RUSSELL WILSON RELEASED BY BRONCOS! (Hour 2)

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The NFL Combine is in the books, and now we gear up for the NFL Draft, which will come your way in Detroit at the end of April. Let's go out to the guest line right now and welcome in one of the best NFL on CBS. And that, of course, is Charles Davis, who's kind enough to join us once again on the Zach Gelb Show. Charles, always great to see you.

Thanks so much for doing this. How you been? I've been well, Zach. Thanks for having me on.

I hope you're doing OK. Yeah, I'm doing fantastic. So I always find the combine interesting because I love to see where players stocks are before the combine and then how much they rise or fall after the combine. I don't think anyone's stock has risen more than J.J. McCarthy, though, who I thought was perceived to be a first round quarterback. Now, some people are saying, though, he could be a top five pick.

Where do you think J.J. McCarthy is going to fall in this upcoming NFL draft? Yeah, I think that's a great, great observation, Zach, about J.J., because going into it, of course, we got into the well, he has not been asked to do as much as the others in their offense. And in other words, they were throw first. He was on a run first offense. And nowadays there is a true distinction with that, especially when Michigan ran the ball. I mean, I'm still trying to process during the middle of the season, watching them go to Penn State in the second half, officially throw zero passes. They threw one penalty play to get it up, get wiped off. So it never went into the books as a pass.

I think it's like twenty runs in the second half. And, you know, that wasn't against me and me and my friends in the backyard of Penn State. The Nittany Lions linebacker you places prides itself on defense.

So was he asked to do all those things? But we was asked to do was run the offense. And a lot of times you run your offense with the head as well. So it doesn't mean that you got a fling at seventy five yards downfield all the time.

So you're right. If we're starting to talk about it, I really think, you know, the top three quarterbacks could easily come off the board at one, two, three. That's no surprise to anyone right now. But if anything happens, maybe someone drops to five, six, the Giants all of a sudden are in the sweepstakes or whoever wants to rise up there. And in order to get in front of the Giants, I believe that's why you're saying top five, because if you really want to have that quarterback, you may have to get up there ahead of the Giants because it's six. They are definitely in the quarterback market, even though we know Daniel Jones is expect to come back next year with a big contract.

But I believe the Giants have one year with Daniel Jones in that contract before they could start to make moves and get out of it. I'm also fascinated to see where Jayden Daniels is going to go. I have him as the second best quarterback in this draft class. Caleb Williams won, Daniels too. And then I have Drake May being three. What do you think the ceiling in this league could be for a player like Jayden Daniels? Well, Zach, let's just go ahead and say, if it's OK with you, let's say that Chicago is taking Caleb Williams at one.

Agreed. We're going to have a lot of smoke, we're going to have a lot of things that go on between now and then. My theory is this, whoever the supposed number one guy is in the draft, he is that number one guy until about the time we hit the combine and come out of the combine. Then we start to really pick at his nits, right? Now we start to come after his flaws. Now we start to come after all these things because, frankly, we're bored.

We've said the same thing for a long time. So who can we bring into the conversation? Well, for Caleb Williams, we're going to bring Jayden Daniels in, we're going to bring Drake May in, we're going to rise up J.J. McCarthy. It's going to come in, all these things are going to come into it, right? And then about two weeks, three weeks max before the draft, you know what we're going to do? Caleb Williams is number one pick, he's the guy. That's how we operate this. Let's just say he's number one going to Chicago, it's going to happen, right?

Two is where it gets interesting. And my theory is this, brand new general manager in Washington, Adam Peters. Where do you come from? San Francisco.

What do they do in San Francisco? Play defense pretty well, okay? I know they just may change the coordinator, but all in all, they always play defense well, okay? Who's new head coach in Washington? Dan Quinn.

What stands as your background? Defense coordinator. Every defense coordinator I've ever talked to likes to have an offense that causes them trouble. What causes a defense coordinator the most trouble?

What keeps them up at night? Quarterbacks who can make the off-schedule plays. Quarterbacks who can get out and not just run the football, but hurt you running the football. Have we not said that the closest we've seen to Lamar Jackson running the football as a college quarterback since Lamar's come out is Jayden Daniels. That's why I think it's going to be very interesting at two. Zach, tell me if I'm wrong. For a long time, it would be not mostly penciled in, Drake made it two.

Guess what? That fight is going to continue all the way up through there. I just think that when it's all said and done, Dan Quinn's going to offer his opinion that the quarterback that I like better is Daniels because I know what he does to defenses. That's just what I think. Not that Drake can't run. Okay, I can hear the North Carolina people now. I'm not saying that. But Jayden Daniels runs it as close to Lamar Jackson as we've seen without being Lamar Jackson.

And I agree with you. Williams will go one. I do believe Daniels will go two. And then sitting at three, I think the Patriots have a fascinating decision to make because they need a quarterback, but you don't just take a quarterback to take a quarterback. You know, could the Patriots trade down? Do they take who I think is the best player in this draft in Marvin Harrison Jr.? I can't wait to see if it goes that way, Williams one, Daniels two, then what the Patriots do at three.

It is going to be fun to watch and see it unfold. If let's go along with what you're thinking. Let's say the Patriots decide to get creative, trade out of three, right? Right?

Let's start there. Let's say they trade out of three and someone comes up for the third quarterback. And we'll assume it's Drake May, right? But the Arizona, if they're going to do that, they're going to protect themselves.

I mean, excuse me, New England. They're going to protect themselves, make sure they get who they truly want. Now, I don't know that they'll go into it with two quarterbacks in mind because to your point, could they trade out of it and still protect themselves and get Marvin Harrison?

Absolutely. You still have anyone to throw the ball to Marvin Harrison. So you got to have that solved. So let's say if you're going to get Marvin Harrison, your backup plan is I'm going to get him, but also have a stopgap plan to get me a quarterback.

There's someone else I like. Is it JJ McCarthy? Is it Bo Nix?

Is it Michael Pennix? Because that's who I think are the guys that are in line for all this. That would be how it would have to go to me because otherwise you get Marvin Harrison Jr., which they've needed desperately, who's playing quarterbacks at? Like right now, if you're saying, here's my quarterback, what confidence do you have that, you know, we're hearing all the reports about what went on last year with that quarterback room? They've got to get a quarterback. They can't overthink this one if you're the Patriots, though. That's the one thing I would say.

It's a new time for them, a new start. I don't think Jerrod Mayles is going to want to do it. I guarantee you, Elliott Wolf's not going to do it as the new decision maker there. And his bloodlines and decision making comes from a guy who's a Hall of Famer, and that'd be his dad, Ron Wolf.

So I'm not too worried about that part. I think above all else, they can pull the Kevin Costner in, what was it, draft day. Put it down on the post-it. No matter what, the quarterback I like, something along those lines. Yeah, Vontae Mack, no matter what. I think what was on the actual post-it. Yeah, this time it's not going to be a linebacker.

I like to move. We had a linebacker go number one. I remember watching the movie, and even then I thought, this is very cool, but this isn't the time of Dick Bunkus. Okay? Nobody's going to take a linebacker at the top of the food chain, no matter how good they are.

You pancake eating mother bleeper on the trade negotiations, one of my all-time favorite lines in a movie. Charles Davis here with us. I'm also curious, because we talk about trading back. And I just said what I said about Marvin Harrison Jr., I think he's the best player in this draft. How big of a difference is there for Marvin Harrison Jr. and Roma Dunze? Because if you're a team that is looking for a wide receiver, like let's say the Cardinals, but then quarterbacks start going, and if you trade back a few spots, you may lose Marvin Harrison Jr., but then if you settle on Roma Dunze, how big of a separation when you evaluate those two players do you think there is from one to the other?

Not as much as maybe one would think. I'll put it to you this way. Let's take the quarterbacks out of the discussion, and we start to say, okay, who are the best players in the draft? You could say Marvin Harrison Jr. would be one. Roma Dunze from Washington would be two. Malik Nabors from LSU could be three. Although right now, if Malik Nabors heard me say three behind the Dunze and behind Marvin Harrison, he is ticked off. Have you ever seen anyone so upset over a Blitnikov award in your life than Malik Nabors was?

No. That's who he is, all right? If you talk to the LSU people, like we always joke about Baker Mayfield doesn't have a chip on his shoulder, he has a boulder.

Meet your twin in Malik Nabors. That's how he operates, all right? He'll perceive that as a slight. And by the way, Brian Thomas, his running mate at LSU, not so bad. He could easily be the fourth receiver in this draft. I realize Xavier Worthy's got all of our attention running 4-2-1, but A.D. Mitchell is probably a better receiver at Texas. So we're going to go and get a lot of receivers, and we're going to be deep all the way through, and we're going to mention Puka Nakua went in the fifth round until the cows come home and this draft is over. You know how it is. Like, we're already invoking him with Keon Coleman not running as fast as people expected, but the GPS thing had him going the fastest in the gauntlet, just like who last year?

Oh, that's right, Puka Nakua. So this is where we're going to go with this. Zach, receiver's going to be all through this one. But right at the top, not as big a separation as one would think. If Harrison's one, I think a lot of people feel like a doomsday and those guys are 1A, 1B, 1C.

So it's really not a huge, huge deal, and it's a matter of picking your flavor at the top. Charles Davis here with us, just going back to the quarterbacks, your top five quarterbacks, how do you rank them, one through five, just to make it clear and get it on the record? Yeah, sitting here right now, and look, there's plenty of time between now and then, and we'll adjust as we go along because I'm diving into it later than others coming off an NFL season, all right? But if you're asking me, Caleb Williams is one, Jayden Daniels is two, Drake May is three, J.J. McCarthy is four, and I've got Michael Penix at five ahead of Bo Nix.

So this is going to be a very interesting deal, and let me tell you something, the Bo Nix-Michael Penix conversation is really going to get intense. But watching them throw at the combine, because remember, Williams, May, Daniels, none of them did anything. Is it going to bother them and affect them? No.

Okay, that's not an issue. They'll do all this stuff with their pro day, they'll get measured, they'll do this, they'll do that. Trust me, the days of those scouts and teams going, I didn't throw at the combine, darn it, get him off my board.

Those days are long gone, all right? But it was interesting to me that the next three quarterbacks figured that part out and said, okay, let's try and fill the void. Can we up our stock if indeed you can up it at the combine? I think McCarthy probably did the best job of that, but I thought Penix threw the ball better than Bo Nix did in that one sample.

But that's what you have to remember, it's a sample, it's not the overall tape and how you feel about these guys. But to me, it's those six, and then you got to decide if there's a seventh, and I'm not talking about the first round. Who's the seventh quarterback, right? Who's that first one that we're going to pick? Probably Spencer Rattler, and I'm not sure after that how deep we're going to get, truthfully, Zach. I think it's a tough one after that one, I really do.

Joe Milton looks the part, there's no question about it, he was gorgeous. For a while there was talk he'd be this year's Anthony Richardson, that's not going to happen. But you're going to take a shot at him because anybody can throw a 70 yards just falling out of bed and not even straining and looking the way he looks.

You're going to take a look, you absolutely have to. And listen, if I'm drafted as jealous as I am with no hair, I got to get Sam Hartman on the team and just let the flow go. Charles Davis here with us. Just to follow up on that, why do you have McCarthy in front of Michael Penix Jr.? Because when I watched the Michigan tape and the games that I've watched, yes, we're talking about not asked to do, but you see those things, he can do them all. He can throw the deep ball. He moves better than you thought. Do you see his three-cone time?

I know for everyone at home listening and going, what the heck's a three-cone, you know, it measures your ability to change direction and your agility in a short distance in a short time. It'll want a better three-cone shuttles that you're going to find for a quarterback. So that just told me about athleticism, way better than maybe people want to give him credit for. He did as close to a pro-style offense, although I have to say, Zach, we're going to have to start being careful about that. Did he run a pro-style in college or did he run a college offense? If you watch the pros play, a lot of it is mashed together now. The pros are operating at a gun, you know, 80% of the time. So this whole idea that the pros are so different than college, well, you'll see more coverages, you'll see better athletes, blah, blah, blah. But what you're running on offense and how you're getting there, it's never been as mashed together as it is right now.

It's still going to be more nuanced, of course, but at the same time, it's not the same difference in what you're looking at and what you're watching as we used to have. But I do have to give him credit for that. You know, he was trained like a pro quarterback under Harbaugh, how you huddle, how you call plays, how you take snaps from center, all that, a little bit extra advantage. And yeah, he played a few big games along the way as well, just like Penix and just like Bo Nix did, that part's not in question.

But I just think McCarthy, there's a little more polish on him at the moment. Let's say you're running the Falcons, Charles Davis is here with us. Do you sign Kirk Cousins or do you trade for Justin Fields if, let's say, it's a second-round pick you got to give up for Justin Fields? Yeah, I think Cousins is the guy that I think that they would probably target.

That's just me off the top. I realize there's so much smoke about Justin Fields and going back home to Atlanta. I'm going to just call it fit if that's okay, Zach. In my mind, Pittsburgh, I'd probably be screaming and going and getting Justin Fields because they're going to be a run-first offense. The way that they finish here with Najee Harris, Jalen Warren, and now you're bringing in your new offense coordinator and Arthur Smith, who knows how to handle running backs, who beat you up running the football, C. Henry, Derek, Tennessee. That fits really well. And what are you going to do with the big arm?

Throw it over the top off of play action. Now, the flip side to that is Kirk Cousins, does it not look like Ryan Tannehill when he took over that Tennessee offense a few years ago? So if you're Arthur Smith in those conversations in Pittsburgh, you're whispering to Mike Tomlin's ear, you know, let me show you some tape and tell me if Cousins doesn't look a lot like what Tannehill did when we really had it cranked up. So it's going to be interesting to see how it goes, but I think that big arm for Fields to be able to go over the top and find George Pickens, and they need to add receivers. Don't get me wrong on this one because they need dependability out there. We know Pickens gives you big plays, we know Deontay Johnson does, but how many times did we talk about them last year as not being dependable at key times? Hopefully that goes away for them, but it shouldn't go away in your mind if you're the general manager, Omar Khan.

You should still be saying, I got to get some guys I know going to do the job for me. But yeah, it's going to be fun to see where all these people end up. But where does Russell Wilson go? Where does Kirk Cousins go? Where does Justin Fields get traded? And by the way, except for Fields, Zach, wherever Cousins or Wilson goes, that doesn't mean that team's out of the quarterback market in the first round. Last thing I'll ask Charles Davis, let's say we're talking five years from now, who are the five players in this draft class? Offense, defense, doesn't matter, that you think are going to be the five best players from this past draft class. Heck, I might take three centers right out of the gate who are going to play and going to be starters day one. Jackson Powers, Johnson out of Oregon, Zach Frazier out of West Virginia, Graham Barton, the left tackle from Duke who's going to go inside. Did you see Tanner Bordellini? People weren't talking about it. He's going to start for someone right away at center out of Wisconsin.

I'm just going to talk big guys interior that used to be a spot that we kind of went, oh, God, you're drafting a guard early. That's not a great idea. Guess what? You get your pivot right now. That's a big, big deal.

Flip it over the other side. I'm very interested. And I know what your question is. I'm not avoiding it. But it's hard for me to do a top five, Zach.

But I've got some intrigue with different people. Chop Robinson from Penn State sure looks like he should. When you watched him go through the combine, did you not say to yourself and rush back to the stats? My God, did he get 20 sacks last year? How many sacks did he have last year? He had four.

Now, I'm not saying that to damn him at all. Because there was a kid who came out of Penn State a few years ago. Remember his name? Yeah, Micah Parsons.

Oweigh. Remember him? Oweigh, yeah, he went to Baltimore, right?

Yeah. Went to Baltimore. How many sacks did he have his last year at Penn State? He had zero.

OK. Went in the first round. Sometimes the traits are there. Sometimes you get them unlocked later.

At different spots. But Chop Robinson sure looked like a guy that's going to be a solid, solid player. And I'm just going to tell you right now, he's not a first rounder. But he's a kid that I am crazy about. I develop these crushes every year for different players.

I developed it earlier in this draft process. He gave it to me at the Senior Bowl. And he gave it to me even bigger at the combine. Because he ran like four, four, five. And everybody went, whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't know he had that in him.

Know what I'm talking about? Is a safety from Utah named Cole Bishop. And I'm not saying he's Eric Weddle.

Because Eric Weddle is a guy that I really had a crush on. And he turned out to be right on that one. But Cole Bishop, safety, Utah, did not fall asleep on that young man.

He had about as impressive a workout in Indianapolis as we've seen at that position with this grouping. And some eyes had to have been opened somewhere. And somewhere, some scout had already fallen in love with him. And he was just sitting there telling his colleagues, I told you. I told you he was that good. But there was so much talent out there, Zach Flowen. We could do 10 shows on this.

And I tell you 10 different guys each and every time. He is the great Charles Davis, NFL on CBS. Does a tremendous job each and every Sunday when you hear him in the booth alongside Ian Eagle and Evan Washburn on the sidelines. Charles, I'm sure we'll be talking to you throughout this process. Always appreciate you giving us some time. Hey, I certainly hope so. Because when I talk with you, Zach, that makes me question everything I'm doing.

Make sure I get it right. So call people. Call me anytime so I can get my convictions down. In about a month, I'll feel really good about where we are.

But I have to tell you, I'm starting to feel a lot better already. You got it. Sounds good to me. We'll make sure we'll talk to you soon. There he is, Charles Davis, joining us on the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Always love how many people we get to hear about in the draft process when Charles Davis comes on with us.

No one does homework like Charles Davis. All righty, we'll take a break when we come on back. Johnny football is doing something very interesting when it regards to Reggie Bush getting his Heisman Trophy back.

And I absolutely love it. We'll discuss more on the other side. Yo, next round is about to start. You ready? Yeah, yeah, just shopping for a car in Carvana. For real?

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Visit Carvana.com to shop for thousands of vehicles under $20,000. Old Man Winter here. If I had it my way, it would stay winter all year long. Short days, wind chill, black ice, and a good polar vortex.

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If anyone needs anything, they can just redirect their questions to that one perfect coworker of yours. Well, breaking news in the NFL. So what we were going to talk about that we teased right before the break? We ain't talking about it right now.

Adam Schefter and Ian Rappaport both have this story. Ian Rappaport, the Broncos are moving on from quarterback Russell Wilson, closing a tough chapter for the team and allowing coach Sean Payton and Wilson to start fresh. Wilson is available for a team meeting a starter. Denver avoids an extra $37 million in fully guaranteed now.

So this is not surprising. We all knew that this was going to happen. Ari Mirov from My Sports Update, by releasing Russell Wilson, the Broncos will take on an NFL record $85 million in dead money. For context, that's more than the last two dead money records combined. I think Carson Wentz was a dead money record. And I want to say it was Jared Goff as well. But holy smokes, we all knew this was going to happen. But then you read how much the dead money is, and it's like $85 million to not be on the team.

That's crazy. So this is the statement from George Payton and Sean Payton. We spoke with Russell Wilson today to inform him of his release after the start of the league year. On behalf of the Broncos, we thank Russell for his contributions and dedication to our team and community, while wishing him the best as he continues his career. As we move forward, we are focused on building the strongest team possible for the 2024 season and beyond. We are excited to improve this off season, and we'll have the flexibility to get better through the draft and free agency. I think that's nice that they threw Sean Payton on this statement, because you know he doesn't have anything positive to say about Russell Wilson.

And let's just be real about this. There's a lot to discuss about the future of Russ. But I think the more intriguing part of this conversation is the future of Sean Payton. Because we all know Sean wanted the Chargers job. The Chargers, at the time when Sean was available, didn't fire Brandon Staley. A year later, they get rid of Brandon Staley. Sean's with the Broncos. Jim Harbaugh lands with the Los Angeles Chargers. But for the life of me, I don't understand, and I know it's money, but why Sean elected to go to Denver, knowing that Russ was the quarterback and knowing he didn't want Russ as his quarterback. Because the reason why he walked away and retired from the New Orleans Saints is because he found out life without Drew Brees makes it very tough to coach in this league. And he didn't believe in any of the quarterbacks that were on his roster. And we all know the Broncos deal now, when you look back at it, for Russell Wilson was one of the worst trades in NFL history.

And there is a legitimate chance that what happened these last two years makes it even tougher and prevents Russell Wilson from getting into the NFL Hall of Fame. And it has damaged his reputation. It's damaged the way that we look at him. But I would say that the next two, three years is going to define how we view Sean as a head coach. Because in New Orleans, what he did was magnificent.

It was wonderful. It was spectacular that he brought that team and that city that needed something to look forward to and needed something to be optimistic about a championship. But it did feel like they should have got more than one championship. And now Sean has been arrogant in Denver, didn't want to make nice with the quarterback, was very slimy in the way that they went about trying to get Russ to get the guarantees out of his contract and the injury guarantees and all that stuff, they wanted it waived. But now we're going to find out how great of a coach Sean is. And when he was in New Orleans, no one ever questioned his legacy. When Russ was in Seattle, no one ever questioned his legacy. Now we question the legacy of Russell Wilson.

And if Sean Payton doesn't get this right in the next two, three years and make this team serviceable, make this team good, then we're going to question, well, how great of a coach is Sean actually? So this is, I think, more enormous for Sean than it is Russ. Because Russ will land somewhere else. I think Russ and I believe Russ's camp is not going to steer him in the wrong direction here.

Russ doesn't need the money. Russell Wilson, this contract hasn't even kicked in yet this extension. So he's going to take a cheap, and I mean a really cheap one year deal, whether that's with the Steelers, whether that's with the Falcons, whether that's with Stu's Raiders, the Minnesota Vikings, he's going to go to a place that it's not a great spot because if it was a great spot, they would have a quarterback already intact, but where there is a number one wide receiver. Like you look at the Vikings, there's Justin Jefferson. You look at the Raiders, there's Devonta Adams. The Falcons, Drake London is a very good wide receiver in this league. The Steelers, at least you have George Pickens. He will go to a place where it's not impossible to go make the playoffs.

And he will take a very, very, very cheap deal. And I'm not saying Russell will ever be a great quarterback again, but he did show this year that he could be solid. He did show this year that he could be above average.

Like here's the part that gets lost on this. Russell Wilson didn't have a terrible season this past year. And that's why it's even more on Sean and puts even more pressure on Sean because you didn't even give this relationship a chance.

You didn't even try to turn around and salvage his career. And the Broncos have a lot of work to do. Like you look at the Broncos offense or their entire team, who are the players that you must have? Like who are the guys that are untouchable? Patrick Sertan?

And that's probably it. That offense, Jerry Judy thinks he's like the greatest wide receiver of all time. Newsflash, he's not. And this team, what is going to be their plan at the quarterback position? Cause you look at it right now, are you getting Kirk Cousins? Why would Kirk Cousins go there? Are you getting Justin Fields a potential option?

I don't think a bad option. But if Justin Fields had problems succeeding in Chicago, why would then he succeed in Denver where the weapon that he had in Chicago this past year was vastly better in DJ more than anything the Denver Broncos have on offense. So I look at the future of the Broncos who currently sit at 12 in the draft. They gotta be a major player to go trade up in this draft. Cause sometimes you could wait on a quarterback. I don't know if Denver could wait.

I really don't. Cause guess what happens? Denver, they were eight and nine last year. But it actually, the way the season started, looked like it was gonna be a whole lot worse than eight and nine. And they got hot for a little bit. And then down the stretch, they showed that they weren't that good of a team. But in all likelihood next year, the Broncos are gonna regress. And I know how this works. Every, oh, you got Sean paid in great job by the ownership group, the new ownership group in Denver.

Phenomenal job. But then this year it was like up and down. And I think at the end of the year, more people were annoyed at Sean than they were with Russell Wilson, especially when the story comes out. So next year you go six wins, seven wins, and you regress.

Then the seat and the temperature on that seat starts to turn up a lot. And then it's a make or break year in your number three. And it's tough to win with the young quarterback in this league. So I'm not saying that it was a mistake to get rid of Russell Wilson. But what I'm saying here is it was a mistake to not even give it a chance. And I still don't understand.

I know money, money, money, money, money. But with how hot of a commodity this guy was in Sean Payton, why he ended up having to come back this early and he didn't just wait another year and why he ended up taking the Denver job. Because that's where I'm at with this. Because it's a bad look when we get the truth of this story, how quickly he pulled the rug out from underneath Russell Wilson. And I guess that this was his plan all along. And sometimes you have great coaches that their hubris is their downfall.

And in this case, this is what it feels like. It was overconfidence. Oh, I'll say that I love Russ, then I won't love Russ. But now you're practically back to the situation you were that you just walked away from in New Orleans. And New Orleans, you could say had more talent on both sides of the ball, just no one can stay healthy. Denver has a talent problem. So now you need to not only improve the rest of the roster, you now have to improve the most important position in sports where Russ could have been a placeholder for another year that would have given you another year where you could just prevent the ship from sinking.

Now, it looks like the ship is at the bottom of the ocean and you gotta quickly find a way to pull that thing up and just get it to smoothly sail again. And I don't think that's gonna be easy. I have a tough time believing that at the end of this run in Denver, we're gonna be looking at Sean Payton and saying, wow, he did a phenomenal job with the Denver Broncos. And I didn't even mention yet the division they play in where you have the biggest problem in the NFL right now. And that's where 15 plays.

That's in Kansas City. And the Chargers right now with getting Jim Harbaugh on a better spot than Denver is. And the Raiders, there's some positivity, but I wouldn't say that the Raiders are in a great spot. Right now, Denver's the fourth team in that division.

And I don't think it's close. And I know Denver Broncos fans will get annoyed with that statement, but what are you confident in with this team next year? Chiefs, easily better. Chargers, better. And you look at the Raiders, I'll trust the momentum of Antonio Pierce. We don't know who their quarterback's going to be, but they have Devante Adams and they got Max Crosby. Outside of Patrick Sertan, there's not a lot of great playmakers on Denver. We're gonna, this is a huge legacy moment for Sean Payton. And just the fact, I mean, listen, everything you said is 100% true. How do you take a job with a quarterback who's getting paid this much without being all in on your quarterback?

And even if you were losing faith in him, you have to give him more of an opportunity in one year together. But now that you have this $85 million, and I know you don't like talking about cap, but they're $20 million under the salary cap. They have this dead money that they owe him. So they basically are paying Russell Wilson $85 million to not be there. In basketball, I'm sorry, in baseball, you can do that.

And then you can just throw more money at the problem. You can't do that in the NFL. You don't have a quarterback. You have the 12th pick in the draft. So you're not getting, most likely, one of the top three or four guys at that pick. They're either gonna have to trade up and give up more assets, or they're gonna have to hope that a guy falls to them at 12. They have no end in sight salary cap-wise, draft-wise, quarterback-wise, free agency-wise to be able to replace Russell Wilson with somebody better than what Russell Wilson was even though he was overpaid. It makes no sense to me to get rid of a guy even though you have to pay him.

There's no replacement that's gonna be better with what they can afford to pay. The only thing that I would say was I would be fine if this was the decision and he gave Russell Wilson a chance. But how early they went to him, and the irony was it was when they were finally starting to win, and you say, you have to do this or we'll bench you, it just shows you that he took this job without being willing to give it a chance.

And that's a big problem. And in this league, heck, we just saw the greatest coach of all time in Bill Belichick get shown the door after winning six Super Bowls. And his first year with Mac Jones, he made the playoffs. And then after that, bad season, bad season.

And look, then he got let go. And that's with having the backing of six Super Bowl championships for that organization and saving that franchise with Tom Brady. But now, you have Sean Payton who has no attachment to the Broncos, he walks in there, and I'm not saying that the Broncos were in this great spot, but you look at Sean, he was a highly regarded coach in this league, if it could happen to Bill, where in a few years you don't turn this thing around, well, for damn sure, could happen to your ass. And in that division and in that conference too, it's not just the division, it's the conference, you better strike gold on your next quarterback that you take in this draft. And that's the only way that's gonna happen. Because even if you bring in- At 12, how are you striking gold? You gotta move up and you gotta give future draft capital or- So they have no money asset, they're gonna give up all of their future draft asset just to move up to get the quarterback. But, Samter- It makes no sense.

It's a long shot. There have been times where the first three quarterbacks in the draft don't end up being the best three quarterbacks in the draft, and the guy that goes four or five ends up being an all-pro. But situation-wise, I get drafted by the Broncos outside of just the name recognition of the coach. Who am I throwing the ball to? What do I have on that team?

That team is a disaster now. And this is just a big time roadblock with the contract number and what the dead cap is to go find that next- The only way you can is the draft, because even if you trade, let's say, for Justin Fields. Let's say you trade for Justin Fields. He's got this year left in the contract and the fifth year option. Eventually, he's gonna need a big deal. So you need to hit gold with that rookie contract, maybe it doesn't happen this year. Maybe they just say, this was by design, we'll do the tank philosophy, we'll take whoever the number one quarterback's gonna be a year from now in the draft. Alrighty, reacting to Russell Wilson officially being let go by the Denver Broncos.

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Baseball lives right here on the free Odyssey app. Aye yi yi, I have not read the official goodbye yet from Russell Wilson, but he just posted a message on social media. It is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.

I don't know if paragraphs is the right word here because it's not that many sentences, but the way that it's spaced, it looks like in one image that it's 10 paragraphs, but it's not actually 10 paragraphs. What is there to thank Broncos country about? What is there to thank your teammates about who a year ago they all hated your guts?

And then because the Daniel Hackett got fired and people wanted to put on a good face at the end of the season, you had like two players, I think it was Garrett Bowles and Jerry Judy come out and give you a ringing endorsement. Now I get it for us, you have to improve your image. The best way to improve your image is to take a big time discount because Russell Wilson's not going to be great ever again. Can he be above average? Can he still be good solid in this league?

Yes. And if there's ever a time for a player to take a discount now is the time because you just got one of the greatest deals in NFL history. It's one of the worst trades in NFL history, but for Russell Wilson, even though now people view your legacy in doubt and in question, you just got a huge quarterback extension and you never played a snap for the team that gave you the extension under that new deal because the last two years were under your old deal.

So let's do this. I'll read you the message on the air and maybe it will come off as heartfelt, but like Stu, it would almost be as if when I was at Sirius and I was at Sirius for a grand total of three months before CBS Sports Radio came calling to get me back after I left them. It would be like, and I liked working for Sirius. I know the boss is there for a very long time and my relationship dates back years and years and years with them. But when I was leaving Sirius and I worked with some great people there, if I issued like a four page letter, it would be ridiculous, like what thanks do you have for a place that you were there for two, like I knew he was there for two years, but we all knew it was really like just a year and a half because halfway through the second year, the coach basically made it clear that you weren't gonna be back next year unless if you took out all the injury guarantees from your contract.

So I don't understand what there possibly is, Samter, for Russell Wilson to actually thank the Denver Broncos. This is like a couple that gets married and then shortly after getting married, they realize, oh wow, I don't really like the person that I married and now in eight weeks, we have to hope that there's still like an annulment that we can get out of this. You're not putting a big Instagram statement out there how much you loved your wife.

It was like an eight week marriage really if you wanted to make that comparison. Do you think Russ has to issue this big apology letter? No, I haven't read it yet. So maybe it's all lovey-dovey and nice.

I'll read it live in the air in just a second. But does Russ have to issue this big, big thank you letter to Denver and everyone? Like you said, this isn't really about a thank you to Denver.

This is image check. This is- It was them, not me. This is damage control.

Yeah, no, this is damage control. This is Russ saying, I'm not a bad guy. I'm not the guy that I've been portrayed in the media.

I'm not this diva. I want to thank the people who got me here. I want to thank the fans who helped me out in Denver, even though it didn't go well.

And my next team, I want to be viewed positively. I feel like for Russell, he has been kind of like the- He was a golden child for years. I wouldn't say golden child. He was beloved, right? We talk about athletes- Yeah, people liked him.

He was just undislikable. And then as the Legion of Boom started disbanding and people started talking about Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson, guys like Richard Sherman and Michael Bennett kind of saying negative things about Russ and the offensive, Marshawn Lynch and all these things. We started kind of changing the narrative around Russ and that narrative has slowly kind of taken a slow kind of, and this year it fell off a cliff. I mean, he was slowly kind of going down from being up here to slowly down to the middle of the range and then he just plumbed it to below sea level.

Oh, I actually have a different view on that. I think last year is when it plummeted and this year I actually think people had sympathy for Russ. People had sympathy for Russ maybe over the past couple of months, like you said, the story started to come out about how this was. The last two months of the NFL season was the best thing to happen for Russell Wilson because it saved his image. It went from being the guy that was, I don't want to say a malcontent in the locker room, but he was selfish. The ego became too big. He's more focused on being a star than a quarterback. And then that story coming out, it was the attention, the energy was directed all at Sean Payton.

It was. 100% but it didn't change any of the narrative about Russ. It's not a good season this year. Right, no, but what I'm saying is it didn't change the narrative about Russ. It just deflected some of that negativity away from Russ. It didn't add any new positivity.

It wasn't like Russ did something spectacular. I think people talked about Russell Wilson a lot more positively, but anyway, I want to leave enough time to read this message because I may not be able to get this accomplished in two minutes. Everybody, that's Zach's way of telling me to shut up. Yes, very nicely done, that job done.

I'm glad you were able to get that read. Broncos country, oh geez, let's ride. No, he didn't say that, baby. He said, thank you. Over the last two years, you have welcomed my family and me with open arms and have embraced us as members of the Denver community. This city will always hold a special place in my heart. Our family grew here. We made countless memories and friendships and formed relationships that will last a lifetime.

Oh, come on. To my teammates, thank you for going to battle together and for being there through it all. There are so many moments I can cherish because of you and I am blessed for the impact you have made on my life. I am beyond grateful for all of you to have been able to run out as your teammate was an honor. Court, I'll never forget your one-handed catch in LA and your toe-tapping in Buffalo.

Bowls, you always wrapping your arms around me, win or lose. Brandon Johnson, your relentless work ethic. Jerry Judy, you snagging and high-pointing that ball versus Kansas City. Javonte and Tim, you're always being positive in the midst of injury but fighting daily to be back. Jaleel, you running to the end zone every practice.

I still think burden's got you though. Alex, from picking you up years ago to seeing you shine to the O-line dinners at Los Dos. To everyone helping, like Lamar, making sure I had all the films and cut-ups. To Harry and Cole, the best pregame warmups. I'll never forget Wendy and Brandy in the cafeteria, daily bringing the good food but the even better jams.

Thank you for always being uplifting. And there's like 9,000 more. Come on, you were there for two years. It's so phony. The team hated your guts the first year. The second year rekindled some of the relationships. And I get it, I like to thank the behind-the-scenes people.

No one likes to do that more than me. This guy's maybe more emotional than Jason Kelce was. The difference was Jason Kelce was a legend in Philadelphia.

Your career in Denver's always gonna be viewed as a joke. Oy yoy yoy, the thank yous, the thank yous, the thank yous. We're running out of time.

I can't even get to the rest of the thank yous. Old man winter here. If I had it my way, it would stay winter all year long. Short days, wind chill, black ice and a good polar vortex.

Heaven. Wait, is it getting warm in here? Your cold snap is over, old man winter. Spring has arrived.

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