After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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For important information, visit Principle dot com slash disclosures. We need to add Dean Campbell crowing about the hype train and how the first joint practice heads would be spinning, not rolling, spinning. I cannot wait. Now that it's nearly here, I'm all in. Let's go full speed ahead, though I do have some fun plans for my extended Labor Day weekend. So I suppose I can actually wait until next Thursday, one week, though, from today, one week, September 7th. That's crazy enough as it is that in exactly one week, it'll be September 7th. And for the most part, all the kiddos will be back in school, families and individuals into their fall routines, vacations in the rearview mirror.

Sorry about that. So that's why you got to milk every last ounce of summer joy out of Labor Day weekend. I haven't taken it off for years, but last year started something new and I think I'll keep doing it. I like it. It's a nice little refresher before football season kicks off. So I will not be with you Thursday night into Friday morning, not be with you to start next week. But then once I return on Tuesday night, I'm with you every show until Thanksgiving week.

So there's no more days off after this Labor Day weekend. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You can find me on Twitter, A Law Radio, also on our Facebook page. After Hours with Amy Lawrence, we've had some fun NFL questions this week. And time to pose some questions to Mark Ross, one of our favorite guests from NFL Network. He's an analyst with Game Day Live on Sundays and also Total Access on Friday nights. Plus, it's a brand new show called The Insiders on NFL Plus. And Mark's background is player evaluation and scouting longtime scout in the NFL.

Mark, we're excited to have you with us. The cuts have happened over the last couple days. Teams getting down to the 53-man roster, trying to make sure the practice squads are intact. And you've got the right personnel in place there as well. What are the emotions and everything you have to do to tweak the roster before the season kicks off? Yeah, everybody asks a question about, you know, cut days.

Well, it must be so hectic and it's so crazy, but actually it's not because you've been planning for this. Your pro personnel department has been planning for this pretty much since you start back up. You know, really, when training camp starts for your team, the pro personnel department is scouting other teams and looking at going to preseason games, watching film of the other teams and having a good idea of, okay, not just who's going to make your roster. So you've got 95% of those dudes who you pretty good about who's going to make your roster, but you're looking at the other teams as well and studying those other teams and narrowing it down to, okay, who do we think's on the bubble? Who do we think will get cut and go from there?

So you're preparing all month for this day. So it's not just out of the blue. You rank them, you put them in order of, okay, how we like them and who's better on who might be out there on our team. But the final cut down is never the final cut down. The roster is changing daily, weekly in the NFL. So it's never what this, all these rosters, how they're set right now, next week, they're going to do it. Then there's waivers every day. So teams change every day.

And it's just really a progression throughout the year. The Patriots end up cutting to backup QBs only to put them on the practice squad, but that still leaves just Mac Jones as their only quarterback on the 53 man roster. What does that say to you, Mark? Like in Mac, we trust, you know, I guess it's kind of odd. The Patriots are always, they have always done things a little bit unconventional. And you know, when the, when an ad Tom Brady there, they could do that kind of stuff because he kept everything together.

The greatest quarterback of all time, the greatest athlete of all time. And they, they did things because Tom Brady was there and he kept it all together. And now you're kind of seeing the cracks in the flaws of the way they do things when Tom's not there and it's, well, why are you doing this? And, you know, cutting a lot of players, they draft or missing on a lot of free agents that they sign. And, you know, the, you know, Belicheck came out the other day and said, well, you'd like to build success for 20 plus years. And sure, if you got Tom Brady, you can do that. But this is just another sort of unconventional way that the Patriots doing things, but just having one quarterback on the roster.

I've never heard that, of course, they're going to put someone on there before the season starts, but just another different way that the Patriots are going about things and we'll see how they react. Again, it's always changing. The team's always changing.

So the way they have it now, tomorrow, it'll be completely different. Maybe a more dire situation for the Indianapolis Colts who have a Jonathan Taylor on a pup list. They've got a brand new quarterback as in a raw rookie and Anthony Richardson. What's best case scenario for the Colts with their star back?

Wow. I mean, they've really kind of gone painted themselves into a corner really well, you know, the running backs have no value, but you better give us a lot of value when we trade for this guy. It's kind of the way they've done it.

It's kind of oxymoronic the way they've done it. But yeah, it's, you know, if you have a rookie quarterback, you want a Jonathan Taylor to play to at least alleviate some of that pressure. And, you know, you can rely on him to not put it all on Anthony Richardson. And but it looks like he's not happy. It looks like they're not happy. And I could see this kind of going on lingering for a while, unfortunately, for Jonathan Taylor and all backs. It's what's going on. I would never thought when I first started scouting and the importance on running backs and how valued they were throughout the league that 20 years later, 25 years later, whatever it is, running backs actually have no value at all about it. It's really unfortunate for that position group. But again, we're talking about the evolution of football and how things change. And now we just the passing league and the importance of the quarterback and wide receivers is just kind of where we are right now. So for the Colts, it's, hey, it's Anthony Richardson, you got to go do your thing and we'll make do at running back without Jonathan Taylor. And yet you think about the teams that succeeded last year, almost all of them had a quality running back or at least a quality running game. I mean, we really did see the passing numbers drop last season and a much more of a balance between run and pass.

Right. But the way the NFL is like, yes, we can have a quality running game without investing a lot of value and resources and assets into the run game and or the running back position. And you've seen that the Super Bowl winners over the past X amount of years, 20 years, 15 years, where the fourth round pick here, there's a seventh round pick. There's a free agent where they just last year, Isaiah Pacheco from KC, seventh round pick, the leading rusher and big plays in the Super Bowl. So, yes, you want to always have that balance, but teams figured out we don't need to have that balance by investing a top 10 pick in that. We don't need to have that balance by spending the highest at the market for running back.

We can use our resources elsewhere, get quality later on in the draft or lower in the free agency market and still produce in the run game if you have that quarterback who makes it all go and takes the pressure off of it. Big if right there as we get set for the 23 season, we're excited to welcome Mark Ross back to the show. He's with NFL Network on Game Day Live, one of my favorite shows, and then Total Access on Fridays. And his background is player evaluation and scouting for a long time in the league.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. All right, with that player eval hat on Mark, we've got three rookie quarterbacks, all selected in the top five, who will be starting week number one. Anthony Richardson, Bryce Young, of course, and then CJ Stroud. Which one do you think is in the best position to succeed right away? Well, Bryce Young, and I've been saying this about Bryce Young since he got drafted, since the Panthers were going to draft him and it's two, three, fourfold.

I'll just kind of break it down. Number one, I just think the guy's a supremely talented, poised, rare sort of playmaker with himself. You know, just the guy, quarterback, franchise quarterbacks is more about what they do on the field.

It's how they command everything around them. And Bryce Young, from the day he was two years old, whatever, played football, he's always been that guy. He's always been that one that can handle everything. Big time high school recruit, Alabama national champion, highest control, everything that you throw at the guy, he's handled it and thrived in it. So just his talent and his skill set and his makeup, I just think he's going to be a star no matter where he went.

And then now you're dropping him into a Carolina team where it wasn't a typical first pick in the draft team with absolutely no talent. They've got a lot of talent on that team and at all position groups sort of on the offense with the old lines, very strong, the receiving core is solid. They got good running backs, tight end.

Hayden Hertz is in there now. And even on the defensive side of the ball, where they've got a lot of talent led by Brian Burns and Chen and the crew. So you've got talent all around him. And then you got the coaching staff where you bring in Frank Wright, but it's not just Frank Wright. You got Thomas Brown Oak, the offense coordinator, Deuce Daley, Jim Caldwell's on that staff. And you just got a ton of experience and talented individuals on the coaching staff. So you've got that foundation there for Bryce Young. So with those three, kind of the three-prong attack of, I just think he's a supremely talented young man, it's what would be a star anywhere. You've got talent on the team and he got talent in the coaching staff. He's just in an optimal situation to thrive this year.

What's the biggest challenge for a rookie quarterback, even one who has the skill set and is prepared the way Bryce is? Really it's the speed of the game. You just never see that. And then even up to this point, there's only so many practice reps that you can simulate a game speed. There's only so much in the preseason game that you don't know it until it hits you game one.

And where it totally goes up, tons of levels there. And he's always been in control. He's always had that poise and a vision and controls everything around him. And it'll be interesting to see just how soon that he'll be able to just adjust to the speed of the game. And you see that with any quarterback that really enters the league and some can handle it, some thrive in it, some are average and some crumble under that pressure. And we'll see how Bryce Young does, but I think he'll thrive in it. We've seen most teams resolve their holdouts or guys get back into camp. We talked about Jonathan Taylor a little bit. He is obviously with the team, just not able to play. What about Nick Bosa though?

Who has the leverage in that situation? Wow. Yep. I think Nick Bosa does. I mean, everything with San Fran is predicated on what he does and with franchise quarterbacks, how they raise the level of everyone else. And it makes the whole offense makes the whole team better. And then the other thing is, makes the whole team better.

Well, same thing on the other side with the pass rusher and how they raise the level. You look at TJ Watt at Pittsburgh, when he plays, they win, doesn't matter what else is going on. He plays, they win.

He doesn't play, they lose. And it's the Micah Parsons effect with Dallas. And so those guys and Bosa has the same effect on that D where, all right, we're predicated, San Fran's predicated on our defense, dominating people and our offense, being innovative and getting through making plays here and there. Well, if you take him out of the mix, that's not the same team. That's not the same defense. It's not the same team.

And they know that. And everyone on that or everyone in that organization knows that. So I think for sure that he has the leverage to say, you guys got to take care of me because I'm the guy. It's not, and comparing it to the typical teams of the franchise quarterback, he's the guy on the whole entire team. So it's not Brock Birdie. It's him. So I think of any player and you look at the situation that needs to get paid.

I think he's got the leverage for sure. Mark Ross of NFL network is with us looking ahead to kick off just a week away. Wowsers. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Mark, we like to have this discussion on my show before every season starts. Roughly half of the NFL playoff bracket turns over every year. Who are a few teams that you think could make a splash this season and crash that playoff party? The aforementioned Carolina Panthers. I think that just when you look at the landscape of their division, number one, and, but the NMC as a whole, I think the Eagles are head and shoulders above everyone else.

And then it's wide open. It was set for a couple of teams I think will struggle. But when you look at Carolina, you look at the South that you can sit, you got Tampa and you got, you know, I like, well, who's, who's Atlanta?

I don't know. And New Orleans, they're really putting that faith in him. So when I look at the Carolina team and I think they'll, they'll win that. I've been, I went to their camp this year for the network and I predicted them to win the division then. And I'm going to stick with it just because of all the positives I talked about before with Bryce Young and the staff and the talent. So, you know, I think they'll definitely be in the mix and surprise people. And, you know, in the AFC, I got to go with Pittsburgh and just Mike Tomlin, just, he just wins no matter what circumstances, no matter what happens, no matter what quarterback, no matter what, what he does, he just wins.

And now you, you should have a better Kenny Pickett this year. Again, if they stay healthy, TJ Watt namely stays healthy. That division, I think is the best in football, just that central, that central is the best in football. So he wins, Pickett will be better. You know, they stay healthy and Pittsburgh will be right in the mix with that, with all those teams.

And he still never steered the Steelers to a losing record in his entire tenure there in Pittsburgh. Can I interest you in the Detroit Lions considering how they finished last year? Well, you know, I might want to pick them because everyone's picking that, Amy. I got, I got, you know, they're the easy, they're the little hanging fruit that everyone thinks, yeah, Detroit, they finished so strong.

They're so fun. Well, we'll see. But of course, they'll definitely be entertaining and they'll be in the mix and they could knock on the door, but I want to go a little bit more unconventional than the team that everybody is picking, the media darling team of the Detroit Lions. We've seen the NFC East every year for, I don't know, two decades, have a different champion from year to year. Who would be the best candidate in that division to unseat the Eagles? I still got to go with the Cowboys, even though I just don't think they'll do it just because I think they'll, their D will be nasty again and led by Micah and all the talent that they have on defense led by Dan Quinn and their offense is going to roll and score points and they'll, they'll be competitive and everything. But just when it comes down to it, I just don't think they're as good as, as the Eagles and they haven't shown the DNA, particularly Dak Prescott, to win big games. The Giants, I think kind of, they supremely overachieved last year, Brian Dabble, I said, start to finish just from game one when they beat Tennessee going for it on that fourth down was coach of the year, easy. And I don't, I just don't think they're at that level.

The commanders are going to be, they're commandering again this year. So I think they'll be at the bottom. I'd still have to go with Dallas, but I just don't have faith that they can actually get it done. So look for the Eagles would be the repeat NFC champs, barring any major injuries to Jalen Hurts for the first time in X amount of years. Mark, you were an executive vice president with the XFL season just completed not that long ago. And I saw on your Twitter that there are 50 different players who have gone from XFL to NFL. How proud are you of not just the season that was, but also seeing these guys find homes in the NFL?

Well, that was the goal. That was the goal to say, okay, we're going to find this, this underrated unidentified talent develop those guys. And hopefully they get a shot in the NFL. That was the whole entire goal of what we're trying to do and how we're trying to work with the NFL.

And I think it was, it got up to almost 54, I believe 54, 55. We'll see after all these cuts, how many guys actually make the team, the team, but just the fact that so many got signed over a hundred got signed initially, not signed, but brought into camps and then over 50 got signed and we'll see how many make the team. But it's just a testament to all our personnel directors and coaches of how they found talent and how they've developed talent. And now we're just really proud of that. And we thought we had an outstanding product on the field, entertaining games with a high level of play with a bunch of talented players. And this just really shows the goal of year one of this is what we thought, and we'll just only get better from here.

Definitely was a lot of buzz around the XFL and nice window there where people are craving their football. And now they can follow these players to the NFL, which is awesome. Couple of days left here, a couple more sleeps, as we say, what are the emotions from the front office through the players as the season is staring us in the face? Well, you just, you just ready, you know, you just ready all the off season planning. And now we go through the training camp grind and you just like, all right, it's here.

All right, we're ready to go. And I won't say all 32 teams have Superbowl aspirations. Some got to be a little bit more realistic of just getting better, but a large chunk of the teams have Superbowl aspirations. And at this point you think, man, we're ready. This is the best team we've had years.

All these guys are going to crush it. And then week one comes in reality, kind of slaps you in the face. But right now is the golden period of feeling good about yourselves and thinking this is going to be the year. So that's really how all these teams are feeling right now.

Like this is it. We're going to get it done. And there'll be no better feeling than this feeling right now, leading up to game one. And then when reality comes, it all changes, but it's a great time for the NFL. And I can't wait for it to kick off again on Thursday, the hope Springs eternal, as we get set for those first games. All right, Mark Ross, long time scouting director and VP of player evaluation in the NFL.

And now you can hear the insight on NFL network with game day live total access on Fridays, plus a new show on NFL plus called the insiders and on Twitter at Mark with a C Ross. Well, this is awesome. Always good to catch up with you. We'll do it again soon, but thanks so much, Mark.

My pleasure. Anytime it feels real with all these football conversation, it feels a lot more real and a lot closer. And so I've, I've given up on hanging on to the last bits of summer being wistful, calling it bittersweet. Nah, I'm all in full speed ahead after this weekend. Of course, after labor day weekend, we want you to join us on survivor Island. So with one week to go before kick, you've got one week to get your arced, your arced together one week to figure it out. You pick one winner each week.

If that team wins, well then you survive on the Island for another week. It's so easy. We've made it so plain and simple.

You lose while you walk the plank, you go swim with the sharks. So get your arse in gear, get your act together and find the link to join. If you already have an account, great.

All you're going to do is use the link and you're in like Flynn. Producer J, if you do not have an email, then you use the link and you sign up, correct? Right.

Yeah. That'd be a big link to say, register here for a CBS sports radio or CBS account, CBS sports account. And then you just make an account and register with your email and a password and then click the link again. Once you're logged in and you'll be right to the page and you could sign in.

All right. So sign up and then go back to that link and use the same one to join Survivor Island. It's all in that cute little link that we put on the top of our Twitter page after our CBS or on our Facebook page. Also pinned to the top of our Facebook page. We're going to do some QB news coming up later in the hour, but did you see that Matt Corral got cut by the Panthers? Oh my goodness. Sometimes I just can't keep up with QB musical chairs.

And by the way, both Bailey Zappi and Malik Cunningham are back with the Patriots now on the practice squad. So yes, it's a ever revolving door and it's hard to keep up sometimes. Day by day.

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It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence CBS Sports Radio, you are listening to the After Hours podcast. Even when it gets hard, I won't quit on the relationship. I won't do it. I think too much of the young man think too much of what he's given our organization, and how hard he's played for us. And what sucks. I mean, the situation.

So I'm not gonna sit here and give you some rosy picture like oh, this is just everything's okay. No, it sucks. It sucks for the Colts. It sucks for Jonathan Taylor. And it sucks for our fans.

It just it does. And it's it's where we're at. And we've got to work through it. And we're going to do everything we can to work through it. relationships are repairable.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. A fairly emotional Chris Ballard Colts general manager talking about the status with their star running back Jonathan Taylor. And he does admit the relationship right now is broken, but he believes it can be repaired and you hear him talk about how much it sucks. But the Colts decline trade offers for Taylor. I'm not sure if you heard, but the Packers were a team that made a push to try to get Jonathan Taylor in a trade. There were also reports that the Miami Dolphins tried to trade for Jonathan Taylor.

But that's not what their GM Chris Greer says. We've had conversations. And again, it was a lot of exploratory talks. I can say there were no exchange of offers from either one of us. It was just general talks.

So you know, a lot of the stuff reported, I could tell you guys is 95% of it's wrong. That kind of goes along with what Mike McDaniel said about how everyone is getting traded to the Miami Dolphins. So for now, Jonathan Taylor is on the pup list. We'll hear more from Chris Ballard coming up next hour.

I'll see you later. But according to Ballard, he is actually still nursing the ankle injury. I was wondering if it was his reason for not practicing to send a message to the team. Ballard says he is still feeling the effects of the ankle surgery and also that the team is not budging off of its decision, at least now, to not give him a contract extension.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. And let me just clarify, not give him an extension now, which I think I understand. I'd rather wait and see how he comes through this season.

Josh Jacobs reworked his deal for one year with the Las Vegas Raiders and he is in camp and he's ready to move forward. I mean, we here. I mean, I feel like, you know, we made it happen. So it ain't our feelings now. I mean, I feel like, like I said, we made it happen. So it's a clean slate with me.

It was never like really just like, you know, no hate on each side. I understood it. But at the same time, I understood my value too.

So it was just about meeting in the middle. The deal is worth up to 13 million dollars in 2023 if he meets all incentives. So not that dissimilar to what Saquon Barkley did with the Giants.

They added a few levels of incentives so that it was more than just the, what was it, 10.6 million dollars, I think, under the franchise tag for running backs. And Jacobs is happy with how it worked out. I think it went pretty good. I mean, for both parties, honestly, one of the hardest things in football to do, man, is watch, you know what I'm saying?

Well, at least for a guy like me. And so I was itching to get back, man. So just to be able to come and, you know, make it make sense for both parties, it was definitely huge. Resolution for Saquon and for Josh Jacobs, ultimately no resolution for Jonathan Taylor. What about resolution for Chris Jones?

Defensive lineman whose veteran presence, a lot of experience critical to the Chiefs, winning another Super Bowl in 2022. This was a day, Wednesday was a day for a lot of the general managers. Once teams got under the cut line and down to 53-man rosters and filled out their practice squads, many of them held press conferences to kind of face the music.

And for Brett Veach, it was about Chris Jones and whether or not he could be back with the team by week one. Certainly hopeful for that. You know, we have been in communication and actually just the last two days we've been in more communication. So we're going to continue to press on and work hard and a lot of respect on both sides of this thing. And, I mean, it's been obviously well stated how we feel about Chris and he feels the same way.

So again, we're just going to keep working on this thing and, you know, we're looking forward to next Thursday and hopefully he's in the lineup and he's ready to go. At the top of the hour when Mark Ross joined us from NFL Network, I asked him who has the leverage in San Francisco? Is it the Niners or is it Nick Bosa? He said, no doubt it's Nick Bosa because the team, in essence, he believes can't win without Bosa, but also that defense is so much better with him.

Kyle Shanahan talking about Nick Bosa who is still holding out from the Niners. I thought it would come probably to this time just looking at the history of those things and I'm really hoping it gets done. I know they're working tirelessly at it.

John, Hamp, Prague, I know their team is and but hopefully we can get them in here sooner than later. No updates. Yeah, I'm going to stick to that, but communication and that's a good thing, so I'll leave it at that. All right, now the t-word is tossed around a bunch when you've got guys who are holding out. The Colts say no way. Well, they didn't say no way. The Colts said no to the trade offers. Anything they got that was real or legit in terms of actually being an offer, they turned down for Jonathan Taylor. At this point, Chris Jones, still a chief, even though he's unhappy with his contract status.

What about potentially trading Nick Bosa? No, yeah, I mean I haven't talked to many people about that, but I know how I feel pretty strongly. I think everyone would agree that. No, real simple. So Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch are in lockstep. They answer the question the same way. No, as in hell to the nah.

Real simple. No, not a snowball's chance in Hades, as in N-O. Read my lips.

No. All right, beyond the questions about Nick Bosa, I was tickled by the questions regarding Trey Lance, because even though he's not a Niner anymore, Kyle Shanahan still has to talk about us to talk about him. Even though Jimmy Garoppolo, not a Niner anymore.

Oh, guess what? Shanahan's still talking about him too. That's part of QB news coming up. Also, Will Greer has a new home and Joe Burrow's back. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Burrow back to throw, looking, firing deep for Chase in the end zone. He's got it. Touchdown Joe Burrow and the Bengals. The home fires for the end zone. Touchdown Kansas City.

And off to Ekler again. No, Herbert keeps it in zone. Touchdown Chargers. Herbert with his second of the day.

Here's the snap. Josh going to 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. And 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 WesleyFinancialGroup.com. Joe Burrow's back, baby. And he has a new backup quarterback.

We'll get to that momentarily. But yeah, from T Higgins to Ted Karras on the offensive line, even his buddy, Jamar Chase, Joe Burrow makes a difference when he's out there on the field. I definitely feel like I gave the guy some extra juice, you know, just to go out there and just show him that we've been working hard, even though he's been, you know, getting treated up. You know, we wanted to show him that there's nothing. We didn't leave off nothing. You know, we still at the same spot we was when he first got hurt.

He looks like Joe and he's been doing a great job in grinding camp. You know, my main goal was just had the O-line unit cleaned up and polished and ready to go so he can just plug himself in and pick up right where he left off. Yeah, I asked him how he feel. He told me he feel good.

So that's the good thing about it. You know, he tells me he feels good. But like I said, but he's hard-headed. He's gonna tell me anything that make me feel good. So that's why I don't really ask so much about himself.

T Higgins, Ted Karras, and then Jamar Chase. But by far, my favorite comments from Jamar have to do with how Joe Burrow gets into the huddle and how he gets everybody else into the huddle with the Bengals. Hey guys, that's how he walks into the huddle. Hey guys, all the time or just all the time. Hey guys, every single time. Hey guys, what's up? Hey guys, hey guys. From now on, I'm starting all pre-show meetings with hey guys. Hey guys.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Will Greer has signed with the Bengals as their practice squad QB. Now remember, he bowled out in the preseason for the Cowboys only to get cut when the Cowboys signed Trey Lance. So finds a new home in Cincinnati and yes, of course, Joe Burrow, a big reason why. The coaches, the quarterback experience in this building, being able to play with Joe Burrow, some of these the weapons we have.

A big part for me was being on a team, a competitive team. Somebody that, you know, had talent and was, you know, a Super Bowl contender, if you will, which clearly this place is and that's that was a big part of the decision. I don't know that we'll see him on the field. If Joe Burrow stays healthy, that's not happening and if the Bengals want to win the AFC North and get back to a Super Bowl, yeah, they don't want to see well in the field. Still, it's good for him as a young quarterback and I'm glad he found a new home after what was a kind of a tough situation in Dallas.

Hey guys. And we'll hear about Trey Lance from the Niners perspective later in QB news, but staying in the AFC then, Kenny Pickett is going into year two, but year one as the undisputed starter not competing with Mitch Trabisky. Nah, it's Kenny's team and a lot of people excited about how this offense could take off from week one because he's had so many reps and because he played during his rookie season. He came into the season last year as a backup. Coach Tomlin decided to make him his starter, you know, after Mitch, he replaced Mitch Trabisky with Kenny and Kenny grew. The thing that was encouraging is Kenny got better as the year went on and, you know, it wasn't surprising that he picked up where he left off and it looks like he's going to start this season where he left off, which is a very, very positive for him and it could be very positive for the Steelers and I think we're all excited to watch and see if that growth continues. Kevin Colbert, who is the former Steelers general manager, Sirius XM NFL radio.

Kenny Pickett, a lot of buzz around him, not to mention his connection with George Pickens, who was also a rookie last year. Could the Steelers sneak up on people? They did finish with a winning record mostly because of their coaching staff and their leadership. I actually am pretty high on the Steelers as we get set to start this 23 campaign as well.

The Dolphins made the playoffs as a wild card despite using 12 quarterbacks last season. Their general manager, Chris Greer, was asked about not negotiating a new contract or even giving Tua Tengo-Boloah the fifth year extension. I think just think for him it's just letting Tua play again.

Those things can be a big distraction. You have family, friends, you guys, everyone constantly asking about it and so I think from his agents and I have had discussions just general but not really about that and it just kind of agreed like let's just let him play out the season and then we'll attack that in the offseason. I just want for him to stay healthy and stay on the field. He loves football.

He's a great leader. He's done a lot of work in this offseason not just to bulk up but also to learn how not to get hit so that he puts his head and his noggin and his neck in danger. I just want him to play. He loves to play and he definitely is what Miami needs to lead them forward.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Some QB news. Kyle Shanahan delivering his remarks on Nick Bosa for sure but also was asked whether or not he saw Trey Lance's big smile as he was introduced following the trade to Dallas. I did see Trey. I was happy watching him actually while I was eating lunch with his press conference in Dallas and Trey is as real as it gets and that's how he talks in here. That's how he is every day so it's cool to see him handle that the right way and he did seem genuinely kind of happy and I feel he's in a good position to move on and do better there.

Yeah, he definitely did say that it was a fresh start. He didn't disparage the Niners in any way and it's reciprocated by Kyle Shanahan. Not quite the same from Jimmy Garoppolo. If you missed this, Jimmy G did an interview with Sports Illustrated's Robin Lundberg in which they were talking about San Francisco.

Weird situation. Been a lot of weird situations over there in San Francisco just to leave it at that but you know I'm happy Trey got another shot man. How do you think San Francisco's handled those quarterback situations?

How do you think they've handled them? I think it's been messy. I'll put it that way. Yeah, that's a nice way to put it. Oh, I'm sorry.

That's good stuff. All right, so here's the response of Kyle Shanahan. You know, Jimmy, the comments are the comments. I'm really not concerned about his comments.

Apparently, he heard his comments. Hey, John Lynch is finally the drama surrounding the quarterback position in the rearview mirror for your team. I wouldn't call it drama. I just call it what has transpired. One thing I've learned in this business is it's never over. I mean, it's ongoing. I like what we have at the quarterback room.

I mentioned that earlier, both in the quality and the depth and I'm excited about the group moving forward. Oh, I would definitely call it drama. If nothing else, a dramatic script from the category of you can't make this stuff up and yet still back-to-back NFC championship games. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. A lot of you have picked and fingered the Arizona Cardinals as the last team that will get a win in 2023. That may be because they don't have their starting quarterback, Kyler Murray, although some of you may think that's the case even with Kyler Murray.

He's on the pup list for the first month. They cut Colt McCoy, who'd been there for a couple of years, but this is Jonathan Gannon, right? He's a new head coach who wanted to bring in his own guy. That's Joshua Dobbs, actually, who does expect to be out there week number one. Every time I step in the building, I put starting expectations on myself.

I know the QB situation is going to play out. However, the coaches see fit. For me, I come in ready to compete every single day.

I push myself, but also approach the room in that way. I'm excited to be a part of it and be a part of the team. You may not know his history, but Josh Dobbs was actually drafted by the Steelers going back to the 2017 spring, the fourth round, and he's made his way around the league a little bit. So, with the Steelers for a few years, then with the Titans last year, and started a couple of games, remember, because the Malik Willis experiment did not work out once Ryan Danny Hill got hurt.

Now, Dobbs is with Arizona, and since there's no Kyler Murray and no Colt McCoy, he can end up starting. An actual true rookie, Anthony Richardson, will be starting for the Colts, but Chris Ballard, what happens to Anthony if Jonathan Taylor isn't in the backfield? I don't think it stunts his growth. No, not at all, but it doesn't. I mean, I don't know. Did it stunt Andrew's growth without a special back? You're not really comparing Anthony Richardson to Andrew Luck, are you?

I don't know. Oh my gosh, that's good audio this week. I still can't get over Jimmy Garoppolo with that big pregnant pause as Ryan Lundberg's asking him how he would describe the quarterback situation.

What would you call it? Oh, you know we love our audio here. I can explain it. I can read quotes. I can tell you what these guys say, but it's so much better when you hear it straight from the horse's mouths, and also the fact that you can't always read inflection and tone or pregnant pauses. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.