Colts Allow Jonathan Taylor To Seek Trade (Hour 1)

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I'm back, baby, in this time slot. Welcome back on in to the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and also the free Odyssey app. 855-212-4, CBS, I'm gonna jump on it.

855-212-4227. You can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing. Or Twitter, the good old cesspool of Twitter, at Zach Gelb. That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. We got a whole lot to get to today. Guess-wise, Anthony Limel will join us 40 minutes from now to preview the Here We Go Brownies. Here we go! Hoo!

Hoo! First and goal style. The head football coach at Texas Tech, Joey Maguire, gonna stop by at 7.40 p.m. Eastern, 4.40 p.m. Pacific, and then at 8.20 p.m. Eastern, 5.20 p.m. Pacific, the play-by-play slot since August 9th. It's been a while because I was filling in on Maggie and Perloff, also taking some vacation as well, and I'm back for the next four days, then Friday I'll take vacation, then back for four more days, and then really take the last vacation day for a while because the college football season, the NFL season, is approaching. You got week zero this weekend, and one September hits, it's football, football, football, a little bit of major league baseball playoffs, and more football. But really, the sports gods love me.

That's what I've realized. As I said, I've been out since August 9th in this time slot, not working with my great producer extraordinaire, dear friend, Hot Take Hickey. And if you listen to this show, you know Hot Take Hickey loves many things. He loves the Penn State and Indy Alliance. He loves peanut butter. He loves jelly. He loves escargot.

Maybe, maybe not. But Hot Take Hickey, his real love, the Indianapolis Colts. And I always see Hot Take Hickey each and every year walking into work. Here we go, another season of Colts football. They're gonna be amazing.

You know, they're better than what people are saying, and then it's wah wah wah. But this year, I've seen a different Hickey, where Hickey knows the team is not going to be good. Hickey pretty much knew that his Super Bowl was the draft, where he didn't even really believe in Anthony Richardson, then realized that was going to be the pick, and a week before the draft, he starts singing the praises of one Anthony Richardson.

So for this offseason, I've seen, really did start at that draft too, as good as it was for Hickey. He got very frustrated with Jim Erce, because Jim Erce had that stupid tweet of maybe we'll get our Montana and young and draft Will Levis in the second round. But when the offseason has unfolded, and it's been featuring just this issue between the Colts and Jonathan Taylor, Hickey's stance has been, he can't really fault the Colts for the decisions that they're making, but it's how they're communicating their message publicly. So pretty much being out for the last week, week and a half or so, they could have dropped this news item to us, but they waited until two minutes before I make my triumphant return to this time slot and get to work with the dear confidant and hot take Hickey to have Ian Rappaport report that the Colts have given star running back Jonathan Taylor permission to seek a trade and conversations to find potential landing spots are ongoing. Several general managers and talent evaluators were informed earlier today that Taylor is available. So two things, the last few weeks the Jonathan Taylor situation has made no sense, where he's with the team, then he's leaving the team, right Hickey, there was some personal thing going on, so you have to respect that as well.

Then he goes to his own doctor and then he comes back and then he goes away, like it's been all over the place. But I said it the day after, we really found out that Jonathan Taylor requested a trade and also you had Jim Hersey pull up the training kit with his RV and had Jonathan Taylor get on the RV, they had a conversation and Jim Hersey basically just ripped him on Twitter, ripped him publicly, all that stuff. And I said at that time, if you're the Indianapolis Colts and you're not going to give Jonathan Taylor a long-term deal, you're probably better off when he's still young and doesn't have that much wear and tear on the body, just holding your nose knowing you're not going to be competitive for a few years and get what you could get back for Jonathan Taylor. I remember Hickey and I vividly had this conversation and he's like, oh, you're only going to get back a fourth or a fifth round pick and I go, that's nonsense. I know the running back position is in a bad state, but bare minimum, bare minimum, you would get back a second round pick for Jonathan Taylor.

I really believe that. Now the new team that gets him, if you're going to give up something, you probably are also going to have to pay him as well. And this has been an off season where the running back position, running backs could bitch and complain and they could complain about the state of the running back market and they're not wrong, but nothing has been accomplished in favor of the running backs. So you go through it, whether it's all of the information that we got the other day from Vinny Bonsignor of the Las Vegas Review Journal that Josh Jacobs, who has not been in training camp and all he has to do is sign the franchise tags, he's technically not under contract right now, is expected to report to the team before the Raiders season opener against the Broncos on September 10th. All right, Saquon Barkley didn't get the long-term extension by July 17th. Shortly after that, didn't miss any training camp, got an extra $800,000 potentially in incentives.

He also had Austin Eckler, he's been very vocal, been vocal on this show, only got an extra $1.75 million in incentives. Dalvin Cook got cut. Now he went on that long tour and after that long tour, he got $7 million a year with up to incentives for a one-year deal, not bad, could get up to $8.6 million, but the guy has had what, three or four straight 1000-yard rushing seasons.

And then there's really been no noise with Tony Pollard because Tony Pollard signed his tag. So this has been a tumultuous off season for running backs where there's been a lot of noise, there's been a lot of ups and downs, but nothing has really swung in the favor of an NFL running back. And when you go through this, Nick Chubb, who ironically is the last running back in what, 2021 to get a long-term extension, he was the one that said after, remember that Zoom meeting, that call that all the running backs had, he goes, there's nothing really we could do here. We know we're undervalued. We know the owners aren't going to want to pay us. And there's nothing we could, the CBA is what the CBA is and it's agreed upon.

So there's nothing that can be done here. But in this case, and I'll tell you what the Colts are doing right now. And I'm not telling you that Jonathan Taylor's definitely getting traded. I'm not telling you that he won't be with the Colts week one, but I do believe the Colts should trade Jonathan Taylor and they should trade him now, because if you don't want to pay him, you may as well get something back for him and think, and maybe I'll be right or wrong on this, that there will be one owner. That's all you need, one owner to go on out there and give up the draft capital and then also pay Jonathan Taylor what he's looking for. And you look at Jonathan Taylor of the Colts, he's 24.

He turns 25 in January. So he is still in the prime of his career and you could maybe get him in the trademark of value for a bit of a discount because he was hurt last season. But I look at Jonathan Taylor, I do think if you look at the 31 other teams, there would be an NFL owner that would trade for him and then would also be willing to pay him.

Now, I don't know what Jonathan Taylor's asking for, but if you're going to trade for Jonathan Taylor, even if it's a rental and then you could franchise tag him right after that because he's the final year of his four-year deal, I would run the risk and give up the draft capital. Because when this guy's healthy, he's one of the better running backs in football, even though now we live in a world where it is running back by committee. But if you are a team that looks around and says, man, we're like one piece away. We could use one more offensive play maker.

Why not? Like you look around to the AFC, look how close those teams are and how loaded with talent those teams are. Maybe it is a team in the AFC that would, would empty up here to get the deal done. Like Christian McCaffrey, who I know he was healthy last year, but before that was never healthy. He got traded for, for a nice return. And I know his contract's already figured out, but the 49ers did it.

And now Christian McCaffrey, I believe is going to win offensive player of the year this season in the NFL. So this is all over the place. And just because Jonathan Taylor's asking for a trade doesn't mean that he will get traded, but also maybe this is the Colts saying you're disgruntled. You're clearly not happy with the organization. We're now going to give you permission to seek that trade and have conversations with other teams. And you could kind of see what the market is out there for you. That's the way that I interpret this. And it's a good gamble here by the Colts because two things either happen. One, they find their next trade partner and they get stuff back for Jonathan Taylor where for the next two years, bare minimum, the Colts are going nowhere. And you get back more picks for him. Or two, Jonathan Taylor looks around and sees that the running back market is crappy. That's why all the running backs, including himself are complaining and no one's stepping up to deliver here. And the interest isn't as robust as what he thought it was going to be.

And if that's the case, you kind of just got to accept what it is. And maybe you could walk into the facility, go, oh, my back hurts. I know he has an ankle injury right now.

Oh, my ankle hurts. And miss some time. But you can't really miss that much time because then next year when you go into contract negotiations, they're going to use, I'm talking about the owners and the Colts specifically, right, if they franchise tag you after this year, they could use you not playing against you, seeking to go get that long term deal. So that's the way that I kind of view it. I really think this is a no lose situation here for the Colts.

And Hickey may be surprised by that because, yes, it is a crappy situation. You want Jonathan Taylor there because you have a young quarterback and barely no other playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. So if I'm Indianapolis, let him go seek a trade and either you find a trade partner, takes two to tango, got to find the partner that's going to give something up and then also partner that's going to want to pay him. And you have to be willing to let go of him. And if that happens, fine, it is what it is. Taylor, what has two to four, probably three or four prime war years left if he stays healthy and you got to bite the bullet on that. But you could also run the risk of Jonathan Taylor lurking around, not getting what he wants, not getting really what he thought the market was going to be out there. And then he has to come back to you. I don't know if that's a long term healthy relationship.

It's probably not. But you could then say to him, we gave you permission to seek a trade and the deal didn't get done. So now, after I just laid that out to you for the last 12 minutes, I'm really, really curious to get the instant reaction, the hot take hickey reaction from my producer and Ryan Hickey. If I could describe Hickey for you right now. Hickey is wearing green shirts, a green shirt right now. He has these large blue light glasses on, just got a haircut, about an hour ago, he looked like a million bucks. Now he looks disheveled. Now he looks annoyed.

You're really red in the face right now. Because this just does not go your way where we get this news two minutes before the show starts, right? We were having jokes in the newsroom.

We're having a good time, laughing it up, having nice conversations. And then here we go with this Colts news. And now I'm curious how you process this, where for the first time, since this news did come down, we will get the reaction from hot take Hickey on the report by Ian Rappaport, rap sheet over an NFL network that the Colts have given start running back Jonathan Taylor permission to seek a trade and conversation to find potential landing spots are ongoing.

Several GMs and talent evaluators were informed earlier today that Taylor is available. I will shut up. Hickey the floor is yours. For nothing.

What I'm pissed about is this is just another ongoing headache. When you are now trying to develop a rookie quarterback, that's where all the focus should be. You have your best offensive player. Don't care about the position. He's your best offensive player.

Give him extra two or $3 million. Like other teams have done, like you laid out before to make your running back happy in 2023, get through this season and make your rookie quarterbacks life easier by having the defense game plan for one of the best running backs in the NFL and have again Richardson development. Take some pressure off his plates by again, having a legitimate threat where you take Jonathan Taylor off the field. Michael Pittman Jr.

I like him. He's not a game breaker. Alex Pierce is a rookie.

There's no one else on the Colts offense that is going to demand anywhere near the same attention as Jonathan Taylor. And so now this is just a complete circus. This is an embarrassment and all it is doing is distracting for what truly is important at the heart of the issue.

And that is your rookie quarterback's development. This is unfair to Shane Sykin. This is unfair to Anthony Richardson. And this is just stupid because all this is doing now is bringing more unnecessary attention to this team where they're not going to trade them. They're not going to get the actual value they want. And this is only going to carry.

And I think make this whole situation even more of a joke than it already is. So this is where we are at. So his cap at this year is only 5.1 million because it's in the final year of that four year rookie contract. If I just had to give you a few teams here. Bengals have $19 million in cap space. Now the Bengals will be tough because if you're trading for them, you're going to give them a long term deal.

That could screw you over when you look at having to pay Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and T. Higgins. So I'll probably take the Bengals out of that. I know the Panthers just signed Miles Sanders, but they got $19 million available.

The Cowboys, they always like to make a big splash. They're not going to do it because they have Tony Pollard, but they have $18 million available. What about the Bears? What about the Bears? The Bears have some picks. They got $16 million in cap space available. You have a young quarterback in Justin Fields. You already brought in DJ Moore this off season. Maybe the Bears are a destination. The Packers, they don't need to because you have AJ Dillon and you have Aaron Jones.

You know Harry Roseman. I know he just got DeAndre Swift, but their running back room is the walking wounded. He's never afraid to go make a deal. Miami, they keep on telling you they're all in. They got $13 million in cap space available.

I put it this way. If I had to lean right now out of 100%, I would say by the end of September, there's a 60-40 split. 60 being that he's going to be there, 40 that he won't be. But you made it seem like there is zero chance that he's going to get traded. So where are you just wondering just to kind of get a gauge of the meter here out of 100% likelihood by the end of September that he gets dealt?

Or how about by the NFL trade deadline? 100% not getting traded. 100%. I would be shocked if he's traded.

Truly shocked. 100%? 100%. Makes no sense. Makes no sense to do it. Why though? Even if he's there for one year and even if you say, you know what, play this year and we're going to be nice and not franchise tag you and let you go get the deal you want, him this year in Richardson's rookie year having him on the field to me and helping his development is more important than getting a second round pick back and hoping that you hit basically John and Taylor 2.0 in the draft and then having Deion Jackson, Evan Hull, and Kenyon Drake as your running backs this year.

So let me ask you a serious question. I know that this was a legit ankle injury, but he suffered this towards the end of the season, right? Was that in the Minnesota game? Yes, Minnesota game.

With that choke job by the Colts. So that was in December, correct? Yep. And when did he have the surgery? January?

January 25th to be exact. This ankle is still a problem? Is this still a legit problem with this ankle or is it more so if I had my contract, I would be in there, but now I know he went to go see another doctor. The ankle's probably good enough, but I'm going to use it as an excuse to keep me away from the team.

I mean, he's on Pop. And so that to me, I don't know how you can finagle an injury and be on a list and not get cleared by Colts doctors. I don't know what the Colts have anything to gain at this point by hiding him and allowing him to sit out for free as a hold in, if you will, and just allow him to push this quote unquote injury that's not really that bad. But remember when he was at first saying it was his back and then it was that they were going to potentially put on the NFI and then they said, okay, the back injury, then all of a sudden went away and it was right back to the ankle. Like that to me is just where I thought there was a gray area. You're more plugged in it than I am because you cover the Colts each and every day. That's where I thought there was a gray area about the injury stuff where it was just weird to me. And also I don't see how being on Pop helps John and Taylor out either. Like if he wants to get traded and he's made this trade request known for the last basically three weeks, you're not helping yourself by being physically unable to perform.

Like, I don't know, again, if you want to get out of Dodge, how you're making your trade value any better or now helping to convince a team to, you know what, if we're on the fence, should we trade from or not, you know, let's do it. You're not doing that by not practicing and having an ankle injury, allegedly lingering eight months later after you got surgery, that's supposed to only be a month recovery and now we're going on month eight and he still can't practice. Something just doesn't line up here. And I know right in the medical world, things can go a different way and be unprecedented.

But this is a long, long, long recovery time. And I don't think it's just a coincidence that he's going through a public, ugly fight with the team. We had some breaking news or up to get traded. This is why only underscores why he's not getting traded. According to Steven Holzer of ESPN, he covers the Colts, right? Yes, the Colts are looking for a first round pick or a combination of picks that equals a first. That's what they want.

They're not getting that now. Hold on. What happens if they give you those second though? Like you have to, second is equal first. You got to do a second and a third, second and what about a second and a fourth?

I don't know how the math adds up, but this is all I'm going to say to you. It just started now where they just gave him permission. You in negotiations, you always ask for something crazy at first and ultimately the market will dictate what's out there. And then we'll see how serious that is on a first round pick. But just in the moment right now, just because Steven Holzer says, I don't know that again, Steven doesn't mean that he's, he's not going to get traded. Alrighty, Zach Gelb here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Welcome on back. Great to be here and great to see you, Hecky.

And oh boy, we got to have a fun show today with all this Colts dysfunction. What a mess. How does it feel though?

Real quickly. You guys, I'm going to do the how you feel question. I can't stand when reporters do that. Your team, one of the top five biggest jokes in the NFL.

This has been a cult clown show recently. How does it feel awful? I'm actually trying really hard to not curse on the air because I'm ready to let it rip. So yeah, how do I feel? I'm very frustrated. We'll put it, you know, keep it very G you feel like bleep a little poopy.

No, not even. No, I don't feel bad. I feel angry. I feel very frustrated.

That's that. It's the, it's the frustration because again, they keep on doing this to themselves and it's so unnecessary. And it's taking away from the real, the real problem at hand here. The real issue at hand is not the running back.

It's a quarterback. And all you're doing is just taking away from that and adding fuel to a different fire that makes you don't need to do it. You know what you know what you need? Can I, can I tell you what you need here?

A drink or two. You need a hug. I'm going to give you a hug during the break, but we're going to have a moment here on the show. I'm going to give you a hug and then you're going to feel better about yourself. Give you a big bear hug and your bones may break a little bit, but it's probably a better being that pain than the pain that you're in right now with your terrible football team. Zach Gelb show, CBS sports radio.

You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. So the big news of the day, according to Ian Rappaport break it about 35 minutes ago, the Colts have given star running back Jonathan Taylor permission to seek a trade and conversations to find potential landing spots are ongoing. Several GMs and town evaluators were informed earlier today that Taylor is available. I just want to bring up this one point as I think there's like a 40% chance that Jonathan Taylor gets traded by the end of September. If I was the Colts, I would trade him because you're not going to give him the contract.

If you're not going to give him the contract that he wants, his value is only going to go down from here. I know that it could affect the development a little bit of Anthony Richardson, but with that being said, Shane Steichen just had a lot of success in Philadelphia developing Jalen Hurts. And I know Miles Sanders got a quote unquote big contract for whatever an NFL running back is now, but outside of last season, Miles Sanders for the most part, in my opinion has been overrated and you could find enough running backs to kind of patch it together to just make it somewhat appealing. And there's still some guys that are out there at the running back position.

They're going to run it a ton with Anthony Richardson anyway. But here's a point that Ian Rapport just made, Hickey, that I think it's a great point. Colts owner Jim Erce had publicly said Taylor would not be traded now that the team has a reverse course. So Hickey is still operating under this belief that there is a 0% chance that Jonathan Taylor gets traded. And I know that the trade deadline's out at the end of September, but for argument's sake, that's when we just threw it out there since we're a few weeks away from the season and these things could take a few weeks to get going.

So we just kind of threw out by the end of September when I asked the percentages. Does that at least bump up the value a little bit from where you're at 0, Hickey, that he's definitely not going to get traded when your owner was so adamant from the start that there is no way they're going to trade him and now they have given him permission to seek a trade? Like if there's no way that they were going to trade him, why would you then give him permission to seek a trade? Kind of like the charges also echoes what I'm guessing and showing you your market's nowhere near what you think. So go out there, go find an offer.

Good luck getting one and then come back when you don't get one, then come back and we'll play. Now I remember when Austin Eckler was on with us and he pointed that out, how it was funny that there were teams that were interested in him, but ultimately the chargers wanted like a ridiculous thing back for him. And it's like, okay, you're not going to pay me and you still want me. But then when another team is saying, and they're, they're just going on out there and they're, and they're talking to them into deals. If you look at it from the charger side, the charges go, oh, well, we want more back for you. Like that's, I know that was very confusing how he just explained it, but it's one of those things where the charges are emitting your valuable and they want a lot in return for you.

And then you're right. There weren't teams that were willing to give a lot in return for Austin Eckler, or maybe they were willing to give like a decent amount, but then he wanted even more, you know, the chargers wanted even more. So that whole thing when Austin Eckler was saying it, I did find it funny that he wanted a new deal. There were other teams where the chargers say, we're not giving you what you want, but then when other teams are offering them, it wasn't good enough to get a deal done. If you kind of go through that, you're saying, that's what it's going to happen here.

That's my guess. I think that's how it's going to play out. And again, it's just more public embarrassment to the organization, but that's what, yeah.

And you guys see the asking price is very high. We're this late in the season already. He's got an ankle injury. If Austin Eckler had a very productive, I know he's older, but very productive season last year, couldn't even get a bite.

It sounds like to him in reports, there was no one even giving him a call. But the charges are also contenders right now. You would have to give me something back significant to go get Austin Eckler, who is older than Jonathan Taylor, because even though people look at the chargers and like me, I don't believe in Brandon Staley. Look at that team, they're loaded with talent.

They have a window to win now for the next two or three years. But if you're giving, you're running back a, at least the chance to seek a trade, aren't you in a way saying, hey, we'll consider trading you. They let him go find deals. Now again, he couldn't find any, but even though they're a contender, the cults are nowhere close. The teams are offering wasn't good enough for them.

Right. And again, for at least earlier reports, the cults are asking for, let's say a similar value as to what the charges wanted, a very high pick for a running back that's devalued. Even though I think Austin Eckler right now, like for this upcoming season is in a better spot, Jonathan Taylor, if he's made, you know, now he is made available.

There will be more teams that will be willing to bite. Austin Eckler, I know we got a later start in his career when he's actually playing consistently, but Austin Eckler is what, 28, 29 years old. Jonathan Taylor is 24 years old right now, and he's up for that next contract where Austin Eckler already got that next contract. So I do think there'll be more of a market for Jonathan Taylor than Austin Eckler, because there's less wear and tear on the body. But he's hurt right now. So again, you're going to give a running back. You're going to trade for him and give him a big time deal when you don't even know the health of his ankle.

I'm sorry. And if a team comes calling tomorrow and they say, we're going to pay you this, and we're going to trade the Colts that, I would put a nice wager that he's on that practice field as soon as he gets introduced by that new team. I know that he had a legit injury, right? He had surgery, had the surgery in January. How long was the expected recovery time? One month. One month. And he had the surgery in January. Yep. It's August. So could there be complications? Could there be something crazy?

Yes. To me, I think it's going to be serious. To me, it's just tough to believe that that ankle is preventing him from being able to play right now when he has an ongoing contract issue with the organization. It just doesn't add up that that ankle injury is seriously preventing him to get on the field. And I really do believe that if he got an extension by the Colts this off season, he's on that practice field.

And he's not playing the preseason, but he's at least on the practice field right now. So I think the Colts were trying to play nice. They were going back and forth. And now they think the best course of action is try to take these trade requests right now and have those conversations get going. And then, as we said, two things are gonna happen. One, they like what they can get back for him. You're gone.

Or two, you thought you had a high market. You did it. Come play football with us or don't play this year and we'll just find your ass. That's the way that this is gonna go.

Either option A or option B. All right, we got to take a break. And the alignment going to join us on the other side. We'll preview the Cleveland Browns. We will get into this Daphan Diggs stuff from Stephen A. Coming up a little bit later on in the show, Joey Maguire, the head coach of Texas Tech, is going to join us at 7.40 p.m. Eastern, 4.40 p.m. Pacific. And we'll do some first and go with Bob Socey, the voice of the Patriots, at 8.20 p.m. Eastern, 5.20 p.m. Pacific. 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. All righty, time to preview the Cleveland Browns. Here we go. Brown is here we go. And we'll do so with Anthony Lima, who does a great job. Mornings on 92.3, the fan in Cleveland. Anthony, what's going on man? Gelb, will you have a chart in front of you with every team's respective chant around the NFL?

I'm impressed. For some reason, just the brown stuff, maybe it's because of you in 10 with the, here we go again, it's the Cleveland Browns and it's first in 10. There's just some teams that have some good chants, some good songs, and I like to incorporate it. Hey listen, we try to embrace tradition on our show in our city. We get nostalgia at times, even though the entire Browns community were a little up in arms over some potential changes, you know, a logo or what they were going to put at midfield or a new white helmet. So it's something that makes some people a little nervous, but we're excited about it.

We just roll with the punches. So when we start off with the Browns, Anthony Lima, how much Russ is there still to knock off with Deshaun Watson? Because he was underwhelming in those six games when he got back last year. Well hopefully, Zach, that was gone after the six games last year because I don't know how much margin for error in this division, in the AFC North, with the rest of this division, with the rest of the AFC, all the different quarterbacks that are in this conference that you know very well.

I don't think he has a lot of time to try to shake that rust off. It has got to be, you know, top 10. Previously, I thought he was top five Deshaun Watson in the NFL.

It's been a long time. I mean, it's been three years since he actually quarterbacked a winning team, really three and a half. In the last year in Houston when he led the league in passing, they were a terrible football team and a lot of empty calories coming from behind.

He was spectacular, but it didn't mean a lot. Now it's time for Browns fans to finally see Deshaun Watson, they traded for, that they paid all the money for, and start to distance themselves from all the bad things people say about Deshaun and get to the, hopefully, the good thing. So there is a scapegoat here.

We know that. It's Kevin Stefanski. Watson isn't going anywhere. Is it as simple as the Browns, they make the playoffs, Stefanski's back next year, and then if he misses it, they'll be looking for a new head football coach?

You know, I think it probably is. I know that is a dumbing down, and my co-host Ken Carman, we love him. He wants to feud me on this very principle. He says, you know, how do you fire a coach? He goes 10 and 7, and I said Dallas Cowboy fans are ready to fire Mike McCarthy with anything short of a Super Bowl this year at teams. Remember, back in the day, Marty Schottenheimer went 14 and 2 and got fired. If the Browns don't make the playoffs, that is three consecutive years with the most loaded rosters in my lifetime as a lifelong Clevelander and a diehard Browns fan. I don't know how many coaches are able to be able to survive that, and like you said, it's the easy head to be on the chopping block because ownership, who has been impulsive in the past, they can simply say, hey, we got a better season out of our team, but now we need an upgrade and we need to take it to the next level. Who can do that?

It's not Kevin Stefanski at that point. Let's go to the next down. Anthony Lima here with us. We know Watson is their best offensive player, but Nick Chubb has been phenomenal with the Cleveland Browns the last few years. When Watson came back, they took the ball. It's felt like out of Nick Chubb's hands a whole lot more than I thought. How about how many carries this year do you think Chubb's going to get probably per game? You know, it's interesting because the hope is that the carries might go up, but those carries would be in the fourth quarter when you're stealing away, you know, hopefully salting away a two score lead into a victory.

I mean, that is the hope. Of course, we all remember the Jets game when he decided to run for a touchdown and we're sitting here wondering how we lost the game when I was halfway to the parking garage. I missed that one. Galvin, thank God I did.

So look, I don't know. Number wise, I'm not sure because this is Kevin Stefanski is known as one of the coaches who throws out the old 1980s, 1990s football where, you know, it's smart to throw the ball on first down and if DeShawn Watson is throwing the ball on first down and they get great opportunities at second and two and they're moving the chains that, you know, they're going to continue to be aggressive. That's how he's been even with Jacoby Brissette. That's how he was with Baker Mayfield. He's shown that he's willing to do that regardless of who is under center. So, you know, Nick Chubb will be used, but they're hoping they can use them to salt away those games.

You look at the other skill position players, right? We know Amari Cooper continues to be one of the more underrated wide receivers in football. David and Joku and healthy's a solid tight end. We've already have said enough positive things about Nick Chubb and that should continue.

How about everybody else on that offensive side of the ball when you get into these other names? Well, so every day from the moment they made the trade for Elijah Moore to move back in the draft last year and they ultimately took a wide receiver anyway in Cedric Tillman out of Tennessee. When they took Elijah Moore, I said, wait a second. This is a guy who looks like he is heading towards a total bus status in the NFL. I'm not talking hall of fame bust. I'm talking total draft bust with how high the Jets took him and why would the Jets do that considering they have Aaron Rodgers coming in and this is a win at all costs here and they say goodbye to this, albeit talented on paper player, where they didn't use him in a lot of different ways.

He complained constantly about the team, the organization and Zach Wilson and all quarterbacks that were used last year. In the end, I was very hesitant about that trade, but since they made the trade, every single Browns player and coach has universally said this kid is going to be unbelievable and they're using them in every way. Now, we've only seen them briefly in the preseason game, but they have lined them up everywhere so far and I thought this was going to be a move where it was just going to be exploding down the field, being able to take the top off, as they like to say, one of my favorite cliches in the NFL.

The other one, by the way, Gelv, is pin their ears back. That's also a good cliche, so we'll work that in. So everybody tells me that Elijah Moore is going to be great. Apparently, I got to believe them.

Battle in the trenches is my favorite, being a big guy. Yeah, yeah. Let's get to the next down. All right, we know the Browns on paper have a really good offense alliance, been that way for a while. Defensively, it starts up front with Myles Garrett, then on the back end you got Denzel Ward. Expectations for the defense this year or what? Well, so they bring in Jim Schwartz, defensive coordinator after a year hiatus. He was sick and by all accounts, in Philly, the defensive line in their joint practices against the Eagles, and that's a great team to go up against. For a couple of days last year, they got battered and embarrassed by the Eagles. By all accounts, they were about an even football team in that week in Philly. Kevin Stefanski going back to his roots, he's a Philly guy, and all accounts said the defensive line of the Browns was nasty. And we know Myles Garrett can do that, but what about getting some help? They said goodbye to Gedavian Clowney at the end of the year who signed with Baltimore just a day ago in the division.

He was not happy with the way he was being used. Well, they bring in Tomlinson and Zadarius Smith, and so far it has been excellent. Now, Zadarius Smith fell apart the second half of last year, so we'll monitor that because obviously the full season matters, but the Browns do have a tough schedule early on where they play every single team in their division.

In the first five weeks, they do have four home games, but I'm excited about that. A defensive line with Jim Schwartz and aggressive defense. Hey, all the defensive coordinators say they're aggressive, so I've heard that one every single year with the Browns. Last year, they were one of the worst run defenses in history, or at least contemporary NFL.

I don't think that's going to happen again. Talk about players that were disgruntled towards their end in Cleveland. I know Kareem Hunt is still available. He was, what, visiting with the Saints, visiting with the Colts as well.

Is there any chance, like even a slim chance, that there's a reunion there, or is that ship already sailed? It seemed like they kind of kicked him out the door, which surprised me as a as a as a Clevelander, a guy from Northeast Ohio, one of the best high school football players in Northeast Ohio history, and he came back. He rented the ship. He had the behavioral issues that certainly everybody knew about, and he seemed to be able to fit in. There were some chemistry concerns coming in.

Didn't have those. He seemed to accept his role until last year when he knew, hey, he's going to be an unrestricted free agent, so he asked for a trade. They didn't trade him.

They held firm. They showcased him in a big Monday Night Football game for the trade deadline against Cincinnati, and then that was it, and then they kind of said some things that were attributed to them about him losing a step, and he's not signed yet. I'm a little surprised by that. I never thought they used Kareem Hunt as well as possibly they should.

Everybody remembers. That was a long time ago, but when he was in Kansas City, he was one of the most lethal players out of the backfield, catching the ball from a quarterback. Seems like Deshaun Watson would have enjoyed somebody like that. Maybe they think Elijah Moore can do that, even though he is a very, very small individual. Let's get to the final down.

Last thing for Anthony Lima. Give me the pecking order one through four in the AFC North right now. Yeah, so this is something we debate every single day, and I probably flipped on it a bunch, but I do think Cincinnati, they have earned that, and you know, what everything I've seen of Joe Burrow looks like, he is absolutely healthy. I'll tell you, the team I'm not believing in more than anybody, and I'm surprised to say it, it is Baltimore. The Ravens, I did not like what I heard out of Baltimore all last year.

I get it. The quarterback was looking at a contract dispute. He was going to do everything he could to get the Deshaun Watson guaranteed money.

He did not get that level of guaranteed money, even though he did sign a nice contract, but didn't even join his team in the playoffs. I thought that was an all-time bad move, and I wonder if they get off to a slow start, if that stuff continues to come up, and is Odell Beckham going to save the day? Guys like Judevi and Clowney, you wreck guys like this, and I'm a Browns fan.

I know that could be dangerous. They could find themselves behind the eight ball very early on, and I think they could be in trouble. Pittsburgh gets steady as they go, so I would say it's going to be Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. Wow, Baltimore last. Yeah, and already Humphrey getting injured. I think that is a very bad sign. They've been one of the most injured teams in the league over the last three years.

I know that could be used as an excuse. There's something going on in Baltimore, and I sometimes wonder how long Harbaugh truly wants to be in that situation. They have their new offensive coordinator. If that doesn't work this year, look out. I only got a minute left, but I'm surprised that you were that optimistic on the Steelers, because I feel like every time I get on TwitterX, whatever we're calling it these days, I see you feuding with the boys in Pittsburgh. Well, I do that for fun, but I feud with everybody. I feud with Ken Karmen.

I'll feud with you, even though I love you. Here's one crazy stat, one of the crazy stats in sports, where parody reigns supreme all over the place. The Cleveland Browns have not finished with a better record than the Pittsburgh Steelers since 1989. Every year, they've either tied or finished worst. The entire last, how many years is that? Do the math.

That 36 years, 35 years, it is one of the craziest stats in sports. Anthony Lima, appreciate the time as always. You be well, my friend. Thank you, Gal.

There you go. Anthony Lima joining us from the fan in Cleveland. Almost said Pittsburgh, but man, oh man, love him in the mornings with Ken Karmen. Heck, he was getting nervous there when we had like 20 seconds left in the segment. That's how he's about to do that, like fade up the sound kind of music, that kind of go award ceremony on Lima. We'll break. We'll come on back when we do return. You'll hear from Stephen A on Stefan Diggs and also Jerry Jones. He's always talking.