Top 5 NFL Quarterbacks (Hour 3)

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You won't want to take your bird dogs off. We promise you. Our number three of our radio program, that's right, it is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. So I saw Plaxico Burress was on FS1 earlier today and he revealed his top five QBs in the NFL right now.

Hickey, you look at this list. Who is the one player that I think it's a big time omission to not have him on this list? And right now we're in a crazy era of quarterbacks even with Peyton Manning being out of the league now for some time. Brady finally walking away in a genuine belief that he's actually done with football. Drew Brees no longer a part of the NFL. Where you look at the difference from the AFC to the NFC, it's enormous in terms of the amount of talented quarterbacks you have in the AFC compared to the NFC. But you have a lot of great quarterbacks in this league and not only great quarterbacks, a lot of these guys are young with Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert and Josh Allen and we can go on and on and on.

A Trevor Lawrence. So we're now gonna have maybe at least a decade let's say of these guys. Everyone right now is chasing Mahomes and the only one that's been able to be close to Mahomes so far has been Joe Burrow because his team up until this past AFC Championship game defeated the Chiefs three times. But outside of that we've had a lot of great players, a lot of guys like Lamar Jackson's one of the unanimous MVP or guys that have stolen the moment for a little bit with Josh Allen. Jalen Hurts this year outplayed Mahomes in the Super Bowl but didn't win the Championship and everyone's chasing number 15 right now and it's gonna be who's gonna be one, who's gonna be two, is gonna be three for the next 10 years. And I think heading into last year that conversation was Mahomes, Burrow and Josh Allen and the guy's stock who improved by far and away the most this past year was Jalen Hurts. But when you go through all these names there's still one guy that needs to be in the top five and here was Plaxico Burris's top five quarterbacks in the NFL at FS1 earlier this morning. Five Jalen Hurts, four Josh Allen, three Justin Herbert, two Joe Burrow, one Patrick Mahomes.

There's a big name missing from that list, Hickey. Who do you think I believe is the big name missing from that list? I will say you think who should be in there is Aaron Rodgers. Yep, I still think Aaron Rodgers needs to be a top five quarterback in the NFL. I know last year it did not go the way that he wanted it to go.

He now has a new home with the New York Jets. There's big expectations for Aaron Rodgers. He's saying all the right things. He seems to have found a new view on life and it's filled with energy and he's happy again. And he's going everywhere.

He enjoys being the star. But let's not forget this guy's not that far removed from winning back-to-back MVPs. And you could chalk up some of last year to the contentious relationship that he had with Gudekunz and Lafleur.

Chalk it up to an injury as well. But even Rodgers kind of said, and I like that, I don't want to call it arrogance, but that ego that's still there. Even when I don't play my best, I'm still better than what? 95% of the quarterbacks that are out there. And even when that guy's a bad year, it's still a pretty damn good year. I'm not saying that you look at Rodgers right now and he's one or two or even three. But he still has to be in the top five. And heading into this season, if you ask me to rank the five best quarterbacks in the NFL, Mahomes has won.

There's no debate there. Joe Burroughs too. Three, this is where it gets tricky. Because I think three and four right now need to be either Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts or Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen, just depending on the order.

I think three and four right now need to be depending on the order. I know Jalen Hurts just got to a Super Bowl. Josh Allen hasn't got to a Super Bowl. Josh Allen's been around a little bit longer as the starting quarterback.

So I'll give him the slight, slight, slight edge. Josh Allen three, Jalen Hurts four, and then I do put Aaron Rodgers in there in the number five spot. Do you still have Rodgers a top five quarterback in the NFL, Hickey? This is really tough because I'm not trying to conflate my feelings for this season. If we're just going into this season, yes, he's a top five quarterback. Do you think the Jets, you've said the Jets are going to miss the playoffs, right?

That's right. I don't think things will go well. When you say things won't go well, what do you mean by that in terms of them just missing the playoffs? Do you think Rodgers is going to play poorly this year? I don't think Rodgers is going to play poorly whatsoever. I think Rodgers is going to have, I'm not saying he's definitely going to win the MVP, but I do think he's going to have an MVP type of season now.

If he has an MVP type of season, you would correlate that to, okay, the team is pretty damn good and the team's having a lot of success. I'm not concerned individually about Aaron Rodgers. You just look at the gauntlet of not only AFC East, but the AFC. If you've kind of put an order out there of seven teams right now, it's tough to debate probably anyone's list of who are the seven best teams in the AFC. I do think the Jets will make the playoffs this year and I don't think Rodgers will be in the playoffs, but it's not like inconceivable to tell me that Miami has a big year and Buffalo has a big year and then the AFC North is really strong and maybe you have the Broncos come back to life this year with all the Chargers and the Chiefs being great. It's not crazy to say that they're going to miss the playoffs. I personally think they're going to make the playoffs, but I look at it and I don't have really any concern about Rodgers because I think you've even been impressed by Rodgers so far that right now he's saying and doing all the right things. You didn't even think we were going to get to this point with him. Yeah, yes, but also I think it's easy to do that now when things are great and everyone is eating up every single word you do and everyone is inviting you everywhere. It's easy to kind of crush this part so far, the off season, but to go back to your initial question, I think his 2023 year with the Jets will look a whole hell of a lot like it did in Green Bay last year in 2022.

Then he did the two years before that where he won back-to-back MVPs. Why do you think that? He's someone who does not adjust to a new team and new teammates.

Well, I think he will get off to a slow start with his new teammates. It doesn't seem that way though right now, but it's easy to do that. Is that practice?

It's not really practicing it's not really practicing as a catheter. Yeah, but to say that he can't get along with the the younger guys or he has a tough time adjusting with those guys in an unhappy situation where he was at at the end that I think is totally different now in a situation where he wants to be there. I disagree.

Okay, why? I just said like I don't think he's someone who adjusts well. He has to he is someone that everyone has to adjust to what he does and I just don't think we saw last year a lot of young receivers. I don't think the reason why they struggled to get on the same page was because he was upset about being in Green Bay.

I don't think that's the reason. Yeah, the only thing that I push back on in a big way is he's pretty much running this team. What he says it's going to be his way or the highway. Nathaniel Hackett, remember, is his guy. He's now the offensive coordinator.

Robert Salah is a defensive-minded coach, so I'll just agree to disagree there. I don't think Rogers being a pain in the ass as a teammate is going to be the reason why this team fails because I don't think that's going to be the case here in New York, but you look at your top five quarterbacks. Plaxico puts out his list. Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts. You put out your list right now.

Who would they be? Mine is Mahomes 1, Burrow 2, Allen 3, Jalen Hurts 4, and then Aaron Rodgers into number 5. Same list going to 2023, same list.

And then the rest of it shaping out. I put Trevor Lawrence in there at 6. I have to, like, I think Herbert is phenomenal. I've always been a big fan of Justin Herbert going back to his time at Oregon. I know that his stock did fall a little bit, where he's perceived to be the number one guy, then goes back, even though he wins the Rose Bowl.

He failed to be in the third quarterback off the board. Now he ended up being the sixth overall pick, so let's not talk about like he fell out of the first round like a Will Levis. But right now, I can't put Justin Herbert in front of Trevor Lawrence because Trevor Lawrence spotted Justin Herbert that lead and still found the way to win and still found the way to come on back. And Justin Herbert has been in league longer, and Trevor Lawrence has only been in league one year because the first year was a joke under Urban Meyer, and Trevor Lawrence already has a playoff win. So right now, I do put Lawrence 6, Herbert 7, and then I put Lamar Jackson at 8. I'll get to 9 and 10 in just a second, but those first eight names, Hickey, if you want to have a different order, that's fine.

But I don't see how anyone debates right now. Mahomes, Burrow, Allen, Hertz, Rodgers, Lawrence, Herbert, and Lamar. Those have to be the eight best quarterbacks in football, the way that I evaluate that field right now. I'm just trying to see if there's anyone that can replace Lamar Jackson.

I think that's the one that is up in question. Yeah, I don't think anyone has a bulletproof case. No one does. And if you go 9 and 10, see the problem with Deshaun Watson, and if you were to argue, hey, Deshaun should be in front of Lamar. Lamar has won a unanimous MVP, Deshaun Watson's ever won an MVP. And if you want to tell me all Lamar's been injury prone the last two years, fine. Deshaun Watson has barely played the last two years. And there's a lot of rust that Deshaun Watson's still gonna have to knock off. It's kind of tough to figure out where Deshaun Watson ranks here.

But right now, I would put Russell Wilson in at 9, and I'm skeptical of Russ in Denver. But he can't be as bad as what he was last year with how good he's been in the league. And then 10, I do go Matthew Stafford. I know Stafford got hurt last year. The year prior to that, did win a Super Bowl, had some clutch drives late in the postseason. I don't know how healthy he is, so it's a big but, and a big if, excuse me, if he's healthy. But I kind of look at Matthew Stafford as someone that if he is healthy, not that I love that situation, I at least know what I'm gonna get out of him.

At least know when he was in a bad situation in Detroit, he was still a good quarterback all those years. So those would be my top 10 quarterbacks. The 9 and 10 spots are tough, cuz there are a bunch of names and a bunch of different people that you could go, and it's really tough to debate. And I did go Russ 9 and Stafford 10 hickey, but I don't really love any of those choices really for 9 and 10. I think I would probably go Stafford 9, Kirk Cousins 10. You like that?

You like that? I just don't know right now how you can put, like Deshaun Watson just a wild card where I don't think he deserves to be in the top 10, or given the benefit of the doubt, given it's two years since he's played any sort of high level football. And Deshaun Watson, I would bank on being a better quarterback than Kirk Cousins. He's proven before he could be a better quarterback, but that was years ago. Like at least Kirk Cousins as much crap as we give him. He's never bat, like he's never putrid in terms of when at the end of the season, you look at his numbers, you're like, oh wow, he was just terrible.

I get it. Some primetime games doesn't perform well, obviously. But you know, he's just going to put up solid stats. Like I don't love the direction of this Minnesota Vikings team right now. Cause I think they look at last year and they go, oh, we were better than what we thought.

And we still have a lot of work to do to rebuild with this new regime. And Kirk may not be back next year, but like Kirk Cousins is going to throw for 30 touchdown passes this year. I feel pretty confident in saying that. And his turnovers, they're not going to be outrageous. Now I hate to use these words, who has the higher ceiling? Clearly Deshaun Watson has the higher ceiling. But I look at Deshaun Watson and I just go, are you going to be able to gel with Kevin Stefanski? I like the weapons on Cleveland, but how much rust is there still to knock off with Deshaun Watson is a major, major question. And you know, Kirk Cousins probably going to get out of bed and he'll throw what, 30 touchdowns, 10 interceptions this year.

I feel pretty confident in that, even though he lost to Alvin Cook. And I think it's important to reiterate, this is going into the season, not projecting who's going to be, you know, have a great 2023 season, but going in right, even though Kirk Cousins is someone that gets clowned off for coming up clutch, I would agree with that. But it's like, you look at that 10 spot. I don't think Deshaun Watson deserves the benefit of it. I don't think Russell Wilson deserves the benefit of it. Kirk is way more consistent and is better flat out than Dak Prescott.

And so it's like, you look around and that 10 spot really, it gets murky really, really quickly. Now, this time next year, Deshaun Watson has a bounce back season, Russell Wilson has a bounce back season, different story. But right now that back half of the top 10 is very, very shaky. And especially to round out the top 10, I don't, yeah, right now it's Kirk, right now it's Kirk. Who's the, is he the second best, yeah, then he's your second best quarterback in the NFC. Cause out of those first eight names we mentioned, only one of those names, with now Rogers going to the AFC, Adam Holmes, Borough, Allen, Hertz, Rogers, Lawrence, Herbert and Lamar, only one of those quarterbacks are in the NFC.

It's kind of crazy. More consistent than Dak. And you look around, Jared Goff is maybe the other quarterback has the best case, but obviously Kirk has done it way longer than Goff. Kyler right now is hurt and is going the wrong direction. 49ers are just playing musical chairs. NFC South is just tossed up. Sure Derek Carr comes in, but guy's always been kind of a purgatory in terms of trying to crack the top 10. He's at best, like the 13th best quarterback in the NFL, if everything goes right. Daylon Jones, one good year, solid year.

Can you build off that? No idea. It's more bad than good so far. Like there's, we've highlighted a ton and maybe this top 10 list is the best way to do it. Top 10 quarterbacks, eight in the AFC, two in the NFC. I never thought I'd be saying this. I'm rooting for Geno Smith and I'm rooting for Jared Goff.

I really want to see them. We're afterthoughts, right? Stafford gets traded, you get Goff, they'll eventually get rid of him. Russ gets traded. Ah, it's probably gonna be Drew Locke. Geno Smith ends up winning comeback player of the year. I was really impressed with Geno Smith did last year, was really impressed with Jared Goff did last year. I hope they continue to give all the doubters the middle finger.

I would, you know what? I'm kind of feeling this right now in June and this is subject to change. I don't know how I'm not going to pick Kansas City to go to the Super Bowl this year, even with how deep the AFC is. In the NFC? Yes, Philadelphia by far and away, the best team on paper in the NFC. San Francisco second.

I just don't know what San Francisco has at quarterback. I look at that third spot and I've said this before that Seattle could be the third best team in the NFC. If you're looking, when you do like Super Bowl predictions, how many people this year are going to be like up Kansas City, Philadelphia, Kansas City 49ers, or they'll go Buffalo or Cincinnati against either the Eagles or the 49ers. I feel like you get funky in the NFC. It's tough to get funky in the AFC just because you know there's so many really good teams in the NFC.

You have two teams than everybody else. It would not surprise me if come the fall, I try to get funky here and I go Seattle going to the Super Bowl. I'm not going to have them win the Super Bowl, but get funky a Kansas City, Seattle Super Bowl. I could see that come fall being a Zach Gelb show prediction from yours truly sources. Tell me, by the way, sources close to Zach Gelb say he's leaning Seattle going to the Super Bowl. Probably got good odds on that right now. Don't have the sports books here before they change the odds.

And now they're like minus a thousand. Trust me. My opinion is not going to move the, the, the, the betting world. It's just not, no way. I wonder what the odds are right now for that something I was thinking about. So I'll research it.

Also see how we, how I feel come September, too. Where is the Super Bowl this year? Oh, Vegas.

Okay. So that's good because same time zone suit on Geno Smith can crossed up and forgetting the time of the big game. You know what? Just when we go this year to the Super Bowl, make sure you don't get food poisoning before we head out. I hope not.

It was one of the worst days of my life. Oh, you know what I just thought about? We may have to make a bet in football season this year. I don't know what we're going to bet on, but last time I had you come on a trip with me to Las Vegas for the draft. You refused when I took you to a very nice restaurant, try some escargot.

That's right. I have to think what I would have to do. We'll workshop it. But if you lose a football bet, we always make a football bet throughout the season. If you lose, I think you need to try some escargot in Vegas when we go to Super Bowl. And I think to reciprocate, the closest thing I can find for you to try dog crap right off the sidewalk.

That's not close. I win. That's what you're eating. Escargot is just marinated in butter and oil.

You would love it. We'll put the same thing on the crap then for you. Well, whatever they use to escargot, there's some green really are a child. There's some green stuff on it. What is that? Garlic?

You really are a child. Whatever they put on that, I will be OK with you putting it on that. I'm in for that bet. OK, let's be real. I've not lost a bet to you on this show. Listeners have heard it.

That is the gentleman's handshake right there. Zach Elves agreed to eat dog crap if I win the football bet, whatever it is. Well, whereas leaves and now I'm going to start eating dog crap. I guess we've picked up the slack with him. At least someone's got to do it.

You know, you're so lame because you're also the same person. I won't shave my head. I won't yesterday. He said I would go ball to win to win a few championships.

No, but when I put it on the table, when you told me there was no way I forget what it was, something was going to have Saturday being the Colts full-time head coach. You said there was no way. I said there's no way. Then shave your head. If it happens, you're like, no, I can't do it. See, that's that's just not right.

Because said I would shave a 63 in my head. You're not a willing participant when it when we throw something nasty out to you. And then all of a sudden you just thought that I have to eat dog crap. Really? Well, as cargo is, is it one of the same? Not as goes delicious.

Looks like a slug. Here's my biggest problem with you. And I said this to a listener that pulled up to D.A.

show last weekend. He gets out of the car and he goes, I'm with Hickey in terms of boneless wings. I go, great.

I go, here's my problem with Hickey. A 95 percent of his food takes. He says things suck and they're terrible and they're awful. And he doesn't try them.

You've never tried as cargo. So how can you compare it to dog poop? That's my problem with you. I have looked at it and I know it's a slug. I'm sorry. You can't eat slug and tell me it's good.

And if it's good, I don't want to eat it because it's it's drenching stuff. It shouldn't be. And it's.

But you can't say something sucks and never try it. That's a problem. That's egregious. It's horrible. Well, just you ask for a comp and that that's that's my comp.

I didn't ask for a comp. Well, I'm saying we got to fit, you know, you said, oh, you'll try as cargo if I lose. It's not even comparable.

We've got to make it. How I feel about as cargo is maybe how you feel about. It's not even comparable. Feel about dog crap.

It's not even comparable. And I just people can't see what I just threw a piece of paper at the glass and I was hoping it would go through the glass and hit Hickey. Two panes of glass. Yeah. Make me like the Kool-Aid man and run and break through.

But I don't know if a piece of paper is going to do it. Somebody needs to smack you. What? You know, I'm hiring here at CBS Sports Radio. You're hiring somebody. Draymond Green.

Oh, here we go. And you're going to be Jordan Paul. No way. And you know what? Management's going to be bomb buyers. Who's leaking it out?

You got a lot of cameras here. Who's going to be the leak? You know what? If I get punch, I'll leak at a TMZ. I'm getting at least a paycheck at that point. Yeah.

They probably paid a pretty penny for that. Would you rather get punched by Draymond Green or try as cargo? At this point, I'll try as cargo. I mean, I don't want to take a right hook to the face. Just making sure you just compared as cargo to dog crap. Still, I'd rather well. Oh, yeah.

Probably less embarrassing to get punched in the face by Draymond Green. So maybe we'll do that over dog crap. It's close though. You got it. Close. This is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. What are we doing here?

Heck, he's trying to get me to eat dog crap. All righty. Take a time out. Come on back. He's back. Here's Zach Gelb. You can think of Riley Auto Parts for all your car care needs.

Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. I got a chance to see that Deion Sanders said the other day that he would not have any ambition to coach in the NFL, getting ready to embark on year one at Colorado. He said, I have a problem with men getting their checks and not doing their jobs. I would be too tough as a coach in the NFL because I have those old school attributes. I'm really rooting for Deion Sanders, especially in this NIL era.

I think Deion Sanders could be a mega star. Now, it's one thing for me to think the guy could be a really great coach and another thing for him to actually do it. And we'll see what happens with Colorado. I don't think in year one at Colorado, this is going to be a big bang, but I don't believe it's going to be this horrible flop and this horrible failure.

I think we'll be kind of in the middle where there'll be some really good weeks and there'll be some really bad weeks. It's tough to go on in year one and have a great year. Now, look back at TCU last year. I know that is a crazy one, but even Sonny Dyke said with us, he would have never thought in a million years they would have had that success in year one. And it's easy to say when you're in the national championship game and you won a game in the college football playoff and you're just in the college football playoff.

But he was saying that when they got out to a 4-0, 5-0 start. And he's been to multiple other stops as well. So we'll see what happens for Deion Sanders in year one. I also think college is better fit for Deion Sanders than the NFL because when you are a college coach, it's your show. I feel like when you're in the NFL where Deion right now is the guy at Colorado and is number one, you go to the NFL.

Sure. So many players in the NFL clearly respect Deion Sanders. They know what he's all about and what he accomplished. But the egos of stars is one thing, but then it's also guys that think they're stars that aren't stars that have a tremendous ego. That's the guy that Deion's talking about where he would kind of clash with.

And that's why I don't think he would be fit to be an NFL like coach Hickey. Yeah. I'm going to go on a limb and say his introductory press conference. If it went anything like it did a Colorado, we come and we come pack your bags. Most of you won't be here.

I'm bringing my Louie. Don't think it will go over to an NFL locker room. No urban Meyer. We all know what he accomplished. If he went into to Jacksonville and that was a disaster real quickly because he didn't treat the players like they're grown men.

And that's something that's, that's very tough to do. So yet urban Meyer making the jump recently going from college to the pros didn't work yet. Matt rule go from college to the pros. He's already back in college with Nebraska.

Didn't work. Give me some names, Hickey of current college coaches that will get thrown, thrown into the NFL hopper already have, or maybe will in the future. And I just want to give you my reaction. If I, if I could see them jumping and going from college to the NFL, let's start with an obvious one rumor wise at least. And that's Lincoln Riley for like every year his name is always thrown, especially for the Cowboys job in the ring that realistic at all. So I look at when he was at Oklahoma, I would have said, absolutely. He just took the USC job.

That's a long-term move. When you go to a job like USC, if he doesn't have success at USC and I know he just has Caleb Williams and now they're going to your number two, eventually they're going to the SEC. Maybe that job doesn't last as long as what we would think for Lincoln rally at USC. But right now they're all in on Lincoln ride.

They should be all in Lincoln Raleigh. The guy's tremendous football coach did a great job taking over for a legend in Bob soups at Oklahoma now has already quickly brought back USC and we'll see if they can take the next step. I do believe that Lincoln rally will work long-term at USC. So therefore in the next 10 years, I don't see this guy going to the NFL, but if he struggles immensely, the SEC, the glamour and the shine of Lincoln, Riley does wear off a bit. It wouldn't shock me if then the next move after that would be the NFL, but I do think it's going to work at USC. So I'm going to say that Lincoln rally is not going to the NFL anytime soon. Now, Jim Harbaugh obviously was a coach in the NFL and his last two years has taken interviews to go back to the NFL. Oh, so far over two for Jim Harbaugh, third time's the charm or is he staying? You think I think he's going to take, I think he'll eventually go back to the NFL. If he would've got offered the Minnesota Vikings job.

And I know he worked at Questo de Famensa when the two were together in San Francisco, he would have taken that job. Now he was able to replicate the success that he had it, you know, the first time and then come on back this year and when the big 10 once again, beat Ohio state once again, you lose in the first round of the college football playoff once again. And they were going up against an easier opponent than Georgia, which they faced two years ago.

They got a chance to win a national championship this year. I do think he has one foot in one foot out. He's just waiting for that offer. And I do believe with the way that Harbaugh four years in the NFL got to three NFC title games.

I'm one of those. He did convert into going to a Superbowl. I got to think eventually someone's going to give him an opportunity to go join an NFL roster.

Yeah. Now, before the bears hired, Ryan day was an aim at Ohio state. That was rumored to be interested out there.

Nothing really in the rumor mill last year for day. Is that a guy you think could make the jump eventually? You think he'll stay at Ohio state for a long, long, long time. And Ryan day has a lot of experience or decent amount of experience in the NFL, where he was the QB coach with Philadelphia and the QB coach of San Francisco for nine.

It's not a lot of years, just two different stops because he was following chip Kelly in a bunch of places. I do think Ryan day could be close to the NFL than what people think because I know people look at the Ohio state job and they're like, wow, he's done a great job. I think from the outside where he hasn't lost a lot of games, but the Ohio state fans getting livid with Ryan day. Cause the only game that really matters is Michigan. And they've lost that game twice. The last year has got blown out and they almost got to a national championship.

This game, even though they lost to Michigan. So I look at Ryan day as someone where would not surprise me in the next five years. If he finds a way to go to the NFL, what are Kirby smart? If he continues to a national titles that winning eventually lead to an NFL job, if he goes on this dynastic run, which I think we all believe that he's going on winning back to back championships, it's only going to continue. It's going to be tough to leave.

The question just for me is, does it eventually get old where he goes, okay, I want to try something else. I do feel like Kirby smart though is a college coach and we know he's a really great one. I just don't see him jumping to the NFL anytime soon. Speaking of college coach, I think Dabo Sweeney really embodies that phrase right there.

Would he ever make the jump? You think in your minds, I really do believe that the players would roll their eyes at the way that I don't want to say Dabo, Sweeney conducts himself, but Dabo Sweeney is perfect in college. I don't think he relates to NFL players. I know he's molded a lot of NFL players and got guys to go from college into the NFL and have a lot of success.

I think that would be more so of a, my way or the highway, and he wouldn't be able to relate and understand that these guys are grown men and a lot of it would be treating them like college kids and I don't think that would work. I got one more for you. This guy is now two places, has been a big time CEO in terms of being a head coach and that's kind of the NFL mold, especially if you're not an offensive mind. Can I guess who you're going to say? Is it Brian Kelly? Brian Kelly. Big time pressure at Notre Dame. Big time pressure at LSU. Did really well at Notre Dame.

And got LSU to the SEC title game in year number one and beat Alabama. Not exactly, you know, he's not a play caller, so it's like he's going to bring a certain offense, but he's going to kind of go and run a program. Would he be coaching in the south of the NFL? Because if he shows up to an NFL locker room and starts saying my family, I don't think that's going to work. What if he goes up to, what if he succeeds Bill Belichick and all of a sudden now picks up a Boston accent in which that was actually the city he lived in the first place and all of a sudden the accent comes back out of nowhere. We've got like a Southern California draw like the Rams. I feel like this is last job.

I really do. I feel like LSU will be his last job, so I'm going to say no. But I like if you just look at Brian Kelly, it would and this was seven years ago or or five years ago, I would probably say yes. But now I think he's all in on LSU and I really do believe that LSU is going to be his final stop. He's back.

Here's Zach Gelb. I was reading earlier today that Adrian Wojnarowski did appear on the Pat McAfee show and he said so far the Trailblazers have shut down any trade talks from any team inquiring about Damian Lillard. As we get set for the draft tomorrow, Hickey, I only think there's a few storylines like we all know that this draft is going to be everyone salivating over Victor Wambunyama, but we know he's the number one overall pick. We know he's going to the San Antonio Spurs.

After that, it's really the intrigue of two and three. We think it's either going to be Brandon Miller and then Scoot Henderson or Scoot Henderson and Brandon Miller. If someone else jumps into the two or the three spot, does that mean Zion Williamson's getting traded? Is Dame going somewhere?

I don't know. I know Dame with the Portland Trailblazers has the third overall pick, but the impact of if Portland makes the pick, then maybe Dame's going to leave or if they go out there and they trade that number three pick to go get Dame another player to compliment them. But really, outside of those two storylines, Hickey, the potential movement of Zion, who's going to be two is going to be three. And then the impact of this draft and what it means for Dame Lillard. I know that the NBA draft, it's different compared to the NFL. I feel like when we get to the second and third round of the NFL draft, you actually know these players still.

But when you get, oh, well, let me put a caveat on there. Unless Mike Mayock is drafting. If Mike Mayock is drafting, sometimes his first round picks, people are like, who?

He did what? I can't believe it. But he's no longer a part of an NFL front office. But when it gets to the NBA draft, I feel like after the first few picks, everyone's like, yeah, okay, I'll try to pretend to know something.

I really don't know much about it. That's why I'm intrigued here about the current players more so than the guys that are about to get drafted. There's only so much you can say about Victor Wambunyama at this point. Like we were around him today.

The dude's an alien. I can't wait for him to get on the court. But the two biggest storylines for me in terms of intrigue, design, get dealt, and what happens in this draft that impacts the status of Damian Lola. Because Dame, it's why they were pulling not be taking phone calls now or shutting down those calls very quickly. And then Dame changed his mind with every interview. He never said he wanted to leave, but some interviews he'll lean towards, okay, maybe he's considering the other interviews, nah, I want to stay in Portland.

But that's a big one tomorrow night. What Portland does at three, and then how does Dame react to it? Like if they go trade for Zion Williamson, you're thinking that Dame's going to stay, even though I think that would be foolish. But then if they take a player at three, how does Dame interpret that player and how does he view that player?

And is he willing to stay in Portland? Because that's what he wants to do, because he really does believe in whoever that player is that gets elected with the third overall pick, if they do make a pick at three. It's kind of like Aaron Rodgers when they drafted Jordan Love, except we knew the pick was, or we knew this was going to be important pick. Whereas when the Packers drafted Jordan Love, it was supposed to be ho-hum, no big deal until they made that big time trade.

And now it's like, whoa, yeah, that's a big, there's a lot of ripple effects now coming from it. With that number three pick, there's gonna be a lot of ripple effects. So it's going to be a three pick. There's gonna be a lot of ripple effects, no matter what they do, keep the pick, trade the pick going forward here. You're right, because with that pick, before we found out they traded up, the big conversation was they take an offensive player in that draft Green Bay. Wide receiver, will they finally do it?

Will they finally do it? And I will always say this, not that it makes it that much better, but if they would've just stayed at the pick that they hadn't selected Jordan Love, it doesn't add the drama to the way that we saw it. Cause they moved up in the draft, but no one else is really moving up that we know of to go get Jordan Love. And it made it seem as if they had to go get Jordan Love. Where if they would've just stayed put where they had, you could have said, oh, well, he was the best player that we had on the board.

But when they moved up to go get him, they feared losing him. And it showed a lot more how much they were seriously considering eventually replacing Aaron Rodgers. And I do feel as if the trade up made it worse. Now, Rodgers could still have looked at that and said, I'll bleep you, you drafted a quarterback. But trading up to go get Jordan Love, when you look back at that decision, Nicky, it made it worse than if they would have just stayed with the pick and then just drafted the quarterback.

Personally, I don't see a difference. They drafted him at 29. They drafted him at 26.

You're still drafted on a court. Like no one ever says, oh, they traded up to get Jordan Love when we talk about the entire thing. It's they drafted Jordan Love. It's more about drafting the, the sole act of drafting him to me where he got drafted. It was in the first round, like draft moving up, was it three spots, whatever it was. But it showed how much they feared losing Jordan Love. And they felt like it was a necessity to draft a quarterback there.

That to me was the big, was a big difference. I'm not saying Rodgers sits there on draft night and doesn't put what, three or four fingers or whatever he did in a, in a, in a glass of bourbon or vodka, whatever he was drinking that night. I'm not saying he's thrilled with it, but the Packers showed you they were desperate to find that eventual replacement when a lot of people thought they would draft a wide receiver or maybe then end up going with defensive player. No one was talking about quarterback. Them trading up in that draft to go, to go select the quarterback shows you how big of a deal that was to Brian Gudekus. Is Aaron Rodgers still in the Packers if they didn't trade up?

No. I would agree. You're still eventually replacing him. I think the drama is still there. Rodgers is still upset either way. I'm not saying that the drama wouldn't still be there, but it makes it worse from an optics standpoint where you feared that you were going to lose this guy when no one else was interested in drafting him in the first round. The only team that was thrown out there was the Indianapolis Colts. It's the only team that was thrown out there was Indianapolis. And that has quickly since been debunked. It was just, it was a move that made no sense.

It just, it added more fuel to the fire about how at the time, how nonsensical that was. But getting back to what we were really talking about, which is the NBA draft, let's get the official predictions here. Does Zion Williamson get traded tomorrow night? Yes or no? Tomorrow night I'll say no. I'm going to say no as well. I think the Pelicans want to trade him.

I don't think you're going to find a willing participant. Now, Damian Lillard, I'm not going to ask you if he gets traded tomorrow night, cause I don't think he's getting traded tomorrow night either way, but will, will Portland make enough of a move on Wednesday on, on tomorrow night, Thursday night where Damian Lillard now says, okay, I see your vision and I want to stay. I think they drafted number three.

I agree. I mean, I, we talked about this yesterday. I said he was going to get traded at some point in the off season.

I mean, I don't, he's made his intentions clear. I should not give him the benefit of the doubt and think that if they do draft, he's going to force his way out. But I will, I think they'll take Scoot Henderson at three. I think eventually before opening night tips off, we'll see Damian Lillard on another team. I think they will draft Scoot Henderson.

I agree. And I think Dame for whatever the reason is, he's going to keep on going back to the well, and he's going to talk himself into liking Scoot Henderson and the other places they have in this roster. And he's going to stay with the Portland Trailblazers. I hope that's not the outcome. I hope he leaves.

But as you said, I can't give him the benefit of doubt anymore that he's going to change his opinion. Zach Yelp shows CBS Sports Radio will come on back with a news brief update you and all the big stories in the world of sports with some audio back in five. Stop by the Pepsi display at your local Walmart to find out how you can win.