Tagged Without The Bag (Hour 3)

His name is Peter Baldwin and he's the founder of Bird Dogs Shorts. You've probably seen him on Shark Tank where Mark Cuban obliterated his pitch. Look Mark, he'll admit it.

The invention of the first ever stretch khaki shorts that feel amazing, look amazing, and can wear literally anywhere wasn't his best idea. But he's got more, like Dog Trader. Just like Auto Trader, but you can sell your old dog.

Eh? Mark, I know you'd invest if you just gave him one more shot. So go to birddogs.com slash radio and join the two million men who think Bird Dogs Shorts are a great idea. Or DM Mark Cuban and tell him to give Peter one more shot. For an extension for this year and moving forward by today and that did not happen. Ryan Dunleavy, who covers NJ.com, he said with Saquon, so there was a tweet out there that said that the Giants refused to up their offer of $11 million per year by that ML Football. And Ryan Dunleavy said, kind of right, the Giants moved up from $19 million in guaranteed money hickey to $22 plus million dollars in guaranteed money, but then of the initial $11 million per year, they lowered the average per year salary at the same time. So they said, we'll give you more money, but then we'll lower your average per year salary. So they did go up to $22 million a year or $22 million total in guaranteed.

But then I don't know how much further south they went from the $11 million a year when you look at that. I hate to say it for Saquon because we've seen running backs get more than $22 million guaranteed a year. Yeah, he could do what he wants and if he gets through this season healthy and he plays, maybe they'll slap the tag on him again, who knows, because you can do that twice, but it gets very expensive. I don't know how much better you're going to get than that with the way that this has been trending, that it hasn't been since 2021 where we've seen it was Nick Chubb get a long term extension here, hickey. So he's getting $10 million guaranteed at the franchise tax. If you do quick math, that means that next year will be about, let's say $12 million. Do I think Saquon Barkley could get $12 million guaranteed next year?

I think there's a chance. I mean, it's obviously a risk with the position he plays, but I don't think it's outlandish to say, no, I'm going to basically bet on myself and have that be a stupid decision. I just, the guy's been inconsistent.

Let's just call it what it is. He's been, he's not been available a ton to be on the field. Now when he's on the field, he's dynamite, but there's been a decent period where he's missed a bunch of games. So it's almost at this point where running backs don't really have leverage is what I'm getting at.

And if you get somewhat of a, I hate to say it, a decent offer, or even if you want to say an above average offer. And I know you don't want to get pigeonholed that way, but you almost have to take it at this point. Now he did it and he'll bet on himself and I'm sure there'll be someone out there next year that'd be willing to give him a long term deal because of the name and write the notoriety of Saquon Barkley. But if he gets hurt this year, he's really going to screw himself.

And that's the thing. I know any position can get hurt, but we've seen Saquon get hurt a lot, unfortunately, in the NFL. In his credit, it's been what? He's been in the league five years. He's played 13, I think it's 13 games, four to the five years. He had the one ACL injury that really derailed his career. So he's been for the most part, yeah, 16 games, 13 games, two with the ACL, 13 and 16. So it's not like he's been, I guess we'll say for running back that unavailable where it's crazy to think that you can turn down, let's say $22 million guaranteed. I just think at this point, if you're Saquon, I think the Giants should have given him a contract.

I don't think for him, turning it down was a bad move. That's 12 games a year on the average. Yeah, and I think, again, I don't think that's crazy. 12 games a year? For running back at this point, yeah.

I'd say that's still pretty durable. Now there's an extra regular season game. If I'm paying a running back big time money, if he's only given me, and you would assume that's only going to be a three or four year deal max, probably a four year deal in this case, you better be giving me more than 12 games a season, which is what it's averaged out to be. I know what you're saying with the 16 and all that stuff, and you miss pretty much one of that full year that kills you.

But then you look at the other two, he's 13 and 13 in 2019 and 2021. So that was it on the Saquon Barkley front. Now Ryan Dunleavy does have this, who covers the Giants. I've been right about the Giants and Saquon Barkley situation every step of the way. I never thought he would sit out games because winning teammates and stats and legacy means so much to him.

After dozens of convos today, I think I might be wrong about that. So Ryan Dunleavy is throwing it out there. This has been a guy that never thought he would sit out, that now he's starting to think he's going to be wrong when it comes to Saquon Barkley, where he said he would never sit out of the game.

He wouldn't be surprised at this point. And here's what I'll say. I don't think it really behooves Saquon Barkley or Josh Jacobs if you're going to play this year to sit out. You miss one game check if you sit out a game okay.

But what is it worth? Go get your full 10 plus million dollars this year on the franchise tag and go play this year. Because look at what Le'Veon Bell did.

He missed an entire season. I know he eventually got the deal. But if you could eventually go get that deal, you may as well go get your 10 million dollars now when you could go get it because you never know how long the running backs are going to last.

But there's been, we've seen today almost every star running back in the NFL and there's a lot of them. Tweet about this. Austin Eckler, who you'll hear from again at 9.40 p.m. Eastern, 6.40 p.m. Pacific will replay that for you. He joined us earlier in the second segment of the show and he says he wants to hear from the owners here. So you have an offseason where Austin Eckler was asked to go explore for a trade.

Nothing got done. You have Dalvin Cook get cut. Joe Mixon basically have his salary slashed in half. And then you have Tony Pollard who I never thought a long-term deal was going to get done.

He'll play on the franchise tag. But then Josh Jacobs and Saquon Barkley not get a long-term extension. And the last running back to get a long-term deal was Nick Chubb in 2021. Now I get it, right?

Where I see both sides of this. A bell cow back that has won a Super Bowl hasn't happened in a long time. And all these teams that win for the most part are by running back by committee at least for the last decade plus.

So you don't need a bell cow back to go win a Super Bowl. I still think there needs to be a value on the running back position, but you see all these salaries go up and running backs aren't. And when we all go draft for fantasy football next year, you know running backs are going to be flying off the boards. And we know that a guy like Austin Eckler outside of Justin Herbert is the most valuable player on the offensive side of the ball for the Chargers. We know how value Saquon Barkley and how valuable Saquon Barkley I think is the most valuable player on the Giants, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Josh Jacobs was phenomenal last year for the Las Vegas Raiders.

He's the first team All-Pro. There's still value for those guys. And those guys are still really fun players to watch and awesome players. But because of that position that they play, I know injuries can happen all across the board in other places, but that position, your legs are what take you throughout your duration of your career. And you can say that quarterbacks or you can say about wide receivers, but when you're running the ball, your legs are getting taken shots at at almost every play when you have the ball in your hand because the nature of your position. And we've seen before, there's not many 10 plus year running backs anymore in the league. Like, look how many running backs we had in the last 15 years that have been stars and like memorable names for four or five years.

And they can't really do much more than that. And most of these teams that give these contracts, you know, big, big second year contracts to running backs, they usually don't even see the duration of it. Look what just happened with Dalvin Cook. And it's not as if Dalvin Cook has has stunk. But Dalvin Cook has been four straight years of a thousand plus yards. And now you have Alexander Madison, who is a young up and coming running back at a Boise State. And Alexander Madison is someone that the Vikings look at and think could be really good. And they're going to pay him significantly less than what they would have paid a Dalvin Cook. And you can't tell me that the Vikings still couldn't use Dalvin Cook.

So I understand both sides of it. Now, I don't think Barkley will sit out, but if there's going to be an offseason where a running back and all right. It happened a few years ago, Le'Veon Bell, but no one actually thought he would go through with it. But there's going to be an offseason where running backs to try to send the message in a game or two. And I don't know how effective that is. And maybe we're caught up in the moment right now.

This may be it. Ultimately, I think both guys will be there. Game one. Barkley, I definitely think will be there. Jacobs, I think is a wild card.

But I kind of do feel like both guys will be there because I don't really see the upside to sitting out. Like, what are you actually proving? Like when Austin Eklund joined this early, he's like, we want to send a message, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Like, what are you actually going to do? Because you've seen this all the time in the NFL before. When it comes to two labor disputes, everyone says, oh, we're one.

We're all together. In reality, that's a nice thing to say. But these guys and I understand, too, I'd be the same way.

Like, I could sit here and say, I want to see this done for the radio world. But then if Odyssey came and offered me something, even if it contradicts everything I just said, you got to do what's in the best interest for yourself. And ultimately, these guys will do what's in the best interest for themselves. And that's why, like going back to the Barkley sitting out, I think that's something where if Ryan Dunleavy is talking to people and maybe Saquon's pushed that memo today, it makes sense today because I'm sure he's emotional. I'm sure he's frustrated. And it's easy to say on July 17th, two months from now, I won't be there. I'm going to sit out. Screw it. Screw them.

I'm going to send a message. A month from now, I'll be shocked if he's on the practice field because when he really comes down to it for Barkley, I get he's frustrated and he wants a long term deal. He just needs to show up week one. He doesn't need any extra practice.

He doesn't need to know more of the playbook. No, he doesn't. Does he need to go through the grind of two a days?

No. Well, there's no two a days anymore. He also needs to be at his best because this is a prove it season. And if the Giants aren't going to pay him, I think someone eventually will. And that's the moment. That's the I know it hasn't happened a lot, but that's the mindset you have to have. And that's why come week one, you can't just be on the field. You have to be ready to play and be on the field and ready to go. And there's different between being in shape and then being in game shape. But Saquon Barkley doesn't need anything of training camp anymore. He knows the entire offense as long as he just has his body ready. It's not like much actually does occur in training camp.

They've watered it down so much where you barely can even do anything. The most beneficial thing is if you have the joint practices and that's only for two or three days. I don't think training camp for Saquon Barkley means anything at this point. And I'd be surprised if he shows up for any of training camp if we're being honest here. Now, for the Josh Jacobs thing, here's Tom Pellicero. How close was Josh Jacobs to signing an extension with the Raiders? Did you see this yet? No. He was sitting in a car in the parking lot of the Raiders facility with teammate Max Crosby at the deadline, ready to sign if the deal got done. It didn't.

And now it's unclear when the rushing champ will return. Think about that. Now, I don't know how close that means they actually were. But if you're Josh Jacobs and I don't I don't think they were close.

You know, maybe I'm wrong here. But if you're Josh Jacobs, he must have thought in some capacity there was a chance a deal gets done. Because what's the point of Josh Jacobs getting in a car with Max Crosby sitting there in the facility? Like in the in the parking lot of the facility. But what's the point of that?

My guess would be to apply pressure to try to get, you know, apply. I'm sitting here. Let's go. Let's get it done right now.

The best. Second best play on your team. I didn't work, but I'm just saying I don't like I read that tweet. I don't think it was one of those deadline situations of the Raiders in their shoe payments are not paying more so close. I would agree with you.

I don't think it was anywhere close. I just think that was more of a tactic by Josh Jacobs. If you don't think or you were frustrated with the way the the negotiations are going.

I mean, there's only a few things you can do. One of them is maybe, hey, let me see if I can just sit here. And maybe them seeing now will help jumpstart a deal more than me sitting at Homewood. You know what this was?

You know what this was? This was just say I was ready to go. I was ready to get a deal done.

I was ready to walk into to the facility and get this over with. But the team didn't give me what I want. I don't think I know deadlines make deals. But if the deal didn't get done last night on Sunday or if there wasn't a feeling of optimism, which there never was here with the Giants or with Josh Jacobs, it was very unlikely that either of these deals were going to get done today because you see the Giants, according to Ryan Dunleavy, in one regard, they're willing to even more guarantee money.

But then they wanted to cut down the average annual value. Now, I don't I don't have the details out there of how close Josh Jacobs were. But I think this is Jacobs just trying to send the message to the fan base. Hey, I was ready to go. I was here.

I was ready to get a deal done. But the Raiders couldn't get the job done. And let's be real with the way that the Raiders organization is currently constructed. And I don't care if Josh Jacobs was in the wrong.

The Raiders aren't going to get the benefit of the doubt, because Josh Jacobs, from all accounts, right? Us meeting him. Phenomenal dude.

Awesome dude. Played his ass off last year. And it's not as if David Ziegler or Josh McDaniels, deservedly so, are popular right now. We're going to win any popularity contest with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Yeah, that right. Jacobs, if that was truly a publicity ploy to make himself look better now, and it's all about how you frame it now that the deal didn't get done, you try to make yourself look as best as you can, not just for your own fan base, but maybe other perspective teams that could sign you this time next year. He didn't have to exactly go to that length to kind of show the goodwill he has, because you're right, if it's a contest between who you like better, Jacobs or McDaniels, pretty sure we'll have a landslide there of who's going to win. Also, how long was he sitting there for?

Like, if you were really trying to make a stand, don't you go on Instagram Live, and you make a big push about it, and you make a big public outcry for this to come out after the fact. I know Max Crosby seems like a good dude by all accounts. But do you think Max Crosby's sitting there for four hours with his teammate and Josh Jacobs in the parking lot? I know they have AC in the car, and I'm sure they both have nice vehicles, or maybe they carpool together, who knows?

Because maybe Josh Jacobs needs to save on the gas money with this contract situation on being in jest there. But I have a tough time. Like, if you said to me you had a contract dispute, Hickey, and you said, let's go sit in a car in 110 degrees weather in Las Vegas or wherever, even though we have AC, I'm not sitting there with you for three, four hours.

Good to know. I think this was, all right, the deadline is 4 p.m. Eastern. We'll show up at 3.30. Something like that.

Conk in the horns, maybe. I'm here. Let them know we're here. I would go on Instagram Live, make a big stink out of this thing. I would, you know, bring some fans, get a pickup truck, have the fans jump in the pickup truck and have a bunch of signs. And protest outside the facility.

The Vegas heat probably works in the Raiders' favor here. You really can't protest in this heat. You can't be marched around the facility.

You find out who your P1s are. I'm sure a lot of people do a lot of crazy things for Josh Jacobs. Well, look, a lot of hard, you know, Jay in Alaska, big time Raiders fan, I'm sure he would be picketing. But for everyone's health, maybe let's silent pick him. Let's drive around the facility.

I don't know, drive on the grass or something like that. Let it be known you're here. You know what? We have not heard from Jay in Alaska today. I'm very surprised. Whenever we say the word Raiders on this show, he's right on board at 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. Do you think Jay is just over the Raiders now? You think he's so disappointed with this football team that he's just immune to all this stuff at this point? He seemed, I forget which game it was, but he has never been more, I think he gave up. Didn't he say on the air, I give up the Raiders? Nah, but he's never serious.

Like Jay in Alaska is very similar to you. It doesn't matter how many times the team stomps on your chest and rips your heart out and sucks over and over and over and over again the life out of you. You always find a way to buy on it. It's almost like that movie Fever Pitch when they have to go up to Jimmy Fallon and they go, you love the Red Sox so much, but what have the Red Sox ever done for you?

And it's one of those moments where you kind of realize that the team's really never done anything for you because you're a fan at the end of the day, but for whatever the reasons are you keep on giving them the benefit of the doubt over and over and over again. I think Jay was serious. I do.

No shot. I think he's at a situation where the Raiders aren't any good, so this is a move that doesn't really impact them good or bad for the long run. Not that he's indifferent. You know this.

You know this at the end of this. The Raiders season opens up against Denver and then they play Buffalo. If the Raiders open up the year 0-2, I guarantee you we get a Jay in Alaska call, I can't stand McIdiot!

I can't stand the Las Vegas Raiders! My grandma gives more effort and she's been dead for 20 years! You know you get a call like that from Jay in Alaska. A thousand percent. It's in his blood.

It's in his DNA. It's just like you. You're the same way.

Every year you find a way to talk up a crappy team into a team being somewhat good. I will say I canceled the Mets on Saturday, walk off one on Sunday. Am I back? No. I'm not back. Okay, but three weeks ago you tried to tell me I was the biggest idiot in the world for telling you that this team was going nowhere. I did watch yesterday though so probably shame on me. You're a sucker! You are a sucker. You went to the game on Saturday and you put out this obnoxious social media post, Here I come to save the season!

And guess what? I was there to save the season. I was. Yeah, Brett Beatty really listened when he couldn't feel that fly ball.

I haven't seen a loss in person at Citi Field in like two years. I was ready to do everything I could to will this team to be back. And even if I can't save them, nobody can. Not even Superman.

I love you, but you have no power in that regards. Instead of just giving your team more money. Or get a base hit with first and third. No one else. You would not have caught that fly ball.

You're still talk show host. That's a little major league athlete. You know, professional athlete. I play outfield.

Stop. Freshman baseball. I can catch a fly ball.

You would have been like the kid in Sandlot that gets hit right in the face with the ball and has that black eye. Smalls? Yeah. You're killing me Smalls.

I am more athletic than Smalls. No, you're not. Yes, I am.

Please. I'm not a good baseball player. I'm more at the end of the day. I am absolutely better baseball player than Smalls.

Hands down. No, you're not. You're like Mendoza.

You're below the Mendoza line. And this is that help show on CBS Sports Radio. We will take a break. We will debut a brand new season of first and goal where we start to preview all 32 teams. Stick around to find out which NFL player will talk to next. Each time now for first and goal on the Zach Gelb show.

Alrighty, first and goal is back. It is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. And today we'll preview the Tennessee Titans and we'll do so with a member of their football team. He's the defensive back and was drafted in the third round.

Picked 100 overall back in the 2021 draft and is getting set to enter year number three in Nashville. Out of the University of Washington and that, of course, is Elijah Molden. Elijah, always appreciate the time. Thanks for it. How are you? Yeah, of course.

Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it. Doing well over here. We're getting started next week so just kind of taking time with the fam before we start up. So you had a really successful rookie season and unfortunately last year had a nagging groin injury. How did you deal with not being able to play a lot last year going through that groin injury?

It sucked. You know, you said going into my third year but really it just feels like my second. I missed all the camp and then really I played only two games but those two games I still had the pole groin. So it was pretty, it was tough. It was the hardest thing I've had to go through in terms of just my football career and stuff. So now I'm all healed up and ready for the season. What do you want to prove this year individually after with what you had to go through last year? I'm not too worried more, you know, I'm not too worried about proving myself to anyone. I just kind of want to just go back to, you know, what I know I'm capable of and proving, I guess, more so proving to myself what I'm capable of before this whole injury. I did see during some of the off-season workout programs that you were getting some reps at safety. How did that go? It went great.

Yeah, I loved it. I think, you know, the more I could do the better. I played a little safety in college but, you know, my rookie year I didn't, you know, we were pretty deep at safety. So I just never really, I never got into the position but camp it was really fun to learn safety.

And with KB, not worrying until late, I got some good rest before he came and then from there I was able to do both nickel and safety. What do you kind of envision your role being this year with Tennessee? Whatever gets me on the field really. I'm not too picky.

Hopefully I can be used at multiple roles. Let's get to the next down. Elijah Moulden here with us. What was your reaction yesterday? Everyone saw the news that your football team landed DeAndre Hopkins. How did you react when you saw that one come across your phone or wherever you saw it? Yeah, man, I think it's been brewing for a while. I mean, I don't pay attention to the media a whole lot.

But I think his name and the Titans kept coming up, up and again and again. And then I think my brother sent it to me and he's big on fantasy football so he was definitely excited. I think it's great. He's one of the best receivers of the decade really and he's done so much in his career. So I think adding another weapon to our offense will be awesome for us. And you already have Derrick Kenry. Now you get DeAndre Hopkins. That should be a pretty damn good offense coming up this season.

Yeah, I think so. I mean, we just got to put the pieces together on both sides of the ball. I know we have a lot of players and training camp, we'll see how things fall into place. So some people, when they see the news yesterday of DeAndre Hopkins, they go, why is he going there? Tennessee doesn't have much of a Super Bowl window. They don't think that's a winning destination. What do you say to people that don't believe that the Tennessee Titans could be a playoff team this year? I mean, they're not in the building, you know, they're not. They don't see the work we put in.

A lot of them just kind of follow media and watch games on TV on their Sunday. But there's a lot more that goes on kind of behind the scenes. And we really like the team we have. And obviously we didn't make the playoffs last year. That's one of our goals. We have high expectations and high standards for ourselves.

Let's get to the next down. Elijah Moulden here with us. When you take a look at your head football coach, Mike Vrabel, I know that you felt like you only played one season because unfortunately the injuries last year. But how do you recap these last two years with Coach Vrabel, one of the better coaches in the league? Definitely one of the better coaches in the league. And I think he's well-versed. Not just – I mean, he can go out there and coach any position.

I think that's kind of what makes him special. And then situationally how good he is in terms of just kind of teaching us and coaching us up on the details. Every play is a different situation and he's really good at getting that through our heads and stuff. So I think he's a great coach to play for.

We all want to play hard for him. What type of defense do you think you guys will have this year when you take a look at the talent that you have in that locker room? I mean, I know in terms of our past defense we're going to improve.

Coach Harris coming in, he's one of the best coaches I've ever had already just from OTA. So that's going to improve. And then as a defense too, I think in the run game we were already stout last year. So we're definitely going to improve across the board.

Let's get to the final down. Elijah Moulden here with us. So you take a glance at your quarterback, Ryan Tannehill. A lot of people that do my job right, we all love to talk about the coach. We all love to talk about the quarterback. And your quarterback has been in the news a lot.

There's been a lot of opinions out there. What type of quarterback and where is this team's confidence with Ryan Tannehill when he's under center? Yeah, I love Ryan. He's a great guy. I mean, just being around him the last couple of years, I have a ton of respect for him and the way he prepares for a game. There's definitely trust in the locker room with him just because of the way he prepares. He's also kind of gone through some injuries and a lot of challenges over the last year or two. And I feel like this year is going to be a good opportunity now that we have some good pieces around him. Two drafts ago, the team selected Malik Willis. This past draft, they drafted Will Levis.

Just what have your interactions and what have your relationships been with those two young quarterbacks? Yeah, I mean, good people. I mean, I know Malik a lot more than Will just because he's been around longer. Love that guy. And he's a people's person. I think he really took a step in OCAs. I'm excited to watch him develop. And then with Will too, I think he came in pretty, you know, it's tough for a rookie to come in.

And he actually, I think he surprised some people just the way he was able to pick up some stuff. So, yeah, it's a good group of guys. And last thing I'll ask you, just because of what happened for you last year, you know, it's got to be an exciting time. You know, you're in a good situation health-wise and you're getting ready to really get what you would probably say is really year two for you in the NFL. Yeah.

Yeah, I think so. I mean, it's, you know, last year was tough for me, but in my personal life, it was also probably my best year. So, you know, a bit of yin and yang. And I think I'm going into this year a lot more mature than I did last year and the year before. And just kind of open to whatever. And I know I'm going to grow and learn and get better every day.

That's just kind of how I've always been. So, I'm really excited to make a splash this year. Well, we're excited to see you get back on the football field. Appreciate you doing this. Thanks so much. Good luck, Elijah. Thank you.

Appreciate it. We usually do this in season every four weeks or so, but getting set for training camp. Let's do a little preseason contender or pretender. Hickey's going to give me a team and I'll tell you what I think they're going to do for this upcoming season in the NFL. The Tennessee Titans.

Well, very much so in the news today. It's a nice team picking right out of the gate, Hickey. And that leads us to our poll question. The Titans this year will win the AFC South, be a wildcard team, or miss the playoffs? If you tell me that they make the playoffs, I wouldn't be shocked. We know Mike Vrabel is a really good coach. I just can't believe in Ryan Tannehill. And I love Derrick Henry. I love DeAndre Hopkins. We're going to see if they can improve on the back end this year.

You just heard from Elijah Molden. But Hickey, would you agree with this? That if they don't win the division, I have a tough time seeing them edge out the other potential wildcard teams. Because you got to think, bare minimum, two teams are getting in from the AFC East. So let's say the Bills make the playoffs as the division winner. Are the Dolphins or Jets going to be behind Tennessee?

I would say no. Then you look at the North, if the Bengals win it, I think the Ravens are better than Tennessee. And then even in the AFC West, like Cheesle with that division, the Chargers are better than Tennessee. I know that division isn't good, but I feel as if only one team is going to go from that division. And I'll bet and throw my eggs in the basket of the Jacksonville Jaguars rather than Tennessee. So I'm going to say that they're a borderline 50-50 team here either way.

But I'll lean more so on the pretender side. Even though this team started off 7-3 last year, then all the injuries caught up and they finished the year out 7-10. I think the AFC is just too deep, and this team doesn't have a quarterback that I can believe in. The Minnesota Vikings. By the way, to answer that poll question, the Titans this year will win the AFC South via wildcard team or miss the playoffs. 66% say miss the playoffs, 22.3% say be a wildcard team, and then 11.7% say win the AFC South. Alright, so contender, pretender, you just said the Minnesota Vikings to do what exactly? Be a threat to make the NFC, to win a playoff game. Well, just keep it simple. Win a playoff game.

Pretender then. I think they could be a postseason team. I know that everyone loves Detroit right now. I don't think Detroit by any stretch is a lock to win that division. I would say most people right now believe it's Minnesota or it would be the Detroit Lions. And Green Bay, if they could figure out their QB situation with Jordan Love, they have a really talented roster too. I do believe that the Vikings team ceiling is kind of what you've seen last year. Where you could have a really good regular season. You know, could they win a playoff game?

Sure. But I don't think anyone's ever going to go into a playoff game feeling all that confident. With Kirk Cousins, who's a good quarterback but not a great quarterback and probably his career highlight is winning that game up against the Saints. Outside of that, I feel as if that was Pete Kirk Cousins in the playoffs.

Where he threw that game winner, I think it was to Kyle Rudolph, if memory serves me right. But I'll say they're a pretender because I do think there will be regression this year. I don't think they're going to fall off. But I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I believe they're going to be better than the team that they were last year. Is this just to win the division? If you ask me today if they'll win the division, I'll say yes. But Hickey, I'll tell you by week one or by when we have to make our official predictions, I will probably pick someone other than the New Orleans Saints.

So if that's the way that I'm going to operate, like they should win this division this year. But I don't trust any of those guys that are supposed to be big talent that are always hurt to stay healthy this year. I don't love Derek Carr. I forget who it was. Oh, it was Eric Eager. Remember him from Sumer Sports?

He does a great job with Tomas Dimitrov. He says he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan, which he is. I'll never have confidence for Derek Carr to win a division.

That's what he said when talking about him, even with Carr and the Saints. I could see myself talking my...are the Falcons on here? Just wondering, did you put the Falcons in here?

You did? Alright, so I'll save it for the Falcons. I'm going to basically spoil it anyway. Give me the Falcons right now. Yeah, I'll say the Falcons aren't a contender. I'll pick the Falcons to win the division right now. I'll tell you that, and I'm not going to believe in the Saints.

Contender. I like the Seahawks this year. I think they're going to have a really good secondary when you look at the way they've drafted the last two years. You now get Bobby Wagner back. And also, you have a top five, top six coach in Pete Carroll.

And you look at the offense, you have Jackson Smith and Jigba added to a receiving core of Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf. Who D.K. Metcalf was wearing shorts to a wedding I did see this weekend.

Now he could pull it off, you know, who's going to fault D.K. Metcalf. But I think it was Tyler Lockett's wedding and there was a photo of Lockett, Metcalf, and maybe it was Russell Wilson? I think it was Russell Wilson, which would make sense how Russell Wilson would get invited. Even though he's no longer on the team, but those guys did play together for a while.

So I did see that photo of D.K. Metcalf, but plus you have Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet. The big question is just how much does Geno Smith regress?

As long as he's not awful, that's going to be... They won't win the division because the 49ers are the best team in that division. But they can be the third best team in the NFC. The New York Jets. Contender, pretender to do what? I'll ask you that. Super Bowl.

Pretender. I think this is a team that will make the playoffs. I think they could win a playoff game.

They have a great defense. But you look at Aaron Rodgers, how many times are people going to believe in him to get the job done? I know he's won one Super Bowl. He's been to one Super Bowl.

You would have thought that would have been more by now. But the last few years in an easier NFC, with home field advantage in the NFC, he came up short against the Buccaneers, but he had every opportunity to give him every opportunity to get back in it. And then up against the 49ers, you get one touchdown drive out of the gate, and then you did nothing the rest of that game. I thought the last few years were Rodgers' best years to add on another Super Bowl.

I don't think it's going to occur in New York. But they're not going to be a disaster because they should be a playoff team this year. They will be a playoff team.

The Washington Commanders. I want to pick them to make the playoffs, Hickey. I really do. Because I like that roster. But I can't buy stock in Sam Howell. I know a few years ago, many people thought he could be the number one overall pick, bare minimum first round pick. Then he goes back to UNC, I know missing two wide receivers. You lose both your running backs as well. But I just look at that team. Who was the other running back at UNC?

It was Javonte Williams and oh, it was Michael Carter. But you lose that, and then you go to a fifth round pick. Do I think he's as bad as a fifth round pick? No. Do I think he's as good as what he was projected to be the year prior as a first round pick?

Probably not. But even in a wide open NFC, I can't tell you that I'm buying a lot of stock in Sam Howell. So until they don't get that quarterback situation figured out, I will say Pretender.

Now you do have Jacoby Presett there, and Presett's been confident when given an opportunity to start. But I'll go Pretender. The New England Patriots. Are you just doing this to get a reaction out of me? Are you just doing what 49ers fans accused me of doing? Being clickbait last week, or what Andrew Sciliano did as well, clickbait? Are you just trying to get a clickbait reaction out of yours truly? I'm just asking an innocent question from a team that's on the bubble of maybe making the playoffs. I'm trying to do my job here.

Pretender. And here's why. Because Bill Belichick didn't get DeAndre Hopkins. You need a number one wide receiver in the NFL if you have a quarterback that's questionable. At a time Josh Allen was questionable. At a time Jalen Hurts was questionable. What did their general managers do? They went out, they got Staphon Diggs, they also got Devante Smith and AJ Brown. I know they got Bill O'Brien this past offseason.

I'm gonna throw a parade for that though. It's better than Joe Judge and Matt Patricia. Those two bozos call on the plays. So just getting an offensive coordinator wasn't enough. Do they have more weapons than they did last year? Sure, you got Mike Kiseki and you got Juju Smith-Schuster.

That's not a number one weapon. DeAndre Hopkins is a number one weapon. And I still don't think you'll be able to properly evaluate Mac Jones because he doesn't have enough around him in the year of 2023 at the quarterback position in a loaded AFC East and a loaded AFC. The Patriots are pretenders this year.

Belichick I'm sure will still go get eight or nine wins. But they're not making the playoffs because they don't have a number one wide receiver and it infuriates me that they didn't find a way to exceed what Tennessee gave DeAndre Hopkins. Because DeAndre Hopkins would have went to the team that paid him the most money and that could have been the Patriots. Shame on my Patriots. Shame on them for not getting DeAndre Hopkins. The New York Giants.

Pretender. I think the Giants are going to regress. Brian Daybell coached his ass off last year. That is not a great roster.

I know they have some good young players. Daniel Jones, I know they paid him and he played well last year. But he's still a question mark and now you don't know what the heck is going to happen with Saquon Barkley. I think he'll eventually play. But how many games is he going to miss?

If any at all because they didn't give him a long term deal today. Everything went right for the Giants last year. In the NFL when everything goes right, usually the next year. I don't want to say everything goes wrong.

But more wrong occurs than right. So I'll say pretender. Los Angeles Rams.

Pretender. I don't like the direction of that organization. They went all in. They won.

Worth it. But you have too many players that's one foot in, one foot out. Coach, I'm going to retire and be a TV star. Then I'm not.

Then I'm back. I like Matthew Stafford. Right? Cooper Cupp is a stud. Aaron Donald is phenomenal. But Bobby Wagner told me all I need to know about this team when he wanted out of that organization after going there a year ago because he didn't think that team could win when he's looking to win another ring. The Green Bay Packers.

You know what, Hickey? I think they could be a sneaky team this year to make the playoffs in the NFC. I'll say they're a contender. I like what they have on defense with Jair Alexander and Kenny Clark, friend of the show. And then offensively, they got two good running backs. They got a young wide receiver. An offensive line that was all banged up last year. And that offensive line is going to be massive. If Jordan Love is just average, I could see them winning nine games this year. And nine games will get you in the playoffs in the NFC.

So I'll say contender. The Cleveland Browns. And I said, here we go again. It's the Cleveland Browns and it's first and ten. Shout out Ken Karman. Here we go, Brownies.

Here we go. Hey, hey. Really good roster. If they were in the NFC, I would say contender. The division is brutal. I don't even know if they're going to be the second best team in the AFC North.

And that AFC is loaded. And also, Hickey picked them to make the playoffs this year. So I'll fade him. That's usually a good thing to do.

So that's why I'll say pretender. So if you are a fan of the Cleveland Browns, if you remember the dog pound. Invite Hickey to the dog pound this year.

And just chop him up. Because he's going to be the person that jinx your season. Because the Hickey Hex is alive. And unfortunately, if Hickey's on your team, it's alive and well.

And not so well for your team. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We will take a time out. Coming up, final hour of the show on this Monday. We will do a news brief. We'll update you some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. We'll get to the closing bell.

We'll tell you whose stock is booming, whose stock is dooming. Across what actually ended up being a busy weekend. Even for the summer in the world of sports.

And then at 9.40 p.m. Eastern, 6.40 p.m. Pacific. A big day for running backs in the NFL and not in a good way. Because Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard.

None of them got a long-term extension. All have franchise tags so that deadline is now over. Austin Eckler was trying to get a new deal this offseason.

And, you know, they reworked the contract very marginally. So we will chat with the Chargers superstar running back Austin Eckler. Coming up at 9.40 p.m. Eastern, 6.40 p.m. Pacific.

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