After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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That's betterhelp.com positive. That iconic music. It's March Madness. It is synonymous with March Madness and we are down to the 16 in the men's tournament and the women working on getting there. We've seen upsets. We've got Cinderella's, the emotion, the thrill of victory, but the agony of defeat because these teams, they recognize starting out they're all on equal footing and this is it. If this is not the best postseason in sports, well then I need to hear what is. What would you hold up against March Madness because the format to me is perfection. Love this time of the year and so we get to take a breath now and wait until the Men's Sweet 16 will tip off on Thursday and Friday.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We've got some really cool stories. Obviously having Fairleigh Dickinson as a 16 become just the second ever to take out a one seed even though Fairleigh Dickinson is done. Florida Atlantic is on into the Sweet 16. We've only got two top seeds left in Houston and Bama and then the rest of the seeds are spread out all the way down to a 15. Clock running down to three, down to two, down to one. This one is over.

It's official. It is history for the Princeton Tigers. For the first time in school history, Princeton is going to the Sweet 16. Just the fourth 15 seed ever in the history of the tournament to advance to the round of 16. We are so thrilled to be going to the Sweet 16. It is an absolute pleasure being around these guys.

They just grit their teeth and they do it. Mitch Henderson, the head coach of Princeton, was on the team that took out UCLA in the mid-1990s and now he's coaching his Princeton Tigers not just with one victory in the opening round but on to the Sweet 16. We're so excited to be able to tell their story and I had a chance to catch up with Tigers junior Zach Martini on Monday evening.

It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio. It's cool to hear the story of Princeton men's basketball through his eyes, through his perspective. It's not a fluke. This wasn't just magic and this team is fearless, is resilient. Those are the words that I keep hearing about Princeton. So even as they gather themselves and get ready for a battle against Creighton that will take place in Louisville in the south region, Zach's so willing to talk about the emotions and the experience of the last week. I started out by asking him, Zach as a kid growing up you think about March Madness and playing on the game's biggest stage.

Did you envision this? Is it as good as what you thought when you were younger? Uh my driveway um right like counting down the shot clock three two one hitting the shot like that um being in March Madness and then just to go out and live that dream is it's been special and I couldn't think of a better group of guys to deal with um and I'm glad we're playing we're still playing had this opportunity. Yeah and what have the last let's let's call it the last 48 hours or so been like for you for your teammates and for your coach who I'm seeing everywhere right now. Right yeah yeah um we're getting a lot of press like you mentioned it's special and our coach said to enjoy this moment um this is this is a rare thing we're doing um the first time Princeton's been in the sweet 16 since the tournament was expanded uh our phones are blowing up like crazy um it's kind of funny we were after we beat Arizona we went out to super nice dinner as a team and our coach comes over to our table um he's like can you guys just be present for once I mean we're just there's so many so many notifications so many people congratulating us I mean the saying glued to your phone was really true at that moment. Not only do you guys have the opportunity to play on uh your women's team also won a game so it's the first time in history that both the Tigers men's and women's basketball teams have won in the same year so what's it like on campus these days? It was fun um today the first class I had we crossed today um 130 walked into class and uh my fellow classmates gave me a standing ovation um that's yeah it's something I never would have thought of so uh the school spirit's been great um professors have been great they're reaching out to us over email uh the girls team will arrive they're flying back from Utah tonight so I'm sure they'll receive the same welcoming tomorrow. All right let's talk about this a little bit then because as you mentioned you're in your spring semester you had class today so when did you get back to campus? We uh we took the red eye from Sacramento at about 9 30 pacific time on Saturday so we got back to campus well today we got back to campus yesterday about 8 a.m so yeah it's it's been a pretty eventful uh weekend pretty pretty exhausting. In addition to just absorbing everything and the notifications the the phones blowing up have you had a chance to rest at all Zach? Um no not really um things were happening at such a high speed high pace thankfully when we got back from uh Sacramento I got back to my room and I fell asleep from 8 a.m to noon so no I mean after Arizona it was such a crazy feeling I woke up at 6 a.m the next day I was like wow that that really just happened I couldn't go back to sleep it was just so exciting.

Oh that's awesome. Zach Martini is with us from Princeton where they are back on campus but soon we're soon will be on their way to the sweet 16 to take on Creighton and that comes up Friday in Louisville it's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio it's really neat that your coach was involved in Princeton's previous 15 over a two upset but how much did that ever come up or how much you know has your coach ever mentioned it? Yeah there's a uh I'll say notorious is a notorious photo of coach jumping for joy after they beat UCLA that's uh it's all over campus um it's right outside our lift our weight room um so he's he's really happy that there's that there should be a new photo replacing his photo um happy for the school and happy for uh he hates that photo he says I'm sure I'm sure he loves it buddy it's nice to have a new photo coming in. Yeah for sure I actually remember that moment when I was younger and it was stunning at the time the hall of famer beat Carril and just that yeah that back door cut and that's awesome yeah it seems very evident you guys have such a calm a poise the stage does not seem too big for you where does that come from Zach? Um I think we we just from top to bottom staff included we really believe that we should that we were people on there um coach reiterates that he's preparing us to win the game and let's see from Monday right after we won the Ivy League 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 needed to go through some adversity but prior to that part of the season we were 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 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 and months and months that you weren't able to play games. I think we're just finally reaping the fruit of our labor the juniors and seniors had 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 our freshman year here was really really strange 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 gonna give you we're gonna 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 gonna 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 shot selfishly so uh this is a fun 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 believe they didn't score the last four minutes of the game right as that is happening and it was like the rebounds you were getting to 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 this 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 in a 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 Madness 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 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 Ivy League schools but just the the teammates the the people were good people I felt felt I could be myself around them I felt I felt wanted by the coaching staff um 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 right you really care about your teammates you love them to death to see them step up and perform on stage Blake Peters I mean the kid makes tough shots and he's done it all year I mean if you look at the the like the amount of points he scores per minute 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 tore 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 and 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 used the word fearless a bunch why did 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 Ceballos and Balo 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 got to respect your opponent these guys are big time top 12 players but our will to win was contagious um I mean 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 this last weekend on and I think it's going to continue for trade hey if the Jets can land Aaron Rogers in a trade I feel like anything can happen there you go yeah yeah I'm a I'm a die-hard Jets fan I am so pumped up about Aaron Rogers you have no idea I'm so glad you said that I mean they've already got his favorite receiver so now he's just getting that deal done uh the Packers have no leverage I don't know what they're doing Joe Joe Joe Joe Douglas is one of the best GMs out there and that's no bias he he he knows what he's doing I I've got trust in Joe I know he's not going to sign Randall Cobb and Mercedes Lewis unless that's really part of Rogers's demands standard I'm pumped up yeah yeah I can I can hear that not just that but I love the way that sauce gardener Breece Hall and also Garrett Wilson were willing to go out and they're recruiting them I mean that was that was a big moment for sauce and to burn the cheese head uh it's a nice little uh peace treaty I think Aaron um yeah I I love the Jets I'm wearing I'm wearing a Jets t-shirt right now actually oh there you go that's awesome well whenever the dust settles of on your basketball season and however far you go we would love to have you back on the show to talk Jets football Zach that would be fun that's that's that's a dream yeah I love that yeah I don't know what you're studying but it sounds like you could hold your own with some Jets talk so we can do that I can't I I pride myself on on Jets and whatever is second in my list is far from the Jets awesome well and as I just look at your Twitter struggling New York Jets fan that's oh yeah that's me yeah that's enough all right you can find Zach Martini on Twitter at Zach Martini five five eight seven uh lots of cool photos on the Princeton Men's Basketball Twitter as well we are rooting for you I think the nation is on board Zach thank you so much yeah congratulations appreciate it so what happens when you do your homework and you research a little bit you find out some of these fun nuggets and other elements outside of the basketball in Zach's case outside of Princeton but to be able to dig a little deeper and figure out that he was a Jets fan did you hear him light up even over the phone I could hear him light up like the emoji with the stars in his eyes about Aaron Rodgers and Allen Lazard and the Jets and sauce gardener burning a cheese head to make cheese sauce so yes now that we have said that we'll have to invite Zach to return to the show when the deal is done and he's finished with basketball but for now it's Princeton or bust and I meant what I said the nation behind these tigers as they battle the Creighton Blue Jays coming up in the Sweet 16 on Friday in Louisville I have to say this and I told producer Jay earlier on Monday I am so proud of the four player interviews we did and maybe we'll have others but to this point we are four for four with our player interviews Jay worked really hard to reach out to the various schools and the sports information directors to ask them for players for good talkers not all of the teams had the success that they were looking for but I feel like we got some pretty incredible personalities and great talkers on the show so going back to the freshman sensation Keontae George who of Baylor who was coming off the ankle injury and I know Baylor fell short of the Sweet 16 but man he's going to be a lottery pick in the NBA draft if he chooses to leave school then think about Jalen Slauson the player of the year in the southern conference for Furman who did end up winning not only their southern conference championship 12 months after losing on a buzzer beater but then to actually capture a victory over Virginia in the opening round so cool to watch him celebrate and the paladins realize their dreams after we had spoken to Jalen of course now Zach Martini of Princeton the Cinderella still remaining and we spoke to Malachi Smith of Gonzaga so every year we have a Gonzaga player they're also still in the Sweet 16 so how about that we really meet the various characters and the different schools and regions of the country represented with our interviews we also talked to the Drake head coach we talked to Miami head coach Jim Larriñaga just awesome stuff to have this mix and these stories because yes we fill out brackets we watch them go from 68 down to 16 in the span of a few days and then ultimately to the final four this year in Houston but the blood the sweat the tears the hard work the months of toiling away in some cases the heartbreak before the dreams realized every single one of these schools has a story and every single one of the players on the team has a story and to to share a few of them this time of the year it's one of my favorite I don't say jobs but it's one of my favorite pieces of March Madness is to kind of pull back the curtain and tell some of the stories that you wouldn't hear otherwise that you don't hear throughout the regular season you can find us on Twitter after our CBS that's where we post the link to our podcast every weekday morning also on our Facebook page we still get questions nearly every day hey can I listen to your show on demand or online well yes yes you can let's see what do we want to do coming up how about a little bit from the women's tournament where we had a fairly stunning upset of Miami over a top seed Indiana well it was you want to talk about agony of defeat for the Hoosiers but the thrill of victory for the canes as now the women 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 wallets 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 Costos 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 and join the men in the sweet 16 it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS 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 and they had a phenomenal season it was a it was it was a great game it was a good matchup for us this is after hours with Amy Lawrence the miami hurricanes have both their men's and women's basketball teams into the sweet 16 and interestingly enough both canes squads had to get through indiana now in the men's tournament it was a matchup that featured the fourth seeded Hoosiers against the five seed miami that one took place in Albany and we watched it play out over the last few days for the women indiana was a top seed so a number one seed against miami squad that was facing i don't want to say an uphill battle but certainly facing uh what would be tougher a tougher circumstance tougher challenges uh considering the the competition committee or excuse me the selection committee uh putting that indiana on the top line very often those number one seeds in women's basketball have quite a a gap i should say uh down to some of the other teams i mean there's we're seeing the gap narrow and and really disappear in men's basketball in many cases but in women's basketball there's still a fairly sizable disparity between the haves and the have-nots and so the indiana Hoosiers were the top seed in the greenville regional and they never led in this game against miami the number nine seed it was actually taking place at indiana okay so here this is another difference with the women's tournament as much as the ncaa is now branding it as march madness and using some of the same formats and patterns and equipment and resources as it should be for the women's tournament one major difference is that you've got higher seeds who are hosting games so it's supposed to be not just a disparity in terms of the talent and the season that that that those top seeds had but also they get to be at home in front of their own fans when it comes to some of these early round games so again this is taking place at assembly hall indiana's hosting number nine seed miami and never leads the Hoosiers rally to tie the canes four times in the fourth quarter they play quarters again in women's college basketball but could never grab the lead as stunning as it gets it's after hours with amy lawrence here on cbs sports radio just the excitement the joy as you can imagine if you haven't seen it it's it's out there on both social as well as on tv whether you're watching espn highlights that's the network that carries the games the miami hurricanes coaching staff and players they go absolutely crazy there's tears it's it's one of those moments that's unforgettable to experience but also pretty amazing to watch 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 to say okay let's go we got this so yeah it feels amazing it's great it's great to be here it feels good um just to keep dancing keep advancing surviving advanced right now i mean it feels really good the the game we played tonight was something that we was talking about last night you know so like to get the win i mean it's big time over a very very efficient team and i just got to give my credit to indiana because they came out and played well too all right so you hear from meyer the head coach and then lola pendande who actually had the 19 points and she says i get really over my skis and really excited my teammates have to tell me to calm down and then destiny harden about staying alive because that's the whole point here survive and advance a one seed hadn't fallen before the sweet 16 since the duke blue devils lost to michigan state going back to 2009 that's what i'm telling you very often in the women's tournament because of the disparity between the best teams in the land it's rare that a one seed loses before the late stages of march madness the top 16 seeds they all host again so they've got that home court advantage and while you do get some upsets i'm not saying there aren't ever last season there were a pair of two seeds that lost in the second round but a one seed had not lost prior to the sweet 16 going back to 2009 so that's nearly automatic when a one seed gets to host and gets to have its own fans and really the while the playing field in women's college basketball is becoming a little more level there's still a standard that's set by some of the best programs in the land like uconn now uconn is playing this entire season without page beckers they're all american who is the player of the year she tore her acl going back to shoot i think it was even pickup ball uh maybe last spring and so it's been a long year without her they've stubbed their toe a bunch they still have a hall of fame coach and chino ariemma and now their 30th sweet 16 wow 30 of them we usually come into this tournament you know we got everybody healthy for the most part we're rolling and we just stormed through the tournament you know and this year none of that was none of that was was true you know everything was a struggle everything was was hard for us to be in the position that we're in to to go to the same place where so many other uconn teams have gone yet having gone through so much more than i think than any other uconn team has had to go through i just was i was really proud of them because i've been through a lot of these but they haven't so to see them feel that what it feels like i mean this is why we do what we do right uconn a two seed this year not a one seed and i know a 31 and five record is amazing by most standards but for the huskies to lose five games and some of the games they lost just it hasn't been this way for uconn for years but the adversity they've fought through they take out the seven seed baylor bears and they do it really by dominating in the paint so the bears were outscored by the huskies in the lane 36 to 12 that's a big disparity there and then also out rebounding the bears so they're able to do it with an inside out perspective virgino ariemma as he points out he's been to all these sweet 16s he's been to final fours he's won championships he's done it with various different rosters in different eras of uconn women's basketball and yet he still has the same emotion he's not lost the passion for the game and on this night kind of understands really that that desperation that his team needed to have i'm out there i'm coaching like i'm trying to get to our first regional ever and in some ways i am you know because lou's never been to one and that those are the kind of things that that make this job rewarding so congratulations to uconn who takes a tough season by their standards of course and now puts all of that growth and all of that he mentions desperation i would say the determination to move forward even after losing page even knowing that they were going to go the entire season without having her some of the other injuries in there as well and forcing some of the younger players to step into roles and to grow up i mean more quickly than what they would normally be asked to do now the thing about uconn it's like any of the top women's programs if you get recruited by uconn or stanford or again you can tennessee is another one in there you know that these are the best players in the country so they still have their pick of the litter when it comes to the top high school players but there's a little more and this is a credit to uconn a little more of a little more of that recognition that for the huskies after all their use of success they forced the rest of women's college basketball to raise their standards and to raise their level of play because otherwise they were never going to be able to compete with uconn so it's a credit to the huskies and gino arriemma that women's college basketball is more wide open uh think about south carolina and and what dawn staley has done there with that program yeah if you wanted to be able to compete and win titles you had to go through uconn for years and years and now you see that it's spreading out a little bit but still the best of the best they're head and shoulders above most of the women's game so to have an upset like what we had of miami over indiana is is noteworthy and critical maybe melting of the iceberg a little bit too so good basketball so far so we head toward next weekend where the 16s are trimmed down to just the final fours it's after hours with amy lawrence hey did you know baker mayfield was introduced as the new quarterback well as one of the quarterbacks i guess he has to compete for the starting job how what a difference a year makes with baker mayfield how humbling it has been for him and yet i think i like this new version of baker so we have that ahead and oh my gosh cam newton cam newton marco balletti do you think cam newton is better than any of the current starting quarterbacks that we have in the nfl no none of them come on man no you'd be lucky to be better than some of the backups all right well he is going to work out believe it or not he's going to work out for i guess pro scouts kind of piggybacking on uh pro day with auburn right which is where he won a national championship uh i i feel like it's fascinating if nothing else i give him credit for trying i just and it's not it's not to say that he wasn't a good quarterback in his time his shoulders shot he can't throw right that's the problem like you can't be a quarterback and not be able to throw the football and his body is taking a pounding because he delivered so many blows while he ran the football in his heyday as well i'm sorry his body is beat up you can't throw the football you can't be a starting quarterback or a backup in the nfl it just doesn't work so no quarterbacks out there who can't throw there are a few that i question sometimes i don't know physically able to throw the football i mean there were times where we watched him with the patriots and it was you know he threw the ball into the into the ground 10 yards away from the line of scrimmage and you were like it was hard to watch because you knew the guy had talent it's just his body gave up on him it's it's a shame i would love to say that a year off made everything okay i don't believe that and i'm sorry you throwing the football sitting in your shorts that's not going to do it for me the return to carolina i think really underscored it for me because he and bill belicheck really hit it off belicheck felt like he could have started for another season he was supposed to be the starter until mack jones fell to them at number 15 in that draft last uh last year 21 draft right wait what are we in now 23 right so no the 22 draft he's going he's going into his third yes okay two years oh my goodness so when mac jones was available and mac won the job in training camp it made cam newton expendable but for a while there they were going into a second consecutive year with cam as their starter and so i felt like okay there's still some usefulness bill belicheck is going to get what he can out of cam he really he said such positive things about cam newton especially his leadership and his desire to compete um i at that point when he got caught i felt like okay well if he can't beat out mac jones for the job then i'm not sure there's anything left for him in the league yeah and then he went to carolina with what 17 other quarterbacks right it was just again and they made they started them three days later i don't blame him for some of the situations i understand that like i said he's just older and beat up he's not old he's still young enough but his body is older than his age right and his shoulder his shoulder is shot that's what i'm saying like look if you if you can come out on new arbor pro day and i and you can show me that you could take a five-step drop and actually throw the ball 60 70 yards down the field now i'll watch for a little bit now i need to see if you can throw a 20 yard out from one hash to the other sideline if you can't do that you cannot be a quarterback in the nfl and not only can you do it once you have to consistently be able to do that throw in and throw out during practice and the games i don't believe his body will allow him to play in the nfl anymore it's hard to swallow i'm sure for him in a caliber of athlete that he was sometimes things come to an end former nfl mvp so we'll do qb news at the top of the hour straight ahead the eagles are going to look decidedly different in 2023 even after making it all the way to the super bowl and pushing the kansas city chief so we'll talk about the math defections during free agency you are listening to the after hours podcast so it brings up first and goal from the four miles sanders in the game this is after hours with amy lawrence seems like forever ago but actually it was just over five weeks ago that the chiefs toppled the eagles in super bowl 57 that was taking place in arizona the call with kevin burkhart on fox it's after hours with amy lawrence on cbs sports radio this always happens with teams that achieve success in the nfl it's i would say both the beautiful element of the nfl in that free agency allows such incredible competitiveness from year to year right there there's no other league in which half the playoff field turns over every season and that is what happens even as the league has expanded to 14 teams in the playoffs in that super-sized wildcard weekend last year seven brand new teams we get fresh blood every year we get teams that go from worst to first every year now the philadelphia eagles were a repeat in the nfl postseason remember they had made it as a wild card the year before in nick seriani's first season as head coach jaylen hurts with the meteoric rise the pieces they put around him on the offensive side of the ball including aj brown they win not only the nfc beast but they win the conference overall they end up in the super bowl against a tough chief's team high hopes for the eagles but what always happens is that guys stand to get paid now there are guys who leave and take less money somewhere else that may be personal it may be about a new challenge a fresh start maybe it's disgruntled in terms of playing time but a lot of these guys are leaving because they're able they're able to get paid see the brinks binks truck the money truck the money train the money trail what's it called again brinks brinks trucks go beep beep beep as they back up to the door it's after hours here on cbs sports radio five starters gone from the eagles team that we saw last season that includes most recently cj gardner johnson who ends up with the lions and again i understand fresh start new challenge new money but gardner johnson may be a guy who wants to get back to his original position right he was asked to make a switch from cornerback to safety he actually finished the regular season tied for the most picks in the nfl and this is despite missing a handful of games with the lacerated kidney do you guys remember that ouch the only eagles since the 1970 merger to have interceptions in five consecutive games so big piece of what the eagles did last year so five starters on defense two starters on offense that have signed elsewhere in free agency it's a challenge for any winning team i think a big one for me was the defensive lineman jvon hargrave that was a real big one um they do have guys that they've been able to sign too but hargrave was one of those that just kind of out of their price range they couldn't afford him he was able to get a four-year deal with the 49ers worth over 20 million dollars a year but they feel like jordan davis who was a first round pick in 2022 can step into those shoes now he had an injury last season so maybe limited what he was able to do how effective he was able to be but given an off season getting healthy the eagles are high on him they lose miles sanders who ends up with the panthers man the panthers are making a lot of moves but they bring in rashad penny they re-sign boston scott all right so it's it's not going to look exactly the same but that and i think the secondary is a major challenge for them but i like what they've done to this point and i certainly believe that these athletes have or should take advantage of the great opportunity to capitalize on their individual success right it's a team sport but they have a limited window in which to capitalize it's after hours cbs sports radio