After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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Only at Ashley. With the moves made in the AFC North, which was already the most competitive division in the NFL based on last year with every team above 500, three of them making the playoffs with double figure wins. Well, there's going to be another healthy competition in 2024. All things being equal, meaning all the players stay healthy or you don't have more injuries for one team than another. So they kind of they even out, I suppose, because that is part of football.

Who is the top team? Who is the favorite in the AFC North at this point? Granted, we're only two days into free agency. There's still more to come, but at least at the quarterback position and the running back positions, we have the answers.

The defenses always seen a bunch of moves. Ravens, Bengals, Steelers, Browns. We've got a poll up asking you who should be the favorite or who is the favorite right now. Granted, it's March. So right now, March Madness. Who is the favorite in the AFC North? We talked about some of the intermarrying, if you will, or inter interaction.

That's not the word I'm looking for. Some of the moves that kept guys in the same division. So NFC North, right? You've got Aaron Jones, who's going from Green Bay to Minnesota.

But he's not the only one, right? You've got a bunch of guys who like Saquon Barkley from Giants to Eagles. Now Patrick Queen from Ravens to Steelers. Familiarity breeds contempt.

And that adds to the spice of these rivalries. So we want you to take our poll again on Twitter after our CBS or on my Twitter, ALawRadio, and then on our Facebook page. And while you're there, you can send your questions for Ask Amy anything, which comes up next hour here on the Hump Show. 855-212-4227. That's our toll free line. It is After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on the CBS Sports Radio Network. And we are pleased to travel to the shores of Lake Erie from our Cleveland affiliate 92-3 The Fan. Daryl Reiter, staying up late for us.

Haven't had you on the show in quite a while, Daryl, so it's great to talk to you. I want to know, to start, what's the best move the Browns have made so far? Well, I probably would say the Jerry Jeudy trade with the Denver Broncos.

Low risk, potential high reward. Certainly a lot of the pundits in Denver don't have a lot of nice things to say about Jeudy's four years there with the Broncos, a former first round pick that didn't perform to the level that was expected. But the Browns needed to find a number two receiver behind Amari Cooper that could get down the field, could be a potential explosive playmaker. And I think when you give up a fifth and a sixth round pick, that's a win-win as far as I'm concerned. And I think Andrew Berry did a really good job taking advantage of an opportunity and a team looking to move on from a player.

Well, he's obviously very talented. The four years in Denver had a lot to do with the lack of a stable quarterback, no? That's part of it. Now, what the folks in Denver will say is that there are some maturity issues and lack of consistently catching the football. He had too many drops for their liking or whatnot. Certainly the quarterback situation, I feel like, plays a part in that. But again, the critics will say, well, it's on him to catch the football regardless of who's throwing it. And, well, look at Amari Cooper.

He had five dudes throwing him footballs last year for the Browns, and he had over 1,200 yards receiving. Let's talk about the quarterback position because it's going to look different in 2024. I know there are a lot of people who are hoping that Joe Flacco would be back.

He'd expressed some interest in returning to Cleveland. Instead, it's Jameis Winston, most recently of New Orleans, who will be there. Dorian Thompson Robinson behind Deshaun Watson.

So what's your reaction to that group? Well, I mean, look, I'm not exactly blown away with them bringing in Jameis Winston, but I certainly understand the philosophy behind it. The Browns feel Winston, a younger player with new offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, will fit what they want to do offensively with Deshaun this coming season a little better. Had they brought back Joe Flacco, you'd basically have to set up two offenses, which is what the Browns have done in the past with a couple years ago. Jacoby Bercet during the Deshaun Watson 11 game suspension year. We got to see it last year when Flacco took over. Kevin Stefanski and then offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt kind of tweaked some things to make Flacco comfortable.

I think that with them bringing in Winston, this allows them not to have to have separate playbooks, if you will, and it allows them to seamlessly operate. They certainly apparently are going to pay a decent price. He's going to get, you know, around four million in base salary.

And depending if he sees the field, maybe that can bump his compensation up to closer to nine million. But the Flacco wars are on here in Cleveland. We've had the Baker brother wars.

We've had the Sashi wars. It seems every couple of years we have a war amongst the fan base. You know, there are a lot of Browns fans, no question about it, that are really disappointed that Joe Flacco, of course, won the comeback player of the year because of what he was able to do in five starts for the Browns is not going to be back. But again, I certainly understand why the Browns organization made the move that they did by moving in the direction of Jameis Winston. And hopefully he doesn't have to see the field in 2024.

Why did it work with Flacco now? Looking back, Daryl? Yeah. You know what?

I got to be honest with you. I kind of feel like that Joe Flacco and the way he played was like Kevin Stefanski's dream quarterback for five weeks because it was, you know, work off play action and chuck the ball deep down the field. You know, it's a great story. It's one that Browns fans will be able to tell their grandkids about someday. Unfortunately, you know, the pumpkin returned, the clock struck midnight during the wild card game against the Houston Texans where he ended up throwing a couple of pick sixes that really put that game out of reach, which was obviously a disappointing end. But yeah, I just think it was a magical five weeks that he and Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore really seemed to connect along with Dave Ndajoku and also too, the Browns were a good football team.

They really were. I kind of feel like that the Joe Flacco move was the ultimate, let's just throw something against the wall because we're desperate to save this season and hope it works. And it did work.

Just because it worked doesn't mean it's going to work again. And let's be honest about it. If the Browns did bring Joe Flacco back and he had to see the field in 2024 and things did not go as well, then everyone's going to complain. Why didn't you upgrade the back of quarterback? Why did you bring Joe?

Yeah. So in some respects, if you're a GM, you just, you can't win with your fans. It was a great story with Joe. He was the consummate professional, earned the respect of the locker room real fast. He put in the effort to do that. Spent time with his new teammates off the field on road trips and things like that. He could have rode in with a little bit of an ego because of his distinguished resume and whatnot, but he didn't. I think that all of those things kind of factored in to why he was able to do what he did in such a short amount of time.

Such a great story. And of course, as you point out, he was the NFL comeback player of the year for 23. Darrell Ryder is with us from our Cleveland affiliate 92-3, the fan sifting through what the Browns have done in the first couple days of free agency. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Any updates on the two injured players, Deshaun Watson, Nick Chubb? What do we know? Well, Nick Chubb, not going to be ready for the beginning of the season. It would be, in my view, miraculous if he was able to be ready for the beginning of the season. So my understanding is the rehab there is going well. If there's anyone that can come back from having his knee rebuilt for a second time, it's Nick Chubb.

But I'm also a little realistic about that particular situation. As far as Deshaun Watson goes, Kevin Stefanski and Ken Dorsey went out to Los Angeles to, I guess, in Stefanski's terms, talk big picture with Deshaun because league rules prohibit them to talk about football. So I'm guessing they were talking about Deshaun's favorite night spots in LA and favorite restaurants.

Maybe he's got a great view of the beaches out there in Los Angeles. I'm guessing that they went over the backup quarterback plan in free agency with him so that he wouldn't be taken aback by anything. Again, I'm making an assumption there because I certainly wasn't in the meetings, but by all accounts, things are going really well with Deshaun. He's supposed to begin throwing a football here in the next couple of weeks, which obviously is a pretty big deal, but all indications are that the recovery and the rehab from that shoulder surgery to repair that broken bone in his throwing shoulder have gone extremely well. On the defensive side of the ball, we know the Browns were already dealing from a position of strength. What moves do you like when it comes to the side of the ball that maybe doesn't get as much recognition?

I like the fact that they kept their own. T'Darius Smith is coming back, and I thought he had an outstanding first season with the Browns, so he's back on a multi-year deal. Maurice Hurst, who I think was a little underrated in the defense, he is coming back after agreeing on Tuesday to return to Cleveland. Jordan Hicks, Vikings linebacker, that's an interesting one.

He has history with Jim Schwartz, the Browns defensive coordinator, won a Super Bowl with Schwartz in Philadelphia with the Eagles there. He's going to replace Anthony Walker. Anthony Walker, of course, leaving in free agency. Walker, he was the team captain on the defensive side of the ball. The way I'm understanding things, it just looks like Hicks is going to step in and basically assume that particular role.

They're Sione Takitaki. They lose him to free agency. He's a former John Dorsey draft pick from years ago. Really saw his game grow here in Cleveland. From my perspective, that's a little bit of a tough loss, but really defensively, so far, it's been about getting their own free agents back in the fold and then kind of patching in the guys that they lose and replacing the loss of Anthony Walker with Jordan Hicks, at least on paper, figures to be a pretty smart move. Daryl Ryder is with us from Cleveland.

It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio. If you don't mind, I'd love to pick your brain about some of the other moves in the AFC North. What do you think of Russell Wilson with the Steelers? Great. Fantastic.

Not worried about it at all. It was a train wreck in Denver, right? Certainly Sean Payton wanted nothing really to do with the Russell Wilson experience. So great.

Fantastic. There was no way, I will say, that I could envision that the Steelers were dumb enough to just stick with Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett. It was incomprehensible to me that that's really what they were actually going to do at quarterback, because that would have been a Cleveland Browns circa 2001 to 2017 thing that the Browns would do. So they go out to get Russell Wilson and look, they pay nothing for him.

Denver is going to pick up the tab there. So it is a low risk, high reward move for the Steelers, but I'll be honest with you, it just really doesn't move the needle for me right now. But if there is one person that may be able to resurrect his career, it is Mike Tomlin. I think Tomlin does not get enough respect for the program he runs there in Pittsburgh. He has had teams that by all rights probably should never have made the playoffs, including this past year's team, and just it seems every year he finds a way to win 10 games.

Now, granted, they win their 10 games and then lose in round one of the playoffs, but that's neither here nor there. He has done a really good job. So again, I think if anyone can salvage Russell Wilson, it would be Mike Tomlin. What about Derrick Henry to Baltimore? Not a fan of that one.

That could be a little bit of a problem. And I don't know where this notion that, you know, Derrick Henry might be washed up. I mean, the guy did run for over a thousand yards last year.

Last season, I should say, if my memory serves me correctly and I really don't like that move. If you're the Cleveland Browns, yeah, you might want to beef up on the defensive line and linebackers to try and slow him down because he's just such a tremendous player. Is he the same guy that the prime of his career? Yeah, possibly not.

If he has, if he's lost the step, it's maybe like a third of a step or an eighth of a step, but it's not much. And so I just, yeah, I really don't like the fact that he's now a Baltimore Raven and the Browns are going to have to try and slow him down twice a season. That does not like sound like it's going to be a very fun job for Jim Schwartz's defense. Last season, when the Browns were a bit of a surprise wildcard team, not that they weren't expected to contend, but coming out of the AFC North with 17 different quarterbacks and everything else that was happening, losing Nick Chubb, blah, blah, blah.

How do they build on that? What's their focus or what should be their focus this off season? Well, yeah, I mean, the only reason they were a surprise team was because all the injuries and all the quarterbacks, but the expect they went in organizationally with the expectation they were going to be playoff team. And I have nothing to indicate that those expectations are changing for the upcoming season. You know, I expect them to be a contender again to me, the next step for them is to win the division. This franchise hasn't won a division since 1989. This past season was the first time since 1989 that the Browns finished ahead of the Steelers in the standings, which is mind blowing things out, you know?

But the Browns haven't hosted a playoff game since coming back. And obviously the only way that's ever going to happen is that they win their division. So I really feel like that the organization's energy, you know, last year it was a, we got to, we got to get back to the playoffs.

We got to get this thing back on track. And I really feel like that this year their focus and energy is going to be trying to win this division and hosting a playoff game because under Kevin Stefanski, Browns have a home field advantage. They win a lot at home. And if they can host a playoff game here in Cleveland for the first time since 1994, my goodness, I can't even imagine what that scene is going to be like. The immunity lot, they're going to, they're going to be drunk by Friday night, Sunday game. Like, I mean, that's what it's going to be like.

It's going to be crazy fun, but that's where I think that their focus and their energy really is, you know, trying to finally get on top of three teams that for the most part have really had their number since 1999. Would this be like the Detroit Lions of the AFC finally ending that home playoff throughout? You're right.

They might not know what to do. Yeah. Well, the Lions fans certainly knew what to do and they did it very well as a matter of fact.

Yeah, I think it would be. It's just, it's been so long since there's been a home playoff game here in Cleveland and you know, it's nice to make the playoffs. It's also nicer to actually be able to go to a game that's being played in your own stadium. So, you know, I think that the Browns would like to save on the playoff travel expenses this time around and, you know, actually at least host it. Well, they want to spend their money on training camp because they're going back to the Greenbrier for some more team bonding like they did last year.

It worked well, so hey, why not go ahead and do it again and believe me, they're going back to the Greenbrier for that very reason. You can find Daryl Reiter on Twitter at Reiter, R-U-I-T-E-R, right or wrong, F-A-N, our Cleveland affiliate, 92.3 The Fan. It's been a long time, Daryl, but it's great to talk to you again. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. You bet.

Thanks for having me. So based on what you hear from Daryl out of Cleveland, his perspective on Russell Wilson in black and gold, Derek Henry in purple and black. Interesting. Who is the team to beat in the AFC North right now? It's March.

These are no pressure questions. Just take a wild stab at it on Twitter. A law radio on our Facebook page two.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on. Yo, next round is about to start. You ready? Yeah. Yeah. Just shopping for a car in Carvanha for real. Yeah. Carvanha makes it super convenient to shop whenever, wherever for real. That's a ton of car options.

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You can find Primal Kitchen at Target, Walmart, or any of your local grocery stores, or you can save 20% off your entire online order with Coke Podcast at checkout on primalkitchen.com. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Obviously, he's disappointed with not being able to play more due to injury last year. That's disappointing for him, but I know how hard he works. I know how hard he's working right now in rehab to get back. I have a ton of confidence in him and what he's going to be able to do as he gets through his rehab and then we hit the ground running once he's ready to go.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The voice of one Kevin Stefanski about his quarterback Deshaun Watson and honestly, I believe Deshaun is the major question mark for the Browns moving forward. I think they have, in many cases, strengthened their roster. They've added depth to their roster.

I love the defense already, spearheaded by a Myles Garrett and then they bring in Jordan Hicks as we just talked about with Darrell Ryder. They also signed Naeem Hines. Now Nick Chubb not expected to be ready to start the season, but at some point they're hoping to get him back and I know a lot of people wanted Joe Flacco.

Darrell seems to be of the mindset that they caught the best of Joe and caught lightning in a bottle and it worked perfectly, but it wouldn't be a long-term solution. I'm not sure if this is exactly the same thing, certainly more successful, but remember when Nick Foles took over for Carson Wentz multiple times in Philadelphia, but then once he got his own gig, did he go to Jacksonville after that? He went to Jacksonville, right?

And then to Chicago and never really could capture that same success, find that same rhythm and groove. Now it's different to be a backup quarterback than one who comes in and you've got your whole locker room behind you and you take over and your team is damn good. But all those things, Nick Foles, he crushed it as Jason Kelce told us in his retirement speech. I won't forget Nick Foles.

Yeah, right. The way that he attacked that problem, but he had great coaches too and teammates around him. It wasn't just him, but they got the best of Nick Foles. Those two seasons in which the Eagle, well, first of all, when Carson Wentz went down, it wasn't his rookie, it was his second year, I think, and he was about to be the MVP. In early December, he tears his ACL on the goal line of a game. Nick Foles comes in, leads them not just through the rest of that season, but obviously to a Super Bowl victory, their first in team history. But then the very next year, either Carson got hurt again, I think he did, but either way he wasn't playing well. Nick Foles comes in again, this time latter half of the season, leads them to a playoff spot and another postseason win. But it never happened again.

It doesn't need to, right? He was Super Bowl MVP. That'll never change. But they caught lightning in a bottle there in Philadelphia with Doug Peterson and the rest of the coaching staff and Nick himself, the guys around him. It was the perfect scenario. Never happened again for Nick. Now he did show some flashes in Jacksonville. If I remember correctly, he got hurt. But even when he was back on the field, you could tell that was pretty much it.

The shine was gone. So with Joe Flacco, incredible career, Super Bowl winner, two contracts worth more than $100 million. And so he comes back for his last ride.

Maybe it's his last ride. And it was perfect. He wasn't perfect, but it was the perfect scenario. And I love that Daryl pointed out his connection with the receivers, primarily Amari Cooper. And yeah, the wheels came off and the whole thing went into a ditch with the two pick sixes in the postseason.

But could that ever happen again? And the Browns, they're not betting on it. So Jamis Winston, it is.

Who is the favorite right now in the AFC North? That's just right now. On Twitter, on Facebook, we're taking your votes.

And the phone number is 855-212-4227. Bobby is in Texas. What do you think, Bobby? You know what, Miss Amy, thank you for accepting my call. I've been here for a while. But anyway, congratulations on your nuptials. Thank you.

And tell Mr. Bob you take it to Gus's Fried Chicken, downtown Austin, and you will love it. But I'm gonna go with the Ravens. I've been a Ravens fan for a while. But in my heart, I really want these two things to happen. I want Cleveland and Detroit to get to the Super Bowl. That way we will complete the cycle of all the NFL teams ever being, especially the two oldest franchises, to never reach the Super Bowl.

And that is my dream. I do think that would be some incredible Super Bowl. Could you imagine both those teams getting there at the same time?

That'd be phenomenal. You know what, we'll go back to back in the 50s when the Lions were kicking butt. And see, nobody remembers that in the last. The last time I was bed-whooping before the merger was the Cleveland Browns and Leroy Kelly beat the Dallas Cowboys for the champion.

And I cried like a baby because I've been a Cowboy fan all my life. But, you know, just some of that. But I just like to see that. But I just ask you a question. I'm gonna go with the Ravens, okay? And I'm gonna fade out here and make sure, can't bother to take the guts. And we can be done with that.

You know, it's kind of funny, actually. We have three family weddings in the span of four months this summer. And in two of the three, we have to fly into Austin because his family lives in the Temple area, which is north of Austin and Round Rock. Yeah, you know, I'm Texas. I was born and raised, so you can't go there. So we'll be flying in and out of Austin multiple times this summer.

So I'll have to ask him. Get some of that spicy chicken. You got some boots, right?

Of course. Now, my boots are leftover from Texas. They're not Texas boots. They're Oklahoma boots from leftover from Texas. You got the wrong kind of boots. Come on down and get some batteries. And we're gonna be done with Oklahoma.

Because, you know, Oklahoma, you know what I'm saying, once in Oklahoma, steers and what? Anyway, we're gonna be done with that. But anyway, congratulations on your nuptials. But I'm a Ravens fan.

And I'm hoping the Ravens be the number one top dog. So you have a nice evening, okay? All right. Thanks, Bobby.

Good to talk to you. Speaking of cowboy boots, we've been still negotiating a house that's not quite put together. And we're we're still moving things around, putting some stuff in this closet, transporting other stuff from an upstairs closet to a downstairs closet, that kind of thing.

The other, I guess it was Saturday the other day, I look over, I'm working in one corner of the bedroom, we'd put a bunch of stuff in the attic. I look over and Bob has a pile of cowboy boots on the bedroom floor, a pile of them. I've never seen a person with so many pairs of cowboy boots.

Now granted, he's not a cowboy or anything, but he is a Texas guy. And fancy, at least in his circles is a shinier pair of cowboy boots or he pointed out the ostrich that he pointed out the steel toad and there's a pair that's green. So I think there were six pairs. One of them was fancy.

They're all different colors. Yeah, it's a little bit like me with my high heels, but he's he's got them in cowboy boots. Impressive. I know. And apparently they're all lined now they were in a pile then, but they're all lined up in his closet.

Maybe I'll have to try some on, see how they do. I have one pair from my days wrangling cattle in Oklahoma. When I lived there my first two years in Oklahoma, this is before my network career, my first two years, I lived in a town with more cows than people. However, it had 100,000 watt radio signal and it reached for miles, three hours in every direction because it's so flat in the area.

So not only the Oklahoma Panhandle, but all the way down to OKC and then into the Texas Panhandle as well as Southwest Kansas. So it was a huge stick. And I it was good for me early in my career as the news and sports director. But I became well I was befriended by a family. They kind of took me out of their wing and the husband was a rancher. And so he would take me every weekend or I would join him every weekend out on the least property that he had. I want to help him run cattle. And when I say run cattle, it would be trying not to start a stampede, which I did once. But we did cattle drives. I participated in rodeo parades.

It was amazing. That's the cowgirl in me for two for two years. Every weekend I was out riding horses. And if you know anything about me, horses are well, they're my spirit animal, but also I've loved them since I was a little kid.

My friends played with Barbies and they played with makeup and all that jazz. I all I cared about was horses when I was growing up. I'm totally out of my element. I did ride a horse once, but everything else that you talked about, I'm totally out of my element. That is not something I'm familiar with in any ways. So my cowboy boots from Oklahoma still have cow poo on them or cow patty if you will.

But I really don't have many opportunities to wear them anymore. I wouldn't think so. No, no. I mean, Bob and I do both enjoy horseback riding. We went on, we didn't have a honeymoon yet, but we went on our little two day getaway when we were just post-wedding.

And I would think that at some point we'll ride in the Northeast, but every time I go on vacation, I ride because I enjoy it so much. Yeah, I got to keep him. I can't get rid of him. Now he's got six pairs.

I have to have my one pair. Yeah, no, once I did that one. I can't see myself doing that again. Oh, so great. It's so great. But there are, I mean, you could horse riding, I mean, even in our area and you know where we are in the Northeast, you could, you could, there's a lot of places that you could still ride.

She's not going to be quite the sound. I think you need the cowboy boots for it. Well, you don't ever need them. I don't think you have to worry about the cattle and the stampede, but I think you could go horseback riding.

That's true. Or getting bucked off, which also happened to me when I was in Oklahoma and Red, my friend Red, he made me get right back on. And I now understand that because if I hadn't, I think I would have been scared to death. Well, I was scared anyway to get right back on, but he said, if you don't, you never will. So let's go and put me right back on after he beat the horse. Like, well, the horse got spooked by something and instead of just getting spooked and you know, like moving out of the way or whatever, no, he bucked me off.

It was, it was scary. Uh, yeah. The one time I rode a horse, I almost got thrown at least four times. What were you doing wrong?

Nothing. No, no, no. According to the guy that, we're hoping that apparently I was on the horse that I didn't realize what he meant. I didn't completely compute, but he was like, just make sure you're either all the way in the back or all the way in the front.

And I said, all right. Apparently my horse didn't like to be near other horses in line. Oh, you mean in line?

Oh yeah. All the way in the back or all the way in the front and it didn't like water. So every time we got to a puddle, it would stop dead and it almost threw me and I was like, what am I? And he's like, no, it's not you. It's Picasso. It was the horse. Why did they put you on Picasso? Uh, Picasso was the big horse.

Oh, I was a big boy. Put me on the big horse. They had to go get Picasso from the back, bring him out because, uh, I, what was I probably about two 10 at that point. Let's go get Picasso.

We need something that's a little, a little sturdy before he gets on there. Cause I, everybody else, it didn't matter. Didn't matter. Get all the horses, whatever. They saw me. They're like, go get Picasso.

Apparently because we can handle a big load, but he didn't like water like me to back and it'll be in the front. We must've been doing, I don't know what we did when we caught up to a horse, flew to the front until they had a run and grabbed me cause they grabbed the horse. They can smell fear.

They know when you're not in charge. It wasn't that it was again, he had to get in front. So once the horse got in front, slow down, no problem. And I was pulling the horse didn't care and they had to get in front and we're like, look, now you have to stay with me because every time he's going to take off, he's like, you were probably doing like 30 like this horse is going to take off.

And I'm like, Oh, okay. Every time you've got a group of horses that does trail rides or that type of thing, there's always an order, right? There's always an order that they have to maintain.

And if they don't, they get chippy and snippy and nippy. We were also supposed to walk, but we weren't making good time. So all I kept hearing was yeah.

And I didn't like, yeah. Cause then apparently all the horses just took off. That's the best.

Most trail rides won't let you go. Yeah. Yeah. No, we took off. We took off.

It escalated quickly. Yeah. Yeah. All right.

You've got about an hour to send your questions for asking me anything, but you don't need to ask me about cowboy boots because I just gave you the answers. It is the morning of March 13th for part of the country, not all of the country, but that's crazy. We're midway through the month of March, which is hard to believe a free agency was still one more day. Well, actually the new league year starts on Wednesday.

Does it not? I don't know. We still in the legal Tampa. I've dropped that. I'm done with that. Most people don't even know what that means. The NFL prides itself on making things more complicated. The NFL doesn't even know what that means. It's just free agency.

That's what it is. And they can't officially sign until blah, blah, blah. But I think the new league year starts on Wednesday. So we're there.

Happy new year. Right around here. I don't know. 13th, 15th. We're right around here.

Right now we're in the legal tampering stage, which is tremendous. Tremendous. So questions then for asking me anything an hour from now coming up, I get this sneer on my face when the commissioner of the PGA talks, it's just, it's involuntary.

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No minimum purchase required minimum monthly payment down payment tax and delivery may be required. See store for details. Alright, it's a historical day for the PGA tour in the game of golf. What we're talking about today is coming together to unify the game of golf. We've recognized that together we can have a far greater impact on this game than we can working apart.

This is after hours with Amy Lawrence. Jay Monahan is the commissioner of the PGA tour, though there are some who would like to see him removed after the way he pulled a fast one under cover of night by purposely deceiving the membership the golfers last year last spring. Gosh, it's almost been 12 months not quite but almost I think that news broke in May if I remember correctly. We're talking 10 months later and these are still some open wounds where Jay and a couple of select members of the board decided that they would negotiate a merger with the PIF. That's the personal investment fund of the Saudis that sponsors the live tour and other sporting events in the United States. I just want to clarify every single time, this is not just the live tour that takes Saudi money. There are other sporting events too. Uber has a lot of that same personal investment fund money behind it. But there was such an uproar over it and golfers were so incensed and guys like Roy McElroy were predicting the demise of live and openly rooting for it and Jay Monahan under cover of night negotiates a merger.

Are you kidding me? Now, that merger has not manifested and I truly believe it was a sham. We have not heard from Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA, since the tour championship last November I think was the last time he did a press conference but he was there front and center talking on Tuesday in advance of the PGA championship. As I've said on a number of occasions, you can't negotiate a deal like this in public.

So I will be brief. I recently met with the governor of the PIF and our negotiations are accelerating as we spend time together. While we have several key issues that we still need to work through, we have a shared vision to quiet the noise and unlock golf's worldwide potential. It's going to take time but I reiterate what I said at the tour championship in August. I see a positive outcome for the PGA tour and the sport as a whole.

Most importantly, I see a positive outcome for our great fans. Forgive me by the way, they're not at the PGA championship, they're at the players championship which is often considered the fifth major, the 50th players championship and part of the flap there has been, it's a watered down field. It used to be the best of the best but now Jon Rahm is part of Liv and others are part of Liv. And Scottie Scheffler, who's the number one player in the world, he says fans are noticing that we're missing great golfers like Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, who were some of the first to head to Liv, Cameron Smith. I don't know whether or not people still miss Phil Mickelson but he is a draw.

He may not be the best golfer or in the top 50 but he's still a draw because he's a name. And so it's just not the same attractive deep field as it used to be. Again, I'm of the mindset that Jay Monahan really only negotiated this merger, using my air quotations, in order to get the lawsuits thrown out, the lawsuits chucked and also to get the money. To me that's the only reason. Because the Liv tour is not going away and so far there's been a whole lot of nothing. So Commissioner Monahan, what does the tour and the sport look like if there's no deal ever completed? I guess I'll answer that question if a deal isn't concluded. I'm focused on moving the tour forward, moving our discussions forward, and I'm hopeful that we'll reach a successful outcome. And I think that in any negotiation both sides have to work together to reach that successful outcome and if we can't, I'll continue my focus on all the areas I just outlined and we'll continue to compete and be as strong a tour as we can possibly be.

Okay, but what if in the meantime players continue leaving for Liv? I'm focused on every single member of the PGA Tour. I'm focused on the Players' Championship this week. I'm focused on the great season that we have ahead and we've made, Adam, tremendous progress with the SSG agreement that we have, putting ourselves in a position to invest back in our tour, invest back in our fans, and I'm going to focus on the things that I control. And we are as an organization.

We are as a leadership team and we are as a board. So that's what I'm focused on. SSG, the Strategic Sports Group, is another deal that he has negotiated which will infuse a ton of money into the tour. So here's the first thing you need to know. The PGA Tour is in a dire financial situation or it was until the quote-unquote Liv merger or PIF merger.

Now they've got money coming from other really rich sports owners so maybe that helps. We'll have more after the break. It's After Hours, CBS Sports Radio. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.