Hurting For Approval (Hour 1)

Rakuten helps you be a smarter shopper and save money on just about everything you buy. We all have things we need to buy, whether it's home essentials or a self-care treat just for you. With Rakuten, you get cash back on clothes, groceries, travel, and much, much more.

Even better, you can stack cash back on top of other deals like store sales and credit card points. In case you're wondering, the stores on Rakuten are the ones you know and love and lots of cool ones waiting to be discovered like Overstock, Chewy, Dyson, Ulta Beauty, H&M, Asics, Moosejaw, I could go on and on, so many more. When it comes to savvy shopping and saving money, Rakuten is a no-brainer.

It's free and easy to join. Just go to Rakuten.com now or download the Rakuten app today. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N, Rakuten.

R-A-K-U-T-E-N, Rakuten.com, R-A-K-U-T-E-N, Rakuten.com. Oh, we're taking away all the blue checkmarks and that didn't happen for a decent amount of time. And then you woke up one day and if you had a blue checkmark, it was gone. So over the weekend, when I see that Twitter is going to change their logo to an X. And if you go to X.com, that directs you back to Twitter. I was like, is this serious?

And then I did find out and, you know, I don't see it on my app on my phone just because I haven't updated my app. But I logged on my laptop today and did fire up the cesspool that is X or Twitter, whatever it is. And there you see the big X. I don't know about you, by the way, Hot Take Kiki is back producing this fine extravaganza for the next four hours. Are you calling it Twitter?

Are you calling it X? Like, what are we supposed to do here? I know this is probably the blind leading the blind when I ask you for some some vision here.

But give me a little insight. I thought it was just the logo. So it's still Twitter dot com. But instead of the the white bird with the blue background, now it's just a clip art X. But I just typed in X.com and it goes right to Twitter.

Really? I don't know about you. And I know this is a bad branding decision. We'll see what happens with Twitter or X or whatever we're going to call it. When I think of X.com, I'm thinking X rated. I'm thinking something pornographic if we want to keep this not too dirty to open up a Monday edition of the Zach Gelb show right here on CBS Sports Radio. But when I first saw that, I'm like, oh, is Twitter now turning into a pornographic website?

And judging by some of the people that do comment on some of our posts, I may not be that far off. But that's what that was my first thought when I saw the logo, Hickey, that now Twitter is is X rated. That was my thought.

One stop shop. One guy's bitching about Anthony Richardson throwing a pic. The next guy is retweeting pictures and videos of some X rated stuff. Anthony Richardson throwing a pic.

I know that you're happy the Colts officially get the deal done. You're wearing the Anthony Richardson T-shirt that I gifted you. What does it say on that shirt that I got you once again? I can't really hear.

Well, it's supposed to be like air, but it's a our time. Oh, that's a decent shirt. I'd say it's OK, but it's better than the ultimate uniforms that you guys put out there. Anything's better than that.

So, yes. But how did you come up with Anthony Richardson throwing a pic in what you just said? Just because I'm wearing the T-shirt today, just on top of the brain. I didn't want to you know, I'm not going to be the Homer that some people think I am. So I just feel negative. And usually, again, negativity reigns supreme on Twitter.

So if I'm going to be mean tweeting or tweeting passionately, probably will be if he throws a pic. So I just said, oh, you know, that's there's some people tweeting about sports, others tweeting about other joys, if you want to call them that in life. Yeah.

All in one platform, by the way. I when I walked in today, I know you did go to the beach this weekend. Would you go Avalon, New Jersey, right? Yes, sir. I said you're very tan. And I was talking to you for about two hours before the start of the show. And I didn't notice this. Can you pick up that right hand of yours real quickly?

Is that a split? What happened? What was the injury? I talked to you for two hours.

I didn't realize this when you were typing away behind your desk. What happened this weekend? It is a splint. I may or may not have dislocated my middle finger and like the tough guy I am. Wait, did you think you saw me down at the shore and you were just flipping me the bird?

Is that what you were doing? I was in the midst of breaking the fastest swimming lap record in history. Michael Phelps would have been impressed.

It was an insane start off the blocks. I was swimming so fast in a chlorine pool without any goggles on late at night that I did not really know how fast I got to the wall. And as I'm going and finishing my final freestyle stroke, my hand comes down outside of the pool, slams on the edge of the pool and pops out of place. So you're not athletic whatsoever?

Well, I would disagree. If anything, I not only broke the world record for swimming and lap, also I popped it back in myself like the tough guy I am and did not see urgent care until today. This happened Saturday night. Inquiring minds just want to know, because you have developed this reputation, even Diaz pointed this out, that you are the bad boy of radio. After you walked out of the Rose Bowl this year, that irrelevant win for Penn State and you were as drunk as a skunk and no one could even understand what you were saying.

And you were like guaranteeing in some rant, maybe Penn State would be in the college football playoff this year and would win it all. I'm just going to assume here, Hickey on vacation, Hickey injuring his finger. You may have had too many drinks because the fact that I think this was a trip with with you and your buddies that you were on. If you're having this competitive late night swim, I'm going to assume that you were pretty liquored up. Is that a fair assumption? No, it is not, which is actually even more embarrassing.

I kind of wish I was. Yeah, this is pretty weak. But no, alcohol did not play a factor. So you were sober and you were competing against your friends to swim.

No, it was actually, this story is going to get really bad. So we were like getting we're just staying in at night and the party was kind of dead. Some people are tired. We're trying to play games, but it's kind of slow moving. And so it's a game where it's like we basically have a blank pizza box, you flip a coin and wherever it lands, if it's an open space, you write a rule. And if you land on a rule, you got to do the rule. So one of them was jump in the pool. I landed on it. Everyone's kind of dragging.

I said, you know what? I'm moving the spark plug here. I'm not only going to jump in the pool late at night, but I'm going to make a little bit of a scene to maybe get vibes going and get people kind of get the juices going.

Let's get the night going here. Because you swimming is really going to make everyone to turn into party animals. Well, one person did it and they kind of jumped to the pool, jumped out.

It was kind of like ho-hum. Okay, so I thought, you know, I'm going to do the spark plug. And so that is what kind of motivated me to not only jump in, but I'm going to, you know, make this sort of a spectacle. And so it's just me racing against myself in the pool. I could kind of just see I envision this hickey swimming so fast and then the typical high pitched hickey scream, let's go, let's turn up. And the next thing you slam your hand on the concrete and it's like, oh, mother bleeper, mother bleeper. And that's how I envision this. That's what I hope kind of happen. Not to sound tough, but this is actually what happened.

There's no screaming. It actually didn't really hurt that bad. And once I popped it back in, it was actually, outside of swelling, it's actually doing pretty well.

My biggest concern was that I didn't pop it in right and that I was going to cut off some blood vessels and maybe lose my middle finger, kind of like JPP. But thankfully, did not happen. Did you play with fireworks later that night too? No, I did not.

I did not. Jeez, what is up with people around here at CBS Sports Radio? Marash once slammed his finger in the door, pearl off a few weeks ago when I was filling in with him. He had his fingers taped together for some basketball injury.

And now hickey is sober, swimming in some fugazi fastest lap thing that he just completely made up. And I'm wondering how legit this story is. And yeah, what is it, a fracture? Dislocation?

No, just actually, thankfully, clean dislocation, no fracture, no break, no bone chip. Did you go to a doctor? Yes, I went today. I went today.

X-rays and everything. Wow. In urgent care? Yes.

Okay. Did you, you went to an actual urgent care facility, not like Peter Schwartz, as I once heard when he was going to a holiday party. Cut himself on something and went to a vet?

Like a pet vet? Mm-hmm. No way.

Yeah. Who is the guy? He used to work in Philly with me. The guy that I think replaced me or Marash in the, in the weekend overnights. Vince, Vince Quinn, Vince Quinn, I think was on his way to the holiday party and he saw Peter Schwartz on the street and Peter was like gushing blood.

I forgot the exact story. He went to a pet vet and thought that was going to help him? No, he, he like just needed something to get a bandage up.

And that was the first thing he saw. And they, you know, have things like, I guess, but no, I did not go to a veterinarian. I did not go to a horse specialist or a fish specialist. I went right to the source, the human specialist. Yeah. I'm sorry. You can't claim to be this big time athlete when you're suffering a little finger booboo swimming with your friends. I'm not, I'm not complaining. I didn't bring it up.

Well, the doctor gave him the splint. They said, you know, I don't, I can't be banging it. Plus I got a bachelor party too, cause I'm playing golf. So I really got to have this in heels and ready to go like banging it around. Oh, you said you can't be banging.

I was like banging it. You know, you have a bachelor party coming up. Two weeks. Yes, sir. So I gotta be ready to go and make sure that my middle finger.

Yes. Next Friday, the fourth Monday, the seventh. Where are you going? Scottsdale, Arizona.

Oh, Arizona baby record. And guess what time our tee time is. Are you playing golf?

1230. Oh, you, you guys are idiots. So we are out there. We are brave in the heat.

And again, I don't, I can't have my finger being dislocated while I'm trying to shoot a course record. Do you think this will be fun? This bachelor party? Oh yeah. Most bachelor parties are fun, but I'm just wondering how much fun your friends have after this whole swimming story that you just gave me.

Well, again, if anything, no, yes, it's going to be a lot of fun. You don't look good in this whole swimming situation. Stop trying to prop it up where you look like this hero here. I mean, I dislocated my finger. I popped it back in.

I think that's a good look. I was in the, yes. I mean, how it happened.

Sure. I mean, but we were playing a Frisbee game. It could have happened there. I think that would have been a worse look than me swimming a record. Not the end of the world. You didn't set any record.

What record are you talking about? I mean, I just was in that specific pool. No person has swam faster than I have.

So unofficially, but officially. Maybe, maybe when you go to this bachelor party, I'm going to get you some floaties. Just make sure everything's OK for you.

You walk around all of Scottsdale, Arizona and floaties. I promise you, I have learned a valuable lesson. I will not be doing that again.

I'm going forward. Get your hazmat suit. There's a pool at the house you're staying at. So get you some bubble wrap. It won't happen again.

Just unwrap your entire body so you can be OK. All right. We will get into this topic coming up in a little bit. I did not expect to spend 10 minutes open the show on hot take Hickey, but I'm sitting here. And this is just what happens on the radio. You could be talking to someone two hours before the show.

You don't notice something. The microphone goes on. The on air light goes on. And the next thing you know, I'm looking at Hickey and I go, why does he have a splint on his what?

What is that? Just your middle finger? You put a few fingers together.

No, no, just the middle finger. They're not taped up together and not have a whole hand. That's a cast. But many splint, nothing bigger than that. And the blood circulation is OK. We don't have to chop it off or anything like that. So far, so good.

The doctor said it looked good. Too bad. I was kind of hoping that we have to. So if you ever dislocate a finger, give me a call. I can do it. Popped it right back in.

No problem. So I want to start the show off with this PFF list. So I'll give you the appetizer and then we'll circle back to this conversation later on in the show. Pro football focus, which I always take pro football focus with a grain of salt. I think they give out some really good information. And then sometimes you watch someone ball out and they try to tell you that player is not good or you watch someone stink. And they try to tell you that player is like the greatest player ever. So these are the top 50 players in the NFL. I'm just going to give you the quarterbacks here. There were six quarterbacks in the top 50. Mahomes won, then Joe Burrow 10. I don't have a problem with that in terms of Mahomes being the best player in the league. And then them thinking that Burrow is the second best quarterback. But how do you put nine players in between them?

Like that doesn't make sense to me. Then they have Josh Allen as the 12th best player in the league. OK, if you want to tell me Mahomes, Burrow, Allen are the best three quarterbacks in football.

Tough to argue. After that, Justin Herbert, 35th best player in the league. Lamar Jackson, 41st. And then in 45th best player in the league, you have Aaron Rodgers.

So a few things there. I would not put Herbert or Lamar in front of Aaron Rodgers. I also think even though we did not have a great year last year, that we could say that there's 44 better players in the league than Aaron Rodgers.

But here's my biggest takeaway from it. Where the heck is Jalen Hurts? You can make a case that Jalen Hurts is the third best quarterback in football. But if you want to tell me it's Mahomes, Burrow, Allen, then Hurts, OK, I can live with it. But pro football focus not putting Jalen Hurts bare minimum the fourth or fifth best quarterback in football. But then also saying he's not a top 50 player.

That's an absolute joke. The guy's been a starting quarterback two years in the league, played MVP ball last year, has taken the Eagles to the playoffs twice. And oh, yeah, by the way, has gone to a Super Bowl and outplayed the best player in the league and Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl.

And you're going to tell me no disrespect to any of these guys because they're really good football players. That Jonathan Allen is on this top 50 list. That Deebo Samuels on this top 50 list. I like Andrew Thomas, but he's on the top 50 list over Jalen freaking Hurts. Lamar Jackson's one of unanimous MVP, has been healthy the last two years. Justin Herbert puts up really good regular season numbers, hasn't won squat in the playoffs. It is inconceivable to me how pro football focus tells you that Jalen Hurts isn't a top 50 player in the league. And I think it was Kimberly Martin from ESPN last week who said, oh, Jalen Hurts gets disrespected nationally.

I'm like, what? Because I think everyone views Jalen Hurts after the year he just had as a tremendous quarterback. Top five quarterback in the sport. But maybe we're way off on that. And maybe I was way off on that. Or pro football focus just gave you a really crappy list here.

It's either one or the other. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a time out. Jake Deloam's going to join us on the other side. We'll do a little first and goal previewing the Carolina Panthers at 8 20 p.m. Eastern, 5 20 p.m. Pacific.

My buddies actually were on a basher party this weekend. They ran into our guest that's going to be joining us to preview the Chicago Bears in Clay Harbor. So maybe he'll give us a story or two.

But my name did come up when my buddies ran into Marshall Harris, who's a longtime sportscaster in Philadelphia, now works in Chicago and Clay Harbor. So we'll preview the Bears coming up later with Clay. When we come on back, we're talking Panthers with Jake Deloam. The NFL season is inching closer and closer.

Who are the contenders and who are the pretenders? We have four downs to figure out your team's future. It's time now for first and goal on the Zach Gelb show. Alrighty, Carolina Panthers day. Let's bring in a man that did lead the Panthers to the Super Bowl, played quarterback for them for a bunch of years, and that's Jake Deloam, kind enough to join us.

Jake, always appreciate the time. How you been? I'm doing well and I'm doing even better because training camps are starting and it's getting closer. So when we look at Bryce Young, you played the position, you know what it's like to go win with the Panthers organization.

You guys had two different paths clearly. But what advice would you give to Bryce Young as he's getting ready to embark on year one in the National Football League? Well, listen, it's hard for me to give him advice. He's the first overall pick and I was undrafted and that took a little while. But I think the biggest thing is he's just got to continue to be himself and immerse himself in this football team, in this offense, and still get to know all the guys. And listen, the kid was the number one quarterback coming out of high school.

He was the number one overall pick. Obviously, he has something that works for him. So he needs to continue to do what he's doing and just kind of be exactly who he is. And the NFL is different. This is not college.

This is not high school. So just continue on the path that he's been on. He has a great work ethic, so we'll see if that can translate.

Certainly it has from high school to college and in the NFL. All reports, though, from the offseason, he's done a fabulous job. And I'm a proponent of if the quarterback is ready, you put him on the field as soon as possible.

I know some people disagree, but he's going to be the Panthers' starting quarterback. Do you think that's a mistake or maybe they should have waited a few weeks? You know what? That's so hard for me to say. I know I was not ready whatsoever. I could have never done that. And then you get a Peyton Manning who was like, absolutely, I needed to play. Was I ready? Maybe not, but it made me. It expedited my process in getting ready to play. So I think what he's shown in the offseason is that it was a really good grasp of the offense.

And it just felt like the time was right. And it doesn't seem like it was too big for him. And Andy Dalton, I think, has been a major player in all this. And Andy understands this role that he has taken on this year. He might have to play a lot of games.

He might have to play none whatsoever. And he understands where he's at in his career. So I think that's always great to have that in the room with someone like Bryce. But everything so far, he has shown that he is ready to move forward. And I look at the offense because part of that conversation is, is the quarterback ready and then does he have enough around him? I think the offensive line could be really good this year in Carolina. But you look elsewhere, they don't really have a number one wide receiver. And Miles Sanders had a solid season, a really good season last year.

But there's been some inconsistency problems there. How about the rest of the offense around Bryce Young here in year one? Well, listen, I do like our offensive line. But you do have to remember, Austin Corbett, who started every game for us last year at right guard, he tore an ACL the last game of the season. So he's going to be a little delayed in getting started to the season. But we do have some pieces on the offensive line.

I understand what you're saying. We do not have a number one. Our true number one wide receiver is now in Chicago in D.J. Moore.

But I think there is enough pieces around. Adam Seeland has come in and all indications are it's not a washed up Adam Seeland. And then you have D.J. Tark who's come in, who has some ability.

And I know he had a surgery in the offseason that has cleared up a lot of the issues that he has. Terrace Marshall, another one, a second round pick a few years ago, really made strides later part of the season. Jonathan Mingo, second round pick out of Ole Miss. Laviska Chenault is a guy that I'm very intrigued by.

Traded for right at the beginning of the season last year, showed some flashes. But I truly believe in this offense. We could be more of a horizontal type of offense instead of a vertical and kind of spread you out and kind of give you a lot of eye candy and get the ball to some of these playmakers. Hayden Hurst as a catching tight end. Certainly in Miles Sanders in the backfield.

Chuba Hubbard coming back. I truly believe there's enough pieces. I do understand the fact that there's not the typical number one wide receiver.

But there's a lot of good pieces that can really stress you. Jake Delom here with us. So what are your expectations here in year one for just Bryce Young as a quarterback? Well, listen, I'm very bullish. I said it last year. I thought this team had a chance to knock on the door to get into the playoffs. Did I think the team would start one in five and that rule would get fired and Baker Mayfield would be benched?

No, I didn't see that. But this team kind of turned it around and fought the good fight. Yes, I know the division was down. But I truly believe there's some pieces here on this football team. How quickly can Bryce get adjusted to life in the NFL that remains to be seen? But I think this is a wide open division that no one's in total control of this division. Tampa, everybody's waiting to see what's going to happen post Tom Brady era. And then New Orleans Saints, Derek Carr is coming in. I think that's probably the best roster, so to speak, in the NFC South. And I like what Atlanta has done.

I think they put the pieces around. The question mark is going to be the quarterback because they do have some great pieces on offense. But what will Bryce do? And everything, all indications from the offseason and things of that nature, that he's handled this extremely well. He's getting the offense down and it's difficult in the NFL. I think we all know that.

But nobody waits for you. And we open up with two division games back to back. So we'll find out early on.

Let's get to the next down. Jake Delome here with us. New coach in Carolina, like you just mentioned, Frank Reich, who's been in the NFL for a long time. The last two years didn't go his way with the Colts that led to his firing. What does Frank Reich bring to this football team? I think he brings some experience of a head coach who's had some success in this league. Both as a player, longtime player, longtime assistant coach, and certainly as a head coach.

In India, I believe he had five quarterbacks five different years in a row. So hopefully consistency at the quarterback position. But I think Frank brings kind of a true professionalism. He's a true pro as a player and he's a pro as a coach. But I just think the staff that he's been able to build.

I'm a big fan of it. Yes, we all know Frank has his ties on offense. But having a Jim Caldwell as your senior assistant on the offensive side of the ball. Dom Capers as your senior assistant to go with a budding superstar. And EJ, Coach Everill, as our defensive coordinator.

So I think we have really, really good pieces that are there. Josh McCown, another longtime veteran who played forever in the NFL. One of my ex-teammates in the quarterback room. A young Thomas Brown who's considered an up-and-comer being the offensive coordinator. And we're mixing in a lot of the Sean McVeigh-ish type of plays. Frank's not bullish to say, we're only going to run my offense. There's going to be different ideas coming from different offenses. And they're going to put what they think is best for the Carolina Panthers.

So I really like our staff. I like what we've done. I think we have some pieces. Are we totally there yet? In my opinion of a Super Bowl type of roster, I don't think we're there yet. I think we're marching towards that.

I truly believe that. Whereas the last few years, I can't say that I saw that happening. Let's get to the next down. Let's get to the defensive side of the ball. You've got Derek Brown, who's a really good player. Brian Burns, I know he had some surgery, but we know what he's capable of.

Shaq Thomas is solid. You hope that J.C. Horn can stay healthy. How are you kind of evaluating this defense heading into the season, Jake?

Well, I think he hit it on the head. Derek Brown really kind of came into his own last year and was shown why. He was a top-ten pick. Brian Burns is an elite pass rusher. I'm a little worried about where we're at on the other side of the line of scrimmage, on the other side of Brian Burns.

I think we're kind of lacking in that regard. I wouldn't be surprised if there could be a signing at some point to help there. We're fairly young at linebacker. Getting Shaq Thompson back, in my opinion, was very big for this team. And on the back end, you have to get a healthy J.C. Horn. He's healthy. I think he's in elite corner. Dontae Jackson coming back from an Achilles injury. He suffered early last year. And Jeremy Chin, I think he's kind of the wild card. Jeremy Chin is this big safety, this big, massive safety, who I truly believe is really good near the football.

He played more deep last year, and I think he disrupts more when he's closer to the football. So getting a Von Bell over from Cincinnati out of one of the safeties, David Woods, who was there last year, having those two back there, and allowing Chin possibly to come closer to the football, I think that's going to help us out. But certainly, we need to stay healthy.

Burns needs to stay healthy, and Derrick Brown, because we're lacking a little bit more on the other side, on the defensive side, defensive end. And let's get to the final down. So Jake, I know that we were talking about this division earlier. It's not a good division on paper. Last year we know Brady and company, Brady's no longer with the Bucs, won this division at eight and nine. The other three teams were all seven and ten. I think most people, like we were kind of talking about, and what you said in the past, they're going to pick the Saints just because they have the best quarterback right now in the division in Derek Carr.

But I kind of want to go a different way. I don't like the Saints to win this division, because I think everyone's going to pick them. And they're banking on a lot of guys to be healthy as well. I'll take my chances with the other three teams in this division. I did a Sports Minute last week saying it was going to be Atlanta.

But how about yourself? Who do you go with to win this division? Oh, listen, I'm bullish on Carolina.

I'm bullish on this team. I understand that's asking a lot for a rookie quarterback, a number one overall pick. But I just don't think this number one overall pick came to a number one roster pick. What I mean is that usually a team picking first, it's a bad roster. This team is not good. But we have to trade up a lot of pieces to be able to get there. This is not a bottom-of-the-barrel roster. I truly believe we have enough pieces there.

And if the ball can bounce our way, who knows what can happen. The Saints, you're right. They need to stay healthy, especially up front on the offensive line and depth-wise, linebacker-wise. There's not a lot of depth that they have at linebacker-wise. Tampa, that's the wild card. We're just not exactly sure how that's going to play out in Atlanta.

I love the weapons. I like some of the signings. I like what Terry Fontenot is doing there. But the question mark is Ritter, is the quarterback. We don't know. I mean, if you don't have a quarterback in this league, it's kind of hard to play really good football. Arthur Smith does a great job of running the football, manipulating plays for his quarterback. So Ritter is going to be the question mark there. Do you believe in Baker Mayfield? I know you got to see him a little bit last year.

Tough situation thrown into the fire late. I know you said he's a wild card, right? That Tampa team's a wild card. What are kind of your thoughts, Jake Delom and Baker? Listen, I followed Baker, you know, when he was in Cleveland and certainly when he came to Carolina, and I thought that he could have really done some good things. But I just think we started out poor last year, and it could have been a lot with Matt Ruhle, and I'm not exactly sure what was going on there.

It just never seemed like there was a cohesive unit. The whole football team. And then we're one and five, and I know he had to battle some injuries, play through a high ankle sprain, and then showed up and played a couple of good games and then got hurt. And then P.J.

Walker came in, and then Sam Darnall came back, and then they get released. It was unfortunate because he did everything the right way, and the players loved him. And he gets an opportunity with the Rams and really does a good job, a limited opportunity. So the talent there for Baker, he has a lot of weapons to throw to in Tampa Bay. I think that will help him tremendously. It's a solid run game to go along with the defense.

I think he can play some good football, but it remains to be seen. The last couple of years have been a little difficult for him, and I know he's looking for a fresh start and possibly a home for a while. He's Jake Delum. Jake, always great to catch up with you. Appreciate you doing this. All right, Zach.

Take care. There he is, Jake Delum, joining us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Let's get into some quarterbacks that we don't believe in for this upcoming season. I kind of gave away one of my answers when discussing the Saints with Jake, so we'll give you a few more names on the other side.

It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. So we just had Jake Delum on, and we're previewing right the NFC South, and we're going through all those teams, and there's a lot of question marks at the quarterback position. And I do believe that most people are going to say, hey, the New Orleans Saints are going to win that division. Like, Hickey, if we did a poll right now, you would think the majority of people would take the Saints to win that division in the NFC South. I wouldn't say overwhelming, like 75%, but I would say, yes, the Saints would win that out of the four for sure. And I can't feel all that confident with the New Orleans Saints because, yes, they do have talent.

Don't get me wrong. You look at that division, Derek Carr is the best quarterback right now entering the season. Michael Thomas is never healthy.

Crystal Lavay is really good. I don't know what the suspension's going to end up being for Alvin Kamara, if there is even going to be one at all. So we'll find out on that front. And defensively, it's still anchored by Cam Jordan, and you got Marshawn Lattimore and the Honey Badger. On the back end, so you have some names, but I can't tell you that I love Dennis Allen as a head coach, and quite frankly, I don't love Derek Carr as a quarterback. Derek Carr is a solid quarterback. Derek Carr is one of those guys, he could look like a top 10 quarterback at times, but he's probably more so at best in that 12 to 15 range. And Derek Carr is too inconsistent for me. And whenever you think he's taking that step, and I've said this a thousand times on this show, to going into and solidifying himself as a top 10 quarterback, whenever he looks like there's a shot of that happening, because there's some good with Derek Carr, he falls flat on his face. So going into this year, it should be a layup for him to win this division. When you look at Tampa Bay, they're trusting Baker Mayfield. I like Bryce Young, both of us like Bryce Young.

But he still is a rookie quarterback in this league. And Atlanta, even though they're my pick to win the NFC South, and I think they have a good roster and some good names, Desmond Ritter could stink. And if Desmond Ritter stinks, I don't care what names you have, if you can't get average quarterback play at best, it's gonna be tough for you to even get to eight and nine and win that division, which very well could win that division this year. And I think eight and nine will win that division. Not a lot, but if you get eight wins in that division, you have a decent shot of winning that division. But I look at the Saints, it's just, I think a decent amount of people are gonna pick them to win the division.

I don't think it's an overwhelming majority. You're probably right where it's like 90%, but I do think it's somewhere in the 70 or high 60 percentile range, and not trusting their coach, not loving their quarterback, and how many injuries they usually do pile up. I can't tell you that that's a team where if you wanna get a little bit funky, if you wanna go with a different division winner, I don't think it really makes sense to pick the Saints to win the division this year, because if you go through the AFC and the NFC, like we all know that in the AFC North, everyone's gonna pick the Bengals. In the AFC South, everyone's gonna pick the Jaguars. In the AFC West, everyone's gonna pick the Kansas City Chiefs. The AFC East gets interesting this year. NFC East, I think most people will pick Philadelphia. North, I think the conversation right now with most people is Lions or Vikings. NFC West, most people are gonna pick the 49ers.

So there's not a lot of room for creativity. I think the South hickey is the division that allows you to get creative, and when you make predictions, it's supposed to be fun, and I'm not saying that you just make predictions blindly and you pick a team that's gonna project that three wins, but I can't feel great about any of those teams in the AFC South. So when a lot of people are telling me, go New Orleans, go New Orleans, go New Orleans, I'll go the other way, because A, I don't love the quarterback, and B, I can't tell you that I have a tremendous amount of confidence in Dennis Allen, who probably should not be an NFL head coach in the league. And you look, too, last year, all four teams had a legitimate chance in week 15, right, to win that division, and I would argue all four teams in one way or another upgraded their... Okay, the Buccaneers are a little tough, because obviously you can't upgrade much from Tom Brady, so three of the four teams, at least I'll say, upgraded in some capacity. Their quarterback, Desmond Rutter, will say a little bit more familiarity and comfort, and now he has the full reigns. But Mariota was the most part to start in there last year.

Right, right. So you think, okay, another year, now you should be better, and Mariota didn't exactly, you know, end on the best terms either. So, yeah, I think this is by far the most wide-open division, and I think you can truly... Now, again, maybe the Buccaneers, I know I'm a little more optimistic than others, but I think you can truly make a case for all four teams as to why they can win the division, and it's not insane.

It's not crazy. I don't think the Bucs are going to be the division champions, because they struggled to win that division last year. They struggled to get to eight wins last year with Brady as their quarterback, and I don't believe in Baker Mayfield anymore. So with all those other teams that were 7 and 10 last year, and for the most part making improvements, not that it always works this way, but I think that at least one of those teams that were 7 and 10 last year will find a way to be better than Tampa Bay this upcoming season, but I'll give you two other quarterbacks that I don't really believe in this year, Carr being one of them. Dak Prescott.

I think Dak could have a really good regular season, but come playoff time, he's got to take his game to the next level, and I know the interceptions have increased, and there's been a bunch of injuries the last few years, but the last two times we've seen Dak Prescott in the postseason, he's failed, and I know you could chalk it up to and take away the Tampa Bay game. I'm talking about the two final games up against San Francisco. You could say, oh, San Francisco has this great defense, but Dallas has great defense too, and it wasn't as if he had to be Superman. He just couldn't throw away the game, and in the first time they met up in the postseason, he couldn't even snap the ball off. If you want to blame that on Kellen Moore and Mike McCarthy and how clumsy they were, okay, but still, you'd think a quarterback should be able to run that play, and I think it took him too long to slide and all that, and last year, I actually think, Hickey, the loss last year was actually worse than the one even at home two years ago in the wild card round because last year, I know they're going into San Francisco, but they're coming off the high of finally beating Brady, getting that win even though they're the lowly eight and nine Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and you have them on the ropes. I actually think, yeah, Philadelphia was that Saturday night game.

Philadelphia was against the Giants, so that was a Sunday game. It was a Sunday afternoon game, so you had a chance to go up against a team that you split with, and I know Philadelphia is perceived to be a better team, but you had an opportunity to go into Philadelphia, and the 49ers defensively were equal where you were at defensively, and you let an offense that I know on paper San Francisco has this great offense, but they didn't play great that day, and the moment Tony Pollard went out, your quarterback couldn't elevate the game, so I really look back at that one even though it was on the road in a tougher environment as worse because that other game was so up and down. This game was really a game of tug of war all throughout, and it was a stalemate, and Dak just continued to screw up that game.

I still think two years ago it was worse because I'll be honest, last year, and if you remember, now it didn't go exactly as I thought, but I thought it was going to be the biggest blowout of that weekend. And I was believing in Dallas. I picked Dallas to go to Philly and get to that NFC title game. I never believe in Dallas, but I thought Dallas could win that game. My belief in Dak at that point was gone, whereas two years ago, it still was there, or at least still I was not, I was open to maybe believing in Dak Prescott more than I was last year, and you're at home two years ago, you still have a Mark Cooper there, you have at least in theory a better offense around you to put up more points, and obviously, as we know, it wasn't just the final play where you slightly don't get that ball, the snap-off in time.

It's also that entire game. It was kind of up for grabs, and they kind of didn't do anything to go get it. It's two years in a row it happened, but I thought the defense last year in San Francisco was a little bit better. You're on the road, team's a little bit less talented, and by that point, I said last year, I just, I gave up on Dak, so I didn't even expect him to have the Cowboys in the game. But even with you giving up on them and not thinking much of them, they had every opportunity to beat one of the better teams in the league, and the quarterback failed them.

So that's why I think it even further enhanced my case based off your explanation, and the other thing I'll say, I never thought about it this way, and maybe we talked about this in the moment. What was the worst final play? Was it the crazy snap? I think it was Zeke who snapped the ball, right?

The turpin, I'm pretty sure, if memory serves me right? Or was it the Cowboys not being able to snap the ball? Still worse not getting the ball off, because that was like, I never had their old 20-yard line. I know, but the design of that, I don't know what they were doing.

The old okie doke, I guess. Maybe Mike McCarthy thought, oh, I'll fool this defense. They like, I don't know, blitz 11 guys, because Zeke is playing center, and just forget to cover the other four wide receivers. Yeah, which is crazy how that's the final snap for Ezekiel Elliott in the Cowboys uniform, assuming he doesn't come on back, which I told you a week after that release, I was like, don't be surprised if Jerry Jones, if there's no market for the guy, ends up bringing him back. And one more quarterback I don't believe in this upcoming year, Jimmy Garoppolo. I know he got hurt last year, so maybe he'll be healthy this year, and I know Jimmy G has won a lot of games, and you have some talent.

We'll see if Josh Jacobs plays this year. You have Devante Adams as well, but I just have an impossible time seeing us walking away from the end of the year, praising the Raiders, and if that's gonna be the case, Jimmy Garoppolo is gonna have to be better than average, and I think at best he's an above average quarterback, and he went from being in an ideal situation in San Francisco to, even though there's talent with the Raiders, it is a situation which at best you could tell me is a questionable situation with the Raiders, and that's probably being extremely benevolent. Who's some quarterbacks that you don't believe in this year, Hickey? I'm gonna say in terms of meeting the hype and even taking the scene in the playoffs, I'm gonna go Aaron Rodgers.

Wow. I am not bullish on Aaron Rodgers this year, specifically year number one in New York. I still think there's a lot of kinks that he's gotta work out where it's not gonna be as smooth and as explosive as many people think. Jets fans, get ready. You're locked now to make the playoffs because Hickey said you guys are gonna stay. Your Super Bowl tickets, now get them while you can. Well, I'm not going that far, but I do think the Jets will definitely be a playoff team this year. I'll say Geno Smith, I'm right now very skeptical that two years in a row he's gonna be able to put up the same production and lead this team back to the Super Bowl, even though I feel so offensively, a lot of talent around him. And here's another one.

And a great coach. You can't slight Pete Carroll again. No, absolutely not.

I will not do that. I don't know if I'm being too ahead here, but I did see something from USA Today that had the Steelers going 11-6. I'm gonna go Kenny Pickett. I don't think a big second-year jump or Kenny Pickett coming to his own this year is gonna happen.

I'm very skeptical on him. I like their roster, but I will say the one knockie here on Kenny Pickett is his small hands. His hands are in better shape today than yours as you're wearing a splint right now after suffering some fugazi pool injury over the weekend. Good thing I am not a quarterback because that would be all over the talk scene today. I wouldn't need guys like you ripping me because I was in a pool swimming and now I can't throw a football for a few weeks. Yeah, you would be undraftable if this was right before the draft.

I could not draft you getting injured in the pool. Yeah, toughness isn't there. Awareness isn't there.

I would have a lot of questions. Toughness is there. I snapped it back myself. Stop. Awareness, fine. Toughness is there.

I snapped it back myself. That doesn't sound tough. If we're being real. Zach Kelp shows CBS Sports Radio. Matt Leflore expectations next.