Jerry Jones Rolls Out the Red Carpet (Hour 1)

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A Peanut Butter M&M's Production. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners-up get nothing, one retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. Um, that's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll. The Ring of Comfort, coming soon to a Super Bowl new you. Live from the play show, you're in that overly ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor, 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Wednesday edition of the Zach Gelb show. I can't believe it's only Wednesday. I woke up today and I thought it was Thursday.

And then I looked down at my phone and I saw that it was Wednesday. But anyway, we are here across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, the free Odyssey app, and of course, streaming Monday through Friday on YouTube. Youtube.com slash CBS Sports Radio 855212 for CBS's number to jump on in 855212-4227. You could 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. Got Carlos Ortiz and Stuart Kovacs rocking and rolling with me all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. It is a Winkler Wednesday today, so Bart Winkler is going to stop by at 4.40 p.m. Eastern, 1.40 p.m. Pacific. I did not expect to lead the show today with the drama Dallas Chokin' Cowboys, but then Jerry Jones decided to open his big fat mouth. And we always know whenever Jerry Jones opens his mouth, he always says something.

Sometimes you may not understand what he's saying, but this one was pretty damn clear. He was talking about Bill Belichick, and it all came up how Mike McCarthy's on the final year of his contract, and there was all this speculation that really started on this show, because I think I was the first one to suggest like two, two and a half months ago that Belichick could end up being the next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. But then Jerry Jones gives us a quote of, there's no doubt in my mind we could work together.

None. And he was talking about Bill Belichick. Now I understand Jerry well enough to know what he's doing. He is already rolling out the red carpet for the hoodie in Bill Belichick, because he knows down deep, even though he's bringing back Mike McCarthy, until proven otherwise, Mike McCarthy's going to win a bunch of games in the regular season, have double digit wins, people are going to get sucked into the Cowboys hype, and they're going to say, oh, how about them Cowboys? Oh, the Cowboys are going to be a Super Bowl contender.

And then they'll get into the postseason and then smack, their season will be over, and they will continue to not reach an NFC title game, forget about a Super Bowl, but they will continue to not reach an NFC title game, something they haven't done since the 1995 season. And then McCarthy's contract will be up, they will amicably, in that stupid term, part ways, because there's no contract, they just won't give them a new contract, and then you will have Jerry say, hello, it's me, and he will call Bill Belichick, and Bill Belichick, who is looking for a job and who is not going to get a job this hiring cycle, with McDonald going to the Seattle Seahawks, will see who ends up getting the commander's job. It's unanticipated that it will be one Bill Belichick. So Belichick's going to be a year out of football, and next year he's going to try to get in, because he's 15 wins away from breaking Don Shula's record, which I don't think is important to many people, but it is important to him. And I do believe that Belichick and Jerry Jones, in a small window, can get along, because I do believe Belichick has respect for what Jerry Jones has done in the NFL, and Jerry Jones obviously has respect for Bill Belichick. Eventually, there will be an expiration date, eventually you will have Belichick erupt, and he'll be fed up with all the jackassery, let's just say, and name things that Jerry Jones does, and how many times he put his foot in his mouth, because all Jerry Jones cares about is the drama, is the hype, is the noise around his football team. I don't think Jerry Jones actually cares about winning a Super Bowl anymore.

In terms of his preference, it's noise, it's drama, it's attention, it's hype, compared to actually winning a Super Bowl. And there will be a day, once Belichick comes in and coaches the Cowboys, where it will be a marriage, there will be a lot of appeal to begin that marriage, but as the marriage goes on, this is not going to be a long-lasting marriage for many reasons. Belichick and Jerry Jones both aren't spring chickens anymore, but they will inevitably, when you have two alphas and two top dogs, they will clash heads, they will butt heads, and this will end with Belichick either getting fired, Belichick's contract expiring, or Belichick walking away from the drama Dallas Chokin' Cowboys.

But for Bill, you do have a team that has a lot more talent than the team that you were just coaching, you have a team that is close, and how many more appealing options are there going to be for you a year from now? Now, Belichick could play some mind tricks and some mind games, like Mike McCarthy. What was the one critique of Mike McCarthy? He wasn't willing to embrace analytics. And when he set out a year, we had the shot of him in his home, doing all the advanced scouting, saying he's a changed man, he had all these articles of these reporters because Mike McCarthy was talking to them, sucking up to Big Mike, and Mike McCarthy was saying that he's embracing analytics now.

So that perception changed. All Belichick has to do is go on the NFL network, go on ESPN, go on Fox, go on CBS, NBC, whatever it is where there's a mega audience, rub elbows with the people next to him, and actually put on somewhat of a charming face and a charming look and showing that he could adapt, he could have changed, and as long as you just give that presentation of it, you don't actually have to change when you get the job, but it's about getting the job. And I don't think Bill Belichick is going to go out with getting shut out of a hiring cycle. And we all know that he should have been the next head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Arthur Blank wanted him as the next head coach, but he trusted Rich McKay more, and McKay has been in the ear for like 20 years of Arthur Blank, and I know McKay won a Super Bowl as a GM of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers many moons ago, but when you have someone that's so close in your ear, that voice does carry a lot of clout, right or wrong, and it's wrong because Arthur Blank should have trusted his gut instinct and his first instinct.

I'm not telling you that Raheem Morris is some bum. I think Raheem Morris was deserving of another chance to be a head coach, but it's the process in Atlanta that I thought was extremely sloppy, because people in that organization objected to Bill because they knew for them, and I understand it, that within a year they would be on the chopping block and Belichick would get his way. Because guys in the NFL, sometimes they appear to be dummies, but they're not.

They know Belichick is not going to come in and be this glistening person and this charming person and is going to genuflect to guys like Terry Fontenot and other guys in that organization because Belichick has an ego, and he deserves to have that ego, and he has this presence to him that I'm the man. I've won six Super Bowls. I won two other Super Bowls with the Giants as the defensive coordinator. I'm one of the brilliant minds, the most brilliant minds this game has ever seen. People call me the goat, so you need to get on my page. You need to do things on my terms.

I don't need to get on your terms. And that's what has cost Belichick. The reason why Belichick is no longer the coach of New England is because he didn't trust people on the offensive side of the ball. When he was backed into a corner after Josh McDaniels, and I know Josh McDaniels is the punch line to every joke as a head coach, but McDaniels, let's not forget, in Mac Jones year one, they were in the playoffs. They were a double-digit win team.

They were trending to being a solid, good team, a playoff-contending team. And then McDaniels gets the job with the Raiders, and you elect to bring in your buddy, Matt Patricia, and Joe Judge to run the offense? Like, you want to tell me Belichick wanted to bring in Patricia to be the defensive coordinator or be the linebackers coach or the defensive line coach. I'm okay with that. But to coach the quarterback and to coach the offense, I don't care that he had some offensive role in 2003.

It's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. And I know Joe Judge has history as a quarterback, but in the NFL, this dude was a special teams coordinator and then had a year or two as a wide receiving coach before he was a failure and an absolute failure as the head coach of the New York Giants. And that's the problem with Bill.

Bill was so stubborn, Bill didn't trust an offensive coordinator, so he did something that if you have a brain, you knew it wasn't going to work. Like, Michael Holley last year at the Super Bowl came up to me, and he goes, I remember when there was speculation about Belichick turning the offense over to Patricia and Joe Judge. Because when we go to Radio Row next week, you'll see it. I'm very loud. My voice projects, if you can't tell. So when I'm in a convention hall and I do the open to our show, a lot of people hear me. Like our boss, David Mayernik, each and every year goes, man, I always love when you do the open at the Super Bowl, because everyone turns around and they're like, who's this bloviating, loud jackass? Yes, hi, that's me, Zach Gelb.

Nice to meet you. But he remembers, Michael Holley, he remembered I was, I guess, going on a rant, surprise, surprise, and I was staring into Belichick for just this idea of trusting his young quarterback with Patricia and Judge. And I said from the start it was never going to work. And that wasn't like, oh, pat me on the back, Zach, good take. It was just obvious.

And I'm a logic guy. Like, you know right away if something sounds right and if something has a chance to work. Now, sometimes you don't think it has a chance to work and it ends up working. I give credit to those people, but where Patricia and Judge's stock were, and how important it was with not a lot of talent around him, it never made any sense to have those two guys be the guys to develop Mac Jones in a very crucial year.

And that's what I was furious about. So I don't think Belichick's going to adjust. I don't think he's going to change much. But I do believe eventually he'll get another head coaching opportunity.

And the one that I look at is Dallas. When you, like, think about Mike McCarthy. You know, I'm sure Mike McCarthy is just happy that he still has his job and he knows that he's a lame duck coach. But you can't even enjoy a month of your offseason until Jerry Jones is already spewing, Bill Belichick and I have a great relationship. I have respect for him. He has respect for me.

It's a lovely two way street. All he did was roll out the red carpet and basically serve you the appetizers of what was going to be the main meal in 2025. And that's going to be Belichick eventually a year from now coaching this team. But he may actually not be the only like the Cowboys, maybe not be the only NFC East team that's interested. I also read a report from Greg Bedard, who's covered the Patriots for a long time. And he was saying that the Eagles were very interested in Bill Belichick if, if, if, if they could not find a way to rectify things with Nick Sirianni. And Bedard even went as far to say he could be at the front of the line talking about the Eagles for Bill Belichick next year. I think about that.

And you're already playing that foundation. And if the Eagles like I would love the NFL to give the Eagles the four toughest games to start out the year, because then we'll find out how good of a coach Sirianni is. Because fans are furious that Sirianni is coming back, even though in three years he's made the playoffs three times. The first year he wasn't expected to, he did.

The second year he got to a Super Bowl. And this year you start off ten and one and you win one lousy game down the stretch. Yeah, you don't deserve to keep your job when your locker room was a problem and you're not calling the offensive plays. You have no say in the defense. Your locker room was a disaster.

It was a cluster. You know what? And not only that, Sirianni is more the coach that, yes, he's a player's coach. And I think you have to be a player's coach to have success moving forward in this league. But there's a difference in being a player's coach and a doormat. And it's abundantly clear that Sirianni is now a doormat, regardless of what the players say about him in that locker room. So you could have the Cowboys, the Eagles all vying for the services of Bill Belichick next year.

And you know what? We know the commanders won't be in play because they're the one team that doesn't have a head coaching job filled right now. And they're going to be, I don't think it's going to be a David Tepper kind of situation where it's one and done like what he did with Frank Reich. Maybe it's going to be Dan Quinn. If it's not Dan Quinn, these are three hiring cycles. I had to hear how Dan Quinn is phenomenal and Dan Quinn is going to get another head coaching job.

And then he got shut out. I would say, I would guess right now that Dan Quinn is going to be the next coach of the commanders. But we all thought Ben Johnson was going to be the next head coach of the commanders. But don't rule out the Giants as well for Belichick because they ball coach of the year in year one, year two. And I think it's because they didn't have a lot of talent and they overachieved in year one. The Giants regressed.

But now you regress and fall flat in your face again in year three. You know, the Marav family, even though they like Shane and Debal, are going to have a decision to make. And you know, this is for sure. You could argue that, oh, Jerry Jones and Belichick won't work. You could argue Howie Roseman and Belichick won't work. But you know, the Giants have a tremendous amount of respect for Belichick and Belichick even after losing twice to them in a Super Bowl. But during his time as their defensive coordinator, there has been rumors for years about how much Bill loves the Giants and how if Bill left New England, the one job he would want to go to in the NFL are the New York football Giants.

So it's already starting. We know Belichick bearing some miracle here. We know Bill Belichick is going to be on the sidelines this year and I'm not an NFL sideline. He is going to be doing TV in some capacity. But next year, you're already starting to see the market form and it starts in the NFC East.

The only question I'll just ask is this. Like, why is Jerry even bringing McCarthy back? You're not going to give him an extension. He's on the final year of his contract. You're already giving words of extolment to Bill Belichick.

Why not just make the move now? Bill's available. Bill is there for the taking right now with no suitors.

Say goodbye to Mike. Pay him the final year of his contract and get the Belichick era started right now. That's what I would do if I was Jerry Jones. But Jerry Jones just loves to play out the patience game, which a lot of people don't think he's patient. They think he's impatient and he likes these contracts to run out. And then he could just part ways because there's no more commitment financially to these coaches. Where do you think Bill Belichick is coaching next year? Right now, I would list Dallas as the favorite 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. We move on from the Cowboys and we bring up the Jets next. Oh, yeah.

What an article that nothing really surprised you with what the athletic had. But it shows you that even though Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus may have shut down, the Jets are always open. From a place where friendships are forged, football is revered and food is enjoyed. Solo Stove, the perfect flame for the big game.

A peanut butter M&M's production. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners-up get nothing, one retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. Um, that's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll.

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No long term commitments or contracts. That's Stamps.com code program. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. I was working out earlier this morning doing my hour elliptical ride and I got a text from my best friend who's a massive Jets fan. And he goes, did you see this article in The Athletic with Diana Rossini and Zach Rosenblatt? And I said, no, I have not seen it yet. You know, sometimes I see things when they drop instantly.

But when this dropped instantly, I was working out. So my buddy sent me the link and I was saying, OK, I could take a break from the music I was listening to and I'll peruse the article and see if it's that explosive. And my takeaway from this is it's not that explosive because all this stuff has been rumored. But with the reporting done by Diana Rossini and Zach Rosenblatt, who are two really good reporters, it just confirms what was speculated or what was talked about.

And I walk away from this article and there's kind of three ways that you could look at this. That Robert Saul is not fit to be the head coach of the Jets, which I think is true. Joe Douglas has no control. And Aaron Rodgers is the GM and Joe Douglas is the assistant GM, which was said in the article. And then Nathaniel Hackett is there because of Rodgers. But he made no connection with a lot of the other members of the offensive staff and had poor game plans. And, you know, I feel like at this point with Nathaniel Hackett, it's just like beating a dead horse.

So I don't really want to crush Nathaniel Hackett. But it's a bad look for him when there's been so many other coaches this year in football that have lost their quarterback and they were at least able to have a few weeks stretch where it was. OK, Josh Dobbs is the guy like, look at what the Browns did with Joe Flacco coming off the couch and then punching in the mouth for a few weeks with the Cleveland Browns, what they were able to do on the football field.

There were enough stories this season. Heck, I know he's a good backup quarterback, but you had a first year head coach and Shane Steichen lose his quarterback, his fourth overall pick and Anthony Richardson and Gardner Minshew. He made a pro ball.

I know that it was like because eight other guys said no, but Gardner Minshew had a solid season this year. So look at Jake Browning with the Cincinnati Bengals, like there's enough quarterbacks this year that were able to look serviceable. And part of that is that, yes, they're better than Zach Wilson, but also they got good coaching. And Nathaniel Hackett, I know his his best coaching moment is what he did with Blake Bortles in Jacksonville.

Outside of that, he's lucky that he's best friends with Aaron Rodgers, just like how Adam Gase was lucky to get the endorsement and be friendly with Peyton Manning. So I'll read you some excerpts from this article and I'll just go through them. They may be out of order, but it's just how I screenshotted it and what stood out to me. And I'll give you some other takeaways. So Salah, his phone background is the photo of Aaron Rodgers running out onto the field with the American flag, which, OK, that's fine to have that as your your background. But he uses that as his background to remind people about what the Jets could have been in twenty twenty three.

And that's the whole impetus of the entire article. The Jets the entire season were just saying what could have been what should have been. Injuries happen.

It stinks when injuries happen. I know the Patriots were coming off at 18 and one season. They lost Tom Brady.

Matt Castle won eleven games. I'm not saying that the Jets needed to be this force, but you had enough talent on that team to at least be serviceable. And the Jets weren't that. And it's because there was a failure of leadership from Salah to Hackett to Douglas. And they never thought about the possibility of Rodgers getting hurt. And Douglas, shame on him.

He was in Philly when they had Nick Foles that replaced Carson Wentz and they won a Super Bowl. So the whole approach of the Jets organization before the season and then during the season, in terms of having a plan of what happens if Rodgers gets hurt or what do you do now that Rodgers did get hurt? It was absolutely laughable because I think these guys were so depressed and they were dragging their feet and I get it. But eventually, like they put the ball down the next week and they play the games.

And you got to have a pulse. And those guys in this article clearly were just weeping still over not having Aaron Rodgers. More from this article.

It's just a bleeping mess. One Jets coach said something has to change. So they says it's a coach. I don't know who the coach is. I don't know.

Offensive side of the ball, defensive side of the ball. I do not know, but I do find it just very peculiar. Like very Larry David. Interesting. Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo. When the Jets today have mutually agreed to part ways, assistant general manager Rex Hogan, they got rid of him. Now, I don't know much about Rex, but everyone's praising Rex tonight. Oh, this is shocking. Oh, he's a brilliant mind. Well, maybe he was the rat. Maybe he was the leak to a lot of this.

And they found out that it was Rex. I don't know. I'm just assuming. I don't think it's just a coincidence that this article comes out. And then today they've mutually agreed to part ways with their assistant general manager, who's everyone is pretty positive about.

So more on this. It's not uncommon for a team decision maker to consult star quarterbacks on potential roster additions. But the perception around the league was the Jets went beyond the norm. Rogers isn't the assistant GM. One AFC general manager said Joe Douglas is the assistant general manager. Now, I have said for the entirety of this year that when Kevin Durant was in Brooklyn, it was very similar to Aaron Rodgers being with the Jets, where Aaron Rodgers is the owner, the president, the general manager, the coach and the quarterback of the Jets. Rodgers wanted this in Green Bay. He thought he should have had more input on the roster. And what a lot of people missed at that press conference that he gave a few years ago, all the players that he was advocating for that he thought got mistreated by the Green Bay Packers organization. None of them did anything once they left Green Bay.

And don't get me wrong. There is a relationship that needs to form between a coach, a general manager and a quarterback, because we all know how important the quarterback is. The quarterback should have some input. But there's a reason why the quarterback is the quarterback and he's not the general manager, because the quarterback isn't focused on building the 53.

He's focused on what thinks he should get done to help him. And sometimes when you think you need someone because of familiarity in the past, it's not meant to be for the future. Al Mazard was terrible this year. Randall Cobb was terrible this year. These are Rodgers guys that were only in New York because of Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback is great. Aaron Rodgers, the general manager, is no bueno.

More from this article. Nathaniel Hackett. Can I call him Nate Hackett? A lot of people call him Nate Hackett.

All right, Nate Hackett. He struggled to adjust the offense to the team's new reality. This is after the Zach Wilson injury.

The Aaron Rodgers injury. Multiple coaches and players described Hackett as lacking in attention to detail. For most of the season, Hackett would meet with offensive line coach and run game coordinator Keith Carter and passing game coordinator Todd Downing during the week, but wouldn't get together with the rest of the offensive staff until last minute of game prep. So you're basically forming a clique and you're not using everyone's ability to work together in a tough, and I'll give it, it's a tough situation when you go from Rodgers to Zach Wilson and you're just trusting the offensive line coach, who's also the run game coordinator, and then the passing game coordinator and Todd Downing. Everyone else in the offensive staff doesn't have a pulse. They can't provide input. They can't help Nate Hackett in putting the best version of the Jets offense on the field, and they don't get consulted until the last minute of game prep later in the week. That's a joke.

So more with this in the aftermath. Actually, let me go to this part, because this is with Salah. Salah is just not fit to be the head coach of New York, and the reason why is you can't be sensitive. I think Salah has a great personality.

I think Salah is a nice dude. But as a head coach in New York, it takes a different type. This Jets team has been bad for a long time. Last time they really had any resemblance of success was with Rex Ryan, who was like an alpha.

And look, they only got the two back to back AFC Championship games, which is great for Jets standards, but the goal is to win a Super Bowl. But Salah is too sensitive about what's being said about him. But behind closed doors, they talk about Salah having such a positive energy and how it's positive vibes only. The vibes weren't always positive, especially when Salah would see negative press reports. He would often bring up how in his mind the Giants don't get as much negative coverage as the Jets, calling it unfair.

Think about that. He is complaining about the media coverage of the Jets and how it's unfair to what the Giants were doing and why there was no coverage there. Like, I dragged John Mara for years on national radio, and people have locally as well. The Giants have been a joke as well. But what?

Because you're being a joke? It's wah. You know, the Giants are getting a pass.

Give me a break. In the aftermath of Roger's injury, Salah beamed his bad luck. Throughout his tenure, he often wondered out loud if he was doomed to the same fate as Vic Fangio, a brilliant defensive coach cursed by a misfortunate quarterback. And it goes on to say that Salah would research a list of great coaches and what their records were. Coaches like Belichick, McCarthy, John Harbaugh, Zach Taylor, Mike McDaniel, Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVeigh all had losing records in those situations when they were without their star quarterback. And Mike Tomlin was the lone exception to that. That became Salah's battling cry as the Jets losses piled up and the criticism mounted.

What do you expect? We lost Aaron Rodgers as the Jets lost games and struggled to score points. Job security seemed to be Salah's primary concern. He was Johnson or Rodgers would publicly endorse him for 2024.

I'll read you one more because this is just the gift that keeps on giving. That sent Salah into a tailspin. The coach held a meeting with the staff two days later. This is when they wanted Zach Wilson to play. And the report came out that Zach Wilson said he doesn't want to play. And there was some leak, some rat in the organization that sent Robert Salah into a tailspin. The coach held a meeting with the staff two days later where he asked the leaker to reveal himself. According to multiple people in attendance.

If you come forward now, you won't get in trouble. He told them while threatening to take their cell phones. Staffers were bemused by Salah's obsession with the Wilson story and his reaction to it. Oh, yeah.

Let me just be abundantly clear here. Robert Salah is a nice guy. Robert Salah was a good defensive coordinator, but he will fall into the long list of people that are just not fit to be a head coach and especially not fit to be a head coach with the New York Jets. To turn around a franchise that has been so putrid like the Jets, you got to have some Dan Campbell in you where you're a player's coach, but you're not sensitive to the criticism and you got thick skin.

Robert Salah doesn't have thick skin. He doesn't trust his coaching staff. There's no order in that locker room. And quite frankly, he's a nice guy that the players like, but he's not respected.

He's a doormat. These players run all over him. And this guy is more concerned about why the Giants don't get as much coverage as the Jets when they're just as embarrassing. That's what you're complaining about. Or I'm going to look at all these other coaches and what their record was without their star quarterback. How would you control your own situation? Oh, I need Woody Johnson and Aaron Rodgers to give me an endorsement.

You don't get concerned publicly with your job security, even if you're feeling it internally. Woody Johnson, I'll give you free advice. Robert Salah is not that dude. And you need someone like Dan Campbell. And there's a guy out there that could change the Jets and he's Mike Vrabel. I would fire Salah today and I would hire Mike Vrabel tomorrow. But the Jets will drag their feet. They will genuflect to Aaron Rodgers and that the hope of Aaron is going to change them in 2024. And even if they're better in 2024, this ain't going to result in a championship because they can't even protect Aaron Rodgers, for crying out loud. I understand you got to do some things to appease Rodgers, but you got to get control of your organization and you got to start thinking about your future because Rodgers only going to play for another year or two. So go bring in Mike Vrabel now to get set for your future with life without Aaron Rodgers, because Rodgers with Salah isn't going to win you anything. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We will take a time out when we come on back. Looks like Tommy Brady is replacing Greg Olsen in the in the broadcast booth. Surprise, surprise. What is the best broadcast booth in the NFL currently?

And do you have any problem with Brady usurping Olsen? We'll get into that on the other side. Update time first. Here's the act man, Rich Ackerman. All right, it's time to ask the pros. Where you the listener gets asked us a question. It's brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Simply tweet your question at CBS Sports Radio or at Zach Gelb using the hashtag askthepros. Be listening later in the show. We might answer your question. Think O'Reilly Auto Parts while your car care needs get guaranteed.

Low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. So Tom Brady was doing the media rounds yesterday and he talked how much he is diligently preparing to be on the Fox broadcast team next year. And the assumption is, and everyone knows this, that Greg Olsen is going to be off the number one team.

Now, we don't know if Greg Olsen is going to stay with Fox or if Greg Olsen is going to go somewhere else and maybe get out of whatever his current deal is with Fox. Because I read that right now, Greg Olsen being on the number one team makes ten million dollars a year. And if he goes off the number one team, his salary gets reduced to like three million. Now, that's a big reduction.

And Carlos gives me like a look right now that there is some smell and some like smell of feces in the studio when he hears that. But still, I know that he made a lot of money in his NFL career. Greg Olsen pales into comparison how much money Tom Brady made. But you're getting paid three million dollars to not even be the number one broadcaster. And you have to work what, 17 or 18 weekends out of the year? Because the way that that works is those announcers, right, the big broadcasters, they fly in on Friday or they fly in Thursday night. They do their meetings on Friday. They do their meetings on Saturday with the teams. And then they call the games on Sunday, even though, like everyone now has sympathy for Greg Olsen.

And yet you don't want to get your salary reduced, but it's getting reduced from ten million dollars to three million dollars. Yeah, it stinks for Greg Olsen, and Greg Olsen's been a good broadcaster, but to get paid still three million dollars for 17, 18 working weeks out of the year, let's just call it 20? You know, I'm not playing the small violin for Greg Olsen. And I know there's going to be a lot of people that go, but Tom Brady has no broadcasting experience, and this isn't right. Greg Olsen is phenomenal.

All those things are true. Greg Olsen's a stud in the booth, but let's pump the brakes and say he's John Madden, all right? Let's slow down there a little bit. The guy is a really good broadcaster. I always love my conversations with Greg Olsen. I think he's an entertaining, compelling voice calling the games. He has been sensational, but he's not John Madden, all right? You know, Greg Olsen was a good football player. He ain't Tom Brady.

And that's the thing here. Fox is making a lucrative gamble because they have something right now that's working. They have something right now that is solid. And sure, Greg Olsen is a name, but he's not the name appeal of what John Madden was, what Troy Aikman is, right? Fox lost to ESPN with Buck and Aikman, and he's a very good broadcaster.

That's a solid name. But what happens if Tom Brady's a kick-ass broadcaster? And I don't know if he is, but Fox would be foolish to not roll the dice and take the risk, even though it's going to cost them like nearly $400 million, but it's their money, not mine, because let's say Brady is a rock star. Let's say Brady is really damn good. That's the greatest quarterback of all time commenting on your marquee game each and every week.

Think about as a viewer and I know some people don't care who the broadcasters are. But think about as a viewer, you could get Tom Brady's perspective each and every weekend on one game. Now, Brady has to be honest. Brady has to be critical.

I'm sure there will be some rookie bumps along the way. But I heard two interviews yesterday that Brady did, one with McAfee and one with Cowher. And in both those interviews, I think he said it a thousand times, how much preparation he's been doing this year. They've been doing mock broadcasts, Kevin Burkhardt and him together. I don't think this is Brady just taking a paycheck and Brady wants to get embarrassed and Brady's going to suck.

Like, I just don't think that. Tom Brady's been a lead at everything he does, even if he's not great. I still think bare minimum, he's going to be good in the broadcast booth. I got to think he's going to be good. And no offense to Greg Olsen. Heck, I texted Greg Olsen today.

I tried to get him on the show later on this week after this segment. He may not come on. Who knows? But whatever. But the upside of Brady exceeds what you have now with Greg Olsen just because of who the name Tom Brady is. And guess what? If Brady flops, if Brady sucks, if Brady's terrible, then you're going to have to make a decision two, three years from now to get rid of Tom Brady and who you're going to find. And Greg Olsen still may be there.

And guess what? If Greg Olsen isn't there, there will be a bunch of broadcasters that will be good enough to do the gig. That's the thing with these broadcast teams. We try to make it that it's a bigger deal than what it actually is. People try to think that there is this formula and that there is this creative and methodical formula into making broadcasting work. We're not reinventing the wheel here, folks. Be opinionated, have passion, have a personality, be critical and entertain.

That's all you have to do. This is not brain surgery. All right. This is not open heart surgery broadcasting. I know sometimes there's broadcasters with big egos that think every word that they say is changing people's lives.

All right. You're calling football games. Pretend like this is your buddies at the bar. You can't curse.

You'd be critical and you use your experiences to tell us what to say. And Greg Olsen's been very good. I think Greg Olsen should be calling games for the next 20 years on Sundays. But when you have a chance to get Tom Brady, Tom freaking Brady, I'm taking the gamble, regardless of how much money it costs me because of the upside of what Brady can be and knowing what his name means. The name of Tom Brady, quite frankly, just means more than the name of Greg Olsen. It doesn't mean that Brady is going to be a better broadcaster, but it's a risk worth taking. And Greg Olsen knew all this was in the works.

It's been in the works the last two years. So this isn't surprise, surprise. We're now Greg Olsen is this victim and we have to play the small violin for for one Greg Olsen. Now, real quickly, I'm just wondering, out of the major broadcasting networks, NBC, CBS, ESPN and Fox. Who do you think is the best booth right now in the NFL?

Because I think there's one. And it's not always where the play by play guy is equal to the color commentator. But in this case, I think they're both equal. And that's what makes them the best booth. Carlos, who do you think is the best broadcasting booth permanently? I'll put you on the spot there. Yeah, it's a hell of a spot to be put in. I'm going to go with just on equal footing, Tariqo and Collinsworth. And I know a lot of people have been kind of out on Collinsworth lately.

I like the slides, but I do like I missed the slide. But there's a mutual respect between the two. And you can tell they both enjoy working with each other in the broadcast. So I'll go with the NBC crew.

OK, Stu, what do you got? Yeah, that was honestly going to be mine, too. Really? Are we not including Buck and Aikman in this? We're just including the major. No, Buck and Aikman. That's a major network. ESPN, because that's my choice. Yeah, I'm going to say Buck and Aikman and then Joe Buck is a creme de la creme broadcaster and Aikman is phenomenal.

And Aikman, let's just be real, has a bigger name than Chris Collinsworth. That broadcast booth just has so much chemistry, so much synergy, and they're still a fun listen 20 something years later. They're great. The two of them together.

They really are. I think that is the best out of the out of the number one broadcast booth, out of the 18 broadcast booths. When you look at Nance and Romo, when you look at Toriko and Collinsworth, when who am I missing there? Fox, Burkhardt and now Olson. And now it's going to be Burkhardt and Brady. But we don't know what Brady sounds like when I look at those booths. I think the best one is Buck and then also Aikman.

And I actually agree with you guys. I like even though Collinsworth sometimes you feel like he's holding back in his opinion a little bit. I do think Toriko and Collinsworth is a really good broadcast booth. Oh, and I guess you could also consider Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreet. They are a major broadcast booth streaming, but as much of a legend that Al Michaels is, and he's right a Mount Rushmore broadcasters, energy has been lacking these days.

Seems like some of those Amazon Prime games are putting him to sleep. Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. The Seahawks have the new head coach.

Do you like this hire? We'll discuss next 855212 for CBS 855212-4227. The Ring of Comfort, coming soon to a Super Bowl new you. Call 62314-4603 for more details. Hyundai, there's joy in every journey. 24 Santa Fe available early 2024 says here that Graybar is a distributor. To help keep them up and running, Graybar does that.