The Future of College Football and Newsbrief (Hour 2)

The Sultan of Sizzle. The Titan of Toastiness. The Kingpin of Kindling.

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Additional terms apply. Alrighty, rock and roll in hour number two of our radio program. That's right, it is the Zach Gilp show, coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Brian Erlacher, the Pro Football Hall of Famer, gonna join us coming up 20 minutes from now. We had Joe Flacco on the show about 40 minutes ago, and he said that DeMar Hamlin should win Comeback Player of the Year. I also thought it was hysterical when I asked him, oh, like I prefaced it by saying, I know you probably don't care about Comeback Player of the Year because you've won a Super Bowl, you've won a Super Bowl MVP. And I can't imagine like an accolade is really going to impress Joe Flacco at this point of his life. And he just said, well, what the heck am I coming back from?

Just being old, you know, coming off the couch? I thought that was a great line there from Joe Flacco. So appreciate his time. And we'll talk with Brian Erlacher, the Pro Football Hall of Famer, 20 minutes from now. So we've had the two biggest names in college football recently depart the sport. Nick Saban, we know, is out at Alabama as their head coach.

He still has an office. We know Kaitlyn DeBoer is now the new head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. And he's been the face of college football for, what, the last 20 years?

And he's been the biggest name in the game. He's been the best coach, and he's the greatest college football coach of all time. And then Jim Harbaugh, if he stayed at Michigan, and we know he's not staying at Michigan.

He had his final team meeting with the squad today. And now he's going to, I believe, go to Baltimore on Sunday for the AFC title game. And then once that ends, he will go to Los Angeles as he will start his tenure as the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. But Jim Harbaugh was in line with Saban leaving, especially when he defeated Saban.

And also he's a polarizing person. You add Jim Harbaugh with the possibility, if he stayed at Michigan, to be the face of college football. And you can't really have players be the face of college football because they're there in most cases for three or four years.

I know we have like some seventh and eighth year super duper duper duper duper seniors. But for the most part in college athletics, whether it's basketball or football, the two main college sports that we talk about. The coaches nine point nine times out of ten are the face of the sport.

So now we're in an era where there's no Nick Saban, there is no Jim Harbaugh. And you start to wonder, like, who could be the next face of college football? And I think the first name that you think of is Kirby Smart. But I also believe that being the face of college football kind of entails you to kind of have a little villain in you.

And be a little bit polarizing. I know Kirby Smart has been really successful, right? He's won two championships back to back years. Dominant teams had a chance to go back to back to back this year.

They lost one game and they weren't in the final four. But I wouldn't say that Kirby Smart is polarizing. You know, I know this could be a different take inside the SEC country, but a lot of that's just probably rooted in jealousy. I don't think Kirby Smart, if you ask the unbiased person, is really hated. I don't think people dislike Kirby Smart, but now he is the king of college football. And when you are the king of college football, you then take the title most years of being the face of college football. But like, Stu, let me ask you this.

Would you agree with that assessment? Because I know you watch a lot of college football. Saban, he was hated because he won. But it was also like the persona of Saban. It was so great and he was the king and everyone was trying to dethrone him. And he kept on knocking so many teams over and over and over and over.

Year in and year out. You had like a little run of Dabo. You had the run of Kirby. But even in the SEC championship game, you saw this most recent one, Alabama beat Georgia. So there's been some people like Ed Orgeron had his moment in the spotlight and all of that. But for the most part, last 20 years, he's been the biggest, baddest name. And it kind of came off Belichickian where, you know, he's sometimes smug with the media as well. I think Saban is more well-liked nationally than Bill Belichick. But he was that guy where you either loved him or you hated him.

And there was no in-between. Like, I don't find Kirby Smart right now as someone that really has, I know everyone has haters. But I don't think that a lot of people nationally say, oh, I hate Kirby Smart at all. Yeah, he's not as polarizing as Saban. And the fact that Saban, like you said, did it for so long, had guys that, you know, battled him.

But it was only, I don't think any of those guys lasted more than a couple of years. Even Dabo, who for a few years had Clemson there. He's fallen off now. He's fallen off after just, you know, three, four, five really, really, really good years of Clemson.

It's just not the same. And yeah, I just don't see that same, like Kirby Smart, I just don't see that same. He's not as polarizing as Saban was.

Well, you know how he can become that? If he wins like three more. Yeah, you keep on winning. Naturally, people hate your guts. Look at this year in the NFL. There's never been a reason to really dislike the Kansas City Chiefs. Once the Chiefs were bitching and complaining after they lost the game to the Bills because they didn't get a call where Kadarius Toney was offside and he lined up offside. That's when I thought some people really started to hate the Chiefs because the Chiefs have won. But the Chiefs haven't been polarizing. The Chiefs haven't been hated because they also have lived in the shadow so far of the Patriots. And now the Patriots are dead with Belichick no longer there.

Brady no longer there. They have the third pick in the draft. So now the Chiefs are kind of like Kirby Smart where they're now becoming the team.

They now have won. You don't have Alabama with Saban there anymore. So naturally there will be a moment or two when they keep on winning where there will be that day where people go, OK, I hate Kirby Smart. But right now I don't think a lot of people hate Kirby Smart. But now he is the face of college football.

So that takes us into some other contenders. If Dabo could get back to his winning ways at Clemson, he could be the face of college football. And Dabo Sweeney has a lot of detractors because he made fun of NIL. He always bashes the transfer portal and he hasn't embraced it. Dabo is an unlikable head coach.

And I wasn't always that way. But the last three years when you failed to adjust, you failed to adapt and you've been so arrogant about it. I think Dabo Sweeney is someone that I don't believe that will get it back on track to where Clemson was. And I think Dabo has been exposed the last few years and showed that his run had an expiration date on it.

But if he could ever get back to that spot, then definitely Dabo could be the face of college football. Now, Dion, we talked about him. So like Colorado football, who the heck ever talked about them the last 15 years? And Dion goes there, gets hot. That team was miserable down the stretch. They won one game after starting off the year 3-0.

But we talked about Dion. Coach Prime, I'm a believer, just want to make that clear. We talked about Coach Prime each and every week, but I just don't think they'll ever have the national success. Like the best thing I believe Coach Prime could accomplish in college football at Colorado would win the Big 12. But I don't expect them to win the Big 12 under his tenure. He'd probably have to go to a bigger program. Dan Lanning could be a future face, but he's got to win. Dan Lanning, I told this to him. He's got football psycho in him. And I say that in a positive way. When he's in that locker room and he's like, you talk with your helmet.

You talk with your helmet. That's a football psycho that I absolutely love. And I thought the first time I interviewed him, I thought he was dry. I thought he was like a little boring, quite frankly.

But then I had him on multiple times after that. And there's a side of Dan Lanning, once he gets comfortable with you, where you're like, wow, this dude just gets it. And this dude is a phenomenal head football coach.

But I know that you're moving into the Big 10 and things are going to pick up this year. You did lose to Kalen DeBoer twice. Could Kalen DeBoer be the next face of college football? I love Kalen DeBoer.

He's been on this show countless times. What I think makes Kalen DeBoer so great is he's so unflappable and you could put him anywhere and he could win. But I don't think Kalen DeBoer has the personality to be the face of college football.

And I'll give you two other names. And these two names like Lincoln Riley could be it. But Lincoln Riley this past year, my oh my, you have Caleb Williams and you can't even come close to sniffing a Pac-12 championship appearance.

That's embarrassing. So I got to see more out of Lincoln Riley because Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma was really good. But people thought he was like a god and great. He's never won a college football playoff game. So it's tough for me to say, and I get it, it's the brand of USC, he's a cool looking coach. It's tough for me to say that Lincoln Riley is going to be the face of college football when he's never won a college football playoff game. I'll tell you who could become the face of college football.

Now I don't think he has the toughness to do this. And he hasn't found the way to win. But he's attracting big names this offseason. He started a little offseason parade and offseason championship for a coach that has lost faith in his program. But if, if, if, if, if Ryan Day, and that's a big if, if Ryan Day or crying day, crying Ryan, if he could find a way to restore Ohio State, he is an unlikable enough.

And Ohio State fans, you know, love being the villain. That could be a future face of college football. Alrighty, Stu, right now, there are three coaches with a national championship in college football. With Jim Harbaugh off to the NFL, Nick Saban entering retirement.

It's Mack Brown, it's Dabo Sweeney, and it's Kirby Smart. Let's do a draft. We'll do three teams each. Out of the kindness of my heart, I will let Stuart Kovacs go first. And who is a coach right now in college football that does not have a championship that you think will be first up to be that coach that wins his first championship?

Who do you go with? Yeah, there's a couple candidates I have. First, I will go with Steve Sarkeesian at Texas. I think he is building up that program very nicely. Obviously, the move to the SEC is going to be a challenge. It is not the competition of the Big 12. But, you know, moving to the expanded college football playoffs, Texas should be in every year.

So I don't think that'll be as much of an issue. He has Arch Manning. I think he's going to be a star once he does get on the field and he's going to absolutely dominate. When you combine Texas with the SEC in recruiting, I like Sarkeesian.

I think he will win a championship in the next few years. Good on you because this was not out of the kindness of my heart. I intentionally had a strategy here. I thought you would take someone else and you didn't take that person.

I think I know who we're talking about. Yeah, I wanted that person off the board. So now I will make my selections. This is a snake draft, correct? Yes, you'll get the next two picks, yes.

I will go Kalen DeBoer first up. I know it's so tough when you're replacing the guy in Nick Saban. But I don't believe in that saying, you don't want to be the guy that replaces the guy. You want to be the guy that replaces the guy that replaces the guy or however that saying goes.

I don't care. Kalen DeBoer just took Washington to a national championship game. Kalen DeBoer is in the best situation he's ever been at in his career and he's been a winner everywhere he has gone. So I will take Kalen DeBoer first up on my choice as a coach that doesn't have a championship that will end up winning one currently.

Sark was a great one that you did take. You know what? I hate to do this. No, I can't do this. I can't. I want to put the pressure back on Stu.

I will go with Dan Lanning. The resources at Oregon. Some people believe Alabama wanted him and he turned down the Alabama job. I know Alabama fans will tell you that that wasn't the case.

But there's been conflicting reporting on that. Dan Lanning's very smart to not go to A&M. You know, I would not have faulted him if he went to Alabama. Could not have faulted him. But he's now getting Dylan Gabriel this year and look what he did with Bo Nix.

And Dylan Gabriel accomplished a lot more going into Oregon than Bo Nix did. So I will take Dan Lanning as my next choice. So I have Kalen DeBoer and Dan Lanning.

Stu took Sark right off the board. What say you? I'm going to take the guy that you were not going to take. Thank you. Mr. Ryan Day at Ohio State. I know.

It's actually a good pick. He actually has to prove it. Yeah, he has to prove it. They have a lot of guys coming in obviously from the transfer portal from Alabama.

A lot of those defects. And the best thing for Ryan Day crying Ryan is that. No Harbaugh left. No Harbaugh. So now Ryan Day's saying, who's got it better than us?

Nobody. Yeah. So I mean, he has a lot to prove, but I think he will eventually win one. And if they have a bad year this year, he might not be there. So then the pick is a bad pick. Mike Brable? Yeah, exactly. Might be someone else.

Yeah. Luke Fickle. Who would you go then as your next pick? As my next pick, there's a lot of good ones here. I'm actually going to go Brian Kelly. LSU.

I just, like you mentioned earlier when we talked about him in On Sides, Off Sides. The talent that he's going to be able to get there once he has his footing down, you know, three, four, five years at the job. I think it's just going to be too good. I've always thought he had, you know, he's a good coach. He's just going to get the talent at Notre Dame to win a championship. Now at LSU, I think he'll eventually get that talent and win one.

All righty. I could go Mike Norvell here, but I'll hold my nose and I'll go with Lincoln Riley, even though he's had a disappointing last two seasons, I will take Lincoln Riley. So there's the draft. Coaches that have not won a national championship yet in college football that will eventually win one. Stu has Sark, Ryan Day, Brian Kelly. I go Kaelin DeBoer, Dan Lanning, and Lincoln Riley.

All right. We're out here on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We have a Pro Football Hall of Famer joining us on the other side. The great Brian Urlacher will join us when we return in five minutes on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. All righty.

Rocking and rolling. It is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Brian Urlacher, the Pro Football Hall of Famer is part of the second annual invited celebrity classic, which features 78 PGA Tour champions and 40 sports and entertainment stars. It's from April 19th through April 21st. Tickets are free.

Fans just need to register at www.invitedcelebrityclassic.com and you can watch live on the Golf Channel all three days of competition as well. And now joining us on the Zach Gelb show is the Pro Football Hall of Famer, Brian Urlacher. Brian, always appreciate the time. How are you?

I'm good, Zach. Thanks for having me on, man. Appreciate it. Yeah.

Thanks so much for coming on. So how's your golf game been? I could imagine you probably hit the ball like a country mile, right? When I hit it good, yes.

But when I don't hit it good, which is most of the time, it goes a lot of different directions. But I love the game. It's a blast. It gives me something to do now with all my free time being retired. You didn't come off to me as like someone when you were playing that was ever nervous.

There was always a confidence about you. But golf is such a humbling game. When you participate in something like this, do you get nervous where you just don't want to embarrass yourself with how easy it is to embarrass yourself with golf?

You're exactly right. Golf. I don't think I ever feel like easy, like it's at ease.

It's always hard for me. I'm not sure if all the guys feel like that who play these tournaments, but it's just there's people out there. You don't want to hit or people watching, obviously, the fans out there. The Sultan of sizzle, the Titan of toastiness, the kingpin of kindling. These are the admired ones. Those who've created the prime place together, they don't just have a backyard, they have the backyard because they know a solo stove fire pit is more than just the ultimate smokeless fire pit. It's a place where friendships are forged, football is revered, and food is enjoyed. Solo stove, the perfect flame for the big game. When the whole family comes together to watch the game, nobody wants to miss a second of the action to run to the grocery store. With Instacart, you can get all your weekly groceries in as fast as an hour. Less time shopping means more game time. Let's go visit instacart.com to get free delivery on your first three orders offer valid for a limited time $10 minimum per order additional terms apply a peanut butter M&Ms 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 return 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&Ms peanut butter but you're on a roll the ring of comfort coming soon to a Super Bowl new year um it is so easy to embarrass yourself because you get a fat shot you can top one uh not a lot of things can go right but a lot of things can go wrong talking to Brian Urlacher right now so it is conference championship weekend everyone remembers when you punched your ticket to the Super Bowl with the Bears taking care of the Saints all these years later one of the memories that come back to mind when you look back at that day that was a fun day uh you know we were at home at Soldier Field we got the George House trophy which is the founder of the Bears you know we got it presented to us at Soldier Field just started snowing in the fourth quarter there it was awesome and we lost it 2010 at home Green Bay beat us and they went on to beat Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl so um it was a great day the first one the second one wasn't that great but then we would go on to lose to the Colts uh two weeks later but it's a fun weekend for football I like watching these games because there's so much meaning to them and we all remember how that Super Bowl started with Devin Hester doing what Devin Hester does with the kickoff return I know he's up for the Hall of Fame uh special teams is always an interesting topic to me he's a Hall of Famer but what would you say if you had to advocate for your former teammate he's the best who's ever done it in his position right no one's ever done it better than him he changed the game at the kickoff return pump return people schemed for him they had to change their whole game plan field position wise based on what he could do so he'll get in I don't know when he will I don't know how you look at the list of people that are that are eligible every year he's been a candidate or a finalist it's tough man because there's some great I think Pep so throughout Julius Pepper's finals this year uh Dwight Frini's a finalist there's some great players I'm leaving guys out obviously but there's so many great players every year who are on that list so it's tough to pick yeah and you could only put so many in from each class and like day a guy like Jerry Kramer right who eventually got in you know here with my class yeah you have to wait the longest time to get in and uh you know just as long as you're on the ballot or you still have someone advocating for you I guess there's always hope yeah you know I was so happy Jerry got in with our class by the way he's a great man a great player obviously with the Packers back in the day but yeah you just don't know what like I don't know how the voting works I don't understand it I've never understood it I don't know why some guys go in some guys don't and they put them in like well they're like we'll put them in next year because we have to put so-and-so in this year if you're going to go in that year why shouldn't you be in there it's just that's um there's a lot of politics involved with that stuff I guess yeah no doubt about it talking to the Pro Football Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher you know I don't know if you still miss uh playing the game because you've been away from it for so long but when you think back at your career like you had an iconic career people say the name Urlacher and everyone knows what you did on a football field but what are some of the things that still come to mind to you about what you were able to accomplish with your story and your background just where I came from number one you know small town in New Mexico had one one offer for football in college at the University of New Mexico accepted it obviously it's my only offer so I went there and I just kept getting better every year you know I was in college I busted my butt got better and better and then obviously I was able to get drafted by the Bears in the first round and I think everything kind of fell into place there my first four years were really good with coach Jaron there and then when Lovie got there and put me at the mic or I was at mic already but his cover two allowed me to kind of be an athlete in the middle and kind of run around do some plays and do some things in the passing game but also still support the run but um it was great it was so much fun I mean I enjoyed going to work every day of my whole career not many many people get to do that and it's also rare because you played your entire career in Chicago you ever close to going somewhere else you know the Bears always got my deal done early so it never was and obviously my last year when they didn't redo my contract I had the opportunities to go play somewhere else but I think at that point no one really wanted me and I was too damn old anyway so it worked out pretty good retired at the right time and I was fortunate to stay 13 years with the Bears we're all getting ready for the games this weekend obviously there's a big quarterback matchup between Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson I'm just wondering you being one of the more iconic defensive players that ever lace him up who was the toughest quarterback that you ever had to prepare for oh they're all so good you know I played against Rogers, Brady, Manning, Breeze, Vic I'm sure I'm leaving guys out as well Philip Rivers was awesome as well they're also good Rogers gave us fits you know he played him twice a year and the thing he did he always knew what defense he ran before the ball was set most of the good ones do and he was mobile enough to give himself time in the pocket and he could if he needed to scramble he could but he always gave us fits Brett did as well Brett was awesome as well I love playing against him for those few years I got to but they're all so damn good it's hard to pick one guy Michael Vick was my was probably my favorite out of all those guys just man your whole defense had to be ready to play that day because of the running factor obviously but he threw the ball great people don't give them enough credit for how well he threw the football and I don't even know how you're supposed to play defense now these days like no one knows what pass interference is I have no clue how you how you hit the quarterback and then all the quarterbacks now have legs too so it makes it so tough yes Zach on third and 15 or third and 20 there's going to be a defensive penalty yeah whether it's a legal contact pull a phantom holding call if it's a big play in the game there's gonna be a defensive penalty somewhere offside or something it's a it never fails I'm sitting there watching my wife I'm like hey there's gonna be a pencil in this way just watch her fourth and fourth and six or whatever is always a defensive penalty it drives me I feel bad for the DBs how do you play defense on the guy when you can't touch them after five yards you can barely touch their jerseys before that it's tough man I don't know how they do it and not only that every time there's a rule that favors the defense they try to change it like for a while you know I was of the belief that you fumble the ball out of the end zone well you could fumble it at the one you get the ball back at the one but you fumble it out of the end zone you know I thought you should get the ball back but there's no rules that favor the defense left than that one so I actually think if you fumble the ball out of the end zone now it should be a touch back and go to the other team it should well that happened last week right yeah well I think that's always been that way but one of the few rules that actually benefits the defense I think if a quarterback or something the runner fumbles on fourth down the ball's dead there because no one else unless the guy who fumbles it recovers it pass the first down instead there but yeah we don't have many that go in our favor on the defensive side of the football but it's amazing how good that's why it's amazing how good Baltimore's defense is with all the rules stacked against them they still every week show up and play good defense and could you imagine how many fines you would get not that you are like a dirty player but now you hit the quarterback and you can't have all your body weight land on the quarterback it's just ridiculous how about you get a roughing the passer for a sack yeah guy actually has the football and they call roughing the passer on you when you get a size I just yeah I don't understand a lot of the things that are happening right now I understand them because you want player safety for the quarterbacks yeah I get that those are guys that make all the money but it's very frustrating at some times to watch but we'll talk about invited celebrity classic the golf tournament in just a bit but I'll also be remiss I know you do great work with Dick and Jaws for the gridiron greats I go to that party each and every year just tell some people what you do to try to help some of your former players or some players of the past that are still trying to figure out life and unfortunately to deal with some of the nasty part of football yeah you know I think most people think about NFL players or guys who played in the NFL and they're they're rich they're well off or they have good benefits it's not like that for the guys who played in the 60s 70s 80s even the 90s the benefits are not what they should have been for these guys and the NFL is not doing anything for them you know the NFL makes ten eleven billion dollars a year something like that and they don't those guys that played are pretty much out of the picture for them they get they get no benefits so what coach dick did is he started a organization called dick is gridiron greats he just tries to raise money to get back to those guys who don't have a lot right now whether it's insurance medical bills how roofing housing whatever it is food just trying to give them a little bit of bump and with the party is a february 8th at the em resort in vegas for the super bowl last year was the first time i went it was awesome you know jaws and i co-hosted because coach dick is uh i think it's staying down in florida this year again but uh it's a great i mean i was shocked how many former players and current it's a great event showed up to the event i'd never been so i didn't know but i was um pleasantly surprised at how many guys showed up to support coach dick because uh organization there was really awesome yeah and i know mark singleton and rudolph foods uh and southern recipes very well he's he's awesome he's a good guy like mark yeah i i've been going there ever since i think like 2013 or 2014 whenever the super bowl was in new orleans and uh it is all class all the way already uh brian erlacher the pro football hall of famer here with us the biggest question in chicago right now they have the number one overall pick should they trade justin fields and draft a quarterback like caleb williams what would you do if you were running the bears i would have drafted cj stroud last year so you know they had the number one pick last year i know everyone was high on bryce young but you look you know everyone always talks about the guy like they said the bears passed up on the sean watson when they took mitch shavisky well you can say the same thing last year they passed passed up on cj stroud as well they traded that pick could have taken him but i i mean it's not good to have the number one pick two years in a row obviously this year they got it because they trade with carolina but i think they have to take caleb you know i don't think there's any way around it this year um if you don't take them it turns out to be great um but having said that justin kills played good at the end of season last year as well it's tough their defense really played good i think the second half of the season i don't watch a lot of their games but they played better in the second half but i think if caleb's available there you have to take him and i thought they played well like you said down the stretch uh so there's a reason to make the case to to keep a field right bring him back mattie perfluza's head coach but there was a lot of buzz that maybe they should have taken a swing at jim harbaugh do you think that was a mistake that they didn't pursue harbaugh this off season well i don't the bears couldn't pay him what he what he's gonna be paid are they i'm sorry they could they would but they won't if that makes sense they won't pay him what he probably deserves or what or what uh the chargers paid him so i that was probably never on on their radar i like what irif lose did you know he's a defensive head coach and play good defense you know and it's a to your point earlier about justin fields being the quote if you're asking in year three if he's still the guy he's probably not the guy you know you give him three years and you you don't know the answer to that question then he's probably not the guy and he's played he played better last year i'll give him that but i just don't think he's going to be the guy going forward for them all righty before we let you run always appreciate you to jump on board with us uh tell us once again what you're doing with this big golf tournament coming up oh yeah the invited cherry celebrity classic it's in dallas at los colinas great event as this will be the third year we've had it down there hard golf course it's just hard for me uh we play with the champions tour players we have the uh celebrity you know uh side of it as well i think i think the purse for the celebrities like five hundred thousand dollars a little more for the champions tour guy yeah you got some hall of famers in there from from golf obviously and then you have quite a few hall of famers as well from very baseball football basketball uh just it's cool it's a fun week they do a good job a lot of money back for charity in the dallas area as well but it's a fun event you know we had a pretty good crowd turnout the last couple years as well so it's been a lot of fun and once again tickets are free friends just need to register at www.invitedcelebrityclassic.com you can also watch it live on the golf channel all three days of competition april 19th to the 21st brian i'll see you in vegas appreciate the time thanks so much all right zach take care mess here there you go brian irlacher the pro football hall of famer joining us on cbs sports radio so uh bears legend one of the greatest chicago bears player of all time uh he thinks that the team needs to move on from justin fields even though he played well down the stretch and draft caleb williams with the number one overall pick we'll take a break we'll come on back we'll update you some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio we call that segment the news brief but first up with the latest cbs sports radio update i'm actually concerned about this guy and the reason why i'm concerned about red shirt you're wearing a red shirt i'm just trying to think i don't know what coach is there that's gonna get fired or is gonna retire because every time you wear a certain shirt color recently something happens with that team the falcons although red is not their dominant color anymore that made their hire yesterday so now hold on stu actually just said something in my ear go ahead stu yeah that's the color of livable whose manager decided that he is going to hang it up after this season i didn't have the shirt with that in mind again now some people believe mike florio i even seen adam shefter has thrown this out there craig cardin our former uh co-worker that andy reid this could be it for the big fella this year so maybe ack is predicting the ravens beat the chiefs and then andy reid's gonna eat a bunch of cheeseburgers in retirement there you go i'm gonna assume that's not the way that you're predicting no i think andy reid's coming back to all righty zach yelp show cbs sports radio you can stream the nfl and westwood one for free sponsored by auto zone all season long you can listen to every westwood broadcast of the nfl live on the nfl app by asking alexa to open westwood one sports or on the odyssey app get in the zone auto zone auto zones free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local auto zone get in the zone auto zone restrictions apply uh rocco de sangro a college classmate of mine who now uh covers the baltimore ravens for fox baltimore uh he says no injury designation for mark andrews who was activated off injury reserve yesterday and uh here is some big news as well marlin humphrey calf who was a full participant for the first time since he returned to practice and is being listed as questionable for sunday's afc championship game on the other side adam shefter shefty as his friends call him uh the great nfl reporter for espn uh he is saying that the chiefs have ruled out joe tuni uh from the game their great interior offensive lineman uh isaiah pacheco willie gaye and cadereus tony are listed as questionable for sunday's afc championship game alrighty without further ado i'm not talking about freddie adieu wow two soccer references on this show today i did not anticipate this one let's update you some of the biggest stories the world of sports with some audio we get to a news brief time for your daily news brief we get you caught up on the rumors reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports all righty let's start it off with kyle shanahan he had a little exchange with a reporter in regarding fans what's that we don't call him the 12th man here um but our crowd's very important so i've been to some of these conference championship weekend press conferences where you have your local beat reporters and then all the national media and every tom dick and harry goes there that week so you sometimes get some bizarre questions i don't know who the reporter was whether it was a local reporter or a national reporter but you usually get some bizarre questions just asking how important the fans are going to be like what's the purpose of that like what are you trying to write like what soundbite are you trying to get i'm not saying the environment the atmosphere doesn't matter that's pretty much a lame question if you ask me and what does shanahan call them oh he doesn't call them the 12th man because of the whole seahawks embracing the 12th man and they uh retired i'm pretty sure the jersey number 12 to honor their fans so maybe there's a little nfc west fighting uh inner fighting there between kyle shanahan head coach of the 49ers and having fun with the seattle seahawks here is kyle shanahan on facing jared golf on sunday's nfc title game i think he's showing some of the stuff that he did in la i mean you go with jared i mean he built for a number of years especially you know i think 17 18 really 18 i mean he played at mvp type level so i think the way we talk about jared golf is a very intriguing one because jared golf was a throw-in or a lot of people thought including yours truly that he was a throw-in in that trade for matthew stafford and the main coupe for the uh detroit lions were the two first round picks that they ended up getting one that they got in return for stafford the other one was taking on the contract of jared golf now they have not officially extended jared golf but he's in line to be their quarterback for the foreseeable future heck they even drafted hendon hooker now it wasn't the first round but he had first round potential if he didn't tear up his knee towards the end in tennessee uh but that's someone in jared golf that he has proven i don't think he has a ceiling of greatness i don't think he has a ceiling of ever being elite and we already made that joke when joe flaco joined this earlier but he's a good quarterback like there is a lot of quarterbacks in this league that you wouldn't want to have over uh jared golf like there's a lot of quarterback you say nope nope nope nope nope when you get asked jared golf for that quarterback and i'm not saying that'll ever be a top five quarterback you know he is a borderline top 10 quarterback in this league but he got to a super bowl in la and now he's 60 minutes away from getting to a super bowl with the detroit lions and i'll take it a step further outside of lamar jackson i don't think there's an individual player that i'm rooting more for this weekend than jared golf it would be really damn cool if jared golf can not only get to a super bowl but then do the unthinkable and that is deliver a lombardi trophy to the detroit lions fans all righty we'll keep it moving let's go to brock purdy he hopes debo samuel can play on sunday he's probably the best playmaker in this league you know you get the ball in his hands he can do whatever he wants um makes guys miss breaks tackles he's strong he's tough he's got grit and we all feed off it so um debo definitely gives us some juice and energy and momentum on our offense and i mean if he's not playing obviously that's tough on us but we'll have guys to be able to play as well that can that can create that as well so um but yeah if you're asking me we'd love for debo to play i would absolutely be shocked like stunned if debo samuel isn't playing on sunday he will give it a go and i saw he was doing some running yesterday but it ultimately comes down to how effective can he be he is he's not the the best playmaker in the nfl you know you could say one of he's not the best on his team that's christian mccaffrey but debo is 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is a distributor yeah we support electrical and datacom projects all over the country so you can get me the products i need where and when i need them yeah thanks to our national logistics network any industry yeah construction industrial plants schools hospitals so you could say graybar is much more than a distributor yeah you could say that when you need a hand powering connecting or maintaining your operations doing the thousands of professionals rely on graybar to help keep them up and running yeah graybar does that important player on the san francisco 49ers number one at least on their offense i'm talking number one is run cmc with christian mccaffrey the number two is debo samuel but the one time the 49ers did look human for a long stretch this year debo samuel did miss a few games and that's when they had their three-game losing streak let's go to patrick mahomes he has high praise for lamar jackson's evolution as a quarterback i think the biggest thing that you you like to see in another quarterbacks is how they improve every single year um and obviously um everybody talked about his running but you can see how he's developed as a passer throwing from within the pocket arm angles making the the accurate throw in big situations and big moments um and that's what the great quarterbacks do um and he continues to get better and better every single year he's a stud unanimous mvp about to win another mvp the only thing that is missing from lamar jackson's trophy case is the lombardi trophy and until he gets that title you will have a contingent of people that will say hey he's overrated that's there's nothing you could do to fix the person that says he's overrated or he he's he's never going to win a super ball i don't see why there isn't a reason why lamar jackson can't win a super ball and right now they're the best team in the league so if he wins everyone that says you can't win a super ball shuts up if he loses those people will be heard louder than ever let's go to chris jones of the kansas city chiefs stone cold jones and he says the ravens present a unique challenge you got the finesse teams you got the downhill running teams and then you got the baltimore ravens who can do a little bit of both they can run the ball they can pass the ball they got weapons on the outside but they also got a dominant officer in line who can just run the ball the ravens just have it like i talked to steve young before this season and he said about brock purdy that brock purdy just has a force about him like he has the force the force is with him i kind of think that's the same way with the ravens like we know that lamar jackson's great we know patrick queen's great we know roquan smith is great they have a lot of great defensive players but on offense their only great player is lamar jackson now you have other really good players you have also other really really really really really good players but there's just something about that team chemistry and that team and maybe the biggest growth lamar has made has been a leader like you hear the new guy like uh odel beckham won a super bowl he said this is the best team chemistry he's ever been around this is the best team he's ever been on odel has won a super bowl with the la rams that had one of the greatest defensive players of all time a criminally underrated quarterback in matthew stafford cooper cup who's in the midst of a uh a triple crown season and that's what odel said there's just something about them where they may not have the best roster but what they have it just fits it works and it works at an elite level here is the new head coach of the tennessee titans in brian callahan he gives his thoughts on his new quarterback and a guy that likes to put mayo in his coffee and he does not unpeel his bananas that is will levis i really enjoy getting to know him i can't wait to get to work with him he's got a lot of really special physical talents that i'm that i'm excited to go to go see if we can make better and um everything about him so far has been fantastic and i'm excited to get to go further down into it so i don't think and i think this is the part that gets lost in it mike fable didn't want to coach that team anymore i know he got fired but i don't think he wanted to be there anymore and he realized wow we're really going through a rebuild where derek henry's on his way out ryan tannell's on his way out i like will levis right i'm sure vrabel is fine with will levis but that's a roster that does not have a lot of talent and i do believe that in vrabel's mind he wanted to go back to new england and go somewhere where he was comfortable knowing robert kraft where he played his football and won a bunch of championships but then i guess we didn't know about this clause in jerod mayo's contract where he was the coach in waiting in new england so i don't know if that was a miscalculated play by vrabel but i know everyone's talking about belicheck not getting a job you have the commanders and seahawks left we all think uh johnson ben johnson the offense coordinator for the lion's gonna get the commander's gig i don't see why the seahawks wouldn't hire mike vrabel mike vrabel is basically just a younger pete carroll especially with the energy that mike vrabel has so i would hire mike vrabel if i was seattle but if they don't you're gonna go with this hiring cycle where no one picked up pete carroll no one picked up bill belicheck and no one picked up mike vrabel so considering those circumstances tennessee didn't upgrade at their head coach but if rable didn't want to be there you're not going to continue to employ him so you bring in a young offensive-minded coach and brian callahan who comes from a football family it's been around it a lot and you're going to try to get the most out of will levis but you got to build up the rest of that roster like their gm i think is more important than the head coach for the next two years because that roster just simply does not have a lot of talent like vrabel got so much out of that roster he got him a number one seed one year he got them to an afc title game and it was not a well-rounded talented team and then uh finally let's go to cj gardner johnson of the detroit line so you got to remember and i think no one could speak better about this than myself because i got caught up in this controversy after the eagles beat the 49ers debo went to the super bowl and talked crap about the eagles and basically called their secondary garbage last year cj gardner johnson was on the eagles so debo and cj gardner johnson has had a back and forth before now cj gardner johnson's on the lions they go up against the 49ers this weekend in the nfc title game and cj gardner johnson has a message for debo said another thing bro listen don't be friendly when you see me because you be so flashy you better hope well you better hope all that talking be doing we see y'all what road around it may be because i can guard you you can't run routes you're running back you're running back i ain't gonna sit here and play with you little boy because you got a little bag people gave you a little clout man you ain't nothing bro stop playing cj gardner johnson's a good football player don't get me wrong but the way he talks you would think he believes he's like the greatest defensive back the greatest safety of all time you know debo samuel is a much better football player than you and i get it when someone talks negatively about you you got to respond and you got to take care of your own business but i kind of hope debo does play this weekend and he's effective because i want to see the jaw and that goes on between cj gardner johnson and then also debo samuel all righty this is zach yelp show on cbs sports radio who has the most pressure to win it all this year in the nfl is it lamar jackson is it the san francisco 49ers we'll discuss when we come on back in five minutes right here on the zach yelp show on cbs sports radio ryan hortvak gonna join us 25 minutes from now we got nfl picks we'll see if i can continue my hot streak 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 return 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 okay picture this it's friday afternoon when a thought hits you i can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever or i can hop into my all-new hunday santa fe and hit the road with available h-track all-wheel drive and three-row seating my whole family can head deep into the wild conquer the weekend in the all-new hunday santa fe visit hunday usa.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details hunday there's joy in every journey 2024 santa fe available early 2024 nobody wants a surprise in their jelly donut it's toothpaste that's because the middle is the most important part at gray bar we're at the middle of electrical and datacom jobs across the country connecting installers facility managers and business owners with smart solutions for their most challenging projects which means stocking and delivering crucial products on time and on budget with no surprises thanks to our nationwide logistics network yep gray bar does that