After Stefon Diggs and DeMario “Pop” Douglas, it’s anyone’s guess how the rest of the New England Patriots’ wide receiver depth chart will stack up when the 2025 season begins. Kayshon Boutte, Kendrick Bourne, Ja’Lynn Polk, Javon Baker, and rookies Kyle Williams and Efton Chism are competing for the remaining roster spots, with Mack Hollins currently on the PUP list.

Through five days of training camp, Boutte appears to be the frontrunner for that No. 3 spot. The third-year wideout has been a favorite of new head coach Mike Vrabel’s, getting plenty of reps with the starters and capitalizing on his opportunities.

NBC Sports Boston’s Patriots insiders Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry have attended all five practices and taken notice of Boutte’s increased workload. After Monday’s practice, they discussed Boutte’s encouraging start to camp during a live episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast.

🔊 Patriots Talk Podcast – Patriots training camp: Padded practice RECAP and key observations | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube

“He’s out there with the 1s early on virtually every single practice. He catches what’s thrown to him. He’s a bigger guy,” Curran said of Boutte. “He beat Christian Gonzalez twice in 1-on-1s in the red zone. He’s hard to overlook with the number of reps that he gets.”

Perry believes Boutte’s usage indicates the Patriots’ belief in the LSU product’s ability to be a difference-maker this season.

“They, it seems like, want him to succeed,” Perry said. “He’s getting so much work with Drake Maye. I mean, he’s consistently one of the top receivers out there. When they go 11 personnel — one tight end, one back, three receivers — it is often Stefon Diggs, Pop Douglas, and Kayshon Boutte.

“And so, in a room where it looks like it could be a little bit condensed in terms of what you’re expectations might be after Diggs and Douglas, I think there’s a group of three receivers in Kyle Williams, Kayshon Boutte, and Kendrick Bourne that I’m kind of expecting similar production from, but it feels like the team is expecting Boutte to clearly be the best or the most reliable or the most productive of that trio.”

Phil Perry breaks down a potential Patriots receiver battle on the latest Patriots Talk Podcast

Boutte showed promise last year in his first season with Maye as his QB. The 23-year-old tallied 43 catches for 589 yards and three touchdowns in 15 games.

Also in the episode:

• What’s Mike Vrabel looking for at training camp?
• Breaking down what we saw from Will Campbell.
• Highlights from Drake Maye’s day.
• What did we see from the WR group?
• Reaction to Christian Gonzalez’s injury.

They both want the same thing. They both want to play.

For one, urgency is a nonfactor.

Jaxson Dart, the 25th pick in the first round this past spring and very possibly Giants head coach Brian Daboll’s ticket to longevity as the leader for the Mara-Tisch-led franchise, is essentially on scholarship this season.

He’s the young quarterback Daboll has craved to develop the same way he developed Josh Allen in Buffalo.

Breece Hall looks at his own résumé and is not happy with what he sees.

Two of his Jets teammates in his draft class — Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson — signed large contract extensions this offseason. Yet Hall is set to be an unrestricted free agent after the season.

But he does not yet believe he’s done enough to earn a long-term deal of his own.

“I’m not really expecting it before the season,” Hall said after practice Saturday. “We got a new head coach, a new GM, obviously I wasn’t drafted by them, I’m not their guy. I gotta prove it every day.”

Hall has shown flashes of stardom across his three years in the league, but has not firmly established himself in that elite tier of dual-threat running backs that Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey and Jahmyr Gibbs occupy.

Last year, the addition of Braelon Allen and the dramatic increase in pass attempts with a healthy Aaron Rodgers resulted in a smaller workload than Hall had become accustomed to.

His rushing yardage (876), receiving yardage (483) and efficiency (4.2 yards per carry) were all down from the prior season.

Allen, who was drafted in the fourth round last year, showed promise as a rookie, recording 334 rushing yards and 148 receiving yards in a complementary role.

Coach Aaron Glenn has suggested he intends to use three running backs — Hall, Allen and Isaiah Davis — in a system similar to what the Lions utilized when Glenn was there.

Hall still believes he’s a three-down running back, though. And he hears the clock ticking.

“I got a chip on my shoulder,” Hall said. “I feel like right now, ‘OK this is my last chance.’ For me it’s always been, ‘Oh he has potential, he’s got potential,’ but I want to be the product. Now, it’s all about putting my head down and working. I don’t really want to discuss all the other stuff, I just try to focus on ball right now.”

Justin Fields is a strong runner at quarterback, providing the potential of a dangerous running duo along with Hall.

And Hall has enjoyed offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand’s plans for him and Fields.

“I think from a whole offensive standpoint, we’re all really bought into this run scheme,” Hall said. “I think it fits our backs more. I think it makes a lot more sense to the guys up front and the reasoning why we’re doing everything and what we’re doing it for, how we’re gonna set other plays up with our run game. To see how much we’ve all bought into it and trust in our coaches, it’s been good.”

Speaker 1(00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time that’s twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for The Doug Gottlieb Show at Foxsports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching FSR Booming Up America Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox

(00:22):
Sports Radio. It’s a beautiful, hot sunny day where I’m
broadcasting from in Bricktown and Oklahoma City. I don’t know
where you are. My guys are in Sherman Oaks, California. Likely,
it is beautiful sunny day and socow hope you’re enjoying
your summer. Let’s talk some sports and other stuff over
the next couple of hours. So I heard Isaac Lohencron

(00:48):
start the update with with the passing of a Hulk Hogan.
And I’m not criticizing Isaac, Okay, So again, like I
don’t tell Isaac what to lead with. He doesn’t tell
me what to lead with. And I do think that
Hulk Hogan dying at the age of like seventy one

(01:09):
is a big story. I just personally tell you that
the things that he was outed for for saying on
a recording to me are reprehensible, and so it’s hard
for me to feel like a guy is an icon
when that’s the way he spoke about people. But nonetheless,

(01:29):
I do think there’s a bunch of different lessons in
Hulk Hogan dying. Right, that’s the thing. And no, I’m
not going rule of three, as Jaycedu kind of eerily predicted.
I think it was two days ago. He’s like, you
know what they’re gonna say, it comes in threes. And
with Ozzie dying, and with Malcolm Jamal Warner dying, and

(01:52):
now Hulk Hogan dying, everybody from the eighties is dying.
And maybe that’s actually the less not the rule of three.
It’s that because I was thinking about this on how
we still, especially in the NBA, but some in the NFL,
we grip to this belief that athletes aren’t going to age,

(02:14):
that who they were last year is who they’re going
to be this year and next year. Again, it’s the
age old thing of why I agree with not having
multi year, lengthy, guaranteed contracts in the National Football League
I don’t care if that sounds like I’m anti athlete.
I’m not. I’m a realist. I mean, heck, even justin fields.

(02:36):
And I think he may have dislocated a toe. We
don’t know which toe. It happened earlier today, but it
caused you to hold your breath. But the idea is,
in football, you are just one hit away from never
playing again. And most guys outside of the quarterback position,
and even sometimes when you get to your late thirties
in the quarterback position, that you age overnight, you’re just

(02:57):
not the same guy you used to be in any way,
So maybe that’s what it is. Maybe it’s like we
make fun of the Clippers because the Clippers have gone
to James harden Kawhi’s a little bit longer in the
tooth and oft injured and now Chris Paul And you’re like, dude, really,

(03:18):
I mean, this team ten years ago amazing. This year
that’ll make the playoffs? Then what? But we only do
it for Chris Paul. We don’t do it for the Lakers, right,
we don’t do it talk about Lebron. Remember last year,
heading into the playoffs, we were like, hey, I think
they got a chance. They had no chance. Why he’s

(03:39):
a shell of his former self, especially the defensive end,
as he should be forty years old. He’s amazing for forty,
but he’s still forty. So maybe the start of the
show is age is just a number, or maybe it’s
that Hulk Hogan. Tiger Woods now was never presented like

(04:02):
Tiger Woods was, but he was when we were all
hulkal maniacs. He was like an American icon. But just
like wrestling itself, it’s fake. Everything about it was fake,
and please stop with the Those guys get hurt, They
do get hurt, they do jump off things, but they

(04:23):
do the same thing with park Or people get hurt
new in Parker. Only difference is it’s a planned out act.
In wrestling, they are really talented athletic actors. That’s what
they are. They’re not athletes. They may have been an
athlete in a different life. It is not an athletic
endeavor because it’s planned out. It is scripted. The winner
and the loser is all scripted, as are the actions

(04:47):
within the ring. Within reason like it’s it’s it’s art,
it’s not sports. Sports can be art, but art does
not always be sports, and in this case, it’s it’s
more of an art. But once we found out who
Hulk really was, you’re like, well, that’s not the American

(05:08):
icon I thought or I was sold right, And maybe
that’s the story of Hulk Hogan so many of other
things in our childhood if you’re of my age, Like again,
you start childhood from WWE all the way up to

(05:28):
when you had the home run chase for Bonds and Sosa.
I mean for uh maguire and Sosa. That was like
college years. So it’s like those are those are the
bookends of childhood. Childhood ends when college ends. Really it
was all bs And you might sit there and going

(05:49):
like you’re a cynic. I’m not. I actually believe in
the good of people. Maybe that’s why I feel so
scorn at the fact that my dad used to tell me,
like that’s real. It’s not real, Bob, It’s not just
like the presentation of an American icon, like Hulk Hogan
wasn’t real. It wasn’t real. He’s just an actor. He

(06:16):
played a role than who he was in real life.
Wasn’t that great. Maybe it’s the trappings of fame. Whatever
it is. I do think there’s takeaways. I let me
ask you a question, do you consider this is just

(06:37):
again you’re allowed your opinion. I have mine. Was Hulk
Hogan an athlete?

Speaker 2 (06:43):
What to kinda do in the larger farms in the world?

Speaker 3 (06:49):
Brother?

Speaker 4 (06:50):
That’s my response. No, it’s a brother, It’s it’s a
valid question.

Speaker 5 (06:55):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
I think the I think maybe a more know The
answer is no, he was a it was sports entertainment,
although I completely.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
It was not sports entertainment. It’s not sports snot You’re
you’re letting the WWE get to you with like ah,
we changed it to w entertainment, like real wrestling. That’s why,
I honestly think it’s one of the reasons UFC and

(07:27):
and you know, MMA is so popular because it’s real wrestling,
whereas we were sold fake wrestling for so long. So
how old were you when you found out it was fake.

Speaker 4 (07:41):
Last last Thursday? No, I was thinking about this this morning.
I I deep down knew it was fake. But I
think why this is such a big story and it
evokes so much is less about, as you said, who
Hulk Hogan was. I was not as given name, of course,

(08:01):
but rather the memories it evoked from a certain generation
when we were all growing up because part of the
charm of sports is nostalgia, and especially when you’re growing
up in that age, you don’t realize that there’s a
real life where things probably aren’t as clean cut as

(08:23):
they might seem when you get fed at via mass media,
especially during that time, and when you have sort of
the innocence of youth.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, that’s honestly, it’s a beautifully put series of sentences.
It is really well done, really well done. Sam here,
you’re younger, was there ever? I think part of it
is because you’re you’re not that much younger, but you’re
young enough to where you were always in on it, right,
you always knew that it wasn’t real.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
Correct, Yeah?

Speaker 6 (08:54):
Yeah, yeah, never never yeah, never confused uh, pro wrestling
with like Iowa wrestling, which obviously is not even the
same wrestling. It’s not even the same style of wrestling.
You don’t have all these crazy stunts and stuff in
regular you know, collegiate wrestling, right.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Because you can’t actually do that if you’re actually gonna
wrestle somebody, like doesn’t actually happen that.

Speaker 6 (09:15):
Way, And there’s not actually a whole lot of like wrestling,
like actual sport of wrestling in pro wrestling. It’s more
of like violent fighting and with some grappling and stuff,
but it’s it’s it’s not the same thing. But yeah,
I never thought it was never thought it was real.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
During during the Kulk generation, if you will, I would
say there was more, like I said, I’m not gonna
say it was competitive sports at all, but there was
a lot more seemingly athleticism than how it is now,
when it’s way excessively based on storylines and anything but
the match.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Okay, again, I’m a fully disclosed I have never been
an avid watcher of WWF or WWE or any or
www dot com. Like I just have not. Okay, I
would tell you though that I think and I yes,
the storylines have become big. I do think that there’s
the stunts now in some ways are more dramatic than

(10:10):
they were then. Maybe I could be wrong, but I
don’t know if I feel that’s the case.

Speaker 6 (10:17):
I feel like some of the stunts from the eighties
and nineties were like the people died like people, They
put their lives on the line a little more, you know. Yeah, Like, uh,
and I’m pleased, I’m not I’m not a pro wrestling.
Well and also like what is it. Uh, I’m sorry,
I’m gonna miss quote this, but it’s like rage in
the Cage or you know, the stuff where like guys

(10:37):
were jumping off of like two story basically lengths and
falling on each other and Helen cell yeah that later. Yeah,
Raged in a cage, yeah, I know. But but there
was there was stuff that were they were in the nineties.
These people were These people were putting their lives on
the line to entertain.

Speaker 4 (10:53):
People, Helen.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
They were not putting their lives up.

Speaker 6 (10:55):
Oh, they absolutely were, Doug, They absolutely were. There were
times where guys were jumping off of like forty feet
up and you know, someone could break her neck, and
you know, people are I mean, you know you had
you had time. I remember watching a documentary and it
was called like it was like selling. It was called
selling the you know, selling the sports, selling out is

(11:15):
what they called it. It was like you take a
razor blade, you have it hidden under your thumb and
you’d like wipe your brow and you cut your like
it was real blood and stuff. Yeah, it was. It
was all predetermined. But I would definitely call these guys athletes.
I absolutely would. And I think there’s a lot of
crossover between sports and pro wrestling. You say George Kittle
is basically setting up his next career uh in pro
wrestling by kind of the the persona he puts on

(11:37):
the field now in in interviews.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
But is it sports? It’s not, it’s not. Why is
it a sport?

Speaker 4 (11:42):
It’s not. I didn’t say it’s a sport.

Speaker 6 (11:43):
I said they’re athletes, athletes, athletes, But but they’re athletic actors.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
They’re not athletes.

Speaker 6 (11:50):
Okay, we’re arguing semantics here. I don’t think it’s competition.
It’s predetermined competition. But they are athletes because they are.
They have to be in certain shape, they have to
you know, it’s not competition. There’s a I think there’s
a difference there, Like.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Was uh uh Andre the Giant? Was he an athlete?

Speaker 4 (12:08):
Sure?

Speaker 5 (12:08):
Absolutely?

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, he was just a giant. He walked around things
around him.

Speaker 6 (12:15):
Was not but he used his body, He used his body.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
If he was athletic at all, he would have played
in the NBA. That’s an athlete.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
Wasn’t he a world champion drinker?

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Though?

Speaker 4 (12:25):
Outside the ring? I mean, I’ve heard stories.

Speaker 6 (12:28):
We have all kinds of ways of defining athletes. Now
Joey Chestnuts an athlete.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
I guess right, No, he’s not an athlete. No, he’s
eating is not.

Speaker 5 (12:38):
I guess we can we can, we can disagree on that.
But these some of these guys, you know, you can’t.

Speaker 6 (12:43):
You can’t be a you know, a fetch club in
the ring. You’ll get hurt worse. I definitely think these
guys are athletes, just this way. I’d say that, like,
you know, stock car drivers are athletes. It’s just some
different kind of athlete.

Speaker 7 (12:57):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
This is the Doug ottlib Show on Fix Sports Radio. Okay,
So so Sam you how old are you? Sam?

Speaker 4 (13:06):
Thirty eight?

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Right? So I think ilo howl, are you.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
None of your mind? Forty five?

Speaker 3 (13:11):
Car?

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Forty five? So I’m like, I’m forty nine. I think
the cutoff is it’s like I lo and maybe forty two,
forty three, Like, let’s just go forty above, forty and above.
I can almost guarantee you we’ll try this via tweet
and Instagram. Hey, I’m guessing that if you’re forty years older,

(13:33):
there was a time in your life where people were
arguing and you may have been like me, it was
like it’s fake the whole time. But there’s a time
in your life when somebody that you care about thought
it was real. My dad, Wow, how could it be fake?
And then some things would be so over the top
fake you’d be like, how can you fake that fall?

(13:55):
How can you? How can you do it? But you
can and they did. And yes, accidents happened, but Ackson’s
happened on movie sets as well. So things do happen.
Guys go boom, they’re athletics, they’re just stunt men. But
the point is that there was there was this window

(14:15):
where people enough people thought it might be real. They
just they just did. They did a good enough job
of selling it. It was positioned in a way where
they were larger than life sports figures. I remember I
flew cross country when I was let’s see here, I
think it was I want to say eighth grade, right,

(14:36):
so fourteen, that’s nineteen ninety. I flew cross country around
Christmas time to stay with my uncle who lived in Stanford, Connecticut.
I flew NonStop melics to JFK, and Hulk Hogan was
sitting in first class. But he arrived like late and
was like the first one off the plane, was like

(14:57):
escorted on and escorted off. I’m telling you, next to
Ronald Reagan, he was probably the biggest. He was that big.
He was literally that big. I mean, I think of
all the actors of that time, but for our generation,
and I Loo, I’ll circle you into that. Even though
you’re a little younger than me, Hulk Hogan was huge.

(15:22):
Remember they sold out the Silverdome ninety three thousand people.
I’ll never forget that, right all for all for was
it Super Slam or whatever, what wrest WrestleMania three.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
You’re and you’re absolutely right about capturing just how big
he was at that exact time in America. I would
say mid eighties was his absolute peak, especially with kids.
You know, uh, say your prayers, eat your vitamins, the
thirty one inch pythons, sayings like that. You absolutely captured

(16:00):
at that time how big he was in this country.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
All right, Tess, So so send us a send us
a tweet message on ig how old were we? How
old were you? When you’re like, this is not real?
This is this is not real. Coming up next to
the Doug out Leaves show, Andrew Brandt’s going to join us, Well,
we’ll have him take us down memory lane. Was he
a WWE guy was he throwing his little brother off

(16:23):
the top rope at his house? Plus? Okay, help me
out with Jerry Jones philosophy on Micah Parsons. Why do
we think that deal hasn’t been done yet? We’ll find
out next, but first, if you’re looking for your next job,
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(17:31):
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Speaker 8 (17:41):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
Hey, we’re Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern. But here’s the thing. We
never have enough time to get to everything we want
to get to.

Speaker 9 (18:02):
And that’s why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we’re having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah, you blubber list lame in me.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
Well, you know what it’s called over promise. You should
be good at it because you’ve been over promising women
for years.

Speaker 9 (18:21):
Well, it’s a Covino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We’re gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we’re also gonna talk
life and relationships and if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn’t have enough time. It will
continue on our after show called over Promised.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
Well, if you don’t get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promised and also Uncensored by
the way, so maybe we’ll go at it even a
little harder. It’s gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.

Speaker 9 (18:45):
There you go, over Promising. Remember you could see on YouTube,
but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with Covino and
Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you
get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
Up America, Doug Got Show, Fox Sports Radio. I hope
you’re having a great day. The Gottlieb Show broadcasts every
day this time, same bad time, same bad channel, you
name it. We’re here. We’re at your service. Good to
have my boy Jay Stu back. Obviously heard the lovely
Montsey Blanos, so I’m sure it’s excited about Chris Paul

(19:21):
two point zero in Clipperland and of course, uh the
always steady Eyo with Sam on the ones and twos
as he gets ready for the second half of the
w NBA season, which he just geeks out for. Let’s
just call it like it is. He’s excited. Here you go,
he’s he’s excited, excited and excitable. I think we got

(19:45):
a pretty good show. I think it’s gonna be a
good day. I hope you’re having a great summer. Sad
news Ozzy Osbourne dies at the age of seventy six.
When I say sad, it’s anybody who dies, it’s sad.
But as I think Jay Stu you said, or was
it you? Sam? Like a bit of an upset. Ozzy
Osbourne made it seventy six years?

Speaker 3 (20:04):
Right?

Speaker 1 (20:04):
Who was it? Which? Which oney two said that?

Speaker 5 (20:06):
No, that’s definitely my humor, and it is an upset,
Like I remember when we were watching The Osbourne’s thinking,
this guy’s only got a couple more months to lip Yeah,
like twenty six years.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
Yes, there was a certain there was a point there
where you felt like there was a weekend at Berney’s
taking place right where you’re like, gee, they just propping
him up for this show. But Ozzy Osbourne and I
thought the point, you know, without trying to make it,
because I think you left it so that I could
make it. That should make it. The Osbourne’s was a

(20:38):
bit of a breakthrough show, right, It paved the way
for the Kardashians. I don’t know if the keep it
up with the Kardashians happens, or is as is as
successful without the Osborns. Maybe that’s for your next pod,
jas too, for your next Bachelor lifestyle pod. Good idea, Yeah,

(20:59):
because without the Bachelor and without the Bachelor in Paradise,
Love Island has no chance of being as big as
it’s been. Again, more ideas for your podcast. That’s what
I do here. Don’t have ideas for my show for
your podcast. I thought Colin had some really interesting things
to say earlier today in regards to Jerry Jones and

(21:24):
talking about when you try and do try and be
great at a bunch of things, you end up being
average at all of them. And he was of course
specifically responding to Jerry Jones when he was asked if
he thought he’d ever bring in another guy to be
the actual general manager. Here was his response yesterday.

Speaker 7 (21:49):
Just because we signed him doesn’t mean we’re going to
have him. He was hurt six games last year. Seriously,
we’ve signed.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
A stepping away as general manager.

Speaker 8 (22:00):
Ever been You’ve been a momentary consideration for your for
the years.

Speaker 4 (22:04):
Oh yes, momentary.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
How long the moment?

Speaker 7 (22:10):
Now we’re getting that to it small fractions of seconds.
I as you know, you see it. I’m in senior bowls.
Combines all of that, All of that mells in two
a real good feeling about where we are, so that

(22:32):
I’m not sitting up there throwing darts about a player.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
So there’s a couple of different parts to it. And
I’m going to give you a basketball analogy. You tell
me if it makes sense, Jase do Sam. So there
are coaches in college basketball who other people substitute for.
Like I know of a really really good coach and
he doesn’t. He doesn’t do the subs And I just

(23:01):
to me, that’s well, that’s like in pregnant, having somebody
else impregnant your wife when you’re fully capable of doing it. Right.
That’s that’s my thought about it, especially when the coach
is a former player and a really good one, right,
because what you’re supposed to bring to the table is

(23:22):
not on the relatability, but also, hey, you’ve been a player,
so you use that player’s intuition. He’s been a coach
for a long time. He’s a really good coach. But again,
it’s just interesting allowing other people to do things. Now,
when you hear how Jerry Jones explains it, I think
he tells you the truth without you, without most people

(23:42):
hearing it. The last part when he’s like, you see
me the Senior Bowl, you see me here, you see
me there, So we’re not just kind of going blind.
The point is in the NFL, you draft, you let
your scouts do their job. You have all kinds of
layers and you’re at the top as the general manager
and the owner of like a of the pyramid. And

(24:03):
the point I made about the subbing and the letting
somebody else impregnant your wife is you know, we can
all tell Jerry Jones what he should do from our
perspective as outsiders. The reality is, if you own the
most valuable team in professional sports and you want to
be the gentleman manager, you give me the gentleman manager.
If you want to be the quarterback, you give me

(24:24):
the quarterback. If you want to be the coach, you
can be the coach. Like that’s your money, You’re allowed
to do it. That’s where the expression owners own, because
owners owns. At the end of the day, they want
to do something, they just damn well do it. No problem,
problem solved. But I I also think we have a
misconception or misperception of what actually takes place, is that

(24:49):
he’s not making all these picks on his own. But
what he can do is they can say, hey, I
like this guy. I saw it senior Bowl, I like
that guy. Let’s take that guy. It’s not to say
that what the Cowboys are doing is perfect or right.
And I do think there’s a certain amount of what
Colin’s saying which is dead to nuts accurate, because it’s

(25:15):
not just the GMing and the marketing, and it’s they
haven’t done a good job of hiring the right coaches.
They become beholden to players who they should let go.
The drafting at times has been really good, at times
it hasn’t. Sometimes they’ve signed somebody willie nilly out a
free agency that didn’t make sense. It’s all those things

(25:36):
combined are just coming up short, and so the team
constantly just comes up short. But all of our opinions
don’t matter because we didn’t pay the money. We didn’t
raise the money, pay the money own the Cowboys. We
weren’t owning the Cowboys. When they want to call three
super Bowls. So Jerry’s allowed to do what he’s allowed

(25:58):
to do. If he wants to let somebody else impregnanty
his wife, fine, if he wants to do it, fine.
In this particular case, he’s like, I could hire somebody else,
but I know what I want and I let my
scouts do their job. And the last part is if
we’re being honest, For the most part, the Cowboys has
done a really good job of their overall talent level. Granted,

(26:21):
the Eagles have found a way to sort of put
themselves ahead of everybody else, but up until last year,
there hasn’t been anybody who’s, like, you know, the Cowboys
just don’t have that much talent. Hasn’t been the case.
That hasn’t what been what has kept the Cowboys from
performing in the playoffs. I don’t think Dak’s that good,

(26:42):
and I think they’re in that little bit quarterback purgatory.
I do think there are some other decisions they have
made in terms of re signing players. Ezekiel Elliott that
wasn’t a good contract and it screwed a bunch of
other things up. So I’m not saying he’s perfect, But
the idea that you bring in a different GM. He
didn’t have to. If you own the team, you want

(27:02):
to be the GM. And he’d done a good enough job,
and they’ve done a good enough job for the last
fifteen years. He doesn’t have to.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Now.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yes, if you do too much, something will fall short.
And I think it’s in the coaching hires they make,
and in the decision at quarterback. They got stuck there.
They had Romo, he had his flaws in the playoffs,

(27:31):
but then he was coming back. They stuck with Dak.
Dak’s been their guy, and you do fear letting that
guy walk out the door because finding the next quarterback
is so so difficult if you don’t have one, as opposed,
it feels a little easier when you do have one.

(27:52):
All Right, we get back on the Cowboys in a second.
But you know, I look at Jerry and I’m not
defending him, but everybody talks about him giving up GM
duties and talent on that football team has not been
the problem coaching quarterback play some aging out of some guys,

(28:12):
and yeah, if being the GM, in terms of how
you re sign guys, how you structure the contracts, what
it all looks like. That is on Jerry. That is
his issue, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hire somebody
to help you with those issues while still maintaining the
kind of overarching team of being the general manager.

Speaker 8 (28:31):
This is the best of the Done Dot Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
What up but you? Dog? Gott Leap Show, Fox Sports Radio.
It’s a Tuesday. We don’t have any kind of a
alliteration with a Tuesday? Do Ei? There? I mean Taco Tuesday? Right?
Should we do? Take Tuesday? I mean just because I
know how much you hate but like making fun of
alliteration and just be thinking of one. Have one in

(28:59):
your back pocket there, Jay Stu stug gottlab Show, Fox
Sports Radio. A reminder if you can hear us now,
but you can also see us. Hello. Our Fox Sports
Radio YouTube channel has highlights from all the shows. Just
click it on whenever you want to hear great interviews,
hot takes, and all the fun stuff. All of our
shows are available, uh the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.

Speaker 4 (29:22):
I just thought of one. How about Moncey’s Meanderings, Lncy.
What am I doing here?

Speaker 5 (29:38):
It’s a new segment of our show called Moncey’s Meanderings.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
Meander So think about.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
That what is meandering me entering is like have you
ever been shopping and you have no purpose and you
go aisle to isle the island like, oh that looks good,
Oh this looks good. They just keep going.

Speaker 4 (29:54):
Yeah, I do that all the time, wandering, Okay, all
the time you have.

Speaker 6 (29:59):
If she’s ever been shopping, that’s like is that it’s
not even rhetorical question?

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Do it all day?

Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, except except it would sound exceptionally chauvinus to go
like MANSI you’re a woman, you go shopping all the time.

Speaker 4 (30:11):
Right, ladies be shopping, I be shopping all day.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
I do. I actually really enjoy grocery shopping. Uh not
poorly kept secret that that’s one of my favorite pastimes.
But right, so the idea, I’m actually a little bit
more focused, like I know what I want and I
have it, Like I have the whole strategy of what
I get. When I get it, I go, i’ll aisle,
I’ll skip the aisle, I’ll, i’ll i’ll.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
You know.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
I do the same thing with with when I go
to a gas station. Obviously, my main vehicle at home
is electric, so I don’t have to do that when
I don’t like I actually does anybody else do this
where I try and act like it’s a pit stop
and see how fast I can fill up the tank.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
Yes, hmm.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
I always like if I have a rental car, like
one of my kids with me, Like time me, Like
what time me? See how fast I can do this?
Like why is that important? Like I don’t know because
it is anyway Moncey’s meanderings And I’m just again just
flushing out here. We should do this off outside of
the show, But that’s okay, It’s better this way is

(31:12):
Jay stud tell me what you’re thinking, Like she just
goes to all of her different thoughts and they can
be movies, they can be music, they can be basketball, football, soccer, wrestling,
anything you want. Yeah, we just kind of put it
all together. It’s Monzi’s meanderings.

Speaker 5 (31:25):
It’s you know, meandering is basically just taking a winding
course to things so you just don’t get right to
the point and you it’s basically what Iowa Sam does
on the air every day on Falk Corse Radio. I
get to the point eventually, but his name doesn’t start
with an M, so it would be Manzy’s me hundreds.

Speaker 6 (31:41):
By Sam’s You’re in Wisconsin Doug a lot of meandering
creeks and rivers and streams. That’s kind of I think
the word meandering. I think of like rivers meandering around
Ben’s and yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
I think of meandering as when you’re at a party
and you don’t really know anybody at the party and
you just kind of walk around and do you do
the lap around the room, and you’re like you’re trying
to not make eye contact with anybody because you get
pulled into a conversation. You don’t know who that person is,
and you want to go like, hey, man, now are

(32:15):
you dude? So you’re just kind of meandering and weave ye,
get your beverage, sort of meander back, standoff, ash, Oh
I know somebody. Now I’m going in and I’m having
a conversation.

Speaker 5 (32:28):
Yeah, it’s just you know, doing something in a rudderless way.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
You know, rudderless way. It’s really good. I like that.
So I saw this story and I wanted to discuss
with you guys. Lebron James picked up his player option
to remain with the Lakers, but it represents a calculating
decision that did not come without considering a move elsewhere.
According to John Hollinger of the Athletic. In fact, there
were whispers in the league circles about Lebron James having

(32:54):
an eye for Dallas reports, but the four time NBA
champion was not willing to pass on a fifty two
point six million dollar contract with the Lakers for a
non taxpayer mid level exceptions sign In Dallas, James would
have reunited with Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis, also having
an opportunity to play alongside number one overall pick Cooper Flag.

(33:15):
James express belief that Flag will be amazing with the Mavericks. So,
uh yeah, let’s let’s dive in here. I call bull crap, right,
I mean, look, we do this in college basketball. It’s like, oh,

(33:37):
I could have had this guy, could have had that guy,
and not taking this guy. It was never an option
if you weren’t if you were going to opt in. Ever, well,
Lebron James ever played for less than top down? Would
he ever play for less than ten million dollars or
fifteen million dollars? Jase? Do any chance, No, that’s not

(33:59):
that’s not him, Okay, Sam? Any chance, no moncy, any
chance you believe Lebron James at ever player let’s just
say I don’t even know what the mid level exception
is at less than fifteen million dollars. No, okay, so
it’s not an option. It’s not an option. All right.
This is the guy going like, yeah, I could have

(34:19):
thinken her out, like she wouldn’t have gone out with you?
What are we? Even though it was whispers round league
circus like no, there weren’t. And again, I’m not telling
you that that John Hollinger is full of it. I’m
telling the people that are calling John Hollings and like,
you know he thought about it. Here’s the conversation of it. Rich,

(34:39):
Can I go play in Dallas?

Speaker 3 (34:41):
Like?

Speaker 1 (34:41):
Yeah, but you have to play for the mid level? Hell? No?
Can we make it uncomfortable enough for the Lakers that
they have to trade us? We could try, right, we
could try. You know, there was a player who again
I was just during one of the breaks, I got

(35:02):
a text from a guy who’s helped me with a
player who’s from Belgium. I really liked him. I wanted
to have him, but they were asking for way too
much money. He ended up signing with another friend of mine,
and I think it’ll be really good there for less
than half the money that he was asking for me.
I can’t sit here and go like, hey, he should

(35:23):
be on my team, I should have him. At the time,
he was working with a different agency and they were
asking for like two three x of what we wanted
to pay him. So it’s not really an option. It
doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s true that he’d prefer

(35:43):
to play. He thinks that Kyrie and Anthony Davis that’s
much more his jam, right, But it also proves what
I’ve said time and again, which is like, here’s a
dude who they hired a coach, and do I think
JJ is bringing a coach? I do, But do we

(36:04):
think for one second JJ would have gotten the Lakers
job had he not been doing a podcast with Lebron James. No,
we don’t. So you hired somebody that he respects, that
he works with, that he likes. That’s kind of a contemporary.
As the head coach, you draft his son, You’ve done
everything in your power to make him and his people

(36:26):
feel comfortable, and then you make a trade where everybody
and I feel like I’m the only voice for reason,
Like I don’t think it was as pronounced slam dunk
dominant trade for the Lakers, as as the world would leged,
you believe, but ninety nine percent of the people think

(36:46):
the Lakers won that trade. Maybe even one hundred think
the Lakers won the trade. It’s a question of how
much do they Did they win it by a point
or do they win it by twenty five? And yet
Lebron James is like, yeah, I mean, he wants it
out there. He’d rather play for the Mavericks than play

(37:08):
for the Lakers. That’s what he’s saying. He’s saying, if
all things were equal, he would rather play for the Mavericks.
They’re not equal, so he doesn’t really want He’s not
willing to sacrifice to play for the Mavericks, but he
wants he’d rather play for the Mavericks than play for
the then play for the Lakers.

Speaker 5 (37:24):
Yet again, seems like every single story that comes out
of the Rich Paul camp is we don’t care about
your the Laker fans. I mean no, this is no.
The only reason I’m playing in front of you fans
is for the money. I would much rather be somewhere else.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
Yeah, yep. And as we’ve said on this show, which
is that they should have they should have jettisoned Lebron
James a couple of years ago. They didn’t because one,
there was a value. They felt like there was value
in having him break the all time scoring mark in
their uniform. But two, they were just all in on Lebron. Hey,

(38:03):
this is where he’s gonna end his career. We’re gonna
have a son here. Will do whatever it takes to
get the most out of Lebron, and the repayment is, Hey,
I Luca gets the ball more than me, he gets
to make decisions. I’d prefer to go do it somewhere else.
No thought of every Laker fan buying a Lebron jersey,

(38:25):
swallowing their pride as Kobe guys to buy Lebron jersey.
Doesn’t care, doesn’t care, literally only staying in LA because
he has to because that’s where he makes the most money.
So I also think this is one of those stories

(38:47):
that is the It’s kind of classic Rich Paul trying
to create this. He’d rather be somewhere else. Is there
a way in which we can get him traded. That’s
a great question. I don’t know the answer to that one.
I don’t think the answer is yes, but it wouldn’t

(39:10):
be crazy this late in his career. Remember, he played
Jason Kidd was the assistant coach when they won a championship.
Anthony Davis is also wrapped by Lebron, by Rich Paul,
and though he and Kyrie had a falling out, they
fell back in and there was talk of Kyrie coming

(39:32):
to LA before he ultimately went to Dallas. But I
love this post mortem story of a contract that was
agreed to two months ago. Hey, if it wasn’t for
forty five million dollars or forty million dollars in difference
for a guy who’s worth a billion dollars, he totally
would have come play for the Dallas Mavericks. I actually

(39:56):
think it looks bad on a multiple on a bunch
of fronts. It looks bad towards his relationship with the Lakers,
towards his amount of respect for Laker fans and accepting him,
And it even looks bad upon Lebron. Don’t tell me
you want to play for somebody. Don’t tell me you
want to play for championships, and then you’re not willing
to sacrifice forty million dollars when you’re worth thirty forty X.

(40:20):
That that doesn’t make any sense.

Speaker 8 (40:24):
Fox Sports Radio had the best sports talk lineup in
the nation yet catch all of our shows at Fox
Sports Radio dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
It’s the Doug Gottlieb Show Fox Sports Radio. If you
if you go to ESPN Plus or Disney Plus. There’s
a documentary out on a player who I was I
think the entire sports world and again, I was fourteen
at the time when he kind of broke through with
the Angels, one of the most memorable players of my

(40:58):
lifetime in professional sports. It’s called South Ball. It’s based
upon the life of Jim Abbott and he’s kind of
to spend some time this year on the Doug Otlieb
Show on Fox Sports Radio. Jim, how are you.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
I’m great, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
It’s so interesting because I’m watching the documentary and I’m
just it’s like I felt I was there. I remember,
but there’s lots of parts I did not know. And
I think there’s so many people in this generation of
sports who have no idea about your story. You were
born without a hand, Like, what’s your first memory of

(41:35):
being different than other kids?

Speaker 3 (41:40):
You know, I guess the best my memory recollection would
be was kindergarten. You know, my parents, you know, were great,
They were my heroes. They had me at a young age.
I was born a little bit differently, and they searched
for a lot of ways to help me, you know,
just kind of throwing up things against the wall to

(42:01):
see what would stick. And so they suited me up
with the prosthesis and the shape of a metal hook.
You know, it was kind of awkward, It was cumbersome.
I went to kindergarten wearing that, and obviously that brought
the stairs and the questions and different awkward moments. And
I think that, you know, when I walked into school
for the first time, was the first time that I

(42:22):
was like, man, I am really different from the rest
of the kids.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
What was it like the first time you thought about
playing baseball?

Speaker 3 (42:34):
Well, I grew up in Michigan, so you know, that’s
just what you did. And I grew up in a
tough town. I grew up in Flint, Michigan, as you know,
a great basketball town. I used to junior high school.
I used to play basketball with Glenn Rice every day,
you know, but in Flint, it was it was a
way to make your name, you know, to fit in,

(42:56):
to belong was to be on a team. And so
it wasn’t particularly baseball, although I could always throw things.
I loved basketball. I loved football, and I love the
sense of belonging that it gave me at recess or
on a playground.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
Yeah, but baseball specifically. Again, like I had no understanding
that anyone with one hand could play baseball like basketball. Again,
it seems limiting, but and that that had to be hard. Right,
So when you played basketball, did you play with the
hook on or did you play with it off?

Speaker 3 (43:31):
No? I quickly, you know, I dropped the process pretty quick.
It didn’t you know, it may work for a lot
of people, but I, you know, it didn’t help me
to do the things I love to do. It didn’t
help me dribble to my right, you know, it didn’t
help me to play baseball or hold a bat. So
I gave it up after a couple of years. And

(43:52):
then I just, you know, with my parents’ blessing, I
just started, you know, trying to do things my own way.
And whether it was switching the glove on and off
of my left hand and throwing and catching with the
same hand, or you know, holding a baseball bat, or
to this day trying to hold a golf club. You know,
I just tried to take a lot of trial and error,

(44:13):
a lot of trying to figure things out, but just
trying to figure out what seemed most natural to me.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
How did you How did you developed the ability to
to field as well as you did, because, like it was,
it was honestly like a thing of beauty. It’s like, wow,
it happens like so quickly where you throw and then
you’d you’d put put the glove on your on your
left hand. Take me through the steps of how that

(44:40):
How you learned that?

Speaker 3 (44:42):
Well, there were several steps. You know. I first started.
It was very slow. It was kind of cumbersome. You know,
I had a baseball myt that was probably more like
a softball mint, and you know, it just it didn’t flow.
So I had to learn, you know, to get the
right size glove. And I would throw a ball against

(45:02):
a brick wall and try to catch it over and
over again because I love to do it, much like
shooting baskets. It was just something that was a release
for me, something that I spent time doing alone. And
then you know, when I made it, I got to
the University of Michigan, and I knew playing at the
collegiate level D one level that you know, people were

(45:24):
going to start trying to take advantage. And that’s fair enough,
you know, so I would. I really started devoting a
lot of time, you know, to my fielding and working
on buns and working on you know, bun down the
third baseline and switching the glove on and off. So
I spent a lot of time doing it right up
until you know, my last days in the major leagues.

(45:46):
And honestly, I you know, I was proud of my fielding.
I felt like I deserved, you know, I felt like
I had earned some recognition for fielding because of all
the hard work.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
In eighty nine, he got called up to the big club,
right and you’re playing for the California Angels at the
old Anaheim Stadium, which is a big, gigantic kind of
a model of What do you remember about your first
start in the bigs?

Speaker 3 (46:16):
Not much, not much. It was such a blur. I
remember pitching against Mark Langston, who was one of the
best left handed pitchers in the major leagues at the
time and now a great friend of mine. We became
teammates later, But you know, I was drafted by the
Angels in nineteen eighty eight and I quit and played

(46:39):
in the Olympics. So I spent the entire summer playing
in the Olympics the previous year and we won we
want to go medal. I didn’t play professional that season,
and then I went to spring training in eighty nine
and I made the team. I made the club out
of the out of spring training.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
And how they tell you, by the way, how they
tell you, how did you find out you made the club?

Speaker 3 (47:00):
They were my pitching coach, Marcel Latchman, who was a
great mentor and a hero to me to this day.
We were at the Gene Autry Hotel in Palm Springs.
Back then, the Angels spent part of spring training in
Palm spring and we were just about ready to break camp.
I thought I was heading from Midland, Texas to Double A,
and he pulled me aside and said, hey, we’re gonna

(47:23):
You’re coming with us. You’re coming with the big club
back to Anaheim, and you’re going to be our starter. So,
you know, pretty exciting. So that’s why I don’t remember
much of that first game, because things were just moving
so fast and I was, you know, I was just
trying to adjust, trying to recalibrate the idea of going
from amateur baseball to professional baseball.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
When did you feel like I can do this? You know,
because your your whole life. You know, it’s very understandable, reasonable,
But people just looked at you and said, there’s no way,
Like he doesn’t There’s just no way. When did you
feel like I can do this?

Speaker 3 (48:04):
You know? I felt like playing on the in the
USA team. I played two summers with the USA team,
one in the PanAm Games and the second following year
after my junior year in college, I played in the
Olympic team. And I was playing with guys, you know,
Robin Ventura, Tino Martinez, Ben McDonald, Charlie. You know, we

(48:29):
were playing. I was playing first.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
Rack Mark McGuire was on that team, right, wasn’t he?

Speaker 3 (48:34):
No, McGuire was nineteen eighty four. I was nineteen eighty eight.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Okay, okay, Soul Korea. That’s right, eighty He was on
the eighty four team that never played. It was eight
no eighty eighteen. Wait, didn’t you get which was the
year that they didn’t go anyuys, we didn’t go. I
guess eighty. We didn’t go eighty. We didn’t go.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
Yeah, that’s right, that’s right. Yeah. And then so you know,
I was playing We were playing the Cuban team, you know,
who were you know, in their late twenties thirties, you know,
hitting with Eastern bats and going up in incredible competition.
And I beg you know, I was a big part
of the rotation on that team. And so it was

(49:12):
playing with those first round draft picks. It was playing
with those guys and holding my own that I finally
started to believe that maybe I could play professionally and
you know, and kind of fit in with that potential.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
Okay, so your first win, just so you know, was
against the Orioles. Is your third start right right right?
And it was it was at the Big A. And
here’s the big thing. I don’t know if you know,
this game duration two hours and thirty nine minutes. It
wasn’t just that you were awesome and that you you
had this amazing ability to field and ultimately threw a
no hitter at ninety three. It was that you were

(49:47):
You weren’t wiping the sweat, taking a trip around the mountain.
You’re just in there doing your job and getting the
heck out. I mean two hours and thirty nine minutes.
That’s the NV even of teams. Now with the pitch clock, it.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
Was different back then. You know, it was you know,
you moved fast, you got the ball, you got it
out of your hand, and you get up and you
did it again. And I’m a big fan of the
pitch clock. I think it pulled the game back in
that direction. It’s so much easier to watch when the
game moves quickly.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
The no hitter, you know, it’s it’s interesting when I
was watching the documentary right, and the no hitter is
like the culminating moment. I guess for so many people.
I don’t know if you feel that way for you.
For me, it was more just your rookie year and
watching you and you kind of took over the league
and everybody was paying attention. But the no hitter is
interesting because I’m trying to figure out what you were thinking, because, uh,

(50:41):
have you ever seen the movie Let’s sake, Kevin Costner Baseball,
not Bull Durham, the game, Yeah, for love of the game, right,
where he’s got all this other stuff on in his life,
and then for that three out he’s having all these flashbacks.
Do you remember what was going on in your in
your brain Yankee Stadium that day?

Speaker 3 (51:00):
You know, that is one of my favorite baseball movies
and in the book by Michael Shara was also terrific
because it captured the stops and starts of a game.
You know, it’s I mean it pitching is. You’re out there,
You’re in this rush, You’re in this moment. You’re pitching,
you’re strategizing, you’re throwing, and then then you have everything

(51:23):
stops and you come in and you sit in the
dugout and the you know, what goes through your mind
can have everything to do with the game and it
can have nothing to do with the game. And that
movie captured that perfectly, you know, just sitting there and
that no hitter, you know how it goes your teammates
quit talking to you. That adds a different dynamic that

(51:45):
you know, the mood and the stadium changes, you know,
so your mind is just kind of running in all
these different directions. And I remember you’re very observant those
times in between the in a as much as I
remember being out on the mound that day. Excitement.

Speaker 1 (52:05):
You know, how do you want people to describe your career.

Speaker 3 (52:13):
That’s a good question, you know. I you know the documentary,
and I appreciate you bringing it up. Obviously, I was
born missing my right hand, and for a long time, Doug,
I fought against that and I didn’t want the label,
you know. I didn’t want the first perception of me

(52:35):
to be what people thought of me or what I
could do. But I think the documentary in some ways
captures the journey of coming to terms with my hand,
you know, because I met so many kids, so many
families like me, similar to me, like my parents, and

(52:59):
there was a time when I didn’t want to be
known for that. But I had to embrace that, you know,
I had to come I had to say, yes, this
is who I am, and I wouldn’t have done the
things that I did had I been born differently. I
believe that deeply, and so now for me, I want
to I don’t mind being remembered for having done things differently.

Speaker 7 (53:23):
You know.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
I know it’s who I am, and I know it
pushed me in ways I never would have been pushed before,
and later in life. I’m proud of it, and I’m
not you know, I don’t shy away from a label
that I once wasn’t you know, didn’t always embrace.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
Well, I can only tell you this as a young
athlete that was born with all my working limbs, it
was still inspirational for me. Like I think, I’m sure
anyone you met who needed a prosthesis, you know, you
were inspirational. But for anybody else, you’re like, hey, if
Jim Abbott can overcome what he was born with, you
con depth, right, So it’s amazing that. I’m sure so

(54:04):
many people think, wait, such an inspiration is so many? No, No,
you were actually inspiration to all young athletes, especially in
southern California. And I think also part of it was
you never talked about it. It wasn’t. You did kind
of shy away from it, and so it made it
like it it’s not even part of his thought process.
He didn’t. He didn’t think this is anything special. So, yeah,

(54:26):
we should be able to achieve way more considering what
we were born with. Does that make sense?

Speaker 3 (54:32):
Yeah? I believe that, you know, you know, it cracks
me up as I meet people, and I have met
people along the way, kids, boys, and they’ll say hey,
you know, and they have two hands, you know, and
they play baseball and arm away. And I hear all
the times say we used to be on the street,
we would switch the glove on and off.

Speaker 8 (54:51):
Sure everybody, and I say, well, why do you do that?

Speaker 3 (54:56):
It’s probably harder, but who knows. You know that it’s
the way I was born. It’s all I ever knew,
and so you know, I do think it’s a testament
to making the most. And listen, a lot of people
have it a lot worse than me.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
I know that.

Speaker 3 (55:12):
It’s up to us to make the most of what
we’ve been given. And it doesn’t matter if you’re the
most talented person on a team or the least. You
know that the effort is the measurement.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Could agree with you more, well, I just I just
want to tell you an inspiration to me and I
love watching watching the documentary, and as soon as it
came out, I talked to Jason and I said, Jason,
can we have Jim Abata? And he’s like why. I
was like, why not, and he’s like, that’s a very
good point. It’s a very very good point. I encourage
people to watch it and to fall in love with
your story and Jim, it’s just an honor to catch

(55:42):
up with you. Thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
Thanks dog, take care man

The tight end position has become a critical piece for many of the NFL’s best offenses. Two-tight end sets were common in 2024, and they could be even more popular in 2025 as teams across the league embrace a throwback approach.

The New England Patriots could be among those teams with veterans Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper in Josh McDaniels’ offense. They ran plenty of two-tight-end sets during Thursday’s training camp practice, which caught the attention of NBC Sports Boston Patriots insider Phil Perry.

After the session, Perry caught up with Henry for an exclusive Next Pats Podcast interview to get his take on the evolution of the tight end position. Could the tight end resurgence reach another level in 2025?

🔊 Next Pats: Patriots rookie class ALREADY opening eyes in camp | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube

“I think so,” Henry answered. “There are so many tight ends coming into the league now and so many guys across the league that I have so much respect for that are playing the game at a high level, and really taking the tight end position to another level. So it’s really cool to be able to watch guys across the league just kind of dominate and really elevate the position.”

McDaniels is no stranger to two-tight-end sets. Should we expect a heavy dose of 12 personnel this year?

“We’ll see, man,” Henry said. “I think this is what this time of year is for. Kind of build a role, build our team, what we want to be. You’re able to kind of establish that in these four to five weeks as a team.

“Obviously, we have a lot of time together, and I think we have the personnel to do it. We’re gonna be very multiple. We have a lot of weapons now that we can do different things with different guys. That’s probably what we’ll be about more.”

Also in the episode:

• Where young Patriots sit in their respective pecking orders, and how Drake Maye looks through first two camp practices in Josh McDaniels’ offense.
• Not a great two days for the 2024 draft class, including the absence of Ja’Lynn Polk.
• TreVeyon Henderson and Kyle Williams’ stock is up.
• Pecking order at WR.
• Breaking down emerging trends in the NFL: 2 TE sets.
• Full interview with Hunter Henry.

There is often a dance to be done with upper echelon wide receivers.

They do not all have to be divas, but there is a need for them to believe they are so good, so skilled, that they cannot be stopped. That no defense, no single cornerback, can deal with them.

“How dare they challenge me with their primitive skills’’ is the way Mike Tyson put it in his prime, and even if we leave out the last part of that haunting quote — “they’re just as good as dead’’ — the message remains clear.

Malik Nabers is not there just yet, and there is every reason to project that he one day will be. There is also every reason to assume the Giants need him to be more than he was as a rookie, when he was pretty darn good.