Evan Washburn, CBS Sports NFL Reporter

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Instead, get everything from tissues and teas to cough suppressants and comforting soups delivered through Instacart in as fast as 30 minutes. If anyone needs anything, they can just redirect their questions to that one perfect coworker of yours. Alrighty, our number two of our radio program, that's right, it is the Zach Gelb Show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. We have the legal tampering window underway since noon Eastern time when we got some big names reportedly off the board. We know late last night that Russell Wilson did sign a veteran minimum deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now today, Kirk Cousins going to Atlanta Falcons. He also had Saquon Barkley going to the Philadelphia Eagles and the Packers.

They do release Aaron Jones, but they did sign Josh Jacobs and so much more. We go out to the guest line right now and welcome in NFL on CBS Reporter. And that, of course, is Evan Washburn, kind enough to once again join us on CBS Sports Radio. Evan, appreciate the time.

Thanks so much for doing this. And how are you? I'm doing well. Good to be with you, Zach. You're catching me amidst trying to follow along with all the football news and also getting ready for some college hoops.

So it's it's a good time, but it's a tough time and a brain that can only handle a few things at once. But you did a nice job yesterday. I was watching you as Drake punched another ticket to the NCAA tournament game at the NCAA tournament. And that game, looking back at the MVC championship game, it was looking like Drake was going to run away with it. And then at the end, that ended up being a pretty damn good game and a pretty good finish.

It did. That tournament delivers. Arch Madness is always a great time.

And Drake's kind of been the standard here in recent years. And it was it was nice to see Indiana State make that run because that would have been a tough way to close out what's been a special season in Terre Haute. Now, whether or not they did enough to get in, I think they deserve an at large.

It feels like bracket colleges come down on the other side of it with the Sycamores. But they are a tournament team. That would be a great story with Josh Shirts and Robbie Avila and really a quality team. But it was the father son duo that did it again.

Yeah, no doubt about it. Evan Washburn here with us. So let's start with the Steelers. They ink Russell Wilson to a veteran minimum deal last night.

Were you surprised by this? Because I always knew Russ wanted to go there. But what I wasn't sure was would the Pittsburgh Steelers reciprocate and would they actually bring him in? Basically saying that this is the end for Kenny Pickett, in my opinion, as a starting quarterback. I was surprised until I was reminded either when I saw the official info or to myself that he's playing on the vet minimum. I mean, they basically get to take a flyer on Russell Wilson, who still has some game left. And he's just suffering from his high is the ultimate high. I mean, he's a Super Bowl winning quarterback that has potential Hall of Fame numbers.

He hasn't been that in a number of years. But for what ends up being a little over a million dollars in your Pittsburgh, why not do that? I'm not with you that this means he's the day one starter.

I don't believe that that's locked in. I think that based off the way that Pittsburgh handles things. And obviously by Tomlin running that operation, it's all about competition. And I think the idea is to bring in a guy like Russell Wilson who feels like he still has some game left and and see what's there.

And then also make it clear to Kenny Pickett that he's going to have to compete to win his job again. Talking to Evan Washburn, get into Kirk Cousins. It's a four year, one hundred and eighty million dollar deal.

A hundred million dollars is guaranteed. You know, people could say what they want about Kirk Cousins. I think he's a good quarterback, not a great quarterback. But my oh my, I don't think anyone's been a better businessman, maybe outside of Darrell Rivas than Kirk Cousins with the way that he's been able to keep on getting these deals done. Yeah, he's timed it out well.

And it all really goes back to what he did in Washington. And look, outside of the quarterback position, I understand why the franchise tag is something the players really don't like, because it puts you in a situation of vulnerability when it comes to injury and it being a one year deal. But even thinking back to Lamar Jackson last year and and Dak dealing with it, it always pays off to just ride it out and live on that tag, because now Cousins is going back to the bank for another hundred million dollar deal.

I love it for Atlanta. I'm a little surprised that that Minnesota that they couldn't work something out. It seemed like there was still unfinished business there and having Justin Jefferson and making sure that he had somebody that at least he was comfortable with throwing him the ball.

So that that becomes a bit of a mystery at this point. But this is huge for Atlanta that, as we know, has all the pieces, especially offensively, would think to put together a much better product than they did a year ago if they can have some stability at the quarterback position. And I can't wait to see what now the Vikings do in response, because, you know, I felt like Kirk played his last game in Minnesota.

But now it's where do you go from here? I think a trade for Justin Fields in division would be unlikely. And I think that a lot of other dominoes would need to fall before Chicago would even consider that. But once after that, you probably feel right with the Vikings that they're sitting there at eleven. They're going to be moving up in the draft or they're going to take whatever quarterback's available at eleven.

Agreed. I would probably lean more towards the draft, but I keep going back to the situation. They have a generational talent, a wide receiver, and they need to make sure that he's happy and he feels somewhat satisfied with who they're deciding to put under center, whether that is Justin Fields.

And to your point, I think that's going to be a tall order based off of the division. And maybe that's not the type of quarterback that Justin Jefferson wants to play with. But I think throwing in a young quarterback, a rookie into that situation could also be challenging. So this puts Kevin O'Connell in a tough spot there as he tries to keep what felt like a kind of a special thing building when they won a bunch of games last year, tight games, and then got off to a slower start this year, but still seemed. And then obviously the Cousins injury put sort of a damper on the tail end of the season. But that's that's one of those reminders in the NFL how quickly things can change from where they were a few years, you know, as recent as two years ago in the postseason to now without Kirk Cousins and no real answer quarterback. The running back market, I'm surprised how quickly this has moved.

Right. Tony Pollard lands in Tennessee. Saquon goes down the turnpike from New York, winding up in Philadelphia. Josh Jacobs is no longer going to be a Raider.

Now he's going to be a Green Bay Packer. I'm surprised by how many running backs have been off the board, you know, a few hours into this legal tampering window. Yeah, I would agree with you. And I think it's probably their fight to increase their value by withholding their services is realized that it's not going to work. So accepting deals, creating comps and sort of making it a competitive market, knowing that there was a lot of really talent, talented backs available. So, hey, grab a spot while there's spots available.

Probably made the negotiations and the conversations quicker, more efficient between representation and organization. And I think that each landing spot makes a lot of sense. And there are teams that want to run the ball and there's some really talented backs. I mean, the last one hanging out there as we sit here, unless something's changed, Derek Henry, how that plays out, it will be interesting. I know he's been attached, at least through speculation, to Baltimore.

So obviously, that being in my backyard here, I'd be curious how that would play out. Talking to Evan Washburn right now, NFL on CBS, your outlook of the Packers, right? Year one with that Aaron Rodgers, they make the playoffs, they win a playoff game, taking it to the Dallas Cowboys. Now they get Josh Jacobs, but they say goodbye to Aaron Jones.

What do you think they're building in Green Bay as we currently sit here? Well, they're building it around Jordan Love and hoping that what we saw and what they saw in the back half of the season, but really a large portion of the season from him just takes another step because he proved to a lot of people in that building, most importantly, that he's capable of being the franchise quarterback, whether he's the next Aaron Rodgers, still got a long way to go there. The Aaron Jones, to me, it's exchanging similar parts when you look at Jacobs and Jones. I really like Aaron Jones. I think he's so dynamic out of the backfield as a pass catcher. Jacobs can do that as well. And that's something that's clearly been valued here in the running back market.

I think what Christian McCaffrey's done and the way the game's played right now, you really need to be able to be effective in that area. So they get that in Jacobs, and now Aaron Jones moves on. But look, I think Green Bay's in a great position, and we just finished talking about Minnesota. They don't have a quarterback right now.

They seem to be in big transition. Chicago's going to have a rookie quarterback, most likely. So this is a good time for Detroit and Green Bay to keep that rivalry rolling for top spot in the North. You heard some whispers last week about Saquon Barkley going to the Eagles.

Everyone knew he was done with the Giants. But when it got announced today that they've agreed to terms in the framework of this deal, Saquon going to Philadelphia. This is just like the Howie Roseman kind of move to a T, right?

It is. It kind of feels like it's out of a sports movie too, or the sequel to a sports movie, where he goes down 95 to their bitter rival. And he's going to punish them for all the things he felt like he didn't get out of the Giants. And I think it's great, and I think it helps Jalen Hurts. It's a new look offense there in Philly.

Last year, obviously, the way it ended was a disaster. And I think Saquon still has plenty of game left in those big quads, man. He can still bring it, and I think that he's going to be motivated to prove that because there's been so much discussion. Really, as successful as he's been, there's been so much doubt for a guy who all he's done, when healthy, has produced and really lead in a lot of ways, both on and off the field there in New York.

So I love the move, and I'm with you. I mean, it screams Howie Roseman finding good players at good value. So we have Baker Mayfield back in Tampa Bay. You have Russell Wilson landing with the Steelers, Kirk Cousins to Atlanta. Now the most fascinating, intriguing question to me is where is Justin Fields going to get traded to? Do you have like a name or two for a landing spot that you say, OK, that should be a team that you go try to get a deal done with Justin Fields via trade? I thought you were going to say, where's Joe Flacco going to say that's that's the one quarterback. Well, you know what, Evan, if anyone knows the answer to that outside of Joe, it would be you because of your guy's relationship. I haven't checked in with him in a little while.

I'm sure he's enjoying himself and hanging out with the kiddos. That one will be a fun one to see what happens. Look, I would say you laid out that the challenges with Minnesota in division, that would seem to make sense. I think Washington, another team to keep your eye on there, depending on how they want to play this thing out, that the market is it's shrinking now. And each day that passes makes it more challenging for Ryan Pace and that group to figure out what it is they want to do in terms of what is acceptable value for Justin Fields, because there's clearly still plenty of game there and there's decisions, I guess, contractually that factor into this as well. But sitting here right now, I mean, I would I would say Washington's a team to keep your eye on that.

That may make some sense. But again, it's like one of those musical chairs deals where a lot of these spots seem to have at least what they think right now is the answer at quarterback. So if it is Washington, does that mean Adam Peters passes on a quarterback at two and maybe trades that pick with the new regime coming in and get a bunch of future first round picks?

Is that what you're kind of thinking? And then you call up the Bears and see if you get a Fields deal done? Yeah, I mean, I think that that's what's been discussed with New England and Washington to some degree. I mean, like I would say if I were in that position, I'd lean more towards you've got a new head coach, new GM as you laid out Peters, new ownership. This is probably a good time to bring in a Drake May or Daniels and kind of start fresh in that way. But if there's a desire to come up from a team like Minnesota, as you mentioned, 11 or somebody even closer, that can really set up your organization to right out of the gate. So this is what this season is all about the season before the season. And it's going to be interesting because of how talented, at least on paper, this draft class appears to be. And the other team out there out there and everyone tells me it can't happen because Luke Getze and Fields, I guess, didn't get along last season in Chicago.

But if this price gets so cheap for Justin Fields, I think the Raiders should maybe take a flyer on him. That's interesting. Yeah, I don't I don't see why you wouldn't. And I can't think of this. We sit here and talk right now of anything being contentious in terms of that relationship or any reporting in that regard.

So look, it becomes it's different. And this is what you saw with with the Mac Jones deal, too. It's these guys where it's you're picking up the fifth year option.

You have to extend them right away. It's hard to take a flyer on him, especially if Chicago is still asking for a pretty high price. But it is interesting how these draft picks, the value of them right now changes dramatically once there's a player actually attached to it, i.e.

they were drafted by that guy and then all of a sudden they become much more expendable. He is Evan Washburn, NFL on CBS. You could also catch him throughout March Madness on the sideline and they'll keep on giving you great reports throughout all the chaos that we're about to undergo through during the next month. Evan, great to have you on. Appreciate it. You got it, Zach.

Good to be with you. There you go. Evan Washburn joining us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. And I'm glad that he brought up the commanders as a potential destination for Justin Fields. That's not where I was going to go.

But I do have another team that I'll throw into the hopper of teams that could be pursuing the services of Justin Fields. And we'll get into that when we return in five minutes right here on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. 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.

Spring. Spring is here, which means it's the perfect time to get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted. Visit the Hyundai getaway sales event where you can get great deals on all of our award winning Hyundai models like the tech filled Tucson and Kona, as well as the spacious Palisade. Enjoy wherever you go with the peace of mind that comes with America's best warranty and three years or thirty six thousand miles of complimentary maintenance.

But hurry in. These deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai getaway sales event. Now get zero percent APR or up to fifteen hundred bonus cash on the Hyundai Tucson. Now during the Hyundai getaway sales event offers end soon.

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