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Welcome in What's Driving the Great? Episode two fifty nine A ton to do Today. NFL season is fifty eight hours away from kicking off. We have, in my opinion, the single best and no quarterback in football is about to agree to a contract and end his holdout. In Trent Williams, we had an awesome college football weekend, but we're actually starting with none of the above. We'll tell you what we're starting with in just a moment, but first,
what missed the cut? Patrick Mahomes shouts out Dylan Riola, Baby Mahomes, and by the way, Dylan Riola and Nebraska are gonna light Colorado on fire this weekend. We will discuss that in a bit. Sean Cohn says, the Jags team best is the best Jag team ever assembled, and Joey just Nutt eats eighty three hot dogs and breaks the record. So you know, real quick, deman' say, you
know how on I think this happens on Instagram? I know what happens on Twitter, where if you click on one random thing, the algorithm can all of a sudden think you're really interested in that topic and over index you to that exact type of content just because you
clicked on one thing or watched one video. I really do fear that has happened a bit on this podcast when it comes to the producers funneling Joey chestnut content my way, because once upon a time I gave an impassioned, brilliant argument as to why he's the world's greatest athlete, not because I wanted to, but because I was asked to and we were doing Nick Wright Public Defender, and I was so good at it that I think the audio. The producers then determined I'm really into this freak, and
I'm not. I'm not into him eating hot dogs dipped lemonade. I'm not into him. I'm not into any of it. But anytime there's Joey Chestnut news, the producers think of me, and they shouldn't. They are human beings who have been tricked like an Internet algorithm because of one segment I did three years ago. That's that's what's happened here. So let that. Let that be known moving forward. But I
said we weren't starting with any of those things. We're also not starting with Joey chestnutt We're starting with the w n B A and demands get us started, if.
You will please.
So w NBA legend Lisa Leslie Wade in on the Caitlin Clark and Angel Reice debate, and she's actually said that they both deserve to win Rookie of the Year.
Why don't we.
Give you all the rookies? You know what they're all trying. Why don't you know why have awards at all? Why even keep score? So all right, so here's the deal. I and you guys, I know, we have a new social team we're building up because the Great Lori reyis uh It has left us. Got a great job shout out to her. So we'll kind of do this on the fly. This entire WNBA, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and media take you can put on the internet the whole thing.
Because not to be too self congratulatory, we have nailed this every step of the way. When there was dating back years, when there was clear racism in the coverage of Angel Rees and LSU, we discussed it. We leaned right into it, and we were not We didn't couch our words when there was an obvious double standard in
Caitlin taunting versus when anyone else taunted. We discussed it when Angel a lot, when Angel talked about all the she's been through on the internet, and some people, some of my colleagues, you know, said basically, buck up, kiddo, you talk trash. You got to deal with it. I said, I thought they missed the boat on that and didn't
totally understand what she was going through. We also told you three weeks into the season, when everyone was talking about, oh my god, the Caitlin Clark Olympic snub, that this would be the absolute best thing to happen for the Indiana Fever and to Caitlin Clark because the reason they were so bad early was because they were playing three games and four nights back to backs all the time.
Their schedule was front loaded with all the best teams in basketball in the WNBA, I should say, and we told you that after that brutal opening stretch, they had no back to backs left, they had no three games and four nights left. They got the softest part of their schedule post Olympics, when Caitlyn would be rested, adjusted, finally have time to breathe the first time in probably more than a year, and she would go and light the league on fire. And that is exactly what's happened, Okay.
And there were a lot of people loud wrong on this. Now, some of them were loud wrong, in my opinion, out of yukon loyalty. And these are legends who were loud wrong. It doesn't mean they're not legends, but they were loud wrong.
The idea that we if you watched Caitlin Clark and we'll get to the Angel Reeves part of this in a moment, if you watched Caitlin Clark at Iowa with those teammates and thought, oh yeah, I mean when she comes to the WNBA, I mean she'll be fine, but she's gonna have you know, her rookie season is gonna be tough, and you know he's not going to be
an all star level player. These are grown women than in my opinion, you either don't fully understand basketball, but a lot of these people who were saying it, I know they understand basketball. So you were allowing your own allegiances, whether it's to university, other players, or whomever, to muddy your opinion. Geno Oriema maybe knows more about women's basketball than any human being ever. He is certainly on the
short list. Here is what Geno Oriema said to my dear friend Dan Patrick early in the season when the Fever were struggling. Quote the kids on the wrong team. She's got the wrong skill set to handle the physicality in the league. And she's a rookie. This rookie class is even one of the best rookie classes in the last ten years. She's not built for the physicality of this league, and she's not quick enough to get away from the physicality. End quote wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.
The girl is a superstar, a superstar, and is she a perfect player? No? Is she the best player in the league. No, that is clearly and unanimously Asia Wilson. And that then brings us to the Rookie the Year thing, which now, in my opinion, is a different example of people embarrassing themselves. Folks have bent over backwards to try to explain why what Angel is doing, which is spectacular, is on par with what Caitlin is doing, which is historic,
and it's just not months ago. All of a sudden, folks decided, you know, what should be the tiebreaker in a Rookie of the Year race in a team sport? Team record? Never heard that ever in my life, but that was a real discussion. Okay, But now that the team records are, Caitlyn's team is seventeen and sixteen, one of the hottest and most dangerous teams in the league
outside of in the WNBA. Listen, there are in my opinion, two I guess I have to include the Links, three awesome teams in the Liberty, the Sun, and the Lynx, and then a team that's won the last two titles and has the best player in the Las Vegas Aces, and a team that I think will be playing for a championship again in the Aces. I would separate those four teams from everyone else that the Fever are as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than any team outside of that group.
They're now seventeen and sixteen, and the Chicago Sky are eleven and twenty one. The Fever of one four in a row. The Sky have lost six in a row. So now we're not doing the team record thing anymore. And now we're not we are now and again Lisa Leslie is a legend, which is why I find so
much of this commentary so disappointing. Now, what we're trying to do, I think is not piss off the shitty corners of the internet, because some of the worst people on the Internet are stridently in different camps on this.
Some of the people that don't care at all about the WNBA but like the fact that there's this white girl that's kicking ass are vocal Caitlin Clark supporters, and some folks that are are flatly attacking anyone that gives Caitlin Clark her flowers, if you will, out of what would appear to be pure racial allegiance are some of the most vocal angel Rees supporters in this, And I hang a lot of people don't want to get yelled
at so now all of a sudden, we're doing participation trophies. Now, all of a sudden, we are gonna try to pretend like Angel, who again is having a ninety one out of one hundred rookie season, is on par with Caitlin's rookie season, which is one of the greatest rookie seasons in the history of the league, if not the greatest.
And it's just embarrassing, guys, we have to be able to have honest conversations about even if it goes against some of our priors or some of our allies on the internet, and nobody with a straight face can say there is a real debate about who the most impactful or best rookie in the women's basketball has been this year, it's Caitlyn Clark. Angel's rebounding is spectacular and she again, I think it is. I think some people go too far with it. On the They're like, oh, Angels read
she's just rebounding her own, missus. That's not true. Oh she doesn't have a real impact because look at the team's record. That's not true. That team when she's off the court gets boat raced. When she's on the court, they play people even but Caitlyn Clark's arguably already one of the five best players in the league, inarguably one of the eight best players in the league. And we gotta be able to say that there should be two
unanimous awards in the WNBA this year. The MVP should be unanimously to Asia Wilson every single first place vote, and Rookie of the Year should be unanimously to Caitlin Clark every single first place vote. And if you are approaching this without your own preconceived notions or biases polluting it, then I think that's pretty obvious. I have found some of this to be really unfortunate. I think the whole Cheryl Swoops thing is not great. Now all of a
sudden we have a Cheryl Swoops Nancy Lieberman beef. These are two of the greatest all time legends. I don't love that. How much of this has fallen down racial lines is just another to me, you know, kind of crack in our social fabric, if you will. How much of this has been exacerbated by bad actors on the Internet, all of it. But what is not up for debate
is that Caitlin Clark has been as advertised. And I'm really curious if some of the biggest skeptics or some of the loudest critics who early in the year they had access to the same schedule I did, they had access to the same date I did. If some of those people, if they want to say, either my bad, I missed it, I got it wrong, I didn't see it, or if they want to say, you know, I let my own allegiances, whether it be to yukon other players or strangers on my phone yelling at me getting the
way my commentary. And so this can be a real celebration for the league, and it is very important for the league that it's not just Caitlin that this whole rookie class, but Caitlyn and Angel, you know, are obviously the two standouts that you do have potentially two players who are so different from each other by the way, Caitlyn's a range shooter, amazing passer, week defender. Angel is
the best rebounder in the league or second best. Already very good defender who really needs to work on, honestly, just her shot within five feet, and she does that between this year and next year. And she's all of a sudden one of the best players in the league, and those two players being rivals and on ascending teams is great for the league. League. But man o, man, the Fever dangerous team now, I mean there's just there's
there's no denying it. You have the number one overall pick from a few years ago from South Carolina, the I don't know why I'm not thinking of her name, My apologies Boston, who has been absolutely spectacular, Thank you, Eliah Boston. But no, who's been great and quietly or maybe not so quietly, Kelsey Mitchell is the one actually leading them in points. So you have three players on your team who can go for twenty plus any given night.
Kelsey Mitchell's been outstanding. Aleah Boston, after a rough start to the year, is playing like the player that she was in college and the player we know she is. And Caitlin Clark's is getting better and better and better. And man, oman, if you if, if you are one of those top four teams. I was talking about the Liberty, the Sun, the Links, and the Aces. You do not
want to see Indiana in round one. And I'm hoping, by the way, it's not Aces Fever in round one because the Fever of the team I root for, but I am fascinated by Caitlin and I want to see how far she can take this. I'd love to see that somehow in round two that if maybe the if the Fever stay the sixth seed, I guess that'd be good. If the Fever don't catch the Storm, well no, then in that case they could only play in the final. I don't think they could make the final. It's gonna
be hard to get Fever aces in these playoffs. But I want to see how far each of those teams can go. All right, Demanse, there's our WNBA fifteen minutes. You got any objection, any take, any problems or anything.
I said, no, that all set well with me.
I do think that I'm obviously not as tapped into the WNBA as you are.
When I was telling one of the producers that.
Just like at fhase for, I think it's obvious that Caitlyn Clark deserves Rookie of the Year, like it's I don't think anybody could take that from you from her, And you did definitely call it like the with the after the Olympic break like that was crazy. She definitely picked it up started rolling immediately.
Well, I mean, I just you got to think about it, like Caitlin Clark went from unless you were a real die hard women's basketball fan going into the NCAA tournament, not the most recent one, but the twenty twenty three in Cuba tournament, nobody you didn't really know Caitlyn Clark. And then that tournament when she you know, ends up beating South Carolina, losing to LSU, they have all that controversy,
carries IOWA to the championship game. She becomes a superstar. Yeah, from that moment that so March of twenty three until July of twenty four, it's just fifteen months of mayhem for her. She goes from relative anonymity, you know in the national skit stage, to one of the biggest celebrities in the female sports world. She's at award shows, she's at the ceremonies, she's at gallas, she has endorsement deals. She is the bigger, a way bigger celebrity than you
could have ever imagined on campus. Goes right into the college basketball season where once again she has this spotlight. Her games are getting huge ratings. Is she breaks the scoring record another NCAA tournament. Days after the tournament, WNBA draft number one pick. Now she's a private jets or not endorsement money boom season starts. Who do you play? All the best teams immediately on TV all the time, And by the way, we're gonna rough you up a bit,
all of them in fourteen fifteen months. And and then you know, I gotta talk about this. I have to answer for that. I have to make sure everything I say. And then there's three weeks where oh there's no cameras, there's no games, there's no interviews. For the first time since I have been famous, I can breathe and there's no you know what I mean. And so I just think it was I think making the Olympic team would have been brutal for her. She would it would have been just a
different circus surrounding her. Instead, she finally got to breathe and she's kicking ass man. Good for her and good.
For the fever.
It's good for the sport, I think maybe they do, but I think for her it was perfect. It's not like she would have turned it down and Team USA won anyway. Now, the gold medal game was closer than it should have been, but they won anyway, and now so I think it's great. All right, let's get to the NFL.
All right, so we know what what the stakes are for the Chiefs this year. They're on the verge of a three peat. Would a super Bowl this year make them one of the best dynasties or the best dynasty ever?
So?
I think it would. So here the real question is do you consider the Patriots one continuous dynasty. That's the real question because if you do the Patriot dynasty, if you do is call it to it's nineteen years. But call it, yeah, just I'll call it what it is, nineteen year run. In those nineteen years, they made nine Super Bowls, thirteen conference championship games, made the playoffs seventeen of nineteen years, won the division seventeen of nineteen years,
and won six Super Bowls. That's the Patriot dynasty. Keep it, You might be like, aren't those numbers short? No, because you don't. The Patriot dynasty doesn't get credit for Brady with the Bucks that so if that's one continuous dynasty in your opinion, then this Chiefs run probably comes in second to it. But the issue, if you will, with looking at it as one continuous dynasty is from two thousand and five through two thy thirteen. Those nine years
they won zero Super Bowls. So do you have a can you have in the in during a dynasty a decade without a championship. So if you look at the Patriots as two separate dynasty, and those dynasties would be one to four, three super Bowls, three super Bowl wins, and then twenty eleven to twenty eighteen, eleven to eighteen would be eight years, three rings, five super Bowl appearances. All eight years you won at least twelve games. All
eight years you were in the conference championship game. This Chiefs run would be better than either of those individually. I think this Chiefs run will beat the Stealers of the seventies. They won two, had a two year break, if you will, then one two more so they won four and six. The Cowboys of the nineties obviously they won three and four. The Niners of the eighties they won four in nine years or ten years. I think in nine years this would be clearly better than all
of those. If the Chiefs win this, it would be three in a row, four super Bowls in six years and over a seven year stretch, seven conference championship games, five Super Bowl appearances, four rings, and so if they win it, they are undoubtedly the second greatest dynasty ever, and depending on how you parse the Patriots one, you could argue the best dynasty ever. And for folks objecting to me saying, oh, how can you call it two
separate ones, well, let me ask you this. If the Kansas City Chiefs don't win it this year and they don't win another Super Bowl until twenty thirty two, will you consider that super Bowl part of this run? I don't think many people would. And that's what happens the Patriots. The Patriots won and O four and then didn't win again until fourteen. So like, what is if the Chiefs, who won it in twenty three I said twenty thirty two, that was wrong, don't win again until twenty thirty three.
Will you consider that super Let's say the Chiefs don't win again and then they went back to back in thirty three and thirty four. Will you consider that part of this dynasty? I don't think you would. And so it's a testament to the Patriots that they had two separate dynasties. But I do look at it as two separate dynasties, in which case the Chiefs right now this season can become the greatest dynasty in NFL history.
All right, next see if they can do it.
Yeah, it feels like nine times out of ten when these NFL guys hold out the end of getting their money. You proved that he just got thirty million a year from San Francisco and it's a talk of the town as Trent.
Williams is reportedly getting his deal done today.
So does this mean that San Francisco is back to the runaway NFC favors?
So I don't. I don't think they are the runaway favorites. I do think getting Trent Williams back was an absolute must do, and now they are. They are basically running back a similar team that they had last year. I think people slightly overvalue what the Niners did last year and talk about them like they were this start to finish juggernaut. They were really good. I'm not denying that they were a really good team, but they were also a team that had a three game losing streak and
trailed in every single playoff game they played in. Now, it doesn't mean they weren't an awesome team, but they were a twelve win team. They won the same games amount of games last year as the Cowboys did, and I don't think the Cowboys were really good. I don't think they looked at There was only one start to finish Juggernaut and football last year, and that was the Ravens the Niners. To me, there are two this season concerns for the Niners, and then there is an overarching concern.
This season concerns are since Christian McCaffrey got there, they have been incredibly fortunate on injury look with one glaring exception being the NFC Championship game against the Eagles, whenever all they had no quarterbacks available. So let's just you know what, let me rephrase it. Last year, they for a team that has older guys and guys with injury history, they were pretty fortunate. They lost one guy of their key contributors throughout the season in Hufanga, and I think
Lufanga is excellent. So that's a big loss, no doubt about it. But Trent was healthy, Simac was healthy, both receivers were healthy. Obviously Brock was healthy. Their whole defense of the Hufanga was healthy until the Super Bowl. In the Super Bowl, losing Drake green Law is a big loss, and so I do have a concern about that piece
of it. The other concern I have is if, like this season is a little rocky, do all these guys it's hard to climb that mountain all from the very beginning, when you've been so close to the mountaintop so many times and you just haven't quite broken through. I mean, for a team in the same six year stretch twenty nineteen to I guess is it six years?
Oh?
I guess that's five years. Wow, that's crazy. So in the same last five years where the Chiefs have won three Super Bowls and been to four, the Niners have been to the conference championship game four of those five years, been to the Super Bowl two of those five years, led in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl both of those times, and they have zero championships to show for it. It's just and again to testament to their consistency, greatness or roster excellence to coaching. But man o, man o,
man you having slight technical difficulties. On the other side, We'll do some college football stuff and I'll discuss the long lasting Niners concerned. We'll do that next What's Right? All right? Welcome back in What's Right with the Right episode two fifty nine. Sorry about that. The point I was making about the Niners is for this season, I
think mostly they'll be fine. I do think that the Super Bowl hangover, particularly when you've been that close for that long with this core, if you have a rocky start, that can hurt you. The bigger issue for the Niners is, I know that it has become trendy for folks to say, and I don't want to do a whole salary cap thing, but folks be like, the cap isn't real. The cap is absolutely real. It can just the ramifications can be delayed,
and you can kick the can down the road. But for the Niners, these are the financial realities of what they've done, of the way they have built their team. They have right now a player in George Kittle, who this year counts twelve million for the cap, next year twenty one million. Trent Williams, who will see what the adjusted deal does, but this year ten million, next year
thirty four million dollars. Nick Bosa this year fourteen million, next year twenty one million, Javon Hargrave this year nine million, next year twenty eight million dollars. Fred Warner this year thirteen million, next year twenty nine million dollars. Uh, So they have all those guys whose salaries are jumping. You then add to it Chavarius Ward is in the last year of his deal. You have multiple starting offensive linemen
in the last year of their deal. And brock Purty you hope plays really well and is in for a raise from where he goes from around one million to around sixty million dollars. Now that sixty million won't be you know, all hit the cap at one time. But still the point being they are nearing the end of
this iteration of the team. And it's why they were so hesitant to pay Trent Williams because the easiest way, because Trent's money was not guaranteed at all for next season, so the easiest way to carve out cap savings would have been to move on from Trent Williams. When he's turning thirty seven next year, You're now not going to have that operability and you probably don't want to do that anyway. Now, will they trade a debo? Probably? And
so his twenty four million comes off the books. But the fact of the matter is this is a team that has borrowed from future versions of themselves to keep this core together. Eventually, you have to pay the price on that, all right, Demonta, it's a little before we do college football. Actually, let me remind you, guys about my friends at Taramana Tequila. Looking for your next favorite tequila. Teamanna is a premium small batch tequila founded by Dwayne
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was also there on Sunday, I watched Coco. Man. I'm a little annoyed because I lost money on the match. But also I think Coco had eight double faults. I've never seen her that rattled on her serve. Now, shout out to Emma Navarro, another American who ended up, you know, winning, But it's not even like Emma had to play great. Coco just couldn't get a first serve in to save
her life. Now, this is a wide open bracket, as wide open as I can ever remember, And if so, I guess we will do a slight miniature tennis corner right now. The smart money, I guess is on sinner I am. If I were placing a bet, I would bet it on. I would bet Meda. But it does look like we should hopefully get uh an American male in the final, be it Fritz or Tifo. Now, Dimitrov or Zverev could ruin that, but I would love to see my I'm rooting for Tifo. I don't think he'll
get there. Uh My money would be on Medvedev. On the women's side of the bracket. I guess we're probably gonna get Sue Tech Sabolenka. It's probably gonna be chalk on that. I'd love to see how far Emma can take it. And we have two American women left, Pagoula whose family owns the Buffalo Bills, and Emma Navarro. But Pogula has got her hands full with sweet Tech, and uh, if Navarro gets past her quarterfinal match Sabolenka, You've got to think is probably too much for her. All Right,
there's the quaint tennis corner of demand. What game? What game were we or no? Before we even do Coco had nineteen double faults. My god, I didn't know how many it was. It was insane, But uh, go ahead, before we get to the game. College football start.
Yeah, so you had some tweets about the Colorado game, but you're mostly caught, mostly quiet throughout. What's the biggest story of this opening week of college football to you?
All Right? So the Colorado thing is very simple, and that it really does seem like it's rents repeat from last year. You have a few your quarterback is a star, you might have the best player in the entire country in Travis Hunter, and Jimmy Horn Junior is awesome, and the rest of your team stinks. I mean, they just don't have big, good linemen offensively or defensively, and because of that, I don't know how they're going to be
able to compete. And so I'm just not going to buy into the Colorado hype at all because I think that this week Nebraska is gonna push him around. The other big story is is Georgia that much better than the good teams in college football? Or is Clemson truly fallen off? And I mean that was I mean that game was six to nothing at halftime and then Georgia
just annihilated them the rest of the way. And obviously, I think for a lot of people, the other story, given last night's game in particular, is Florida State missus Travis Hunter in a very real way. And speaking of Florida football or the state of Florida football, Miami shout out to my friend Mike Ryan. Miami is a team to be feared this year. One other note, as USC beats LSU twenty seven, to twenty, and people send me tweets saying it doesn't look like USC miss Caleb Williams
that much. Here's a fun question, fun fact, Demonse. If USC football during Caleb's career allowed twenty points every single game he played twenty exactly, how many games do you think Caleb would have lost?
Probably not.
The answer is won one game. It was one game his whole career that if the defense would have done against just random teams what they were able to do against LSU, they would have lost. And that was a game they actually won against Oregon State seventeen to fourteen his second year, his last year, a team that went seven and five would have been undefeated if they allowed twenty points in every single game. So the savior Caleb slander for someone else. All right, now, let's go to our game. Demonse.
It's yeah.
So we're gonna do a preseason t take time capsule. So how it works is before the season starts, we're gonna make a time capsule of takes and we'll dig these up later in the season to see how the takes have aged. Okay, first off, you got three teams really stole the headlines this offseason with their players holding out in Dallas, Cincinnati, and San Francisco. The forty nine Ers got their fixed seemingly, and the Cowboys and Bengals
still have major contract issues. Which of these teams is most likely to be impacted by.
The most by these offseason moves in the regular season?
All right, in the regular season, the answers Dallas, because every single game, Dak's gonna have to answer questions about his contract after every single day. Long term, the answer will Mike McCarthy, By the way, long term, my answer is Cincinnati Demons, because this is the canary in the coal mine that the Bengals are still the Bengals and they're gonna be cheap. Did you see? I have to make sure this wasn't fake news. Bengals selling TVs. I have to make sure I saw it. Listen. I saw
one of those dumb aggregator accounts tweet this out. I want to see if I can find Okay, here we go. So we are at WCPO, which is the ABC affiliate in Cincinnati. So real news, Okay, looking for a new TV. Hamilton County is selling more televisions from pay Corps Stadium. This county is gearing up to sell another one hundred and fifty TVs from the Bengals stadium amid multimillion dollar
renovations to the stadium. These and these are the okay, So so it seems like, I mean maybe, now this is saying the county is doing it.
So maybe.
And by the way, here's the breakdown of the prices to Monday. They are selling fifty six inch to eighty five inch TVs for sixty dollars. Okay, So he's got to show up in the stadium, stay with a truck and cash. And so now if the county is the one doing it, I guess I can't bang on the Bengals. This is why I wanted to get the actual facts. It's not Mike Brown doing it. It does seem a little low rent. But if the county is doing it, I guess the county owns the stadium. But I just
worry about the Bengals long term finances. But for this season, the Cowboys coaching quarterback being on lame dunk lame duck contracts part of me are a real thing, all right?
Next, All right, so the Chiefs might not have a true rival, but that doesn't mean that they're unbeatable.
So Baltimore, Buffalo.
And Cincinnati have come the closest in the past if he and the Chiefs, who do you think is the largest threat to the Chiefs this season? Baltimore, Buffalo of Cincinnati, you know, maybe themselves or other.
No, I'll go with Cincinnati. Listen. I don't know how much longer this Bengals seems going to be together. But they have t Higgins this year, it's probably his last year. They have Chase assuming he shows up and Joe Burrow is awesome.
And one would they'd obviously be a threat at that point, right.
No, No, Okay, this is a weird We'll talk more Chiefs Ravens on Thursday to Monday. But there's a weird spot where for the Ravens it's an absolute must win they have to win the game, and for the Chiefs it's an absolute can't lose in that who cares. If they win the game, then great, And if they lose the game they lost Week one last year and they won the Super Bowl. I'm just telling you that's the benefit of being the two times Super Bowl champion. It's just what it is.
I think win for the Chiefs just because you can't have Lamar Jackson going win to the season knowing that he can beat the Chiefs. I mean, it sucks that they lost the end of last year, but I don't think it will be good for your Chiefs if the Ravens have that in their mind, they know, especially if it's a bad game and then they blow them out.
But okay, well, I don't think all blowouts coming in either direction. But I think think I don't think you even believe that if the Ravens win this game and then they play again in the playoffs, that the Ravens will have the psychological legend that game. At best, it's neutral. At best, it's neutral. And so, no, it's not gonna hurt. No,
I agree with that. I agree with that entirely. But if the Ravens lose this game and Lamar and so, but the answer is Cincinnati, since because the difference is this, Cincinnati can lose to the Chiefs in Week two and still feel like we can beat them in January because they have Cincinnati is the only team that can be like we actually have beaten them in a game that matters. They're the only team and so the Chiefs are gonna have a massive psychological edge on every other team in
the league. They just are.
All right next, all right? Yeah, last last year c J.
Stroud and Jordan Love or the breakout quarterback stars of the league. You're in on the Texans, but you said that you're out on the Packers.
So what is that?
Does it have anything to do with their quarterbacks?
Like? Which which quarterback? Breakout quarterback? Is legit? Between C J. Stroud and Jordan Love?
Before I go? Because you like both of these guys, correct, Yeah, you like both these guys a lot. Which guy do you are? You do you think is more likely to be a perennial superstar?
Well, I just have to go with C. J. Stroud because a larger sample size at this point. But I mean, after this year, I feel like I'll be able to give a way better analysis or a more definitive answer. But yeah, I just have to go with CJ. Stroud right now, just because I've seen more games. But I do love Jordan Love. At the end of the day, it's my guy.
I So what's uh? So I agree with you? Even though Jordan Love and CJ. Stroud have played basically the exact same amount of games, it feels like Jordan Love was only good for half a year while CJ was good for the whole year. And so even though Jordan's older, it does feel like we know more about CJ, which is counterintuitive, but it's exactly what you said is exactly how I feel. I think that I think there is a chance Jordan Love regresses a bit this year, and
I just don't see CJ regressing now. It doesn't mean he's gonna throw four picks again or five picks whatever he threw last year, but I think CJ is going to just be even better this year than he was last year. I think Jordan could have more fits and starts. So my answer is CJ. I think CJ is already a star and I think Jordan is a potential star. That's the distinction I would draw. And it is going to be easier for CJ early on because he's going
to be so cheap the next couple of years. Jordan, because he had to sit, He never really got the benefit of that rookie contract supercharge team because they had to pay him immediately.
All right, next right, Quarterbacks are getting paid all around the league. Chances are somebody's bound to have some Buyers or Morse.
Which team do you think that'll be?
Between Miami, Philly, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Detroit.
All right, So I don't think including Tampa Bay in this is fair just because Baker makes so much less than all these other guys. Baker, I think, got three years one hundred million. So I think that even if you think Baker is the worst of the four, of the five, it was, Yeah, it was three years, one hundred million exactly, He's almost, you know, half the price of the other guys, so you can almost take him out of it. Of those four, who did you guess? I was gonna say Miami, Miami, no doubt. I just
don't think two is that good. And I think that Miami, when they have to start pairing away the talent, I think they kind of deep down know that and they're worried about it. I'm curious who you think I would say after Tua is the biggest concern between travel, golf and Jalen.
I mean, my gut tells me it's Jalen Hurts. But for some reason, I feel like you might be, you know, doing some galaxy thing. It might be golf, but no, Yeah, it's kind of each list.
As long as as long as the Lions are able to keep that offensive line and continue to play indoors golf, is gonna be fine. He's not gonna be I don't think he's gonna be a superstar, but he's gonna be fine. I'm worried about Jalen Hurts this year. I'm worried about their coaching situation. I'm worried about their offensive line, pardon me, compared to the offensive lines they've had in years past. So now people can say Nick that you know what I mean, you're biased when it comes to Trevor. Why
are you not concerned about Trevor? And the answer is yes, I'm biased. No, I'm not concerned. The guy is gonna be a star. Just believe me. I can't prove it to you, Just believe me. Uh. The best evidence I have right now is look at Clemson since he left. Tried to tell you guys, he's superstar. But the yeah, to me, Tua and Jalen are the biggest concerns are did.
They of the tush push like it's banned? Right? No? No, no, no yet they talked about Vanny or something. They talked about it.
They decided not to do it, but I do wonder if they're going to ban it. I'm sorry, not going to ban it. That's all I was gonna mint say at all. I wonder how effective it's gonna be without Kelsey. And I also wonder if they're gonna have, say, if they're gonna have Saquon do it instead of jailing. I think that would make sense because Jalen was so banged up last year.
All right, Next, there are three teams nobody can figure out Pittsburgh, the Jets, the Chargers, and the Chargers. Who are you sure about between those teams, Pittsburgh the Jets.
I'm sure about all three of them. The Chargers will be significantly better immediately because of the coaching upgrade. They're not gonna be a contender, but they're gonna be a fringe playoff team and immediately better because of Harball. The Jets are once again going to be one of the
most overvalued preseason teams in the league. And then they're gonna suffer a couple typical injuries because it's football and they're an old team and the and then they're also gonna deal with the dysfunction of the co which in the quarterback not being on the same page and the fact that they have the worst offensive coordinator in the NFL. And then people are gonna throw their hands up and
be like, who could have seen this coming? And the Steelers are gonna have a really good defense and impossibly bad offense and win eight games. I feel very confident. And eight games, by the way, is probably bad for Pittsburgh, probably better for them to win four or five games, finally bottom out and be able to we finally draft the quarterback high and start the thing over all.
Right, next, so we've got a bonus question for you. By which week will the media start panicking about the Chiefs.
So here's the thing. I don't think it will happen this year because I think everyone feels so burnt by last year. I think the Chiefs could start zero to two and people will still be like they're the Chiefs. I don't think you're gonna see as long as Mahomes is healthy, everyone is going to be very judicious in any criticism of the Chiefs.
So the questions like it's like I thought you saying they start off zero and two, but like they're saying that, when are they gonna start panicking about them. So you're saying, even if they're losing, you're gonna be like, yeah, they're getting there somehow.
That's what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, I mean they they would have to be four and eight for people to bail on them entirely. Yeah. So yeah, and that's obviously not gonna happen. All right, answer some listener questions next, What's right? All right? Welcome back in What's driving? Nick right demands Let's do a few listener questions before we get out of here.
Mister Gabe asked, does Robert Salah have the worst job in sports?
No, No, you don't have the worst job in sports. I Uh, I don't think it's a great job. I think coach of the Jets historically isn't a great job. And with the and with Rogers kind of holding these dueling you know, press conferences or whatever, it's not ideal. But no, I think it's I think the worst that's a whole topic, the worst jobs in sports.
Yeah, I'm trying to think.
Uh, yeah, I'm the Cowboys head coach is not a great one. Uh, it sounds like it's a great one. But then Jerry is just always holding these press conferences and you got to answer for it. I think that Alabama football coach is sneaky, not a great job because you go, you know, eleven and two and win the Iron Bowl and it's a failure because of what Saban and Bear Bryan had done, and so like there's yeah, it's so but no, it's not the worst job, but
it's not a great job. Mayo. I well, being the guy that follows Belichick, that's probably not ideal, but no, it's not the I don't think I don't think Sala's got the saying worst job in sports for the Thursday topic. That's like a March topic, not a first day of the NFL season topic. But it is a good topic, all right, go ahead to the next.
One to Mont Austin, TA.
How can you tell the quality of the of the guard spot? And why aren't there a lot? Why aren't there a lot of Hall of Fame guards? Is the lack of namesake or the nature of the position?
Yeah, I mean yeah, I think it's lack of name recognition in the nature of the position is and I think most people, you know, how do we know who the best guards are? We just trust the people who evaluate them, you know, and look at all pro voting and stuff like that. Yeah, so I think that's I think that. Listen, every spot on a football team is important.
But if you were ranking most to least, I mean, guard, inside linebacker, and tight end, are the three that are gonna jump out as the least important, probably with safety being those in safety. Those are the four spots that are paid the least least glamour. And I think we know the least about the differences with inside linebacker, tight end, and safety. The great, great, great ones have unbelievable stats or highlights.
Safety one, it's a.
Fun one, but it's just not valued the way it once was. And same with inside linebacker, even though Ray Lewis, Bryan Rlacker, you know what I mean, some of the greatest players ever.
All right, next, Robbie Ralph, I'm six years into a ten year bet that says Lamar will not win a Super Bowl? Am I gonna win the five hundred you're praying on his downfall?
Robbie, I mean, that is an odd bet, but I mean I would say you're a fa for it, Like do I think Lamar is gonna win a Super Bowl? In the next four years. If I was offered even money on that, I think that I would take the no side. You're a slight favorite. You were an underdog spot four years ago, you know, four years ago, and it was like, well, lamar went in the next eight years the answer looked like yes, but now a couple injuries, another bad playoff performance, and so now it's you know,
slight to the know all right. Two more questions quickly to.
Mose Isaiah A, DJ Moore or Roma Dunzay for fantasy.
All right.
I don't do fantasy questions, but this one slipped through DJ Moore without a doubt. DJ Moore is gonna have a monster DJ Moore at a monster year with Justin Fields. Now that's because Field's only threw in the ball and then ran. But DJ, I mean, Dooonday is gonna be really good. Roma Doonday's already really good? All right.
Last one, Danny Tanner.
If poker were at it to the Olympics, would you try to qualify?
No? I would not be Uh. There's just too many players way way, way way better than me. And if it were out of the Olympics, would have to be in tournament fashion and the greatest tournament players in the world. It would be like me trying to qualify for any Olympic sport like I wouldn't I wouldn't really have a chance. With that said, I'm thinking about cycling because the lady who was a grad student or whatever just picked up cycling ended up winning the gold. She had just started
doing cycling in her spare time. She end up winning the gold. And I am back on my peloton grind and I am crushing people. I mean just absolutely crushing people. So maybe I could do like some maybybe not slight cycling, but like some type of triathlon type, maybe not Olympics. The problem with the triathlon is the swimming. I can swim, but swimming for a mile seems like an absurd thing. It just seems like the But the jogging. I got great new running shoes. I'll shout them out in the
next spot. I don't know if I'm supposed to yet. I don't know if the sponsorships signed, sealed and delivered yet. But I got great new running shoes from potential what's right sponsor, and the cycling I'm crushing. So yeah, But so no, I couldn't qualify for poker in the Olympics. You can though, by the way, I'll be able to talk about it next week. I'm gonna be playing poker on TV again very soon with one of the greatest
athletes in the last twenty years. He's gonna be alongside me, so I'll tell you guys about that at a podcast coming up today. Oh, huge day on FS one, new lineup out, breakfast Ball has been rolling. The facility is going on as we speak. Colin is back from his vacation. Our show the new Speak feature and enjoy Taylor. It's gonna be great, so check all that out. I'll see you guys on with Colin in about ninety minutes. See you in my show in a little over three hours.
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