Mayo a Good Hire for Patriots (Hour 2)

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No long-term commitments or contracts. That's Stamps.com code PROGRAM. Alrighty, rockin' and rollin'. Movin' and groovin'. It is the Zach Gelb show. Coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Quick hour number one. Now we advance to hour number two. Kevin Falk, former Patriot running back.

Gonna stop by 20 minutes from now. And we got some crazy, crazy sports news to discuss as we've been talking about for pretty much the duration of the first hour. Kalen DeBoer, goodbye Washington.

Hello Alabama. And then when we get into the NFL world, it is wild card weekend. And the Patriots made the quickest coaching decision ever. Movin' on from Bill Belichick. He honored Bill for a day and then early this morning, bam.

Here's the news. Jarod Mayo is the next head coach of the New England Patriots. He was drafted by the Patriots, only played in the NFL for the Patriots and has been coaching the last five or six years only for the Patriots. And I'll take you back to last year where there was a lot of speculation that the Carolina Panthers wanted to hire him, and he declined to interview with the Carolina Panthers and then had this new agreement with the Patriots. Little did we know from some of the reporting they had a succession plan in his contract whenever Belichick was gonna go, I guess they set it up where Jarod Mayo was the plan to take over.

Now, I'm sure there's a way in a litigious matter to get out of that agreement, and I'm not gonna pretend to know, but I'm sure that there's a way. It feels like there's always a way when it comes to legal circles, and I'm sure that there was language in the contract that ultimately allowed the Patriots to make that decision. But like Santa kinda said, like, let's assume Jim Harbaugh leaves Michigan. Everyone believes that your own more is going to be the next coach, but it doesn't mean that you shouldn't cast a search and that you shouldn't explore other options. And I like the Jarod Mayo hire. I'm not gonna tell you, though, that I love the Jarod Mayo hire because I don't think he was the best available name out there that also would have been realistic. I don't think the Patriots were getting Jim Harbaugh. The Patriots aren't having a reunion with Pete Carroll. We knew that wasn't going down. They were looking for a coach who was gonna be their next coach for the foreseeable future for the next decade plus. And I know that it's very unlikely when you make that hire, especially when you just had a coach for 24 years, that the next coach is gonna last a decade.

But the name that I wanted, the number one option for me, was Mike Vrabel. And I thought that there was already conversations behind the scenes. Heck, it felt like Vrabel wanted to get fired in Tennessee, does get fired in Tennessee. Everyone shocked.

We know that back in October, he was sitting right next to Robert Kraft while he was still the coach of Tennessee, getting honored by the Patriots, going into the Patriot Hall of Fame, and he stayed the entire game and sat right next to Robert Kraft. So I thought there was already a conversation. I did think that there was an assumption that Mike Vrabel was going to be in the running for the job, but I guess because of this clause in the contract, now the job does go to Jerrod Mayo. So the way I look at this Mayo move is I think it's a good move more than a bad move, but with how many times we see young defensive-minded coaches or offensive-minded coaches that have never been head coaches before, there's always a gambling game. And it's always like, what we're doing right now, the conversation that we're going to have is it's going to turn into a guessing game of people guessing that he's going to be a good coach, end up being right, or people guessing that he's going to be a bad coach, they end up being right. It's 50-50 for this to have success. Ultimately, Jerrod Mayo already has the respect of the locker room.

Does that matter to me? Really, no, because there's no untouchable player right now on the Patriot roster. I like Christian Gonzalez, but he got hurt this year. I think he's going to be a great young player in this league. He was just a rookie, and you were seeing some of the success early on in his career.

Matthew Judon's a very good player, but he's not a spring chicken. On offense, there's no one that I look at that I have to have back on this team for next season, and defensively, at least what this allows them to do, because credit Bill Belichick for this, that Patriot defense played their ass off this year. And that was the strength of the team, and on a 4-win team, you usually don't have good areas of a team. That defense was a really good area of the team, so even though Jerrod Mayo wasn't calling the plays on game day, he was devising the game plans with Bill Belichick.

He had a lot of clout in that locker room. He had a very important role, so I would have to think that there's not going to be a major drop off on the defensive side of the ball, but now it's who's going to be your offensive coordinator. What are you going to do with the third overall pick? They hired a coach first, so you're going to pair him with the GM. Is this a GM that has Patriot ties? Is this a GM from outside the organization that has no Patriot ties? Is Jerrod Mayo going to report to Robert Kraft, and then is the GM going to report to Robert Kraft? So there's still some things that need to be ironed out, and also, what are the Pats going to do with the third overall pick?

So this is not a move that gets made today, and then all of a sudden, you say, yeah, the Patriots are going to go to the playoffs next year, or the Patriots are in this great spot. They've got to go through the rebuild, and they can't cut corners, and they've got to rebuild the right way, and under Bill Belichick, they were not going to be able to build and rebuild the right way. There was an expiration date, and it was longer than anyone could have expected, and it was as great as great could be in New England for Bill Belichick, but it was time to move on. It was right to move on, but now you're going to Jerrod Mayo, who's a disciple of Bill Belichick, and let's just have the honest conversation.

And there's no one that loves Bill Belichick more than me outside of his family and Bears Najarian. When you look at Bill Belichick disciples, most of them usually end up being really bad in the NFL. You know, the only ones that had somewhat success, and I don't consider Vrabel a disciple because he didn't coach under Bill. He just played under Bill. You know, Brian Flores had some success.

You know, he was viewed positive in Miami. You know, Brian Deball won Coach of the Year last year, but this year was not good. And Bill O'Brien, I know the end of his tenure in Houston was messy, but they were consistently in the playoffs for a good stretch. But other than that, there's been guys like Matt Patricia, Charlie Weiss, like there has been a Josh McDaniels.

Yikes. There has been some really bad assistance under Belichick when they get head coaching jobs where it's just terrible. But why I like this hire is, yes, Gerard will have some of the old ways of the Patriots, but it will be in a new era and it will be in a new wave of 2024 because the coaching position now in both college and the NFL.

It's drastically different than it's ever been before. Like Bill Belichick could walk into any locker room and have success, in my opinion. And he could do this my way or the highway type of approach because you have the clout, you have the title of being the goat and you have the six rings. But I always say this about the Patriot assistants that walk in and say it's my way or the highway.

You don't have the rings as a head coach. You don't. So you need to alter. You need to change.

You need to adapt. And now generally the my way or the highway type of coach isn't going to work. Like look at Dan Campbell.

Dan Campbell's intense. Dan Campbell is aggressive, but Dan Campbell is a player's coach. And there's a fine line in being a player's coach and then also being a player's coach that's a doormat. Because if you're a doormat and you're a player's coach, I don't want you as my head coach. Now, with that being said, Dan Campbell's not a doormat. You look at someone like Antonio Pierce, player's coach, with the Raiders. And I saw Max Crosby today advocating once again for the Raiders to hire Antonio Pierce. That team, even though they like Antonio Pierce and he is a player friendly coach, he's not a doormat. They respect him. You look at a guy like Nick Sirianni, he's a player's coach, but he's a doormat. And even though Sirianni's had success, three straight years in the playoffs to go to the Super Bowl last year, they have had an enormous amount of chemistry problems this year in that locker room. But for Jarod Mayo, I don't think he'll be a doormat.

I don't. And this guy, and I remember him when he played, you know, actively watching the Patriots and rooting for the Patriots, we always said this about Jarod Mayo. He is an extension of the coaching staff on the field.

He is a guy that is a player, but he acts like a coach and he feels like a coach. So behind the scenes, they obviously saw enough to put this clause in his contract. Yes, I still would have preferred Mike Rabel. I would have been doing backflips.

I would have been doing somersaults in the street if Mike Rabel was the coach. But with this agreement in place that they had with Jarod Mayo without knowing in entirety, but just the way that it was reported, they had a succession clause built in Jarod Mayo's last contract. You know, even if you have complaints about it, well, if they said they'll do this, then you got to kind of follow through and honor it. And it's not a bad hire.

It makes sense. But with all that being said, there's still a lot for him to prove. And ultimately, like with most coaches, you're only going to be as good as the players that you get. And the Patriots have a total identity crisis right now where they don't have really any players on the roster right now that if a team called you about that player or if their contract was up that you have to bring back. There's not an untouchable player on that roster. So that's kind of my two cents on the whole Jarod Mayo situation. And Santa, here's the other part that I'll ask you.

And I don't know where you lie on this one. So it comes out today that there was a succession plan in place in Jarod Mayo's contract, which it's funny how that information comes out today when they name him the head coach. So someone leaked that information. But when the last two months when it was pretty clear that it was picking up steam that Belichick wouldn't be brought back, like Mayo's name was mentioned.

But no one talked about this. This clause in the contract was not made public. So I'm just wondering, did Belichick know about this? Like did Belichick when he woke up today and he had to know yesterday that Mayo was going to be the guy if they're announcing it today. What I'm saying is did Belichick know, depending on what the actuality of this clause is, but the way it's reported is there was a succession clause in Mayo's contract. Do you think Belichick knew that that clause was in place?

I would imagine so. I mean, Belichick wasn't I mean, outside of Robert Kraft, Belichick is in literally everything to do with that organization. But that's what I'm saying. He was the president. He was the GM. He was the coach.

He was everything. I understand that. But when you're talking about replacing Bill and the sensitivity to that topic and how close Belichick and Mayo were and Bill still wanted to coach this team. And that's why these meetings went as long as they did until Robert Kraft and Jonathan Kraft just said, hey, this is not going to work.

You know, let's work to make this appear like it's amicably, even though I think behind the scenes, it wasn't as amicable as the way that they tried to make it at the podium yesterday. I do wonder when they brought Gerard Mayo back, if maybe this was a deal that was hammered out and ironed out with Robert Kraft and Jonathan Kraft and kind of kept Bill in the dark a little bit where Bill was like, yeah, I'd love to have Gerard still on the staff. And then they just kind of said, hush, hush, wink, wink, we'll put this clause in your contract.

And I also read that this is not the first time this clause has been put in someone's contract. It was put in Josh McDaniel's contract. You remember the whole situation where he left the Colts at the altar and ultimately Josh McDaniel's got an offer and a job, a head coaching job somewhere else. And now it's totally different with Josh McDaniel's.

That's another thing. Who's the O.C. for Gerard Mayo? Like, is it I saw Josh McDaniel's was at the press conference for Bill Belichick yesterday. He's been around the facility recently. I would imagine wherever Bill lands next, he takes Josh McDaniel's with him.

But I'll be fascinated to see. And this will be and I actually do not think even though Josh McDaniel's is a good offensive coordinator, just a bad head coach. I don't think Gerard Mayo should bring Josh McDaniel's as his O.C. I think you let Josh McDaniel's go to Bill and you put your own flavor and your own spin and you kind of start to shape this how you want the offense to look.

And you hire someone that you're close with. That's a young upcoming mind in the game of football. So we're going to see how this works out in New England. But I was I did not think they would be the first job that was filled.

Put it that way. I thought that they would go through a search. But little do we know what this clause in the contract. I wanted Vrabel. But when you have this clause in the contract, I guess it excluded them from the Mike Vrabel sweepstakes. So now that Vrabel is still a free agent, where does Vrabel go? Where does Vrabel go?

And we discussed this the other day. I mean, people in Ohio State, people at Columbus are clamoring to get rid of Ryan Day and bring Mike Vrabel in. He's a legend with the Buckeyes. I mean, does Vrabel head to college? I don't think when you're a successful NFL head coach with now name images like this in the transfer portal and the lifestyle in college that you're looking to go back to college. Ohio State would be foolish, though, to not give him a call right now.

And maybe they luck into it where Vrabel doesn't get a job this cycle. And I think he would. But let's say he doesn't.

Let's say he doesn't love a job or he doesn't get the job that he wanted. Maybe he waits and then he's the number one name on the market next year and he could have that option to go to the NFL or Ryan Day continues to ruin Ohio State. Then Ohio State could still be there next year.

But I would say this. The Chargers, I think they have the most pressure on them. Like, I know the commanders just hired a GM today. I think they're going to get Ben Johnson, the offensive coordinator for the Lions. But the Chargers still have that they're picking of Belichick, Pete Carroll, Jim Harbaugh and Mike Vrabel. One of those four guys got a wind up in Los Angeles and Vrabel could be the guy that winds up in Los Angeles.

And we'll see how it does shake on out. But my my advice to Vrabel, I'm not just taking a job to take a job. You could take a year off and you will still have an abundance of options a year from now because you have been such a good coach, not a lot of talent in Tennessee. And that one year you were a one seed and the other year you went to an AFC championship game.

All righty. We will take a break when we come on back. A man that played for Bill Belichick knows Mike Vrabel was a teammate of his. Also was a teammate of Gerard Mayo.

Kevin Faulk, the former Patriot running back, is going to join us when we return after these short messages. Introducing Carvana Value Tracker, where you can track your car's value over time and learn what's driving it. It might make you excited.

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AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone. Get in the Zone AutoZone. Restrictions apply. So a lot of big news the last few days. Pete Carroll out with the Seattle Seahawks as their head coach. You had Nick Saban retiring at Alabama. Kalen DeBoer is their new coach. And then Bill Belichick after 24 seasons as the head coach of the Patriots is out at one Patriot place.

And they already have his replacement. That, of course, is Gerard Mayo. So now joining us is a man that knows everybody that we just talked about.

He is a three time Super Bowl champion, and that is former Patriot running back in Kevin Falk, kind enough to join us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Kevin, appreciate the time as always. Good to see you. How you been? I've been all right, Zach, man. Good to be home.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. So let's start in order here. The news comes out the other day that Bill Belichick and the Patriots are parting ways. You knowing Bill very well when you finally heard that news after months of speculation, just what was your initial reaction to it?

Like everybody else can't believe it. But like he always told us, you know, you got to it's a performance league. You got to perform. You got to be consistent each and every week.

And if you're not, they can remove you. When you put it into words, when you describe what Bill Belichick meant to you during your career, how do you kind of look back on the memories and describe that impact that he made on your career? Just like any other coach you've had, he was part of that journey in a lot of guys lives. He was just that final part, that last part that we needed in our lives. And for me, it was the little details that he always mentioned, that he always taught us about, that made that grand scheme of things.

The big goal that you're looking out for, pay attention to those little details because that's what's going to get you to achieve those goals. What do you think Bill could still bring to a football team? Because I think the conversation the last two years has gotten so crazy with the team falling off and Brady won a Super Bowl. Like wherever Belichick lands, what is a team getting in the greatest coach of all time in Bill Belichick?

They just said it all. They get the greatest coach of all time. I think Bill still has some juice with him. He's a football guy. I can't see him not coaching football. He lights up when you talk about football to him. When you're talking about a scheme, about a game of football, he lights up anything. But when you're trying to get something about an opponent, he's going to divert it somewhere else. There's certain players that you could tell that Bill really respected.

Brady obviously, Rodney Harrison, guys like Troy Brown and also yourself. I know that part of it was your play on the field and you were kind of a do-it-all player and that's what kind of fits the Belichick mold. But how about your guys' relationship individually? How did that improve over the years when you first met him to when you walked away from the organization? Well, Bill never talked to anyone when we first came to the organization.

He was built. But then a few years in, he really opened up and started conversating with guys in the hallway, giving us out good mornings and everything. That's when it really started to change about Bill, the person, not just the football coach. Do you think he's misunderstood at all? Because everyone has this perception of Bill and you talk to some of his former players. They know that he's a tough coach, but you hear a different side of Belichick sometimes from the players. So do you feel like he's misunderstood when we talk about him?

Oh, definitely. When you get Bill one-on-one, it's totally different. I call it like you want to corner him one-on-one. You don't want to be in a team setting or group setting with him because that's where he's at his best.

But when you're one-on-one with him, it's just something about that opportunity to be one-on-one with him. When you look back for you, Kevin Faulk, who joins us right now, the three-time Super Bowl champion, what's the one play for you individually that stands out from your time in New England? Because I have an idea, I have a thought, but I'm curious what your favorite play was under Belichick. Oh, definitely direct snap. It was one of those plays you knew it was coming, but stop it. And you still see it run.

Even when they won the Super Bowl coming back down 28-3, they had that direct snap to James White. And that's got to be interesting for you individually. When you were at the start of the dynasty and then you see the second dynasty form and there were still similarities between the front end of the dynasty and then the back end of the dynasty. Oh, there were a lot of similarities.

Trust me. As a former player, you see those little small similarities that go on formation-wise, the play out of the formation. You've ran them so much in certain situations at the time of practice.

You know exactly what they are, when they're about to be run, and the situation. Wrapping up with Kevin Faulk right now. So one of your former teammates, Jerrod Mayo, who was on the staff the last few years.

He only played in the NFL as a member of the Patriots. It's announced today. He's the new head coach. Just what are your thoughts on Jerrod Mayo taking over for Bill?

Awesome. Couldn't ask for a better guy. Work ethic-wise, smart-wise, knowing the game of football. He was one of those guys when he first came in. Instantly, you knew what type of player he was. He was a leader on the defense as a rookie. Bill knew something about him that we didn't in his rookie year. He led the linebacker corps in that defense when it was his rookie year.

So that meant a whole lot. Like I was telling one other guy, there were certain guys on our team that you knew that when they were done playing, they were going to be coaches. He was definitely one of them.

Were you at all disappointed? I guess there was this succession plan in place in the contract, how it was reported, but there were some talks that maybe Mike Vrabel would have been the next coach. When you found out it was Jerrod, even though you're happy for him, were you disappointed it wasn't Vrabel, one of your other former teammates?

Well, you kind of hear things. Like you said, you heard that they kind of had something in the works beforehand and nobody really knew that Vrabel was going to get fired. Vrabel had done a phenomenal job in Tennessee, so it was one of those shockers that he got fired at the time. Hey, things happen. Trust me, he's going to have a job before it's all said and done because there are a lot of teams that are looking for a good head coach like Vrabel.

It's kind of crazy who's available. Your first year, you were coached under Pete Carroll in New England. I don't think anyone saw this coming, that Pete Carroll was going to be pretty much let go by the Seahawks. You were probably stunned when you first saw that, right?

Definitely. That was another shocker. I think it shocked the whole football world, really, that Pete Carroll was out of Seattle. I'm not saying that it shocked him, but you see the emotion that he showed when he was giving his speech and everything.

That just shows and saves up who he is as a person. Yeah, you're kind of right on that because with Bill, it felt like it was time to split ways, and I think they both understood it with Pete. You knew he was not happy about the decision that was made, and he wanted to keep on coaching that football team.

Definitely. It showed. Wrapping up with Kevin Faulk, I got to ask you about Nick Saban because you have it from going up against Saban when you would go up against him as a player and then also when you were on the LSU staff that just won a national championship under Coach Orgeron a few years ago. Coach O just had you kind of look back at this legendary career of Nick Saban, and what are some memories that come to mind for one Kevin Faulk? First off, he was a Tiger before he was a Crimson Tiger. That's where it all started, but one of the greatest college coaches ever, if not the greatest college coach ever, has proven his stats show it. He's done it all to develop players.

Just look at the high profile guys that's on social media tweeting about him, thanking him for allowing them to be a part of his journey. Last thing I'll ask you, and then I'll let you go get the dog a treat or two that we hear in the background. Sounds like the dog is hungry, but the last thing I'll ask you, we always get into this conversation, and maybe it's more of a media topic of conversation, but I'm curious your thoughts on this. People say who's more important to the Patriot dynasty? Was it Brady?

Was it Belichick? That gets very contentious at times. The conversation annoys the crap out of me.

How do you answer that, though, when people ask you that question? Well, they both were a match made in heaven. They were supposed to be together, and that's without a question, no doubt at all. Like I tell certain people, Tom was actually able to pick the team that he could go to. Belichick couldn't pick a quarterback that, a veteran quarterback that he needed to replace Tom.

So, you know, certain things happen, and like he taught us, you gotta be able to move forward no matter what. Since retiring, you've been on a few staffs. If Jarrod hits you up to join his staff, would you be interested? We'll see what happens, man.

You never know. You got it. Well, Kevin Faulk, nothing but the best. You and your family always appreciate the time. Good luck, and thanks so much for doing this today. I appreciate you, Zach.

Thanks again. There you go. Kevin Faulk joining us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

And I'll never forget that two-point conversion play, the direct snap up against the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 38. So appreciate him jumping on board. But thus, we'll take a time out. Act's gonna get you all caught up to date. You know, Act's been very busy this entire week. There's been a lot of updates, a lot of shocking updates. Yeah, I was hoping we can save some of it for like All-Star Week in February. It's wild.

Gotta space it out, a little more moderation. I was saying to Santa before the show started, it's Wild Card Weekend, and we have not talked about these games at all. Not one bit. Not one bit.

And even there has been speculation, although it has been unfounded, that one of them couldn't even move. Oh yeah, right? That was the Buffalo game, which is crazy. You see the storm that's brewing in Buffalo, and then it's gonna be a negative 30 windshield in Kansas City. Would you go to that game?

No, definitely not. I'm a sissy in the cold weather. Act's sitting at home with his hot cocoa, his feet up.

He's chilling. But did you know the original plan for Arrowhead was to have a, I don't want to say retractable cover? Actually, I guess it would be retractable. Wasn't there an athletic story that you sent me this? Yeah, great story.

It's one of the factoids. But that wouldn't have helped in terms of keeping it hot tomorrow in Kansas City. It just would have covered it in case of rain or snow.

Yeah, but here's the thing though. I am not one of these people that get on the air whenever it's a cold weather game and go, you have to build a dome over every stadium. I know that this is probably unsafe, but I love cold weather games, and I've been to a bunch of them with the success of my football team for the last 20 years. But I will say, you put a dome on that building. You open it to so many more opportunities, whether it's Final Fours and Super Bowls as well. Well, that's why all these new stadiums that are coming up in Minnesota, Atlanta, SoFi, Las Vegas, that's why they all have domes. But I also think, too, as far as the NFL, we all love watching these cold weather games and they're picturesque and they're fun. Classics.

And they add an element to it. But the other side of that is, now that the NFL is playing an 18-week schedule starting after Labor Day, today was the anniversary of Joe Namath's guaranteed victory. Now, granted, that's 56 years ago, but still, the season would be ending now. I think today is Friday. Sunday will be the anniversary of the first primetime Super Bowl.

How about that? And we're not even into the divisional wildcard yet. So I saw Frank the Tank, and I know we've got to take a break. Frank the Tank just released a video from Barstool Sports where he named every World Series that we've ever had.

I saw the kid from Duke. Good luck to that guy. I think you could do something similar like that. No, definitely not. You really know everything about sports. Yeah, I'm not that good.

Act just said I'm crazy, but I'm not that crazy. Even all the Super Bowls now. It's when you're a kid, you can remember.

You get an old just then. It passed your prime. If you tell me 2005, that would be the Patriots and the Eagles in Jacksonville. 2004 season, 2005 Super Bowl. If you ask me right now which year it was right before that. The Rams and the Titans, the Robert Jones pack, I think.

But some of these are a little fuzzy. The Buccaneers-Raiders. Was it 2002? Was it 2003? It was 03. Stukos, it was 03. There you go. Had to touch that nerve, didn't I?

Gruden sabotaged that game plan according to Tim Brown. Alrighty, we'll take a time out. It's at the Yelp Show, CBS Sports Radio. Santa's got a few questions for me.

I'll give you some answers. We do this segment every Monday, Friday. We call it Onside, Offside. Latest CBS Sports Radio update first with the act man, Rich Ackerman. Let's take a look at who's got home field advantage this weekend in our NCAA basketball preview. And it's sponsored by the fine folks at Fairfield by Marriott. Fairfield by Marriott is the official hotel partner of the NCAA. With over 1,000 locations around the country, you'll have the home field advantage.

Visit fairfield.marriot.com to book your stay. On Saturday, No. 9 Oklahoma coach by Porter Moser travels to Lawrence to take on No. 3 Kansas. Kansas is 13-2 on the season and have won eight straight games at Allen Fieldhouse. Alrighty, we got some questions.

I'll give you some answers or I'll hope to. We do this segment every Monday and Friday right here on CBS Sports Radio with the Zach Gelb Show. It's called Onside, Offside. Moist Mike, Stuart Kovacs, take it away. Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports. Which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on? Offside, defense No.

69. It's Onside, Offside with Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio. My mouth is like watering right now because during the break there is some caramel popcorn that was in the newsroom. Three separate bags and it was pretty tasty. But now like I just have like this sweet taste in my mouth and it kind of makes it a tough talk.

That always goes by when I say that it's always tough to eat food when you do a radio show. You know it would be really nice to have a taste of that. Thanks for bringing me some. Oh, you want me to go get you some? I'll go get it right now. I'll leave the show right now and I'll go get you the popcorn in the newsroom.

Is there a student I could do onside, offside? What is that Spike? You're getting in my ear? Oh. Oh, don't let Stu and Sam to take over the show. Okay, don't worry.

Sorry, boss metered it. Nothing I could do. Alright, you know what? You're getting into my skin.

Let me get into your skin. Super duper, most awesome, wonderful, fantastic wildcard weekend. Pause. Kicks off tomorrow. Wait, wait, just stop.

I'm sorry. This super wildcard weekend stuff tries to be nuts. I know, which is why I wrote on the script, super duper, most awesome, wonderful wildcard weekend. When you have talk show hosts that go, it's super wildcard weekend this weekend in the NFL. Oh, let me get all pumped up. Super wildcard weekend. Oh.

I think those people are insufferable and it's such contrived energy. It's wildcard weekend. Stop with super wildcard weekend, yo. Oh, jeez.

Man, do I know how to get under your skin. So, super duper, most awesome, wonderful wildcard weekend kicks off tomorrow. The Browns take on the Texans. Now, CJ Stroud is likely to win offensive rookie of the year. Obviously, we'll see about Pukunakua, but Joe Flacco is obviously red hot for the Browns. Now, onside, offside, you have more confidence in Flacco this weekend than Stroud.

That's a great question. I know it is. Don't get too cocky, especially with those glasses on. I actually think the Browns are going to win the game, but in a weird way, I'm more confident in Stroud individually. If you ask me if I'm more confident in the Browns or Texans, I would say the Browns. But in terms of the individual quarterback, it's Stroud, because even with how great Flacco is playing, he takes a lot of chances and he's had some turnovers in these great performances. Stroud does not turn over the ball a lot. So, you say to me, I have more confidence in Flacco this weekend than Stroud. I would go offside. Offside. The Lions appear to have averted disaster as Sam LaPorter might actually play this weekend after that gruesome-looking injury in Week 18.

Oh, it's a front. Now, yesterday, LaPorter discussed his recovery. I got some reps today at practice, starting to feel better day by day, see where it takes me tomorrow, and really just taking it a day at a time, because when it first happened, it didn't feel great, and I feel like I've started to bounce back quickly. So, we'll see. You're optimistic. Yeah, I'm optimistic. We'll see. Now, onside, offside, the Lions... Oh, is Kevin Faulk's dog in the background? No, seriously. Onside, offside, the Lions need LaPorter to play if they hope to beat the Rolling Rams.

That's offside. I do think the Rams are going to win this game. LaPorter has been so big for them, and you could argue, he has been their most impressive offensive weapon down the stretch, and that's saying something with Jameer Gibbs and St. Brown and some of the other players on this team. But I don't think just because you lose LaPorter, that means you're definitely going to lose the game. I really do believe this is going to be the best game of the weekend. I think this is going to be a high-scoring affair type of game, and it's just going to be an absolute slugfest. And it may come down to which quarterback has the ball last, but you say to me the Lions need LaPorter to play if they hope to beat the Rolling Rams. It would help, but I don't think they have to have him. They have no shot if he's not available, so I'll go offside.

Offside. As aging legends like Karol Sabin and Belichick step aside, Andy Reid is in his 25th year as a head coach and turned 66 in March. Yesterday, Reid was asked if he has thought about when he might hang it up. I haven't even thought about that, Nate. I'm thinking about one thing.

I figured that would come up when you guys were asking these questions, because I'm old, but not that old. Onside, offside. You see Reid coaching at least five more years into his 70s.

I will say offside. I think the next time he wins a Super Bowl, and I think he'll win a Super Bowl again within the next five years. It won't be this year. That's when the clock really starts to tick on Andy Reid. So you see Reid coaching at least five more years into his 70s.

I kind of see him coaching like another four, I would say. So I'll go offside on that one. Offside. Now the AP announced the first and second team all pros today, putting Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt on the first team as edge rushers, meaning that Micah Parsons was relegated to the second team for that position. Onside, offside. If you were building a team, you would want both Garrett and Watt over Micah Parsons.

That's another great question, and I would say that that's onsides. As much as I love Micah Parsons as a football player, Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt are two of the more destructive forces in football, and you know what? I would even want Max Crosby in front of Micah Parsons. I would say those three, Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, and Max Crosby, are the three guys I would rather have over Micah Parsons.

Now let me be clear. That's not me saying Micah Parsons sucks. I think Micah Parsons is a phenomenal football player. Just those three guys I think are just better football players, but you can't go wrong with any of the four.

But to answer your question, I would want, yes, Garrett and Watt over Parsons onsides. Now before Mike Norvell announced he was remaining at FSU and Kalen DeBoer took the Bama job, some believe Deion could be on the short list for either or both. Who is that?

Well, you'll hear the rest of it, even though Coach Prime Thank you. has stated he wants to stay in Boulder. Onside, offside. Deion will remain at Colorado for at least another three years.

Three years. I'm going to say that is offside. See, it would have been fascinating if Norvell got the Alabama job. Like I thought it was going to be DeBoer, but if it ended up being Norvell, then Florida State would have opened, even though Deion Sanders, or excuse me, Coach Prime, did not want to acknowledge Florida State at his alma mater. There would have been a lot of people that would have said, Coach Prime, come home, come home, come home, come home.

And it would have been fascinating to see if he would have done so. Now Coach Prime got a coach better. Year one was still a success, but with the way that it started, you thought it would be a little bit better than only getting one game down the stretch to get to four wins on the season. But before the season, if you would have told me they would have won four games, I would have said, yeah, that absolutely is a success when he took over a program that won one game. I do believe, though, in an NIL and a transfer portal era, he will always be an attractive name and a bigger school will come calling in the next three years. So Coach Prime will remain at Colorado for at least another three years. I will go offside on that one.

Offside. Now Carmelo Anthony wore number 15 for Denver. Carmelo Anthony!

I can hear you on the PA and MSG. Now Melo wore number 15 for Denver before Jokic donned the number, and Melo expressed some frustration about that on 7 p.m. in Brooklyn with Kid Mero podcast. You had to feel a way when they gave Jokic that 15, bro, because that's Melo.

Hell yeah. Did you think it was a petty maneuver? It was a petty maneuver.

And y'all put Jokic in the middle of that. He don't know what the f— He don't even care. He could have been like, I want to wear 15. He could have been like, 15 is here.

I can wear 15. No, that's Melo's number. You know what I mean? Like, just pay homage. I don't know. But what I believe is that they gave him 15 to try to erase what I did. What you did over there.

Your accomplishments over there. Okay, onside, offside. Now obviously Jokic is the better player. He's the better nugget. But at the time, he was drafted in the second round and a Taco Bell commercial overshadowed Jokic's announcement of the draft pick. So while Jokic is clearly the better nugget, it is disrespectful that they gave a second round pick Melo's number. So he had number 15 from the start? He had it from the very start. And no one knew this guy was going to go on to be the best player in the sport right now.

100%. And Melo is the best of all time in that franchise. He's top five. Melo's a phenomenal player. But Melo had an ugly split from Denver. I don't think that they were just like, oh, we think this guy's going to be great, so let's give him Melo's number. I like Melo a lot. I don't necessarily agree that the Nuggets did this to just be petty and intentionally screw him. So while Jokic is clearly the better nugget, it is disrespectful that they gave a second round pick Melo's number. I would go offside on that one. Offside. The Clippers gave Kawhi three-year, $152 million deal despite him missing 160 games in the four-plus years he's been in L.A. And President Lawrence Frank didn't seem all that concerned.

There was no hesitation with it. I mean, we acknowledge that, look, he has been injured and injuries are part of the game. And in this game, look, anybody can get injured, but not anybody can be a top five player. And Kawhi is. Offside, offside, it was a mistake to give Kawhi that extension. I'll say offside, even though I don't trust that Clippers team, but you eventually lose Kawhi Leonard, what the heck did the Clippers turn out to be? Like, you need Kawhi, you need Paul George, you try to keep that group together as long as possible because once you lose those guys, even though they've both been injured a ton, and you kind of go back to being an irrelevant team, even though you have an owner that is very aggressive, an owner that will spend his money and is energetic, you made that deal, you got to keep on riding with those guys and see if they could ever get healthy together at the right time because that's been the one problem with that team, they just have not been able to be healthy the last few years.

Offside. Now the fall of Klay Thompson continues as he and the team were booed by Warriors fans at home, and then after the game, Klay was pretty disrespectful to the fans. Klay, you guys have been booed each of the last two home games, obviously you're not used to that. How do you handle that? Are you supposed to lose sleep over it?

Huh. And all of you heard earlier on, he said, I don't care. He kind of said it under his breath. I don't think that's disrespectful. Fans want to boo you, that's fine. He just says, I don't care, you know, whatever.

Keep it moving. I don't know, I like it better when a player just says, they should boo us because we're not playing well or something, but I don't care. But I don't think he was attacking the fans there. No, but I don't care. He just kind of brushed it off.

That feels, I don't know. Anyway, outside, offside, assuming Klay is traded, he can still be a vital piece to a contender. He's not still the same player that he once was, clearly obvious statement right there. He's not going to get a long-term deal done with the Warriors unless he takes a massive discount. The Warriors should move on, I would trade him. And you look at a team like the Lakers, they could do shooting. His dad is the color analyst for the radio team. Philadelphia could use him as well. You know, there are some destinations there, and I think in a role that isn't where he's used to being a star, I do believe in a different role he could find more success for the remaining career of the NBA. So, yeah, I do think he'd be a vital piece to a contender onsides.