Carr and Saints DRAMA (Hour 2)

Yo, yo, our number two of our radio program, the new overnight host at the Infinity Sports Network, is Pat Boyle. He'll be chopping it up with us 20 minutes from now.

This is the Zach Gelb show. Derek Carr, we talked about this at the end of last week, how there was a breaking news report, and it had to do with Derek Carr, and it was from Ian Rappaport's rap sheet. And it said the Saints suddenly have had major QB questions. Starter Derek Carr is now dealing with a shoulder injury that threatens his availability for this season, sources say. Carr is weighing options, including the possibility of surgery. So we saw that at the end of last week and didn't really think much of it, right?

All right, Derek Carr may have missed the entirety of the season, probably the end of Derek Carr's time with the Saints, right? They restructured that contract, so we thought he was going to be there. But then this story comes out, and it's from a reputable name. It's from one of the top insiders covering the NFL in Ian Rappaport, right? If it comes from a Schefter, if it comes from a Rappaport, if it comes from a Pelissero, a Glazer, or now even, I'll say it, Jordan Schultz. After the Starbucks incident, Jordan Schultz has a lot of extra punch to him, and he's been moving up those rankings, and he's been excellent on some of these stories. But anyway, when Ian Rappaport has a story like that, you just kind of take it as gospel, right?

As fact. So that story did come and go, and let's be real, it's not as if Derek Carr really moves the needle that much anymore. In Derek Carr's own mind, he's the greatest thing ever.

You know, in his brother's mind. David Carr, Derek Carr's the greatest quarterback ever, and he always gets disrespected. And this is the one thing that bugs me with Derek Carr. It's always like the woe is me. And when you start to give up on him, when you start to doubt him, it's all, we got screwed, we got slighted, it's the end of the world. So there's a lot, I guess, going on behind the scenes that we did not know.

We'll share that in a second. But Stu, did you think twice about this story until I sent this link in our Slack earlier today, talking about how there's a lot more to this Derek Carr story? Honestly, no. I just thought he had an injury, and that was kind of it.

I really, honestly, since Friday, on Friday, and since then, I didn't really think twice about it. Yeah, right, because two things could happen. One, he gets a second opinion, and he's not going to miss the entirety of the season, and then it's okay how much of the season you're going to miss, or he's going to get the surgery, and then he's out for the rest of the season, and he never plays again for the Saints. And then there was also that thought, okay, more and more momentum gaining towards Chidor Sanders maybe getting taken at nine with the Saints, because you have the possibility, the Browns, Giants, and Raiders, at two, three, and six, all passing up on Chidor Sanders, just the possibility of that being out there. So the reason why I thought about it more today is there was an article on Bleacher Report with something that Albert Breer said that we'll get to in just a second, but Adam Schefter, Shefty, was on the ESPN with unsportsmanlike, and this is what Adam Schefter, the preeminent, the number one NFL insider, no disrespect to Rappaport, Pelissero, Schultz, or Glazer, but Schefter's at the top of that food chain.

The other four, they're right in there. They're the top five NFL insiders, but this is what Adam Schefter had to say when he was talking about this Derek Carr situation earlier this morning. Yeah, I think there's more to this. Again, this is my opinion, but the Saints have known about this, and the story comes out on a Friday night, two days before their voluntary off-season workout program begins. The timing is peculiar to me. The situation is peculiar to me. Yeah, my own feeling is that there's more to this, and so I haven't figured out what that is yet.

So there's more to this. So maybe this was just because I assumed, but when you heard about the shoulder injury with Derek Carr, I don't know about you, Stu, but I just kind of assumed with how he got hurt at the end of the year and how Derek Carr is pretty much irrelevant now in the landscape of quarterbacks in the NFL. I just assumed that it was either the same injury and something was detected later on or in training or something that he just got hurt, and right, that happens where there's damage is done.

So I went back and looked it up. When he got hurt up against the Giants, I think it was in week 13 or 14, he had a few broken bones in his non-throwing hand. So he had broken bones in his non-throwing hand. Nothing to do with the shoulder here. So this is a new injury here. And it pops up out of nowhere. And could it just be, hey, guy gets hurt while training for the season?

Sure. But it pops up, like Schefter said, before the voluntary OTAs are about to start and also with the NFL draft right around the corner. Now, there is also a theory that maybe Derek Carr is seeing the writing on the wall here and maybe Derek Carr is sitting back and he's saying to himself, I don't want to be Kirk Cousins in Atlanta, where they're going to take a quarterback in the top 10 of the draft. That's going to be their guy. And I don't want to be a part of that. I want to go somewhere else.

Well, here's what I'll push back on that. I'm not saying Derek Carr doesn't want to feel that way. But if Schefter is now leaving the door open that there's something more to this when it's a black or white issue, you're either hurt or you're not. Well, if Derek Carr is going to get traded, he's got to pass a physical. So is he hurt or is he not? Or is he just hurt right now because his feelings are hurt? And did they make up an injury that would possibly derail his entirety of the season? And also, it's like, how can you fake that?

How can you fudge that if we're being serious? So there is a lot of meat on the bone with this story. And it's fascinating to me where the two biggest NFL insiders, Rappaport, the Saints suddenly have a major QB question. Derek Carr is now dealing with a shoulder injury that threatens threatens his availability for this season, sources say.

Carr is weighing options, including the possibility of surgery. That's one report. Then Schefter on ESPN earlier this morning, hey, we haven't seen you really talk about much of Derek Carr. And let's be real. There's got to be some behind the scenes conversation there. Like, I don't know the complete genesis of the conversation, but I've done this long enough now and I've made enough news.

And also, I could kind of tell when a guest is getting set up. I know Evan Cohen was doing the interview and he's a bright guy. And I used to work with Evan when I was quickly for a quick sip of coffee. And no, that's not an Ian Rappaport, Jordan Schultz dig. But when I had a quick sip of coffee at Sirius, I worked with Evan.

He's a very nice guy. So could Evan have heard something or been told something and then he wanted to throw it out to the Shefty? That could be an option. Or since Schefter and Evan Cohen worked for the same network, maybe Schefter was like, hey, I kind of want to say something about this.

So maybe ask me about this when we have our chat on ESPN radio. That could be a possibility. But Schefter then saying there's something more to this carries a lot of weight.

And I mean a ton of weight. So Albert Breer does a great job at the Monday Morning Quarterback. He said when it came to the restructuring of the contract with Derek Carr, because I thought another black or white issue, you restructure the contract. I also thought that both parties would have had to be involved in this.

Well, it wasn't as restructured as we usually think about it. The door seemed closed on a trade in early March. This is what Albert Breer said via Bleacher Report. When the Saints converted $28.7 million of his $30 million base salary into a signing bonus, taking his base all the way down to the league minimum. In doing so, it locked New Orleans into paying that money for 2025, meaning if Carr was traded, the Saints would be paying Carr to play for someone else this fall. That's what Albert Breer wrote.

He continued. The move also was made without Carr's blessing. Since the Saints had the contractual right to do that, it's common that teams have that conversation, that conversion lever written into a contract. So I guess this is a normal practice.

And even if they have that right, you would still think that a conversation would go down. But if I'm Derek Carr, and maybe you could clarify this for me, why would you be so upset if they converted pretty much most of your base salary into a signing bonus for this upcoming season? And now your salary for this year is the league minimum pretty much, but you're getting all that money anyway.

So to me, what's the big issue here? They converted $28.7 million of his $30 million base salary into a signing bonus. So your regular salary is going to be the league minimum, and then you're getting the rest of it in a signing bonus.

And then if they trade you, they're paying your contract regardless. So what's the big deal here with Derek Carr? Because one would assume, oh, he's miffed that they didn't have this conversation about the contract. I don't really see what the big deal is here on the Derek Carr side, why this would frustrate him. I think part of it is, A, not being consulted about it is kind of insulting, but I think it's kind of like a string of events. If it was just this, he probably wouldn't care that much. With the new coach coming in, too.

Correct. If it was just this, it wouldn't be as big of a deal. If there was not all these rumors and talk about them drafting a quarterback nine, it would not be as big of a deal.

Well, that's what I think it is. I think that he's just annoyed at the organization, because this is the Carr playbook. When someone starts to doubt you or someone starts to question you and Derek Carr views himself as a great underappreciated quarterback. And right, you could believe in yourself.

I'm not saying don't believe in yourself, but you also have to be realistic at some point. I don't think what the Saints is doing whatsoever is unfair. If I'm the Saints, I'm trying to find my franchise quarterback. I don't believe Derek Carr is a franchise quarterback. But it does seem like the moment when someone gives up on Derek Carr, doubts Derek Carr, wants to do better than Derek Carr. Derek Carr is like bleep the organization.

Right, because Stu, I know the Josh McDaniels situation was a little bit more difficult, and I'm not defending Josh McDaniels. I think his idea was right in wanting to move off of Derek Carr, but the plan did not work out after that. Like if you move off of Derek Carr, you can't just bring in Jimmy G. I don't even know if that's a lateral move.

It's a lateral move at best. But you need to go get a Brady. You need to go get an Aaron Rodgers at the time. But didn't he leave the team?

Right? Yes, it was about a game or two left. I think it was one game left, and they were just like, alright, he's done playing for the year.

So is this Derek Carr's way, the Saints are giving up on me. I'm going to talk about this shoulder injury, and maybe it's legit. Maybe there's more to this story like Schefter's saying, and who knows, it's always tough when you speculate about someone's health. So maybe this is let's wait and see what happens in the draft.

And is this just draft noise, or are they actually going to take a quarterback and they're going to put me on the clock? And if that's the case, I'll either hide behind this injury or try to find a way how to spin this injury or whatever the resolution is. I don't know. Maybe he just needs minor surgery. Maybe he can play through the entirety of the season and hold off surgery until after the season.

I don't know. So maybe that's what happens, or the Saints don't take a quarterback and let's say like not take a quarterback in the first two rounds. Because third round and on, whatever. Doesn't mean that you're going to be a starting quarterback. Second round or earlier, you're probably thinking that one day you're going to start for that team. And if they don't end up doing that in the first two rounds, then maybe Carr's like, oh, I got a second opinion now, this is scary. All is OK.

There is something weird though here. When you factor in the injury and now Schefter's kind of questioning it in addition to this whole contractual situation, the way that it did go down. So Bleacher Report summarized it. They said to summarize, the Saints have a new head coach in Kellen Moore who has never worked with Carr, replacing a head coach in Dennis Allen that he had a long history with. There were trade rumors regarding the quarterback throughout the offseason, generally a sign of potential disconnect. And the Saints shut them down by restructuring Carr's deal without consulting him and now Carr's considering surgery on an injury that wasn't public before a few days ago. With uncertainty on whether the Saints knew the severity of the issue.

So is this a game of a level of pettiness where it's like, oh, you didn't tell me about the contract. So now I have this injury. We don't really know the severity of this injury, so we'll keep it ambiguous. But now I'm going to tell you about the injury or leak it to Ian Rappaport. Man, oh, man. I'm fascinated to see what the Saints do in the draft.

I am. Not really because of the Derek Carr factor, just if Chidor is there at nine, will they take him? Or is it what Todd McShea said where maybe they'll end up taking Jackson Dart because they think Jackson Dart's a better fit for Kellen Moore. Could you imagine if Chidor is there at nine and they end up taking Jackson Dart?

Jeez. I will be having a lot of tweets, a lot of videos that night on social media. I will be fuming.

I will be furious after. It sounds ridiculous, but when you hear Todd McShea give his reasoning. Oh, he did a good job explaining it. It just sounds logical. It could be ridiculous.

They would get ripped apart in a way, but it just makes sense the way McShea explained it. No, he did a good job explaining it. I just still vehemently disagree because I don't think Jackson Dart is very good.

I think Chidor Sanders is very good. And it really brings up the question between quarterback talent versus system fit. Yeah.

Right. We've talked about this system guy, guy who was like the perfect fit for that system and the coach. And we've seen so many talented quarterbacks fail, not necessarily by their own fault, but because they were just with the wrong organization, the wrong coaches, the wrong system, wrong offensive coordinator.

Here's what doesn't match up for me. Chidor, they say, is NFL ready. Chidor, they say, is a pocket passing quarterback. And he's all about accuracy and precision. And his arm is very good. I feel like you could work, if you're a good coach, you could work with that.

If that's what the bare minimum way that we talk about Chidor Sanders. So I'm fascinated to see what the Saints do in this draft. Stu, give me a team that you're fascinated by on what they're going to do in the draft.

I would say the Pittsburgh Steelers. I think there's intrigue there because obviously they could stay at 21. They could just take any random player. But the Aaron Rodgers saga I think makes it interesting because they can either take a quarterback there if either Chidor or Dart or whoever falls to them there. They could trade up to take a quarterback. They could give Rodgers a deadline and say we're good, we're going to take a quarterback. So I just think whatever the Steelers decide to do if they decide to go quarterback in the first round intrigues me a lot. And could you imagine if Chidor Sanders winds up in Pittsburgh? That would actually be fun. And if I'm Chidor, when you look at it, Giants, Cleveland, Raiders, Saints or Pittsburgh with DK Metcalf and George Pickens. I would love to be a Pittsburgh Sealer if I'm Chidor Sanders.

Santa, who's your team? I'm going to go the Cleveland Browns because I think we're pretty clear they're not going quarterback two. But will they go Travis Hunter? Will they go Abdul Carter?

That's the first question. I would say Hunter right now, yeah. The next question is are they going to make a trade for Kirk Cousins? Or if they don't, are they really going to the season with Kenny Pickett or Joe Flacco as the starting quarterback? And then the third question for me is are they trading back up into the first round?

Maybe into the teens or the early 20s to get a Chidor or a Jackson Dart. So there's so many questions about what the Browns could do. It reminds me, if you remember back when Johnny Manziel was going to get drafted. Everyone thought they were going to take Manziel second, third, fourth, whatever it was. They didn't, but then they ended up taking, trading back up into the first round and taking Manziel anyway. And so it kind of reminds me of that same situation where they might trade back in and get their quarterback. And also they're sitting with their second round pick, 33rd.

I think for sure Cam Worden, Chidor Sanders are going to go in the first round. If maybe this is all smokescreen with Jackson Dart and Jalen Millerow, there's a possibility that you take Travis Hunter at two. And then sitting there at the second round pick, right, as they're sitting there with the 33rd pick in the second round. So that's the first pick in the second round. Maybe that they end up getting their quarterback there if it's Dart or if it's Millerow, whoever may be available.

Alrighty, we'll take a time out when we come on back. The new overnight hosts at the Infinity Sports Network. He's no stranger to this network. He's no stranger to this program. Pat Boyle is going to join us on the other side.

And you know what? We'll see how big of an ego Pat has. Because if Pat is late, if he's not on time, if he blows us off, then let me tell you. There could be fisticuffs already between us and the new overnight show. I will just tell you this.

I've texted him, sent him, he hasn't responded back once to me. He might not even show up. He's like Warren Sapp with you. Now let's see if he's Warren Sapp with me.

I think it could be a little bit different. Come on back. Big announcement earlier this morning right here on many of these same Infinity Sports Network affiliates. If you didn't hear it on one of the affiliates you're listening to right now, you could always check out Pat Boyle now.

As the new overnight hosts on Sirius XM channel 375 and the always free Odyssey app. Pat Boyle is a friend. He's also a colleague. And now he's a big wig around here. He went from update anchor, fill in host, tape up, you know, doing everything. Pat Boyle never said no to any shifts, really. And there'd be days where I would see him doing updates and then producing later that night. Obviously, he took over for me doing the eight hour whip around show on Sundays and did a phenomenal job this past NFL season. But now this is the first Monday through Friday full time gig as a radio host, as he's going to be the new host replacing Amy Lawrence, who left our network a few months ago. And Pat has taken over that 2 to 6 a.m. Eastern time slot, 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Pacific.

And Patty Boyle, who I once dumped an entire thing of oil on back to the DA days when we were doing a Bob's Bar show, is kind enough to join us right now. Pat, first and foremost, congratulations. I would ask you how you're doing. But I've seen the slobber fest on the Internet, so I know you're doing pretty damn well. Hey, what's up, Zach? Well, I appreciate that intro you gave me, and I'm surprised that the that the fact that you oiled me came at the very end of it.

But yeah, I'm doing great, man. And thanks for everything you said. It means a lot.

Thanks for you know, for being in my corner and being somebody that I've looked up to literally and metaphorically, because you're a giant over the last couple of years. So what is the Pat Boyle? It's the Pat Boyle show, right?

Correct. Maybe we go the Pat Boyle extravaganza, the Pat Boyle experience. You know, I'm not going to tinker too much with what you're doing, but I know who you are as a person and also a host. Tell the listeners that maybe not be familiar with you, which I don't know how they're not familiar with you, what they can anticipate and expect weekdays a week.

Excuse me, weeknights, week, morning, whatever it is, Monday through Friday from 2 to 6 a.m. Eastern time. Yeah, well, maybe they should have given you creative rights control over the name. I figured I'd keep it short, sweet, simple. I don't know if I wanted to rip off Joe Rogan and go with the Pat Boyle experience. I figured just the Pat Boyle show was short and simple. But yeah, for those that don't know me, what you can expect every single night is passionate, strong opinions. You know, I grew up in central New Jersey listening to WFN in New York.

So Mike Francesca and Chris Russo, Mike and the Mad Dog was my show that I grew up on. So hardcore sports talk, passionate opinions. You're going to agree with me wholeheartedly. A lot of the times you're going to think I'm an idiot and you're going to disagree and think that I have no idea what I'm talking about other times. But you know that no matter what, you're going to get a genuine opinion.

It's not fabricated stuff. It's it's the real deal. I think, you know, Zach, you know how passionate I am about sports and how we're watching games every single night. So you're going to get you're going to get the best. You're going to get a full clip every single show. And I'm going to bring my absolute best. But also on top of that, you know, whether it was two to six a.m. or whatever slot, like I'm going to try to have as much fun as possible. And the humor is going to be built into the show. I got the great people.

Lottie is the producer. So I'm sure Pete's going to bust my chops. I'm going to bust his we're going to bust callers chops. They're going to bust ours. And, you know, with the occasional guest that I that I will have on, it's going to be a good one. It's going to be a great one.

It's going to be somebody that comes on and they're entertaining as hell. And I want the rest of the country and the world to hear them or somebody that is just so damn smart that, you know, I'm not spending 15, 20 minutes in the middle of the night when people are alive. They want to be entertained. They're up for a reason, whether it's work or they can't sleep or maybe they are listening back later in the day. You know, I'm not wasting people's time here.

So I turn on that microphone and it's four hours, balls to the wall every single show. Now, I will say I have a few dates here. A sampter had made twenty twenty five. Stu has October of twenty twenty five. I have July of twenty twenty seven.

Any idea what those those dates are for? Is that why when I get fired? No, we have a pool of when you're going to say something controversial and get canceled, honestly. Because I'm being honest, out of all the people, like the part time people that they would bring in and write would work on my show, whether it was weekend overnights or whether it was six to ten or now three to six, whenever I would go to Pat Boyle. And this is a good thing.

I would never know what the heck he was going to say. And we told this story. We actually spent the first 15 minutes saying a bunch of nice things about you. And also getting on sampter, by the way, in a nice little suck up spot doing a reply all to a company email congratulating you.

You know, I could just reach to the side, do a text message, you know, stuff like that. But I'll never forget when I was working with you once on TV and radio and you basically were like Pete Garrow is going to drop dead on the sideline. I was like, oh, Pat, what are we doing? So there's always a line. And Pat Boyle sometimes will cross the line. But usually it's very entertaining when you do cross the line. You know that. Yeah. Look, sometimes you got to tow the line and hopefully I don't go too far over.

But I guess the good thing is, you know, if you're listening live, well, then again, it's on basically every single station across the country in North America. So maybe I yeah, maybe I better watch out and be careful. But no.

Yeah. No, look, I appreciate that. That's what I tell you.

You know, sometimes there's no filter for better or for worse. So that's why, you know, when I do say something, you know, it's it's coming straight from the dome, straight from the heart one way or another. Now, something I will not tolerate, by the way, and I will go after you if you do this, because I know you're very good with the NFL. You're a Notre Dame hunk, but you're very good with college football, basketball. You're a Knicks hunk, but you're very good overall with the NBA. If I tune in and I can't go to sleep and I have to hear tennis talk and soccer talk from Pat Boyle, who slobbers over soccer and is a tennis freak.

We're going to have to have a conversation, Patty. Look, man, all I'm saying is the French opens coming up next month. So you better be ready because it's going to be live when I'm on when I'm on the air at 5 a.m. Eastern.

So get ready for plenty of now. I'm just kidding. But, you know, I love all sports.

There's no sports that I that I will shoulder to the side, even soccer and tennis. Me, Stu and Santa were just talking about soccer right before this segment started. Yeah, that's why I wasn't on the on the air with us. You know, we're not going to continue that conversation. So where are you at with Notre Dame? I know that I guess they're not going after Nico Iamaliava, but it doesn't seem like he has much, much of a market coming off the successful season where you wanted Marcus Freeman fired.

And then he goes on to a championship game. I know you and Stu were in lockstep on that. And I don't blame you after what happened up against NIU with Northern Illinois. But where's your confidence with the Fighting Irish heading into this football season?

It's pretty high. I mean, I was, you know, again, hand the hand up in the air. I was wrong about Marcus Freeman. I question his ability as an in-game coach after the debacle against Northern Illinois, the debacle the year before that against Ohio State late in the game, not having the amount of guys right on the field. Just fourth quarter decision making was normally atrocious. Remember, two years ago, they lost at home to Marshall. Charles Huff.

Yeah. But I thought it was rock bottom when they lost to Northern Illinois. I said, cancel the season.

It's over. And then they literally go on a run all the way to the national title game. So something changed within Marcus Freeman, something changed within that program. He's always been a great recruiter.

The program should never have a problem with NIL money. Their academic standards is the reasoning in the past that they always get to the college football playoff and then get, you know, usually get crushed by the Alabamas or the Clemsons or the what have yous. So, look, I'm looking forward to sustained success for Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. And they'll be back in the playoff this year.

They'll be making a run at the title game once again. So I heard you're open. I wasn't listening live.

I used the rewind function on the free Odyssey app. Good company guy right there. I'll be as Pat Boyle is here with us joining us in the day. He takes over the overnight shift here at the network. Now full time host. You catch a Monday through Fridays from two to six a.m. Eastern. And I saw like a pre-show tweet.

You had a problem with Coach Prime having Travis Hunter and Chador Sanders. Their number is going to get retired in a few days. Two and twelve. Is that what I was reading right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, have a little bit.

Have a little bit of feel. Act like you've been there before. Act like you're a program that won a national title back in 1990. Not a program where, oh, we won one game two years ago. They've literally saved us.

Yeah, they were irrelevant. They were all the Colorado guys saying that program with Coach Prime. Colorado's had two different seasons where they've won 10 games within each of the last 20 years. So like literally within each of the past 10 years, give or take, there's a season where they've won 10 games. They've been a great program. They had a down year. They had a down couple of years, a lean period. Now they were in the Big 12.

They're getting the Big 12 money. It's what Deion Sanders has done has been fantastic. Chador Sanders and Travis Hunter, if you want to tell me they're going to retire their numbers in 10 years from now.

Hell, even five years from now, I have no problem with it. Travis Hunter literally won the Heisman Award. Chador Sanders is probably going to get drafted in the top five.

I think my official prediction is he goes three to the Giants. But but either way, like they won 13 games in two years combined. They were there for two years and they had a combined 13 and 12 record. Has anybody from that 1990 National Championship team have their number retired? You want again, you want to retire in a couple of years?

Fine. Four months later at the spring game to use it as a cheap and comical recruiting tool. I mean, come on. You can't recruit based off of Deion Sanders name alone and what they've done to elevate that program. Now you've got to retire numbers basically anytime somebody has a good year. I don't think that's going to be the case, to be fair. Also, it's almost like Deion Sanders, Coach Prime, because I'm a believer, by the way, friend of the show, Coach Prime. He's on borrowed time there at Colorado.

They just got the new deal done and all that stuff. But you don't know how long this is going to last. So he's going to do it his way.

Personally, I have no problem with it whatsoever and I can't get all fired up. But, you know, that's what's going to get people going now in the overnights because Pat Boyle is going to give you takes like that. Then you're going to call him up at eight, eight, seven, ten for ISN. You're going to call the moron. That's what you're going to do. And you're going to go back and forth each and every night. And it's going to be really fun and a good listen.

All right. NBA topic for you right now are the Celtics. Are they going to get back to the NBA finals out of the Eastern Conference? Yeah, they will.

They will. Jalen Brown. I want to see what his knee looks like as the playoffs progress. But last year, the Celtics had probably the luckiest ride to the finals. And then they decimated, you know, they annihilated Luca and Kyrie in the Mavs anyway. And they did most that without Kristaps Porzingis. But remember, they faced a banged up Cleveland team that then lost Donovan Mitchell. They faced a banged up Indiana team that then lost Tyrese Halliburton. I still think the Celtics are deep enough, even if Jalen Brown has to miss a stretch of games or if he's not 100 percent.

They have proven time and time and time again. Jason Tatum, Porzingis, Derek White, Drew Holliday, plus the depth. The bench, the bench guys they got coming off the bench could start for probably half the teams in the NBA with Pritchard. And what Hauser is able to do for them shooting threes and Luke Cornette. They're deep. They're loaded.

They're lethal. Their motivation is still right there to try to repeat. Cleveland had a better regular season, but that series won't even go seven if it goes to the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston is just that much better than everybody else in the East. And they'll be going back to the finals. Remember, Cleveland, a big market for you now. You know, you may have to start sucking up and being a Browns fan again and having the pom poms out for the Cavs.

I'm just letting you, 92-3 the fan, very good affiliate for that overnight show. Cleveland, this is for you. I'll be saying that when they get swept in the conference finals by Boston. Cavs have been a great team this year, but they just and I know that they've they've done great against Boston in the regular season.

They've shown their their metal and they've proved it. But, you know, again, Donovan Mitchell, he had a couple of really, really insane postseasons when he was with Utah. I don't think he's capable of going and scoring 35 points a game and shooting 42 percent from deep, which is what he's going to have to do to beat Boston.

And it's going to you're going to have to get an incredible performance from Darius Garland night in and night out. And they're bigs. Mobley and Allen are going to have to contend with Porzingis. And when they get stretched out the out to the perimeter, that's where Boston takes over. It's their ability to hit thirty threes on any given night and just outshoot teams. And yeah, they might have one off day like they did against Miami last year in that conference series.

They might have one off day against the Mavs, but they are just pound for pound better. So, yeah, the great folks of Cleveland. I mean, what am I going to suck up to every city I'm on?

Too many cities in that time slot. You could. And I basically did it and it worked out pretty damn well for me. Pat Boyle, you said you'd or Sanders three of the Giants. So I'm assuming you have Cam Ward going one to the Tennessee Titans, then two. You do have the Cleveland Browns, I'm assuming taking Travis Hunter and then it should door three to the Giants. Is that what you're doing?

Yep. That's how I think it's going. And look, I think Cleveland, you know, speaking of Cleveland, I think they're a bunch of morons if they don't draft your doors. Sanders step on this. I think the Browns and Giants should doors there.

They should take them. I don't think either will. Maybe more so today on the Giants just because this meeting that's going down on Thursday. But the line of thinking I'm at today is that Travis Hunter goes to Abdu Carter goes through. I want Abdu Carter for my Patriots at four. And I'm just feeling like I'm going to get screwed here and I'm not going to get him. And then maybe they use the Panthers to move up from their second round pick the Browns and the Giants to go get you door and maybe eight or something like that.

That's what I was thinking today. Yeah. I mean, look, Cleveland's going into this season now with Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco as their quarterbacks. I think Jimmy Haslam's comments about Deshaun Watson, you can all but close the book on Deshaun Watson as a Browns quarterback. And he stinks anyway. So Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco is an awfully interesting combo.

But I mean, maybe it's going to be, you know, tank for arch or tank for somebody else if you're the Cleveland Browns this year, because I don't see them having any kind of success with those two guys at quarterback. So do me a favor. There's a legendary story around here. You once slept on Boomer size since couch in his office and you took a drink out of his fridge and then you left him a note. Tell that story for people that are not familiar with it, because it's incredible. From that Pat Boyle to becoming one of the more hardest working people around here and taking every shift thrown your way.

That Pat Boyle to the Pat Boyle that's sitting here today as the new overnight host here on the network. It's kind of an incredible rise. Yeah. I mean, there's a couple more gray hairs in the side of my head.

There's a couple of more thin mustache hairs that have grown in. And, you know, you've got the glasses that I know everybody loves here at the radio station that people like to call me Jeffrey Dahmer for. So that's fun. Always getting that comp.

That's that's definitely a comp I'd like to continue to get. Yeah. Don't drive a van here when you're coming to the studio now. That's all I'm going to say.

Yeah. Well, you know, again, when I when I got here the first couple of weeks of working at at Odyssey at WFAN and here at the network, I was doing a double shift. I had to call an LIU Brooklyn basketball game at 2 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. I was doing an overnight Friday shift. So I was like, all right, instead of going back to New Jersey where I'm from, why don't I just sleep at the station?

I'll, you know, pack and bring my suit, put hanging in the car, change into it in the morning and Saturday morning and then go off to Brooklyn. And Boomer Esiason, the great, you know, 1984 MVP quarterback and one time Super Bowl appearance, zero time Super Bowl winner. Boomer left his office. Boomer left his office open and I I didn't know if that was a common occurrence or not.

So I said, why not? I took a walk in as an ice black sofa leather couch. I was like, all right, this looks good for us. Yeah. I wasn't familiar with the lay of the land of our station and the sales office and the couches that resided back there just yet. So our seasons.

Yeah. I took a nap on Boomer's couch and I decided, oh, he doesn't know me. I'll see him every now and then when I work an overnight locally or he's coming in for his show and I'm leaving. I say hi to I'm not going to stop the guy and, you know, basically give him a whole life story. So I was like, all right, let him know who I am.

Write a note. Say, hey, Boomer, you know, thanks for the couch. Talk about great hospitality. And he had a fridge with some Guinness in there.

And I said, by the way, solid effing choice on the Guinness. I mean, I thought that that's something if I read as a note, I would have said I want to get to know this guy. This guy's cool. And unfortunately, that kind of had the exact opposite result. But it actually worked out well for you in a good way because it put you on their radar. So I actually give you credit for it, even if I wouldn't have gone about it that way.

But ultimately work that your full time host here inside the company. Last thing I'll say to you, Pat. Obviously, I was in your fantasy league. I still am. And I'll never forget your father, who unfortunately passed away in November.

So I didn't know your father well, but he was in that fantasy league when he drafted like the Cleveland Browns in the sixth round of a fantasy football draft. And we all got to laugh about that. But I know you've talked about this and we've talked about it before.

How much your dad was such a big advocate for you in pursuing this dream. And I know he'd be very happy with the news that did come out today. So, you know, I just wanted to bring that up. I'd be remiss if I didn't do so and also say this. If you want to know about the dedication that Pat Boyle has for a job like that, when his dad passed away a day or two later, you were doing an eight hour show on on gridiron game day, the whip around show.

And you would not even be able to tell that you lost your dad that day. So I just want I know this is going to make it an awkward ending, but I would I would feel bad if I didn't bring up and at least acknowledge your dad, because I know how proud he was of you each and every time you got a chance to host, whether it was here on WFAN. Yeah, that means a lot, Zach. Thanks, man.

I really appreciate that. He was my role model. He was my idol.

He was my biggest fan. He would stay up in the middle of the night listening three in the morning if I'm doing a show. I said, Dad, just use the app and rewind and go back in the day. And, you know, the boomer that the boomer technology riddled man that he was, he goes, no, I don't believe in that. I don't believe in that, Patty.

I'm listening live. I'm like, all right, dude. Now you're going to go out and you're going to work with with two hours of sleep. But that was the kind of guy he was. So, yeah, I appreciate you telling that story. And I know that he'd be really, really proud. And, you know, not a day goes by that I miss him. So at least I know that he's up above listening every night that I'm on the air. He doesn't have to worry about sleep now. Yeah, that's for sure.

Don't worry about an app up there because, you know, you know, paradise obviously up above in heaven. Well, anyway, Pat, we are really, really, really, really happy for you. It's well deserved.

And you could check out Pat Boyle coming up this morning, I guess, or tomorrow morning from 2 to 6 a.m. on the East Coast or later tonight if you're on the West Coast at 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Pacific. So we appreciate it. Congratulations, Pat. We're happy for you.

Zach, appreciate that, man. I'd be remiss if I didn't say that you single handedly got me this job. No, that's not true. Do not do that.

That is not true whatsoever. I had no say and no real role in this process. Get him off the air. That's done. We're now fighting with Pat Boyle.

We are fighting at, you know, Dunzo. You know how many people now are going to hit me up that didn't get this job? You advocated for Pat. You got Pat the job. Oh, my goodness gracious. Pat just threw a grenade, a grenade while he exited right on this show.

My phone's already blowing up. Oh, my goodness gracious. Oh, my God. That's a good job. Well done. Pat got one over me there.

There's no doubt about that. Update time here, Zach. All right. This portion of the Zach Yelp show is brought to you by Ethos Life, the easy way to get life insurance in 10 minutes up to two million dollars in coverage, no medical exam, just a few health questions. Get your free quote at checkethos.com. Not available in all states. So Nico Iamaliava, he is obviously hitting the transfer portal, which the spring window opens up tomorrow, before someone chimes in and they say, oh, he should transfer to an S.E.C. school.

You cannot in the spring transfer portal window. If you're going from one S.E.C. school, you cannot go to another S.E.C.

school. So that's one thing out there. There was some talk about Oregon and Notre Dame. Well, Dan Lanning allegedly, we don't have it confirmed, but he may have been the one that tipped off Josh Heiple that people were contacting him about Nico Iamaliava. Oregon is supposedly not interested. Notre Dame has been floated out there. Now, Notre Dame, I think, paid Riley Leonard a million and a half last year. So Nico wants four. He had two supposedly at Tennessee.

So I don't think that's going to be likely. UNC was also speculated with Belichick, supposedly UNC is out. Tulane and UCLA were also speculated. And I read today from On Three Sports that Tulane is out on Tennessee's Nico Iamaliava.

So where the heck are you going? UCLA has been talked about. Clay Travis has thrown out Syracuse, Texas Tech as well. And then Clay also said Nico is probably should just do what George Costanza did and just show back up at Tennessee and pretend he never left. This guy just grossly miscalculated this. And well, actually, his father grossly miscalculated this. He thought he could strong arm Tennessee because no one really says no here.

The player usually wins from two to four. Right. That didn't work. Tennessee said, we're done with you. Goodbye. You're about to break up with us. No, we'll break up with you.

So then you float out. UNC, Tulane, UCLA, supposedly Tulane and UNC are already out. So what leverage do you have to go get more money from UCLA, you know, or Texas Tech or a Syracuse, like whoever it is? You don't have a lot of leverage there. And you're already making two million at Tennessee. So you may be making less money now. If I'm one of these schools, though, and I don't care about the money, I just want to go try to win.

And there's no question what Nico E. Malayava could be. I'm Notre Dame at this rate. If you're Nico, like you don't really have a leg to stand on, then you just suck it up and take what you were getting from Tennessee. Or if it's even less than that, to just go play at a school like Notre Dame. And maybe that's how you get Notre Dame more interested, or you go to one of these schools that are maybe out that will go back in on you just that the price does drop. But if I'm him, you left the SEC, you left Tennessee, you left two million dollars. And this is blowing up right in front of you.

This is ugly. Sam, does it look like you want to say something there? It doesn't sound like it really matters to him where he plays. He can go to a group of five schools as long as he gets his bag. We saw Malachi Nelson first go from USC to Boise. Now how'd that work out for him?

And then he left Boise, I forget what school he went to, but he's going to UTEP, I think. Yeah, but these schools like that, they're not going to have four million to pay this kid. I mean, if they decide to give their entire NIL bag. Yeah, and that would be stupid.

That would be dumb. For a five star recruit, the number two recruit in the class behind O.L.C. Manning? Was it sensational last year? As a freshman, he led them to the playoffs.

He wasn't sensational, but he was pretty good. He wasn't even thought to be a top ten quarterback during the season in college football. And then you're going to pay nobody else? That's not going to work in college. So he's not going to get four million. He's not going to get three. Can he even get two?

What he was getting while he left Tennessee. This is ugly. And yes, you should listen to your father. Yes, you should use your father as a resource, but ma'am, when you make a decision and your father gave you bad information, that's a tough one to recover from. And Niko needed to make his own decision there. He did, and it's not working.