NFL Rookie Expectations (Hour 3)

Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports. Which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on? Offside, defense number 69.

It's Onsides, Offsides with Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio. This portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial. Stuck in a timeshare and one out. Contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at WesleyFinancialGroup.com.

Hexler? Zach, Chiefs R-World defensive tackle Chris Jones is doing the unthinkable in the modern NFL and that is holding out of training camp looking for a new deal. Don't you get fined like $40,000 or $50,000 a day? $50,000 a day and the team used to be able to cover it back in the old days.

No more. So whether it gets a new deal or not, I'm sure he'll get paid happily and you're not going to cry over I don't know, 300k missed if you missed a week or so. If you're getting $30 million a year, but that money is gone forever. But wouldn't you just go in to training camp and then just say, oh my back hurts and hold in and you still aren't going to have to pay the team this ridiculous fine?

That's why I worded it the way I did. He's doing the unthinkable. That's crazy to me. You can hold in nowadays. No one has ever hold it out with the new CBA. And here's Chris Jones saying, take my money. I don't care.

And what do you think is a bigger distraction? I would argue if the guy is there and holding in because not that he'll be out of sight out of mind because this is going to be a major talking point that Chris Jones is not there because what is there really to bring up with the Kansas City Chiefs? They just won another championship.

You got Patrick Mahomes. It's not as if it's a juicy team in terms of storylines. It's always going to get talked about.

And I'm not saying after a week, this just goes away. But if he's there like walking through the locker room a little bit, you know, maybe does an interview with the media or something like that. Isn't that more effective than than not showing up?

I think in today's day and age, because no one ever holds out. I think that because it's so different is a bigger story because he's not here. We don't see him show back up can freak out because he's not, you know, at least you can say, oh, even if he's not practicing and he's walking through the reps during the meetings, you're still learning about the scheme now until he's not even there at all.

Maybe kind of ups the angst a little bit, which I'm sure is what he's looking for and why he's doing, like we said, the unthinkable and losing a lot of money to pull off a stunt to try to get new contract. If I was, let's say a reporter in Kansas City, you know where I would be right now? You know, I'd be camped out outside his garage.

Nope. Driveway. I forget who this was for. I think it was my homes. I would be camped outside the champagne store. Remember that report? Yeah. Where's the lady at the champagne store who worked there said a few people from the Chiefs just walked in and brought a, a, a bunch of really expensive bottles of champagne.

The liquor store employees get them on the line. Now, I don't know if you're popping champagne, if this guy's is holding out, but I, I, I think that's your best source on this situation. If there's going to be anything that gets rectified, the champagne lady in Kansas City, he's what the third best player in that teams. You're probably popping champagne.

If they get a new deal done over a holdout though, it gets a little contentious. I don't know if you're celebrating at the end of the day. Well, end of the day, he's on the team.

You're happy. I mean the team, they want him. It's not like they don't want him.

I would say that champagne worthy, but all right. Either way, he's looking for a very high price tag. According to the athletic, the four time pro bowlers look to be paid at least $30 million per season, which would be the second highest paid player at his position. Only behind Aaron Donald, who's currently making $31.6 million per year. Currently right now, zero chiefs are the highest paid player at their respective position on sides or off sides. The chiefs should pay Chris Jones at least $30 million a year. I think that's his asking price, but I think he'll come down on that.

I'm going to say off side. So you mentioned Aaron Donald at 31.6 million after that in the top five. And a lot of these deals are new deals, Quinn and Williams, new deal, 24 million a year. Jeffrey Simmons, $23.5 million a year. Daron Payne, new deal, $22.5 million. And Dexter Lawrence, new deal, $21.8 million.

I don't think there's, well, you could make a case because it's kind of like quarterback. You don't have to be the best, but then you could be the highest paid, but I would think you got to be like two or three. I don't think you need to get to 30, but you'll probably have to exceed somewhere in the Quinn and Williams and Jeffrey Simmons range of like 23, 24 million. So you got like 26, 27. I think there's a way to get this thing done and get it solved.

And you wonder how you're going to spread it out and all that other stuff. Carolina Panthers franchise legend Jake Deloam believes heading into the 2023 season, one team has a major advantage in the NFC South. Appearing on Sports Talk with Bobby Herbert, Deloam discussed why he thinks the Saints with Derek Carr have a massive advantage in their division.

Oh, I think it's a huge advantage. Listen, I was a big believer in this Saints roster last year, and I just believe they had some injury issues. I just thought they had a really good roster, and I still think the job that Mickey has done is pretty remarkable, to be quite honest.

And they still have some good players. Listen, this division's wide open. I think Atlanta has done some good things, but I still think there's time that they still need to add some more pieces, especially up front on the defensive line.

Tampa, listen, I'm not so sure about Tampa, to be quite honest with you. I think that this team could struggle. So I think the Saints have, you know, the upper hand right now with the roster and certainly the veteran quarterback. All right, so on sides or off sides, these Saints on paper, in your mind are at least two wins better than every other team in the division. This division stinks. I don't see, even if the Saints have the upper hand, how anyone could argue right now that the Saints are two wins better than every other team in the division. This is a god-awful division, but I'll go offside.

Offside. Because you have a lot of guys that on paper are good players, but they're never healthy. And Derek Carr is a wild card, where he's a good quarterback. He's a solid quarterback, but whenever there's expectations on him and you expect him to take that next step, he doesn't do it. And if you can't win the NFC Cup this year, geez Louise, man, do you really, I don't want to hear anything about a redemption tour or how Derek Carr is underrated and he's overlooked by everyone. Give me a break. And Eric Eager from Sumersport said the best line. He goes, as a Chiefs fan, whenever I have expectations of Derek Carr, I think, or I'm being told that Derek Carr is going to win the division, I always go the other way because I'll never pick that guy to win a division. But hey, he does have the second week of February circle in his calendar. I'll be in Las Vegas.

I met his teammates. So take that, I guess if you will. All right.

What are you requesting? Day pass at the super bowl this year for radio row. I guess that counts, right? He'll be in Vegas. He thinks he'll be playing in the game. Maybe we'll go to a pool party with Derek Carr when we hopefully go to the super bowl this year on radio row.

Honestly, you know what? I'm jumping off a diving board, catching, passing him into the pool. I'll do it.

Please don't you do it. A pool party. You sit on a day bed, you drink and you eat chicken fingers. What I'll be doing is drinking then running to the diving board and be all right, Derek hit me.

Third, third and 10 super rule on the line. I'm sorry. I'm going deep. Hit me.

I would have to do that. I can't trust you because after hearing how you suffered a little hand injury in the pool this weekend, swimming in your fractured or had something go on, dislocated your finger. I would not trust you to catch passes from Derek. Here I am back working.

No big deal. If I fractured my finger there, I think I would still go back in the pool and catch passes. Still, if you took off because you w what the heck did you finger again? Dislocated, dislocated.

I don't know why they can't register my brain. That would be the weakest thing ever. Well, I didn't tough guy. You probably thought about it though. No, wait, I'm tough.

All right. I'm tough. I never would have thought about taking off.

Never even crossed my mind. If you're tough on the sexiest looking man on this planet and we all know that's not the case. I barely went to the doctor. That's how tough I am. You went to the emergency room. No, no, it's not the emergency room. I didn't go to the hospital. Went to the lesser. You were sucking your thumb.

Lauren, what should I do? My finger hurts. I didn't want to go. I said, I'll be fine. I'll be fine. And here I am. Fine.

All right, let's go up to your neck of the woods. Boston, our Odyssey station, our Odyssey sports station, WEEI on Friday posted an interesting poll to their fans on Twitter and or X. Would you trade Bill Belichick for multiple first round picks? The answer, 3,500 votes from Patriots fans was 63.9%.

Yes. 36.1% saying no. So majority 70% basically said they would trade Bill Belichick for multiple first round picks. So I ask you that question on sides or off sides, you Zach Elb would trade Bill Belichick for two first round picks. And this will be after the season? After 2023. Now how does this season play out?

I don't know. So let's just say right now, some team offers you right now today two first round picks for Bill Belichick. I love Bill Belichick, but I actually do this. Bill in April is going to be 72.

He ain't getting any younger. I would trade two first round picks to hopefully a bad team and a desperate team. And you could kind of figure out the rest of this roster in the NFL draft. So I would go on sides on that one. All righty. All right.

Despite building trust, I love Bill Belichick, but do your job, do your job, do your job. Nice knowing you do your job. Well, do your job as always do your job for life do. Oh no.

So I was going to do the chat. It was no days off. No days off.

Do your job better than Hickey in the swimming pool. It's all I'll say. Well, I was flying.

I will say a lot of speed coming out that wall shot a camera to see that it was flying. I don't get what's up with you producers, how you guys think like you're all these great athletes. It's amazing. You producers.

Yeah. All every producer at CBS Sports Radio thinks that these tremendous athletes who, well, morass used to be, I used to think he's tremendous athlete. You're now having that kind of a syndrome go down as well, where you think you're like the greatest athlete athlete ever still Kovacs, you know, got a little bit leaner and all of a sudden he thinks he's like Pele on a, on a soccer pitch.

You guys are crazy. All of you, or maybe just super athletic. Maybe the producers are showing his, join a sports league and we'll dominate that sport. You know, the two most athletic producers are here at CBS Sports Radio.

Me and who? Shep. He did run the New York city marathon and beat Tiki Barber. And I don't think he trained for it.

I think he'd loaded his world cup said I'm going to run today and then ran to this studio to do my own football shift. Yes. Which is crazy.

Insane. And I think D cell would kick ass. I mean, in a fight.

Absolutely. He would kick my ass. I think he's more athletic than you.

I would not say I would not use the word athletic. He's definitely got a wrestling background. Strong. Absolutely. He's definitely got a wrestling background.

Wanting to hurt someone. He absolutely has that more than I do. So he's more motivated.

We'll say than me. He's not wearing a splint on his finger. If he had a little injury in the pool and he sells tough, you're not like you he's tough. I'm not wearing this because I want to wear it.

I'm wearing it because I gotta be healed on set or off side. I should ask a bill writer. I'll trade him Hickey and two first round picks to get diesel now. You think you do that?

You think bill will do that? Well, this is, this is a no win for me here. I'm a valuable commodity. All right.

Seeing a valuable commodities, I guess me and Jalen hurts are both in the same vein here because Hey spike, would you approve the trade to first round picks and a Hickey? And I ended up getting diesel. Yes, sir. We'll prove it. All right, good.

Nice knowing you press conference coming up in two hours. I would argue not enough for me. Nowhere close. Should be the other way around.

All right, go ahead. But Jalen hurts played in the super bowl, right? Second in MVP voting last season yet still does not get the respect that he maybe should deserve. Pro football focus released their list of the top 50 players heading to this season. Guess where hurts ranked in that top 50 list. It wasn't on it. Boom, boom.

That's right. Not in the top 50 morons list. Six quarterbacks though in the league were on that top 50 list. None with the name Jalen hurts.

Last week, ESPN pulled NFL personnel throughout the league to record their top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL. They Jalen hurts sixth out of QBs on sides or off sides Jalen hurts is being disrespected heading into 2023. So last week I would have said no and I would have thought this question is ridiculous because I don't think he's disrespected. I think the world of Jalen hurts but on any list at best, you probably make the case that he should be the third best quarterback in the sport at worst fifth how pro football focus didn't even put him in a top 50 player in the league and ESPN said in personnel he's ranked the six. Maybe he's getting more disrespected than I thought because hurts played the best game at anybody in the Super Bowl and that feature Patrick Mahomes. So yeah, I guess Jalen hurts is getting disrespected on sides and you know, he loves that rat poison. Oh loves it Eagles fans. Nick Sirani should be rejoicing.

Put out more rankings, put up more lists only fuels the fire for a guy who doesn't really need it either, but definitely does not hurt. Oh, you know, Sirian is going to go to bat for his guy at training camp with the Eagles. This will definitely be asked about this will be a big story in Philadelphia. And you know what? Again, if you're Eagles fans, you should be eating it up.

This is exactly what you want. Finally, speaking of exactly what you want the Raiders and their fans can let out a collective sigh relief because Jimmy Garoppolo is going to participate in training camp. He did pass his physical. Now, if you go back a few months ago in March, there was addendums made to his contract because Garoppolo still was not fully healed from his foot surgery, even in foot surgery after he signed the contract back in March, but now all healed up ready to go for his career. Garoppolo has started an entire season one time back in 2019. So on sides or off sides, Jimmy Garoppolo will start at least 15 games for the Raiders this season. Offside.

Offside. I know that there was an injury that I thought was overblown. Like he was never going to not be able to pass the physical and then get cut. And I know they changed the contract. So I don't want to make it seem as if it was nothing.

And you know, the surgery and all that. But this guy's always hurt. So I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I fully believe that he's going to be perfectly healthy this year and play at least 15 games this season. So I'll bet against the Raiders and Jimmy G on this one. We'll take a break. We'll come on back. We'll do a little first and goal with preview the Bears with Clay Harbor. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. 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, time to preview the Bears and we'll do so with Clay Harbor, former NFL tight end kind enough to join us right now. Clay, how you been? I'm great man. I'm over here in Chicago. It's a, it's actually pretty warm out here.

We know a winter is coming as they would say in game of Thrones, but right now, it's a beautiful night here in the city and important. Well, I got to apologize to you cause I heard my buddies were bugging you while they're on a bachelor party this week and they ran into you and Marshall Harris and you guys ended up buying them shots. So, so I thank you, but I thought it was very lame out there. Just like, Oh, it's Clay, Marshall Harris, you know, Zach Gelb. And you guys ended up, I guess, hitting it off. Oh yeah. There are a good group of guys in Mark. I don't want to tell on Marshall here, but he recognized and he goes, Hey, this guy's wearing Delilah shirt and Delilah's a club from Philadelphia. Oh man.

How'd you know that Mark? I guess I had Clay Harbor here with us, but we're having trouble hearing Clay just a little bit. Let's hope you guys can hear me now.

Now we hear you perfectly. So there we go. Let's get the conversations away from the strip clubs and my dopey buddies and let's get to Justin Fields. He expects to be a 4,000 yard passer this year. We know last year he ran for a thousand yards from a number standpoint. What do you kind of expect from Justin Fields this season? I would be blown away if he gets to 4,000, I think he's going to improve. I think 3000 is a good number for him. Obviously he has a lot more weapons this year. I'll let DJ more. A guy who's been over 100 yards in a three seasons and that would be over, that'd be half of the money at last year. I mean, let's see.

Thank you. Let's see if we get Clay back up and we'll try to continue this segment. I know we're just having trouble hearing Clay Harbor, the former NFL tight end, unfortunate, but Hey, this is a part of radio.

Things like that does happen, but I think Clay, from what he was trying to say is pretty much right. Where last year he had 2,242 yards. So it's nice of Justin Fields to have these big expectations, but the idea of him probably throwing for 4,000 yards this year, that means you're gonna be running the ball significantly less.

And if that's the case, then it's okay, you getting the best version out of Justin Fields. But a big part for the Bears quarterback this year is now he's in a position where you think he can succeed, where he has more around him. I think we have Clay back with us. Clay, just kind of go back to what you were saying about expectations this year for Fields from a number standpoint.

Hopefully you stay connected. Like Justin Fields will be with his receivers. Very connected this year. I think he'll do a better job, but saying he goes from 2,200 yards to 4,000, I think that's just a huge ask. I think 3,000 would be a better number, 4,000 would be a better option for Fields to have said. And I know he's got better receivers a lot. DJ Moore, a guy who's been over 1,100 yards three times in his career. Cole Kometz been a guy that's been a weapon. Darnell Mooney, a guy has had over a thousand yards before Chase Claypool's gotten close.

So he has the weapon to do it. Robert Tanyan, some guys out the backfield, Khalil Herbert, Roshan Johnson. He's got some weapons and a better offensive line. So I think he will get better, but 4,000 I think is asking a little bit too much because I believe the Bears aren't just going to start throwing it every down. There's still going to be a running team this season. Do you think at the end of this Bears season Bears fans will finally feel confident about the quarterback position because you know they've been looking for a quarterback forever? Man, I hope so. I can't go into another off season with all the talk if we found our guy. Is he the guy?

We need to know. I think that's what Ryan Foles did this season. He said, Hey, we're going to invest in the O-line. We're going to get him a couple of receivers. He chased Claypool last year, obviously mid-season and then bringing in DJ Moore and drafting Tim Scott. So Tyler Scott. So I think he's done enough to give Justin Fields a fair shake after this year.

You're going to know if he's a guy or isn't. That's all you can ask for because you got to remember you got extra picks going into next season. So you'll have two first round pick and a second round pick next year to use that capital. If you need it on one of these big time quarterbacks coming out, hopefully we don't have to go there. I think Field is the guy. I think he'll improve. You look at him from week six to week 16. He was the fourth rated QBR in the entire league at 13 touchdowns, six interceptions, was much better than he started the season. I think that's the field we're going to see this year.

Did you like the decision? I did at the draft to stick with Fields, not draft a younger quarterback and pick up those assets like you were talking about. I think so, because you've seen Fields actually perform against the NFL defense. And I know Bryce Young is great and CJ Stroud is great. And I think they're going to be good quarterback, but you still don't see him playing the NFL. You haven't seen him try to pick up an NFL offense. And obviously Justin Fields hasn't been great, but he has shown spurts where he can do it. And I get you know, I get what they're thinking.

You know, Mike Tannenbaum, I think he's got you know, he's got some some solid reasoning there. Hey, let's restart this quarterback clock. You look at the quarterback clock.

It's important. Joe Burrows got T Higgins, Jamar Chase, Tyler Boyd to throw the ball to. If you're if you're paying him 50 million a year like you are Mahomes and Jalen Hurts, you're probably not going to be able to do that, even though Hurts has a great receiving corps. It helps when you don't have to pay a quarterback all that money to reset that clock for five years.

That's a lot. I mean, there's something to that. But if they would have got rid of got rid of Justin Fields and he would have ended up being a number one quarterback, a big time player, they would have had to move out of Chicago. They wouldn't have been able to stay in the Midwest. These Chicago Bears fans would have would have been letting them have it wherever they went. So I think they made the right choice. Let's get to the next down.

Play Harbor here with us. You talked about some of the improvements on the offensive line. We know they drafted Darnell right. Is this offensive line going to be good enough, even though they made some improvements this offseason?

You know, I think so. I think it's a big piece of that is how Darnell right going to shake out, obviously. OK, first round pick people pencil on the man to be a sir. You're a rookie in the NFL.

I don't care who you are. I don't care where your pick. There's going to be a learning curve and he's going to have an up and down year. And last year you saw it with Braxton Jones, one of the better rookie tackles. But you look back at it.

Kim Aquano. Look back at Ryan Neal. These guys struggle.

It's going to be a struggle. So feels going to have some pressure in his face, but I think it's better than it was last year in Braxton Jones. Important player for the Bears this year. Does he get better?

He's saying it left tackle. He was a fifth round pick last year in southern Utah. He played well, but still he's got improved. There's some some flaws that show up in his game out of the bull rush. The guys did bull rushing, but I love the pick up of Nate Davis with Cody White here, a veteran center and Kevin Jenkins.

I think he's vastly underrated. I think he's one of the best guards in the league having him at moving him from left to right guard. He's a guy that used to play right tackle.

So I think Kevin can make the move. So overall, this line has gotten better and there's not a ton of past structures in this in this NFC North Division. But I think the Vikings still have some, the Lions have some, Aiden Hutchinson. I think, you know, the Packers still got a couple too. So they're going to have their hands full, but I think they got better. We all know DJ Moore is a stud, one of the more underrated wide receivers in the league. That's not only the big move, though, that the Bears made going back to last year. They traded for Chase Claypool now off that public after a short stay. When you look at Chase Claypool, what are your expectations for him?

Because this is go time for a guy that was traded for a second round pick. Man, I want to go see the Bears trainer. These guys got Chase Claypool off the puff in one day. I need to fix my back, man. This is this is crazy. These guys are miracle workers. I'm still trying to walk myself through that.

I went through a bunch of scenarios, but I don't know what happened there. But hey, he's ready to go. He's off the puff list. I think he's got a long way to go to prove that he was worth the 32nd pick in the NFL draft. Because obviously at the time, they're giving up a second round pick. The Bears thought they'd win a few more games.

Unfortunately, they didn't. Well, fortunately, because they did get the number one pick and get DJ Moore and a number one future number one pick out of it. But overall, I think Chase Claypool will improve. He'll get better. He's been in the book a year in the system.

I thought he disappointed last year. I'm a guy that thinks if you're in the NFL, you should be able to pick up an offense. I've been a guy that's been cut. I've been traded. I've been picked up midseason.

You got to get in the book. You've got to be able to play your professional. But I understand some guys don't pick it up as quick as others. So now that he has it down, if you're not playing 100%, if you're not playing fast, that's so important for quarterback and receiver. It's all about timing at those days. I know you hear it a million times, but if you're not 100% confident in the playbook, you're going to play slow. You're going to be a step off. And that makes all the difference in NFL.

The margin of error is so small. So I'm expecting him to come back, be able to use all that ability, that size and speed, have a good year for the Bears and either be the two or the three. I think either way, he helps Justin Fields out instead of having just Darnell Mooney out there. And now you got Moore, Mooney, and Claypool on the field at the same time. Three guys that have proven they can play in this league and they can be successful and win one-on-one battles. And that helps because now DJ Moore is getting the number one cornerback. So Claypool and Mooney will get the two and three.

Let's get to the next down. Talking to Clay Harbor, what's your read on the head coach now in year two in Matt Eberflus? He's a no-nonsense type guy. He's not flashy.

He's pretty under the radar. He's a defensive-minded coach. And maybe for a young quarterback, seeing how Doug Peterson was able to help Trevor Lawrence and stuff like that. Nick Sirianni with Jalen Hurts. I kind of think it'd be nice to have an offensive coach, but I think Lou Getze, an offensive coordinator, does a good job.

But Eberflus has some proven defense. You're a defensive coach. You can't have the worst, I repeat, the worst defense in the league.

I know you're shipping off your players. You didn't have linebackers last year after you traded Roquan Smith. Your D-line is the worst in the league. They had 10 and a half sacks all year in the defensive line. 17 teams in the NFL had more sacks than the Bears' entire defensive line. 17 players.

So he doesn't have a lot to work with. But this year, just like Justin Field, is a year you can finally start to judge Eberflus. He's got a couple picks in there. Tyrese Stevenson, rookie cornerback. He's already basically penciling in as a starter.

I don't care who you are. Second round pick. I don't care if you're a first-round pick, first pick. You are going to have some up and downs and a rookie playing cornerback in this league on the island. Tyler Gordon, you know, ups and downs.

He wasn't a great pick last year. We're going to see how he does. The Bears are moving him into slot, so he's solely focused on slot.

So there's a lot of things that remain to be seen. I think Polls maybe makes a trade for, like he did last year. Rylee Reese, Michael Schofield, right before training camp, brought a couple of veterans in.

About the same exact time. I think he does that with the defensive end and edge defender. Maybe Yannick N. Gogaway signs at the Bears.

I'm hoping for that. Justin Houston. And I hope we get another pass rusher for this team. Let's get to the final down. Last thing I'll ask you, Klay Harbor. When you look at this division right now, who do you have winning it and why?

You know, I've been going back and forth on this one. I think it's, you know, obviously it's been Aaron Rogers for so long. I own you, Chicago.

I own you. He's north anymore. He's over New York with the Jets.

We don't have to deal with the boogeyman anymore. So that's kind of an open division. I know obviously the smart money might say Minnesota with 13 and 4 last year, but they won a ton of close game.

You're watching Netflix quarterback. You saw how many close games they won. This team was winning close game after close game. I think they're more near a 500 team. So I think the lions, you know, my old tight end coach, Dan Campbell, he's a guy that flares love to play for a team. Love them.

He's got Jared golf. I think the playmaker, I'm not really sure people said they had a great draft. I wasn't in love with it. I think you had a solid running back core, but then you basically use your picks to keep the same type of running back core with Jamir Gibbs and, and obviously David Montgomery coming from Chicago.

I liked their weapons. I'm on Ross St. Brown's, but Jamison Williams is suspended until week six. I think they got a solid old line. The defensive lines gets better and they made some great moves on the defensive end. Charlie Gardner Johnson.

It seems like it's not a serious injury. They got reported in camp. I think cam Sutton will improve them. Jack Campbell at linebacker. I think they did some good things in that defensive defensive side of the ball, but I think the lions are kind of my dark horse winner in this division. I think they're going to surprise some people. Jared golf is better than people think.

His line team, I think is better than people think, but I really do think it's an open division. Clay Harbor. Appreciate the time. Thanks so much, my friend. I'll appreciate you. Thanks. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Zach Gelb show CBS sports radio. So I've now watched three episodes so far. Hickey of quarterback.

I figured out the Netflix problem after all the account sharing got shut down. Kirk cousins comes off as very likable through the first three seasons or first three episodes of a season one at quarterback. Absolutely.

Absolutely. I mean, he's a genuine, no, no nonsense in the sense that like, he's just like a true dad. Doesn't want any of the perks to come along with being one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the NFL and he just loves his family and his finals. I find it so funny how his wife dresses him as if he's like a regular human being right with all the money that he's making. But you know, I thought was really cool in a weird way how he's so humble, I guess the right way to say it where he didn't want his trophy case or his room to be in full display in the house. So the person that was designing his home or helping out build up his home made a secret man cave for his trophy room.

I thought that was pretty bad ass. And then he gets the game ball and you see him himself like climb up and put the game ball on the shelf. And I also thought it was pretty comical how the person designing this goes and we're going to save us a place of Lombardi trophy right there.

I think that's going to be an empty space in the wall. I'd probably leave that out of the documentary and not be that transparent with everybody. Why not? Like what's wrong with that? You're gonna get trolled.

You're gonna get trolled. He doesn't care. I thought one of the I think you got to this part, but he goes, my haters, if I walked on water, they said I would do it because I couldn't swim.

He has some good lines when you put him in the spot, but nothing will top Gino Smith. They wrote me off, but I didn't write back. I think that is still one of the all time great lines ever. And you still don't understand it, which is amazing. I hate it because I don't get it. Doesn't make any sense. He's he's saying this is I said this at the time, and I'll explain this to you again. He's saying everyone wrote him off, but he didn't listen. That's what I think he means by saying he didn't write back like he didn't listen to that noise.

That's I think it makes a lot of sense, actually. No one's asked him to write back. That's what like it's not like they're saying, oh, Gino, I'm writing fan mail to you. Respond. You never know. I think a lot of times people go after someone. They want some sort of response, especially if it's on social media, whether that's Twitter X or whatever it's called these days. People are looking to get her. I'll take Kirk's walk on waterline over Gino Smith's don't write back line.

Stop, stop, stop, stop. I'm also still trying to figure out what the point is of Marcus Mariota on this show. How desperate were they to get another quarterback? They had to settle on Marcus Mariota. I get it, guys, when a high's been guy's been a number two overall pick in the league and they eventually will win. I didn't get up to this yet, obviously, when he quits on the team.

But, you know, that's happening. But it seems like he's a waste on this show. I think I like the idea in the sense, I think what they're going for is to kind of give you three levels of what the NFL quarterback is like. Obviously, Mahomes is insanely successful, but we know he's truly an outlier in terms of how good and how successful quarterbacks can be. Kirk Cousins is the guy that is good, but can't go over the hump in the playoffs.

Second tier. And Mario is kind of fighting for his job, which is where a lot of NFL players and quarterbacks kind of live. So I like the dichotomy in the sense that they're showing you all basically guys at three different parts of their career all fighting for different things and have different levels of what you would consider success.

I kind of like the variance. But the problem is you have Marcus Mariota who's boring. Like you can't. I'm not saying any of the three in terms of their personality are wildly entertaining, but you need Mahomes if you could get him. He's the face of the league. Kirk Cousins, he's quirky, but I'm not saying he's someone that has like this great personality, maybe more than we thought with the I know we've seen these clips before back in high school and he was a singer and he did the whole Pretty Woman song and all that stuff. But when you don't have a great and I know sometimes the story writes itself, it's the NFL, everything's entertaining. Well, you don't have personalities of guys that are all that entertaining.

I think your wild card guy needs to have a little bit of a better personality than Marcus Mariota. He doesn't. It just doesn't do much for me.

No, I mean, I guess no. Again, I like the idea of changing it up, but also, too, I think that's part of the reason why they don't do this like in a weekly release, kind of hard knocks guys where you have like no turnaround time. They let the season play out or happen. And I'm sure you've noticed the airtime from Mahomes to Cousins and then to Mariota is like basically not like my old is like the afterthought of, oh, yeah, by the way, like even though we're up to week seven for the Chiefs is like back to week four at the Falcons because we barely showed them until they talked about him and his wife met.

I was like, where the heck is this guy in the documentary so far? Yeah. They don't give him a lot of airtime, which I'm sure is going to change very soon. Once you get the news that he is no longer going to be QB one.

Yeah. I still think they should do hard knocks though. I know people like this stuff and it's in the moment. I still think you should do both and I'll be curious of the jets are in hard knocks this year because they weren't willing to do it.

Then the league forced them to do it. But once when Robert Salah walks out to that press conference with the, I love HK for hard knocks shirt, you can't then just give us a crappy hard knocks season. You got to fully embrace it and not just say you are embracing it. I actually embrace it. I mean, this is tailor made to be one of the best hard knocks seasons yet. With that said, my hopes are very low.

Yeah. So, you know, I can't get all jacked up for this because we thought the Raiders were going to be awesome on hard knocks. You had all the disaster with Antonio Brown. You had John Gruden there as well.

Mike Mayock who was on TV for a bunch of years. I thought the Raiders were really going to be kick ass and they were disappointing. I thought the last really good hard knocks. I know a lot of people like the lions one, but I thought that was just good on social media. The Cowboys one was boring. It was really Cleveland Browns with Jarvis Landry.

We need that fake speech just to kind of show outrage for the cameras. You had the whole Hugh Jackson stuff with with Todd Haley and then a guy that sends me a text every holiday, every holiday that there is imagined or any national day. I got a text from big Bob Wiley. Bob Wiley is awesome. He was great with the whole stretching in the World Wars and all that.

So you think we stretch before World Wars? That's a terrible Bob Wiley impression, but I thought that was that was unbelievable with his big gut. I like Bob Wiley. Nice man. He, in terms of character, I'd say it was probably the biggest character since Rex Ryan. He was fine. I was just going to say that he looked like he could have been a brother of Rex or Rob.

Let's go eat a GD snack. They were truly the last two quote unquote stars that I think have taken over. Yeah, I hope Hard Knocks is good this year, but with how much resistance the Jets had to it, it's tough with how much control the team has. It's tough for me to think that that's actually going to be all that great.

But it is a step, I guess, when you have Robert Soloware and the I love H.K. shirt that better not be fugazi. That better not be contrived. I better be genuine, right? I have a feeling it's not genuine.

It is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. I got to ask you this question. I think my answer may surprise you. Who's the rookie quarterback this year that you think is best set up for success? When you look at the rookie quarterbacks in the NFL, they actually go play. I don't think anyone actually believes that will have us to get a lot of game time this year. So Stetson Bennett cannot be a viable answer. Is that marinated with sarcasm?

Yes. OK, I was just going to say it because, you know, you look at the Rams. You have so many guys, one foot in, one foot out.

You have Cooper Cup still there, but really not a lot left to be desired for the offense side of the ball line stinks. You still got Aaron Donald, but it's so amazing that sets and Bennett was a fourth round pick and didn't graduate. Even more amazing. Yeah.

So and John Clifford was drafted won the fifth round, fifth round, which is also crazy by the Packers. Yeah. Hey, good. Watch out.

That's going to be a hell of a QB competition this this summer. That's for sure. Yeah. Because you really love Sean Clifford at Penn State. You're as big as fan, man.

Oh, me, I was. Don't play Giroler. I said all year every week.

That's exactly what I said. Don't play Aller. Let Sean cook. I even said don't even let me go to the Penn State Creamery last year to get a cup of ice cream when the guy was hungry. That's how much you hated Sean Clifford. And then the guy ends up winning a Rose Bowl and you and you love the guy to death could be in Ohio State.

That would be nice. I wouldn't get him out from Michigan. That was defense, but you guys didn't even show up. You know, this is hopefully returning a new leaf. But to answer your question and get off of Penn State, rookie best set up for success. I'm going Bryce.

Yeah. So I think there's questions on how good of a coach Frank Reich is, but Frank Reich should be able to put him in a good spot. Offensive line. It's a good offensive line. Miles Sanders.

I don't think he's great. And I'm curious what type of year he does have. You have solid veterans at wide receivers, but no number one. I actually think this because in terms of the person, I believe in Bryce Young the most and the player, I believe in Bryce Young the most Anthony Richardson. That's just not a good situation right now in Indianapolis. I don't know which site is going to be as a head coach, even though he did a good job as an O.C. with Herbert and Hertz outside of Jonathan Taylor. Not a lot there on the offensive side of the ball. Show you Michael Pittman Jr. I'm still debating if he's a you know, he's probably more of a two than a one in the NFL.

But I look at the Texans. See, here's what scares you about C.J. Stroud.

But he's gonna be my answer. We saw C.J. Stroud put it all together against Georgia. And he showed some of that mobility, too, and that athleticism.

I just wonder why it took that long. And the talent that he has in the Texans, if you look at the talent compared to what he had at Ohio State and I know it's different level, but Ohio State, there were just weapons out of the wazoo. But I look at the Texans, their offensive line is going to be solid with Tunsell and Shaq Mason.

You know, the run game with Damian Pierce and Devon Singletary is fine. You don't have wonderful wide receivers, but I kind of think just C.J. Stroud will be average in the NFL this year.

And I think that may ultimately win this question. So I'm going to go slightly with C.J. Stroud, where I'm not telling you the Texans have this good roster, but it may be better than what people think. And Dalton Schultz is a serviceable tight end in the NFL. So when I was thinking about this and I was going through the answer, I was actually surprised I got to see C.J.

Stroud because at first I was like with you, I was like Bryce Young. But the further I went through it, I don't think the Texans are going to be I'm not saying they're going to be great, but I don't know if they're going to be as dreadful as what people think they're going to be. And maybe that's only like the difference of I know they don't have their own number one pick anymore because of the trade with the Cardinals, but maybe it's the difference from like the Dolphins a few years ago and everyone thought they're going to be number one pick and they ended up getting the fifth pick or this was the fifth pick.

So maybe it's a little bit better than that. But I think they'll be a team that could be gritty, but they're not going to be any good. But I look at C.J. Stroud and I think he's just going to have a solid average year as a starter. First year in the NFL. News Brief next at the show CBS Sports Radio.