Irsay Irritates Jonathan Taylor (Hour 1)

Live from the police show yet not overly ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful and oh do I mean beautiful New York City sitting on top of the 10th floor 345 Hudson Street. I'm back from vacation so let's get going with another week of the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio across all of our great local affiliates, Sirius XM channel 158 and that free Odyssey app. You could always give me a follow on the good old cesspool of Twitter if we're still calling it that or Instagram where I'm still straight flexing at Zach Gelb or you could always give us a call 855-212-4CBS that's 855-212-4227. And not only did I enjoy some time down at the Jersey Shore getting well rested and relaxing and eating a ton of great food like veal Parmesan and some sushi and also I had a great cheese steak.

We got even more worse Indianapolis Colts news. Oh, I love it. We'll get into that all right now a cult legend Dwight Freeney is going to join us 20 minutes from now but first up. I'm surprised you didn't call out sick, but producing the extravaganza is no other than hot tea Kiki.

I don't know about that hot tea Kiki Jimer say is a pot. Let's just start off right there. So, where I left last left you last week was on Wednesday. Last show before some vacation and out of nowhere. Good old Jimmy boy just fires off a few tweets put in his foot in his own mouth just taking a shot at the running backs that are trying to fight back the CBA that was negotiated in good faith blah blah blah blah blah. And then you also had Jonathan Taylor's agent saying what's not in good faith is not paying your best offensive player. So that's what the little spat little feud was and not that I thought it was going to end from there but I didn't know the extra details that we were going to get. Where after that you find out that when Jimer say put that tweet out there that already he already knew that Jonathan Taylor requested a trade.

So that was an information that we had. So that was already going down a road of ugliness, and it got even uglier and Jimer say just poured more salt on the wound. When you already had a running back who you want for this season, who Jimer says made it clear he's not trading him, and you go take a shot at the running backs, which you're running back is looking for a new contract that oh yeah by the way. This was another nugget that we got the Colts aren't even talking contract extension with Jonathan Taylor.

So think about that. You have all that mayhem going on. And here comes the guy driving assault truck, not just a little shovel assault. He dumped an entire truck assault on Jonathan Taylor's wound. And I don't get what Jimer say is trying to accomplish, because Jim could be right in that right now you don't need to pay Jonathan Taylor, who is a great running back, but we know what the state of the position is, we know where it's at from a financial standpoint, and Jonathan Taylor's also coming off a year where he was barely on the field. So, even though Jonathan Taylor's entering the final year of his contract, you had the franchise tag the year after that and you could do it up to two times. You don't need to pay Jonathan Taylor right now, because Jonathan says that he wants a new contract. But there's a difference in just saying, we're not going to pay you. And then making this a contentious relationship, because we've seen it all the time. The team doesn't want to pay a player, the player forces a trade, whether it's in the NBA or the NFL or even Major League Baseball, and the guy's still on the team, because the player can ultimately get what he wants, but in the moment if you're under contract, you really don't have much leverage.

But in order to have that ship to somewhat smooth with as least amount of turbulence or waves hitting your boat as possible, Jim Irsay has to do the right thing from an optics standpoint, and everything he says. But Jim Irsay let his feelings get in the way, where I'm totally in agreement and not paying Jonathan Taylor right now, but then to do all this other stuff, it just doesn't make any sense. Even if you want to justify the tweet by saying, I was just talking generally, it wasn't anything pertaining to my relationship with Jonathan Taylor, we all know that's a load of BS. Because right away his agent responds knowing the meaning of that tweet, then you're fighting with the agent, you're fighting with Jonathan Taylor who, you show up to training camp in your fancy rich RV, which is opulent inside, and you invite him on the bus, and then you basically say, this is what's going on, you let him get off the bus, and then you just run your mouth to reporters?

What are you trying to do to make this relationship somewhat work, even when they've reached a point in the relationship where Jonathan Taylor wants to divorce the Indianapolis Colts, and then here was the cherry on top of the sundae. I'm sitting there at the Jersey Shore on the beach, and I'm just laughing, laughing hysterically, because I go, this is making up for a triumphant return to Monday's Zach Gelb show, because some things happen and they don't always fit every show. But on this show we're on in Indianapolis, we know Hickey's love and delusion for his football team, and I'm just sitting there saying, every time I look at my phone on the beach, when I get some service, it's new information.

The phone's just going off, ding, ding, ding, did you see this happen, did you see that happen, did you see this happen? In regards to Jim Hersey and just his dysfunctional response to the Jonathan Taylor trade request, and when big old Jim Hersey says, hey, I could die tomorrow, and Jonathan Taylor, you can get hurt and be out of the league tomorrow, and the NFL will still roll on, I was like, what? Once again, this all goes back to what I've been saying, just like it's right in the now for Jim Hersey not to give a new contract to Jonathan Taylor, Jim Hersey is not wrong when he says if he dropped dead tomorrow or if Jonathan Taylor's out of the league tomorrow, the NFL will still continue to move and grow exponentially.

But there's some things that are better when you do not say them, and you don't even need to say them, like we all know that's the case, if Jim Hersey's out of the league tomorrow, the league, they'll put out some condolence message, and they'll move forward, they'll still make billions and billions of dollars. If Jonathan Taylor unfortunately suffers a career ending injury, it'd be horrible, it would have been, oh, what could have been, but that's not even one of the biggest losses in Colts history, they just had a quarterback at that position, retire early, and the NFL still moves on and still prints billions and billions and billions of dollars each and every year. But there was no reason for Jim Hersey when he just keeps on dumping pounds and pounds and pounds of salt on the wound of Jonathan Taylor to go, yeah, you're important to us, but if you happen to leave the league tomorrow, every little thing's going to be all right in the large scheme of things. So what a mess we have at the Indianapolis Colts, and then we move the conversation forward by saying what is going to be the end outcome? And I think it goes back to what I said when Austin Eckler came on this show and said he wants to hear answers from NFL owners, why no running back has got an extension since Nick Chubb did in 2021.

And there's really nothing that the owners could say, because nothing's going to change the issue at hand here. And I know every situation is different, but we even had guys publicly since that Zoom meeting that the running backs had said there's nothing we can really do right now, because we just negotiated a new CBA. And I can give you an answer, for the running back position, if I'm a running back, I would no longer want a franchise tag there, because we've seen this. Team Jasper running back in the first or second round or later, depending on it, you either get four or five years out of them if there's a fifth year option or not because of the first round draft pick, and then after that it's franchise tag, franchise tag. Owners at best look at running backs at best six to seven years, and if that's the case, all right, let's say you're a second round running back or later, four years on the rookie deal, then potentially two years of franchise tag, you're already at six. So once you put that franchise tag out there, it delays the amount of time that you could get to free agency, but the NFL owners aren't just going to say, yeah, let's get rid of the franchise tag.

And not only that, then all the other positions want the franchise tag eliminated, and I don't think the owners would ever agree to that. So there's nothing that the players could do or the running backs could do right now to change this, and I still sit here and say, okay, yeah, Jonathan Taylor, whether he has this back injury or not in the culture, challenging him on that, threatening to put him on the non-football injury list and that he would still be under team control for next year, all that stuff, because the injury happened away from the team and away from a football setting. If there even is a back injury, how many times right back to Jalen Ramsey, I want out of Jacksonville, oh, my back starts to hurt. So there's nothing really that Jonathan Taylor could do besides make a lot of noise.

And he's making noise right now. But the noise he's making by putting out a trade request kind of gets overlooked because it's just the stupidity of what Jim Irsay is saying. And he's just one upping Jonathan Taylor in this situation to really steal the thunder from the headlines. So ultimately, I don't know how happy Jonathan Taylor is going to be this year. I don't think he's going to have a new contract by the start of the season. And that's been said in reports and even people close to Jim Irsay that there's not an expectation that he's going to get a deal by week one. But does it mean that he will not be there for the rest of his career in Indianapolis?

It doesn't mean that. Because a year from now, after coming back and if he's healthy and proves himself once again, the Colts can either get a long term deal done then or franchise tag him. So I do think Jonathan Taylor will be in Indianapolis for week one. How happy he will be. I don't think he's going to be happy because he's not going to get this deal hammered out because once again, folks, the Colts aren't even talking contract with him. So before I bring up hot take hickey and before we hear the hot take hickey response, let's just take a look back at Wednesday of last week where hickey said no big deal, no big deal. Nothing to see here. When you had Jonathan Taylor's agent fighting with Jim Irsay on Twitter, we have a new hickey hex.

It's the hickey hex. You think a deal's getting done by week one? Yes, you do.

Yes. Oh, I can lock it up that a deal's not getting done by week one. He'll get paid. Jim Irsay is no- By week one. By week one, absolutely.

He's getting paid. No doubt about it. Absolutely. 100 percent.

100 percent. You'll see. Folks, week one's going to come and he ain't going to get that contract extension.

He'll get the contract, he'll be on the field and he'll be happy. Okay. Because this is pretty bad when you have the agent and the owner going at it for all of us to see. You know what you are right now?

You're the dog with the gift of the fire all around him and the dog sitting at the table with the cup of coffee saying everything's fine. Nothing to see here. It's fine because I think this is going to happen so I have no reason to freak out or panic because I've been talking about it for a while now. He'll get paid by week one.

I have no reason to change my thinking. If anything, I mean this is only going to strengthen it. NFL reporter Steven Holder, he's back with us and he's been all over this story. Steven, what's next in this sort of terse situation between Jonathan Taylor and the Colts? If they're not going to offer him an extension and every indication so far demonstrates that they are not. And so if that's not going to happen, then what you have is a very disenchanted player. It really does beg the question, is a separation in the cards? But you can go back to the middle of June when Jonathan Taylor was asked about his situation.

He spoke about the running back landscape in general and he said, I quote, you see why guys start to demand trades. If I die tonight and Jonathan Taylor's out of the league, no one's going to miss us. The league goes on. Hot take hickey strikes again. All righty, Hickster.

Last week on Wednesday, nothing to see here. No big deal. You guaranteed 100 percent that a deal would get done by week one. The floor is yours to address your pathetic clown show of a football team and your owner that continues to just say things that he's probably right on, but are things that he does not need to say.

I guess I'll do it in a form of very quick hitters here. Number one, the Colts are not trading Jonathan Taylor this year. That's a guarantee. Number two, he'll be on the Colts in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four. That's a guarantee.

OK, number three. I said one hundred percent. He will get a deal done by week number one. I will move the percentage down from a hundred.

But even with the latest transgressions, even with the public arguments and jimmers, they talk about his death and Jonathan Taylor's exit from the league. His chance of getting a deal by week number one is not at zero percent. I would put it at 10 percent. Unlikely.

Probably. But the one thing Jim Irsay is doing and I think working in his favor in terms of getting a deal done is I think he is beating the life out of Jonathan Taylor and thinking and his thinking that he's going to try to get 16 million dollars a year and reset the running back market. That's not going to happen. And now, not that there's an offer bid on the table yet, but if the Colts are thinking we want him at 13 million dollars a year.

Now, I would say Jonathan Taylor is more likely to take that than he was this time last week. The reason why I'm laughing is because you set this up where you go, it's no longer at 100 percent. And the way that you're just describing like, OK, he's going to still say it's at 70 or or 65 percent. And you go 10 percent, which is that a mission of defeat on the week one.

But you're still going to try to go away with some class and some dignity and only put the number down at 10. But oh, my goodness gracious. There's no way he's getting this deal done by week one. They're not even talking to him now from a contract standpoint. They haven't even talked extension yet. And you think with a few weeks before the start of the season, there's even a miniscule percent chance that they get this deal done.

No way. Look at the Giants and Saquon Barkley. One week he's threatening. And maybe he said, I'll set out the entire year. The next week, what the Giants do, they made unrealistic. But at least they had conversations throughout or they gave an unrealistic incentive to reach. And he took the money. But that was for one year already on the franchise tag to get more money. They're already passed. My point is the running back situation.

They are just so defeated. I just don't think Jonathan Taylor, if you give him a three year 40 million dollar extension. He is in a position right now to say no.

But here's why that's not going to happen. Because Jim Erce is saying pretty much by his action, I have contract extension yet and I didn't have a talk of it yet. You need to go prove it this year.

You go out there and ball out this year. Then I'll come talk to you from a contract standpoint. And that's why I say there is a negative percent chance that they get a deal done, a long term extension, a deal done by week one. Man, you got to be furious, though, with Jim, because Jim is not saying the wrong things once again in terms of everything he's saying is right.

But there's no need to say them publicly and go out of your way to do this. They have a rookie quarterback that they got to figure out and got to get ready. And instead, this circus, this sideshow, this embarrassment and how they're handling it is more frustrating than even the fact like. Yes, they should pay Jonathan Taylor, especially when you have a young quarterback, make his development easier. And the fact that not only they're not paying him, which is a whole different discussion, how they're going about it, fighting on Twitter, circus, bringing a gigantic RV to practice where there's sixty five hundred fans supposed to be watching Anthony Richardson. And instead, everyone is watching a bus and trying to see when Jonathan Taylor comes out and what your mercy is going to say while practice is just ending is pathetic.

It's absolutely pathetic, but it's also unfortunately par for the course. I know that we got to get to a cult legend, Dwight Freedy, and we'll get his thoughts on this in just a moment. But just give me a number on a scale of one being not mad at all to 10, being as furious as you ever been. How mad are you at the owner of your dysfunctional football team in in Jim Mercy in the Indianapolis Colts? How mad are you at a good old Jimmy?

I would say about an eight. Oh, an eight, because he should be doing the right thing and paying the best player on offense. He's not doing that. And he's making a clown show and a circus of the Colts as well. Whose side is Dwight Freedy on in Jimmer, say, up against Jonathan Taylor? We'll talk and get to the reaction from Dwight Freedy in this whole debacle of a situation. Next, 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. Each time now for first and goal on the Zach Gelb show. Alrighty, a lot's going on in the world of the Indianapolis Colts. So let's preview their season right now with the man that should be going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame very soon.

Unfortunately, the writer screwed him for this upcoming class, but we'll see if he gets it next year. And that's the legendary Dwight Freedy. Dwight, always appreciate the time. How you been? I've been good. What about yourself?

Well, I'm doing okay. My producer, though, Hot Take Hickey, he's a Colts fan, so he's doing miserable after all that did transpire in the last week. Jonathan Taylor wants to trade.

The Colts aren't even talking contract extension with him. And then Jimmer, say, keeps on tweeting all these crazy things. How do you react to all that's transpired in the last week?

I mean, you know what? It is crazy. I will say I just don't really understand what Jonathan and his agent is really thinking, you know, with this market. You know, if this was early 2000s, let's call it, or 90s or something like that, you have a lot of leverage as a running man. You know, but because of the NFL and how things are right now, it's such a pass heavy type of league. And you see what's going on with the running backs where they're not getting, quote unquote, their value of what they think they are.

You go into that type of market demanding a trade after you just came off an injury. So I don't know. I don't know what he's thinking. Maybe there's something that I don't know that's happening internally.

Maybe he has a rift with somebody or something. I don't know. Scheme wise, I don't know. But if I was him, this would be a perfect place for me to stay. You know, when the market is kind of in flux and you don't stay home, stay where people know you and people love you. Especially with this new system that they're going to be putting in, all these RPOs, it's going to be a run heavy offense. You have an opportunity to put up big, big numbers. This is where you need to be. I don't know where you think you're going to go.

I don't know. The only thing that I will say to defend Jonathan Taylor, and I understand what you're saying with the state of the position, is he is on the final year of his deal. If the Colts aren't even willing to talk contract extension with them right now, according to the reports and people close to Jim Irsay, it's like, what else are you supposed to do? I mean, look, everybody, you know, not everybody, but a lot of guys play out their contracts.

A lot of guys. I had to play out my contract. Other guys had to play out their contract. Unless you're a quarterback or something like that, you know, you can go banging on the door and say, hey, I want to renegotiate. Jonathan, awesome talent, but he didn't come off a great year last year.

He had a bad ankle injury and had to get surgery. You're not in a position of leverage to negotiate and ask for an extension coming off an injury. It just normally doesn't happen, especially at that position where you know you can get hurt tomorrow. And I get it maybe, maybe from his side, maybe he's thinking that way. You know, I think, you know, maybe from a strategy standpoint, you go out there and roll the dice, Jonathan, and say, hey, you know what?

I want to get an extension and I'll hold out until I get it or something like that. And you want to hold out throughout camp until you get it until the last day and say, you know what? I was just joking.

You know, I'm coming out and I'm doing what I normally do, but the demand of trade, I think is extreme. And it really creates a foul, foul taste and sense throughout the organization. I get it that it's a business, Dwight Freeney, but when you have the owner saying, hey, if he dies tomorrow or if Jonathan Taylor is out of the league tomorrow, the NFL rolls on, he's not wrong with that. But as a player, you can't be happy to hear that from an owner, right?

Yeah. I mean, the truth is you don't want to hear it, but the truth is he's 100 percent right. He's not wrong when he said that. Do I wish he didn't say it?

Sure. You know, there's better ways to communicate and sugarcoat or whatever you want to call, you know, laying somebody down gently, not slamming the door in somebody's face. So, yes, from Jim's perspective and the owner, this is his team, you can do what he wants. But, you know, if I were him, I would have been handling it with care just a little bit more because of the talent that he does have in his room or in the building. You know, you don't want to kind of piss him off.

But then again, this is not the 90s and this is not 2001. You know, they'll be okay without Jonathan. They would be a lot better with him. Do you think since where we are right now, where they're not talking contract extension, he wants to trade? Just because a player wants to trade doesn't mean he got traded and Jim Irsay made that clear. He's not trading him now or a few weeks into the season when the trade deadline rolls around. If you were running the team, would you just say, hey, Colts are a few years away. Let's just move on from now and get back what we can for him. Well, if he came off the 1800 yard season, maybe, you know, and maybe if the market, you know, was really high for running backs, maybe. But what are you going to get for him right now?

And I don't know, you know, it's just the market is high for running backs. And, you know what, if he wants to sit for a year, then hey, maybe you sit for a year and then you can figure it out after that. I don't, Jonathan doesn't want to do that. I don't think anybody wants him to do that. I sure don't. The organization sure doesn't. But the wheels are rolling.

This truck is moving with or without you. And, you know, I get it. You know, you want to demand a trade, but this isn't basketball. You see more of that stuff in basketball, but you have guys demanding trades and you're going to get that trade to happen. You know, it's just football. It just kind of operates a lot differently, especially in training camp. I don't know. I don't know any guy.

You know, you could, you know, maybe fill me in. I don't know any guy that demanded a trade in training camp and got it. And we'll see if it's going to happen in the NFL. Let's get to the next down.

Dwight Freeney here with us. Anthony Richardson, you talk about the other pieces, no piece bigger than Anthony Richardson, just because of the state of the league that we're in right now with the quarterback position. What do you expect out of him in year one?

You know, I think he might be okay. Now, you know, as a first year quarterback, you're going to have to be protected pretty well. All right. You know, you have to from a scheme standpoint.

You got to make sure that scheme is in there to where as though it doesn't expose you from a passing standpoint, because usually throwing the rock and passing, you know, defense can get really creative and give you different looks and shells. And for you to recognize that you have to have some experience. All right. You got to have some to play at that top level.

All right. And if you don't have that experience, then your system that you're in has to cover that up or give you the best opportunity to succeed. Now, what his best opportunity to succeed is his legs. And that's why you have that RPO type of system where he can use his best attribute and use it as a weapon and not necessarily have to worry about so many coverages and different looks like a traditional pocket passer would.

So I think looking at all that, I think he does well. You know, I don't know what the expectations for rookie is anymore, but, you know, I think, you know, you know how they protected Russell Wilson in Seattle his first year. You know, he wasn't throwing 30 times a game. You know, he was throwing maybe 20, 18 to 20, you know, and making the right decisions. You know, maybe it's one of those types of things.

But the thing is, the X factor is his legs. You never know. I understand everything you just said when it comes to the running back position with who they have on the roster for now, and then how you're gonna have to run the ball a lot with the quarterback and Anthony Richardson. We'll even throw out the Ravens for a while. Up until this year, we've questioned their wide receivers and if they do have enough. But you look at this receiving room for the Colts, do you think they have enough to put Richardson in somewhere of a year at the end of the season where you go, okay, I was satisfied with that?

Well, once again, it just depends on what their game plan is. If their game plan is to throw the ball 30 to 40 times a game, absolutely not. You're putting too much on this receiving core, you're putting too much on him. You know, I think if you're asking, you know, your running game to run the ball 30, 35 times, you know, and kind of play bully ball in a way, I think you have an opportunity to have a good year. Okay, now it's just based on what someone would consider a good year for him, you know, more touchdowns and interceptions. I think for sure he'll have that, you know, with the rushing touchdowns as well combination. Does he have more than 10 picks? You know, if he has maybe 14, 14 picks, maybe it's a bad year.

You know, I don't know. I don't think you're gonna be throwing the ball that often for him to really be exposed. Let's get to the next down. Dwight Freeney here with us. I think he had some crossover with the Chargers with Shane Steichen. What was your thoughts about the move by the Colts to hire Steichen?

No, I like it. You know, he's had success with these young quarterbacks. You know, obviously what you see the charges in Philly and now here with Anthony, you know, he knows how to use their mobility as a strength, you know, and as you saw in Philly. So I think if they kind of mimic that type of game plan, I think he has an opportunity to be better as a head coach knowing he has a guy that can use his legs and make people miss.

And more importantly, when a play breaks down, you know, people kind of don't look at that as such a big thing. There's many times where your head offensive line may get exposed. As you saw last year, you know, you got Matt Ryan in the pocket and, you know, he didn't have a chance half the time because the rush on the other side was getting there so fast. And Mattie is not a mobile guy, so he couldn't make anybody miss. So basically you just beat your offensive tackle guard or what have you.

It's an automatic sack, cause fumble potentially. When you have somebody like Anthony back there, not so fast. He can make plays with his legs. So as bad as the offense will be, or might be, or whatever you want to look at it because he's a first year guy, it's a little bit different because he has feet, legs, that mobility, the opportunity to make a guy miss. That is an X factor that you don't know what's going to happen each and every play when a play breaks down. Let's get to the final down. Dwight Freeney here with us.

On the defensive side of the ball, cause I know that's your bread and butter, Shaq Leonard has had a really good career so far, but last season did not have his best season cause he was barely on the field. Are you expecting a big bounce back season from him? Yeah, I hope so.

I definitely hope so. I know his mind is in it and sometimes when you have injuries compounded on injuries, it kind of takes away your sting a little bit because you're worried about getting hurt again. Hopefully he's feeling as good as he needs to, to where as though Shaq can be Shaq and go out there and make plays and be the most dominant guy on defense, causing all types of turnovers left and right like he did the year before. I'm a big fan of him and how he plays the game. And he plays it like you're supposed to play it.

A hundred miles per hour, reckless abandon. He's a big time leader for that defense. So hopefully he's healthy enough to where as though he can be that guy and not be a shadow of himself. So I'm really rooting on Shaq this year.

I hope he plays great. And Dwight, last thing I'll ask you, I know I started you off talking about the hall of fame and how you should be in and you had your first year of eligibility. That class goes in this weekend. Is it a little bittersweet for you? Cause you know you want to be in, but you just haven't got the call of the hall yet. Yeah. You know, it's, it's something that you just have to deal with. You know, you don't have any control over this stuff, you know? And so when you, you know, you put your body of work out there and you feel like, you know, you should have been first ballot and you weren't.

Yeah, of course it stinks. But like I said, there's a lot of great players who weren't first ballot and are in, and you just have to deal with it, you know, as you can do, unfortunately, under your control. So, you know, you, you try not to get your hopes up, you know, and, and last year I tried my hardest not to get my hopes up just because things happen.

And of course I was a finalist and then, no, here you go. You get your hopes up. People keep talking in.

Bruce Smith is talking to me, Michael Strahan, you're a shoe-in, you're a shoe-in, you're golden. And it doesn't happen. It's just like, oh, good Lord, what has happened here? So this year is going to be the same thing. I'm going to try to put my tunnel vision on, try not to worry about it.

It's not under my control. Whatever happens is going to happen and that's that. Dwight, always appreciate the time.

We're hoping that call does come this year. Thanks so much for doing this today. No problem. Thanks for having me.

Take care. There you go. Dwight Freeney joining us at the Zach Gelb show for a little first and goal previewing the Colts. And if you thought that feud between Jim Irsay and Jonathan Taylor is something, wait until we get to two NFL legends that are fighting right now for all of us to hear. We'll get to that on the other side.

You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. So everyone's piling on Jim Irsay and deservedly so. Dwight Freeney with a little bit of a defense of Jim Irsay and taking it from an angle that I've not heard it yet in really going after Jonathan Taylor and saying he doesn't get what Jonathan Taylor and his agent are doing right now and how he should play out this final year, talk contract later. A lot of guys have had to play out his final year of their contract and he made a compelling point. Now, I don't think that excuses Jim Irsay from just saying stupid things, even though he may be right about them.

There's just no need for them. But Hickster, after hearing a franchise legend and one of the all-time great Indianapolis Colts and Dwight Freeney kind of go after Jonathan Taylor, what did you make of that, you being the humongous Indianapolis Colts fan that you are? Definitely surprised because I feel like it's almost like a bond for players that you would have the players back and you understand the business but also you understand guys trying to get paid that deserve to get paid. It's like one thing if Jonathan Taylor up and down maybe did deserve it and so maybe it's not the best investment for the team. I think it makes a lot of sense.

I was very surprised for Dwight Freeney who I know has been in those shoes before of trying to get an extension, taking the side of ownership in this deal. Now, usually when we get people on the show, Hickey does not have long conversations with them but I did see you have a little bit of a back and forth with Dwight which you're making progress because I remember the first time we had Dwight on, you didn't even tell me you were a Colts fan and you weren't even sucking up to him a little bit but it looked like you guys had a few laughs that were shared through the phone. Well, he asked how I was doing.

I was being honest. I said, Dwight, I'm not doing good right now, man. I'm not doing good. Trying to enjoy my Saturday night. I got Jim Mercy spouting off. I got John Taylor's agent sub-tweeting.

It's been a nightmare, Dwight. Thanks for asking. Gotcha. So, did he check in and make sure that you were good from a mental health standpoint? You wanted to make sure that everything was actually okay with you? I should have gave him my number actually then he could have texted me but he did not text me. He probably hung up the phone quick, I'll say.

And he's like, I gotta get away from this guy again. Yeah, I gotta get away from that guy hot take, Hickey, before he starts spewing more hot takes and then start jinxing him on maybe getting into the Hall of Fame which I thought for sure he was getting after the first go at it but that wasn't the case. Do you want to guarantee Dwight free into the Hall of Fame?

No, because we want him to get in. I'm not going to say next year. I'm not going to put a year on it. But, Dwight, don't worry, you're in good hands.

I guarantee you we'll be in a gold jacket sooner rather than later. So, let's get to another feud. How about Sean Payton saying Nathaniel Hackett had one of the worst coaching jobs ever and it's totally different a year later, blah blah blah blah blah. The way that I interpreted that, and I know that it did cause a reaction from one Aaron Rodgers that we'll get to in just a second, is that is Sean saying something that's going to catch a lot of headlines and take all the attention and all the pressure which there's a lot of on Russell Wilson and kind of put it on him. But, just like I will say about what Jim Irsay said, I'll say it again, I don't get the point of saying that because when the games happen, if Russell Wilson stinks, sure, you're going to get blasted but it's not as if we're just going to pile on all on Sean Payton. We're going to start saying if Russ can't get it together, he's going to have to eventually get traded from the Denver Broncos.

So, I didn't think that needed to be said. And you talk about a fraternity of players, rarely do you ever see a coach, more so than players. Players will blast players the other time, all the time, but rarely do you see one coach go after another coach and it's not as if Sean Payton needed to earn any brownie points here with the fanbase of the Denver Broncos. He just got there and the guy's going to be a Hall of Fame coach, so I don't understand outside of trying to take Russ a little bit out of the spotlight for a few days or a few weeks what Sean was really trying to accomplish here. Maybe it's still a little confidence in Russ, like hey, it wasn't you, we got the talent, it was all that bozo from last year, you're in good hands now, daddy's here. That's a weird way of saying it, a really creepy way, but wasn't a big part of Sean coming in that he was going to be the authoritative voice and all the nonsense that Russ was pulling last year wasn't going to happen under Sean's watch? So doesn't this just enable Russ even more to kind of compartmentalize and say, hey, last year was all on Nathaniel Hackett, I'll still try to operate the way that I want to operate because the new coach just came in and told me that the old coach was maybe the biggest joke that we've ever seen in NFL history.

Well, I will say outside of that, yes, his actions have reflected, at least Sean Payton's that is, that he's in charge, Russ Wilson's personal trainer, out quarterback coach, out of the facility, he has kind of made it known that the things he got said yes to last year are not flying this year. So let's hear then Sean Payton on Friday, he regrets his comments that he made about Nathaniel Hackett and the Jets. I said what I said, and obviously I needed a little bit more restraint. And I regret that.

I think I'm pretty good relative to working with the media and pretty savvy. And I just had one of those moments, two lattes in the morning, first first time I see 40 minutes later, I'm regretting it. What a loser. You don't regret anything that you say this is typical coach you say something big and then when it becomes a bigger deal, even if you expected it to or not, then you walk it back and you blame it on his two lattes that he got in the morning. Don't get me wrong. I love some coffee.

I love coffee. It's not as if once I have a sip of coffee, I start going out there and putting flamethrowers out with the Daniel Hackett's name attached to it. Give me a break. What a, what a weak retraction by one Sean Payton. Here is Aaron Rodgers torching the former Saints coach now Broncos coach for his comments about Nathaniel Hackett and the Jets courtesy of NFL Plus.

It made me feel bad that someone who's accomplished a lot in the league is that insecure that they have to take another man down to set themselves up for some sort of easy fall if it doesn't go well for that team this year. Thought it was way out of line and appropriate and I think he needs to keep my coaches names out of his mouth. Oh, goes all Will Smith. Kevin Hart style right there.

That was awesome. Rogers continues to do no wrong and say all the right things ever since becoming a member of the Jets one more quickie Aaron Rodgers on up at Adam saying Sean Payton hasn't apologized to him yet. Sometimes you say something really stupid. It warrants an apology.

Sometimes you don't apologize. Everybody's entitled to their opinion. Sean's entitled to his opinion.

I'm entitled to mine. It's more to say for a different time. So no text from him. No apologies. I haven't you haven't heard anything. Well, Sean doesn't have to reach out to Aaron Rodgers if he has to reach out and apologize to anyone. If you think a apology is warranted, it's the Daniel Hackett. A lot of things that are being said in this first hour that we're talking about that probably aren't wrong, but there's just no need to say I'm sure mercy and Sean Payton must vacation together. That's not the new coach of the Indianapolis Colts onside offside next Zach Gelb show CBS Sports Radio.