JR SportBrief Hour 3

It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Shoutouts to everybody locked in and listening all over North America. I hope you're safe on the roadways. I hope you're safe at work. I hope you're making your way home safely if you're relaxing.

Thank you for taking the time to chill out. I'm going to be rolling with you for the next two hours. I'm in Atlanta, super producer and host Ryan Hickey. He's joining us live from New York City. Yeah, we live. I'm a real person.

I'm not just a voice emanating on the other side of your speaker. Sitting in the studio on Peachtree Street. Got the news on in front of me. Got the games on in front of me. Just just just hanging out. That's all I'm doing.

Hang out with me. I get started every weeknight. Six p.m. Eastern. Three Pacific for all my friends on the West. You can always listen to the show for free on the free Odyssey app. That's a lot of free.

You can't can't get that for free. Much love to everybody locked in on one of our local CBS Sports Radio affiliates all over North America. People listening on Sirius XM Channel 158 and everybody listening on a smart speaker. You got a smart speaker. You got one of these. I don't know. Alexis, series, Googles, whatever the hell you got.

Ask it to play CBS Sports Radio and the show just pops up. You don't got to get up. You don't got to touch nothing.

And then boom, the show is right there. We've had a busy one right before we went to break. We talked about Jim Harbaugh. You know, it's been reported that he is looking for conditions if he is to stay in Michigan. And some of those conditions involve future punishment. We know that Jim Harbaugh was punished three games at the beginning of the season because of alleged recruiting violations. He was punished three games at the end of the season by the Big Ten for issues relating to sign stealing. And God knows if we fast forward a few years, the NCAA might say we're going to take that title away. Jim Harbaugh wants to know.

Yeah, you ain't taking my money. It's funny. He met with the charges on Monday. We talked about Bill Belichick. He was here in Atlanta or somewhere. I don't know where the hell he was.

Rich people everywhere, aren't they? All I know is Arthur Blank and Bill Belichick had a bad a meeting. They had an interview. It's funny to think. Yeah, Bill Belichick got interviewed. Ha ha ha. It's like Bill Belichick was interviewing Arthur Blank.

Let's look at it that way. And it's been reported that there is mutual interest between the two. We have no word on what's taking place in Dallas. Not a peep.

From Jerry Jones. Not a peep from any of his sons. As Mike McCarthy just twists in the wind. He is scheduled to have a press conference tomorrow.

That's not to say that an email goes out tonight or tomorrow and says that press conference has been delayed. And if it is, dammit, I think we kind of know which way the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones are leaning. You talked about the Eagles and Nick Sirianni. I think he'll stick around.

We'll see if he does. What an embarrassing loss last night. 32 to nine. Last year, they go to the Super Bowl and lose to the Kansas City Chiefs. This year, they don't even escape the wild card round.

They finished the year one and six, including the playoffs. Nick Sirianni, after the game, he was asked about his future with the Eagles. And Nick Sirianni said, again, there's a lot of guys in that locker room.

All the guys in that locker room, every single one of them that put their heart and soul into this. I'm not worried about me. I'm not. I'm worried. I'm not worried. Oh, it's like that. You know what they should have cued up, Ryan?

That French Montana song. Ain't worry about nothing. I worry about this is I worry about nothing that Nick Sirianni should be just playing out all day long.

I worry about nothing. He is. He is worried about something. I think he's going to make it through with his job. There's something to worry about.

That's on him. And that's Philadelphia. That's eastern Pennsylvania. It's where I was born. But if I got to think about the other side of Pennsylvania.

The western side, which I also like a lot. It's Pittsburgh. It's where Mike Tomlin has been coaching. It's where Mike Tomlin won a championship. It's where Mike Tomlin has yet to have a losing season. It's also the city that gets cold. They filmed bad parts of Batman.

It's kind of dark. It's also the city where every now and then when Mike Tomlin and his Steelers go on a little bit of a losing streak, they want to get Mike Tomlin the hell up on out of there. Conversations over the past few weeks before they were eliminated yesterday by the Buffalo Bills. Conversations about the future of Mike Tomlin. Is Mike Tomlin staying? Is he going? His contract is done. It's over.

It's finished at the end of next season. There have been rumors and reports about whether or not he is ready to step away. Is Mike Tomlin ready to watch his son play college football?

Is he ready to stay at home? Is Mike Tomlin ready to move to television? Is Mike Tomlin ready to do something else besides move forward and coach the Pittsburgh Steelers? Well, after the loss last night, Mike Tomlin was asked about his future and Mike Tomlin did not want to entertain it. I love Mike Tomlin.

Listen to the question again and listen to his non answer. Yeah, that's the sound of a man walking away. From a microphone, Mike Tomlin wanted none of it. Well, here's a little bit of an update moving into the final year of his contract. Mike Tomlin addressed his players. He addressed his coaches privately today.

And of course, what you say in private goes public. Mike Tomlin said, I will be back next year. Any reports about me stepping down, me leaving, me not coaching this team next year. They're all unfounded.

They're based on nothing. And so at least we know that Mike Tomlin will be back. And so what we've seen for the past fifty five years with Chuck Knoll and Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin will be intact for at minimum one more season.

And the Rooney family, one thing that I've always appreciated about them is continuity, not jumping when the league or teams or their fans say jump, not moving at emotional whims. I mean, Steeler fans have been fortunate enough to have somebody like Mike Tomlin, somebody that the players want to play for, someone that they appreciate. Mike Tomlin is a hell of a coach. The Steelers wouldn't have had the success that they've had this past season without him trying to figure out a quarterback situation. Hey, Mike Tomlin is is the reason that they've been able to weather the storm. And so in talking to the media, a lot of his players, a lot of his players stood up for him. You know, we heard and you know what?

Let's do a little bit of a compare and contrast. Jalen Hurts was asked about Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts basically said, I don't know nothing about him leaving. He didn't back him up, didn't say love them, that he liked them, that he wanted him to be the coach. He was just asked, hey, what do you think about him potentially leaving? He's like, I don't know nothing about what you're talking about. I didn't know he was going anywhere.

I didn't know that. Where's the confidence level in him then to fix this team? I have everybody, I have a ton of confidence in everyone in this building. It's just a matter of us going out there and playing clean football. That's been something that we have not done, you know. So a generalization.

I got confidence in everybody. Well, let's listen to something a little bit more specific. Yeah, he was asked specifically, he being Jalen Hurts, he was asked specifically about Nick Sirianni and he flipped it into a generalization. Well, what about somebody like Broderick Jones on the Steelers? He was asked about Mike Tomlin and his style and do you love him, do you hate him?

And this is what Broderick Jones had to say specifically about Tomlin. I never had a coach like Mike T. His coaching style is just different from what I'm used to. You know, he's a good dude. You know, I got to get used to the regular conversations and just like he's not the type to yell at you and get on you.

So, you know, he's a different type of coach. You know, I really appreciate him. He does a lot for the team and, you know, he does a lot for me. He always talks to me. He tells me what he's looking for for me. And, you know, I just try to challenge him and keep pushing. Wow. He's unlike any coach I've ever had. He's not yelling and screaming.

He comes, he talks to you. Wow. Wow. Well, what about a vet? What about somebody like Cam Hayward? You know, what about people who think that the Steelers need a new coach, Cam?

What would you say to them? My thought is he's going to be the coach here. And, you know, if anybody's thinking it should be anybody else, you're asking, you're asking for a whole lot more than just that.

My T is, you know, wants to be a Pittsburgh Steelers, is a Pittsburgh Steelers. Like, why would anybody ask for anything else? Why would anybody ask for anything else? People asking for him to go are asking for trouble. And that's a message to the fans. I mean, dammit, we already got two examples that are just starkly different from what Jalen Hurts had to say about his head coach in eastern Pennsylvania.

Cam Hayward continued on. He's like, man, I don't understand why people are even talking about this. Why are we so concerned with somebody who has a year on their contract, has been locked in and has wanted to just play coach football?

We don't ask anybody else if they need to come back for another year or anything else. I just think it's doing him a disservice. This guy's been locked in from the very get go. But yet we're worried about if he's coming back or not. He's been locked in and I appreciate it because that's only created more dissension for players and coaches. We just want to focus on one goal. He wants to focus on one goal. And I just think that's fair. You know, I think, you know, everybody likes to talk about, oh, he might take a year off.

You might do this. He's only got one year. I just think, why would he answer a question like that? He's worried about trying to win a playoff game. And then last night, you know, we just lost a big playoff game. Why does he need to address that?

That's not the time or the place. And I appreciate the question, but I just think for him in general, you know, Coach T's earned that to just, you know, be single, singly focused on one goal. And, you know, we've asked this question week in and week out. It's just not fair to the process. Yeah.

Everybody got options, right? They put a camera phone or a camera phone. They put a camera. They put a microphone. They stick it in your face. They ask you questions.

You got options? You could say as little as you want. You could say as much as you want. Kim Hayward stood up for Mike Tomlin. Broderick Jones stood up for Mike Tomlin. If I got to take a look at Jalen Hurts, he pled the fifth. He had not a damn thing to say about Nick Sirianni.

Yeah, I got confidence in everybody in the building. Oh, tell me how you really feel. It's like, hey, you you love you love your mother. You love your father.

I love I love my family. Whoa. I didn't ask you that.

Ask you specifically about them. But you know what? Everybody is not always going to be on one accord, right? Everybody's entitled to their opinion.

And so taking a look at what's going on in Pittsburgh with the Steelers. Everybody wasn't going to have the same answer for Mike Tomlin, right? Nobody was going to say they hate his guts. Most players, if they don't agree with the coach, they try to say nothing.

They don't want to gain or garnish a reputation. Najee Harris, someone always prone to speak his mind and be open. He didn't say anything negative about Mike Tomlin.

I think he was also positive, but he did say and he was kind of, you know, walking around it, addressing it without telling us exactly what it was. Najee Harris is just like, yeah, we just need a few internal adjustments. In-house rules, like not changes in a coach like that. It's just the rules that are in the building that, you know, we've got to be more disciplined. We've got to be more committed. I'm not saying that we're not, but, you know, just coming from a place that has structure. And just seeing like, you know, we probably could get help in these areas. I think that might change.

I think that's something that could help. I'm not saying nothing about coaches or anything like that. I'm just saying more of just in-house rules. You know, that's all I'm saying.

In-house rules? Oh, what vague crap is this? You know, we've heard from Najee Harris when it came down to the running backs and their contracts, and I got no problem with that. But this is not the first time he's been vague.

Why are you tiptoeing around stuff, man? If you're going to say something, say it. But it's not the coaches. We just need to change the in-house rules. Well, who sets the in-house rules?

Has Najee Harris been hanging out with Ricky Williams? Like, what are we missing here? Be straightforward, man. Your head in the clouds. Mike Tomlin's going to be back for one year. Whenever, however, Mike Tomlin leaves, I don't see him get in the boot, man.

I don't. And let's be real. This is a team like all the other teams in the NFL. They need a quarterback. Mike Tomlin ain't going out there and playing.

And a lot of the success that they've had is because the players respect and want to play for him. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. 855-2124.

CBS is the number. We're going to take a break when we come back on the other side. We're going to have a conversation with Mike DeFabo from The Athletic. I'm going to ask him about the Steelers. I'm going to get into Tomlin. We'll talk about it. We'll think about the offense and Kenny Pickett.

There's so much to dissect. It's the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

It's the JR Sport Brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Mike Tomlin. We get word that he spoke to his team. He talked to the players. He talked to the coaches. He says, I'll be back next year.

I don't know what these people are talking about. I'm taking a year off. I might step away. So I'll be back next year. The man walked away from an entire question last night as to whether or not or, you know, just period about his final year of his contract coming up this season.

2024. Steelers need to figure out what's going on with Kenny Pickett and Mike Tomlin. Najee Harris is talking about in-house rules, but it has nothing to do with coaching. So to find out and get a little bit more perspective from Pittsburgh, it's time to chat it up with the Steelers beat writer for the athletic. Joining us is Mike Defabo. Mike, how are you, man? Hey, I'm doing great. It's been very crazy the last couple of days, but I'm happy to join you to talk about all of it.

It's very much appreciated. I guess the first question is, yeah, Mike Tomlin says he'll be back for next year. It's tough to think that far ahead as to whether or not he's going to get a contract extension. What's the consensus I would say of the city, the fans, how the fans feeling about this news? Well, in Pittsburgh, it's very interesting because the local perception is a bit different than national. National, I think people look at the fact that Mike Tomlin in 17 seasons has never had a losing season. They look at this guy that's very well respected around the league. And for that reason, they hold him in high regard.

But locally, the narrative is a little bit different. And that's because this is a proud fan base that's used to competing for Super Bowls. And it's been since 2016 since they've won a playoff game. So it's been seven whole seasons. So fans are a little bit frustrated.

They're fed up with the fact that it seems like every season they're kind of stuck in this 10 and 7, you know, 9 and 8 purgatory, and they don't have what it takes to get over the edge. So the news here was probably hit people differently depending on their point of view. The people that were Mike Tomlin fans and supporters and understand that this is a guy that has the respect of the players routinely. You know, like the athletic does an annual poll. Who's the coach that you would want to play for most?

Mike Tomlin's atop the list. You know, those people understand it. On the flip side, the people that have their season tickets and they're frustrated that the Steelers haven't won a playoff game.

They're certainly feeling a little bit differently about it. Oh, yeah. Now listen, man. I hear it every time I'm in the city. People hitting me up, KDK, KA, just in Ubers, people saying, fire Tomlin.

I hear about it all the time. How do you feel this is going to play out over the next 12 months as we move into another season and this contract will conclude? Yeah, so it was first of all kind of interesting that Mike Tomlin even got to this position in the first place. Typically, the Steelers like to extend a coach when he has two years remaining on his deal.

So Mike Tomlin, the fact that they didn't extend him last offseason was a bit of a surprise and it felt like an extension was inevitable. But when the Steelers hit their rough patch, you know, that eventually culminated with that loss in Indianapolis. That was the third consecutive loss. They had just lost back-to-back games to the two-win Cardinals, the two-win Patriots.

Then they go on the road and they're talking about how it's a playoff game for them and instead they had a no-show performance. You know, people were definitely disappointed and wondering about where things would go. But, you know, I always, from what I heard behind the scenes, always felt like an extension was inevitable or likely, if nothing else. So now that's probably the next thing that we have to wait and see is do the Steelers really break from precedent and let Mike Tomlin play things out and then possibly become a free agent on the open market or do they do what they've always done and, you know, in the next days or weeks or months come out with a press release saying that they've extended Mike Tomlin. I tend to believe it's going to be the latter. I tend to believe that they're going to give him that contract extension.

But we will have to wait and see if that actually unfolds. Steelers beat Ryder for the athletic. Mike DeFabo is joining us here at the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. We know you need a head coach, but we also need every NFL team needs a quarterback. What the hell are some of the Steelers' options moving into next season? We know about Pickett. We know about Rudolph.

What's going on? Yeah, well, so, you know, Kenny Pickett was a guy that he played football at Pitt and so he kind of had a built-in fan base when the Steelers drafted him two years ago. And it was interesting that the Steelers just played the Buffalo Bills because it was actually in that same stadium against those same Buffalo Bills that just 15 months ago Kenny Pickett made his debut. And at that time there was definitely a lot of optimism that he could be the next face of the franchise. And if nothing else, the Steelers, they have the highest paid defense in the league. They have a first-round running back in Najee Harris.

They've invested on the offensive line. It seemed like they really wouldn't need a guy to come in and take over the world, but just to kind of manage a run-heavy offense. But in his second season, Kenny Pickett showed very few signs of growth. And he partially lost his opportunity because he had an ankle injury. He ultimately had to undergo tightrope surgery.

But the reality is this. They had a make-or-break game against the Baltimore Ravens in the season finale. Kenny Pickett did not get the job. Instead, they went to Mason Rudolph, a third-string afterthought. And then ultimately in the playoffs, against the Buffalo Bills, the same team Kenny Pickett 15 months ago made his debut.

It was Mason Rudolph. So that tells you what the team thinks about him at this point. If it was a different situation, if it was Ben Roethlisberger coming back from an injury, you better believe he would have been out there limping and hobbling around. And the fact that Kenny Pickett was healthy and they didn't play him tells you that there's some skepticism there, that he's the right guy going forward. So I think that the most likely scenario is this. They'll go out and they'll get a new offensive coordinator and hope that Matt Canada, the former offensive coordinator, was just so bad that nothing could operate well. And you hope you bring in some new guy and he helps unlock something that Kenny Pickett hasn't shown at the NFL level. I think that's probably the most likely scenario.

But at this point, I think you do have to consider all options. And one of those might be bringing back Mason Rudolph, making him the primary backup, or giving him an opportunity to compete. But really, whether it's Kenny Pickett or Mason Rudolph, they really shouldn't be thinking about which one of those two guys is better. What they should be thinking about is, what do we need to do to finally have a quarterback that can stand toe-to-toe with a legitimate AFC quarterback? You guys in Indianapolis, you've got your quarterback of the future, it seems. You've got Lamar Jackson in the Steelers' division right now. The Steelers just played Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes.

You need a guy like that. And I don't think that either one of these guys has shown that. So, there's speculation, there's fans here that want to see them trade for Justin Fields, maybe. Another crazy option would be going out and spending big money to bring in Kirk Cousins. And believing that your defense with TJ Watt and Minka Fitzpatrick and Cam Hayward, they can carry you and you just need a quarterback to get over the edge. And then the other option, I think, would be, although I don't think the Steelers would trade up and get into that upper echelon of quarterback, maybe there's a quarterback in this draft that falls.

Maybe a guy like Michael Penix or something like that. So, at this point, really, based on the way that things have gone, though, I think the Steelers really need to consider all options going forward. Because that's a huge question mark on this football team. Mike DeFabo is joining us from The Athletic. Mike, I gotta tell you, if the option comes around summertime and it's Mason, Rudolph, and you still gotta take a look at Kenny Pickett, it's like asking my toddler whether he wants peas or Brussels sprouts, man. Nobody wants that crap. Nobody wants that.

No, it's true. I mean, I think that there are fans that really are hopeful that Matt Kennedy was so bad that that was the problem. And to tell you how bad it got here in Pittsburgh, they were chanting Fire Canada at Pittsburgh Penguins hockey games. This guy was the most disliked man in Pittsburgh. And that offensive coordinator hire is going to be one of the most pivotal decisions that this franchise has made in a long time. Because if they're going to keep Mike Tomlin and believe in him, they need somebody to come in here and add a spark to the offense. And I think that was an issue. There weren't very many opportunities where Kenny Pickett had easy throws or easy reads or something to get him in a rhythm. It was just kind of like a mess of 3-and-outs when he was under center. So you hope that it's the offensive coordinator.

But I agree with you that I also think that they need to consider bringing in some type of upgrade, whether that's via trade, whether that's via free agency, or whether that's in the draft. Well, you talk about Mike Tomlin showing himself and bringing in an offensive coordinator to do some work. We know Faulkner was running things in the interim, used to be the running backs coach. And right before you joined us on air, we did play some comments by Najee Harris where everybody kind of stuck up for Mike Tomlin. Najee, I guess he did. He said, ah, we don't got no problem with the coach, no issues with the coach, but we need to work on some in-house rules.

What the hell could he possibly be referring to? Wouldn't any in-house rules fall under the coach's jurisdiction? Yeah, I agree with you. That was interesting that he specifically said, well, I don't mean coaching. But then he did say, you know, I don't think that we're structured enough. I don't think that guys are disciplined enough. And I think that we need more in-house rules, as you're saying. And I agree with you, like that falls on the head coach first and foremost to create a certain type of culture of accountability. And this wasn't the first time that Najee Harris made these similar comments.

You know, after a very disheartening loss about the middle of the season against the Cleveland Browns. I mean, he was sitting there with his head in his hands and he was saying, like, we can't keep doing this. And he said, you see some of the problems and some of the problems that we saw were Deontay Johnson not going for a fumble when the ball is on the ground. You know, or George Pickens not blocking for his teammates. But he said, you know, there's stuff going on behind the scenes that you guys don't even see.

And I think what he's alluding to, there was a report that came out that Pickens was fined more than $100,000 by the NFL and by the Steelers for violations. And, you know, it seems to me like they have some skill position players that aren't team oriented, team first type of guys willing to play hard for each other and with each other. And I think that that needs to change on this team because not only were the results not there offensively, but there were definitely times where they looked and felt like a dysfunctional unit.

And I think that that's one big thing that really has to change going forward. And it was very different on the defensive side of the ball. The defensive side of the ball, I don't think there were those issues. But offensively, when they had so many problems, I think that's where you had dissension. And that's where you had infighting and blaming and finger pointing.

And I think those are the kinds of things that need to be cleaned up. Mike DeFable joining us here. The Gerald Sport re-show coming to us from the Athletic. Yeah, I guess Steelers, like a lot of teams, are just running around with a few diva wide receivers.

What is the status of Pickens and Deonta? Every time they get a close up on them, they're complaining about something. They don't look happy.

They look miserable to be there. And it's not just the ref's fault. Yeah, it's really tough because definitely there is a certain attitude and personality you have to have to be a wide receiver. I like to call it athletic arrogance, where I think it's a good thing to feel like I'm the best, baddest player on the field.

No one can guard me. I should get the ball every single down. But when that spills over to selfishness, I think that that's a problem. And that's what you've seen on a couple of instances. Specific examples are the Steelers won a game earlier in the season and they scored the game when he touched down. And George Pickens walked to the sideline, didn't celebrate with his teammates, wasn't happy for his guy, Deontay, for scoring the touchdown. George Pickens later went on to scrub his social media account of all Steelers content, unfollowed Kenny Pickett, unfollowed Mike Tomlin, and posted Free Me on his Instagram story. Now, he later went on to say that had nothing to do with football, but come on, man. Don't gaslight me.

I know what was going on there. And that's kind of been the theme here, where there have been, it seems like, numerous instances where guys act out in a selfish manner. And I think that that needs to change because part of this is the Steelers for a number of years invested high top draft picks on defensive players and they paid them handsomely. Then to backfill all the holes they had offensively, they drafted a ton of new young guys on offense.

And all that youth, I think, is also showing a lot of immaturity as well. And they don't have a good leader on that team. There were a couple instances this year, including against the Colts, where they didn't even send an offensive captain out for the coin toss. And I think that that was kind of telling of where this team is at, where they did not have a strong veteran leader on offense.

And I think that was one of the things that was missing on this team. Do you think, and we've got to wrap things up, I appreciate you taking the time, Mike, do you feel that Mike Tomlin can also fill that void? Ben Roethlisberger expressed these comments, I think, about a month ago.

He said there is no leadership. And he also, it felt like, took a jab at Tomlin because of that. How much can Mike Tomlin do as one person? Yeah, you know, Mike Tomlin has a very interesting leadership approach. You know, I talked to Broderick Jones yesterday in the locker room.

He's their first round pick who starts at right tackle. And he said he's never had a coach like Mike Tomlin. And he said he's not a disciplinarian. He's not going to yell and scream at you.

But what he's going to do is he's going to have very regular meetings with you and try to talk with you. And I think for some players that works. You know, I think that they connect with that and they feel like this guy's on their side. But the criticism here in Pittsburgh is that he's so much of a player's coach that he's too much of their buddy.

And he's afraid to call guys out and be the bad guy. And I think that there's a balance there. So, you know, I'm really curious to see, you know, not only do you need to bring in an offensive coordinator to ignite this team, but maybe you need a strong voice of leadership that people can rally around and maybe hold people accountable.

And that's why, again, I feel like this offensive coordinator hiring is going to be a really pivotal decision that shapes next season for them. Hey, Mike, I appreciate you for taking the time to hop on. Just some excellent perspective that you've been able to share with us. We've been talking to Mike DeFabo from The Athletic. Where can people follow you and your work with the Steelers? Yeah, absolutely. You can follow me on Twitter.

I keep it easy. It's just at Mike DeFabo. And then obviously you can read all my work in The Athletic. And thank you so much, Mike, for joining us. We got a lot to chew on from the conversations that he had. You know, Mike Tomlin, player's coach, a little too friendly. I don't know if he's afraid to call anybody out. He seems and appears to be very, very direct how he is behind closed doors. But we've heard the words. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4CBS.

It's 855-212-4CBS. Mike Tomlin is not going anywhere, at least for this upcoming season. And as I sit here watching a basketball game yesterday, the NBA welcome back.

Someone who has been missing for the better part of a month. We'll talk about him, get to your calls, talk about Baker Mayfield. We got a lot to do here on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you to Mike DeFabo, Pittsburgh Steelers beat reporter from The Athletic, for joining us and sharing some perspective about Mike Tomlin and the Steelers and what they need to do. Let me be clear. A lot of what he said makes sense. All makes sense.

Unfortunately, the answers are not clear from the organization. What do you do at quarterback and what happens with Mike Tomlin? Mike DeFabo does believe that Mike Tomlin will get an extension that takes him past next season. And so we'll see what happens there. We'll also take a look at what they do at the quarterback position.

We have so much to get into here the rest of this break with the rest of the show. I do want to talk about Baker Mayfield and what he's doing right now for Tampa. I do want to get into some of the contracts. If you got to think about this, you got Dak Prescott. Man, he's looking for some money, too. We got Baker Mayfield going to be looking for some money as well.

We got a lot. I told you about Draymond Green. He made a return last night sitting here in front of me on one of the screens in the studio. I'm watching these. Speaking of Denver, I'm watching the Denver Nuggets and the Philadelphia 76ers. It's the score right now. 78-78 at halftime.

I see the Nuggets even had trouble flying into Philadelphia yesterday. But before I do any of that, since we did refer to the Steelers, it's time to let you know about the Defensive Player of the Week sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union, who proudly serves the armed forces, DOD, veterans and their families. Their members are the mission.

You can learn more at NavyFederal.org. Bill's linebacker, A.J. Cline. This man had a game so good, Hollywood could not even script it.

Listen, Cline. He played in two regular season games for the Bills this season before being released in early December. The 11 year vet resigned with Buffalo this week after originally having a family vacation planned and ended up leading the Bills. Eleven tackles in that victory yesterday, beating the Steelers 31 to 17. Let's see if they can continue on with a holiday or excuse me, the Hollywood story by going out there and beating those Kansas City Chiefs.

They should be very well acclimated by this point in time. 855-2124 CBS. Let's go ahead and hit the phone lines. We got Demetrius. Demetrius is calling us from Michigan. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Demetrius? What's up, J.R.?

I love this show. I don't get the criticism of Mike Tomlin. He is one of the top five coaches in the NFL, top 10, wherever you want to put him. This man Singley Henley took the Steelers to the playoffs with Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett as the quarterback. You can bring in Vince Lombardi or Andy Reid with this QB room.

They would win. I think this offseason, Mike Tomlin does get to go out there and get an OC, an innovative mind to help out the OC room. But Mike Tomlin is a great and I expect the expansion to get done this offseason. But far as what Mike said about calling, I don't think Mike Tomlin is afraid to call out his team. I think he's a leader of men.

I don't think he's scared of anybody. But those comments from Najee Harris. This is not Alabama. This is pro football. These are millionaires and you have to there's a difference between college and pro. You can't do the same. You can't be a Nick Saban and expect to not lose your locker room.

So those are the things. And just like I said, a big supporter, of course, that we want more playoff success as a Steelers fan. But who you fired Mike Tomlin, who are you bringing in?

I don't think there's any better options out there, you know, and if you aren't ruining fires Tomlin tomorrow or Tomlin walks, his age will have a contract within those that's within five minutes. So I appreciate the soldier. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Demetrius, for calling from Michigan. I agree with you.

It's always the case. You don't know what you got until it is gone. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. Let's go to Milwaukee and let's check in with Tommy. Tommy, you're on CBS Sports Radio. What's going on?

Hey, what's going on, JR? Shout out to producer tonight, too. I didn't hear his name, but I was a producer.

So I always got to shout out the man on the one. He's right. Right. No, we don't know. We gonna tell you his name.

We just let go. It's Ryan Hickey. Ryan, say hi to the man. Hello, Tommy. Hey, Ryan. Hey, shout out to Ryan, man. All right.

Shout out to Demetrius, too. I got an interesting hypothetical for you here. I mean, you see Milwaukee, you think about football. Of course, I'm a Packer fan.

I like to call in at the late show after, but I feel like there might be some bias on that. So I wanted to get your thoughts, JR. If the Green Bay Packers were hypothetically to call up every other team in the NFL, all 31 other teams, and they were to offer Jordan Love for that other team's quarterback, how many teams do you think would say yes to the deal? Now, straight up, just Jordan Love for the other team's quarterback. I think it's at least 25 teams right now after one week of playoffs, and you might be getting close to the high 20s on that, too. But I wanted to hear an outsider's perspective on how many teams you think would agree to that. I'm not prepared to go, OK, let's throw him in the top five.

What I'm prepared to do is to look at next season. I think it's clear there's going to be expectations that he's going to be at around one of the top 10 QBs. You know, I put quarterbacks in three categories. There's the quarterbacks who you worry about and you game plan. You worry about them coming back at the end of the game and beating you. There's the quarterbacks who nobody wants and any of the quarterbacks that are in the middle. Any given Sunday, they could throw you into a game or throw you out. I mean, that's what we saw with someone like Joe Flacco, who just rolled off of the couch.

You know, without doing the hey, this guy's top five, this guy's top 10, without doing that crap, this is what it's apparent. Jordan Love is already one of the best quarterbacks in the game. You know, is experience going to bite him in the ass at some point through here in the postseason? Likely. Am I going to go ahead and pick San Francisco over Green Bay? Yes, I would. And yes, I will. Would I be shocked if Green Bay went and beat him?

Not all that shocked, but I'm going San Francisco. But outside of that, Jordan Love is good, man. Jordan Love is good. Appreciate it. Enjoy the ride, okay?

All right. You take it easy, Ryan and J.R. Thank you so much, Tommy, for calling from Milwaukee. Yeah, man, it's not, I'm not, it's so easy to go, well, would you take him over to this quarterback? Take him over to this quarterback? He's still playing. So I think by nature, flattened period, obviously, he is one of the best quarterbacks in the game right now.

The way he concluded and ended his season is very clear. He's one of the best quarterbacks in the game. I mean, he went and finished the season second in total touchdowns. This is his first full season going out there and throwing the rock. And only guy who had more TDs than him is Dak Prescott. He just beat Dak. It doesn't matter whether or not you're throwing 36 in the regular season or 32. Hey, one dude is still playing and the other dude is sitting at home thinking about his next deal.

And how much money he might have lost. It's kind of nuts. It's the J.R. Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to take a break when we come back. I'll get some more of your calls.

855-212-4CBS. We'll talk about Dak's contract. And then we got to show love to another dude trying to play for some money. It's Baker Mayfield. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio.