check out that episode on Spotify or Google right now. Randy Pettit, welcome to the rundown. What's going on, brother? How you doing? Good morning, guys.

I'm over here at Astor Foleman Gray Stadium, where all those folks you mentioned that are in the mix for a twenty nineteen season championship, they're all here. They were ready when they opened the gates this morning, and they have practice that will keep going until noon today. And you you mentioned a hot seat earlier, man. It's going to get hot tonight here at the Madhouse. Fox Big 100 modified race.

And that is really going to be the wild card, if you will, for this 2019 modified championship. They qualify for their starting position, and then they have a full-field redraw. The fastest qualifier could start dead last.

So it's really, really going to be interesting tonight here at Bowman Gray Stadium. Yeah, man, it's going to be a wild finish to the season here over the next couple of weeks over at Bowman Gray. I got to talk to you about a situation that happened last week at Bowman Gray. It seems like it was a situation every week at Bowman Gray, and this week was no different. I've always compared Bowman Gray to WWE Wrestling because there's like storylines and rivalries and families against families and different little clicks and stuff like that.

And when we had Amber Lynn in to do the pot, the tried racing podcast this week, it was funny to me because she was talking about drivers that she liked or drivers that never gave her an issue. And like there's like allegiances with different families and brothers and stuff out there racing. Yeah. But last Saturday at Bowman Gray, Randy, I want you to take me through this because I watched the video online. NASCAR has penalized Jonathan Brown and Jason Myers for their roles in an incident at Bowman Gray last Saturday, July 27th.

Fining them both $1,000 apiece, and they are both suspended for tonight's Saturday 100 lat modified feature from NASCAR. The quote is: NASCAR has penalized Jason Myers and Jonathan Brown $1,000 apiece, and both are suspended from the next Wheeling All-American Series event at Bowman Gray Stadium for their on-track actions there during last weekend's event. Um can you describe to us what happened? Uh if you haven't seen the video of this, it it uh you Just describe what happened, Randy. How would you describe the situation between John Brown and Jason Myers?

First of all, there's two different Brown families that run modifies at Bone Gray. Tim Brown, who is working on a record 11th Excuse me, a record 12th Bowman Gray Stadium Track Championship. No relation to Jonathan Brown. Jonathan Brown and his brother who goes by Bobo.

So, John Boy and Bobo are brothers. And then you have the Myers Brothers, who was on our podcast earlier this season. Boat Working on his 10th Bumming Gray Stadium Championship, and his little brother Jason, who's won a lot of races and not won the title.

So that kind of sets the stage a little bit for the different personalities involved. This was Jonathan Brown, John Boy. And Jason Myers. These guys have had some animosity toward each other that dated all the way back to probably 2014 at least. Um That was the year that Burt Myers and Tim Brown made national news when they had a similar episode occur.

They were on the front page of Stock Car Racing magazine. They were on the news all across the country when they had their own little demolition derby. And this was back in 2014. The track find them both 100 points. And that essentially handed the twenty fourteen championship to Danny Bowen, who was really out of contention until that happened.

So that it stems from incident that occurred during that the last race of that twenty fourteen season that happened between Jonathan Brown and Jason Myers because Jason was in contention for that twenty fourteen championship. And felt like he got taken out in the late stages of that final race back in 2014 by the Brown family, Jonathan and Bobo.

So that's kind of where the bad blood started. Earlier this year, when we had Jason and Bert on our podcast, I think the fans could go back and listen to that and they'll hear Jason talk about he was on the poll for a hundred lap race Got into an altercation with Jonathan Brown, and that essentially cost him a chance at winning that race. And really, for all intents and purposes, knocked him out of a A good shot at winning the championship this year.

So that's kind of what brought all that to light. Those two don't like each other. And factor in that Burt Myers and Jonathan Brown were battling really hard for the championship last year. Those two families just don't like each other. And if you watch a video, you'll see what happens.

Yeah, I love it. I love it. It's like. It's like NWO versus four horsemen type. But that's what I always call it.

It's like WWE. It's like wrestling on four wheels. It is. And we've got the colorful personalities. We've got the storylines, just like you said.

Here's the difference: it's not scripted here. Anything can and will happen, and that's why the fans have got to be here these next three Saturday nights. That's it, and we'll get to see how it all unfolds. I'm going to try to see. We may, cause I've been wanting to take the rundown out on remote and We've talked about this all season about coming to Bowman Gray and doing a remote out there.

If not for the rundown, then maybe we'd bring the franchise players podcast out there and record an episode before the season's over. Because I just kind of been out there before, but not in the stadium while the races are going on. But I've driven down MLK and that kind of stuff. It's loud, man. It's loud.

It's loud. People are bringing it up. Bring your clothes and come on, brother. We'll roll out the red carpet for you. You know, the pit here today for a morning practice at Bowman Gray Stadium.

There's more cars here than most Saturday or Friday night racetracks have for their racing. It's that part of where this place is packed. There's probably four or five hundred fans up there watching practice this morning, and I'll bet you there's seven or eight hundred people in the pits here. It's incredible. And that's because the intensity keeps ratcheting up or getting down to crunch time.

And these folks, you know, they race for those trophies and the honor of being called the champion. They don't do it for the money. And man, they love it. Tell the audience a little bit about the Triad Racing podcast with Randy Pettit because we've actually been pretty lucky the past couple of weeks in terms of fortunate because we had the Myers family on our, I think, our second episode was the Myers family. Right.

It's one of our highest listening podcasts so far. There's four that are out right now. We had the Gregg family in here the week after that. And then right after that, Nate Gregg won his first race like four days later, like ever.

So that was huge. And then we had. And that's when our first guest was the Bassett brothers running the NASCAR Sendity Series. And their little brother is actually here today practicing in the stadium stock car to make his first Bowman Gray Stadium start where his dad got the whole family involved in this stuff.

So it's kind of come full circle for them. It's pretty neat. Tonight's Triad Racing podcast is fantastic. Hope the fans will tune in and listen.

Some of our future guests are going to be Jonathan Brown and Brother, we're going to have Tim Brown on. We're going to have the two kings of the stadium stock, Chuck Wall and AJ Sanders, coming. A lot of great racers. And it's going to be fun to listen to. Yeah, and this won't end when the season ends with Bowman Gray.

Like, we plan to continue the tried racing podcast throughout the year.

So, during that period of time when you can't go to Bowman Gray on Saturdays and actually watch the races, we'll still be providing Bowman Gray exclusive content from these racers, talking old stories, their plans going into the future, rivalries, all this good stuff. And then the last episode we just did. Uh, we had Amberlynn on, and she had had the whole situation with her and uh law enforcement, and right, the whole skirmish she had with her ex-boyfriend two weeks prior. We did the episode, and you had an article out about her four days before that even happened.

So, people started searching for that article based off of what happened that Saturday at the Madhouse.

So, and we didn't plan that, Desmond. It just kind of worked out that way. But, you know, I try to spotlight some of the drivers that are interesting and that the fans want to know about. And I encourage them to continue to listen to the Triad Racing podcast. Be sure to listen to the rundown every Saturday morning and check out Sports Carolina Monthly for all that great bowmen, great coverage, man.

We're going to keep them in the loop. And Ace Speedway, don't forget about us down there. Friday night racing. We've got a big, big race coming up on August 16th in the winter. Going to get five grand and an automatic invitation to the Rodney Cook Classic.

That's going to be a huge late model race at Ace on Friday night, August 16th. I'm going to have to put some.

Some super unleaded my Nissan Versa and go see if I can make something happen. We run those too, man. Just talk to Windshield out and bring it on, man. We'll make it happen. Hey, man, I appreciate you being on.

I'll probably bring you back on next week to give us an update as we get towards the end of the Bowman Gray season. A lot of rivalries going on, a lot of bad blood going on. We're going to try to get out there before this is all said and done.

So, hey, man, I appreciate you. I will be talking to you real soon. And everybody, go listen to the Triad Racing podcast with Randy Pettit. Thanks, Randy. Desmond, one last thing, man.

I am trotting out the coolest outfit I've ever worn tonight. Oh, we need picks. We're going to be here at Bowman Gray. Check it out. We need picks.

Hey, if you tweet it out, tag us in it on Twitter so I can make sure I can reshare it. Thanks, man. We appreciate it. Have a great morning, man. A lot of sports going on in the Triad, and we'll see all the race fans here at the Madhouse tonight.

Awesome. Thank you. Take care, everybody. That's Randy Pettit, voice of Bowman Gray on Saturday nights, voice of Ace Speedway in Burlington on Friday nights, and the host of the Triad Racing podcast with Randy Pettit. Real quick, I want to get into the These hot takes.

There's something else we started with the rundown. Rundown hot takes. Basically, each of us will give one hot take on something they saw this week or prediction on what will happen going forward in sports. And that's going to include Aaron. And now, Aaron, now, Aaron is a part of the drive with Josh Graham, and we do something like this on Mondays called Let's Get Crazy.

The difference is When I give this hot take, it's not. Just something outlandish or something crazy. I personally believe this is going to happen.

So, there's a difference in what we're trying to achieve here. Go ahead and give me that. That music and let's get this popping. You're listening to the rundown. With Desmond Johnson.

Before we get into the hot takes, though, there's some breaking news in the NBA that just went down. Aaron, what you got for us, brother? That sound you hear in the background is a Woge bomb going on. Oh, no. We got a Woge bomb situation, ladies and gentlemen.

Oh, what's happened now? I just saw that. LeBron Waltz. A major player will not be hitting free agency coming up next summer. Draymond Green has agreed to a four-year, $100 million maximum contract extension with the Golden State Warriors.

Courtesy of his agent, Rich Paul of Clutch Sports.

Somehow, LeBron still got into this segment. Oh, that's courtesy of Durant. Yeah. So now they got.

So they got Steph locked up. They got Klay locked up. They got Draymond locked up. You've got to keep Draymond in defense. That's enough.

If Clay comes back healthy. Not in this year. I don't expect this. This is an open season this year, but next year. And if they keep D'Angelo Russell, we can't forget about D'Lo.

I think they're going to have to trade D'Angelo. I don't even know how that's going to work. That back coat would be insane. But let's get these hot takes in real quick. And then we got to take a quick break.

I don't know, Aaron, if you want to, we're kind of doing this on the fly over the microphones. If you want to give us a little bit of music so we can give these takes out. And then at the end of each take, You can give us a uh Um A bell, a whistle, something. I don't know, something to signify what we got. I got you coming down the pipe right now.

Okay, let's do this then.

So go ahead and give me some music and. Let's c let's start off with the new guy. Uh oh. Brandon Blakely, let's get a little bit of hot take action from you.

Alright, so I'm gonna stay In the basketball realm right now, we're gonna take it down a little bit. I'm gonna go. To the international ranks. And I'm gonna say, with the new addition of the NBL, having athletes like Terrence Ferguson come through 2K First, also Lamello Ball. RJ Hampton, two of the top prospects in the 2020 class coming in.

With players taking that route to go professional instead of forgoing the NCAA college basketball. I do believe that this will Put pressure. On the NCAA and the NBA to get rid of the one and done rule. Think so. They just signed a deal with ESPN, the league in Australia.

We're gonna be seeing plenty of LaMelo ball. We're gonna be seeing plenty of RJ Hampton. Pretty much two of the hottest names right now that aren't going to college basketball. And we're gonna continue to see more kids forgo college basketball to turn pro. Interesting.

Rod, what's up, baby? Baby, I'm going to my Dallas Cowboys. And my main man, Jerry Jones, who gets on my nerve. Jerry Jones will sign Amari Cooper and Dak Prescott before the season begins, but he will leave my main man, Zeke Elliott, the engine that runs that car.

So, wait, so what's your take that he's gonna sign? He's gonna sign Dak and Dak and Amari Cooper before the start of the season, and Zeke will not be signed when the season starts.

So, this is my hot take. Does this give us a chance to see what Dak can really do? Without Zeke, it will give you a chance to see it. It will give you a chance to see it because Jerry Jones thinks he's smarter than your normal bear, which he's not. And he signed Alfred Morris to think that he can take the place of Zeke, and it's not going to happen.

Jerry's tried this before, and it didn't work with him at Smith.

So I'm kind of expecting a repeat of what happened before. Aaron, you got a hot take? I don't have a hot take, but I will say that y'all noticed a certain quarterback wasn't on the top 100 list. There's quite a few quarterbacks that weren't on the top 100. Oh, Dak wasn't.

Dak Prescott was not on the top 100 listeners. He's about to get $100 million. He's not top 100, but about to get 100. That's crazy. He's about to get paid like he's top 100.

That goes back to Jerry Jones. I told y'all about him being as smart as the average bear. He's not.

I'm going to go back to our segment from before on Carmelo Anthony for my take. Carmelo Anthony Has played his final NBA game. I don't know if anybody's gonna sign them, man. I feel like if someone was gonna sign them, they would have done it already. Barring major injury to someone that's a contender.

I I just don't see anyone's. Because Charlotte makes sense, but they're not going to do it. They need him. They need to feel safe. He's not going to do it because that's the right thing to do.

And Charlotte ain't going to do that right now. Jordan just. Yeah. If they want to bottom out, I get it. That's fine.

But you still could use Carmelo while you're going 23 and 50-something or whatever. Nobody's paying away. You're a loser. Loser. Loser.

I mean, I don't know what. I mean, now, I hope I'm wrong because I don't want Carmelo to go out the way he has. I feel like it's wrong the way he's coming out. But I don't know. We'll see.

But coming up. Like we do every August, we give you our predictions for every division in the NFL. We start with the NFC and AFC East divisions. You're locked into the rundown. You're listening to the rundown with Desmond Johnson, powered by SportsCarolinamonthly.com.

Okay, let's go. You're listening to The Rundown with Desmond Johnson. Welcome back to The Rundown. I'm your host, Desmond Johnson. Rod Funderberg, Brandon Blakely in the house with me.

Aaron Gabriel on the ones and twos. Sawyer Dylan, our producer, Extraordinaire, will be back from vacation next week. He knew we had to throw a little NFL. Here because we've been chomping at the bit to talk about NFL for the whole summer. It's our first show back from summer break.

It's August, so it's time for our NFL predictions. Each Saturday during the month of August, like we normally do here at the rundown, we will preview two divisions leading up to the start of the NFL season the first week of September. Today, we start with the NFC and AFC East.

So, gentlemen, let's start off with the AFC side. And every year we do this, it feels like we start off with the AFC East, and every time it's like a one-word answer: who wins this division this season? AFC East. What do you do, baby? I'm going to say, what are you doing?

Who wins the AFC East? I'm taking Tom Brady. I'm taking the Pats, man. The Dolphins. Oh, my gosh.

The only thing that's nice about that is the weather right now. You got the Bills. Geez. I mean, I don't know. And then you got Le'Veon.

This makes you like, ah, I don't know. I mean, I don't know. They're hype about Sam Darnold down there in the Jets.

So we could probably put the Jets at number two, in my opinion. Yeah, I agree with that. They're building. Le'Veon did take 20 million less to go to a worse team. I don't understand.

He kind of took an L on that one. But I'm going Patriots, Jets. Bills. And then Dolphins, because they're talking about Tua Tugelova from Bamla.

So, or Trevor Born. But they traded for Josh Rosen, which makes no sense. And they're going to start Fitzpatrick, which actually gives them a chance to win some games at FitzMagic in September. I mean, you've got to back up with some. I just let Rosen go.

Yeah, let him do his thing. Let him mess it all up. Rob, what you got? Are you straightening away from the Patriots? You mean the team that's won the last 10 years?

Right. Is that the first time? Is that a team you're referring to the past three Super Bowls, one, two of them? I mean, you're talking about the guy who owns the NFL, Bill Bellichee. Oh, my gosh.

And his crew. You mean you really don't want me to pick them?

So let's.

Okay, so let me rephrase this thing. Are there any potential? Aaron, you got something for me. Y'all, some chumps. All y'all scared.

I'm going to go ahead and say it. I'm laying it on the line. Who's going to pick? The Jets gonna win the AFC. Wow.

This year. Really? Hey, Aaron, you got it. J-E-T-S. Aaron.

Jets, Jets, Jets. Aaron. So bold. Aaron. You care to put a steak dinner on that?

Woo! I already owe you a steak dinner, man. Oh, hey, put it. Put double or nothing. You put two steaks dinner.

You wouldn't go double or nothing on that one then. You want to go with the kids? No, I just kind of said that for real. Oh, okay.

You know what I'm saying? We got challenge all of a sudden. I want in on that. Yo. But can the Jets win nine games?

Like, seriously? The Jets can win nine games. I mean, they're in AFC East 2, so they got to play the Dolphins and the Bills. A non-win season for them would be a success. They can win nine games.

They got. They just brought back, then they just signed Khalil to play center on the offensive line. He's been blocking for L'A'Veon Bell. That'll help Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold will take us, he'll take a step forward.

He is talented. He is a good quarterback. They like the kid Robinson. Is it Robbie? Robbie Anderson.

Robbie Anderson. They like him on the outside. He's a speechster. He's a speedster. They brought in C.J.

Mosley to show up the defense. Jamal Adams is still back there in safety. The Jets can win some games. I will not sleep on the Jets. At best, the Jets will go 500.

They'll be 8-8 at best. I still believe in the fact that when you switch coaches, different administrations, the new coach has to come in, get his thumb under everybody. He has to come in, put his print on it. Then you're talking about L'Aveon Bell, who's been out of football for a year. I don't care what kind of training you've been doing, but he's been gone for a year.

Thank you. I'm looking at this. Then you're talking about a quarterback. Who is still in my in my mind is still kind of in rookie status a little bit. Hold on, wait, wait.

I got a question. What Steeler player left the Steelers in free agency or trade? and was better than when they were in Pittsburgh. I will say this, we could say potentially Emmanuel Sanders. Where is he right now?

He went to Denver. Yeah, he went to Denver. Yeah, he balled out in Denver. He was like a third wide receiver in Pittsburgh, right? He was still good.

But he was in. You remember two receivers? Yeah, that's when Peyton Manning went on that 55 or whatever it was touchdown run. Yeah. He had his share of touchdowns in that one.

I mean, but I'm looking at like Antonio Brown, now a Raider. Le'Beon Bell, now a Jet. And I was just thinking, like, it feels like whenever players leave the Steelers and that system, they're not as good anymore. Like, I'm expecting Antonio Brown will not be ranked number three or whatever in the NFL top one hundred for twenty twenty because of him being in Oakland. He's got something to prove coming up.

But he's got Derek Carr throwing it up. Yeah, but yeah, I mean, Derek Carr was an MVP candidate two years ago. I mean, we got to keep that in mind. Just two years ago. Yeah, but John Gruden's there now.

And I don't have faith in him. He's on a 10-year plan. I just don't have faith in John Gruden. I do want to say this, though, getting back to the Jets for the AFC East. They could easily start the season off one and four, easily.

That first game, they got the Bills in division, could be winnable. But then Browns, that's a loss. The Patriots, that's a loss. The Eagles, it's probably a loss. The Cowboys, what you think, Rod?

Oh, that's a loss for them. And then they got the Patriots. Then they got the Patriots again after that. They got to play the Patriots twice the first like six, seven weeks of the year. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I don't think I say 500 at best. Let's go work, man. 500 at best, bro. All right, so let's go to the other side of the bridge, the NFC East.

We've been talking about Zeke off and on throughout this whole show. Is he doing the right thing by holding out, or is Dallas doing the right thing by not paying him right now? Which is our poll question basically right now. I think he's doing the right thing by holding out. Is he going to get his money?

He deserves it. But is he going to get it? I don't know. And the thing that I hate for him is he had the same amount of touchdowns as fumbles last year, and that's working against him. Six and six.

People don't like running backs that fumble the raw. Healy had six touchdowns last year? Six touchdowns on the ground. Six fumbles on the ground. Not looking good.

I mean, yeah, I mean, as a fan, you know, I hate Zeke for what he's doing as a fan because he still has two years left on his deal. Right. But as a businessman, I commend him for what he's doing. And like I said earlier, when he came in with the rookie contract, no one was looking out for the rookies. Running backs have been devalued in the NFL.

Therefore, you got to get your money when you can and when you're hot because Jerry Jones and the Cowboys will run a running back into the ground. You guys know that. DeMarco Murray, they ran him into the ground. And he didn't get paid until he went over to Philly. He still didn't get his money.

Real quick, guys. Your take on the Eagles. Are they the team to beat in this division or is it Dallas? Yes, the Eagles are the team to beat with a healthy Carson Wentz. That's the thing.

They are the group to beat. I want to see Carson Wentz get through 16 consecutive games regular season because he hasn't done that the past two years and they just gave him a boatload of money and shipped Nick Foles out of there. I will say, I'm not going to be able to do that. You don't think he's gonna make it? No.

I'm excited to see the Redskins, though, and Dwayne Haskins. Yeah, that was my. What are your expectations for Dwayne Haskins in Washington? He comes in and has a big year. I think he's going to be a lot better than Daniel Jones.

So you're saying that Haskins will start? Yeah, I thought? Oh, he's Case Canem. I think he will. I think at least by week four.

Week four, week five. No, I'm talking game one and game one. I think Hassan's going to be game one starter. If it was me, I would throw him out there. What you got to lose?

Yeah. But Case Kaynum, if they're trying to maybe. Ease him in, you know, want him to learn a little bit. Also, it depends on how he takes to the playbook learning curve. In football, I'll be honest with you, especially the NFL, I don't believe in throwing the rookie on out there, regardless of the rookie.

And that's just me personally. Like, I don't expect great things from Kyler Murray this year. I just don't. He's a rookie getting tossed out there. The best example of how you handle a rookie.

In my opinion, it is Andy Reid's style of handling a rookie. You bring that rookie in, you let him sit, you let him do everything in practice, you let him learn the system, you let him get comfortable, and then you say, guess what? His name is Pat Mahomes. I hear that because Paven Holmes could have started rookie year, apparently, and they just made sure he did not kept expectations low. He did it if it didn't play.

Because when you get in the NFL playing with other grown men, and I mean grown men, That is a whole nother mindset. And if they destroy you coming out as a rookie, that can affect you the rest of your career. I'm telling you. Who wins this division? NFC East?

Philly. You got Philly? I'm gonna go with Dallas. If they've got Zeke, I'm going with Dallas too. If they have Zeke, I'm going to go with Dallas.

Yeah, I don't think we'll have Zeke. Because they have the best defense too on the squad. See, I don't know how long Zeke can hold out with two years on the deal.

Something's got to get. He can't miss two years of football. Like, if he gets to game two or three, like, if they say they get to game four and Dallas is three and one. What does he do then? He's got to come back.

He's got to come back. Or what if people started to get back to the bottom?

Well, that's what they said about Le'Veon Bill. And do you guys have a James Condor on the roster? No. Not according to Jerry Jones, it's Alfred Morris. He was.

Coming up. Coming up. I'm just going to leave it right there. Coming up. Odds and ends.

Rapid fire around. We get one minute to debate a random topic. You don't want to miss this as we clear third base and head towards home next to the rundown. You're listening to The Rundown with Desmond Johnson. What's up, dog?

Think about a party? Are we having a party? Yeah! Back to the rundown with Desmond Johnson. Download full episodes of the rundown at sportshubtri.com, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, and more.

Simply search for The Rundown with Desmond Johnson. Download it and go. Aaron, set a stop clock for one minute. At the end of one minute, we'll hear a buzzer sound. Five topics.

Actually, I might have six on here today. Rapid fire. Let's go ahead and get it popping. All right. Rapid fire around, odds and ends.

First up, Zion Williamson signed a shoe deal with Jordan Brand over multiple competitors, including a Chinese company and Adidas, who were both offering more money. Does Zion make the best choice signing with Jordan Brand go? I think so.

I know he took less money than what Adidas and like Under Armour and others were offering him, but I think you got to look at the long game when it comes to shoe deals and what Zion may end up being. Agreed. I mean, he's going to get the exposure regardless, but him being the newest face of jump man, no, Jordan's going to push him. I think that he should have taken his own brand with one of the other deals, Chinese, whoever. New balance.

He's good enough to set his own record and do his own thing. He shouldn't have signed with Jordan Bray. New balance. I'm still skeptical as to what's going to happen with Zion in the league. I think Zion's going to be great in the league.

Mikey still got their man, even though he busted through the coalition. It's something about how humble he is that makes me feel like this guy is going to really explain. I don't question his talent. I question his weight. He's 285 at 6'7.

Like, that's not his work.

Now, unless he grows, and reports are he's still growing. If he gets a 6'10, 6'10, 285, forget it. What a wrap. If they get a conditioning coach, man, they'll make him lose some weight. Man, he's in New Orleans eating all that fried food.

Go ahead, Aaron. NCAA college football coaches poll came out this week. Defending champion Clemson is number one. Alabama, number two. What are the better odds?

A. Part 4 matchup between Clemson versus Alabama. At the end of the year for the title, or one of the teams versus the field.

Okay, so the question is: do you think you're going to see Clemson versus Alabama at the end of the year again, or one of those teams versus somebody? I think it's going to be Clemson and Alabama again. These guys are just so far ahead of the rest of college football. It just doesn't seem fair the way they're stacking these four stars. You think about it, Clemson and Bama's third-string guys are still better.

Their five-star prospects still can start anywhere. Clemson just put their entire defensive line in the NFL draft and are replacing them with all four-star guys that could have played anywhere else last year. KJ Henry gonna get a chance. You know West Versailles standout. Yeah, he's probably gonna be starting, I would think.

Oh, yeah, so yeah. Man, they're loaded.

Now, between the, I mean, I think, yeah, Clemson, Alabama. And this brings up an interesting conversation where I had people tell me they didn't like Golden State Cleveland four years in a row. I bet those same people will like Clemson versus Alabama four years in a row. I can live with hypocrisy. I can live with Clemson, Alabama four years in a row.

And I think that's who it'll be. Odds are on their side. Two biggest stars in college football. Pat Mahomes, my guy, Project Pat, has a new serial called Mahomes Magic Crunch. Unopened boxes are selling for $33 a box on eBay right now.

Should we pump the brakes on Mahomes Mania considering he's only played one full season? I think Madden curse is about to humble him. I was on that tip too. Like, I mean, he had a perfect season last year: 50 touchdowns. They won 13 games.

He got beat by the GOAT in the playoffs. I mean, there's not much more you can do to be better than what you were the year before. And the NFL is all about coming back to the meme. Like, unless you're the Patriots, you're not going to win 12 games every year. You're going to win 12, and you're going to be like 9 and 7, and you might be at 11 or whatever, but.

I don't know, man. I don't trust it. I don't trust it. I think Patrick Holmes has a good enough team around him that any mistakes that he makes this year is they're going to be covered right on up. I think Patrick Holmes continues to dominate.

He's going to do his thing. He is going to be the man again this year. Granted, we have film on him, but guess what? He's going to bypass all that. This guy throws.

This guy throws with his left hand and he throws blindfolded. Blindfolded now. I wonder what my home's magic crunch actually tastes like. Or do I want to know what it tastes like? I don't think he's like $33 a box.

You can keep it. It tastes like a no-look pass. It better give me that arm for $33. Matter of fact, just go to the last question. All right.

Last topic. Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas signed a five-year extension worth $100 million with $61 million guaranteed. It's the largest contract signed by a non-QB in NFL history, good or bad move for the Saints. I think it's a good move for the Carolina Panthers. Yes, sir.

Because anytime you got a wide receiver with a contract like this, it's going to hamper the salary cap. And what happens when Drew Breed's arm falls off or he decides he's retiring next year?

Now you got this wide receiver and nobody throwing it to him. You got to pay him $100 million. And they still got to pay Alvin Kamara at some point. I mean, $100 million? This guy's not Randy Moss.

I'm sorry. That's ridiculous. Hey, man, at $100 million, they didn't have a choice. They had to pay him. Who else was he throwing it to?

He caught 124 or 100 and how many of her passes last year. The next closest person caught 30-some passes. Guess what? They had to pay him. Pay him his money.

Drew Brees made the Saints. Down, down. He came up in a meal of catch. Download the free WSGS Sports Hub app from Google Player iTunes. And don't forget to check out SportsColina Monthly daily.

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