Ryan Harris, Super Bowl Champion

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Baseball lives right here on the free Odyssey app. Brian, thank you for taking the time to hop on. JR, the people's broadcaster, great to join you, my friend.

Thank you so much. There's so much going on. I wanted to get your perspective, being in the league and now covering the league. Anything that shocked you today, first of all, when it came down to the franchise tag. We know Saquon, no tag.

Le'Jarius need tag. Any surprises? You know, honestly, I'm surprised that the Titans are given up by not franchising Derrick Henry. I get they don't want to pay, but man, I mean, you look at it and you think maybe they're full of plays a couple of games away. You also, you know, to me, I understand why there was no sort of, how can you say, long-term deal for Saquon Barkley. Look, you hold out until training camp's over.

I get that. But the way he went about it, basically, you know, he's, he came from Penn State. He's a big time guy there and then he was a big guy at the Big Apple. And I just, I worry about what he offers and especially this is a crowded running back free agency. So, strange, not, not unexpected to see Barkley leave. I completely agree with tagging Le'Jarius need by the Chiefs. You got to, you got to give Chris Jones the deal he has earned. And if not, I mean, you got Christian Wilkins, this is going to cost you more, but it gives you a lot of availability if you're the Chiefs. So, no surprises and very logical what teams have done.

Absolutely. Ryan Harris is joining us here from CBS Sports HQ. You know, we've had a lot of calls so far in this show and there have been a lot of rumors over the past couple of weeks about Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins and Justin Fields. Where do you think, for each guy individually, where would be an ideal landing spot and what is the best spot to be in if you are a quarterback? Well, I think if you're Russell Wilson or Kirk Cousins, you want to go play in Las Vegas. I mean, that's a team ready to win now.

It will be interesting to see, you know, what happens in the draft, but you've got Devontae Adams, you've got Michael Mayer from Notre Dame. I mean, that's the spot. And think about this, if you're Russ, you're getting paid 80 million anyways.

Why not get another 20 and beat the team that did you wrong twice a year? So, I think that's a really intriguing spot. And I think if I'm Kirk Cousins or Russell Wilson, that's where I want to be. Now, you also have a great opportunity in Atlanta. Ton of skill positions around, young skill positions on rookie deals and a very winnable division.

And then you've got to look at the commanders, too. I mean, clearly they're going to get a quarterback in the draft and rarely can a rookie quarterback take a team to the playoffs, especially in that division. So, there's a couple open spots, but that's the great thing about the NFL. I mean, JR, there are no open jobs.

You have to go take one and veterans know how to do that. So, there's going to be plenty of opportunity for veteran quarterbacks. Ryan, before I ask you about your former team, you spent the most time with the Denver Broncos. The man that they're going to be moving on from in Russell Wilson, you talk about competing for a job. There are contrasting opinions about how much he has left in the tank. Was it so much about the team and less about him? What are your thoughts, just specifically as it relates to Russell?

Well, one, a lot of people are taking the lazy route and clearly did not watch the film. Russell Wilson threw for over 3,000 yards and was in the top 10. That means it was number nine in touchdowns for the season. And he did more with less.

No one did more with less than he did. I mean, Courtland Sutton does not have speed. Yes, he had a career-high touchdown and still wasn't able to get 1,000 yards.

Jerry Judy's going to drop more yards than he's going to catch for you. He didn't even have a tight end. And then you've got an offensive line that gave up a sack 10% of dropbacks. 10% of the time he dropped back, he got sacked, let alone hurried or hit.

So that's the picture that those of us who actually watched the film see. And, yeah, there were some issues with learning the offense at first. And offense, which, by the way, hadn't been played for two years.

So there was a lot to learn. And I think the decision by the Broncos was great because both pieces are happy. Russell's happy. He gets $80 million to leave somewhere. Please, JR, pay me $80 million to leave this call when we're done. I would love it. It's not going to happen, by the way.

Not going to happen. And then you've got, you know, on the other side of the Broncos now, Sean Payton has a clean slate. He gets to go after a quarterback in the draft, maybe bring somebody from New Orleans who might be in free agency.

There's plenty of options, and it's on him. And I really respect what Sean Payton has done. He's never developed a rookie quarterback, and he wants that challenge. So a lot to be seen yet for the Broncos.

But if I'm Russ, I'm thrilled, and I'm confident in the fact that I did more than anybody else could have with the team that I had. Oh, a big old challenge for Sean Payton. But when you talk about what the Broncos did, and we're being joined by Ryan Harris from CBS Sports HQ, when you think about what they had to give up to bring him in and then sign him to, if you're a Broncos fan, how optimistic can you be moving forward that, hey, we're going to get a young guy and turn this around?

It seems like a longer-term project, no? It is a longer-term project, and the frustration's high for Broncos country out here in Denver and the Colorado area. I mean, look, Denver truly is where quarterbacks come to die. I mean, this is where you end your career as a quarterback. Joe Flacco had a little thrill after he left here, but for the most part, when quarterbacks come here, there has not been the production that leads to a playoff, let alone a championship. I mean, JR, they beat the Chiefs for the first time since I was playing, and you would have thought they won the Super Bowl. I mean, come on, you know, so you have to be able to play at a high level, and unfortunately for Broncos fans, the biggest piece that's been missing since we won the Super Bowl in 2015 is quarterback, and there has not been much to hope for.

Nah, this is not looking good. Ryan Harris is here with us. We certainly know about the NFL combine, which was held last week. We have some of the top prospects when it comes down to quarterbacks, someone like Caleb Williams not participating. We're certainly familiar with the system. What are your thoughts on the combine moving forward? We know it's a media property for the NFL. It's not just a, hey, show up and take your medicals, but when we have less of the stars participating, is this going to kind of wane in future years?

What are you thinking? It will never wane because the main point of the combine is for teams to see if you can follow directions. That's the number one thing they want you to do. They know you can run 40 yards, but can you do it with directions? Because guess what you're going to get in the NFL?

You're going to be able to run, but you're going to have some directions on what to do. And it's amazing how you see players not participate or actually get it wrong. Inevitably, there will be one or multiple players that fail the drug test coming in here. That's good to know before you invest a draft pick on a guy if that's something that bothers you in your front office. And regarding Caleb Williams, look, this has been a continuation of what I see as his biggest issue. I got the call three of his games, one last year and two this past season, especially at Oregon against Bo Nix and that tribe. And what really troubles me, JR, is when there was adversity, Caleb Williams lost his composure.

He was screaming at players, screaming at coaches. By the way, his play wasn't great because he can't see over his linemen half the time, which is only going to happen more in the NFL. And his playmaking ability that we all love to see doesn't happen in the NFL. You're not rolling out of the back of a pocket 13 yards deep against an Aiden Hutchinson or a Joey Bosa or Nick Bosa and throwing the football.

That's not going to happen. So he has a tremendous amount of growth still ahead of him, and I would be very cautious of drafting him if I was a member of a front office. And Ryan Harris is here with us on CBS Sports Radio. Well, in that case, Ryan, who would you take? If you had your pick of the litter when it comes down to QB, who do you think is going to have the best chance of success?

Well, I love Michael Penix. I think he's done a fantastic job with his college career, learning multiple playbooks, played in big games. But my favorite quarterback in this draft is J.J. McCarthy. I mean, J.R., he lost the national championship, did the work to get better, and came back and won it, took coaching from a staff that is now in the NFL and really managed the game in the way that you need quarterbacks to do it. And more importantly, when you win a championship, you realize what to focus on, what's not important. So he knows how to handle tickets before big games. He knows that he's going to have to make plays that are, I don't know, but he's not going to hesitate.

He's going to take that shot. That's the player that if I'm in the draft and I need a quarterback, I'm doing everything I can to get J.J. McCarthy an impressive, incredible collegiate career as a national champion and really building towards more. And former NFL lineman Ryan Harris is here with us on CBS Sports Radio. Well, you certainly know about protection out there, especially for quarterbacks.

And we know that Michigan's approach is down in the trenches. What would we see or what haven't we seen on a more consistent basis from J.J. that we might see in the NFL, now that he might have to throw the ball a whole hell of a lot more? Well, he has that ability, let's be clear. And he has the ability to throw, one, read a defense, which not many quarterbacks can actually do in this draft. Any time a quarterback's looking at the sidelines in college, he doesn't know what he's looking at.

And number two, how about the unselfishness that comes with a quarterback that ran the football the entire second half against Penn State? Oh, by the way, he can run the ball too. So I think you're going to see a tremendous amount of growth in him being able to expand his passing ability. And one of the little things that you look at are the nuances of that quarterback position. He holds the ball out on play-action passes to draw the defense. He sets up at seven yards instead of ten or eleven, like many of the quarterbacks who are being drafted this year do. He's going to give his offensive line time to create a pocket, his receivers time to get downfield, and he knows how to change the snap count to create those matchups in the run game. And I know people say, oh, they ran the ball out of Michigan. And you have to know as a quarterback what the count is on either side to be able to run the ball effectively. J.J. McCarthy did that time and time again throughout his career. Without a shadow of a doubt.

Ryan, last question for you. A little bit on the college side. We know about the changes that are going on in the NFL and potential kickoff rule changes, et cetera. Man, you went to Notre Dame, and there's so many changes, whether it be an expansion of March Madness or an expansion of the college football playoff. Where do you think all of this ends on the college football side? It just seems like madness. There's almost zero structure, and it seems like, I don't know, every five years the game is going to get chopped up more and more and more.

What is your perspective? It's more of the same from the NCAA. Look, I really enjoyed my time as a collegiate athlete, and it's not me. It's Forbes that said that my time as a collegiate athlete was worth $435,000 per year in terms of the revenue it made the university. The NCAA as an organization has been used by schools as a scapegoat for things like this, for chopping things up and adding things, but this is the right thing to do.

I don't know about you, J.R., but you're missing football, right? And in a four-team playoff in football, and what earth can that possibly bring out the best champion? So I love that they're expanding it. It's crazy, though, how much money they're going to make. Players deserve half of the money. They do it in the NFL. It can be done. Who's getting the money, J.R.?

Where are they? Because this is something where continually you're going to see changes in college football. I believe you're going to see conferences move to less conference games, maybe five instead of nine, and that's really going to open up some national matchups that everybody wants to see. But in terms of the competition, it's moving in the right direction, and as far as the NCAA goes and having it be chaos, that's how they operate. They're making so much money they don't care to change it, and they still must be.

Wow stuff. Ryan, I want to ask you this in finality. Yesterday we all know that we got the final word that Jason Kelce is calling it a wrap. I mean, you can sit down and watch the game casually, but for someone who understands the line like you, what does someone like Kelce mean to a line, and what does he mean, and what does this mean for the Eagles moving forward and their quarterback hurts? Jason Kelce means everything, not just to the offensive line but to that offense. Jalen Hurts was told who the mic was multiple times in a game by Jason Kelce. Jason Kelce is also the guy who can not only set the huddle, but he understands how to win a championship, so he also understands. In those moments when a guy makes a mistake, you don't scream at that guy.

You crack a joke, you encourage them, and you let them know you're there for their help. I mean, he could be single-handedly the most important person in Jalen Hurts' development to where Jalen Hurts is now and not the coaching staff. That's how talented he is, and I was fortunate enough. We were in training camp together in Philadelphia his rookie year, and I remember JR, he was so nervous about making the team. He was kind of doing the Tommy Boy pulling out his hair thing, trying to remember the calls and all that, and got to catch up with him a couple times throughout our careers and then lately, and just so happy for him. And I really think it's a classy move by him to wait until after the Super Bowl that his brother was playing him with all the attention on his brother and Taylor Swift.

That says a lot about the man that Jason Kelce is, that he waited for that to be finished to take his time to say goodbye to the game, and I wish him the best of luck. And no doubt about it. Well, Ryan, man, thank you so much for what you do. Always a pleasure to watch and listen to you as well.

And for everybody listening, where can they follow you and your work? Hey, check me out on Instagram, RyanHarris underscore 68. You know I'm a great corporate speaker, JR, so if you need somebody to rile up your troops, visit the website, RyanHarris68.com. Hey, thank you so much, Ron. Look forward to chatting with you sooner than later, okay? Thanks, JR. Peace. Thank you.