After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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Additional terms apply. I'm Kate Abdo, the host of Kicking It, a new weekly show from the CBS Sports Galasso Network, where Clint Dempsey, Charlie Davies, Mo Adoo and I connect with the biggest personalities from global soccer and beyond to learn about their journeys and what makes them tick. This is the place for football fans to hear unfiltered conversations with the game's most familiar faces. So what are you waiting for? Follow and listen to Kicking It on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. The Lions.

Anything can and will happen. The radio announcer, bless his heart, says the kick's up, it hits the crossbar, it's in. And I, as usual, have to listen to why my Lions have found the most creative way to lose every single time. Dean Campbell's crazy.

And on the way up, we're going to buy the kneecap off. I'm 65. I've lived in Detroit my whole life. I'm a big Lions fan. I was live when the Lions won their only championship in 1957. I was only a year old, so I don't remember too much of it.

You don't remember any of it, be honest. The Detroit Lions were so, so, so close. This keeps happening. It doesn't matter who coaches. It doesn't matter who runs it.

It doesn't matter who owns it. We're going to find a way to lose every time. And I just don't know how to deal with it anymore. So I figured I'd ask you, as a Lions fan, what should I possibly do at this point? Who says we can't get flexed? This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. There's a little positivity up in here. Man, that was a fast hour. Gosh, every time, every single time you think it's going to be a quiet night, the NFL has some kind of explosive news. And by quiet night, I only mean a night without breaking news, because really, in this business, sports never stop. There's always something to talk about, especially as we get closer to New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, and then on into the final couple days of the NFL regular season. Not to mention college football playoffs. So the semifinals are on New Year's Day this year. Really looking forward to that.

My first experience, very tense and urgent Longhorn watching experience with my husband, who is a Texas Longhorn, and no doubt will scare me a bit. But that's all right. I'm ready for it.

I've already told him. First of all, Penny is mostly deaf, so she's not going to be afraid of his yelling. And his dog has decided that I am her protector.

It is the funniest thing now. When something scares her, she comes flying into my lap. Forget the fact that she's not supposed to be on furniture.

That new training is not going so well. But she has decided that I am her BFF. And so it's pretty funny to see not only the two dogs. Penny was sleeping on Daisy's bed last night, when I left the bedroom a little while ago after just taking a quick, gosh, it was like a 30 minute nap. But after taking a little cat nap, haha, I leave the bedroom and Daisy sleeping on Penny's bed. So the two of them, they're already like sisters. And we've got the whole like circus thing going here as we try to move.

And so just that whole element. And so personally, we always have a lot going on this time of the year, right? And by we, I don't mean me or my family. I mean, just we as Americans, like we're coming out of Christmas, we're heading into New Year's, a lot of us are on the move.

We're either driving, traveling, we're out of our familiar routines, we are going from one place to another. Because we've spent one one weekend with some relatives, we want to spend a different weekend with friends. And so you throw football into the mix.

And it's just it's so much fun this time of the year. And so yeah, college football playoff on New Year's Day. Week 17 in the NFL starts in mere hours with the Jets and the Browns.

Why do you care? Well, first of all, the Browns can clinch their second playoff spot since 2020. So second one in four years, but also because Joe Flacco is the new darling of the NFL again, which just it cracks me up. I mean, really every weekend, I think the NFL has outdone itself. And this story with Joe Flacco is terrific. Not to mention the fact that the Browns are at 10 wins and are on the cusp of the postseason again for a long suffering fan base.

So I love that as well. I do think, similar to the bills a few years ago, they will be a sentimental favorite, can they get into the playoffs again? And depending upon who they face now you remember, oh my gosh, how could you forget if you're a Browns or a Steelers fan, the game they played?

I think it was in Pittsburgh actually going back to their last playoff appearance. And because of a variety of mistakes by the Steelers, and Ben Roethlisberger in that first quarter. Don't quote me on this vaccine Browns fans, if you want to find me on Twitter and remind me what was it 24 to nothing after one quarter, something crazy like that.

It was a beat down of a division opponent. So can the Browns get back into the playoffs? Well, then you're going to have a bunch of people whose teams may not be in the postseason bracket who are going to hop on the Browns bandwagon because wouldn't we all like to see the Browns finally win a Super Bowl, right? Think about some of the other teams recently that have been sentimental favorites, because they've never won or haven't won in a really long time. The Browns absolutely fit that category. The Bills fit that category.

The Bengals, who've never won a Super Bowl in their franchise history. And so we're getting close to that point where we've got a lot of really compelling football games with such high stakes. And so I love this time of the year. It always reminds me of New Year's Eve into New Year's Day 2012 into the year 2013 when CBS Sports Radio was born.

So this will be our anniversary coming up on New Year's Day 2024. We will be going into year 12 as a network. It was certainly a little scary to make the jump from my previous network to say goodbye to an established network where I had spent eight plus years and to jump to a startup to pick up my whole life and move it. And have that uncertainty about whether or not this little startup, I mean, it wasn't actually little.

We began with 300 plus affiliates around the country. But all new, a new lineup, not that none of us had never worked before. Many of us had had high profile jobs elsewhere, plus Jim Rome anchoring the center of the CBS Sports Radio lineup. But it's always a little scary, requires a leap of faith, not just to start over, but to jump to an entity, whether it's business world or broadcasting that's a startup.

There's no guarantee it's going to work. And so as we get ready to celebrate another anniversary at CBS Sports Radio Network, and you know, there are some big lineup changes on the horizon, some of them already in place, but more coming up for the evenings. It's cool to think about where I was in 2013. And one thing that always seems to me so smart about my bosses who are no longer with the network, but the two that hired me, Mark and Eric. The timing brilliant, because we go on the air, boom, right into NFL playoffs right into NFL postseason.

For those of you who are quick on the draw. Now, if it weren't for the fact that this is burned in my memory, I probably wouldn't be able to recall this. But the Super Bowl that happened right after we went on the air is the Super Bowl following the 2012 season. And it was one that featured lights out. Does anybody remember?

Of course, some of you right now who are teams that were involved in that you absolutely will remember. But it was if shoot now this. I think that this was in New Orleans. I think it was in New Orleans. Yes, it was. It was.

Thank you, producer Manny. And it was Ravens and Niners. It was Colin Kaepernick starting for the San Francisco 49ers, and it was the Baltimore Ravens with Joe Flacco and that incredible defense. And so they have a big lead. Early the third quarter, there's some kind of lights out issue in New Orleans. The Niners come back. So it is a challenge in the second half.

It's a competitive second half, but I'll never forget that because it was the first Super Bowl as a member of CBS Sports Radio. And now here we are. We've seen some incredible stuff. High drama on the high seas over the last decade. Plus, what's in store for us? Coming up in a couple months.

Can't wait to see. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Our phone number 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. The big breaking news on Wednesday. Russell Wilson benched the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos, who admittedly is not in the same space that he was a decade ago when the network started. He's not the same quarterback, though he still has highlight reel plays, still has the touch on the deep ball, has been a little more mobile this season and has better stats. The Broncos had a five game winning streak, won six of seven, got into playoff conversation where they haven't been.

You want to talk about a void. They haven't been in this space since Super Bowl 50. The end of Peyton Manning and Demarcus Ware.

Now Hall of Famers. This is what the Broncos were hoping when they first bought Russ on board. Obviously, Sean Payton not there last year, but it's not been sustainable. And once the defense kind of fell off again. Well, then the offense was exposed and the inability to put up points in bunches instead playing all of these tight games. Can you win that way?

Sure. Can you win a Super Bowl that way? Well, it depends on how good the defense is.

It just leaves you so little margin for error. But that's not why Russ got benched, despite what Sean Payton will tell you. And you'll hear him here in a second. We've got multiple reports now. It started with Jordan Schultz, a bleacher report, but confirmed around the NFL as Wednesday evening morphed into late night. You've got all kinds of info and intel coming out of Denver, including Troy Rank, our friend from Channel 4, who did a whole report on his Twitter.

You can check it out. He's been on the show a bunch. But this is what he had to say about that report that Denver tried to bench or tried to strong arm Russell Wilson into changing his contract. Going back to the fall, a source close to the situation confirmed. The Broncos asked Russell Wilson to address the injury guarantee in his contract all the way back to October.

He declined that created the acrimony in the end. It leads to an eventual divorce, probably with Wilson being cut to sign somewhere as a free agent. So they get 11 wins out of Wilson in two seasons. That's crazy, right? And of course, it's so similar to what happened with the Raiders last year. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio.

You can find me on Twitter, a law radio, also on our Facebook page. Where would Russ be an upgraded quarterback in the NFL right now? Some of you are a little bit out there. You're you're making me scratch my head some Dallas. Like, really? Stop it.

I've even seen someone on Facebook say San Francisco. What? I know I was gone for 10 days, but I wasn't gone for 10 years. Don't be ridiculous. Don't be stupid.

That's a fact. Thank you, Jerry. Jerry Wainon, because that is ridiculous.

Now, I could get on board with some of the other answers, but those two. And it's really not Russ's numbers, right? It's it's not it's not the touchdowns versus interceptions.

That ratio is pretty sweet this year. He's not passing for a ton of yards, but you don't necessarily have to do that in the NFL to win. Sean Payton has talked about how this is a move made because. He's desperate to win.

But according to Troy, according to Jordan, according to others. This goes back to late October when they asked Russ to change his contract, and that's crazy to me. You undermine your quarterback. By doing that midseason, you want to win? Well, then don't put your quarterback on edge by indicating to him that you're already looking ahead to next year and you don't want to pay him that guaranteed money. That's on you, Denver. I'm not telling you that Russell Wilson should have this massive contract extension because I was anti huge extension for Russ until they saw him on the field. But the Broncos did it. They're the ones who gave him the deal.

The extension, the exorbitant amounts of guaranteed money. That's on them. If the team comes to me and asked to change it, my answer is no. No. You wouldn't change it for me if I asked.

So why should I change it for you? I mean, how often do we see NFL teams toe the line when it comes to guys who are under contract but believe they're not being paid commensurate to their value or their experience? We talk about holdouts every training camp and the number of fans out there who would say to me if the roles were reversed, well, Russ signed a contract.

He should play under it. All right, well, what's good for the goose is good for the franchise. They signed the deal without ever seeing him take a snap that counted for the Broncos. They signed this massive extension. You don't like it too bad. So sad.

Now you can eat it. And it certainly does sound like they were already freaking out about it. And I understand that going back to last season. But to ask your quarterback to change terms and stipulations in his contract in the middle of a season is just dumb.

What are you doing? You put him on notice, you put his camp on notice, the NFL P.A. is involved and all of this is taking place while you're trying to win. Do they not see how counterproductive that is? You alienate your quarterback and no doubt it gets around to the rest of the locker room.

Now, most guys will say, hey, it's you know, it's a business. We understand you got to kind of keep separate from football. But if this is the way the team is willing. To treat their number one most important guy on the field, then they would do it to the rank and file.

Actually wouldn't even bother. And so to be making these types of decisions, to be asking Russ to make this kind of a decision in the middle of a season. Coming off a victory over the Chiefs, for heaven sakes. All you're doing is putting him on edge and undermining his confidence and his ability to perform for you. Stupid move by the Broncos. Really dumb. This is why a lot of guys won't negotiate in season.

Because. This kind of stuff can happen. So for Sean Payton, the desire to win. I believe that that's accurate. I believe that he's being sincere.

But the moves made along the way. Have indicated that it's not the only concern, number one, number two, that they're going about it the wrong way. And yet he was insistent on Wednesday that what's forefront and foremost is thinking is trying to get to the playoffs. We're desperately trying to win and.

Sure, in our in our game today, there are economics and all those other things, but the number one. Push behind this and and it's a decision I'm making is to, you know, get a spark offensively. One of the things we saw when we signed Stidham in the offseason was not only film from preseason games, but regular season games.

And, you know, he's a guy that, you know, I'm anxious to see play. And if I didn't feel like he gave us the chance to win, we wouldn't be making that move. Not the best chance to win.

Note the choice of words. He doesn't give us the best chance to win, but he gives us a chance to win. I mean, I suppose better than having no quarterback. And that's not a knock on Jerry Stidham. I just think it's really interesting that he was the guy who took over for Derek Carr last year in Vegas when the Raiders did the same damn thing to Derek.

Now, he had a lot more time invested. He was the longest tenured Raider. He'd been there almost a decade, his entire career, and they did him dirty. I know Russ hasn't been in Denver. He wasn't handpicked by Sean Payton. And this ownership group didn't make the trade for him, but they did give him the extension.

Gosh, I thought they were supposed to be business savvy. I didn't like it at the time. He could have played under the existing contract. I think he still had two years going back to last training camp when they were first feeling the Russ love. They gave him that huge contract extension, believing that it was going to pay dividends.

And now they have buyer's remorse. But that's not Russ's fault. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. As for Jared Stidham, it's all too familiar.

He's been a career backup, though he has started two games with the Raiders and will soon have two more starts under his belt with the Broncos. I think I could speak for almost anybody that plays in the NFL, but your goal, your goal and objective is to always get out on the field and play. And, you know, that's what my goal has always been. That's how I've always prepared myself and so forth. And, you know, Sean brought me out, brought me up in his office this morning and told me, you know, I was going to start this week.

So, you know, just keep preparing like I like I have been my whole career and and get ready to go. Next thing you know. We're going to hear from the Broncos that Russell Wilson agreed to stay away from the team for two weeks so that there would be no distractions. Remember that line from the Raiders last year?

Seriously, how dumb do they think we are? All right. On Twitter, a law radio also on our Facebook page after hours with Amy Lawrence. You've got the phone number eight five five two one two four two two seven eight five five two one two four CBS. Where would Russ be an upgraded quarterback in the NFL right now? Because the Broncos are very, very unlikely to find a trade partner. We can get into some of the financial ramifications coming up, but they're unlikely to find a trade partner similar to the Derek Carr situation last year because everybody in the league knew that they weren't going to keep Carr. So why trade? Why trade for him and give assets up when you can get him? When they cut him, which they did, Derek refused to accept a trade until after. Well, he didn't he had he had no trade clause, so he refused to accept a trade instead, forcing the team to cut him so he could pick the team he wanted to play for next. There's so much guaranteed money for Russell Wilson that the Broncos can't afford to keep him past March of next year. And so if they don't find a trade partner, which again seems very unlikely to me, they are going to cut him. But where would he be an upgrade?

I mean, think about the guys we've got starting in the NFL right now at the quarterback position. Eight five five two one two four two two seven. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. OK, what's the number one reason you should try Instacart shopping over one point five million unique products from over 1000 retailers and get everything delivered right to your door and as fast as one hour, all in one app.

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Additional terms apply. The most unique NBA podcast is out on Odyssey Heat Check with Trista Crick. NBA fans, listen up. I'm Trista Crick, host of the Heat Check podcast. And if you love this league, the storylines and want a funny, digestible way to get all the news from around the association and someone to break down what's really going on straight up, no chaser and make you laugh at the same time.

Follow the Heat Check on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. I can't speak highly enough of Russ, tremendous teammate, tremendous competitor. You know, I've been extremely fortunate in my career to be around some incredible human beings and incredible quarterbacks, and he obviously fits that category.

So, you know, today, you know, obviously it's been it's a tough day, but, you know, we've had great interaction today. And that's what I think. So I can't, like I said, I can't speak highly enough about him. Jerry Stidham waited through two seasons with the New England Patriots after he was drafted by Bill Belichick in the Pats. He waited through two years of no starts, waited through most of his season with the Raiders in 2022. Before they bench Derek Carr and then gave up some made up contrived line about how Derek was leaving the team for the final two weeks of the regular season because both the team and Derek agreed he did not want to be a distraction. It's so stupid.

I've used that word a lot on this show tonight. If you know anything about Derek Carr, you know that he would rather die than be a distraction, that he cares far more about his teammates than he does about himself. In fact, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell he would have left the team of his own accord. It was the Raiders who didn't want him around. It was Josh McDaniels who didn't want him around for fear of an uprising, for fear of a coup, if you will.

But not a whole lot could keep that from happening. It just took an extra year. Well, it didn't even take a year, took an extra few months. Jared Stidham started those last two games with the Raiders in 2022. And now here he is, crazy enough, about to start the final two games of the year for the Denver Broncos because the same thing is happening with this other AFC West team.

The Broncos want to cut ties with Russell Wilson like the Raiders wanted to cut ties with Derek Carr. They don't want him to get hurt so that he's still a trade bait, whatever trade bait there actually is. But mostly because they don't want to pay the money that would kick in if he cannot pass a physical when the season is done. So $37 million in injury guarantees, and it's actually not for 24 it's for 25. But that money becomes guaranteed no matter what in March, this coming March. So first of all, they don't want him to get hurt before the end of the year. And then second of all, he can't be on their roster in March, or they're going to have to pay him the money anyway. So they're caught between a rock and a hard place. That's why they benched him.

And if they get a couple wins out of the Broncos with Jarrett as the starting quarterback, great. But that's not the driving force here. As we've heard now from multiple reporters, from multiple writers who have seen it, they wanted him to change his contract around Halloween. They wanted to bench him back then. In fact, they threatened him. They tried to strongarm him into changing the contract. So there's all kinds of salary cap implications here, which is maybe why they didn't do it sooner, because they know again, this contract is an albatross. We're going to get to your calls here coming up 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Okay, so here's some of the numbers. They're astronomical, you guys. If the Broncos release Russell Wilson after June 1st. Okay, so it's kind of weird.

It's just a date. It's not arbitrary, but it has to do with salary cap distribution, right? One year versus another year, blah, blah, blah. If they don't release him until after June 1st, they've got $85 million in dead money. So dead cap hit. Meaning that's money they can't spend. Or they can't spend it anywhere else. They can't upgrade their quarterback position with this $85 million. It comes directly off of their salary cap. It counts toward their salary cap. It comes directly off of the money that they're allowed to spend on their roster next year and the year after. So we're talking about $35.5 million next year in dead cap money. Nearly $50 million in unavailable dead cap salary for 2025. They would also owe him $39 million in cash for next year. So that's if they still have him on their roster until after June 1st when they release him. But if they trade him before June 1st, they have $68 million in dead cap money next season. Unless somehow the Broncos can convince another team to pick up part of that tab. So here's the deal. Whoever trades for Russ owes him $54 million for the next two years.

I mean this contract is as close to untradeable as you can imagine. And the Broncos only have themselves to blame. And the issue of course is it's the devil you know in Russell Wilson. And I don't mean to say he's a devil. It's just a phrase.

The devil you know or the devil you don't know. You get rid of Russ. Well, what do you do at quarterback then?

Aren't you now stuck in the same destructive non-productive cycle you've been in for years? Since Peyton Manning retired after Super Bowl 50? Yeah, they've been on the hunt for their next quarterback since Super Bowl 50. And honestly Broncos fans, longtime Broncos fans know it well. After John Elway retired on the heels of back-to-back Super Bowl wins, it took the Broncos 20 years to find Peyton Manning. So they won those two Super Bowls in 98, well 98 after the 97 season and then 99 after the 98 season.

So whatevs, late 90s. They had Brian Griese for a while. They tried Gus Farhat, Steve Burline, Jake Plummer, Jake the Snake. Danny Cannell made a couple starts. Then there was the Jay Cutler era.

Quote unquote. That lasted for two and a half seasons. Kyle Orton, Tim Tebow, Chris Simms. It wasn't quite 20 years. It felt like forever. 2012 is when they signed Peyton Manning.

Right? So it took them the better part of 15 years to find their next quarterback. Since Peyton retired, they've started everyone from Trevor Simeon, who by the way will be starting for the Jets on Thursday evening. Trevor Simeon, Paxton Lynch.

Remember that experience? Brock Osweiler came back to the Broncos. Case Keenum actually started every game in 2018, but that was another one of their free agent signings that didn't work out.

They didn't end the playoff drought. Joe Flacco was there for half the year in 19. They had drafted Drew Locke. They started Brandon Allen, Brett Rippon, Phillip Lindsay. That was that was the COVID year when all of their quarterbacks were in protocol and they only had Phillip Lindsay to start. Teddy Bridgewater was another experience that didn't work out. So they've had a revolving door at quarterback since the 2015 season.

And now they're about to make another change. So what does that mean for Russ? We can look at it from the Broncos side of things. But what does that mean for Russ?

Where is he an upgrade in the NFL right now? We're going to get your calls coming up following the update. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 2 2 7. That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. On Twitter, a law radio.

And also on our Facebook page. You're blowing it up, by the way. Russ takes the snap, looks to his left now, looks to his right forever to throw the ball, steps up, now throws a deep ball. He wants Cortland Sutton in the end zone. Cortland goes up and makes the catch. Touchdown Denver. Penalty flag thrown.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Russell Wilson has over 3000 passing yards this year and has 26 touchdowns, which puts him in the top 10 in the NFL among those passers who qualify. Only eight interceptions. So his ratio is strong this year. His passer rating is also up near 100.

So it's not quite there, but it's near 100. He's top 10 in that category as well. And as you hear with Dave Logan on Broncos radio, he's had a real special connection with Cortland Sutton. I do believe that as much as Sean Payton can say they're all about winning and they're looking for a spark for the offense and believe that those things are true going into week 17. I don't believe there's anyone or very few people around the NFL who would tell you that Russell Wilson is not their best option if they want to win. I mean, he's for no other reason has had more reps with the receivers and the offensive line than Stidham.

Right. So Stidham is not taking QB one snaps all season long. Russ is healthy. This is just as much about the future and the money as it was last year with the Raiders and Derek Carr. It's not about winning solely if they get a couple of wins. Great.

But what they're most concerned about is the bottom line and how they can part ways with Russ at a price tag that is least expensive for them, though that's relative right now because the contract is a disaster for the team. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. It is crazy to think about this being my last show until New Year's Eve. So I am working New Year's Eve. I will be in studio. The hubs will be with me first and probably only time. Well, maybe not only for the rest of our lives, but first time he'll ever be in the studio with me as I'm doing a radio show.

He thinks he's going to fall asleep on New Year's Eve, which I think is funny, but I'll just keep talking because that's what I do. But I'm off the next tomorrow night because we're going to be part way through our move back to New Jersey. So the the truck is partially packed. The trailer is mostly packed. We're picking up a rental car tomorrow.

The biggest SUV we could find available for rent will be packing that as well. So this time tomorrow night, I hope to be sleeping in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and have that one leg of the journey behind us. But back with you on New Year's Eve, also working New Year's night because it's following the college football playoffs. So my next two shows on Sunday night into Monday and Monday night into Tuesday, huge football shows. Do not miss them. On Twitter, A Law Radio, on our Facebook page, too. After hours with Amy Lawrence. Let's hit the phones here.

Where is Russell Wilson an upgrade in the NFL right now? Let's talk to Matthew, who is somewhere in I-35 westbound. Matthew, welcome to the show.

Hi, Amy. Thank you for having me on. You're welcome. All right.

This is a bit of a stretch and requires some explanation, but the Philadelphia Eagles. What? OK. OK. Hear me out.

Hear me out. The Eagles' game plan is basically just short runs to get close to the 10 yard line and then just push, push Jalen Hurts onto the other side for the first down. Occasionally, chuck the ball to AJ Brown's general direction and hope he catches it. That doesn't really require too much passing.

Excuse me. They don't really do too much passing on that front. Russell Wilson, as you said earlier, he's actually really good, really good as a passer this year. To me, his biggest weakness is how long it takes to make the decision. He'll drop back and he'll just kind of wait, take forever to throw the ball out sometimes.

And sometimes he'll just get sacked because he's taken too long to make the decision. So he should go to a team that has a really strong offensive line, i.e. the Eagles. It would help diversify their offense. Well, I do agree with you that the Eagles are not quite as diverse as they were a year ago. I don't know about the whole AJ Brown synopsis. You offered up 1400 yards and 100 catches.

That's not just by accident. So he's still a number one wide receiver. But here's the thing about the Eagles.

Yeah, I know you were. The thing about the Eagles is this is their identity. And while again, it's not as good as it was last year, partly because they changed offensive coordinators, partly because they've had too many turnovers, they've had some dropped passes.

I mean, you're still talking about a team that has multiple weapons that can hurt you a variety of ways. And as for the tush push, as much as the NFL would like to change it, if it's working, I don't know why you don't keep doing that. So I don't think I agree with you. Let's just say for no other reason than Jalen is much younger. Right. He's much younger and he doesn't cost them quite as much or he could over the life of his career. But at this point, that contract is not quite as much of an albatross as his Russell Wilson's.

And you'd be upgrading for a while, downgrading to a guy who's 35. So I don't think it's a long term solution. But I do like your creativity, Matt. Thank you. And, you know, even if it is a kind of bad idea, I am a Dallas fan, but any chance of the Eagles to be worth the truth comes out from a Dallas Cowboys fan there. Yeah. You know, it's not so is that I've actually seen one person. I don't think it's been more than one, maybe a handful tops who are saying that he'd be an upgrade in Dallas, which to me is utterly crazy. Yeah, no, I heard you mention that earlier.

Those people are insane. Thank you. You can say it. I can't really, but I appreciate it. All right, Matt.

Happy New Year to you. Let's talk to John in Buffalo. John, where is Russell Wilson an upgrade right now in the NFL? Well, I'm from Buffalo, so I know one thing that's a good quarterback coach and who helped Josh Allen. And I think they need a quarterback and it would be where maybe he should be back in the NFC with the New York Giants.

Interesting table would be good for Wilson. But, you know, I don't know what the deal is with Daniel Jones, but I think that he doesn't have much left. But if if he's got something left, you know, there's so much emphasis on the quarterback.

But here we are looking at the browser. You have to throw the ball, but he also threw three interceptions in one game and they came back. But defense is important. Teammates are so important. Right now, Buffalo only has digs. They need more receivers. You know, there's just so much emphasis on the quarterback.

Look at the best quarterback, Mahomes, without all his receivers this year. I mean, you need a team. You do.

You do. And I don't think Denver has the team. Sutton is a great player and they had some chemistry. But I don't think there's enough around Russell Wilson. And you know what? I don't want to see him play his way out of the Hall of Fame. And you know what?

It could happen. He's got a hot wife. Stay home with your hot wife. OK, that has nothing to do with the football. But thank you. Many NFL players and athletes have hot wives.

It's just it's the phenomenon, if you will. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you for your call.

Happy New Year to you. We'll get to a couple of other calls after the top of the hour. And I think producer Manny is telling me our friend Jordan is on the line for Portland. It's funny because we talked to Jordan, who's a seventh grader in Portland, on our last show. And we got such a huge reaction. So, Jordan, if you're still listening, you were uber popular on our show last night. And you did identify yourself as a Seahawks fan.

So I actually mentioned you earlier wondering if we might hear from you where Russ would be an upgrade. Here's a crazy thought. And I know they wouldn't take it back. But the Seattle Seahawks there. I don't think that they're unhappy with Gino, but I do believe they have to think there's a better option out there somewhere. You think about the guys who are starting right now in the NFL and it's it's mind blowing. I know that Tyrod Taylor is taking over for the Giants, but Tommy DeVito was starting for them. I mean, we had a guy who was an undrafted Division two quarterback out there with the Chicago Bears right now. Atlanta doesn't really have a quarterback. What's going on with the Carolina Panthers? I mean, there's so many teams that are going to be looking for quarterbacks again in the off season.

Where would Russ be an upgrade? We're halfway through. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence right here on CBS Sports Radio. I'm Kate Abdo, the host of Kicking It, a new weekly show from the CBS Sports Galasso Network, where Clint Dempsey, Charlie Davies, Mo Adoo and I connect with the biggest personalities from global soccer and beyond to learn about their journeys and what makes them tick. This is the place for football fans to hear unfiltered conversations with the game's most familiar faces. So what are you waiting for? Follow and listen to Kicking It on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.