On today's episode, Jason reacts to a pair of huge signings in the NFL. Jason gives his thoughts on how Russell Wilson fits into the present and future of the Giants. Jason breaks down how the Patriots signing Stefon Diggs was actually a draft-related direct response to the Giants signing Wilson. The ratings from the first weekend of the Tournament provide intriguing context for the sport, and Jason sends some love to Damian Lillard.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is up, Straight Ramp. It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight
Fire for Wednesday, March the twenty sixth, and oh boie,
do we have some news today. Thank you NFL for delivery.
We're like lining up a guest. It's looking good and
it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, we got some NFL news.
Let me cook, but first before we get to a
(00:31):
couple of big moves in the NFL, which I do
believe will shake up the NFL draft at the top,
I do need to start just quickly because this emerged
yesterday afternoon. Here's the headline from the Hollywood Reporter. TV
ratings March Madness early rounds hit multi decade highs for
(00:51):
men's bracket. Subhead the subheadline for non journalism people out there.
The women's tournament is down from twenty twenty four's record
breaking but still posting solid numbers. We'll just start with
the women. Catl Clark's out of the tournament. The women's
tournament numbers are down now. Juju Watkins is out, which stinks.
She's out with an ACL. It's really brutal for her.
(01:14):
One of the big time Stars. So now it's the
Yukon Invitational. They should coast to the title with Page
and I'm sure they'll do solid numbers. But the real
story is the men's NCAA tournament. Right. The first two
rounds were on CBS, TBS, TN T True TV drew
their biggest audience in more than thirty years. Now, you know,
(01:36):
I know you guys love when ratings are convenient. Let's
talk about them. The NFL dominates, NBA stinks. Okay, well,
now college basketball is having its biggest first and second
round audience at more than thirty years. What's that all about.
So here's the numbers, right, They averaged nine point four
million viewers across the four networks, the highest mark for
opening weekends since ninety three, I believe ninety three. Was
(01:59):
is that the Fab five? No, the Fab five had
mostly gone nineteen ninety three. Was that the Jason Kidd
cal taking down Duke. Let's go to Michael Scott shout
out to the office. No, yeah, sorry, sorry Michael Scott
from the Office's favorite resource, Wikipedia always right. Yes, it
(02:20):
was trust your first instinct, Jason. Nineteen ninety three was
the Fab five's second year. It was North Carolina taking
down Michigan in a memorable title game. I was this
the Chris Weber game. It was, Oh, my goodness, Yeah,
(02:42):
you're right, it was okay. So the first two rounds
of this tournament were pretty good. It looks like, yeah,
it was a strong tournament with a lot of good
teams and guys. I know it's shocking to believe this,
but the NCAA tournament was a big draw when there
(03:03):
were big time budding stars. Right, It's like, oh, we
have Chris Weber, Who's going to be a huge fricking deal.
Maybe maybe we should tune in to watch Chris Webber
the number one the North Carolina was the number one seed.
Kentucky was a number one seed. Let's quickly just they
had Patino, they had Travis Ford, Jamal Mashburn. Damn. That
(03:28):
was a good team Cincinnati. Was that the Kenyan Martin team?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
That?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
No, that was the Nick Van excellent Oh, one of
my favorite players of all time, the Nick fan Excle team.
They got to the final four. I think Damon Flint
is that name ring a belt? Anybody Bostic, Corey Blunt, No,
Damon Flint. I guess that was a little later my bust.
And then you had Indiana with that was the Calbert
(03:54):
Cheney team faux show. I remember that team, Damon Bailey,
the legendary high school player, Cal Cheney, Alan Anderson, Bob
Knight's kid. Yeah, that was a really good Indiana team.
Michigan of course with the Fab five, that was an
amazing tournament and they got monster ratings. So look at
this year's tournament. You had no major upsets. The top
(04:16):
four seeds went sixteen or zero in the first round,
average margin victory twenty two. They're good. Then you had
Saint John's get taken down. But otherwise, the good teams,
the best players are winning. The strong brands. Duke still alive,
Michigan a strong brand, still alive. You have Auburn nine,
huge basketball brand. But Bruce Pearl's doing some damn good
things there. Everybody knows the SEC was loaded seven SEC teams,
(04:41):
and all of a sudden you get You remember the
huge college football audiences you'd get right for Alabama, Clemson, Georgia,
all those Well, now all of a sudden you're getting
SEC dominant in the sweet sixteen. It's like, oh hello,
there's a huge se see audience hungry for hoops, folks.
(05:03):
Cooper Flag still alive. My take on Cinderella being kind
of killed by the nil transfer portal. That's doing great.
I see a lot of people biting off that. I'm
just telling you, this tournament is off to a flying start.
I'm very fired up about the Sweet Sixteen. It's gonna
be great basketball. Right now, let's get to the big news. Obviously,
in the NFL, it was essentially known as the waiting game.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Oh, actually, before I do NFL, let me quickly, no
rob g to produce, So I'm kind of flying by
the seat of my pants. I totally forgot about this,
but I have it in my notes. Shout out to
Damian Lillard, Prayers up my man out indefinitely due to
a blood clot in his calf. Victor Wembinyama sidelined by
a blood clot. I don't know what out in definitely
means for Dame Lillard, Are they not he can't be
(05:50):
back for the playoffs. I have no idea. Chris Bosh,
this sidelined him back in the day, and I tweeted
about this last night. You know, get healthy. We need
Sae Lillard for the playoffs and of course, instantly, wire
athletes getting blood clots must be the jab, must be
the second job or whatever booster shot. It's like, if
(06:11):
that's your default, the second an athlete gets a blood
clot and by the way, these aren't the first two
athletes to get blood clots in the last five, ten, fifteen,
twenty years. Okay, let's just go instantly, let's blame Fauci
and it's just nonsense. Guys, don't do that. You sound dumb,
like if that's your default, you just sound unintelligent, like
you're a moron. It's just like that's it's not like, damn,
(06:35):
we need Dame Lillard. It's not like damn, what's the
impact on the East. It's not like geez, what does
this do for Giannis's long term future? Instantly you make
it political and it's just like, go away. I don't
need that. So we need we need Daman Liller healthy.
Obviously without him, the Bucks are going nowhere. And I
hate to get positive here for a Secon, but that's
good news for my knicks. If they have to face
(06:58):
the Bucks in the first round or the pace, I
think they got a much better chance then. You know,
if they happen to fall a little bit, and they
have been sliding. Big game from cat last night. You know,
if they faced Cleveland also Cleveland's reeling right now, or
Boston that that's a tough draw. So obviously we need
Dame Loller around. We need we need the best players.
(07:18):
That's the bottom line. And it looks like the Kadan
Book are gonna miss the playoffs now.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
So yeah, Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search
FSR to listen live.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
All right, let's get to the NFL, the big, big news.
Everybody was playing the waiting game, waiting for Aaron Rodgers
to decide, right, is he gonna be Steelers? Hes gonna
be Giants? Wait a minute, is he gonna do another
darkness retreat? And it almost seems as if the New
York Giants are fed up. We're not waiting for this guy.
(07:57):
We're not We're not doing it. Let's go get Russell Wilson.
And so Russell Wilson is going to the New York Giants. Now.
You remember when he left the Broncos his first meeting,
it was a cuple of coffee, was with the New
York Giants, right, he stopped there, Then he went to
Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh said you're a guy. So now he
goes back to the Giants, who just signed Jameis Winston
last week, and all of a sudden, it's like, all right, well,
(08:20):
let's just roll with it. Russell Wilson one year deal
worths up to twenty million dollars, twenty one million incentives,
ten and a half million guaranteed. He's going to the Giants.
So this is where it gets interesting. Did they get
a sign from Aaron Rodgers that he's not gonna stay
in the New York area and he's like, I'm not
it's not happening Giants, or or or is something happening
(08:45):
on the draft front where now a month removed from
the combine, it's very clear that Titans are going cam Ward.
I'm sure you guys saw they had their team president,
their GM, their head coach, full staff. They had like
two video crews from the Tennessee Titans at cam Ward's
pro day. If they're going cam Ward, that's been obvious
for a while. Okay, so we know that. So then
(09:08):
comes Shador. Do the Browns go Shadoor or does he
fall three to the Giants. I've been saying all along,
there's no way the Browns passed on Shador. Did the
Giants get wind? Hey, guys, the Browns are taken them.
Did they catch win that that's happening and this is
their insurance policy if that actually comes to fruition. Now,
if Shadour's there at three, obviously you go there. But
(09:30):
this is why I don't put any stock in NFL
draft betting lines. Literally, yesterday, Russell, Russell Wilson, Chador standers
are the favorite to go three if you bet that,
And I hope you didn't. You feel kind of dumb
right now, You're like, oh man, Within a day, the
Giants signed Russell Wilson. So they've signed Russell Wilson, They've
(09:53):
signed James Winston, they guaranteed money. They know they're not
getting Shador Sanders, so they just said let's lock in. Now.
I'll drill down briefly on the Giants, folks. I don't
know if Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson make this a
really good team based on the three wins last year.
I don't think the talent is there. I know Dables
(10:16):
fighting for his job. I don't know if either of
these two guys are going to get you there now.
Tommy DeVito, I guess you know the cult hero is
now your third string guy. But here's the scope position guys,
Tyrone Tracy, who had a good year running back, good
rookie year out of I believe Purdue. Then you got
Molik Neighbors on the outside, who's great. And there is
some symmetry with what Malik Neighbors can do and what
(10:36):
Russell Wilson does. Last year, Russell Wilson's deep ball accuracy
down the sideline was excellent. He just threw it up
and Pickens wet up and got it and that worked
until it didn't. And that's not a sustainable kind of offense.
But it was very boom bust. Hey, we can't run
the ball, Russ, can't throw anything underneath. Let's just chuck
and duck. And when it worked great. They were in
(10:58):
games the Pittsburgh Steelers and they rode the defense. Hey, Russ,
no turnovers. A couple deep balls to Pickins, then we
loosen up the run game, we ride the defense, and
they made the playoffs. And they lost. Obviously. I don't
know if he can duplicate that with the New York
Giants because a the defense isn't quite there, though they
do have some pieces. Neighbors is an electrifying talent. I
(11:22):
don't think he's as good of a go up and
get it guy, contested catch ball guy as Pickens, but
Neighbors is certainly an excellent top end receiver who's already
on track to be a top ten receiver in the
league this season. If he's not there already one Dale
Robinson's the other one Darius Slayton. The tight end room
is I mean mid would be generous, Theo Johnson, Bellinger,
(11:46):
Greg Dolcic, and Chris Manhertz. The offensive line is questionable
at best. And all of a sudden, you're like, okay,
how are we getting seven eight nine wins and competing?
Is Russell Wilson gonna actually take us out of the
theoretical arch Manning sweepsticks? And again, I need to just
press pause on this. As fun as it sounds to
(12:08):
say arch Manning sweepstakes, guys, we have zero clue if
arch Manning is going to even be a top pick.
He has not started nearly enough college football games for
anyone to know. You can say, he's got the traits,
he's got the tools, he's got the last name. It's
all gonna click this. You're fine. But Texas, by the way,
losing a billion guys either to the NFL or I
(12:31):
think they had a really good receiver transfer as well.
So like all of a sudden, you take yourself out
of the quote unquote arch Maanning sweepstakes. But then again,
it's like, does it matter, Let's just try to win
games and save our job. And I think my guess
is that's what Daboll was doing a combination of Aaron
Rodgers said, I may do a darkness retreat, give me
some more time, and the Giants were like buzz off
(12:53):
punk and them catching win that the Browns were gonna
go Shador too. Maybe they listen to this podcast which
we've been talking about for And I'm not trying to
flex here, but it's obvious the Browns eaive quarterback. You
don't pass on one when you're drafting second. You don't.
Even if you don't love Shador, you take him at
two unless you can get some massive haul. But it's
(13:15):
pretty clear the Giants didn't want to give up anything.
Remember the Panthers had to give up Dj Moore to
move up for for Bryce Young. They had to give
up dj Moore. It's like, oh my gosh, we overpaid.
There's no way you're giving up Moleik Neighbors in any way,
(13:35):
shape or form, or Kevon Thibodeau or any of those guys.
You're just not doing that to take a chance on
Shadure Sanders.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsportsradio dot
com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Shaduor Sanders very clearly is not a guy you want
to trade up in Orgage a farm for. I don't
think many quarterbacks are, you know, if you look further
down the Giants depth chart, Jalen Hyatt has shown some flashes.
A deep ball guy out of Tennessee. Smith Marsett is
an electrifying kick returner. I think he can one run
one route. He's fast kid out of Iowa. So they've
(14:18):
got some receivers and maybe mars Smith Marsette is like
a sleeper in fantasy because Russell Wilson just keeps chucking
him deep balls if he moves up the depth chart.
But ultimately I don't think this does wants for the Giants.
It feels like an insurance policy. Hey, if we can't
get Sanatars, at least we've got two vets battling it out.
We're gonna be competitive, probably gonna win. I don't know
(14:39):
what's the Giants win total, gonna be five and a half,
six and a half somewhere in that ballpark. But yeah,
it's gonna be a rough season. So that news comes out,
everybody speculates, and then not that much later came some
other news in the top of the draft. So the
Giants are sitting at three and guess who's at four
(14:59):
the New England paper. So I haven't checked mock drafts.
I'm in full March madness mode. But in my last
mock draft for Fox, it came down to do you
go offensive line or do you go Travis Hunter? And
I compared it to when the Bengals and Lions were like, ooh,
do we do Pina Sewell or Jamar Chase And it
worked out for both teams. The pinastools and anchor on
(15:21):
arguably the best offensive line in football or second best whatever,
and Jamar Chase is a superstar who helped the Bengals
get to the Super Bowl. Both teams won that right.
So Travis Hunter versus whoever you have as the best
left tackle. There's varying reports. There's some guys moving up
because of the combine, but it's not like a sexy position,
(15:43):
although it matters a lot, especially on the gambling front.
So consider this. At four, the Patriots were hoping for
Travis Hunter. Oh my gosh, could we get Travis Hunter
in there with Drake may Bro That is a quarterback
wide receiver combo for the next eight ten years. Love that.
(16:03):
That's that seems great? Ookay, Travis Hunter, Drake may We
got Romandre Stevenson in the backfield. We spent a metric
ton on the offensive line. They got Bradbury, they got
Morgan Moses the right tackle. Dude, We're in good shape. However,
at two, the Browns were hedging, Hey, man, you know what,
(16:23):
we may just go Travis Hunter at two. And so
I wonder if the Patriots ran the calculation said, we're
a month out from the draft. We got a shit ter.
Get off the pot. Let's go sign Stefan Diggs on
a three year, sixty nine million dollar deal. Now he's
coming off an ACL. It's not really a three year
(16:49):
sixty nine million dollar deal. I haven't seen the full numbers,
but twenty six million guaranteed to me. To me, it
feels like it's probably a one year deal, right, maybe
a one plus one. But Diggs is thirty one. He
wasn't great last season, but he's instantly number one on
(17:10):
their Patriots dep chart. And he suffered the right knee
injury October twenty seventh. If you assume he's back in
nine months, that puts him back sometime in the summer
and maybe on track to start Week one if Diggs
is grinding, which I'm sure he is. But they did
(17:30):
steal mac Hollins away from Buffalo, and those are two
pretty decent receivers for Josh McDaniels, who's the new offensive coordinator,
so they've got a couple guys to work with. It
is interesting that they stole two receivers from them who
used to play for the Bills. Diggs obviously was in
Houston last year, but they also have Kendrick Bourne at
(17:52):
receiver who's solid. I see de Mario Douglas on the
depth chart. He flashed well. Last year, they got the
young kid Polk out of Washington, who's solid, so they've
got some weapons. And this is where it gets fascinating.
Did the Patriots say, yeah, we're probably not gonna be
able to get Travis Hunter, he's gonna go three to
the Giants. Let's just go out and get us the
(18:13):
best receiver left on the market, Stefan Diggs. And they
got him. And now it's a bit of a role
that dice. I don't think he's a one anymore. I
think he's he's a good possession receiver. I think he
could probably play in the slot. You play multiple spots.
He's not the game breaker he was, and I think
the Patriots know this. They need a solid guy. However,
if you look into the history of Stefan Diggs, guys,
(18:35):
he's been kind. I don't want to call him a jerk,
but he's had he had a couple issues in Minnesota.
There's some stories out there floating around about Steffan Diggs.
You don't have to look too hard. I'm not willing
to call him mister steel your girl, but it sounds like,
you know, Digs. Maybe he's grown up. I don't know,
but there is that the kind of guy you want
(18:57):
with your young quarterback. Drake may and I would counter
with would or my own question with what we've got
Rabel one of the best culture builders in the league.
I think they're probably good. And this is where it
gets interesting. Do the Giants now they have two quarterbacks
one receiver, do they get another one in Travis Hunter?
(19:18):
Or do they punt? And then the Patriots could they
add Travis Hunter to that wide receiver room with Digs Douglas.
I forgot Boutet had some flashes last year. Mac Collins
like they got some solid guys in now. Or do
they say we don't need Travis Hunter. We can go
out there and get a Mason Graham to pair him
with Barmore in the middle, assuming Barmore comes back. It
(19:42):
feels like these were smart moves and they're kind of
telegraphing what's going on at the top of the draft.
Now where it gets interesting is what happens if the
Browns don't take Shaduur Sanders. Do they still go Travis Hunter?
And then the Giants, Boy, you've committed to two quarterbacks,
You have to still take Shador right, so you can
(20:05):
ask all these questions and it's fun. This is why
the NFL Draft is great. What happens at the top.
We know cam Ward is locked in going one. That's
a mortal lock. Okay, my guess is Shador goes too.
And I believe the Giants will make a play for
Travis Hunter at three. I know it's like, hey, we've
(20:25):
already gotten my league, neighbors. What's the point. There's a
world where Travis Hunter is a really good receiver. Now
I haven't done all these deep dives into historical data
on what Hunter brings to the table and his twitchiness
and length and all his catchability. Like he's really really good.
I don't know if he's a number three overall guy.
(20:46):
And I'll just remind you the Eagles built their team
through the trenches. The Kansas City Chiefs several years ago
built their Super Bowl team through the trenches. Now it's
getting picked apart and then are on the trench and
they get smashed by the Eagles. We know you've got
to have an offensive line. The problem is there aren't
a ton of great offensive linemen in this draft. There's
(21:08):
a lot of good ones, but top three four. I
don't know. Everybody knows that you want to trade out
of the top three if you can top four, simply
because like you can get more picks and more picks,
more bites at the Apple. It's a numbers game, just
like just like my bracket situation. Oh, by the way,
I think I flexed you guys. My daughter is entered
(21:33):
some bracket pools. I helped her, of course, and she
is number one in her class of like twenty five kids,
and then she's seventh in the entire grade. I don't
know what she gets if she wins it. I am,
and I had to ask the guy. I'm currently thirteenth
in a bracket pool with I think it's like fifteen
(21:53):
hundred people. So I asked the guy. I was like, bro,
you haven't sent out a payout breakdown, you know what's
going on?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
And he goes.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Over one thousand people at twenty bucks a pop is
a lot to count. Winner will be over ten k
and I pay the top thirty spots. So I'm fired
up about the Sweet sixteen. I'm fired up about March Madness.
I'm starting to get excited about the NFL Draft. I
may have some extra coin laying around after if this,
if Duke wins at all and Texas Tech like gets
(22:22):
to the final or something like, your boy's gonna be
doing some doing well, and I might have to start
looking into some NFL draft props. I remember we had
Doug Kazarian on he was at ESPN when he had
a monster NFL draft hit. There was some mispriced defensive
back and he would like bet him to be the
first safety off the board, but I think he was
(22:44):
labeled as corners say. I don't remember exactly what it was,
but he was able to take take down the house
for a lot. So yeah, I may have to make
a quick quick trip to Vegas here. Also, I've got
that Eagles Chiefs super Bowl ticket that I had from
way back in the day over a year ago and
(23:07):
then and that actually cash that was a super lucky hit.
But on a bit of a hot streak here. Oh,
I'm just seeing more news here. Richard Calipari hired to
be the next Xavier coach, going from New Mexico. They
pushed Michigan State. They had a good showing. But the
real interesting part is Richard Patino and Rick Patino now
(23:27):
in the Big East, Saint John's and Xavier. That is
a really smart hire by Xavier. You're gonna have the
father son matchup. You know, that's gonna be a big
storyline in the league. Oh, that's just that's smart college basketball.
So I think it's on fire. Now. I know a
lot of people would disagree and find that it's fine,
but I'm fascinated by all this movement. And oh, by
(23:49):
the way, Drake's superstar. Oh my gosh, how am I
spacing on his name? I've been talking about him. Sturt's
Bennett Sturtz. He has decided to follow his coach to
Iowa as opposed to go to the NBA. I don't
think he's gonna have quite a Caitlin Clark impact because
this is his third school. But this kid is a
great story. D two to Drake and now to Iowa
(24:13):
to the big tenant. This is not quite Dulton Dalton Connect.
Remember Dalton Connect was like a D two or D
three guy, and then he goes to Tennessee and is like,
holy cow, SEC player of the Year. Remember that. So
I don't know the Sturts is gonna be that level,
but I do believe he is a pro and we'll
see what else Iowa can do. God basketball just kind
of sort of on fire. All right, that's it for today,
(24:34):
back tomorrow. Talk to you then,
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is up, Straight Ramp. It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight
Fire for Wednesday, March the twenty sixth, and oh boie,
do we have some news today. Thank you NFL for delivery.
We're like lining up a guest. It's looking good and
it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, we got some NFL news.
Let me cook, but first before we get to a
(00:31):
couple of big moves in the NFL, which I do
believe will shake up the NFL draft at the top,
I do need to start just quickly because this emerged
yesterday afternoon. Here's the headline from the Hollywood Reporter. TV
ratings March Madness early rounds hit multi decade highs for
(00:51):
men's bracket. Subhead the subheadline for non journalism people out there.
The women's tournament is down from twenty twenty four's record
breaking but still posting solid numbers. We'll just start with
the women. Catl Clark's out of the tournament. The women's
tournament numbers are down now. Juju Watkins is out, which stinks.
She's out with an ACL. It's really brutal for her.
(01:14):
One of the big time Stars. So now it's the
Yukon Invitational. They should coast to the title with Page
and I'm sure they'll do solid numbers. But the real
story is the men's NCAA tournament. Right. The first two
rounds were on CBS, TBS, TN T True TV drew
their biggest audience in more than thirty years. Now, you know,
(01:36):
I know you guys love when ratings are convenient. Let's
talk about them. The NFL dominates, NBA stinks. Okay, well,
now college basketball is having its biggest first and second
round audience at more than thirty years. What's that all about.
So here's the numbers, right, They averaged nine point four
million viewers across the four networks, the highest mark for
opening weekends since ninety three, I believe ninety three. Was
(01:59):
is that the Fab five? No, the Fab five had
mostly gone nineteen ninety three. Was that the Jason Kidd
cal taking down Duke. Let's go to Michael Scott shout
out to the office. No, yeah, sorry, sorry Michael Scott
from the Office's favorite resource, Wikipedia always right. Yes, it
(02:20):
was trust your first instinct, Jason. Nineteen ninety three was
the Fab five's second year. It was North Carolina taking
down Michigan in a memorable title game. I was this
the Chris Weber game. It was, Oh, my goodness, Yeah,
(02:42):
you're right, it was okay. So the first two rounds
of this tournament were pretty good. It looks like, yeah,
it was a strong tournament with a lot of good
teams and guys. I know it's shocking to believe this,
but the NCAA tournament was a big draw when there
(03:03):
were big time budding stars. Right, It's like, oh, we
have Chris Weber, Who's going to be a huge fricking deal.
Maybe maybe we should tune in to watch Chris Webber
the number one the North Carolina was the number one seed.
Kentucky was a number one seed. Let's quickly just they
had Patino, they had Travis Ford, Jamal Mashburn. Damn. That
(03:28):
was a good team Cincinnati. Was that the Kenyan Martin team?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
That?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
No, that was the Nick Van excellent Oh, one of
my favorite players of all time, the Nick fan Excle team.
They got to the final four. I think Damon Flint
is that name ring a belt? Anybody Bostic, Corey Blunt, No,
Damon Flint. I guess that was a little later my bust.
And then you had Indiana with that was the Calbert
(03:54):
Cheney team faux show. I remember that team, Damon Bailey,
the legendary high school player, Cal Cheney, Alan Anderson, Bob
Knight's kid. Yeah, that was a really good Indiana team.
Michigan of course with the Fab five, that was an
amazing tournament and they got monster ratings. So look at
this year's tournament. You had no major upsets. The top
(04:16):
four seeds went sixteen or zero in the first round,
average margin victory twenty two. They're good. Then you had
Saint John's get taken down. But otherwise, the good teams,
the best players are winning. The strong brands. Duke still alive,
Michigan a strong brand, still alive. You have Auburn nine,
huge basketball brand. But Bruce Pearl's doing some damn good
things there. Everybody knows the SEC was loaded seven SEC teams,
(04:41):
and all of a sudden you get You remember the
huge college football audiences you'd get right for Alabama, Clemson, Georgia,
all those Well, now all of a sudden you're getting
SEC dominant in the sweet sixteen. It's like, oh hello,
there's a huge se see audience hungry for hoops, folks.
(05:03):
Cooper Flag still alive. My take on Cinderella being kind
of killed by the nil transfer portal. That's doing great.
I see a lot of people biting off that. I'm
just telling you, this tournament is off to a flying start.
I'm very fired up about the Sweet Sixteen. It's gonna
be great basketball. Right now, let's get to the big news. Obviously,
in the NFL, it was essentially known as the waiting game.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Oh, actually, before I do NFL, let me quickly, no
rob g to produce, So I'm kind of flying by
the seat of my pants. I totally forgot about this,
but I have it in my notes. Shout out to
Damian Lillard, Prayers up my man out indefinitely due to
a blood clot in his calf. Victor Wembinyama sidelined by
a blood clot. I don't know what out in definitely
means for Dame Lillard, Are they not he can't be
(05:50):
back for the playoffs. I have no idea. Chris Bosh,
this sidelined him back in the day, and I tweeted
about this last night. You know, get healthy. We need
Sae Lillard for the playoffs and of course, instantly, wire
athletes getting blood clots must be the jab, must be
the second job or whatever booster shot. It's like, if
(06:11):
that's your default, the second an athlete gets a blood
clot and by the way, these aren't the first two
athletes to get blood clots in the last five, ten, fifteen,
twenty years. Okay, let's just go instantly, let's blame Fauci
and it's just nonsense. Guys, don't do that. You sound dumb,
like if that's your default, you just sound unintelligent, like
you're a moron. It's just like that's it's not like, damn,
(06:35):
we need Dame Lillard. It's not like damn, what's the
impact on the East. It's not like geez, what does
this do for Giannis's long term future? Instantly you make
it political and it's just like, go away. I don't
need that. So we need we need Daman Liller healthy.
Obviously without him, the Bucks are going nowhere. And I
hate to get positive here for a Secon, but that's
good news for my knicks. If they have to face
(06:58):
the Bucks in the first round or the pace, I
think they got a much better chance then. You know,
if they happen to fall a little bit, and they
have been sliding. Big game from cat last night. You know,
if they faced Cleveland also Cleveland's reeling right now, or
Boston that that's a tough draw. So obviously we need
Dame Loller around. We need we need the best players.
(07:18):
That's the bottom line. And it looks like the Kadan
Book are gonna miss the playoffs now.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
So yeah, Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search
FSR to listen live.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
All right, let's get to the NFL, the big, big news.
Everybody was playing the waiting game, waiting for Aaron Rodgers
to decide, right, is he gonna be Steelers? Hes gonna
be Giants? Wait a minute, is he gonna do another
darkness retreat? And it almost seems as if the New
York Giants are fed up. We're not waiting for this guy.
(07:57):
We're not We're not doing it. Let's go get Russell Wilson.
And so Russell Wilson is going to the New York Giants. Now.
You remember when he left the Broncos his first meeting,
it was a cuple of coffee, was with the New
York Giants, right, he stopped there, Then he went to
Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh said you're a guy. So now he
goes back to the Giants, who just signed Jameis Winston
last week, and all of a sudden, it's like, all right, well,
(08:20):
let's just roll with it. Russell Wilson one year deal
worths up to twenty million dollars, twenty one million incentives,
ten and a half million guaranteed. He's going to the Giants.
So this is where it gets interesting. Did they get
a sign from Aaron Rodgers that he's not gonna stay
in the New York area and he's like, I'm not
it's not happening Giants, or or or is something happening
(08:45):
on the draft front where now a month removed from
the combine, it's very clear that Titans are going cam Ward.
I'm sure you guys saw they had their team president,
their GM, their head coach, full staff. They had like
two video crews from the Tennessee Titans at cam Ward's
pro day. If they're going cam Ward, that's been obvious
for a while. Okay, so we know that. So then
(09:08):
comes Shador. Do the Browns go Shadoor or does he
fall three to the Giants. I've been saying all along,
there's no way the Browns passed on Shador. Did the
Giants get wind? Hey, guys, the Browns are taken them.
Did they catch win that that's happening and this is
their insurance policy if that actually comes to fruition. Now,
if Shadour's there at three, obviously you go there. But
(09:30):
this is why I don't put any stock in NFL
draft betting lines. Literally, yesterday, Russell, Russell Wilson, Chador standers
are the favorite to go three if you bet that,
And I hope you didn't. You feel kind of dumb
right now, You're like, oh man, Within a day, the
Giants signed Russell Wilson. So they've signed Russell Wilson, They've
(09:53):
signed James Winston, they guaranteed money. They know they're not
getting Shador Sanders, so they just said let's lock in. Now.
I'll drill down briefly on the Giants, folks. I don't
know if Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson make this a
really good team based on the three wins last year.
I don't think the talent is there. I know Dables
(10:16):
fighting for his job. I don't know if either of
these two guys are going to get you there now.
Tommy DeVito, I guess you know the cult hero is
now your third string guy. But here's the scope position guys,
Tyrone Tracy, who had a good year running back, good
rookie year out of I believe Purdue. Then you got
Molik Neighbors on the outside, who's great. And there is
some symmetry with what Malik Neighbors can do and what
(10:36):
Russell Wilson does. Last year, Russell Wilson's deep ball accuracy
down the sideline was excellent. He just threw it up
and Pickens wet up and got it and that worked
until it didn't. And that's not a sustainable kind of offense.
But it was very boom bust. Hey, we can't run
the ball, Russ, can't throw anything underneath. Let's just chuck
and duck. And when it worked great. They were in
(10:58):
games the Pittsburgh Steelers and they rode the defense. Hey, Russ,
no turnovers. A couple deep balls to Pickins, then we
loosen up the run game, we ride the defense, and
they made the playoffs. And they lost. Obviously. I don't
know if he can duplicate that with the New York
Giants because a the defense isn't quite there, though they
do have some pieces. Neighbors is an electrifying talent. I
(11:22):
don't think he's as good of a go up and
get it guy, contested catch ball guy as Pickens, but
Neighbors is certainly an excellent top end receiver who's already
on track to be a top ten receiver in the
league this season. If he's not there already one Dale
Robinson's the other one Darius Slayton. The tight end room
is I mean mid would be generous, Theo Johnson, Bellinger,
(11:46):
Greg Dolcic, and Chris Manhertz. The offensive line is questionable
at best. And all of a sudden, you're like, okay,
how are we getting seven eight nine wins and competing?
Is Russell Wilson gonna actually take us out of the
theoretical arch Manning sweepsticks? And again, I need to just
press pause on this. As fun as it sounds to
(12:08):
say arch Manning sweepstakes, guys, we have zero clue if
arch Manning is going to even be a top pick.
He has not started nearly enough college football games for
anyone to know. You can say, he's got the traits,
he's got the tools, he's got the last name. It's
all gonna click this. You're fine. But Texas, by the way,
losing a billion guys either to the NFL or I
(12:31):
think they had a really good receiver transfer as well.
So like all of a sudden, you take yourself out
of the quote unquote arch Maanning sweepstakes. But then again,
it's like, does it matter, Let's just try to win
games and save our job. And I think my guess
is that's what Daboll was doing a combination of Aaron
Rodgers said, I may do a darkness retreat, give me
some more time, and the Giants were like buzz off
(12:53):
punk and them catching win that the Browns were gonna
go Shador too. Maybe they listen to this podcast which
we've been talking about for And I'm not trying to
flex here, but it's obvious the Browns eaive quarterback. You
don't pass on one when you're drafting second. You don't.
Even if you don't love Shador, you take him at
two unless you can get some massive haul. But it's
(13:15):
pretty clear the Giants didn't want to give up anything.
Remember the Panthers had to give up Dj Moore to
move up for for Bryce Young. They had to give
up dj Moore. It's like, oh my gosh, we overpaid.
There's no way you're giving up Moleik Neighbors in any way,
(13:35):
shape or form, or Kevon Thibodeau or any of those guys.
You're just not doing that to take a chance on
Shadure Sanders.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsportsradio dot
com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to listen live.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Shaduor Sanders very clearly is not a guy you want
to trade up in Orgage a farm for. I don't
think many quarterbacks are, you know, if you look further
down the Giants depth chart, Jalen Hyatt has shown some flashes.
A deep ball guy out of Tennessee. Smith Marsett is
an electrifying kick returner. I think he can one run
one route. He's fast kid out of Iowa. So they've
(14:18):
got some receivers and maybe mars Smith Marsette is like
a sleeper in fantasy because Russell Wilson just keeps chucking
him deep balls if he moves up the depth chart.
But ultimately I don't think this does wants for the Giants.
It feels like an insurance policy. Hey, if we can't
get Sanatars, at least we've got two vets battling it out.
We're gonna be competitive, probably gonna win. I don't know
(14:39):
what's the Giants win total, gonna be five and a half,
six and a half somewhere in that ballpark. But yeah,
it's gonna be a rough season. So that news comes out,
everybody speculates, and then not that much later came some
other news in the top of the draft. So the
Giants are sitting at three and guess who's at four
(14:59):
the New England paper. So I haven't checked mock drafts.
I'm in full March madness mode. But in my last
mock draft for Fox, it came down to do you
go offensive line or do you go Travis Hunter? And
I compared it to when the Bengals and Lions were like, ooh,
do we do Pina Sewell or Jamar Chase And it
worked out for both teams. The pinastools and anchor on
(15:21):
arguably the best offensive line in football or second best whatever,
and Jamar Chase is a superstar who helped the Bengals
get to the Super Bowl. Both teams won that right.
So Travis Hunter versus whoever you have as the best
left tackle. There's varying reports. There's some guys moving up
because of the combine, but it's not like a sexy position,
(15:43):
although it matters a lot, especially on the gambling front.
So consider this. At four, the Patriots were hoping for
Travis Hunter. Oh my gosh, could we get Travis Hunter
in there with Drake may Bro That is a quarterback
wide receiver combo for the next eight ten years. Love that.
(16:03):
That's that seems great? Ookay, Travis Hunter, Drake may We
got Romandre Stevenson in the backfield. We spent a metric
ton on the offensive line. They got Bradbury, they got
Morgan Moses the right tackle. Dude, We're in good shape. However,
at two, the Browns were hedging, Hey, man, you know what,
(16:23):
we may just go Travis Hunter at two. And so
I wonder if the Patriots ran the calculation said, we're
a month out from the draft. We got a shit ter.
Get off the pot. Let's go sign Stefan Diggs on
a three year, sixty nine million dollar deal. Now he's
coming off an ACL. It's not really a three year
(16:49):
sixty nine million dollar deal. I haven't seen the full numbers,
but twenty six million guaranteed to me. To me, it
feels like it's probably a one year deal, right, maybe
a one plus one. But Diggs is thirty one. He
wasn't great last season, but he's instantly number one on
(17:10):
their Patriots dep chart. And he suffered the right knee
injury October twenty seventh. If you assume he's back in
nine months, that puts him back sometime in the summer
and maybe on track to start Week one if Diggs
is grinding, which I'm sure he is. But they did
(17:30):
steal mac Hollins away from Buffalo, and those are two
pretty decent receivers for Josh McDaniels, who's the new offensive coordinator,
so they've got a couple guys to work with. It
is interesting that they stole two receivers from them who
used to play for the Bills. Diggs obviously was in
Houston last year, but they also have Kendrick Bourne at
(17:52):
receiver who's solid. I see de Mario Douglas on the
depth chart. He flashed well. Last year, they got the
young kid Polk out of Washington, who's solid, so they've
got some weapons. And this is where it gets fascinating.
Did the Patriots say, yeah, we're probably not gonna be
able to get Travis Hunter, he's gonna go three to
the Giants. Let's just go out and get us the
(18:13):
best receiver left on the market, Stefan Diggs. And they
got him. And now it's a bit of a role
that dice. I don't think he's a one anymore. I
think he's he's a good possession receiver. I think he
could probably play in the slot. You play multiple spots.
He's not the game breaker he was, and I think
the Patriots know this. They need a solid guy. However,
if you look into the history of Stefan Diggs, guys,
(18:35):
he's been kind. I don't want to call him a jerk,
but he's had he had a couple issues in Minnesota.
There's some stories out there floating around about Steffan Diggs.
You don't have to look too hard. I'm not willing
to call him mister steel your girl, but it sounds like,
you know, Digs. Maybe he's grown up. I don't know,
but there is that the kind of guy you want
(18:57):
with your young quarterback. Drake may and I would counter
with would or my own question with what we've got
Rabel one of the best culture builders in the league.
I think they're probably good. And this is where it
gets interesting. Do the Giants now they have two quarterbacks
one receiver, do they get another one in Travis Hunter?
(19:18):
Or do they punt? And then the Patriots could they
add Travis Hunter to that wide receiver room with Digs Douglas.
I forgot Boutet had some flashes last year. Mac Collins
like they got some solid guys in now. Or do
they say we don't need Travis Hunter. We can go
out there and get a Mason Graham to pair him
with Barmore in the middle, assuming Barmore comes back. It
(19:42):
feels like these were smart moves and they're kind of
telegraphing what's going on at the top of the draft.
Now where it gets interesting is what happens if the
Browns don't take Shaduur Sanders. Do they still go Travis Hunter?
And then the Giants, Boy, you've committed to two quarterbacks,
You have to still take Shador right, so you can
(20:05):
ask all these questions and it's fun. This is why
the NFL Draft is great. What happens at the top.
We know cam Ward is locked in going one. That's
a mortal lock. Okay, my guess is Shador goes too.
And I believe the Giants will make a play for
Travis Hunter at three. I know it's like, hey, we've
(20:25):
already gotten my league, neighbors. What's the point. There's a
world where Travis Hunter is a really good receiver. Now
I haven't done all these deep dives into historical data
on what Hunter brings to the table and his twitchiness
and length and all his catchability. Like he's really really good.
I don't know if he's a number three overall guy.
(20:46):
And I'll just remind you the Eagles built their team
through the trenches. The Kansas City Chiefs several years ago
built their Super Bowl team through the trenches. Now it's
getting picked apart and then are on the trench and
they get smashed by the Eagles. We know you've got
to have an offensive line. The problem is there aren't
a ton of great offensive linemen in this draft. There's
(21:08):
a lot of good ones, but top three four. I
don't know. Everybody knows that you want to trade out
of the top three if you can top four, simply
because like you can get more picks and more picks,
more bites at the Apple. It's a numbers game, just
like just like my bracket situation. Oh, by the way,
I think I flexed you guys. My daughter is entered
(21:33):
some bracket pools. I helped her, of course, and she
is number one in her class of like twenty five kids,
and then she's seventh in the entire grade. I don't
know what she gets if she wins it. I am,
and I had to ask the guy. I'm currently thirteenth
in a bracket pool with I think it's like fifteen
(21:53):
hundred people. So I asked the guy. I was like, bro,
you haven't sent out a payout breakdown, you know what's
going on?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
And he goes.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Over one thousand people at twenty bucks a pop is
a lot to count. Winner will be over ten k
and I pay the top thirty spots. So I'm fired
up about the Sweet sixteen. I'm fired up about March Madness.
I'm starting to get excited about the NFL Draft. I
may have some extra coin laying around after if this,
if Duke wins at all and Texas Tech like gets
(22:22):
to the final or something like, your boy's gonna be
doing some doing well, and I might have to start
looking into some NFL draft props. I remember we had
Doug Kazarian on he was at ESPN when he had
a monster NFL draft hit. There was some mispriced defensive
back and he would like bet him to be the
first safety off the board, but I think he was
(22:44):
labeled as corners say. I don't remember exactly what it was,
but he was able to take take down the house
for a lot. So yeah, I may have to make
a quick quick trip to Vegas here. Also, I've got
that Eagles Chiefs super Bowl ticket that I had from
way back in the day over a year ago and
(23:07):
then and that actually cash that was a super lucky hit.
But on a bit of a hot streak here. Oh,
I'm just seeing more news here. Richard Calipari hired to
be the next Xavier coach, going from New Mexico. They
pushed Michigan State. They had a good showing. But the
real interesting part is Richard Patino and Rick Patino now
(23:27):
in the Big East, Saint John's and Xavier. That is
a really smart hire by Xavier. You're gonna have the
father son matchup. You know, that's gonna be a big
storyline in the league. Oh, that's just that's smart college basketball.
So I think it's on fire. Now. I know a
lot of people would disagree and find that it's fine,
but I'm fascinated by all this movement. And oh, by
(23:49):
the way, Drake's superstar. Oh my gosh, how am I
spacing on his name? I've been talking about him. Sturt's
Bennett Sturtz. He has decided to follow his coach to
Iowa as opposed to go to the NBA. I don't
think he's gonna have quite a Caitlin Clark impact because
this is his third school. But this kid is a
great story. D two to Drake and now to Iowa
(24:13):
to the big tenant. This is not quite Dulton Dalton Connect.
Remember Dalton Connect was like a D two or D
three guy, and then he goes to Tennessee and is like,
holy cow, SEC player of the Year. Remember that. So
I don't know the Sturts is gonna be that level,
but I do believe he is a pro and we'll
see what else Iowa can do. God basketball just kind
of sort of on fire. All right, that's it for today,
(24:34):
back tomorrow. Talk to you then,
Host
Jason McIntyre
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