Aaron All-In? (Hour 1)

Live from the play show yet not overly ostentatious studios of Sports Radio 610 in beautiful Kansas City. This is a Wednesday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS number to jump on in. 855-212-4227. 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 Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. A whole lot to do today. We have arrived safely to Kansas City after an early morning flight. Hot take kicky is rocking and rolling here with me in Kansas City for some reason. They'd allowed him to go on a road trip. I would have sent Connor Green if I was making those decisions as Connor Green is back at our New York City studios. But we are basically almost a little over 24 hours away from the NFL draft. And this time tomorrow, everyone's going to be freaking out. I'm sure there's going to be more rumors and crazy things that do come on out. And you quite frankly never know what to expect on draft night. But it's always a pleasure to give the picks and react to the picks as they happen.

Is this going to be the fourth year? I'm going to be doing that for CBS Sports Radio. It's going to be the live show today. And then two more live shows tomorrow and Friday. For tomorrow, it will be myself, JR from the JR Sport Prefix Travaganza. And also Andrew Perloff from Maggie and Perloff anchoring your round one coverage. And then on Friday from 6 to 10 p.m. Eastern, it will be yours truly along with JR for a little four hour party. As we recap round one and tell you everything you need to know as it goes down in rounds two and three.

We have a whole lot to get to today. Guest wise, we're going to be joined by four projected first round picks. Coming up 40 minutes from now, Quinnen Johnston is going to join us. The phenomenal TCU wide receiver who's a part of that TCU team that got to the national championship game. In about an hour 20 from now, we'll be joined by Jordan Addison. The former Bolynikov winner, award winner when he was at Pitt and then just wrapped up a very successful season at USC. At 8 20 p.m. Eastern, 5 20 p.m. Pacific from wide receiver U also known as The Ohio State University.

Jackson Smith and Jigba. And then in the final hour of the show, we will talk to Christian Gonzalez who could be the number one cornerback taken in this draft. Either him or Devin Witherspoon will go. But we'll connect with the former Colorado football player and also wrapped up his football career as a duck at Oregon.

So a whole lot to do today. Let's get it kicked off though with a little Aaron Rodgers as he got his introduction today to the New York media in the swamps of Jersey as he finally has become a member of the New York Jets. We've reacted to the trade details the last few days and we talked about how the Packers did a really nice job considering the circumstances. A jet fan isn't going to be annoyed that they had to give up pretty much a one next year as long as he plays in 65% of the snaps this season. But when you look at this now moving forward, the big question I had with Aaron Rodgers and he did dress the part today and he gives you confidence if you are a believer that Aaron Rodgers is going to work out with the JTS Jets. My big question was how locked in is Aaron Rodgers and also is this more than just a one year commitment? Can he see himself playing 2, 3, 4 years however long his career will go on for wrapping up his NFL career with the New York Jets? Because not that I ever believed for a single second and I think you're an idiot, a moron and a dope if you thought that he was actually contemplating retirement this offseason. Like right before he went into the cave and he said, which is still a wild statement to say, right before Rodgers went into the cave for the darkness retreat but he said he was at 90% retirement. I don't buy that for a single second and today I know originally he was like he's just focused on this season but he later comes out and says this isn't a one and done in his mind.

That's all you need to hear for now if you're a jet fan. I could also ask the question of do you still give the benefit of the doubt to Aaron Rodgers but we had this conversation yesterday where Hickey asked me do you think he'll show up to voluntary workouts in the offseason program until it's mandatory that he has to be there. Something he did not do in Green Bay and I said it wouldn't surprise me. I wasn't fully locked in that he was definitely going to be there for every OTA and every offseason workout that wasn't mandatory but I put the number yesterday at like 35-40% that he would be there.

And today he says that he expects, now that's a weird way of saying it, but he does expect to be there for the duration of the offseason before they do get a little bit of a break and whatnot. So what I heard from Rodgers today, if you're a jet fan, this is your dream. You know me, I'm not a jet fan, but jet fans have waited their entire life to have a quarterback as accomplished, as successful, and as great as Aaron Rodgers.

And I know he's up there in age, I know last year he's banged up with injuries, but the guy is not that far away from winning back to back MVPs. I'm not telling you that this is going to lead you to a Lombardi Trophy. I'm not saying that the Jets in my mind are going to be a Super Bowl winner because I'll give you this little anecdote because it's one thing when I sit here and just bloviate to you all and tell you the Chiefs are better and tell you the Bengals are better and still how I believe the Bills are better and those are my three Super Bowl contenders in the AFC. And then it's yes, the Jets right after that, you can make a case for the Jaguars, you can make a case for the Chargers, whoever it may be, but we're in an Uber today driving over to the studio. And remember, we're in Mahomes country here in Kansas City, or I may have to say it correctly, Kansas City, since we're in the Chiefs radio studio right now. And I did see the tweet from Aaron Rodgers that was that what he said at the press conference was, I'm an old guy, so I want to be a part of a team that can win it all.

And I believe this is a place where you can get that done. And I just said that very casually to hot take Kiki. And I didn't know the Uber driver happened to be a big sports fan. And I didn't know he was all locked into the Kansas City Chiefs, but we are in Kansas City Chiefs country, and he just laughed like Kiki. When I read you that tweet, I'm an old guy, so I want to be part of a team that can win it all. And I believe this is a place where you can get that done. That Uber driver just laughed and was like, really?

With the Jets? And that kind of shows you because there will be some media websites today that's like, oh, CBS Sports Radio is too East Coast centric. And some of that crap that I read on the way out here, which makes no sense to me.

Yes, we do have East Coast hosts, but we do have hosts that are in L.A., a bunch of them and also down south as well. But it is funny. Sometimes you do get isolated and caught up in the New York environment when you live there naturally. And Hickey hasn't said that the Jets are going to win a Super Bowl. I haven't said the Jets are going to win a Super Bowl. And I do believe it is unlikely that the Jets win a Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers, even though his team may be better now. It's a tougher road for Aaron Rodgers because you're in the AFC that has a gauntlet and a bevy of names at the quarterback position.

Whether it's Mahomes, Burrow, Allen, Herbert, Lawrence, Jackson, Watson, Wilson, whoever that may be, and others that could be getting added into this equation. And you look at those odds and what Rodgers failed to do, where outside of Brady, there wasn't really much in the NFC and Brady wasn't always there. But they've had the number one seed. They've had home field advantage. They've had 13 and 3 teams.

They had opportunities at home to advance and they didn't do so. So now going to a tougher conference, going to a tougher division, I'm not going to sit here and tell you, oh yeah, let's just get caught up in the moment and Aaron Rodgers is going to be going to a Super Bowl. But it doesn't mean that the Jets shouldn't do this. The Jets should absolutely do this.

But I did find it funny today, Hickey, how quickly the Uber driver just kind of laughed and had some arrogance, which I get it, right? I was in the penthouse for 20 years with the football team that I root for and now Kansas City has taken over the top four of the penthouse and the master suite. But I understand where the Kansas City fan is coming from, where you just have this reputation like the Jets had for so many years and how they've just always been associated with being a circus and dysfunctional and a big fat joke.

And anytime you take a swing, it just doesn't ever work. And the Uber driver is like, wait, Super Bowl with the Jets? Like he wasn't believing what Aaron Rodgers was trying to sell. And that's mainly because and it's logically a smart idea because Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow, mainly for the Uber driver, Patrick Mahomes are in this AFC and not going anywhere anytime soon. And he also made a very fair point in that he should have just stayed in the NFC. And if Aaron Rodgers is talking about he's old, he wants to win another Super Bowl, logically, it makes no sense. And even if the team itself is a little bit better to go to a situation where you have Mahomes, Burrow, Herbert, Trevor Lawrence.

Right now, Lamar Jackson. I'm definitely missing at least one or two other quarterbacks right now at the top of my head in the AFC that you have to go deal with and contend with where we talked about especially this week ad nauseum, how it's Jalen Hurts in the NFC and nobody else. So even if you feel which I would even maybe argue with the push back with if you feel the Jets are a better team than the Packers, is the AFC right now easier to get to the Super Bowl than the NFC?

Absolutely not. But the Jets are better from a roster standpoint than the Packers, mainly because of the defensive side of the ball. The Jets on the defensive side of the ball are an elite defensive unit. The Packers, even though I love Kenny Clark and even though I love Jayar Alexander, they don't have an elite defense in Green Bay.

Now you could win with that defense, but the Jets defense is so much better than the Green Bay Packers defense. On the offensive side of the ball, you bring up a fair point. I know Garrett Wilson just won the Offensive Rookie of the Year, but Christian Watson was banged up, got off to a slow start, dropped the ball week one, had chemistry issues with Aaron Rodgers, but down the stretch, he was a flat out stud. And he looked like a guy that should have, and I thought he was going to be a first round pick, but he played the role of a first round wide receiver. Now Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, yeah.

More accomplished than what Breece Hall has done. Breece Hall was on pace to go win the Offensive Rookie of the Year before he got injured, and we'll see if Breece Hall is going to be able to bounce back early on in his career. Or does it turn out to be like a JK Dobbin situation where you just keep on getting hurt and you're just hoping and hoping and hoping that he's going to be able to stay on the field. But the offensive lines, like Green Bay's offensive line, David Bakhtiari's old and been banged up. Elton Jenkins is phenomenal, went healthy, and is just a great versatile offensive lineman. And I know the Jets offensive line, they've had an injury problem with Makai Becton who finally looks like he's getting in shape, but I don't think there's that much of a difference there. The reason why if you're a Jet fan, or the reason if you're an Aaron Rodgers fan why you think he's in a better situation now, for me it's because of the defense.

But I see what you're saying on the offense side of the ball, but it's not like he's walking into an offense side of the ball and you're like, oh wow it's drastically better, but it's not like you have terrible players. You got a guy in Allen Lazard who Rodgers wanted there. You have Garrett Wilson who just won the Offensive Rookie of the Year, and we'll see what happens with that 15th overall pick. Maybe they get a wide receiver in the draft. Maybe they move up.

Maybe they get one to fall to them at 15. That's not crazy to say. And you just brought in, I know he's not been great in this league, but he's been productive and we're here in his old backyard. McCole Hartman has been a solid player in this league and he could be an asset for a team like the Jets.

Absolutely. It's just a matter of then trusting Aaron Rodgers to come in right away, develop chemistry, and get the ball rolling in a way that he could not with a brand new cast do last year with the Packers, and expect that it'd happen with a new coaching staff even though you want to call the playbook the same. Hackett's there.

Hackett's there and it's basically going to be the Aaron Rodgers offense and find the rest of the Jets are learning a new offense for the first time. He says he's going to be there for OTAs. Personally, I'll believe it when I see it. We'll see how bought in he is this offseason. So you don't buy him today?

I think I'll be there, but you're going to be there the entire offseason? I still doubt. I don't think Aaron Rodgers really changes ways. And for me, he doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt for how he's acted recently when it comes to being MIA anytime you have an opportunity to get extra work in with younger players.

Yeah, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you're an idiot because you don't want to give Aaron Rodgers the benefit of the doubt. I totally understand that, but I think the point and what maybe you're missing here is Aaron Rodgers, even though it was pushed from his camp and the Gudekun's camp last year. I'm talking about last offseason, not this one, that the relationship was better. They now consider themselves in a much better spot, even though that was the narrative that was being pushed from both sides ever since Aaron Rodgers saw Jordan Love get drafted. He, and maybe deservedly so, wanted nothing really to do with Gudekun's, and I know some people may say this is a stretch, but when you're leaving, and I know this to be a fact. When you've been leaving multiple times in the last few years, Matt Leflore was trying to give you more input in the game plan, just waiting some weeks and not showing up and keeping him guessing.

Even though he tried to dress up his relationship as Leflore as a good one, it clearly wasn't as good as what they were making it out to be. So yeah, Rodgers was able to win two MVPs since Jordan Love getting drafted, but he was never really happy towards the end in Green Bay, even though they did cater to a lot of his needs. Bringing back a Randall Cobb, I know Devonta Adams leaves, but giving him a new contract as well, talking about Aaron Rodgers, now Aaron Rodgers goes to a place where for the first time in the last few years, I'm talking about from the people in the building. From the coach, from the general manager, and I know it's a different ownership situation in Green Bay than it is with the Jets, but when you look at the Jets, Woody Johnson is head over heels in love with Aaron Rodgers. We know Joe Douglas is jumping up and down like a fat kid in a candy store because he now gets to work with Aaron Rodgers.

Robert Salah the same way, Aaron Rodgers, and I know this may make him sound like a diva, but he is a diva, he is a prima donna. He hasn't felt the love the way that a superstar should feel the love in the last few years, and I do think that puts him in a better mental space, and that makes him actually be excited to go to work and not have to deal with the drama and the bullcrap that some of it he brought upon himself. And then the rest of it was brought, which he didn't ask for the team to go draft Jordan Love, but naturally happens when they do draft Jordan Love, so I think Rodgers, which I never bought the retirement nonsense, but I do think he has a new football life. Where he has excitement with the people that he works with again, and we'll see if he attends all the voluntary stuff, but now he says he expects her to be there for the duration of the offseason.

And I know originally today in the press conference, which it does sound a little fishy, he's like I'm just focused on this year, but then afterwards when he's doing one of these 9,000 interviews he does, he said this isn't a one and done in my mind, this is a commitment that he's making. So I look at this and I do kind of feel like this new belief that Rodgers is seeing from the people that he works with, in the immediate returns he's saying all the right things, and I do think you're going to get less drama and significantly less drama than what we saw in Green Bay, and I think that's because Rodgers is finally fired up to work with people that see eye to eye with him for now. I will admit, and you were right on this aspect, Aaron Rodgers today looked happier than I have seen him look in years. He had a big smile on, he's wearing his Jets polo, he's holding up the number 8 jersey, which is so ugly but nonetheless. He didn't look like he was about to do a lot of ayahuasca and go lock himself in a cave for about three days. He looked really happy. He looked like a totally different person. He looked happy to be there, which I think you can't say at any point in the last three years was he happy to be anywhere near the football field or in a press conference room talking to the media. So give him credit that yes, it seems that the change of scenery, and to your point, maybe feeling the love from Robert Saleh and from Joe Douglas may have changed his mood in a good way. But at this point, with what we've seen in the last three years, Aaron Rodgers said all the right things today.

Credit to him, today the press conference was a win, he won it. But now it's one of those things where I will believe it when I see it. You want to be there all offseason? You could say it, I'm not going to believe it until I see it. You want to say you're going to play for more than one year and not make this, you know, drag it out this time next year if you're going to play. If you're not going to play, you could say today, and it sounds great, I'm not going to believe until the next offseason, as soon as the season ends, whenever it may end, you say I'm back next year, let's go, no drama.

How he'll be there for more than a year. He, to me, has lost the benefit of the doubt, but today, everything he says words-wise, for your Jets fans to feel happy with, but now it's just putting those words in action that I'm still waiting to see. Well, Jets fans, you should be kissing the floor right now, and you should be looking up to the heavens, because if Hot Take Hickey is questioning someone, and if he's telling you, I'll believe it when I see it, you know this, 9.9999999 times out of 10, whatever Hickey says, the complete antithesis ends up happening. Just real quickly, I'm going to go a little win-loss on the Jets schedule this year.

Commanders at MetLife Stadium, I just saw the commanders didn't pick up the fifth year option for Chase Young. Sam Howell, yeah, I'm not going to trust him, that's a win for the Jets. At the Cowboys, oh, that's a close game, I'll go loss for now, because the regular season Cowboys actually play well. At the Broncos, easy peasy win, and that is- Easy, no respect for Sean Payton. No, that's at Mile High, that is a Nathaniel Hackett revenge game. That's Aaron Rodgers fired up for his guy, the guy he has a bromance with, and Nathaniel Hackett.

I give you one guarantee for this upcoming NFL season. Aaron Rodgers will go into Mile High, and he will make Nathaniel Hackett out to be the victim last year, and he will go to battle, and he will win that game for his buddy, Innate Hackett, as he likes to call him. After the first touchdown drive, does he go double bird? Does he run over and put the crown on Nathaniel Hackett's head? What does he do to show up the fans of Denver that hurt his guy? He goes up to Nathaniel Hackett, he points him, and he says, Nathaniel owns you.

That's what he does. So I have two wins right now. At the Raiders, win. At the Dolphins, I think they'll split the Dolphins, so I'll give them a loss there since the game is in Miami. At the Patriots, my team, that's a win for the Jets. At the Giants, home game basically, win. Buffalo, they'll split, so I'll give them a win at MetLife. I gave them a loss against the Dolphins in Miami, so I'll give them a win there.

That's seven. The Patriots, again, win. Chiefs, loss. Chargers, loss. Eagles, loss.

I told you they split the bills, so I give them a loss that time around. At the Browns, win. Texans, win.

Falcons, win. That's 11 wins that I just went through. And maybe I'm wrong on one or two, maybe it goes up by a game or two, maybe it goes down by a game or two, but I don't think it's going to be nine wins. Like, I really do believe you could pencil in the Jets bare minimum ten wins this year. And I think they're going to be, I would say right now, an 11-win football team, but just because you're an 11-win football team doesn't mean you're going to win that division. And doesn't mean that you're going to go to a Super Bowl, but it gives you a significantly better shot than anything you've had since probably going back-to-back years to an AFC title game.

When that's now over a decade ago. So what Rogers did today, he said all the right things, and still Hickey's going to just pretend as if he's going to be 100% going against his word. I don't think that's going to be the case, because even though Hickey's right, you shouldn't give him the benefit of the doubt, he's finally fired up to be back at work again. And that's why I think in year one this will be double-digit wins, and you will see Aaron Rogers in the playoffs with the Jets, and we'll see what happens from there. It is the Zach Yelp Show on CBS Sports Radio. Coming up in about 20 minutes from now, Quinnen Johnson will join us, the former TCU wide receiver. Getting ready to hear his name called to the NFL Draft tomorrow night. When we come on back, we will talk about Kawhi Leonard. From Kansas City, it is the Zach Yelp Show, live on CBS Sports Radio. You can think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care needs.

Get guaranteed low, low, low, low, low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. So when I landed today, I saw a little news on the internet, which, man, this just continues to stink for the career of Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi Leonard, according to Sham Sharania, has been diagnosed with a torn meniscus in his right knee. And I remember right when we were talking about Kawhi missing Game 3, we were like wondering, is this load management?

We just asked the question. And I thought he would be back for Game 4, but when we were talking about this, we did bring up the point that a few years ago, when we later found out that he had a torn ACL, originally it was reported as knee soreness. And if you go to this time around, it was a knee sprain that later got revealed as a torn meniscus. And the part that I don't get about this, and first off, we wish nothing but the best for Kawhi Leonard in his rehab. He continues to be like one of the more mysterious players in NBA history, because when he is great, he's at a different level when you look at the team that he slayed going up against Miami when he's with the Spurs. And you also did see, I know they were injured, but as pretty much a one man show, as the only superstar on a championship winning team, that just usually doesn't happen these days.

And you did get to witness that with the Raptors taking down the Golden State Warriors, like when it's at that level, it's oh my goodness gracious, this is incredible, this is remarkable. And I know Kawhi doesn't have much of a personality, he's a little bit of a bizarre dude when you see some of the interactions, but the injuries have just been so bizarre and also so unfortunate. Like in the divorce at the end with the Spurs, there was that story that he was in New York and the Spurs came to visit him and his camp basically hid him from the San Antonio Spurs, it never made any sense.

And the last two times we've seen him suffer serious injuries with the Los Angeles Clippers, it was underreported I guess is the right way to say it. Where at first it's knee soreness and then it's a torn ACL, and this time around it was a knee sprain and then it's a torn meniscus, it's just like weird hickey to me. And I don't get what is to gain here, and maybe it's gamesmanship, that's probably what it is, giving that thought and that hope, oh Kawhi is at the bench or Kawhi is in a suite wherever it is, he's there, we'll see if he will come back, we'll see if he will come back. But in the last two times this has happened, we've all guessed it doesn't do Kawhi any favors because whether you like the conversation or not, he missed a lot of games because of load management. So people wonder is this load management in the postseason, it creates those conversations because they just weren't honest on the injury reports or they just underreported what was going on and I don't get why they just wouldn't have been more transparent knowing that he wasn't going to come back for this series instead of just saying it was a knee sprain. It's not like in hockey, but hockey athletes actually come back through everything, you get 75 stitches to the face and then you're on the ice back in the next shift.

But a lot of times in hockey it's upper body, lower body, and sometimes that's very ambiguous and then a player can miss 30 games or something like that. In this case, Hickey, I thought the Clippers, and we also don't know when they found out that it was a torn meniscus but they have the best medical care in the world, it doesn't make sense with how it played out the last time, how a few years later they basically did the same thing when you're in the playoffs and you find out that Kawhi got hurt. Yeah, this really bothers me, the timing of it, because like you just said, there's serious questions about Kawhi Leonard and not if he's faking it or not, but we saw Kawhi be great, especially in Game 1 in the win, he played through Game 2 and all of a sudden now he's not playing. You see him on the bench, he's walking, there's videos of him walking to the arena, there's a little bit of a limp but there's really nothing pronounced and you just don't know what's going on.

Clearly, like you said, if it's gamesmanship, it did not work because the Clippers lost every game that they tried to quote unquote trick the Suns in if Kawhi was going to play or not, so that did not do much in terms of changing the game plan for Phoenix. And with a guy that's so polarized when it comes to injuries because he's so great but he's also so injury prone, I don't think taking the approach of less information is better. Like I said two years ago, we had no idea how hurt he was, find out what he tore to his tail later on, it's like oh, here we are questioning if Kawhi's actually hurt or can he push through it. Same thing this year, and it's two serious injuries in a row where if you came out right away and said torn meniscus, okay fine. We're not criticizing Kawhi for not playing, we understand why he's not playing, but it's just secrecy, I don't know if it's Kawhi himself saying hey don't give out my injury history, I don't know if it's the Clippers trying to play games. Whoever it is, it's not working and it's infuriating that Kawhi's put in a situation where you can even think to question if he's actually hurt or not and two years in a row or two times in the last three years, we find it's actually a serious injury. And the unfortunate part here is with how great his career has been at times, is that I can't expect him to really ever be healthy when it matters because we keep on seeing this pop up over and over and over again. And the Clippers are just so disappointing, it's like when you get a great present and you think it's going to be great but then you realize it's not because Paul George hasn't been on the court this post season, Kawhi Leonard's never on the court anymore. And when these guys get older, which they are getting older, and you keep on having the pile up of these injuries, I'm not expecting that just poof, they're magically healthy and that they're going to be able to get through. We know not an entire regular season because it's not going to be by design, but they're going to be able to get through an entire post season.

So it's weird because there was so much hype and buzz when this group formed together in Los Angeles. I do feel a little bit bad for Ty Lue now. He did walk into that situation with LeBron and David Blatt lost his job and they ended up winning a championship so he's seen it from multiple different ways but in this case, we all can admit that Ty Lue is a really good coach.

And is one of the more respected coaches in the league and you just kind of see the exhaustion on his face where he knows what this team is capable of, if they're healthy, but the problem is they're never healthy and that's the most infuriating thing. You know when you're a coach or a fan or a player of any team, but the post season in a whole, this is like just a post season where after the first round you don't really have a lot of great feelings. Like Miami looks like they're going to beat the Bucks and you got to win one more, they've been a good story. The Knicks have been a really good story. Do I think Miami or the Knicks are winning the NBA championship?

No. The Sixers, they did sweep, which is ironic because it's only sweep, but you didn't feel good about the Sixers and now the health of Embiid is not in a good spot. Boston choked that game away last night.

Trae Young hits the magnificent shot and just a magical shot. Now that's 3-2, Boston's still going to win that series. Boston has the most pressure now with it looking like the Bucks are going to go down to get to the NBA finals out of the East, but I don't like the way that Boston can't close out this series so far.

Denver I've been impressed with because of Jamal Murray and they're through to the second round. The Suns, that's probably the most unimpressive 4-1 victory I've ever seen in a series. They just never have looked like the team that they can be, but you're still advancing and let's be real, probably the winner of Denver and Phoenix is going to go to the NBA finals. We'll see what happens between the Kings and the Warriors, that's going to be a 7 game series I think. And I'll tell you Hickey, I've been impressed with the Lakers. I like what I'm seeing as long as LeBron and AD can stay healthy. I know they're not this phenomenal team, but with how easily the Lakers look like they're going to be advancing the second round only dropping one game and maybe they drop one more, I think it's over tonight. I like what I'm seeing from Los Angeles.

So really after one round you don't feel great about anyone. No, and you laughed at me yesterday and we tweeted about the Knicks and it was a little tongue in cheek, but it's like you look around the Eastern Conference, there's really not, right now, right now after round one I would say the Knicks are playing the best basketball of anyone. Yeah and here's the thing, that means they're probably going to get swept in the second round because the Hickey Hex is going to be in full force. The Zach Gelb Show CBS Sports Radio will come on back live from Kansas City, Quentin Johnston, the TCU wide receiver who hopefully will hear his name called in the first round will join us when we return. First up though with the latest CBS Sports Radio update, let's get to CeeLo, Chris LaPresti. We continue this Zach Gelb Show live in Kansas City right here on CBS Sports Radio. We're inside the P&G style lounge on behalf of Head & Shoulders and now joining us is a man that had a monster season and a monster career at TCU getting set to hear his name called tomorrow night in the NFL draft.

And that of course is Quentin Johnston. Quentin, appreciate the time, how are you? I'm doing good, yes sir. So what is this like for you? You've worked your entire life to get to this moment, get ready to hear your name called to the NFL draft.

We're now 24 hours away from this happening. How are you processing this right now? Honestly still trying to take everything all in.

It's been a long process but at the same time I feel like it's been something that a lot of people don't get to experience this chance and opportunity so I just take it one day at a time and like I said I'm blessed. I got a chance to talk to your head football coach and Sonny Dykes and you guys had a wonderful season this past year at TCU that ended in the national championship game and when you guys were 5-0 he goes, I'm going to be honest, I didn't expect this, like this was surprising. Just how do you kind of look back at that season because that's one that people are going to remember for a very long time.

Yeah for sure it was a surreal season. We were picked second to last in the Big 12 so if you picked second to last and nobody thinking about you going to the playoffs let alone a championship game so it was fun. We had new coaches all the way around except for a few and then we had new strength and conditioning staff and then we had new players so with that people are going to be like okay new coaches kind of good.

They'll be good the next few years. We just had to set our mind early that we were going to get it started quick, fast and early so that's what happened and like you said it turned out to be a good season for us. When did you say okay we're better than what people thought we really have a shot to make a serious run at this? Honestly before the season with the incorporation of our strength and conditioning head coach, he really brought something to us that we needed. We needed him. We felt like we had discipline in the past but we really didn't realize how much discipline we actually needed so with him he came in and got us right from day one. And then we clicked. We did a lot of stuff off the field that kind of sped that chemistry of our team up all together but I feel like on the field everything was there. We was always having fun.

It was a great competition and then off the field with different stuff like nutrition, extra stretch and extra massages, everything was just coming together. Quinnen Johnson here with us. So it's crazy how this story comes about because it wasn't even expected for Max to end up playing as much as he did.

The next thing you know he's in New York as a Heisman finalist and you guys are in the national championship game. Your name is in this draft. Max's name is as well. We hear a lot more about you than Max.

So tell me a little bit about your quarterback and Max Duggan. Oh yeah it's a dog for sure. I mean if there's any one word that can describe him wholly it's a dog. He has a dog mentality.

Game in and game out you can see it. You know games he'll be dead tired like on his knees. He'll score. He pushes everybody off him like I don't want you around me.

I can't breathe right now. But next draft what he do he go out, put his head down, just keep fighting, keep fighting. Like he said he wasn't even starting this year but you go to practice you wouldn't see a look of disappointment on his face. He'll just show up to work every day and you know when it was his time he stepped up to the plate and obviously that's what happened this season. So yeah very, very happy and very proud of him. Is there no doubt that you think he'll have success in the NFL? Like we hear so much about Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, the list goes on and on. Anthony Richardson will have his hens and hooker. You look at Max and you think okay this guy could have a good career in the NFL.

Yeah for sure, for sure. You know like I said he's a dog. He's very coachable, very mature as a person. So I feel like with that maturity as a person his mindset is just going to carry him you know to where he wants to be in the league for sure. What are teams getting whoever selects you in the first round? If I'm a GM and I say who is Quinnen Johnson? What am I getting as a football player?

What do you say? Yeah for sure. Obviously a big frame 6-4 but I'm a tall receiver that can create real separation at the started line and at the top of my route and then my yards after the catch I feel like it speaks for itself. I set a record in the Big 12 for the most yards after catching Big 12 history my freshman year then followed it up and did the same thing my sophomore year. So what I can do with the ball in my hands is very special. So I feel like I can carry that into the NFL. The NFL draft process it's great but it also does annoy me as well because we've been talking about you for a long time and then you find out you don't even get invited into the green room and that makes me think alright is he slipping and I don't get how you would fall out of the first round. How did you handle not getting that invite into the green room? Yeah I mean I kind of look at it like this I'm still going to be in the NFL in some way shape or form no matter if I'm in the green room no matter if I'm at home no matter if I got to hear it on the radio like I'm going so I still look at it as a blessing. My parents are very proud of me my people back home are very proud of me so that's who I do it for so I mean that's cool to be there like obviously that's a once in a lifetime chance to walk across the stage but at the same time I get a chance to have all my family and friends back at the house in Dallas and kind of you know just fellowship around them so I didn't really take it hard I kind of just kept working you know move forward from it.

Does it all provide a little extra motivation? Oh yeah for sure yeah for sure but I'm not gonna but I'm not gonna sit here and show that and be on social media and be like man this is what I think about this this how I feel I mean because at the end of the day nobody cares once I once I get drafted to the team I'm gonna let my work speak for me. When do you think the earliest is that you could go I know it's a crap shit I know it's tough to predict but based off conversations with teams Thursday night.

How early do you think you believe your name being called? Oh yeah you know it's a lot of up and down a lot of talks different people got different slides or different you know ideas where people should go but honestly I wouldn't be so far as if I was a first receiver pick so yeah so that's how I think about that. Do you believe you're the best wide receiver in this draft class? For sure.

Tell me why? Yeah for sure like I said before big receiver big frame that can create real separation at the top of routes with bigger and taller receivers it's like okay he's just a deep threat okay well he's just good on the you know slant but I could do I could do all of that for real and then like I said my yard that the catch is something that I feel like is unmatched right now my size. I know with your position a lot of it's dependent on who's throwing the football are there a few teams that excite you and who are those teams when you talk to them based on who their quarterbacks are? I mean there's a I mean there's a few you know good quarterbacks you know obviously you got you know teams like Kansas City, teams like Dallas and stuff like that but at the same time honestly I'm excited to go to any team and then you know the team I go to whatever quarterbacks day we're gonna make it work for sure. What would that be like getting drafted by the Cowboys? Oh that would be amazing first of all that's my dad's that's my dad's favorite team he died hard football Dallas Cowboys fan since the time I was little he had me on a peewee football team called the Cowboys the Temple Cowboys so yeah he would he would he would be very excited for that as well as me. Quinnen Johnson here with us inside the P&G style lounge on behalf of Head & Shoulders talk about them and the great work you're doing in just a second and you also mentioned Kansas City I know I don't think you're gonna fall at 31 but people keep on bringing up Kansas City how about going into an environment like that if they call your name on Thursday night?

Oh yeah that'd be amazing for sure you know like obviously with the history they have you know I feel like I feel like I'd be a good incorporation to them if they if they pick. All right tell me what you're doing today on P&G style lounge and also Head & Shoulders? Yeah for sure you know I come in well first of all going to the field I work I work hard on the field so you know coming off the field I want something that's gonna work just as hard as me hard as me for me so yeah I come in here to kind of get styled up get my get my hair and stuff right for the for the draft for the cameras and stuff tomorrow so I came to use some Head & Shoulders. Growing up we talked about the Cowboy connection who were some players that you really gravitated towards and that you liked growing up as a kid? Yeah so growing up I was kind of I was I kind of hit my growth spurt late so I was always looking at running backs and like slots so like Marion Barber or Adrian Peterson but as far as receivers like I said as the smaller receivers Deshaun Jackson, Tavon Austin, DeAnthony Thomas those type of guys which I feel like attributes to to my quickness and my looseness when I got the ball in my hands. Does this feel real yet that tomorrow you gonna know where you're going?

Honestly no I mean I sit there and talk about it with my homeboys and stuff every day but I don't I don't really feel like it's gonna hit me until I actually get to that moment. Away from the field off the field who's Quinnen Johnson? For sure a laid back chill person that you know just likes to have a good time in terms of you know chillin with my friends I got the same group of friends I got a very small circle we all know each other since it's like four or five came up with each other and we always you know you know you know do stuff to to elevate each other which I feel like makes our group that much stronger but Excuse me besides that you know I'm a graphic designer I do like sports edits and stuff kinda on the side I'm a major in psychology so kinda wanna do something with that you know outside of football and then maybe after football brunch I can do something with that for sure. Well we appreciate the time good luck hopefully hear your name nice and early coming up tomorrow night.

I appreciate you. There you go Quinnen Johnson joining us Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio and Hickey this is a guy that there's big expectations for and I thought he would have been if you would ask me for the start of the season probably a top 15 pick and right now like you're seeing the projections not that this is all set in stone but Quinnen Johnson according to Ryan Wilson 22nd that's where he's projected right now to the Baltimore Ravens. And the NFL said we're not even inviting you to the green room so we'll see if he falls out of the first round. I would be surprised just because I think he is such a tremendous football player and Christian pass does even have him as a first round pick right now.