After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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That's betterhelp.com slash positive. Odysseys I'm Listening is our commitment to more mental health conversations. Dr. Christine Moutier of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention talks about the daily change of emotions and mental wellness. Yeah, mental health and emotions are extremely dynamic, meaning they change. That's the most remarkable thing, to start to see crisis moments become less and less intense or less frequent. Talk saves lives.

For more mental health conversations, visit i'mlistening.org. I feel like it's a really good idea to have the NFL draft at the home of the Super Bowl champion every time. Made it create some extra buzz in Kansas City. And I loved seeing Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey on stage with the Lombardi Trophy before ever a pick was made.

That was fun. Nice atmosphere there in KC. I know on TV we don't see all of the in-house festivities, but it certainly seemed like they had MCs on stage entertaining the crowd as much as possible in between every pick. And then they had bands playing as well. Was it just me, though, or did you notice that there would be long delays in between the announcement that the pick was in, meaning the pick had been submitted by the teams, and then the actual announcement of said pick, as though the artists who were performing on stage were more important than the actual picks?

I'm telling you, it's a spring spectacle now. It's less and less about the process of drafting and the announcements and letting these young men realize their dreams. It's more and more about the show. It really is about the show. It's about the special guests. It's about the musical artists and acts. It's about the entertainment. It's about the colors and the lights and the fountain. It's about the stage.

It really has become less and less about the actual announcements. Not to take away from the athletes themselves, because this certainly is a moment that they have dreamed about, prepared for, worked hard to achieve. So congratulations to all of those who were selected in the first round.

32 young men now know that they have the opportunity of a lifetime and some nice money to go along with it. But even at the beginning, I was watching the NFL Network coverage, we heard Rich Eisen say on NFL Network, oh well, the NFL has asked the Panthers to give us a little extra time, or give them a little extra time so they can kind of let this start to the show breathe and fans can get excited. There could be a little more drama and tension before the first pick was unveiled. Yeah, less and less about the actual players, more and more about TV ratings, viewership, more and more about the NFL refusing to allow even one week to go by without some type of breaking news or event. And on Thursday, we had both. We had both breaking news and an event.

So we have a lot to cover tonight from the world of the NFL. Thank goodness there was only one basketball game because it got smushed to the side, crowded. Have you ever, I'm trying to think of a good analogy, ever sat on a bench or a pew, I guess, if you've ever gone to church or mass, or have you ever been in, say, an airplane seat where the person next to you is spilling over into your seat? Oh, it's the worst. It's okay, I suppose, if you're traveling next to someone that you know, hopefully that you like, but when it's someone you don't know, and they're spilling out of their seat, and their legs and arms are touching yours.

This is the worst feeling in the world. Ew! That's what the NFL does. It spills out of its seat. It encroaches. We can't ever pay attention to anything else. We can't ever have our own little space. NBA can't have its own space, can't have its own seat. The NHL can't have its own seat. Even college football can't have its own seat. Forget golf. Forget NASCAR, especially in the fall. No. Baseball, I'm sorry, is there actually baseball going on this month?

Because I forgot all about it. Okay, that's a bit of an overdramatization, but my point is the same. Picture yourself in an airplane seat, or on a bench, and you're crowded in, oh, a couch. A couch is a great idea. You're crowded in on a couch, maybe a waiting room in a doctor's office, and it's crowded, and there's only one seat, oh, on a subway in New York City. I'd rather stand.

And the person next to you is, well, the person next to you has urban sprawl, and they're just spreading out, and they're almost leaning on you. Get off me! That's what happens with the NFL. NFL, freaking get off me! Doesn't matter if you have one ass cheek and three toes, I will beat your ass. See?

My point exactly. Dan Campbell, that's how I feel too. Get off me! Stop touching me! Leave me to have my own seat in my own space! Nope, the NFL can't do it.

Cannot do it. Every time you think you have a break where you can actually miss the NFL, here it comes again, sprawling and spreading into your space. Poor Jay, he's mortified right now. Horrible images in my head. And the subway just brought back just bad memories. Yeah, but at least on the subway you can stand. On an airplane you can't stand. People are leaning on you, they're spreading out of their seat, their legs are in your space.

And then their arms and just everything else. I'm just saying, that's the NFL. Doesn't matter whether or not you need your own space.

The NFL has no respect for personal space whatsoever. No! What, what, what, what?

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to have some fun tonight, as you can tell. Yeah, exactly, thank you Kat. Oh, I know you're kind of in a bad mood right now though, so we'll give you your time to mourn.

But as I say, Kat, the NFL does not respect your personal space either. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, I'd love to hear from you. Let's see, how about a fill in the blank to wrap up the work week? Hmm. Well, let's throw this one out there. Actually, Jay, you help me decide.

I've got two in my brain. Two fill in the blank options for social. One would be, hmm, Lamar Jackson's contract with the Ravens is what?

That would be one fill in the blank. Lamar Jackson's new contract with the Ravens is what? I'm sure we're going to get some very snarky responses. Although I hope we have a lot of people who are happy for Lamar as well.

The other would be this, producer Jay. My team's draft picks, no, let's see, my team's NFL draft is what? But see, that's, we've only done first round. We could say the first round of the draft for my team is what? Nah, I don't even like that one.

That one's awkward. I do like the idea of using multiple teams. Multiple teams? Like not just the Ravens.

Well, everyone has an opinion about Lamar Jackson though, you know that to be true. But if I can figure out a better way to word it. How do you feel? No, I want to fill in the blank though.

The NFL draft, hmm, my team. Yo, yo, yo, yo. Oh my goodness, it's going to be one of those nights, I can just tell. I need an emotional release. It was quite the day. Well, it was quite the afternoon and evening. It's just, there's a lot pent up there.

I need an emotional release. So we're going to get to the draft picks and we'll get to some of the pomp and circumstance, my two favorite moments from the draft. So we go, hmm, the first round of the NFL draft was what? Is what? Was what?

Who cares if we have proper tenses? Just whatever. Find us on Twitter, ALawRadio and After HoursCBS. On our Facebook page too, easy to find. One draft down and, well I should say one day of the draft down, one round of the draft down and oh, so many to go. That's the thing. Oh, so many to go. Our phone number is 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We're going to start with one of my favorite moments just because it's Kansas City and the Vince Lombardi trophy was in the house along with, well, two voices that you recognize. Kansas City, I think we can do a little bit better than that. Teach Kingdom, can I hear you out there? All right, all right, all right. Hey, Teach Kingdom, are we in this thing or what?

Hey, we fought for our right to party, baby. How about it? This thing is shiny or what? You're going to give me this mic all night? Are you ready to trade up for the number one pick this year or what? Veece, get him, Veece.

Get him, Veece. First of all, he called the commissioner of the NFL, Goodell. Not Roger, not Mr. Goodell, not Commissioner. Nope. Goodell, you going to give me this mic all night or what?

I'd like to thank Roger Goodall. What a mess he is. Travis Kelsey, do you think he rolls out of bed like that? Do you think that's who he is all the time or do you think this was just the adrenaline of being out there on a stage again? Flashbacks to the Chiefs championship parade that actually, if I'm not mistaken, ended in the same exact place, Union Station in Kansas City.

Now, it obviously doesn't look the same, but I'm pretty sure this is where they had their championship celebration. Hey, I got some wise words for that Cincinnati mayor. Know your role and shut your mouth, you jabroni. Do you think he wakes up like that?

I do. I think he definitely is someone who can get up for the moment and likes to entertain a crowd, but he's definitely got to have that high energy all day, all the time. He is a manchild. He is just a crazy boy trapped in a large man's body and he is highly entertaining. I can't wait. I know they're doing the New Heights podcast even in the offseason, but I can't. I need a break from football players podcast in the offseason. So I will not be listening to it until we get closer to the season again, because as much as the NFL has urban sprawl and is sprawling into my seat on the plane, has no sense of personal space.

I still need a little bit of a break from it. But it was fun to see Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce and Kelce drops a good L, just a good L and then Veatch doesn't call him again, Mr. Veatch, our general manager boss. No, just calls him Veatch by his last name. Good L and Veatch while he's talking about that shiny trophy. I was worried he was going to drop it there.

He looked to be a little bit too demonstrative. Mahomes, I think I saw him like fake throw it into the crowd. That's a good thing, I guess, since Brady did it on the boat. Oh, so much fun. So much fun to see those two. So Kansas City, you did yourself proud. I did not hear a final number, but the predictions for the fans there in attendance were easily into the six figures. Again, flashbacks to the championship parade, which is why I say every NFL draft should be held at the home of the reigning Super Bowl champions.

It makes for extra buzz. And it wasn't long until, well, actually, I take that back. It was a long time. There was extra time, extra pause before we finally got our questions answered about the overall number one pick.

With the first pick in the twenty twenty three NFL draft, the Carolina Panthers select Bryce Young, quarterback, Alabama. It's still crazy. It's a blessing. I'm super grateful to be here. I'm super grateful for the blessings from God for allowing me to be here. I'm grateful for all the people that allow me to do it. You know, as amazing as this moment is, I'm going to try to live in the moment.

I can't wait to get to work tomorrow and start building off of that. Congratulations to Bryce Young. And he actually said he had no idea until the phone call came. He had no idea that he was going to be the number one overall pick. Interesting little wrinkle that they did on the broadcast. Did you notice how they did not show the player or players themselves before the pick was made? I wonder if that was at the request of the NFL, because what happened was or what typically happens is a phone call comes into that player. And when that player is on a cell phone and gets emotional, you know who the pick is before you hear it from Roger Goodell. And so we would see the video after the fact. I think it really it became apparent to me that's what the the TV strategy was. When C.J. Stroud was really emotional.

Right. But they didn't show him getting that phone call until after he had gotten on stage and hugged Roger Goodell and and received his jersey and taking the photos and done his couple interviews. Then they went back on the NFL Network broadcast and showed him receiving the phone call, him collapsing in tears, even actually saying to someone who was in his green room area.

It was a he actually did that that motion with his mouth, a shh, as in quiet. Don't give it away. So that's different. New strategy for the NFL Draft broadcast that they don't reveal the emotions of a particular player until after it's done. The pick is made because they don't want it to be given away. So congratulations to Bryce Young. This blows me away, but I have never really thought about it, but it's something they highlighted multiple times on the broadcast. First Alabama Crimson Tide football player ever taken number one overall. That's what I said.

Jay's reaction. How can that even be possible? First Alabama product taken number one overall unless I completely missed it. But I swear I saw it on the broadcast and I heard it said, heard it repeated on NFL Network. That's what I thought. I thought there's no way unless they were referring to quarterback. But well, that makes sense.

That would make sense. But is it did you find it? Are you confirming? Are you doing fact checking? Producer Jay? I cannot confirm just yet, but the headline, I'm not I'm making sure it's not just quarterback.

Now, I swear that's what I saw multiple times. First Alabama product taken number one overall. So what exactly does Bryce Young bring to the table? This is his part of his conversation with Melissa Stark on NFL Network. I'm going to give everything to the franchise, to the organization, to the coaches that believed in me and drafted me. And, you know, I'm forever indebted for that.

So everything I have preparation, not just on Sundays, but throughout the entire week, I'm going to give it my all. Now, coming up, we'll hear from the brain trust of the Carolina Panthers and their plan for Bryce Young. So Jay actually said to me before the show, when did this become a thing where we hear from owners and GMs and coaches?

But, yeah, it is a thing. Every single one of these teams hold holds press conferences. Now, it used to be that they would just do a quick interview with a scrum of reporters.

Now it's become an all out press conference. And to a man, owner David Tepper, GM Scott Fitterer, who actually has been watching Bryce Young now for two years, believing that he could be an overall number one pick. And then Frank Reich, their new head coach, the three of them were all on the same page. And the term, the phrase I heard was overwhelming conviction about Bryce Young at number one. So going back to February and their initial draft meeting, you'll hear them talk about why they knew even then that they had to move up to number one to get Bryce. Will Levis, one of the quarterbacks of the four that were expected to potentially go in the top 10. And so you have. Him still sitting in the green room or at the end of the night, I hope he's not still there now at the end of the night, still in the green room. And then. You've got kind of the idea of. The quarterbacks that were selected, not being anything, I wouldn't say anything like not being exactly what the analysts.

Predicted, which is why I love it, and then the Houston Texans still dazzled by what they did in the first 20 minutes. So you can find me on Twitter. A law radio on our show, Twitter after our CBS and then on our Facebook page. We're glad to have you with us. Final show of the workweek. We've got so much to talk about. Yes, hoops and hockey playoffs. But the draft and Lamar, I'm telling you, sprawling into your seat on the airplane.

It's just the worst, especially if you're stuck in the middle. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. Donate today at your local C.S.L.

plasma center and be rewarded for your generosity. PBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Shotgun snap looking Bryce across the middle catches may first down Bama still on his feet inside the 15 10 5 touchdown. Kobe Prentiss from Calera, Alabama.

Forty seven yards. The freshman making the most of his first catch of the day. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence on the Alabama Crimson Tide radio network from Learfield. Bryce Young. He was a Heisman Trophy winner at Bama. He was part of that twenty twenty national championship. And now he's the number one overall pick in the twenty three NFL draft. And again, he wasn't actually sure that he would go number one. He swore that he had no idea what the actual pick would be, though.

Of course, there had to be some dreams in there, some hopes. And those were realized when the Panthers made their pick. Now, according to general manager Scott Federer, as well as head coach Frank Reich, they were on the same page. And this was the guy they wanted, which is why they moved up to number one.

Really, a couple of years ago, when our area scouts went through, Robert Haynes went through. They really liked him then. And then just over the last couple of years, the study of him was something that they really felt strongly about when we met in February.

There was just overwhelming conviction for him during our draft meetings. Coach actually was just had just gotten here at the time. He said, you know, putting the staff together. He came in.

He was a part of that. He heard it because we want him to hear how strongly these guys feel about him and what they know about him. Kind of set the table for him so he can go do his evaluation with the staff.

So we were a little bit further ahead. But throughout the process, he checked every box that we had. You know, we tested him. We talked to him. We had dinner with him. And just every time we met with him, we felt more and more convicted. It wasn't like I took more convincing.

I just am always committed to the process. And so, listen, Scott couldn't have handled this any better. And like he said, it was very clear, you know, I got hired. And then a couple weeks later, we were in draft meetings. And I sat in this meeting that Scott's running. And Scott and all the scouts are talking about all the quarterbacks. They're reading all of them.

We're watching film. Scouts are talking about them. You know, and basically Scott proposes a question at the end of that meeting. Like, hey, so if we trade up, you know, where's our conviction? And it was unanimous with every guy in that room, starting from Scott on down, that Bryce was a guy. That was great for me to hear.

But what I appreciate about the way Scott handled it, it was like, hey, he's like, Frank, you take your time. You know, I mean, you hear how we feel, but, you know, just get out. You and the coaches get after it. And, you know, and it was, it wasn't much convincing.

You just watch the tape. There's a lot said about the size. At the end of the day, there's a lot of factors that go into it. But we're coaches. We're scouts. We watch the tape. And when you watch the tape, Bryce Young's the best player.

Hmm. Overwhelming conviction from the Panthers' brain trust. Frank Reich and the GM Scott Fitterer before that.

But what is the plan for Bryce? Because a lot of times, I thought this was a great point that was made, I think by Daniel Jeremiah on the NFL Network broadcast. How often do we see quarterbacks drafted number one overall, but they go to the worst teams in the league? Or they're drafted second and third, and they go to really bad teams from the year before, and they're expected to be saviors.

They're expected to make an instant impact, even if they aren't quite ready. Now, Bryce Young may be the most NFL-ready QB taken, and the Panthers certainly believe in him, but they moved up. They weren't among the worst teams in the NFL last year. Didn't, whoa, shoot, I forgot. The Bucks finished 8-8, and then every other team in the NFC South finished 7-9.

Is that how it went? 8-9 for the Bucks. Oh, I forgot. They're now at 17 games. So 8-9 for the Bucks, and every other team finished 7-10? Roughly.

Okay, roughly. So they weren't the worst team in the NFC. They weren't the worst team in the NFL. And so they do have a good defense in place. They obviously traded away Christian McCaffrey and Robbie Anderson, and so they were kind of divesting themselves of pieces.

But on the defensive side of the ball, we saw them with some tenacity and some good young talent last year. The plan then for Bryce Young may very well be to get him ready for the start of the season. However, according to Frank Reich, he's not going to go into their initial OTAs or training camp as QB won. He'll come in and we're going to, you know, he'll have to earn it. You know, he'll have to earn it.

Obviously, that's the way it should be. And so we'll know when the right time is. That'll be a decision that Scott and I and the coaching staff, you know, will continue to look at.

But listen, he's got enough going on right now. I just want him to come in and learn the offense and not have to worry about stepping into the limelight. When we step out on the field the first time, he'll be in that number two spot. And then we'll just progress from there at the right time. We'll know when that time is. So he will not start as the first – well, as the number one quarterback on the depth chart.

But the plan obviously would be to get him out there as soon as they can get him ready. It's just nice that they're not such an awful team that there's no one around him or they have no prospects. And also, they play in the NFC South where, yes, you now have Derek Carr as the quarterback of the New Orleans Saints. You also have Baker Mayfield taking over with the Buccaneers. I'm sorry, that's just the whole irony there.

Hello. Yes, exactly. And so you're talking about a division that is wide open as well, which means if they can get a good solid start and they do have some veteran leadership in the locker room and on the field, then maybe it's a safer place for Bryce Young to be. Obviously, he's more of a – he is a mobile quarterback, though that's not the guy that they want him to be is running all over the field. It's nice, though, when there's not quite as much pressure to step on the field week number one. But who else would they start?

That's the question. I mean, top of my head, Andy Dalton. That would be the stopgap veteran for them to – and look, that's not a good situation to be. There's a reason why he's bounced around the NFL the last few years. Right, right. You just don't want him to get hurt.

That's the thing. You want your young quarterback specifically to know how to protect themselves. So don't try to go hog wild down the field or get the extra two and a half yards when you can go out of bounds, when you can slide as opposed to diving or something. And then you want the offensive line to be able to protect in front of him, too, so he doesn't get clobbered.

Yeah, look, let's be honest. Whenever Bryce Young is ready and it's sooner than later, he's going to wind up on the field. They're not going to wait that long. There's not a lot of situations. There's not a veteran where you really feel that good.

Sandy Dalton could be a stopgap for a few weeks, but I don't think the Panthers are going to wait that long to find out what their future is. No, agreed. Agreed.

That's not the way it works anymore. I like it. Okay, so fill in the blank. The first round of the NFL draft was what? And if you want to make it specific to your team, you can do that.

ALaw Radio or After Hours, CBS on Twitter, plus our Facebook page. I said I had a couple of favorite moments. Really loved seeing Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce on stage with the Vince Lombardi and Kelce, of course. He is a jabroni, calling the Commissioner Goodell and then calling his own GM by his last name as well, Veatch. But this moment, the number 15 pick on Thursday evening, sorry my days blend together, for the New York Jets.

It was part of the Make-A-Wish program. This was my favorite moment. With the 15th pick in the 2023 NFL draft, the New York J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets, select Will McDonald, linebacker, Iowa State. Let's go!

Yeah! Let's go! So two years in a row, we get a Giants pick last year. We get a Jets pick this year for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. And what you didn't hear there is this young man named Kyle Sickles, he's wearing a suit and a Jets green tie. And before he makes the pick, he's obviously very excited.

He's standing up, there was this giant smile and he's exhorting the crowd. But before he ever makes the pick, he thanks the Commissioner, Roger Goodell. He thanks the Jets. He thanks the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He was so poised in that moment. He's a bone cancer survivor, so thankfully his cancer is in remission.

He's an avid Jets fan and he crushed the 15th pick. Let's go! Yeah!

Let's go! Congratulations, Kyle. That was probably my favorite moment by far. It's awesome and it's two years in a row. Sam Prince did it for the Giants last year.

Defensive end, Oregon! Sam's a great kid. I actually got a chance to talk to him for about an hour a few months ago. What? Sam's a great kid.

What happened? He reached out. He's looking to get into the business. He reached out, so we carved out some time. We talked a little bit. He's an awesome kid. I think he's a freshman in college right now. Yeah.

Both of them absolutely killed it, so it's really cool that they were able to do that. The NFL and the Jets and the Giants specifically. It's really cool. Sam and now Kyle, the highlights for the last two years of the NFL Draft. Alright, so again, on Twitter or Facebook, asking you to fill in the blank, the first round of the NFL Draft was what? Some of your responses already coming in. 855-212-4227. Now straight ahead, the Texans, they go big before they go home, picking...

Donate today at your local CSL Plasma Center and be rewarded for your generosity. Two and three. And yes, we will get to the details of the Lamar Jackson contract as well. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. With the second pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, the Houston Texans select C.J. Stroud, quarterback of Ohio State.

C.J. Stroud in the gun with Ibuka moving in motion. Stroud to pass. He looks, looks, being chased.

Stroud in trouble. Eludes one defender, running right side, eludes a second, throws a field, and it's caught in the end zone for a touchdown by Marvin Harrison. The Arizona Cardinals have traded the third pick to the Houston Texans. With the third pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, the Houston Texans select Will Anderson Jr., linebacker of Alabama.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Quite the reverb for one commissioner, Roger Goodell. You could hear it in the background. It's what artists deal with when they're doing concerts on that type of a stage, an arena concert, really anywhere. You get the bounce back and the feedback.

So I can imagine he just had to keep on going. It turned out to be a really cool show in Kansas City and to see the Vince Lombardi there, as well as the two stars of the offense for Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, and then to have a couple of the other special guests that were involved. I always enjoy the show and the spectacle, but I swear it's become bigger than the actual selections themselves. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, Paul Keels for Ohio State on the Learfield Radio Network, as the Texans make a big splash. Not only do they answer the question of what they will do at number two. Now, you may have heard the reports. Again, I was watching NFL Network. But the reports that were out there, including Ian Rappaport, is that if the Texans did not take a quarterback at number two and did not take C.J.

Stroud, there would be multiple players ready to leapfrog into the number three spot with the Arizona Cardinals, make that trade so that they could get ahead of the other teams that might want C.J. So despite the leak that came out on Wednesday, I guess it was Wednesday, maybe it was Tuesday, that C.J. graded historically low on the portion of the S2 test that is an attempt to gauge how well he can interpret defenses and react to defenses in the heat of the moment at the line of scrimmage, despite that number that came out that was, I don't know, 80 percentage points lower than Bryce Young. Again, it was a leak. It was a report.

I don't even know if it was true. But despite that, if the Texans hadn't taken C.J. at number two, there were multiple teams ready to leapfrog the Colts at number four who were definitely going to pick a quarterback. And had C.J.

fallen to them, they would have been thrilled. So there were teams, in fact the Colts may have been one of them, who were willing to switch with the Cardinals, though probably not necessary considering that the Cardinals were not going to pick a quarterback. But by the Colts moving up, they would have blocked any other team from making that move to number three. But as it turns out, it's the Texans who make that move to number three. So not only do they stifle any other team's hopes and dreams of getting C.J. Stroud when they take him at number two, but then they get the best defensive player in the draft and they go one-two punch, offense-defense. In the first draft with D'Amico Ryans as the head coach, they believe they've got two building blocks to resurrect the Texans franchise. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

Now let's take these two individual players separately. As I say, the video of C.J. getting the phone call and his emotional reaction wasn't shown until after he'd heard the pick, after the pick was made, but there were tears. Overwhelming emotion. And then after he hugs his people, leaves the green room, gets up on stage, even as he's putting the hat on in the two-way mirror, which is a little bit creepy, he's still got tears on his face, he's still trying to hold back those sobs.

But as he's walking onto stage, he's exuberant, he's yelling, let's go, he's bouncing up and down. All the questions answered. He, of course, tried to answer the questions. I don't take a test. I play football.

Something along those lines I'm paraphrasing. But how frustrating for him to feel like right before the draft happened, his reputation and his abilities were questioned. But the Texans didn't care. They're comfortable with what they saw in C.J., and he knows he brings a lot to the table. I bring me. I bring a man of God. I bring a leader. I bring somebody who's going to go to work every day and work their tail off, somebody who comes from a winning tradition, somebody who wants to win.

And that's all I care about, man. So I'm going to be the best teammate, the best leader, the best quarterback I can be. Really productive player.

We had him in the building for a visit. He's, I would say, as competitive a player, has an edge about him in a good way, loves football, wants to compete, wants to be great. Good size, comes from a good program. Ryan does a great job with the program down there at Ohio State, or up there at Ohio State, certainly with the quarterback as well.

C.J. 's been a productive player. He's been an accurate player. He certainly has a long way to go.

I think he'll admit that. I would say there's no timetable on any player. So the goal is for the player, whoever they are, to come in here, work hard, earn their role on the team, whatever that entails. But he's a player that our coaches spent a lot of time on, spent a lot of time with, had a lot of constructive discussions.

We felt that that was the best decision for us to make. Nick Cassario, general manager of the Houston Texans. So they draft C.J.

Stroud. They're thrilled with that. They prevent any other team from getting him by answering the question at number two. But then they trade with the Cardinals to get Will Anderson. This just really comes down to doing what we feel is best for the football team and was an opportunity to get a player who we thought very highly of.

We knew that he wasn't going to last. We felt that adding him to our football team was something that we wanted to do. Can't say enough good things about Will, just the person that he is, and being that he is, his leadership, and unsolicited before the draft. The praise was just incredible.

Whoever they are as players, they are as people as well. And when you see a consistent pattern of behavior in every step of the way, the messaging is the same, then it says a lot about who that individual is. It means everything. Everybody don't know how much hard work goes into this, man. The sacrifices I made, the hard work, the dedication, everything that goes into this, they just see what happened on Saturday.

But the process, man, I'm just so blessed and favored by God. Will Anderson, also out of Alabama. You hear him there on the NFL Network, C.J. Stroud before that on the NFL Network. And so you end up seeing two of the top three that come from the University of Alabama.

And Nick Saban was there in the green room in Kansas City. And Nick Casario, I know he's been ripped on a bunch. He's been criticized a ton. And I have not loved a lot of the moves he's made. I really don't love the way they treated their coaches over the last several years. The David Cully situation. And then, obviously, the Lovey Smith hire off of Cully's staff only to fire him as well.

So I don't love it. I think they got the right guy in D'Amico Ryan's. D'Amico, of course, being a former Texan himself. And I do like what they've done in this draft. I also have to say this, I think they made out like bandits in the Deshaun Watson trade as well. And so I am more apt to kind of be open-minded about Casario and the Texans moving forward. Because they've now picked up D'Amico Ryans, C.J. Stroud, and Will Anderson all in the span of a few months. And that completely changes the face of the franchise.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So that was kind of the right off the top boom in your face immediately following Bryce Young. And then we did see Anthony Richardson go number four. Again, very emotional. The quarterback out of Florida considered more of a project.

And wait until you hear what his brother Corey said to him in a message that was posted to Colts Twitter. Just love the family aspect and also the aspect of dreams coming true. And in some cases, a lot of hardship, a lot of adversity.

A path that was anything but easy or typical. And Anthony Richardson, from the draft process, catapulted into the top five. Which is really incredible, right? He had a great combine. He was the rage of the combine. And now ends up going number four overall.

Will Leviss among those still left in the green room at the end of the first round. Some talk about a toe injury. Gosh, I hate that. I hate those kind of excuses. And it's hard to watch when you know these players are uncomfortable. We'll be right back after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Your local CSL plasma center and be rewarded for your generosity.