Lebron Was Never Retiring (Hour 1)

I would suit up in my uniform and you're going out on patrol. What are we going to do tonight? Well, we're going to rob some drug dealers and I know how to do it really well. Listen to and follow The Set, an Odyssey Originals documentary podcast series available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your shows. I'm not a bad guy, man, but I loved being that dirty... 855-212-4CBS, that's the number to jump on in.

855-212-4227, you can always get at me on Instagram, where I'm straight flex in or via the good old cesspool of Twitter. At Zach Gelb, that's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Hickey out all week, Brian Jack McKeon, going to be riding shotgun with us for the next two days. And we're rocking and rolling all the way up until 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Pacific. Coming up at the top of the hour, we'll do a little college football fix. Josh Perry, former Ohio State linebacker, does a great job. Big Ten Network just got hired by NBC to be a part of that studio show for all the Big Ten games that will be shown on NBC this year.

We'll stop by, so we'll channel college football with Josh Perry coming up in about 60 minutes. I got to start, though, with the ESPYs last night. No, I did not watch the ESPYs. The only stuff I saw from the ESPYs was social media content.

I'm not anti-ESPY. I just don't really care for it. It doesn't really resonate with me since it's an ESPN award show. There's sometimes really cool events and obviously good causes that ESPN does. And you see some of the speeches, and it means a lot more to other people.

Just personally, it means nothing to me. So last night, they're honoring LeBron James, who we all know, the great LeBron James, one of the greatest NBA players of all time, has the most points in the history of the association this year as he does pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And when LeBron James is giving his acceptance speech for his historical achievement and the award that he's getting, he brings up the retirement stuff that he all started. Let's go back to once the conference finals ended, where the Denver Nuggets swept the Los Angeles Lakers. I'm still mad at LeBron for this, even though I actually have LeBron James shoes on my feet today. I'm very annoyed still at LeBron because I had tickets for Game 5 in Denver.

And I went out to Denver to go visit my sister and my brother-in-law and my now seven-month-old niece. And at the time, my brother-in-law and I were going to go to the game. It was going to be awesome. We would see Game 5. We'd see the Nuggets most likely punch their ticket to the NBA Finals. And LeBron had a great first half in that Game 4 out in La La Land with the Lakers. And then the Lakers, as they did that entire series, crapped the bed and they couldn't find the way to get the job done.

So after that game and that series concluded, that Game 4, where the Nuggets swept, they go on to the NBA Finals, eventually win the Larry O'Brien trophy with the Kolioka-Jamal-Marion company. LeBron sits at the podium and he starts drama. And a lot of times people talk about the drama that LeBron James starts.

And a lot of times I roll my eyes and I go, oh, people are reaching. That's just people that are jealous or they hate LeBron. But LeBron James talking about his future and he has to reevaluate everything and he doesn't know what's going to happen.

I thought that was pretty lame, if I'm being honest with you. Because I remember getting on the radio the next day saying, there's not a chance LeBron James retires this offseason. Because he's still playing at a great level.

And I know he's suffered a lot of injuries ever since going to L.A. But there was no way that that was going to be the end of LeBron James' career. Because even when LeBron isn't at peak LeBron, he's still better than like 98, 99, whatever the number you want to throw out there, percent of the league. Like he's still a top 10 player, probably still a top 5 player in the league. So this notion that LeBron James was going to retire was a bunch of hogwash. And even Mike Malone, I give Mike Malone credit, the coach of the Nuggets.

He was annoyed by it because he goes, we never get any credit. Like we're the Denver Nuggets, we were the onesie in the Western Conference. All throughout the year people said we were fraudulent and we take care of the great LeBron James and the historic Los Angeles Lakers. With the background that the Lakers do have and the annals of NBA history. And all everyone's talking about the next day, is that the last time that we've seen LeBron James give us a call?

855-212-4CBS when you do cheesy radio and cheesy television segments. But that was the takeaway after that sweep because what else should you say when a sweep occurs? It was just dominance by the Denver Nuggets and I've been pro Denver. If you listen to the show, I've believed in the Nuggets right when we saw Murray in that first round in the bubble up against Donovan Mitchell. I did a Sports Minute where I said the Nuggets probably won't win the title this year. Both Nicole Jokic has been able to do and Jamal Murray showing that he could be a finisher.

You look at that duo with also Michael Porter Jr. at the time and eventually added Aaron Gordon years later. That they're going to be a happening team for a while and they're not going to be going anywhere for a long time. So I've been a big believer in Denver. But when you sweep and everyone or I think most people that actually followed basketball last year knew Denver was going to win that series. You're looking still for a reaction and sometimes sweeps don't make for great media content. Because in an ideal world doing a seven game series, a lot of drama, a lot of emotion, all that stuff.

And you're going to polarizing topics. But what was there to really say about Denver sweeping? Nicole Jokic is great, right? All time great. Jamal Murray, great to see him back. Phenomenal. Mike Malone, great story.

But that LeBron story did resonate with a lot of people because if you were in the camp that LeBron was going to retire. I got a bridge and a house to sell for you. All right. Like what are we doing here? But then there was a lot of people that heard that they were like, oh, I want to call and say how B.S.

that is. And as the kids would say, call cap on LeBron James. And you also then have people that don't like LeBron that say, oh, this is LeBron trying to make us not talk about the sweep. And he's going to throw out retirement where everyone knew was baloney.

So that became a big deal. Well, last night, when LeBron is getting honored at the ESPYs, where you had the who's who's of celebrities and sports figures out there for the ESPN event. When LeBron is getting just applause after applause and it's honoring LeBron, I don't think anyone has really talked about LeBron's future in a while now. Because no one believed he was getting traded this offseason. No one believes he's going to force his way out. No one believes he's going to retire. We all knew LeBron James could be on Los Angeles Lakers next year. But LeBron, in his mind and line of thinking, thought he needed to bring up the retirement rumors and the retirement speculation that no one's speculating on anymore.

But he thought he had to bring it up in that moment because that, for some reason, was still on his mind. And this is how it sounded. The real question for me is, can I play without cheating this game? The day I can't give the game everything on the floor is the day I'll be done. Lucky for you guys, that day is not today. Hey, LeBron, you're awesome! Woohoo! Come on.

Lucky for you guys. I get it. You know, that's not like the level of douchiness like Kyrie when he goes, oh, we should all just appreciate my art as if he's like a painter. And I always say to Kyrie, if you don't want to respect the fans, that's fine. But then go retire, go on an island without the NBA and see how many people show up to watch you play basketball in your backyard. And see if you could even come close to making the money that you're making now.

We all know the answer would be no. But for LeBron, oh, it's an honor for you. And you should be lucky that I'm not going to retire.

And don't get me wrong. I want LeBron James still to be playing because LeBron James can still play at a very great level in the NBA. And as a sports fan, I like watching LeBron. But the only reason why this retirement talk was only a thing was because of LeBron James. And it just goes back to, and Hickey and I got into an argument about this, and I remember it right after it happened. I said to Hickey, you actually believe that he's going to retire?

And there was never a belief for me in a second. I think Hickey had a little bit of a belief in it. But then I said to Hickey, there's a reason why he's doing it. It's to stir up the drama pot so we all don't talk about, because sometimes sports radio and sports television can be insufferable when you get into this legacy conversation. But LeBron is aware of the legacy conversation.

And you know what everyone's going to say? Oh, look at LeBron got swept out of the Western Conference Finals. How does that impact his legacy? And they bring up Jordan and all that nonsense. So that was LeBron strategically, knowing very early in that series that his team didn't have a shot, thinking, all right, when this is over, I'm going to throw out retirement rumors and retirement speculation. Where how many times as a player, once a season comes to an end, they ask about his future, he just doesn't want to answer the question.

So he gives you an answer that could be interpreted in many different ways. And LeBron doesn't need his name in the news anymore. But I think that was intentional to avoid what actually occurred, which was the great sweep of the Denver Nuggets. But last night, I thought that was just really insufferable, and playing to the cameras, and even adding more drama to the drama pasta pot, if you want to say. When you're cooking up that sauce, when you when you then made it clear last night, that you're not going to retire, no bleep, you were never going to retire. The funny part to me about that, though, Hickey, I mean, McKeon, sorry, I apologize.

I know I've worked with you for a long time and just programmed to say Hickey because he's the one that usually there. But McKeon, the thing that I will say that I just find hilarious about this is that LeBron, when he I'm sure he wrote a speech or something like that. But when he's going over in his head, what he's going to talk about, oh, I need to bring back up the retirement rumors, like was anyone sitting here on pins and needles the last few months saying, oh, my goodness gracious, is LeBron actually going to retire? And if you were, you're just an idiot. Like you said, if you actually thought he was going to retire, I got a house to sell you.

There was no no one even it's almost like no one in the public media even acknowledged the rumors, no one, no one debated it, no one acknowledged it. It was so weird to even come out with because he wasn't even asked. He offered it to you like, oh, I don't know my future holds, you know, especially because, listen, I know LeBron's worth a billion dollars and he's not playing for the money anymore.

But it takes a lot to turn on 60 million dollars next year to 60 million dollars is still 60 million dollars. Like what a weird sequence that this all came to. And then I said this to you before and I think it's so true.

The level of narcissism to have to go up there, you should be thankful that I'm going to be back. He is King James. He is the king. But we get it. But like if there's any athlete over the last 20 years that maybe we could deal with seeing enough of that, maybe maybe we've seen enough of them play.

Don't get me wrong. I love watching LeBron play, but like if there's any athlete that I'm not going to sit there and be like, oh, man, I wish I could watch one more game of them play. It's probably LeBron.

We've seen enough of him on television. Well, here's the thing with LeBron, and I can understand why you feel that way. At this point, don't get me wrong, outside of Denver, and I guess you could kind of throw the Suns in there, too. The Western Conference, if you could be the third best team and one of those teams in front of you.

If Denver just goes down, because I don't know what to expect out of the Suns. I know they changed their roster, but the last two years they failed to show up and they have a new coach coming in and Frank Vogel and all that stuff. But the NBA is wide open right now where you don't need to be great to win a championship. Like the Warriors two years ago were good, but they weren't great and they were just better than everybody else and won a championship. So it's not impossible for LeBron to win another championship. But I don't think anyone now goes into the season really expecting LeBron James to win the championship because you look at that Lakers roster, even though they've made improvements. LeBron, unfortunately, who used to never be hurt ever since going to LA, misses a significant amount of games because of injuries. And not only that, his running mate Anthony Davis is also in and out of the lineup all the time.

Well that's the key, right? Because Anthony Davis is significantly younger than LeBron. It should almost, in a sense, be a passing of the torch when it comes to the Lakers in the future of LeBron passing it off to AD. And over the last few years, every time LeBron goes down, AD's already either been down or is about to go down. So the last couple years, the Lakers have flirted with missing the playoffs. And they've had to get on this hot streak, I mean last year, they had to get on this hot streak late in the year from the All-Star break on. Oh it's crazy that they're in the Western Conference Finals. The fact that they made the Conference Finals was crazy and it happened to do with the deadline deals, like you said. But it also shows you how the NBA isn't great right now.

We're a team like the Lakers, and we know the NBA players don't care about the regular season. When you just get into the dance, you had the Heat, who were down with four minutes to go in the second playing game, and you had the Lakers, who in the playing game too, both get to the Conference Finals. Yeah, and it didn't take much from those teams. It took those teams getting hot at the right time. And it took great deadline deals. It's almost like the NBA season kind of doesn't start until the trade deadline hits.

Right? Because the Lakers were made off deadline deals. You had Russell playing really well down the stretch, right?

You had Austin Reeves catch fire out of nowhere, and then he got a max deal in the offseason somehow. But you see how the NBA now has become this, and the players acknowledge it, and that's the problem, I think. That's why they're going with this midseason tournament.

That's why all this stuff's coming in. Because they're acknowledging nobody cares about the regular season. Well, that goes back to this commissioner, SpinelessSilver, having no control of his league. This midseason tournament, it's really not adding games.

If you end up going to the championship round to whatever this Fakakta tournament is, you play one extra regular season game. But the thing is, these players make so much money as it is. You see, Bum Brooks, Dylan Brooks, just got $80 million.

We all clowned him for an entire month with the crap that he pulled up against LeBron. So these guys are paid ridiculous amounts of money. Good for them. If I could make that money, I would take it too. You don't? I make good money, not NBA money. I live comfortably, but not like an NBA player, I'll tell you that. But it's crazy how the commissioner has no control over the league, where now you need to incentivize the winning team so you can actually try in the regular season. Each player will get $500,000. Oh yeah, by the way, if you want to be on an award, if you want to get an award in the NBA, you've got to at least play 65 games. That is 82 games in the regular season! Come on!

Only 65? I'd love to see two, because you notice how when things happen in the NBA, you usually see players out there, they're tweeting about it, they're talking about it, they're making comments. Not a single big time player has made any comments on this tournament. Because they don't care!

That's the funny part though. But here's the thing, a guy like Kawhi, or a guy like LeBron, or Giannis Antetokounmpo, and just throwing out big time players. Luka Doncic, Nicole Jokic, they're not going to say, oh now I need to play more? They're making so much ridiculous money! And even a guy like Dylan Brooks now, he can say no to this! I can't wait until you have big time players that like, if the Clippers next year get to the semi-finalist tournament in Vegas and Kawhi's just like, yeah I'm not going to play today, load management. That would be funny. I can't wait until these guys show how little they care about it. Like the 11th or 12th guy on the roster then would deserve to be pissed. And they'll be, and that guy will be, by the way, sneaky gambling tip, take those guys over us because they're going to be playing hard.

Because when they're making $2 million a year, the 500 grand will matter. But I don't think Kawhi's going to... Let me ask you something McKeon. What's up? Are you a member of the Detroit Lions with all these gambling tips that you have? It wouldn't surprise me if the Lions are calling you to try to maybe make their bets now.

I'm available. I just, I don't... Small fee for McKeon too, he won't ask for much. Watch these teams go out there and go to Vegas, semifinal game, night before they get Vegas flu, they're out at a steakhouse, they're out gambling. And the next day they're like, eh, I'm not going to play in the semifinal. I got my money, I'm making $80 million a year, I don't care, I'm not going to play, I'm not going to go to the semifinal.

What are you, hanging with the Alabama baseball manager too with all these tips? Wouldn't it make sense? Wouldn't it make sense?

I'm just saying. And it would be such a middle finger to the league. I mean, tell me it wouldn't. Well, this is the other thing, everyone like loves this, this, uh, the play-in tournament for the postseason too. And everyone's like, oh, it's super duper successful. It's been successful because they've had big stars because the stars don't give a rat's ass in the regular season. And they're in the seventh and eighth seed spots. Like there's some games in this play-in tournament, we all talk about some matchups. Well, you look at some of these Easter conference games, you're like, who gives a crap because you don't really care about the stars. And also, this was supposed to not allow tanking to occur, the Mavericks said, bleep that to Adam Silver this year.

It's worse than ever, in fact. You don't have the Sixers anymore with their tanking the whole season. But tanking itself, again, you had the Mavericks who were well within a playoff spot and said, screw it, they didn't care. They just, they dropped out and then brought the same team back, by the way.

Showing you how little last year mattered to them because then they brought this exact same team back. It's just, the NBA to me, I mean, don't get me wrong, work in this industry, we love sports. It's gotta be the least like, of a pure game status every single game league that anyone pays attention to. Like a game to game, it's one of those words, playoffs, yes, everyone cares. Storyline, yes.

Soap opera-wise, absolutely. Well, you look at the NBA, it's very simple. The pecking order, offseason is number one.

Pre-agency, yeah. Season is two, regular season is three. And that's why I've said, where I go through my commissioner power rankings. A few years ago, Roger Goodell and Gary Bettman would be buried, 3-4, when you look at the four major sports.

And Silver was up there. Manfred, I can't stand him, but you know, like, you looked at Goodell and it was like, oh, felt slimy. You look at Gary Bettman with all these strikes.

Now, I've totally reversed. Goodell's won, which is crazy that Goodell has won. Bettman's two. Manfred, because he came up with this pitch clock, give him credit, he moves up from four.

He goes to three, because he spat at all of our faces during the pandemic. And then four is Adam Silver. Adam Silver is so overrated, and he's done one thing. And it was the easiest thing ever. It was get Donald Sterling out of the league when Donald Sterling made those disgusting comments. And he had no choice but to get him out of the league, because you'd be a moron not to. And ever since then, he's done nothing.

And this guy gets praises if he's the greatest thing ever. Alrighty, I didn't expect to start the show just ripping Adam Silver. But there we go. So, that was fun. Now back to LeBron real quickly.

Now we really sound like a national show. But what about LeBron? But what about LeBron? But back to LeBron. LeBron's, you know, we all know LeBron's playing with the Lakers this year.

Then he has a player option. I wonder where LeBron's going to be playing next. Because when- LeBron, he goes- No, not necessarily. Because if you recall at the end of the year, LeBron even admitted, that may be my dream, but it may not be Bronny's vision. And I don't blame Bronny if you don't want to play with your dad in the NBA.

Like, you're trying to build your own name. You want Dad in the locker room in your rookie year? I wouldn't. But LeBron, in that cut that we just played for you, he talked about, he still feels like he has a lot to give. I don't think he's retiring for at least a few more years.

And Rich Paul said afterwards that he could see LeBron playing into his mid-40s. Because he's a guy that loves the game. Well, we'll see how the body holds up.

That's the big thing. Because he looked gassed at the end of the year. And if he keeps getting hurt like this and having constant- I think what he's going to do though, honestly, he's just going to keep load management to an extreme. That's what he's going to do. Because he's already made his legacy. Which he never used to do.

Which he never used to- He's known for the one star that actually plays the majority of the time. He's going to start taking time off. He's going to utilize his body a little more. As he should. Be ready for the postseason because his team's making it anyway.

And that's what he'll go for. I think, though, to counter your point, I don't think there's a chance that he doesn't play with Bronny. I don't think Bronny's going to really have a say. He might not want his dad to play with him, but his dad's going to want to play with him.

He just is. This has been a storyline for years. I also think it depends how good Bronny's going to be. Because I used to never have these conversations. I always feel weird talking about a high school kid.

I hate when people do that. But Bronny now going off to USC, we're going to see if Bronny ends up being really, really good, then I think Bronny may say to dad, hey, I don't want to do this. But if Bronny is not that good, then he may need to use LeBron.

Because if LeBron says, I'll go wherever Bronny's going, some team will pick him really early just because of the potential cash that they could get for their franchise. It's fascinating, too, because I don't know if you remember, but while he was in high school and the recruiters, those things came out last year, he was not towards the top of that list. He's improved a lot. He's improved a lot. And the other son is a giant.

You see him last night, that guy's going to be 610 or something. The weird thing about the Bronny thing is, I think normally at the start of the college basketball recruiting season, he would have went to a smaller school that would have recruited him just for the namesake, just to bring him in and some of that. The fact that USC, again, USC's got its great recruits. It doesn't need a Bronny James to gain attention. The fact that he actually made that school and they wanted him on that team, I think it shows a lot though. Because people actually care about the regular season. People in college basketball don't care about the regular season, now since Bronny claimed they will. But do you think USC really needed Bronny James to gain attention?

No, but it doesn't hurt. If he wasn't a top tier recruit, though, I don't think they would have brought him in. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. I know we've got to break because we're way, way past the time to break. But last thing I'll say on this, LeBron's playing for the Lakers this year. And then if anything, last night he loves the drama. So then he'll opt out of that player option, probably will stay in Los Angeles, but there will be that talk, where's LeBron James going to go? He opt out of the player option, what is he going to do? And that will be a big conversation a year from now. Just the way the NBA loves it, where we're all talking about the offseason.

Coming on back. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. So I'm reading right now from Andrew Marchand that Richard Sherman is now a candidate to be Skip Bayless's Fox Sports partner on Undisputed. So I guess Fox has had a problem filling that role of Shannon Sharpe.

I was reading something like just the other day that Skip may be away longer than expected on this vacation because they can't find a partner and they're in a stalemate. I thought for a while it was going to be LaShawn McCoy. Like when this first happened, I just looked at the roster at Fox. I thought it would be LaShawn McCoy, who I don't really love on television, but is like, do you have to tune in? If they're trying to get someone to replace Shannon Sharpe, and I didn't really watch Undisputed, you know, I don't like Skip Bayless, but Shannon Sharpe, I do like. You got to get someone that is pretty popular, someone that people like, because Skip is really unlikable, but is also going to be able to give it back to Skip Bayless. And LaShawn McCoy, I didn't think would be the right fit for that. So if you tell me that Richard Sherman's going to be getting this job, I'm going to be intrigued. I'm not telling you to tune in every day because, you know, Skip just spews a bunch of nonsense where it makes it impossible to tune in. But if you're trying to replace Shannon Sharpe, who is a mega talent, and we know the background that Shannon Sharpe has, I think Richard Sherman would, I don't know if it'd be good television, but it would be controversial.

There's no doubt about that. And I think it's funny because Richard Sherman now has a path here a little bit where he used to crush, and I mean absolutely lambaste, Thursday Night Football when he was a player. And this past year he was on that Amazon Prime Thursday Night Studio show.

So now all of a sudden he loves Thursday Night Football because they're giving him a paycheck. And about 10 years or so ago, it was over a decade ago, you had Stephen A. Smith, you had Skip Bayless doing first take together, and that was on ESPN, and they had Richard Sherman on as a guest. And Richard Sherman absolutely hated Skip Bayless and went after him. Like I've never seen a guest go after a host before where it's one thing, like, you know what happened with myself and Deebo Samuel earlier this week.

Like even though Deebo didn't want to answer the questions, it wasn't as if he was like, leap you, you're a loser for asking that, and it wasn't as if I was saying that to Deebo. But when Richard Sherman went on, he made it really, really personal with Skip Bayless, and it was entertaining, but it was also uncomfortable. Let's play about a minute of that audio to refresh your memory, but I find it funny, and you'll find it funny when you listen to this audio, that you have Richard Sherman used to crush Thursday Night Football, then is now broadcast Thursday Night Football. You had Richard Sherman who used to crush, absolutely destroy Skip Bayless, and now he may be on the verge, or at least he's emerging as a candidate to replace Shannon Sharpe, and now be the daily partner and the daily adversary for Skip Bayless.

Here's that audio from first take all these years ago. Skip, whenever you refer to me, whenever you speak to me, whenever you address me, address me as all pros stand for graduate, because those are some accomplishments you will never, you can aspire to, you will never accomplish. You have never accomplished anything, so, but those things are on my resume, those are what I've done, it's my second year in the NFL, going on my third, I mean, you tell me who's wrong.

Okay, I'll accept that. I think I've accomplished more in my field than you have in yours, though you're just getting started. So, I'm the top of my field, so I'm all pro, I'm the best, one of the best 22 players in the NFL, you're going to brush it off, but I don't think you're the best 22 anything in sports and in media and anything, I think you think more of yourself than you actually can, you know, prove, but I'll feel like this, in my 24 years of life, I'm better at life than you. Okay, alright, that's fair. Let's get down to that. Let's not get personal here, I just want to know, do you think you're better than Darryl Rivas is right now?

I'm better than you. Marco, now those two idiots are going to work together and if I'm Skip Bayless, this is how I play it. I get on the air that day and I play that clip back and I go, now you're working with me and you said I wasn't a top 22 broadcaster, now you want to work with me, now you're taking a paycheck and have some fireworks to start that relationship. You know what that was? That was a resume hander. That's when Skip started to think maybe this could be something down the line.

It was over a decade ago. Now we didn't play it in that clip, but it's 10 minutes long, you know, we can't play the whole thing, but at one point he goes, what are you trying to gain from this? Are you trying to gain a show out of it?

And how funny is that? He said something, no, I'm trying to promote my charity, he was doing some foundational thing with kids and I think it was some camp and now all these years later, I'm assuming they're going to eventually work together because there was no name out there that was floated that we were like, oh yeah, that would be a good partnership. You had Richard Sherman and Skip Bayless, I know a lot of us will roll our eyes, but that's a pretty damn good replacement for Shannon Chart. I mean, yeah, I don't know what other options they have and we'll see if that it does emerge, but I'm telling you, that was basically a job interview. That's what that was because Skip Bayless, as much as you want to sit with all this stuff, but he needs somebody that's going to be able to push back and be contentious, the whole part of the show, that's what it's there to do and that was a reason that he had it in his head that Richard Sherman might actually work because he was not afraid to push back. So that's fascinating because that interview once again, that was after he made his first all pro team.

Like we're talking over a decade ago now. Again, I don't know what- That's some advanced scouting by Skip Bayless. I don't know what preceded that. I don't know if there was some bad blood from whatever it was with Richard Sherman. I'm tongue in cheek with him, but it is somewhat the idea that- That you remember that encounter.

Even if he didn't remember it, I guarantee you somebody right now when they're trying to put together, they refresh Skip Bayless's memory with this. Anyway, you know what? That might actually work. You know what? I think I'm just going to start going on shows now around the country whenever they ask me to come on their shows and just start going after the host like that. What I'm going to remember is the comeback line of I'm better at life than you. Yes, that's amazing. I want to remember that one. I don't know if I could ever use that because you kind of have to actually believe it. I don't know if I can use it, but I want to remember that one in one aspect or not.

Maybe I can use that. But if you're an athlete, that is a pretty boss line to use because- I don't think you've got to be an athlete. No, you just got to be cocky to say I'm better at life than you. You don't have to be an athlete to say that to someone. But even someone that ends up being a scrub athlete that gets a monster paycheck, technically they're better at life than us.

They're going to be making more money than we'll ever make. That's what defines life, Zach? I mean, you're also putting it as we. I mean, there's a lot of people that are better at life than I am.

You don't have to be an athlete to do that. I mean, let's be fair. So it just depends on what aspect you're using this line. You might get away with it.

It might be a really good line. Can I try to have you and McKean go at each other here? Who's better at life, Marko? Yeah, who's better at life? That's the question. I think Marko's going to take us out of this one.

Marko's got a wife and kids. He's done more. I've done more. He might be better at it. Don't worry.

McKean just hasn't messed up enough yet. I got time to catch up. You've got a long way to go to get to my age.

You could probably screw up a lot more than I did in that time. However, as of right now, you might be a leg up. We'll take a time out. It is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Right now, someone that's better at life than all three of us is Kyler Murray. He did give his first interview to the team website, actually, since tearing his ACL. We'll tell you what Kyler Murray had to say on the other side. But first up, with the latest CBS Sports Radio update, here he is El Capitan, Marko Biletti. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. All righty, this is Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio, out in the desert. Kyler Murray is finally talking since tearing his ACL.

And he did talk about how he wants to be back for game one. He said, when you look further down the line, it seems like we got a long way to go. Ideally, I want to be back by week one. That's the goal. At the end of the day, that's the goal. But I can't really look that far ahead.

Gotta take it one day at a time. He was talking to Cardinals team reporter, Darren Urban. Now we all remember Kyler Murray, who was having an underwhelming season to begin with. But then he tears that ACL late in the year when he was going up against the New England Patriots. I think that was actually a Monday night football game. And that was back in December.

It was December 12th. So you then not only have a season that was going right down the drain, but then it affects next season as well. I would be shocked if Murray is back for week one. What athlete, when they tear their ACL, no matter if it's the beginning of the season or end of the season, says, yeah, I don't want to be back for week one. So him just saying he wants to be back for week one doesn't really mean much to me. But I do think that Kyler Murray is going to feel some pressure.

And if he doesn't, at least he should feel some pressure. Because this Arizona Cardinals team right now, they're not going to be good. They're going to be horrific this upcoming season. When you look at the draft picks, where they have their own first round pick, and then at the draft, they moved off the third pick down a few spots, and they get the Texans own first round pick for next year, the Texans are going to be bad too. You're going to get into a conversation where they just paid Kyler Murray.

Who knows when he gets back and what he shows. But Kyler Murray, he may not be the starting quarterback as we thought he was going to be for the foreseeable future with the Arizona Cardinals. Because if they have the number one overall pick, or if they're in striking distance of the number one overall pick, and let's say the team with the number one overall pick for whatever reasons there, and they like their quarterback and they're going to bypass and pass over Caleb Williams. If they're right there to move up or to get Caleb Williams outright number one, you would kind of be foolish to not go on out and draft Caleb Williams, especially when Kyler Murray has been declining and he has not taken off the way that we thought he was going to take off as an NFL quarterback. And Kyler Murray, I think he could be good, but I don't know if he could be great.

I don't know if he could be elite, and I don't know if he's the face of your franchise and is a franchise quarterback. Because the damaging part for Kyler Murray is you've heard a lot about what his teammates have said, whether they're former teammates or current teammates, and they have questioned his leadership. They've questioned his work ethic. Heck, the Arizona Cardinals, when they inked him to that extension, put a clause in his contract to study, a study clause. And then once that got out there, people were like, well, why would you, A, put that out there, but B, you pay this guy all this money, you don't trust him to be prepared for the game, so that's concerning.

But now you have a new regime in there. There is no more Steve Keim, there's no more Cliff Kingsbury, and it's wild how all three of those guys a year ago got an extension. The coach, the former coach, the former GM, and Kyler Murray, and now you're bringing in Monty Austin Fort, and you're bringing in Jonathan Gannon that have no attachment to Kyler Murray. And I know Kyler Murray said in that article, you want to run through a wall for guys like Monty Austin Fort and guys like Jonathan Gannon, what else is he going to say? But I don't think that relationship will be a good one, because Monty Austin Fort knows that if his team gets the number one overall pick, they'll find what to do, even though the contract's going to be complicated to move off of, they'll find a way to move off of Kyler Murray to go draft Caleb Williams. And he says right now, this is Kyler Murray's quote, when talking about the new staff and the new regime, and I understand, like I just said, he was trying to be positive, saying I'll run through a wall for these guys, I love their energy, but he also said, I'm going to listen, I'm going to be coachable, and I'm going to do it to the best of my ability, but if the bleep ain't working at some point, we'll all have to look in the mirror.

I hear that quote when you have a new regime coming in, and that sounds like a guy that says when bleep doesn't go the way that I like it, I'm not going to say it's my fault, even though I'm saying I'll look in the mirror, everyone else is going to look in the mirror, because this guy does have an accountability issue with Kyler Murray. So I don't think this is going to be pretty in Arizona, and I think it will be an ugly ending where, for the Cardinals, you may get Caleb Williams, but it will get ugly between the GM and Monty Austin Fort, and it will get ugly between the quarterback and Kyler Murray, and not only that, Jonathan Gannon will be so lost, because I don't know if there's a more least qualified head coach in the NFL right now than Jonathan Gannon. That dude should not be a head coach in this league. You want to tell me defensive coordinator, fine, but that's a guy that I looked at last year when people said, oh, maybe Jonathan Gannon's going to get a job, and I'm like, as a head coach?

Why? And I think Jonathan Gannon, who is going to be a player's coach, I think he's along for the ride there, whatever Monty Austin Fort does, and we'll see how he's going to handle that, because if Kyler Murray isn't happy, and now it may not be a big issue because he'll be out of sight, out of mind, because we don't know when he's going to get back, but when he does get back, those games are going to be important for Kyler Murray, because if that team's not good, if Kyler continues to lose and Kyler doesn't play well, Arizona Cardinals are going to have, they have two opportunities to get the first pick this year, their own pick and the Texans' draft pick. So I could see this being very ugly and going very south rather quickly, because that regime right now, Austin Fort, I was impressed with what he did at the draft, Gannon I think will be in over his head, but there's no way that you could sell me that Kyler Murray is going to listen to what all these guys, Austin Fort and Gannon have to say, and when bleep hits the fan, that he's going to say, this is on me.

He may give you the throwaway line like, yeah, this is on me, but it's on all of us. But remember you had an offensive lineman criticized in this off season. You've had players talk about how he kinda needs to be a better leader and needs to improve. And I do think that there's a lot of bad tension in that organization, because even though the guys that put the clause in the study clause, which they removed from his contract, that was, that's still lingering. Like he's still annoyed by that, and it would not surprise me if Kyler Murray gets frustrated really quickly, but just cause he's frustrated, doesn't mean that he's off the hook and it's the organization's fault. He's got to take some own ownership of his mistakes and he's got to take some accountability. And McKeon, I'll read you this quote once again, that he said to Darrid Herbert on the Cardinals team website, I'm going to listen, I'm going to be coachable and I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. But if the bleep ain't working at some point, we'll all have to look in the mirror. If you're coachable and if you're willing to put in the work and, and try to be the best of your ability, you don't set that up with a new regime right now.

But if it doesn't work, we all have to look into the mirror. Slightly laying the foundation for the path that he uses to get the heck out of Arizona. That's what it sounds like.

Yeah. But like the Cardinals probably want to move off of him. They probably regret giving him that contract. They have a top tier pick because let's be honest, they're going to stink. No one thinks Texans are going to be good. Even if they don't wind up with the, if they went up with the second pick or the third pick, they're going to be able to trade up to that pick easily because they're going to have two top five picks more than likely. Now the question just is, will there be a team willing to move off of one with Williams? Yeah, of course. But you got to think they would be right.

Cause if you're going to, if you're willing to get two top five picks, that's probably the value that's worth getting the first overall pick. Now the dead cap is fascinating. How hard is that? That's what I was just going to say. How hard is it to get off the Murray deal?

Now this is just on the surface. I know you could, there's certain dates and things where the number could get lowered. You could move it around. But from spot rack, um, 20, 24 is 81 million. Like he's not going anywhere this year, but 81 million. And I know that people have had big dead cat money, you know, golf went, but that's really large. But golf made sense because you were doing that at expense and to get staff and also like after those moves, you wind up winning a super bowl.

You had stacked rosters that it made it more, more able to eat. Now the Cardinals going to do that with, with an awful roster now, but you can't keep both guys in the, if you get Caleb Williams, there's no way Kyler Murray's is going to be okay with that. Yeah. This is when I turned the Xbox on Williams may mentor Kyler Murray for being honest.

Uh, but then after that it's manageable, maybe he goes and plays in Vegas 20, 20, 20, 20, honey. There you go. Start it. Starting some stuff there.

2025, 33 million. So it's, it's, that's a big drop off manageable. Yeah. And that's manageable. That gets back into like whatever the ones kind of money was.

It was in that range somewhere, give or take a few million. So easy to say, but come on back with a little college football fix on the Zach Yelp show. We'll preview the big 10. Also talk about the Northwestern situation with Josh Perry, former Ohio state linebacker, big 10 analysts now with NBC as well.