Where Will Russell Wilson Go Next? (Hour 2)

It's that time of year. Cash the Ticket.

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This time of year, baby. Search Cash the Ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Our number two of our radio program.

Our number one really did fly by quickly. It is the Zach Gelb show. Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio coming up 20 minutes from now. Former NFL wide receiver now does a talk show in Denver.

Brandon Stokely is going to stop on by. We'll get his reaction to the inevitable news that did break yesterday that Russell Wilson was released by the Denver Broncos. We'll see how kind of Denver is reacting to the pressure now that's on Sean Payton and also get a kind of a look ahead on Russ's next team in the NFL. And I'll give you some thoughts on that right now because I saw that DraftKings released the latest odds for Russell Wilson's next team. You had the Chicago Bears at plus 4,000. You had the New York Giants at plus 3,000. You had Tennessee at plus 3,000.

You had the commanders at plus 2,000. Tampa Bay was at plus 1,800. Minnesota's at minus 950. The Pats at plus 800. Atlanta plus 475. The Las Vegas Raiders at plus 275. And then the favorite, the Pittsburgh Steelers at minus 200.

So let's work backwards here. The Bears, there's no shot Chicago's bringing in Russell Wilson. And I could hear people already calling us at 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227 saying, but you could have him mentor Caleb Williams and have Caleb Williams sit here. Is Russell Wilson a good mentor? I don't think Russell Wilson knows in the year of 2024 how to connect with the locker room because Russell Wilson, his two years in Denver kind of came off very phony.

Where the whole Mr. Unlimited and Broncos Country Let's Ride and the toothpaste already got out of the tube after year number one, and it was all over the counter. And then in year number two, Russ tried to get it back in the tube. And don't get me wrong, Russ significantly improved as a quarterback in year number two in Denver. He went from career over to being an above average quarterback, a solid quarterback in this league. But anytime teammates would speak about Russ in year number two, I felt like they had to to try to nip the conversation in the bud of, oh, this team doesn't like Russell Wilson. But in year number one, there was a clear disconnect with Russell Wilson.

And also, here's the other thing. I know that there's this idea of what Green Bay has done and what some other teams have done as well. But a lot of times that's an anomaly, especially now with how important that rookie contract is. If you have a quarterback that's ready to play and especially when you take that quarterback at number one, I think it's very tough and I mean extremely tough to have that quarterback sit. And I know people will say, well, what about Bryce Young this past year?

You know, I chose even if a quarterback, if you think he's ready to play, maybe you should sit him. But the Panthers didn't have a competent team around him. The Bears have a competent team around him. May not be one of the best rosters in the league, but when you have DJ Moore and you have a team that's even being talked about, maybe pursuing Saquon Barkley, that's enough for Caleb Williams to not get killed in year one.

And I don't see why Russ would even want to go to Chicago because you wouldn't even get a full year. Now, I think the Giants are intriguing because Rich Eisen said the Giants are done with Daniel Jones. Well, the NFL draft is at the end of April. I can't say it's a lot that the Giants are going to get a quarterback at six. Now, you could maybe get a quarterback, but you're going to get the quarterback is probably the better way to say it. You're going to have to move up if you want to get the quarterback. And I don't think the Giants at six should draft a Michael Penix Jr. or should draft a J.J. McCarthy. And in all likelihood, those are going to be the quarterbacks who are available because probably one, two, three, it's going to be quarterback, quarterback, quarterback.

And I have a tough time seeing that the first three quarterbacks in the NFL draft in some order aren't Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake May. And I remember the last time or not even last time Russ was made available, just when Russ was starting to get fed up with the Seattle Seahawks and was starting to say, oh, I want to win, win, win, win, win. There was a lot of speculation and a lot of buzz that Sierra wanted to go to New York.

You know, Russell Wilson's wife, very famous wife, if I may say so myself. And Russ was intrigued on the idea of playing in New York. So we're talking about a stopgap year where Joe, excuse me, where Joe Shane and Brian Dabel are trying to save their job. Not that I think it's going to make a big difference, but Russell Wilson's a better quarterback than Daniel Jones. The problem is the Giants just gave Daniel Jones a brand new contract. Tennessee, I don't see why it would happen. You got to rock and roll with Will Leviss right now over Russell Wilson.

The commanders, this is the only way it happens. They say to themselves, let's move back in the draft. Let's punt on the quarterback and let's just get future assets because we're trying to assemble a roster. Or you don't fall in love with the quarterback here. You want to take Marvin Harrison Jr., who to me is the preeminent player in this draft, and you go bring in a veteran quarterback who's a stopgap quarterback until you can find your guy.

Maybe that's the only case, but I think that's a long shot. Tampa Bay, the way it could happen is if they can't get a deal done with Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield right now is better than Russell Wilson with what I just saw this past season. But let's say you don't get the contract done and Baker goes elsewhere, then Russ could be going to Tampa Bay where at least you know Mike Evans is still there.

Now, this is where I think he gets juicy. And I do believe Russell Wilson right now, if he's being realistic and he could pick his next destination, not just remove whoever quarterback's there, but there's a good chance that quarterback won't be back. I would say Russell Wilson's top three destinations in no order would probably be Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Minnesota. And you look at Minnesota, there's a big belief that Kirk is not taking a hometown discount to stay with the Minnesota Vikings. Right now, I would expect Kirk Cousins to be playing for the Atlanta Falcons next year. And I think I was probably the first person to say this, when I said it to Justin Jefferson at the Super Bowl, I think that Russell Wilson could be the replacement in Minnesota for Kirk Cousins. I don't think Vikings fans are jumping for joy at that because they're downgrading at the quarterback position, but it's not the worst alternative assuming you lose Kirk Cousins and you're not looking to go get your guy.

You don't feel comfortable to go get your guy in the NFL draft. So for Minnesota to still have Addison, to still have Jefferson, you could win some games there. You could be a playoff team if you added Russell Wilson. The Patriots at plus 800? I'm sure I'm not the first one to say this representing Patriot Nation, but I'll say it now.

No, thank you. I would rather, and I'm not saying he's a better quarterback than this guy, because I don't believe he's a better quarterback. I would rather throw Mac Jones to the wolves for another season than have Russell Wilson. And I think Russell Wilson's the better quarterback, but I don't see what the point would be for Russell Wilson or the Patriots outside of it's just a cheap one year quarterback.

Like, who is Russell Wilson throwing the ball to next year in New England? And I know everyone's quick to slam Belichick, and that's why I was late to the party and firing Bill Belichick. And why I finally joined the party was because I didn't think that Bill was going to adjust. But that roster in New England, Bill the GM, was brutal. Bill the coach, though, was still decent.

Bill won games with a bottom five roster for like two to three years that probably more than what people expected. You know, they did take Mac Jones before they roamed him to the playoffs in that year number one. But now with Jerrod Mayo being in and the Patriots having the third pick, I know you could say, oh, maybe you go draft Marvin Harrison Jr., maybe you trade back or maybe you take a quarterback. You can't go into, it doesn't make sense for either party to go into this year with Russell Wilson as the quarterback.

And I saw Matt Chatham suggest this, and I actually think Matt Chatham's spot on. I would rather have, if you want to bring in a quarterback to mentor your young quarterback and delay putting that young quarterback on the field, I would rather bring in Jacoby Bressett over Russell Wilson because Jacoby Bressett has played that mentor role before. Russell Wilson I don't think would be a good mentor and be good at playing that mentor role. Atlanta, that's not a top two destination for them, but it has to be one of the top destinations for us. You have Bijan Robinson, you have Tyler Algier, you have Drake London, and you're in a bad division. But Atlanta, you have to think is going to prioritize Kirk Cousins' one, then it's going to be number two, Justin Fields, maybe taking a quarterback at eight or trading up. I don't think that's a bad J.J. McCarthy destination.

That's not a bad Michael Penix Jr. destination. Somehow Jayden Daniels starts to fall, which I don't think is going to be the case, or Drake May starts to fall, and somehow still at eight or you want to move up to five to pass the Giants, maybe you do that. But I would say that right now Atlanta is going to go the more experienced quarterback route. And I would think out of those three quarterbacks right now, Kirk would be one, Justin Fields would be two, and then Russell Wilson would be number three.

But the Falcons and the Russell Wilson odds are at plus four seventy-five. The Raiders, I would love to see the Raiders. I said this yesterday, the Raiders to me are the team that I would like to see Russell Wilson go to. I'm not saying that's the best destination for Russ, but it's not a bad destination. I don't know if Josh Jacobs will be back, but it may just be on a one-year deal, where he tries to ironically cash in with some incentives in there, and maybe it's that one-year deal and you wait another year from now, or you just keep on signing these one-year deals at like ten million dollars or twelve million dollars, whatever the number is with some incentives. But you do have Devante Adams there, and you have an organization that has been positive for a while, but Antonio Pierce is finally bringing for now a positive presence to the Raiders, and also you get the revenge factor here. How cool would that be with how Sean Payton gave him the short end of the stick and gave him a raw deal this past year? How cool would that be to see the Broncos go up against the Raiders this season with Russell Wilson trying to spark some revenge and get some revenge up against the Denver Broncos? And then at number one, the Steelers.

Hey, I talked about this forty minutes ago. The Steelers, they can't, they could, but they shouldn't. That's the way to say it. They could, but they shouldn't go into the season with Kenny Pickett being their starting quarterback. Kenny Pickett is just a guy. He is not the guy for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And I know Steelers fans will say, but he has seven game winning drives in his career.

Do you ever watch Kenny Pickett outside of that one year at Pitt and think to yourself, man, Kenny Pickett is going to be an elite quarterback in the NFL or even a top ten quarterback in the NFL? And if you're in the NFC, it's a different conversation. But you play in the AFC. There's Patrick Mahomes in this conference. There is Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, C.J.

Stroud. I could go on and on and on with the quarterbacks that are there in the AFC. Just look at your own division.

You got Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson. I don't think Deshaun Watson will be elite again, but he's better than Kenny Pickett. Kenny Pickett right now is the fourth quarterback in your own division.

Forget about the rest of the conference, just your own division. And he was a first round draft pick two years ago. So you can't afford to go into this season with a team that finds a way to consistently get in the playoffs or be a playoff quality team with no quarterback play. Like Mason Rudolph was able to take the baton from Kenny Pickett and say, I'm playing better than you. And Mason Rudolph's a free agent. There's a legitimate debate inside that organization, depending on the reports that you read, that people are conflicted with Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph.

That's how you know just that in one sentence. That's how you know Kenny Pickett isn't the guy. Because you know Mason Rudolph's not a franchise quarterback. And Mason Rudolph in a small sample size, I know he's been there for a while, but I'm just talking this season. Mason Rudolph looked better than Kenny Pickett.

He did. So I can't, if Mike Tomlin is serious about trying to win football games this year and not just go win nine games or so, but be a team that could go win a playoff game, you can't have Kenny Pickett as your starting quarterback. And there are quarterbacks that are out there that would instantly improve that team, and one of them would be Russell Wilson. So the Steelers are now the betting favorite at minus 200 to land Russell Wilson. But I just don't trust Mike Tomlin to pull the trigger on it. I think Tomlin's going to roll into next season and he's going to have Kenny Pickett as his starting quarterback and give him one more chance.

And I believe that would be a massive mistake. All right. This is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a time out.

We'll get the scene in Denver next. Russell Wilson officially released yesterday, and now we're going to see who his next team could be and where is kind of the pulse of the fan base after one year of Sean Payton. We'll get into all that with former NFL wide receiver, two-time Super Bowl champion Brandon Stokely, who will join us in five minutes on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

All right. Let's continue to react to Russell Wilson with it being announced yesterday. He's going to get released by the Denver Broncos. That didn't catch anybody by surprise, but now the Broncos' future is extremely intriguing. We go out to the guest line, welcome in a former NFL wide receiver, won two Super Bowls in the NFL, and now is the host of the Stokely and Josh show on Denver Sports 104.3, the fan.

And that, of course, is Brandon Stokely. Brandon, always great to have you on the show. Appreciate it. And how you doing? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, Zach.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. So here's what still annoys me with the whole situation in Denver. I understand that why they're moving on from Russell Wilson, but it just feels like, especially when you hear about the contract and all that, that Sean Payton took this job and he never really had an intention of trying to salvage Russell Wilson's time in Denver.

See, I got to disagree with you there. I think when you look at what is best for the Denver Broncos moving forward, it would have been if Russ worked out right now, you don't have to cut him. You don't have to find another quarterback.

You don't have this huge cap hit. So I think it would have been best for everyone, Sean Payton included, for Russ to work out and for them not to be going down this quarterback road again, trying to find a quarterback is a hard thing to do. Sean didn't find one after Drew Brees.

He knows how hard it is. And I think Sean got a lot of good out of Russell Wilson this year. You look at Russell with the Daniel Hackett and then now you look at him last year and it wasn't great, but he did throw 26 touchdowns, eight interceptions.

So it was much improved from the year before. I think it would have just been best for everyone here in the Broncos country if Russ would have worked out. But with how quickly they went to him and basically threatened to bench him if he didn't adjust his contract, that doesn't come off to you as someone in Sean Payton that just gave up on him rather quickly? Well, I think that was a business decision, right, that obviously came from the general manager and it was the general manager calling Russ's agent to discuss it, right?

Hey, make an amendment here so we can look at some things maybe a little bit differently. I think what they were trying to amend was this guarantee here that's coming up here on the fourth day of the league year that now guarantees 2025 salary. And they wanted to move that back a little bit. I think it would have been best for Russ to be more open and receptive to that.

It's just business. Football is business and they were handling business at that time. Russ said no.

And then what happened? Russ was a starter for six, seven, eight more weeks once they were out of the playoff pitcher and they knew that Russ wasn't going to be around much longer and especially the following year. Then they turned the page and they took a look at Jarrett Stidham. So I think football is business and sometimes it's business time and they tried to get something done. Russ said no. He was still the starter.

And, you know, that's just part of it sometimes. The Broncos are very far away. That's abundantly clear. And we know that this new contract didn't even kick in with the extension yet. Do you think this is a mistake to get rid of Russell Wilson now? Maybe they should have just let this play out for one more season, then move on a full year from now. Well, that's the problem. If they played it out one more year, now 2025 is guaranteed.

You know what I'm saying? That's why they tried to get that contract adjusted. So there I think they would have played it out one more year with them if they didn't have to guarantee 2025.

Right. And so they knew that Russ wasn't the long term answer. I think they would have done it one more year with them if it wasn't for having to guarantee a year in advance. And so it's like, don't make one bad decision worse by doubling down on it. I think they realized that it wasn't going to work out.

Russ wasn't going to amend the contract at all. So it's best just to rip the Band-Aid off and find that next quarterback. And obviously it's not going to be an ideal situation. You're drafting 12th.

You don't have a lot of cap room. So, hey, but that's the gig that Sean Payton signed up for. Now it's his responsibility to find that quarterback.

You talked about it. The big reason to me why Sean left the New Orleans Saints is because he didn't have a quarterback anymore. And then you go to Denver and how quickly this just deteriorated with Russell Wilson. Now you don't have a quarterback again as Brandon Stokely joins us. You talked about how they're sitting there with the 12th overall pick.

Do you think that they're going to be active here? I know that all the capital they just gave up for Russell Wilson and how that's played out. But can you see them moving on up in this draft to go get their quarterback of the future? It's Sean Payton. You know, I don't think he's scared. You know, he opened up the season this year. His first play as a coach for the Broncos was an onside kick.

He started the second half of the Super Bowl with an onside kick. Sean Payton's not scared to be aggressive. I don't think it's the right play for the Denver Broncos. But I'm not sitting there evaluating these quarterbacks.

You've got to find a quarterback at some point. I think the best thing for the Broncos this year is to be more conservative. They don't even have a second round pick. They gave up a first rounder and a second rounder for Sean Payton. So they don't have a second round.

I think they should move back a little bit from 12, move back, gather some more assets. They've got a lot of other business they need to take care of besides the quarterback position, unfortunately. Try to find a new quarterback third, fourth round.

Pick up a guy there. You go with a guy like Jacoby Brissett. You've got Jared Stidham on the roster.

And that's how you've got to navigate 2024. But I wouldn't be surprised at all if all of a sudden Sean Payton moves up to six or seven and takes J.J. McCarthy or Drake May if he's false. Do you think this is setting up? And I know that the word tank is very polarizing. I don't think players tank, but organizations can tank. Is this setting up to be a tank year for the Denver Broncos?

No, no. I wish they would have done that last year. They were one in five.

They were awful. And I'm like, that was a time to lose. That's not Sean Payton.

The owner of the Broncos, Greg Minner. You know, this is going on his third year. He doesn't want to lose.

You know, he's all in. And so I think that type of mindset, they just that they could go down the road. You saw the Cardinals last year kind of go down that road. You could take all the dead cap hit this year.

Eighty five million dollars and not spread it out over two years. You could cut a few guys, veteran guys and make it tough to win. I just don't think after losing as much as the Broncos have lost, they haven't had a winning season since 2016. I just don't think they go down that road. I think they'll try to be competitive. You saw like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year.

I think they'll try that type of model and be competitive. Talking to Brandon Stokely right now. When we get to Russell Wilson, in terms of him being in that locker room, year one, it looked very toxic from the outside in. Year two and that lengthy goodbye letter that he gave yesterday, it seemed like he improved some of those relationships. How do you kind of evaluate Russ as a teammate, just being able to cover him being in the Denver area the last two years? I think Russ is a good teammate.

You know, he shows up, he works hard, he's accountable, he tries to do the right thing. Does he drive, you know, certain people crazy? I mean, you saw him drive Sean Payton crazy.

You saw it's got to be hard to block for the guys in offensive lineman and playing the wide receiver position can be the easiest thing to do. But Russ checks all those other boxes like he's all in. He's all about winning. He'll do whatever it takes to win. I think some of the things that he does can drive his teammates crazy. You saw that in Seattle, right? Where a lot of after he left Seattle, he had a lot of his former teammates coming out and saying a lot of things that drove them crazy.

So I don't think it's the easiest situation to be in to be his teammate. But like his commitment level, like there's no questioning that. Wrap it up with Brandon Stokely joins us right now.

Make sure you listen to him weekdays on one of four three, the fan in Denver, Stokely and Josh. When you look at it from a Broncos fan perspective, right? There was a lot of excitement two years ago when this deal was made.

It clearly did not work out. It's one of the worst trades in NFL history in acquiring Russell Wilson with how it just imploded. Sean Payton, there was a lot of excitement a year ago.

I don't know where the excitement level is now. We know ever since your BFF, Mr. Manning has left Denver as the quarterback of that team. Denver, quite frankly, hasn't been able to find that quarterback. Are Broncos fans starting to say, uh-oh, here we go again, are they souring on Sean Payton as a coach?

I think some have. There's been a lot of backlash and negativity from a national perspective against Sean Payton with how he handled the Russell Wilson situation. And, you know, how dare the Denver Broncos ask him to adjust his contract and how dare the Denver Broncos bench him like, you know, like Russ, Russ did that. He went out there when he got benched, he asked to have a press conference with two weeks left to go in the season.

He asked for the media to talk to him. Then you see him go on Brandon Marshall's podcast. And he tries to paint himself as the good guy in the Broncos as the bad guy. Russ made out with over $100 million in a couple years here. $37 million is guaranteed this year. So I don't know how attractive some of these antics that he's done will be for a future team for Russell Wilson. Now, you talk about Broncos country here, how they view on Sean Payton.

I think it's still up in the air with him. And I think for me, I look at Sean and say, hey, I'm just going to trust you. I'm going to trust that you're going to get this thing fixed. It's been so bad and I would trust that you're going to find that next quarterback, whoever it may be, whatever round it may be. I thought it was going to be a disaster last year. They started one and five.

All of a sudden he got he changed the culture here with not a great roster. So I'm just banking on that, hoping that happens. It's not going to be easy this next year. Look, anytime you're looking for a quarterback and you're not in a good cap situation, it's going to be a difficult thing to do. And oh, by the way, you're playing in the Chiefs division, right?

And so it's going to be a tough thing to do this year. But I hope they have a long-term plan, got to find a quarterback, and what better guy to try to figure this thing out than Sean Payton. When you see the future of Russell Wilson, Brandon Stokely, if you had to take a guess right now, where do you think is the best option, the best fit for him moving forward? Because you see it takes two to tangle here, and a team would want him and he would want to go there as well. I mean, I think the best fit would be like the Atlanta Falcons. I don't know if Atlanta Falcons want him, though. We see Kirk Cousins, you know, maybe, hey, Kirk Cousins, if not Justin Fields.

So I heard you mention Pittsburgh earlier, and you look at a guy like Kenny Pickett. Like, do you want your young quarterback around a guy like Russell Wilson who doesn't play from the pocket very often, has some bad habits? What happens if Russ starts and you got to bench him?

How is he going to act? When he's going to blame the team, is he going to call a press conference again and ask all the reporters to come over to ask him questions? Like, I think as an organization, you have to ask yourself that, do you want Russ around a young quarterback?

And you look at a team like the Raiders, that could be a possibility. I really do think that Russ is going to have to wait a little bit here. Does Russ want to go in and sign in a week or two with the Pittsburgh Steelers and know he's going to be in a competition? I don't think he does right now.

I think you expect to get a starting job right away. So I think this is a situation where you might look up here, and Russ might be waiting around for quite a while before he gets an opportunity. Yeah, I think it's going to have to be a domino effect on his landing spot, because I don't think he's priority number one for any organization right now. But you see a team like Minnesota, Kirk Cousins, let's say, go to Atlanta, then you have the Vikings scrambling, and you may have to turn to Russell Wilson on a cheap one-year deal, because we know this. Russ just made a ton of money. He could take a cheap one-year deal, and he has to take a cheap one-year deal to save his career. Zach, I mean, you're spot on.

I mean, make a million and a half bucks or whatever it is. And so that's very attractive for teams, certainly. You look at the Vikings, who, if they don't, you know, re-sign Kirk Cousins, then they'll obviously, I guess, you know, probably evaluate Russ in the situation. But also, they're going to be looking for a quarterback in the draft. They draft 11 right in front of the Broncos, right in front of the Raiders, who are also all in the quarterback market. So I think a team like the Vikings would be very intrigued, but they might say to Russ, hey, we'll get back to you after the draft happens. And so I think that might be Russ's situation where a lot of teams are looking at, OK, let us go through the draft first, and then we'll give you a call, Russ. I would love for it to be the Raiders, though.

Just from a selfish standpoint, you get to see two games up against Sean Payton, who, in my opinion, screwed Russell Wilson over this year. Man, get your popcorn ready, as T.O. would say. That would be fun.

Exactly what I said today. I hope it's the Raiders. We owe the Raiders over here, and I hope it's with Russ as the quarterback.

How about that? Let me ask you about one of your other old teams, and that's the Indianapolis Colts. Where's the confidence level now getting Anthony Richardson back?

Had a little bit of a flash in the pan before getting hurt. Do you think the Colts are moving in the right direction? Was Shane Steichen who did a good job as your number one as their football coach?

Absolutely. I mean, I thought Shane did an unbelievable job there. And now you got your own quarterback. You wish he would have got a little bit more playing experience last year, certainly.

But I think Shane's the real deal. You talk about a great offensive coach. And for them to do what they did last year, playing that quarterback roulette a little bit and then having their starter and Anthony Richardson get hurt, Minshew obviously did a nice job.

But there's some good pieces there, and I think they got the right coach in place. I saw that Pittman got the franchise tag today. Do you think he's a number one wide receiver in the NFL? Is he kind of one of those in-betweeners between a one and a two wide receiver in this league?

Well, I do. I think he's an upper echelon receiver. And certainly if you got a young quarterback you're trying to develop, you don't want to lose a guy like that. And, you know, whether he's a, you know, a middle level number one, a high number two, certainly he's a really talented receiver. And when you're trying to develop a young quarterback, you just can't try to replace that guy and hope that you draft a guy that replaces it. You just can't take that gamble, take that chance. And so I think that's a smart move from the coach.

You try to work out a long-term deal here before the deadline comes up, I think sometime in June or July. But I think that's a smart play by the Colts. Last thing I'll ask you, Brandon Stokely, with how disastrous this year and a half basically in Denver was for Russell Wilson. I know he's a nine-time Pro Bowler, but people usually remember how careers finish rather than the entire length of the career. And you know how much of a prisoner of the moment we are. Do you think Russ has played himself out of the Hall of Fame with what has happened in Denver?

No, I don't. I think what he did in Seattle, once we get a little bit further away from this, will stand on itself. And what he accomplished there was unbelievable. I think he had the most wins ever for a quarterback through his first ten years, something like that. Won a Super Bowl, obviously lost the other one. He was remarkable. He had some unbelievable years there in Seattle. You can't take that away from him. I think it was a bad partnership, obviously, with Nathaniel Hackett.

It was a complete disaster. Last year was better. He's just getting a little bit older.

But I still think he's a Hall of Famer. He is Brandon Stokely. Brandon, I appreciate you when you join us. Thanks so much for doing this. Thanks, Zach. Appreciate you, buddy.

You got it. There you go, Brandon Stokely. Make sure you listen to him on 104.3 The Fan in Denver on the Stokely and Josh show. Good perspective on Russell Wilson and how everything did play on out in Denver, even though we disagree a little bit.

I don't think Sean was very receptive to him. I get what the Broncos were trying to do, but they made their bet in this one, and then they had to lie in it. I don't fault Russell Wilson whatsoever for not saying, yeah, I'm going to help you out and basically take out some of the guarantees in my contract. All right, this is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio.

Well, come on back. The Buffalo Bills have a lot of pressure on them this offseason. I'll tell you what they need to do in the NFL Draft. This portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial.

Stuck in a timeshare and want out, contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at wesleyfinancialgroup.com. We'll make a point about the Buffalo Bills in just a second, but we just had Brandon Stokely on 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. And he's really the first person that I've heard defend Sean Payton. Like, I think a lot of people, including yours truly, in this last year went into the season saying Russ is shot, Russ stinks, Russ is done. And then at the end of the season, it was like, well, Sean never really gave him a chance and Stokely thinks he gave him a chance.

And Stokely says he got better. But this was more of a financial decision. I get it. If he's on the roster this year, the salary, it's like 37 million, 38 million, whatever it would have been, would have been fully guaranteed for the following season. Just being on that roster by that certain date. So, yes, there is a financial component to this. But hearing the way that Sean Payton has talked about Russell Wilson and the way that he treated him on the sideline, and when they went to him with this threat, you know, adjust this in your contract or we're going to bench you, are you really respecting and treating Russell Wilson as your franchise quarterback?

No, you're not. So it comes off to me as someone that took the job knowing what the contract was and saying, I'm just going to get rid of him as soon as possible and maybe a year from now, go find your guy. But I think there's an enormous amount of pressure on him. And I don't know if anything gets fixed this offseason.

You know, Stokely's probably right on that. They're sitting there with the 12th pick in the draft. Am I jumping for joy if I'm a Broncos fan? Let's say you land J.J. McCarthy or you land Michael Penix Jr. It's tough for whoever you bring in, unless it's the number one guy in the draft, for me to be jumping up for joy about it, because the Broncos ever since Peyton Manning retired, it's been a cluster you-know-what at the quarterback position. Case Kiedem, Joe Flacco, Brock Osweiler, Trevor Simeon.

It just goes on and on and on. It just never ends when you look at the quarterback position with the Broncos. Drew Locke, too. And then you thought you got the guy in Russell Wilson who was perceived to be this great quarterback. And he bleeped the bed in Denver. There's no other way about it because he's more focused on his brand off the field.

And I think Stokely was being nice, and you heard some of that come out in that interview. Russell Wilson may work hard. Those relationships in the locker room are ugly. And not only that, I don't think football was priority number one for Russell Wilson when he was a Denver Bronco. He was more worried about being the star and being the face of the franchise because of the natural insecurities that happened when he was a starting quarterback in Seattle. A lot of people thought Pete Cowell in his earlier part of his career was always defending him and holding his hand, and you had all the contentious relationships and the nastiness in that locker room. And when you think of the Seahawks teams, nothing against Russ, but I think of the L.O.B.

first. I think of Marshawn, and I think of Pete Cowell before I think of Russell Wilson. And that's rare that you could win and be a franchise quarterback and be a legend like you were in Seattle.

And just because of the nature of the position, not be the first person that you think of with a team that won a world championship. So those insecurities I think played out, and he left a good situation in Seattle. I said this at the time when he went to Denver. Now don't get me wrong, I thought it was an excellent trade for the Denver Broncos. I could not have been more wrong.

So I'll raise my hand and admit that I was wrong on that one. But I said at the time that he wasn't going to a better situation, the Seahawks had Tyler Lockett. The Seahawks had D.K.

Metcalf. Who did the Broncos have? Jerry Jeudy? Come on, that dude thinks he's Jerry Rice. But he's not a number one wide receiver in this league. Right now Jerry Jeudy gets traded to the Seahawks. He's their fourth best receiver, with them drafting JSN, having Lockett there, and still having D.K. Metcalf. So Russ's arrogance and his hubris led to his downfall, and he went to a team that it appeared to be good for him, but Hackett was a disaster, he didn't relate to the locker room, and once the toothpaste was out of the tube, you try to put it back in, it's a disaster.

And it's a messy situation. And Sean really didn't give him much of a chance. I thought it was an interesting perspective from Brandon Stokely, even though I would not defend Sean Payton, I kind of looked back at Sean with what has transpired here in Denver, and it went into the season, oh everyone was down on Russ at the end of the year, people were kind of feeling bad for us. They kind of felt some sympathy for him, and they were defending Russ and going after Sean.

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. Anthony in Pennsylvania wants to chime in on this conversation that we just had with Brandon Stokely in regards to Sean Payton and Russell Wilson. Ant, what's happening? Hey what's going on Zach, how you doing buddy? Well I'm doing fantastic, go ahead. Good, big time fan of the show, glad to be on with you.

Thank you, go ahead. I was talking to Samster a little bit about it, I just feel like Russell Wilson gets annihilated. And I don't like to be somebody who comes off as a supporter of any grown man, especially not a grown man who is very successful making millions of dollars. But it always seems like any angle people get that they can just annihilate Russ, they take.

And you being obviously much closer to professional sports than I am, I get it. There's rumors of teammates don't get along with him, he's awkward. I've always just thought maybe he's just a corny dude, like the Legion of Boom, it was a bunch of real cool brothers.

And maybe he just was a corny brother. I don't know, I've always struggled with how much he can speed up and he's trying to make his own brand. All these guys, everybody in this world we're living in is living to promote their own brand. Especially as you rise in power, fame, money, notoriety, whether it's sports, you in media, everybody's doing that. So what is it about him that there are so many people ready to jump on him? Because you've made all the obvious points.

Well here's the thing, you can't, when you're trying to improve your own brand, you can't forget about what put you in a position to make your brand. And that's my biggest problem with Russell Wilson, when he was at that Super Bowl and he was sitting next to Roger Goodell. And he goes on the Dan Patrick show that next week and it started all that. Where he talked about how he wants to go down and be the greatest quarterback of all time. And he talks about how he wants to win multiple Super Bowls and go chase Tom Brady.

Then that focus has to be on football. And he ruined that relationship in Seattle. He wanted out, he wanted to be the face of the franchise so he gets that opportunity in Denver.

And so what, he had his own office. But you go to Denver and he never related with those teammates. I don't know Russell Wilson. I've only been around Russell Wilson I think like twice in my life at Super Bowls.

But I've never had an extensive conversation with him. And in Seattle it was jealousy. It was egos not being able to sacrifice because they thought the way that Pete would go after the LOB. And how they would hold the LOB accountable that Pete Carroll wasn't holding Russell Wilson accountable when mistakes would happen.

And I don't know if it was always as bad as it appeared now in Seattle. But it ended when he threw, that relationship ended in Seattle. With what that team was when he threw the interception at the goal line. Because everyone thought the ball should have been handed off to Marshawn Lynch. So that to me is the reason why he wasn't well liked in Seattle towards the end. And with that team that won a championship. It was because of the interception.

There's other people to blame for that. But when it comes to Denver. He just didn't relate with the teammates in year one. And Nathaniel Hackett was an all-time bad coach. And Russ was just brutal. And he wanted to be the face of the organization. And he was a terrible face of the organization.

It kind of reminds me of Kyrie. Like Kyrie had a made situation for him in Cleveland with LeBron. And then he wanted to be the guy. He wanted to be the number one guy. And then he left Cleveland.

He goes to Boston. And not for the first time in his life. He put his foot in his mouth. And then he realized oh it's a lot more difficult when you are the lead guy. And that's kind of what happened here with Russell Wilson. He tried to be the lead guy. And when you don't have a good situation.

He wasn't a good enough leader. So that's just the way it is to me. And that's the way that I look back at it. Now I want to make a quick point before we take the break. The Buffalo Bills are towards the bottom of the first round.

They're sitting there at 28th. Brandon Bean a few weeks ago when he was talking about their decision years ago to trade up for Josh Allen. He basically said I didn't think it was that big of a risk. Because either it was going to work or I was going to be out of a job. So trading up future draft capital.

If it doesn't work it will be somebody else's problem. I think that's a sign that Brandon Bean is ready to move up in the first round of this NFL draft. And Gabe Davis is about to walk out the door in Buffalo. There's uncertainty with how much longer Staphon Diggs will be there. He'll be there next season. You have a young up and coming player in Dalton Ginkade who I think is going to be a star. And I loved him coming out of Utah.

And James Cook got things going in year number two. But they need another explosive wide receiver. And this is a deep wide receiving draft class. They're not going to be able to get Marvin Harrison Jr. Maybe they could trade up into the top ten and get a Malik Nabors. Maybe they could trade up into the top ten and get a Roma Dunze. But if not maybe they go up from 28 to like 15 or 16.

Middle of the first round. And they get Brian Thompson Jr. out of LSU. You know maybe they're in striking range to go get a Keyon Coleman out of Florida State.

Who I loved especially the game that he had up against Clemson. Lad McConkie is going to be a hot name as well. I don't know if they're going to have to trade up to go get Lad. He may still be there out of Georgia when they're picking at 28. But this is a deep wide receiving draft class. Don't forget about Troy Franklin as well from Oregon. And the Buffalo Bills need to go get another big time wide receiver. And in a draft that's filled with wide receiver after wide receiver you hear about this depth. Buffalo has to go get Josh Allen another weapon to add to Diggs, Kincaid and also James Cook. This time of year baby. Search Cash to Ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.