Zion Williamson's Absence (Hour 3)

Our number three of our radio program, that's right, Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. It's time to update you on some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. We call this segment the News Brief. Time for your Daily News Brief.

We get you caught up on the rumors, reports, and reconnaissance from the day in sports. Let's hear from LeBron James. The Lakers come back from down 15, eventually get the game into overtime. And we know the Lakers win in overtime. LeBron, as they're now officially off to the postseason, because I don't know about you, Hickey, I don't consider the playing tournament the postseason. No, absolutely not. So now the Lakers are officially in the postseason as the seven, they'll go up against the Memphis Grizzlies. What, did you regret saying that?

You kind of rolled your eyes afterwards. No, I mean, it's not the playoffs. It's a simple question. It's technically the postseason, but it's not the playoffs. It's just like random, like, it's just there. It's just the playing.

It's to earn the right to participate in the real postseason. That's the way that I look at it. Okay.

Well, no, you're right. I just don't know what you... I also hate it. I hate it. I can't stand it. You have 82 regular season games.

You have this spineless commissioner in spineless silver who can't get his players to play in the regular season. So now we have to reward the teams in ninth and 10th place to try to give them an extra opportunity to earn the right to get into the postseason. It's so stupid. And I'm glad after years and years and years of people saying, oh, this is wonderful. This is tremendous because we've got big stars in these games and you had LeBron in this game again, that even though I don't love what the Mavericks did, I do like that the Mavericks did it because they gave a big middle finger to this dopey commissioner in Adam Silver, who is so overrated and his great plan of avoiding teams from tanking and going for the ninth and 10th spot so you could eventually try to earn your way into the seventh and eighth spot. It blew up in his face.

And I'm so sick and tired of people giving him credit for this idea, which is an awful idea. And now it blew up in his face with what the Mavericks did. And I love that.

Love it, love it, love it, love it. You know what, Mark Cuban? I think your organization right now is a bleep show, but I do appreciate what you did. Here's LeBron James on how proud he is of the Lakers who never quit this season. That's one thing we've been really good at. You know, even through ups and downs, we've been very resilient, been able to stick with the game and, you know, find a way to gut it out and win, you know, even with slow starts or, you know, not finishing the game up like we would like to, but, you know, just always trying to find a way. And tonight was another instance of that versus a very, very, very good team.

I'm sorry. We're hyping up the Timberwolves as this great team. They had a 15-point lead and they couldn't close it out.

And Anthony Edwards did nothing in that game. That answer by LeBron, I think it kind of shows you, Hecky, that even he is not that confident in this Lakers team if we are basically talking up how much this team refused to quit and was resilient all throughout the year. Especially when you see how that game went yesterday, you have no choice but to talk about how the Grizzlies are basically the reincarnation of the 93 Bulls.

Bring them back. That was the best team in the league. That's how tough of a battle it was. Forget the fact they're missing their two best defensive players and the Lakers almost gave the game away like five times. That was a great team. Great team.

Anthony Davis on the team surviving after his foul on Conley. After it happened, me and Bron discussed. We watched it. I told him it was my bad. I told the team it was my fault. It just goes back to our next play mentality that coach always talk about and we talk about as a team. Whatever happened, happened. Go finish this last five minutes and get a win.

That's kind of what we did. We know Anthony Davis is a much better player than J.R. Smith, Hecky. But LeBron last night had to be having flashbacks to the NBA Finals when LeBron was Superman with his cape on and J.R. Smith just forgot how much time was on the clock and we all remember that viral meme. When Davis commits that foul last night, it had to be a flashback to that moment of another game that I was so close to winning and then someone makes a dumb decision. My favorite part is literally like a second before Reggie Miller said, OK, the one thing you can't do foul on the three and then boom, the inbounds pass and then you hear the whistle. It was you couldn't you truly couldn't make it up because it was the only thing you could not do. And he goes, let me just run him over.

Stupid. I always love that when the announcers say something like you can't do this and then it does happen. I forget who it was, but during the Masters, it was, oh, Brooks Koepka hasn't three putted all tournament long. And the next shot and I thought he was going to make the point. Of course, he missed it and it goes in and out and then he had to hit the ball again and then he had the three putt. And that was on Sunday.

I forget that was around three or four, but it was it was on Sunday. And that started the demise of Brooks Koepka. Let's hear Charles Barkley, who jokes about Rudy Gobert backing up after punching Kyle Anderson, NBA on TNT.

I'm just going to tell you all at home, you can't hit somebody and run backwards. Why do you think that was so funny there, Hickey, that you put that in there? Because it's true. It was going viral yesterday. And now it's not a long clip because they cut it short and they didn't want to Chuck getting to right away.

But and also, I know it's tougher because we're an audio medium and not a visual medium. But he did slap Kenny the Jetsmith and started running away. But he's on harm's not right. Rudy threw the punch and then basically ran into the locker room afterwards. I actually give Gobert credit, though, that he actually threw the punch. Because how many times in the NBA and in sports now it's like, I'm going to throw a punch, hold me back, hold me back, hold me back. At least he actually threw the punch.

Then you are not wrong about too many fake tough guys. You're lucky I'm getting held back right now as the guy in front of you is doing like nothing to restrain you. Bro, you think my chest is big?

You should see my back. But it would have been, you know, well, if you're Rudy Gobert and you're actually going to throw a punch, get your money's worth. Half-hearted punch of the chest. Like, go for the jaw.

Go to like, honestly, if you know whether the punch is small or big, chaos is going to erupt. And by the way, I haven't got your thoughts on this, but I don't think his teammates like Gobert. Because them suspending him for a game is soft and seems like ridiculous for what the infraction was. And then also, whatever the Timberwolves leaked out to Woge. Oh, Anderson called him a bitch and at least he didn't punch him in the face. It was just such a Timberwolves PR statement basically leaked to Adrian Mosinowski.

So it shows you that the front office goes, OK, we gave up 4-5 first round picks for this guy. We need him on the court. But the whole team was probably like, you need to suspend him. We don't need him on the court.

He's overrated. That's what I think went down. That's what I think happened. And now you know it's going to happen. Gobert is going to make a big defensive stop on Friday night.

And he's going to get the Timberwolves into the playoffs for that A-scene before hopefully like the Nuggets just sweep them in like in four games or beat them in five maybe at most. You know that's going to happen in this story. Maybe this galvanizes them. All of a sudden, next thing you know, they're the hottest team no one wants to play. I noticed I had to say make a defensive stop because I don't think anyone believes that Rudy Gobert is going to hit a big shot lead.

That's just me. I think I'm going out on a limb on that one. But Chuck is having quite the last month and a half run. First giving us the story about showering in his uniform after games when he had to go catch a flight early in the morning. Then talking about how he would lose the hotel soap when washing a certain area of his body because the bar of soap is too small. And another part of his body is very large. And now making fun of Rudy Gobert for throwing a punch and then doing the whole back away situation.

So good stuff by the Chuckster. Let's go to Eric Spolstra. Heat lose last night to the Hawks. We'll see if the Heat get into the postseason coming up on Friday says a lot need to change moving forward. We definitely have to get to the film and go back to all the fundamentals. We knew coming into this game that this game would be decided. Ball in the air, ball on the floor.

And it certainly was. By the way, let's get to Trae Young. And I'll ask you my question after we play the audio.

Trae Young says he doesn't allow the trade rumors to impact his game, NBA and TNT. For me, just all day, just been trying to think about tonight. Just trying to focus on the next task. I mean, I can't control all the outside noise and what's going on everywhere else. I can only control what I can control. And that's what I do on this court and for my teammates and making sure we come out with the win. And let everything else take care of itself.

So that was my mindset, not to get focused on anything else but today's game. So the Hawks pretty much made it clear through reports that they're open to trading Trae Young this offseason. Do you think they'll trade Trae Young this offseason?

Because it is bizarre that this story does leak right before the play-in tournament game the other night up against the Miami Heat. Did they get the right package? I think so. Obviously that's going to be dependent on what can you get back and is another team willing to take them on after being a coach killer now for the last few years. But if they get the offer they are willing to accept, I absolutely think so.

You know what is weird to me? I wonder what they said to Quinn Snyder when he got on board in Atlanta. Because we've seen Lloyd Pierce lose his job and then Nate McMillan lose his job as well with Trae Young as the coach. I just kind of wonder when Quinn Snyder who was going to get whatever job he wanted you would think this offseason. Why he thought he had to go to Atlanta and it kind of doesn't line up if you thought you really needed to go to Atlanta in the middle of the season. And then this offseason they're going to be opening to trading Trae Young.

Maybe that's them sending a message. I still kind of think Young is going to be on the roster. But when you leak that out right before the playing tournament game it makes you probably think that he's not next year. But then why did Quinn Snyder take the job in the middle of the season unless this was his plan on trading Trae Young all along. I think he got assurances that the next one to leave is going to be Trae not the coach. We've seen two coaches go.

Well it depends on the offer. But I think it's part of the reason why he went midseason. Get an evaluation of Trae.

Half a season 30 games worth. Can you work with them in the future. Can you see him being a part of your system going forward. It does almost kind of serve as just like a quick way to figure out is he going to be a part of our future or not. By the way remember like a year and a half two years ago everyone had that same take. The fairest trade like ever was Luca for Trae Young in the draft.

I remember saying this at the time. I'd much rather have Luca Doncic. But like a year later or two years later Trae looks like he's on his way out in Atlanta or could be on his way out. And when it gets to Luca Doncic not that the Mavericks don't want him anymore. But Luca looks out of shape and you start to also wonder how much longer Luca is going to want to be a part of the Mazz organization.

When they're going to run it back barring something that changes in the next few weeks. And in the next few months where the intention is to have Jason Kidbeck as the coach and Kyrie Irving back. As the second star to compliment Luca Doncic.

Like it's just a whole weird situation in Dallas and in Atlanta Hickey it's also very weird as well. They're the same in that they don't take a lot of accountability for their play and their actions. Luca again not getting in the best shape bickering with the referee way too much. Like he has his own faults. He's a way better player than Trae Young.

But each have their own faults as to why their teams right now are kind of reeling. So Zion Williamson he is not expected to play anytime soon. He says though he is physically fine.

I mean physically I'm fine. Now it's just a matter of when I feel like Zion. You know I know the atmosphere I'd be in based off like the playoffs experience. So now it's just a matter of when I feel like Zion.

And Zion says he desperately wants to get back on the court. It sucks. I love this game. I say it over and over. For those people that think that I just want to sit on the sideline just to sit over there. I don't know why people think that.

But nah it sucks. I just want to be playing basketball for real. Then Zion on what it will take for him to return to the court. I don't feel like there are any specific benchmarks for being Zion. It's just a matter of like you know when I feel like myself. Whenever you're speaking in the third person and you go to like oh whenever I feel like Zion. Whenever Zion feels like Zion.

Hickey that's kind of like a rule that this is a disaster. And in one part I want to be sensitive to this. Because clearly there's something mentally going on here. Where if you physically feel fine but then mentally you don't feel fine. I think the conversation around Zion with how much hype there was and him barely being on the court the last three years is clearly getting to him. And even when he's physically fine I think there is some apprehension there. Oh if I rush it back too soon even though it's been forever. Then maybe I'm going to re-aggravate something or maybe I'm going to get hurt again.

And then it's like you go down that rabbit hole again. I hate to say it because when he's on the court he puts up great numbers. But it seems like mentally there's a lot that he's going to have to just speculate and go through in order to get back on the court. And basically the team they keep on leaking out that he's nowhere close to being actually ready. I think the Pelicans are partly to blame for Zion being you know mentally not there.

Because they have treated him with kid gloves his entire career. So it's like he's almost been conditioned just because you're around it every day. They are extra careful. He takes one you know one few breaths and all of a sudden now he's okay we set him down for two minutes.

And you had a lot of different regimes too. Right and they just the David Griffin from day one has basically put Zion Williamson in bubble wrap. And unless he's feeling a million percent as not allowed in play.

I think it does impact an athlete when you're being told take it easy. Take an extra day. Be careful. Be cautious. To kind of just have that even just you know not on purpose but just have it just sink in. To where now you have a cautious mindset more than you ever thought.

Just because every day for us four years you're hearing that. It's kind of like when like I had a neighbor as a kid that had a really expensive car. But they would never drive it.

Because I guess they were afraid of it getting banged up or dinged up. And it was always in the garage. And you would see it in the garage but you never see it leave the garage. It's like once you see for years that car is not leaving the garage you kind of like forget about how cool it is. And what that car could do. I think it's the same thing with Zion. Like we have just the last three years seen injuries. And them wrapping them up in bubble wrap just kind of derail his career. Where you look at Zion you're like all right that's the awesome car. But you never take the car on the road. So it's like you have no expectations anymore.

Because you don't get to see the rewards of having something that is pretty damn cool. Let's hear Shane Steichen. It's your ball coach Hickey. The new coach of the Indianapolis Colts. Shane Steichen I don't know if he's considering trading for Lamar Jackson. Yeah we're focused on the draft and I'm going to focus on the guys that are in the building right now.

That's where we're at. It's a good coach answer. But be my guest if you want to draft Will Levis or Anthony Richardson instead of going out and inking Lamar Jackson to a contract.

Any response there? I mean I got questions about Lamar. But yes I will say it's hard to be confident if right now your plan of the future is going to be Anthony Richardson or Will Levis.

And it's hard to take that again seriously. Let's hear Chef the Adam Schefter. He says the Jets and Packers aren't close to a deal.

The Adam Schefter podcast. There's not a whole lot there. And my understanding is there hasn't been a whole lot of conversation if any over the last couple of weeks. Going back to the owners meetings. And so both sides now appear to be dug in and we'll see whether or not anything changes as we head up to the draft. What's interesting is if the two sides amazingly enough can't figure out a deal by the time the draft comes then the Jets go ahead and make their picks at 13, 42 and 43 I think are the numbers. And Aaron Rodgers then has a decision to make about whether or not to show up for the mandatory minicamp in May.

And I actually have something I said from the start. By the time the even the voluntary stuff rolls around and then you get the mandatory stuff as well. If Rodgers goes into that building, Hickey, that is awkward. That would be really awkward. And then all Rodgers has to do is say, oh, I'm going to actually talk to the media.

And then it becomes just a full out circus. I keep on thinking that this deal is going to get done by the draft or maybe at the draft. Is when we'll officially see that as well. Kind of be fitting with the rumors where it was a year ago if this comes to a close actually at the draft, Hickey. Breaking news is Roger Goodell is about to announce the number one overall pick.

The trade has been made. And that would be more Rodgers driven. But in this case Rodgers really just doesn't have a say because it's up to the Jets and the Packers at this point.

Right. It's actually out of his control from everything we believe. So you can't even say that's Rodgers being an attention whore at this point. For the first time in a long time, we can say this is actually not Aaron Rodgers demanding and seeking attention. But I think both sides are kind of not talking to each other and they're seeing who's going to blink first. And I ultimately do think that the draft is going to be the deadline and that's when this deal will get done. Because I think both sides, though, after the draft, this just is more ridiculous than what it already is right now. And finally, David Bakhtiari of the Packers says the Packers could hold on to Aaron Rodgers this season via busing with the boys.

The Packers are rebuilding. Whether you think so or not. Could they be good?

I don't know. Could they be bad? Probably if you're betting, more people are going to think they're going to be bad than good. Right. Isn't that fair to say? So then they'll be like, well, we're going to suck anyways. We want what we want and we're not going to bend anyone. So we'll just eat it. Fair.

Sell and retire. We'll pay you. We don't care. Because if we're going to do it our way, it's going to be on our terms. If not, what are we going to be?

Soup bowl contenders anyway? So we'll eat it. You can hang on the side. Pay your money and then we'll suck anyways. Get the picks. As compared to dealing him for something that you shouldn't have, you could potentially look like an idiot to not only president and the board, but everyone else around the league. Thinking of the GM's perspective. Put yourself on the hot seat and then potentially have your job come to a call to question. So I look at all these ways you can deal it.

I don't think you'd get back contentious. You know what's weird about that, Hickey? I listen to that and I go, did David Bakhtiari get cut by the Packers? Did I miss something?

And then I looked it up. His deal was actually restructured back in March. You very rarely hear a player talk about the team potentially sucking before the season starts. Is he trying to get traded? Is he trying to get traded to the Jets? That's not like a guy who's not even going to be on the Packers. Hey, get me in the deal.

Let's go. We're probably going to stink next year. What? With Jordan Love? That's really what we're saying here in March or April? And he's protecting the quarterback?

Maybe that's a holdup. Package deal. Bakhtiari and Rodgers. Yeah. That's a rough look. I think it was the longest yard when Sandler returns and the line just lets him take a beating.

That's kind of what Bakhtiari is going to do to Love this year because his boy Rodgers isn't behind him. Which is bad news for Jordan Love. That's a news brief. Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports right now.

You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. You can think O'Reilly Auto Parts for car care needs. Guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Hickey, I have a story about a domestic dispute and then a baseball story. We'll get to both those stories in this segment.

But which one should we go with first that I just both read about during the break? The domestic dispute sounds depressing and not good. So let's get that out of the way first and end on a cheerful note. OK. It's actually weird. This is a somewhat funny domestic dispute. I guess the ending was OK.

So that's why we can laugh at this right now. But I was just reading an article and I'll set up the story. Man, woman married in relationship. The woman finds out the man is cheating on her. The woman confronts the man. The man says, I actually need money to take my lover out and go to some gambling establishment. And while the wife was confronting her husband about the affair, the husband threw something at the woman.

Now, I'll give you multiple choice here. Was it a book? Was it an order of takeout wings?

Was it a aluminum fork? Or was it a box of cannolis? What do you think the man threw at the woman? Was it a book, wings, a fork or a box of cannolis? I'm considering this is somehow going to be a lighthearted story somehow.

And with how this started, I'll go cannolis. That's the funniest ending. A Florida man allegedly threw chicken wings at his wife as the couple quarreled over his suspected lover, according to a police report. Evidence of the wing attack, this is via the New York Post, could still be seen when officers arrived at the home and saw the wife with sauce under her chin neck area, as well as on the thin shoulder strap to her shirt, according to the police report obtained by The Smoking Gun. The domestic disturbance in Wildwood began Sunday night when Robert Francis Audet, 39, and his wife began to argue about him having an apparent lover, according to the police report.

The victim advised during the argument the defendant began asking for some money so he could go to a local gambling establishment and meet with the lover, an officer wrote in the report. At some point during the argument, the defendant grabbed and threw a takeout box of wings. Some of the wings hit the woman in the right shoulder and under her chin, the report states.

The explosive argument carried on with Audet at one point, blocking his wife from reaching their baby in another room and then forcing her to hide in a closet of the bedroom, according to the report. Now, I guess everything turned out to be okay from what I do continue to read, but when you have a domestic dispute here, I would never have expected that a box of wings would be thrown at the woman. So I guess everyone made it out okay, wife, husband, and then the baby as well, but it was a box of wings, Hickey, that got thrown here, which you know me, I am very passionate about wings. I think it's disgraceful that Hickey prefers boneless wings, aka chicken nuggets in hot sauce over traditional bone-in wings, and obviously I don't advocate for any situation where you're throwing something at your wife, but when you throw wings at your wife, that's a big time problem.

Especially when you're in the wrong, like you got caught red handed and this guy has to be a big loser if he's asking his wife for money so he could take his lover out to some gambling establishment. So there's probably some more issues here than what's even being said in the story, but Hickey, to waste a box of wings, that's a big time problem for me. Big time. Yeah, that's one way to, yeah. At least make sure that they were boneless, not bone-in here. Well, that's a big question.

Maybe that, you know, maybe backs up my algorithm. If they were bone-less wings, maybe he's eating them. No, no way. Well, Dexter Henry is sitting to the left of me, and when I said that you prefer boneless wings over traditional wings, Dexter Henry gave me a look as if he was mortified that Hickey, you are a savage, you're an animal, and you're a piece of you-know-what.

I wasn't mortified. He just, he went to Penn State, so I kind of expected it. Dexter Henry from the top rope! One, two, three, it's over! It's over!

Wow! Now, I don't work a lot with Dexter Henry. I know he's a big star with the New York Post and SNY. I didn't know he had that level of savage in him. As the kids say, he's got that dog in him after that kill shot that he just issued on you, Hickey. Hey, look man, University of Pittsburgh alum, you know, I gotta take shots at Penn State. That is maybe the best line a Pitt alum has ever uttered, maybe in history. So, Dex, I'll give you credit.

You know what, I gotta give him respect on that, because that was a shot with praise, like he threw the shade without all the way throwing the shade. Let's be real. No, look, take the Penn State stuff aside. Yes, I do think you prefer the boneless to the bone? Easier to eat. I don't want my hands dirty, my mouth all disgusting with wing sauce all over the place.

To me, the taste is the same. So, get a fork, boom, stick it in there. All of a sudden, now if you're out at a bar, my hands are clean, I can text, I can talk, I can drink, no problem. I don't need 400 wipes on the table around me.

We have found the issue here. A massive pile of wings and wipes. You're a prima donna, Hickey, Dexter Henry, and I, we are men, okay? Like, we are adults.

You're a little child that's a prima donna. Plus, you know, when you're biting into the bone and the meat gets stuck in between your teeth, which is another thing you gotta worry about to work out. What I was gonna ask Hickey, and I was intrigued to hear him say that, I was wondering if he thought there was a difference in the flavor, but he does not feel that there is. Yeah, he doesn't. He does not feel that there is. But there's a big difference. I feel that there is, but if he feels like he's getting the same experience, I mean, I gotta respect that he's not changing his flavor. I'll respect it. You were like Daniel Jones up against the Eagles.

Like, you were running, you were taking off, you're doing a great job, and then you just fell. Listen, man, we have to embrace and understand. We have to agree to disagree. We can't agree to disagree.

I'm not gonna go that hard. If we went out to a bar, you can get your boneless. I'll get my non-boneless. And we'll still eat together. And we'll berate you. You won't go away. Yeah, turn your back in shame. See, thank you. No, it's okay, man.

Pitt and Penn State can still get along, man. I'm proud of it. It's unpopular, but you know what that means? More boneless wings for me. Don't worry about a boneless wing shortage, that's for sure. He's not taking away from your experience of liking the non-boneless wings. Yeah, that's true. Well, let's just call it what it is. Wings and then dino nuggets, all right?

But let's just call it what it is. And then also Matt Gelb, who's not related to me. This is the other story. Matt Gelb, who covers the Phillies, I think for the athletic. Bryce Harper is going to learn first base. He went to the Phillies, according to Matt, with the idea earlier this month. It won't change his timeline for returning as a DH, but it might get him back in the field sooner this season.

And you can go check out Matt's Twitter page at Matt Gelb for more information. And Hickey, I know that he had the injury and the surgery, Bryce Harper, but they've never put him on the 60-day DL yet. Like, I drafted Bryce Harper on my fantasy team this year for baseball. And you got him a lot later than you would because of the injury, and everyone thought he'd be out bare minimum until the All-Star break. He's still on the 10-day DL, or IL now, is what they call it. The injury.

So you look at this. Harper could be coming back where, well, not everyone has the DH, so it's like, is it really that big of a, I guess from a competitor's standpoint, and him being a leader, you respect it. But, well, the Phillies have injuries at first base with Rhys Hoskins out for the year.

And they do have a crowded outfield, so that could help them. And you use the DH spot somewhere else, like you could have Castellanos just DH, and then you could put Harper at first base when he's ready to get back into the field. Just provides flexibility where, yes, you don't have just a DH spot lumped in with Bryce Harper every day for the next two, three, four months. You do have, when he's able to get in the field in maybe August.

Tommy John. So he's out for a while. But it's like, he's going to be a hitter first anyway. So it's not impacting his return, just when he does return and is able to go to the field, like you said, crowded outfield, opened up the DH. A lot of not great fielders on that Phillies roster opens up a spot where he could still put the best lineup on the field possible. And you could have Castellanos, you have Kyle Schwarber, like you said, use that DH role, and then you could move over Harper to first base. It could end up working, and then you'd have to move Alec Boehm somewhere else around the lines.

And it does help them in terms of that. So good job by Bryce Harper. We'll see when he ends up returning. And for the sake of my fantasy team, I hope he gets back as soon as possible there, Hickey, even though that probably does contradict my main thought of being a Mets fan. Well, it'll still be around the All-Star break, July.

So you got time. Maybe put him on that 60-day DL for you. And maybe before the All-Star break. He's trying. Wouldn't shock me. The fact that he's not on the 60-day DL, or IL, I keep on saying that, sorry.

The fact that he's on the 60-day IL kind of makes you think that maybe it's going to happen before the All-Star break, but who knows. Surgeons keep our hearts beating. They do the amazing. Help save lives.

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So I was thinking about this, Hickey. Yesterday, the Detroit Lions traded Jeff Acuda, who in 2020 was their third overall pick. And remember, he was supposed to be like a lock. So many people talked about Jeff Acuda as if he was just going to be a great shutdown corner in this league and there was really nothing to have any, you know, concerns about when the Lions drafted him at number three. That was considered to be a very safe, safe pick. Like there's certain guys that go in the top 10 where it's like, yes, he could definitely be a star.

But even if he's not as great as what you think he's going to be, bare minimum, he's going to be really good. And it's not going to be a pick that you're going to look at as if he was a bust. Now, we know Acuda has been hit with the injury bug and you had a coaching staff change and a regime change as well with the GM. But Acuda gets traded yesterday for a fifth round pick to Atlanta. And when you're three years in to your rookie deal, going on your number four. And you were the third overall pick in the draft, Hickey. I'm kind of surprised, even though Acuda has not been good in the NFL. That all they were able to get back was a fifth round pick for like you couldn't even get a fourth round pick with how many teams need corners. And usually if it doesn't work in one place, it's like, okay, you'll get another shot somewhere else for that to only be a fifth round pick. I don't want to say it's that.

No, you know what? It is surprising that he was only able to go Hickey for a fifth round pick. It's one of those where you're almost doing the lines of favor. You're trying to bank on the upside. But I mean, Safon Gilmore, the Colts also traded for a fifth round pick. I thought he would get more.

He's a lot more accomplished. But still, he's the guy who's playing right now at a high level compared to Jeff Acuda, and they both went for the same draft capital. I wonder what's Acuda's contract this year? Because he's still in that rookie deal.

Let me just pull it up real quick. Two years, though, right? Because he's in that two Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert draft class, right?

Well, no, he's going into your number four. Yeah. So you could have if you pick up the fifth year option.

Yeah. I don't think if you're trading for a fifth round pick, though, that you're picking up that fifth year option. Why would you lock yourself into because that's where the money skyrockets.

Well, how much I got to look for a corner. I can't imagine it being I mean, got to be at least 10 million, I would say. I think it's terrible for a guy that you just traded a fifth round pick for. I you're trading for him for a reason, right?

Yeah. But a fifth round pick is nothing. A fifth round pick is like a pretty much. I mean, for the for the Falcons, who are they paying?

It's just keeping the show. Who are they paying right now? Once again, I don't think they're going to I don't think you make this deal and you pick up the fifth year option. You lock yourself into what is right now, $11.5 million, according to Spotrack. The salary this year is one million, the base salary. The cap hit is $5.1 million. So the fifth year option is available.

We'll see if they end up picking it up. But to get to the point that I was going to make, you look back at the first six picks of that draft. Joe Burrow to the Bengals, stud. Commanders taking Chase Young.

Been disappointing. Chase Young. You had you had one former NFL offensive line coach, Paul Alexander. Compare him to Lawrence Taylor.

Think about that. And Chase Young, I know he's been hit with the injury, you know, injury concerns. But he has not been as great and as dominant as we thought he was going to be with what we've seen through the first three years of his career. I will never forget laughing at the Giants and laughing at Giants fans. And they beat the commanders and lost out on getting that number two pick and lost out on getting Chase Young.

I said it for a while. Be the pick they regret for next decade. So far, they now regretted it.

Third overall, the Lions take Okuda. Now, I remember having this conversation at the time. As as that was the pandemic draft where everyone was working from home. And I remember it was being discussed about the Lions taking a quarterback with Stafford getting up there in age. Now, we know that Stafford played one more year in Detroit and then got traded to the Rams.

I know it's easy to say now, but it's not like there was no conversation. Like, I'm not telling you here, oh, they could have had Jalen Hurts. Jalen Hurts was never going to go at pick number three. But you look back at this now. Justin Herbert.

I know you could also just as easily argue to a tongue of Iloa. And that's been a draft pick that has not reached out to where we thought it was going to go a large part because of the concussions. But man, I know Goff's been fine, but I don't think anyone actually believes Goff is going to be the long term quarterback for the Detroit Lions.

I look at Justin. Imagine the Lions where they're at right now with Justin Herbert, Icky. That would be a team that if the Lions had Justin Herbert right now with Amara St. Brown.

And some of the other weapons that they have. That's a team in a weak NFC where right now they're kind of expected to go win the NFC North. But if you could go put Justin Herbert on that team, like that may be a team that people would pick to go to the Super Bowl this year. When you have Amara St. Brown, Jamison Williams, if he takes that next step. And their backfield too with DeAndre Swift and they bring in David Montgomery, even though I like Jamal Williams better. But now he's with the Saints in a very weak NFC where it's Philadelphia, the Niners and then kind of everybody else. Lions be a very kind of trendy pick if they had Justin Herbert. And they're already trendy pick now.

So absolutely, that would take off. But no one's saying they're going to the Super Bowl right now. No, but if they had Herbert, I would agree that, yes, that would be the call. Andrew Thomas goes for I know you could probably say, oh, well, the Giants should have just taken a quarterback as well. But I can't crush the Giants for that because you got to remember at the time Gettleman still running the show there. And they just drafted Daniel Jones. That wasn't going to happen.

And also it's like the same thing with the commanders. You can't say the commanders need to take a quarterback there at number two because Chase Young was the obvious pick. And also they just drafted now the late great Dwayne Haskins.

They drafted him the year prior to that. So it's like you're not going to most of the times, unless you're the Arizona Cardinals, do you draft a quarterback in the first round and then next year you draft another quarterback in the first round? And you get the Dolphins five and then the Chargers six with Justin Herbert when you look back at that draft class. But that that a coup to pick at three, it just shows you, for example, like teams this year. And there are some teams that could be on the fence about drafting a quarterback. Like, I don't think the Colts are on the fence. But then you look at a team like Seattle or Detroit that shouldn't be picking where they are.

And you think you may have a guy, but it's not the guy. And I know they just gave a deal out to Geno Smith. I know they just gave a, you know, we'll see what happens with Jared Goff as well. It just kind of shows you that if you think you're going to make a safe pick and there's just a remote chance of a quarterback being a stud. And you don't have that guy in place right now. And we all knew at the time that Stafford was a really good quarterback in Detroit. He was not going to last that much longer.

Detroit. Even though it can set your franchise back, if you pick the wrong guy at the upsides there, I think you take the quarterback over the safe corner that ended up being a bust anyway. That's just the way that I look at it.

Also shows you I mean, look, even though they're top five pick, we could talk about how great they are coming into the draft. There's no guarantees. There's absolutely no more. Very few.

Some guys we do kind of see hitting and it works right away, but extremely minimal safe locks. You feel good about coming in right away and contributing and shows how volatile the draft is. And also, you look back at wide receivers and I love Jefferson.

This is not me saying it now. But at the time, I love Jefferson yet. Henry Ruggs go before Justin Jefferson, Jerry Judy, C.D. Lamb, who's good, Jalen Rager. And then Justin Jefferson was the fifth wide receiver. Off the board there, which still to this day, how he wasn't a top three wide receiver in that draft class. I said it then and I'll say it again. Never made any sense to me. Five teams that could go to the NBA finals will get to that conversation next. And also some stars in the NBA that could be on their way out. Ninety nine or more at i n d o c h i n o dot com. Code podcast.