After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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Or you can save 20% off your entire online Order with Coke podcast at checkout on primalkitchen.com. Halfway through, some people are partying over that fact. We're ushering you from a manic, marvelous, moving Monday, and I mean a lot of movement in the NFL, into a Tuesday, which we will just plan for being terrific. On Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or my Twitter, ALawRadio, and then our Facebook page too, your reaction to what we've seen. Mostly what I've been focusing on is the movement among running backs. I know quarterbacks are a big thing, and we're going to talk more about them here coming up. But how many teams actually upgraded at running back? It's a busy free agent market, there are still a few available, in fact more available now because teams cut their veteran guys to make room for younger, maybe cheaper options.

But where are the actual upgrades? We think Chicago, so we've had a bunch of Bears fans weigh in on the phones as well as on social. And also the Eagles grabbing Saquon Barkley and enticing him with a deal that the Giants didn't want to give him.

On Twitter, on Facebook, on the phones, 855-212-4227, we will get back to that. But the first massive headline on Monday, Kirk Cousins. Not a huge surprise, leaving Minnesota, going to Atlanta. The Falcons believe that they've got the piece that will maybe take them to the top of the NFC South. There is a poll up on our Twitter and Facebook on paper who should be the favorite right now in the NFC South. And yes, we did include the Carolina Panthers because they are in the division. Right now we welcome Luke Braun, who dare not get any shut-eye, covers Minnesota, Vikings, Nation and all of their moves for the Locked on Vikings podcast.

And he's got a lot of material on his social, so make sure you check it out. Luke, let's start with the Kirk Cousins piece, which obviously has ripple effects around the league. What's your reaction to him heading to the Falcons? My instant reaction was, oh, wow, the Vikings were never going to get close to that. They were way, way more cautious about their relationship with Kirk Cousins. Rick Spielman would have done this deal.

Quasi D'Alfabensa would not have done anything close to this deal. It's a four-year deal. He's really likely to see three years of it. He is technically cuttable in the third year, but the Falcons would incur a $35 million dead cap hit, which even in an inflated environment is still a pretty good incentive not to do that unless he's done, unless he's retiring, which I think he will be 38 for that season. But I know that the Vikings had, or at least the reporting is that the Vikings were nervous about guaranteeing him two years, let alone guaranteeing him two fully and then putting a third with enough partial guarantees where it makes it a difficult cut and more likely restructure.

He'll get a signing bonus in that one. The Falcons are really going in with Kirk Cousins. They're saying we want him to be here, and we think that with Drake London and Kyle Pitts and all those guys, we can win a Super Bowl.

And I think the Vikings are definitely not there with their roster. They got some pretty good weapons, obviously, but I don't think that they have quite enough committed yet to the future to really be able to buy into Kirk Cousins. And I just think that Quasi D'Alfabensa doesn't like him as much as the Falcons did. Knowing what you know of Kirk, how do you think he fits with Atlanta?

I think it's great. For one, Zach Robinson is, he's a McVeigh guy, and Kirk Cousins did pretty well with the last McVeigh guy, which is Kevin O'Connell. And the Kubiak's, who he spent 2019 through 2021 with Kubiak's, or some variant of a Kubiak, also did pretty well. So as long as he's in that McVeigh, Shanahan, Kubiak style system where there's a lot of rollouts and bootlegs, that outside dome, which is what the Falcons are going to run now, you're going to see the scheme fit. You're going to see his skill set utilized properly. The thing that Falcons fans need to know about Kirk, everything mechanically that he does is really sound. You're going to have, if you compare the way he throws to any of these rookies coming out, he's going to be a lot more clean, a lot more polished.

That's what you get with a veteran. Arm strength is good and all that stuff. He can read things out. He can read the full field and all that.

What you don't get is a scramble drill, necessarily. There's some times where he'll be able to move the pocket and find a play, but it's really, really inconsistent. And everything with Kirk is really inconsistent. If you follow me on Twitter, you know I have the Cousins chaos meter, where some games he will be the most conservative dude ever.

He'll check down on 4th and 8th, that kind of stuff. And some games he's testing insane windows and turning the ball over. And then some games he finds that perfect balance and he looks like the best quarterback in the league. And the issue that we had here in Minnesota is that you could never get enough of the good balanced games.

You'd always get too many of the things on the other side. And it was really difficult to string together the kind of win streak you would need to make a run in the playoffs and win the Super Bowl, which is ultimately what Kirk was brought into Minnesota to do. And in six years, they ended up with one playoff win in a whole bunch of 500-ish seasons. Didn't work out here, but I wouldn't let that get you down, Falcons fans. There's a lot that you can do that's proper.

But when the bullets start flying and it's time to go into improv mode, that's kind of when you see the worst of it. Busy day for Luke Braun and anyone following the Vikings. He's got the Locked on Vikings podcast and is with us after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Breaking news in the last couple hours, Sam Darnold will be a veteran QB option for the Vikings. A one-year deal worth up to $10 million. What else will the Vikings do with that position to fill the void left by Kirk Cousins?

So it's big time going to be the draft. They wanted a young quarterback really, really bad last year. They threw out some offers that would make your head spin if team said yes to them. But nobody said yes to them. They were picking at 23, so they were trying to move up a lot further than you're thinking. They tried to get involved in that.

They got kind of turned away. They're going to try to do that again, but this time they're coming from 11. I would definitely pencil in the Vikings as getting somebody, whether it's trading up to three and seeing if New England maybe doesn't like these quarterbacks as much as they do. And maybe they're willing to give up the pick. The Vikings sure are trying to coax them into that. Or whether they trade up a little bit, maybe they only trade up to five with the Chargers and they end up with JJ McCarthy or whoever the QB for is.

They're going to get involved and it's going to be really hard to outbid them because Quasi is absolutely insane about this. I don't think he thinks he can overspend on his quarterback. When it comes to, you know, drafting the quarterback high, I don't know if he's wrong about that.

Let's say Kayla Williams is off the table. They're probably not going to move up to number two because the commanders also desperately need a quarterback. So if third is the highest that they go, who might be a good fit? I think you can make pretty good arguments for all three of the guys that you would say that could be at that third pick. With Drake May and Jayden Daniels as a name to hear most often, and at the Combine there's actually some smoke that maybe JJ McCarthy is the third QB off the board, which would surprise a lot of people. But I don't know. That was out there.

Maybe you think it's a smokescreen. But of all three of those guys, I would say fit-wise, it's pretty... Kevin O'Connell will figure it out. Let me put it that way. For me personally, I'm a big, big Jayden Daniels guy. I really like what he can do. I love that he can, you know, house a scramble drill from 60 yards out. I think that's really awesome in the league and I also think that he's a little more polished than he gets credit for. I love Drake May, though.

No slouch on Drake May. And honestly, when it comes to JJ McCarthy, I do think that he's closer to those top upper echelon quarterbacks. I still have him as the fourth guy. But I think the gap is a little shorter than sometimes it gets made out to be. Some people put him down in that second tier with Mike Pennix and Bo Nix. I don't think that that's true at all. I think JJ McCarthy is an NFL starting quarterback.

So personally, I think if you get any of those, I can talk myself into any of them. But I would prefer Jayden Daniels. I don't think that that's nearly as plausible as one of McCarthy and May based on what kind of rumors came out at the combine. But who knows, right?

That's all combine smoke. Who's to ever say? Let's just sit back and eat some popcorn. Rookie quarterback, though. What does that mean for Justin Jefferson?

He said he's going to get the bag, man. He got real close to signing a deal. And actually, the reporting from I think it was Ben Gosling of the Star Tribune podcast was that Justin Jefferson's camp put forward a contract extension that the Vikings were very, very close on signing. They thought they had a couple of little tweaks they wanted to make, but they were like really, really close.

Quasido for Men's Alpha confirmed this report at the combine on the podium, too. So they got really close before the season. That would have been early to do it, right? You haven't seen the extensions for anybody like CeeDee Lamb or anybody else from that 2020 classic of the quarterbacks.

Yeah, they are close to that. So my guess is they right now, I mean, the Vikings just have more urgent matters at hand, right? They're figuring out they needed to wait to see what's going on with Kirk. They're figuring out free agencies and the draft is coming up.

But I would say after the draft, you start to get to work on those. And I don't know how long it's going to take for the Vikings to get Justin Jefferson locked up. Because what that tells me is that they've already agreed to give Justin Jefferson that bag he knows he's getting. And I think that's why he was able to be so open about it at the Super Bowl because they already know that there's going to be a big number and everybody's okay with it.

They just have to work out a couple of the details when it comes to cash flow. Having a rookie quarterback or a young quarterback, which often is a wild ride, doesn't impact whether or not Jefferson returns to Minnesota. You still think regardless of who the quarterback is, he is destined to stay there in Minneapolis.

Yeah, that's my understanding based on secondhand, thirdhand, and just the reports that have been out there. And for whatever it's worth, at the Super Bowl, Justin Jefferson did a lot of interviews and everybody asked him that question. His answer was very, very consistent throughout all of those. He said, yeah, yeah, I love Kirk. Would love to see Kirk back. He's my guy. Gassed up Kirk Cousins a little bit.

But then at the end of the day, he said, I'm always going to be me. So I think as long as that guy has an arm and can throw him the football, he's going to be happy. And I think what this really means is if you are a rookie quarterback, I think you really want to go to Minnesota because that's a really good dude that you get to throw to in your rookie year. And even if there's an issue and they can't get a deal done, they still have two years of team control on Justin Jefferson with the fifth year option and then the franchise tag, which that's two years of the rookie's contract.

And you can get to know that guy a little bit. There is none of this like he needs a veteran quarterback or anything like that. That's always been a fabrication from either people who just want to steal your attention for ad revenue or people who are trying to drum up some value like an agent or something like that. Luke Braun is busy following the first full day of free agency. Forget legal tampering, it's just flat out free agency. For the Locked on Vikings podcast and the various moves either the Vikings have made or didn't make on After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. So what else do the Vikings need to do then? Where else should they be looking? I still think they need another defensive lineman. They brought in Jonathan Grenard. They brought in Andrew Van Ginkle. That's a couple of interesting edge rushers. I still think they need some help on the inside. Maybe even another edge rusher that you can get in the draft or something like that.

It's a really interesting class, but obviously you've got priorities in the draft with quarterbacks. So shoring that up with a lot of veterans makes sense. And they also need a left guard, although I still would love to see them bring back Dalton Reisner, who's a pending free agent. They brought him in. He played like the back half of the season last year after they traded Ezra Cleveland away, and they seem pretty happy with that. That seems like a very passive least resistance move that the Vikings could make. So they've still got a lot of names to bring in.

But thankfully, because of a lot of sacrifices that they made over the last couple of years, they have the money to do all that. So yeah, expect to see the Vikings in the news still a little bit here as the next couple days roll out. Is this a rebuild? Is it a reload?

Is it a retool? What are the Vikings doing? Yeah, call it a rebuild, I would say.

But it's not the kind of rebuild that you're seeing in Chicago where it's just like slow lurching. They'll get a couple of key players every offseason and hope that they can put something together. No, the Vikings have basically nothing committed beyond 2024. They've got, I think, six players committed beyond 2024. Four players committed beyond 2026 outside of rookie contracts. And two of those four, they signed today.

So they've got nothing in their future, but they also don't have any resources committed to the future. So this is Kwesi actually building the team he wanted to build. I think when he came in, the plan was for him to say, all right, this is two years with this Kirk Cousins build. We'll kind of take the remnants of this Rick Spielman thing and just kind of say, well, it was the old coach's fault that this fell apart, and let's take two more cracks at it with this. But now this is going to be Kwesi building the team that he was brought in to build. And this is no longer him just sort of flying the plane that Spielman built.

So we'll see how that goes, but it's now going to have a lot more of the Kwesi flavor. We'll really see what the differences are between him and Rick Spielman in a lot more clarity. When you think about the NFC North, we know the Lions are a team to beat and were a step away from the Super Bowl. So they're on the rise. Packers had a surprise second half and a nice run in the playoffs compared to the division. Where's the balance of power? You're going to have to ask me that again when they have a quarterback, because that's really the question here.

I mean, what if they end up with Drake May and Drake May turns out to be the truth and the guy that everybody's hyping him up to be, then, you know, suddenly that doesn't feel so intimidating. But here's what I'll say when it comes to like who's in your division. The Vikings have dealt with Brett Favre and then Aaron Rodgers for a long time, and they still manage, the Vikings and occasionally the Bears, managed to keep the Packers from going on any streak longer than I think four years was the longest streak they had in that whole multi decade era.

Compare that to say the Chiefs who have won the AFC West eight years in a row, dating back to even before Patrick Mahomes. And I think unless you got that kind of like Tom Brady style string will hold on the division, you always got to chip in a chair, right? Everybody starts 0-0.

If you want to bet against the Lions and bet on the Vikings because they're an underdog and they're good value that great more power to you, but everybody starts 0-0. We got games to play. I'm not worried about it. What do you think about the Packers moves in terms of Xavier McKinney? And of course, we talked about Aaron Jones releasing him. Would you say the Packers upgraded?

How do you like it? They needed a safety really bad. And regardless of your opinion of Xavier McKinney, which I don't have a very strong one, I don't really know a lot about him, so I'll leave that to Lockdown Packers or Lockdown Giants, right? But what that does is now you go into the draft and you're not priced into a safety. You can go get an interesting end rusher if that's who falls to you or another wide receiver I don't think could hurt or tight end I don't think could hurt for them. Somebody else on the offensive line to keep that bolstered as they cut David Bakhtiari who clearly his availability was questionable the last few years. That extra flexibility I think will go really really far. Even if Xavier McKinney doesn't work out for them long term, it'll at least give them that kind of flexibility for now. So far what the Packers have done is pretty smart.

I'd be pretty happy for our Packers. Luke, Ron is Vikings insider locked on Vikings. Fast and Furious, the information coming in with NFL Free Agency now.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Sam Darnold the starting quarterback or Sam Darnold as in he's a veteran option? Sam Darnold as in the guy who will compete with the rookie.

You'll probably have a camp competition. I bet Sam Darnold starts out on the first team when camp opens and then by the end of the preseason who's to say and whenever that rookie is ready he gets to go in. One year deal, $10 million. There's your bridge quarterback. That is one that made a lot of sense to me from the get go because of what Sam Darnold did in San Francisco. Once he got into a Shanahan system in that preseason he looked a lot better and it seemed like he took a little bit of a step forward. But we're not expecting anything more than half a season of this guy just keeping the feet warm.

I like it. Alright, so while we're talking quarterbacks in the NFC North, why do you think Justin Fields doesn't have a new home yet? He might just be kind of stinky a little bit. I mean that's what I've been saying for the last couple years. He got ruined because of the way the Bears didn't really prioritize his development. Also I think a bunch of really bad luck factors. Russell Wilson could have gone to a lot of places. He ends up on the Steelers.

That was one of the suitors. The Bucs having the season that they had. If the Falcons win two more games and they win division instead, do the Bucs really do this with Baker Mayfield? Maybe they're the team trading for Justin Fields.

A lot of other external things that didn't quite line up the way that they need. But on the other hand, I think the Bears also kind of did a bad job of negotiating this market. It seemed like the cat was out of the bag at the combine pretty fast that they were going to draft Caleb Williams, which just torpedoes the value that you're going to get for Justin Fields.

Because everybody knows you're not going to hang on to him anyway. So if we all play hardball, you're probably just going to cut him and then I don't have to give you any draft picks, right? So I think that maybe there was a mistake there in terms of what they chose to leak and not to leak at the combine, which is an experience thing, right? Ryan Polz is the new GM. I think the Vikings have made similar mistakes with their new GM. Nothing to freak out too much about.

But hey, at the end of the day, they'll get what they can get for him and he'll go compete with somebody. There's a lot of different ways for it to go and it's really hard to judge in the middle of everything being very much a work in progress. Yes, for sure. So Luke, with your wedding on the horizon, will you be taking a honeymoon or do you have to wait for some other time considering how active the NFL is in the spring? Well, luckily this time's out okay that we'll be able to take the honeymoon a couple of weeks after the wedding, which will be right after the draft. Oh my gosh, you and I might be doing honeymoons at the same time as yours in early May?

It is in early May. What hemisphere are you going to be in? Well, we're going to Hawaii, so we're still going to be in the Western Hemisphere. We're going a little further across the Pacific.

We're going to Australia and Tahiti. Now, are you going to be able to go all that time without checking football notes? I will be begging to go all that time without checking anything on football. I'm hanging everything up and we're relaxing on the beach. I hear that. I hear that.

I cannot wait for two weeks of absolutely no sports. Really excited. Congratulations to you. You can find Luke on Twitter at Luke Braun NFL.

He's got Locked on Vikings, a new podcast out before you know it as the news is ever changing. It's always good to catch up with you. Congratulations and we'll talk again soon. Thanks. Congrats to you as well. I like that.

We're not going to Australia and so not the same honeymoon spot, but the same honeymoon time of the year. I mean, you got to pick your poison, right? You're going to miss something in sports. You're going to miss post draft. I'll be OK with all of the analysis. Be back before the conference finals and NBA finals.

So that's that's my choice. I looked up, by the way, as we're talking about the Vikings and wrapping up that conversation. And NFL Network has an interview with Kevin O'Connell. It wasn't live. It was going back to a game during the season. But yeah, the Vikings right now in the center ring of the circus, though, it's running backs who hijacked the headlines on the first day of free agency.

Where did you see major upgrades? And while we're talking NFC South and Kirk Cousins now with the Falcons, who's the team to beat on paper? So check out both of those social media options. We need your full participation, please.

On Twitter after hours, CBS on our Facebook page to mix it in some great calls. But don't you worry. We are not sold. Well, we are kind of sold out to the NFL, but we've got some other fun stuff we want to mix in. I'm trying. We're nearly 90 minutes in and I haven't been able to mix in anything yet, but I'm going to keep trying. I think I'm good.

I think I'm good, too. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Oh, that's a very fair deal. Yep.

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Tires caught. Touchdown, Justin Jefferson. Kirk, the player, is somebody that, as we saw what he does this team, I thought we were playing really good football before he before he got injured. And it's the most important position in sports now. Ultimately, it always comes down to can you find an agreement that works for both sides and all those things?

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The general manager of the Vikings was hopeful they could find a deal with Kirk Cousins, but he always had a ceiling. And if you missed our conversation with Luke Braun locked on Vikings, his opinion, the team was never going to get anywhere close to either the years or the money that the Atlanta Falcons gave Kirk Cousins. Does this mean the Falcons are the favorite in the NFC South? Can they unseat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who've had a couple of rocky years and yet still have maintained their stranglehold as the winners of that division?

What is it, four years in a row now? Three with Tom Brady and then one with Baker Mayfield at quarterback? A lot of running back movement. I actually think the running backs are hijacking the headlines in these first 24 hours of the free agent frenzy. As much as we're talking about Kirk Cousins and then the Russell Wilson to Pittsburgh, Gardner Minshew to Vegas for the Raiders, the Jacoby Brissett return to New England.

That's another one. Still nothing on Justin Fields. But we know that the Jets are bringing back, well, bringing in, I should say, Tyrod Taylor. He's a former giant quarterback. So there's a backup for Aaron Rodgers now that Zach Wilson, whose name has not been mentioned. He might be in the same category with Justin Fields right now, persona non grata, but he's still available.

There are a couple of options left. Ryan Tannehill is out there still. It is a crazy frenzy in the first 24 hours. And then you kind of see teams take a more measured approach. So between quarterbacks and running backs and also defensive linemen, secondary as well. It's hard to keep up. My head is spinning.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. I do think it's interesting how small the league can feel when you see players hopping from team to team and maybe back to a division that they know well, or they stay in a division like Saquon Barkley goes from Giants to Eagles. Good for him. Doesn't have to make a major lifestyle change because he's remaining in the Northeast.

The two cities are what, two and a half hours apart by car. But how about the DeAndre Swift piece? Remember, he was with the Lions. He went from Lions to Eagles.

Now he's going back to the NFC North with Chicago Bears. So it really is a small world in the NFL. And these guys, a lot of them all know each other. And you may say goodbye or farewell to a teammate or a coach, and then you turn around and you bump heads with them again.

Or you bump into them again at some other place along your NFL journey if you're lucky to stay in the league for longer than five years, six years. 8-5-5-2-1-2-4-2-2-7 on Twitter, After Hours, CBS, and then our Facebook page too. Let's see. Let's talk to Super Dave. Super Dave, who's in Washington, D.C. What do you think about the commanders?

Hey, Amy. Good morning and thank you for taking my call. You're welcome. I appreciate it. Hey, I want to first and foremost say shout out to the Washington commanders and the Adam Peters, the new general manager.

If he's listening right now, I know he will be listening to the After Hours, Amy Lawrence, right now. So I just want to clearly say the Adam Peters era has begun. I like the splashes that I know you were talking about running back upgrades, but I want to take a different angle, Amy, if you don't mind. And I just want to talk overall team upgrades.

I mean, you just haven't really mentioned how the Washington commanders made a lot of moves today. With ninety six million dollars in cap space, the number two overall pick, Adam Peters made some moves today. He got a defensive end from the Dallas Cowboys by the name of Dorrance Armstrong. Dorrance Armstrong got eight and a half sacks last year. He's no stranger to Dan's Quinn defense. We also got Joe with Junior's the defensive coordinator.

So I think that's a big pick up. Dorrance Armstrong, the defensive end. We also got Tyler Beatty as a center from the Dallas Cowboys.

He was a pro bowler. We need a major upgrade on the offensive line. So if we bring in that, you know, that quarterback, that's a huge pick up getting the center today, a starting center. We also got a linebacker from the Carolina Panthers, Frank Louvou. We need a major upgrade at the middle linebacker position. Every position, really. We really do, Amy.

We really do. I mean, also tight end. They signed Zach Ertz. I mean, he's a veteran that adds some veteran status to the tight end room. Hopefully they'll bring in a young guy because I feel like as a quarterback, you need a running back like an Austin Eckler.

You check down and you also need a great tight end. So I think that our first day, Adam Peters era has begun in Washington. And I'm like, proud of what we've done today in the first day, because normally Washington, the Redskins, I should say, they would have spent a lot of money in the Daniel Snyder era.

Ninety six million. He would have blew it. They would have got Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry.

They would have did things we didn't need. But we finally have football minds. I heard the Minnesota Vikings got previously, you know, kind of discrediting Rick Spillman. But, hey, we got them and we're going to use them. And I know Adam Peters has a great football mind. So I just want you to chime in and tell me, what do you think about the Washington commanders and Adams, Peters and what they did today in their future? Moving forward, the number two pick, Drake May, Jayden Daniels, what are we going to do? Chime in. How do you feel about this, Amy? Well, they haven't talked about us tonight.

That part I don't know. But I do think there's a lot of people high on Drake May, to the point where even the Bears rumored to be considering him over Caleb Williams. For football people, that seems a no brainer. Caleb Williams is still going number one overall. There's talk that J.J. McCarthy has impressed more people and has moved up.

But I do think Drake May, Jayden Daniels, you're in the right area. It just kind of depends on what they decide is the best fit. And they're still pro days and personal meetings and all that jazz. What I like about what Washington has done, which by the way, Luke wasn't really blasting Rick Spielman. He was only saying that Rick's philosophy is different from what the Vikings are doing now. And that they're cleaning house from what was left over with Rick. That he likely would have bet the farm on Kirk Cousins.

And that's just not the perspective at this point. Here's what I love about the Adam Peters spending is as much as they are bringing people in, they're going volume, not break the bank on superstars. So let's talk about the, you mentioned Armstrong. Yeah, Micah Parsons and Demarcus Lawrence attracted a ton of the attention with the Dallas Cowboys.

But you know what? Over the last three seasons, Armstrong also had, he averaged seven sacks per season. So he certainly is a great option. Now it helps that you have other guys who attract a lot of the attention. So he can do his work when he's not getting so much of the game plan focused on him. But also Dan Quinn being the head coach in Washington now to bring in guys that he trusts and he's familiar with.

That's a huge deal. So you're not talking about names that are going to resonate around the NFL. They're not superstar names.

Again, not Micah Parsons. But it's guys that they can pay at the medium, kind of mid-level. And they feel like they can upgrade at positions.

They need a lot of help, which means you need more bodies and you're trying to add to your depth. Even as you are not necessarily cleaning house, but you're starting fresh with the new owners and a new coach. So I like the fact that they're not throwing money at guys to get them to come to Washington.

When likely they need more than what that, even that $96 million can buy, which sounds crazy enough. But yeah, I mean you're starting with a rookie quarterback and rookies giveth, they take it the way. So you might as well start fresh and they've got a new philosophy. I like that they're committed to winning. So it can be really interesting to see how they do out of the gate with Dan Quinn. But he brings credibility.

He brings discipline. Certainly the defense will be better. It's crazy, right, because they got rid of two incredible defensive guys that they didn't want to pay only to then try to fill those holes. But that was their philosophy.

So yeah, you want to talk about reset button. That's what they're doing. Yeah, but you know what, I like it though because like you said, they set up the future. Now we have draft picks and we have draft capital. I really want to see what we're going to do in this draft. Like that's really big. I mean, I like what we did today in the free agency. Like you said, it's not really big splashes. I mean, Austin Eckler would kind of be a big splash, but he's not even a big splash because he's on the tail end of his career.

But I mean, he's still useful. But like I said, I'd rather see what they'll do in this draft with this quarterback, this number two pick. And we also have, I think, five. No, we have three picks in the top 100. So, no, five picks in the top 100.

I'm sorry. Five picks in the top 100. So the upcoming draft is really big for us.

I like how cheap that is. The rookies are cheaper. The rookies are key.

So definitely, Amy, thank you for taking my call. And I just want to everyone know, just be on the lookout for the Washington commanders. I know we've been a lasting stock of the NFL lately, but I mean, you see what happened with Cleveland Browns. You see what happened with Houston Texans. It's time that the reign of Washington Super Bowl supremacy come back to Washington, D.C. If you know about the Hogs, hail to the Redskins, hail to the commanders.

Let's bring the Super Bowl back to the Capitol. Amy, again, thank you for taking my call and happy, happy marriage newly wed to you. I hope you guys are enjoying your marriage and many blessings to you. Thank you. God bless.

Thank you so much, Dave. Good to talk to you in D.C. I hear people kind of throw back to when the commanders, well, they weren't commanders then. They were Redskins, but they were much more of a competitive franchise.

And I instantly think Joe Gibbs, right? And maybe this ownership is one that can restore them to legitimacy, to credibility. But there's still a long way to go.

All right. On Twitter, after our CBS, take our NFC South poll. We could probably do a poll about every single division. I think the NFC North is intriguing as well.

And then which teams got better on this day one, specifically running back. Where are the upgrades and who is going to get Derrick Henry? See the questions I have on Facebook as well. It's after hours with Amy.

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See 5G device coverage and access details at T-Mobile.com. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. We welcome all kinds here on After Hours. Ron is listening in Vegas. Ron, welcome to After Hours. This is number two for Amy Lawrence.

I love talking with you. First of all, all I saw was sort of a snub by Vance Joseph. You know, you just don't know how many QBs you take. Yeah. Anyway, I was just commenting on that act about Kyle's brother. That's all. Do you need to take another call? I guess sometimes. I don't know. Well, it's not me.

I think it's your phone. I know. I know.

I wish this wasn't happening to me. Anyway, I appreciate chatting with you. You very soon. Yes, sir. Thank you.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Oh, man. I haven't heard that exchange in a long time. It was years. Working with producer Tom then and Isaac and we fell out.

We could not stand it. He got hijacked by his cell phone. Hijacked and derailed by his cell phone. I wish this wasn't happening to me. He just kept trying and the cell phone rejected every attempt.

It was a rim protector. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio 855-212-4227. Every time I think I might have room to do something a little different, you all are hijacking the show. But it's not a bad thing. I love your reaction to free agency. And honestly, it's been more running backs than it's been quarterbacks. So plenty of people weighing in about Kirk Cousins to Atlanta. Maybe not a huge surprise, which is why plus it was 16 hours ago, 18 hours ago.

I can't help but I was sleeping. So the daytime shows got the breaking news. But yeah, not a huge surprise because he did want to explore free agency. The Vikings weren't willing to give him the kind of money or years that the Falcons want to.

And maybe they overpaid, but they're looking to win now. So we don't have the answers to the questions of will this work around the league? Will this work?

Huh? What do you think? Will this work? Is it good enough to compete with the Chiefs in the AFC? Is it good enough to unseat the Niners in the NFC?

Those are the standards at this point. 855-212-4227. Let's talk to Tom who's listening in New Hampshire. Tom, welcome to After Hours. Good morning. Glad to get a hold of you. You too, sir. Thank you.

Yes, I've been trying for a couple of days. I only get to hear you a short time in the morning driving to work. But I've been a sled dog musher for 45 years. Whoa! Long before the Iditarod started.

And I'm kind of changing your subject a little bit this morning. On the Iditarod, Dallas TV, as I checked this morning, was in White Mountain. It looks like he may win the Iditarod when something drastic happens. There was also a local musher out of New Hampshire named Bailey Fitello who I mentored.

His father and him when they started in mushing. And he's now in 19th place. His goal is to get to 10th this year and in the top five next year and then win it the third year. And he may do it.

He's a young kid. Very aggressive. Very knowledgeable. And the final thing I wanted to ask is, have you ever gone to the Laconia World Championship in New Hampshire? The sled dog or the mushing world championship? Yeah, the sled dog. Laconia World Championship sled dog race. You know, I played basketball in Laconia when I was in high school.

Actually, my college roommate is from Laconia. I've been there many times. But no, not for the sled dog world championship or the mushing world championship. Well, if you're up this way in February, it's usually Valentine's weekend. I would say take a look at it when we have some decent snow.

Although there's none on the ground right now. But I've run that race three times. So it's quite an event. That sounds neat. It just happens to coincide with Super Bowl weekend.

Generally. Or at the same time. Maybe, just maybe it's a positive thing though that in New Hampshire they're not having the kind of cold that they are in Alaska. So after record snow, the cold descended. And did you see the number of mushers and teams that scratched over the last 24 hours? Because the cold became too dangerous for the dogs in most cases.

Or judging by the drivers, they didn't want their dogs out there in those conditions so they actually scratched. Yes, I did see that. And one of the broadcasts from Bailey Vitiello, he was talking about around 50 below. Interesting.

That's crazy cold. Well, thank you, Tom. It's good to talk to you.

Live for your die, baby. Yeah, you too. And I'm glad I got a hold of you finally. Thank you.

Alright, thanks Tom. A little detour. A little sled dog detour. I actually was Googling, I was talking to Matt the musher because he was doing a YouTube broadcast on Monday as they near the end of the race. And yeah, I asked him about all the scratches. Were they because the drivers are too cold?

Or were these decisions made because of the dogs? And he says, I haven't heard of any injuries with the mushers. So it's basically a musher having a perception that the team shouldn't go on. So he says if a musher thinks his team is getting weak, they'll withdraw from the race. With a healthy team, there's a good example on the course with the crossing of the sea ice. Historically, it's a place the team stopped running. It's a big wide open space with harsh conditions. It's mentally tough. He says people have had to almost completely redo their kennels with new lines of dogs once a team shuts down here. So it's the conditions, it's the elements, it's the wildlife encounters. All of these things that make the race far more challenging than just the mileage that you have to go with these dogs in the back of a sled.

As you know, sled dogs need 10,000 to 12,000 calories a day. Oh my gosh. Alright, let's work in one more call here. Ivan's in Detroit.

Ivan, you got just under two minutes. Go. Hello, Amy. How are you?

I'm good, thank you. I just wanted to say I've been a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan and I'm in just, I'm in, my head is just everywhere because we haven't made any moves. And this is Jerry Jones at his finest. I guess he just feels like everybody would want to come play for the Cowboys. It is a good idea to play for the Cowboys, but I'm starting to think that the culture is just more about making money as opposed to winning.

Oooh. Jerry would not like to hear that. No, but just think about it.

I really, this is what I really feel. He doesn't want to be wrong about Dak Prescott. Now don't get me wrong, Prescott has some numbers, but the numbers don't mean nothing when you're about to pay him 50, 60 million dollars and he still hasn't gotten you nowhere than when you was paying him two million dollars.

It's the same thing. I would rather them try to figure out a way to get another quarterback. Oh dear. I mean, I know we can't get rid of them this year, but next year, let him go. Forget about that cap. You just, you just on a, Hey, this year you gotta ride it out. Yeah, you do. You do. All right.

I'm sorry, Ivan, we have to let you go. Here's the thing. I don't know how many Cowboys fans were expecting the Jones family to change tax, but they haven't spent a ton of money in free agency going back more than a decade. So this is not actually all that strange.

It's CBS Sports Radio. Old Man Winter here. If I had it my way, it would stay winter all year long, short days, wind chill, black ice, and a good polar vortex.

Heaven. Wait, is it getting warm in here? Your cold snap is over, Old Man Winter. Spring has arrived.

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