NFL Draft Winners and Losers (Hour 2)

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Price and coverage match limited by state law. All right. How are we doing? This is Zach Gelb showing the Infinity Sports Network, our number two of our radio program. Charles Davis, CBS Sports NFL Draft and also analysts all throughout the year is going to stop by. So we'll connect with Charles Davis an hour from now to recap the 2024 NFL Draft. I'll give you three winners and three losers from the draft. Let's start on the positive and then we'll wrap things up on the negative with the losers. Number one, I got to give the Bears a big time winner of the draft just because you get the number one overall pick doesn't always mean that you are a winner from the NFL Draft.

A lot of years, though, you can mess it up or it turns out to be a bust, things like that down the road. But also the Bears complimenting Caleb Williams in a position they did not need to do so. Like they could have gone defense. No defensive players are off the board at nine. But they said, let's take the best available player on the board in Roma Dunza, because even though D.J. Moore is there right now and Keaton Allen is a little bit older, but he's there right now, you're going to need to get rid of one of those two guys eventually. And Roma Dunza, I think, could be the second best wide receiver in this draft class. And I said this last week, like you gave me three guesses on three players that will be the best players in this draft class. I didn't go quarterback. I went Marvin Harrison, I went Joel, and then I went Roma Dunza.

But to get that combination of Williams and a Dunza, I said this, I'll say it again. The Bears should be able to improve from a seven win team a year ago to be a nine or a ten year win team and make the playoffs in year number one with Caleb Williams, a signal caller. Now, I'm not going to break down the rest of the draft. They had an offensive lineman in the third round. They got a punter in the fourth round. They got an edge rusher in the fifth round. I did find it funny, though, that I saw a report that Caleb Williams texted the punter, Tori Taylor, from Iowa when he got drafted. He's like, don't be expected to punt much here. Be expected to just sit your ass on the bench all throughout the game. I like that mentality.

I like that kind of text that one Caleb Williams did reportedly send to Tori Taylor. All right, next winner from the draft. I think this is a team whose draft is flying under the radar. They haven't had a first round pick in forever. Well, the wait was worth it because not only did they win a Super Bowl, but they were also able to get Jared verse.

And that's the L.A. Rams. And Jared verse was a player that going into the year, he was one of those surefire lock top ten. Maybe even I saw it in some spots as high as a top five player in this draft. And Jared verse was good this past year in Florida State. But I almost think the hype around Jared verse got so big at Florida State where even when he was having good games, you'd be like, oh, you expected something better.

But to get Jared verse, I know a defensive play didn't go to 15, but to get him at 19, I think is an absolute steal. And then the best moment from the draft was when Braden Fisk got drafted, also from Florida State. And you have less need making the phone call to Braden Fisk and Jared versus running into the facility as they're welcoming him in from the night before. And he was able to talk to his former teammate Braden Fisk at the end of the phone call.

And it was a very emotional moment between the two. But the reason why that one two punches so big is we all know who the Rams lost this past offseason. They lost the production of Aaron Donald and one of the perfect careers that we've ever seen are almost perfect careers that we've ever seen in the NFL in Aaron Donald. So you're going to have to find a way to replicate or find a way to replace that sack production that you lost and to be able to get a great edge rusher in Jared verse and then a guy in Braden Fisk who's a defensive tackle. And he's not as heavy of a defensive tackles.

You think they usually think defensive tap. You think of like a guy like Ted Washington right six five three fifty or someone like Vince Wolf for just an incredible amount of weight. Braden Fisk got to be like three hundred pounds. So he's versatile.

He can move. Great story transferred from Albany to Florida State to get the synergy there between Fisk and verse I think is enormous. And then also the other draft pick that I love that the Rams made Blake Corum going to the third round. I know running backs. I didn't expect Blake to be a second round pick. But to get him in the third round, 19 pick in the third round, a championship player, the best running back in college football last year has had a heck of a career.

Could have won the Heisman if he didn't mess up his leg two years ago to get Blake Corum there in the third round, I think is another weapon that you just add to Sean McVeigh and what he has with the just incredible offensive roster that you have with Matthew Stafford still kicking it there. You got Puka Nakua, who was the steal the draft a year ago, and then you still have Cooper Cup as well. So really like the Rams draft. And then my last winners from the draft, I give you three winners and three losers. I'm going to say it's the Patriots. And the reason why I'm going to say it's the Patriots, it's not because they're my favorite team. It's not because I'm definitely certain that the guys that they drafted are going to be studs like Drake May.

There's a big discrepancy from the floor to the ceiling with them. Polk, I know his numbers aren't great from a testing standpoint, but he was a reliable wide receiver at Washington. But my biggest problem with the last regime towards the end in New England is they got Mac Jones and they never put even if you didn't believe in Mac Jones, they never put Mac Jones in a position to succeed. The offensive line has not been great the last few years in New England. You had no number one weapon to throw the football to, and you were shuffling in offensive coordinators. And for one year, it's a disgrace to the offensive coordinating position to even refer to Matt Patricia or Joe Judge as the de facto offensive coordinator. So the Patriots take a quarterback at three and Drake May, right?

People say he looks like Justin Herbert and he could be like Josh Allen, which I hope both those things end up being true. But after that second round, they go wide receiver. Third round, they go offensive tackle. Fourth round, they go offensive guard. Fourth round again, they go wide receiver.

Now we'll see if Polk and if Baker out of UCF was an electric personality, some of the quotes that he gave over the weekend, we'll see what they could turn out to be. And offensive lineman, right? The Patriots have a good history in drafting offensive lineman, but, you know, Belichick is no longer there. They're at least going to put Drake May in a position to succeed.

That's why I'm putting the Patriots as a winner from this NFL draft. Cause even though they weren't able to get Brandon, I even though they weren't able to get Deebo Samuel, they were trying to actively get one of those two guys. They tried to get Calvin Ridley this off season two.

So I still don't believe Drake May should really be playing much in year one. I'm curious what Charles Davis is going to say about that when he joins us in about 50 minutes or so from now, but next year by next year, they got to find a way to get a bonafide number one wide receiver, but going after taking a quarterback wide receiver, Lyman, Lyman wide receiver. I liked the approach from Elliott Wolf and I was 50, 50 on Elliott Wolf heading into this draft.

I am not afraid to be critical of my football team. And I didn't like how they hired Gerard Mayo and then they said, okay, we'll keep Elliott Wolf. And then we're going to have Elliott Wolf running the draft. I'm happy this draft, the way I read it, this is not a Jonathan Kraft run draft, which that was a big concern of mine.

So Elliott Wolf, I think showed something this past weekend, and I'm not going to say I'm doing somersaults about the draft, but I do like the idea and the strategy behind the draft for the Patriots. Now to my losers, San Francisco, I know that they have not traded Deebo or Brandon Ayuk, but when you take a wide receiver, 31st overall, I know Tennessee, when they said goodbye to AJ Brown, they did it in the moment. They traded the first round pick to, you know, the Eagles to Tennessee, Eagles got AJ Brown, and then you saw Traylon Burks get taken by Tennessee. But that Florida wide receiver, Ricky Persol, getting drafted at 31 overall, that just seems to me that the Niners are setting up the inevitable departure of either Deebo Samuel or Brandon Ayuk. Ayuk's in the final year of his contract. I read today that Deebo Samuel, he's not in the final year of his contract, but it's the last year of guaranteed money. I know they didn't pull the trigger on a deal at the draft. Teams were trying, right? There was numerous reports out there, but I do believe taking a wide receiver in the first round says, yeah, probably at some point in this off season, one of those two guys will eventually get traded.

We're just waiting for the right price. And maybe you run it back and you pay like the more and more this goes on, it seems like the Niners are trying to rectify the situation with Ayuk, and they prefer Ayuk more long term than Deebo Samuel. And Ayuk to me, he's the better wide receiver. Deebo is the better all around player, but you look for the next three, four years and the wear and tear and how much they use Deebo Samuel and some of the injuries that he suffered. You wonder if there are some durability concerns, even though Deebo is still young in this league. That's just the way that it feels that if you tell the Niners, it's one of the other, I think most fans say, Oh, Deebo over Ayuk, but I think the Niners are going to tell you it's going to be Ayuk over Deebo and Ayuk plays a big card in this.

And he's not afraid to do the dirty work on social media as well and try to put some attention on him when he doesn't need the attention to be put on him. So I do believe, even though they did not trade either Ayuk or Deebo at the draft, that it would not surprise me by the time the season gets underway, that one of those two guys are off the roster. And that's just because of the draft pick that they took in the first round being a wide receiver. So I put the 49ers as a loser.

The next team that I put as a loser, it's the Atlanta Falcons. I understand some of us have warmed up to the idea of Michael Pennick Jr. being the eighth overall pick. And hey, if he goes and has an eight or nine year career and plays some great football two years from now, then yes, it will be worth it. But the Falcons to me where they lose me is when you draft a player who's ready to play right now in Michael Pennick Jr. at the quarterback position. And a few months before that, you signed Kirk Cousins to a four year deal. It's 100 million guaranteed.

I think it's really a two year contract when you look at how you can move on from someone and maneuver around the dead cap and all that. And I hope we get Terry Fontenot on at some point this week. We'll see if we're trying to make that happen. The number one thing I want to ask him, and I'm sure he'll say no, because I do not anticipate him to say yes, but you have to ask the question. I want to ask him two things.

When he fell in love, when did you fall in love, Michael Pennick Jr.? When did you know he was going to be the pick? And if you knew he was going to be the pick, would you have still signed Kirk Cousins?

Because even if he says yes, I don't believe it. Because it doesn't make sense to me to bring in Kirk and then you draft a ready made player at that quarterback position and try to sell me that this is the Green Bay Packers model. Like if they would have drafted a Jordan Love, if they would have drafted a Drake May, like guys when they got drafted, who there were questions that they were ready to go to the NFL.

Okay. Even though when you're trying to win now, I would have gone with Roma Dunsé at that pick. I would have taken a defensive player.

I could at least warm up to it more than I have. But when you bring in Kirk and you're trying to say we're going to win now, and then you draft a ready quarterback who is older, that philosophy, that approach, I think ideally like Arthur Blank told us at the Super Bowl, he said on this show, they are trying to find the Packers model. We have an interim guy and then you have the long term guy.

And I could get that. But when the long term guy turns 24 next week and he's ready to go this upcoming season, I don't like the approach that the Atlanta Falcons did take. Now, I will say late in the draft, I did like the Falcons pick of Jason McCollin out of Alabama running back. Now they have a bunch of running backs as is, but I did think that was a savvy pick in the six round. Good value there for Atlanta.

And then finally, it's Denver, Denver. I respect that Sean Payton identified who he loved, who he said he needed to get quick passing or he tried to do the Drew Brees kind of stuff. But out of everything that happened in the draft and I get it, I would have never predicted Michael Pentax Junior going eighth overall to Atlanta.

But Michael Pentax Junior to me was disrespected in this draft process. And if you would have told me after the Texas game where they won the semifinal, he could be the eighth pick in the draft. I could have believed it. But if you would have told me when the college football season ended last year and I get a bonics at a good season, he had a good last two years at Oregon, that he would have been the 12th pick of the draft. I would have never believed that.

Never believed that. And I thought that was a reach. But the one position you will see teams reach on, obviously, is the quarterback position. But you talk about players going to a place where they could succeed. Caleb Williams going to a place he could succeed. JJ McCarthy is going to a place that he could succeed in.

Michael Pentax Junior, right? The roster is good right now. He just may not play for two years. He could eventually succeed there. You know, the commanders have a lot of work to do with Jayden Daniels in terms of the roster around him. I know they have Terry McClure. That's a big start. And I like Johan Dotson, too. The Patriots have a lot of work to do still with the weapons around them for Drake May. But I look at bonics.

What do you sell me on? A better offensive line than what people think. But when Courtland Sudden is like your best weapon, nothing against Courtland Sudden, he's not a number one wide receiver. And I know they drafted his buddy Troy Franklin from Oregon, right? Did go in the fourth round, did fall in this draft. You drafted running back that Notre Dame.

Why like an object estimate? But this Denver team, Bo Nix is ready to play, but he's going to be put in a position where he's not going to succeed, even with a good offensive mind. The head coach in Sean Payton 12th overall Denver did not take quarterback this year. They could have waited a year from now and they maybe could have got a defensive player. They have a lot of needs on that team. I did not like the selection of Bo Nix at 12. So those are three winners, three losers from the draft and the reasons why bears Rams, Pats winners, Falcons, 49ers and Broncos losers.

855212, 4227, 855212, 4227. Why Joel Embiid, who usually does get it in Philadelphia, doesn't get it anymore. And something that I've been saying from years is finally starting to get realized with Joel, the process Embiid.

We'll talk Sixers when we return. I am hungry right now. It is a Zach Gelb show. Amy Lawrence, the host of After Hours right here on the Infinity Sports Network. She just posted a photo and Amy is a very good Baker. And she has brought some of those tasty treats into the office before.

She just posted a photo. It says island cookies and oatmeal caramel chewy bars for my students as they share their final projects in tonight's class at Syracuse. Man, those look like some really, really good desserts.

If Amy needs anyone to taste those desserts, just let me know. I also went to a new place in the city this past weekend where Stu, Sampter, and I, I think this could actually be the next Zach Gelb show dinner. There's two places that I want to take you guys to.

One, this is not the place I'm going to mention. It's Mark's Off Madison just because they supposedly have great lasagna and I just want to have lasagna with Sampter. But number two, I was supposed to go to Mark's Off Madison yesterday. I'm in a I'm in a wedding and I'm actually ordaining the wedding in the summer.

And this is the day after my 30th birthday. One of my best friends getting married. So we had to go to, for the groomsmen, we had to go to like the suit fitting yesterday. And afterwards, the kid that's getting married, he was going to take us all out to lunch. So we're going to go to Mark's Off Madison. We miscalculated though, the time that we thought it was going to take. So it ended up going a lot quicker than we thought, which is good, but only took an hour for like seven or eight guys to get fitted for a suit, which was quite the pricey purchase, I will say. But we went to go walk to Mark's Off Madison afterwards. And they're a very busy restaurant. We were an hour early.

So like, oh, well, we can't take it until what your reservation is. So one of my buddies suggested to try this place, Mason Jar in New York City. And I'm like, Mason Jar? Where the heck do I know this name Mason Jar? And the night before it was, I was randomly scrolling on like social media and I'm, and I just kept on getting like barbecue after barbecue after barbecue. And still after our experience in Kansas City, getting barbecue from that one place, I'm like, oh geez, I could go for some barbecue.

I've had a good barbecue day. So I'm trying to think to myself, where have I heard this name Mason Jar? Remember the listener, Billy, who took me to the Ranger game, who listened to the show, then invited me to go to the Ranger game, went to the Ranger game with him. He told me that night, he goes, oh, one of my closest friends owns this bar called the Mason Jar in New York City.

So I messaged Billy. I go, what was the name of the restaurant that you said your buddy owned? And he said, it's Mason Jar. They have maybe the best barbecue in the city. And it's a South Carolina bar too. Spencer Rattler was there a few weeks ago. I texted Shane Beamer about this restaurant.

He's like, yep, next time in New York City, I'm going, everyone tells me about this place, Mason Jar. I got jalapeno cornbread. I got mac and cheese and a, it was on a brisket platter. So it was a brisket was the main, main part of this delicious and their wings. They make phenomenal Cajun wings. Their Buffalo was going to have like an Alabama white sauce, which was pretty solid as well. But I would say the Cajun was one, the Buffalo was two and the Alabama white sauce was in a three.

But I had a very, very, very, very good meal yesterday at the Mason Jar and guy was very nice. Give me a t-shirt. I have like a Mason Jar t-shirt now with a South Carolina game cock on it, but it was a pretty cool. I never would have thought there was a South Carolina bar in New York City, like Syracuse, Penn State, Michigan would have never thought South Carolina, but the owner of the bar was showing me like for South Carolina women's basketball games, football games. Like I will go there on a football when South Carolina is a big football game this year.

I will go to the Mason Jar. That's how, that's how good of a restaurant that was like two blocks from my house blocks. I mean, a million times. Really?

Yeah. It's a good spot. The barbecue I enjoy, but usually I'll just go there for like a drink and some games that do have good barbecue.

I watched the Nick Sixers game there yesterday and it was a very good place to watch a game. It's tough to get good barbecue in New York City when you actually have good barbecue, like when you've been to Kansas City, when you've been to Texas, like you've been to Memphis, like you go to some of the better barbecue spots around the country. It's once you get that fix, it's tough to replicate that in New York and wings and barbecue for whatever the reasons are in New York.

They've done a crappy job ever since the pandemic, wings and barbecue. The fact that I have a place that could kill two birds with one stone, very, very, very happy. Drinks were good. Prices was fair.

Food, scrumptious, big fan. Anyway, I was watching this Nick Sixers game there yesterday and here's been my take the last few years on Joel Embiid. Joel Embiid is a great player. Joel Embiid has won an MVP, but Joel Embiid has escaped some blame where like how I said Frank Vogel shouldn't be the number one person to blame for the Suns. Joel Embiid shouldn't be the number one person to blame for the Sixers the last few years, because without Joel Embiid, that team would be lost. But there have been big moments in the playoffs when others have been blamed and deservedly so, but it's exonerated Embiid from any blame. I was at a closeout game years ago in Boston. Joel Embiid had a crucial turnover in that game five in TD Garden.

The Hawk series that everyone talks about Ben Simmons passing up that dunk, which was stupid. Joel Embiid had a costly turnover in that game. Like there have been moments in the playoffs where Embiid is either injured or not in shape. And as the series goes on, he slows down and Joel Embiid does not close out these games. And I get it. The eye injury right now is terrible.

He probably is at like at best 50% and he still puts up some of these great performances. But look at last year, like last year up against the Celtics. I'll never forget. I want to say that was Father's Day. No, because maybe it was Mother's Day. Yeah, it was probably Mother's Day.

It was like this time last year where we were supposed to go out for dinner. And it was that game seven Celtics and Sixers. And I said to my dad, as my parents were downsizing to a new place, so they were living somewhere around here. And I said, I'll come over or watch the Celtics and the Sixers game, and then we'll go out to eat afterwards at halftime. And it was like a close game, like four or five point game at halftime. I turned to my dad and said, I'm throwing a fat bet down on whatever the money line is.

I get or whatever the spread is for the for the Celsius. My dad looks at me, he goes, how can you be that confident? I've seen this story numerous times before. James Harden already played his best game of the series. Joel Embiid looks like he's out of breath and you are going to see the Celtics just run the Sixers off the court.

And at the end of the third quarter, my dad said to me, could we push up the dinner reservation? Because that game was over. So throughout the years, Embiid isn't the biggest issue, but as the series go on or as you see the series play out, Embiid does not carry the team. And trust me, Ben Simmons was a terrible running mate. James Harden was a bad running mate.

They have made some really bad decisions in Philadelphia. And I understand Joel Embiid is playing in an immense amount of pain. But Joel Embiid was a complete and utter no show in the fourth quarter yesterday and in most of these fourth quarters throughout the entirety of this series. And for Joel Embiid, and I think like there are some moments where afterwards a player speaks and he says the wrong thing, but it's not something that everyone freaks out about. I thought yesterday there were two moments from Embiid and then also going to Kevin Durant where it was just like, I can't believe they're saying that. Right after the Suns lose, there's a piece in the athletic slamming Vogel and how saying Kevin Durant never felt comfortable in his role in the offense. And anytime Kevin Durant was asked something yesterday, just said, there's context to everything. And he goes, I can't get into context because then it's made as it's being viewed as an excuse. And that tells me that Kevin Durant was about to throw a lot of people onto the bus, but he didn't do so.

So you didn't get everything being told to you, but it creates a lot of ambiguity. What Joel Embiid did yesterday was so dumb because yes, it is stunning that a proud city like Philadelphia allows Knicks fans, and it's not a long drive down the turnpike to go to the game, but the Knicks fan took over that stadium yesterday. I'm watching that game at the Mason jar. They got the sound on and I thought that was a Knicks home game. The Sixers would miss shots. The Knicks fan would cheer. You heard go New York, go New York, go all throughout the game. Jaylen Brunson was pounding the Sixers and the crowd was just getting louder and louder and louder. And then walking out of that stadium in Philadelphia, where you would think if this happened, someone would get killed over it. They're screaming, bleep Embiid, bleep Embiid, bleep Embiid. I've never seen, and I lived in Philadelphia for seven years.

I understand that city better than most. I've never seen an opposing fan base walk in, in a playoff game, playoff game, in a playoff game and take over a building like the Knicks fan did yesterday. So I understand Embiid is frustrated by that, but 9.9 times out of 10, when you take a shot at the fan or you criticize the fan, it does not work out well for you, especially when your team is down 3-1. You're down 3-1 in the series and beat you to shut his mouth yesterday when talking about the fans. But here is Joel Embiid commenting on the large amount of Knicks fans that were in Philadelphia recently. Disappointed. You know, I love our fans. I think it's unfortunate and I'm not calling them out, but it is disappointing. Obviously you got a lot of Knicks fans and they're down the road that have never seen it. And I've been here for 10 years. Yeah, it kind of pisses me off, especially because Philly is considered sports town.

So, you know, they've always shown up and I don't think that should happen. He did the whole, I love my fans and I'm not going after the fans, but then you did go after the fans. And trust me, I'm shocked even with how great the Nick fan can be that the Nick fan made Philadelphia a home environment for them. But with that being said, even though Embiid's going through a bunch of injuries, when it's the same old, same old story, you can't be attacking the fan there.

And you know what that tells me? That this sixer fan knows the championship window is shut in Philadelphia and that this group had no chance to win a championship. And I think they probably realized that after the Hawks series, when they lost to Atlanta a few years ago, because last year I get it hard and had a, a teasing effort, right? He had two good games in the series, but they didn't beat the Celtics. And unfortunately, Embiid keeps on getting hurt, keeps on not being able to last in these series in the playoffs. And even though Maxie is on the rise, and I think Therese Maxie is going to be a heck of a player. I don't think Maxie is going to be at his best when Embiid's at his best. I just don't.

And I think they're moving in a different direction. And you would hope that they'd be able to both be a lead at the same time. And Embiid, he's still elite right now, but you got to deal with a bunch of injuries and you got to just look at it and call for what it is in the postseason. This guy, when he needs to step up and, and maybe save a series or win a series, he does not have these great performances. And I've seen it in person in Boston multiple times.

I've seen it up against the Hawks, right? We have now had a large sample size where it's, Oh, you could blame Ben. Oh, you could blame James Harden.

I get that. And a lot of those times those people got blamed in front of him, beat it. It was right. And another six are in a bad spot where they are, where they'd be without Joel Embiid, but there's no dancing around this one. Cause it's not like the Knicks were sensational yesterday.

That was a putrid. There were stretches in the final five minutes where no one was, was hitting a shot. But in game two, when the Sixers complained about the rest, the Knicks found the way to Hardenstein to out hustle the Sixers and get a rebound. And yesterday that was just a defensive clinic. And that was the Knicks out hustling the Sixers.

Be one thing if just one team was better than the other, and the Knicks are better than the Sixers, but to lose because your team doesn't have the right hustle level. That's disgraceful. It is the Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network. Take a time out. We'll come on back. We'll date you on some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. We call that segment, the news brief, but first up with the latest sports flash, here is the Ackman rich Ackerman. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports. Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network.

Let's start with the cult. She I'm Chris Ballard. I guess this is turning into a yearly tradition where he takes someone that may have character concerns or it's reported they have character concerns and he eviscerates those concerns and he wants people to put their names on it. Here is him around ranting about reports regarding concerns about Adonai Mitchell. They drafted. I read some of the that was set on T. I mean, just a typical. Excuse my language. Our typical league unnamed sources, you know, bad interview. That's such like put your name like put your name on it. I'm tired of we tear these young men down.

These are 21 22 young men. And if you can if people out there can tell me they don't they're perfect in their lives. It's crap. It's crap. This is a good kid. And you know, for for that for those reports to come out.

Thank you Thank you so much. I said it last year. It's it's I'm sorry. I apologize for that.

That's amazing. Now, I heard that over the weekend and I'm like, what is so crazy about some of the reporting about Adonai Mitchell? And clearly there was things said that he was ticked off about. I googled it. I searched it.

I tried to find it. I know he was falling a little bit, but I didn't see anything that was that damaging being said about him. So I would love to get Chris Ballard on and just be like, what in particular, like, who are you referencing?

What was exactly said that you saw that set you off? Now here is a good Chris. Well, that was a good Chris Ballard moment. But here's another, I guess, good feeling moment with Chris Ballard.

There's no negativity here. Here is Chris Ballard calling a seventh round pick, Jonah Lailoo, a defensive lineman. And Jonah thought he was getting pranked by the Colts. Jonah, how are you doing? Chris Ballard with the Colts. Welcome to Indy, man.

We're drafting you right here. That's not a prank call. It's not a prank call. It's been a stressful day. I know. And everybody's probably recruiting the crap out of you right now, aren't they?

Yeah, you know, you can go tell me, kiss your ass. You come to Indy. I appreciate you.

Thank you so much. I have a confession to me for years. I hated the Indianapolis Colts because I'm a Brady guy, the Brady Manning rivalry and all that stuff. I'm starting to like the Indianapolis Colts. Not that I'm going to be sitting there saying go Colts, because I'll never say that outside of the fact that I just said it, but you have Shane Steichen. You have Chris Ballard.

They drafted Anthony Richardson. It's just like, they're a team to me that I don't think they'll ever win a Super Bowl again, like with this regime, but they're building something that could be like a 10 or 11 win team. Like last year, they should have no business being in a spot where they could have almost made the playoffs.

And if Shane Steichen just would have put Jonathan Taylor on the field, they probably make the playoffs. That's a team that I'm just monitoring. And when Chris Ballard just teeing off on the media or teeing off and having fun with the draft pick when he thinks he's getting pranked, it's one of those moments I'm like, okay, I could have a little bit of a fuzzy feeling, let's just say, about the Indianapolis Colts.

Let's listen to CJ Strout and Micah Parsons on Bleacher Report Live. They got into it on a little conversation about who has the best division in football right now. AFC South, I think we're going up there with AFC North on the best division of football. Some would argue that's the NFC East. On paper last year, we argued the best division of football.

No, sir. Everyone was a playoff team. AFC North was the best division of football.

Washington was argued that... Washington wasn't nothing, but what are you talking about? That meant the Giants. The Giants either. What are you talking about?

What do you mean? They lost the Eagles. That's two years ago. Yeah, but I'm saying going into it.

Sam, you don't know what you're talking about. Going into last year, the NFC North was arguing. No one in the planet, except for Micah Parsons, thought the NFC East was better than the AFC North. You can't argue that.

I can, bro, unless you're delusional. We have better teams than y'all right now. Going into last year. You thought Washington was going to be good. There's not a weak team in the AFC North.

What are you talking about? Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland. On paper, Washington was supposed to be a really great team.

Washington is not better than any one of those four teams, I guarantee you. That's why Daniel Jones got the contract. They went to a playoff game, and then they added Darren Waller. The Ravens, the Browns.

Then they added Darren Waller. Going into that season, they had the Giants. We were ranked third or fourth best team in the NFC. You guys always are. We were ranked third going into preseason. You guys, that's not the conversation.

You're trying to single it out for y'all. No. I could say this from personal experience, interviewing Micah Parsons. Micah Parsons is not good at arguing. He says things, he just keeps on repeating them. When he told us TJ Watt is in a top five pure pass rusher in the NFL, that's maybe one of the dumbest things I've ever had someone tell me in an interview.

There's no justification for it. You don't want to say he's number one okay. You don't say he's number two okay.

But to say he's not top five, that's crazy. And then to make it out that the NFC East is better than the AFC North, but they were clearly talking about this upcoming year, and then he's trying to talk about last year going into the season. Everyone knows the AFC North on paper from top to bottom is the best division in football. It's the best division in football. You have the Bengals. You have the Ravens. You know, even the Steelers, you know, they're starting to come together. And the Cleveland Browns have a really damn good team. The NFC East, the Giants are going to be terrible this year.

The commanders are probably going to be bad. The Cowboys are going to take a step back, and the Eagles probably won the division. Man, Micah Parsons is just not good at arguing. Let's go to Raheem Morris, the impact that the Pentax pick has on Kirk Cousins. We came up with a decision. This is what we planned to do. And Kirk does not have to look over his shoulder every time he throws a pad pass. Like, that is not the case.

Like, that is not the case. Like, we are here to go win, and we're here to go win it all. We are here to win as much as we can win, right? And we set these goals as a team, and we want to follow through on those goals, right? We had an opportunity to build and do something different with some sustained winning over time, and we took an op. And then right back to business to do what we need to do to try to win right now. I hate for it to be like the story of the draft. I know it will be, but I can't say it's annoying.

No, because it's what people want to see is peak more interest. I feel like, you know, what's Kelsey's girlfriend name? I feel like her right now. I'm Taylor Swift right now, and Terry's Kelsey, I guess. We're making this thing popular, man.

I don't know what that is. What are we doing? He's tired, guys. He's getting tired. We should probably wrap this up. You're trying to tell me that there's not an issue, and then you ramble like that for 45 seconds, Raheem Morris, and you use Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift? Huh? Could you imagine if they actually did hire Belichick and Terry Fontana walked up to Belichick and be like, we're drafting Michael Penix after we just gave $100 million guaranteed to Kirk Cousins?

Oh, boy. Man, that was not a good look for Raheem Morris. Let's listen up to Mike Tomlin. He was on Good Morning Football on the NFL Network, and he was asked about Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and Arthur Smith. You guys have a new offensive coordinator on Arthur Smith, but also two new quarterbacks in the room, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. How's it going so far between the three of them?

It's going really well. All three guys, to be really transparent, are somewhat scolded. You know, they got something to prove professionally, but we as a collective feel the same way. We have something to prove, and I just think that that is a good frame of mind to be in as individuals and as a collective as we prepare ourselves for the 2024 season.

You know, it's not fun to relocate or get fired or things of that nature, but as competitors, man, it always motivates us in the right way, and we as a collective have got some questions to answer, so I'm excited about that as well. See, like when Belichick says nothing, he literally says nothing. Mike Tomlin says nothing, but he'll give you a 45-second soundbite.

There was nothing in there. Outside of these guys, they're just proving things. They're in a situation where they feel like they need to prove something. I will say, though, Brian McFadden, friend to show, former Steeler corner, two-time Super Bowl champion, said, ooh, Omar is working. Talk about Omar Khan, the GM. The Steelers are very close to landing a significant playmaker. Hashtag here we go.

Hashtag stay tuned. So we'll see. Maybe that's a deal with the San Francisco 49ers. That's been speculated.

Is this right? JJ McCarthy, the new quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, he rejected a call from the great one, Wayne Gretzky, during his press conference? Let me hear. Be willing to, you know, oh wow, that's, and Gretzky, I'm sorry about that. Hockey guy one-on-one and going to the hockey state. I was not expecting to ask you how you know great Wayne Gretzky, but yeah, I'll ask that story.

Wayne actually, he's really good friend with my off the field marketing agent, Ira Sahlberger. And he hit me up on FaceTime right after the national championship, January 9th. And you know, just being able to sit there and be just a witness to the greatness that is, you know, spreading his appreciation to what I was able to do and what I was able to represent, you know, it meant so much because obviously growing up, he was one of my goats and I'm not rushed more.

And I, you know, give so much credit to him because he inspired me so much. That's awesome. Crazy story in the connection with everything, but when you're in the sports world and that circles, right?

Things like that are bound to happen, but kind of nuts. I mean, if you're doing a press conference, if you're doing an interview, I'm picking up and when Gretzky calls, you just tell everyone to hold on to second. I'm at least picking up and saying to make myself look a bit cooler. Hey, Wayne, I love it. Call them Wayne too. Hey, Wayne, let me call you back. I'm doing a little press conference here. Okay. I'll call you back.

That's what I would have done. Finally, here is Kevin Duran. He was asked if he's still motivated to play basketball. I live and breathe bro. Like I have nothing else, but like, you know, at this point in my life, I got a lot of going on outside of basketball, but what I mainly focus on is ball, bro. So like, yeah, I got motivation. I love to play. I'm going to come back next year, you know, ready to hoop, you know? So yeah, I don't think you should question that.

All right. Anyway, what else do I expect him to say? He's ready to hoop. Doesn't mean he's going to hoop himself to another championship because when he's driving the buses, Charles Barkley said you could guarantee that Kevin Duran ain't going to win another championship. I did see Barkley over the weekend. He was trashing the NBA.

I love when he goes on the NHL shows and trashes the NBA and he guaranteed that the Maple Leafs were going to tie up that series with the Bruins. So I was sitting there on my couch. I had nothing to do. I was like, Oh, okay. I'll ride Chuck. I'll ride the Chuckster.

I'll get on the Chuck bus, throw some money down on the Maple Leafs and another year, another wrong Charles Barkley guarantee and another season where the Maple Leafs continue to disappoint. This is Zach Gilms on the infinity sports network. We recap the NFL draft. One of the best Charles Davis. T-Mobile has invested billions to light up America's largest 5g network from big cities to small towns, including right here in yours and great coverage is just the beginning right now, families and small businesses can save up to 20% versus AT&T and Verizon when they switch visit your local T-Mobile store today.

Plan savings with three lines of T-Mobile essentials versus comparable available plans, plan features and taxes and fees may vary. Hey everyone, Boomer Esiason here. The NFL draft is behind us and your favorite team is now gearing up for week number one. The free Odyssey app puts you right in the middle of the pro football conversation with the biggest sports radio stations from across the country. The local voices who know your team the best giving you their unfiltered takes on the current state of your squad. It's always football season right here on the free Odyssey app.