After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

Why you, why you acting hard when you just a baby? Boy, I keep it real with you, what you trying to play me?

You're listening to After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I miss the days when basketball was a contact sport. When not every single player was complaining about not getting a foul call. LAPD was called.

LAPD was called. OMG, and I don't even say that, I am so tired of seeing rookies complain about not getting a call. You cannot be serious. I remember when only captains were allowed to speak to officials and now everybody does it. Can you just shut up and play basketball?

Your mama raised you better than that. Have you lost your mind? This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Halfway through our show and still lots of great content to come, if I do say so myself. At least I hope so, that is the goal. It's funny because when I was speaking to Syracuse students on Monday, I was telling them, I am anoretentive, I'm a control freak when it comes to the elements that I can control, so I can't control everything, but what I can control, whether it be audio, whether it be interviews, whether it be production and editing, so the music. I have to sometimes cede that control to the producers because I want them to be involved and because I can't possibly handle it all. But when it comes to social media, when it comes to wanting a perfect radio show every night, an anoretentive perfectionist, that's a tough combination, but that is me. And yet, you get into the studio, you turn on the microphone, there's no such thing as perfection. It's impossible, it's literally impossible for an athlete to play a perfect game, for an official to make the perfect call every single time, for a radio host to never make a mistake, especially me because, well, and I would assume most radio hosts, but trust me, not all, most radio hosts are not scripted, the show is not taped.

It is 20 hours of live radio and a lot of times we're thrown curveballs, or curveballs happen with equipment or technology, just in general. There's so many variables and moving parts that it's impossible to be perfect. Also, I'm not perfect. I talk for a living, but sometimes you wouldn't know it. I make up words, I get tired, my brain, my mouth are not in sync, all of those things. So I just try to communicate to them how humbling this business can be, especially for me because I had to learn to shoot for perfection, but be okay when it wasn't perfect.

And I still struggle with that. I am my own worst critic. It doesn't matter what anybody else says to me if it's legit. If the critique actually comes from a place of knowledge and you know what you're talking about, I will take it with a grain of salt, but trust me, pretty much everything that anyone can say to me about a mistake here or an error there, I've already done my due diligence and kicked my butt around the block for it.

So yeah, it's always fun. I enjoy it. There is great energy every night because I have great joy and passion for what I do, but it's been challenging for me to accept that perfectionism is not possible. Perfection is not possible in this business. I keep trying.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. There goes my phrase where I say to you as a joke sometimes, I mean, there's truth to it as well, there goes the perfect show. That's sometimes 30 seconds in and I've made up a word or I've said the wrong name or I mispronounced something. That doesn't usually happen because I try my due diligence to make sure, again, things I can control, that I check names and pronunciations ahead of time, but there are all kinds of times where I think one thing and something else comes out of my mouth. So yes, I try, but there goes the perfect show. On Twitter, ALaw Radio, our show Twitter, After Hours, CBS, and then our Facebook page too.

Also, we've got our YouTube channel and while producer Jay is away, we're trying to collect a bunch of subscribers so that he knows we were thinking of him as his birthday approaches. Do you know one time he spent a fair amount of a phone call, so a fair portion of a phone call, trying to convince me that 30 sounded older than 31. I mean, the stunned silence that he got on the other end of the phone until I could figure out what to say in response. 30 sounds older than 31. I mean, he went deep dive on it. He really did.

So yes, he's about to be 31 and no, 30 does not sound older than 31, except to producer Jay. He'll be back Sunday night. He missed the NBA all-star game because he was out of the country.

I missed the NBA all-star game because I don't care about all-star games really, but definitely not the NBA. I had said to you before, now this was earlier in the week, right Carlos? Was it you that was here? Was this Jay last week? Where I said I was almost certain that I would bet most of what I'm worth, then I started to hedge my bets, that the new version of the Pro Bowl Games, so they're called Pro Bowl Games now, they got more than 6 million viewers on average going back the week before the Super Bowl.

Was it you? Did I say that this week? That was Tuesday. Okay, alright, thank you.

So the day's all blurred together. But I then hedged my bets saying that there's no way the NBA all-star game would outrate or would have more viewers than the Pro Bowl Games. But I started to get nervous thinking, shoot, maybe I completely biffed that and I shouldn't be saying things like that. What did Carlos and I tell you earlier in the week? Always go with your first answer.

Always go with your gut. Well, as it turns out, not only did the Pro Bowl Games have a much higher rating and far more viewers than the NBA all-star game, but according to the latest numbers that have come out, the all-star game on Sunday was the lowest rated, least watched ever. As in ever. Not ever since 2020. Not ever in 20 years. Not ever since LeBron James got into the league. No, ever.

As in ever, ever. The all-star game averaged under 5 million viewers on two networks, TNT and TBS. So that's the combined viewership on TNT and TBS. The previous low was last year, but it was 6.1 million, which is why I started to hedge my bets because I was thinking, uh-oh, if they at least do as well as they did last year, then they will have more viewers than the Pro Bowl Games.

That is not the case. They dropped over a million viewers even though they were on two networks. The ratings were down 29%. The viewership down 27%. And if you follow the trends, which I do loosely, I can't remember them all, there's too many numbers, but all-star game viewership has been trending downward. We know that. And not just for the NBA. What did I tell you? The pro sports leagues have an all-star crisis.

I said that to you when I returned on Monday night into Tuesday. Why do you think they keep tweaking the formats and trying to come up with ways where we have more intimate views and perspectives of the athletes like them drafting their players, right? Like bringing the Mannings on board. Anytime you bring the Mannings on board, it's because you're looking for viewers.

They are two of the most popular people on the planet right now when it comes to TV viewership and podcasts and all that kind of jazz. Now, it's worth noting, Giannis barely played and he's a huge star. Steph Curry did not play. Kevin Durant did not play.

LeBron only played a small number of minutes as well. So you're missing some of the biggest stars. But this has been a trend. So this is the steepest decline for the game from year to year. Again, over a million viewers. In fact, closer to 1.2 million viewers, fewer than last year.

But this is the steepest decline in more than two decades. So this is a problem for the NBA. All right, so I just wanted to mention, again, the Pro Bowl had 6.28 million viewers. And it was also on multiple networks, ESPN, ABC. And it's well behind baseball, which is the highest rated All-Star game, of course.

Because it most resembles a game. But they actually have to get three outs and then three more outs. I mean, they have to play nine innings. Did they change the rules if they were tied? I feel like they did. They did for a while where they just flat out called the game.

But now I'm assuming with the Ghostrunner, that's not going to be a thing anymore. That's not a thing in the All-Star game. Stop it. No.

Make it consistent. Give me the Ghostrunner in the All-Star game. No. Give me the Ghostrunner. Never.

Ever. The Ghostrunner is a gimmick. It's a gimmick ghost. It's a gimmicky ghost.

It's like Casper the Friendly Ghost. It's ridiculous. It's not real baseball. As if those guys can't get a runner in scoring position on their own, so we have to give them one. Like we're playing wiffle ball. Well, you're talking about a scoreless game. How often do we have a scoreless tie?

Not very often. I just think it's dumb. It's a very thinly veiled attempt by the commissioner to speed up pace of play and shorten the time of games, average time of games.

I mean, he's ready to die on that hill. This is Rob Manfred's crusade, is shortening games and quickening the pace of play. Anyway, Major League Baseball All-Star game is the highest rated of any of the pro sports. Seven and a half million on average. That's viewership. So, yeah, the All-Star game for the NBA. So I was right. Always go with your first answer.

I did second guess. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. For those of you who think NASCAR is not a sport or is not interesting, the Daytona 500 blew the All-Star game out of the water in terms of viewership. So, boom! And actually, Daytona had a record low, too. But it still was more than double, more than double its rating for the NBA All-Star game, though, man. More and more.

And actually, I've said this. I have to call my cable company because they jacked my price again. And I, as much as I have been attached to cable TV for so long, and the problem is I need NFL Network. And I need some of the other sports channels. So I really can't live without. But I'm going to see if I can tailor a package.

They sometimes have these packages that you can put together and pick a few networks. And I'm going to see if I can do that so that I can get away from the exorbitant fees. Or I might have to drop my home phone.

I know you can laugh at me. I still pay for a home phone. But for the longest reason, or the longest time, the reason was my grandmother had hearing aids. And she could not, they were wireless, so they had this crazy feedback frequency to a cell phone. And so she couldn't hear me on a cell phone.

It was really hard for her. So I kept my home phone for that reason. Actually, when I do an interview on our Baltimore affiliate, coming up in a few hours, The Big Bad Morning Show, I think it's 105.3, no, 105.7, the fan in Baltimore, I'm going to be using my home phone. So it's a much clearer signal. But I may have to drop the home phone because they charge me and I don't use it as much as, I use my cell phone, obviously. None of that is your problem. I'm just saying, considering the fact that more and more people are dropping cable, traditional cable, because it's too expensive.

You can understand why these ratings are dropping, because not as many people are watching conventional TV. All right, after hours, CBS Sports Radio, I told you that Patrick Beverley is now on a crusade of his own against the Los Angeles Lakers, so we'll hear from him coming up. But would you like an update on one of those superstars that I said did not play in the All-Star game? On the right side, Durant, sitting over a double team with a fadeaway that's good for Kevin Durant. He's got seven, and Miami wants a timeout. Chris Carino, Nets play-by-play voice, though Kevin Durant is no longer on the Nets, as we know, has yet to make his debut for the Phoenix Suns.

But what we're hearing is that it could be close. James Jones, the GM, former NBA player himself of the Phoenix Suns, was a guest on Arizona Sports with Burns and Gambo. We put him through three on three, five on five. You just want to see him go through some sustained movements, put him out there 20, 30 minutes, see how he responds in the moment, but more importantly, the day after. It's just like a regular game. Guys go into the game and they feel great, and then they get a chance to go home.

Their bodies kind of settle, and 12 hours later, they're like, hey, I'm sore, or this doesn't feel right. He's been progressing over the last couple days, but our team guys haven't been in the market, so he's just been doing some twos and threes. So we hope tomorrow we'll get a chance to see him out there with the full group, and then we'll go from there just knowing that every day he's getting better. He's not having any setbacks, and so we expect him to progress well over the next few days, and we'll see, but he'll be playing soon.

That's good to know. James Jones, general manager of the Suns on Arizona Sports with Burns and Gambo. The Suns right now sit in fifth place in the Western Conference standings. Right behind them, KD's teammate Kyrie Irving now with the Dallas Mavericks, and they are a game back of the Suns, so that's interesting.

We heard from Russell Westbrook. The Clippers are in fourth place, and do you know where we find the Los Angeles Lakers? Actually, right now, they're sitting in 13th in the Western Conference.

They faded five back of the.500 mark, so five back of the Mendoza line, and they've made major moves. So there was some promise that we saw before the All-Star break. Remember, LeBron only played one game after setting the all-time scoring record, so he was out, but Anthony Davis is coming back. They feel like they've made some moves that they really like, namely D'Angelo Russell, but Patrick Beverley turned out to be a casualty, if you will, of the Lakers changing their roster and cleaning house, and now he's with the Bulls, which I think is a great place for him to land. We know Lonzo Ball is not going to be able to play the rest of the way, so there is a need for Patrick Beverley, but he has not forgotten, nor does he plan to forget.

This is the Pat Bev Podcast, and he's got a goal. Bulls 11 seed right now in the Eastern Conference. And we played the Lakers twice.

You played the Lakers twice. Wow. Is that going to mean something a little bit more to you? What? What? What? We played the Lakers twice.

There's so much history in that game now. There's so much going on with the Lakers. What are the emotions going to be like going into that?

Like, what's going through your head? Knock them out the playoffs. That's it.

Knock them out the playoffs. Aloha, he says, what? Wait, what? When Roan, that's his partner, asks him if there's going to be a little extra to go along with those two games between the Bulls and the Lakers. What? Wait, what? We played the Lakers twice.

You can hear it. He's got the eyes of Patrick Beverley. Those intense eyes we see in the playoffs.

They freak me out. They're now focused on revenge against his former team. So that's the Pat Bev Podcast with Roan.

All right, coming up. Mentioned Kyrie, the Dallas Mavericks. Can they get it together?

Can they surge through the final 22 games of the regular season? Their longtime TV play-by-play voice, Mark Followill, is next. After hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Dodge, it's right to left. Now played by McCollum, and he blows by him and blows by Valen Chunis and lays it in with a foul. And tell you what, that play was made by Dwight Powell in the middle of the lane. And Irving looking.

Left-hand push into wood. Back to Irving. From the arena logo for three.

It's good. Forgot over the top. And a timeout taken by Tyron Lew. 13 for Kyrie Irving on 5 of 10 shooting.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The Mavericks have got work to do. Like many other teams in the Western Conference. Looking for a surge over the final stretch run of this NBA regular season. That's Dallas Mavericks radio.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Yes, Kyrie Irving, the big story. But Luka Doncic is the established superstar. Still so young, too.

It's amazing. It feels like he's been around forever. We're really excited to talk to Mark Falwell, who's the TV play-by-play voice of the Dallas Mavericks.

And Mark, there's only 22 games remaining. So how would you describe what we've seen from the Mavericks as they get set to return from the All-Star break? Well, I think the season to date, Amy, and of course, as always, it's a pleasure to speak with you. You know, it's been up and down.

I think that's the best way I can put it. There have been some memorable, extraordinary moments. And of course, the trade for Kyrie Irving recently was certainly one of those memorable moments. They've had some great victories this year. They've also had some really squirrely disappointing losses where they haven't played well and lost a team.

And frankly, they shouldn't have lost. You know, there have been some sky-high moments and some pretty down-to-the-dumps moments for the Mavericks season so far this year. But the acquisition of Kyrie Irving certainly raises the ceiling of what this team can accomplish.

And that's what the next 22 games are going to be about, getting chemistry with he and Luca and them getting more comfortable playing with each other. And of course, winning as many games as possible because it's a sprint in the Western Conference. The standings are jam-packed. And two or three wins can vault you up to a home court advantage spot.

And two or three losses, I'm sorry, could put you in the lower echelon of the playing tournament. There's a lot of work to do in these last 22 games for Dallas. The Mavericks start this next segment of the season sitting in the number six spot in the West. So we'll talk about the Conference in a second.

But why the inconsistency? Why the missteps for the Mavericks in some of those games that could have been winnable? Well, I mean, one thing I would say, of course, is that they've had moments this year where they haven't been very healthy. But then, of course, I think a lot of teams in the league can say that.

So I don't want to lean on that too much, but it is indeed a factor. Another thing I think that happened this year, and this is something that may be hard to pick up on if you're not around the team all the time, but I do think it was a group of players who, for the first time in their collective careers, at least in the case of most of them, went on a deep playoff run in the previous spring. Remember, the Mavericks, of course, went to the Western Conference Finals last year.

And I think that there was maybe a little bit of a learning process that two things happen whenever you do that. Number one, you start to get other teams' best shot. And number two, and maybe even more importantly for the Mavericks, was that you can't just pick up where you left off. You have to go through the long process of being a new team and laying a new foundation and managing expectations and all those sorts of things that they went through. It's hard to quantify that, but it was something that I felt like was a factor in just the fact that they weren't playing up to their capabilities. Down on the defensive end of the floor, inconsistent shot-making, heavy, heavy reliance on Luka Doncic. And now, obviously, that's the big reason why you trade for Kyrie Irving, so there isn't such an enormous weight on his shoulders. But those would be the reasons, I would say, for the inconsistency. What was your reaction when you heard about the Kyrie Irving trade?

A lot of wows, a lot of texts, a lot of calls. I mean, it was a jaw-dropping moment for me. I felt like, of course, the reports and the 48 hours between Kyrie's trade request and the trade actually happening. I knew the Mavs' name was coming up in it, but then, of course, the Lakers were involved and the Clippers were involved. And so there were other teams, and Phoenix's name, I think, even came up as well. And so there were teams that you felt like could put together a really competitive offer, but the Mavs moved quickly. They put together, frankly, a better offer than I thought they would. I thought maybe they would try to let it play out a little bit and see if the lack of leverage that Brooklyn had might lead to being able to get the deal done with a little bit less of an offer in terms of giving up two starting players an unprotected first. But they made the move when they knew they had a chance to get the deal done and not wait for it to get into sort of a fitting war with other teams or anything like that, and that's to their credit. Mark Followell is with us here on After Hours, CBS Sports Radio, heading into the final stretch of the NBA season with the Mavericks as their TV play-by-play voice for how many years now, Mark?

This is my 18th year on our TV broadcast, and I was on radio for six years before that. So it's been a while. Any questions considering Kyrie's past and how things went or didn't go with the Nets?

Not really. None of that really has come up here. I think that the only questions that have come up here that have centered controversially, if you will, around Kyrie is more along the lines of what's his future here. He's faced questions already and said he doesn't want to talk about his future and the fact that he is going to be a free agent this summer. Obviously, there were a lot of rumors and belief that the Lakers wanted him and he wanted to go to the Lakers. Really, that's about the only thing that's come up around Kyrie. I did hear from a few fans online who were really upset with the Mavericks acquiring him, given what happened with the tweet that promoted the anti-semitic movie and that sort of thing earlier in the season. So I certainly understand where people are coming from on that, and there was some disappointment from some fans in that regard.

But generally speaking, again, the only thing that has been widespread, if you will, from a controversial standpoint are just questions and wondering what he's going to do in December when he reaches free agency. Again, the organization, the team, et cetera, all have the remainder of the season in the summer to make a really solid pitch for him to be part of the equation here on a long-term basis because they could use a player of his talent and electric scoring ability and ability to run an offense and to take the pressure off Luca. Luca needs, and all teams do, not just Luca. You've got to have that complimentary second star caliber player, and Kyrie gives them that and more.

He's far more than just a complimentary guy. He is truly a genuine second star to play alongside Luca, as we saw, for example, in the All-Star game this weekend. Right. They certainly gave up a lot, so we'll see if it was worth it.

But definitely in a win now mode, trying to capitalize on their playoff appearance last year. Luca, it's funny because he's still so young, and yet it feels like he's been in the league forever. Almost every time he steps on the court, we're talking about something new he's done or some perspective about his age versus what he just accomplished. But over the few years that you've seen him in the league, and certainly now stepping into a role as a superstar, where have you seen the greatest growth with him?

Oh, gosh. I would say the greatest growth for Luca is just being able to continue to withstand the punishment that he takes on a night-to-night basis. He's a very physical player. His post-up game has grown. His ability to continue to get the ball in the lane and to finish through contact. The fact that he still, no matter what other players try to do, plays at his own pace.

You can't speed him up, and so his weapon, I always say, is not pace, but it's change of pace. Just the continuing maturity of his game, understanding his own game, when the double team is coming, when he should look to be a facilitator, when he knows it's his time that he's got the score. I think he's got a great sense of what the team needs. I know that's a lot of things that I said in answer to your question, but I think a lot of things about his game have grown in his time in the league. He came into the NBA ready to produce at a high level, and he just continues to grow and grow and grow ever since.

And obviously, of course, is in consideration. I know there are others as well and other strong candidates for it, but certainly is adding an MVP caliber year this year. But the fact that he has been on the scene since he was a teenager, and as you point out, has been ready to handle the stage, it's pretty amazing. The man's only 23 years old. Yeah, and he'll be 24 here before the end of the month, so his birthday's coming up on February 28th, about to roll over another year on the calendar. But I think his experience leaving home from Ljubljana, Slovenia, at 13 years old, going to play at Real Madrid, playing for their reserve team, their junior team, their youth team, and then moving on to play with the first team at 16 years old, MVP of EuroLeague, those experiences hardened him in the right way and challenged and pushed him in the right way, where he was ready to step in and be a contributor at a high level immediately upon his arrival to the NBA.

So, yeah, he's only 24 years old, or about to be 24 years old, but obviously he has a game that's far more mature than that. Dirk Nowitzki is part of a loaded list for Hall of Fame candidates. Hall of Fame finalists, I should say. Top six on the all-time scoring list, an MVP, a champion. What did he mean to the team? What did he mean to the franchise? Oh, wow.

He meant everything. He's one of the last of a special breed, and I guess Steph Curry is going to end up doing this well, and of course the late, great Kobe Bryant also. But to come into the league and to struggle in the beginning, and people not sure if this new wave of playing, this seven-foot guy who's shooting threes, if this is going to work, if this is going to lead somebody to a championship, and coming here and struggling in the beginning and then starting to play very well at a very high level and take the Mavericks to the playoffs and go on deep playoff runs and then suffer the bitter defeat in the 2006 finals and go through all of that in a 67-win season and go out in the first round, and then to win a championship in 2011. One of the things I said at the time, and I said it in something I wrote for the final home game, the night that Dirk retired and played his final home game at American Airlines Center, and something I wrote for our local television broadcast on Valley Sports Southwest, and it was Fox Sports Southwest, I said everybody in Dallas in 2011 was rooting for the Mavericks, and they wanted to see the Mavericks win a championship, but the theme of it more than anything was, yes, we want the Mavs to win, but I just really want Dirk to win. I really want these guys to win it for Dirk.

So he just means so much to the fabric of the city because he came here and he said, you know, I was a skinny, shy kid from Wurzburg, Germany, and Dallas, Texas adopted me, and I made it home and they welcomed me and they supported me, and so there's just this incredible back-and-forth mutual admiration society between the city of Dallas and Dirk that's made him a Dallasite for life and an incredible fabric of the community when he was on the court and continues to be off the court post-playing career. Mark Followell is with us from Dallas, getting set for the final stretch here, just 22 games to go, and we were talking about the Western Conference, and it blows me away to think about the fact that you've got nine teams that are within, what, three, four losses of each other, all grouped together. So what are your impressions after having seen three-fourths of the season with this conference? Well, Denver continues to impress. They win under many different circumstances, and with Jamal Murray having, again, periods of time where he's been out of the lineup this year, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter, Jr., key components have been out of the lineup, but they just keep finding a way to win at a high level, and they're 27-4 at home. So they're going to be, obviously, I think they're going to be the number one seed. It's going to be hard to blow that at this point, and they're so good at home, they're going to be a very formidable number one seed in the playoffs. But Phoenix has just added Kevin Durant, who reportedly is going to make his son's debut sometime next week. So that is a major change in the calculus of the Western Conference. The Clippers have added Westbrook. I don't know what he has left, but I still think the Clippers, with Kawhi Leonard rounding into form since mid-January, and Paul George and Zubats inside, and Marcus Moore is getting them toughness, and I look at that team. Terrence Mann has continued to grow this year, so I really like the Clippers, and I think when they're at the top of their game, they're a force to be reckoned with as well. Dallas is competitive because now they've got two superstars in Luke and Kyrie Sacramento.

I'm so impressed with De'Aaron Fox seeing them in person for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I know it's going to be the end of a long playoff drought for them, and maybe they're not going to do much their first time through the playoffs, but they're still an exciting team to watch. I haven't even mentioned the number two seed in Memphis. They're young, and I know they stumbled before the All-Star break, but there's still a ton of talent there, and I think they're super competitive. So this conference is wide open. I think that's why the Mavs, getting back to them, that's why they made the trade, because they look up and down the Western Conference standings, and they see all these good teams and, of course, teams that they respect, but there's no clear-cut favorite, and I think they view that they can be on level terms with any of those other teams in the Western Conference in a seven-game playoff series, and I would agree with that. That's why you go out and make the kind of trade that they made. Even with Denver at the top, and you're right, they've been the number one team in the conference.

They still have questions about their defense, so we'll see. So you want to find Mark on Twitter at Mfollowill, F-O-L-L-L-O-W-I-L-L, and you can see him, slash hear him, on the Mavericks TV doing play-by-play, and also, you're one of those new streamer voices, right? So the MLS moving to Apple TV.

That's kind of interesting. Yeah, we're really excited about that. I've done FC Dallas games for the last 11 years, and now part of a group of many, many announcers in MLS who are phased into the new television package, streaming that the league is doing. Apple TV is the home for almost all MLS games.

I know there's 30-something games that are on the linear broadcast network that are still on Fox and FS1, but the vast, vast majority of games are on Apple TV now, and it's a really exciting time for Apple, and it's a really exciting time for Major League Soccer to have a home that's very, very devoted and very, very passionate to continuing to grow a league that's going into its 28th season. So yeah, all of us that are a part of that are super excited. That means you're hip, Mark. If you're a streamer now, you're so hip.

Well, hey, at 50-plus, I will always take being considered hip. That's a good thing. So that's the best news I've heard during the All-Star break. Enjoy the rest of the season. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. Yeah, you got it, Amy. Take care.

Talk to you soon. It's my goal in life to be hip, but no one's ever said that about me. In fact, my nieces tell me, Auntie Amy, don't say that.

Don't talk about hip. Like, all right. Anyway, Mark Falwell is, and the Dallas Mavericks have a lot of eyes on them. We'll see if they are up for the challenge, but the West is, well, it's wild, but it's a beast.

It is a beast. Everybody all clumped together. All right, coming up, it's not exactly a formal QB news, but we've got some QB news. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Here on After Hours, we like you as much as you like us. First time caller, long-time listener. Great. Take a call. Well, thanks for calling for the first time ever. Welcome to the show, Amy. Thank you.

Thanks for putting on such a great show, giving me something to listen to on my way home from work. How are you doing tonight? I'm good.

How are you? Good. Just wanted to tell you, you do a fantastic job. I want to let you know that there's a lot of police that listen to your show. I laugh at how people chime in and hate on you a little bit. I'm like, I use your show as an encyclopedia, because the next day, I'll just go out and talk about what you talk about.

People come down and be like, I'm the man around here with my sports knowledge. So I love it. Nothing I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance. You've been good gripping up on you, so just dance, dance, dance.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I got to admit, it's kind of nice not to know what's going on with Aaron Rodgers, and for a few days anyway, not to really care. Now it's still the biggest story in the NFL offseason when it comes to quarterbacks, because it's the first domino that seemingly needs to drop. There are teams out there who are waiting on Aaron Rodgers and waiting on the Packers. Now going back to the end of the regular season, general manager Brian Guttenkunst indicated that he believed that the Packers had the best chance to win with Aaron. He was asked specifically about Aaron versus Jordan, and what he said is, there's no doubt. You're talking about a four-time NFL MVP, a champion, a guy who's got more reps in his COVID toe than Jordan Love has in his entire career. He also said that the Packers made it very clear they want Aaron Rodgers to stick around, otherwise they wouldn't have given him the investment in the contract that they gave him this time last year. But more and more, you're hearing speculation that the Packers are ready to move on, and that they don't actually want their star quarterback to return, regardless of what his decision might be. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Here's, I don't know if you would call him an Uber agent, I guess super agent. He's a guy who's been around for decades, and when we talk agents in the NFL, everyone knows Drew Rosenhaus.

He was on the Joe Rose show. He actually believes that Aaron and Green Bay are about to go their separate ways. I think they're ready to go to Jordan Love. I think they've had enough of the drama year after year. I think they're just ready to move on as a franchise.

We worked out a deal with them regarding our client Aaron Jones. They're fine running back, so Aaron Jones will be back. I doubt Aaron Rodgers comes back.

That's pure speculation. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rodgers land in New York, land with the Raiders. I do think he comes back to play.

He's still too good to not play. I think he's still in his prime, and he could probably command maybe as much as $50 million, so that's kind of hard to walk away from. That's interesting to hear, because he has a connection through Aaron Jones, but all still speculation. Because if Rodgers emerges from the darkness and indicates to the Packers that he wants to play in Green Bay, I just can't imagine them moving him.

I could be wrong. There are certainly teams out there that are interested. We know the Jets have made phone calls. There are other teams that are interested in potentially trading for Aaron Rodgers. But according to Drew Rosenhaus, right now it's not Rodgers' decision. The Packers are ready to move on, and they'll be happy with Jordan Love. By the way, the Joe Rose show is on our Miami affiliate, AM560.

That's WQAM in the Miami area. Now what about Derek Carr? If you don't get Aaron Rodgers, or you don't want to wait on Aaron Rodgers, what about Derek Carr? I'm not sure if you heard the reports that the Jets have made him quite the pitch. Even saying that if you come to New York and you win a championship, you will be a Hall of Famer. I guess that's speculation too. It remains to be seen. But they are courting Derek Carr with all they've got. Does that mean they're done with the idea of Aaron Rodgers? That's an interesting question.

Only they know the answer. But yes, if you win in New York, according to the Jets, Derek Carr, you will be not just a Hall of Famer, but a first ballot Hall of Famer. I actually love what we found from Dave Ziegler on the Bussin' with the Boys podcast. This is the general manager of the Raiders giving the team perspective on their release of Derek Carr. It's a tough decision.

Like you said, there's a lot of emotion involved in that decision too. You spent time with Derek Carr, and Derek Carr is a phenomenal human being. It's hard not to like Derek Carr.

It's hard not to like Derek Carr not just because he has a great personality, he's kind, he's caring, he's respectful, all of that different stuff. But you also, like you said, he was with the Raiders for nine years playing arguably the most difficult position to play in all of sports. The quarterback's a tough position to play in totality. To see a guy that's played nine years for the same organization and having to make a decision like that, there's a lot of emotion that's involved in having to make that decision, and it's a hard decision to make. And at the end of the day, like that's what we get paid to do too, is make hard decisions. And we have to make a lot of hard decisions throughout the year. I mean, that's the most high profile one, but there was a lot of decisions throughout the year that were hard decisions to make, whether it was, you know, making a decision with Jon Abram or Alex Leatherwood. Again, all those decisions are hard decisions. Like we talked about the beginning one because it's someone's livelihood, you know what I mean?

And people that are really dedicated to their craft too. And so they're all hard and they're all decisions you don't want to have to make. And again, I think that one was even a little bit more difficult because of what he's meant to the Raider organization and just who he is as a human being. Again, that is the general manager of the Raiders, Dave Ziegler, talking about Derek Carr's release, kind of. Really what he would say is that it's more emotional when it's a guy who's been there for nearly a decade, going back to 2014 when he won the job with the Raiders in Oakland as their rookie QB. The number of GMs, the number of coaches, the number of coordinators that he's seen, the number of equipment managers, for heaven's sakes, that he's seen go through there is astounding. So would you rather have Aaron Rodgers or Derek Carr?

Considering age, ability, money, personality, drama, or lack thereof, it's an interesting question. One more we're going to squeeze in here. This is Tariq Woolen, who is the Seattle cornerback, just finished up his first year in the league. He has an interesting way to describe Russell Wilson. Seeing him in person, it was pretty funny because like on TV and stuff, you see him like from college and stuff, you're like, okay, he look in shape on TV. But you see him in person, it's like weird. He like a sack of potatoes. He athletic and he a good player, but like literally when I seen him, I'm like, dang, I didn't know he was built like that. And he was short, you know, I'm tall anyway, but I was like, damn. He called Russell Wilson a sack of potatoes.

Huh? I feel like that's going to come back. We're going to hear that again over and over. This is the Seattle cornerback, right? So he was drafted literally about the time that Russell Wilson got traded to Denver. So I guess he feels free to say his mind, to speak his mind, a sack of potatoes. It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio.