After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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That's BetterHelp.com positive. It's not in Tokyo, but there's a decidedly Tokyo flair. Japan versus Team USA coming up on Tuesday tonight in Miami. Guess I gotta adjust my thinking now because we have reached the final hour of the show and it is now Tuesday morning in all parts of the United States of America.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio USA. I've caught WBC fever. I'm actually really looking forward to this game considering the fireworks that we've had over the last couple of rounds. So the fire, the knockout stage has definitely raised the level of intensity, the sense of urgency. It's nearly done. I don't want anyone else to get hurt, but I love that these guys are going all out both physically and emotionally.

So that's to come on Tuesday night. Of course, it's a brief reprieve from the men's NCAA tournament. The women getting down to the sweet 16. We saw one incredible upset on Monday night that we'll get to. You want to talk about the thrill of victory in the agony of defeat and in women's basketball, the way the tournament is set up.

These games take place at the homes of the higher seats, meaning inside their own arenas. So as top-seeded Indiana is trailing by a dozen points to Miami and trying to dig out of a hole, this is all happening in front of the Hoosiers fans. And a game that was tied multiple times in the fourth quarter, a game that still hung in the balance in the final seconds.

So we'll get to that coming up. March Madness times two. If you missed my conversation with Princeton Tiger, Zach Martini, a junior who first got on campus for the 2021 season that was completely canceled by the Ivy League. Wait until you hear what he had to say about working, waiting, watching every other conference play basketball when the Ivy League decided not to compete in that winter season.

And now here they are two years later. He's a junior and the Tigers advance to the sweet 16. All the emotion, the history of that moment through the eyes of junior Zach Martini. That's coming up. We'll replay part of that. If you missed it, you want to hear the whole thing, maybe you want to share it, it's definitely worth it. It's a great talker, but also brings such a fun perspective. Part of our podcast, it'll be posted and shared as soon as the show is over. So on our show Twitter, After Hours, CBS or on our Facebook page. Jay and I also have a fun video project that we're going to do right after the show, at least I hope, because once the four hours of the show are done, I only have a limited amount of energy remaining.

I might be faking it through the course of the video. You can decide once we get it posted on our YouTube channel, but in light of all your responses, the best post season in sports, we decided to record a new stairway to seven. So F4, I believe in our stairway to seven series.

And this one's about the best post seasons in sports. We've got props. We've got props. We'll see if my stomach's growling. I'm going to think that in that the digital studio that we are using, if my stomach does growl because the acoustics are so good, it's going to end up on the video.

So let's, let's see if I can take care of that before we record. All about the spring fling, the spring bling. It's a busy sports season. Happy spring to you.

First morning of spring. These last few days of March really set us up for what's to come in the next month and a half, two months really in sports, both college and the pros. We talked about the WBC just before the top of the hour, which is funny because then I just saw a post on Facebook about the WBC. Yes, you just missed it.

Go back and get the podcast. But thinking about the NBA with a few days left in its regular season, right? So we've got major league baseball that will start opening day, 30 teams on March 30th, even as both hoops and hockey are winding up to their post-seasons. I love how they cross. That's really the beauty of spring is that you have so much going on all at once.

There's really something for everyone. In the West, you lose a game, you could drop three or four spots in the standings, but you win a game and you can rise three or four spots in the standings. That's kind of the crazy part about the midsection, right?

So it's thick around the middle in the West. Well, the Golden State Warriors are the defending champions, but they are barely, I mean barely, out of that 7-10 tournament right now, which is playing with fire, especially how porous their defense has been on the road. An 11-game road losing skid on the line in Houston last night. Klay Thompson to Curry. Curry down the lane, back to Klay. Klay for three, it's up and good.

Why do they need that? Yep, Curry with the dribble. Takes Nix, goes by him, up high, off the glass. Curry putting on a driving clinic here.

90-84, Warriors lead by six. Down the lane, Porter Jr., bad pass, throws it right to Looney. Curry challenged the backcourt by Easton, maintains the dribble, feeds Thompson for three, it's on the way. Money, cold, hard, cash for Klay Thompson. Off the screen, Curry elbow pass to Looney. Looney rotates to Draymond to Thompson, that's a good shot. It's up and good. It's a three ball in the left corner.

He was wide open. It feels good. It's one of those feelings like this is what you're supposed to do. Just to walk off the court with a couple more smiles on our faces and something to show for it, we know we still have to play better.

Nobody's really celebrating anything. It's just a matter of learning lessons and wins, hopefully, and getting ready for another big game Wednesday. As a competitor, you relish in the moments of the most important games, and we're coming down to the home stretch, and every game is so vital for our playoff stakes, and it's exciting times. I mean, postseason, there's nothing like it, and a decent last seven or eight will be a great warm-up for the most competitive basketball out there.

Yes, still you give yourself a better chance if you avoid the 7-10 play in tournaments, so to speak. The Splash Brothers there, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, combining for 59 last night and 10 triples. They do the bulk of the offensive work. This was a game in which the Warriors led most of the way, so after the first, second, and third quarters, but they also make it so much more difficult than it has to be with the number of turnovers, unforced errors. That has really plagued the Warriors, especially on the road, plus their defense. It's so lacking, but 14 turnovers in the first half, and considering how tough it's been for them to close out games on the road, I thought this might go horribly off the rails, though they did clean it up in the second half. Our focus level was pathetic to start the game. We're coming to the game like this, and it's a young athletic team. They're going to be in passing lanes, and we were real careless with the ball, so we're able to lock in. Coach challenged us coming out of the half.

We're able to lock in after those first couple minutes of this third quarter, and I think we turned it over five or six times there in the second half, and two or three of them was in the first two minutes of the third quarter, so I thought we did a pretty good job of cleaning it up after a while. That core is scary no matter where they get into the playoffs, but still, on the road, it's been abysmal. That's just their eighth, I'm not joking about this, just their eighth victory on the road all season long. For a defending champion, it's gross, but they're 8 and 29 away from home. So Steph Curry's right. You don't want to celebrate this huge victory or celebrate a victory like it's that big when it's the Houston Rockets.

However, you finally were able to end the losing skin, so there's that. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, a massive fourth quarter for the Memphis Grizzlies even as they await the return of Ja Morant. Big possession here with 95 seconds remaining, and the Grizzlies up by one. Bain catches from Jones into the lane, and Kleba running left-hand hook off the window is good.

Desmond Bain never stopped going towards the rim. He gets the bank off the window, and the Grizzlies lead by three. A bucket here puts the Mavericks backs against the wall.

Three-point Grizzly lead, eight on the shot clock. Jones to the right wing. Jones to the foul line. Jackson into the paint, scoops to the left hand, and scores.

Jaron Jackson Jr. right down Beale Street to the window, lays it in. 110-105, and they are dancing in their seats inside FedEx Forum. Jaron Jackson with 28 points, same as Kyrie Irving, by the way. Still no Luka Doncic, though he could be back sometime this week. A 29-12 fourth quarter.

The Mavericks with 12 points in the fourth quarter, even as the Grizzlies are able to grab that win. And yes, while they await the return of Ja Morant, they say they have high standards for him. He was eligible to play last night, but they chose to have him work a little bit on his conditioning because in that Florida counseling program, he was unable to do any type of working out.

So just wanted him to to do a little work, and not that your conditioning goes away that quickly, but you don't want him to get hurt now as he comes back cold. So for the Grizzlies, I've seen the resiliency. I like the fact that they've stabilized after losing the first few games following Ja's departure.

Just kudos to our guys. I mean, I love the group that started off the fourth quarter. Obviously, I think we're down 16. We hit a three to make it 13, which I think was a big-time play. You know, I told the team, I mean, we haven't been in these moments many times, but recently, like, we've had some deficits, and we've, you know, tried to figure out to play better in the fourth quarter. I thought we were sloppy.

We weren't fully engaged. You know, our heads weren't in the right places the first three quarters, and you can see a 16-point lead grow, you know, through that, but that lineup of Tyus, Jiddy, Luke, D-Rod, Santi, Santi with a career night, they got us back in the game, you know, super proud of them. I think they played, you know, six, six-plus minutes in that fourth quarter, crucial minutes. A challenge, you know, when a couple of our starters came back and said, these guys got us back in. You got to back them up, and kudos to them to do that down the stretch, you know, getting big-time stops, and, you know, we're trying to work on our fourth quarter execution, but I wish we could do a lot better in the first three quarters. It's the next man-up mentality, and I think the team has embraced that the entire season.

You know, we've gone to a lot of adversity, and, you know, we're just building ourselves for the playoffs now, and that's really, you know, uplifting, and really just excited for, you know, just a team and its future. David Roddy with 4.6 rebounds. Taylor Jenkins before that. Not sure if you guys saw this, but Dylan Brooks, he attracts technical fouls the way that I attract mosquitoes in the humidity of the summertime. It's, yeah, it's something it's seemingly he can't stay away from, and so for the second time this month, he has an automatic one-game suspension that kicks in because he keeps getting technical fouls.

That's not helpful. I like his intensity, and I know he enjoys being the villain out there. He certainly likes to go back and forth with Draymond Green. They speak the same language, let's be fair, but this is not the way that you lead to take yourself out of the equation when the team needs you. When you're missing your superstar, it's irresponsible, but the Grizzlies have won six of their last seven. Actually, I went back and looked at their schedule because it feels like they play the Dallas Mavericks more than any team should, and yeah, as a matter of fact, as they've won six of seven, three of those victories have come against Dallas, two of them against Golden State. Oh, weird quirks of this schedule, but the Grizzlies are stabilizing and amping up, and they've broken that tie with the Sacramento Kings, and so they right now are sitting in the two-spot in the west.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. The New York Knicks squander a 57-point performance from Julius Randle. They end up losing on the road in Minneapolis, so that's tough. He goes 8-14 from beyond the arc, so he hits eight triples, but Torian Prince, he was eight for eight from three-point land, and so for the Minnesota Timberwolves, it's all hands on deck right now as they try to stay in that playoff picture, and Prince knows it. He did his part, but the rest of the team was a big part of it too. All movement, trusting each other, knowing what we want to get to offensively and when we want to do it, especially out of timeouts, to start the halves and to end the halves, trying to get as many two-for-ones as possible, all those little things add up. All five starters for the Timberwolves in double figures, led by Prince. They end up going 14 of 24 from beyond the arc, so shooting nearly 60% from deep. They also had two guys come off the bench in double figures. 140 points. The Knicks score 134 and they lose. I have my doubts about whether or not this Torrid scoring pace, it's really out of control today in the NBA. I don't think it continues into the postseason.

These numbers are gaudy. You know how often old-time NFL fans or former players will make the point that today's records, offensive records, they shouldn't be held up and compared or even shouldn't be allowed to eclipse the records of old because how different the rules and the landscape in the NFL, right? So it's a climate where offense is at a premium. The rules are designed to foster extra offense. It's the same way in every sport. In the NHL, it's all about space these days. It's all about seeing six, seven, eight goals in a game so that fans are entertained.

Are you not entertained? And it's the same thing in the NBA where because of the exorbitant number of whistles, no more hand checking, can't even breathe on a guy these days. It's led to this climate where not only do you see scoring go up, but guys are more lax on defense.

I get it. We're late in the season. It's been a long haul, but this is when seeding is on the line. This is when position in the playoffs is on the line and still we're seeing teams combined for 275 points in a game.

It blows my mind. Defense better be paramount in the playoffs or I'm going to grouse and complain about it every single night. You'll want to turn it off if you think the NBA is the best because this is it's gaudy.

It reminds me at times, not always, but it reminds me more of just an offensive skills display that we might see in say the All-Star games. I'm going to need some defense in the postseason. We're getting close. I'm going to buckle down or I will be a malcontent.

A malcontent hosting a radio show. It's kind of a thing in my business these days. All right, let's see. Coming up, we've got an incredible upset in the women's game as they get down to the Sweet 16 and it's rare that you see one seeds get ousted before the Sweet 16 in women's college basketball. There's still a big disparity. There's a talent gap and a skills gap between the best of the best in the women's game.

It's not quite and those who you know are just hoping to kind of get a foothold. It's not quite the same level playing field that we're seeing more and more now in the men's game. It'll get there, but a really emotional upset for the Miami Hurricanes who now have their men's and men's and women's teams into the Sweet 16 of March Madness. Also, a little more from the football world. If you didn't hear it, Cam Newton has announced, I don't know if it's his attempt to return to the NFL, but it's at least a start to get some attention. See if he can shake a few stones loose.

He cracks me up. If nothing else, it's a reason to laugh and Baker Mayfield admits the last year of his career has been a struggle. Thanks for joining us. Happy first morning of spring.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS. Last year, you may have made some smart decisions and you may have made some not so smart decisions. Like maybe you had a little too much confidence in that one crypto exchange. The good news is making smart financial decisions is easier than you think nerd while it's smart money podcast has the weekly know how you need to get ahead. Sean and Sarah, the hosts of smart money break down the latest financial news and give you honest objective money advice. Subscribe to nerd while it's smart money podcast. What's up everybody? Nick Costas here college basketball is about to get crazy and bet qL makes it easier than ever to cash your bets bet qL analyzes every single tournament matchup so you can succeed with your bracket pools and individual game bets which teams will pull off an upset who's going to cover the spread bet qL handles all the hard work so you can win more consistently head to bet ql.com today to start your three-day free trial that's bet ql.com bet ql.com today to start your three-day free trial yes sports radio you are listening to the after hours podcast i want to thank the university and indiana for hosting this did a fantastic job they're an awesome team the crowd was phenomenal phenomenal what a great basketball environment they absolutely affected the game terry's built an incredible program on the backs of i'm sure administrators and assistant coaches and everything else so um and they had a phenomenal season um it was a it was a it was a great game it was a good matchup for us this is after hours with amy lawrence katie meyer head coach of the miami hurricanes women and their basketball team can afford to be generous after playing at assembly hall in indiana knocking off the top-seeded hoosier so in women's basketball the top 16 seeds actually host games so all of the advantages were on the side of indiana except the games led or were tied the entire way they never gave up the lead even in the fourth quarter when indiana rallied from a dozen points down tied the game four times in the final quarter if you didn't know in women's basketball they do play quarters again uh but never did the hoosiers grab the lead miami was able to hold those hoosiers at bay and topple the top seed to reach the sweet 16. it's after hours with amy lawrence on cbs sports radio set off a wild celebration by the canes of course as you can imagine think showey otani and team japan at the wbc after a walk-off win i always tell my team you know act like you've been there before but we haven't so we kind of acted foolish and we were really happy and we enjoyed it um tried to be respectful and and everything else but that was a really big moment for us and it was fun and it was time to just let the pure joy spill out and enjoy it and um take take the momentum into the sweet 16 it feels amazing it doesn't feel real still when we were done with the game i was like oh my god i can't believe it like we're here we're really here so i don't know props to my team the coaches did a really really good job on the green game preparation we were locked in we were communicating very very well today i felt it i felt um i usually lose my mind and i have my teammates having my back they're like okay relax we have we're up we're up and i'm like okay let's go we got this so yeah it feels amazing it's great it's great to be here lola pendande with 19 points in that game for miami now you've got the thrill of victory for the canes you've also got the agony of defeat and mackenzie holmes maybe the emotional moment that really caught my eye because of the tears that were flowing after the hoosiers were eliminated on their own court it's hard to think about that right now you know with this this is stinging right now so i you know obviously you know we'll take a couple days a couple weeks and you know process everything and then um and then we can think about next season but right now it's a little too early to be thinking about that agreed i couldn't imagine talking about next season even being cognizant of months down the road while this stings and while it hurts and it's always the hardest for the seniors grace burger this was how her career ended at indiana obviously i'm upset you know my last game you know my last game with grace and um it's been a privilege to play with her these past four years so i just i just hate that it has to end like this for her but um yeah just a lot of emotions in our locker room right now all right no making me cry on a tuesday morning on my radio show miami in the sweet 16 for the first time since 1992 meanwhile indiana won the big 10 regular season title for the first time since the early 80s but again never led at home where they've got a sizable advantage against the canes so congratulations to miami princeton certainly understands those feelings of disbelief and wow pinch me is this really happening the 15 seed the tigers are into the sweet 16 after taking out mazoo in what or missouri in what was not actually a close second half how did she used to catch up with junior zack martini back on campus at princeton he actually went to class on monday and got a standing ovation from his the fellow students and his professor there on campus so kind of neat for them to soak all this in you've got princeton both men and women winning a game this year in march madness we want to bring back just part of this conversation because he's a lot of fun and just to describe the spirit and everything else that's happening where do we pick it up jay why are they so confident all right so a lot of what you're hearing about them is they're poised they're confident they're calm i asked zach where this comes from i think we we just from top to bottom staff included we really believe that we should that we were we belong there um coach reiterates that he's preparing us to win the game and let's see from monday right after we won the idly championship up until thursday we were preparing to win the game and we felt confident in our game plan and our personnel and who we are and we're this is the resilient group we lost a really tough game to yale a few weeks ago in the regular season we blew a big lead and i think we need to go through some adversity but prior to that part of the season moving not smooth sailing but we just really didn't hit a low point i think that low point really made us who we are right now i want to go back if you don't mind to a couple of years ago would have been your freshman year right that ivy league basketball were cancelled yeah and i remember because i was working with columbia and it was stunning to think about how the ivy league was the only conference in the country that didn't play at all oh yeah going back to those days working for so long and trying to to focus on basketball and yet it was months it was months and months and months that you weren't able to play games i think uh we're just finally reaping the fruits of our labor um the juniors and seniors uh have been here since that pandemic year and i mean i remember just watching the tournament the last two years knowing that we had a real shot and we had a real chance to be there and to really just really see that into fruition has been it's been amazing like i said this is a resilient group and it's almost like we we knew that once so once we got this opportunity we wouldn't let it go to waste looking back now all of those months when you knew the payoff wasn't coming anytime soon was it all worth it oh totally absolutely i mean uh our freshman year here was really really strange um practicing with masks on or practicing but like there was no end goal right we weren't playing games we were just kind of just getting to know each other for the first time at least i was a freshman that was that was my perspective of it but yeah if you told me i had to sacrifice one year to go to the futures camp i would i would take it perfect way to put it junior zach martini of princeton is with us here after hours on cbs sports radio what do you want people to know about who you guys are and how you approach this game i can't say it enough this is a gritty group we're going to give you we're going to give everyone our best shot and we believe in each other even in the toughest of moments down 12 to arizona late in the second half there's there's a belief when coach says we're winning this game that we we believe and we're going to win this game and we're gonna go out and do it and the joy we have the joy we play kind of exudes off us um we play for one another and playing for one another ends up getting us shots selfishly so uh this is the fun it's a fun team to watch really fun team to be a part of i'm glad we're able to show it show the national stage who we are the two different games that you've played now to get the sweet 16 they're very different right so the game that you just played in the round of 32 i'm not saying it was easy but it wasn't a nail-biter right to the very end right that game against arizona the way you all closed it out with was it a 9-0 run at the end yeah i i believe they didn't score the last four minutes to the game right as that is happening and it was like the rebounds you were getting to but what's happening on your bench and on the court there as that is playing out and you're able to rally and then put together that great finish yeah coach mentioned um you know if this is a team that wants to knock you out with like a 12-0 run so each each time they went on a little run he was going to call timeout and we used all our timeouts pretty early in the game um we had i think the last five minutes of the game we didn't have any timeouts left so we knew we had we knew we had to keep it close and we knew coach was going to keep it close and then once we finally got the lead ryan langborg uh he made a tough layup to finally get the lead we're like all right we're not losing this thing and then we didn't right we we weren't leading for much of the game but the end of the game was when just we were laser focused on defense yeah i mean i i want to say i can't believe it but um we we really believe that once we got the lead we were we were capable of finishing the game and it was special to be a part of being on the court um once once we realized we had the game won um i was feeling like no other yeah this is what march badass is all about but the fact that you lived it and now you all are a cinderella why did you pick princeton though what was the reason that you decided that's where you wanted to play yeah great question um i i actually i'm from new jersey i live a little about 45 minutes north of campus and when i was being recruited by princeton i got the opportunity to come down here and play pick up a lot of the guys and i realized that the people on the team are equally as important to me as the school was um academics academics aside i mean can't go wrong with princeton any of the ivy league schools but just the the teammates the the people were good people i felt felt like i could be myself around them i felt i felt wanted by the coaching staff um and uh i love new jersey i've lived here my whole life i got pride for the state so been a perfect fit i think how cool is it then that because you're close to home your family and friends get to see you play as well yeah it's great um whenever i need a home-cooked meal my mom can always bring something to the game so it's pretty it's pretty convenient yeah as close as you are to your teammates then how cool is it to see the performance that ryan had or even blake peters the threes that he's nailing in the second half you really care about your teammates you love them to death to see them step up and perform on the stage that blake peters i mean the kid makes tough shots and he he's done it all year i mean if you look at the the like the amount of points he scores per minutes he plays it's crazy he he's so he's so efficient and he's just he's not afraid of the big moment i mean i think he i think he'd score all his points in the final 10 minutes of the game or something like that and then ryan got us where we were in that game i think he scored 11 of our first 13 points he was unconscious coming out the game he was upset he had a tough shooting game against arizona but i mean he bounced back in a huge way i mean him and blake's contributions were unbelievable your coaches use the word fearless a bunch why does that describe your team against arizona we knew we knew we had a huge size difference um the kids that the the players i was guarding uh tibellus embolo probably both had six inches on me um yeah but heart is immeasurable uh will to win is immeasurable being the underdog on the on that big stage it's you have to play fearless and you have to play free if you if you really want to get done because i mean these are you gotta respect your opponent these guys are big time pack 12 players but our will to win was contagious um i mean uh we we we me personally i pride myself on playing hard playing tough notes basketball and i i think i think it showed for all of us this this last weekend on and i think it's going to continue for trade zach martini princeton tiger junior who described the emotions from that those final moments against missouri it's unbelievable recalls those days when he was in his driveway counting down three two one and envisioning that last shot in march madness and now it is a reality for the 15 seed out of the south region who will play in louisville on friday against craton there's more with zach good stuff actually he's what he calls a struggling jets fan a die-hard struggling jets fan so i made a reference to aaron rogers and all of a sudden you could hear him light up let's go he said so that'll be part of our podcast the link is always posted first thing in the morning on both twitter after hours cbs as well as our facebook page and here we're four for four with our player interviews from baylor to ganzaga to princeton and to don't tell me oh firman actually jaylen slauson probably the best talker of the the season and firman ends up winning a game as well so good stuff we really enjoyed our march madness storytelling you are listening to the after hours podcast they line up they push they sneak and they're in for the touchdown no let's say yes they are they are they are in for the touchdown hurts in the gun hurts this time fakes he's back he's looking deep he wants aj brown and this is after hours with amy lawrence why you ask are we giving you a highlight from the eagle season that was well they win the nfc they get into the super bowl where they take on the kansas city chief's incredible finish obviously jaylen hurts uh in line for a massive contract extension after a career year and his best game of his life in the super bowl but always it happens that a team that goes through a ton of success and the eagles now have back-to-back playoff experiences but also uh getting to the super bowl this year guys want to get paid and between trades and free agency there are a lot of guys that were in line for new deals and so the eagles are going to look a lot different in 23. it's after hours with amy lawrence on cbs sports radio meryl reese with the call on eagles radio did that whet your appetite i have a long way to go free agency is about a week old the new nfl year is about a week old and yet already the eagles will have seven new starters five of them on the defensive side of the ball remember how good that defense was they set a record this year with four guys going over 10 sacks well they lose javon hargrave he was in line for a big payday so he ends up with the san francisco 49ers but they like jordan davis who was a first round pick going back to last spring and then they re-signed fletcher cox and he brings some experience a lot of wisdom there so they believe that they will be able to fill the hole left by hargrave though it was a loss also the linebacker spot tj edwards ends up with the chicago bears but they've got a couple of guys that he were brought in as free agents or who were recent draft picks they're hoping that they can fill the linebacker spots that are open now think the secondary is an area where they may have to go through trial by error or trial by fire because this is going to look real different cj gardner johnson being the latest affection to the detroit lions also marcus epps he ends up with the raiders but for cj maybe a fresh start is what he really wanted because he left for the lions and actually uh the reports out there that the eagles could have paid him more money this team is talented this team is ten we could we could win a division like possibly win the division like it's everybody should feel that way but when i look at a team coming from where i came from all the teams i played on won multiple divisions been to playoff games been to zoo bowl this team has what it takes to be a divisional you know what i'm saying get there win this division get to the playoffs cj gardner johnson is talking about the lions how about that they are the new flavor of the month in the nfc and then in the afc how about potential for the jacksonville jaguars to continue their meteoric rise they're the defending champions in the afc south plus we know that there are a lot of young guys and it was just the first year for doug peterson so two teams that a lot of people will be buzzing about when we get closer to the new champions fall kickoff but i like what the lions have done in free agency one of their weaknesses was the secondary and so they give the deal to cj gardner johnson they also reach agreements with cam sutton and emmanuel mosley so those are upgrades right there for the lions on the defensive side of the ball the eagles did re-sign james bradbury so that was important and darius sleigh so their cornerbacks um they they bring that consistency the safety position though it's it's different i like the fact that you've got guys who are getting paid that that's paramount you only have a short window in your nfl career to be able to capitalize and sign a deal in free agency that is one that could give you a definite uptick in your style of living i try to put it as appropriately as possible you can get paid and and so i don't begrudge these guys for leaving ever i know it's hard for fans sometimes when you see some of your favorite players or players that were critical to a year of success take off but again there's a limited window the average nfl career doesn't even last four years so these guys deserve to go where not only they they feel wanted they can get paid they can capitalize on their skills and some cases they believe their team that they're leaving is a sinking ship i don't think i would say that about the eagles but man they're gonna have to wear name tags uh when they get to otas because seven different starters and a variety of other players that are turning over it's after hours with amy lawrence on cbs sports radio uh speaking of turnover are you guys paying attention to what the texans are doing in free agency they have yet to decide what they're going to do with their quarterback position we'll wait and see what happens with them at the number two overall pick in the draft but two more but two more offensive additions dolton shultz so the tight end coming out of dallas and then devin singletary and schultz's deal worth up to about nine million dollars that's according to nfl network um he's going to take over as they're starting tight end uh devin singletary along with damion pierce that could be a running one-two punch a rushing one-two punch that is a force to be reckoned with so i like what they're doing around damico ryan's you want to talk about buzz there's a lot of buzz as he takes over as their first year head coach but yes quarterback is paramount if you've got a bunch of weapons around a quarterback who can't be a leader or can't keep you forward facing or can't take care of the football well then a lot of it is for naught but still uh they are definitely a team worth paying attention to and if you missed my conversation with nfl network host ret lewis last week i asked him wide open question is there a team out there i didn't say like that i said which team out there is poised to make a jump in 23 just based on their moves to to date and he said the houston texans so yeah definitely pay attention speaking of attention we know that cam newton is always a guy who loved reveled in the attention and he is at it again it's tuesday auburn's pro day wait a minute cam newton's going to participate tell me how these randoms keep getting times don't worry about it i'm gonna say it i can't wait to say it i love it i love it i'm seeing a lot of people toiling the idea and it's official i will be throwing that auburn's pro day tuesday that's part of his twitter video is social media videos under a minute it's classically cam unabashedly cam about to turn 34 this spring he's listed as a free agent he didn't play last season uh he spent the final eight games with the panthers in 21 remember he was reunited with the panthers um and and that was when sam darnold was going through uh the injured the injury with a shoulder i believe it was um before that he was with the patriots in 2020 but then lost his gig in 21 when they were able to draft mack jones so we know he's had his own injury history couldn't get another team to sign him to a deal so instead he's going to participate in the pro day and going to continue to point out i ain't 32 that's it there's at least one quarterback out there that i could beat in a competition i'm not 32 it's after our cbs sports radio a former panthers quarterback baker mayfield oh that's so weird to say he's learned a lot after the last year with three different teams we've got a humbler baker and maybe a more motivated baker it's not how i drew my career uh up by any means if i was to tell you how it would go based on the plan um i wouldn't have said that i put on three different uniforms in the year 2022 but that's how it happens and so you got to learn from it roll with the punches i've grown a lot um i appreciate all the things that have happened throughout my journey and it's helped me get here today and so i want to play this as long as i can so i've learned a lot of lessons along the way it's humbling right when you realize you're replaceable not just in one place but in another place he ended up with the rams but he was finishing up his rookie deal and now he's got a one-year prove it deal with the buccaneers by the way he did let everyone know he's not going to be tom brady oh well good thing you pointed that out because there might have been some confusion come the start of next season that nfc south is wide open all four teams finished below 500 last year i'm a new baker fan that's it he's my guy in 23 it's after hours cbs sports radio boom