Brady and Deion Not Taking Raiders Job (Hour 2)

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Find it wherever you buy laundry products. How we doing now? Number two of our radio program. That's right, it is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. The big news of the day, Josh McDaniels, David Ziegler out as the head coach and general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders. And Stu is the happiest I've ever seen him. Sam, you worked with Stu for a long time. I don't think outside of one other time I've ever seen Stu come into this office and be so giddy, be so elated and just be so excited to come to work. There's only one other time I could recall where Stuart Kovacs really had like a big smile on his face. But this is right up there.

This is a top two moment and it puts us all in a better mood. Like we're at times a dysfunctional family here at CBS Sports Radio, but I like to say that we're one big happy family. And with families, there's always going to be fighting.

There'll be people taking shots at other people, friendly fire, all that stuff. But it just puts me in a better mood when I get to see Stu smiling. And that's what we get today because Stu is a long suffering Raider fan. And there's not a lot of things to look forward to when you are a Raider fan.

And he finally got that wish that he never thought was going to happen this year and he thought he's going to be stuck with McDaniel's for one more year. And maybe some are saying this. I'm not saying it, but some are saying it. Mark Davis was listening to the show yesterday. He is a friend of Big Mike CBS, Michael Santa. I saw them hanging out in Las Vegas right at the NFL Draft a few years ago. And I heard that Mark Davis was maybe listening to this show and he didn't like that. I said he'd be the biggest buffoon in the NFL if he continues to employ one Josh McDaniel's. And boom, right in the middle of the night after trade deadline day, too.

Which is crazy. So Ziekler and McDaniel's are running the team during trade deadline day where you could have traded some players and got some resources back. Snip, snip. You're out. You're both gone.

Hear your pink slips and you get sent packing. But very good, Sam. Do you would agree for Stuart Kovacs? Stu's happy. I've seen him happier. I mean, whether it's the Lakers winning a championship in the bubble or Notre Dame with a couple of big wins. I've seen, you know, when Stu's the happiest is when Liverpool has a big win.

Right. There's nothing I think outside of he loves the Raiders. He loves Notre Dame.

He loves the Lakers. But I don't see that passion for them that I see even with the Yankees that I do with Liverpool. Now, I might be wrong that Liverpool's your number one. Yeah, he's right.

Mike's right. But it's because it's a new love. You've been tortured for so many years, but outside of Lakers by most of your sports teams where they get to certain places and then they lose. Now, I'm not a soccer guy. I can't tell you a damn thing about soccer. Other than Sampdas wearing some scarf today from some soccer team that was just created and they sent them that. So that's a nice scarf that you're wearing. And I was in Barcelona and I got an FC Barcelona hat and scarf. But that doesn't mean that I support the team.

I just want it to be controversial. Grab some soccer gear, post a photo of it. People go, oh, that's a team to root for, blah, blah, blah. And Bill Reiter actually reached out to me and I found out that his favorite vacation spot is Barcelona. He's a big fan of, what is it, FC Barcelona? FC Barcelona.

I think so. That's my favorite non-English football team as well. So who's your soccer team? Liverpool? That'd be Liverpool, yes.

They're good. That sounds like a good soccer team. And I've heard about Liverpool before. Yeah, they're historically good. It's like that in Manchester United and Arsenal, like are the three like English teams that have like the most success. When did your fandom start?

Five years ago. Have they won a championship or whatever it's called? Yes, in the first year I followed them really. It'd be funny if Stu started to jump on the ship and the next thing you know they got relegated. No, they're too good to be relegated, that's for sure.

But the amount of money that some of these other teams are spending, Liverpool, it's challenging for them to contend. But this scarf right here, this is Wrexham. They were a fifth level soccer team that was bought by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhinney from Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

And now they're moving up the charts, they're crushing it. So I'm a big fan, they have a show on FX, I love it. And I'm a big Wrexham fan. Gotcha.

Alrighty, soccer talk. Gotta love it. Well Stu's still like wondering, what's the other time that Gelb's talking about? I was wondering that, yes. I think it's an obvious one.

I think it's lovey-dovey when you started dating your now long-time girlfriend. I thought this was a specific sports, okay, my mind wasn't going there but that's fair. Now I saw a different Stu. I knew Stu or sort of knew Stu when I guess I was his boss at some low AM radio station that I didn't even know Stu was an employee of mine until I got here and he was like, Oh Zach Gelb, I know you from 920 AM the Jersey.

I'm like, I didn't even know that anybody listened to that show when I was on 920 AM the Jersey when I was fresh out of college. He's like, oh I didn't listen, I was just working there. So I've known Stu a little bit and I don't think Stu's ever looked bad. But Stu starts dating the girl, Stu gets in impeccable shape, Stu's smiling all the time, you put your head together. We all know what's going on behind closed doors but that's the happiest I've ever seen Stu.

Then and Josh McDaniels getting fired. Did you wake your girlfriend up because I know you now you guys live together. Did not. No. You didn't.

Did not. Would she have been mad at you if you woke her up in the middle of the night, hey babe, Josh McDaniels got fired. Yeah, she wouldn't be happy with that. Is she a big Raiders fan? She's a Jets fan. Oh okay. Well she could relate to coaches.

She could relate but I don't know if that's like wake up worthy. Alrighty so I see the news last night and as I said I was surprised even though it was the right move. Then from there you start to say okay I feel good for Stu and now how are they going to get it right. Because Mark Davis is still the owner of this team. I know people tweet you all the time, oh he's going to sell the team you got to get rid of the owner.

That usually does not happen. You need some controversy, you need something off the field, something really bad to happen for probably Mark Davis to consider selling the team. So in all likelihood Mark Davis isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

With that being said, he could get this right if he goes about this the right way and trust others. And as I said earlier Jim Harbaugh should be on his list. Ben Johnson the OC for the Lions should be on his list. And then also Luanna Rumo should be on his list as well the Bengals defensive coordinator.

But with that being said just because I give you three names doesn't mean everyone else are going to have the same names. So earlier this morning I did wake up and I popped on my favorite morning show on national radio. And that of course is Maggie and Perloff. Look at me being a good company guy, a good teammate on many of these same CBS Sports Radio affiliates.

Sirius XM Channel 158 the free Odyssey app and of course streaming on YouTube. And you guys both know Maggie Gray and Andrew Perloff they were in this time slot before they moved to mornings when DA left. So I saw a poll question of theirs and I also heard the segment and they said who should run the Raiders. And they gave three names. Tom Brady, Deion Sanders and Jim Harbaugh.

Now I understand why all three of those names are on the list. Jim Harbaugh currently embroiled in controversy with Michigan. Maybe they're going to give him a new extension.

You see different reports each and every day. Either way we know that Jim Harbaugh has one foot in one foot out at Michigan. He has been contemplating a return to the NFL the last two years. He basically begged and interviewed for eleven twelve hours with the Minnesota Vikings and then didn't get the job last year. He had one interview. It was with the Denver Broncos. I'm pretty sure he didn't get that job. So whatever it is there's been two hiring cycles where Jim Harbaugh has displayed interest and could leave Michigan in a good spot.

Because even though with the pending scandal there may be some sanctions coming their way. But from a public perception he has now beat Ohio State twice. People said that would never happen. And he's won two Big Ten championships. People said he would never win a Big Ten championship. So depending on what the reaction is from the NCAA and the Big Ten and I'm going to expect that they move like snails because that's what they do. And that's why I think it's laughable when I watch all these shows and they're like oh the Big Ten needs to step in right now. The NCAA needs to step in right now. The precedent has been the NCAA moves as slow as humanly possible. Like think of the person that cannot run the most that you know and who's in like the worst shape.

That's the NCAA. And you better not be thinking about me but there is a chance that you may be thinking about me. But actually fun fact about that. I bet you're sneaky fast.

Fun fact. I've actually have run five 5Ks in my life. I ran five 5Ks in my life.

That's how I used to get into shape for football season in the summer when I would go to sleepaway camp. So I've participated in five 5Ks. Now don't ask for my time because I don't remember my time.

And I'm sure my time wasn't good. But yeah I used to run a few 5Ks. Why don't you throw a half marathon in there? That's not going to happen.

Do I look like Tiki Barber? No no no. That's a full marathon. Just do half of that.

Fine. Do I look like David Shepherd? That's also a full marathon.

I've done half. Do you look like Mike Sanford? I will never forget Shep doing the New York City Marathon.

This was three years ago. Then after the marathon, runs to work, sweating like a pig. He smelled so bad.

And he comes to work to work his shift for eye on football. And I'm like, dude, why do you look like you're out of breath? Why do you stink?

And why do you look like you haven't taken a shower in about 45 days? He looked like he was in Castaway. Screaming, Wilson! With the ball and all that.

That is what Shep looked like. That's amazing because I've run four half marathons and afterwards I can't walk for at least a full day. And that's a half of a marathon and I can't walk. He's sprinting to work and working.

I don't get it. And by the way, he beat Tiki Barber's time. Now, Tiki was coming from like a game or something and, you know, he got no sleep and he had to get an escort from the airport because his flight was delayed. He had to drive. There was like a whole big story about that.

But anyway, getting back to the topic of conversation here. You could see why Jim Harbaugh is on this list. I could see from Maggie and Perloff Show why Deion Sanders is on this list. But I don't think Deion Sanders in his next job is going to the NFL.

And then Tom Brady, it's easy, low hanging fruit of, oh, Brady, he wants to be the minority owner of the Raiders. I don't know what the status is of that. I don't think he's been approved yet.

And there's been some reports that there's hiccups in his approval process with whatever's going on. But Brady has been around the team. There was a game this year where he was trying to fire up Jimmy Garoppolo. And clearly, whatever he said did not work because Jimmy Garoppolo is now benched as the quarterback of Las Vegas Raiders. And he's been miserable. And now they're going to turn to the Purdue quarterback in Aiden O'Connell. But also, let me just give you this quote from Tom Brady. And this was from years ago.

This is via Zach Cox at Nesson. He said, in a conference call with Bill's Media today, Brady said he never wants to be a coach. No, certainly not. The question was, do you think you want to coach someday? You sound a lot like Bill Belichick on these conference calls. Coaching wouldn't be for me.

No, certainly not. I like playing. I wouldn't be a good coach. I don't have the patience to be a coach. So when I look at this Maggie and Perloff poll of who should run the Raiders, the obvious answer is Jim Harbaugh. Brady's not doing it. Now, Brady could be a minority owner and that could, I guess, meet the definition of running the Raiders. Like if you put Brady in a GM role and Brady gets to hire the coach, that's a different conversation. Coach Prime, I don't believe he's leaving to go to the NFL.

If he leaves, he's going to another college. And then you have Jim Harbaugh, who out of those three, and even though Brady's the GOAT, I do believe you've got to go with Jim if those are your three options. But you don't, that's the thing with the Raiders. You don't need to go for the big sexy name. Like, Stu, if they have a hire that you're like, I don't really know much about that guy.

Or if it's a hire where it's like, eh. Like Harbaugh, sure, he has the sustained success as a coach in the NFL, three NFC championship games and a Super Bowl. But if they go elsewhere and it's a name that you're not really familiar with, I don't necessarily know if that means it's a bad hire because how many times did we clown the Eagles for hiring Nick Sirianni? A Michael Lombardi. Remember that guy?

I know he still works in the media and all that stuff and he always pretends like, oh, I know everything, I'm the end all be all whenever he opens his mouth. But he said that Doug Peterson was the least qualified coaching hire ever. And he was wrong. Doug won a Super Bowl. Now Doug's doing a good job with the Jaguars. Mike McDaniel, when he got hired by the Dolphins, everyone was like, who?

What? And the same was with Nick Sirianni. And look where those guys are now. Remember when Sean McVeigh was hired? People were like, oh, he comes from a great football family, but you can't hire someone that's like 30 years old.

So just because you're not familiar with the name doesn't mean it's the wrong name. And if you are Mark Davis and all these teams hire search firms, but just because you hire a search firm doesn't mean you listen. Like the Texans a few years ago, they hired a search firm. They recommended a bunch of names for their GM job and they still hired Nick Casario and he wasn't a top five candidate. Now, so far for the Texans, I guess that's starting to move in the right direction.

But for Mark Davis, more than ever, ever, Stu, it's essential. I think you would agree with this that he hires a search firm and you still have to go through the meetings. You saw, you know, you're still the owner of the team.

But I do believe you really have to lean on this search firm because if he's independently making this decision, it's going to end in a really wrong way. Yeah, we've been down that road. The Raiders have been down that road for many of times since he's taken over.

And it's really not working out. I mean, I guess Del Rio was fine. But other than that, he's he's had a lot of misses in terms of, you know, the GM and the GM to with Mayock and now. Oh, yeah.

Right off the TV desk. Yeah. So he gets into fights with Antonio Brown. I was more Antonio Brown's former brown wanted to punch him.

Yeah, that was it's always messy with the Raiders. So you want Harbaugh. I agree.

That's a good name. I've also suggested Luann Arumo and Ben Johnson. If you can't get Jim Harbaugh, he signs an extension.

Michigan doesn't want to go. Who's the name then that you gravitate towards? Is there anyone that excites you right now is all like it's all these hotshot coordinators. Some of them work.

Some of them don't. Amarillo, I think, would be very good. I would be a big fan of that hire. Johnson would be good, too.

I'd be up for any of those, to be honest. And I think what make both attractive is I know it helps when you get Joe Byrne. You've got to get the quarterback. You've got to get players.

But Luann Arumo gets no credit for the job that he's done. People are starting to do this on the defensive side of the ball. And the Bengals for a while were in a bad spot where they were stuck and just making the playoffs that can never do anything. And the Lions have been lovable losers for years. And they've changed that culture with Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson's been a big part of that. So I think guys that have seen the process and have seen how you overturn franchises are guys that you really want to tap into.

But ultimately, you've got to go get some players. Like who did this McDaniel-Ziegler regime bring in outside of Devontae Adams is a big one. And then Chandler Jones is no longer on the team. It's like they kept a lot of the same guys and they didn't make any other big moves. You know, they get rid of Derek Carr. You're bringing Garoppolo?

That's what you're doing? That's not improving? So you need a GM and a coach that are going to work together.

And it's not brain surgery. You don't need a PhD in football. You've got to go get some more talent. You've got some talented players. Crosby, Stud. Adams, he's going to want out at the end of the year.

He wants out right now. And Josh Jacobs, too. There is some talent there, but the rest of the roster, for the most part, is really bad.

And I mean really bad. Alrighty, Zach Gilp's show CBS Sports Radio. Mike Floyer from Pro Football Talk will join us next. Alrighty, this is Zach Gilp's show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. Let's welcome in the man behind Pro Football Talk. And that is the always entertaining Mike Florio. Kind enough to join us once again on the Zach Gilp show on CBS Sports Radio.

Mike, always appreciate the time. How you been, my friend? Good, buddy. How are you?

Well, I'm doing fantastic. So I couldn't sleep last night. And I was actually thankful that that was the case because I see the breaking news report that Josh McDaniels and David Ziegler have been fired.

I was wondering if they would be back next year just because of where the contract was for both. So when you got wind of that news and you had the immediate reaction, what was it? Well, I woke up this morning and I looked at my phone because we have a thread of text messages among the writers at PFT. And I saw that and my eyes didn't want to focus. And I was like, what?

What in the world happened? I was stunned because, you know, the question isn't should Josh McDaniels have been fired? The question is, should he been hired in the first place?

If you're not willing to be patient with someone who is bringing the patriot way to town, you shouldn't bring the patriot way to town. We saw it with Matt Patricia in Detroit. We saw it with McDaniels when he went to Denver.

We saw it again with McDaniels in Las Vegas. It takes time to get the kinds of players that submit to the way things work. It's got a military overtone to it. The players check their individuality at the door. There's a certain type of player you're looking for. You rip anyone, you rip everyone.

It pisses a lot of guys off and it doesn't work if you don't win. But I thought Mark Davis between the buyout he had to give John Gruden a couple of years ago, the reality of a buyout with McDaniels and Ziegler, that would keep Davis from doing something now. And the one thing I'd love to know, who's advising him? Who whispered into his ear that this is what he should do? And did Tom Brady have a role in this?

A guy who's trying to buy a piece of the team. Did he say to Davis, yeah, go ahead, fire my good friend, Josh McDaniels. I think it's in the best interest of the team.

Mike Florio here with us on the Zach Gelb show. It's an interesting thought that you bring up. And the way that I look at this right now is, OK, you made the move to get rid of McDaniels.

I don't have a problem with it. And I thought it was the right move to fire him now. But is Mark Davis going to get the next hire right? So you talk about advising. Let's say if Mark Davis called you up and said, what the heck should I do?

What would you say to him? Well, you make a great point because Davis is the problem. And as Jed York, the 49ers CEO, said several years ago when his team was in the midst of a run of dysfunction, you can't fire the owner. That's the problem. If the owner is unfit, there isn't a damn thing you can do about it other than hope he sells or wait for him to die. That's it.

That's your only option. You're stuck as a fan. So the same guy that brought us. All the way back to what, 2011 with Hugh Jackson, there's it's been one bad hire after another and it's been one bad move after another. He had Jack Del Rio team went to the playoffs and then, oh, he gets a chance to bring back John Gruden works behind Del Rio's back to line up a deal with John Gruden fires. Jack Del Rio, John Gruden in round two didn't do anything was like twenty two wins out of fifty three games over.

And then Rich Versace takes the team to the playoffs as the interim coach and doesn't give him another chance. So I don't trust Davis to make a good decision. My advice to any owner would be, number one, have people around you who are giving you advice that is real and that you trust and they are just telling you what you want to hear. But number two, take your time. Have no preconceived notions.

Look as broadly as you can. Turn over every stone and force yourself to not even begin to make a decision until you've talked to everyone that you believe you should talk to. Until you've investigated everyone you believe you should investigate because too many times an owner knows right away. And I wouldn't be surprised if Davis already knows who he wants next. They know right away who they want. That's who they're going to get.

And they don't look more broadly at everything out there because they may be missing one or two or more candidates better than the one that they plan to hire right out of the gates. Talking to Mike Florio right now. So last night I was thinking who should be on their list.

And I went through three names right away. Jim Harbaugh, Lou Anna Rumo and then also Ben Johnson. If you had to make an early prediction on who you think it will be, what's your call? Well, I mean, Harbaugh makes sense. He started his coaching career with the Raiders 20 years ago as a very low level assistant before he began working his way up the ranks. You have to ask yourself conceptually, do you want a defensive coach? And then you have an offensive coordinator who's working with your quarterback, whoever your quarterback is going to be.

Let's say they finished badly enough this year that they're in position to get a great quarterback. So you have an offensive coordinator who joined at the hip with your quarterback and it works so well. Oh, your offensive coordinator is gone now. He's a head coach somewhere else.

You've got to find another one. Look at what the Bills have gone through post Brian Daybal. Ken Dorsey may not be the guy and they'd be better off if Daybal would have been the head coach. Now, I know it didn't line up that way, but if you have an offensive head coach, he's the guy who's tied to your quarterback. If it goes well, you don't have to worry about the guy who coached the quarterback leaving. So that's a decision, a conceptual decision Mark Davis has to make. And you know what we see all too often is the next coach is the exact opposite of the last one.

So good point. We got a fairly young offensive coordinator. Well, now Lou Anna Ruma makes sense because he's the exact opposite of Josh McDaniels.

I hope that doesn't happen. Jim Harbaugh is a proven winner at the NFL level. My concern is, as we get deeper down this rabbit hole with whatever is happening at Michigan, it's a horrible look for Harbaugh. How do you sell him to your fan base, to your customers, to the media that covers your team?

If the end result of this is either he knew what was going on and he's lying about it, or it was so pervasive, only Mr. Magoo wouldn't know what was happening. I don't know which is worse if you're a big time college coach trying to get back into the NFL. His track record at San Francisco is proven. I just think that we need to see how this investigation goes into sign stealing before we come to any conclusion as to whether he'd be attracted to an NFL team. But like you just said, should that sign stealing investigation even matter? That's what's going on in college in the NFL, right? He's been to three NFC championship games in four years with the Niners and got to a Super Bowl. If I'm a Raiders fan, that's all I care about is that this dude was a winner in the NFL. Yeah, I agree with you.

I just think at a certain point it becomes such a bad look. If the cheating is that blatant and that orchestrated and that pervasive, it just undermines the guy. And I just want to see how far it goes. And there was a report over the weekend on the NFL's in-house website, I believe, handed to guys on the payroll from the NFL that if there's a suspension imposed on Harbaugh by the NCAA, the league might do the same thing, even though there's no rule to support it. I mean, the classic NFL, make it up as we go, antitrust violation, collusion, whatever. And I think the timing was to get the word out there now for anybody who's thinking about Jim Harbaugh. Hey, be aware.

Be aware. If you hire this guy, he may get suspended. So consider that as you put together your roster of potential coaches as you get closer and closer to the spinning of the carousel.

I mean, for me, if it's even remotely close and I got one candidate that I know comes in free and clear with no suspension and the other one that may get suspended for as long as the NCAA suspends him, I'm not touching that guy. So I think that's the other practical impediment as well to hiring a Jim Harbaugh. Mike Florio, you know, I'm just wondering, so you have the Raiders, they blink first, they get rid of McDaniels. I think the commanders at the end of the year, if not sooner, will say goodbye to Ron Rivera. I got to think the Bears are going to move on from Iberfluz after this season. Are those the only two other jobs that you think maybe like I do are locks to see their coach leave and get fired at the end of this year? Are there other jobs that you kind of look at and say, yeah, I'd be surprised if their head coach is back next season? We got a lot of football still to be played.

So I don't know, like the Cowboys could fall apart in a way that would get Mike McCarthy fired, frankly, in Dallas. I don't know. Did you mention Brandon Staley?

No, I didn't. And that's definitely one that that should be on the list. Yeah. So and Sean McDermott and Buffalo, if they don't make the playoffs, they're five and three.

And. They had three straight games where they were dominant. They've had four really bad games since then, and somehow they won two of them and they won two of them, thanks in part to uncalled pass interference at the very end of the game against the Giants on an untimed down and against the Buccaneers on a Hail Mary, where Kate Otten was taken out by two guys and it wasn't called. So that's not the kind of dominance that you want to see from the Buffalo Bills. We'll see what they do Sunday in Cincinnati. But I think there's a way it falls apart for the the Bills from McDermott to be out.

I think Bill Belichick. I don't know. Did you mention him? No, I think he'll be back. You know. Well, here's what I think is going to happen.

And, you know, I'm hearing chatter to this effect. Not that it's reporting, but when you're plugged into the NFL grapevine and you hear something like this, it's too good to keep to yourself. There's a theory out there that when the season ends, Josh Harris, the new coach and the new owner, excuse me, of the commanders is going to call the Patriots about what it would take to to get Bill Belichick. So the Patriots wouldn't fire him. The Patriots would essentially trade him to Washington and avoid any further financial obligation, get something back where they had to give up some stuff to get him when he was the Jets head coach for like a day in 2000. And so there's a thought out there that that's how this is going to go.

Everybody goes in Washington. Josh Harris makes a play for Bill Belichick and Bob Kraft does not say no to it because he, in theory, is ready to move on as well. That would be juicy, to say the least, Mike Florio. Yes, it would. Oh, yes, it would.

I don't know. And again, Josh Harris had better be ready to give Bill Belichick an extended runway to turn it around. He can't get halfway into the second season and say it's not working.

I'm going to fire Bill Belichick and the wild card in anything that the commanders do. Zach is Magic Johnson, because even though he only owes four percent of the team, his megaphone is bigger than four percent. And he'll tweet. He'll talk. He he acts like he's a colon. And some of the media coverage makes it look like he's the primary owner of the team. So he's got a loud voice. He's been empowered by Josh Harris to have that voice. What does he think and what's he going to think the first time he sees Bill Belichick and he flashes that million dollar smile and Belichick grumble, grumble, grumble and disrespects him if he would.

I don't know that he would. But with Belichick, you never know what you're going to get. So they better be sure they're ready for his personality and that they're ready for it to take some time for Belichick to get the Patriot way in Washington. And the one thing we know about the Patriot way, Patriot way doesn't work if you don't have a quarterback. Patriot way worked as well as it did for as long as it did because they had Tom Brady. None of the other coaches who have been part of the Belichick tree have panned out because you don't have a quarterback. Before we let your own Mike Florio, Kirk Cousins with the Achilles.

I know you're you're a Vikings fan. I think this is it for him in Minnesota, regardless of what they say the other day. I keep on looking at San Francisco with the way that Shanahan rotates through quarterbacks and how much he loves. Kirk Cousins have tried to get him in the past to San Francisco. Would you put a few dollars down that Kirk Cousins is the forty-niners quarterback next year? Well, you know, we wrote after the Monday night game nine days ago that Kirk Cousins gave Kyle Shanahan something to think about. Because I thought, look, as long as Brock Purdy stays healthy, he's the guy. He's the young Kirk Cousins because Cousins is one of the oldest quarterbacks in the NFL. He'll be 36 next August.

I disagree with you, though. I thought going into the season, this was Cousins last year. And that after the season, the Vikings were going to do whatever they had to do to position themselves, to draft a franchise quarterback and get their first long term starter at the position since Fran Tarkin.

The closest they had was Dante Culpepper, who was the starter from 2000 and 2005, had a horrible knee injury in Carolina. And that was it for him in Minnesota. I think this Achilles injury has the opposite effect. I think it cements his future. I think it strengthens the bond between him and Kevin O'Connell and the organization. He had a surgery today in Minnesota.

He has the picture from the hospital bed with a purple wrap on his leg. I think he sets aside the opportunity to go make money elsewhere. And who's like what's his market now coming off of the torn Achilles when he had a great season that was interrupted two days before Halloween? I think it strengthens the likelihood he's back in Minnesota. They ride this out, see what they've got with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ Hawkinson, maybe draft a running back who can come in and be a difference maker. The defense is better. Brian Flores probably isn't going to be a head coach next year because he's got that lawsuit against the NFL. Tough to argue that someone should hire him, although it shouldn't matter.

We know how the world works. I doubt that any other team is going to make him a head coach while this other lawsuit's pending. So the defense will be better next year.

I think I think Cousins is back. And I think the Vikings are better next year than they were last year. By the way, Mike Florio, when you say that there's a lot of football left, do you have any belief?

I'm not saying for this year, but maybe long term that LaFleur and Love will figure this thing out in Green Bay? Well, I don't know how much time a quarterback gets now. When I was a kid and first discovered football, Terry Bradshaw was in like year three and didn't seem to know what the hell he was doing. But he got to do it long enough to become a Super Bowl champion. Is two years what you get now? And if two years is what you get, Jordan Love gets the rest of this year and next year. He sat on the bench for three years. And remember, they redid his contract as they were approaching the fifth year option date. So they kind of did a split where they committed to him, but not for long term. They didn't pick up a fifth year option, but he's getting some good money.

I think you got to give him another year and see what happens. And the other thing that helps him, no owner in Green Bay. It's corporate and they've made these decisions. They're all in with their plan. They got to ride this out. And there isn't that one person that can roll out of bed any given day like Mark Davis did apparently yesterday and say, enough, I can do whatever I want when I want.

You don't have that in Green Bay, which makes it easier to stick with the status quo. Tell me before we let you run about on our home and all the proceeds you're donating. And it's a great job by you to a local animal shelter. Here it is. It's a book I wrote during Christmas season.

Twenty twenty one basically started it right after Thanksgiving and finished it right after the first of the year. It's a story idea that I had rattling around in my head for a while. It's a Christmas story. It's a ghost story. It's somewhere at the intersection of a Christmas carol. And it's a wonderful life. It's fundamentally about family relationships, fractured family relationships, the importance of mending those relationships, especially during the holidays.

And if it's too late to mend the relationship because the person is gone or the relationship is irrevocably broken, coming to terms with that and moving forward if you just can't fix that relationship, if you've blown your window to do so. But my hope is we posted on the website last year, kind of like an advent calendar, one chapter per day. And I got some great feedback from people that really made a difference for them. It inspired them to to mend a relationship. And I hope that's what happens.

And every dollar I make, every penny I make goes to the Humane Society of Harrison County, West Virginia, which is a no kill shelter that provides care and feeding for dogs and cats awaiting their next home. So hopefully people will buy it and read it and try it. I think it's good.

I have a clear bias that I freely admit. I do think it's good. I hope people enjoy it. And I'm not getting any of the money from it. So it's not going into my pocket. If anything, it's going to cost me money because I'm paying the taxes on it. And I'm going to I'm just going to give the pretax up to ten thousand dollars. I'm giving the pretax amount to the Humane Society and I'll pay the taxes on. It's too hard to figure it out otherwise. And I don't want to get out of it. So I'd rather do it that way.

But you know what? I'm on the website right now. I will buy one and I will add to that that fund for you a little bit for the for the donation. So I appreciate you jumping on board today. Continue the great work with NBC and Pro Football Talk. We always appreciate when you join us. All right.

Thank you, Zach. There you go. Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk. A lot to react to from there, especially about that Bill Belichick rumor.

We'll get into some of that when we return after these short messages. But first up with the latest CBS Sports Radio update. Here's the act man, Rich Ackerman.

All righty. This is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Mike Florio, the man behind Pro Football Talk, just joined us a few moments ago and he gave a pretty big nugget here. This was Mike Florio on the possibility of the commanders. Yes, the Washington commanders trading for Bill Belichick. Here's what I think is going to happen.

You know, I'm hearing chatter to this effect. Not that it's reporting, but when you're plugged into the NFL grapevine and you hear something like this, it's too good to keep yourself. There's a theory out there that when the season ends, Josh Harris, the new coach, the new owner, excuse me, of the commanders, is going to call the Patriots about what it would take to to get Bill Belichick. So the Patriots wouldn't fire him. The Patriots would essentially trade him to Washington and avoid any further financial obligation, get something back. And so there's a thought out there that that's how this is going to go. So a few things that I believe it now, just because I believe it doesn't mean it's going to happen, because that means that Robert Kraft would say, OK, I'm willing to trade my my legendary coach in Bill Belichick.

But what happens at the end of the year? Because I don't like I know a lot of people are trashing Belichick now. Always nothing without Brady. I do believe people forget the origins of Tom Brady, like it's incredible that Belichick even kept Brady on the roster. And then he had one hundred million dollar highest paid quarterback in Drew Bledsoe who gets hurt. Bledsoe is ready to come back during the season after a terrible injury after that hit from Mo Lewis in that game up against the Jets. And Belichick stuck with Drew Bledsoe and then in that AFC Championship or stuck with Tom Brady. And then in that AFC Championship game, Bledsoe comes in because Brady gets hurt with an ankle injury. And remember, there was not two weeks in between the Super Bowl because the season was put on pause for a week because of 9-11. So coming off that ankle injury and you have the face of your team and also the highest paid quarterback in the league, Drew Bledsoe, who was healthy and just scored a big touchdown in the AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh up against the Steelers.

Belichick rolled and informed Bledsoe, like I talked to Drew about it before, like the Wednesday night before the game that they were going to ride with Brady. And then after that, Brady went from a game manager and a system quarterback to becoming the system. And he was clutch, don't get me wrong, drove down the field against the Rams, drove down the field in a high octane offense after missing the playoffs the year before that against the Panthers, then won another Super Bowl. But in the first wave of those Patriot Dynasty teams, it was really more okay.

You have this golden boy, Tom Brady, how great could he be even though he's winning? But a lot of the credit went to Belichick and the defense. And then once 2007 happened, that's when the offense started to get more of the credit.

But even in the second wave, they've won because of their offense. Falcons game coming back from down 28 to 3, that was Brady. And then in that Rams Super Bowl, the second time, that was because of defense.

Patriot only put up 13 points in the game. So I've always said Brady deserves more of the credit than Belichick. And Belichick will even say it every time they win a championship, you know, it's all about the players.

Players win championships. That's what Bill always says. But now because Bill hasn't been able to win without Brady, doesn't mean Bill's this bum. So I do believe Bill would still be attractive if he's made available.

But Mike even said it, you know, later in that answer. Bill needs to get a quarterback because that goes for any coach in this league. You don't have sustained success in this league if you don't have a quarterback. So the way I look at Bill Belichick's future in New England, I do think for the first time it's unknown. I would still lean that he's back, but does he want to stay? And if Belichick goes to Kraft and says, I want to go elsewhere, I do believe Kraft will say, OK, but it's going to go down the way that Florio just said, where it's going to come via a trade because they're not just going to let Bill walk to any team.

So I guess that is a possibility. I would still go if I had to rank most likely to least likely. Belichick's back next year in New England and the seats really warm. Two, he gets traded somewhere else. And then three, he would get fired for most likely to least likely. I do believe he'll be back next year. But if he's not, I don't think he gets fired.

I do think he gets traded. And on the flip side of this, from the commanders angle, when you look at these potential jobs, they're going to open. You know, the Raiders, they'll probably go for a big splashy name.

I just don't know if teams are to view that as attractive, that situation. But for the first time in forever, the commanders could actually be talked as an attractive destination because you have that vile pig, Daniel Snyder, no longer on the team. And Josh Harris is running the show.

And you get the Magic Johnson as a minority owner, a part of that ownership group. And you know Josh Harris is going to have to try to make a big splash. And it's tough to make a bigger splash than arguably the greatest head football coach or one of the greatest head football coaches of all time. So the Raiders job is already open. The commanders job will be open. Maybe they go get Harbaugh.

Maybe they go get Belichick in a trade. You know, you could look at some of these names, Ben Johnson or Luann Irumo. They may be the good hires, but are they splashy? Are they flashy names? Do they elicit a big response? And I think the command is not the best way to run your team. I think they're going to go for a big splash.

I really do. Now the Bears will be open. That's another potential hardball destination and all these other coordinators that we are mentioning. And they're also going to have two really good draft picks. And if the Chargers open up, which I read yesterday, Staley only has a four-year contract. Standard is usually five. McDaniel somehow got six.

Staley got four. He's on year three now. So a fear I had was the Spanos family is going to be cheap and keep around another year for one year. And you have to pay two coaches at once for one year.

I don't think that's a big deal. So those are the four jobs I really look at. Chargers, commanders, Bears and Raiders. Raiders are already open. The other three, I think, will eventually become open.

And if I had to rank them in terms of I was a candidate, who would I want? Chargers would be one because they have so much damn talent. Commanders would be two because of the new ownership group.

And I think they're going to try to do everything to go build a winner quickly. Three would be the Bears because of the draft pick. And then four would be the Raiders. And it's nothing against their fan base. It's nothing against Las Vegas, right? I love Raiders fans.

I would love to be the coach of a team in Las Vegas. But I can't trust the owner in Mark Davis because he's been a dysfunctional hot mess during his tenure, finally getting the team and becoming the owner and the day-to-day person that's leading the operations ever since his father, Al Davis, did pass away. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll come out on back. Jimmy G is bench. What's his future?

And also, there's one player today that a lot of people aren't talking about, but there's a lot more pressure on him now. I'll tell you that is next.