QB Excitement (Hour 1)

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That's ShipStation.com slash audio. Live from the police show yet not overly ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street, welcome on in to a Thursday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS is the number to jump on in. 855-212-4227. You can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. We got a big show for you today. Coming up 20 minutes from now, the legendary pro football Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young will join us right here on CBS Sports Radio. And then at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific, we are wrapping up first and goal. Only a few teams left. We will conclude that next week.

And Larry Holder, who covers the Saints or the Athletic, will stop by. But first up, producing the extravaganza is no other than Atte Kiki. So there's some nights where I just can't go to bed after doing this show. And I guess it depends on when I drink my coffee. And yesterday was one of those days where I didn't have my coffee until later. And there's some nights when I don't have my coffee until later.

I'm like mother bleeper. I want to go to bed and I'm looking up at the ceiling and it's three in the morning. Yesterday, in a bizarre way, because of the unfortunate news that we ended up getting, I was actually happy that I drink my coffee later in the day. Now, it's news that no one wanted to see. It is awful, brutal, terrible news if you're a baseball fan.

But if I would have woke up to that news today, my just whole mood on that early Thursday morning would have just been miserable. But last night, late last night, in the middle of the night, you find out that Shohei Ohtani has a torn UCL. We don't know if he's going to need Tommy John surgery. That is still ambiguous.

But you already know that he had Tommy John surgery once. So two things factor from there. And two thoughts really start to get your mind turning right in the moment. And I don't think either are hot takes.

Because sometimes you put a take out there and the next day you go like, man, that didn't age all that well. But immediately, if he has a torn UCL, you kind of just feel as if he's going to need Tommy John. Maybe I'll be wrong on that. But the two immediate thoughts that I had was he just lost himself a whole lot of money, even though he's still going to be making a ridiculous amount of money. And then the other was, this is probably the end of the road of what was baseball's greatest marketing tool. And what I mean by that is Shohei Ohtani is still going to get a lucrative contract. Shohei Ohtani is still going to be a great baseball player. But what made Shohei Ohtani so awesome is we say this about time before with guys like, oh, they're one of one. But Shohei Ohtani is literally one of one where he was an elite pitcher on the mound.

And at the plate guy hits 40 something home runs, you know, 60 something home runs in a season. But when you may be on the verge of having not one, you already have one, but maybe two Tommy John surgeries, this conversation was inevitable. We knew what was going on with Shohei Ohtani, as magical as it was, eventually there was going to be a day where Shohei Ohtani was going to just be a hitter and not be pitching. And we've had those discussions before, not only on this show, I remember over the summer at one point when we were discussing should the Angels trade Shohei Ohtani, Andrew Perloff of the Maggie and Perloff show, he was saying he's got to pick one or the other.

I vividly remember that conversation when I was filling in for Maggie on Maggie and Perloff. But that's what it feels like if he has to go get another Tommy John surgery, and we still don't know if he's going to need it, but you know that he has the torn UCL and he's going to play throughout the rest of the season or try to and just be a hitter. And I hope he doesn't have anything else go wrong, because he's so fun to watch and also selfishly, I don't know how they're going to manage this, but I have tickets for Sunday. Because I want to go to a met game the Mets stink, but Shohei Ohtani is in town, and I want to see Shohei Ohtani.

And I saw him one other time in person. I think it was his first year in the United States as a Major League Baseball player. And he was supposed to go up against I believe Tanaka with the Yankees, and right before the game. Because of some injury. They said he's not going to pitch. And then he just was a hitter at the plate.

And think about that. I remember going to that game. And remember, this is what Mike Trout is talked about as the greatest player in the sport. And I didn't even think, oh, I'm going to see Mike Trout. My thought was I'm going to see Shohei Ohtani. Because that is what Shohei Ohtani has done to the sport. There's a lot of baseball games that you could miss.

There's 162 of them. But Shohei Ohtani, whether it's you going to a TV set or wanting to see social media highlights. He's someone that is the game's most marketable star. And he's the most popular player in the sport because when you see him, you see a unicorn. And I know we throw that title out there pretty freely.

Oh, player's a unicorn. When he does like, I can't believe something jaw dropping moment. But to see at the level that he was able to take Major League Baseball by storm, not only in the batter's box, but also on the mound.

It was bleeping awesome. And as I sit here today on the 24th day of August in the year of 2023, I don't think it's premature now to say it's time to just make Shohei Ohtani a hitter full time. And he'll still get a king's ransom on the open market when he's a free agent this offseason and this hot stove season. But we were talking about like a six hundred million dollar contract for Shohei Ohtani.

He's not going to get that now. And he still may want to say, I want to pitch, I want to pitch, I want to pitch. And it makes sense if he gets the Tommy John surgery, he's not gonna be able to pitch for a year.

So you're gonna have to hold that off. But he should say that he still wants to pitch because of the fact you could still get some of that money that you would have got. Maybe not the entire thing if you didn't suffer this injury. So this is baseball's biggest nightmare. This was baseball's biggest fear. After they already survived one Tommy John surgery, would there be another elbow problem with Shohei Ohtani? And now we know that he has torn that UCL and we'll see if he needs the Tommy John surgery.

So Hickey, you're always good for a take in the moment. I'm curious where you stand on this one. Last night when I saw it, it was bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep. This is terrible. This is awful.

And it really just made your heart sink. But right away, I went to the thinking of that's probably the end of the unicorn of Shohei Ohtani. He will still be a great baseball player and still be one of the more lethal hitters in the sport. But if I'm bringing him in and I know that that unique version of Shohei Ohtani is so special, if I'm paying him all this money, I'm finally on that side of the fence where it's okay.

Let's do one or the other. And as good of a pitcher he is, we know he's a better hitter when he steps into that batter's box. Much better hitter than pitcher for sure. And I think honestly this would be a nice little test case if he plays the rest of the season with his injury. Basically about a month or so can kind of give you a little window what you could be in for next year if you're a team pursuing him. But I don't see why he has to give up pitching whatsoever. If he needs to go get another Tommy John surgery and now have two Tommy John surgeries? If it doesn't impact his hitting, what's the worst case or what's the worst thing that happens if trotting him out there in 2025?

Well then you're playing with fire when the body just gets older. If it doesn't impact his hitting, and that's why I said this next month would be a nice little test case, but last time I checked, he played through his first Tommy John. He did. Now he didn't play. Did he play at the level he's playing now?

He did not. But also he's not the player he is now than he was in 2018. But if it really does not impact his hitting, I don't see why if you're a team why you would just shut him down. Maybe he can't pitch again and maybe it's just he's not good enough depending on what team signs him to make the five-man rotation.

But I don't see what the harm is in 2025, even 2026 of trotting him back on the mound and see what happens. I'll give you an example. Can you manage this? Yes. Can you be the best version of yourself?

I don't think so. Because look at Bryce Harper this year. Bryce Harper's been fine. Bryce Harper's been good. But Bryce Harper has not started to get back to the old Bryce Harper until now.

And that's a guy that quickly got back after having Tommy John surgery. And you're not asking Bryce Harper to pitch. I know he's an outfielder usually.

They played him at first base. But you're not asking him to pitch. And look how that has affected Bryce Harper at the plate where his average has still been good. But the old Bryce Harper power numbers have not been there. And you're not wrong in saying that this is a sample size for the rest of the season.

It's a small one, but you could still show something with the remaining games that the Angels do have left. But Shohei Ohtani's still going to get a ridiculous contract. And if I'm an owner of a team, if I know that he could be one of the best hitters in baseball, and you do know that, he's proven that, as good as he could be on the mound that is important of a piece that is, I'm not giving this guy all that money. And then saying, yeah, let me have you pitch now again, when you've already, assuming, and I think we're all going to assume that he's going to need Tommy John, that that elbow is coming off two Tommy John surgeries.

Because you then wonder, if something happens again, how easy is he going to be able to recover? And how is that going to affect him, not only physically, but then also mentally, if he has to go through another one of those injuries at the plate. Like you said, he's best hitter in baseball right now, so he's going to get, even with this injury, still should get, I think will get the highest free agent and the biggest contract in MLB history.

But you would agree that price is going to fall down of what it would have been before this news the other day. Sure, a little bit, but I mean, he's still getting $500 million, I think, bare minimum. Yeah, he's not lining up to go work at a soup kitchen, I understand that, but we were talking about a guy that was going to get $600 million, because you were paying him to be not only a hitter, but also a great pitcher.

But now if you're a team, again, you're still breaking the record, still getting the most money ever given out to a free agent. And again, if you're a team, and you're paying Shoei $500 million mostly for his hitting, if he wants to do it, and we don't know, but if he wants to pitch again, I don't see the harm being a team owner saying, you know what, let's see what happens, shot him out there again in a year or two years, and see if he can reclaim, maybe not all, but some of the magic he had this past year. Let me ask you this, do you think he's on borrowed time if you go through that approach of being a hitter and then also a pitcher? Like, do you expect him to go throughout the majority of the rest of his career doing both? Yeah, I don't see why not. I mean, I know we've never seen it, so it's tough, but it's like, is there really a correlation between the two? I don't think so.

I don't see why not. I think yesterday's news in the middle of the night shows you that what we have here is on borrowed time now, and eventually he'll just be a full-time hitter in Major League Baseball. Alrighty, we've got a break here on the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio.

When we come on back, the legendary Pro Football Hall of Famer, two-time league MVP, he's a three-time Super Bowl champion, Steve Young will join us. The Zach Gelb Show is sponsored in better part by BetterHelp. Sometimes in life we're faced with tough choices, and the path forward isn't always clear. Whether you're dealing with decisions around career relationships or anything else, therapy helps you stay connected to what you really want while you navigate life, so you can move forward with confidence and excitement. Trusting yourself to make decisions that align with your values is like anything.

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That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P dot com slash Gelb. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. All righty, welcome back in.

It is the Zach Gelb Show, coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. We'll head out to the guest line right now, and welcome in the Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback, and that is the legendary Steve Young. Steve, great to see you.

How you been? You know, big summer, kids, family. It's over. School started. The summer's dead.

It's time to play some football. No doubt about that. I heard that you had a little trip to Europe recently. Always a good time to go over there, right? We loved it. We loved being together. It was Northern Europe. My wife has a great friend in Oslo, Norway.

We went to see her and traveled through the fjords and new cultures and new people. It was awesome. So the big news yesterday, Trey Lance, of course, with the 49ers. He's going to be the third string quarterback.

Sam Darnold will be second. We know Brock Purdy is going to be the starter. How did you react when you saw that, that Trey was going to be the third string QB for them? You knew at the beginning of camp. They talked about honest, you know, competition between the two of them, Sam and Trey for the backup spot.

I think that was real. I think you also knew that Trey had not grabbed the hearts, and I don't know how to say this, of the team where, like, it's not necessarily an emotional thing. It's more like how he performed and how he needs to be to kind of claim not the hearts.

It's to put a stake in the ground or, you know, on the top of Everest. Like, you know, this is my space. He had yet to do that, and I think that's what he needed to do to get that backup job was to perform in a way that gave him the confidence. Like, he was missing some easy routes, and you could feel him kind of get down on himself.

And the team responds to that, and that's not what they're looking for. And so he was growing. I give Trey a lot of credit. In the offseason, he went and got better at the things that he wasn't good at. He is improving, and you feel like after this last preseason game, there's really something there, and somebody's going to find it. That's what you kind of feel like, but unfortunately, Sam came in and gave Kyle what he craved. Kyle may not be the – his highest and best use is not developing quarterbacks.

His highest and best use is taking a developed quarterback or a quarterback full of guile and the ability to kind of decipher and call plays and have them be trusted. And so Sam became that guy, and Trey was more of a development project. So I feel bad for Trey.

I think that he honestly lost the competition, and you just have to – you know, we all – you get a competitive spot, you lose it. Now what? And I think that hopefully the 49ers – if I was Trey, if I wasn't positive that I was – you know, there's maybe a handful to 10 good places for quarterbacks in the league that I would want to go to. If you're not going to go to a place of one of those spots that can take care of the quarterback and teach him and prepare them to be great, I might hang around, even though I'm going to get, you know, kind of scout team stuff, because this is one of them. This is one of the 10 where if you're going to play quarterback, this is where you want to be, and you don't know how it's going to go down.

Maybe a year of it, maybe you can put up with it. I don't know, but I don't – if he was ever going to send him some random team that doesn't take care of the quarterback, I don't know that I would want that for Trey. And they may need him at some point this year.

I know Brock Purdy was awesome last year in the eight games that he started, and Sam Darnold deserves question marks about him, but we've seen the Niners the last few years go through a lot of quarterbacks. I don't think that will be by design, but maybe there's an opportunity for Trey Lance later in the season. You never know, right?

You never know. But Trey needs to get on the field. He's ready to get on the field and do more of what he did in the last preseason game, which will essentially – there's going to be mistakes.

There's going to be some haywire stuff. But in the big picture, it seems like he gets warmed up and gets going, and then he can compete with the big boys, with the big comebacks, with the big late-stage, you know, late fourth quarter touchdown passes. So to me, I want to see more of Trey. I didn't leave preseason saying, you know, I don't know that I want to see more. I want to see more of Trey.

And I want him to find a place where he can go find the full measure of himself. I don't know that third string is the place for him, but I do know that if he goes to a place that doesn't take care of the quarterback, it's not going to get him to where he wants to be. And that's the crazy part of this situation, as the Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young is here with us. This is a guy that people now will say he's a bust, but he's really never got the opportunity. He's been a starter for four games.

One was in a monsoon up against the Bears, and the other one he got hurt. So it's one of those situations people say he's a bust, but then we never really seen the guy play. Right.

And I think that that fed on itself, right? Because you've been here for two years or three – like, you've been here months and months without having the chance to go prove it. So you keep trying to prove it, but you don't have the environment to go prove it, so it kind of feeds back into your own insecurity. I noticed, Trey, during summer camp where I could feel like every throw he made was a referendum on whether he was good or not. Like, that throw, he's good. Or that throw, oh, he's terrible. Like, nobody wants one throw or a practice to define whether you're good or not. But because you don't have any money in the bank for all the college and pro stuff you just talked about, that he doesn't have it. So all we have is this practice, and we're like, yeah, it was a bad practice. Oh, he's a bad player. Like, no one wants to be in that spot. It's a tough spot for Trey to be until he gets enough time to either prove it or not, once and for all.

I think we can't, don't call him anything yet. We have to give him the space to go be a bust or be a success or be, we just haven't given him that yet. And that's why I hate covering training camps, because we track practice. And the goal of practice is to get better. Touchdown, like, practice is, it's like my kids in the home. I get my kids at home, high schoolers, and I'm like, I'm not sure they're really great. You know, they behave and they talk back and they're like, and then I go out to their friend's house and I talk to the parents like, oh, she's the most wonderful person. He is such a great kid. He helps with the dishes.

He's amazing. And it's like, the truth is, kids work out stuff at home. And you work out stuff in practice. That's what you do.

You work it out. So there's, you don't want to be judged. You want to be judged for the games.

You want to be judged for practice when you work stuff out. Where you try things you wouldn't try in a game. Where you take a risk that you wouldn't take in the game necessarily. And so if I'm going to, oh, he was 11 of 15 with two picks, like, yeah, it's practice. Like, that's, I'm making throws that I wouldn't make in a game, because I want to find out. I want to see what the full range of what I can do. Anyone can just drop it off in seven on seven.

And you can go 100% in seven on seven if you want, or you can try stuff. So anyway, Zach, I can't agree with you more. Where's your belief level in Brock Purdy? Because we know what the goal is for the Niners this year. It's to win a Super Bowl. There is no question, and it has been for three years now, the best roster in football. The best talent, the best deployment of that talent by a coach, an offensive mind, second or first tied with Andy Reid. And so you need a quarterback, and they should win multiple Super Bowls or be in the mix, and they have been in the mix for multiple Super Bowls. So yes, this team is Super Bowl. No question.

Super Bowl or bust. And so Brock brings, I don't know, there's a, I can, I smell it from the team. They feel like they got a guy. Like, he's my guy. Now, he's smaller than we thought. He's not as big as the other guys.

He's not as fast. Like, there's things that made him the last pick in the draft. But all the other elements that pro players are looking for from their quarterback that want to smell it. Like, you know, it's a smell test, or I call it the force in Star Wars. You know, like, you can't, you don't know how to explain it, but they have the force.

That's Brock. And I think that what the full measure of that. We don't like seven games, you know, coming from third string. You know, I don't know exactly how that's going to go. But the smell test has already happened. The force, people have feeling like, does he have the force? He has it. Now, how far can he take it? When we get to Aaron Rodgers, Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young is here with us.

You're one in New York. Rodgers now happy, basically running that organization. What do you kind of think the end result will be for the Jets? I'm loving the summer of Aaron Rodgers.

I'm loving and I'm a little bit jealous, to be honest with you. Because when you're around someplace for a long time, like he was in Green Bay, for good or bad, a lot of success. You just build up long term relationships that have a lot of scar tissue and a lot of, you know, ill feelings and remembered slights. And you could smell that at the end of his reign in Green Bay where he was kind of crotchety, you know. And it was like, it wasn't really, I don't know, he was necessarily overly happy with everything. And you couldn't tell whether it was him or whether it was the team or whether it was the head coach or what was going on. And now he gets a completely new start at 40 years old. So you're the most senior guy in the league. You've been MVPs and Super Bowls.

You know everything about the game. And now you get to define yourself in a way that's completely like a canvas that you get to paint on however you want. And how he's decided to paint on it this summer is, I am going to, and everyone in the building, the Jets are like, he's the Messiah, he's the greatest, he's the guy. And you feel all this love and all this acceptance and you feel like you're going to make all the difference. And now you come into that space and you pay it back with humility. You pay it back with mentorship. You pay it back with being one of the guys. You pay it back, it's like he's done all of those things that makes football players love their quarterback. Like I'll kill for that, I'll do anything for this guy. He's done that in three, four, five short months. He's created that environment that every player in the world wants to have their team feel for their quarterback. And I think it's super fun.

And I think Hard Knocks has only exacerbated or, you know, multiplied that effect to how, you know. So people say, what about Super Bowl? Yes, even in the AFC. Yes, young talent, fully deployed, fully flowered with a quarterback that can take care of the football. They can get it back from the defense a bunch of times.

How do you beat the Jets if Aaron Rodgers plays as well as he is feeling? Like as well as he's, you know, he's excited. He's energized.

I talked to him briefly this summer. I'm like, you know, in those big games, end of season, whether it's the Chiefs or the Bills or the Bengals or the Eagles or the 49, whatever it is at the end of the season, you know that you're going to have to spit out 30, 40, even 50 yards on your, you know, you get on your horse and go. Because they're there.

They make the difference in the game. He goes, you're right. I'm going to get on my, I'm going to be. So he's a guy that's not just going to sit around.

He's going to get on his horse and go make things happen like he was when he was 25 years old. So a long answer. But you can see I'm pretty excited and a little jealous of the opportunity that Aaron gets at the end of his career. It's kind of cool. It's a great answer. The Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young here with us. So you know what it's like to replace a legend on the flip side.

Here you go. Jordan Love having to replace Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. What advice would you give him? Well, the number one advice is that you can't be Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers. Don't try. Everyone will try to compare you and they want you to be those guys. You just got to say, no, I reject it. I'm not I'm not going to try. And they say and the comparisons are inevitable.

Get used to it. Aaron Rodgers never threw an incomplete pass. Aaron Rodgers never threw an interception. Aaron Rodgers never lost a game. I remember when I replaced Joe Montana, there were times when I wanted to go to my own teammates and go, you know, Joe threw an interception like he did. No, he didn't. He's human.

Joe is perfect. So there's all of that. It's like a huge mountain that you have to climb that you need to say to yourself, I'm not climbing it. I'm going to leave that mountain alone. I got another mountain over here that I have to go play great football and help this football team win and do good. This mountain, I'm not going to try to climb. And I think that's what happens if people try to replace others and try to compare themselves. They start to climb a mountain that you can't you're never going to get up. Don't go there.

Just leave it behind. And the comparisons and all the pain and anguish and then and then and the disparity and how unfair it is. Like accept it all. It's going to be unfair.

They're not going to remember anything bad from Aaron Rodgers or Brett Favre. You're going to be unfairly judged. Like accept it all. That's all part of that mountain. Like just leave it and come over here and just play great football and take the game to game and take what your coaches say.

Try to isolate away from the inevitable incredible mountain of noise that you're going to get. Two more with the Pro Football Hall of Famer, Steve Young. Are you concerned what you're seeing with the Bills where right at mandatory minicamp, you had the Stephon Diggs situation, the coach said he was concerned that Stephon wasn't there.

And then the next day it was nothing to see here, folks, even though there was clearly something to see. My biggest concern with the Bills is that Josh Allen has been asked to be Superman. There are talent. There's talent. The Bills are talented, but he doesn't have the help that Patrick Mahomes has or even Joe Burrow has.

And I don't think they have the offensive ingenuity that these other teams have that I think he lacks. And so as he goes out to be Superman, he actually says, oh, you asked me to be Superman? I will be Superman, literally. I'll go diving over people. I'll go running around.

I'll put my body at risk. And it reminds me a little bit of Andrew Luck and how he was with the Colts where they asked him to do so much and he could do it. So he would give them the Superman performance as he took batterings and beatings. And over time it just doesn't work and you don't actually get to the Super Bowl. Josh Allen needs to be Patrick Mahomes is Superman because they don't ask him to be it every week. He can play just quarterback, drop it off, put it in people's hands, watch them run, ingenuity and offense, nice protection. And then all of a sudden he does Superman-like things when it's not required. Does that make sense?

Where from Josh it's required. And so I think anything that happens with the Bills like Stephon Diggs and what you just mentioned reminds me that the Bills aren't put together the way that I see that Patrick Mahomes put together. They're both Superman types of quarterbacks.

They're in different spots. And I wish that Josh had a little bit more help. Last thing I'll ask you, Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young here with us on CBS Sports Radio. The Dallas Cowboys last year, they had a championship performance defensively up against the 49ers. And offensively, Dak just didn't have it during that day. Is Dak good enough to win a Super Bowl in this league knowing what it takes? Dak is good enough. There's 10 quarterbacks that are good enough, maybe more, put in a situation where they have assets to deploy. You need to help.

He has the help. What I'm concerned about, especially last year when I watched the offenses, was that the game has changed dramatically over the last four or five years. Defenses cannot patrol like they used to by launching their body and missiles into all the areas of the defense. That's the way we played it. That doesn't happen anymore. Because of that, there's now holes of space. That's why the games become more college-like.

That's why you can throw the slip screen and do all the kind of things that college was only able to do in the past. So because of that, the most innovative minds, like in Kansas City and San Francisco and Miami and Philadelphia, they are figuring out ways to deploy the assets, not in an I-formation handoff and plow it in there, but to get the ball out into space and attack because that's where all the yards are. And so my fear is that the Cowboys offense, Dak doesn't get to deploy it the way I see Patrick be able to deploy it, or even Josh be able to deploy it, or what Jalen's doing. I want an offense that deploys in a way that takes all the newfound space that Dak could go eat up. So I put that onus on coaches.

I know they made a change. So we'll see what this looks like. We'll see what the Cowboys offense looks like. But if it doesn't look to you like as innovative as what's happening in those cities that I just said, then I feel like Zach's playing uphill. I lied. I'm going to ask you one more question here, Steve Young.

That sometimes happens in this business. You know that. Daniel Jones, his career looked like there was no future. Last year plays well with nothing really around him. They go get down wall of this offseason. Saquon comes back.

Are you a believer in Daniel Jones or is it I got to see him do it another season and take it to a next level? I think what happened is that a coach came in with a plan that said, Daniel Jones, you've been asked to do too much. We're going to simplify it. You're smart enough to do more.

I'm not saying it's an intellectual issue with you. But because we've asked you to do so much and you try to answer all the time, you're not ready. So we're going to pare it down and ask you to do, instead of 15 things, do four things. And ask those four things and we're not going to ask more. And calm down and we're going to have other people do other things. Play great defense.

Hang in there. You don't make as many mistakes and all of a sudden we're winning games in the fourth quarter. And it worked throughout the season. I thought it was very good.

And Daniel, because he was, instead of 15 things to do, he got asked four things to do. He got calmed down. He wasn't running around. The ball's not spinning out in all the crazy places. You're not throwing balls where you're like, where are you?

What are you doing? And I think he got to be a better player being asked to do less. Less is more in this situation.

And so the season to me about Daniel Jones was the fact that they have honed that down. Now, as you come into the next season, you say to yourself, okay, you did really well when he asked you four things. Let's go to six.

Let's go to eight. Let's build off of it. Now that we've got more weapons, let's ask you to do a little more. Not get crazy and see if we can build out of what you did last season. And see if we can't, over time, get you a place where you're one of the big boys. Which would be awesome. Which Daniel has the ability to become.

But I think they've got to be careful here. That you don't go back to say, okay, you handled four. Let's go back to 15. And then he starts to spin. The ball starts to fly out. Ball's crazy and like, we don't want that. As long as they hang with how they did it last year and built a little bit off it. I give that coaching, coaches credit last year. That's why coaches this year need to be even better.

To make sure that they maintain that level of simplicity for Daniel. I think they got a real chance to get better. He's the legendary Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback, Steve Young. Steve, always great to have you on. Really appreciate it. Take care, buddy.

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Vroom.com. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. Alrighty, Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. Great conversation with Steve Young. Now, I know ESPN had to make some moves. But after listening to that conversation, I've always been a fan of Steve Young. It's like, that's who you get rid of?

That doesn't make any sense to me. Especially with the knowledge, the experience and the passion that he had. I thought a lot of his answers were great.

And also kind of thought-provoking too. The way that he reacted to the Trey Lance situation, Hickey, I thought was very compelling. Where he said, Trey Lance is ready to get on the field and he needs to see more of Trey Lance on the field. But the guys just gravitate more towards Brock Purdy.

And with what Brock was able to do in that sample size of eight games, five in the regular season and two and a half, if you want to call it three, in the postseason. But I thought the way that Steve kind of said it, and there's some situations that can make sense, but if you don't go to a place where they know how to kind of develop the quarterback and put the quarterback in a good spot, then he may be better off staying in San Francisco, where there's not going to be a designed opportunity for him to play. And he's not going to get a ton of reps being the third string quarterback. But you look at it, Kyle Shanahan, even though it's been quarterback roulette with those quarterbacks, we know how good of an offensive mind that he is. So with the way where the answer started, Hickey, where it was, you know, he needs more reps, he needs to play, I did not expect the back end of the answer to be, but it may be in his best interest to stay with the San Francisco 49ers.

For this year, I would agree with Steve Young, especially because we kind of talked a little bit yesterday, where are you going? You're not going anywhere to start. You're not going anywhere right now to compete to start. So your best chance of getting on the field is injury. Now, I get it, right?

Simple math. If you're the backup quarterback, you have a better chance of getting in the field than if you're the third string quarterback. I understand that. But it's not like you're going to many situations that are better than where you are right now. And to Steve's point, I think there are plenty of bad teams. Like, he could have got a trade to the Cardinals, right, today. Is that helping your career with how bad this offense is? No. No, but he would play. He would play. You'd play until Kyler gets back, and then again, with how bad that offense is, if you need some help in terms of development, is that truly behind a bad offensive line and no receivers to throw to?

Is that the best situation for you to showcase your talent? You know what it reminds me of? It's the backup version of Baker Mayfield last year, where we said the best thing for Baker Mayfield would be to kind of suck it up, stay in Cleveland, and when Deshaun comes back, you know they're going to go to him. But it was only for the final six weeks of the regular season. Instead, Baker waited, waited, waited, waited, waited. The Browns waited, waited, waited, waited, eventually goes to Carolina. He wins the starting job, but you go there. Yeah, offense alliance improved.

You have D.J. Moore, the coaching situation last year. Rule gets fired, what, five games in or six games in, whatever it was. And then after that, everything kind of unraveled, where Baker, I'm not saying some of that wasn't on him, but he just went to the first place where he could go start and it ended up being a bad situation for him. That's a great example, because again, I think you obviously hindsight's 20-20, but you look back and you probably say Baker would have been better off playing 12 games of the Browns with a more complete roster than playing whatever, eight games with the Panthers before he was cut and then two with the Rams. I remember McCaffrey gets traded, too.

It was one of those things where he got to Carolina on, what, first week of July, like just after July 4th. So again, you're learning new teammates, you're learning a new system with not a lot of time. Was he truly in the best position to showcase his talents?

I would say no. And so if you're Trey, you know the system. You're not going to play anyway this year for the most part.

If you play, at least you'll be in a good situation here in San Francisco. And look at Brock Purdy, he was the hero because he came in right as the third string and saved the day. Not that Trey Lance is going to do that, but if he does, all of a sudden his value is higher than it'll ever be. So let's go to the Brock Purdy thing, too. And I'm not comparing Brock Purdy to this player because that would just be a disservice to Brock Purdy. But remember last year with the commanders when they got Carson Wentz?

You and I were both saying horrible move by the commanders. But the commander fam with all the crappy quarterback play that they had, they looked at Carson Wentz and was like, oh, he at least had something positive on his resume going back to that one season where if he didn't get hurt, he would have won the MVP. So they talked up Carson Wentz way more than they should have.

Let me just ask you this question. Where Steve Young even said it, Brock Purdy with that fan base and with that team, he has the force. Right? And there's a belief level in Brock Purdy. And almost to some level, a cockiness from the 49ers fan base where they're already saying like Brock Purdy is the guy.

Remember like Romanowski? He even said, that's a former player, that he sees some Joe Montana in Brock Purdy. Is that just because the quarterback position the last few years has been such a circus and it's been just rotating around to the merry-go-round where it's Jimmy G, then it's Trey Lance, then maybe they'll try to go get Kirk Cousins. Oh, they say no to Tom Brady. Then it's back to Jimmy G, then it's a Trey Lance, then it's to Brock Purdy.

Is it because of all the circling that was done? And yeah, Jimmy G did get them to a Super Bowl and outplayed Mahomes through the first three quarters of that Super Bowl, but didn't win it and he was a big reason why they didn't win it. Is it just because Brock Purdy did not lose and then he got hurt and he was 7-0 and he played fine, that maybe 49er fans are talking up Brock Purdy a little bit too much? I think that's part of it for sure when you don't see a loss with the guy. It's hard to feel bad, have bad feelings about him, but also too, it's the position at quarterback for the 49ers. Is it game manager?

Above average game manager? Kyle Shannon showed you, you don't need a high-level quarterback to operate this team and to win at a very high level. Jimmy G got to a Super Bowl and two NFC Tyler games. Brock Purdy got to an NFC Tyler game being the last pick in the draft. You don't need Patrick Holmes on your team to have a chance or Joe Burrow. You just have to basically do what Kyle Shannon tells you and take what the defense gives you. And with all the weapons they have, you don't have to beat this great quarterback to have success, and that's part of the reason why.

The bar is, what Kyle Shannon is asking his quarterbacks to do to have success is by far the lowest of any quarterback in the NFL, which makes it easier to plug and play. Let's get to his answer on Aaron Rodgers. He was just in love with the way that Aaron Rodgers has handled this situation so far, says they could be a Super Bowl team, and he even said he was jealous. And that's the great Steve Young.

That's not just like a Jet fan, that's just not some random person. That is a guy that knows what it takes to win in this league, and he's saying he's jealous of Aaron Rodgers right now. You've been someone that has kind of rolled your eyes at how much love people have been directing to Aaron Rodgers. Does it at all change you a little bit when you hear the great Steve Young basically just genuflect and jump up and down like a fat kid in a candy store over Aaron Rodgers right now? No, because this is the time where that should happen. It's impossible to have adversity really strike and to have us questioning if this is going to work or not, because it's training camp, we don't see a lot of it, everything that comes out is all puff pieces, and Aaron Rodgers, his credit is being a good teammate now, but it's easy to be a good teammate when only good things are happening.

The question from what I have and the doubt I have is when you know what hits the fan. Those six games to start the year are brutal. Tough. We're talking about two and four starts of the season, total different tune I think everyone's singing. You're still saying the Jets aren't going to make the playoffs?

That's right, yes sir. That's such a ridiculous prediction. You're still confident in the Broncos?

They're dropping like flies these days. I just saw that you had a Jerry Jeudy injury and he's supposed to be out for several weeks, or a few weeks I think was the wording, and now he's in jeopardy of missing game one. Not great that I'm excited that it's weeks and not months, and that's what I'm kind of holding onto, but Broncos in the playoffs.

Not backing down. If I gave you a get out of jail free card, you wouldn't just ignore that prediction and go elsewhere? If Russell Wilson got hurt, different story, but right now if you were giving me that card, I'm not taking it, I'm saying no. I will guarantee that the Broncos will not be in the playoffs this year, as you always like to channel your inner Charles Barkley. Who's going to win the Heisman Trophy? We discuss that next.