Latest / The Daily Play With Joy Taylor / NFL Season Pressure Points: Baker Mayfield, C.J. Stroud, Kyler Murray, Australia Travel, and Women’s FIBA World Cup

Transcript

NFL Season Pressure Points: Baker Mayfield, C.J. Stroud, Kyler Murray, Australia Travel, and Women’s FIBA World Cup · The Daily Play With Joy Taylor

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: The Daily Play with Joy Taylor. Thanks so much for
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: joining me. Make sure you hit.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Subscribe and follow us on social at The Daily Play
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Joy Taylor.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: So I thought it would be best to talk a
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: little bit about the pressure, all the teams.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: The players, the equipment managers, the PR people, everyone who's
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: feeling the crunch.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Of the start of NFL season.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: And I know a lot about this pressure because we
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: always talk about who's in the hot seat before the
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: season begins.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about the quarterbacks.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Baker Mayfield betting on himself. His back is against the wall. Again,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Baker and the Bucks could not come to a contract
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: extension before the season. And he said he is not
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: negotiating during the season.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: So here we are. So he is playing for his
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: future quarterback.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Either with the Bucs or with another team, he will
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: be an unrestricted free agent. Unless Tampa makes him an
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: offer he can't refuse during the offseason. I understand Baker
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: isn't for everyone. He's not always been the guy for me.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: But I think he is talented and I think he
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: has proven to be a franchise quarterback at this point.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: So I really don't understand what the Bucs are doing.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: I don't think you need to overpay for Baker. But listen,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: you're always probably going to overpay for a quarterback.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: So... I think this will be a big year for Baker.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: He tends to play well when his back's against the
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: wall and he has a chip on his shoulder, so
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: look out for the Bucs.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Similarly, C.J.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Stroud's play could determine his future and his compensation. I
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: talked about this yesterday. Obviously, Stroud came in and had
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: an unbelievable rookie season. Since then, his play has been
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: a little up and down, but the Texans have made
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: the playoffs and won a wildcard game in each of
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: his three years in Houston, which is a pretty... significant
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: resume when you compare him to some of his peers. Unfortunately,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: last time we saw him play, he threw four picks
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: and had less than 43% completion rate when the Texans
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: lost the divisional round to the eventual AFC champion Patriots.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: I'm not worried about CJ personally. And as I said yesterday,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: CJ deserves to be paid. He is going to get
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: a max deal. He's likely going to have a big season.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: And even if he doesn't have the perfect season, he's
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: still going to be in line for a big payday.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: And as we know with quarterbacks, the number only goes
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: up and they always match it. So this to me
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: only means a bigger check that the Texans are going
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: to have to write. So if I'm in charge, I'm
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: always paying my rookie guy early and getting it out
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: of the way and saving as much money as possible.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: If I have any inclination to that we are going
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: to eventually sign him.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: I'm getting the deal done early because it's always going
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: to go up.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: It's always going to be more and it's going to
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: be more for longer. So they haven't decided to do that.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: And there's a little pressure on both of them. Finally,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: huge year for Kyler Murray. He's still getting his money,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: but he's only getting a million dollars from his current employer,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: the Vikings. And as a former first overall pick, we've
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: seen that Kyler or whoever earned that accolade entering the
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: lead will get a lot of chances to case in
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: point Carson Wentz, who went second overall in 2016 and
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: is on this Minnesota roster with Kyler. So there will
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: be more chances, but I don't know if there's going
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: to be better ones. And he is with Kevin O'Connell
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: and the Vikings, which is a great situation to be in.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: He is with a quarterback mind that has done a
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: lot of good.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: And I think this is an opportunity for Kyler to
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: really establish himself as a franchise guy after leaving Arizona
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: with a lot of questions about what his capabilities are,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: how locked in he is. So I think this is
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: a really, really tremendous.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Opportunity for Kyler.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: You have a lot of talent around you at the
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: wide receiver position, obviously, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison. So I
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: hope that Kyler can lock in and take over this
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: role as the franchise guy in Minnesota. But there is
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: certainly a lot of pressure on him if he wants
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: to remain a starting quarterback in the NFL. So the
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: NFL will play its first ever game in Australia, and
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: the two teams that will face off in Melbourne are
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: taking very different approaches to this game. So obviously, if
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: you know anything about Australia and travel, you know it
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: is very, very far. The 49ers will be on the
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: ground by the time that you're hearing this, and the
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Rams have not even started packing. Rams head coach Sean
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: McVay has been coy about the travel.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: He said it's a similar approach to previous London trips
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: and a really.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: The goal for us is to try and keep those
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: guys as close to the rhythm and routine as possible.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: This is new to us, even going this far. Now,
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: the Rams have been very successful under McVay internationally. LA
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: is 3-0 both straight up and against the spread in
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: international games, outscoring their opponents 92-17. So this will be
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: another classic moment in the rivalry slash bromance of 49ers
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: head coach Kyle Shanahan and....
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Head coach of the LA Rams, Sean McVay, but Shanahan's
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: not buying.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: He said, usually when you travel with a 16 hour flight,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: you don't want to get there the day before because
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: you feel like you lose a whole day there or two,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: or you're just messed up. People we've talked to, you
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: don't feel normal until like the third or fourth day.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: So we'd like to go out seven days early, but
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: since it takes a day and a half to travel there,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: we're going to go nine. So totally different approaches to
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: this game. I went to Australia earlier this year for
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: the first time. Obviously I was not playing an NFL game.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: I was just going for a wedding, and I can
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: tell you the adjustment is brutal. So I'm really interested
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: to see how the players adjust to this. You're literally
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: traveling to the future. It is a very long flight,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: around 15 hours.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: It's a lot on your body.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: And while I'm sure they're traveling a little different than
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: I did, although.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: I traveled very well, I just want to see whose tactic...
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: actually works for this because you do have to be strategic.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: And I hear McVay and he, he does have the
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: resume to show that his way is better. We'll see
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: who and how this ends up playing out. But I
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: tend to think that the Niners approach is better because
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: your body can adjust to it, but maybe just the
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: shock of landing and getting right to it will work.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: It is.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: It's very interesting to me that they're both taking such
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: drastic approaches to this game.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: That is very, very far away.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Finally, the Women's FIBA World Cup tipped off early Friday morning.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: For those of you listening in the United States, the
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: tournament is taking place in Berlin with the final on
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: September 13th and the WNBA season resuming on the 17th.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: The following countries are competing. Australia, Belgium, China, Czechia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Korea, Mali, Nigeria,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Puerto Rico, Spain, Turkey, and the United States. This happens
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: every four years and every tournament. The competition gets stiffer
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: for Team USA. This year's squad won't have Asia Wilson
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: or Kelsey Plum. And a perennial gold medal favorite, Team USA,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: enters the tournament winners of 30 straight World Cup contests,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: having lost just once since 1994 in international competition.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: So no pressure. This is a big deal.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: USA senior national team coach Kara Lawson called the upcoming
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: tournament probably the most challenging iteration of the event that's
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: ever been held. She said, I think there's no question
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: the world is seeing it's improving at a rapid rate.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: So excited to see it at every level. There's more
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: depth to the teams at the World Cup. Now we
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: look at the rosters. There's a number of high quality players.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: I think it's going to be the most difficult World
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Cup that we've had because of that. As of Thursday,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: 51 current and 19 former WNBA players are on the
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup rosters. Team USA has
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: only 12 roster spots. So that's 58 other WNBA caliber
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: players spread across 14 other countries. So that's a lot
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: of talent to navigate through. And a lot of pressure
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: on players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and Paige
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Beckers to step up against what will be probably the
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: toughest competition the U.S.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Has ever faced.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: I think this is a very, very interesting opportunity for
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: this U.S.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Team to show what they're made of. There's a lot
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: of young players.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: And with all the attention on the WNBA, there will
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: be a lot of pressure for them to get this done.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: And it's a great roster. I'm excited about it. But
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: with the resume that the U.S. team has in this
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: competition and some of the conversations that have been had
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: about the players that are on this roster, I think
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: it's going to be a good challenge for the U.S.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: team and a good gauge of how this particular roster
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: plays together. And I think it'll be a good lead
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: in to finishing up the WNBA.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Season and heading into the WNBA playoffs. So I'm looking
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: forward to it. Thanks so much for joining me. Make
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: sure you.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: Subscribe, follow us on social at The Daily Play, Joy Taylor.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: For more on this and other top stories of the day,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: tune into The Daily Play with Joy Taylor at urban1podcast. com
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: or wherever you get your podcasts.