After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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State Farm, Bloomington, Illinois. I hope that gives you a lift, a little boost, as you are maybe waking up shaking about cobwebs. If you start your work week this early, ouch.

Well, welcome to the dark side. But if you are still awake on your Sunday night, what the heck? Get to bed.

You got a big Monday ahead of you. And then those of you who work overnight or you drive overnight, we just have such a cool cross section of people who listen to our show. And that's one of the reasons I love, love, love this time slot. Is because we catch people in all walks of life, obviously in different time zones across the country, taking care of their business. But also because the way that we start the show and are able to kind of do a West Coast flare and then as we sweep through to what is the second half of the show, really the last 90 minutes.

It's so many people who are waking up who hadn't had the chance or couldn't stay up late enough to know what was happening the night before. And so it's cool. It's really cool the way that we get so many hundreds of affiliates tuned in and then many of you use, whether it's the Odyssey app or cbsportradio.com or Sirius XM or the SXM app.

There's just a variety of ways that you can hang out with us. Just Google it. Seriously, that's the easiest way to find the podcast or to figure out how to listen online. I tell people just Google after hours with Amy Lawrence, listen or listen live CBS Sports Radio.

It's very simple because there's so many different ways you can tune in that it takes way too long for me to list them all and then people use different devices or people use different apps or different websites. For those of you who are AT&T peeps, did you all have the outage last week? I know that there was, I was asleep because I don't have AT&T and I don't have an iPhone. But the outage was a big topic of conversation with my family because I woke up and there's this family group chat that has about 13 to 15 messages about people determining whether or not they're having any issues with AT&T and their internet and their cell service. And so yeah, that was fascinating. And I don't know whether or not it affected other services.

I just know that it was a major point of consternation for a lot of people. So I was safely asleep and not needing to text. By the way, a sign of trust and true love.

Well, maybe just trust, but I do truly love him. Last week when I was waiting for a phone call from the vet about Penny, I actually left my cell phone in the possession of the hubs and said, if the vet calls, here's the number, please answer and tell her what's going on with Penny. But that meant I had no phone next to the bed, right? And I don't, I don't look at it every time I wake up in the daytime. In fact, if I can not look at it, it's better. So I leave it there. I leave it face down. It's on silent so that I don't look at it because sometimes if I look at it, then my brain starts going, which is a bad idea. But what I do use it for is a clock. So I know what time it is, how much time I have left before I have to wake up, and then it's my alarm.

So this is last Thursday. I leave the phone downstairs. I tell him, after you get the phone call from the vet, will you just come up and put the phone next to the bed because I have an alarm set? Well, he forgot to do that. So guess who comes up to get me 20 minutes after I'm supposed to be awake? Oh, just, it was a big mess.

That's it. That's the last time I ever trust the hubs with a phone call and the phone. It was a bad idea from the start. He just forgot. He just forgot that my phone was sitting there. Anyway, maybe that's what he used when he had his cell phone outage. It's a sign of trust, for sure, but not anymore.

That trust has been broken. And he did wake you. Yes, and I was in a huge rush after that. I said to him, what time is it? Oh, well, it's this time. What? Well, you told me you wanted to get up at this time, and I said, I know I changed my mind. I wanted to get up earlier. But I didn't know that.

Well, how about you give me my phone back? No, no, it wasn't quite that harsh. I don't think I had that much energy when I was just waking up in a fog.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Did you know that you just had your last weekend in February? How is it possible that we are just a few days away from the start of March? And what a dummy I am.

I signed up for a half marathon at the end of March, and I think I've done two or three training runs. Why was I? Why? I know it's cold out. I know there's still snow on the ground in some places.

Ours is actually gone now because we had a couple of really bright, sunshiny days over the weekend. But yeah, dummy. So I've accepted that I may not be fully trained for this one, but some training is better than no training, so I'm going to work on it for the next, now, not even five weeks. Dummy.

I'm such a dummy. When did you sign up for this one? This one is March 30th, and the idea behind this is that I'm teaching my class again at Syracuse in April, which means every Monday and Tuesday I have to drive. Seven hours round trip.

Okay. So Sundays is a tough day then because I need to be ready to go do our show Sunday night. You know, there's playoffs in April, so it just becomes a lot. So I couldn't pick a half marathon on a Sunday and then be ready to work and do that two-day odyssey to Syracuse. So I had to find one on a Saturday.

The last one that I could find in the area where I didn't have to travel was a Saturday, Easter weekend, March 30th. Okay. So I'm thinking at the time it's early February. I'm like, ah, that's fine. I've got eight weeks. I'll be good.

It'll be grand. Instead, what I found out is that it's cold and it's windy and I'm not running when it's 20 degrees outside. That's bad for my vocal cords. It's not a good idea, especially when it's breezy. So I've done a couple of runs outside, and on Monday in my neighborhood it's supposed to be in the low 50s. So I will definitely get in a run on Monday, although running on Monday is a bad idea.

I can sometimes trip and fall flat on my face. I'm in such a Monday fog usually, flipping the schedule. So anyway, here it is. My husband has joined a gym and he got me a buddy pass, which is great. But running on the treadmill sucks. It is.

I don't enjoy it. And we went on a Friday night a couple of weeks ago. He had told me the gym was warm.

All right. I didn't think it would be like a sauna. And so I go in full. I mean, I had a T-shirt on, but I went in full yoga pants, like long yoga pants, as opposed to shorts or short yoga pants. And about 35 minutes into this run, I was sweating bullets like it was so hot in there. And I ran out of water because I was guzzling water like nobody's business. And it really became a survival of the fittest, which I'm not the fittest yet. Well, I'm the fittest, but I wasn't quite in running shape.

So I could only do six miles because I thought I was going to pass out. It was so hot in there. Yeah. And then as I got off the treadmill and went to get water, I realized, oh, the reason the treadmills on this end of the row were so like completely occupied and busy is because the AC is over here.

Not in the middle. Yeah. So running on a treadmill is not my favorite, but I will have to do some of that training on a treadmill as we get closer. So, yeah, four and a half weeks out from a half marathon and the most I've run is six miles. Great. It's the start, right? Yeah, it's halfway. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Hope you heard the comments from Russell Wilson with Brandon Marshall on the I Am Athlete podcast. Eighty four minutes.

Eighty four minutes. And he says his house is not. Did you catch it? Not on the market. It's not on the market, according to people in Denver, but it is quietly up for sale as much as I appreciate that Russ is handling this maturely and professionally.

He really has. I have no qualms with how Russ has handled his business in this case. I often say to young broadcasters and really young women that I mentor, choose your battles. Not every hill is worth dying on. Not every battle is worth your time and your effort and the frustration.

Choose your battles wisely. In this case, I believe that Russ is fighting a battle that is worth his time and energy. The fact is, the Broncos flat out lied about what they did and they tried to cover it up. And they essentially, as I say, undermined their quarterback and their team and pretended like they were all about the winning. When that's not what they were about.

Going back to, gosh, the middle of a season, for heaven's sakes. And so I, if I'm Russ, I'm doing the same thing. Maturely, calmly, professionally, telling the truth. Not his truth, but the truth.

There's only one truth. So telling the truth about what happened. If the Broncos want to get angry about that, well guess what?

That's on you because you're the one who started the charade. And maybe it would be better for him to go somewhere else. He did have a resurgent season. It seemed like he and Sean Payton were getting along famously, but until they weren't. And I just wonder how this sets a tone and how this plays with the rest of the locker room. Because no doubt they've heard Russell Wilson.

So we'll see. But this is a conversation we've started to engage in. We did it with Randy Mueller last week.

But also many of you weighed in about a week ago. We asked you about the various options at quarterback. The various potential free agents, but also guys that could be, maybe, acquired in trades. Justin Fields is one of those, though we're not sure the Chicago Bears have made him available yet. And that's kind of the deal. Ryan Polls, and I talked about this with Randy too, Ryan Polls plays his cards very close to the vest.

Right? So he is not going to indicate, at least at this point, until they've done their due diligence, not going to indicate the Bears' plans. Though pretty much everyone is saying, even if Caleb Williams is not a better option, meaning a better talent, more potential than Justin Fields. If all things are equal in terms of talent, guess what? You still get him for a heck of a lot cheaper than you did Justin. Than you will Justin moving forward, right? Because Justin is getting toward the end of his rookie deal.

Caleb will be starting at the beginning. So just by finances alone. Now, here's the kicker in terms of team finances. We now know that the salary cap is jumping.

It's skyrocketing in 2024. So as we get closer to the start of the new league year, and that will come up in mid-March, we know that the NFL franchises out there, who have been waiting, right? So a lot of them were waiting to find out what the new salary cap would be, which is why you haven't seen a lot of drastic cuts.

You've seen some of them, but not a lot. They were waiting to hear that each team will have an extra, what is it, $30 million? I mean, this is the largest jump they've had. It's $30 million, actually a little more than $30 million for the 2024 salary cap. $255.5 million per team.

We've never seen the jump. And do you want to know where that money comes from? It comes from the new media rights. It comes from the money that they've made in partnering with Peacock and now Amazon Prime for not just playoff games, but for regular season games.

That's where the money's coming from. So the salary cap takes this historic leap for the upcoming season, and now teams aren't necessarily backed into a corner. They have more relief under the cap. So the salary cap jumps from $224.8 million to $255.4 million. And then they also have extra money for player benefits, and some of this is like performance bonuses, others is for retired players who get a bigger piece of the pie.

This is just a random number, more like a nerd alert. It's kind of hard to put it into context, but I'll throw it out there anyway. For each team, the money that they will devote to players, okay, so athletes, total player costs in 2024. Again, this is the piece of the pie that the athletes will earn, whether it be in salary, whether it be in benefits. It's the salary cap, but it's also the benefits, the health and the insurance and all that jazz, retirement. Each team, $329.5 million for player costs in 2024, the 24th season.

And so if you multiply it out, someone did it for me, I read it. $10.5 billion, it's billion with a B, $10.5 billion for the league will be spent in player costs next season. But that pales in comparison to what the, well, I don't say it pales in comparison, but do you know what the annual league revenue was?

Last year, it was $22 billion. All right, so the players are getting a little less than half in salary, bonuses, benefits, retirement, that kind of stuff. They're getting a little less than half. At $10.5 billion, they're getting not quite half of the pie, if you will. So the owners are getting rich. The NFL is making money hand over fist. What are the best options at quarterback?

I mean, there's different ways you could go. Now, I know Baker Mayfield is a free agent or will be a free agent technically, but he and the Bucks seem very motivated to get a deal done. I'd heard that they've at least started preliminary negotiations. He's going to be asking, I wouldn't say he's going to be asking for the $50 million contract that the elite quarterbacks have gotten.

And he's not going to get that anyway. But I wouldn't be surprised if he had a contract that was commensurate with, say, Daniel Jones last year. Daniel and Jones and the Giants are a different question, but I could see them paying him, especially with the leap in salary cap. I could see him getting $35 million a year or between 35. What is Jones making? 44, I believe, Jones made.

No, come on. It's not that high. I thought it was 40. Maybe 40.

Let me confirm. But I could see him getting a deal that's between 35 and 40. He's not an elite quarterback. He's got some incredible skills. They like his leadership. He's a fit with Todd Bowles. He's a fit.

He and Mike Evans had some real good chemistry this year, and it happened quickly. They like his leadership. What did Todd Bowles call him?

A warrior. So there's a lot of things to like about Baker Mayfield. But he also has to recognize that while there may be another team out there who would offer him a deal that maybe is a little more money, does he want to leave again? He's comfortable in the system. He's got some great receivers. They made the playoffs this year.

I think that it's me, right? I'm not Baker. But I think that it behooves him to, if it comes down to it, stay in Tampa where he's starting to establish something, starting to establish chemistry, leadership, a pattern, rapport, all that jazz, even if it means he makes a little less. Now, I'm not saying the Broncos are going to offer him less.

Only that I think they're both motivated to get this deal done. So that's Baker Mayfield. Certainly, Kirk Cousins is a big piece. In fact, depending on where you look, he's one of the top three available free agents.

But the Vikings also want him back, and Justin Jefferson definitely wants him back. It's not like Patrick Mahomes is going to Minnesota. So if they lose Kirk Cousins, the Pickens are relatively slim. They're not in the top ten for, well, I don't actually know where they draft, but they're not drafting high enough to get one of the top QB prospects that is available.

And this is a quarterback-heavy draft, but it's heavy at the top. So they're likely, again, to try to take care of Kirk Cousins. He's actually said that he does not care about making the most money, what he cares about. He's made plenty of money. What I care about is winning.

What I care about is trying to be here. So he's definitely wanting to stay there. So some of these pieces, as much as they're free agents, are not necessarily pieces that you would expect to be available. Though every year there are certainly big-time surprises. The Vikings pick 11th. Always go with your first answer. The Vikings pick 11th. Hey, guess what?

Both New York teams pick in the top ten. Again. That sounds familiar. Oh my gosh. Oh, by the way, you were right. So Daniel Jones' base salary next year is $35 million.

His cap hit was $47 million. That's where I got a little confused. Always go with your first answer.

Okay. Thank you, Jay, for clarifying that. So yeah, I would not at all be surprised if the Buccaneers gave him a deal that's similar to Daniel Jones. $35 to $40 million per year. That's good money.

And for him to be building something there. Now, was their offense incredible? No. I mean, they had some really impressive stretches. But remember, they made the playoffs and the strength of their defense at the end. They got shut down in a couple of late games. Didn't they get shut out?

Oh, no, no. They beat the Panthers to get into the playoffs 9-0. But they also had one game in which they, a few games where they barely get the offense going. So I don't know that anyone's all excited about Baker Mayfield becoming an MVP candidate. He did have Dave Canales last year, which is a huge deal. And of course, Dave went to become the head coach of the Panthers.

So there's a change there as well. But I do think that he and the Bucs will work something out. And I think Kirk is likely to stay with the Vikings. Likely.

And then what else? Zach Wilson? I mean, Daniel Jones could be available, too, but he's likely not to be healthy at the beginning of the year. Jimmy Garoppolo is going to kind of serve a two-game suspension to start. And I think the shine has gone off Garoppolo.

And then there's the Justin Fields piece, right? So we can talk more about that. And I know some of you want to weigh in on Twitter, ALawRadio, on our Facebook page, too. And then our phone number, 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. That's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. When the whole family comes together to watch the game, nobody wants to miss a second of the action to run to the grocery store. With Instacart, you can get all your weekly groceries in as fast as an hour.

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My car! But what you really need to say is something that can actually help. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. And just like that, State Farm is there to help you file your claim right on the State Farm mobile app. Just remember, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. State Farm, Bloomington, Illinois. COVID-19? I don't want to risk missing work. I booked an appointment for this season's updated COVID-19 shot designed to help protect against recent variants.

Learn about a vaccine option and book your COVID-19 shot on ScheduleCOVIDVax.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. Podcast. All I can control is what I did do and I gave it my all. Whether it's here or not, I have no regrets.

Shout out to you guys for making my job a little bit harder. Yeah, just to the city of Chicago, love y'all. Appreciate the fans and the support from all the Bears. In case this is my last rodeo with y'all and just appreciate y'all for everything.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Justin Fields delivering a preemptive strike, if you will, saying goodbye, if in fact it's the last time that he addressed the Chicago media, if they trade him. And there seems to be this prevailing sentiment that the Bears, for a bunch of reasons, are better off parting ways with him. Now, I believe it's true that most rookie quarterbacks do not come in ready to help you win a title.

I know C.J. Stroud had an awesome season, but they didn't win the Super Bowl. Rookie quarterbacks, they've never won a Super Bowl and it's a roller coaster ride. But the thing is, if you're a team that is willing to ride that roller coaster and you want to throw your guy into the fire so he can get some reps and you can protect him and you believe that he's got the potential and the talent, you can get him at the ground level and he's cheaper than the veterans, well, of course, it makes a lot of sense. Justin Fields is a transcendent talent as well.

His athletic abilities are well documented. No doubt there are teams out there that will make a market for him, but how much will the Bears get for him? Randy Mueller said, not a first round pick, maybe a second or third round draft pick.

Right now, the Bears are definitely working their options behind closed doors. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. By the way, if you missed it last week, we aired part of his conversation with the St. Brown Brothers, so the St. Brown Brothers podcast, in which he explained why he scrubbed the Bears from his social media.

And I actually do buy this. He's getting ready to go on vacation, he said. He doesn't want his entire timeline filled with nothing but football. I agree with that. When I'm away from football and away from work, I don't want to see it. But also, he said, I'm tired of the bombardment on my social. They should draft Caleb Williams.

They should keep you. It's just nonstop speculation from all corners and all angles, and that I understand. Sometimes you feel like you want to block everyone, but you can't.

So instead, he unfollowed the Bears and unfollowed the NFL so he could have some peace for a little bit. 855-212-4227, Pat is in Florida. Welcome to After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Hey Amy, thanks for your line.

Great show as usual. Thank you. A story about 15 years ago, Mike Shanahan, the father, was coaching the Raiders and got fired. So the next season, he went to work for the Broncos as defensive coordinator. He's still like $7 million left on his Oakland contract. So Oakland said to the Broncos, hey, how much are you paying him so we can make up the rest of it? And the Denver Broncos, $1. The league said, no, you've got to pay him league minimum, so they ended up having to eat like $7.9 million for Shanahan back in the day. So you started this conversation or this call by saying 15 years ago? I think roughly I'm going, I can't remember who Mike was, the Raiders coach, which one, but just the story that sticks out is the Broncos are always hunting for a deal. Gotcha. Okay. So I actually have been a Broncos fan since age 13, and I remember when Mike Shanahan came on board, that was in 1995.

Jeez Louise. So that was much longer than 15 years ago. Yeah. And I only, again, I remember only because I was a kid and I had adopted the Broncos as my new team before I even knew what football was all about. I just knew it was really exciting with John Elway as the quarterback. And so, yeah, that was a lot longer ago than 15 years.

But you're right. And he always had a beef with the Raiders too. He was always ticked at the way they treated him. And he had a personal vendetta against the Raiders the whole time he was in Denver. In fact, every time they played the Raiders, so much will be made of the fact that he was out for revenge and had that chip on his shoulder no matter what. Didn't he drill them like 41 to nothing?

They kept scoring the entire game? Yeah, I don't remember. I just remember he took it personally and they would never take their foot off the gas. But what does that have to do with Russell Wilson? Or you just wanted to tell your Mike Shanahan memory? It's a similar, it shows the mindset of the Denver Broncos always trying to save a dollar wherever they can.

Gotcha. I mean, they are a Super Bowl winning franchise, obviously. And they spent the money to put pieces around John Elway so that he could win at the end.

Terrell Davis, of course, being the Hall of Fame running back. They did want to win. And when they went to get Peyton Manning, they went all in with Peyton and they did what they could to put a team around him. And it ended up going to two Super Bowls. So I think in their past, now this is new ownership, but Russell Wilson got there before they did. They were just the ones that signed the deal and gave them a bunch of money before they'd even seen him play. Where else would the Broncos go for a quarterback if they don't have Russell Wilson?

Yeah, that's the question, right? And it's the question that's facing a bunch of teams. If you get rid of your QB, where do you go? Which is why I think the Vikings are motivated to keep Kirk Cousins. Also, the Bucs are going to work hard to keep Baker Mayfield because there really isn't a ton. Unless you're willing to give up some assets for Justin Fields or if he would get cut, you know, you could try your hand at him. But you're going to get him cheaper in a trade. So there's not a whole lot in terms of what's actually available on the free agent market. Cousins being the piece that a lot of people are looking at. Ryan Tannehill could be available, but obviously he's a veteran guy and a lot of his best days are behind him. I'm trying to think of some of the others too. Well, Jimmy Garoppolo. But he's had a bunch of different opportunities and got benched in Vegas. What was his two-game suspension for at the beginning of next season, Jimmy?

Do you remember that one? Well, it just happened. It just happened last week. He took a medication that he had a prescription for, but he forgot to quote-unquote to clear it with the league.

Okay, that's odd. But here in Tampa, we have to sign Tristan Wurf. We have some other big names ahead of Baker, but we also don't have a state income tax. Ahead of Baker? No, no, not ahead of Baker. You have to sign Baker first. And Baker and Mike Evans. As well as.

Yeah, there you go. All right, because if you don't have a quarterback, you've got Jack. And as you were pointing out, the quarterback market is relatively thin. Though there are a bunch of teams that will work the draft to get their next QB.

But that doesn't work for everybody. Okay, thank you. Always been great talking to you. All right, Matt. Good to talk to you too in Tampa. Let's quick talk to Harrison, who's in Iowa. Harrison, welcome to After Hours, CBS Sports Radio.

Good morning, Amy. My pleasure. First time, long time. Neat. You said that you were a Broncos fan, correct? Or used to be? No, I mean, I still am. It's just, it's not really a part of the show. My favorite, right?

Mine too. Okay, good thing you're asking me questions. You're just talking over me. But it's okay, go ahead. I apologize. It's fine.

No biggie, go ahead. I'm actually, I've been a fan of the Broncos since Craig Morton was a quarterback. I think Red Miller was the coach. Used to love Steve Kerr when he played for the Arizona Wildcats.

With Sean Elliott and the boys. Haven't liked him when he went to San Antonio. Never liked San Antonio for some reason. Now you surely don't like the Warriors.

Three of mine's a bag in my book. And I don't know, they're just creepy for some reason. They're creepy? Are you one of those people that gets really mad when Steph Curry chews on his mouthpiece?

No, that doesn't bother me at all. That guy's got some talent that, you know, is just pew. And he's getting recognized for it.

And of course it took a lot of time and everything to master that. I mean, I do respect the team. And I mean, even when Durant went with them and, you know, got on their coattails to get a ring. I mean, kind of. He was the NBA Finals MVP twice, so I don't know about coattails as much.

Okay, the boy can play. But my Nuggets finally won one, my Broncos won two in a row, and my Avalanche. They won two in a row in the late 90s. That's enough for you? That doesn't matter.

Elway was Elway. I know, but that was a long time ago. You're good with them not... I'm a 60-year-old man.

I've gone back a long time. Congratulations on the marriage. I hope everything works out. Y'all have a great evening. And whoever's doing the bumper music, thank you very much. Thank you, Harrison.

Good to talk to you. I'm not sure what 60 has to do with it. But if you are a fan of a team and your last... Well, they did win one with Peyton Manning, but your team hasn't made the playoffs in nearly a decade? I mean, I don't know that I'm still excited about those two Super Bowls that happened, you know, 30 years ago. Huh. All right. I mean, not quite 30 years in 25, but still, that's...

I mean, actually closer to 30 for the first one. That's a long time to be okay with never winning again. It's a nice mentality. I wish I had that. I was gonna say, Jay, do you still feel the euphoria over the giant Super Bowls in 7 and 11?

Oh, no. No, those have been long gone. Yeah, I feel like that... The shine is far from worn off on those.

I feel like those are now... The brass is turning green, if you will. Yeah, I'd like to see how they're winning in my life would be nice. All right, coming up, Jay's got a travel story like you wouldn't believe. And AJ Brown joins in on the... hmm... the... how do I want to put this? The parade of athletes who are using their voices to tell the story, as opposed to allowing the narrative around them to set the tone. They're just taking it out there themselves, whether it's on social, whether it's on a podcast.

He just called into a Philadelphia radio station like, hey, here's how it actually went down and here is me setting the record straight. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. For the past 20 years, you've enjoyed the refreshing tropical lime flavor of Mountain Dew Baja Blast. So in celebration of this milestone, we're bringing Baja Blast in stores nationwide. And for a limited time with every purchase of Baja Blast, you can collect coins for a chance to get Baja gear or a Taco Bell deal. Twenty twenty four is the year of Baja Blast in stores now. No purchase necessary. Open to U.S. residents 18 plus. Subject to official rules at Baja Blast dot com and six fifteen twenty four.

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That's T E C O V A S dot com and point your toes west. On February 22nd, enter the world of Avatar, the last airbender. When the Fire Nation wages a violent war against civilization, the world's only hope rests with a young airbender named Aang. Together with his friends, Aang will go on an epic journey to master the four elements, water, earth, fire and air. In order to gain the powers of the Avatar, Netflix brings the beloved series to life as a live action spectacle like nothing ever seen before. Avatar, the last airbender, now streaming only on Netflix. You're listening to After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

Welcome to CBS Sports Radio. What's up? Amy, you are the best talk show host in the entire world. Well, that's sweet. I just want to say, darling, keep on doing what you're doing.

You know what you're talking about. I love listening to you. You got the gas. I got the matches.

We gonna turn this town to ashes. Thanks for blending through, Amy. I enjoy your show. It's your perkiness. You do a great job.

I got the wild. You got the crazy. You know that's why I love you, baby. All right, Amy, I've been listening to you for like three years now. First time I've ever gotten a chance to talk to you. Awesome. Thank you.

May not be around in 20 years. The show gonna know we were here. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The show gonna know we were here. I love this song. It's part of my running playlist, which I guess I'll be hearing it more often coming up. Oh, my gosh.

What have I gotten myself into? That's a story for another day. Let's not stress anyone out on this Monday morning.

It's got enough stress for itself, right? It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Our phone number, 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. On Twitter, ALawRadio, and then our Facebook page, too. So glad that you're joining us at whatever point of the show that you tune in. Whenever you chime in on social, the puppy photos were awesome. I mean, they warmed my heart. They gave me joy. I hope that you checked out the thread on Twitter or that you checked out our Facebook page.

We got blasted. Over 1,500 dog photos. Just pretty amazing. I was not expecting more than maybe 15 dog photos, and somehow we ended up with 1,500 plus.

And they're still coming in even now during the show. So thank you, and thank you for all your kind words about Penny. I don't know if some of you have misunderstood. I still have Penny. Penny's not, she's not gone yet.

It's coming soon, but she's not gone yet. So thank you. Just want to clarify that, that she's still at home, probably snoring. Those days are getting harder for her, so I'm doing the best that I can to keep her comfortable and take care of her and shower her with extra special love. And gosh, the thing that has always been so amazing about this dog is that she's so loyal, she would follow me anywhere.

Anywhere. She puts sports fan loyalty to shame. I remember one time I was on this really bad date, as in the epic bad date from hell, and we got lost hiking. He was a total basket case. Like, didn't even know how to ask for help.

It was crazy. Anyway, the dog and I, we had to soldier on and continue through this hike. We ended up going eight and a half miles, didn't have water. We were not supposed to go eight and a half miles.

Didn't have water, didn't know where we were. I, yeah, I just remember Penny never stopped. Like, she got tired, but she never stopped. She just kept following me until we got back to the reservoir where she could drink.

My gosh, I think the poor dog drank for, like, 20 minutes. Anyway, she, I had to lift her into the car when we got back. But she was, yeah, she was amazing. And that's pretty much who she's been her entire life.

She's 14 plus now, and she still, when I go upstairs, she, it takes her 10 minutes to get up the stairs, but she still wants to follow her mama and just that kind of loyalty. Again, it puts sports fans to shame. Dog loyalty is a different, it's a different thing.

It's for life. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Some of you weighing in on the various QB options and QB conundrums this offseason. Well, Jalen Hurts is not one of those. Don't believe what you hear about the Eagles other than they changed coordinators last year. They're having to work through it. They're changing coordinators and coaches.

Again, this year, just not at the top with Nick Sirianni. Now, a lot of, you know, it's kind of crazy, Jay, too. It dawns on me that when you win, these things get swept under the rug. Like the Andy Reid, Travis Kelce situation during the Super Bowl. And it's not the only time it's happened, but both of them, I mean, they have an intense relationship.

They're good. They win the Super Bowl and the NFL chooses not to put it into the inside the NFL version of the Super Bowl. The miked up version. It's not even in there, which I couldn't believe it. That's one of the most talked about moments of the Super Bowl and it somehow doesn't make it in. Right. So either the NFL or the Chiefs leaned on someone to say, we don't want that in there. Right.

We have editorial control or veto power. But A.J. Brown gets blasted for how frustrated. Well, he's frustrated. He's he's animated on the sidelines.

Excuse me. I don't know what that was. He's animated on the sidelines as the Eagles are, you know, they're scuffling and really just playing so poorly toward the end of the season. And the narrative is that he wants out. He doesn't get along with Jalen Hurts.

He's upset about what? Receptions and targets, not the fact that they're losing. So, man, the lens is so different when you win. Right.

But when you lose, hey, let's hop on Pop. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. A.J. called into WIP in Philadelphia to try to set the record straight. I have no problem. I want to be here. As simple as that.

I love where I'm at. As simple as that. Next question. What's the deal? Like, you guys supposed to be supporting Philly, but, you know, it don't turn out to be that. You know what I'm saying? Like, why make up so many rumors?

You know what I'm saying? Because most of the rumors don't even be real rumors. These are rumors that you guys are making up and everybody run with.

So what's the deal? The rumors about how he's unhappy, how he wants out. He doesn't get along with Jalen Hurts.

Yeah, he really went into that. Just did not have any patience for people who would blast his relationship with his QB. I think that's total BS.

You know, I'm not going to get into me and his relationship on the air. But it's total BS. You know what I'm saying? It wasn't a problem when I was on my six game streak. It wasn't talking about that then. So they only started talking about that when we started losing. Yeah, and what he's talking about in terms of the streak there is when he was on this great run, right, where he was catching a ton of balls each game. And he was clearly wide receiver one and there was no issues then. And so he tells WIP in Philadelphia, hey, nobody was pointing out or pointing to or trying to conjure up this fractured relationship when Jalen and I were on this streak. Right, so he had six straight games of 125 plus receiving yards, which is an NFL record. And obviously the Eagles used that.

They started out the season 10 and 1 before they dropped six of their last seven and fizzled out in the end. And AJ Brown is kind of feeling that. And I agree with him. Right, like you pile on when I'm losing. But what about when everything's going really well?

How come it's not the same type of a narrative? I just truly just feel like I'm just misunderstood as a player, as a person. It gets frustrating because anything I say, anything I do, it gets magnified. I'm saying I'm classified as a diva. I want the ball and this and that, blah, blah, blah. When honestly, it's the other way around. You see me getting upset on the sidelines and you automatically think it's about it's about targets.

No, no. What if what if I'm holding my players accountable? What if what if I'm the guy that pushes everybody in the locker room, make people uncomfortable to try to better themselves for the team?

What if I'm that guy? I love that from AJ Brown. And do you remember last season he went long stretches, weeks at a time, without speaking to the media. And so he says, I'm damned if I do. I'm damned if I don't. How do you know what I'm saying to my teammates? How do you know that I'm not trying to be a leader? And the crazy thing is, right, we have that tolerance.

And I'm using my air quotations like it's any of our business. We have that tolerance for guys like Patrick Mahomes. Right. Because he he wins or Travis Kelce when he knocks nearly knocks over his coach or Tom Brady is another great example. Well, AJ Brown, as a wide receiver, says he's out there trying to fire up his teammates and hold them accountable and that he doesn't get credit for that. Good for AJ. It's after hours.

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