49ers Super Bowl Chances (Hour 1)

Live from the play show, you're not overly ostentatious studios of the Infinity Sports Network here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to what is a Tuesday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the local Infinity Sports Network affiliates, Sirius XM Channel 375, the free Odyssey app that is always streaming on YouTube. 88710 for ISN is the number to jump on in.

88710 for ISN. You can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb. That's zachgelb. Nathan Zagora is going to join us.

It does a great job in the Browns radio booth. He's going to stop on by and we'll get his thoughts on Chador Sanders, Dylan Gabriel, Mason Graham, and many others joining the dog pound in Cleveland, as Cleveland is now the most talked about team since the NFL draft. You know, I was perusing social media yesterday and I saw an Instagram post that George Kittle was at WrestleMania, which was in Las Vegas. And I'm scrolling through George Kittle's Instagram on this, like, I don't know, seven or eight slide post. And at like slide six or seven, I see our guy Sully with George Kittle in Las Vegas at Pierros.

So I know a little history here on Sully. Earlier this off season, he was hanging with Max Crosby. Week later, Max Crosby got paid. George Kittle hanging with Sully. And shortly after that, George Kittle wakes up today and they agreed on a new contract. The 49ers and George Kittle, four years, seventy six point four million dollars with 40 million guaranteed. And it makes him the highest paid tight end to the NFL.

So I'm just looking at this. Max Crosby hangs out with Sully. Max Crosby gets paid. George Kittle hangs out with Sully.

George Kittle gets paid. Zach Gelb is going to Las Vegas this weekend. I'm going there Thursday. I'm going to see Sully.

I'm going to Pierros. So I may be getting a record breaking deal. Now, I'm not going to hold my breath in terms of thinking that's going to actually happen. And I know you could say Max Crosby, George Kittle, Zach Gelb, which one does not belong? And I'm very comfortable in my own skin.

And even I will say I don't belong in that conversation. But I'm just following the Sully train, the Sully books, because it is unbelievable how Crosby and Sully, I see an Instagram post, boom, Crosby record breaking deal. Kittle, Sully, Instagram post, boom, Kittle gets a record breaking deal. And Sully isn't an agent. But if I was an NFL player and I'm looking to get Pizade, yeah, I'm hanging on out with Sully in Las Vegas because not only is going to be a good time, you're going to get a good meal and then you're going to get millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars from an NFL team.

I'll get back to this Kittle contract in just a second and what my expectations now are for the San Francisco 49ers and what it means for Brock Purdy. But I look across the other way and Stuart Kovacs is back from Chicago. So, Stu, a few questions for you. Later on in the show, we will get into Chicago pizza. Oh, yes. Did you have a few different spots in Chicago? I did, yes. The deep dish spots, yes, a few spots. Did you go there? Yes. And what was the other one? Do you remember?

Giordano's, which is more of like a chain, but they say to go there. So I did. And you went to a Go Cubs Go game? Yes, that was the number one thing on my list. And I did go to Wrigley Field finally.

And I will say, I was very jealous of your Instagram page. Now, Stu didn't really respond back to any of my posts, but any time Stu had a story up. I thought I harded a few of them. Yeah, but that doesn't really count. That's like, oh, I don't really give a rat's ass about you. I'm on vacation. Stop bugging me.

But I was very jealous of your little trip to Chicago and you were at a Cubs game. And they do a baseball bat and they fill it up with like three or four beers. Is that right?

Yes, they do. It's like a hard plastic baseball bat. It's probably like two feet high. Yeah, filled with beer. Amazing.

You usually are a happy person. I don't think I've ever seen you happier than the photo that was posted of you sitting at the Cubs game with a big old bat of beer right in your hand. It was amazing. You looked as if the Raiders finally did something positive and were able to make the postseason or something like that. Yeah, which is not realistic, but this was realistic and this was fun and Wrigley was a dream.

I absolutely loved that stadium. Just amazing. Now, you were here Friday, right? I was here Friday. So sorry.

You know, some people say you get so much vacation time. It's kind of tough to keep up all these days that you go off of. But I remember talking to you actually now that I say it about Ashton Gente going to the Raiders on Friday. And you were happy because you thought a few weeks ago you were going to get Gente and leading into the draft with all the smoke about the Jacksonville Jaguars, you didn't think you were going to get Gente. Little did we know Jacksonville was moving on up and they were going to the number two pick and they ended up getting Travis Hunter. And now you got James Gladstone and Liam Cohen just throw in their their brass cajones on the table to start their tenure as GM and head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in Duvall. But we did not get to speak after what transpired not only on Friday, but also what transpired on Saturday because the Raiders had two picks towards the end of the third round.

I think it was like 98 or 99 overall. And we talked about at one point that if Chidor was on the board at six, you wanted the Raiders to take him. Now, leading into the draft, that take did change a little bit because we started to get the sense that Chidor was falling. Now, I don't think anyone thought he was going to fall to the fifth round.

I thought at most he would fall to the second round. I was shocked he was still available in the third round. But when the Raiders had three different picks in the third round and said thanks, but no thanks, thanks, but no thanks, thanks, but no thanks three times on Chidor Sanders.

What was your reaction? You being the degenerate Raider fan or should I say resident maybe Raider fan on this extravaganza or both may apply when your Raiders passed on one Chidor Sanders. Yeah, I was disappointed because of someone who wanted him in the first round and to have the chance to get him, you know, multiple more times at that point it would have been three or four times having the chance to get him and they still pass on him. And then the next day they take a North Dakota State quarterback who who knows could eventually be something, but probably not. I just think it was just a missed opportunity. And I know all the stories about, you know, the pre draft interviews and all that, but I don't know, man. I just feel like he's going to be a very good quarterback.

It's just worth the risk at that point. Third round. So I 1000% agree with you. I said yesterday I was disappointed with the Steelers. I was disappointed with the Las Vegas Raiders as well. You know, the Saints even Tyler Shuck at 40.

You're going to go Shuck over Chidor Sanders. You know, at least some people had Jackson Dart as the second best quarterback in this draft class. Brian Deball loved him. So at least you really kind of sucked up to your to your head coach there who's on the hot seat. And Joe Shane and Brian Deball go back together from their days in Buffalo.

But I still will stand by. I thought the Giants should have drafted Chidor Sanders over Jackson Dart. But when you're sitting there, it's one thing first round, you don't take him. Even the second round, I would have taken him.

But when he's sitting there in the third round and remember the Browns even pass on him in the third round because they ended up taking Dylan Gabriel, the team that ultimately drafted him in the fifth round. I thought that was the disappointing part. But looking back at the process, do you talked about it? We heard a few of those reports. Oh, it doesn't interview.

Well, worst interview ever. One longtime assistant coach told Tom Pelissero. I didn't really believe those reports. And I thought a lot of it was hogwash hand up. I ended up being wrong on it until during the draft. I had people that are involved with teams in the NFL when I was reaching out to them and also some of them in an unsolicited fashion, because they saw some of my stuff on social media where I was like flabbergasted by this thing at night.

They did reach out to me and all of them said, you know, in a variation of ways, these were like the main things they were talking about. But all the same route where they said the interview was bad, entitled and came off as unlikable during the draft process. So when you have someone that I think we could all realize, not your typical first round talent, but I think someone that should have gone in the first round, someone that is a good quarterback. And there are questions if he could be elite. There are doubts that he could be great. Right.

And there's skepticism there. And you get past the first round, you get past the second round. Well, if you get past the first two rounds and you're drafting someone, it's really the idea that they're going to be a backup. And a lot comes with Chador Sanders, fair or not, where he doesn't feel like a backup. But still, with that being said, if he if he landed, let's say in Pittsburgh, he's probably not starting because Aaron Rodgers is going to go there. Maybe that would take him out of the running for Aaron Rodgers if he did go to the Saints. Yeah, we'd have a chance to start right away because let's say they didn't take Tyler Shuck. You know, Derek Carr's banged up now with the shoulder and we still don't know what the truth is on that.

And you got Spencer Rattler in there. But a team like the Raiders, if they do take him, Geno Smith's their guy for now. But there would have been pressure anytime Geno Smith had an average game or below par game, because people would have been saying, hey, or below average game, let's go get Chador Sanders in there. But now he goes to the Browns.

And in a weird way, I think you could argue it ended up being the best landing spot for him. Because of the fact you look at that quarterback room, you could only take three guys, right? You're only going to go into the season at most with three quarterbacks on the active roster on the fifty three. And when you look at the guys that are there and I don't know if you agree with this, too.

But Santa and I were talking about this yesterday. So Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco, Chador Sanders, Dylan Gabriel, Deshaun Watson, throw Deshaun Watson out. He's never playing again for Cleveland.

And also, let's just be real about it. He isn't going to be healthy enough to play come week one. So when we looked at the odds yesterday, Joe Flacco had the longest odds to be the week one starting quarterback. And then I think it was Dylan Gabriel was third. Chador Sanders was two and Kenny Pickett was one.

So I said this was my take yesterday, Stu, and I'm curious if you agree with it. I think Dylan Gabriel as a third round pick is going to be on the team. I think Chador Sanders as a fifth round pick and really everyone knows Chador shouldn't have been a fifth round pick. He's going to be on the team.

There's a competition going on. Don't get me wrong. You have to take that competition seriously to at least bare minimum get one of those backup spots. And with how Chador didn't take the draft process seriously, we'll see how he competes when everything is not set up for him to start.

But as long as he puts his head down and does the work, I think Dylan Gabriel and Chador Sanders are going to be on this team come week one in September, barring an injury. Right. So it kind of looks like the quarterback battle really to make the roster is between Joe Flacco and then Kenny Pickett, Stu. That's the way that I interpreted the situation.

How about yourself? I would agree with that. You know, even though they, you know, fifth round pick is a fifth round pick, they're not wasting that pick.

They're not going to, you know, have Chador around for training camp and be like, goodbye, like he's going to be on the roster. And so is Gabriel, obviously, too. So I would agree. Yeah, Watson definitely not. And then probably Pickett or Flacco. Yeah, it's between those two guys. I would agree with that.

Yeah. And it's kind of funny that Vegas right now is giving the the favorites in terms of the odds to one Kenny Pickett, which they did trade for him where they just signed Joe Flacco. So the news today, as we once again do our obligatory information and we have to get into everything about Chador Sanders and the Cleveland Browns, because we're not doing our job as national radio hosts if we don't talk about Chador Sanders today. But the news that we're supposed to start the show with was George Kittle getting a extension for your seventy six point four million dollars. Forty million dollars guaranteed. And Ian Rapport says it makes him the highest paid NFL tight end. So that's another domino to fall. Remember, some people had to get thrown off the forty niner ship this offseason to make room for these contracts to go down. But the last domino to fall is still Brock Purdy. And the expectation is that Brock Purdy is going to get a contract where it's 50 plus million dollars a year. So I would imagine that this Brock Purdy news now with the draft done with OTA is right around the corner.

You know, you get into the summer, you get training camp. I would like to think and I do believe that the forty niner is going to get a deal done with Brock Purdy. I don't know if they're close, but I still can't imagine that they're that terribly far away with all the conflicting reports that we've heard, because I think the 49ers know they're going to get a deal done and maybe it's just OK. When does the Brock Purdy camp either come around or, more importantly, when do the forty niners just realize they really don't have a lot of leverage here? And they're just going to give Brock Purdy and his camp and his representation whatever he wants.

Either way, though, I'll ask this question. What are the expectations for the 49ers this year? I don't think it's to win a Super Bowl. Now, Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch will tell you that. I don't even know if I could tell you that they're going to win the NFC West. I think they're the second best team in the NFC West. But right now, if you tell me who's going to win the NFC West, I would lean the Rams over the forty niners. If I look at the San Francisco 49ers this year, I think the expectation and it shows you how they're not as strong as they used to be. It's to be a wildcard team to make the playoffs.

Then you take it from there. And I think that's a fair expectation. But I said this numerous times through the offseason with the way that the 49ers are built right now. I think the forty niners are closer to missing the playoffs rather to getting back to a Super Bowl.

But if they get in the dance, they're going to be dangerous. They're going to be a tough out with all the experience that they have and how many deep runs that they've gone on through the years with a different variation of players. But a lot of them still being there, even with all that they had to get rid of this offseason to give out these new deals and also to eventually make it in line for Brock Purdy and get over all their ducks in a row.

So Brock Purdy could get a new contract. But this team, they had a Super Bowl window. You know, can they still find a way to get back to another Super Bowl and win a Super Bowl?

Yes, but I think it's rather unlikely. And if you ask me, Zach, what's more likely the Niners missed the playoffs altogether in a deep NFC or if they find a way to make the Super Bowl? I would take the first part of that rather than the latter. The former rather than the latter, where I think it's more likely they missed the playoffs that make the Super Bowl. But ultimately, if you say, Zach, what is your level headed, fair expectation for the 49ers?

I would say that they're going to be a wild card team, probably like the six or the seven seed, and then whoever is the two or whoever is the three, they're not going to be jumping for joy going up against the San Francisco 49ers. Nathan Zagora is going to join us next. Part of the Browns radio network will get his thoughts on all going on in the land with Cleveland as the Here We Go Brownies.

Here we go. Who are the biggest topic of conversation from the 2025 NFL Draft? Off and running, busy Tuesday, Zach Gelb Show, Infinity Sports Network.

Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb Show on the Infinity Sports Network. Tuesday following the NFL Draft that did conclude on Saturday and we're still buzzing about the Cleveland Browns. They finally did take Shanore Sanders in the fifth round, got Dylan Gabriel in the third round, and if you can even remember on Thursday, they started the draft off with a bang at pick number two, where they traded back.

They ended up getting Mason Graham at five and Travis Hunter, who we thought was going to Cleveland, ends up going to Jacksonville. Nathan Zagora does a great job covering the Cleveland Browns and he's a part of their radio broadcast as he's in the booth as their color analyst and he's kind enough to join us right now on the Zach Gelb Show. Nathan, appreciate the time. Thanks so much for doing this and how you been?

My pleasure. It's been a whirlwind, a wild kind of weekend here for the Cleveland Browns, a Saturday unlike any I can remember in my 13 years doing Saturday draft radio for the Browns with the addition of Shanore Sanders, but I think a good draft. I can tell you the building's energized over what they got and not only the players that they added this year, but the fact that they got a future first rounder in 2026 as well. It was a wild kind of draft process the last three days because in the build up to it, there were legitimate conversations about a month ago about the Browns taking Shanore Sanders at two, then everyone kind of zeroed in, it was going to be Travis Hunter. We know they make the deal where Travis Hunter goes to Jacksonville and then you look at Mason Graham, winded up in Cleveland, but how about just on Saturday when the whole world is looking at Shanore Sanders, waiting to see where he goes. Cleveland in the third round takes Dylan Gabriel. Was anyone actually thinking that the fifth round selection, they go and make the move at 144, that it was actually going to be Shanore?

Was that on your radar when you guys were sitting there in the facility? No, once they took Dylan Gabriel, that really was not on my radar. I knew that the Browns certainly liked Shanore Sanders and I think it's pretty clear based on what happened that a lot of people around the league, and basically everybody who does this for a living, had either a first or a second round kind of grade on Shanore based on his tape alone. And then now a lot of the stories are coming out, but basically it was a, he kind of had a brutal pre-draft process.

And so he falls. Once they took Gabriel, I probably thought they were done at quarterback, but I remember I was on the air. We had our director of player personnel, Dan Sag, and he was in studio with us. Now he was obviously privy because as soon as the fourth round ended, the Browns had kind of made the decision like, okay, well, let's go get him. So he knew it was coming in while he was in the studio with us on the air talking about the Dylan Sampson pick.

Browns were on the clock. We're like, hey, we're on the clock now. And he kind of shot me a look and he knew I was a big Shanore Sanders fan from the tape. So he kind of shot me a look and was like, I probably should go.

So he goes into the war room. And I remember I looked at our producer, Jason Gibbs, and I looked over him and he looked at me and his eyes kind of like bugged out of his head because he was on the, you know, the NFL system. And I was like, no way. And he's like, and then I was like, oh man, here we go.

So I like it. Look, we need a quarterback that's been the problem since really Bernie Kozar was under center for the Cleveland Browns. And, you know, they love Dylan Gabriel. Kevin Stefanski loves Dylan Gabriel to see how he would operate this offense and fit into it.

And then Shanore Sanders, you know, is a very gifted, very productive player, the all time leader in completion percentage in college football history. So I think they were thrilled to get these guys and now you're gonna have a competition. They brought Kenny Pickett in as well. So you got three young guys on rookie deals. Kenny Pickett, a former first rounder. You got Shanore and now Dylan Gabriel, who you spent basically a fifth round, a third round, and then a fifth and a sixth round on.

So you got three bites at the apple to see if you can find somebody. Yeah, I'm with you. I thought he should have been a first round pick at some point. I understand with what was been told about the pre draft process, why he falls to the second.

I thought it was nuts after he fell through round number three, and then ultimately goes in the fifth round at 1 44. But you look at the destination like you talked about the other quarterbacks really on the roster because forget about the Sean Watson. You got Joe Flacco. You got Kenny Pickett. You got Dylan Gabriel and should or I think there's a good opportunity where we're gonna see at some point this year. Should or Sanders start games for the Cleveland Browns, and he could end up being if he plays up to the talent and he gets through some of the pre draft problems and learns from that. This could be the steal the draft for the Browns. Absolutely.

And that's why it's a very minimal risk and tremendous upside selection there. I'm with you. I think if it's up to your door, right? If she door Sanders comes in here and maximizes the gifts that he has, I think there is a good chance that he will start some games. I know that the brown sing Dylan Gabriel's capable of starting games. We saw what Joe Flacco did in his time here, but I think if you're looking at a longer horizon, you know, a guy in his forties is not the long term answer.

And the brown certainly would love to find that long term answer. Kenny Pickett's 15 and 10 is the start of the league, but this is gonna be a really interesting off season. There are only so many reps, and that I think is gonna be the real challenges. How do you divvy up these reps to get these guys ready? Give them a shot to realistically really compete against one another. But also have your team be ready for the start of the season. But yeah, this could be a transformative draft for the Cleveland Browns. If either or Dylan Gabriel ends up being that guy, or if the pick they sent for Kenny Pickett, you know, ends up being that guy.

But that's kind of I think the thought process behind it. We don't have one. Let's get another. We really, really like this kid's tape. As you said, first round, you know, the people that were quote unquote his tape detractors.

I talked with Greg Cosell, who I respect as much as anybody on planet Earth. He's like, he's an early second round pick. But that was like the bottom end of it. And you get him and pick 144. So why not? So let me just ask you this, because we were talking about this Nathan Segura before you came on. You know, forget about Watson, because he's hurt. And I don't think I'll ever play again for Cleveland. But you look at the four other quarterbacks. Flacco, they sign picket they traded for, and they just drafted Gabriel in the third round should or like we're talking about in the fifth round.

I would be surprised when the season starts. If Gabriel and should door aren't on the roster is the competition really to see who that other quarterback is that they take who end up could being the starter really between Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco in your estimation. I think it's probably too early to say that but I think that yeah, they I think when they brought Joe Flacco in, they thought they were going in this draft with Kenny Pickett Flacco and they were going to draft Dylan Gabriel that was basically the Browns target in this draft once they knew they couldn't get Cam Ward that was the guy they wanted. And that's why they took him they took him obviously a little earlier than I think most people thought he would have gone but one thing people need to remember is when they made the trade with Jacksonville, they traded down about 20 spots in the fourth round as a part of that deal.

And I think if they had 94 and 105 then they're probably maybe they take somebody at 94 and they get Dylan Gabriel 105 but once they dropped all the way down to 126 they thought, let's, let's not wait 32 picks we really like Dylan Gabriel, let's take them so they get Dylan Gabriel there. As far as the quarterback competition I asked you know Kevin Sapanski about this yesterday I was able to do an interview with him for our draft review show here. We'll see how it plays out, I think if you're looking big picture you'd say well, we got three guys that we want to see, you know, why would we play a guy in his 40s, but Joe Flacco is, quite frankly, he is a hero here. I love the guy he was great for us we had that magical run obviously at the end of 23 when he won four straight games get it to the end of the playoffs. Flacco fever was running wild he was so productive.

So there's that element to it. Maybe they keep four quarterbacks guy was actually joking with coach fancy about that yesterday and he said has anybody ever done that before I said I don't think so. But you never know, I think you kind of have a right read on that my guess is you know right now if one of these rookies can come up and seize it you know they'll get an opportunity but you know they like Kenny Pickett here. As a starter as I said seven game winning drives. The offense that he operated in while his numbers are not great was, you know, Matt Canada was kind of roundly considered to be one of the worst offensive coordinators in the league he's no longer obviously employed in that capacity, and they think he's a good fit what you see with the three themes of these quarterbacks is, you know, accurate good decision makers.

Tough. And if you can be that in this offense where it's going to give you. Now that we look we drafted Jenkins we drafted Dylan Sampson I don't I would not rule out Nick Chubb's return as well. You're going to get back to running the football, you're gonna get back to that under center play action boot game that is the fancy McVeigh you know all of Shanahan, that type of a system that old kubiak system.

And I think that all three of these quarterbacks if they win in the same ways or if they're going to win in the NFL be successful will be the same way from the pockets making these reads being accurate on time with the football, and then being tough, and they think all three of these guys have that, and we'll see you know Joe Flacco can do we've seen him operate this offense and throw for 300 yards five straight games. Why wouldn't you rule out a return for Nick Chubb, just out of curiosity. Because Nick Chubb is, is in many ways kind of the heart of this he's beloved by our fans. He is beloved by this organization and I think that there are a lot of people that want Nick Chubb in this organization and outside of it fans of the organization that if Nick Chubb is playing football in the National Football League they want him to be doing it as a Cleveland Brown like I'm sitting in my studio right now in the headquarters.

I look to my left, there is a mural that is, I don't know, eight feet by 20 feet or 10 feet by 20 feet of Nick Chubb like that is on the main hallway of this building so that he is beloved here and I think if there's a way that they can offer him a compensation package that he would be happy with that and I know he would like it as well that that he will be a Cleveland Brown still even with the young guys. Yeah, wrap it up Nathan Zagorin does a great job in the Browns radio booth on the Browns radio network. Get him back to Dylan Gabriel. So my pre-draft rankings, I loved Cam Ward one, I had Chidor Sanders two, then third I had Jayla Milro. I actually put Dylan Gabriel fourth and then Jackson Dart five and I got a lot of blowback and pushback. Oh, how could you put Dylan Gabriel as four?

So I'm someone that's pro Dylan Gabriel. What do you think or what's your understanding of why the Browns loved him so much where you were saying after Cam Ward he was their second quarterback on their board? Yeah, he was the target, you know, he wins the way that Kevin Stefanski, at least in my understanding of him, wants a quarterback to win. Great decision maker, accurate from the pocket, can throw on the move in both directions. He's very tough.

They love his pocket movement and one of the things that Kevin Stefanski told me was, you know, we kept watching the table, kept being like, where does the height show up? Because that's a knock on him, right? If Dylan Gabriel was 6'3", he probably is the number two pick in this draft to be perfectly honest with you, everything else being the same. You know, he started more games than anybody in college football history, 63. In three different programs he's had seasons where he's thrown for 30 touchdowns with six or fewer interceptions. He's thrown more touchdowns than anybody in the history of the FBS. He's played a lot of football.

He's very mature. And while a lot of people talk about the pre-draft process of Chidor Sanders, you can ask a lot of people around the league and I've heard this from quarterback coaches on other teams as well. He had the best pre-draft process of anybody. Just mature, gets it, so good on the whiteboard, completely understands the concepts, understands the playbook, understands what he is being asked to do in the offense. And so they saw a guy that they thought could be a very efficient ball distributor and operator of their operation and of their offense and think that what he excels at is what this system requires a quarterback to excel at.

Now I'm not an old man, but I've been doing this long enough. No offense to Joe Flacco, Dylan Gabriel or Kenny Pickett and it's an open job. People are going to want to see Chidor Sanders play, especially with what happened at the draft.

How do you think they'll manage that hype machine of Chidor Sanders today? I know he's a fifth round pick. I know he could be viewed as a backup quarterback right now, but in reality, I don't think that's the reaction that a lot of fans are going to have on their view of Chidor.

I think that in some ways it's a good thing that he went here and I think in many ways Chidor has become a very sympathetic figure because that was fair or unfair and I think probably got a lot of bad advice and handled things differently and he acknowledged that. That's a very public humiliation, like every mock draft. I said this about our draft the other day that if you had told somebody who, let's call it 10 days prior to the draft, was locked away in a cave and got to know nothing about what was going to happen in this draft, no silence. You say the Browns got Mason Graham, Chidor Sanders, Swessinger, Judkins, Fannin, Dylan Gabriel, Dylan Sampson, and a future first and you say that's impossible. Or you could say that same person here, I'll give you a million dollars.

I'm going to give you 10 chances. Order the draft fix. Order the way that the Browns selected these players.

Impossible. So it is unique in that he is a much better talent than what his draft position afforded him. We're going to see what that learning curve is for him, right? I think that he will be given every opportunity to be successful here, as will Dylan Gabriel. I think it's going to be cool that they're going to have each other. They're going to have Joe Flacco who can teach these guys a lot about what it really means to be an under center back to the defense play action quarterback.

That's something that they don't do a ton of in college anymore. So he'll be given the chance. Fans will want to see him. They're going to get to see him, I'm sure, a lot in the preseason. But he's going to be given what he earns because that's really the way it is now.

It is a competition. You have three people who are going to be very hungry to make a career for themselves. And Kenny Pickett obviously came highly recommended from Philadelphia in his time there. And you know the connections between our front office, Andrew Berry, Howie Roseman, his twin brothers in the front office there in Philly. So you know that that wasn't a trade that was made without very good feelings and knowledge. And from the Philly standpoint, it's like, look, this is Jalen Hertz's team. We liked him. Let's give this guy a shot. The irony for Kenny Pickett is his best fit in Pittsburgh would have been in Arthur Smith's offense and never got to play in it. So now you get a similar type of a situation here. So these guys are all going to get opportunities.

And I think really it's going to be a cream rises, you know, type of situation. And Chidor, I think, has a great ball of play, a lot of talent. And if he can come in and execute the operation of things, I think he has a very good chance to play this year. What's your gut right now? I know it's so early, but if you had to just throw a dart on the board, who starred in week one? Who would you say right now? My dart would be Kenny Pickett.

Wow, that would be something. How do you think that go over with Browns fans if Pickett starred in week one? I think if he, I believe that if he was starting, it would be because it was apparent that he was the best quarterback. Listen, here's a sobering stat.

And I say this to some of my friends all the time. The fact of the matter is Kenny Pickett is 15 and 10 as a starter in the National Football League. That's a 60% winning percentage.

I've been with this organization since 2012. He has the best winning percentage of any quarterback who's ever played for the Cleveland Browns. At 60%. Second's Joe Flacco, third is Deshaun Watson, and then fourth would be Baker by the time he got out of here. I'm talking about people who started more than like a game.

Most of our guys started one game to not win those games anyway. But he has the best winning percentage. Seven of those 14 wins with the Pittsburgh Steelers came in game, organized a game-winning drive. So there is something clutch about him.

He's a better mover than people think. I'll go back to that offense. Now, there are people that say you are limited in how you can win with Kenny Pickett at quarterback.

Well, that may be true. We just haven't seen him in this offense. So I think if he looks like the guy, remember, he was a first-round pick. And like I said, he's one in the NFL. That Browns fan should be pretty happy with a guy who was a first-round pick that's one in the NFL. So we'll see how that plays out. But I think he would have to earn it and have to be pretty clear, you know, that he was the guy. And I think we'll see from Dylan Gabriel and Chidor Sanders.

What does this look like? I think everybody knows what they have in Joe Flacco. And so the question will be more philosophically, do we want, if they're marginally close to him, are we playing a 40-year-old or are we trying to get answers about our young quarterbacks? And that'll be it. Yeah. Last thing I'll ask you, David Zagor, then I'll let you run.

I appreciate you doing this. Just out of curiosity, when two did go down and they traded back to five, did that catch you by surprise? Like two hours before the draft, it started to leak out that the Browns were listening and they were getting phone calls and the Jaguars are potentially moving up. But, you know, a day before the draft, if you would have asked me, I would have said it was 100 percent going to be Travis Hunter going second overall.

So take me through your understanding of that process. So it was and it's been said publicly now, but that trade was done for two weeks. Wow. For two weeks and kept completely secret.

Completely secret. I had an idea through my role here that, you know, something was nice and Graham Mason Graham was certainly in play for our first pick. And in my using my mind, I said, that's probably not at number two, but you never know. But I knew that he was somebody we were very enamored with in this process and that that it was realistic that he would be the first pick of the Cleveland Browns. So I give kudos to this organization and I give kudos to the Jags organization for keeping that under wraps in this day and age for a couple of weeks. Obviously, it was contingent upon and the reason it happened before the draft was should the Titans have zigged and taken Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter themselves. Browns would have stayed at two and taken Kim Ward because that trade happened.

Then they make their move. So I was surprised. But when you think about what is the number one goal of this organization, obviously, it's to win games, win Super Bowl.

What do you need to do that if we're being honest about it is you need a franchise quarterback that if it was kind of Cam Ward or let's say, Dylan Gabriel in this draft who was not going to the idea of getting a future first round pick had to be very appealing so that you had that flexibility to maybe take another swing at this next year. And so when they got that back, I wasn't surprised at all for three spots. Now, I'll tell you what I was surprised by. And I mean this in a very pleasant way was that I saw that they got picked 36 as well.

I'm like, how could you not do that? And so that's now it's Mason Graham, Quinn, Sean, Judkins and that future first still out there. It's such a hall, given that we had so many needs, it makes sense, but it allows this draft to be significantly better.

And it also sets you up for next year. So I love Travis Hunter. I think he's a unicorn. I don't know if he embodies belief or not. That's for other people to debate or say. But he clearly has a chance to maybe reinvent how we think about what the human being is capable of in the National Football League. That's intriguing. But you have to think big picture and still at the end of the day for a quarter to get that hall for a non-quarterback is kind of unprecedented. And now the Browns are still a couple bites at the apple this year and a potential now to still do it in the future.

So I understood it from that standpoint. He does a kickass job on the Browns radio network. He, of course, is Nathan Zagora. Nathan, really appreciate the time and the insight. Thank you. You got it, guys. Thanks for having me.

All right. There he is. Nathan Zagora joining us on the show.

A lot to unpack there. We'll do so on the other side. And also, I think Stu's a little bit annoyed. I saw Stu shaking his head when they were going through the return that the Browns ended up getting. And like, I think Stu goes, that incompetent organization ended up getting it right in the draft.

Why can't my team do that? So a lot to discuss for that conversation with Nathan Zagora. We'll do it on the other side.

Update time first. Here's Zach. The defensive player of the week is sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union who proudly is celebrating all who go above and beyond during Military Appreciation Month. Learn more at Navyfederal.org slash celebrate.

Our members are the mission. And this week's player is Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington in Sunday's 5-1 win over the Jets. Binnington saved 30 of the 31 shots that came his way.

That series is currently tied at 2-2 with Game 5 taking place tomorrow. A few things. Stu, like, I saw the disgust in your eyes and also the way that you were shaking your head when Nathan Zagora joined us and talked about why the Browns traded out of the two spot and all the capital that they got. It seemed as if, and this is a wild statement to say, because I don't think there's really anyone in the NFL that could be jealous of the Cleveland Browns. It seemed, though, that you as a Raiders fan were jealous of the Cleveland Browns there.

A little bit of jealousy and just still just hearing it, it doesn't sound real the amount of stuff they got. And they still got a really, really good player with Mason Graham. So I'm still kind of in disbelief that that trade happened. If it wasn't for the Shadore Sanders dropping, I feel like we'd still be kind of talking about how crazy that was, but because Shadore fell out of the way to the fifth round, we're kind of off of that and still on Shadore. But it is crazy. I wish the Raiders could pull off something like that.

Usually they're the team that gives up a lot. Well, they wouldn't be able to shut their mouth for two weeks. That's the crazy part. That this was two weeks of silence. That they had this deal done and no one opened their fat trap. That long of a time in this stage. That's the wild part to me is that this thing was able to keep under wraps for two weeks, usually give like a nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Hey, don't be so optimistic that Travis Hunter is going at two to the Cleveland Browns. But it wasn't until what, 24, 48 hours beforehand when Peter Schrager was like, hey, the phones are open still.

They're on. And Cleveland still listening to those offers. But that would have been I think the biggest story from the draft of Shadore Sanders didn't fall.

Like, still, I still believe that Shadore one way or another would have been the biggest story of the draft because then where he would have gone. But that trade up from Jacksonville from five to two and all they gave up and they got their guy, a potentially franchise altering player in Travis Hunter. But at first I didn't love the Cleveland trade of this.

I did it just because it was unexpected and it was not what I was told what was going to happen. But then once you actually process it, and I said this the day I walked in on Friday, I thought it was a win win all around. But now looking back at it, I think that's more of a win for Cleveland than it is Jacksonville. And also what's cool here for Cleveland, it's a lot of what ifs, what ifs, what ifs and a lot of guessing games. But you have a chance now with three young quarterbacks on the roster for one of those guys to go take the opportunity this year.

But if none of them do, well, it means two things. One, on your own accord, you may have the number one overall pick. But then if you don't, you could still go move on up with that extra first round pick that you got from Jacksonville to go maybe improve your draft position. So for Cleveland, it almost I don't want to say it's a wasted season because it's not.

But it does feel as if you're just going to spin the wheel here, almost like you're playing roulette. And you got like a few numbers down, right? You got your Doris Sanders down. You got Dylan Gabriel down. You got Kenny Pickett down. Obviously, long term, Joe Flacco isn't going to be their guy. And I'm starting to think Joe Flacco is not even going to make the roster. But that roulette wheel is spinning and you got your chips on those numbers and you're waiting to see this year if it will land on a Kenny Pickett. If it will land on Chador Sanders. If it will land on Dylan Gabriel. And then one of those guys go collect your earnings and they're your guy for next year.

But let's say if that machine spins and spins and spins and spins and it doesn't land on one of those three guys and those guys don't get you a lot of cash. Then you're probably in a good enough position with two first round picks and also you being Cleveland and probably going to have a bad team this year. And who knows what the heck Jacksonville is going to do. And now you have their first round pick next year where you're in line to go get one of these big quarterbacks and this quarterback draft class.

You never know. But the way it's talked about right now is supposed to be a very, very, very, very deep quarterback draft class in twenty twenty six. So it's a good gamble here. And it's a low risk, high reward this year. And then if it doesn't work out this year, then next year in the draft of twenty twenty six is when you're all in on the quarterback that you would actually want early on in the first round.

Now, let's go around the room here real quickly. Joe Flacco, is he on the team come week one with the Cleveland Browns? Yes or no? Stu? I say no at this point.

Samter, Joe Flacco is on the team come week one. Yes or no? One hundred percent. One hundred percent. OK, I'm going to say no.

I don't think he is. Now, I'll explain why in a second. But Stu, who is starting at quarterback come week one for the Cleveland Browns? Mr. Kenny Pickett.

Samter? Joe Flacco. OK, so then you think Kenny Pickett's going to be the odd guy out in Cleveland because I don't think they're going to rid of Chidor. I don't think they're going to rid of Dylan Gabriel.

I mean, we'll see. I think that it's going to be either Chidor or Dylan Gabriel on the way out. Can you are you going to cut a third round pick? I don't think you cut a third round pick. If they're going to cut someone, I think it's actually going to be Chidor Sanders. And that's why I do believe that Joe Flacco, right, the elder statesman. Hey, Joe, we let's say Kenny Pickett wins the job. We want to give the chance to Kenny. If it doesn't work out, then we're going to go with one of these younger guys who've shown us some improvement from when they got into where they are now with Dylan Gabriel or Chidor Sanders.

You're older. You only have a year or two left. Maybe there's an injury that happens in camp.

Go sign there or wait for an injury and then you sign there. But I can't believe I'm saying this. And if Chris in California is listening, he's got to be jumping up and down like a fat kid in a candy store. Because I think most of us, when we saw Dylan Gabriel and Chidor Sanders get drafted, it's like, oh, that's it for Kenny Pickett. But I'm kind of with Nathan Segura and Stu that Kenny Pickett, I don't think he'll make it through the entire season.

Let me be clear. But I do think he's going to be the week one starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. And that's crazy to me because sometimes you say something in the radio right into a microphone and it goes out on the radio.

And then right away, there's like a little alarm that goes off in your head or a voice. And he goes, Zach, about a week ago, you would say that's bleeping crazy if you said Kenny Pickett was going to be the Browns week one starting quarterback. But that's what I think is going to happen if all those guys are healthy. I think Flacco gets put back on the couch and is somewhere else. I do believe Dylan Gabriel makes the roster. Chidor Sanders makes the roster. I think they're going to give the baton to see how far he's going to run with it before he falls on his face to one Kenny Pickett. We will do an overreaction, proper reaction on a Tuesday. Coming up next, it is Zach Gelb show right here on the Infinity Sports Network. And maybe we'll start calling this the Kenny Pickett Sports Network because I don't think there's a show in the history of sports talk radio that talks more about Kenny Pickett than us.