Chief Concern? (Hour 1)

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Blackout and other restrictions apply. Live from the police show, yet not overly ostentatious, studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City. Sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Wednesday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates. Sirius XM, Channel 158 and the free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS, I'm going to jump on in. 855-212-4227, you can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing. Or the good old cesspool of Twitter, at Zach Gelb.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. We are coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios. Whether you're looking to purchase a new home or refinance yours, Rocket Mortgage can help you get there.

For home loan solutions that fit your life, yes, your life, well, Rocket can. Big guest list today, coming up 20 minutes from now, just named QB1 at Pitt. Keaton Slovis will stop by the former USC QB now at Pittsburgh.

And going to be starting this year for Patton Arduzi's squad, the reigning ACC champs. Ariel Epstein will join us in studio from Yahoo Sports. As we got to go over all the lay of the land in the NFL when it comes to try to making money this year in the betting world. And then in hour number three of our radio program at 8 20 p.m. Eastern, 5 20 p.m. Pacific. We will do first and goal, five teams remaining. We will hit up the Chargers today with former Chargers fallback in Lorenzo Neal. But first up, producing this extravaganza for the next four hours is no other than Hate Kiki. Hate Kiki.

I got to start things off with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Kansas City Chiefs are getting disrespected. I think some of the criticism is fair.

But then I think some of what is being said gets blown out of proportion and is a little bit ridiculous. We've seen from two former Chiefs wide receivers, one being Tyree kill that he claims to a tongue of eye. Low has done nothing in the NFL so far is more accurate as a quarterback than Patrick Mahomes. Sammy Watkins recently just said that Mahomes is great.

But Aaron Rodgers is on a whole different level. The accuracy comments by Tyree kill to me are really just irrelevant. And it's Tyree kill trying to support his new quarterback and hype up his guy and give him the support that he didn't get under Brian Flores.

But also when giving that support, you also shouldn't make yourself look like a jackass. And for Tyree kill, it is just ridiculous. Even if you think Tyree kill has a now more accurate quarterback into a tongue of eye. Loa, what does that really mean to has never made the playoffs to in his first two years of the league hasn't had success. Hasn't been worth the fifth overall pick where he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins or Patrick Mahomes. His first few years in the league has always been in the playoffs as a starting quarterback. A bad year for him is losing in the AFC Championship game or losing in the Super Bowl.

And he's won on Lombardi Trophy and a Super Bowl MVP. So I don't want to hear about what Tyree kill likes better with to a tongue of Iowa than Patrick Mahomes. And as far as for Sammy Watkins, like it's one thing with Tyree kill when he says these things because Tyree kill was a good player for the Kansas City Chiefs.

But what did Sammy Watkins do in Kansas City? So I give me a break with Sammy Watkins now saying that Aaron Rodgers is on a whole different level. And you can make the case that Aaron Rodgers, the back to back MVP award winner, is a better quarterback than Patrick Mahomes.

But it's inconceivable to me how you say he's on a whole different level. Like you go around the lay of the land to the NFL, you know your top quarterbacks are Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen. Now, you know who the creme de la creme quarterbacks are in the NFL. To say that Rodgers is on a whole different level, I would love to hear Sammy Watkins expand on that and give us a real extensive answer on why he's on a whole different level. Because last time I checked, Patrick Mahomes has the same amount of Super Bowls as Aaron Rodgers, and he's been in the league for a significantly less time. And he has a more recent championship. And he's had more success in the playoffs recently compared to Aaron Rodgers.

So that does not make sense to me. I'm not knocking Aaron Rodgers. I think the Packers are a top three team in the NFC. I think Aaron Rodgers is going to have another great season. But to say that Aaron Rodgers is on a whole different level, or as A-Rod, as he called him, is on a whole different level is just laughable when comparing him to Patrick Mahomes.

I'm fascinated to see what Patrick Mahomes is going to do this year. Because once they won the Super Bowl, I think we all said, and this is, I know there's always a take to be made when a team wins a Super Bowl. When will they be back? Will they become a dynasty? A lot of times that D word, dynasty, is used and you go, OK, it's not really believable. Like Philadelphia, when I was living in Philadelphia, they said this is a new norm, that we're going to be a dynasty, we're going to make this an habitual feeling. Doug Peterson's no longer even there. Carson Wentz, Nick Swoles, no longer there either.

So we've seen significant changes. You had Seattle, too, talk about a dynasty. Maybe if they would have ran the football instead of throwing the football at the goal line, maybe they would have became a dynasty.

Who knows? But when it came to the Chiefs, because of how great Mahomes is, you have Andy Reid, you have Eric B. enemy, you have a good organization. At the time you had Tyreke Killen, Travis Kelce, it was conceivable to at least think that they had a good chance of winning multiple championships. Since then, they have not been a team that has won another Super Bowl. They haven't failed, though.

They haven't been awful. They lost in the Super Bowl and then they lost in the AFC Championship game. So is it disappointing that they haven't won another Super Bowl when you have Patrick Mahomes?

Absolutely. But not everyone is Tom Brady, where you win three Super Bowls in your first four years as a starting quarterback in the NFL. And we look at Aaron Rodgers, who would have thought that Aaron Rodgers, all these years later after winning his first title, would still be stuck on one. And for a while, Drew Brees got a championship. You would have thought he would have won another one.

It never happened. For the longest time, people were wondering if Peyton Manning was ever going to win one championship. He won one. And then when it looked like his career was over, he goes to Denver. I know it wasn't great that final year in Denver, his final year of his career, but he ended up winning another championship. John Elway took him late into his career to win a ring and then he won another one.

So there's no map behind it. You don't know when you're going to get those championships. But I think if we put out a poll question after they won that Super Bowl, two, three years from now, would the Chiefs have another title?

I think a lot of people would have said yes. So what you have here now is for the first time in Patrick Mahomes's career. And I'm not saying it's individual criticism of Mahomes, because I think we all roll our eyes nationally.

And I think anyone with a brain is kind of laughing at what Tyreek Hill says is laughing at what Sammy Watkins says. But when you look at the way that we're talking about the Chiefs this year, this is the first time in a long time where you can make a legitimate argument that Kansas City is not going to win the division. Now, when I've made that argument that I'm going to put all the eggs in the basket of the Los Angeles Chargers to win the division this year, and I'm going to pick them to win the AFC West, it doesn't mean that I think the Chiefs are going to be this decrepit, antiquated looking team, and they're not going to make the playoffs. The Chiefs are still going to win double digit games this year. The Chiefs are still going to be a force this year because you have the great eraser in Patrick Mahomes, where will it be a little adjustment? Adjusting to life without one Tyreek Hill?

Yes. But Mahomes is that great that Mahomes will find a way to get this team to be a double digit win team. And you could say, yes, that's positive. But we know with how Mahomes was already anointed that next great guy. And he's already viewed as that next great guy. It's very rare that this early in his career, it's Super Bowl or bus. But for the foreseeable future, and probably the rest of Patrick Mahomes' career, at least the next five, seven years, anything short of a Super Bowl is going to be viewed as a failure. And I think this Chiefs offense is going to be fine. We'll see what the help is going to be at the running back position.

You know, I have all the confidence in the world in Patrick Mahomes. He's still got Travis Kelce, he's the best tight end in football. And you look at the wide receivers. Yes, you lose Tyreek Hill.

You're relying on McColl-Hardman. We'll see if he could have a big season. You bring in Juju Smith-Schuster, who's a good, not great wide receiver. And Marquis Valdes-Scantling is not a number one wide receiver in this league.

He's like an in-betweener with a two and a three. But he's made some explosive plays in the past with the Green Bay Packers, and now is going to be a part of the Kansas City Chiefs. So you look at this division.

Chargers are loaded. Broncos now have Russell Wilson. The Raiders made the playoffs last year and got better this offseason when bringing over and acquiring the former Green Bay Packers wide receiver in Devante Adams. And for the first time in a while, attention is being directed to other teams in that AFC West. And Kansas City is not the focus. Kansas City is not the team when we're going to do our weekly, our yearly predictions in two weeks from now, where the last two, three years, it was, all right, who's going to win the AFC West?

Ready? One, two, three. Say the team. Kansas City Chiefs.

Now you're going to have differentiating answers. And I'm going with the Chargers. Hickey, if memory serves me right here, I know you're picking the Broncos to win the Super Bowl, which I disagree with, but you're taking, I would then assume, the Broncos to win the division, right?

Yes, sir. And I'm sure there will be people that are going to be picking the Raiders and there's going to be a lot of people. And it's, you can't go wrong with any of these teams. In theory, eventually only one team is going to win the division. There will be people that will pick Kansas City. The Chiefs, what is going to be compelling, though, and they may be one of the biggest storylines early on entering this season, is what type of start they're going to get off to. Because if you look around the lay of the land in the NFL, there's certain teams that are going to be buzz teams early on. Like if the Bucs get off to a bad start, it's going to be similar last year to when the Packers dropped that game up against the Saints. Oh, Rogers wasn't all in and it affected the team come week one. With Brady taking that 11-day sabbatical, I don't think it's really going to affect much, but if the Bucs lose a game or two early on in the season, people are going to say, man, what happened in the offseason is carrying over.

Fair or not. I think there's going to be a lot of attention, also directed to the Cowboys early on, the Cardinals early on, the Green Bay Packers early on. Those are going to be some teams that we're going to talk about a lot, but there's also going to be a lot of buzz and a lot of reactions early on with Kansas City, because there's finally, for the first time in a long time, been some questions, been some criticism, been some negativity when talking about the Chiefs. And the Chiefs, they don't play what we call an easy game in the NFL.

I know some people are going to tell me, there's no such thing as an easy game in the NFL. But there's no gimme win on the Chiefs schedule until November, mid of November, too. They start off the year at Arizona and Arizona doesn't have DeAndre Hopkins, but that's not a gimme game. Week 2, Thursday Night Football, great Thursday Night Football, great debut for Amazon. If anyone can find it, they'll go up against the Chargers. Then they're in Indy for Week 3, in Tampa for Week 4. They have the Raiders on Monday Night Football in Week 5. They have the Bills, Week 6.

You're at San Francisco, Week 7. By week, Week 8, Week 9, Tennessee, and then you finally get a gimme game with the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 10. But it's not as if then the schedule opens up after that, because right after that you have the Chargers, the Rams, the Bengals, the Broncos. Then you get back-to-back easy games, Texans and the Seahawks. Then you end the season out with Denver and the Raiders. Hickey, the AFC West is going to be so much fun. The Chiefs, though, I'm very curious to see what they do the first month, two months of the season.

When you look at September and October, because there's a tension that's going to be pointed in a way that we haven't seen. The Chiefs have been clearly a talked-about team and there's been a lot of tension, but there's some skepticism surrounding the Kansas City Chiefs and how they get off to the start of this season, it's going to be fascinating because there's going to be a lot of hot takes. You being the expert of hot takes are probably going to be loving that.

I don't actually. I don't like it because we, as a football-loving society, football fan society, have poked the bear at the Patriots for a while. We have been, what, predicting the demise of the Patriots dynasty now for basically a decade. We've all swung and missed until Tom Brady left. This feels eerily similar to now, all of a sudden, here comes, you know, the bashing of the Chiefs and all.

But you gotta win more. They're not on the Patriot level yet. Patrick Mahomes ain't that, and this guy's not that good at all. Thank God I'm here with Tua.

Patrick Mahomes does not need any bulletin board material, yet those in the NFL, players in the NFL that should know better, have been doing so. I am nervous. Fill in the blank.

Your response could only be three words. The Chiefs this year will be... What are your three words there, hot take, Hickey? Better than expected. Better than expected. Mine's gonna be the Chiefs this year will be a tough out.

That's what I think. That's a team that could win a Super Bowl this year. That's a team that could win the AFC West.

That's a team that could win the AFC. They're gonna be a tough out. There may be some stumbles. There may be some hiccups, some speed bumps along the way. But ultimately, at the end of the day, with that dude at quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, go ask Buffalo.

Even when you think you have them knocked out, they find the way to mother bleep ya. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Fresh off winning the QB battle at Pitt, Keaton Slovis, who transferred over from USC, is gonna join us coming up in five minutes. 40, 35, 30, near sideline, breaks the tackle, 20, 15, 10, 5, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, Georgia. Let the celebration begin. We can't wait for the 2022 season. Rice gets it, backpedals onto the end zone, loads up, looks long. He's not going behind the defense.

Jamison makes the grab at midfield, down the right sideline, 40, 30, 20, 10, 5, touchdown Alabama, 94 yards. And we're counting down the days to kick off. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? I said no. Are we there yet?

What's wrong with your ears? Here is your college football fix, only on the Zach Gelb show. We're almost there.

You can think of Riley Auto Parts where your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Earlier today, the QB battle is over at Pitt. They'll open up their season welcoming in West Virginia and their QB one is going to be Keaton Slobus, formerly of the USC program.

And now we're going to see what he could do at the Pitt squad this year who are the reigning ACC champs. Keaton, first off, congratulations. Thanks for the time. Welcome back to the show. Thank you. Thanks for having me again. I appreciate it.

Yeah, no problem. So take me through today or yesterday when you found out that you won the job and how coach told you. Yeah, you know, you know, obviously been a communication coach for a while about, you know, what they want to see from me, you know, how we're how we're doing, you know, always felt good about it, but just found out, you know, really a few days ago. And again, I was excited. But again, you know, the mentality as a as a quarterback, as a competitor is always that you think you're going to be a guy. So, you know, it's kind of business as usual.

Everyone's kind of asked me, you know, what's changed? You know, we're preparing for next Thursday. And you're a great team. We're all really excited when you enter the transfer portal, leaving behind a really good school in USC. What led you to Pitt? Why do you want to be a Pitt Panther?

Really, I just just kind of let the phone picked up any phone call I got. And frankly, the opportunity of Pittsburgh was the most most exciting. They returned a bunch of guys. I love coaching our doozy and talking to him and talking about what he was building and their mentality and their culture to me really just seemed like a perfect fit. All things considered and, you know, ever since I've been here, it's been not everything and more the guys are really impressed me.

They've been super welcoming and got a great group of guys here and again, really excited to play with them this year. Were there other schools that were under serious consideration or is this like really just a no brainer once you got that phone call from Pitt that they were interested in you? Yeah, I think for the most part, I kind of just narrowed it down to the few schools I think we're ready to compete now.

You know, I only got two years eligibility left. So I've been thinking about, you know, a school that's kind of rebuilding with a brand new head coach and a roster. But again, to me, kind of when I narrowed it down, it really, really did kind of set itself apart.

I think at the time, sitting down with my dad, kind of going through the pros and cons. The only con I had was, you know, I didn't know who Pitt's OC was going to be. And, you know, we wouldn't know until I got there. And again, that question's been answered pretty quickly.

So again, that was really my question mark. And, you know, I really no doubt once coach said I'd be involved in that process with him. And, you know, we obviously hired coach Cignetti who's been awesome. So I've been really excited about everything so far. How about the weather?

Because I know you're a football player, you'll show up, you play anywhere, but you go from Southern California to Pittsburgh. I know you haven't experienced that bad weather yet. But if you guys are as good as what you think you can be, you'll eventually get that bad weather.

Definitely. It really hasn't been too bad. You know, I grew up in Arizona. So being able to see the snow and experience it, it's been kind of exciting for me. Everyone's kind of annoyed with the dreary skies and, you know, the occasional snow, all the rain.

And, you know, for me, it's kind of nice because I need a break from that sun every once in a while. Keaton Slovis here with us. When I look back at your USC career, it was so unexpected with how you got on the field with all the injuries. You had a lot of success early with the 30 touchdowns. You had a good year, but it was a shortened season because of COVID in the following season. And last year you had to deal with an injury and there was a lot of changes at USC. How do you reflect with your journey and your time at USC? Yeah, you know, there's a lot of positives and, you know, some things you look back on and wish were a bit different. As a whole, you know, I learned a lot.

It was a great experience. But again, I think, you know, for the most part coming in, I was really just looking for stability once I entered the portal. Again, I think when I, you know, they had the five and seven year before I got there and that kind of led to, you know, every year, every loss, kind of the question mark, you know, what they're going to do with the head coach. And if coaches can get fired and, you know, obviously the last year I kind of came to fruition with their decision to fire them. So, again, you know, a lot of great memories and a lot of, you know, lessons of adversity and how to handle it.

So, you know, I look back at that as a, you know, great learning opportunity. I know you're focused with the task that is at hand at Pitt and there's been a lot of changes at USC like you were talking about. But still, there's a lot of guys in that locker room that, you know, I know you're all in on Pitt, but do you still talk to some of those former teammates of the Trojans?

Oh, yeah. You know, I was actually out there, I think it was training or something. And, you know, one of our guys had a grad party, so I stopped by and saw like five, ten of them. You know, they're, you know, my closest guys on the team. And, you know, we still stay in contact. They call me every so often.

So, you know, you might not be teammates, but those relationships last hopefully forever. Keaton Slovis here with us, the new starting quarterback at Pitt. What have been your early impressions of Coach Narduzzi? He's awesome. He's a tough guy. You know, he coached a tough football team.

Obviously, defensive guy, which is a bit of a change of pace for me. I've never really had a defensive head coach, but it's fun. It's fun going out there every day and competing with the defense. And we practice really hard. And that's really been the environment for me.

I come out and see the way they practice. And, you know, I'm kind of used to it now. But I was like, man, this is awesome. This is kind of what builds, you know, great programs.

It pillars itself on really the preparation and how that all goes into your game preparation. But, you know, it all starts there. And, you know, it started with the spring ball.

I was like, man, this is different. And it's really been exciting to be part of. So you don't sense any complacency after this program won the ACC Championship a year ago?

No, definitely not. This is, you know, man, I'm just a quarterback. I don't get hit during camp. But, man, it's been a long camp. It's been awesome to kind of see the guys go out and compete. We're hitting a lot. And, yeah, I'm really excited for this year.

And, you know, definitely none of that around the building. But we know Pitt's put some legendary players in the NFL. Dan Marino, Aaron Donald, Larry Fitz, Darrelle Revis.

We go on and on and on. Going into this year, though, and you guys return a lot of players from a year ago. Naturally, there's going to be some changes, too, just with the landscape of the sport. It feels like Pitt's not getting that respect. And people just assume that it's going to be Clemson getting their throne back in the ACC. Do you feel like this Pitt program is flying under the radar a little bit and not getting a lot of love and respect that they deserve?

Maybe. You know, I think the biggest thing about this team, what we talk about is we're really concerned with what outside people think about us or what they're saying about us. We're only worried about the guys in the building and what's said in between the walls of our team room. So, again, those people can say that stuff. We can be doubted.

But come game time, come the season, we're going to do everything we can to, if they're saying that, prove them wrong. Talking to Keaton Slovis, I know he's no longer at Pitt, but he's staying in the area, pretty much the exact same stadium, too. Kenny Pickett now trying to win out a starting job with the Steelers. Have you had any relationship with Kenny Pickett? Yeah, I actually met Kenny last year at the Manning camp. So when I was at USC, I've had a good amount of time to spend with Kenny. He's awesome. But then, obviously, this year, when he came back for Pro Day, I got to see him again. I got to see him throw a bit. And it's awesome to have him around the corner.

It's cool, you know, when the Steelers practice, we can always pop our heads out and see how they're doing. So it's cool to have him around there. And obviously, all the quarterbacks, a lot of guys on the team, they all know him, too. So it's awesome to have him here. What did he tell you about the university?

Just really about when I called him the last time I really fully talked to him about it, it was probably at spring practice. And he was just talking about how really underrated the receiving corps is. A lot of guys who don't get talked about and how great they are.

And he was kind of like, you see what I'm talking about now? And I was like, yeah, man, we got some ballers in that room. So I talk about Jared Wayne, Kenate Mumfield. You know, there's a few guys I'm missing.

You know, I'm talking about Bubb Means. You know, there's a lot of guys that I think are really, really underrated in that room. And, you know, Kenny was kind of alluding to that when he's talking to me. Kenan Slovis here with us. Last year when we talked to you right before the start of the season, your name was being mentioned in the Heisman watch and the Heisman conversation. We know it didn't go the way that you wanted to last year with the coaching change.

You getting hurt as well. What do you want to prove to people this year, Kenan Slovis? Yeah, my goal is just to just have the best year for the Pitt Panthers as I can. Kind of all of our goals as we talk about leading up to the season is to have a great year as a team. And again, you know, all those individual accolades and all those individual goals will kind of come with that. So, you know, I'm really proud of the team where they've come together, how we're going to come together through the season. And again, we all kind of said, man, you know, we all have a good year as a team.

You know, everyone's going to kind of get rewarded because of that. If there's some Pitt fans who aren't familiar with you, what type of QB are you? How do you sell yourself to the Pitt fans?

Shoot, I don't know. You got to watch my highlights. No, I really just pride myself on running the offense really well and being extremely efficient. You know, you got to be accurate. You got to make good decisions. You got to make quick decisions. You got to get us the right play call, the right protection.

So really, you know, I can always buy some time if I can. I'm not looking to run, but I'm really a passer at the end of the day. And, you know, again, the two things for me, a quarterback's got to do is one, lead and two, you know, execute the offense.

I think I do that. Do you feel like you have everything that you need at Pitt to maybe get back to back first round quarterbacks in the NFL Draft? Yeah, I'm really excited. Really been happy with everything at Pitt. You know, everything to me is in place to have a great year. We got a lot of returning players. We got a great system, great staff.

Support staff's been awesome. Really, really have nothing, nothing but great things to say. So I think our players have a great year and I'm really glad to be part of it. Do you at all focus, I know you're going to give me the quarterback answer, I'm focused one game at a time and what I could control, but do you at all start to think about the NFL and that being a possibility?

No, honestly, not really. You know, obviously that's a goal. That's the dream. That's something you think about, you know, your whole life, but you really do have to look at what's in front of you because, you know, you can get carried away. You know, I look at last year, you know, those thoughts are definitely in my head at some point and, you know, you have something happen, you know, during that season that, you know, in your head, you know, and what's going on kind of prevents you from, you know, even taking that next step because you never even address the stuff in front of you. So, you know, it's kind of reinforced that thought even more so coming this year and having that experience. Yeah. What did you learn the most from last year?

Was it that? That, you know, I wouldn't say I was carried away in that, you know, I still had the same thought of, you know, address what's in front of you, but again, you got to be, have two feet where you're standing. And again, it really, really just comes back to battling adversity. You know, some things you can't control and some things you can't, you got to control everything you can. In a situation like that, you got to do your best to handle that. Well, good luck this upcoming year.

Once again, we weren't surprised when the announcement was made today, but now it's official. So congratulations on being QB one at Pitt and hope the experience, everything that you want. I'm sure we'll check in with you at some time down the road. Sounds good. Thank you again.

Appreciate it. There's Keaton Slovis joining us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a time out. When we come on back, I got to get into these foolish comments by Pete Carroll trying to sell us on the quarterbacks in Seattle. Seahawks fans, I'm just going to say it to start. I'm sorry for what you're gonna have to watch this year on the football field. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show.

The prop queen is in the building. Ariel Epstein going to join us, try to make you some money for this NFL season from the sports book coming up in about 20 minutes from now. This is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

Hot take hickey. I got to talk about a little, I don't know if this is office drama, but something that was peculiar that happened in the office. So next door, WFAN, the Cardin and Roberts show, they have a mannequin. They have a mannequin that looks just like Craig who's bald and it looked just like the mannequin.

So they bought it and they put it in a chair and now it's become a host of WFAN at that radio station. So it came in like a medium size, medium largish box, and it was almost the size of Big Mike CBS, who is not really big. That's like when you call a fat guy tiny when he goes by Big Mike CBS. And Santa's what I may be benevolent here. Five, four, five, seven, five, six, not five, seven, five, four is well, you're also six, three, five, five, four, six, four. If he's five, seven, then I'm seven, eight.

He is short. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Say five, five, seven. Just give him a break. Five, seven.

The guy's literally got put in a box. There's no way he's five, six. Like if I text him right now, I'll do so right now to Big Mike CBS. And you know, whatever he says, subtract it. Yeah, I think he's going to say five, six. That means he's five, five or five, four. Put it this way. He's a little man. Okay. He is short.

He's a little man. There's no doubt about that. So you could find it at Maggie and Pearl, Maggie Gray, Andrew Pearl off the show before I submitted the same CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM Channel 158 and the free Odyssey app. See, I'm being a company guy all around today. I take shots at the people in Miami. I provided great content for 790 and 560 today. Both those stations in Florida. All they did today was talk Zach Gelb, Zach Gelb, Zach Gelb with me not liking Tuatunga Vailoa, who I like as a person.

I just don't think he's going to have success this year. And now I'm promoting Maggie and Pearl off. So I am the company guy here.

And did I tell you, make sure you listen to the free Odyssey app, because I know the bosses at Odyssey love when we say the free Odyssey apps. You know, Santa's such a jackass. I go from saying I'm a company guy to now calling a coworker a jackass. I text him, how tall are you? He goes, combine measurement answer or team media guide version. Told you.

Smart man. So I'm going to say combine because I want the actual answer here from little Mike. I'm also curious to see what he says. Ask him for both.

I'm just curious what the variance is going to be. Who cares? Anyway, just for my personal. So they they try to fit Santa in this box, like half of his body, maybe three quarter of his body got in. Now, the approach here I really don't get. They put the box, the cardboard box over his head. Shouldn't he have like kind of wiggled his way up? Maybe need a step stool and jump into it rather than put the box over his head. Do you need to dissect this video and get a view to for me to make sense?

Or am I just bloviating here and you're like, what the heck is this jackass talking about? No, I'm just trying to see from a realistic standpoint how much the box did it get to his it barely got to his waist. If he jumped in, he's breaking.

Well, here's the thing. He's a little man, but he's got a large rear end. You know, he's he's a little wide in the butt.

Let's just say Mike Santer. So I don't know if he would have fit if he did go feet first. No chance it went to his waist. You have his body. So you're saying Santer's got a big butt is what you're saying.

I'm saying he even the short man that he is, he's not fitting in that tiny box almost, but he's not fitting all the way. Man, we're just providing drops for the rest of this network with this segment. I'll tell you that once again, Zach Gelb, company guide. Now, Santer's ghosting me here right away. He gets back to me, combine measurement answer or team media guide version.

I wrote combine and now I'm not getting a response from Mike Santer. And I know what this is going to turn out to be. He's going to text me at 9 40. Sorry, had dinner with the misses, got caught up in post-show stuff with Andrew and Maggie. And even though I responded to you, now I'm going to big time you because I'm big Mike CBS.

That's what's going to happen. He's 5'4". You think he's really five, six, five, seven. I do.

How? I think 5'4". What are you, 5'10", 5'11"? 5'11". So you're 5'10"? No, I'm 5'11". See, I should start lying. If I was saying, if I was not, I would say I'm six foot. Oh, we're not even close.

He just, he did get back to me. He's 5'2.5", Santer. I'm a little man, but I'll say this about Santer.

5'2". Santer, though, he's a little man, but with the way that he presents himself and the way that he speaks, he's really authoritative. Like, I don't think of him, even though he is a small guy, as him being small first. Like, I have respect for Santer. I think Santer has the respect of the locker room here at CBS.

Some would say a Napoleon complex. Oh, man. I didn't say that. I said some. Some would say. I just think Santer's a nice guy.

We had a wonderful time in Las Vegas. Santer's a very nice guy. Yeah. But you said he carries health authority.

I'm saying that's where it comes from. He walked right into that Vegas club that we were in. Like, he was the biggest deal in the world. There was Andre Reed was there. Michael Ervin was there. Who was the football coach that was there that I pointed out to you? Mike Leach. Oh, Mike Leach was there.

Who knows what he was talking about? God bless whoever was sitting there talking to him. It probably would have been fun, but thank God we didn't get courted by Mike Leach and have to listen to whatever he was rambling about. It could have been fun base after seven minutes.

I think I would have been like, all right, I'm good. Gravity, the Civil War. Like, that guy talks about anything but football. Were you at the Blackjack table with us? I know you weren't playing, but were you there on the final night in Vegas? The Blackjack table? Maybe when Jake Asman and I were, like, holding court on this Blackjack table. And there was a couple from San Antonio that was also there. We were having a grand old time.

That was good. But you went to bed early, right? I didn't. I was trying to be a professional.

Professional. It was the final day of the trip. 5 a.m. flight. It was the final day of the trip. See, that was your first Vegas experience.

Arielle is going to join us coming up in a few moments. She's like a pro when it comes to Vegas. She goes to Vegas all the time. You, it was like your first time you were a Vegas virgin going there.

I'm not a big Vegas guy. Oh, go in there. It all you do is nothing against the city and eat. It feels like one giant scam.

Everyone's pulling you in all different directions. Go here. Come there. You don't want to pay for a Bud Light. I'm not going to tell you to pay for a Bud Light. I don't give a crap what you.

First off, that's your first problem. I love Bud Light. If they want to sponsor the show, I'm all in. But who's drinking a Bud Light in Vegas? When we had an early morning the next morning, I was trying to be responsible.

We don't get on the air. Oh, there we did. It was early. It was like the night before the draft, I figured I'm going to be fresh. I'm going to try to have my brain working, you know, at a high level.

Not going to be a bad producer and come to the show hung over. Hickey's Vegas experience was Bud Light and you got Sbarro, right? Well, I was before the draft.

I mean, you know, it wasn't a lot of ton options, but yeah, I did. It was not bad. We need to take you back to, you know what? I don't even take you back to Vegas. I just need to make you fun. You're just not fun. No, I would disagree.

I would disagree. I'm a very fun guy. I saw you at the wedding this weekend, you know, the video. And you were dancing on the stage, doing all your hot take Hickey dance moves, drinking a beer. You looked fun. That hot take Hickey I need to see in Vegas.

I need to see you at a pool party in a tank top after just having like three or four shots, fist pumping, placing some bets on some sports that we don't even know about. And just having a good old time. You didn't have a good time in Vegas. You were all stressed because this is your first big work trip.

And you're nervous. I did not have a fun time. Well, I had a fun time working on the show, but like I said afterwards, you didn't have a fun time. No, I said I did. But I'm saying, like, we didn't. I definitely enjoy Vegas the way I should have.

I'd be the first one to admit it. Yeah. Oh, I knew it was going to be terrible for you when you wouldn't have any escargot at the phenomenal restaurant. Here we go. Steak was delicious. Steak was delicious. Escargot looked even less appetizing than some of the pictures you showed. And you don't get dessert. We put delicious creme brulee in front of you and you wouldn't touch that thing.

If you know what, even if you had a 10 foot pole, you were like social distancing from it. You were running away. Stuffed on steak. Come on. We got to expand your stomach. We got to improve your taste buds and we got to make hot take hickey fun.

I'm not going to say make hot take hickey fun again because I don't know if you were ever fun. Let's hear from Pete Carroll. He ran Russell Wilson out of town. Now Pete Carroll says both quarterbacks, and he's referencing Geno Smith and Drew Locke, P.U., have been very impressive in camp so far.

Listen up. Geno's done a really good job of being in that position. His voice is solid. He's on point all the time. He's been very consistent with his work, all of that.

And Drew has been really sharp, you know? So what do you know? It's I know it's not supposed to be a good situation when you have two quarterbacks. It means you don't have one that's the old saying, you know? But I don't know that we might have two ones. We'll see what happens. Wow.

Now I read those comments today. I didn't hear the part or read the comments when he goes, I know the old saying, if you have two quarterbacks, you don't have none. But like, we actually have two. So he knows what he's saying, Ryan, when he says it is a bunch of bull crap because that was a guilty conscience that was on his mind. You know, we don't really have any quarterbacks, but I can't go to the media after I ran Russell Wilson out of town and say we have no quarterbacks.

So I'm going to say the expression. The Seahawks are screwed this year. I didn't need to hear that to say the Seahawks are screwed. But after that answer, how can you tell me you actually think you have two good quarterbacks there? Geno Smith, the last time he was named the starting quarterback, got punched in the jaw by a teammate. And Drew Locke, he's going to be most remembered for dancing on the sideline in Denver. After that, that guy has sucked in the NFL.

This is oof. Imagine being a Seahawks fan. You were in the penthouse for years.

Now you're in the outhouse. If you're a Seahawks fan, I think you're happy. How? Two words, Bryce Young and or CJ Stroud. You don't want to be winning five games this year. That's fair. Run those two clowns out there and win two games.

You could be happy about the future. Yes, it's going to be a miserable season. That's even though they make the playoffs last year. That's a fan base. The 12th man.

Yeah. Proud fan base. It's going to be miserable if you're a Seahawks fan this year.

You know what I got to do? I have a buddy that's a season ticket holder in Seattle. I think I may need to give him a phone call after the show. Three hours behind. I leave at 10 p.m. Eastern. He's 7 p.m. on the West Coast. I'm gonna need to give him a call and just see where his temperature is at.

Not rubbing it in, not being a bad dude, but I got to see how livid he is. I got to talk to a local Seattle fan. Let's hear one more from Pete Carroll. He says the week one starter won't necessarily remain the starter for the entire season. Listen up.

I'm not closing the book on anybody competing for their spots. We have two enormous weeks coming up. And the finish of this one next week is a huge week for us. And then we come back with another full week and an extra day, you know? So we got a lot of time here to work it out. That to me sounds like they're going to start the year out with Geno Smith.

And we've talked about this on the show before. Even before Drew Locke was a member of the Seahawks. They had a fascination or a liking towards Drew Locke. That means they're not going to throw Drew Locke to the wolves right away, which I don't get. Do you think there's legitimate upside with these two quarterbacks? There's more upside with Drew Locke.

But when you compare him to Geno Smith and you know what Drew Locke is, it's not like a ton of upside. That would be like when I was in college and I would drink Natty. And then they gave you, I don't know, something that was slightly better at a big fraternity party.

You're like, oh, this is the greatest thing in the world. It's still crappy beer. That's what the Seahawks are at quarterback. They're crappy beer.

It doesn't matter who you serve. You may think it's OK. But in reality, when you actually dip your toe into different waters and see actual quarterbacks, you'll know that it's bad beer. Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio.

Oh, boy, I got to get into this later. Remember yesterday I thought you look like Baker Mayfield. I got a great tweet. Someone thinks you look like someone else. Hot take, Hickey. I'll tag you on Twitter. Do what you want. Ari Epstein, the prop queen, going to join us next. We'll try to make you some money. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.