Very rarely do three-way QB battles work. Receiving one-third of the reps through off-season OTAs (organized team activities) and then during training camp is not the ideal way to prepare two young quarterbacks trying to prove themselves nor a veteran looking to grow for an NFL season. Its also difficult on a locker room who has their own opinions on who should be leading their football team.

The Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins are two teams looking to dispel the three-way QB battle debate as training camp fast approaches.

My co-host Zig Fracassi and I caught up with RBKR specialist Leon Washington of the Seahawks on SiriusXM NFL Radio to get his thoughts of how the battle is unfolding in Seattle.

Ill tell you what now, its a battleIts a battle, Leon said, Tarvaris Jackson, Im telling you what man, Tavaris has turned it onHe has turned it on and has not made this easy.

Jackson is coming off his best NFL season statistically as he heads into his seventh year as a professional. Many considered Jackson a raw prospect when he was drafted 2nd round by the Vikings out of Alabama State in 2006. Playing last year with a torn pectoral muscle Jackson was able to win seven games while completing 60.2 percent of his passes for 3,091 yards with 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Jackson is only 29 years old, has led a team to the playoffs in the past and should be embarking on the prime years of his NFL career.

This offseason, Seattle signed free agent quarterback Matt Flynn of the Packers to a three-year, 26 million deal, 8 million of which is guaranteed Flynn in 2012. Its hard to imagine Flynn holding a clip board for that type of money. The Seahawks also drafted Russell Wilson from Wisconsin in the third round, who head coach Pete Carroll declared, hes in the competition, he showed us enough, after the teams recent rookie mini-camp.

Carroll continues his mantra of promoting competition, but could he be adversely affecting his team early in the 2012 season until a decision is made? The Seattle locker-room is already evaluating the situation as it is unfolding and picking their leader.

Leon Washington assessed the situation further and weighed in on the new additions at quarterback by stating,

On Jackson: To me, right now, Tarvaris looks the best, thats just my opinion right now.

On Flynn: You can tell his swagger. You can tell he came from Green Bay where a great lineage of QBs comes from thatthat philosophy, that system.

On Wilson: Man, wow -- if hes three inches taller, I mean, he possibly could have been the best QB coming out in the draft. That kid has it all. He puts the ball on the money, has swagger in the huddle and commands respect as a rookie.

Leon finished the interview with, I cant speak for coach Carroll, but it is a battle right now. Whoever comes out of this on top, its gonna be right for the team.

Most head coaches like to decide on their starting quarterback by the third preseason game. Miami Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin recently told the Palm Beach Post that's the case because that is when the starting offense plays most of the game.

Conceptually, a three-way quarterback battle may be right due to fairness, but is it properly preparing the team at the most critical position on the field? Lets wait patiently as Seattle and Miami prepare to settle this debate once and for all.

Latest White Sox Talk

Ricky says be ready for Sox to win: 'People, have expectations'

Why would Sox trade for Nomar Mazara?

White Sox Talk Podcast: Yasmani Grandal is all-in

SAN DIEGO — Rick Renteria isn’t shy about what he wants for his White Sox.

No, he’s not out there on Twitter, demanding the front office adds Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rendon, Nicholas Castellanos and Dallas Keuchel. But every chance he gets, he talks about where he expects his team to be in 2020.

“We left the season last year, the last series of the year, talking about this year, what we were going to expect and what we wanted to do and the things that we want to accomplish,” the skipper said Tuesday at the Winter Meetings. “Obviously winning more games and being a part of a relevant season is important to us, so we're going to ask a lot of these guys.

“It's time. We talked about it being time. Guys are going to have to step it up. We've made tremendous strides, made growth, but we still have to continue to add pieces to put us over the top to give us an opportunity to be relevant.”

Don’t misconstrue those words as Renteria poking his front office. Rick Hahn & Co. know very well they’ve got more work to do in the wake of giving the richest contract in team history to free-agent catcher Yasmani Grandal.

But a generally silent first two days at the Winter Meetings — there is a rumor suggesting the White Sox are trying to trade for Texas Rangers outfielder Nomar Mazara — have not lived up to the sky-high expectations of fans, who anticipated hearing the South Siders tied to the biggest names on the free-agent market.

Because the White Sox have been so quiet, it’s hard to figure out what new toys Renteria will have to play with in 2020. It’s hard to figure out if the White Sox will even be ready to leap into contender status by the time March rolls around.

That doesn’t seem to matter to Renteria, though, who was talking about the 2020 postseason while still wrapping up an 89-loss season in 2019. He’s instructing the fan base to start thinking the same way.

“People, have expectations,” he instructed. “Have them on me. Have them on our team. Have them on everyone.

“What scares me is if people don't have expectations. That scares me because then it means you're not striving to be better. We want to be better. We want our guys to improve.”

The idea that all the young White Sox who broke out in 2019 still have a good deal of growing and improving to do is what makes the future so bright on the South Side. And it’s what drew Grandal to sign with the team. It’s what Hahn says should make the White Sox a destination for all free agents.

Renteria agrees.

“There's no one, I don't think, that we've talked to, even toward the end of last year and even people that we've spoken to in terms of possibly coming here that don't see where we're at right now,” Renteria said. “I think there is an optimism and an excitement about the South Side right now that is legit. I don't think it's made up. It's not. It's real.”

As Hahn has alluded to for some time now, any skeptical fans out there likely won’t believe the White Sox have arrived as contenders until they see it, be it through the huge splashes of offseason additions or the fusion of the young core into a true force to be reckoned with. Rumors of reclamation-project outfielders and stopgap solutions in the starting rotation aren’t exactly bringing folks to Renteria’s level of excitement.

But any stretches of offseason inactivity shouldn’t make anyone forget about Yoan Moncada or Lucas Giolito or Tim Anderson or Eloy Jimenez or Luis Robert or Nick Madrigal. Or, you know, Grandal.

That’s what’s real. That’s what’s got Renteria so excited.

Playoffs? A Jim Mora style reaction to that question wouldn’t be unwarranted. But Renteria is asking you to dream bigger.

Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the White Sox easily on your device.

Latest Cubs Talk

Cubs still trying to break through on extension talks

Two MLB moves that changed the landscape of Bryant's trade market

Cubs still waiting for their number to be called in MLB offseason

SAN DIEGO — While the rest of the baseball world is occupying their time on free agent signings and trades, the Cubs have been waiting for their number to be called.

They've been trying to nail down extensions with key players that are only a couple years away from free agency, though nothing appears imminent on that front. 

Kris Bryant, Javy Baez, Anthony Rizzo and Kyle Schwarber are all free agents after the 2021 season, leaving the Cubs two years to work out a deal or trade the player before losing them for nothing but a compensation pick. Willson Contreras is a free agent after 2022. Theo Epstein's front office reached a four-year, $55.5 million deal with Kyle Hendricks in spring training, extending his team control through the 2023 season.

The Cubs won't comment specifically on the current extension talks, but they'd ideally hope to wrap anything before spring training this year, so the players can focus solely on baseball by then.

"We always take the position of not commenting on extensions, but are we having those discussions? Yes," Jed Hoyer said Tuesday. "People focus so much on trades and free agent signings at these meetings, but all the agents are under the same roofs, also, and allows us to have those kinds of discussions. I'm not gonna specify who or what, but yeah certainly those conversations are ongoing."

Bryant has long been thought of as the toughest of the group to lock up long-term given that his agent, Scott Boras, typically advises clients to hit the open market and maximize their value. Boras reiterated Tuesday afternoon at the Winter Meetings he and Bryant are still open to extension talks with the Cubs.

Baez and Rizzo loom as the two most likely to extend their Wrigley Field stays, with the two emerging as the faces of the franchise in their own ways.

As the Cubs try to navigate an offseason where they're "serving two masters" (trying to compete in 2020-21 while also enhancing the long-term future of the franchise), a potential extension would check both boxes in a major way. If Hoyer and Theo Epstein knew Baez would be locking down shortstop and the middle of the lineup for the next six seasons, they could breathe a bit easier thinking about the big picture and long-term health of the franchise. 

At the same time, they can't operate as if anything is a certainty. Bryant could decide he likes the Cubs' offer and make Chicago his forever baseball home. Baez could conclude the opposite. 

It's what makes this particular offseason so tricky for the Cubs.

"We have to be able to have parallel tracks in our mind," Hoyer said. "We have to be able to do multiple things at once. It doesn't make it more difficult. We have a lot of really good players. We've had them for a long time. When we talk to these players about contracts, there's no player that we talk to that we haven't had a conversation with at some point before about a contract. 

"We've talked about these players for five years in some way, shape or form. When we sit down with these players, we're not covering a ton of new ground. We've already been over a lot of it. I think we're able to have parallel tracks."