SEC Storylines (Hour 3)

Howdy! How we doing? Hour number three of our radio program.

That's right, it is the Zach Gelb show. Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. We'll do some first and goal previewing the Denver Broncos. Coming up 20 minutes from now with Big Al, Alfred Williams. Excited to catch up with him, but right now we're getting closer and closer to the start of college football season, and we have SEC Media Days underway in Nashville, and I got five things to watch for this upcoming season in the SEC.

Now Hickey, I'm gonna put some pressure on you here. When I'm giving you my list here of five things in the SEC, I want you to come up with the six. I want whatever I leave off that you go, okay, maybe it doesn't go past any of the five things I said, but you think that it has an opportunity to be a storyline in the SEC.

So let me start things off at number five. Auburn has a new football coach, someone that we know pretty damn well in Hugh Freeze. I just want to see what the immediate impact is with Hugh Freeze, who dominated so far the transfer portal, and really for the first time in a while, this is a coach that Auburn fans believe in. He wasn't their number one choice, but it's still a choice that Auburn fans said, okay, that's a good move, I can get behind that move. Because when Gus Malzahn was there, it seemed like every year someone was trying to get him fired, and that's been reported on, and then when you get rid of Gus Malzahn, I said this before, they didn't even improve the head coaching position, where I thought they would have been better off keeping Gus Malzahn instead of bringing in Brian Harsin from Boise State. So sure, they could have found a way to land Lane Kiffin, it didn't go down that way, I think Lane Kiffin was their first choice, but it's not as if Hugh Freeze is this terrible consolation prize. And with Hugh Freeze, we know the guy could coach, we know the guy is a good coach, it's all the other stuff Kenny handled.

And you need to find a way to basically take his phone away, and if all the things off the field hold up, you should be able to have some success at Auburn, and we'll see what level he could take that to. But in year one, I want to see what the immediate year one impact could be, because here's the thing too, I also think it's a time you take over. A lot of times expectations aren't high for a first year head coach, but last year you had a guy in Sonny Dykes, and I know that's in the Big 12, it's not the SEC, where Sonny Dykes has kind of been a journeyman head coach and has been a bunch of different stops, and he takes that Big 12 TCU team, the Horn Frogs, to a national championship game. So I'm not saying that the expectation is to go in year one and get into the college football playoff, but you could have success in year one, and sure, for every Sonny Dykes, I could give you a situation where it's been a disaster, but it doesn't even need to be the ultimate success, because you look at a guy like Brian Kelly last year, Brian Kelly was someone with LSU that even though he did a really good job at Notre Dame, he got off to the wrong start and the wrong foot of his tenure, and look what he was able to do even after that Florida State game, he was able to recover and find a way to get into that SEC title game. So I'm not saying that you should be expecting big things this year, but year one is important for Hugh Freeze because it sets the tone for what the tenure is going to be when Auburn fans are believing in the football coach. And we've seen, especially now as a transfer portal, there was not a lot of talent out at Auburn, but you can turn, like you said, that around pretty fast, and you can get momentum even after year one and really take off pretty quickly. So I know it has not gone well since, Mel Tucker in year two did a really good job at Michigan State, now because of- Year three was not.

And year three was really bad, and Auburn fans will probably be calling for Hugh Freeze to be fired if Auburn does what Michigan State did last year, but that's where you can turn around quicker than you used to before. Number four, it's two quarterback situations. One, we know who the starter's going to be, but it's Joe Milton. You hear all this stuff with Joe Milton at Tennessee, how great he's supposed to be and what he did at the end of the season when Hendon Hooker got hurt at one time was at Michigan, then was the guy at Tennessee, then you have the whole Hendon Hooker emergence and now he's going to be the guy again. I want to see if Joe Milton can be good as the way that people are talking about, and I do lump him in with another quarterback situation to monitor, and that's the quarterback situation with a good coach at Ole Miss with Lane Kiffin, but I don't know who his starter's going to be. And you have two guys on the roster in Jackson Dart and Spencer Sanders, and if it's not Spencer Sanders, who at times last year we were talking about a guy at Oklahoma State that was making a case for a little bit to maybe be a Heisman Trophy finalist, that shows you maybe one of the dangers of the transfer portal where you leave a really good situation, and I think it's good to have the freedom to choose and write with, and I'm all on board for some of that stuff, but sometimes you make a hasty decision, and if Spencer Sanders doesn't win this job hickey at Ole Miss, I think that's just a terrible decision to leave Oklahoma State where I was surprised he left Oklahoma State and maybe that relationship just ran its course, but you got to go to a spot where you at least know that you're going to be the starting quarterback.

For example, when Spencer Rattler, when he left Oklahoma, and it was in a bad spot, right? It wasn't as if Spencer Sanders was in a bad spot, but when you had Spencer Rattler leave Oklahoma, he went to South Carolina where he knows and has worked before with Shane Beamer, and he knew he was going to be the starting quarterback. How Spencer Sanders transfers to Ole Miss, and we don't even know if he's going to be the starting quarterback for a guy who I think is a really good player, that's kind of crazy. If anything, I look at that and give props to Lane Kiffin, able to convince him to come there, compete for the job, likelihood maybe not win it, but still is there for incredible depth.

That's a great job by Lane. Because if I was Spencer Sanders, I would only go to Ole Miss, and I know right the upside with Lane Kiffin and what he's been able to do with quarterbacks, I would only go if I was guaranteed the starting job, or is pretty much assured to me, maybe you'll compete, it's your job to lose, things like that, but we'll have to wait and see who's going to be the starting quarterback there. Three, your favorite college football coach, Hickey. Who's your favorite college football coach, by the way, right now? This is your guy. Jimbo Fisher, my guy.

Yeah. And you say that very sarcastically and very begrudgingly because you can't stand Jimbo Fisher and deservedly so. And he was a pompous jerk the other day. One outlet, yeah, Bobby Petrino is going to call the plays. And then when you address all the reporters, Kat got his tongue and he didn't want to admit that Bobby Petrino was going to be calling the plays, which it's just stupid and it's petulant behavior and it's jackassery by Jimbo Fisher. But here's one thing that even though you don't like Jimbo Fisher, you could agree on, this roster has a lot of talent and talent isn't the issue in Aggieland with A&M. And if you can't find the way to get the job done as a coach, and I'm not even saying win the SEC this year, but, and I'm not even just saying like hover around 500, like go win eight games this year if you're Jimbo Fisher.

And I know you should be able to do more than that, where how far along you are in the in the, in the formation of what you're trying to build, but you look at the schedule. You play New Mexico, you play Mario crystal ball in Miami, you play Louisiana Monroe, Auburn bringing in Hugh Freeze, Arkansas, you got Sam Pittman and KJ Jefferson, you got Alabama, you have Tennessee, you have South Carolina, then you get Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Abilene Christian and LSU, LSU tough at the end of the year. Yeah, I get it, you're in the SEC, but I got to see a year from A&M this season where you only have like three or four losses. And it should be more than that in terms of with how much you're paying Jimbo Fisher. But if Jimbo Fisher wants to be the coach next year, if he does what he did last year, there's no justice.

I don't care how much money the buyout is and 70 million, all that stuff. You got to get him out because then it's clear what you're doing is not working where this guy can bring in a lot of great talent and then isn't going to be able to win enough games. I'm not comparing him directly to James Franklin because James Franklin had a really good year last year. I think Penn State's going to have a season this year where they're going to be in that one or two loss kind of category. But a lot of times we talk about James Franklin, you discuss great recruiter, but in game, it's been a disaster. Jimbo Fisher at A&M, he's been a great recruiter, but in game, he has not got the most out of that talent.

So the future of Jimbo Fisher, what happens this year? Then at number two, it's about who's going to win that division. Is it going to be LSU or is it going to be Alabama? Because the three best teams in the SEC in no order. You have Georgia, you have LSU and you have Alabama.

And you know that in the SEC East, I don't expect anyone to really challenge Georgia. You know, Tennessee, I like Hypel and Joe Milton will see if he gets the job done. I'm a fan of Shane Beamer at South Carolina. I'm a fan of Mark Stoops.

I don't know what to expect out of Billy Napier. And you can forget about Missouri and Vanderbilt. We know Georgia is going to be in that SEC championship game barring something crazy. But in the West last year, you had LSU take advantage and find a way into the SEC championship game.

Can they do that again? And they have the best quarterback in the conference, arguably. And they also have the best defensive player in the conference. And then you have Alabama where people are finally starting to question Alabama. And Alabama, they only lost two games last year.

It's not as if they've fallen off and then we're talking about them. But with kind of the way that we were talking about A&M last year, where they were in the bottom of the SEC West, they were two and six in that conference, and they were five and seven last year in A&M. Now, Alabama lost two games really close, but no more Bryce Young, no more Will Anderson, a lot of uncertainty at the quarterback position. Tommy Reese now coming in from Notre Dame as the offensive coordinator. Is that going to be a fit for Nick Saban?

How long does it take them to kind of iron out the wrinkles and bring in a new offensive coordinator? But I want to see who's going to be the better team this year. Is it LSU or Alabama? And right now I do take the side of LSU with the Tigers.

And then number one, it's Georgia. On paper, everyone's going to pick you to win the national championship again. Last year, people said, oh, they lost so much talent. They were even better than when they won that first national championship under Kirby Smart. Can you find the way to go back to back to back and become a dynasty and win three national championships in a row? So those are my five things to watch in the SEC this year. Year one for Hugh Freeze at Auburn. Four, will Joe Milton meet those expectations and who ends up starting for Ole Miss? Three, Jimbo Fisher's future. Two will be LSU or Alabama. And then one, will Georgia three-peat? So, Hickey, we just unpacked a lot inside the SEC, and I gave you the five things to watch.

What would you then put at six, or what's the storyline that really does stand out to you? I'm going to go with the future of Billy Napier at Florida. It's never good when already after year one, there's a discussion on if you're on the hot seat or not. You had Anthony Richardson, who went number four role as we know, but the Gators went just six and seven last year. Does not look very promising this year with Graham Mertz and what the Gators are able to put together on this roster.

We know, especially the SEC, maybe then compared to other conferences, a little more trigger-happy in terms of firing coaches early, not worried about the buyout. But the discussion is already there and fans are debating on if he's on the hot seat or not after one year, and we're talking about a year where Florida is four and eight, three and nine, maybe. That's something to watch where it could be a very quick tenure for Billy Napier.

Tenure for Billy Napier with the Gators. And I said it while it happened last year. You almost wonder if in a weird way, defeating Utah in the way that they did last year almost kind of hurt him because that was a big win for Billy Napier against an opponent that was being talked about as a potential college football playoff team. But you know this in a crazy college fan base, like Florida, you had that success right away.

And then it's, and then it's as if people think that, okay, you're back. And I remember saying this at the time where it almost would have been better off if they would have lost that team close. And I know that's like a weak way of thinking about it, but I kind of do believe that because then they just didn't meet the hype picky the rest of the season. They jumped to, I believe they're unranked to 10, I think, right away. So it's like, you're right, fair or not, expectations change literally after just one game where it from, we'll kind of see what happens to over top 10. We got Tennessee in a few weeks, like Kentucky coming here, like let's go like this is now all of a sudden we could try to compete with Georgia for the East.

And clearly that did not happen whatsoever. Yeah, so last year there was a lot of new coaches and a lot of those coaches had success. To go off your point though, when you take a look at some of the new head coaches this year, it does show you how quickly that could change and how there isn't a lot of patience.

And you take a glance at three coaches in particular, and I don't think I'm missing anyone. Billy Napier at Florida. Well, last year was his, wasn't last year actually his second year at Florida? Billy Napier? No, it was his first. Oh, that was his first? Oh yeah. Cause he was, yeah. Okay.

My bad on that. So you have Billy Napier, you have Brent Venables. Those are two coaches that I'm just fascinated to see how we're talking about. And then also let me throw in Mario Cristobal too, because last year, remember, I think a lot of it was the ridiculousness of the parents too. And there was a lot going on there, but those three coaches, you have three passionate fan bases there and Billy Napier's at Florida. You have Brent Venables at Oklahoma. It's just one of those things where, and then you have Mario Cristobal at Miami. Oklahoma's had the most recent success. Florida, it's been a while since they've been really good, right? You go back to the Urban Meyer days and then you take a look at Miami, Miami and Texas are synonymous in terms of people claiming they're back and they're not.

Those are all really big year number twos for those guys. And I can't tell you, I like Mario Cristobal as a coach. I like what he did at Oregon, but I can't tell you I have a lot of confidence Miami's going to be this great team this year.

I don't really have much expectations for Florida and Oklahoma. I just don't like the things that Venables is saying right now. Picking all these fights with all these different coaches, Mario Cristobal, Deion Sanders as well. Like dude, shut your mouth and go win at your own school. Like seriously, go win at your own school. So those three coaches, even though we had a lot of successful year one coaches last year, their year two, it's absolutely enormous in a, in a big time way. And you could even say the success, if you freeze has some at Auburn and only amplify that.

Cause you go look at a guy you're one already having, you know, making progress, making waves. And now you're two for these three guys. If it's again, kind of like what it was last year, what are we doing?

Starting to think about making some changes. I don't think that will happen at Miami just because Mario Cristobal is one of their own Venables. You're going into a new conference. I know he's been at that university before, so that would be one to definitely monitor. And for Billy Napier, nothing would surprise me at this point, but that was a popular hire. That was a really popular hire with Billy Napier.

And you got to find the way to improve. I would say Napier is back next year. And I would say Cristobal's back. Venables is really the one that I think you need to monitor.

Alrighty. We'll take a time out. This is Zach Gelb showing CBS Sports Radio. We will do a little first and goal next with Alfred Williams. Big Al coming up to preview the Broncos. Alrighty, time to preview the Denver Broncos. Alfred Williams, of course, the former defensive lineman for the Broncos won two Super Bowls. 1996 was a first team all-pro, and Big Al is kind enough to join us right now.

Alfred, appreciate the time. How you been? Man, I'm so good, man. Just getting excited about training camp and so excited. I'm just watching reruns of NFL games on the NFL network. Well, that's how I know that you're a former player, because you just said you're excited for training camp. If this was towards the ends of your career, you wouldn't really be all that excited to go to training camp. You know, I was one of those guys that did not mind training camp because it got me away from my screaming kids at home. So I was good with it.

Absolutely love that. So last year, everyone was excited about Russell Wilson, right? You're getting a future Hall of Fame quarterback.

He was a disaster. Now you're getting a future Hall of Fame coach in Sean Payton. Is the excitement there with Sean now being at Denver?

Is it like, okay, let's not do this to ourselves two years in a row if you're a fan of the Broncos? Zach, man, I gotta tell you, man, it's been night and day the way that this organization has behaved since last year at the same time. I mean, we were so excited. You know, there was so many opportunities to see Russell Wilson on social media, and we even saw him for a little bit at Wimbledon right around this time last year.

He was everywhere on everything. And it was going to be a great year and then became one of the worst years. And I guess not just one of the worst years, but expectations were just absolutely blown out of the water.

And what we thought that we were getting, we got just the opposite, man. I mean, it was awful. I mean, being around here as a former player and watching this team struggle the way that they did, it was one of the worst years we've ever experienced around here in Denver. And I've been here since 1987 as a CU football player and a former member of this team.

It was the worst year ever. And you know this, a big part about football are the relationships. And Russ just did not connect with that locker room.

I know they tried to patch it up down the end of the season, the final two weeks. But where do you think that dynamic is at with Russell Wilson and his fellow teammates in that locker room? Well, we have a true captain that's leading this ship with Sean Payton.

I think that's where you have to start. I think Russell Wilson basically got everything he wanted last year. And what he found out is that the things that he wanted to do, he just wasn't as good as some of the other Hall of Fame elite players. The guys like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers.

That doesn't mean he's not a Hall of Fame player. He just couldn't execute the kind of plays that those guys were executing. And he found out the crude way on a Monday Night Football game to open up the season. We were the laughing stock of the NFL and it continued all the way through. The running joke in Denver was, well, Russell Wilson had more touchdowns than he had bathrooms. And he had 14 bathrooms in his new house. So the question was, will Russell Wilson have more touchdowns than bathrooms? And it was, like I said, it was disastrous. But now we have a grownup in the room with Sean Payton.

And I do believe that everything is going according to scale. When you see Russ again, he's going to look fantastic. I mean, he looks like he's ready to go. Let me ask you this. Just you understand the player side of it. When you have that embarrassing of a season, the way that you laid it out so eloquently and perfectly, what would you be saying as a veteran player in that locker room where some people may be afraid to address what happened last year or some people just want to forget it?

What would your message be? Man, you know, last year is last year. I mean, no matter what you do in professional sports, it doesn't carry over necessarily to the new year. And you have to reassert yourself and start over every year like your training doesn't carry over. You know, the guy that you played against last year is not the same guy. You know, the situation.

Maybe you played Green Bay last year in September. This year could be in December, and it's a much different. Everything changes. And it's a moving scale. And you just have to be able to balance everything and make sure that your mental is good. And I don't believe that Russell's mental was good last year.

And I think it really affected the entire team. Let's get to the next down. Big Al here with us dominating KOA radio right now and former Denver Bronco, two-time Super Bowl champion. So as you said, and we've seen the photos, Russell Wilson looks like he's in awesome shape. He's putted in the work. But where's your confidence level in terms of what we're going to see out of Russell Wilson on the field this year? Man, I got us winning 11 games. I think this is a total turnaround. Russell Wilson goes back to the playoff quarterback that we remember him as. You know, we'll see Samaj P. Ryan carry the load early in the season. And Javonte Williams is going to come in and bust out that offensive line. Our right side of our offensive line is just unbelievably powerful. The defense has playmakers in the secondary. We have new pass rushers up front. This is a different team. For all of those people who out there who don't understand who the Denver Broncos are, we will be back to where we were. We will be RTD, return to dominance. Those are big time statements because the AFC is loaded and that AFC West, you got the Chiefs, you got the Chargers as well. You can forget about the Raiders.

11 wins. I wasn't expecting to hear that from you, Big Al. Oh, now I'm telling you, I think, you know, I was in Vegas not long ago. They had the line at eight and a half. I hammered it, man.

I hammered the eight and a half. And you know what? For any of you guys out there that love to win easy money, the eight and a half on the Denver Broncos is the easiest money going right now.

Well, I hate to say it to you. You're going to lose that bet for one reason and one reason only. My producer extraordinaire, we call him hot take hickey. He puts the hickey hex on teams. Last year, he said Nathaniel Hackett would be a top three candidate for coach of the year. He said Russell Wilson was going to win a Super Bowl, win a Super Bowl MVP, and it was absolutely horrible.

He has similar confidence to you. So if you're on the side of hickey with hot take hickey, that's not looking to be a good season for the Broncos. Well, that was last year.

Once again, he's doubling down. Well, well, well, I think Nathaniel Hackett this year is going to look really good as an offensive coordinator with Aaron Rodgers. I think everything that he does centers around his success with Aaron Rodgers and, you know, for the people in New York that love football, man, you're going to have a chance to see a talented coach with a talented quarterback that can do it all. Russell Wilson's not in the same category. You know, once again, it does not mean he's not a Hall of Fame quarterback.

They just do things differently. When you look at this offense this year, so we expect to bounce back here for Russ. I like Javonte Williams when he's healthy, right? Offense line and injuries last year. You look at the receivers.

Do you think the receivers are good enough? Because Jerry Judy, I thought he would be a whole lot better professional football player than what we've seen so far. You know, it, you know, I think what happened is that Jerry Judy, it came too quick for him. You know, I think everybody thought that, you know, when the Denver Broncos draft, the core of a wide receiver in the first round, he's going to get a gold jacket.

And maybe that's what Jerry Judy thought coming in here. And it was just not that too many drop balls, who had mental mistakes. And it just became just a terrible situation with Drew Locke in him. And it never got better because Drew throws a hard football.

And then things changed when Teddy Bridgewater came in here. He was soft tossing them. And of course, Jerry Judy caught all of them and Russell Wilson, another guy who is a soft toss kind of quarterback. He doesn't necessarily drill it.

So they throw easy catchable football. Jerry duty shows up now big. And I think when you look at, at the end of the year, he'll have a good year. I think he'll be a thousand yard receivers, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he is a great receiver. A thousand yards in this business now in 17 games, you know, is not a great number. And when you start seeing guys around 16, 1700, that's the guy having a great year, but Jerry Judy will get over a thousand in this new offense. Let's get to the next down. A few more moments of big Al here with us on CBS Sports Radio.

This is Zach Gelb's show. We know that Bronco's secondary is tremendous. It's tough to find the better secondary in the NFL, the one that they have. How about the rest of the defense? What stands out to you with this defensive unit? Well, I think when you look at it, I think you start with the defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and what he wants to do.

I think he wants to attack. And you know, when you have a coordinator who wants to attack, it puts some pressure on your quarterbacks. But luckily, you know, we have a young guy who can match up with pretty much every wide receiver in the NFL.

And I think it's going to work out great. We have great athleticism at the linebacker position. Our defensive line has been bolstered and is strong. And once again, I think we have the kind of safety. If you go back to the history of the Denver Broncos, you can look at the safety position. And it's always been great.

And it continues there. Our defense was third last year in third down, seventh in red zone. I mean, that's the strength of this team. We're going to be good on the defensive side of the ball.

Now let's get to the final down. You know a thing or two about hitting the quarterback. It's so difficult at the quarterback now. You being a former defensive player. How about the way that you watch the game now with all the rules that prevent defensive players from being what they once were? I actually love the way that the game is being officiated now.

You know, they're the part of this game that is beautiful. But it's got to be played right up until the whistle. And then, you know, you got to give your opponent a chance to escape. But you know, there's a problem when you have quarterbacks that run outside of the pocket and escape the pocket and they're running with the football. Bro, we got issues.

We got issues. If you're going to take off outside the pocket, you should not even be allowed to slide if you ask me. You stay your ass in that pocket and you throw the football or you take a punishment. I like that.

I like the intensity. Last thing I'll ask you, you said 11 games that they're going to get this year. The Denver Broncos. Where does that put them in that division? Just behind Kansas City? Right behind Kansas City.

I think we split with Kansas City. I think we sweep the Raiders and I think that we will sweep the new, I want to say San Diego, but the Los Angeles Chargers. This is going to be a great season for the Denver Broncos as a bounce back year.

Russell will be vindicated. You know, we'll have the kind of season. I was talking to Big Al about this only because I understand what they've done on the offensive lines, the defensive lines. You know, we got Frank Clark, CJ Jones, Zach Allen, free agents in the last year or two. And I'm telling you, they make a huge difference on the defense and the offensive line with McGlinchy. And I'm telling you, that was a big pickup.

We haven't had a right tackle, man, the right tackle position for two years consecutively in 15 years. So this is going to be big for us. I'm ready for a great football season. You guys should too. Big Al, we appreciate it. Thanks so much. Appreciate the time, Alfred Williams. Okay, buddy.

Take care. There you go. Big Al joining us on CBS Sports Radio. And Big Al does not know what he's getting himself into. He's believing in the Broncos once again. And that means he's believing in hot take hickey. You guys are both going to be on an island together at the end of the year. You'll be like feeding Big Al grapes, but you guys are going to need a lot of money to get on back and you won't have that money to get back to New York City and Denver because you all going to waste it on the Denver Broncos this year.

Just real quickly, hickey. So just give me one or loss. He said 11, they open up the season against your favorite football team. The Raiders win. The commanders week to win at Miami.

Tough. I'll go loss at Chicago. Win against the New York Jets. Where's that game? That game is in Denver. Win. Wow.

Okay. At Kansas City short week Thursday Night Football loss. Green Bay win Kansas City loss.

See him losing twice. Yes. Okay. I'll give the Chiefs the respect they deserve. So you have five wins right now, right? Yet the Raiders, the commanders, the Bears, the Jets, and then the Packers by week when you can't lose it by. Well, you could. There's some teams.

Don't get me wrong. Monday night at Buffalo loss. Close to Vikings win. Cleveland win. Oh, that's a team that you love this year.

The brownies like both teams. That's the hickey bowl this year. Yeah, that's the hickey bowl.

Like both teams. That's the hickey bowl this year. That is.

Let's go. What week is that? Week eight. That is a week 12 week 12.

Yeah. At the Texans win. So you had eight already at the chargers loss at Detroit win.

New England when chargers win at the Raiders win. Come on. You have them going 12 victories this year.

You have not changed one bit from variance one 11 and six big Al great minds think alike. That's the side I want to be on or maybe I'll saying I want to be on hickey side. That's probably what he's saying. Actually, that's how it goes. The blind leading the blind around here on CBS sports radio.

You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. So the fourth major of the golf calendar, the fourth and final one starts coming up early this morning. The open championship so far you've had John Rom.

You've also had Brooks Koepke and Wyndham Clark be your three major champions for this season of golf. I made three bets here hickey. I spread $100 out with three bets.

And these are the three names I picked. Scottie Scheffler has not won a major yet this year. I always think that's a safe play at plus 750. I put $33 down to win 280. Victor Hovland has replaced for me, Patrick Cantley, where I've bet Patrick Cantley for years. And at times he's come really close.

It always seems like Victor Hovland is hovering somewhere close to the top of the leaderboard. I put 33 bucks down to win $693. And here's my long shot. I go with the guy that has won a major championship before and not that long ago. I put $34 down on plus 8,000. It would pay out $2,754 on a Deky Matsuyama. So those are the three bets that I made outright winners for the open championship that does tee off coming up earlier, coming up tomorrow morning, early in the morning.

All right. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. So everyone discusses the running back position right now. And you hear from all the running backs about how we need to get paid, we need to get paid, we need to get paid. Hickey, I started to wonder how many running backs would I actually pay right now?

And the list wasn't that big as what I thought it was going to be. So you look at the AFC East. There's not a running back right now in the AFC East that I would give a long-term deal to. You know, Ramondre Stevenson's been a nice player for the Patriots.

Breece Hall was good until he got hurt. The Dolphins, it's running back by committee, and the Bills, they haven't figured out their running back position yet. So no one in the AFC East. In the AFC North, I know this guy already got paid, but I'd be comfortable paying him again. It's Nick Chubb. Outside of that, Najee Harris has to show me more. JK Dobbins, unfortunately, has been hit with the injury bug, and the Bengals just slashed the salary in half for Joe Mixon.

So one so far through two divisions. The AFC South, I like Travis ATN, but probably it's a no right now. He had a really good year last year. But the year prior to that, unfortunately, was hurt. You take a glance at the Titans, I would still give Derrick Henry money. I'd have no problem with that. You know, your guy Jonathan Taylor is going to get a big contract, and the Texans, I like Damian Pearson, what he did last year, but I'm not ready to go there.

And think about that. I just gave you three running backs so far through three divisions. Chubb, Derrick Henry, and Jonathan Taylor. And none of those teams we look at as Super Bowl contending teams. AFC West, I would also pay two running backs there.

The Chiefs are by committee. The Broncos, can't pay Javonte Williams right now. I would give the money to Austin Eckler, and I don't think there's a lot of wear and tear in that body.

Even though they used him a lot recently, but he had such a late start. And then Josh Jacobs, I know the first three years weren't great, but some questionable coaching decisions, they went all in with Josh Jacobs last year, and he was arguably the best running back in football. So when we look at the AFC, and that's just going through the whole AFC, there's only four running backs right now, or actually five, that I would pay. Nick Chubb, Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor, Austin Eckler, and Josh Jacobs.

Do you disagree with any of those? I would not pay Derrick Henry. I would just be fearful that all those carries are going to add up, but otherwise the other four I'm all in on. But here's the other thing, when it comes to, like if Derrick Henry got an extension now, where his age is at, probably like a three-year extension, right?

You would think? And like what, like 16, 17 guaranteed? I would kind of run the risk on that at this stage of Derrick Henry's career.

So those are the five that I just gave you. Now I'm going to go through the NFC, and I think my answer is going to surprise you. The Eagles, you don't have a running back that you would pay. Tony Pollard had a really good year, I wouldn't pay him right now. I think the Giants should have got the deal done, with it being $22 million to $24 million guarantee what they were fighting. But if I was like a different team, where Daniel Jones wasn't my quarterback, I'm not rushing to give Saquon Barkley big time money, because Saquon Barkley, he gets injured too much. So I would actually be fearful to pay Saquon.

The Commanders didn't have a back that you'd pay right now. Vikings not in that spot. Lions, they just drafted Jameer Gibbs. The Packers, I like Aaron Jones, but I don't need to give him an extension.

I think you could find a lot of people similar to Aaron Jones who are really good back, but I'm not going to go break the bank and the Bears you can forget about. Tampa Bay, no. Carolina, no. Saints, no. Atlanta, too early with Bijan Robinson. NFC West, too early on Kenneth Walker. Rams, no thank you. Cardinals, no thank you.

And I think this one will surprise you too. McCaffrey, he hasn't played a full season or anywhere close to a full season in four years with Christian McCaffrey. So I look at Christian McCaffrey as someone that as good as he is, and I know last year was different because, right, you had the whole trade that did go down.

So actually you could technically count last year as pretty close to a full season because he did get through 16 regular season games, but before that 2021-7, 2023, and then 2019 was the last time he played pretty much a full season, which was, well, instead of last year it was between two teams, but 2019 was 16 games played. As great as McCaffrey is, he's the highest back in the game. I think the world of Christian McCaffrey, but it's just been two hit or miss when it comes to injuries. So even though I love Christian McCaffrey, I'd probably avoid paying him as well.

Isn't that funny how that shakes out, Hickey? In the AFC, I give you five, but in the NFC, I give you zero running backs that I would pay. So that's the way that I look at it. Anyone that you object with? I know you said Derrick Henry.

Is there anyone that you think, okay, that you should pay? I would have paid Saquon. I would have paid Christian McCaffrey.

Okay. So McCaffrey, when healthy, is arguably the best back in football. Why would you pay Saquon, just wondering? I think he's worth it. I think that's a guy that I'm not, I think he'll be fine injury-wise. I think his production stands on its own where when he's healthy, he's very good.

I will take the risk. If he didn't go to Penn State, would you be saying that? Yeah. Nothing to do with the Penn State.

Okay. 2021 played 13 games. 2020 only played two games.

2019 played 13 games. That's a lot of money for a guy that I don't know if he's going to be able to get on the field. He's an awesome dude, carries himself in a great way, used running the ball right, and then it could be used as a threat in the past catching game.

I just don't know if I'd be willing to break the bank. The Giants kind of eventually have to, because I don't think anyone believes Daniel Jones is going to be a great quarterback. But the point is, even if you want, if I want to give you Saquon Barkley, a lot of those teams that we said we would pay the running backs for, none of those teams you look at and you say, wow, I'm really nervous about them going on a Super Bowl run.

And it kind of goes back to what we were saying yesterday, that it's not fair, but it's just the reality of the situation. The last 10 years, I know that Garrett Blount was solid, but there's only been really one dominant back to win a Super Bowl, and that was Marshawn Lynch. Outside of that, it was a bunch of different backs, whether it was Isaiah Pacheco or a bunch of the different backs that the New England Patriots had. You had Tony Michelle with the Rams and the Patriots being the leading rusher in the regular season for those two teams that did go end up winning the Super Bowl. If you pay big money to these backs, yes, their production is really awesome, but you wonder where else it affects you on this roster, where you could go allocate that money and go bring in like three different backs.

And you kind of go running back by committee, which is the way that in the last decade in the NFL, more times than not in the overall majority is kind of the formula to go on out and win a Super Bowl. All right, Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break as we have some training camps, open it up and more and more to follow. We will give you a little get ready for the season overreaction or proper reaction. Hickey has compiled a bunch of questions and I'll tell you if it's a proper reaction or an overreaction entering this 2023 NFL season. Coming on back.