JB Talking Sports

WEEK ZERO: Appropriately Named

They call it Week Zero.

After watching Saturday’s college football games, I finally understand why.

That’s exactly how many significant things happened — zero.

Don’t get me wrong. I was happy as hell to have college football back. After spending an entire offseason talking about recruiting, the transfer portal, quarterback battles, preseason rankings and which teams might make a run at the playoff, I was ready to watch somebody actually line up and hit somebody.

But Week Zero is basically college football handing you an appetizer and telling you dinner will be out shortly.

Nothing I saw Saturday changed my national championship pick. Nothing changed my playoff picture. And nothing made me completely rethink how I view the major contenders heading into the season.

But I will say there were two things that caught my attention.

The first was Virginia.

Virginia looked very good. Not just good for Week Zero, either. They looked physical, prepared and confident. Beating NC State 34–8 is the kind of performance that makes me put a little star beside your name and say, OK, I need to watch these guys again.

I’m not ready to make Virginia an ACC contender after one football game, but they definitely increased their stock with me Saturday.

The other interesting result was North Carolina beating TCU.

I’m just not sure yet what it means.

There are two possibilities.

Either North Carolina is going to be significantly improved this season, or TCU has significantly dropped.

Right now, I don’t know which one it is.

That’s one of the problems with evaluating Week Zero — or even Week One. We don’t have a baseline yet. Beating a team we think is good looks impressive until three weeks later when we discover that team isn’t very good at all.

But North Carolina deserves credit. They went to Dublin, played a tough, ugly football game and found a way to win. That’s something to build on.

USC handled San Jose State, which is exactly what USC should have done. There were a few other games scattered around the country, but nothing that made me sit up in my chair and start rewriting my preseason predictions.

And maybe that’s exactly what Week Zero is supposed to be.

It’s the trailer before the movie.

A little taste of college football before somebody finally opens the gates and lets everybody onto the field.

So after months of waiting, studying rosters, arguing about rankings and predicting what is going to happen this season, what did we learn from the first Saturday of college football?

Virginia might be pretty damn good.

North Carolina might be improved.

TCU might have some problems.

And everything else?

Zero.

Appropriately enough.

https://jamesbaxtersite.wordpress.com/2026/08/29/jbs-top-20-rock-bands-of-the-70s-and-80s/

JB’s Top 20 Rock Bands of the ’70s and ’80s If Their Song Comes On, The Volume Goes Up I’ve been having a lot of fun putting together these Top 20 lists, but this one may be the most personal. The top 20 rock bands of the ’70s and ’80s. Befo…

https://jamesbaxtersite.wordpress.com/2026/08/29/jbs-top-20-tom-cruise-movies/

JB’s Top 20 Tom Cruise Movies I’ve been doing my Top 20 lists this week, and I thought ranking Tom Cruise movies would be an easy one. It wasn’t. In fact, this may be one of the hardest lists I’ve put together for one simple re…

JB’S TOP 20: The Greatest Football Movies of All Time

It’s opening week of football, so I’ve decided to make this Top 20 Week.

We’re going to rank some things, argue about some things, and probably make a few people mad along the way. And what better place to start than with the 20 greatest football movies ever made?

Now understand something before you start yelling at me.

I’m not ranking these as a movie critic. I don’t care what Rotten Tomatoes says. I don’t care how many Oscars somebody won. I’m ranking these as a football guy.

Does it capture the game? Does the locker room feel right? Does it understand coaches and players? Does it understand what football can mean to a town, a school, a family or a kid trying to figure out where he belongs?

That’s my criteria.

So grab your popcorn and prepare to tell me how wrong I am.

20. Greater

The story of Brandon Burlsworth is almost impossible not to love. A walk-on at Arkansas who transformed himself into an All-American and NFL draft pick, Burlsworth represents everything we love about this game—work, persistence and refusing to allow somebody else to determine your ceiling.

19. Woodlawn

Football, faith and racial tension come together in a movie based on the true story of a Birmingham high school team in the 1970s. There are bigger football movies, but this one has something worthwhile to say.

18. The Express

The story of Syracuse great Ernie Davis, the first Black player to win the Heisman Trophy. It’s football history, American history and one hell of a story.

17. The Replacements

Is it realistic?

Hell no.

Do I care?

Not even a little bit.

Sometimes a football movie is allowed to just be fun, and The Replacements is exactly that. Gene Hackman coaching a bunch of replacement players with Keanu Reeves at quarterback shouldn’t work nearly as well as it does—but it does.

16. Varsity Blues

If you played high school football—or spent much time around it—you probably recognize pieces of this movie.

The pressure. The crazy parents. The town treating teenage football players like professional athletes. The coach who believes winning justifies everything.

It’s exaggerated, sure.

But maybe not as exaggerated as some people think.

15. Necessary Roughness

Another one that’s just fun.

A college program gets stripped down and has to basically build a football team from scratch. Scott Bakula at quarterback, Sinbad on the defensive line and Kathy Ireland kicking field goals.

Don’t overthink it. Just enjoy it.

14. Draft Day

This isn’t really a movie about playing football. It’s about the business of football.

And that’s why I like it.

Kevin Costner plays an NFL general manager trying to navigate the draft, trades, ownership pressure, coaches, scouts and his own instincts. Anybody fascinated by player evaluation and roster construction can appreciate this one.

13. Jerry Maguire

Yes, it’s partly a romantic comedy.

But underneath all of that is a pretty damn good look at the relationship between professional athletes and the people whose careers depend on them.

And let’s face it—“Show me the money” became part of sports culture forever.

12. North Dallas Forty

If you’ve never watched this one, you should.

It isn’t glamorous. That’s the point.

North Dallas Forty showed professional football as a brutal business where players destroy their bodies on Sunday and are expected to be ready to do it again the following week.

Nick Nolte was terrific, and the movie was way ahead of its time.

11. The Blind Side

I know there has been controversy surrounding the real-life story in the years since this movie came out.

I’m ranking the movie.

And as a movie, The Blind Side remains one of the most recognizable football films ever made. Sandra Bullock was terrific, and the story connected with audiences far beyond football fans.

Now we get to my Top 10.

And this is where the arguments really start.

10. Invincible

Mark Wahlberg plays Vince Papale, the 30-year-old bartender who somehow earns a roster spot with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Every athlete who was ever told he wasn’t good enough understands why this story works.

Sometimes you just need somebody to give you a shot.

9. The Program

If you were around college football in the 1990s, you knew The Program was going to make this list.

This movie is dark, uncomfortable and wildly over-the-top in places.

But it also touched subjects football movies weren’t exactly lining up to discuss at the time—steroids, alcoholism, academic problems, recruiting pressure and the enormous expectations placed on college players.

It isn’t always pretty.

Neither is college football.

8. All the Right Moves

This one absolutely belongs in the Top 10.

Tom Cruise plays a high school defensive back in a Pennsylvania steel town who sees football as his opportunity to get out and build a different life.

But what makes All the Right Moves work is that football isn’t just scenery.

It matters.

The relationship between player and coach matters. The scholarship matters. The town matters. One game can change a kid’s future.

I’ve been around enough high school football players over the years to know exactly how real that feeling can be.

7. The Longest Yard — 1974

I’m talking about the original.

Burt Reynolds. Prison football. Mean guards. Dirty football.

What else do you need?

The remake was entertaining, but the original had an edge to it that can’t really be duplicated.

6. Any Given Sunday

Oliver Stone basically took professional football, turned every dial to 11 and let the cameras roll.

Al Pacino’s “Inches” speech alone probably gets this movie onto most football lists.

But underneath all the Hollywood excess is something very real: football careers are short, organizations are ruthless, coaches become obsolete, young players replace old ones, and everybody is fighting to survive.

5. We Are Marshall

This one is bigger than football.

After the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people, including members of the Marshall football team, coaches and supporters, the school had to decide whether football even mattered anymore.

They ultimately discovered that it mattered precisely because of what had happened.

Football became part of the healing.

That’s powerful.

4. Brian’s Song

You don’t need explosions. You don’t need a championship game. You don’t even need a big Hollywood speech.

Sometimes you just need two teammates.

The relationship between Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo remains one of the most emotional stories football has ever produced.

If the ending doesn’t get to you, I’m not sure what to tell you.

3. Friday Night Lights

Few movies have ever captured what high school football can mean to a community better than Friday Night Lights.

And I don’t mean just the good parts.

That’s why I love it.

You see the expectations. You see adults putting their dreams onto kids. You see how Friday night can become the center of an entire town’s identity.

Having spent much of my life around high school football, I’ve seen pieces of this world firsthand.

Football can bring a community together.

It can also become way too important.

This movie understood both.

2. Rudy

Yeah, I know.

People love taking shots at Rudy now.

I don’t care.

There is something timeless about a kid being told repeatedly that he isn’t big enough, isn’t talented enough and doesn’t belong—and showing up anyway.

Rudy Ruettiger wasn’t supposed to play football at Notre Dame.

That’s exactly why the story matters.

Talent determines a lot in football.

Heart still counts for something.

1. Remember the Titans

For me, this is the one.

Remember the Titans isn’t merely a great movie that happens to have football in it.

Football is the vehicle that makes everything else possible.

The players have to learn to trust each other. The coaches have to learn to work together. A divided community watches a football team accomplish something the adults around them couldn’t seem to figure out.

And somewhere along the way, they become a team.

There are great football scenes. Great performances. Great lines. Great music.

But what separates Remember the Titans is that it understands something I’ve always believed about football.

At its best, this game teaches you that the guy standing beside you doesn’t have to look like you, come from where you came from or believe everything you believe.

When that ball is snapped, he’s your teammate.

And you better have his back.

That’s football.

And that’s why Remember the Titans is my greatest football movie of all time.

So there’s my Top 20.

I already know somebody is screaming because I left their favorite movie off the list.

Good.

That’s half the fun.

What did I get wrong? What did I leave out? And most importantly—what’s YOUR No. 1 football movie?

— JB

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I’m Calling It Now: Notre Dame Will Win the National Championship

I’m calling it now.

Notre Dame is my pick to win the national championship.

I’ve gone back and forth between Oregon and Notre Dame because I think those are two of the most complete teams in college football this season. But when I look at Notre Dame, and particularly the road they have in front of them during the regular season, I keep coming back to the same conclusion.

This team is built to make a run, and the schedule is built to let them do it.

When I go through Notre Dame’s schedule, I see two games that I consider legitimate hurdles: BYU and Miami.

That’s it.

BYU concerns me because that’s a road game against a program that knows how to win football games. That environment can get nasty, and Notre Dame had better show up ready to play.

Then there’s Miami.

That’s the one game on the schedule where I look at the opponent and say, Okay, this could be a heavyweight fight. Miami has the talent and athleticism to line up with Notre Dame and make it a four-quarter football game.

Outside of those two?

I just don’t see another team on that schedule that I believe should beat Notre Dame.

Now, I’ll throw one little asterisk beside Navy.

I’ve been around football long enough to know that you never completely dismiss a team running that triple-option offense. It’s different. You don’t see it every week, you have to prepare differently for it, and one blown assignment can turn into six points before you know what happened.

Navy can shorten the game, eat clock and frustrate the hell out of you.

Could that cause Notre Dame some problems?

Absolutely.

Do I think Navy beats them?

No.

And that brings me to the bigger reason I’m picking Notre Dame.

A favorable schedule isn’t just about piling up wins. It’s about what that schedule does to you physically by December.

Notre Dame doesn’t have to navigate the kind of weekly meat grinder that some of these SEC and Big Ten teams are going to face. They’re not going to spend two months playing heavyweight fight after heavyweight fight and then limp into the College Football Playoff held together with athletic tape.

That’s important.

Really important.

Championships aren’t necessarily won by the team that looked the best in September. They’re won by teams that are still getting better in November and still have their best players standing in December and January.

Notre Dame has an opportunity to do exactly that.

And I think CJ Carr is going to be a huge part of it.

I love what I’ve seen from this kid. He’s talented, he’s poised, and he’s now got experience under his belt. If he takes the next step that I expect him to take, Notre Dame isn’t simply going to have a quarterback capable of managing games.

They’re going to have a quarterback capable of winning championship games.

That’s the difference.

Oregon still scares me. If you told me Oregon wins the whole damn thing, I wouldn’t argue very hard with you. They’ve got talent everywhere, they’re well coached, and they’re absolutely one of the teams capable of standing on that stage at the end.

But today, I’m planting my flag.

Notre Dame.

I think they get through the regular season. I think that schedule puts them in tremendous position for the playoff. I think they arrive there healthier than a lot of the teams they’ll be facing.

And once they get there, I think they’ve got enough talent, enough experience and enough quarterback play to finish the job.

So I’m not waiting until November to jump on the bandwagon.

I’m calling it before the season gets rolling.

Notre Dame will win the national championship.

WHY I THINK SOUTH CAROLINA WILL BEAT ALABAMA

I’m going to go ahead and say it.

I think South Carolina is going to beat Alabama.

And before somebody starts screaming that I’ve lost my mind or that I’m looking at this through garnet-colored glasses, understand something: this isn’t about Alabama suddenly becoming a bad football team. They aren’t. Alabama still has as much raw talent walking around that campus as just about anybody in America.

But I think Alabama is overrated.

More importantly, I think they are vulnerable in exactly the areas South Carolina is capable of exploiting.

That is what makes this matchup so interesting to me.

For years, people have looked at the script A on the helmet and automatically assumed Alabama would have an elite offensive line, an NFL quarterback and a running game capable of beating you into submission.

I’m not sure this Alabama team has any of those things right now.

START WITH THE OFFENSIVE LINE

This is where my eyes immediately go.

Alabama lost two important pieces up front to the NFL in Kadyn Proctor and Parker Brailsford. They were already dealing with youth and inconsistency on the offensive front, and now they’re replacing even more experience.

That’s a problem.

And I don’t care how many stars are beside the names of the guys replacing them.

I’ve evaluated football players for a long time, and one thing I’ve learned is that offensive line play isn’t simply about collecting five talented athletes and putting them beside each other.

It’s about communication.

It’s about timing.

It’s about leverage.

It’s about recognizing fronts and pressures before the ball is snapped.

And most importantly, it’s about five guys functioning like one unit.

You don’t manufacture that overnight.

Now consider what Alabama is going to see across the line of scrimmage when South Carolina comes to town.

Dylan Stewart.

And a South Carolina defensive front that I believe has a chance to be one of the better groups in the SEC.

That’s where this football game starts for me.

If South Carolina can generate pressure with four people, everything changes.

You don’t have to sell out with blitzes. You can disguise coverages. You can keep bodies underneath. You can make a young quarterback hold the football for another half-second.

And against Dylan Stewart, another half-second can feel like an eternity.

THEN THERE’S THE QUARTERBACK

Keelon Russell may eventually become a great quarterback.

Hell, he may become an NFL quarterback.

But I’m talking about right now.

Potential and experience are two completely different things.

He’s going to be playing behind an offensive line trying to establish itself while learning how to operate against SEC defenses that are going to throw every imaginable look at him.

South Carolina doesn’t need Russell to be terrible.

They just need to make him uncomfortable.

Make him move off his spot.

Make him speed up his clock.

Make him wonder where Stewart is coming from before the snap.

Young quarterbacks make mistakes when the picture they saw before the snap doesn’t look the same after it.

That’s where South Carolina can steal possessions.

AND THEN THERE’S LANORRIS SELLERS

This is the other side of the equation that I think people are overlooking.

South Carolina has the more experienced quarterback in this matchup.

And they may have the most physically gifted quarterback on the field.

LaNorris Sellers gives South Carolina something that makes defensive coordinators miserable: he can make a good defensive call wrong.

You can win the protection.

You can cover everybody.

You can collapse the pocket.

And Sellers can still escape, pick up 18 yards and move the chains.

That’s demoralizing to a defense.

More importantly, Sellers isn’t being asked to become Superman this season. South Carolina has more experience around him offensively, and I think Kendal Briles is going to put him in situations where his athletic ability becomes a weapon instead of a necessity.

That’s a huge difference.

SOUTH CAROLINA IS SNEAKY GOOD

This is the part I think people outside Columbia are missing.

They’re looking at South Carolina’s record from last season.

I’m looking at the football team that’s going to walk onto the field this season.

Those aren’t necessarily the same thing.

There is experience on this offense.

There are playmakers.

There is a quarterback with enormous physical ability.

And there is enough talent on the defensive front to create problems for anybody they play.

I don’t think South Carolina needs everything to go perfectly to beat Alabama.

I think they need to do three things:

Pressure Russell without constantly blitzing.

Protect the football.

Let Sellers be Sellers.

Do those three things and Alabama is going to find itself in a four-quarter fistfight.

And that’s where this gets really interesting.

Because the longer South Carolina hangs around, the more the pressure shifts to Alabama.

They’re Alabama.

They’re at home.

They’re supposed to win.

South Carolina can walk into Bryant-Denny Stadium with absolutely nothing to lose and start swinging.

I’M CALLING IT NOW

Maybe I’ll have to eat this one later.

That’s part of making predictions.

But I’m not waiting until game week and pretending I saw it coming.

I’m putting it down now.

South Carolina beats Alabama.

Not because Alabama doesn’t have talent.

Not because Alabama football has suddenly fallen apart.

But because I believe Alabama has weaknesses in places South Carolina is specifically constructed to attack.

Sometimes football really is that simple.

It’s about matchups.

And when I look at this one, I see a young Alabama quarterback behind an offensive line trying to find itself, facing a South Carolina defense capable of making his afternoon miserable.

Then I look across the field and see LaNorris Sellers.

I’ll take my chances.

Give me the Gamecocks.

If LaNorris Sellers Isn’t in Your Top 100, Your List Is a Joke

Gamecock fans are losing their minds over some of these latest Top 100 college football player rankings because LaNorris Sellers isn’t on them.

And for once, I don’t blame them.

I’ve seen lists with quarterbacks ranked ahead of Sellers that the average college football fan couldn’t pick out of a lineup.

But my problem isn’t really about South Carolina. It’s about what passes for “player evaluation” these days.

A lot of the people producing these rankings aren’t evaluating football players. They’re evaluating statistics.

There’s a difference.

You can pull up completion percentages, passing efficiency, yards per attempt, EPA, touchdown-to-interception ratios and whatever other analytics you want. Those numbers have value. I’m not anti-analytics.

But statistics tell you what happened.

Evaluation is supposed to help you understand why it happened — and what the athlete is capable of doing next.

I’ve evaluated football players for decades. I’ve trained them. I’ve studied biomechanics. I’ve measured athletes through speed, agility, change of direction, explosiveness and power. I developed my own AMP — Agility, Motion and Power — evaluation system years ago because I wanted to understand what made an athlete physically capable of playing at another level.

So when I evaluate a quarterback, I’m not just looking at his stat line.

I’m looking at his feet.

I’m looking at his hips.

I’m looking at his ability to generate torque.

I’m looking at how the kinetic chain works from the ground through the lower body, through the trunk, through the shoulder and ultimately through the football.

I’m watching how efficiently he transfers force.

I’m watching his release.

I’m watching his movement patterns.

I’m watching what happens mechanically when the pocket collapses and he can no longer operate under perfect conditions.

I’m watching the damn athlete.

And if you use your eyes and understand what you’re looking at, LaNorris Sellers jumps off the screen.

Is he a finished quarterback?

No.

Was everything perfect last season?

No.

But we’re talking about ranking the best players in college football, and raw talent has to be part of that equation.

Sellers possesses physical tools that very few quarterbacks in America have.

His combination of size, arm strength, mobility, power and athleticism is rare. More importantly, some of those characteristics aren’t things you’re going to manufacture in a quarterback room. You can improve mechanics. You can improve recognition. You can improve timing and decision-making.

You can’t coach somebody into possessing elite physical traits.

That’s where these rankings lose me.

Too many of them have become spreadsheets disguised as scouting reports.

The computer sees a quarterback who threw for more yards or had a better efficiency rating and spits him out ahead of Sellers.

My eyes tell me something different.

My experience evaluating athletes tells me something different.

And biomechanics damn sure tells me something different.

If you’re putting together a list of the Top 100 performances from last season, fine. Leave Sellers off if your criteria says he doesn’t belong.

But don’t call it a ranking of the Top 100 players in college football.

Because those aren’t the same thing.

Player evaluation requires projection. It requires understanding physical traits. It requires recognizing movement efficiency, athletic ceiling and how an athlete’s individual components fit together.

Most importantly, occasionally it requires closing the laptop and watching the football player.

LaNorris Sellers is one of the most physically gifted quarterbacks in college football.

You can debate exactly where he belongs in the Top 100.

But if you give me 100 college football players and tell me Sellers isn’t one of them?

Throw the damn list away.

Because at that point, you’re not evaluating football players.

You’re evaluating spreadsheets.

— JB

JB’S ROOKIE STOCK REPORT

First-Rounders Trending Up After Two Weeks of the Preseason

Two weeks of preseason football isn’t enough to tell us who is going to be a star in the NFL. I know that. You know that. And every coach in the league knows that.

But it is enough to start seeing some things.

I’ve spent a big part of my life evaluating football players, and one thing I learned a long time ago is that I’m not necessarily looking for statistics in these situations. I’m looking for traits. Does the speed translate? Does the strength translate? Does the player look comfortable? Does he look like he belongs?

So after two weeks, it’s time to open the market.

Here is my first JB’s Rookie Stock Report on the 2026 first-rounders.

📈 BUY — TY SIMPSON, QB, RAMS

This may be my favorite stock right now.

Simpson went 21-of-25 for 190 yards and two touchdowns in his preseason debut without turning the football over.

Forget the numbers for a second.

He looked comfortable.

That’s what caught my attention.

There is a difference between a rookie quarterback completing passes and a rookie quarterback looking like he understands what he’s seeing. Simpson looked decisive, controlled and comfortable operating an NFL offense.

I’m buying.

STOCK: 🔥 STRONG BUY

📈 BUY — ARVELL REESE, LB, GIANTS

This kid looks like an NFL linebacker.

Period.

The size, speed, range and explosiveness that made Reese a top-five pick are showing up already. More importantly, he doesn’t appear overwhelmed by the mental side of playing NFL defense.

That’s usually what slows these young linebackers down.

Reese appears to be accelerating through that learning curve.

STOCK: ⬆️ BUY

📈 BUY — DAVID BAILEY, EDGE, JETS

Now we’re talking about one of my favorite things to evaluate — an edge player.

Bailey recorded his first preseason sack in Week 2, but I’m more interested in how he’s playing.

The speed is there. The power is there. And he’s showing that he isn’t simply a pass-rush specialist who disappears when teams run at him.

If Bailey continues developing his speed-to-power game, the Jets may have themselves a problem for opposing offensive tackles.

STOCK: ⬆️ BUY

📈 BUY — MONROE FREELING, OT, PANTHERS

Offensive linemen don’t make highlight reels very often, but this is exactly the kind of player I pay attention to during preseason.

Freeling has been pushed toward the starting lineup, and so far he looks like he belongs there.

He’s showing the movement skills you want in pass protection along with enough strength to move people in the running game.

When a rookie offensive tackle starts looking comfortable against NFL bodies this early, I pay attention.

STOCK: ⬆️ BUY

📈 BUY — MALACHI LAWRENCE, EDGE, COWBOYS

Another edge guy who has my attention.

Lawrence produced two defensive stops and a pressure in only 17 snaps during his preseason opener.

That’s what I call making your snaps count.

I don’t care if a guy gets 50 snaps against backups and piles up statistics. Show me somebody who gets limited opportunities and affects football plays.

Lawrence has done that.

STOCK: ⬆️ BUY

📈 BUY — AKHEEM MESIDOR, EDGE, CHARGERS

This is another one where you have to look beyond the box score.

Mesidor hasn’t had a huge workload, but when he’s been on the field, he’s flashed.

That’s exactly what preseason is supposed to be about for these rookies.

Show me something.

Give me a reason to want to see you against better competition.

Mesidor has done that.

STOCK: ⬆️ BUY

➡️ HOLD — DILLON THIENEMAN, S, BEARS

I’m not selling this stock.

But I’m not buying a truckload of it yet either.

Thieneman has shown the range and versatility that made him a first-round pick, but there have also been some rookie moments.

That’s expected at safety.

There is a lot going on back there, and mistakes tend to become very visible.

The athletic ability is obvious. Now I want to see the consistency.

STOCK: ➡️ HOLD

📈 BUY — PETER WOODS, DT, CHIEFS

Woods is interesting because his second preseason game was considerably more encouraging than his first.

That’s exactly what you want to see.

Improvement.

He showed quickness, strong hands and the ability to get off blocks and disrupt the quarterback.

Defensive tackles sometimes take a little longer because suddenly everybody across from them is strong.

Woods appears to be adjusting.

STOCK: ⬆️ BUY

➡️ HOLD — FERNANDO MENDOZA, QB, RAIDERS

The No. 1 overall pick doesn’t have to look like Patrick Mahomes in August.

He just needs to look like he belongs.

Mendoza went 10-of-16 for 97 yards and a touchdown in his debut without throwing an interception.

Nothing spectacular.

Nothing alarming.

And sometimes that’s exactly what you want from a rookie quarterback.

I’m holding this stock because I want to see more.

STOCK: ➡️ HOLD

📉 SELL — CARNELL TATE, WR, TITANS

Don’t misunderstand me here.

I’m not saying Carnell Tate can’t play football.

I’m saying we’re talking about the No. 4 overall pick, and after two preseason games he still doesn’t have a reception.

That’s enough to raise my eyebrow.

There may be chemistry issues with Cam Ward. There may be circumstances we’re not seeing. And Tate certainly has enough talent to turn this around quickly.

But this is the stock market.

We’re evaluating what we’ve seen right now.

And right now?

I’m selling.

STOCK: 📉 SELL

JB’S TOP FIVE STOCKS

If I had to put my imaginary money on five first-round rookies after two weeks:

1. Ty Simpson — QB, Rams 🔥
2. Arvell Reese — LB, Giants ⬆️
3. David Bailey — EDGE, Jets ⬆️
4. Monroe Freeling — OT, Panthers ⬆️
5. Malachi Lawrence — EDGE, Cowboys ⬆️

And Simpson is the one I’m watching closest.

Preseason football can fool you. I’ve seen August superstars disappear when the games start counting.

But traits don’t lie.

Speed translates. Power translates. Movement translates. Processing translates.

And after two weeks, we’re starting to see which of these first-round picks brought those traits with them to the NFL.

The market is officially open.

— JB