Last Super Bowl Chance For The Bills? (Hour 2)

Yo, yo, Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio, Liget Dussebal, going to join us coming up 20 minutes from now. We'll ask him his thoughts on this developing Staphon Diggs situation, where the heck is DeAndre Hopkins going to play next year, and we'll get a thought on Dalvin Cook as well from former NFL defensive lineman Liget Dussebal.

And still scheduled to join us at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific covers the Buffalo Bills. Bradley Gelber will be stopping by. And no, no relationship there. There's a, there's a, his name is Bradley Gelber. My name is just Zach Gelb.

So I'm sure a lot of people will just assume that somehow, since we had the same four letters in my entirety of my last name and some in his last name, that there is some sort of relationship. It's just one of those things where his last name is Gelber. My last name is Gelb, even though some people, you know, some of my friends call me Gelber. I don't really like that, but some of them are like, oh, Gelber.

I don't think that really works. Like in hockey, I feel as if that's a hockey kind of thing. And I do have some friends that are big hockey fans.

Maybe that's why. I was just going to say, if you are forward on the Rangers, makes sense. Gelber is natural. I don't know why, but hockey guys love to add an ER onto literally everybody's name.

So that would make a hundred percent sense. Yeah. I've got Gelby. I've got Gelber. I just kind of rock and roll with Gelb. Who does? Bart. Bart Winkler.

He puts a Y on there. Gelby. I'm feeling it for Gelby. What's up, Gelby? How you doing, Gelby?

Gelber. I feel like your name's like short anyway. You don't have to add like, why make it a more of a mouthful? That's what people do.

That's life. So like for you, I kind of call you a hickster sometimes. I call you a lot of things. Hot take hickey.

You've gone by Trace before here. You've had many nicknames, but I'll throw the occasional hickster in there. Some people are short into just hick. Rare.

Rare. Some people just go, yo hick. Yes. Hick.

What are you doing today? I don't know. That could have a different meaning if you ask me. Well, I mean, I guess if you're from the south, but I'm just saying for you, I wouldn't look at you and go, yo hick. What's up? We'll just say, you know, quick little hello, drop the EY. I have no problem with it.

Gotcha. Anyone ever call you RH? No, thankfully. I don't like that. Cause I get ZG sometimes.

Although I think I do it to you sometimes and I do it to other people. You do. You go, what's up ZG? So when you see Connor green, you go, what's up CG. It's got a rhyme. You know, Gs do rhyme well.

CG rhymes. RH does not. So that doesn't really sound too good.

So thankfully no one does. RH would make you sound a little bit more sophisticated. I will say. I don't know.

I guess. Yo RH what's happening? I guess it's close to RA or R resident RN resident nurse. So that's what's making me sound smart.

Sure. R is my RN. That's what they call them. So I'm saying like, that's what I'm like, RH you're kind of right. Does sound sophisticated. I'm like, why does it sound smart? I'm like, oh yeah, it's probably cause it's close to RN.

So if you actually on that case, yeah, you want to call me RH let's go for it. What have you been watching? Meet the Fockers lately?

I have not seen that in a while. Actually. Remember Gaylord Focker was a nurse. Yes. On my show.

So I don't know where your brain was at on that one, but okay. Anyway, last night, the Denver Nuggets hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy, Nicole Jokic, NBA finals MVP. He now gets that tag after having two NBA MVPs now getting the NBA championship and the finals MVP.

And so difficult to stop right now. He's the biggest mismatch for teams in the NBA when you're preparing against him. Cause there's no way to stop him.

Some teams will try to contain him and no one's really had luck that way. So now he's perceived to be the best player in the sport. It got me thinking, can we get a little NBA music? Cause we'll do a little draft. I'll take the first pick here. Oh, I like this.

It was very off tune there, right there. That's why I'm not a big, singer or anything, but we're going to do a little NBA draft of the top 10 players. I'll take the first pick.

And it's an obvious one. We were just talking about him, Nicole Jokic. I will then go with the man that he dethroned, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Who before this year, did hold title as best player in the league. I'll take Giannis. You didn't think Steph was the best player in the league entering this season coming off a championship?

No, no. Well, then that third player will be Steph Curry. So we have Joker off the board, Giannis Antetokounmpo off the board, and then Steph Curry.

A lot of different ways to go here. I will go with the reigning MVP. I will take Joel Embiid.

Interesting. Embiid's definitely in the top 10. I don't think anyone's going to put up a fight about putting him in at number four, but I was not expecting you of all people to go that way.

Next up here. I think people are going to be surprised by this one because his team did not play well this year, and this year was such a disaster. But I still look at this player as a dominant player in the league, and they just got to help him out. I'll go Luka Doncic sitting in there at number five. Health is a concern for sure, but still when he's healthy, I still think he's one of the best players in the league. I'll go Kevin Durant with my third pick.

So that'd be number six overall in terms of top 10 NBA players right now. This is tough. This is tough. I'm going to go Jason Tatum. I think the next one's an obvious one.

I was between two people. Just scouring the board, making sure there's no obvious names left. Oh, there's a glaring omission right now. All right, so this is my fourth pick. Top 10 players in the NBA right now. I'll go Damian Lillard. Team stinks. He's still a great player. I'll take Deem right now and what he has done, despite the fact that his team is right now not supporting him. Did you think about LeBron there?

Yes and no. I think you think more highly LeBron at this point is career than I do. You don't like LeBron, it seems like. No, it's not that I don't like him. I just think too many people are stuck thinking that LeBron is the LeBron of old instead of looking at LeBron this year and looking at how he plays.

That guy still averaged 29 points. No, he's good. Don't get me wrong, but he's lost a step.

I think it's obvious. And LeBron losing a step is going from what? All time great to then just playing great. I mean, I don't think it's disrespectful to say Giannis and Bede right now, Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard over LeBron right now in present day. Giannis, no, and Bede, no. And I love Deem. Deem's my favorite player in the league.

I would not say Damian Lillard right now is a better player in the NBA than LeBron James. I'll go LeBron in at nine. Now, let me just throw out before you get to your 10th pick.

You have a fascinating way to go here. Do you take Shay Gilgis, Alexander, who was all NBA first team this year? Do you go De'Aaron Fox?

Do you take a Jimmy Butler? Anyone else that you think should be in the conversation outside of those three right there? So far off the board, Nicole Jokic one, Giannis Antetokounmpo two, Steph Curry three, Joelle, the process and Bede four, Luka Doncic five, KD six, Jason Tatum seven, Dame Lillard eight, LeBron James sitting in there at number nine. I think a name to be included in the hopper is Devin Booker. Definitely right now in consideration for me as well.

He has been tremendous scoring machine. This is hard. I will go. You want me to tell you, I think should go here?

Here's what I'm stuck at. You take this stuff, stuff way too serious. I want to give you a fair answer. I want to say Jimmy Butler. Here's my hesitation. I don't want to get caught in the moment of what he did in the postseason because in the regular season and in regular seasons past, he's not exactly, he's kind of been like Kawhi where he's not gone all out. He has missed some time. You can call it that he doesn't take the regular season seriously. So I just don't make this a postseason award, even though it is important. I will go Jimmy Butler. I'll give him the respect he deserves. Okay.

I'm surprised by that. I really wanted to go Devin Booker, but I will give Jimmy. You wanted to go Devin Booker there?

I like Devin Booker, but you know, I think should have been, been that 10 spot. Shay. Shay, Gildas, Alexander. I'm just giving Booker and Butler the respect of doing it longer. Shay's been great. Again, first team all NBA this year. I would just give the other two respect in the sense that they've done it for longer. And now that, not that people didn't know who Shay, Gildas, Alexander was before, but now that he's had that great year. Well, it depends who you ask on this network. Some of the people that do the updates may have never heard of him.

That is correct. But for most basketball fans, they know of him, but now it's like, oh, he is truly on the map. The fourth most points in league this year. Now the defenses will be, you know, going after him big time.

How will he respond to that? So I want to see it one more time before I put them in a top 10 list right now. So I'll defer to the experience of Jimmy Butler. And no D'Aaron Fox there. No D'Aaron Fox. Great year, but kind of the same thing. I want to see it more for him. Well, hasn't the iron Fox out done it for a while in terms of, no, but he's, he's played at this level now for a little bit. Yeah. The whole team took their game to the next level, but the last three years, you're looking at a guy that average 25.2 points per game, 23.2 points per game and 25 points per game.

The last three seasons going from 2020, then going all the way up until 2023. He's been a great player. I just terms of top 10, it's cutthroat. It's tough. Like it's not, you know, not an easy honor to earn.

No, you're not wrong on that. So the way that we do this list, Joker one, Giannis two, Steph three, Joel Embiid four, Luka Doncic five, Kevin Durant six, Jason Tatum seven, Damian Lillard eight, LeBron James nine, Jimmy Butler 10. If you could swap out, let me ask you this. If you could swap out one player, who would the player be? Like I just told you as much as I like Jimmy Butler and Jimmy Butler is a star. Jimmy Butler was a straight up dog in what he's done in this post-season.

I know it didn't end the way that he wanted to in the NBA finals, where I think he just ran out of gas and ran out of juice. And I think that ankle injury, even though he won't say it, is part of a reason why. Not that they would have beat Denver, but I would kind of put SGA in there, Shay Gilges Alexander over Jimmy Butler. That would just be me. If you could swap out one player, is there any player you would swap out to put you, whoever your next guy was in? I mean, it probably would be Butler. I think, and I think he's 10th and kind of the one that's holding on for me to do your life the most. And I probably, if I had to swap one out, probably replace Butler with Booker.

But that's, yeah, that's probably the one that I would swap in and out. Gotcha. This is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. You know, you look at Miami. I think last night just reaffirms what the Miami Heat are.

You know, it's weird to be critical. And I was on a local Miami radio show today, 560 WQAM with Hawk and Crowder, Hawk and Crowder. Their producer, Alejandro Solana Hickey, he picks up the phone. He goes, oh, but my host is his name Hawk, like the bird, but it's really Hawkman. So when you call him Hawk, he gets a little sensitive to that because that's not his nickname when we talk about nicknames. So the producers messed that up for a while.

But anyway, I was on a local Miami radio show. I'm sorry, what? The guy's name is Mark Hawkman, right? Yeah. So he goes by Hawk, right? But the producer goes, Alex Alejandro Solana goes, oh, Hawk, like the bird.

There's a difference in Hawk compared to Hawk. So he sold you down the river, basically. He, he screwed you. Well, no, it wasn't just me. It was just like, this has been a running thing on the show where they've done it before with like more prominent guests. Like a Miami Dolphins player goes on instead of a little old me. Like I was in on the joke at that point because I've heard it before, but they have said, oh, you're going to be on with former Miami Dolphin Channing Crowder.

And then his producer goes by the name Hawk, like the bird. I see. Yeah. Okay.

There you go. So it's minor, but when it's your name, you realize it. So I was on there today and I think they were surprised by how it was critical to Miami Heat. I'm not critical of what the Heat accomplished this year, but if Miami wants to win a championship, Jimmy Butler can be a one in a championship team. He's got to the finals now twice being a number one on a team that looks like a championship team, but Bam out of bio, even though he had a really good finals, I kind of think Bam is like a two and a half where at moments he looks like he's a two, but he's probably more of a three on a championship team, especially in the day and age that we have this, you know, that we play in basketball.

Yes, Bam out of bio will get you 20 something points, but you need another score. Like Jimmy Butler is not great when it comes to shooting the basketball. So I kind of look at Miami, their missing piece is Dame Lillard. Like if they got Dame Lillard hickey for next season, when did you pick them to go back to the NBA finals and maybe end up winning the thing? You know, I know it's tough for someone to knock off Denver, but imagine if that Miami team had Dame Lillard. They're without a doubt on a shortlist, you know, them and Bucks, Celtics, like easily one, two, three.

I make them the favorite in the East because they already have that killer instinct. And then if you add Dame who seems like he fits into that Heat culture, that's the big name. But if you don't get Dame, where do you go there if you're Miami? Cause if you're Miami, you're like stuck right now.

You could get to the championship, you get to the finals, but you're not going to win it. Because right now they're asking guys like Gabe Vincent, Max Truce, Duncan Robinson, Tyler Hero, when healthy. You go through those names, you're asking those guys to be your third best player. None of those guys are the third best player in a championship team. If they're your fourth or fifth player, sixth player, sure. All those guys are just mentioned fine, but you need to round out your three guys and you know, Butler's one, Bam is three.

You got to go get a number two. And until Miami does that, I think they'll be stuck here where they could always be a threat. You never want to play them. They're a pain in the ass come the post-season and they get to the NBA finals, but they're not going to go win a championship if they don't find a way to significantly enhance that two, one and a half type of role when you're looking to build a championship team. Yeah, they desperately need a point guard in terms of like a bonafide, established point guard that can get the offense rolling. Like I said, be a legitimate score and not just kind of rely on Jimmy Butler to take over the game. And I do think Dame is better than Jimmy Butler, but since he was already there, he'll get the tag. Jimmy Butler would be the number one guy. I mean, Fred Van Vliet is a guy who's won a championship who's now on the free gym market. Like that's more of a three.

That's not a two to me. He helps build the depth. Again, he makes them better.

It's just, yeah, it's, it's tough just because there's not exactly a lot of names out there that are just free for the, for the picking. Like Kyrie, no. James Harden, no. So it's like two guys that are on the free agent market steer clear from.

And maybe this is just lazy. Fred Van Vliet, doesn't that have Nick Nurse going to Philadelphia kind of written all over it? You got to see what happens with the contracts and you'd assume they're going to try to look to, to, to deal Tobias Harris this off season. So you could see if you could find the way to make it work out. I don't know what's going to happen with James Harden, but it kind of seems maybe that's lazy.

Cause they were just in Toronto together, but it just kind of seems like Fred Van Vliet. If I had to pick a team right now, probably going to Philadelphia. I mean, if they resign hard and I don't see that happening. And so that's part of it too. Like do you expect hard to be back? I kind of expect hard to be in Houston at this point.

I would agree. Philly's talking like they want him back. So these publicly they're putting it out there or trying to make a play to, to get James Harden to resign because Maury doesn't ever learn.

So, you know, it's not like it's one of those things where they're like, all right, see you later, James, kick him out the door and let's go get someone else in. And so I also too, we don't know Fred, like play with him on a championship with him. Does he like Nick nurse?

I don't think that's why he wouldn't go to Philadelphia. Le'Jae Dusseault will join us next to the Zach Guilbe show right here on CBS sports radio. You're listening to the Zach Guilbe show. Le'Jae Dusseault played 10 years in the NFL.

Now that's a great job for CBS sports HQ. And he's always kind enough to join us right here on the Zach Guilbe show on CBS sports radio. Le'Jae appreciate the time as always. How you been? I'm good. Zach, how are you doing?

I'm doing fantastic. And I'll tell you this, what happened today was the fun digs. I'm so confused. How the heck do you interpret what happened today? Yeah, it's interesting. You heard Josh Allen speak. Von Miller came out and spoke and it said it had essentially nothing to do with the team.

And I find that it was interesting because the last time we saw stuff on digs on the field, it was an original game versus Cincinnati bangles. He was clearly upset. He was yelling at Josh Allen on the sidelines. So, you know, people are saying, you know, most people want to miss or hold out for men, uh, mandatory minicamp the contract base, but we know it's not that because he just found a four year, $96 million deal where he's making 24 million a year. Right.

And the Buffalo bills are simply can't even begin to get out of that deal until about 2025. So this is just a weird scenario. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this where a guy actually shows up medically on Monday and does all the medical things you need to do as far as, you know, the physical taken before minicamp and actually shows up Tuesday morning to the meetings and then leaves before practice. And then you get common condescending answers from his head coach who says he's just a little bit concerned or he's very concerned that Stefan big didn't show up, but then his agent said he was there.

Right. And now the agent is also a decent Bakari has come out and said, you know, it's, it's a little weird for him that he heard that the head coach was concerned as if that Stefan Diggs had a meeting with, you know, his head coach before potentially maybe even, you know, leaving the team facility. So it's, it's a lot to dive in, uh, Zach, but to me, if you're a Buffalo bill, this is the last thing you need, right? Distractions this early in the all season, right?

Right before you get ready to leave and break to come back for training camp, it's the last thing you need, because this is a team that essentially, this is probably a bill last year, having a legit shot at making a Superbowl one they've added, Leonard Floyd's a pair of Von Miller. And from everything I've heard from Buffalo, he looks really good as far as Bob Miller coming back from the ACL. So, you know, he's not getting any younger. He's going to be 34 this year.

I believe Linda Ford is already 30 or 31. So as far as them making a true run, especially since they've already lost Leslie Frazier, this all season, the defensive corner and Tramaine Edmonds, who is going to be really hard to replace. You think this is probably essentially the last opportunity they're going to have to make a run because Josh Allen's making so much money and Stefan Diggs is making so much money as well.

So it's hard to add pieces. We got two guys taking that much of the cap space. That's interesting because I think everyone can look at Josh Allen and see what he brings to a football team. And you look at his age, he's only 27 years old.

You would think there'd be a little bit longer of a window. So I'm kind of surprised by that answer. Well, I mean, let me break this down for you, Zach. If we look at Josh Allen, right. You kind of regressed last year in regards to turning the ball, the football over specifically, right. And we know that Brian Dabel kind of coast that out of him. So my thing is, are we going to get to Josh Allen that we saw last year, turn over the ball because for most of the years that he led the NFL and turnovers with with the comp, you know, with the combination of turning the football over via fumbles and throwing interceptions. Right. And we know that Brian Dabel is not coming back.

He's in New York with his giant. So will he be able to work yourself out of those boneheaded plays returns the football over? Only time will tell because the first year without Brian Dabel, he kind of reverted back to playing some of that high school hairy football where he was just doing a little bit too much on certain plays and turning the football over. So I get from your standpoint saying, you know, kind of like what Joe Burrow said earlier this season, right?

The window's open as long as I'm here. I don't know if that's the case for the Buffalo Bills because the two, like, like I said, the two guys on the offense are taking so much room up on the cap. How can you solidify the O-line? How can you solidify other positions on that offense? And then on defense, right? The most important players, Von Miller, we saw what happens when he got hurt last year, right? Nobody on that defensive line sniffed the quarterback after that.

So that lets you know the value of him. I think they're going to feel the loss of Tremaine Admans. We'll see if Dorian Williams can feel some of that void. I really like that pick out of two lane, really good cover linebacker that plays physical down the middle at that middle linebacker spot, but he's coming in as a rookie. So what do you expect him to do?

Step right in for Tremaine Admans and play up to that caliber. I just don't see it. Please do the ball here with us going back to digs like we were talking about.

It's such a head scratcher. And if I had to assume anything, the only thing I could assume right now logically is that he's just not happy in Buffalo. And if that's the case, this is just a giant mess in what I agree is a make or break season for them because you need everyone all in to turn this thing around and get over that hump and get to the pinnacle of the sport. Yeah, I think Josh Allen kind of spoke to that when he talked to the media, he was saying, you know, he could do a better job in regards. And I don't know what specifically you can do if somebody's upset with the situation at quarterback. I mean, the only thing he could do is, you know, maybe not turn the ball over and get him the ball more, but what receiver doesn't want the ball more, right? Seeing step on big gets most of the, you know, the target share in Buffalo already.

So, you know, he was clearly upset after the divisional game. And if you're step on bigs, right. And again, whether the players want to admit it or not, Zach, they pay attention to the media, right?

Step on dates kind of ushered his way out of Minnesota, right? Now there's this issue with Buffalo. You don't want to be painted as a guy that every time you go somewhere, there's an issue. And then, you know, you potentially want to, you know, get, get out of Dodge when you have an issue with a team. Now, I'm not saying that that's, that's what is happening right now with Buffalo, but we saw it happen in Minnesota.

And again, he made me feel that Zach by my contract, they can't trade me or get rid of me until 2025. So I'm clearly upset and I want to know what we're going to do moving forward. So I'm not in that position again, where I'm looking at the Kansas city chiefs celebrate at the AFC championship game.

I'm looking at the Cincinnati Bengals coming to our house and beat us down. But my thing is, is that the necessarily the right way to handle this? You want to always think, keep things internally. So my thing is if you, you were disgusted and you had meetings with the front office and your head coach, it's one thing to just show up for your teammates and not practice.

Right. But it's another thing entirely to leave after you went to meetings, leave and go home or go wherever you are and not show up on the practice field. Seems like he's got to grow up and be a professional.

I mean, again, we don't know the ins and outs. I'm always careful to say that somebody needs to grow up and I played into the most, it's an emotional game. So I understand there's been times when I've been pissed off and there's certain situations where I could have handled things better. I just would, would, if I'm step, Stefan big, I think you just got to be cognizant and careful how you handle your displeasure when you're supposed to be a leader on that team. I believe he's a captain on that team.

Right. And leaving the practice facility after, you know, you've come to meetings, uh, to unbeknownst, it seems like to the head coach. And that's why I think more is going to come out that because his agent, he was kind of surprised. He said by, um, Sean McVay's words of using the words, very concerned as if something they didn't know he was going to leave, or, or, I mean, Sean McDermott didn't know he was going to leave the practice facility and potentially go wherever he went. But, uh, I had heard that there was meetings between Stefan big in the front office and the head coach. So I think the Buffalo bills just need to get on the same page with Stefan big. Again, they both need each other. That contract, you can't trade out of exact.

So he's going to be on the team for at least the next two years, bare minimum, and really maybe the next three years until the 20, 25 season. So, uh, it's just a weird situation at all. Again, if you're, if you're, you got some displeasure, I think there's a better way to handle it.

Right. Because now the thing that sucks back is his teammates have to answer questions about this. And that's the last thing we want to do with teammates, answer questions about something that's personally going on with you, right? That's the last thing I want to do is speak on somebody else and what they're dealing with, with the team. I rather just talk about us, you know, coming together, our camaraderie, and then what we're doing to get ready for the season. I know there's certain rules about contact and all of that.

And I would be frustrated too, with the way that that season ended because Cincinnati came into their house and absolutely opened up a can of whoop ass, but it's kind of weird that it took this long where he's still mad about it. Like this probably should have been fixed by now. You would think. I would say yes and no. Right. And I think Stefan has been very vocal and saying, I'm not going to be all right with losing. Right.

Uh, and you got to think about it exactly. It's not just last year, right? It goes back to when they lost to the chiefs two years in a row in the playoffs, won an AMC championship game, one of the divisional round when they were up with 13 seconds left. So I think this is a thing where it's like third times a term, right? Cause it's three years in a row.

And now the bill, the bills, I feel like they've had a team that could potentially make her run at the Superbowl, but they just haven't been able to get over the hump. Now, again, I will say this again. Sometimes you got to handle things differently.

Like, and I'm not going to tell anybody how they should feel, but I don't think that's the right way to do it. If you haven't, if you're having displeasure about things, the team has done showing up to the medical part of it, and then talking to the head coach and GM, and then showing up Tuesday to the meetings and then not showing up for practice and just deciding to leave when nobody essentially knew you were leaving. Now again, maybe some troops will come out and maybe they didn't know he wasn't going to be there. Or maybe he did tell somebody he wasn't going to be there. I guess only time will tell, but I think there's a better way you can handle that situation because we always talk about keeping everything eternally in the locker room, right? Right now the bills business is out for everybody.

And now people are coming up with their own answers to what's going on in Buffalo because nobody knows truly what's going on. Where do you think DeAndre Hopkins lands? I know he already made the visit in Tennessee. He's supposed to go to New England coming up on Thursday, late in this process. So money's going to play a role in this, how much cap space is available? Where's your best guess where he goes? And you said it right there, Zach, right?

How much cap space is available? And I think people have to understand people are so cognizant and quick to say that, you know, he's played for this amount of years. I think he wants to win a ring. Yes, players want to win a ring, but Zach, they also want to get paid. And they definitely, they definitely are looking at what other people in their positions are making, right?

If there's a guy that you think that's comparable to what you've done in your career, you want to be making the type of money he's making it. And this situation is Odell Beckham Jr., right? Both of these guys have been perennial pro bowlers in their past.

Odell Beckham is coming off a major knee injury where he didn't even play last year. And the Baltimore Ravens gave him 15 million a year with a chance to make 18. So if you're DeAndre Hopkins, right, you came up with a six game suspension last year and you were highly productive, right? So for people that said he's not the same guy he was, he was never a speedster, right? He was always the guy that separated at the top of the round and one of the best 50-50 jump catch receivers in the NFL. That's who he's been his whole career.

And we saw he could still do that at a high level last year. You're thinking, yeah, I want to contend and play for a championship, but I also don't want to play for free. And I also don't want to help hurt my future earnings by taking less money because, Zach, I'll give you a little caveat. Once you take that lesser deal, teams put you in that honey hole for the rest of your career and there's nothing you can do to get out of it. So you have to be smart about the money that you're taking. I think we already saw that with Dalvin Cook. He said, I'm in no rush to take a deal right now because you have to be smart.

Like you absolutely don't want to take a terrible deal and be stuck. And, and, and teams thinking like, well, this guy's comfortable taking this because this is what he took last year. Right. So you gotta be smart if you're DeAndre Hopkins. I know people kind of scoffed at me when I said the Houston Texans, it makes sense. One, because they have cat rooms and you talk about really solidifying your legacy with the Houston Texans and that's just a bad division, Zach.

So like think about it in a year or two with CJ Stroud and some of the other weapons they have with tank delts. And then they have two really good runbacks. They signed, you know, single Terry this all season. Um, they took, uh, my, my guy out of Florida on a while.

I'm having a brain fart right now. Um, the running back last year in the fourth round from Florida, who played really well. Like you have some nice subsequent pieces and you have one of the best offensive lines in football. So you think in two, three years, man, you could be running the AFC south with CJ south.

And then again, I talk about submitting your legacy. He's only like 10 touchdowns behind Andre Johnson, as far as most touchdown receiving touchdowns and Houston, Texas history, right? He can go ahead and sub sub sublet him and be the number one guy in that position. And he's only about 5,000 yards receiving from overtaking the number one spot and receiving yards for Houston, Texas history. So I think the Houston Texas make a lot of sense. I think the Tennessee Titans make a lot of sense too. They definitely need another veteran receiver. They're kind of thin at the receiver position right now. But if you're going to the Tennessee Titans, there's already rumors that Tannehill and potentially Derek Henry could be traded off.

So do you feel comfortable going there? I think the New England Patriots make absolutely no sense. Yes, the money talks, but I just think the relationship between him and Bill O'Brien just hit a sour patch. And I don't know how you get over that.

I mean, obviously Darius slay and Matt. Patricia said things have been cordial so far in Philadelphia, but I just don't think it's just like an intern out there pretty much. It's talking about the officer coordinator who literally shipped you off for a bag of chips.

Like, I think it's a totally different scenario. Last one, Lee J do's the ball. So I thought it was interesting that the jets basically wind and dined Odell Beckham Jr. Then have showed no interest in DeAndre Hopkins. That to me makes me think they knew this Dalvin cook move was coming and they rather have cook over DeAndre Hopkins, even though it's a different position. I think Rogers wants Dalvin cook as well. Will Dalvin cook be a New York jet? I believe he will be.

Ultimately. I know Robert Soler already came out and said, he's going to overturn that stone in regards to Dalvin cooking. I literally was talking about this on CBS the other day.

I said, why suggest they could be a sneaky team. The Miami dolphins made no sense to me because they literally resigned both of their running backs, Jeff Wilson and Raheem Bostard. And those two combined for over 1500 yards. And if you look at that, Kyle Shanahan system with, you know, Mike, you know, uh, McDaniel and Miami is doing the thing. It's always kind of been running back by committee, even in green Bay, right?

You know, Dylan and Jones split the caries there as well. So I think the Miami, you know, everybody just assumed because, you know, that one comes from Miami potentially could take a hometown discount to come back home. And they took the Mont HN high in the draft. I think they were one of his first two picks in the draft this past year because the Miami dolphins didn't have a first round pick. They took him in the third, I believe.

So, and he's possessed system perfectly. So they had a pretty good running backs already on roster. I didn't see them paying Dalvin could seven, eight, nine million dollars to come there, but the jets, right. Breeze Hall's coming off a major knee injury and he's actually looked good from all the clips that I've seen. You don't know how healthy a guy is until you put shoulder pads on and get guys around your knees. And then you see them cut and accelerate full speed when there's other 10 other bodies on the, on the field with them. Right. That's when you know, he's truly back. And then even if, you know, Breeze Hall is healthy, right?

You get down and cook for a one year rental. You bring those two guys in probably have one of the most explosive back fields in the NFL. So I think that makes a lot of sense, especially because the debts are going forward all this year. I think they, you know, under underlying signing that they had today with Adrian Amos, I thought it was a really good signing. I told my guy Pete Prisco, you know, a few weeks ago, almost a month ago that I think Adrian Amos to the desk makes a lot of sense, right? The guy that's had ball production, he's a sure tackler. And the most important thing is, uh, that he's been available.

I think he's missed the game the last four years. That's something that debts surely missed at the safety position last year, too many different safety combinations because the injuries last year, I think you're really sure of that secondary. And now they's in the NFL, you'll see a lot of three safety looks on defense, right? So you got to be able to be multiple of defense. So I think that was an underlying timing. So that one could put a jet, man. Do not be surprised about Denver would be a team that could potentially be on them, but it seems like Denver isn't going to be on them as much.

But the jets, I think, make a lot of sense for that one. Could we say do the ball? There's a great job. CBS Sports HQ, also Sirius XM. We appreciate the time as always.

Appreciate it. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. So leisure does the ball just joined us.

It is a great job for CBS Sports HQ and Hickey. I've never thought about it this way. And let's explain what he just said. We're talking about the Stefan dig situation. And he did discuss how leisure does the ball feels like this is the last year really of the bills championship window. Because the point he was making was there's so much money allocated to a Josh Allen. There's so much money right now allocated to Stefan Diggs where if he's not happy and who knows how much of a serious issue this is with it being so ambiguous right now, they're still tied down to Stefan Diggs for the next two years or so.

And you look at a guy like Von Miller, he's only getting older. And you know how important he is to the success of that team. And if you want to play into that argument, it's like a guy like Gabe Davis, it's his final year of his contract. He's probably going to get paid a nice chunk of change. Like Christian Kirk just got 18 and a half million dollars a year. Can you afford to resign him? I know a lot of times we go, salary cap's just a number with ways that you're able to move around the money and convert it into signing bonuses and things like that.

There's always a way to move it around. But you do wonder how much of a window do the Bills have? Like I always think they'll have a shot with Josh Allen and Josh Allen is still under 30 and he's 27 years old right now. But Josh Allen didn't play his best football last year. So you look at the Buffalo Bills, I don't necessarily agree that they're just like their last year to go win a championship. But after finally last year being that team that everyone was picking and you failed and didn't even get back to an AFC, you know, you didn't even get to an AFC title game and it's back to back years of getting eliminated divisional round. Let's be real this year, they got lucky to even get to the divisional round. Skyler Thompson walked in and that was a three point game.

Who was the third string quarterback for the Miami Dolphins. So the way that I'll say it is this, I don't think their championship window is over after this year, but you start to develop that team that we look at and you go, yeah, really good team. At times shows you that they could be an elite level team, but you're always waiting for the other shoe to fall. I'm with you in this, like I get what Lije is saying and yeah, I kind of look at the Bills along with the Chiefs and the Bengals of the window is however long the quarterback is in their prime for. But with that said, I do think Lije is right in the sense that this is their best, like their last best chance and that makes sense going forward.

I think they could still win with you. Like I think they could still win a Super Bowl two or three years from now, but it's only going to get a lot harder because now like I said, Josh Allen is going to eat more of the cap, Safon Diggs is going to get a big number and it's really going to be hard to build your roster throughout and get a truly complete team. You see now in all four major sports, you need a team to win a championship. We focus on stars all the time, but you truly need a good defense, a good running game, a good passing game, obviously a great quarterback and a great head coach, but a lot of those other areas fall off when you give the quarterback the big money and it's truly now you're going to start paying the piper sooner rather than later. The defense start to age as well, which is a concern.

So this is probably, I think I would agree with Lije, their last best chance to win a Super Bowl, but I don't think their window closed after 2023, that's for sure. And the other part here too is what you just look at salaries. You know, a guy like Tredavious White is still under contract for the next two years or so, you know, three years. So you got some guys under contract, but when you have that much money allocated to the quarterback and the wide receiver, and this is not just a bills issue, this is moving forward. If you're a great quarterback in this league, you're going to get $50 million plus a year, and it's only going to keep it going up and up and up. And wide receivers, what we really see in the last two, three years, Hickey, their salaries have kind of not only replaced running back salaries, but have gone up significantly.

I talked about Christian Kirk earlier. Got $18.5 million a year. Christian Kirk had a good season also this year for Jacksonville, but he's getting $18.5 million a year. Okay, a great wide receiver is getting $25 million plus. And that's part of the reason why I think a lot of eyes right now are on Cincinnati, not just with Joe Burrow, but in a year from now, Jamar Chase probably, and even now with T Higgins, it's what do they get? Like if that trio is truly serious about winning, like it's easy for me to say it's not my money, but you take less, you leave more for the team, you drastically increase your chances of winning versus if Joe Burrow gets all he wants, or all that he can try to get, which is a ton. If Jamar Chase anything, he'll be a top flight, top paid wide receiver. And if T Higgins wants the most money he can get, he's got to go somewhere else.

And that's just an example right away. We kind of see that those three players do have a decision to make. And if they are in unison in terms of being for the team, since it has going to be a problem for a while, if now we're going to slowly start to see that team breakup. Break up in terms of their big three potentially, but once again, as long as you have Burrow there, you're going to have a shot.

Absolutely. And you know, Jamar Chase is not going anywhere because they'll get the deal done with Burrow, they'll get the deal done with Jamar Chase. Does that mean, and I know that you didn't have T Higgins be a first round pick, he was just outside of the first round, so he's not a fifth year option and he's in the final year of his contract. You could go down the road of potentially two years of franchise tag for T Higgins. And that just same thing with Buffalo now. High paid quarterback, high paid wide receiver, and the rest, you know, other areas falter.

Suffer, maybe is a better word. Right now, if you had to make a Super Bowl pick, who's your ball pick? Right now, today, I won't hold you to it, June 13th, who are the two teams that you would pick to go to the Super Bowl right now? I will say Bengals. I'll go back on the 49ers train. You are, even without the uncertainty with the quarterback.

I know Kittle was on Dan Patrick today and he's like, oh, I expect Brock Purdy to be there for week one, rocking out with his Brock out and looking pretty awesome. I would go Bengals, 49ers, Bengals, Super Bowl champs. I hate when people pick a Super Bowl rematch, but how can I pick against Mahomes right now in the AFC when the guy just lost Tyree Killam won a Super Bowl? If not, I agree, I would go with Cincinnati. But in the NFC, until we understand not only who's going to be the guy, but who's going to excel for a full season at quarterback for the 49ers, I can't get away from what Jalen Hurts or the Philadelphia Eagles did this past year.

So even though that's like not really creative, it is sexy, but it's not as if you look at that, you go, oh, wow, you really went out on a limb. Right now, I can't pick against Kansas City. And in the NFC, the team that is the best from top to bottom, Philadelphia for me. Zach Kelp's show, CBS Sports Radio News Brief next.