After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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That's BetterHelp H-E-L-P dot com slash positive. Halfway through as we say sayonara Wednesday and move forward into a Thursday. Fourth show of the work week and my last show until next Tuesday night.

Right, let's see. Yes, next Tuesday night. If all goes according to plan. I have a long weekend and that's really how I'm doing it this summer. If you remember I took a week off in April and that was my trip to the Grand Canyon and then worked all the way through May. Busy spring. Had a long weekend in June. Long weekend in July. I'm taking off Labor Day weekend right before football starts and then no other time off until Thanksgiving. It's going to be a long haul so don't begrudge me my extra long weekend. That's if my plane gets out of Newark on time. I am optimistic and hopeful. I know lots of people are praying and are supporting me.

Thank you. It's frustrating right? I know many of you can identify with this. You have a limited number of days or a limited amount of time that you can be away and be out. And then if you end up with a flight delay or a cancellation it kind of cuts into that. I don't mind it on the way home. How come my flight delays never happen on the way home? If I don't make it home it'll be alright.

Well that's not true. I can't forget about my old dog and my old cat and the fact that they will miss their mama. So I need to get home in a somewhat timely fashion but I would be okay with a delay on the way home. I'm flying direct on the way home.

I don't have to worry about a connection or missing a connection or anything like that. So I'm nervous. I already have been forewarned. My flight comes into Dallas or goes into Dallas in one terminal and I depart Dallas from a different terminal. So I was going to wear a sundress and sandals on the plane because it's not only is the Northeast about to hit a massive heat wave but well it's Texas. And so I was planning on wearing a dress and sandals and then I realized I might have to run through the Dallas airport with my carry-on and my bag.

My carry-on and my tote. And so I decided nope gonna have to wear sneakers just in case. Have you ever tried that?

Run through an airport? Well if I'm speaking to males then no you haven't tried. Well maybe you tried it in flip-flops. There are guys out there who wear flip-flops or wear sandals or crocs with socks or whatever. Crocs with socks?

Have you not seen it? It's like all the rage. Oh I've seen them. At the college level crocs with socks. You can't wear crocs without socks anymore.

It's the thing. You have to wear them with socks. When did crocs become back in? When did the 80s and the 90s become cool again?

I don't know. Well when crocs came out when I remember I was in like high school or early high they were not you were not wearing crocs with socks or with anything you were wearing crocs at all. And now they're all the rage. Oh they are and you have to wear them with socks. As one of my friends informed me my younger friends informed me if you wear your crocs without socks. Oh no you're out. That's a cardinal sin.

You know it's a cardinal sin. You cannot be caught dead wearing crocs without socks. Now let me ask a follow up.

Yeah but you're asking the wrong person because I am not a cool kid. Are the crocs supposed to be worn in the sport mode or in the casual mode? You know what I mean?

No. So the crocs have like that heel you know on the back like a clog that can go it goes either up or it goes back when you're like trying to run. Oh which one is which? I do not own crocs.

I think they're ugly as sin so I can't stand them. But what which is which? With the band up front on your on the bridge of your foot or behind your heel? That's the casual. When it's behind your heel I believe that's the sport mode. Like you're supposed to be able to run with them? Right.

Oh please. Interesting because I mostly see them so I do have a bunch of high schoolers that work with me on Sundays when I'm teaching my kiddos and so they will volunteer and they will help out with the crafts and the games. And mostly I see them with the band behind the heel so in sport mode. That's the cool way to do it? Well I don't know I'm just saying that's how the high schoolers wear them when I see them. Always with socks.

I would have guessed opposite. Really? In a casual way yeah. And socks that's like a shoebie though no? A what? A shoebie. A shoebie? Like if you like you wear socks with sandals like or shoes on the beach. Never in my life have I worn socks with sandals. I think it is it defeats the purpose of wearing the sandal. Why not just wear a shoe then? Right it's a horrible look you can't do it's a fashion no no but that's why it's shoebie. Apparently not with Crocs.

Yeah right now only in 2023 it'll be different in 2024 no doubt. I will not be running through the Dallas airport in Crocs with socks instead I just like how it sounds. Instead I will be wearing my running sneakers my super fast running sneakers super fly.

I suppose I could treat this as a training run for my next half marathon which is two months away. Jay what are you doing? You're in there looking at something on the internet and making faces. I know you so well I know you're not paying attention you're reading something on the internet.

It's a good thing I don't need you for anything. What's happening in there? So apparently they make these Crocs that have Croc high heels that's it. And I didn't know that those existed and I just came across a picture of Croc high heels. It's a Croc. It's real they're Crocs they're literally Crocs and they have you know bent like a high heel and they have the whatever you call that. A chunky heel or a spiky heel? Thin heel. Are these for boys or girls? No they look like they're for girls but you never know. Good point.

No. If you're gonna wear high heels just wear high heels. I'm taking high heels with me to Texas because I have to dress up one night. Do you have to see these?

No I absolutely do not want to see them. Are they being worn with socks would be the question. I don't see a picture of them on anybody. So no high Crocs with socks?

Not sure. We gotta be careful because this is not where the cool kids hang out. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Whether we're talking about Crocs with socks or we're giving you the chance to ask Amy anything or we are Joey Votto.

We're laughing at Joey Votto. You'll understand before this hour is done. Next hour we have a guest who had a Twitter exchange with DeAndre Hopkins but I just would like to point out we had him scheduled before he had the Twitter exchange with DeAndre Hopkins. He texted producer Jay back to say what?

Don't give his name away. A couple hours after we confirmed the time and got him on he goes, DeAndre Hopkins just came at me and sent me the link to the Twitter page and I got to look at it. So we'll be asking him about that when he joins us next hour.

So just over an hour from now. On Twitter you can find me ALawRadio and then on our Facebook page After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Uh oh. Sorry. I was reading a tweet.

That's what I get for reading a tweet. Every now and then something goes horribly wrong with either the automated system that is keeping us on the air at various radio stations around the country. Okay so for people who don't know we are on 300 plus affiliates around the country. We're also on satellite radio and then you can hear us on a variety of apps as well as on CBSSportsRadio.com.

Every now and then something goes haywire with the systems. They're fully automated in many radio stations around the country. They take our show so they don't have to have a staff member or their own host. Sadly that's one of the roles of network radio is we fill in a spot where a local station doesn't want to pay someone to do their own show. So in many cases you're talking about a radio station that's completely dark and it's a computer that's running it waiting for producer J to hit a tone that then indicates to the computers around the country it's time to go to a commercial break. Okay so without getting all technical that's essentially what happens in most of the radio stations around the country who are carrying our show. Every now and then we'll get people who complain about the fact that we're running too many commercials. It happens a lot.

Well a lot. It happens at least once a month where something goes wrong with the automated system and it doesn't get the tone to return to programming. So it just keeps airing commercials. It'll air commercial after commercial and it's just a computer that keeps firing them until it gets the tone that we've returned to after hours.

So again it's fully automated so the tones are what tell the computer go to a break and then go back to programming. Sometimes you'll hear even on satellite radio you'll hear a commercial you can tell the break is too long and then it'll end and it's right in the middle of somebody's sentence so they clearly miss the tone. Anyway people get really mad and they tell us stop playing so many commercials as though we're sitting here playing 13 or 14 minutes of commercials in a row and that's our programming. Anyway I apologize that the automated systems around the country sometimes screw up but I swear to you that is not on us.

We're doing our show the same as we always do. The commercials air locally. The computers are supposed to fire them and I'm sorry if you're getting more commercials than you are me. If that's the case you're getting more commercials than me something's wrong but it's not on our end.

It's on your local level. Sorry about that though. I haven't gotten any phone calls and I just checked our satellite feed and it's normal so. Yes well now apparently it is but we got to tweet about it and it's not just this guy. I mean every now and then Facebookers will complain about the fact that on the app it's nothing but commercials or my favorite is when it's a commercial and it's me airing at the same time.

Again clearly a computer malfunction. It's not us. Anyway it's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. As much as the QBs take center stage even with the start of training camps you've got new contract for Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts and obviously Joe Burrow and Tua getting asked questions. Aaron Rodgers in a new place.

Jordan Love taking over for Aaron in Green Bay. We'll get to our QB news coming up at the bottom of the hour. We have a lot to get to.

We might have to break it up into two different parts. Running backs still want to say their piece. Running backs still want to draw attention to what they believe is their plight. And so Christian McCaffrey on Tuesday. This is after Saquon Barkley signs his franchise tender. Christian McCaffrey and Dalvin Cook who still doesn't have a job but was a guest with Rich Eisen. Who else did we hear from?

Austin Eckler we've heard from. So various running backs are trying to keep up the fight if you will. Make this top of mind for as long as they can until they don't have the microphones in front of their faces anymore and they can't really use their time in front of the mic to talk about what they believe is a disservice and a devaluing of running backs.

But there's still a time now because they haven't gotten serious at practice yet. And Najee Harris one of the latest to say hey we're not being treated right. We're not being treated according to our value for teams around the league.

They're choosing when to devalue the running back. And what I mean by that is if numerous times you know I can speak on my behalf they ask me alone you know just you know the game is going to rely on you. You need to do this for the team. You got to do this right here. Hey it's time to close out the game.

Hey we need to lean on you right now. And it happens in a lot of places like Cleveland you could say Tennessee you know even with the Niners you know there's numerous teams where this happens at. There's a lot of times where you know the running back is utilized a lot in the pass protection game too.

You know that's not a stat that they're going to put neither there's not a stat that they want to say. If we're not running the ball we're blocking if we're not blocking running the route. We're always doing something. You know I mean only time when they choose to say that it's devalued is when it's time to pay the running back. Ooh fire from Najee Harris. The only time that they don't want to I don't want to be able to are they the only time when they want to minimize what we do. They don't want to be able to emphasize the running back role is when it's time to pay us.

Not holding back Austin Eckler not holding back. And we know Dalvin Cook is a free agent so he's a little freer to speak his mind. But Najee Harris is a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And maybe the guys all agree with him. The problem is when it comes to running backs teams are not willing to put their money where their mouths are and they feel like they have precedent and history on their side. Precedent history and time on their side.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. The idea is that once running backs get to be of a certain age and have had a lot of pounding and a lot of mileage there's a point of diminishing returns and you can get a younger back who's got fresher legs maybe isn't quite as talented. But you can work him into the system and he's got extra energy extra pep in his step because he hasn't absorbed as many hits and Najee Harris knows the turnstile it goes pretty quickly when it comes to running backs. We don't have no security right now you guys are using us to accomplish what you guys want. And then when it's time for us to re up or ask for something that we think is right. You guys just turn the cheek and say, well, you haven't you have wear and tear.

It's hard to argue with either side because both sides are making really good points. The running backs do have incredible value. We see it last year. Just think about the number of running backs that crushed it and were so critical to what their teams did. Whether they were playoff teams, whether or not just knowing that in the case of say that New York Giants right they end their playoff drought. Daniel Jones gets a huge extension. Saquon Barkley is a major reason why.

About Saquon, Daniel Jones does not get that contract because the Giants aren't nearly as successful. Minnesota Vikings. Do they have 13 wins? Is that 13 wins?

Don't quote me on that. Dalvin Cook had his fourth consecutive season of at least 1100 yards. Austin Eckler powers the Chargers to the playoffs. We know now that Justin Herbert was dealing with some pretty serious injuries most of last year. Eckler was the NFL's leading touchdown guy. You think about what the running backs did for Miami, also a playoff team. Yeah, they had Tyreek Hill, but they also had Raheem Morris early and then Jeff Wilson late, right? It was Jeff Wilson that got traded in from San Francisco.

It was some really incredible performances by backs last year. But yeah, when it comes to paying them, not all of them, Christian McCaffrey, he's had a second free agent deal. And he turned into just a huge piece, a huge move for the Niners last season. But teams are willing to take their chances at that position.

For the most part, not in every case, but the majority of the cases. Saquon ultimately chose not to hold out. He did sign his franchise tender.

There were a few extra incentives that were worked in there, though he considered, at least publicly considered, using his leverage to hold out. Joe Shane, general manager, talking about Saquon and hoping they can put this behind them now as they go into camp. Saquon has to do what's best with him, you know, for him and his family.

And I respect the hell out of Saquon, and I'm never going to tell somebody to do something that they don't think is right. Couldn't come to agreement on, you know, a longer-term deal, but we circle back on Monday. And fortunately, we're able to come to an agreement, you know, altering the franchise tag a little bit to get him to camp. And we're static, fired up that, you know, Saquon's going to be here. He sounds ecstatic and fired up.

I like it. That's Joe Shane, the GM. One more from Nadia Harris, because it is specific to Saquon Barkley. With Saquon's situation, it's like Saquon accumulated for almost 30 percent of the offense. Like, why can't you look at that and say, OK, well, you know, he said he's not trying to break the market or set the market, but he's trying to get compensated of what he thinks is fair, which they think, what two parties should think is fair, too. And I think that, well, I know that they know themselves that that ain't fair, like what he's getting. You know, he wanted, you know, I guess a long contract to know security there. Right now, he doesn't have no security. You know, right now they're just going to probably utilize him the same way.

Sorry. Utilize him the same way. And if something happens in the game, they're going to, you know, probably look somewhere else.

But it's like, man, what is the security that we have? Right after the franchise deadline passed, the franchise tag. Well, it wasn't the franchise tag, the deadline to come to long term deals with the players who were who were tagged. Tony Pollard, we'll hear from him in a second. Josh Jacobs, who still has not signed. And then Saquon Barkley. Those were the three. The only three guys who were slapped with the tag that did not come to long term deals initially.

When that happened, it set off a firestorm around the NFL. Everybody weighing in, I'm not sure I've ever seen the majority of players at one position stand up together on social media first, but then also coming together for a big Zoom call to try to discuss it and figure out what can be done. But even with all their heads together, I mean, Christian McCaffrey admitted, we don't really have a plan. We don't really have a way to do this moving forward.

We want to be able to make change, but we're kind of at a loss. So instead, you've got a bunch of these running backs who are speaking out over the course of the last week. Jim Irsay, he's had enough. Wait until you hear what the Colts owner responded with. He used Twitter, so it's not audio, but he's apparently not going to take all this running back chatter lying down.

Still ahead, QB news, training camp style. And Joey Votto to make you laugh. I need to practice laughing now so that if I get stuck in the airport somewhere on Thursday. I won't forget how to laugh.

There we go. Actually, I think I like Fred Warner's laugh better now. Was it Fred Warner who heard about the contract for Justin Herbert? Was it Justin Herbert? Yeah, it was Herbert, right?

You heard about the contract? Oh, no, no, it wasn't. Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry.

That was totally my fault. That was about Brock Purdy's return. And he was he was giggling.

I didn't know that. All right. So not really a giggle, more like a cackle. Giggle would be the wrong connotation. From one cackler to another. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Hey there, dog lovers. It's time to show your furry friend a little extra love and attention.

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That's GetJoyFood.com and use the code PODCAST at checkout to get 50 percent off your first order. The second half of the baseball season is here and each game means a little, little bit, bit more. We're talking pennant races and wild card chases with each pitch bringing us closer to the playoffs. The free Odyssey app lets you listen to live play by play of your local team. So no matter what you're up to, you'll never have to miss another game. Download the free Odyssey app today and keep baseball close by all summer long. That's A-U-D-A-C-Y.

Odyssey. Second down and short. There's a little reverse to Pollard coming right with a convoy to the five and he dances in. Touchdown, Pollard. Great clearing blocks from Zach Martin and Terrence Steele. Got Pollard eleven.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I love, love to hear NFL play by play. It makes me long for the season to begin even more quickly than what's on the schedule. We are, what, just about 40 days-ish, maybe a couple more than that away from the NFL season opener.

It'll be here before we know it. In the meantime, camps are fully inflamed. They're fully engulfed in flames. It's fire everywhere. Lots of chatter, lots of conversation.

They haven't really gotten to the meat of training camp yet, so guys are not so tired. Plenty to say. 42 days.

There's close. Jay informed me. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. That's the Dallas Cowboys radio network and why are you in there smiling away?

You don't want to know where I found that number? HowManyDaysUntilFootball.com There's a website? HowManyDaysUntilFootball.com? Why didn't we know about this?

I don't know. Literally, there's nothing to click. There's nothing to, there's no links. It's just 42 days until kickoff game, 42 days until the kickoff game on September 7th. HowManyDaysUntilFootball.com Nice. I like it.

It's a good site. Well, the reason we come out with a Tony Pollard highlight is because he is now the top running back for the Dallas Cowboys. Meanwhile, Ezekiel Elliott does not have a home. Tony Pollard, last year, he was willing to do anything the Cowboys asked of him and he was durable for the most part. So for that reason, they rewarded him with the franchise tag. I mean, $10.1 million is nothing to sneeze at, for sure. And who knows if Tony Pollard ever thought he would make that kind of money for one season.

But now he is the top running back in place of Ezekiel Elliott. Honestly, it's the same for me. You know, I've always been. Honestly, it's the same for me. You know, I've always been pretty serious about my preparation coming into camp, you know, getting my body in shape. And, you know, just trying to make sure I come out here and I'm ready to go.

So it's pretty much the same for me. Pollard takes over for Zeke and Zeke did actually reach out to him. He texted me today, right before camp started, just telling all the running backs, you know, we'll handle the business, take care of everything and just good luck.

It means a lot, you know, just even with his situation right now, not being anywhere, but him still just checking on us and just making sure we're all right. I wonder how long it's going to be before Dalvin Cook and Ezekiel Elliott, Cream Hunt find homes. They are very talented backs. But as we've seen, there are certain positions where teams will try to save money. Now, with all of the chatter from running backs, including Najee Harris on Wednesday, of course, the owners are taking notice. They can't ignore or avoid what has become a major topic in the NFL in the last week or so.

And after hearing Najee Harris become the latest to speak his mind, Colts owner Jim Irsay, well, he's he's had enough. He decided that he would defend the owners and the collective bargaining agreement. A lot of people have kind of pointed to the CBA and said, hey, it's it's a negotiated deal. The players agreed to it, which they did. But if you remember, when this last CBA was voted on, it was a very close vote.

One of the reasons that it was so controversial is because. There were a lot of players who didn't feel like the owners had made enough concessions or that they had gained enough ground. And one of those areas that they don't love franchise tags. And because of the way franchise tags are figured. Running backs are complaining about being devalued.

Receiving the tag, not really having any recourse. And because they get an average of the top five running backs and it's it's complicated, but they get an average of the salaries that other running backs are making. And so that's part of what they're complaining about is, hey, the way these franchise tags and the salaries with the tags are figured is unfair to us and not paying us enough. We're getting tagged by our teams, but the system is then leaving us without enough compensation. We're being devalued, which is part of what Najee Harris said.

Jim Irsay used social media on Wednesday to respond this way. We have negotiated a CBA that took years of effort and hard work and compromise in good faith by both sides. To say now that a specific player category wants another negotiation after the fact is inappropriate.

Some agents are selling bad faith. So he's saying we took years to come up with this agreement. We found labor peace because both sides agreed, both sides gave their consent to it, right? Both sides gave up some ground and compromised and we found labor peace for the next decade. So don't now go back and act like you didn't approve this and that the NFL Players Association didn't ratify this.

So there's there's a lot of different ways that you could dissect the situation. Running backs have a point. They do have a point.

Their position is not valued the same way as quarterbacks or wide receivers or pass rushers or top cornerbacks. But the owners have a point as well. In this case, Jim Hersey, we we approached the bargaining table, you had an opportunity to bring up issues that were important to you to make, you know, to figure out how we could make concessions and find common ground. And this is what's written in. It's not like the owners are devaluing you more right now. This is what's written into the contract. But again, the backs have a right to be upset, too, right, because they're saying, hey, we we get franchise tagged and we get we make less than any other position on the football field when we're franchise tagged.

So the backs of a beef, but ultimately, Hersey has a point. You signed it. It's ratified. Why should we go back and do it again? We agreed.

I once heard this definition of compromise. When neither side is completely happy, although I would say in most cases, the owners are they're they're pretty happy. They're making money hand over fist, even for teams that don't win anything or haven't won for a while. NFL owners are still. Making money like it's.

It's got wings flying right into their pockets. I don't know how long until this conversation dies down. Probably when we get deeper into preseason, when games start and guys have to focus, but. Certainly some unity among the backs now.

Straight ahead, the other backs, the quarterbacks, as in QB news. Oh, there's a lot of it. We'll see how much we can get to before the top of the hour. Then we'll maybe do some more after the top of the hour.

Also, you haven't heard Joey Vado's rant. It's fan-tastic. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Back to throw. And it is.

Is it lost? Oh, my goodness. DeAndre Hopkins called it. Back from under center.

Steps back. Throws the fake. Cooper, touchdown L.A. Burrow back to throw.

Looking. Firing deep for Chase in the end zone. He's got it. Touchdown.

Joe Burrow in the bangles. The Holmes fires for the end zone. Touchdown.

Kansas City. No, Herbert keeps it in zone. Touchdown.

charges. Herbert with his second of the day. Here's the snap. Gonna keep it himself and run it again inside the five. Into the end zone. Touchdown Buffalo. Josh Allen, nine yard touchdown run. The Bills respond and then some. It's time for QB news on After Hours. We are so grateful to have a partner for QB news here on After Hours. This portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial. Are you stuck in a timeshare and want out?

Contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at Wesley Financial Group dot com. We decided it's easy peasy to split it up into AFC and NFC. And so we will start with the AFC because that's where the NFL's new highest paid quarterback resides.

Justin Herbert reluctantly commented about his brand new deal that pays him fifty two and a half million dollars per season. So thankful to the Chargers organization, the Spanish family, Tom Tolesco for believing in me three years ago, and Ed McGuire, Katie Sylvan, you know, words aren't enough to to express how thankful and how glad I am to be a part of this organization. And I had complete faith in them from the get go. And, you know, I've I've never wanted to be anywhere else. This is where I've wanted to be for as long as I've been born and playing football. So it's a it's a dream come true. And, you know, just really excited to be back out there with the team today.

How many people do you think could say that actually that I wanted to be a charger for as long as I've been on the planet? Good for you, Justin Herbert. Not only are you very nicely paid, but you get to play for the team that you love.

I think that's really cool. A gangster quarterback. Devante Adams now, right, gets to play for the Raiders of the team he always wanted to play for. Of course, the media has to rush right to other quarterbacks who are potentially in line for contract extensions. Tua Tagovailoa was drafted one spot before Justin Herbert in 2020, and he reacts to the QB's New Deal.

It's big, big. I think it's, you know, first off, congrats to him and congrats to Jalen as well earlier on his contract. I think it's I think it's really good for the quarterback market. That's what I would say. It's really good for the quarterback market.

You know, gets me excited, gets me going. That's true, right? Because if you are one of the top flight quarterbacks, your agents will work it out that you get the next biggest deal. You become the NFL's highest paid. I don't know whether or not Joe Burrow is going to have a contract before the season starts. We're not really getting a whole lot out of Bengals camp. I'm sure that his reps and the Bengals are at least talking it through, if not very close to a deal. To a maybe another year down the road. But yeah, that's kind of how this cycle works.

If you are among the upper echelon, the above average, even if you're not necessarily elite. Now if you're Geno Smith, you don't get the next biggest contract. If you're Daniel Jones, you don't get the next biggest deal.

But you do end up, if you are a Joe Burrow or a Jalen Hurts, you end up being the guy who's on top for a short period of time anyway. Joe Burrow does not want to talk about money. He does not want to talk about a contract.

Nor does his head coach, Zach Taylor. I'm focused on getting a deal done that's good for us, good for me, good for the team, good for everybody. Gets done when it gets done.

I don't really have any thoughts on it. You know, it's just exciting to get this team back on the field. So we stop asking you. That'd be great.

I'm not sure if you can hear that reporter, his question in the background. So we should stop asking you. Yes, that'd be great, says Zach Taylor. So we stop asking you.

That'd be great. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Joe actually had this funny exchange with a reporter in which he was asked about the screaming fans after practice. Actually, Jay, if you want to throw that one in, I know we'll pivot a little bit here. But it's kind of funny that his reaction is maybe not what you would hear from most athletes. It's always a little weird when you're just you're just a guy, you know. And so when when people react that way, it's always a little a little weird to me. But when people take the time to talk to me, I think they they realize that I'm just a guy.

And so when I can whenever I can to to give back to people that support me, I try to do that. I feel like just a guy. Everybody's just a guy. Everybody's just a guy.

Now, keeping that in mind. Hey, I'm just a guy. It's weird to have fans screaming my name. He doesn't go with, hey, it's flattering. Hey, it's really cool.

Thank you, fans. Now, he says it's actually weird because I'm just a guy. Not ideal.

It's not ideal. But but when you ask him about his goals for the season and you bring it back to him as a quarterback, as the leader of the Cincinnati Bengals, well, then you hear maybe not just a guy. I've been thinking about goals a lot lately, and I think where my mindset is these days is just improving every day. You know, the point I'm at now, I'm one of the best in the world. And if I just continue to improve every day, I'm going to I'm going to help myself a lot more than if I I set these goals for myself that are that are tangible. So I'm just focused on getting better every single day. I know it's cliche, but I think that's how that's the best way to go about it. I'm one of the best players in the world.

I mean, it's said very matter of factly. You know, he does. So he's got new goals, yada, yada, yada. I'm one of the best players in the world, one of the best in the world to do it. But I am just a guy.

I don't know if those two things go together. I'm still just a guy, even though I am one of the best players in the world. Everybody's just a guy. Everybody's just a guy.

I like the perspective. Hey, I might be one of the best quarterbacks on the planet, but ultimately, I'm just a human being. I guess I put the wrong one on. Remember when he put the wrong jersey on for his press conference last year? He's just a guy. He's just a guy. He makes mistakes.

Mike Brown does not think he's just a guy, and even if he does think he's just a guy, he thinks he needs to be the top priority guy on the roster. The owner of the Bengals is saying, hey, we can't afford to pay Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. We have some good players that need to be fed. You get a bag of corn and you have ten hogs. Well, how are you going to put that out to them? The bag's going to be gone, empty. And some of them aren't going to get it.

Well, that's too bad. And you prioritize the ones that you think are the ones that matter most, and I guess you guys have an idea who might be the number one guy there. Referring to the number one hog is Joe Burrow. Have you ever heard that type of analogy? You've got a bag of corn, you've got a bunch of hogs to feed, you've only got so much corn. You've got a bag of corn and you have ten hogs. Only a couple of those hogs are going to get fat and happy on the corn. The other ones are kind of left out to pick up the scraps off the ground. Oh, dear.

And some of them aren't going to get it. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. Thank you, Mike Brown. Along with Joey Votto, you all made my day. All right, Jimmy Garoppolo, flashing those pearly whites, all excited to be cleared for practice, to be part of the Las Vegas Raiders, and actually seems to like Vegas already.

Finally got a house, so I'm stepping in the right direction. Vegas has been really cool, man. Honestly, I've loved it. The people here are very inviting, I want to say. They like talking.

Even if you don't know them, it's a cool interaction. I haven't had that in a long time. Being from the Midwest, it was pretty refreshing. He loves Vegas. I think he loves starting and not having to compete with Brock Purdy and Trey Lance and feeling like he's always just one draft pick away from losing his gig.

He had the starting job there for a while. If he could have stayed healthy, he probably would still be in San Francisco because they won with him. All right, last thing from the AFC. You may have heard the chatter now that Aaron Rodgers took a pay cut and tried to make this a friendly deal for the New York Jets, and yeah, he actually wants to stick around for a bit. Definitely some of it is how much fun I'm having.

It's all about the body, how the body feels. The team gave up significant pieces for it just to be a one-year deal. I'm aware of that.

I think there was an awareness of that. Now, again, anything can happen with my body or with the success we have this year, but I'm having a blast, so I don't really see this as a one-year-and-done thing. Mitz, it's July. Can we not get all gung-ho until we see what happens?

The guy glows in the dark. Oh, my gosh. Can we go one show without that? One week. Let's start with one show, and then maybe we'll increase it to one week without hearing Robert Sala say that Aaron Rodgers glows in the dark.

Pretty nice. Did he drink a radioactive substance, take a radioactive substance that makes him glow in the dark? Is it the ayahuasca? Honestly, we already know that's not true because it would have been cheating. If he glows in the dark, there would be no call for a darkness retreat. I'm going to my darkness retreat. But if you glow in the dark, though, it wouldn't actually be darkness. That would be cheating, I think. So we're pretty sure he doesn't glow in the dark. Stop talking about it. It's After Hours on CBS Sports Radio.