Lillard's Long Leash For Portland (Hour 1)

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Peloton app available through free tier or paid subscription starting at $12.99 per month. Live from the police show yet not overly ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Tuesday edition of the Zach Gelb Show across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS. I'm going to jump on in. 855-212-4227. And 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. Cole Kublick going to join us. We'll do a little college football fix with him 20 minutes from now as we'll be talking some SEC football and then we'll be joined later on the program at 7 20 p.m Eastern, 4 20 p.m Pacific with Ryan Hollins as we'll get all the latest on Damian Lillard and all the other happenings around the association with free agency set to tip off on Friday on June 30th. And producing this extravaganza, I can't tell today if he looks like he's a seventh grader that just got stuffed into a locker or if he's a 45 year old man that just got back from a golf outing but here he is nonetheless is of course hot take.

I don't know about that hot take. Kiki is wearing a polo shirt today with how would you describe that salmon color shorts and your shirt is tucked in and I think like your belt is up to your nipples almost as that is a very very very highly tucked in shirt and your shorts are pulled all the way up so you give off major nerd vibes today or dad vibes? I would use class is the word I would say. I give off class vibes to class this place up. I don't think people are all of a sudden going to be looking around and saying wow Hickey's dressed nicely today so I'm going to go get inspired to wear something nice tomorrow to work.

I don't think that works around here. I think you believe you're a trendsetter here at CBS Sports Radio. I don't think anyone is following the fashion trend of hot take Hickey even though I will say most of the time when you do come into the studio you give off a very boat vibe like as if you're always a captain of a ship on a boat because you do wear a lot of boat gear. I do realize with the amount of how would you kind of describe it the shirts that you wear. It's very boaty. I would say beachy. That's the vibe I go for.

Okay relax beach vibe. That's that's my style. My twitter's been blowing up today. Well my phone's been blowing up for multiple reasons. Someone bought an iPhone today with my credit card. That's a great text that you wake up to ready to pick up your iPhone tomorrow sir at 7 30 a.m. I thought it was spam at first and then I saw that there was a 1200 charge on my credit card and I probably have now received 450 emails today with my email being used to sign up for other accounts. So I'm in a peachy mood today Hickey.

I'm in a wonderful mood today. My day has been going great right to cancel my credit card get reissued another one and I was off to a splendid start this morning and here's the dumbest part of them all. If you're gonna hack someone's credit card and take someone's credit card wouldn't you just get the iPhone shipped somewhere instead of going to pick it up at the store because I talked to a buddy of mine at Apple.

You have to show ID when you go pick up the the iPhone and it has to be my name and it was under my account. You would think that you would get that shipped somewhere and then maybe you could just let it get through the cracks but I already stopped that so I don't I'm like I'm waiting for the other shoe to fall here Hickey and I'm waiting to see what else is going to transpire in this hack because I keep on getting messages and emails in languages that I've never seen before and I know what the emails are because like every eighth email is in English and it's trying to have me confirm an email so I'm just waiting for I log into my account and it shows that there's zero funds left at this rate. I mean criminals they are very smart sometimes in their ability to get information also very stupid at how they use it in the sense of oh let me just go to the store and pick it up with an ID that I don't have so you kind of see why a lot of criminals do eventually get caught. And it was my hometown Apple store which what a statement that is that people have hometown Apple stores but they went right to the location where if I was growing up as a kid and buying an Apple product that's where I would have definitely purchased an Apple product. I almost wanted to kind of launch my own investigation and I was thinking about calling out sick tomorrow not putting a hold on my credit card and not even making this an issue and just kind of parole outside of the Apple store and wait to see if someone was actually going to go pick it up tomorrow and kind of do one of those sneak attacks I got you and then see who it actually was because I'd love to know what this person looks like and who this person actually was and if they do actually have an ax to grind with me or if they're just a professional con artist that's what I'm trying to figure out here Hickey.

I want to say it's the latter but my mother goes do you think it's a stalker do you think it's like a listener of the show or something like that and I have had a few stalkers throughout the years that we usually don't talk about those stalkers on the air because you don't want to give those stalkers what they're looking for but for a second my mom when I was telling her this story today Hickey she thought it may have been a p1 uh big time p1 of the Zach Gelb show and thought it was potentially a stalker which would have been really something but wouldn't they try to like meet you instead of like steal your credit card information try to buy an iPhone they have a lot of my information now I'll tell you that they have my credit card they have my my old billing address they have my email they have everything what would you have done if you hypothetically followed through on your plan took off tomorrow and basically and basically staked out this apple store once you know if you're like in the store perusing quote unquote waiting for the person to come in say oh I have an order Gelb what you would have done if you heard that I think I would have dusted off a police costume that I once wore for Halloween one year when I was in college I think I would have showed up to the event you know the store dressed up as a police officer with handcuffs and I would have uh issued a citizen's arrest on that person until the actual police did come by that's what I think I would have done so right there take them down or pick up for gel boom if I'm serious because I probably wouldn't want to dress up as a police officer because then you're impersonating a police officer and then I could actually go to jail or something like that maybe I would just like storm the apple store with my camera out and say oh you're not Zach Gelb I'm Zach Gelb and then try to make some kind of video out of it do the old Michael Moore yeah what was the uh remember the the how to catch a predator show do you remember what that guy's name was Scott something those Chris I think it's Chris Hansen Chris Hansen Chris Hansen yeah so maybe I would kind of go like all Chris Hansen how to get back up though how to catch a criminal I would get back up I'm just saying I mean you're a big man but if the guy's bigger than you that's when you could be in trouble I think if he rolls in squad deep you could also be in trouble yeah that's true I think I would hire some personal security guards that's what I would do well I am for hire so if you need some muscle don't worry you would probably be on the bottom I'm here to here to back you up as much as I love working with you and as much as I love you as I see Hickey is now air punching right now when you have this shirt out form that criminal is screwed and your shorts pulled up to your nipples right now um I would not be uh all I would not put you in the in the roster even if I was like coming up with a college football type of roster let's say like 100 125 people as Hickey is now flexing I'm sorry you would not make the cut your loss that's all I gotta say I would have helped stop the criminal but I guess there's other people that are less qualified than me they'll get the the get the job all right let's get to the latest on Damian Lillard so I think I want to say I'm in the clear right now Hickey but there's a big part of me that I don't want to mush it here so if you could actually do me a favor since you screwed my trip over to Denver when you guaranteed that there was going to be a game five and there wasn't a game five when I had tickets for Nuggets and and Lakers in the conference final can you guarantee me that this hack is not over so we could have a reverse mush here and then the hack would actually be over can you do that for me please I will do it the caveat of the intentional mush never works but it has for you it's well documented on this show well it's things I believe that I've just not gone right I've never actually said oh I really hope this happens knowing I don't want to happen and it works my favorite audio around there but go ahead try yeah for the intentional mush you are screwed your credit cards over your life savings are gone thank you I feel great it's the best I felt all throughout the day all righty let's get to Joe Cronin yesterday he said I met with Dame and Aaron Goodwin this afternoon we had a great dialogue we remain committed to building a winner around Dame so really there's nothing new after yesterday other than okay we know they had this meeting and there was no trade request made by Damian Lillard and Dame is still giving the Portland Trailblazers time he's still showing patience with the Portland Trailblazers and I guess he could say is still giving them the benefit of the doubt but let's hear from Brian Winhorse he did shed some more light on what actually happened in that meeting yesterday and he laid it out on get up earlier this morning here's Wendy he said at the end of the season get me veterans the draft came and went no veterans he is not he's still not pressing from what I have been told that he is still going to give the Blazers every opportunity to work through this free agency process this week whether it's through trades or signing players now I will tell you that this is going to potentially cause some teams that we're going to make offers for him to have to move on with business they can't they were waiting to see whether Dame Lillard was going to be on the market before they started to make moves this week now some teams are going to have to make a decision either go for it or wait around a Lillard is going to wait around it's uh it's certainly a move it's I guess not surprising considering the way Dame has operated with the Blazers now for for years but it it did take some people to leave by surprise that he didn't go forward with what everyone was expecting him to do so here's where I'm lost with Damian Lillard I think the biggest thing from Winhorse yesterday is he's still not pressing and I'm operating under the belief that Damian Lillard will be on the Portland Trail Blazers come the first game of the season Hickey has taken the other stance where Hickey believes he's as good as gone and eventually he will request a trade that's the odd part to me and as I said yesterday Hickey I think he could easily get talked into staying in Portland and the bar is not that high where he continues to say I want to have a team that could contend for a championship I really don't think much has to be done here for him to actually think that and it may just be bringing back Jeremy Grant and adding one other miniscule piece and I really do believe Dame's going to give this team the benefit of the the benefit of the doubt once again but him still not pressing at this point everything Dame says it's almost like empty threats when you go back to the draft I want you to use the third pick and I want you to go get a proven player I don't want to be a part of this youth movement and then a few days later it's all of a sudden oh I'm still going to give you time to figure out how you're going to make this right and until Dame says the words I want out I want to get traded I'm still going to operate under the belief that he's going to be with the Portland Trail Blazers because every step that he takes it kind of just shows that even though everyone's trying to get him out of Portland and he keeps on saying he wants to win a championship those words are very empty and I have not heard him say even though he's kind of flirted with Miami and flirted with Brooklyn it always goes back to when you're spinning the wheel that the needle is kind of landing on and the pin is kind of landing on Dame Stang with the Portland Trail Blazers because he never actually says I'm done I'm finished go trade me right now and let's work to get me out of here. At this point I think Sean Hyken yesterday made a really good point I just don't think this will play out publicly but I think you can have that conversation yesterday and you can kind of keep it behind closed doors and then also now work on a trade to where you're not going to hear Damian Lillard publicly say I'm done with Portland basically I'm in the market let's try to make a deal done and all of a sudden now we're all talking and watching this play out in front of our eyes I think Sean's right we could see this kind of happen maybe quickly but also happen behind the scenes where all of a sudden the story that breaks is he's traded to whatever team he nets somewhere else instead of Dame requested trade it's boom Dame traded. And the other thing is that I thought that Winhorse said when he talked about the other it puts the other teams in a tricky situation do you wait or do you move on and go fill that money that you would allocate it for Damian Lillard in other places or take some of that money that you would have put the Dame and go get other players for your teams and it's almost as if Dame keeps on saying things where he wants the organization to take him seriously but at the end of the day he's just trying to have time run out and enough teams back out or maybe wait until the trade deadline to get back in where Damian Lillard gets what he really wants and that's to stay in Portland and maybe you get incremental moves made to in his mind have him think that there's actually a chance that they go contend for a championship which in reality they're nowhere close to doing that. It is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Cole Kublick will join us next.

You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. We miss college football. Bennett takes the snap and the shotgun throws for the corner Brock Bowers one-on-one caught touchdown he ate him alive falls down into the end zone six more for Georgia. We can't wait for the 2023 season.

Caleb Williams throws the fade in the corner touchdown Trojans and we're counting down the days to kick off. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? We said no. Are we there yet?

What's wrong with your ears? Here is your college football fix only on the Zach Gelb Show. Alrighty this is Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Let's tap into the SEC and we welcome in Cole Kublick right now. Cole appreciate the time as always. How are you? Doing great Zach always good to be with you.

Well thanks so much for jumping on board with us. Cole of course is an analyst for ESPN the SEC Network and you can listen to him each and every morning along with Greg McElroy on Mac and Cube on Jocks FM. I got to start you off with Nick Saban. I know he told the recruit the other day that he's going to coach until he's dead. We'll see how much longer that is going to be and if that's actually going to be true but when you look at Alabama for this upcoming year Cole what are your expectations for them after the season they just had a year ago and a lot of turnover on the roster? I think my expectations Zach are a little bit higher than some other folks and I understand that we we look at quarterback and you ask the question why would Tyler Buckner transfer there. There are some people that'll just say oh well it's Tommy Reese they were together at Notre Dame but if you recall Tommy Reese came a little bit later and also had a part in bringing in Sam Hartman which was going to push him to the bench. So I don't think it was just because those two knew one another and I speak from experience with talking to Bill O'Brien and Lane Kiffin and Brian Daybal after taking over as office coordinator in Alabama you don't just run your system you run Alabama's system the terminology the verbiage it all stays the same.

Now you call it your way Nick Saban gives you the freedom to do that but it doesn't change with a new offensive coordinator. So Tommy Reese has to learn that system so that's not a big advantage for Buckner but when you look around that football team Zach it's interesting because certain people will say oh yeah Ohio State they can go in a national title or you know they'll say oh Georgia definitely can go in a national title. People will say Tennessee could be in the mix and you know those teams all have new or newer quarterbacks they're going to be taking over and just because Alabama has a new quarterback if you went in the SEC I think they have the best guard in the SEC. I think they have the best edge defender in the SEC. I think they have the best interior defensive lineman in the SEC. I think they have the best corner in the SEC. Now I think collectively at running back they're solid. I think at wide receiver collectively they're pretty good. Collectively at tight end they're pretty good and they have talent and a lot of other spots on that football team so I just they're still going to have a lot of dudes. I think they're going to play a little bit more complimentary football. I think Kevin Steele is a good hire because he's not as aggressive as Pete Golding and that will lead to that football being a little bit more complimentary and I actually think getting away from being overly reliant on individual players which I do believe they became the last couple of years Bryce Young, Will Anderson, maybe at other times like a Devonta Smith is going to help this Alabama team maybe exceed people's expectations.

You talk about you talk about a changing quarterback. You know Carson Beck is going to be starting for Georgia and he'll be taking over for Stetson Bennett who won two national championships. How likely do you think it is that Georgia three-peats this upcoming year? Very likely because number one I don't think the pool of teams that can actually win a national championship is very big this year. I think the pool of teams that can get to the playoffs is pretty big.

I would go you know 13, 14, 15 with that number but actually get there and win it. I don't think that number is very big and Georgia's one of those teams that they're going to have the best receiver core that Kirby Smarts had top to bottom and then you that's not even including the tight ends but you throw in Brock Bowers who's the unicorn do everything on offense. The offensive line is still going to be one of the best in college football.

Stacy Storals does a great job with that group. Defensively I think Dumas Johnson said to have a breakout year at linebacker. They're not what they've been up front but they're still going to be on par with the best defensive lines in college football. They just might not be clear in a way that much better than everybody else up front like they have been the last couple of seasons and I think guys like Mike Hill Williams could have breakout years up there at edge defender and do some nice things. They're pretty good on the back end as well. I think they got the best safety in in the SEC.

Maybe the best tandem of safeties in the SEC. So and listen they're battle tested. They've been there. They've done it. They know what it takes. They know what it's like and that schedule is not rough at all. So I absolutely think they can get there. I absolutely think they can win it again. I would have Georgia as my favorite to win it right now even though I understand the three-peat and how difficult it is.

I don't think many people thought that they could repeat in the manner in which they did either. So yeah I'd have Georgia right there in the mix. I don't think Carson's back is going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting early. So by the time they get to the SEC championship game in the college football playoff I don't think that'll be any sort of a rookie quarterback or new quarterback or anything like that. Coach Kueblick if Georgia doesn't three-peat who's the team that you're most confident in in the entire college football landscape to be hoisting that national championship trophy? Alabama because you look at who they're going to play.

You talk about being tested. You know they're going to play against a high power Tennessee offense again. They're going to play Texas in week three which is a team that I think is going to be a lot better than people imagine.

And I think too just from a coaching perspective having been there knowing how to manage things and like I said a little bit earlier you know where they're going to be best at in the SEC. They got a dominant player off the edge dominant player in the middle at defense. They have a linebacker I think they could bust out this year in Deontay Lawson.

Young hadn't played a ton has a chance to be really good. I just think collectively at more positions they're better than a lot of other teams. Does Ohio State have a great group of wide receivers?

Absolutely. I don't know how their quarterback situation is going to look. They have my favorite tight end coming back in college football and Cade Stover.

Love the kid he's an absolute animal. I want that defensive line to be consistent week in week out. I want to see those corners be consistent week in and week out. Yeah you got one guy who can take over a game we've seen it up front but I want to see that consistently week in week out and physically you know can you get some of that mojo back to where you can match up with Michigan late in the season.

I don't know last two years hadn't really looked like it. I think Michigan would maybe be next in line but they need to become a little bit more explosive. I mean Jim Harbaugh put beat Georgia up there for a reason.

He knows what the standard is. He knows the teams they're gonna have to go up against when it comes actually winning a national title and they got the physicality part down. So I think they need to get a little bit more athletic a little bit more explosive.

He's been recruiting and portaling in that direction. Just don't know if he's on par with where it needs to be to go beat one of those teams yet but they will probably be next in line. I want to throw two more teams at you Cole Kublick. We know Tennessee is going to have Joe Milton and they've lost a lot when you look at Hendon Hooker and also Jalen Hyatt.

We all seen the throw that Milton had at the Manning Academy and then LSU you're number two for Brian Kelly in year one. It was very successful getting the SEC Championship game. Your expectations for LSU and Tennessee this season or what?

I'll start with LSU because their expectation would not be too far behind Alabama. I think they would be right there in the mix to go win a national championship this year. You've got an experienced quarterback and everybody around him is comfortable with how that offense is going to be managed. They know how to utilize his legs now. They know he's comfortable going a little bit faster.

It took them a while to figure that out. Took them four or five games to get the offensive lines straightened out and now they're going to have better depth at that spot. Mason Taylor back at tight end.

I think the best receiver call in the country after Ohio State is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana collectively. I mean they got freaking robots at wide receiver. When you see these guys like they physically don't look like they should be able to do the things that they're capable of doing and up front Mason Smith comes back at the tackle. Mackay Wingo was at the tackle last year vastly underrated and you got a linebacker in Harold Perkins that can take over games. So Matt has got a lot to work with on that side of the ball.

Brian Kelly did an amazing job. Want to see them follow through with it year two with what they did year one won't sneak up on anybody. As far as Tennessee's concerned I think they'll be fine. I don't think they're going to push for a spot in the playoff because defensively they were very good last year and they lost a couple of key pieces. Now they could be a little more stout up front with Amari Thomas back and a couple of other defenders.

I think they could be a little bit better there. Jalen McCuttle back at linebacker. I just don't know if they have the bodies defensively to go out and get stops against a laundry list of offenses that are gonna be really good on that schedule. And I think Joe Milton will be a good college quarterback. Is he going to be as consistent as Hinton Hooker?

I don't know, but I know he's going to have extra ability. They're going to be able to run in between the tackles more. They may take more shots down the field, which they already took a ton. Not offensive on might not be as good.

Don't outright was great last year, like really good. Two best linemen are gone and you got to transfer coming in from Miami. They're excited about transfer from Texas that could help, but I still think that the line is going to be as good as it was last year. So, and people have another year of seeing that offense on tape.

I'll be interested to see some of the adjustments made. Cause when you watch the Bama game, you watch the Kentucky game. I mean, it's two, three plays in which Tennessee just kind of got their number. Do teams go back adjust and maybe try to find a little more success this year with what they weren't able to do a year ago?

I don't know. I think they're going to be scary. I think they can get any team on their schedule any week. I just don't know if they're going to have the consistency to go out there and win 10, 11 games again this year. Cole Kublick, will this be Jimbo Fisher's final season with A&M? No, they're too talented for that. And Bobby Petrino, number one is not coming into this situation to have some sort of back and forth, some sort of maybe if, and, or but. Bobby Petrino has just enough MFR in him to go out there and call plays and not be told about how he's going to call plays or who's going to call plays or anything like that.

Like that's just, it's not going to take place. So I think Bobby's going to run it. I think it's going to be his offense. I don't think there's going to be any back and forth.

I don't think there's going to be if, and, or plus. And I think when you look at that team, a very good wide receiver court should have a really good offensive line. It's a group that has a lot of returning starters back. They've got some good film out there.

They've got some bad film out there. They need to take a step this year and try to become dominant because I don't think they're as good at running back because they weren't last year with A-Chain. I think a decent group of tight ends, but I mean, they got receivers that can burn you. They have defensive linemen that can take over a game. I don't love the second and third level of the defense, but I do believe that you talk talent top to bottom outside of Georgia, Alabama, LSU, A&M's right there with those teams, maybe just a smidge behind. And if they, the only concern, honestly, Zach is, is there a culture problem?

I don't know the answer to that question. I'm not, I'm not pointing a finger saying that there is, but some of the things that happened last year would allude some people to believe that if there's not, then they have the ability to be able to go out there and win a bunch of games this year. So I don't think this is last year. I think it'll be a solid season. Is it going to be 12-0? Probably not, but it's not going to be five or six wins.

I know you got to bounce. Last thing I'll ask you, Hugh Freeze of your alma mater at Auburn, do you think long-term that will be a successful hire? Yes, there was already more alignment within the administration and the top end of the boosters and the people that run the collective and the fan base than I've seen in my lifetime. And people will say, well, what about Tommy Taylor? He's there forever this and that. They got on a jet and went to Louisville and tried to hire Bobby Petrino. He said, what about Gus Malzahn?

He won SEC championships, played for national championships. He did this, he did that. Well, they gave him an extension that one side of the boosters didn't want him to get. So the other faction basically said, we're pulling out, we're done. We're not going to do anything anymore.

This is the most alignment. And I realized it's early that I have seen from everybody involved in Auburn athletics, as long as I've been alive. And I think that Coach Freeze has already shown recruiting, what he's doing in high school recruiting. He's going to be able to make a difference. Zach, you realize half of that team starters this year are going to be players that he and his staff got out of the portal. I mean, he went and got the best quarterback on the roster, the best tackle on the roster, the best center on the roster, the best tight end on the roster, the two best receivers on the roster, the best nose guard on the roster, two of the best linebackers on the roster, the best edge roster on the roster.

I mean, he did that in one off season through the portal. So that's one big hurdle. And I realized the next big hurdle is organizing it, motivating it, getting it all on the same page, and executing things on the field against opponents that are also pretty good.

But I don't think anybody expected them to be where they are from a talent perspective right now. He's always must listen at ESPN, SEC Network, and each and every morning Mac and Cube on Jocks FM. He's, of course, is Cole Kublick. Cole, always great to catch up with you. Thank you. Thanks, Zach. I appreciate you having me. There he is, Cole Kublick, joining us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Two things, actually three things that really stand out to me from that conversation, Hickey.

One, I definitely agree with them. In a weird way, I think people, and this is so bizarre to say, are kind of like sleeping on Alabama this year, where everyone looks at the dominance of Georgia, and then you lose Will Anderson Jr., you lose Bryce Young. You didn't even make the SEC title game last year for Alabama. And I just don't feel like there is a lot of buzz with Bama, but you look at the rest of the college football landscape, Hickey, it's not like we have a lot of confidence in other teams. Like don't get me wrong, USC should be really good on the offensive side of the ball with Caleb Williams, but what are they going to do defensively? Texas, I know people want to proclaim that they're back.

I've been hearing that for the last decade. I know there's nice expectations with them. Michigan is a team that I really like heading into the season, and we've talked about I would maybe place a future on them to win a national championship if Georgia does not win at all, but you look at Michigan, they've proven now they can beat Ohio State. They get to the college football playoff, but in back-to-back years, they lose in the opening round, the semifinal of the college football playoff. So if it's not going to be Georgia, it's, yeah, I don't have a tough time giving Saban, I know that the benefit of the doubt has been the big word the last like three weeks on this show going back to the Dane stuff, but I'll use it here. I have no problem giving Nick Saban the benefit of the doubt. It's a losing game to write to bet against Nick Saban.

I get that, but Cole brought it up before, and that's my biggest concern. Quarterback is a major question mark. Like you look in short, you're bringing Tyler Buck over from Notre Dame. He's not very good in the limited opportunities he got there, and the fact that he was brought in so late means that Alabama did not like, whether it's Jalen Milro or any other quarterback on the roster, did not feel comfortable whatsoever with those guys right there. So now you're bringing in a guy that was not even gonna be a starter in Notre Dame into compete slash maybe be your guy. I don't like that whatsoever in terms of trying to win a national title. I get it's one position, but it's also the most important position in football.

And isn't that funny? We have now got accustomed to Alabama having these great quarterbacks where forever they didn't have the best quarterbacks in the world and look at the talent that was on that roster. Right.

Oh yeah. Long time, but this year it's definitely flipped. Now the other two things, and I know will be agreement here. I disagree when it comes to Jimbo Fisher. It calls not wrong and the talent that they have, but they had a lot of talent last year and look at what they did last year.

They were five and seven. Now I don't think that they're going to win only five games this year, but is it going to be enough where the A&M fan is going to be satisfied? And I'll bet that the answer is going to be no. And once again, probably the only way that his best case stay in there is the contract that they have given out to him. Cause that's just still ridiculous. But we've seen a lot of times big time contracts knocking in the way of a coach, especially the SEC being handed his walking papers. And what's the point of keeping a coach around if you can't coach the talent, like that's half the job, right?

I get recruiting is a big part of it and you got to get talent in, but if you're not doing anything with it, like what's the point? Like it's one thing to go like Kirby Smart brought a lot of talent in before he kind of broke through one national title. Kind of broke through one national titles, but his quote unquote down years were like 10 and two or nine and three. And he was knocking on the door, choking Alabama.

We're talking about five and seven. Like it's like, it's not even the same stratosphere of all like Kirby Lee showed you signs that he got a lot of talent in Georgia and could maybe win one day. It was just, will he win the big one? Jimbo's not even close to winning a half a big game, let alone the big game right now at A&M.

Like it's just light years away. I've never heard anyone say a coach isn't close to winning half a big game. You can't win the big game because he's not even close to even being in a game that's big enough for him to win. That may be the best hickeyism I've ever heard from, from you.

I think you have to ditch the, the shower, no cap bit. And you just kind of judge people's success and they could come close to winning half a big game and they could show up for the first, the first half only, and then forget about the second half. And then finally, I know he did attend Auburn, but Cole Kublick has always been fair with us. I think that says a lot and I'm not the biggest fan of Hugh Freeze, but I think it says a lot when he says that's the most alignment that he's seen in his lifetime. I know that program has been up and down and it's been a crazy rollercoaster ride, but early on to be able to say that, I don't think Cole says that unless he truly does believe it. A hundred percent. And the Gus Malzahn comparison is obviously perfect because they would give him like an extension every other year because every other year after that, they would try to fire him when he won like eight and four.

And Gus was a rollercoaster. The highs were very high going to, you know, we're knocking the door at a college world playoff, going to a national title game, winning the SEC, but the lows would be very, very low. And it's early, right? And obviously things change once the games actually started. If Hugh Freeze doesn't win, he'll be running out of town pretty fast. There's like a lot of other coaches who have not won, been running out of town, but early on so far, it's a good sign. And I know that they wanted Lane Kiffin and that didn't happen for whatever the reasons were, but you end up with Hugh Freeze.

Say what you want about Hugh Freeze. He wins games. He knows how to win games. And clearly he's dominated the transfer portal here. And at Auburn, all it takes, you go have back to back good seasons.

And then that excitement's right back with that program. And here's also the other thing, even though I don't think people got their top candidate, when they hire Brian Harsin, no one was like, whoa, that's amazing. This was actually a hire where you could elicit some excitement from the fan base, where it's okay, even though it wasn't the guy at the top of the list, in my belief, you at least got a guy that was a respectable candidate in the coaching world. This is a really good hire. I think he's gonna have a lot of success. I think he fits Auburn well.

I know his exit Ole Miss was anything, but glorious, we'll say. And maybe just be just take your cell phone away. Right. And they're making sure he doesn't tweet. Right. That's right.

Access of his Twitter. That's right. So they already put in some guard rails up, but the guy wins and he gets talent to the program and they kill do well at Auburn.

All right, well, come on back. We'll give you the latest with DeAndre Hopkins. And also we know one team that has made a contract offer to Dalvin Cook.

All right, this is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. Another day and another report, or in this case, reports, when it comes to DeAndre Hopkins and Dalvin Cook. So the two teams that we know have hosted DeAndre Hopkins for a visit have been the Patriots and also the Tennessee Titans. According to Sal Palantonio, the Browns and the Panthers are also lurking in the DeAndre Hopkins sweepstakes. That word to me is a very peculiar word by one Sal Pal, Sal Palantonio lurking because it gives off the vibe that they're not like fully invested right now, but they're just kind of hovering and they're waiting. So what I'm about to say is probably going to contradict me putting the emphasis on the word lurking. But if those teams were seriously interested in the Browns or the Panthers, what did they have already brought in DeAndre Hopkins for a visit?

Or is this more so when you're ready or getting closer to making a decision, hit us up and we'll give you one last offer and we'll make one offer to you? Because that word lurking, when I first read this earlier this morning, where it's like, oh, Browns and Panthers, that's the first thing I saw are interested in DeAndre Hopkins. I said to myself, well, wouldn't they just bring them in for a visit if they were actually interested?

But when you hear the word lurking, that sets me down a different path here, which where I start to wonder, maybe there is some credence to this report from Sal Pal. My thought goes to money. Like, hey, we're interested in you. We'd love to have in the team, but maybe his asking price is not what they feel comfortable with. It's reported that he wants the Odell Beckham deal, Hopkins that is. So $15 million, I think Odell's incentives are an extra three mil, I think, so we can get up to $18 million. If that's what he's dead set on getting, I could see the Browns and Panthers both be like, eh, I'm good. But if your price lowers, maybe let's just say, I don't know, throw in a random number, $10 million, you're willing to sign for, okay, now we're back in. That's how, I guess I would read the situation where they want them, but the money and the price point is not where they feel comfortable at the moment. Now the Browns and Panthers currently have more cap space than the New England Patriots, and let's see where Tennessee is on this and Tennessee. So if they don't want to do whatever the Patriots have kind of talked about or whatever Tennessee maybe has talked about, and I would assume that the Patriots have an idea what Deandre Hopkins wants and Deandre Hopkins has a sense of what their offer is. Shouldn't they be able to top that just by looking at the available cap space, Hecke, you would think?

You would think, I mean, easy numbers would say so. Now, is he looking for a multi-year deal? I don't also know.

I don't think so, but that could be maybe a reason for a holdup. By the way, I can only think of one thing when I hear the name Sal Palantonio right now. Okay. I was once at a Sixers game. He was covering the Sixers game. You know how, when it's not in football season, they'll throw them on different assignments? Here and there for you.

I mean, ESPN loves working their talent. I was once in the, I guess you could say tunnel of Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. So there's a bathroom there.

Okay. Sal Palantonio was in the bathroom. May have cut some cheese in the bathroom when I was standing right next to him. He did. Yes, he did.

Not me. And you were next to him in the urinal? Yeah. And it was, it was pretty loud too. Did he say anything afterwards or just for telling nothing happened? Was whistling.

I kid you not, he was whistling. I kind of respect it. Just not even caring, just letting it go. Did you guys have, like, did he know who you like?

No. Like, so it was just like, in his mind, a random stranger taking a number one right next to you, ask, screw it. I got to let it go.

This is the place to do it. I've been in the same room enough times as Sal Palantonio, but he won't know who I am. Like, I don't think we've ever had a, an actual long conversation other than like, Oh, someone saying a nice question or something like that at a press conference when I covered the Eagles or something. So it wasn't like one of those, I'm friends with you. I'm comfortable. I'm just going to let it go. Don't judge me sort of thing.

It was basically, you just could have been anyone in the world. I'm letting it go. I kind of like the whistle too. I can't whistle, but I wish I could whistle because it was kind of like in a Curb Your Enthusiasm cadence. The whistle is like, if you just imagine that was actually a whistle. And I'm sure he tried to do that to cover up a little bit and hopefully no one noticed. He definitely cut the cheese though. Got to do what you got to do, Sal.

Well, he wasn't mic'd up, but he may as well have been because it was pretty damn loud. So that's all I can think of now. Whenever I see Sal Palantonio on television, this was years ago. This is when I was still living in Philadelphia.

So this is a while back. Anytime I even hear Sal Palantonio, I think of what, well, your experience makes sense. I just think Sal Palantonio. ESPN.

It was always Sal Palantonio. ESPN. ESPN. So that's the latest on the Andre Hopkins stuff.

Where do you think DHOP ends up going? I really do believe that it's going to be the Patriots. And also one more point on Carolina. I feel like Carolina is the new Seattle. Remember who their GM is, Scott Fitter, and where he comes from, where they're always going to be, quote unquote, in on every deal, or at least be overturning every stone on every deal like we've seen for years with John Schneider in Seattle. And that's where Scott Fitterer comes from. The Danny Ainge, always the second team, the first team that missed out on whatever player is up for grabs.

Or the Green Bay Packers. Just missed. Oh, we were interested. We almost had a deal. We were close. I will go with the Cleveland Browns still. You're still going with the Brownies.

Link up with his old teammate. They're lurking. They're waiting.

Maybe be a little aggressive. Big year for them. I think there's too much talent on that team for him to actually consider it when you look at the actual needs for DeAndre Hopkins, where he wants the most money and he wants the number one targets. Would he be the number one receiver?

I would say yes. I think he's better than Amari Cooper. Amari Cooper's pretty damn good. He's very underrated. Yeah, Hopkins is better, but you could go to a place like, let's just say New England, where they don't have a number one wide receiver. Or anyone that's in that conversation right now. Carolina, too.

Tennessee. It's kind of a trend of at least the two teams he met with. Big need. Big need for a number one wide receiver. He's like Dame.

He says he wants to win, but the actions don't actually show it. And then finally, Dalvin Cook, according to Tom Pelissero, has multiple offers on the table. And he suggested teams like the Jets, Dolphins, Broncos, and Patriots are potential landing spots. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that the Dolphins are one of the teams that have offered actually Dalvin Cook a contract. And Jackson added that he has no knowledge of the details of the offer.

So take that for whatever it's worth. Dalvin Cook has been linked now for months to join the Miami Dolphins. I, for a while, have predicted that it's going to be the New York Jets, but it does feel like kicky that it will either be the Jets or the Dolphins. But Pelissero threw out the Broncos, which I did find compelling because remember when he finally did become available, a lot of people did shoot down that interest potentially from Denver. But if it's a wait and see thing and the price comes down, as you were saying earlier with DeAndre Hopkins, maybe they get another team or two into the conversation. It is Zach Gilp's show on CBS Sports Radio. We will take a break when we come on back. Derek Carr speaks once again. And I am kind of over Derek Carr and whatever he has to say about his exit from the Las Vegas Raiders.