Running Back Double Standard (Hour 2)

Bird Dogs khaki shorts are just like your mother. They'll wrap you up and keep you comfortable no matter where you are.

Their zipper pockets will securely hold all your things. They'll fondle you with a love you thought only your mother was capable of. Oh, and don't worry, these shorts won't call you a disappointment. You might even start to love Bird Dogs just as much. If you want to experience motherly love again, hurry to birddogs.com slash MLB and buy a pair.

They're selling out quickly, but they'll throw in a free Bird Dogs tumbler if you get there on time. That's birddogs.com slash MLB. Alright, yeah, we're number two of our radio program. That's right, it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS radio. Let's shadow NFL right now with a longtime football scribe. He also has a book coming out of many that he's released in the past, and this is on September 12th.

The name of the book is Once a Giant, a story of victory, tragedy, and life after football. And of course, it is Gary Myers who joins us right now. Gary, I know it's been a while, but appreciate you coming on. How you been? I'm doing great, Zach. How are you?

Well, I'm doing fantastic. We will talk about the book in just a bit, but you covered the NFL for a long time. Just what is your reaction with everything that's happened the last 24, 48 hours with the running back position in the NFL? Obviously, the NFL has decided, the teams have decided that running backs are replaceable parts, and although I still think they're extremely valuable, I think this actually started years ago with Mike Shanahan. No matter who he plugged in to his running game, they would rush for 1,200, 1,300 yards. And it's carried over to Kyle, which is kind of what I was surprised that he even traded for McCaffrey last year, because it seemed no matter who he put in the backfield, it would be an effective runner. But I think it is a little short-sighted in that come December and January, you still have to play defense.

You still have to be able to run the ball to win. And in the case of the Giants, where it didn't appear they were all that far apart in either guaranteed money or total dollars, I think the Giants could have easily bought themselves out of what's going to be just a messy situation for the entirety of training camp, where Barkley is not going to be there, but his name is going to come up multiple times in every one of Dable's press conferences, and the players are going to continue to be asked about it. I think it just creates a cloud for the Giants that could have easily been avoided. Yeah, I wasn't surprised with the Josh Jacobs situation, because they didn't intend for him to be on the roster this year, where they didn't extend in the fifth-year option a season ago, but when it comes to Saquon Barkley, I know that Daniel Jones had a good year last year, but he's their most valuable player on the offensive side of the ball, and I thought they would have got that deal done. Yeah, and when you think about the money that they gave Daniel Jones and they gave Dexter Lawrence, I would say it's an educated guess that maybe another $3 million total, $2 million in guaranteed money and throwing another $1 million on to a second-year salary, probably would have got this done from everything I understand. And after the Giants gave Daniel Jones about $80 million guaranteed, or exactly what the figure is, it's enormous for a guy who hasn't accomplished very much, and then you're cutting corners with Barkley over a few million dollars, just to be able to avoid this being such an issue, I thought it was worth the money for the Giants, like I said before, just to buy their way out of it. Both because of his value on the field, Zach, and the way he's respected in the locker room. He's really the face of the franchise, and very rarely do you see teams treat the face of the franchise slash best player the way the Giants did. It's kind of not the Giants' way, but apparently this is the Joe Shane way, and this was his first major contract confrontation, and I just don't think he handled it the way that I would have expected. I thought, despite all the back and forth and the leaks and whatnot, I thought it was typical negotiations, and when it got right down to it, because the NFL is such a deadline league, I thought they'd find a way to kind of bridge the gap and get this done and make Barkley happy. Now, who knows how invested he'll be in the team when he comes back.

Well, that's my next question for you, Gary Myers. We know Tony Pollard's already signed the tag, so as long as he's healthy, he's going to play week one. For Josh Jacobs and Saquon Barkley, they've not signed that tag yet, so I wouldn't expect them to be there for any of training camp, maybe the back end, but I wonder, would they take it to the step of holding out a game or two? I don't think it really benefits them, but this seems, at least in the moment, the last 24, 48 hours or so, where the running backs are really annoyed right now.

Yeah, and let's be clear about one thing. He's not holding out, because he doesn't have a contract, and so he can't get fined, so there's a technical difference there. I think Le'Veon Bell's situation a few years ago taught them all a lesson that, especially for running backs, there is nothing to be gained when they have such a short career span. There's nothing to be gained sitting out a year. They're never going to make up the money they lose this year, and the chances that they'll do better next year, what's going to change a year from now?

Not much. And if Barkley gets the same deal a year from now and he sits out this season, he's lost $10 million. I also thought it was, usually in these kind of situations Zach, each side looks to make it appear that they gave in so the other side can claim a victory, and that's kind of when you know it's a good contract when both sides are sort of happy, but they think they didn't get quite as much as they wanted from the other side, but they can live with it.

And that's a win-win. I think it's a lose-lose here, because not only do Giants now face these Barkley questions every day, like I mentioned, but the Giants were basically guaranteeing two years' worth of franchise numbers for Saquon, and so instead of playing for the $10.1 million this year, they would have guaranteed approximately $22 million over the next two years. Now what happens if he gets hurt this year, or he has a bad season, but more likely when he's healthy he plays really well, but he has a history. You know, at least three of the five years of getting hurt, and he will finish the sixth year after 2023, and I just don't know what the chances are, even if the Giants don't franchise him again, that he could go out in the open market and find somebody to pay him the $12 million for 2024 that the Giants were willing to guarantee.

So I think he loses in this case, too. I can understand ego-wise, he's going, look at the money he just gave Daniel Jones, the money he just gave Dexter Lawrence, where's my money? But unfortunately, it's just reached a point in the NFL where running backs just don't get paid, and it's not like the Giants were offering him $6 million like Miles Sanders got from Carolina. They were still offering him an awful lot of money, and you wonder how much being in New York really means to him because of all the money he can make off the field. Now I know you don't have to be in New York anymore to cash in on those endorsement dollars, it's not the same as it was 20 years ago, but he still makes an awful lot of money off the field.

I just think he would have wanted to solidify himself as a giant for life, and there's a lot that goes into that, there's a lot of value to that, and now his future with the team is very much uncertain. Gary Myers here with us, and I kind of get both sides of the argument, because if you look at the last 10 Super Bowl winners, the best running back in the regular season was Marshawn Lynch, outside of that there's not many household names, so I understand why teams are saying, we still gotta run the ball, but we don't gotta overpay for running backs, and I get why players are annoyed, because we all know you gotta get your money where you can, this is a lethal game, and you never know how long the lifespan of an athlete is going to be, and especially at that position, you have guys right now that are playing at a pretty high level when healthy, and kind of the way that they're programmed and deservedly so, is if you perform well, eventually you're gonna get that big deal, so I kind of get it, I know it doesn't make for the best radio in the world because we all gotta take a side, I get it from both sides here Gary. No, I agree, I agree, but I think in the case of Barkley, and I always side with the players because their careers are so short, in the case of Barkley, I do think he ultimately made a mistake here, just turning down two years worth of guaranteed money, because of the uncertainty of what could happen this year and his history of injuries, but you look at some of the cases from the last few years, you know, Todd Gurley gets a bunch of money and he gets hurt, Ezekiel gets a bunch of money, and he becomes completely ineffective and loses not one step, but about three, and I know the Cowboys would like to have that deal back, which is obviously influencing why they never even offered Tony Pollard a multi-year deal, that it was basically the franchise tag and sign it when you want, and he signed it a while ago, and he's gonna make $10 million this year, which is probably a lot more than he thought he'd ever make, because he wasn't a first round pick, but I'll stick to what I said right at the top here, Zach, I still think running backs are really important, and the teams that have the really good ones, although what you said about Marshawn Lynch being the best one of the bunch in the last 10 years or so is true, but you wonder how many teams might have been able to take that next step if they really had an elite running back, and maybe they would have been the team that won the Super Bowl if they did.

Gary Myers here with us, just going around the rest of the league, Gary, and then we'll talk about your new book that's coming out in September about the Giants, and really good stuff with what you sent me, very excited to read it. Dallas, I know you usually have a good pulse on the Cowboys, where do you think the Cowboys are at? I'll give you my take on them, I think Dak's a good but not great quarterback, the last two years the defense has played great, but the quarterback has let them down in those big playoff games against the Niners.

Yeah, I agree. The game they lost to the Niners two years ago was the one that really surprised me because it was a home game in the wildcard round that they lost, I'm pretty sure it was the wildcard round. The major question going into the Cowboys season now is, it's kind of circled back to being all about Dak, can he win a big game like you just mentioned, and he puts up good numbers in the regular season for the most part, although would he miss five games last year and still at the league in the interceptions.

I thought he played very well in the victory against Tampa in the wildcard, but the Bucks were also so awful in that game that it didn't take a great game from Dak to win it, although I do think that he played very well, but then they go out to San Francisco and that's where their season ends. Basically with every quarterback, unless he gets there you always wonder if he can, and they were saying the same thing about Peyton Manning early in his career, I'm not comparing the two, I'm just saying that there were questions about Manning, he went the first three or four years of his career without winning a playoff game. So the focus is, it's a quarterback league, all the rules have been skewed in that direction that if you don't have a really productive quarterback now, a guy that can win games and drive you down the field in the last two minutes, you've got no chance because it's a passing league now. I think there are major questions with the Cowboys, I think Philadelphia obviously is still going to be good, although they've had a bunch of changes on defense, I think they're really good, and all the changes they made on defense, the guys they're plugging in are from Georgia, which had one of the best defensive teams in college football the last few years, so I don't know if there will be a drop-off, but I think the Eagles clearly are a step ahead of the Cowboys right now. You look at the 49ers, it's crazy how a team can continue to mess up the quarterback position, and then every year it seems like they're shoeing bare minimum for the NFC title game, we talk about how much the importance is now on the quarterback, it's kind of amazing to me that the 49ers haven't been able to figure out that position yet.

Well, they thought they did have it figured out with Garoppolo, he just couldn't stay on the field, and that's a major problem. I'm not sold on Brock Purdy yet, and I'm not even talking about whether or not he's the same player he was at the end of last season because of the injury. I don't know, that was such a small sample size, but Kyle Shanahan is such a good quarterback coach that, I'm just going to say this, I don't know how it's going to play out this summer, I know Purdy's going to be healthy, maybe Trey Lance takes a big step forward, but I would not be shocked if Sam Darnold makes a real run at the starting quarterback spot there. Here's the thing people forget, Zach, last year in Carolina, Sam got off to a 3-0 start. In the middle of the third game in Houston is when McCaffrey got hurt, which happens every year. Yeah, two years ago. Right, was that two years ago?

Yeah, two years ago, I'm sorry, you're right, it was two years ago. I thought Sam was playing really well up until that point in the 2021 season, and once he lost McCaffrey, the season fell apart and Sam played awful, and then last year was just a circus with him and Baker Mayfield. So now he goes to a situation where there's not a lot of expectations, but there's a great coach who's done really well, getting quarterbacks to play, you know, take their play up a level. So I wouldn't be surprised if Sam has a really good summer, and I'm not saying he's going to win the job, but I think he'll be in the conversation, especially if Purdy's not 100%.

I can see Sam beating out Trey Lance this summer if that's the competition. In the AFC, where are the Jets? The Jets are the what best team in the AFC entering this season. The Jets are the most hyped team entering the AFC this season. And they don't want any of the hype. They want Rodgers, but they don't want Hard Knocks then.

I know. I feel really strongly about this. If a team doesn't want Hard Knocks and doesn't want the cameras in the meeting rooms and doesn't want them all over the place, it shouldn't be forced on them.

I know they're all sharing the money and everything. It's not like the NFL needs the money from HBO to survive. If a team wants to do it, you know, God bless them. Let them bring the cameras in. But if a team doesn't want to do it, they shouldn't be forced to do it.

The Jets are trying to win a Super Bowl. They've got a two-year window with Aaron Rodgers. Hard Knocks is always a distraction.

They shouldn't be forced to open up the doors to Hard Knocks. I wrote on Twitter the other day, and I really believe this, I think the good in-season Hard Knocks will be following around Roger Goodell, have a camera in every one of his, in his office, in every meeting room, let there be a camera in every one of his phone calls. Let the NFL make up another bogus crisis like Deflategate so we can sit in on how these stupid decisions are made.

And let's see how much he likes the intrusive nature of having a camera on him 24-7. But I'll get off my soapbox and say, if Aaron Rodgers stays healthy, I think the Jets are going to be really good. I'm not saying we should forget about how he played last year, but let's not forget, not only did he was breaking in a bunch of rookie receivers, but he also broke his thumb in the fifth game, thumb on his throwing hand, of course.

In the fifth game last year against the Giants in London, didn't miss a game, but clearly he wasn't the same player that had just won back-to-back MVPs. So, I think as long as he stays healthy, the Jets have a core of really good young players. They've drafted not great, but really well over the last few years because they've still missed on a bunch. Including Zach Wilson and Denzel Milms, really high picks. I'm not going to say they're going to make a run for the Super Bowl, but I think they can make a run at Buffalo for sure to win the division. Once you get to January and you're still playing in the postseason, who knows what could happen. You just need a break here or there. But I think the Jets are going to be a fun team to watch this year, again as long as Roger stays healthy.

Because all the pieces are there, including his favorite offensive coordinator. Yes, the great Nathaniel Hackett. So you've got a new book, Gary Myers, coming out on September 12th. Tell me about it. Yeah, Once a Giant, a Story of Victory, Tragedy, and Life After Football.

This is my sixth book, Zach, and I really think it's my most important because it really addresses such a crucial issue. Which is life after football for these players from that generation. The 86 Giants I'm writing about, the Super Bowl champions. And these players are into mid to late 50s to the mid to late 60s. And they really paint a good picture of what life is like. From that generation of going through and the players from today's players and tomorrow's players, what they can expect their life to be like.

35 years after they finish their careers. And there's just some really, really compelling stories in there from very big name players. Everybody would want to read about it.

Parcells, Belichick, El-T, Simms, Carson, Banks, Paparro, etc. And I will just give this a little bit of a tease. And I felt good that the players felt comfortable enough with me to open up. But there's five players in the book that told me on the record since their careers are over that things have gotten so bad.

Either, you know, mentally, health issues, financially, mental health issues that five players admitted and detailed to me how they contemplated suicide. And it's just I think some of the stuff in there is really chilling to read. Now, I do want to say the book's not a total downer. I did balance it off with how this team in 1986 became a brotherhood and how it's sustained itself.

Over more than 35 years and that they rally around each other when someone's in trouble and needs help. And that's really the heartwarming part of the story. But the heartbreaking part of the story is really how some of these players have really, really struggled with the challenges of life after football. Make sure you grab a copy of it.

It comes out on September 12th. Once again, the name of the book is Once a Giant, a story of victory, tragedy, and life after football. And it's authored by longtime NFL scribe and Gary Myers. Gary, great to catch up with you. Appreciate it. Thanks, Zach. I just want to say if anybody's interested in pre-ordering, you can get it on Amazon or, you know, any of those online services. And thanks a lot for having me on.

I enjoyed it. You got it. Make sure everyone can go do that right now. There he is, Gary Myers. Take a break. We'll come on back. It is The Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. So we continue to discuss the current state of the running back position. Dalvin Cook, still a free agent. Vikings thinking that Alexander Madison, who I like, can replace his production. Austin Eckler, he got a revised contract this offseason where they added incentives for the final year of his deal. He'll receive an extra million dollars if he's able to top 1,125 total yards of offense. And an extra 600,000 if he can score at least 10 touchdowns. 150,000 for getting a Pro Bowl nod.

So that's an extra million point 75 in there. And they didn't want to give him a long term deal this offseason. Saquon Barkley, you have an issue between the general manager and the running back where reportedly they offered him 22 million dollars guaranteed.

But then wanted to take down the average annual value, so no deal there. Tony Pollard, coming off an injury that he suffered in the playoff game, should be good to go. Gotta see a little bit more of him. He was the best running back in the roster the last two years, and he's already signed his franchise tag. Josh Jacobs, it's clear Josh McDaniels doesn't value the position. And not only that, they didn't even want him on the roster for this upcoming season with their intentions of not even picking up what would have been a fifth year option. And then for Joe Mixon, the Joe Mixon situation, hickey with the Bengals is weird, because he's a good player. Now, I know that his production has fallen off a bit, right, and he's dealt with injuries, but they've started to doubt him going back to that Super Bowl, where they preferred Samaje Piran in the game over him. And Joe Mixon, even though he's been a solid player, I know he's had off the field issues, I guess he really didn't have a leg to stand on in this one, because he wanted to remain with the Cincinnati Bengals, and he didn't think he would top whatever he's going to get if somehow they just released him. And he said, no, I don't want to revise my contract. It's sad, but he's probably going to be right. You see Davin Cook sitting out, we'll see how much he gets, but Barkley, no extension, Jacobs, no extension. Teams are not really running to pay running backs, and now if you're mixing at least, sure, you're getting paid less, but at least you're still on a Super Bowl contender compared to going to, I mean, I don't even know who would want him, who would sign him, but let's just say for argument's sake, I don't know, the Panthers.

I'm just saying, you go to a different team, you're not going to get a lot of money anyway, and now you're on a, you know, have a less chance to win a Super Bowl. So I want to play you these two cuts yesterday from Austin Eckler. One we already played, Jim, we'll play a different one, because it shows you what Austin Eckler wants to have happen, just isn't going to happen. Let's start it off.

This is Austin Eckler with us yesterday, and we always love when he comes on this show. He's one of the more genuine and better conversations in the NFL. Austin Eckler wants answers from NFL owners as to why running backs aren't being paid. From a player's aspect, we have no control of that.

I have no control. So really, who we want answers from is the ownership. Like, why are you doing this?

What's the reason? Like, give us, you know, you aren't interviewing them about it. Like, how many owners have you talked to about this?

You know, zero. And so that's who I know, they're gonna say anything either because for whatever reason, right, they got this thing going on where it's like a new trend. They go, let's not pay these guys. I don't know, maybe they're just testing us like, hey, let's see what happens. But you know, you poke the bear, you know, and, you know, we're gonna make us have to do something.

So I just don't know what there is to do. Because for Austin Eckler this past offseason, where it stinks for you individually, right, it stinks for many other running backs that are producing at a high level and you expect to be rewarded significantly from a financial standpoint. The league just doesn't value the individual at that position anymore. They still value the position, but it's been running back by committee. And you don't need a great individual running back to win a Super Bowl. Like, look at it recently, last 10 years, once again, leading rusher in the regular season, Isaiah Pacheco, Soni Michelle, Ronald Jones, Damian Williams, Soni Michelle again, LeGarrette Blount twice, Ronnie Hillman, Jonas Gray, and Marshawn Lynch. Now LeGarrette Blount was solid, but there's only one great running back that was Marshawn Lynch on that list the last 10 regular seasons for teams that ended up going on to win the Super Bowl that you look at and you go, okay, that was a guy that was a big time back. So quarterbacks, wide receivers, some more value, you still got to run the football, but you're throwing the ball more. A lot of these teams, especially how quickly the body declines to these running backs, don't think it's worth it to get these big time deals.

So think about it this way before we play this final clip from Austin Eckler. He wants something to happen. He wants something to change. He wants answers from owners, but look at his situation this past year. He was given permission to seek a trade. No one was going to trade for him because the Chargers wanted so much, but the Chargers wanted something significant back for him, but they weren't willing to pay him what he wanted. And at the end of the day, what was the final outcome? The owners, the general managers win, and he's now on the final year of his deal where he gets an extra $1.75 million in incentives. So let me just play you this response from Austin Eckler yesterday when I asked him, were you ever close to getting dealt this past offseason?

And he voiced some of that frustration once again with the process. No. And that's because I came with a lot of baggage. You're going to have to trade some high picks for me. They weren't going to let me go for anything that wasn't up there. So they saw my value there. It's funny how when they allow me to trade, they're like, okay, but we want you to get these types of picks, which were not low picks, but we're not going to pay you like you're that type of player. So it's kind of interesting where it's like, oh, if you're going to get traded, you've got to get traded at this level, but if we're going to keep you, we're going to keep you down here at this level. So you can see for them, yeah, that makes sense because they're getting the best of both worlds there.

They have the leverage. And so that's why it was tough for me to get anything out there and get a new contract where you're going to have to give up high picks and also restructure my contract. And so that's just being transparent on my situation. And look, I signed my four-year deal. I'm very thankful to have an opportunity to continue to play.

I'll go out there and play at another high level again. But now there's just more pressure on me because I have no guarantees and I will be a free agent after this year, you know, unless something gets done during the year, which could be a possibility. So he had a very good argument there. They don't want to pay me what I think I'm deserving, but then they want premium draft picks from another team if I were to get traded. So think about that. They do value Austin Eckler, but ultimately it's just the way that the running back position is viewed right now. And even when someone gives a very good argument like that, he still can't win.

So it just shows you, Hickey, that really in the last 24 to 48 hours, sure, there's going to be a conversation. Sure, the individual player is going to be annoyed, but there's really nothing that any running back can do right now. And that's why if you're Saquon Barkley, if you're Josh Jacobs, you may as well just sign the tag. I'm not saying you got to show up to training camp or any of that stuff, but you show up week one and you get the full 10 million dollars plus instead of getting some game checks taken away. Because whether you sign that deal or not, like if you sign the deal, you get all the money and you play. But if you don't sign that deal, it's not like you're ever going to earn back that 10 million dollars. Even if you end up a year from now getting a long term deal, you're still out of money because if you want to go through it and set up the entire year, you would have given up on a full basically like 11 million dollars in salary. So, yeah, Le'Veon Bell, like Gary Myers even said it, eventually got the deal, but he missed out on a full year of salary. And it's not as if the year after you have a better argument why you should get paid. And I think it's even more sobering to hear Le'Veon Bell regretting sitting out, regretting leaving and kind of looking back. And even though he got what he wanted in terms of a big time deal, he looked back and said it wasn't worth it. And if that doesn't show you going forward, if you're running back should I consider sitting out or not, you truly are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Whether it's sitting out or just taking the money, trying to take a stand, it's impossible right now for you to win. Do you know what TV show premiered 19 years ago today by any chance? Totally random question I just saw when you were going on that little monologue right there. So it's 2004? July of 2004.

July 18th, 2004. The Office? Very famous TV show, not The Office. Entourage, Jerry Farrar just tweeted out, 19 years ago today Entourage premiered.

What a wild ride it was and we could all certainly use Sunday night's laughs these days. So they show a picture of Jerry Farrar's character who at the time was Turtle. And he has lost a lot of weight, we know that. And I think he almost got a job down the hall, or at least that's been rumored. And he's filled in a few times and that guy's like a toothpick now. But he was a pretty big boy back when Entourage did premiere. So look at the life transformation for one Jerry Farrar. But 19 years ago Entourage, one of my favorite TV shows of all time, not my favorite, my favorite TV show of all time is The Sopranos.

But Entourage did premiere. Alright, well come on back with a news brief, we'll tell you about all the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. Former CBS Sports Radio employee and probably more well known for his days in the NFL as a star running back, Tiki Barber was on his old time slot earlier today, the Maggie and Perloff show. And Tiki Barber says he wishes he played wide receiver instead of running back. You know what I would do, Andrew, is I would play wide receiver. So one of the things that has happened in addition to not being able to hit quarterbacks is you can't hit wide receivers either.

Why? Because speed is at a premium and you can't destroy those guys going across the middle. Like Steve Atwater used to say, you can't do that.

Like John Lynch used to say, you can't do that anymore. And so receivers have gotten smaller. So if I was coming up now and I had good hands, which I did, obviously, I'd play wide receiver because I know there's a better chance of me getting paid being a wide receiver than there is playing running back. It's a very interesting point here.

Now, right away, you think, OK, Tiki was only 5'10". That's not your prototypical NFL wide receiver, but you could definitely throw them in the slot. It's I do think there's a different body structure, though, where if you could catch passes out of the backfield, doesn't always translate into you being a great wide receiver if you just tried to go change positions. It's not impossible if you could do both. Yeah, you much rather go kind of put all your resources and all your eggs in the basket of a wide receiver because they get paid more. But just because.

You say that it may not be as as easy as it sounds, if that makes any sense right there. I'd say it's even just more damning for the position overall when you have a borderline Hall of Fame running back, basically saying I regret playing the position. I wish I took any other position except for running back. And you wonder, we won't see an effect this year or next year, but 20 years from now, what the NFL running back looks like, just because, again, if you are a kid right now, 10, 12, you know, in elementary school, high school, going to college, there's really not a lot of incentives to go play running back. It makes sense to play almost any other position you possibly can outside of running back.

And you kind of look at it. Tiki Barber, 510. Austin Eckler, 510. Tiki Barber was great catching the football out of the backfield. Austin Eckler just had over 100 something receptors this year out of the backfield. I know we just had Austin Eckler on, but next time we have him on, maybe we'll ask him that question as well, because it's a good point that's brought up by Tiki Barber. Le'Veon Bell.

So this I find fascinating. Le'Veon Bell sat out an entire year with the Steelers, eventually got paid, goes to the Jets. But Le'Veon Bell apologizes to Steelers fans for leaving them, and this is courtesy of Le'Veon Bell's social media. I never apologized to the fans for really sitting down or leaving the Steelers. I never apologized.

So I'm going to say I apologize for leaving the best damn fans there is in this damn world. I shouldn't have left. I apologize. I should never have left. I apologize. That's my fault.

That's on me. So look, that's a guy that eventually got a new contract, sat out an entire year. I don't know what his relationships are still like with those guys in the locker room. Because remember when he kept on telling the players he was going to come back, he was going to come back, and then he didn't.

And then you knew there was no looking back from there. Remember the players instantly like took things from his locker. They didn't even wait. They didn't even let the body get cold.

Right away, the body was still worn. They're taking stuff out of this guy's locker. So I'm sure, even though he's still got the money, it sounds like there's still regrets there from Le'Veon Bell because he's probably thinking to himself, sure, I eventually got somewhat of what I wanted, but it wasn't necessary for me to sit out an entire year and also leave Pittsburgh when I could have got something similar in Pittsburgh. And I think it also goes to show that grass isn't always greener. You got your money, but you go to, to put it lightly, a dysfunctional team with the Jets, and your career is over.

It is basically over after that. Yeah, so a career change by one bad decision. Earlier this morning on Get Up on ESPN, they played our conversation with Kenny Clark, where Kenny Clark said that the Green Bay Packers are 100% getting disrespected. They go right to Dan Orlovsky after that clip, and Dan Orlovsky says the Packers could be a playoff team this year if one thing happens.

I look at Green Bay and say this, and I've said this, Green, and you've heard me say it. If Jordan Love is average, this team is playing for a playoff spot in December. If he's average, if he's anything like a first round pick should be, this is a playoff team.

You kind of look at it last year. Aaron Rodgers was average last year. You look at what Aaron Rodgers did on a football field last season, it was 26 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, and they were competing for a playoff spot in that final week of the season, up against the Detroit Lions where Rodgers threw all those interceptions.

I don't think that's that far off. I think a lot of people this year are sleeping on the Green Bay Packers because Rodgers is gone and no one knows what Jordan Love is going to be. But if Jordan Love just plays average football, you got Christian Watson, who in the second half of the season was a stud, you have Aaron Jones, you have A.J.

Dillon. Defensively, they've been inconsistent, but you got names on that defense with Kenny Clark, who continues to be one of the more underrated defensive linemen in football, and he's a two-time Pro Bowler. You have Jael Alexander in the back end, and you're in a division that it's not like it's the AFC East or the AFC North.

It's not loaded. You know, people like the Lions this year. People expect the Vikings to regress. The Bears just still don't have the talent to go compete.

It would not surprise me if the Green Bay Packers, Hickey, are better than what people expect them to be. It all comes down to the quarterback, and if the quarterback could just be average, then they could have a shot to go win eight or nine games and compete for a playoff spot in the NFC. And to their benefit, being in the NFC, average playing and average quarterback play is absolutely enough. Absolutely enough. Yeah, if they were in the AFC, I wouldn't even consider them to be a playoff team. Agreed.

But in the NFC, I don't think it's going to take much to go get that seventh wildcard spot. Let's listen up to Tommy Curran. He was on the Rich Eisen Show, and he says Bill Belichick has been on the hot seat since 2019. You know, you talk about avoiding the hot seat. He's on the hot seat, and he's been there at different levels of warmth since 2019.

Really? In 2019, Tom Brady won a two-year, $50 million guaranteed contract. Belichick somehow convinces Kraft that not spending that money on Tom Brady was a great idea. He went to Super Bowl, the Patriots, under King Newton because they don't have a plan. They have a good 2021. They bounced back. McDaniel leads again.

No plan for replacement. So, I don't think he's actually been in the hot seat since 2019. There's been pressure since Brady has left, no question. But I don't think anyone the first two years of Tom Brady not being there was calling for Bill Belichick to be fired. It started last year and could continue into this year because last year was a dumb approach at the offensive coordinator position. And this year, you bring a legit offensive coordinator, but you still have not given Mac Jones the number one weapon. Let's listen up to Justin Fields. He gives his top five Russian quarterbacks of all time with our pal Brian McFadden on the All Things Covered podcast. Being a historian of the game, watching the game, have you had to rank your top five quarterbacks in regards to running?

In regards to running? Yeah. And you can throw yourself in the list, too. Oh, I am.

Because I definitely think I am. Okay, so start with Justin. He's in the top five running quarterbacks.

I'm definitely in the top five. No order, but I got to go with my boy Mike Vick. Got to go with Cam Lamar, of course.

Yeah. And then final Steve Young to Steve Young. Steve Young.

Shouts out to Steve Young. I kind of find this funny because if you call Justin Fields more so a running back than a quarterback, everyone slams you. But then he goes into how he's a top five running quarterback of all time. And I'm a Justin Fields fan. But two years in the league, I know last year, right, he goes for 1,100 yards rushing. Do we even have to have that conversation yet?

It seems like a premature conversation to me, Hickey. Especially when that's not the style that's going to win you games. Like, it's only going to get him hurt, and I don't think that if you're the Bears, you are relying on Justin Fields to be a 1,000-yard rusher, not a Bear minimum 3,500-yard passer. Let's go to Kirby Smart on if he's talked to this team about winning a third straight national championship. We have not addressed that with them. We've certainly looked at some three-peat scenarios of teams like the Bulls and different sports teams that they might actually know about. No offense to the Minnesota 1935 team, but I don't know if it's going to resonate with my audience. So I don't care about the three-peat, the two-peat or the one-peat.

I care about complacency. And let's hear Kirby Smart on how some people are saying that Georgia has an easy schedule this year. What do you have to say to people who maybe say that Georgia's schedule is a cakewalk? Come play it. I mean, I'd love to invite any team in the country who wants to play in the SEC.

Come right ahead. It's a very easy schedule. Have you seen the Georgia football schedule yet, Hickey? I can't recite it team by team, but... UT Martin, Ball State, South Carolina. South Carolina's solid, but Georgia's so much better. UAB, Auburn, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Florida, Missouri, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Georgia Tech. So outside of Georgia, the two best teams in the SEC entering this season are Alabama and LSU. No Alabama or LSU on that schedule.

And if you're buying into Texas A&M with their talent, which I'm not because I don't like Jimbo Fisher, you get no A&M either. Finally, here's Brent Venable saying he does not like Deion Sanders in his roster turnover courtesy of the ref sports. A year ago I challenged the guys, I wasn't like Deion, and told you guys a bunch of pink slips.

I gave guys 12 months of grace to go to class, live right off the field, and to show up with a great urgency and respect for your opportunity at the University of Oklahoma. I'm out on Brent Venables. Last week takes a shot. I read about Miami and Mario Cristobal now taking a shot at Deion Sanders. You were supposed to have a big year last year. You went 6-7. How about you win enough games as a head coach before you run your mouth and take shots at two different programs. Zach Gelb's show CBS Sports Radio will do a little college football fix next with Hunson Mason, the former Georgia quarterback.