Trevor: Why does it taste so bad? What's wrong with it? AJ: Ugh I'm so I'm sorry chat. That is disgusting. I'm not gonna say the name because I don't wanna cease and desist. But this right here is disgusting. Trevor: Sound like you about to cease to exist. What the heck you got going on? AJ: Yo, what a way to start season two right there, man. That's crazy. Trevor: What a way to start, man. Listen, we're back. Yeah, season two. Welcome back to the I soft rebrand of the IBM podcast. A little soft rebrand for y'all. AJ: Yeah, baby. Trevor: same faces, same same time, same place though. I'm your host, Trevor Augustus, and my partner in crime. My cohort and constituent on the screen to your left here is AJ: Yeah. Trevor: Angus AJ Johnson. What'd it do, twin? AJ: What's going on, dog? What's going on? Trevor: What's up, man? before we get started, man. AJ: It's it's good to be back. It's really good to be back. Before my man gets into his spiel, I want to apologize to the public, Donnelly Trevor. You know, our inconsistencies are all on me. That's why he's laughing, because you know it ain't his fault. Hey, Trevor: Hey listen, the the the five people listening AJ: we appreciate those five. That's ten ears right there. That's ten ears right there. So we we we appreciate that. We appreciate y'all. We appreciate everyone, man, coming forward. So, I do want to apologize for the inconsistencies. There's a lot of people that have reached out to us like, Hey, when you gonna bring back, you know, there's a lot of people that have asked to come back on. Shout out to Jonathan. I know Jonathan has is reached out multiple times to try to come back on. We're definitely gonna try to get him back on, Coach Jonathan, Coach Pollock. But so shout out to him and the family. But yeah, we back. So I I just wanna say that real quick, man. I w just wanna show love and and apologize. And I'm gonna let this this man get on his NY stuff. Trevor: Mm-hmm. AJ: Come on. Trevor: Before we get started, man, before we get to the the topics that we have for y'all, I wanna remind everybody to please hit the like button. Please hit the subscribe button for the IBM podcast. We are on Spotify, Apple, and and YouTube. once again, please like and and subscribe, tell you people to to tune into the show. we appreciate your eyes and ears and your word of mouth. All right, man. So like I say it's it's been a while, so I I we it was kinda hard for us to kind of get together. What we wanted to talk about, but unfortunately for us, the sports world has kinda made it easy. It seemed like every time we wake up and you look at your phone is it's something major going on. so what you wanna you wanna start with Jalen Hurts or what you wanna do? AJ: Yeah, it it's it's interesting at the point that we're starting, today is the first day of the NBA season for the twenty twenty six, twenty twenty-seven season. So, that's why we really wanted to pick today to start so that we can be able to consistently go over the NBA season and also catch the the second quarter of the NFL season. So we we missed obviously some games for the NFL season. So much has happened. and one of the biggest storylines right now is Jalen Hurts with the Philadelphia Eagles. And it's pretty popular topic. I was just really distraught. I was I was just drawed by what I was reading. It was kind of also to me out of the blue, I've been really, really poor with keeping up with NFL news this year. I'm I'm not gonna lie, guys, I love the NFL. But the NFL is a very weekend by weekend sport. Now, yes, you do have a Monday game and you have a Thursday game, and then sometimes eventually they sprinkle in with a s a Saturday game here and there or whatever, a Friday game. But when the NBA starts to roll around in October, kinda like I start to shift my focus. So when I really didn't know anything was happening to Jalen Hurts until all of a sudden Trevor hit me up last week or earlier this week and we talked about starting the podcast and that's what you wanted to bring up. That w that was very surprising. I want you to start off and kinda tell me how you were feeling about everything. I I definitely have some thoughts on that. But you're you're probably a little bit more acclimated with the topic than I am. Trevor: Yeah, so to catch up obviously as we all have have have heard, the past couple of days, Jalen Hurts, quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, is officially out for the season. with blood clots. Multiple blood clots were found. TM doctors found multiple blood clots in his lungs. It started in his legs apparently, and they called they called it a superficial blood clot and it went up to his lungs. And apparently, while they were still stateside here before they went to London to play the Jags, he was actually according to a report, according to I forgot who it was that reported it that he was instructed not to go to sleep for like thirty six hours. He stayed up for like thirty six hours before he went to go play that game on Sunday. Yeah. AJ: Yeah, sleep deprivation. No. Trevor: So I mean immediately when I hear something like that, I'm like, if if I'm if I'm in in his position, I'm like, wait, what? What you mean don't go to sleep? Like w w okay. My my thing is like at what point does like somebody step in and be like, Yeah, we we're not allowing you to play. That's all that's my question. I don't get where the oversight happened. I can only thing I can see is the fact that we all love the NFL, but let's just be honest. They want to protect their bottom line. They were in London, they wanted they already had Trevor Lawrence and Travis Hunter on the other side. So my only thought process is that they wanted Jalen Hurts to be on the other side of that. And come, you know, wh what's w you know, what's what's the phrase? Come hella high water. They're gonna put their stars out in the front. So I just think it's one of those things where the the the trainers and the doctors are gonna they are going to They're gonna be in the best interest of of the team. So, you know, whether you hurt or not, you're gonna be out there. I I just think that I don't I don't know if it's gonna get to that point, but then they there could be some legal action because you playing with that man life. Not only we you playing with you not only are you playing with his with his career, you're also playing with his life. You AJ: This is worse than Tyrod Taylor. Trevor: Yeah. Blood thinners are not. you you playing with that man life like one one bad scratch. AJ: And you're not supposed to be traveling on the brood blood thinners, or even blood clots at Trevor: Exactly. AJ: all. So and even sleep deprivation is increases the risk of Trevor: Yes. AJ: more blood clots. So that's very interesting choice of treatment there, but yeah. It's kind of very disgusting. I didn't mean to cut you off there. Go ahead. Trevor: No, I was that was pretty much it. I just it could be legal action involved because you say, you can't really play you can't play on bloodthinners like that. what? AJ: No, not at all. And especially your adrenaline always up and it's it's unfortunate. It's it's mismanagement of their players and I kinda had an interesting take on this. I I this kind of reminds me or is kind of another reminder of why N N I L would be such a big thing going forward is because These businesses and these franchises are only treating their players, they're not treating them like human beings, they treat them like assets, essentially almost like a tax write off. So they never truly have your best interests at heart. You know, we have to remember stories like Quiet Leonard. we even w what what was another one in the NFL? There's quite a few in the NFL of people holding Trevor: Sure. AJ: out to a that's that's terrible. I th that's that's really terrible. But there's there's tens of players in the NFL that have been mismanaged and their careers shortly just have essentially become extinct and almost forgotten at times. is because of the mismanagement of how these friendships is franchises take care of them. so it was just really, really sad. But the reason why I bring up the NIL is because right now you have college players that are essentially seeing this right in front of their faces. Everything that they've been told about how these how they're just business. How it's just a business and they're just a business piece. They're not necessarily looked at As a a human being. So they're gonna try to get as much as they can s on the front end. They're gonna try to set themselves up, is because you're not guaranteed a contract. You're not guaranteed longevity anymore. And even for players that are starters and elite starters, you're not even necessarily looked at with respect. I mean, they just traded Luca in the middle of the night, man. So it's like So you're not Trevor: In the dead of night, bruh. AJ: In the dead of the night and just sign a mortgage, dude. it's crazy. You couldn't even let the man's ink dry on the paper. So it's just they don't care about you. So you now going for further, you're gonna see a lot of players really try to get their money on the front end. And I don't blame them anymore. I really don't blame them. There was that one I I forget what school he went to because I'm not that good with retaining college information or college football information. But he just recently retired the linebacker. I think he was from Notre Dame possibly. Not sure. But he just all of a sudden Trevor: you're talking about yeah, I know you're talking about AJ: Yeah, he just all of a sudden retired and I was happy for him. He got his money, he set himself up, hopefully gets to go into coaching and broadcasting, sports medicine, whatever, consulting, whatever you want to do. But it's like sometimes it's just not worth it. Or sometimes you see the wear and tear on your body and you see that no one else is gonna speak up for yourself other than you are. You're your own you're your your biggest advocate. and they don't care when you speak up for yourself. They're just gonna tell you, hey, go out and play, just shut up and and throw the football or just shut up and catch, or shut up and dribble. And so there's gonna be a lot more provocativeness or even prov bravado I think among players going further. Like I think a lot of people looked at Marvin Harrison Jr. a little crazy the way he came into the league. But now I think honestly players are gonna look at him with being in a better situation and probably saying elevation of play like hey this guy probably was right all along. You know what I mean? So it it's sad to see the way that these franchises are taking care of players or just not really putting them first. I wasn't surprised the way that the Philadelphia Eagles treated this situation. It was just very disappointing. Trevor: Speaking of the way that they treat their players, look at the way the Giants did Odell. this this is my thing. You you you play a dependent position, right? You're already playing in a dependent position. And I understand that you have quarterback issues now. You have Jameis in there. And how you gonna sit there and you play a dependent position. You bring this guy in. I don't even know what I think he what had what, two catches in like four or five games? And then you cut him and then the reason is, well, he's not the same per player that he was years ago. Well, yeah, I'm not if I'm not getting those same opportunities, what you think gonna happen? I I don't I've never understood this logic. They're they're gonna like when you get to a certain age, unfortunately, in the NFL, if you're a wide receiver or you're a running back, they're gonna take away those opportunities. So my thing is, how can you sit there and say whether someone is quote unquote wash or someone is quote unquote not the same player if they're not getting the same opportunities? It makes no sense. Is it AJ: It makes no sense, but it's a a consistent trend and they know it's coming as well. you know, Cam Newton speaks on this. many other former athlete podcasters have spoken on this, you know, s even Gilbert Arenas and Nick Young have spoken on this before, where you kind of get phased out. You're you're not even a second or a third option. You're you're like a fourth or fifth option. and that comes with like when you When you go from being on one team and then all of a sudden you jump to another team within a couple of years or even on multiple teams within a few years, a few times, when you get that journeyman tag, you essentially phase yourself out of the the offense. You're just looked at, once again, that word that I was saying earlier is a as an asset. You're just someone that they can use as a trade piece or some money to to write off here or there. a contract that they can kill at any moment. So That was very unfortunate. The only thing is I I have a, I don't know, I can sound crazy with what I'm about to say, but as much as I I love Odell and I would love to see him get another a try and we see we'll see what happens with Minnesota. But I just feel like he comes off this kind of like an antics. Like it's just more antics. It's it's and at least this is the thing. I feel as if You can only do so much for your PR team. You know what I mean? And he comes off because he only gives his PR team this to use as more of a one trick pony. Right? So the whole pregame show and stuff like that. this is the thing with Stephen Curry, we know he can shoot threes and we know he's gonna have the crazy pre-game show. But it's like a little different every single time. He he mixes it up. He does he does different stuff. He also incorporates other things a part of his game as in mid-ranges, floaters, layups, all different types of things. He's working on his game and he's also being fun and putting on a show. We see the same thing from Odell every single time. And it's like like the one-hand catches and all that stuff. And I'm not sure if he's come out and explain this helps him with catching the ball better, even with two hands. Trevor: Mm. AJ: But it just seems very like like I'm just trying to put on a show and bring attention to me. And this is the thing, Odell has always been that person. He's Trevor: Yeah. AJ: always he's always been that person, I I I want all cameras on me. I don't this is a good throwback moment. I know you're gonna enjoy this, but remember when he he kicked the field goal like the the Trevor: Yeah, I remember that. AJ: and then he proposed to it the very next week after getting a touchdown or something? Like he's He he he loves the camera. He's a showsman. So it's like, I I don't know. It's it's like I I wanna see more product I wanna Trevor: But listen, but ultra ultra was the same way though. AJ: see some some productivity out of him. And yes, that does come with giving him enough options, though. Yes, our are opportunities. I get it. I get it. I get it. I Trevor: But you can't get no pro you I was about to say that AJ: get it. But but this is the thing. If I'm as a fan getting cringed out or somewhat I wouldn't say annoyed, agitated or irritated, but just a little bit like, bro, come on. If I can get like that and I know a bunch of other people are getting like that, how do you think that some of the people on the sideline feel when they see him go over and tap Jackson Dart while he's working on his pregame? And he's like, hey man, throw me a couple in the corner so I can do some one hand catches. I'd be like, yo, leave him alone. Like, Trevor: Ha ha ha. AJ: we're like, we're not doing this is not 2014 anymore. This is like like come on. You know what I mean? So Trevor: But s but see, you had a the other thing too. AJ: I don't know. It's that's me. I I I probably come off like a hater. And if that's what y'all want to tag me with, that's cool. I'm sorry. Trevor: I I think I think what you gotta realize is that when you've been that guy for so long, it's hard to give certain things up. look look yes. AJ: Was he though? What was he though? No, but look, I I get it. Cause me personally, he Trevor: He's more than just a one handed catch. AJ: of course, of course. I understand that. And I remember watching Odell in his prime. I remember the the Josh Norman battles. I like, my goodness, man. Those were some good days right there. Woo! Trevor: Beef hate the streams. AJ: Yeah, he's trying to take his head off. But I I remember him in his prime. He was great in his first four years. But also at the same time I'm like, was he was he really that take your the top off the defense type of guy all the time? Trevor: Yes. AJ: All the time though? Trevor: Yes. AJ: I maybe maybe his first four years, yes. Cause I I do remember he was allowing Eli Manning to kinda like prolong his the r the the end of his career and give him some opportunity to possibly make some playoff runs. And I remember he w they were very somewhat competitive in the Northeast. I I think that's the division they're in. Northeast division. Trevor: they're in the NFC AJ: Is that the reason? Trevor: East, yeah. NFC East. Yeah. AJ: NFCs, NFCs, not Northeast, NFCs. But I'm just like I I just never really remember Odell really being like We gotta double him. Was he ever like and and if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I I may come off misinformed, I may come off as a hater, I may come off as someone that maybe just doesn't know New York Giants football that much. But I'd I'd Trevor: Listen, hey, a Gi Giants fans, look like listen, spe speak up in the comments. AJ: He was a good wide receiver to me. He just I'm sorry. Trevor: Let let us know in the comments. Cause I I think he was. I mean AJ: I think he was a I think he was a good wide receiver and he was fun to watch and I remember watching a lot of his highlights every every weekend. But I just don't remember him being like he wasn't a Jamar Chase. He wasn't to me, he wasn't even a C D lamb. I would say maybe comparable to C D Lamb. But I he to me, he just never like what I mean by this is that I like Odell, yes, you circle him on the scouting report. You you definitely want to make sure that this is Eli Manny's top target. I want to make sure that I'm focused on this guy. I understand that. You even had young Saquon, I believe, at one point. Am I wrong? I maybe going back a little too f too early, I'm not sure. Trevor: I think I think they g I think Saquon came later though. AJ: I believe Saquon came later, yes, but I'm not sure if Eli and Odell was still there and I'm not sure if the connection was still there. Once again, New York Giants fans, please, correct us in the in in the comments, but I just never really remember him being someone that like, hey, we gotta double. Or hey, this guy is a game ender, game changer, someone that can really, really or a game record. I'm sorry. He he he wasn't really like that's and that's what I mean. He's not like a he's not like a JSN to me. He's not a he's not a Jamar Chase to me. Trevor: Nobody's like a JSN though. AJ: Puka. Cooper Cup. Trevor: Cooper Cup had a one good season. AJ: CeeDee Lamb had 17 receptions a couple weeks ago. these there's a there's plenty of players that a whole offense is focused on them. And there's nothing you can do to stop them. That's what I mean. if you if you really put someone on Odell, you can keep them to about seven to six reception, seven receptions, 60 yards. If you put a a Trevor: No. AJ: really good cornerback, you can you can keep them under 75, 80 yards. He's still going to make an impact in contributions. You still may get three to five catches, seven to seven to six. But I don't remember Odell really if you can look it up right now, if you can look up his stats, or maybe we can bring it up and post that it and you can prove me to be an idiot. I don't remember Odell catching ten plus catches a game or at least eight, nine plus catches a game on a consistent level. Maybe five or six, seven or eight here or there, but I don't know. I Trevor: Let me look up his stats 'cause I I think 'cause I I feel like he's somebody you build the offense around. They they literally did. AJ: Yeah, because that's probably all they had at the time. Trevor: Hey, you gotta work with what you got. AJ: Respectfully, Odell to me is a really good two three. Trevor: I don't know about that. AJ: But remember, when he went to Cleveland he wasn't even the one. It was Jarvis Landry, I believe. Trevor: Drivers Landing wasn't even the one and Odell was already hurt by the time he got to Cleveland. AJ: So this man is just there. Trevor: I'm just being real. AJ: So but but that's the thing. If if Odell was healthy, right, in in his prime, and let's just say he was on the Cowboys right now. He's wide receiver three behind George Pickens and C D Land. Trevor: of course. AJ: If he goes to Seattle, he's wide receiver two behind JSN. If he goes to Trevor: Yeah, of course. AJ: Minnesota, he's wide receiver two behind JJ. So that's what I'm saying. I can keep going, I can keep going down Trevor: Well yeah, at at this point in his career, yeah. AJ: the list. I can keep going down the list. I would I would say, and I'm not really high on him, but I would say he's a wide receiver too in Pittsburgh, too, behind DK. Like, I like Odell, but to me, he was he's never really been like when there's no other options. When there's no other options and you're force feeding him the whole time and he and he had them legs under him, yes, he was like that. But when you have other options or even post injury, which I understand post injury you're gonna be whatever you are, he just I don't know, and I feel like his prime was so short lived. You know what I mean? Trevor: Well, that's what happens when you get hurt though. But all the teams you mentioned have ones and twos already. The Bengals have a one and a two. They got T and they got Jamar. AJ: But if you're a true one, then you you devalue everyone. That's the thing. It doesn't matter if everybody has ones and twos. If you're a true Trevor: But not AJ: one, if you're a true one and you go to another team with another one, two, they better be two three if you really don't want. They better be two three if you really don't. Trevor: Not when you're thirty three years old and you have not when you're thirty three years old and you have multiple ACL injuries. No you mm mm. AJ: I'm talking about in his prime. I'm I'm I'm putting him in his prime. I understand not right now post injuries because I I I get where he's at right now. And he was pretty decent, coming back from the injuries at one point, even for LA. But I'm just saying in his prime in his first one to to to to three years, like putting him on another team right now, because he was the one in his prime in New York. Put him on another team right now. Or other teams at that time, I don't see him as the true one. I see him as a two or a three. Hey, I may I may come off crazy right there, but I I like Odell. I know there's more to him than just the one hand catches. I also really enjoyed watching my LSU. He was really good at LSU, so but Trevor: Yeah. AJ: I just I don't I don't I think when you compare him against other ones and other twos, I think sometimes they they stick out over him sometimes. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, you know who had a better career than Odell? Is Randall Cobb. Trevor: Randall Cobb. AJ: Yeah, bro. I f I feel like he was he was more productive than him, man. It's like Aaron Rodgers made him look like he was better than what OBJ looks like at times. even Brandon Cook at times look like he can they can really take the top off the defense at times. I may be crazy right now and I probably am. But I I'm not looking at Odell Trevor: Yeah. AJ: as that crazy. I think Odell and his like who he was dating. Trevor: All right, I'm I'm about to look up some stats here. AJ: I I just think who whoever Odell was dating and what hairstyle he had that week and what entries he was doing on the sideline. Really why he was really the guy. And it's cool 'cause I remember when I had my little my little rebel phase, I did the Odell with the hair. I gotta give you that picture so you can plug it in the post. But I I I did I did the Odell too. or at least try to do my own Odell had the culture unlocked, man. he he definitely is one of the NFL guys that you can consider as almost like an AI like for the NFL. he he he really changed a lot of the culture and stuff. So shout out to O Del Sorry. Trevor: Hold on. I'm about to try to share my screen here. Cause I just looked up some stats that I didn't even realize. I'll see if I can share this. AJ: Hey man, if you can if you can make me sound stupid and look stupid, I'm all for it. Here's some wrestling guys. Sorry. Trevor: Can you see that? AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: So it says Beckham was the fastest player in NFL history to reach two thousand yards under twenty one games, ranked number one in the NFL in NFL history in receiving yards per game. Ninety two point nine through his first cur sixty AJ: Still holds up? Trevor: two career games. I believe so. AJ: That still holds up right now? Trevor: I believe so, yeah. Surpassing legend. AJ: Wait, hold that right there. Hold that hold that hold that for the chat real quick. He missed first four games with the hands for injury but still exploded for ninety one catches, thirteen, five, and twelve touchdowns. Okay, and just twelve games winning the NFL offensive rookie of the year. Okay, he became the the only player in Super Bowl era to post some multiple thousand yard seasons in twelve or fewer games and reeled off three consecutive seasons with at least a thousand yards and ten touchdowns. Hey, like I said, when he was in the prime, he was that boy. Okay, so this is the thing. I wanna see, I don't know if AI can do this. But who were the who were the other wide receivers that year? You know what, if we can, so what year was this? This is twenty fourteen to twenty sixteen, right? If you can Trevor: Yeah. AJ: go to the NFL stats right now, I think if we can pull up NFL stats for twenty fourteen, I wanna look at wide receiver stats. Because as much as these numbers are good, I'm gonna tell you every other wide receiver I'll take over, okay? I'm sorry. I'm Trevor: This is crazy. AJ: about to be in my hate bag. I'm about to be in my skip baylist. Trevor: Boy, they about to burn you at the stake. Boy, you gonna need some bot some bodyguards to get out of here, boy. AJ: Hey, I'm about to be on my skip baylist, man. Trevor: Hold up. NFL. AJ: Whew. I can't go back to New York. I'm gonna have to tell my sister I love her. She gotta come see me. I can't go back up to New York after this, man. Trevor: Yes. AJ: Hey, I like the Knicks, man. I was going for I was going for the Knicks. Trevor: it's too late now. AJ: Alright, so if we can pull up No, no, no, no, go ahead, go ahead, pull up the stats, pull up the stats. I wanna I wanna see this right here. Actually give me one second. I'm gonna plug in my device. Trevor: All right. AJ: I don't know how I'm actually gonna do that. My device is on ten percent. We'll see what happens. It should be okay. Trevor: Yeah, chat, this man this man kinda bugging, I'm not gonna hold you. AJ: Taking okay okay okay this is perfect right here. This is perfect right here, man. Damarius Thomas, man. That's that. Okay, so man, he was really that that boy too. This is this is a good picture right here. I just want to see the comparable stats with the other number ones. So and I know that Odell played significantly less games. Trevor: Not that much. He only played two less games than Julio. AJ: Not yeah, I mean I guess Yeah, and only four less than well okay, so the four right there less than Antonio Brown. Julio was also dealing with injuries that year as well, so he missed two games. Is this from twenty fourteen to twenty sixteen? Is that what this is? Trevor: Yeah, this is in total games played from the from those two seasons. So it's forty five games in total. Or forty these are all the game yeah, these are all the games AJ: okay. that's amazing. Shout out to Adam. Trevor: from between that, yeah. AJ: Okay, shout out to NFL. Alright, so he had less re he had less targets, so that that is big. Less targets than Antonio Brown and Julio Jones. so that's why he would have less receptions. His yards, I mean. Okay, so Antonio Brown and Julio Jones, forty eight. But he's getting fourteen yards a carry, and that was what I knew about a lot of Odell was a lot of down the field routes where he can make a lot of plays out of just giving those little short slants and he g he could really take off. He was really fast when he had his legs. Yeah. Trevor: You can put him at like you can put him at the X, you can put him at the Z. AJ: man, look at Demario's Thomas, bro. Demarri Thomas was right there too. And I think I'm not sure. I believe this would have been I wanna say that year is with Pey and Manny, but I also could Trevor: That was with Peyton. AJ: yeah, I was gonna say that was with Pate, 'cause I think he went over the twenty fifteen. 'cause I Trevor: This is like yeah, this this was three years after like T Bow Tebow era. AJ: And look at TY, DeAndre Hopkins. I thought DeAndre Hopkins numbers would be a lot better, and then you see Mike Evan. Okay. These this is great. This definitely shuts me up stats wise and and productivity wise. I'm not owing up to when I'm wrong. But like I said, I think every single player on here, can you scroll back up really quickly? I think every single player on here other than T. Y. Hilton and Demarius Thomas, I would probably take over Odell. Trevor: You taking Demarius Thomas over Odell? AJ: No. I said every player on here except for Demaris Thomas and T.Y. Hillen, which means I have Odell over Demaris Thomas and T.Y. Hillen. But I would take DeAndre Hawkins, Mike Evans, Antonio Brown, and Julio Jones over Odell back. Trevor: I'd give you Julio and Antonio. I don't know about no Mike Evans though. I don't know about the mic AJ: Mike Evans at that time was doing amazing numbers with whoever was behind century. Trevor: But what what other what other option was there in in Tampa? AJ: Anything behind center, Mike Evans was catching it. We're we're seeing it right now in San Francisco. And I'm happy for him. Dude, I told my dad last year, I said, I said, man, I I I want Mike to go. And and I want him to go find a a championship contending team and go win a ring. He's wasting his talents here. And we're seeing him lose his temper on the sidelines because of the patheticness and the inconsistent coaching. So to see him being so successful right now. And San Francisco. And I also, just have some family that love San Francisco fans or San Francisco 49ers. So, I kinda like the fact that he picked that team. I'm happy for him, man. And I got Mike over Odell. I got D Hop. I got Antonio Brown. And I got Julio over OBJ. I know this this Trevor: Mm. AJ: conversation is spiraled out of control. I'm sorry guys, but I'm just saying, I I I I hope OBJ is able to make something happen in Minnesota. I hope they're able to give him a real opportunity. I think at the very least, New York could have kept him on the practice squad. Like, what was that about? At least keep him around. Allow him to be in the locker rooms and try to make his way on the team, but good for Minnesota for at least seeing his value. I hope he's able to do something. I know when he's healthy and he's he's being fed the ball, he's He's a great player. and yeah, you know, Trev's right. You can't call someone wash if you're not even given the opportunity to show themselves. So it's that it's that business. Trevor: Yeah. I'm listening. I'm not saying that he would light the world on fire. I'm not saying that, but I'm just saying give him you gotta give him more than two targets a game. You s he settles somewhere between maybe five, six targets, averaging maybe six sixty, fifty, sixty yards a game, I think he'd be happy with that. AJ: Think it'd be great. Trevor: At least let him try to make an impact. AJ: The thing about Odell is that you don't have to give him shots down the field. Why would you do that to an older wide receiver with leg injuries? Odell has always been someone where it's like 10, 15 yard throws or less, and you and he Trevor: Yeah. AJ: makes the play. So you're right. Just give him a couple of throws, give him a couple check downs, give him a couple hitch routes, a couple slants, a little out routes, just to get you guys up the field, mix in some things to have some fresh legs, give some other guys some breathers. work him in there and see what he does with the ball is because one thing about Odell, we know that when he when he has his legs under him and he and he's under that football condition, he's productive. He is productive. I know I just went on a rant about how I would choose just about everybody else. But at least I'm not naive, guys. I'm Trevor: Yeah. AJ: not na I I just have an opinion that may differ from most, but I still do hope that he's able to make the best out of his opportunity and I'm I'm glad that Minnesota gave him an opportunity. Trevor: Chat, chat, don't let him gaslight you. He I I said he was the guy and he was like, was he? I'm like, bro, from the from The stash is proved otherwise. From tw two years he was like the third best receiver in the league. AJ: No, like you what the stats did. The stats did prove that. The stats did prove that. But but this is the thing. I wanna see, and this is the thing. If you could bring this up and then we can move on to the next topic, because this is a little, you know, going a little overboard. But if you can look up Odell's stats comparable from 2017 to 2020, that's where I really want to see things. And I I understand there's some injuries and within those years. But I want to see what he was really doing after that, at least after twenty sixteen, because he wasn't injured until what twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen. Trevor: Yeah, I think twenty I wanna say twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, yeah. AJ: I won't say that season he got hurt, but Trevor: actually twenty seventeen is where it started. 'Cause remember he AJ: Yeah. Trevor: tore it the first time and during this his his ankle and then his hamstring AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: and I think it was the ACL in the twenty twenty. And of course we know he he tore it in the Super Bowl. so it's it's kinda hard to like really especially when you when you got hurt like that, it's it they're you're gonna they're gonna start taking away your options. Especially then they drafted Saquon. So it's like that open that that puts another dimension on your offense. So they almost they started to phase him out while he was still there. So AJ: Yeah. Trevor: it's kinda hard to to him. Listen. Listen, everybody's not gonna be Adrian Peterson. You weren't we're never gonna see him t somebody tear their ACL like that and then come back within like what nine months? Like he like you are a goddamn X Men. Like we're never gonna see that see that again. That's like impossible. So AJ: That's a great conversation I wanted to bring up a little later. Trevor: Okay. But yeah, I I just think that as far as like the injuries, yeah, your your production is gonna go down because your your your twitch your twitch is gonna you're you're not gonna be as fast because you're you're you're trying to you're you're trying to overcompensate too and when you when you lose your confidence you're trying to overcompensate because a lot of times with those injuries you just you're trying not to get hurt and it takes away your AJ: That reminds me when you said Twitch when you said Twitch it reminded me of Bill Burr when he was talking about black people and the quick tits. The quick twitch? The quick tits. man, sorry about that. Trevor: Yeah, and you're talking I know what you're talking about. So like your your Twitch is gonna hear your ear explod like like listen, when Tyreek comes back, Tyreek ain't gonna be the same. AJ: Hmm. If I was Tyreek, I actually Trevor: Tyreek is not gonna be the same. AJ: I think it would be nice to see Tyreek as a running back. Trevor: Yeah. AJ: Like a almost like a power eye. That's elusive almost or or even see him play Trevor: I can see I can see him in packages. AJ: like a yeah, a package like Darren Sprolls. Trevor: Yeah. The thing about Tyreek though, i i is even though the injuries is is going to affect him, he's still gonna be the fastest player in the league. He might be a step slower, AJ: Well. Trevor: but he's still gonna be faster than everybody else. AJ: I think you're right, I I do think he'll still can be considered one of the fastest in the league. I just don't think he'll be the fastest. I think Jameer Gibbs is amazing. I think Xavier Worthy is still incredible player for the Kansas City Chiefs as well. Like there's there's a there's a lot of different guys, Zay Flowers, I mean there's a lot of guys out there that are really good, that are really, really fast. And I just think that they're a lot younger and they're a lot healthier. But this is the thing that I think Tyreek Hill has on his side is that he's a professional runner. So there's just it's just different when a professional runner is someone that actually understands the technique and then surrounds themselves around, you know, actual experience runners at the rehab and and physical therapy. I think Tyreek Hill will definitely come back being a great runner. I just hope that he stays healthy, man. That was a scary injury. Trevor: Human leg is not supposed to bend that way, guys. AJ: Nope, nope, nope, nope. I still remember to this day, it was like a shock, dude. I've never seen anything like it. And I think I already you already know what I'm gonna say, and most people probably do, but Kevin Ware, that injury when we were when I was a freshman, I believe, in high school, and Trevor: Mm. AJ: that happened during March Madness. my god. But Trevor: And the thing is, back then too, y'all gotta understand too, back then, you social media wasn't really as big as it is now. AJ: Yeah. Trevor: So you really had to search for the video. And when you seen it, and when you seen it, it was kinda low Yeah. AJ: No, yeah, for sure. For sure. Facebook probably took off yeah, go ahead, I'm sorry. Trevor: No, I was just saying it's kinda low it was kinda low quality. So when when I actually saw it, AJ: Mm-hmm. yeah. Trevor: I was like, AJ: Yeah, it was it was gruesome. And what's crazy? It was one of those things that you saw you you're right, you're absolutely right. Social media, yes, it was around, but it was still in its soft air. Facebook Trevor: Yeah. AJ: just came out or just became you know, was really like becoming like a a really big thing like three or four years ago, maybe four or five years prior to that. YouTube was still gaining some momentum at that time. So and it was a lot that that's when most of YouTube was a lot of home videos. That that's Trevor: Yeah. AJ: when YouTube was actually good. but yeah, that was tough. And you're right. You try to look for the video and you see a lot of weird camera phone camera angles from like the older camera phones back then. TV Trevor: Yeah. AJ: wasn't trying to broadcast it, so you weren't gonna see it from the broadcast point. I think there was like one broadcast that had it and then they ended up taking it down. But that was Tough, and I have really bad shin splints. So I would always you know, I would always think about Kevin Wear every single time I feel like my shin's getting tight and stuff like that. And every time I'm stretching before I play. Oof, that was a tough injury. But man, I you're right, the leg is not supposed to bend that way. And and I really hope Tyreek Hill is able come back and be productive. How old is he? Trevor: The young the other in he's thirty he's thirty, I think. Twenty nine, thirty, thirty one maybe. Hold on. AJ: Yeah, we'll see what happens. When he won a ring, he's made plenty of money. If it wasn't for all those kids he Trevor: He's thirty two. AJ: probably would have retired. Trevor: He's thirty two. AJ: Thirty two years old. Yeah. Yeah, I Trevor: Yeah, he he got way too many kids he gotta feed, so he he go he'll be back. AJ: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's like that's why Trevor: Listen that AJ: Philip Rivers got off the couch. He won he was Trevor: This is AJ: like it's it's quieter in the locker room than in the house. But give me one second, I'm gonna let Trevor: The only angel. AJ: you take a I'm gonna let you go on a solo monologue or just continue your thought while I plug in my device. I'm on three percent. Kind of wrote Trevor: Okay. AJ: it out as long as I could for the conversation. So I will Trevor: All right. AJ: be back. Go ahead. Trevor: Alright. What's up y'all? Yeah, yeah, like I say we we're gonna try to be more consistent. just have some stuff going on. We always end up have we have topics that we wanna talk about and then we end up going into going into little tangents like like this have this. But I think it's good though 'cause well it was it's not so I mean it's structured obviously but we can kinda go off the cuff a little bit and it makes the time go by. So I really appreciate y'all for listening. What else are we gonna talk about? We're gonna talk about the NFL season coming up. We're gonna talk about the The NBA season just starting. the NFL season and what the surprise teams so far. predictions since we're kinda almost halfway through through the season. so we got some good stuff coming up. So hopefully y'all will will we'll listen here. And once again, hey, let let us know in the comments about AJ's take O O B J 'cause that's a little that's a little crazy to me. That's just me though. AJ: I'm almost done. I'm getting it plugged up right now. Trevor: Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun AJ: Yo, we gotta add a little Jeopardy element into this. I Trevor: Yeah. AJ: also I also wanted to engage in the chat when we'll have a little questions on certain clips, but give me one second before I bring my video back on. Yeah man, we gotta bring some other elements into the Trevor: Yeah. AJ: to the podcast, man. So I I Trevor: So AJ: added a new little portable mic, guys, and you plug it into you know whatever device you're using, and so like the port that I needed to charge my device is being used already. However, the mic has like an open USB C at the top and it was able to work. It's charging my device. Is audio still good? Trevor: Yeah, I can still hear you. AJ: All right, awesome. I forgot what I was gonna Trevor: So we AJ: ask you guys. I just said something, so I apologize, but let's keep it going. Trevor: So we are what is it, week seven? We are like almost halfway into the the NFL season. And let's go ahead and look AJ: Mm-hmm. Or almost get into our bi weeks and stuff. Trevor: Yeah, let's go ahead and look at these standings so far, the NFL standings. So out of out of AJ: Can you do Trevor: this list It is conference, yeah. Talking about the division or the conference? This is the A shit here. Yeah this is how they have it. Let's see here. Did we lose him? We may have lost Asia here. Well anyway, so far until he comes back, so so far we got the Bills f sitting at five and one. Patriots sitting at four and two. The Jets are sitting at two and four and the Dolphins are tanking seemingly for for maybe a archmanning next year. We'll see. This is the AFC East. AFC North Browns sitting at four and two, Steelers sitting at four-two, Ravens sitting at four-two, Bengals sitting at three-two. AFC South, Jags, my Jags, sitting at four-two. Colts sitting at two and four. Texans sitting at two and four as well. Titans sitting at one and five. And AFC West, Chiefs sitting at five and Broncos sitting at four and two, Ra Raiders sitting at three and three and Chargers sitting at and six. So AJ: My bad guys. I don't know what happened, but disconnected. Can you guys hear me? Yeah, Trevor: Yeah, I can agree. AJ: I can hear you. All right, awesome. Can you see my video? Mm-hmm. Trevor: Mm. AJ: Alright, great. it's funny, I was just giving kudos to my new system just for my thing to die on. So Alright. We're going ghetto style. It's all good guys. we're here, we're here. All right. So what were we saying about the standing? There's Trevor: Wait, is there's still an echo though. AJ: still an echo though. We can hear echo. Trevor: Yeah. AJ: Yeah. Can you hear echo now? Trevor: let me see. No. AJ: Can you hear echo now? No, I don't hear anything. No, no, I'm not in there. Trevor: No, I don't hear any no no, no. Well yeah, now I do, yeah. AJ: But yeah, now I do, yeah. All right, so this is what I'll do. Can you hear me? Trevor: Mm-hmm. AJ: Is it echoing? Trevor: I don't believe so, no. AJ: All right. I'm sorry about that guys. I apologize. I'll you do your magic and post. Trevor: Well technically difficult. AJ: All right. Trevor: Mm. AJ: So we were talking about the divisions and we're in the AFC, so go ahead and pull that up. Trevor: Yeah, I was I was about to I just went over the standing so far. I think the the topic that I wanted to to ask is so far we're like seven weeks in, almost eight weeks in. who's who's the surprise teams that has really like caught you kinda like, ooh, I wasn't expecting that and who who's been more of a disappointment this year? AJ: So Some meat. I got a couple different answers on that. Trevor: Okay. AJ: just a remind you guys, those that are listening from last season and those that are new listeners, I am a Buccaneers fan, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Trevor is a Jacksonville Jaguars fans. we're located and based in Florida. So, you know, I would love to say that's my personal answer, is the biggest disappointment this season, not only just because it's my team and I would like to see them win and being one and four, starting off and three was a huge disappointment. but also Just simply the fact that they were just extremely overhyped, or at least hyped a lot up in the off season. you know, I think you know what's funny, I keep forgetting his first name is because he's not productive enough. But Ruben Bain, I just it just came to me. I always want to say Trevor: Yeah. AJ: something else, Bane. But I'm not gonna lie, like it like we're all hype on Ru Reuben Bain Jr. And he just got a lot of welcome to the NFL moments for a for a long time. I think he finally just got a sack on Aaron Rodgers, but very, very disappointed as a Buccaneers fan. as far as game, can you keep scrolling? I will say my biggest surprise this season is the Cleveland Browns, not just because they beat us, but because Cleveland to me just made it just just said a few things. One, there's gonna be a team out there that gives Deshaun Watson another contract, just Trevor: Yeah. AJ: because. If Geno, if Geno Smith gets one, if Zach Robinson has a job right now, I mean there's a lot of quarterbacks I can name. If they have jobs, Deshaun Watson will get a job, even if it's a backup. But there's a lot of teams out there. Kirk Cousins, if if there's people out there that have a job, he'll he'll he'll get one. and he's Trevor: Yeah. AJ: proven that he's not he he may not take a team to the playoffs. We're not sure yet. They're only four and two, but they may not take a team to the playoffs and win and win the whole thing. But someone will give him a contract. And then two, it just made it so because a lot of us were expecting to see Shador by now. We're not gonna see Shador all season. I mean The Browns would have to probably lose the the the rest of the season for us to see Shador maybe the last two games. And even that is because Deshaun Watson has showed just enough where they're gonna continue to give him opportunities. And because he has that contract, they're going to make him be productive. So they're gonna make their they want their money back, you know what I mean? And and I would too. So Trevor: Yeah. AJ: That's that's a huge surprise right there. I would also say I'm not surprised, but I'm also surprised by the San Francisco forty niners. I'm surprised because I feel as if I've continued to count out Brock Purdy. Like I feel even after playoff runs and Super Bowl appearances that I just haven't taken him serious enough. And that's just it. I just haven't taken him serious enough. But he he's he's proven to me that he's one of the elite quarterbacks. He belongs in elite conversation. Even though he has many pieces around him, he does a really good job managing them. he's he's a really good game manager. And every now and then when he's asked to do things out of the ordinary, he seems to be able to deliver on them. So I'm not surprised that the forty niners are a successful team. I'm just more surprised that Brock Purdy has been able to to make me shut my mouth and respect him. So That right there. and then just an overall surprise and disappointment of the first quarter of the season so far is all these injuries, man. It's just a lot. Trevor: What's going on, dude? AJ: Yeah, it's a it's a lot, a lot of injuries right now and to the point where someone's life was on the line. Well, goodness gracious, Philadelphia. But it's just Trevor: Even the referees are for the season. AJ: Yeah. Dude, it's it's it's incredible. It's it's it's a lot of injuries this season. It's a lot of injuries. early. It's good to see Jalen Daniels back, but or Jaden Daniels back, but it's it's it's just a lot. It's a lot going on. So I hope everybody's able to stay safe. I hope we don't see any more. I see that Devante Adams is out six to ten weeks for a hamstring. Mike Evans didn't return in the game because of an Achilles and he was dealing with hamstrings. She's always done dealt with that. as his production continues and the more hits he takes it he'll, continue to show wear and tear as a older wide receiver. Trevor: Yeah. AJ: there's there's quite a few injuries out there that are pretty concerning, man. Trevor: Saquon dealing with an injury, I believe. Brees Hall is. AJ: Yep. Yep. Trevor: David Montgomery, he's still out. So I mean what it AJ: surprised to see Patrick Mahomes back this early and and and playing the way he's playing. So Trevor: Wha what do you contribute that to? is it just 'cause a lot of like you've seen a lot of older veterans like Nightcap and Unc, they've always talked about the fact that their bodies aren't really used to the workload because they don't have like two days anymore, they don't play during the preseason. So what do you attribute a lot of these like non contact, like ACL injuries and stuff like that? What do you contribute that to? AJ: That'd be a great question for Coach Pollack, man. shout Trevor: Yeah. AJ: out Coach Jonathan. I think in in my opinion, I think it would be not enough not enough strength trend strength training. And I I don't even know. I'm not I'm not sure. There's so many things I wanna say, but then I'm like, mm. But I would I would say it's not enough strength training or just The wear and tear, the dieting, the I do think that a lack of conditioning does go into it. So, mentioned on nightcap where there was two a days, now they're not necessarily any two a days anymore. That strength and conditioning really gets you ready for the game. by the time you're on you get to Sunday, what is a hit? You know what I mean? It's just another thing to the body from from this week. And then You're not really necessarily putting, a hundred percent energy in practice anymore. It's a lot of walkthroughs. So yeah. I just think it's a lack of habit building and lack of routine or just a insufficient one. But that that's what I would say, but it it is alarming, is because it's like every single year it's like, okay, who's gonna who's gonna be out from an Achilles and an ACL tier? Trevor: Yeah. AJ: It's like it's like who's gonna get it this year? you know, the greats come back from injuries like that, but sometimes I mean you just you just can't. Just you just really can't. I mean, there's some there's some athletes that were really great that just can't come back from certain out injuries. Everyone's a little different. Has nothing to do with who you have around you, the coaching or the particular person or the doctor. I just I just think that not everyone can come back from certain stuff like that. So it's it's pretty impressive to see Patrick Mahomes back already. It's pretty impressive to see Tyrese Halliburton back. I I was incredibly impressed with Jason Tatum Lash. Incredibly impressed. And I felt like it was so early. And I didn't really think of things like this until all of a sudden I realized that Jimmy Butler hasn't stopped yet. And he's not due until like January. And I was like, I'm like, dang, I feel like he got hurt almost a year and a half ago. I felt Trevor: Yeah. AJ: like he got hurt around February to maybe even March or April or something. I think he got heard April of the previous season. So I'm I'm not sure. I would have to look into that, but Yeah, it just depends. It just depends, I think on what the the routines and the habits are of some of these teams and they gotta protect the players. So, you know, we're gonna do walkthrough. You guys are off the next two days. Trevor: I think that like AJ: Don't forget your food cup. Trevor: this Yeah, I I AJ: Okay. Trevor: was gonna say a lot of that is like the NFL like protecting protecting its brand. And like I I mentioned before with the AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: whole Jalen Hurts situation, they're they they it's all about the bottom line. They're gonna AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: they're gonna they're gonna make sure their stars the stars are out. They're gonna make sure their their players the the big s the big name stars, your your Jalen Hurts, your Patrick Mahomes, your your Joe Burroughs, your JSNs, your your your your Jettas, they're gonna make sure those people that's why the rules have changed so much from the even like ten years ago the rules have changed because they're trying to protect the player so much. I do think though, I think there is such a thing as trying to trying to protect too much and then you end up going overboard to where your body is not used to certain Because they don't have two of days. They don't like your body's not like you you mentioned conditioning. Yeah, your body's not used to taking certain punishments because you're not playing. You have to get out there and you I I've heard players talk about being able to get out there and run around and get your body acclimated because like the the season only lasts for like what maybe four or five months. And a AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: lot of guys like when the season's over, they're not like train they're not back training. They're in the house chilling or they're like AJ: yeah. Trevor: on vacation. AJ: I I would. Yeah, I wouldn't I wouldn't be training either. you put your body through that much wear and tear throughout the season where they say that every tackle is almost like a c you're putting yourself your body through a car accident. I Trevor: Yeah. That's true. AJ: yeah, I wouldn't I wouldn't be either. I would spend those eight to nine months and it depends for you know, depending on what franchise and which run you make, 'cause sometimes if you make a playoff run, it's a lot longer than that. But Yeah, I would I wouldn't either. So, that's a good perspective to think of. A lot of people go back to their normal lives where, yeah, they, you know, they keep up with a good diet. Some of them kind of gain weight and then go back into losing weight almost like a fighter, but they try to manage themselves as best as they can so that they're ready to get back into it next off season in training camp. But for the most part, you're right. That's the reason why. Training camp starts that early. There's a reason why there's mandatory OTAs and stuff like that is because you're trying to get these guys back into it. It's because for the last few months they've been sitting on their butts drinking six packs all day, probably doing absolutely Trevor: Ha ha. AJ: nothing, spending their millions somewhere as they as they should be. But yeah, I I get it. I mean, when you kind of have and and to me personally, I feel like more like the last generation, they didn't they didn't spend the off season like that. I felt like, they were always working. Felt like there was always training. There was even that trend of the NFL commercials where the guys were doing crazy off season workouts and stuff like that. Or, I just felt like guys were always working on their game. They're always working on themselves. Now it's it's a little bit more about I'm I'm gonna catch a fashion show this summer and I'm vacation. You know what I mean? It's like, hey, and to each his own. I'm I'm happy that they all have hobbies and stuff that they're able to do throughout, the offseason. A lot of them have podcasts like this one that are far more successful. Good for them. Not hating on them. I'm I'm glad that players have a voice for themselves. But it's just, and and this is the thing, we only see so much is because we don't see the hard work that they put in. We only see the result. We only see the injuries and then comment on that. So we don't we don't see how much hard work they put in. So we can't be too critiqueful or or criticize them too much. But I do think that in a lot of people would reiterate this ideology is that this generation is really soft. They're just really soft. So Trevor: Hmm. AJ: it it it's it's Trevor: Yeah, they b they were roasting Caleb Williams for the last three or four weeks because they're talking about something. I'm like, Merr, lim I'm like, listen, won't you go tear your hamstring and see how you feel? I understand he may have been a little over dramatic, but come on now. To the to the average Joe, AJ: Yeah. Trevor: you go tear your hamstring and you see how you feel, bro. Come on. What are we doing? AJ: That that does hurt. the thing about it is I think he he thought he hurt something else. And so Trevor: Yeah, exact yeah. AJ: so without so with accompanied with his emotions and his raw reaction to how he himself feels about hurting himself and the pain plus what he probably thought it was. That's probably why he was tossing and turning. And you don't know how it feels to pull your hamstring until you until you do. And when you do, it almost feels like you tore the muscle off the bone. That hurts. And it's in your and it's around the most painful bone in the body, the femur. So I mean I'm I've pulled and tightened my hamstring a few times, but I've never fully pulled it, the point where I had it be like a a long recovery. But man, I do think it seemed as if he tore his ACO. And then when it comes out that he only tore or an Achilles or something like that. And then when you only tear a hamstring, that's when everybody's like, man. And then accompanying with the the nail paint and stuff like that and what people already think about Caleb Williams. It's just more fuel to their fire. So I Trevor: Yeah, of course. AJ: actually I actually thought it was really awesome of him when he didn't want to tell any details about his entry. He was like, you guys don't he was like, no. Because you guys made fun of him in the top. why would I why would I come back and give you guys all the information Trevor: Exactly. AJ: so that you guys can write your new story and make yourselves look good. no, you just sat there from the moment I got hurt to the moment I'm standing back in front of you right now, ready to start again. You guys made fun of me. Now you want to hear hey, you got any details? no, I don't. I don't got nothing to tell Trevor: The and AJ: you. Trevor: the same people making fun of him are the same people that are like sitting on their phones all day, push pushing potato chips in their face, and got during zebra AJ: Yeah. Trevor: cakes and oatmeal cookies and and and and and couldn't run a a mile if you paid AJ: Yep. That's man, that Trevor: come on now, right? AJ: was that's a lot of good snacks though, I'm not gonna lie. Trevor: Yeah, yeah, it is. If you're not in the NFL, that's not those AJ: You need some good snacks there real quick. I was also thinking about honey buds and stuff like that. But Trevor: This man hungry. AJ: But it yeah. Yeah, it was just That was that was that was very interesting. A lot of things have happened in the in in the NFL the first few weeks. I've answered and we went on a tangent. I wanna I wanna hear, maybe not necessarily your biggest surprises and stuff like that. Shout out to the Jaguars. You guys are doing incredible right now. Love Liam Cohen and what he's doing right now. Trevor: Yeah. AJ: building on the momentum you guys have from last year. So we'll see if you guys are able to make a deep playoff run. I think Trevor Lawrence looks probably one of his best seasons right now, in my opinion. But you guys are you guys are doing good and it's it's really good to see you guys trying to work Travis Hunter into the to the fold. It's because you have to. You traded up for him to the second pick. You have to. Like you literally have to. You have he he looks incredible on defense. I know at times he he gets beat, but every cornerback does, no matter how elite you are, it's the NFL. But I mean, I you you have to work him in. It's because this is the thing, in my opinion. Before I kinda turn it over to you. When you trade up to get a player like him at the second pick, it's because you valued him more than a wide receiver and more than a cornerback. You valued him at both. Trevor: Yeah. AJ: You don't spend a second round pick on a quarterback only. Maybe a few, but not a quarterback only. You don't spend a second round pick on a wide receiver like Travis Hunter. He's a great wide receiver, but he's not a second round pick wide receiver. He's a great cornerback and won all a word and won a lot of good awards in college. But he's not a second round pick cornerback. But you know what he is? He's a second round pick dual threat. So you have to you traded up to get him for that. So you have to you gotta get your money back. You gotta do with what you were planning to do. And so it's good to see Liam Collam actually trying to work him in the fold. he looks healthy, that you put on some some muscle. You guys look good, man. I'm happy for you. Trevor: I think that with with Travis, I I I've always thought he was a better corner than a wide receiver. AJ: yeah. 'Cause he attacks the ball like a wide receiver and can run with the wide receiver. Trevor: Bro, dude, his his instincts are his his ball tracking AJ: Yeah. Yeah. Trevor: skills. It's like because he knows it's almost like he he can run the route for the receiver because he is a receiver, so he knows the tendencies. He knows exactly. Exactly. And AJ: Mm-hmm. Exactly. He knows how to run the whole route for you. So he already knows what you're running. Yeah. Yep. Trevor: shot like you say, a shout out to shout out to Liam Cohen because To my knowledge, this has never really been done before. Player playing on both sides of the ball in the NFL. I believe this is the first time maybe Dion. But AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: but I think Dion, he was mostly on defense. He play did play some wide receiver and punt returner, obviously. AJ: Dion, Dion had packages. So Trevor: He had packages. AJ: we we've we've only experienced someone that's full time on one side but has a package or two here or there on this side. Or maybe Trevor: Yeah. AJ: they play special teams as well. So we've seen them in the end zone a lot because of their success on special teams, but they're also offensive or a defensive player, but then they have packages. You may see a wide receiver on the defense come in on a Hail Mary. or deep four drop deep coverage or whatever like that. Trevor: Yeah. AJ: But that's a package. But we've never seen a full time line up every single snap every you know, besides a few formations here and there for a breather. We've never seen that. So it's incredible Trevor: And you AJ: to see this motor. Trevor: and you won't though. I think it's as much listen and I and I understand that he wants to, but I I I I think he's starting to kind of realize that like it's it's d being like the most athletic player is different when you're in college and you are the best player on the field or like you're in high school. AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: Now that you're in the NFL, but everybody good. But you you dealing with grown AJ: Yeah. Everybody. Trevor: you you dealing with grown men that got that Got car car notes, rent due, mortgage due, light bill due, mountain. Right. AJ: On a lamb. Not a Camry. You got a car note on a lamb, not a Camry, man. He he he about to really hit you for real. Trevor: Right, exactly. That's those grown man got man got kids, got baby mamas he gotta worry about. AJ: Yeah, man. Trevor: listen, rent listen what they say, rent do, light bill do, mountain dew. Like everybody. AJ: Yeah. When you got a man in front of you about to tackle you and the only thought in his head is that the judge said, Don't be late on that child support payment one more time. That man Trevor: Exactly. AJ: body That man about to smack you. You about to back. I'm not even trying to I I I'm I'm kneeling. I'm like, all right, all right, all right, all right, you got it, you got it. Trevor: Hey, hey, listen. Hey, hey, it's before you start the game, and as soon as you end the game, your baby mom blowing your phone up. And I want AJ: Okay. Trevor: my money right now. You been yeah. I see your I seen that contract. I watch your SPN. I see how much money you get. AJ: Yeah, I I'm I'm not trying to get hit by that dude that deals with that right there. But but Trevor: Exactly. Are you good AJ: I I'm just saying like it it took him time to kind of acclimate. Took him time, you know, and he dealt with an injury and they wasn't really working him in the system. I mean, remember the first few weeks of the last season before he got hurt, I felt like he was only targeted like a total of maybe twenty times. Like Trevor: Yeah. AJ: he he was barely worked into the system, and then you see him on defense here or there. And and that's Trevor: Mm-hmm. AJ: when we actually really see some flashes is because when you don't hear your name while you're on the field playing defense, it's a good thing when you're a quarterback. Unless you're doing run stopping. That's Trevor: Yeah. Yeah. AJ: when you want to hear your name when you're on the run stop formation. Trevor: Yeah, it's it's listen, it's gonna get to the point where he if he's when he starts developing his skills, it's gonna be like we're not gonna hear his name a lot and like you said, it's a good thing 'cause they're not throwing it on your side of the field. So AJ: Nope. there was times that you would never hear Darrell Rivas' name on a broadcast. maybe a few times. I'd be like, he's playing. Yeah, he's playing. Trevor: Yeah, exactly. AJ: Yeah, he's playing. He ain't playing with him either. You know what I mean? So it's just it's just no, it's it's crazy. But the thing about Travis, I actually believe he could be the first person to play on both sides. but I've said this before, he wasn't gonna get in his first few seasons. He was not gonna get that in his first few seasons. You have to earn that in the NFL, no matter how good you are. So he's gonna have to prove that he's good on one side of the ball and that he can manage to to make these opportunities throughout his packages on the other side of the ball and take advantage of them and then show that throughout, I I think eventually we can see him more play like in a nickel defense and then get maybe twenty twenty plays on the offense throughout a couple different packages, like through some play action. I think he's great for play action. So I think you'll see him maybe play a a total of maybe 40, 50 snaps, a mixture of both. But you won't really see that until season four or five. And that's dependent on him staying healthy and being consistent with those opportunities to be productive. If he's not, then we're never gonna really see him get that opportunity Reach his full potential. And that's just about anybody in life or any situation. You got to be consistent with the opportunities given and be productive so you can be able to reach your full potential. So I think he can get there. I think Liam Comb is one of those offensive minds that would allow him a chance. And he's also new and fresh as a coach or not to be like, hey, I can be the guy that played Travis Hunter on both sides. I was his coach. we became successful. I I I was the first coach to play an iron athlete, in the NFL full time. Trevor: Yeah. AJ: So and and that's enticing. You know what I mean? So we'll we'll see what happens. He's he's a happy go lucky kid, so to speak. he's ambitious, he's he's a good teammate, it seems like. And as long as he stays healthy and stays aggressive on defense and then he gets those opportunities on offense and makes the best of them, man. I'm telling you by the end of his contract, before he goes into a new contract, I'm telling you he could be getting a really, really good contract. A really good contract. But we have to see his contributions contribute to playoff wins. And it's not necessarily up to him as well. It's on Travis Lawrence and he's he's really the guy on the hot seat here. Trevor: Yeah. Sometimes I I I have I go back and forth with Trevor Lawrence 'cause I love him. But then sometimes he makes me mad, but I guess you gotta take the good with the bad. he AJ: Yeah. Sunshine. Trevor: Sun Sunshine. I think with Travis, my my thing with him is it as much as you I wanna see him play both sides, like it's just I I can't see him doing that full time. Even even like four or five seasons in. 'Cause the the competition is is too great. And and also I I I figured when when we traded for Jacoby Myers, I'm like, yeah, we the Travis is going most on defense. 'Cause Jacoby Myers, AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: he is such a a pivotal part of the schemes that Jac that that Liam Cohen has. I just think he's he's too of important of a wire. He he pretty much changed life for Trevor Lawrence. I don't know what's AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: going on with with BTJ. I have no idea what's going on with BTJ. He might be out of there in the neck in the next two years. Cause Parker Washington is AJ: Yeah. Trevor: getting is he's getting he's getting all the targets as he should 'cause he's he he's AJ: He looks good. Trevor: yeah. AJ: He looks good. Yeah. So see what happens. You never the thing about the NFL or any professional sports, when you have talking heads like us or others, and when I mean by us, not as like successful and prominent, but just people on the internet talking about professional sports. People take those opinions mixed with theirs so seriously because of their passion for the sport, just to find out that reality is not really anything like that. we never know what's gonna happen. There was an offseason where Tom Brady tore his ACL in the in the in the preseason. And the very next year I think he went back to the Super Bowl. So it's like, Trevor: Yeah. AJ: we we don't, you mentioned it earlier in this podcast. Adrian Peterson tore his ACL, came back. I went absolutely bonker. So it's like we we don't really know at any moment who can get hurt. We don't know who can come back and have a great season, who's gonna come back looking worse than they ever have. We d Trevor: Yeah. AJ: we just don't know. We can make all the predictions in the world, and you just you just really don't know. So, full off season, you can make all these predictions and stuff like that. And then start of the season, you It comes out and you're like, What in the world is this? Next thing you got the Cleveland Browns four and two. Trevor: Man. AJ: Just ridiculous, man. Just ridiculous. Dolphins O and file. Trevor: Listen, they tank it Arch Manning, bro. I don't care what nobody's saying. They AJ: Who dolphins? Trevor: I think they might be tanking for Arch Manning. I believe so. And then the tr the AJ: well. Trevor: Chargers like the Chargers I I'm I'm not really disappointed. AJ: Let me see what the charges are looking like. Trevor: They're O and six. I'm not really surprised. You know why? Because Justin AJ: I'm good. Trevor: Herbert has been getting every excuse in the book for the past couple of years. AJ: Hey, can you clip this real quick and post this? Hey, shout out Jonathan. The bucks are one and five and your charges are and six. Ha! Trevor: Yeah, that'll get clips. AJ: Yeah. All right. I'm just Trevor: Hmm. AJ: a sore loser being an even sorer one. But that felt good though. That's all good. Trevor: That I forgot he was a Chargers fan. AJ: Yeah, he's a Chartist fan, every now and then he'll he'll show love to Dallas 'cause of his his father. And Trevor: Well saying AJ: he lives in Dallas now. Trevor: J Justin Herbert has gotten every every excuse in AJ: good and buck. Trevor: the book, bro. I just I don't know. And then I don't know if you saw recently, but they're they're they're basically trying to put it on Mike McDaniels as as the AJ: Course. Trevor: reason that they're not successful. It's it's always like that. It's never like it's always, it's the coach's fault. it's it's the wide receivers, AJ: I guess. Trevor: it's his weapons, it's the it's the it's the the coordinator. Nobody ever stops and says, maybe, maybe I should just play better. Like, mm. Okay. AJ: No one ever does that. No one ever does and that's because they they make way more money and there's way more money at stake than the coach's money. And the co and the thing about the coaches, coaches can constantly get a job. Trevor: Yeah, that's true. AJ: The coach the coaches are in a union. They can the thing about it is when all the players that are playing just think about this. All the players that are currently playing right now, one day when they're retired, Mike McDaniels will probably be a fifty year old coach still coaching. Trevor: Yeah. AJ: So they they will always continue to be used as scapegoats because their opportunities kind of never truly run out. And they can go back down to collegiate level, put in some work down there for a decade and come back up. Like their opportunities, their workforce and their union and and the connections that they have amongst these franchises and other coaching trees. That's another thing. You don't always have to be the head coach because there's only 32 head coaches. So You can be offensive coordinator, you can be a quarterback coach, you can be a wide receiver assistant coach. Like they'll go up and down these coaching trees, up and down the NFL to collegiates, even CFL, you like it don't matter. And then they'll come right back and have another opportunity. They always have an opportunity. They may be a a collegiate 3D or you know, like something that's like a A junior cloud collegiate team, a HBCU, it doesn't matter. There's colleges all over the place, a small community college that has a small football team that will still give them a decent salary, that will still hire him just because he used to coach NFL. Like these coaches will be coaching for decades. These players only have a short term. So I think that's why a lot of times these these coaches are used as scapegoats, because their opportunities never really truly run out. They're like a cat with nine lives. Yeah. Trevor: My my whole thing is though like let let AJ: And to prove my point, just look at Doc Rivers. Trevor: Listen, Doc Rivers got he got some AJ: Yeah. Trevor: blackmail on somebody. He he got to. He got to have some blackmail on he he got AJ: I agree. I agree. Trevor: so listen, he got some some photograph of somebody and a monkey. Got to be or or something. I don't know, bro. Like like how do you keep getting jobs? How? AJ: Over Mark Jackson. Trevor: Yeah, listen, Mark Jackson was the one that built Golden State and Nick and Steve Kerr took it over. Mark Jackson was the AJ: Yeah. Trevor: one that put the put the the pieces in place for them to have that dynasty in the first place for Steve Kerr to take it over. I don't yeah. I I don't get that at all. Doc Rivers, bro. And listen, I don't even think like the lat when he was with who was he with last when he Mo Milwaukee? Not Milwaukee. AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: I just I don't even think all that was AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: Yeah, I don't even think all that was his fault. I don't even think when he was with Philly that was that was all his fault. When he was coaching with James Harden, I don't think that was his fault either. AJ: you have he has some good players on that team, man. Yeah, Damian Lillard, Giannis, Bobby Portis. think he may have had Miles. Yeah, I think he had Miles Target repo. Trevor: Bobby Portis is Bobby Portis is always shirt though. AJ: Yeah. But didn't you have Miles Turner the last season? Or at least that may have been after, I'm not sure, but He has he has some decent players. Yeah, he has some players. Trevor: Yeah. I yeah. AJ: Yeah. He has some players with and mind you, they were really good when he came in. I don't know why they fired that coach. They had a a they had a really good record at the time. The team was Trevor: Yeah. AJ: one of the best in the NBA. And then he got fired. He came in and they became awful. And just man, if I was Giannis, Trevor: That's like AJ: I would I would not like that man. Trevor: That's like Memphis firing their co Taylor Taylor, what's his name? What's Memphis old coach name? AJ: guy is right there on the tip of my song. I know exactly what you're talking about. I know what the guy looks like and everything. Trevor: I think it's what's his name? Taylor something. AJ: Okay. Trevor: Taylor Drinkings, yeah. AJ: Taylor Jenkins. Trevor: He got fired when they were like a fifty win team. I'm like, What what? Yeah, I don't I don't know. AJ: And then It's ridiculous and I think he got fired just 'cause he couldn't control the locker room. And that sucks is because it's like jaw is just Mean that's that's just the control that certain players have on how they can ruin coaches' careers. we me personally I remember I I always remember because we live here in in central Florida, so I I'll always remember how Dwight Howard complained to the off the front office and and and management and ownership to get rid of Stan Van Gunny after arguing with him, just for him the very next month to leave to go to LA. And then the magic have never been the same since is because they've never had a good coach. So I I would always say that if Dwyer Howard left and we still had Stan Van Gunny to manage the pieces here, they wouldn't be that bad of an organization and probably would have helped their progress as an organization still growing because they're still a very young organization. So most of the Florida teams are. They're all very young. Trevor: My whole thing with Orlando was the front office played a role in that because after they went to the finals, they blew the whole team up. AJ: Yeah, I did. Trevor: That was my that was my issue. I'm like they they could have took that same team and ran it back 'cause 'cause 'cause remember Jameer I think Jameer was hurt for most of that season. Several other people were hurt. Yeah, J J AJ: Mm-hmm. Yeah, Rafer Austin. Yeah, Rafe for Austin and and what was his name? I think Anthony Johnson and Trevor: Mm-hmm. AJ: Gilbert Renus at one point. I think he was coming off the bench. I'm not sure if it was FC's though. I think Gilbert Reenus came out afterwards. It was funny 'cause Gilbert Renus was that was Orlando for a lot of people that I remember back then, Orlando was his first team coming back out of suspension. So that was really funny. Trevor: Yeah, I do rem yeah. But real quick before we move on, the surpr other surprises in the NFL, yeah, Browns. obviously nobody was really expecting that. Deshaun finally locked in. I guess he finally got his massages again, so he decided to lock in. There's AJ: Maybe let them get it a little massages. Trevor: Panthers, they're they're doing AJ: Shout out to all the little tiny women's walking on his back right now. Trevor: wild. who else? I was gonna say the Panthers aren't bad either. Go with the NFC. The Panthers they are not they're not doing too bad. they're three and two in the NFC South. AJ: Bryce Young is coming off his first playoff appearance. he's they're cooking over there. Trevor: Yeah. AJ: it's hard to yeah, to deny his success. And it's kind interesting because CJ Stroud started off better than him. And then Bryce Young was the one that looked awful. And then, now it's very interesting because that's quarterback one and two for their draft class. Trevor: The Vikings I'm not really surprised by 'cause Carson Wentz is a very serviceable backup. the commanders are co who? Who Minnes Minnesota, AJ: That's very surprising. That's actually very surprising. The Vikings. That's Trevor: yeah. AJ: That that that's surprising. And I'll also say this too as well. And I was gonna say this earlier about OBJ was that I remember when the Bucks played Minnesota and we almost had that game at the beginning, and we didn't really lose too bad in that game, but just from seeing their wide receiver core, and I think we also had shut down JJ, but he also got hurt. two, so I don't want to say necessarily shut down, but he just left the game early. And they could use OBJ as like a two or a three. So that's that's what I would say. So I know he's on the Pracking Squad now and they'll see what we'll see what happens if they'll elevate him or whatnot. But they can they can definitely use OBJ in their offense. They would be great. I think Trevor: Yeah. AJ: they'd be really good. Definitely a surprise. Five and O team Trevor: I think Washington is AJ: I see them getting bounced in the first round though. Trevor: Yeah. I think Washington is cooked. 'Cause McLaurin just got just got hurt again. And then Jaden Da Jaden Daniels is like, I don't know. AJ: We'll we'll see what Trevor: Okay, the map. AJ: happens is because that division is very interesting. So Trevor: Yeah. It's wide open, AJ: Yeah, 'cause Philadelphia is probably gonna plummet, but we'll also see what happens 'cause if Saquon and Jalen Hurts are hurt and Jalen Hurts is off for the rest the season. I don't know who's their backup quarterback? Trevor: sh god, I don't know. AJ: Yeah, who's managing Trevor: Shoot them. AJ: that situation? Trevor: Shoot, they might want to go against Shador. AJ: I was just gonna say that. Man, you Trevor: Hey. AJ: Because this is the thing, because this is the thing, Cleveland's not gonna use Shador right now. And I think Cleveland still has what's his name, Daniel Gabriel, or whatever what's his first name? Wow, I feel something Trevor: Dylan Gabriel. AJ: like Dylan Gabriel. They still have him, and that's their first pick, so they're gonna be willing to hold on to him. He he costs more, so unless they're willing to get rid of him to just to kill that contract. But yeah, it would be nice. And Shador and Philly, man, that'd be a perfect setup. Because you really don't know. Yes, we would love to see Jalen Hurts come back, but we really don't know what we're gonna see from Jalen Hurts in the future. We don't know if we're gonna, because Jalen Hurts' gameplay has already been going downhill or at least inconsistent and plateaus at time. We just haven't seen a consistent elite play from him in a very long time. He's dealing with this. We don't know if we'll see it come back. We don't know if he's Yeah, Jalen Hurts gives me that vibe of Aaron Donald where he's like, you know what, I already got a ring. I'm already revered by a lot of people. Why do I have to continue to keep going? He's very smart. He can do just about almost anything with the millions of dollars that he has. So I I really Trevor: I just feel like AJ: wish Tua didn't come back, is because that's the same way I felt about him, other than the ring. Trevor: Man tour, bro. AJ: Well, Trevor: I know I and I got a home with a home with a Falcons fan and I know he's just in pain right now 'cause of Tua. Can't stand Tua. AJ: See that's that's a that's an interesting conversation we can talk about, maybe if we're able to try to get another episode in this week, but you know Penix kind of building some momentum, starting to look a little comfortable. He's an injury prone guy though, but it's just like do you do you think he should've I didn't really see the play, so I'm not sure, but do you think he should have stayed in? Trevor: I think he should have. he gives them a better chance to win unless you're just gonna fully rely on B. John. AJ: So the thing about it is it's like whatever happened to that generation, this goes back to what I said earlier about us of the having the soft generation. Whatever happened to only coming out because you literally cannot play or cannot come back in? Trevor: think these AJ: whatever, whatever. Trevor: these organizations are so dead set on protecting their the brand. So they're gonna they're gonna do what's in the best interest of the team. So if they feel like you can't play, they're gonna be like, hey, we we need to protect our asset. Like you th you there goes that word again asset. And then if they feel like if AJ: And that's what Trevor: and if they're gonna make allowances for you to play, despite how you might feel, J like a Jalen Hurts situation, they're gonna b try to protect their bottom line no matter what. AJ: Yeah. I get it. And I know earlier we're talking about something totally different w along the same lines as this. And now, you know, I'm saying something completely opposite. But I don't necessarily mean not speak up for yourself, being that you are the asset, because I know the team will pull you when they want to pull you. But I just feel like sometimes we're There's a lot of these players that yes, may speak up for themselves, especially if they are an injury prone player and they may come off the field and be like, hey, something's not right. But I also do miss that borderline of when they would one play, well, you know, kind of just to like really explain what I'm trying to say is one play that I continue to go back to and always watch all the time. Remember Matthew Stafford, his arm was out of his shoulder and he still threw a touchdown? Trevor: yeah. AJ: And he wasn't trying to come off he wasn't trying to come off the field. he he he was ready. He was trying to like he was limped over, dude. He threw he hiked the ball through the touchdown and ran back to the sideline like this, bro. that's why i i I was really happy when he actually got a ring, because he deserves it. And I just feel like that right there, that that's an error that we don't have anymore. We don't have that that toughness anymore. And we got a bunch of Anthony Trevor: I I see it. AJ: Rick running around. Trevor: I g I get what you're saying. You're talking about the actual passion of not wanting to they gotta force you to get out of the game. Okay, I get what you're saying. AJ: Come out of the game. Yeah. Because I'm not talking about yes, I'm not saying advocate for yourself. because earlier, I remember saying that you have to be your biggest advocate. So I'm not trying to be a hypocrite. I'm just trying to say that there's not enough passion anymore. Like there's a lot of like right as someone feels something, they're coming out of the game or they're calling to come out of the game. Or right as they feel like a little weird, they're coming. And I get it. If you're injury prone and something happened that you've been told to look out for, I get it. And maybe that was his situation because he has a lot of injuries coming out of college. But it's just I feel like, and I just said a couple seconds ago, I just feel like there's a lot of Anthony Richardson's. It's like, it's just like head tap, I need come out. You know what I mean? It's just and and we're seeing it from quarterbacks now. It's crazy. Trevor: Right. Hey, hold on, hold on a second, hold on. AJ: I get it. Trevor: I gotta yeah, I gotta I gotta thought about that. AJ: We good we're at two hours now, so we probably gotta use the restroom. All right. We're probably when he comes back, we'll probably transition into the NBA a little bit. This is a little bit more of a longer episode, because you know it's our first episode back in season two. probably go over our predictions first for the NFL season. So and this is the thing. I like preseason predictions, those are cool. But Like we just said, you never really know what's gonna happen after the first few games. So really watching how the beginning of the season plays out is really nice and then making your predictions going into the second half, if not the latter half of the the season for that playoff push. So we're not necessarily at a playoff push yet, but we're like we're almost getting there. So now that Trevor's back I think we should transition into the NBA, but before we do, I just wanted to hear your your predictions for your NFL. So if you could give me your and we'll kind of just do a speed round and I'll have you do the same thing with me and so that we can keep it moving. So I'm just gonna ask you, I'm gonna say one thing and you give me a name, and we'll just keep it moving from there. So so for the 2026-27 NFL season, who is Your defensive player of the year. Yeah, it's different 'cause Miles Garrett is hurt, so Trevor: Yeah, I was yeah, that he's usually the default. man, that's a good that's a good one. Early defensive player of the year. I think if he AJ: Yeah. Trevor: keeps playing like how he's playing, am I biased to say Travis? AJ: No, I don't think you're biased. you probably are, but still that's your pick, that's your pick. Trevor: Yeah. AJ: Yeah. All right. So and how many interceptions does Travis have? Two, right? Trevor: I think he has two so far, yeah. AJ: but the other one got called back, didn't it? Trevor: yeah, that's right. AJ: Okay, so it's one interception right now. I'm gonna say and I haven't really kept my eye out on too many defensive players right now. So I'll probably just Trevor: If I if I had to have a actual let me let me change my answer. AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: If honestly, let me stop being biased. I would probably AJ: I do know that T J Wall was just doubled in the game the other day, so Trevor: Yeah, I was yeah, T J I was also probably gonna instead of Travis I would probably say Will Anderson Junior. AJ: Yeah. It's a great answer. Trevor: I can see that. AJ: that's a great answer. okay, so let's keep continue. Who's your offensive player of the year? Trevor: hm JSN. AJ: Again, okay. Okay, JSN. Who's your MVP? Trevor: Goodness gracious. Mm. MVP. It's kinda hard 'cause they don't really give it to running backs like that. There's always usually gonna be a quarterback. I was gonna say maybe maybe a Jameer Gibbs or a B. John, but they're not gonna give it to Jameer Gibbs. if I had to think about a quarterback right now, that's just playing lights out, Josh Allen. AJ: Yeah. Trevor: Yeah. I would yeah, I would have said a running back, but they they never give it to running back. Yeah. AJ: He's had he's done it before. He already has one, so he can possibly get it again. Match up with Lamar Jackson. Got multiple. All Trevor: Yeah. Yeah. AJ: right. And then who's your AFC winner of the year? AFC team, AFC championship winner of the year. Trevor: Mm. AJ: Who do you got go basically for all those that may not in understand that question, who do you got from the AFC going to the Super Bowl? Trevor: Early prediction right now is probably Kansas City 'cause they're they're undefeated. AJ: It's interesting 'cause I was gonna say Kansas City too. I just think that it's just in Patrick Mahomes, man. But Trevor: Yeah. AJ: I wanna say Buffalo. I wanna say this is their year, they finally may get one, but it's just I I don't know, man. While Tom Brady was doing his business. Ben Rottlesberger was only able to get one in there. I mean there was only a couple of quarterbacks I was able really to ever kinda get in there and show themselves. Peyton Manning got two I'm just trying to think of some other teams that may have got a chance to really, there's a lot of quarterbacks that never really got a chance to go to the big game because of Tom Brady. So Patrick Mahomes is that guy this year's or this this era. who's your NFC team going to the Super Bowl? Who's playing the Trevor: No. AJ: Chiefs? Trevor: Man. I I could I could see San Francisco going back, but I I think don't don't sleep on the Rams and don't sleep on the Seahawks 'cause Drew Drew Locke has been he's been lights out as coming in as a backup. AJ: Yeah. I always like Drew Lock too. Never thought he would Trevor: Yeah, I I like Drew Log. AJ: have got a a real chance is because, when you start your career off with the Jets, it's like what do you expect? Trevor: Yeah, I'm I'm gonna have to say prior the the Seahawks. I'm gonna have to say the Seahawks. AJ: Wow. Okay. So Seahawks versus Chiefs, and then who is your your early mid season prediction to win it all this year? Trevor: Early mid season prediction, I w I would say the Seahawks. I think that just AJ: So Seahawks being the first team to repeat in how many years? Trevor: Goodness. AJ: You're saying Sam Darnold is gonna be the first one to repeat in how many years? Trevor: They got too many weapons, dude. AJ: Wow. Here to hear folks. Trevor Burrus lost his mind. This this man says Sam Darnold. Trevor: Now listen listen, I Hey, this is the same man that said Odell was not a number one option. AJ: This man says Sam Darnold and Drew Locke go get it. Trevor: Hey hey, listen, they went last year. AJ: hey, hey, you're right, you're right. But that's that's what you Trevor: Th hey, listen, this is the same man that said Odell's not a number one guy, so hey. I'm not the crazy one here. AJ: I didn't I I said he's a number one. I just said if I was to bring him on other teams, he would instantly be made a two or three. I just don't if we go back to that list, if I put if I was to put him on any of those other teams, he was gonna be made a two or three. Even he was at three, and if I was to put him on the same team as four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine, he would still be a two or three. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Trevor: But those teams are like Julio and Antonio Brown. Of course you would. AJ: No, no, no. So the first and second teams, of course, obviously, because the those are guys above you. But I'm saying the guys under him, the guys that the stats are saying that he was better than. If the if he was to come onto their team, he'd probably be a two. Sorry. That's just my opinion. Demarius Thomas, Trevor: Who's the other Who's the other team? Okay. AJ: Ty T Y Hilton, DeAndre Hopkins, Mike Evans. Trevor: T.Y. Hilton? AJ: I'll now I'm being petty. Now I'm being Trevor: T.Y. Hilton. AJ: petty. No, and and I think I said it earlier that I said everyone besides Demarius Thomas and T.Y. Hill and I would take over Odell. But anyway, let's get let's get back to this right here. So So your your early midseason predictions, you got Will Anderson Jr. as your defensive player of the year. And I'm just saying this so you can put it on the screen because I know you're our post-edit god, but you got Will Anderson Jr. as our defensive player of the year. You had who was the offensive player of the year? You had Trevor: J S N AJ: JSN was your offensive player of the year, you had the Kansas City Chiefs making it out of the AFC, and you had the Seahawks repeating as NFC championships, our NFC champions. And then you had the Seahawks repeating as Super Bowl champions. Now, who is your Super Bowl MVP? Just for a bonus. Trevor: I think it's gonna be JS soon. AJ: Jason, was he he was that last year, wasn't he? Trevor: Yeah. AJ: So you got you basically got him pulling a Kevin Durant. JSN and the Golden State or or JSN and the Seattle Seahawks are essentially the Golden State Warriors with Kevin Durant going back to back with the same finals MVP. Trevor: I think so. look at what he's doing now, dude. He's like going crazy. AJ: All right. Hey, that's that's your prediction. All right. So I'm gonna give you mine. Trevor: All right. So, give me offensive player of the year. AJ: Go B. John Robinson. Trevor: Okay. Give me your give me your defensive player of the year. AJ: I would say between Will Anderson Junior and Pat Sartain. Trevor: Okay. I can see that. You AJ: Yeah. Trevor: can't you can't go wrong with both. AJ: No. I actually like your pick of Will Anderson, Junior. I think he's great. Trevor: Yeah. Do you okay. So give me your your early V P AJ: I'm gonna give you my first, second, and third place voting. I think Josh Allen will tie it with Lamar Jackson. Trevor: Mm, okay. AJ: I think Patrick Mahomes will be in the ballot. I'm not sure if he'll be a second place, maybe at least fifth place, just for simply coming back and and willing his team after injury to be in the state that they are right now. I do think that JSN could be second place for MVP. And I do think that a running back Jameer Gibbs could be third or fourth place for MP Valley. But I I I I got it as Josh Allen getting it. Trevor: Okay. So give give me your give me your early prediction for your your your AFC champions. AJ: NFT. AFC champions. Trevor: you can say Kansas City. AJ: I don't want to but it's so hard 'cause it's like I feel like I have to. Trevor: Yeah, that I I felt the same way. AJ: 'Cause it's like we already know how the chips are gonna fall at the end of the season, man. And they're always Trevor: I know. AJ: so well prepared. They know what they're doing, they practice certain stuff that teams don't because teams are just happy to be there. Trevor: They got they got the referees in their back pocket. AJ: Yeah, at least it looks like it. At least it looks like it. Hey, NFL, I'm still looking for my endorsement. That's him. He he tripping over there with that, that referee talk. Hey, but nah I mean and and this is the thing though, right? There's two different I do want to talk about that, like the whole ref in the back pocket thing. There's two different versions of that though. There's the honest way, and then there's the illegal way, obviously. There's the illegal way, which most people are alluding to and they always think it to be because of certain past refs and also with sports betting right now, where there's illegally having certain refs in your pocket or or at least a ref per maybe not even necessarily you putting them in their pocket, but they have their own sports betting thing that they're doing, which it almost seems like you have them in your back pocket. But then you have the the way where Kansas City are one of those teams where they have officials actually officiate their practices. they have coaches that are keeping them well prepared for certain rules and certain guidelines and also certain things that take place during points of the game because of a certain reason or whatever, right? We Trevor: Yeah. AJ: seen Patrick Mahomes the other day supposed to get the ball in overtime because they deferred. The referee didn't even honor that because I don't I think he probably was like, the guy this guy means this and that. But no, like The verbiage is very literal, and it was he was supposed to defer to the Kansas City Chiefs to then decide what they want to do with the ball, but it didn't happen. But that's what Patrick Mahomes was explaining to us is because their team is so well prepared for certain things. and when you're well prepared, it could seem like you know, and when the certain nuances of the game that's going to And because you're in practice next to the refs, and they're telling you, hey, we're gonna call this, we're not gonna call this, we call this because of this, we don't call this because of that. And then you game plan behind that, where you're not even game planning and seeing what the rest do. No, you're game planning towards the refs. Trevor: Yeah. AJ: That's when it almost seems like they're in your back pocket. Because, but then yes, again, I know there's gonna be a lot of people in the chat like, nah, no, they'd be calling this, you touch them, you tap them, next thing they throw a flag. Yes, I see all that too. That that that there'd be a lot of mischievous things going on where it looks crazy. But with that being said. I wanna say the Bills Even Bills and Ravens have a showdown. But I think it will be Bills and Chiefs. I think it'll be an amazing game. I think it'll be another one of their amazing showdowns. And I just think that ultimately Andy Reid and Kansas City Chiefs will be well prepared for that game. Trevor: We all know it's gonna be the same four it's gonna be Chiefs and Bills and and Ravens and Bengals. That's usually the same four teams. AJ: Yeah. Trevor: And I think I think Jacksonville is a dark horse. AJ: I think Jacksonville's a dark horse. They look great. Liam Combs a new coach trying to make himself known. But I also think, you can never count out Sean Payton, but just I mean, Bo Nix is it's not Trevor: But AJ: as consist. Yeah, it's just kind of is it's in it's incredible. He wastes amount of talent. But you know, and I look at Sean Payton as those coaches, like you're not necessarily playing the players, you're playing the coach. So he he to me is like that. He's like a Bill Belichick in the game. He's he's You don't look at him as like a like a even Sean McVay like Shann Mc Shanahan or all these other guys, you don't that's not another coach on the side. That's a that's another player. You're like you have to game plan for him as well. And so, We'll we'll see what happens with what those teams do. I also think that the Bengals look pretty interesting and when Jamar Chase and Joe Barrow are healthy and he's protected behind the pocket. He looks really, really good and I know he wants to get back in that that Super Bowl. Trevor: Give me your N NFC E your NFC champions. AJ: I thought about this for a couple of weeks. I think it would be a rematch between San Francisco and Kansas City. Trevor: I don't wanna see that again. AJ: Yeah. Trevor: I don't do. AJ: That was in twenty twenty, right? That was Patrick Mahomes' first Super Bowl, I think. Yeah. So Trevor: Yeah. Was it? I thought it was the Bucks. AJ: No, the Bucs played them the next year. Trevor: yeah, that's right. AJ: So the Kansas City Chiefs went to the Super Bowl against San Francisco in the twenty nineteen, twenty twenty season, played them in twenty twenty. right after they won. The NBA shut down in that same month. COVID happened. No offseason for the NFL. Tom Brady goes over to the Bucks. And then in the twenty the twenty twenty one or the twenty twenty to twenty twenty one season is when the Bucks won the Super Bowl. Trevor: Yeah. Yeah, that was in the AJ: Against the Chiefs. Trevor: that was the heart of the pandemic too. AJ: How many rings does because Trevor: Super Bowl ship. Mm-hmm. AJ: I no no no actually I don't think that's his first one. That's not his first one. I'm missing Philadelphia. He played Philadelphia first. He beat Jalen Hurts, then beat Brock Purdy. And I think that may have been a repeat. I'm not sure. I think that was a repeat. That was the last repeat, possibly. You would have to look it up. Because I think they went to three Super Bowls in a row. Trevor: Yeah, I think they went to three or four years. AJ: Three and four years or something like that. Cause I believe he also played Joe Burrow. Trevor: No, that was that was the AJ: No, Joe Burrow played someone else, I forget. The Rams, Trevor: the Rams. That was the Rams. AJ: yeah. So you got he he played the Eagles, beat the Eagles. That was a great Super Bowl, the first one that they had. Then he beat Brock Purdy in the San Francisco forty Niners. Then he lost to the Bucks. And then he lost to to Philadelphia. Trevor: Yeah. So he's three and two right now. AJ: Yeah, but he's he's lost the last few that he's been to. Trevor: Yeah, he lost yeah he lost he lost last year to Philly. Well two years ago to Philly and then to the the Bucks. AJ: Yeah, the last one's Trevor: He beat the Chiefs He beat the Chiefs twice and then AJ: He is the Chiefs. Trevor: I'm I'm sorry the tree I the the forty nineers twice, I'm sorry. AJ: Yeah. Yeah, 'cause that's what I thought. Brock Purdy's been to two Super Bowls, right? Trevor: Yeah. And he he so he they beat Philly once and then they lost to Philly two years ago, so AJ: So they've been to the Super Bowl against the forty niners twice. Trevor: Mm-hmm. They beat him. AJ: So they've been to Trevor: And they beat him both times. AJ: Okay, so So what he he he beat he beat f I think he beat forty nine so what's the the order then? He beat forty niners, then Philly, then beat forty niners, then lost to Bucks, lost to Eagles. Trevor: Yeah, so he he only two teams he's lost to is is Philly and Tampa. AJ: No, but what's the order of the teams that you played in order? Trevor: So he played first it was it was San Fran, well beat San Fran, the next year it w it was Tampa, he lost to Tampa. Year after that he beat Philly and the year after that he he it was he beat San Fran again and then he lost to Philly two years ago. AJ: Okay, so I had the order wrong. had my a lot of it the years wrong. People are probably like, please look it up. You guys sound stupid. But Trevor: That's right. Amateurs AJ: I know, all right. We're looking it up. Trevor: Google's free bro, what are you doing? AJ: Idiots. But yeah, I'm glad we're able to get our our predictions off. I mean, it looks like we both have the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. I have San Francisco. Again for the third time, you have the forty niners or not forty niners, but the the Seahawks. So Trevor: Seahawks. So who who you got winning it all? Early season prediction. AJ: It would be nice to see Brock get his first one, but we'll see what happens. Brock, to me, he's this is the thing. When you ha you have elite quarterbacks and then you have elite game managers. We've had this conversation as one of our segments last season. There a lot of the subjects that we touched on, we may touch on them again and and excess detail. But we we had a whole segment on this of Elite game managers and also elite quarterbacks and the difference and all different types of things. And if Tom Brady's this and all that stuff like that, all right. So we we've actually had the Jalen Hurts Cam Newton conversation. So we we've done all that last season, all that's on Spotify for you guys to look up. but Brock Purdy to me is one of those elite game managers. He's not only just a good game manager, but he's an elite game manager. And at times, like I've said earlier, at times when he's asked to do other stuff, he is able to deliver sometimes. He's able to use his feet. He's athletic, he's great with the ball, pinpointing certain targets. he's great. He's great. However, just like every game manager, unlike an elite quarterback on their own, they tend to be just one play away from losing it all, or one play away from essentially. losing grasp and grips on the whole thing, right? Because that's the thing as a manager, you're just holding it all together. But once one of those seams come out, it's hard to keep everything together because things start to loosen up. And then if you continue to be careless or you're inconsistent, or if you're in a situation where you can't afford to make a bad play and now your back's against the wall and you feel that pressure. Now, unlike an elite quarterback where they love that type of feeling, an elite game manager tends to get sweaty palms and they're like another play from essentially putting the whole game out of reach. And so that's what I like about Brock Purdy. He's an elite game manager that's able to kind of keep the game in grasp and continue to control the game and even put the game out of reach for a lot of opponents. But Trevor: Yeah. AJ: man, he's always just one or two plays sometimes. He's another Sam Darnold. I'm surprised Sam Darnold made it all the way to the top last year. Because Trevor: That's what I was gonna say too. AJ: Sam Darnold is, and it's funny because we picked a similar team where Sam Darnold is just like, you're just waiting for him to throw that one interception he's owed. Or he's Trevor: Yep. AJ: you know what I mean? It's like you're just you're just waiting. So that's what I say about Brock Purdy. I would love to see him make it to the mountaintop. I would love to see him do the whole whole dance. But you you gotta finish the job. Gotta finish the job. he's already been in the Super Bowl twice in his career, in his young career, and he has the potential to can you know, to go again this year and we'll see what happens. He has the targets, he has the defense, he has the coach, he has the fan base, he has everything. So see what happens. I would love to see them go. Shout out Mike Evans, man. I hope you get another ring, baby. Trevor: I think like I I've said this before, like when it comes to that whole conversation, like just real quick, the the difference is can we win in spite of you or are we winning despite of you? That is the difference. And I said this like last season I said this. Tom Brady is the greatest example of a game manager. He didn't have the crazy stats all the time and he didn't need to. He just had to make sure that he did not put the ball in harm's way because their defense AJ: Yeah. Trevor: was good. So game manager AJ: Mm-hmm. Trevor: gets it gets a negative stain sometimes, and I understand why. But some of your favorite quarterbacks are game managers. You're managing the game to make sure like we don't lose because of you. AJ: Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Trevor: that y you have elite quarterbacks obviously like your your Burroughs and your Allen's and your Mahomes, you know what I'm saying? And your s your Staffords who are are elite who you you expect to win when you see them walk in the locker room, but you have your game managers who are going to make sure that they're gonna put the ball they're gonna make the right play at the right time. And not the wrong play at the wrong time where we like damn bro, we really didn't need the interception right now. I was like Sam Darnold. You know what I'm saying? AJ: They're another coach on the field. They're another coach on the field. It's it's just like talking to your head coach just on the field. I'll take it a step further. I I think the before we move on from this topic, because we can continue going on this topic. Once again, guys, we've talked about this last season. You guys can go check it out. And Trevor, hopefully you can plug that episode on the on the post. But I think a lot of things that keep people perturbed about that term gearing manager is because the people that get that tag. And it's like, yes, an elite quarterback can also too be a game manager at times and in certain seasons. There's some quarterbacks that are so elite, but once the office and management is able to build around them, they can kind of take their foot off the gas a little bit and just manage. So they're so elite, and then they become a game manager. And then you call them a game manager, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, that's an elite quarterback. yeah, they're they're an elite quarterback, but they don't have to be anymore. And this season, and for the last few seasons, they've had pieces around them where all they have to do is, like Trevor said, keep the ball out of harm's way, just like Tom Brady. There was plenty of seasons where the only reason why the the New England Patriots won was because of Tom Brady. But then there was plenty of other seasons where Tom Brady was just trying to make sure they didn't lose. So That's why it's hard for people to really realize that because the same guy that could be the reason you win is also the same guy that you're just trying to make sure doesn't lose the game. And and Trevor: Yes, yes. AJ: there's different seasons where like Jalen Hurts, Jalen Hurts was the reason why the Philadelphia Eagles went to the Super Bowl twice. But let's be honest, you have Saquon Barkley behind you coming in and running for an all-time rushing record. Jalen Hirsch, just don't throw an interception. That's all you have to do. Trevor: Just don't throw interception, bro. AJ: Yeah. So it's like, and and you still have Devontae Smith, a Heisman winning a wide receiver, and you have AJ Brown, all-class wide receiver, however you view him Trevor: That was AJ: in this, you know, in the spectrum of things, but it's like he's still world-class. So it's like you you had all the pieces around you. You had decent coaching at the time, and I say that at the time because lately it's been subbar and inconsistent, but Nick Siriani was a little bit more at the top of his game at that time. So it's like it got to a point where now Jalen Hurts the the reason why you guys were there. He's just the reason why you now he's just trying to make sure you guys can stay or or you guys are respected for being there or the or you guys are not. the game is not put out of reach before you can really even develop into your in your playbook. So it it can be it can be really hard for people to see their guy that they've watched make elite plays all of a sudden be called a game manager. Trevor: It's like with Lamar and Derrick Henry, bro, you got a running back in Baltimore who's six three, two hundred and fifty pounds, and runs a f a four four and a forty. bro, what what you think I'm finna do? What what you think I'm finna do? come on, dog. you got somebody that's gonna run AJ: Turn around and give it. Turn around and give it some. Like what? Yeah, Trevor: run the air out the ball. And like, come on now. AJ: If I'm if I Bijan, if I got Jameer Gibbs, I'm turning around and giving to him every single time. If I got Kenneth Walker Trevor: Yes. AJ: the third, I'm turning around and giving to him every single time. You see how Kansas City is with an actual run game now. Trevor: Mm-hmm. AJ: I don't know how they let that happen. But it Trevor: They don't value the running back position. AJ: ridiculous but we can go on and on about the NFL we said we we jumped in a couple a weeks in so we'll touch on a lot of other things this is our first episode of season two so it's a little longer than usual you know before we end it though we this is the first day of the NBA season so you know we have quite a few NBA games that are going on you know I know earlier we were mentioning or at least I mentioned that, why Trevor stepped away that it's nicer to give a a prediction when you're kinda a little bit into the season is because so much can happen and you you hear all these stories and headlines before the season and then you kind of get into the season and nothing really happens like that. It it's it's you're speculating based on what's on paper instead of Trevor: Yeah. AJ: a gameplay and film. So That's basically what we're gonna do right now. I just wanna make do another little prediction, where we can, go over some stuff and also I'll give the floor to you for a few minutes. Let you talk about some headlines. I know, we didn't have our podcast going on when LeBron went to Philadelphia, Jalen Brown went to Philadelphia, La Mello Ball is in Minnesota. That's probably like my favorite little team to watch on the side right now. but yeah. Trevor: They're gonna be so fun to watch, dude. AJ: gonna be so amazing. Miami looks amazing right now. there's Trevor: Yeah. AJ: there's a there's a lot going on. the West Coast is a little bit reshaped. The East Coast is completely reshaped. Also keep in mind this is the last season that the conferences are going to kind of look like this is because we're supposed to be getting an expansion team next year, which means I believe the Minnesota Timberwolves will be moving to the east coast, I think. Trevor: Mm. AJ: I could be wrong. We'll have to double check, but I believe Minnesota will be moving to the East Coast next year. So that's that's pretty big, especially with the way that that team is looking right now, going to the east with a very stacked East. We have Kawhi back in Toronto. So I want to hear how you feel about that. You know, share your predictions, Trevor: Yeah, I AJ: share your thoughts, how you're feeling about the new look of the NBA season right now. Trevor: Yeah, we I think we did have a the last time we were on we were we were kinda talking about the whole LeBron going to going to the the Eastern Conference, which I I don't know, I I thought he would try to go back to the Western Conference where it was a little bit easier. AJ: Yeah. Trevor: you know, I I I I mean, it's gonna be a gauntlet. There's there's gonna there's hardly not gonna be any bad teams in the East right now. 'Cause like I said before, like I think I mentioned this, like obviously New York just won the finals. Orlando, they're not going anywhere. They're they're gonna be right in the mix. Detroit's gonna be right in the mix. Boston's probably gonna be right in the mix. Philly is like T B D because we have to see how everyone meshes and and see who gets who gets what because there's so many dynamic scores and ball handlers on one team. We're gonna be we're AJ: Yeah. Trevor: gonna try to see if if if if, you know, Joel and B's knees don't blow out by game five. who else? I'm sh Chicago, they're gonna be who they're gonna be. Washington Washington's gonna be who they're gonna be. Mawa Mi Miami AJ: I don't know. Washington looks interesting. Washington looks interesting, dude. Trevor: Miami, they they still need a point guard. Hey, we're gonna skip AJ: I Trevor: past that. Anyway. AJ: man. Trevor: No, but my Miami Miami looks they look interesting. They just need they need they need a guard, they need a little bit more help on the perimeter. They 'cause they got the interior with Bam and Giannis. But I don't know. I just AJ: You don't think Davion Mitchell can get it done up top? Well, call with what's his name? Clay? Forgot Clay's name. Trevor: I'm not I'm not saying he couldn't bro clay. AJ: Forgot the boy's name. Goodness gracious. Trevor: Clay? AJ: I was gonna I I was thinking of Kenneth Walker, that's why. We were just talking about him. Trevor: Bruh, Cla cla Clay Thompson is no. AJ: You don't you don't think Clay can give you at least fifteen, sixteen points and play some decent defense rotationally with Bam and Giannis right next to him? Okay, keep going. is the West Coast is like no one has anything to say about the West Coast anymore. Trevor: I yeah, I don't really got too much to say about the West Coast. It's kinda wide open. Just go go go ahead and give me your predictions and then we can go ahead and get out of here. I ain't really got too much to s too much to say about the West Coast. AJ: The NBA season this year is going to be incredible. I I j I truly do believe that. I think the rookie class that came in is gonna be very interesting to watch. I think a few of the rookies and sophomores from the last few years are gonna be taking a a leap forward this year. once again, it's all speculation based on what's on paper and and what we're seeing from progress from last year and we're hoping nothing but health so we can see these players develop. very interested to see how, you know, I know you you gave me that look over Washington. I'm interested to see how Trey Young and AJ Bonasta does. they look interesting to me. I I I just I'm a firm believer that even the sorry teams in the NFL and the NBA these days have good players. I think the NFL you can you know can get down to some really, really bad teams. But the NFL or the NBA rather is just I feel like even the really bad teams, you gotta earn your wins sometimes because the talent is just so much more spread out nowadays than it ever has been. It's not on the same four or five teams anymore. It's like you got some really, really good talent no matter where you look. So you know, I'm I'm really looking for Washington or even let's say another team like Atlanta, maybe. Mm. No, I would say more like Washington. but I I can see Washington being like that Cleveland Browns story this year where you're like you're you're kinda expecting them to be trash, but they come out and they actually play decent. I can see them at least being at the very least if A D is healthy. And I see that AJ is not starting in the opening. So I don't know what's going on with that. But you get a healthy team, man. I think Washington could be a play in team. Very, very, very excited for the in season tournament once again. I think that was a really, really good add on the last few years. It really starts the season off with you know some really good matchups, some really good highlights, a lot of good gameplay. seeing those courts and those jerseys are also really cool. But also just kind of just seeing the players play for something so early in the season. It it it's amazing. It really is. It's because and it kind of speeds up the season, is because if you understand, like So people are going be playing hard for the in-season tournament. And then right after in-season tournament, people are going to be playing hard because they want to make the all-star game. And then right after all-star weekend, people are playing hard for the playoff rush. So you keep the level of play high throughout the season. So I'm very excited to see what this in-season tournament comes to see what team wins. I actually got the Minnesota Timberwolves winning that tournament just because I think as a new young fire, young team, they're going to be ready to really be on that. Where they're trying to show teams like, hey, we we're really not we're not here to play. So I I think that they're gonna be a really good, interesting team. I think Philly Philly will be good, but I just I see Philly being like a fifth or sixth seed. I'm not gonna lie. I see them being Trevor: Yeah. AJ: like a fifth or sixth seed. I see New York, Boston, and Toronto being the first top three seeds. I wouldn't count out Indiana when Tyrese Halliburton has the ball. He he's always keeping his team within arm's reach of the win. trying to think of who else. I mean, Chicago would be interesting to see how their rookie does over there with Caleb Wilson. He looks great. That's that's pretty much it for me on the East Coast. I don't it was cool to see B. Miller get a contract extension for Charlotte. I I really like him. I think he's he's a great forward. on the West Coast though, the Warriors, man, go get Dalton Connect, please. Please, please, please. and if you can't, just just please release Steph Curry. I know you just gave him a contract extension, but let that man go win a contract somewhere. Jesus. But anyway, I Trevor: Well, he should have went to Miami, bro. AJ: I was thinking that Miami would have been awesome. It would be really cool because I would try to go see him. Miami Miami would have been awesome. I also think that and I didn't want to say it. I actually would never I would still root for him. I wouldn't want to see him in a Boston jersey, but I think him and Jason Tatum would be absolutely ridiculous. like my goodness, just thinking about that. That'd be absolutely insane. Him and Jason Tatum would be ridiculous. But I think that and I'm trying to think of another team possibly. Not necessarily too sure, but yeah. I would I would say that Trevor: OKC OK C is always in the mix. AJ: They don't need a point guard. But for Steph, no, they don't need a point guard. But I will say that I think OKC I don't I can see OKC being like a third or fourth seed or maybe even a second seed. I just don't I see them being competitive, but I don't see them getting over the hump again. I just think that the West not maybe again, but like I just think the West Coast is just really tight as far as those top three teams and really to compete with them, you gotta be deep. So I would love to see Minnesota try to really compete this year. But I think ultimately it's gonna be Trevor: Well, I think we lost AJ again. You Alright, yeah, while he's trying to fix that, I'm gonna go ahead and just kinda wrap it up a little bit. one thing I was gonna say about Orlando too is that don't don't sleep on Orlando. I think they have a good team. They just Ben Carroll just needs to I think he just needs to kinda change his playing style a little bit and stop playing on the perimeter so much because he has such a big body that he I I think he has the capability of being a very dynamic score. But more so a not more so a shooter but more so driving to the basket. I think that's where his game, his bread is buttered. That's what I really think. I think Atlanta has more of a chance of being more of a a a Cinderella story than than Washington obviously. I just think they have more talent. Jalen Johnson is a is a really good player. they have a good squad coming up. Well listen guys, I'm gonna go ahead and end it right there, guys. This has been another episode of the Spin a Minute Podcast. I'm your host, Trevor Augustus. My co host, unfortunately, he's not here, but he he sends his regards. Appreciate y'all. Please, like I said at the beginning, share and subscribe. Are you back? Yeah, AJ: No, I'm back. You hear me? You hear me? Trevor: you bet. I was just wrapping up. AJ: Yeah yeah, I've been trying to say I'm I've been back for a little bit. My bad guys. I don't my phone another device just died on me, in the middle of me literally saying what I was saying. But Let me see if can you hear me? Trevor: You couldn't in and out. AJ: Hey Can you hear me? Trevor: Yeah, says unstable connection. Alright, y'all. Wait. Catch y'all on the next one. Peace.