FULL MON POD @SpenceChecketts on NFL Playoffs/@CFBPlayoff, #RSL roster reset, Jazz weekend win + more

All right, well, it's good drivetime Monday afternoon, fourteen minutes past the hour of two o'clock.

It is cold.

It is great because it's January and Utah, almost halfway through January. We're gonna get through your kids, you and me together and as it is every single day, it's gonna have you along for the red bench check.

It's behind the mic.

That young man is Porter Larsen beyond the Glass today producing this radio program to tach until six o'clock tonight in time for Monday Night Football. It should be a good one tonight, as the weekend in Pro football is behind us with some really good games and some games that were just so so, but it will culminate tonight. The Wildcard weekend will wrap up with the Vikings and

Of course, continuing to send.

Good wishes and thoughts and all the good things to the folks in LA and the greater area that have been affected by just a horrible couple of weeks, but NFL moved to Glendale tonight at State Farm Stadium, don't call it.

State Farm Arena.

Minnesota is a two point five point favorite that over under his forty seven point five. Local boy Pooka and Nikua will be in action tonight. A lot of local guys making players making plays over the weekend. How about Bobby Wagner, Dude does not age and a really really fun story the surfacing for the Washington Commanders as Jaden Daniels and as a rookie quarterback was able to go down to Tampa take care of Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I don't know that I've ever heard a more.

Negative news cycle surrounding a team that won their playoff game rather comfortably as I've heard about.

The Philadelphia Eagles over the past.

You know, sixteen seventeen hours or so, the Packers were without like five offensive players.

Jordan Love, Utah Staate Alum was playing.

Without Christian Watson, lost a couple of other receivers to offensive linemen, and I suppose if you're an Eagles fan, you want something more convincing.

But they were never in danger of losing that game.

After a slow start, the Bills undressed the Broncos at home. Ravens handled the Steelers on Saturday, and then.

The Texans really took it to the Chargers.

So we'll look back on the wild card weekend.

We'll give you a bit of a divisional.

Round preview ToxS of NFL football on the show Today. I want to give a big hug and congratulations to Mike McCarthy who will escape Jerry's world and will not return as the Cowboys head coach.

In twenty twenty five.

Since you and I last spoke, the New England Patriots have hired Mike Vrabel to try to bring them back to respectability, and we have the CFP final matchup between Ohio State and No.

Tr Dame, so a lot to do on the show.

The Utah Jazz continue to, at least from my standpoint, provide a little bit more excitement for the direction of the organization, and games recently have been either competitive or the Jazz have won. They sat like half their team against a bad Brooklyn Nets team. Brooklyn's kind of doing what Utah is doing, and the Jazz we're able to

And that is their third home win of the season. Am I reading that right? Oh?

I know they had lost ninth straight games at home. Sorry, don't mean to be pessimistic. I'm gonna be nice about the Jazz. They got a night off tonight and tomorrow they're back in action on Wednesday against the Hornets.

So we'll do some.

NBA A, We'll to do some jazz on the show.

Can we get I don't know.

If it's a standing, oh, but can we get a little Can we clap it out for the Utah men's basketball team? Can we give the Utes a little love today on a Monday afternoon for grabbing a Big twelve win over Oklahoma State here in Salt Lake at the Huntsman.

Center BYU woof.

I mean we knew Utah was going to struggle BYU audacious expectations according to some, and they are just off to a bad start.

Watch the game.

Over the weekend, they were on the road at TCU BYU one and three in Big twelve play ten and five. Overall, this conference is nuts. It's really high quality college college basketball if you're into such things, so local landscape college basketball, not a lot of local college football stuff. By you picked up a good recruit over the weekend at the Senior Bowl. I was actually watching that game live and didn't realize I was about to stumble upon a news story.

Of NFL with slat today.

Get us thoughts on the Wildcard round, what's head in the division A round? Bobby Marks, espn NBA front office guy will stop by and then we're gonna chat with Brian Dunseeth. We were hoping to get an RSL front office member and we will sooner rather than later, because someone's got some explaining to do as RSL has Jettensen excuse me off. Most of it's attacking eleven and eighteen quite frankly, and a lot of holes to plug for

With the emotion that is blank obvious.

Duh.

I don't know exactly what this done emotion. I don't know, it could be I'm not judging.

And I don't really know where to fall with the emotions, because this is something I've been asking for since before last off season. And if you remember last off season, oh, I don't know, there was a coaching market that involved Jim Harbaugh, Bill Belichick, Mike Rabel, blah blah blah, blah blah. You go on and on about the coaches that were available last off season, and it was obvious then as obvious as it is today that Mike McCarthy thing wasn't

But I'm hopefully optimistic.

I'll just say that, all right, all right, I'd love to hear it.

All right.

Resident Cowboy fan Porter Larson on the program today, Jordan loved to be the Cowboys in the playoffs last year.

Could not get that done this season.

We'll do some NFL and Zach Mawson is going to join us right out of.

The gates today before we get to Zach.

On this Monday afternoon, courtesy of our friends at Standard Restaurant Supply, it's your tailgate headquarters.

Get everything you need to make your tailgate epic.

Stop by their location with thirty five hundred Southwest Temple or online at Standard restaurant dot com.

It's time now for the opening Tip.

Welcome to the Drive with Spence Check. It's on Utah's number one sports talk. Now into the studio of ESPN seven hundred to set the scene for the show. The opening tip of the Drive is brought to you by Standard Restaurant Supply, your one stop shop to build the best tailgate in town. Standard Restaurant Supply, thirty five hundred Southwest Temple.

I'm not making this a topic for the opening tip today. I'm just kind of observing that we've all lost our minds in this society as of today. Kids, you can go lay money down on the twenty twenty six college national champion. That's right, we have odds Texas is your favorite that it's Georgia and Ohio State, both BYU and Utah right now are plus ten thousand to win the national championship next year. That puts him in the same

What we already have because it's irrelevant.

All right, wildcar Weekend in the NFL, We'll wrap up tonight with a Monday night football game in Glendale, Arizona. It's been moved from Los Angeles. It's Minnesota and it's the La Rams. I think this is going to be a really good game. I don't think Minnesota is the right side here, but they are a two point five point favorite and the spread is forty excuse me, the over under is forty seven point five. The line did move the way of the Vikings when it was taken

Could have been like one hundred.

And seventy with a touchdown, but he decided to just kind of hit the turf after he broke that last run in the in the fourth quarter where pay dirt was there, but he just decided to fall down and win the game. And I get it from a team standpoint, smart thing to do. Your boy may have been playing a DraftKings lineup with Saquon as the captain, wouldn't have minded.

You know.

The Bills Broncos game started out as pretty tenuous back and forth. The Broncos have a really, really good defense. Sean Payton's a really, really good coach, but like all year long, Josh Allen to me, has proven to be inevitable, and they figured it out. Dalton Kinkaid had three catches, he had that big time catch in the second half, and that game was it was not a fair fight, even though the start ultimately was back and forth, and if you're a Bills fan, you were probably a little bit nervous.

But Josh Allen, it feels like, and I said this about.

Aaron Rodgers for a long long time, and even though our guy is busy taking ayahuasca and talking to caterpillars as they turned into butterflies, there was a moment in time where I'm like, I've never seen anybody play the quarterback position like Aaron Rodgers plays a quarterback position, and he's too talented to not win a Super Bowl. And then he got his, and I still felt like, you know,

But that's how I feel about Josh.

And just like you know the greatest teams that I cheered for in New York with the Knicks and here in Salt Lake with the Jazz, those two Jazz, you know, those two teams in the nineties, The Knicks and the Jazz had one thing in common about what stood in their way to get rings. Had nothing to do with their talent. It had nothing to do with their coaching,

Dominant win in the Wildcard round against the Packers.

Wild Card weekend in Pro football ends tonight with a Monday Night Slates in Glendale, Arizona State Farm Stadium, Vikings Rams, Minnesota two point five point favorite. Let's talks more football today right now with one of our favorites, one of the best ever. Due's at the University of Utah now with the Cincinnati Bengals. You guys know you love him. Zach Moss on a Monday afternoon. Zach, Happy Monday man. How are we doing?

Happy money man, I'm going to I've been good. I appreciate the time as always.

So how much how much of the playoffs did you consume this weekend? I know obviously you guys unfortunately were eliminated after a great end of the season. Is it hard to watch or you're just kind of a football guy and you want to tune in?

You know, it's always hard to watch obviously, you know from a competitive standpoint. You know, I've made personally good playoffs the last three seasons, I want to say now, so you know, competitively, you always want to be in that and you know it rises your gameplay and all that type of stuff. But definitely just been you know, enjoying the time off, you know, off season, and just watching the games and watching guys that I know around the league, you know, chase after that championship, it's.

Actually where I wanted to go next.

Is there a rooting interest do you cheer for your fellow AFC North teams? Are you looking at former teammates, former uts? Is there one team you want to see get this done?

I don't have one specific team. I think just you know, I just want to, you know, see really good football. You don't want to see blowouts and you know, you know, games where it's a lot of turnovers and it favors one side or the other. I think, you know, just one of those heavyweight, you know battles. Looking forward to the Buffalo Baltimore game, I think it'll be one of

I probably bury the lead man, give us a health up date.

How you doing, what's the rehab process like, and what are some of your next steps?

Doing good man, feeling good? Uh, you know, blessed in that aspect, you know. I'm just you know, home, been home for a few months now, you know, with the family and things like that, so you know, being able to, you know, even in a in a bitter way as in not being able to go out and perform on Sundays, but not being able to be home and performing that way. So uh, you know, it's always a positive somewhere. So I'm just enjoying the positives that I do have currently.

Good to hear you play for a team, Zach.

That was a topic of conversation for a lot of people that cover pro football, and of course you were a conversation for us here on the show because we track your progress and cheer for you. And you know, I'm not one that's like Joe Burrow's number one or number three or number I don't know where he is in the pantheonic quarterbacks in this league. But Zach, he's as good. He's as good sometimes I feel like he's

Yeah, Mom, you know, you know, obviously I can speak, you know, mainly only for offensive Why you know, we have just so many guys on off the side of the ball that can do a lot of different things, which is going to cause problems for teams just you know, at the end of the day, you know, luckily I've been able to play two really really good quarterbacks in their primes, at the top of their games and things like that in Borough now and the first few years

So you were the third best offense in the AFC this year, but defensively, the team that gave out the same amount of points that you did was the Raiders, who won four games all year and I don't I'm not asking you to, nor would you ever throw a team mate under the bus. But does it get challenging when you feel like you're playing on the side of the ball that's carrying their weight and you're kind of looking around going like, dude, what gives Like we're doing everything we can here?

Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously it gets to some degree challenging. I mean you kind of have to look at it in the lens of you know, when you're doing a school project, right who's who's doing you know, part of the project, and then you know the ones that are in but they want to credit and things of that nature. But like I said, you know, we got a lot of guys had to step up, you know,

So I'm kind of gonna ask you a similar question about one of your teammates that I asked you about Burrow, but I'm going to be a little bit more demonstrative in my opinion, because I think a lot of people feel like Justin Jefferson is the best wide receiver in pro football, And for me, it's like every time I it just it feels like he is an impossible cover. He can do anything from that position. And you've played in the league and in college with a lot of

We can weak out. Like I said, I think he's the best in the game right now.

Yeah, I mean, like again, I've been lucky to, you know, like you said, play with a lot of really really good players and across this league and obviously played with Stefan Diggs and things of that nature and got to see him.

You know, work and things like that. Jamar is just you know, very very different in the sense of one. You know, his athletic ability separates him from so many guys. Just buy that alone. It's really not fair on what he's able to do. He has the speed of the receiver, but he's you know, in a sense built like a running back and being able to be able to you know, be contacted and fight through contact and break tackles. He's really just a three level receiver.

You know.

You have some guys who can't catch lens and go everywhere and go all the way, right, you have some guys that can only do so many different levels. He can impact the game as a threat from every single level, which makes it almost impossible for a defense to have to prepare and guard that when you can you can throw a guy at pass, you know, two yards behind the line of sperimen, so you can throw a guy ten yard route where you can throw them a deep ball and it can all result in six at any

Yeah, it's wild and so fun to watch.

I got to ask one of your former one of your former teams, looks like they've got a shot to win this thing. And obviously you spend the first part of your career with the Buffalo Bills.

As a results of the time you spent there.

Is it more like you want to see them win it or is it more like, man, that would be tough because that's my former team.

I think you definitely want to see him win it. I think, you know, that's a really good team. We

Now for sure, all right, let's do a little utes, Zach before I say you lose today, And let me start with your reaction to coach hit coming back. You're twenty one, nobody really knew what exactly was going to happen. And then after a really rough year, one of the worst years we've had here in a long time, as you know, Kyle took some time and decided that he's back on the sideline. What's what's your reaction to your former head coach is going to give it another go.

Yeah, I think that was the you know, the really really good smart move. Really honestly feel like that was the only move that made sense with him to come back. Couldn't see him leaving out right on a year like that, being in the first year in the new division, a new conference, and things like that. So I think the best thing was for him to come back and you know, put this team in a situation where they can win. You know, one, let's you know, stay healthy. That's the

So I wanted to get your take.

And you know, we've got a lot of former college athletes on the show. We have a lot of former

Playing for pro football.

But now that you've been away from the college game and you've been more an observer of players being able to transfer all the time and actually get a little cash for their skill set, how do you how would you articulate your opinion on where we're at with the current state of college football?

Are you concerned about its future?

Uh?

To some degree, I think you have to be concerned with, you know, the future of you know, how competitive this thing can be. And obviously, you know college football being what it is and what has always been, you know, the money that pours into the universities all across. I think it's going to be very challenging and it's going to rule a lot a lot of different teams and a lot of different schools on you know, who can compete and you know, who has the biggest pay you know,

And a lot of these blue blue college schools, you know, schools that you know, honestly probably put out better you know, talent in the NFL that kind of lasts longer than some of these you know, bigger name schools that kind of was going to wash them out a little bit to some degree in what they're able to and how they're able to compete.

And I think that's that's that part of it. From the competitive standpoint, it's going to suck. I wish, you know, uh, that they would have had it some type of understanding of what they wanted to do in the sense of NT double and how these payrolls are going to go out and how these things are going to look. And you know, right now it's sounded like just the wild wild West. Things are just happening, and things are just doing and guys just you know, jumping from school to

Yeah, And you know, unfortunately, what you see more often than not, Zach, as you know is the NCAA reacting instead of getting in front of it. And now we're in the scenario where as you referenced, there's so much chaos. Now they're going to try to put some guardrails in coming up this summer is one of the twenty million.

I'll just call it a salary cap.

I've just Zach, I've started talking college football with the same terminology as the pros because that's kind of where we're headed. So the school's going to have a salary cap. You know, you'll be able to pay players like their employees. At some point, You'll still be able to have the name, image and likeness benefits outside of the paycheck that you actually get. But I wonder from your vantage point, how you feel like our market is set up to support

And you played here, you lived here.

How do you feel like we're equipped here in saul A to keep up with the new normal of college football.

I mean it's gonna be challenging obviously. Like I said, you know, one has to be a place where guys really want to come and they can see themselves right from any from just delving standpoint. And I think, you know, to some degree, BYU has done a really good job on how they are kind of doing it to some degree, and I think that's something that we can take a look at and you know, pull from what we like out of what they're doing and what they're not doing,

Do you do NFL players and coaches and people on your level do they does does it feel like college football Zach is moving towards the way of pro football? Is that kind of the redeeming thought among NFL players and coaches?

Yeah, I mean you're talking about guys in college. A lot of these guys made more than uh some some pro athletes, man, And you know that's something that also seeks into locker rooms right now. We're talking about Japanese guys, and you know how long they stay in school, and it can hurt the NFL game to some degree, just because the hunger is in there to you know, most guys when they get drafted, if you're not in the

Yeah, now, well said all right, Zach.

Last thing, then I'll set you loose, and I just want to continue to apologize to you because I'm also going to ask you another question about what could have been if timing was different. Because I have said before and i'll say it again, the twenty nineteen Utah you roster could potentially be the best roster pure talent wise, we've ever seen here, and I still believe that to be true. I've got the roster in front of me.

I don't know, man, I don't know that I really have a question.

All I'm saying is I would have liked to see you guys have that shot if that makes sense.

Yeah, yeah, I think, you know, out of all the things we were able to accomplish and you know, push the team for you know, that twenty sixteen class, that's pretty much the twenty nineteen team talking about the way we were able to come in and push the team for if you know, I think the biggest thing now al is suck is you know, losing that game to Orgon and then you know, thinking about maybe if we get in and you know, being in the four team race there, it would have been nice if we had

Well said man, hey, I appreciate the time. Okay, keep up that rehab, get healthy. We want to see you back on the field next year. Okay, thanks Zach, Yeah, sir, I appreciate it all right. One of the best to ever do it at the University of Utah, Zach Moss now with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Porter.

We've talked about that twenty nineteen team before, like and every time, you know, we have Zach on or brit Or who whoever. I pull up that roster and it's like, stupid, how much talent was on that team, and unfortunately there were some injuries. I'll never forget that game at SC they lost, you know, twenty three thirty and then stumbled down the stretch. They played Texas in the Alamo Alamo Dome. Of course, they had the opportunity in the Packtweld Championship

I'm not kidding, well, I do make that argument now.

Obviously, other teams finished stronger, they had better finished this to the year. Obviously, Stevenson's twenty eighteen will have an argument as slide joins us next. But when it just comes to sheer talent number one, the game has changed, right. The pool of players is better in twenty twenty, twenty twenty nineteen, as you're talking about, than it was in two thousand and one than it was in nineteen ninety.

They won eight straight games and the only team to throw more than thirteen was Washington up at Husky Stadium. That was a great game. Utah won that game thirty three to twenty eight. But yeah, to Porter's point one, eight games in a row. They started eleven and one and then a couple of losses down the stretch, But that was a talented, talented group.

Appreciate Zach time.

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Little Little RSL later on with Brian Dunseeth.

Special thank you to Zach Moss who rolled through to start the program today. But let's continue the football conversation with one of our favorite Stevenson Sylvester back on the driving a Monday sly, Happy money man, how are we doing?

Hello Sli Oops, sorry I was a mute there.

Happy Monday brother, how you doing?

Thanks for joining us?

You know I've done that so many times, are you on zoom or Google Li?

Like, how are you joining it us today?

Google meet man Meat?

Yeah yeah.

Porter got me introduced to that man. And I much preferred doing my interviews that way. I have zero connection and issues and it just feels better.

Love it and you sound great, and I've done the mute things several times, and sly, I've got to. I'm gonna apologize right out of the gates before I ask a question, because I don't mean disrespect. Porter and I were debating this last segment as our guy Zach Moss hopped on the team or e cheeuse me hopped on the show and for the team. He's part of our team, so are you. And here's what I'll say, slide. I just want your reaction. You guys will always go down

To conference championships and such.

And you guys will go down as one of, if not the greatest Utah football team of all time. If I said to you that twenty nineteen is the most talented team on paper that Utah football potentially has ever had.

What would you say to me.

I wouldn't.

I mean, I can't argue that that's all subjective, right, And honestly I'm good with that. Right on paper is is not as good as results. And so we've seen that, right, Like we came into last season like this is the best.

Team Utah has ever had on paper, Look what happened.

Right, So, as far as a comparative, like I don't mind that, you know, twenty eighteen, you know, doing my research with you know, my Utah man brand and talking to all the old players from the past, it's about a whole bunch of undervalued guys overperforming right guys, proving people wrong, you know, day in and day out from training camp throughout the season, and even when everything is pointed to you supposed to be winning, everybody would still denounce you or or think of less of you, and

Then somebody who's better on paper.

For sure, well, said, no argument here, but I will. I'm going to follow up with a question and if you can solve it, you might get a phone call to go coach the Cowboys, because it's what everybody wants to know. Slid, because what are the elements like twenty nineteen. I'm not trying to pick on them, but any team that's great on paper and then there's a team like you, guys who want every game in front of you, which

How do you turn talent into results? What are some of the key dynamics?

It's leaders, end of the day. It's the type of leaders that you have.

And I can humbly say that from from the different teams and the things that I've seen, it's it's the leaders on the team and how they lead.

Right.

People can consider themselves a leader, but like, are you willing to do what you're asking somebody to do right. Like a lot of people hate their bosses, right because like they're asking me something so simple, like why don't they just do it right?

And so it's it's more of like can you lead by example?

Can you are would your teammate or the person next to you believe that what you're asking them, what you're asking of them, that you're willing to do right? And and it's so for me, it's the leaders on the team. When I got on the Pittsburgh my first year, we went to the Super Bowl, right, and the leaders on that.

Team was just second to none.

Right, Pittsburgh started going downhill when those guys left Pittsburgh, right like the hines Wards, the Ben Roethlisberger's, the Willie Colowns, the Max Starks, the Troy Polamalo's, Ryan Clark's, and I take to Brett keesl to Casey Hampton and James Fair, James Harrison, like those leaders right there.

They set the stage for out everything is supposed to go.

Those leaders, the coaches didn't need to talk to They knew what to get done. Whether you had the tellent or not, you still have to go out there and earn it and execute it. And there's no prime example today more than the Detroit Lions.

The Detroit Lions.

Looked great on paper, and they're going out there and executing every single week and earning their recognition.

Man.

So I just think that it's all about the leaders on the team. It was for us in eight of going out there and putting in the work.

Yeah, And you know that's probably a tried and true principal, you know, both in sports and in life, right, great leaders who understand what to do, and then it probably takes a lot of humble followers, correct. I mean, it doesn't matter what your talent level is, like if you've never done something before, it's probably an important element of it of a team to have people that are willing to listen to the older classmen and understand what it

That's one hundred percent, And that's kind of where I want to get back to. Like I always look at like what happened this past year because I'm like, we had the talent we talked about, or I came into the season talking about the depth it would benefit us for when we do have injuries, people can step in and we shouldn't miss a beat.

And as soon as cam Risen got hurt, we went to straight crap. So at that.

Point, what where were our leaders and what were our leaders doing, you know, to inevitably make the whole team step up and make things happen right, And so.

It's leaders for me.

I looked at it, you know, over and over again, and just like and how they do it right? You know, you got leaders of all kinds of different stuff. People consider themselves leaders, but I think there's a certain type of leader that it is. You know, Coach Whittingham says it all time, He's an alpha dog, alpha of alpha, right, But like, what type of leader are you? And can you do the be the right leader that will bring a locker room together? And I just don't feel like we had that last year.

So this is interesting.

I didn't plan on doing this today, but it's one of the things I liked about interviewing you. You know, we can go in a bunch of different directions. And now I'm thinking about what the BYU players said after the Alamo Bowl postgame press conference. Connor pay a lot of the seniors and upper classmen over there, and every single one of them talked about the leadership in the locker room from the players, and they weren't diminishing the

It's uh for me.

I interviewed Connor after the Alamo Bowl too, and these are a lot of questions that you know, I ask him because you know, I have my own opinion, but I want to see the validity of it, right. I want to make sure that my theory or whatever I thought when I was a player, or whatever I think today, you know, holds true and it's same.

So yeah, but for me, with all of that, it's ownership, right.

You got to you gotta be willing to own what you're a part of. So it doesn't matter how much money you make, how long you've been there, what type of ownership do you have on the product that you're a part of, Right, And so the coaches can't make you understand ownership.

You have to understand it.

It has to go to people that are on your level, that are putting in the work that you're into. And it's it's ownership, right, And then like do you feel uh? And if you have ownership of your product, you want the best out of your product, right. And and so for me, if I put anything out there, anything that has my name attached to it, right, everybody wants to talk about nil, right, anything that has my name attached to it, I want to make sure it represents me in the best life.

Right.

If my name is attached to the University of Utah, that's why I'm so prideful it and why I love the university so much. If my name is attached to that, I wanted to be held in the highest standard.

Right.

And that's what we had in two thousand and eight.

He believes that I can do it.

So for me and the leaders, and what I took from Connor pay was ownership, ownership of this team, ownership of the product that we're putting out there each and every week, and that people are watching and and and just loving what you do.

Follow up, does a quarterback have to be a leader?

I mean, you obviously play with Brian who, like you know, you had a quarterback who was a leader. And Coach Wit talked a lot about Cameron Kevin Rising how he was and I hate to say was it just doesn't sound like he's coming back. And I could keep going down the list. But you reference the Lions and look, Jared Goss a really good player. We saw him, you know, we were in the Pac twelve foot print. We saw him play Utah. I don't know if he strikes me as like one of their main leaders.

Maybe he is. I'm not in the locker room.

But do you have to have a quarterback who's also one of your preeminent leaders?

Well, I think.

It makes the most sense, but I don't think that at the end of the day that makes the team. I think it's the easier way when you have that

They lead by example, so they're a type of leader. To be the head honcho leader, that's the raw raw guy.

I don't think it's completely necessary, but again, you just got to have make sure that that person is bought in and has ownership of his.

Twelve square space and it makes it happen.

But at the end of the day, the quarterback being the leader doesn't have to be it for you to have a team. But I do think it's the easiest to get your entire team to buy in because everybody knows football is the most people right you have to have the most people on the same page than any other sport that's out there, and if your quarterback is at the helm of it, it just makes it easier to do that.

One more question about this before we get accused of ted talk.

Instead of talking football.

I'm just curious, because you know, college or pro, who's the who's the best leader you ever played with in your career?

Oh, my gosh, the best leader as a player. There's been a few, right like, Uh, for me, I love James Ferrier. James Ferrier when I got to the NFL, he was just a guy that everybody looked up to. And as far as if we go, we go the way James Ferry goes, that's Troy Polamalud, that's Ryan Clark, that's Ike Taylor, that's Brett Keisol. They looked at James Ferry even offensively. You know, Willie Cologne, you know uh, Marquise Pouncy mind in Hall, even Roethlisberger.

They looked at James Ferry.

He was one of the best, uh examples of the head haunchho and it became.

So natural to him because he was so cool, like you wouldn't even I don't know you know, just as a guy that you looked up to, respected, know's going to put in the work and everybody believed in.

I thought James Ferrier was one of the best leaders I was ever around.

Interesting stuff. Interesting stuff.

All right, let's move off of it and actually talk some football now, and let's do a little college. We'll end with pro and I'll set you loose on a Monday. Do you like this new format now that we've seen it unfold? Because it's one thing to say, Hey, I like the idea of twelve teams or the premise is sound, but you have to see what it's like. You have to witness how it unfolds before you can actually have

I loved it one. It automatically got me thinking of the future. What are the next few years going to be like? Now that the players know what.

It's going to be like and the possibilities of it.

Right now that each team understands like, Okay, Boise State got in it and s and U got in it.

We could be one of the Indiana got it.

We could be one of those teams, and we have a possibility.

I'm Indiana.

If I beat Notre Dame, I can go play Georgia and I could beat Georgia.

Right.

I scored more points on Notre Dame than Georgia scored on Notre Dame. Right, I can do that, and then I can beat the next team, and I like it. It's just more possible when you've seen it done and the possibilities of you making it happen. Right, Like even our twenty eighteen about us breaking into the BCS and beating teams like that, we've seen it done, right.

We've seen the O four.

Team, you know, break the BCS, or even before that in two thousand and three when they were just beating teams like Texas A and M in North Carolina and then then just everybody they lined up against, they just they they demolished them, right, And even the year before seven when UCLA was ranked number eleven in the country and they came in the right Eycle Stadium and we just beat the brakes off of them.

So we knew it was possible. By the examples of.

The years before us, right, And now that this has been done, I just think that other schools are looking at that like like we always had an epifty, Like, oh, maybe we could do it. But you see in Arizona

So I asked you prior to the semi final kind of what your got told you about these games? And I remember, I know you did a good job of breaking down why ultimately every game is kind of its own thing, and it's all about matchups. And as a guy that played for Utah to beat Alabama and the Sugar Bowl in two thousand and eight when not a lot of people thought you would, you're well equipped to talk about how any team can beat any other team on any given day. But it feels like nobody believes that.

Against his team that his alma mater.

Exactly, it's his alma mater.

That's even more.

Insane awesome storylines. But Vegas isn't giving Notre Dame much of a chance. The general public, according to the money, giving them almost zero chance at all. Ohio State's an eight point favor. Do you think the Irish have a fighting chance? No pun intended.

Hey, anytime you lace them up, you have a fighting chance. And so.

I'm always for a game not being one before it's played right, And I think that these odds and lines from Vegas, they're just more motivation and bullet to board material than anything, and so it's all about how you line up, right. I didn't think Notre Dame would do what they did against Georgia, but let alone Georgia have as bad a receivers as they did. Like, I didn't

But you've seen in this Texas game, it's never over.

Like Ohio State started on fire and then they got one penalty and they went right back in the tank and Texas kind of came back in the game. But it was fourteen twenty one and Texas has one yard to game to make it twenty one twenty one, and they don't make it happen.

Like that game was.

Close until the end. You know, you can look at twenty eight to fourteen and like, oh they had it handily. No, Ohio State did not have that handily. And that's what I was talking about.

You know.

The other week is that like Texas can make it happen, right, and so I think that's gonna be the same situation in this National Championship game.

It's gonna be exciting. I think it's gonna be a great matchup.

And if you can put a game plan together, anything is possible.

Rights. It's not like the NBA Finals where you have to score four games. You have to win four games against a single opponent to actually win it. This is sudden death.

Man, you got one opportunity to make this happen. I love this and I think it's gonna be a great matchup. I do give the edge to Ohio State when you look at the offense, the defense, I give it to them. I don't think it's gonna be an eight point game. I think it'll be a little closer. But these National Championship games are are are always interesting. And here's one thing that if if Notre Dame pulls this out is because I believe they have more heart than anybody in

All right, we'll do a little NFL slide on set you loose.

And one of the coolest things, in my opinion about your football career is you played college football for Kyle Winningham and pro football for Mike Tomlin.

Like that's a.

Really really cool thing, man. That makes you That put you in a very small group. You know the deal though, I mean, it's been eight years since the Steelers playoff wins, the longest playoff droughts in seventy two. Mike's streak of eighteen consecutive non losing seasons is insane. But you know the standard in Pittsburgh, and look, I'm a fan. I don't think they should do anything. I don't think they will, but there's a lot of noise around your former head coach.

I'm just I just I don't think it's coming from Steeler fans. I think it's coming more from just you know, outside opinion is. But like, who else are you gonna get? Right, Who's gonna replace Mike Tomlin?

Steelers have had three coaches in the last forty five years.

Here's my thing, everybody who always has an opinion of something, is there someone else you have in mind that would do a better job, because it's not right the Steeler mentality and how they do it, from the roster that they assemble, from the ownership that they have. You have to have a certain per personality fit that and do that right. And I do think I think the Steelers

Like, it is not easy to win.

In the AFC, right, And I want to do more research to see how many Super Bowls the AFC in the last twenty five years have won over the NFC.

But like, it's not easy to win in the AFC. It's a sudden depth deal. I'm telling you, you'd be a lot more hurt if.

You were a Steelers fan and having a losing record every year, then going to the playoffs and losing, Right, Like, what if you were the Browns, What if you were the Jets, what if you were you know, some of these other lowly teams that may have one good year in the last.

Ten to fifteen years.

There's literally a possibility every single year with the Steelers, And so you got to keep that. I think, you know, Mike Tomlin is trying to figure it out and navigate this new day and age with what type of personnel that we need to have, right, Like, you look at that game against Baltimore and you've just seen a lot of lackluster effort. How do you motivate guys that you're paying so all this money, right, like, you got to do that and out how do you motivate guys you

That first drive was abysmal And I'm just like, where's your technique? What were you practicing all week?

It was just it was terrible, And I'm just like, you know it was going to be an uphill battle because one, Baltimore's surging at the end of the season, which is what you want to do. They got a talented roster, but you know that going in, you know that you know they're beatable, that's for sure, But you.

Know it's it's just I don't know. I just felt like, you know, there.

Was a certain point of the game where the players felt like, oh man, we can't win this, and they just stopped fighting and so it just sucked. But I've been down twenty one points to an opponent and we've came back and won, and that's what the Steelers were, and they just they just didn't have that mentality of that we could overcome and that was just unfortunate.

Well, and we could reduce it pretty simply.

Where you know, Mike and the Steelers had such a great run when they had a much better option on a quarterback. And I think Russ did a pretty admirable job after he was left for dead in Denver.

But did they run it back with Russell Wilson next year? What do you think?

No?

No, no, I don't think so. I think you know you you played great with Russell Wilson. Hopefully that Justin Fields was able to learn a lot of things with Russell and and then he can attack this offseason.

Like that. But I was thinking about it too right after the meeting.

I would have Russell Wilson and and Justin Fields sit down.

If I'm Mike Tomlin.

I know this office too because I've said in them multiple times, but like I sit them both in my office and being like, yo, Russ, you know, we did sign to a one year deal, but we're gonna work. But Justin is our starter. If you want to go test the market, that's great. If you don't find anything that you like because you're getting paid thirty forty million dollars a year from from Denver not to play for them. Anyway, if you want to come back, we would love to have you as a backup.

But this will be Justin Field's offense going forward.

And that's exactly how I would tell him. I think Russell Wilson would be professional and understand that. I think he probably understands that already, and and and that's how I would go about it. But you give the keys to Justin Fields. He's the younger guy. He's got a lot of potential. He led this team great. There were things that he can learn. He's been able to sit. And this is what a lot of these college kids don't freaking understand, is like.

It's okay to sit a here. It's okay to sit down and learn. Everybody's like, oh I can play faster here. That doesn't mean.

Good things for your future, right You're wasting years potential opportunity there.

And so like, I think Justin Fields was able to sit.

And be humble, But I think that Pittsburgh needs to vocalize that this is Justin Field's team and instill all the confidence that you can in him.

All right, slide before I set you loose my two parter and it could be the same. They're not mutually exclusive. But who do you think will win the super Bowl? And who do you want to win the Super Bowl?

Oh?

Man, it's it's gonna be crazy.

You know, we haven't seen the guys that had the first round by in the playoffs yet. Houston looked absolutely amazing. So I can't wait to see that Kansas City Houston matchup.

You know.

Uh, the Baltimore Buffalo matchup is gonna be an instant classic. My team's been the Commanders all year because my boy BJ's over there killing it and and watching Jayden Daniels just overcome so much. I just can't wait to see what he does against Detroit. Detroit has so many injuries on defense that they may be susceptible to getting beat by by the Commanders. You have no idea, but I just think that one. There's there's just so many teams, uh that have the opportunity to make this happen.

You'd want to get.

Josh Allen to to finally overcome the hump, right, Get over Baltimore, get over Kansas city, get.

To that Super Bowl and show your stuff.

I'm hoping I can see a Buffalo Philadelphia super Bowl.

It's kind of what I think.

And then I I just I think Philadelphia is too deep, and so the Eagles might win the Super Bowl this year.

All right, Sly, I appreciate the time. Man, always good stuff. Happy Monday, have a great week.

And we'll chat soon.

All right, brother, talk to so Stevens and Sylvester one of the best to ever do it at the University of Utah with some fiery takes today twenty nineteen Utah roster Man. I think it's the most talented team the coach what's ever had solve played in two thousand and eight. They beat Bam and the Sugar Bowl. They won all of their games, So there's a bit of a mic

It was Alex Smith himself.

I was listening to Alex talk about how archaic the offense is and it might be time to upgrade. I don't know, man, but the results just haven't been there in the playoffs. It has been eight years since the Steelers won a playoff game. It's the longest playoff drought since nineteen seventy two. They have the same amount of playoff victories as the Jets over the past eight years, which is zero. But Tomlin has eighteenth straight non losing seasons, which is wild.

So we'll see. I don't think they're gonna move on from him.

During their first ten seasons, the Steelers ranked tied for fifth with eight postseason victories, and they won Super Bowls under Mike and you know, his results are what they are, So we'll see if they decide to make a little bit of a change. But appreciate slaves time. We'll do

That game is being played in Glendale.

It was moved from Los Angeles as a result of the horrible fires. So appreciate slave time. We're gonna do a little basketball coming up with Bobby Marks, the ESPN front Office, NBA Insider, the latest on a bizarre kind of under the radar. We're pretty football centric right now, and obviously we'd be more basketball centric if the Jazz we're more interesting. But it's football basketball for the most part.

He had four turnovers and a couple of bad.

Ones down the stretch and BYU was down two and Yegor took like a step back fade away three with plenty of time left and it wasn't close. So I bring it up because he's thought to be like a top ten NBA prospect, I'm just not seeing it as of now. Richie Saunders has played really well for him. Cannon Catching's is the other NBA prospect on that roster. There's some other players like down Hall really should be their primary ball handler in those situations because he has

As I've discussed ever.

Since the announcement came down that aj Debantsos headed a provo to play college basketball for five months, all these things are great, like it's awesome. BYU Athletics has momentum right now, probably in a way that UTA Athletics doesn't.

Yet.

These things are sick, We're cool, and they can change or the drop of a hat. But that's kind of where we're at for now. But now Kevin's got a show you can coach, man Like, the pressure really is on the head coach when the talent is clearly on the team, like Kevin's got.

He's never been a head.

Coach, and will excuse me, I think he was a G League head coach, but you know, of course he coached in the NBA and all of that is finding good and because of Kevin's NBA ties, he has the ability and we've already seen it to recruit players at a high level by dropping names like Kevin Durant and Devin Booker and Chris Paul. And the BYU coaching staff is littered with NBA experience G League experience, as is the entire quite frankly operation.

Yeah, he did coach in the G League.

He as the head coach Phoenix Sun's assistant, so Kevin's had head coaching experience before. But when the talent is clearly on the roster, the onus is entirely on the coaching staff. And that's just the deal with basketball on any level, Okay, Because I don't think anybody would argue that Utah's talent is superior to that of Brigham Young's and so it's finding good to be able to recruit future future pros. And it's tickets and it provides excitement, but you got to prove you can coach.

Anyway.

Text utes to three three, nine eighty six to enter for Utah men's basketball tickets. So it was really excited and happy for Craig and his roster to get that first Big twelve win because it has just been a bit of a slog and it's been tough, and Craig is trying with different different rotations. I think that was his sixth different starting lineup of the season. They're just trying to figure it out right now, and you know, it ultimately does come down to the conversation is what

That was not my intent.

I thought Slies points were well taken now in the modern day and age of political discourse quite frankly sport discourse, where you're supposed to crack a mic and yell an opinion they don't even believe, just to be salacious and in cindiary. I know it's not popular in this line of work to acknowledge that two things could be true, But could we acknowledge that twenty nineteen had more talent on paper yet two thousand and eight.

That's the team that got it done.

I think that's exactly where you should land because it's the truth. Yes, that twenty eight team had plenty of NFL talent, and they similarly put a bunch of guys on the defensive side of the football into the NFL. But you just look at around the league right now, Spence around the NFL today, Julian Blackman, Jalen Johnson, Devin Lloyd, Lecky, Fotwo Bradley and I Tyler Huntley, Zach Moss.

Britton Covey was on that team, Cody Barton, you know else was on the team.

Bran Keithy, Britton Covey, Brandon Keithy, Mikha Defua. These are all guys that have played in the NFL. So outside of Bran Keathy, so far, that is the most talented team on paper that has ever walked through the University of Utah AM not only and that's not only my take, I am confident saying it. But again, that doesn't tell the whole story because they injuries played a part, yes, but they kind of fell apart at the end. And obviously the PAC twelve championship didn't happen. The playoffs in

I liked slives fire though.

When I asked him, like, what's your response if I say twenty nineteen is the most talented team we've ever had here?

He went full slide yeah on that one.

And if I was on two thousand and eight, I would feel the same way, because honestly speaking, I feel like most people and I'm raising my hand. Okay, ranked two thousand and four over two thousand and eight. Two thousand and four, And we could get into the weeds on this debate as well, because I think twenty nineteen is also more talented on paper than two thousand and four.

Yeah, I think three things can be true at the same time.

Hey, you behave yourself. We're going to break people's minds.

They people these days are not capable of holding three thoughts in their head.

The two thousand and four youth team is the greatest team to go through this program. The two thousand and eight team is the best football team to go through this program. And the twenty nine team is and should have been the most talented team that has gone through that program. And I think I think we can land the plane somewhere around there.

Five things can be Wait, wait, let's go. Let's move up to four things can be true? One hundred things. Calmed down, It's Monday. Okay, we've got to pace ourselves. We've got five of these this week. Sorry, what's the most? Could it be possible? The twenty twenty three slash twenty four Utah football is the most disappointing team making four things true on a Monday afternoon. I know we're getting weird. Can we say that four things are not true.

I think so.

I think so, And that has more to do with the expectations than the result to me, and the expectations were warranted.

Let's be clear.

They should have had very high expectations. And you add in the fact that we're talking about twenty twenty five being the year the twelve team college football Playoff is debuted.

You add in the fact that.

They're rejoining BYU in the Big twelve, and all of the collision course that was the Pac twelve Big twelve independent drama kind of colliding in twenty twenty five and the youths laying an egg man. That's more disappointing than any season in program history. And I don't think it's really close.

Five things can be true twenty twenty one Utah Football Pac twelve champ, the most surprising team, Okay, in U Tough football history.

So we have the.

Best, the best season, the best team, the most disappointing. Now five things can be true, the most surprising team in you tough football.

I disagree, damn it, because I think that was building. I think if you watch this team in twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, you watch Zach and Tyler, that thing was turning, and it was you know, you just needed to get a quarterback. You just needed to replace Tyler Huntley and keep that thing turning. I'm gonna go back to old Scott Mitchell, old you know, middle of the McBride era, where you just start throwing I don't know, seventy passes in a game with the big lefty back there and

Well, we got to four things can be true at once, and most media shows of any kind, sports politics cannot get to four things.

So I feel like we've done a good job.

I think we've we've accomplished.

Something started a little physical therapy today once again found myself.

Back there we go.

No, it's not she, it's the shoulder. This time. It was the knee last.

Year, it was the rib of the year before that. And it's just like I walk in now. My physical therapist is one of my best friends.

I was gonna say, it might just be the routine now, like you used to do a radio show and then go home and walk the dog and then work out and then.

You know, cook dinner. You may just put Pete on the list.

Now, Yeah, we're like homies.

I walk in and in the reception, she's like, Spence, Hey, great to see. I'm like, I don't want to be the guy. Did every one of the physical therapy office knows. I don't want to be that guy, but I've turned into that guy.

Yep.

Four weeks to get the to get the wing right. Okay, we're doing a little extracide. Was pretty encouraging, but I'm not allowed to swing a golf club and tell him good.

That's probably good advice.

As much yoga as you can, and you maybe maybe avoid the PT a little bit more order.

I can't do yoga becau he has a chataranga. Man, get familiar with poses.

I'm behind.

You want me to start doing rapid chotaaranngas and down dogs when my shoulders bad?

Neo fight a little better knowledge here, please of the practice the art.

I just want your range of ability to do better so you don't get injured.

I'm I'm glad you're being part of the solution. I appreciate that.

Anyway, hang in there, stretch, don't get hurt, and try not dage. I don't know what the secret is, but we're doing the best we can, all right, two hours down, two hours ago. We'll get back to football in the five o'clock hour. Don't forget, we are going to say good night at six time for the Craigsmith Coaches Show at Slackwater.

Craig and Rles will have that for you.

Utah basketball with their first Big twelve win of the season, so congrats to them. And after the Craigsmith Coaches Show, stay tuned because you're gonna hear the conclusion and probably the majority quite frankly, of the Vikings and the Rams game. That Monday Night tilt will wrap up the wild card weekend of pro football. But coming up next, Bobby Marks, ESPN, NBA Front Office Insider, Monday Night Football on your airwaves

We'll come your way after the Craigsmith Coaches Show you.

Tom Manz Hoops gets their first Big twelve win of the year over the weekend, so stay tuned for that. But joining me now, Man, it's been a while that I always appreciated when the great Bobby Marks can make some time, and he does on a Monday afternoon.

Bobby, Happy Monday, sir. How are you.

I'm good? How are you?

I'm well.

Thank you for the time. Of course, I will not bury the lead.

Your reaction on Leangelo Ball signing a deal with Deaf JM weorth thirteen million dollars.

I thought, that's what You're going to lead the show into this song. I'm probably not. You know, it's funny, my my, I have a fifteen and I'm an eighte year old. We're talking about it and I was like, yeah, let me listen. I'm want to listen to the lyrics. And I started playing in the kitchen. I was like, yeah, this is probably not the song that's going to be it's blaired in the Catholic school here down here in Naples.

Oh that's probably yeah, for sure, for sure, for sure. I mean I would imagine being the only ball that's not playing pro basketball. You got to find a way to make some money. So I'm not a hater, Bobby.

I'm not a hater.

So good for him, not at all, all, right, Bobby, I don't know if you've noticed, Jazz aren't winning much this year. Okay, so I want to do a little jazz off the top. We won't do a ton.

And I've got to say I'm more.

Bullish on the potential of what they could be this year than I was either last year or the year before. Like I do think they're doing the right thing, and I actually applaud the way they're going about it. And Will's just like last night they sat half their team and Brooklyn is not a serious team, but the front office is trying to find a way to do this, and Will seems to be able to coach this team

No, I mean, and I think you could probably say that even with you know kind of what happen what's happening with Brooklyn too, and I and I say this is that the most important thing that you can take away from this, and yes there's pain alongside. If I lived through it twelve and seventy, I lived through it.

Yeah, I thought, uh, I thought Colin Section was going to rip poor Isaiah's head off after the second violation. But yeah, you know, and and I'm not going to go down the list to ask it where you think about each player because that you know, ultimately time will tell. But I do want to kick the tires on a few of them because you know, whenever I I'll go on a radio show or a podcast and they want

Give me your thoughts on year three for Walker Kessler.

Yeah, I listen. I think I think there was so much of an expectation level going into last year, how he played, you know, his rookie year, you know, everything that came with it that you know. I don't I don't want to say letdown, but we were probably looking for him to maybe take another step last year, and it kind of plateaued a little bit here, I thought. I think I think this year, I think he's been extremely extremely good on the court, you know, both sides.

No, it's not. And I do think he's really answered the bell.

So I'll just expand and that question to see if And it's so hard. I mean, all of these most of these players are still babies and they've got a marathon in front of them. There have been some good Kyle Philipowski moments. I just don't I don't know what to make a Kyante you know. Sometimes I watch him, I'm like, yeah, I see it, and other times I'm like, well, he looks like Colin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson, and there's

It could be around when they're good again.

Yeah, I mean I think I think you have to As I said, I think you have to like what you show, what you've seen with with with Bryce, I think he's kind of been more you know, certainly more consistent than prior years. I agree with you regarding Kiante. I you know, I want to see more, right Like, I want to see him on the court. I want

So you won't be surprised to learn that Duke Basketball is receiving excellent rating in our market this year as we're all watching, I mean, he's really fun. Man Cooper flag dropped forty two over the weekend.

And there are a lot of names.

There's the Ace Bailey kid, There's Dylan Harper, and we could keep going. So the hope is finally Bobby Lady Luck shines on us out here in Salt Lake.

Finally, we don't move down.

Maybe we move up, and maybe Cooper Flag is alongside marketed in Kessler next year.

That frontcour would be very popular in Utah.

And I just won't elaborate on that anymore, but I'll ask you, what are you hearing about the type of pro that Cooper Flag is expected to be. If he stays healthy, puts in the work, it actually does fully develop.

Well.

I saw him.

I don't know if I told you this.

I saw him a year ago down here at Fort Myers and the Tour, the big tournament they have every year. This is when he was sixteen and he was out Mountain Verd And I turned to a scout and I said he could play right now in the NBA. And the scout said to me, he reminded me of a younger Kevin Garnet. And it's really like, listen the forty two points he scored over the weekend against Pitt that's gonna be the you know, the running headline on ESPN dot com. I love his I love what he can

Yeah no, that's true.

That's true, and it's not a new thing in college basketball where transcending talent is playing for a team that can't just win. I mean, we could go over a bunch of examples Ben Simmons, LSU, but we won't do that today. So, Bobby, since you and I last spoke, a rather surprising development and Stephen A. Smith, your peer, was rather taken back when young AJ Debants had told him that he was taking his talents to Provo, Utah to play his college basketball.

For Kevin Young and Brigham Young.

I'm gonna ask you the same question I asked you about Cooper, because I didn't know much about AJ prior to this storyline, and I've watched a ton of him since and he just appears to be generationally good.

He and his dad said were one and done, and.

So he's getting seven middle to play five months of basketball for BYU, Ryan Smith b Yu along big Time Donor. A lot of people are trying to line between like, hey, you can develop BYU players and they'll play for the Jazz. I'm like, that's not really how that works. But okay, but tell me your reaction when you heard AJ was coming out here?

What kind of player?

You think that he is not surprising at all? You know, I think they're you know, the Ties were kind of pointing that way. I enjoyed steven A's reaction, and I felt like saying, not everyone has to go to Duke or North Carolina or Kentucky or Kansas or some of these blue bloods. I think, what what they're building out there,

One more jazz question, and I've got to say I love having you on as a guest because I can actually get ten minutes of jazz conversation where other guys are like, hey, I'm not watching them, Like all right, I get it. But you are kind of a north star for for people when it comes to the trade deadline and we're high speed ahead to that trade deadline, and I just wonder, are you hearing anything about the jazz?

Do you think they're active?

And part of me, Bobby believes they're built perfectly for what they're trying to do this year because you've got to pay players.

So I don't know if they can get a first for a vet.

Maybe we see something, But what are you hearing about the jazz prior to that February deadline?

Yeah, listen, I think when you when you look at it, it's it's will always point to the three veterans, right, whether it be Colin Jordan and John and John Collins. As far as you know, how do they fit in? You know, what's the value of it. Listen, I think out of the three colins got value right now, what's the value? Can you can you you know, get another first out of it? I don't know, based on you know,

I like to turn flesh out, So let's flush out one more while we're in the space. And you know the deal. That's why I searched. You know, you're writing out and other people that I trust, because if you jump on social it's like hey, NBA trade deadline, primer.

Check it out.

But there have been more than a few, and I can't give any credibility or credence to any of them. But since it's out there, I keep hearing, like, because a lot of teams need centers, and Walker's good. I'm not saying Danny and Justin wouldn't take a phone call, but I don't know that they have any interest in moving on from this kid who's really evolved.

Year three, as we already talked about.

Yeah, listen, I think you taught you you take a phone call and listen. Unless you have Curry or Lebron or you know somebody the Yannis and stuff, you know, some of these upper echelon guys, Shay, you take a phone call on everyone you know and you just basically hear that and you add it to your big board or your whiteboard, and you know, something makes sense. Some things, you know you circle back to when you get closer

No, well said.

Since you brought up the Jimmy Butler thing, I know nobody knows, but he is the name that everybody's talking about. And I hear a different team every week. Memphis I think was out there for a minute, Golden State, Phoenix, who needs to do something? But how does it play out? I mean, you don't mess with pat Riley, you just don't. And he tried, he got sad. So so what's the end game here? Because Bobby, as you know, there are several reasons that makes sense for Miami just to not make a move.

So I'm not I'm not really sure how this plays out. What do you think?

Yeah, listen, they're not going to trade, They're not going to try for Bradley Beal, like guy will go on the record and say that ain't happen. They're not taking back what is left. And Bradley Beal has done a nice job in Phoenix, but he's not a fifty three to fifty four million dollar player, so it makes no sense for Miami to go about in that direction here. I think how it works out is that Jimmy Butler returns from this suspense this and this is all to

Well said, all right, let's move over here. A couple of minutes left that I'll set you loose. I always appreciate your time. You know, Year two, Donovan Mitchell, you know, Jazz makes some good moves. Dennis brings in Ricky Rubio, Joe Ingles becomes a player that nobody thought he could. Go Bear Pops as this defensive stopper, and the Jazz go to the playoffs and they beat Okac and Donovan is their primary offensive option. And I remember thinking insane on air, like this is such good news that a

But it's in.

Cleveland, right, So how real is it? Because he seems to be maturing. He did an interview a couple of weeks ago where he's like, hey, guys, I'm playing defense now, and all of us are like, thanks dude, but you got to respect what he's doing.

And they're thirty three and five. Man, how much of a threat A thing? I guess I'll say to the Celtics, they're a threat now, Listen.

A threat. I mean, I said on Sports Center last after that game, and I said, probably Cavalier fans I want to hear this, but listen, Boston still a favor, right, I mean, just based on what happened last year here, but you should take Cleveland much more serious than than if you did a year ago, because they have done

All right, Bobby, before I set you loose, I'll just we'll end with this. You know, a lot of conversation about how many good teams there are this year and how there's parody all over the place. Are we just simply going to end with Okac and Boston in the final? And if not, who gets in Okac's way out this way?

Yeah, they still scare me a little bit. I mean, I really like what they've done. Uh and we haven't even seen you know, Chet's been out and Cruso has been out of a big chunk of big chunk games. It scares me a little bit. And and and a couple of the Marquee games, whether it be I guess, you know, we put the NBA Cup up there against Milwaukee and then that Cleveland game, it you know kind of you know, you know turned you know, it turned south for for both those games here, So that that

Well, Bobby, great stuff.

As always, we'll see where the trade deadline brings and now it's time to lean into more pro basketball. So appreciate your time on a Monday. Have a great week.

Thank you, sir, appreciate it.

Thanks, Yep, you got it all right.

Great.

Bobby Marks, ESPN front office insider spent a number of years in NBA front offices with the New Jersey Nets and in others. He writes all their trade deadline primers. He did a really good piece recently on the teams in the best spots to add add talent via draft capital over the next four or five years. The jazz I believe were fourth the first. The first team on that list is Oklahoma City.

Unfortunately.

Get him on Twitter at Bobby Marks forty two is where you find them. About ninety minutes away from the Craig Smith Coach you show you Tom N's hoops with its first Big twelve win.

Of the season.

On Saturday, following the conclusion of the Craigsmith Coaches Show live at Slackwater, we will bring you Monday Night football. The final game of the Wildcard weekend is the Rams and the Vikings in Glendale. That game has been moved from Los Angeles as a result of the horrific fires in the greater Los Angeles area. But we'll take a break from our football and basketball conversation to welcome in

Donty, Happy Monday, my guy. How you doing.

I'm good man, I'm good. How are you?

I'm good?

So world traveling right, You've been taking a little time off as you should during this time. I believe you've been traversing the world. How's the off season been for you.

Yeah, it's been good, man, it's been quick. We got away. We did a couple I think we did like fifteen days down in Cabo over the holiday break, and we're home for a couple days and then we're down in Mesquite, Nevada for my son Luca, my six year old, have a tournament down there. So it was all right. Back to the mix and I'm off for the US men's

Oh very nice. Good for you back at well, glad you got some time off. Shout out to Luca. All right, man, Like a lot of people, I got the alert on my phone that RSL had moved on from Chicho Orongo, saw that it was San Jose, saw the takeaway, and I just went, wait, what, like, now, there's a lot here, right,

Well, it appears, Dunny that it did exactly that.

So, now that you have the ability to be a little bit retrospective and you talked to some people, why did this go down?

How did this go down? And why did they take what I perceived.

To be pennies on the dollar for such a talented yet mercurial player.

Yeah, I'll tell my best sense, because much like you caught completely off guard by the announcement that the Chico was sent out to San Jose and linking up with Bruce Arena and subsequently Joseph Martinez, the former league MVP, and goalscorer from Atlanta United. He was down at Miami and up at Montreal. He just joined up as well with Bruce and San Jose. So Bruce rina making some moves after returning to Major League Soccer after being unceremoniously pushed out of the New England Revolution.

Yeah.

Listen, man, if you go to the twenty twenty four stat page for Major League Soccer with regards to Real Salt Lake, it's got Chi choh Rongo on seventeen goals, twelve assists. It's got Andres Go. I was still up there with thirteen goals, nine assists. He's got Anderson Julio with nine goals, three assists, Diego Luna had eight and twelve, and then Matt Crooks three and five. I mean that my math isn't great from calac fullyds Tim Passer fail, but that's four of your top five goal scorers are

So let's stay in the space for a moment.

Your point about the compensation is well taken, and Kurt Schmid is a smart soccer executive. So because of these dynamics, I have to imagine there was pressure potentially from the people that signed Kurt's checks to say, we need to get this done, and we need to get this done quickly, and we need to get it done before Conky CAF which is next month. But that is that such a

But have you been able to uncover any reason.

As to why they decided to take what I perceived to be a really awful deal. They must have been up against a massive deadline, and it feels like they just made a phone call was like, who wants them? Okay, you can have him, even though we're not getting what we should in return for them.

Yeah, I mean Spence, I taught to somebody associated with San Jose as a club and I congratulated him because I thought it was it was a hell of a deal for them. I mean, one point four million in general location money in that spot in today's world is really not that much. And again I'm not a math genius, but taking a loss on four and a half million is a significant wash considering you knew exactly what you

Soccer So I'm not sure Danille'll ever be like fully on board with we find young talents, we invest young talent, we develop young talent, and then we sell good players. But I understand it, and Andres's proof of concept. So thirteen mil potentially, I get it. I understand that. But tell me what you're hearing about Diego, who right now appears to be like such a necessity in a lynchpin with the lack of creativity in that group.

Is there a chance that he's gone prior to the start of the season.

No, I mean, there's nothing to suggest. And again I'm not privy to those internal conversations, you know, for fielding phone calls and interest, And again I would just I would always remind people that, you know, a conversation about a player isn't an offer for a player, So theoretically you never really truly know the intrinsic value of a player unless that you know comes over in that email that facts whatever we're talking about to justify what a

So there's a report the club has not announced it yet, but you know, I think it's just fair to say, and I'm not trying to be overly critical. The situation goal felt untenable last year where Zach was making some errors where you're like, dude, are there orange slices and fruit? You know, the snacks involved in like so many weird gas from Zach who's done it for a lot long time. Gavin ultimately gets the shot to win that job and he didn't. You know, he's young, He's got a lot

Yeah, so it sounds like Gavin Biever's is going to be a part of the Blitzer umbrella because the Blitzer Sports and you know, Splitzer Sports also owns Bronby over in Denmark, and that's where it sounds like that's going to be the landing spot. Tommy Boger, Tommy Snacks, as I call him, the best mustache in the game, has all the inside information from a soccer perspective, and he was the first to kind of really put this out

One of where I want to go next, Donny, because as you reference, like, the players are gathering and I'm just you know, you have Mark Zuke, who I think, you know, as a chance to be really really good, to be honest, I mean with a full preseason, you've got uh, you know, Diogo Gonsalvez, who certainly has skill it never fully you know, came together last year.

I'm just looking at the attacking group, like, what exactly are we doing here?

You know?

Of course, you know Diego's still around, so there's some bright I guess i'll say skilled midfielder midfielders, But who's who's scoring goals?

Like?

And do you think there's some reinforcements on the way, maybe as early as the next few weeks before their first cocky Calf match.

Yeah, I mean the well they went through the MLS Combine and through the MLS College Draft and picked up a pretty sizable amount of players. Now, the one thing we never know is are you finding he asked for Lafelson or an Amcca and Nelly in this draft we talked about Diego Luna being involved with Mauricio Pochettino side a mecha and Nelly is also down in Orlando and

All right, Donnie, Before I said you loose, I mean, look, they set a club record for points a year ago, they set a club record for goal scored a year ago, they were ousted in the first round of the playoffs.

What gives?

What?

Like? Why the fire sale?

And as a guy that has been in a number of locker rooms, what does that say to you about the things that behind the scenes that were potentially going on that maybe none of us really knew, like it? I don't know, Man, For a season that had so many victories, it seems odd to more or less break it down to the studs.

So why do you think they're doing it?

Yeah, and again I'm not privy to the financial ratifications. Obviously, I don't have the insight of exactly the breakdowns of how they're functioning. Because there's a bunch of different options in terms of designated players U twenty two initiative players target allocation money. You know, there's a bunch of expendable cash, supplemental cash that can be invested by ownership based on

My goodness, my goodness. All right, buddy, next time somebody forwards me an article. When you're asked about the first broadcasting job that you've ever had, please make sure that it includes that the idiot that I heard talking they knew nothing about soccer also petition to get me on his show. I just want you to include that the next time you're asked about it. I just want you to include that piece.

Please.

Yeah, I just want everyone to know. Spence and Trey were the first two people after I retired quote unquote that I looked around and I said, let me know when you guys want someone who knows what they're talking about. And that was the start of my glorious involvement in the media. What was that maybe May or June of two thousand and six.

Somewhere there some are right in there.

Yeah, for sure, we go along.

We go way back, way back, Yes.

Sir, all right, brother, thanks for the time. I'd be good with chat. Soom appreciation Brian done seth Apple TV. You can hear them on the call for a lot of the US men's national team matches as well.

And I think Donny put it really well.

If you are an RSL fan and I'm aware that a few of you are not here from you from time to time. This is a wild, wild approach for a team that it appeared to have a lot of really good things going for it. But I guess the only time we'll tell Kurts a smart guy ownership is showing the willingness and ability to write some checks, and Pablo at this point probably deserves the benefit of the doubt. Concacaf a few weeks away. The guys are the lads.