Which Rookie QB Will Have the Best Season? (Hour 1)

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8552124227. You could always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter X at Zach Gelb. That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. I got Chris Hess. I got Moist Mike. We are jamming out, rocking and rolling with you all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific time. Coming up, 40 minutes from now, we will start our NFL preview. Today's team will be the Denver Broncos. Ryan Harris will stop by in the 4 o'clock hour. We'll do a little Winkler Wednesday. And then we will go to Big 12 Media Days coming up in the 5 p.m. Eastern time hour with Ari Tempkin, who's a host over at Big 12 Radio on Sirius XM.

I want to start the show today. I was watching the Hard Knocks off season with the Giants, and they're now two episodes in. By the way, they came out with the receiver episode today or that series.

I was a little disappointed, Samta. Not I didn't watch a single second of it yet. So there's like six, seven or eight, something like that episodes of receiver. They released them all at once.

I don't know about you. And I know all that's then you have the freedom to go watch something and you could do it on your time. When something is new, I like them staggering it. And let's say, OK, it came out on Wednesday that they released every episode at Wednesday. But now, since they threw six to eight of those episodes right in front of me, I thought I was going to have all summer to watch this right one a week and have the fun storylines that way. Now, having it all available, I could probably binge through this in a day or two max, and that kind of takes the fun out of it for yours truly, since it's new.

If it's like, hey, something that's been around for a while, obviously, then that's not a fair complaint because I just missed the ship on it when it initially came out. But now, since this is new, just giving me all eight episodes or whatever it is at once, I was very disappointed. And I don't even know if I'm going to tune in and watch.

You know what? Why don't you just create your own schedule and just every Wednesday watch it on your own? But I won't do that.

OK, well, then that's on you. Because like when there's a show that I missed the boat on and I finally elected to watch it, you know, if it's something reality TV related or or a classic show, I will sit there. And it was worse when I was working from six to 10 p.m. Eastern because I'd get off at 10, get home by 1030 after my walk home.

And then I'd sit there from like 1030 to sometimes three or four a.m. just binge watching stuff. Now, you know, getting out at six o'clock and you go to bed a little bit earlier. But I do have more time. So it's like I'm not going to sit there after one episode and go, oh, I'm only going to watch one episode. I'm not going to be able to have that mental toughness to know that the episodes are out there and then just do it one week at a time.

But anyhow, that's a personal issue. I was watching the off season hard knocks, which is great because they send it out every Tuesday night, I think at like nine or 10 p.m. Eastern time. And I think it's really neat. I don't know how long this is going to last because you could tell the teams don't like it. It's kind of like hard knocks, you know, in the regular training camp period. The teams have got very tired with it. Now you have the Giants where all these storylines have already been told, like we know what happens with Saquon Barkley. We know what happened with them trying to move up in the draft. We know what happened with Daniel Jones and Brian Burns.

But since they actually have been pretty honest and giving us a ton of behind the scene access, even though these teams control it and they dictate what gets out, all this stuff gets rehashed. So if you're a Giants fan, for example, you now have to relive the Saquon negotiations. You now have to relive Daniel Jones still being your quarterback and trying to trade up in the draft to go get Drake May. It's neat when you see Joe Shane at Indianapolis at the combine, even though it happened that February, walk over to the Patriots box at the combine and tell Elliott Wolf, hey, just call us if you move the pick, we're interested. Or it's cool to see some of the conversations between Joe Shane and Saquon Barkley. But I can guarantee you this, the teams don't like having to relive this stuff like it happened.

And now it's almost as if you just want to say move on. But I was watching one scene last night and I thought it was fascinating insight where Brian Dable and Joe Shane are sitting in a room in Indianapolis for the combine. And they're bringing in all these quarterback prospects and they're having them draw plays on the board, try to remember what the play call was.

And they do the interviews and they brought in Drake May. They bring in Caleb Williams. You bring in Jayden Daniels.

And it made me have a thought. You know, there's no doubt about it. Caleb Williams sort of week one for the Bears.

There's no doubt about it. Jayden Daniels is starting week one for the Washington commanders. But after that, since you had six quarterbacks go in the first 12 picks of the draft, you have four quarterbacks that I'm not sure when we're going to see them on the field. You know, I think it's an egregious error by the Minnesota Vikings to not start J.J. McCarthy week one.

You know, I think that would be a big time mistake. Like, why are you throwing Sam Darnold, who is known for seeing ghost and getting mono? Why would you put him on the field in week one? I don't need to see Sam Darnold. But I do fully believe that J.J. McCarthy is not going to start right away with the Minnesota Vikings.

Like, I do think they're going to like I consider bitch and complain all you want about it. I don't believe, even though he should, that J.J. McCarthy is going to be the week one starter for the Minnesota Vikings. I think it's the right move by the Patriots to not start Drake May week one. And I don't think Drake May is going to be the week one starter for the New England Patriots. You look at the Denver Broncos. I think they should start Bo Nix week one.

I don't know if they will. I think there's a chance, but it would not surprise me if they throw Jared Sittem out there early on, even though it would be pointless. And then you got Michael Pennix Jr., who they just signed Kirk Cousins. There is intrigue that, you know, Michael Pennix Jr., you know that he's NFL ready. But with the contractual commitment that they made to Kirk Cousins, I don't anticipate that Michael Pennix Jr. is going to see the field this season. So those four quarterbacks, I'm trying to think without knowing when they're going to get on the field.

Who's going to have the best rookie season? And you look at the spots that they're in, you know, taking Caleb Williams out of it and taking Jayden Daniels out of it. Because those guys are definitely going to start right away. You know, I got to throw Michael Pennix Jr. out even though he's NFL ready, because it's not by design. The only way he's getting on the field is in garbage time or if you end up having another catastrophic injury to Kirk Cousins. So that decision on who's going to be the best rookie quarterback outside of Williams, outside of Jayden Daniels. You know, when you look at the other four guys to go, it's really between JJ McCarthy, Drake May and Bo Nix. I think Nix is going to get on the field early in the season, even if it's not week one. I don't believe that Sam Darnold is going to be able to carry the load in Minnesota for more than a month before fans are like, okay, I've seen enough. Let's get to JJ. And then you get to the Patriots with Drake May.

I truly don't know when they're going to put him on the field. Because for Drake May, you know, out of McCarthy and Nix and Pennix, and when you throw Drake May in there, he does have the highest upside out of those four quarterbacks. But you look at the roster, it's like Atlanta has a good roster, you know, at least offensively. The Vikings offensively have a good roster.

The Denver Broncos don't and the Patriots don't. And the Patriots just ruined Mac Jones at the quarterback position by not putting enough talent around him and not putting the proper coaching around him. So I think recent history for the Pats matter, and it's easy for me to sit here and say, oh, well, you know, Drake May shouldn't play until November. But that's not easy to take a quarterback third overall in the draft, and then stash him on your bench until maybe November when you start thinking about Thanksgiving. So I'm looking at this and I actually think the rookie quarterback that's going to have the best season, you know, taking Caleb Williams out of it, taking Jayden Daniels out of it, is actually going to be JJ McCarthy. And I don't think JJ McCarthy has a ceiling of being a great quarterback in the league, but if you look at situational fit, that is enormous.

That is big time in the early developments of a quarterback's career. And you look where JJ McCarthy did go, he's in Minnesota. JJ McCarthy is with Kevin O'Connell, and he has one great wide receiver in Justin Jefferson, and then another wide receiver in Jordan Addison, who's also very good and is a former number, you know, first round pick at the wide receiver position of the draft two years ago. So I do think there may be a little delay in seeing JJ McCarthy on the field, but if you ask me, Zach, out of McCarthy, May, Nix, and Pennix in year one, who's going to have the most success?

I think it's going to be JJ McCarthy because he's in a position to succeed early on. But I just hope they don't wait too long in order to put him on the field because, like, I understand why the Patriots would rest and not play Drake May early on. I don't see why they would throw, they will, but I don't see why the Vikings are going to throw Sam Darnold out there to the wolves early on in the season.

Like the Broncos, it seems pointless too. I don't need to see Zach Wilson or Jared Stidham. Like you drafted Bo Nix, who's NFL ready, 12th overall, which is way earlier than anyone could have thought.

Put him on the field. But that Broncos team offensively, they don't have much. You know, the Patriots offensively don't have much. So whenever you throw May and Bo to the wolves, I can't really expect there to be a great or good quality of play from the quarterback position because there's so much going on. Like obviously in Denver, you got Sean Payton, a bright offensive mind.

The Patriots, I got question marks on their offense roster and then also their coaching staff, but I'm just looking at the boxes. And even though I don't think JJ McCarthy is going to be this great NFL quarterback, you know, even though some people say, you know, he's younger, he wasn't able to showcase a lot at Michigan because they were big offensive line, run, run, run, run, run with Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards. And they didn't really ask him to do much, you know, in those big games. I think if you throw McCarthy, you know, if you throw McCarthy in the pool early with the environment that he's in with Jefferson, Addison, you know, Hopkinson, you know, if he's healthy Aaron Jones at the running back position, O'Connell as the offensive minded coach, I think there's enough where not only can he swim in year one, but you know, he could do a few laps that are pretty impressive in year one in the NFL. So sure Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, those are the guys we're going to talk about the most because there's no doubt about it.

Those two guys are going to play right away from week one. But then when you get to the other four, McCarthy, Bowe, Michael Pennix, Jr. and Drake May, out of those four, I think in year one, McCarthy is going to be the one that will have the most success. But I'm really intrigued to see what Drake May does because he's kind of the guy is he's kind of the Josh Allen comp in this draft. We're big dude, big arm, you know, mobile, athletic. And we talked a lot about that with the uncertainties of Josh Allen come out of college and he was able to put it together.

You know, for everyone that's able to put it together, there's a lot more that aren't able to put it together. And if Drake May is as great as what people say he can be, then he should be able to do enough even if he doesn't have the best pieces in the world in year one. You know, but for Bowe Nix, I have very low expectations.

I think his ceiling of everything goes great is like what maybe like the 13th or 14th best quarterback in the league, like middle of the road kind of guy. And Michael Pennix by design, you're not going to see him this year and you probably won't see him for two years because you got to think that they're going to give that baton to Kirk Cousins for two years and then eventually implement Michael Pennix Jr. into the fold. So take Caleb Williams out of it. Take Jayden Daniels out of it.

Who will have the best rookie season with the other four quarterbacks that went in the first round? Is it Drake May? Is it Bowe Nix? Is it Michael Pennix Jr.? Or is it JJ McCarthy? From a situational standpoint, I think it's going to be JJ McCarthy. 855-212-4227.

855-212-4227. We will take a timeout. So I was thinking about that when I was watching the offseason hard knocks last night.

There was another thing I was thinking about and I'm really sick and tired of one storyline and we'll delve into it on the other side. It is the Zach Yelp show on the Infinity Sports Network. Very busy Wednesday show. We're back up and running on YouTube.

You can always check us out. Sirius XM, Channel 158. All of our great local Infinity Sports Network affiliates. And always listen to us live and even you could rewind 24 hours from each show on the free Odyssey app. Brian Harris is going to join us coming up at 3.40 p.m. Eastern. Bark Winkler at 4.40 p.m. Eastern. Ari Temkin from Big 12 Media Days will stop by in the 5 p.m. Eastern time hour. Take a break.

We'll come on back after these short messages. You can host the best backyard barbecue. When you find a professional on Angie to make your backyard the best around. Connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well. Inside to outside. Repairs to renovations.

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Download the free app today and make the most of your summer with all trails. Look around. What do you see? Cars. Lots of them. And guess what? They're probably on auto trader.

Whether you're into timeless classics or the latest trends. Did somebody say solar powered eco-friendly vegan leather wrapped aroma therapy scented disco ball equipped self-driving car. If you see it on the road you can likely find it on auto trader. Big cars small cars blue cars new cars and used cars electric cars and one day maybe even flying cars. With millions of options to choose from buying a car becomes a whole lot easier.

See it find it auto trader. I will not pretend to be a soccer expert because that annoys me when talk show hosts don't ever talk about something and they get on the air and they pretend as if they're know-it-alls. You know there's a few hosts maybe at this network that on the weekends let's just say I hear them talk about hockey during the Stanley Cup final and I'm like they have never watched a single second of hockey during the regular season or early or even earlier in the the earlier rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But in the euros I believe that is the right lingo. England just had a PK. They just got a goal so it is 1-1. They're going up against the Netherlands. This is the semi-finals.

If my understanding of this thing I don't really care about but a lot of other people care about is accurate. Yes this is the second semi-final. Yesterday Spain beat France. So Spain is through. Spain is through. Harry Kane who is the one who actually got fouled in the box and the one who put it away. So Harry Kane put it away in the bottom left corner. And then what's going on with the Copa America? Well sadly Drake lost $300,000 because Argentina crushed Canada 2-0. I'm shocked by that. Messi scored his first goal of the tournament.

I did see that on social media yesterday. Which was very nice. It was more like the goal was going in.

He kind of just redirected it to get it in better. Even though I think he should be still showing his loyalty to the MLS and playing for Inter Miami. Yeah well I guess all the other players who played for the U.S. team who also left the MLS should have also been playing for their teams.

The problem is if someone goes I'm gonna go to independent baseball and then there's like a big like baseball tournament where everyone goes to and then you have some jackass on the radio being like oh no he needs to be loyal to like the Red Barons or whatever or the Ducks. No I think Argentina takes precedent over Inter Miami. Yes and where are we at in the Copa America? So Copa obviously Argentina crushed Canada. They're through to the title game and tonight we get Colombia against Uruguay. Uruguay. Yes Uruguay. It's much better when we have Manny Rodriguez here with all the pronunciations. Yeah Uruguay and their fantastic goalie Sergio Rochette who is our NFCU defensive player of the week.

How about that? And this is in Charlotte, North Carolina at Copa America I think tonight? I have to double check to see exactly the location but yes it's all over. So if that is true that's at the Panther Stadium I believe. I think it's at Bank of America Stadium tonight.

Uruguay and Colombia. That is correct. Is David Tepper going to show up? Does David Tepper show up and maybe throw a few drinks in some fans faces if he's uh maybe I don't know betting the the under. You know what? Wait wait wait. Tonight the over under for Uruguay and Colombia for goals is one and a half? That's about right one nil. One and a half?

Two one one nil yeah. That's pretty long. So that's that's soccer for you. So did I did we give the people everything they need to know about soccer uh for right now? For right now. Okay you know there's a big update. I actually I have turned on the game. You know this is the the euros correct?

Between Netherlands and and England I've turned on the game and right as I turned on the game there was a pk pk goal. So more importantly uh our work is having a viewing party in our performance center. Is that right? Big screen I mean hundred and something inch tv you know uh come down. Is that how they get the sales people that actually come in during the summer?

All the sales people are sitting in the room. They have stuff in their faces. They have pizza and tacos I mean delicious. What kind of pizza?

I think it's bleaker street. Okay and they have tacos? They got fish tacos. I got a black bean and sweet potato. I got a chicken. I got a beef bereta. Got some corn salsa.

Oh yeah I'm feeling it. Oh and a quesadilla as well. Oh you got a little quesadilla action.

It smells fantastic in here I'm not gonna lie. So why didn't you go get some food? I ate already. Oh you already ate.

So did I. That's not stopping me from eating more. It is stopping me unfortunately. Some people care about their physical health and some people don't. And just for the record anyone listening who knows the history of me not getting Zach food when there is food. I offered Zach food before I left to go get mine. Yeah you just said I'm going to get food.

I'm like I'm not. I had no clue what it was for. I said there's food in the performance space. Do you want anything?

You said no I'm good. I had no clue what it was for. I didn't know what it was either. I just knew that there was food there. I didn't realize there was delicious tacos. Let me tell you it's always funny. When Santa has vacations they never bring in food.

Santa's always here though the day that there's food in here. You have a very salesman-y kind of approach to you. You think that's a coincidence. That's not.

I don't think it's a coincidence at all. I think you definitely call up like Jess Clark who does a great job in promotions and and you call up Jess and you say hey Jess when are you bringing in food? I need to know all 365 days out of the year where there's potentially food going to be in because you need to go stuff your face with food and then those are the days that you're not going to take.

Two calendars on my wall all the different national holidays and all the different food holidays here at Odyssey International. How about that? So I was watching this off-season hard knocks last night as I was saying which is very good. There is a storyline though that I can't stand and I know we try to sensationalize things. We try to make everything dramatic. The weird part about this is we already know the story. We already know how this ends between Saquon Barkley and Joe Shane so it's kind of like you know the ending of the movie and someone spoiled the ending of the movie to you but you still want to see how you got to the end of the movie even though there's already been other leaks in terms of what what may or may not have happened. So throughout this entire thing I'm watching it last night and the whole episode it was it was broken up into two parts. It was basically the combine that was basically Saquon Barkley and then more is going to come out next week and in the ensuing episodes but I'm sick and tired of the Saquon Barkley New York Giants whole feud and the way that it that it did go down.

I think it's so obvious what happened. The Giants gave him what I think was a fair offer in 2023. Saquon Barkley said thanks but no thanks.

He got tagged. The moment Saquon Barkley got tagged and could not agree to a long-term extension that was it. That was the time that Saquon Barkley's time with the Giants did come to a close because the Giants are not wrong about bringing Saquon Barkley back but it's almost as if you were in a relationship that was very public and a relationship that a lot of people had interest in and both parties knew that the relationship was coming to an end but they didn't want to be the person that blinked first. They didn't want to be the person that said hey we're breaking up and that's basically what happened here with Joe Shane and Saquon Barkley. It was so obvious after 2023 that those two were never going to reach a long-term agreement that Joe Shane and Barkley's representatives were not able we're not going to be able to get a deal done. So in 2024 in the off season the Giants kind of approached it as hey we got a lot of holes a lot of holes.

We have a lot of issues on this team. The running back isn't as valued as it once was a bell cow back and we could go bring in someone like Devin Motor Singletary pay him a whole lot less and yes he's not Saquon but he'll be good enough running the football and we could go you know the Giants could go beef up the offensive line go trade for Brian Burns and then pay him. So that was the Giants approach but the Giants who already offered Saquon a deal in 2023 then took the approach in 2024 of oh Saquon we're not going to tag you again we're going to do right by you we won't tag you and we'll let you go evaluate the market and Saquon evaluated the market had more interest than what people thought and eventually got a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles and Saquon a few months ago responded to a tweet you know how could I screw over the organization how could I uh you know be the villain here when the Giants never offered him a deal well you do see last night Joe Shane tell the agent and tell Saquon hey go see the market and then come back to us and clearly Saquon never came back to the Giants because he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles but even if he did go back to the Giants here's the thing the Giants weren't giving him an offer that you know that would have made him stay and once 2023 did go down they were never agreeing to a new contract in 2024 so what this was was a big petulant game of of a staring contest and Joe Shane didn't want to blink first Saquon Barkley didn't want to blink first because neither wanted to be viewed here as the bad guy and here's the thing if Saquon didn't go to Philadelphia I don't think anyone's killing the Giants for Saquon leaving and I don't think any giant fan is mad at Saquon Barkley for leaving like if he ended up with the Houston Texans the Giants fans don't have this animosity towards Saquon Barkley and there's no giant fan that's mad probably at Joe Shane for letting Saquon Barkley leave to the Texans but it's the fact that he did go to the Philadelphia Eagles that makes this juicy that makes us sensationalized but this relationship was over after 2023 and you could tell Joe Shane didn't want to go through the negotiations again you could also tell he viewed it as I don't want to go pay 12 13 whatever it would have been million dollars a year for a running back when you have a bunch of other needs and Saquon's ego you know played a factor here because they couldn't get a deal done which was a fair offer in 2023 that he said okay I'm not going to be willing to get a deal done in 2024 both of these you know to the two of these guys they had a solid relationship you knew it was time to get a divorce but neither of them wanted to say it first so I'm kind of sick even though I love watching this off-season hard knocks because I just think it's you know having that football fix and being a football junkie I think it's cool to see all the behind the scenes stuff you know the rehashing of the Saquon Joe Shane beef I don't think I've learned anything new and Marco you know you're a giant fan the way I just look at this is Saquon was ready to move on the Giants ready to move on with Saquon that just that's business that's like that happens in the NFL yeah I don't see an issue with this at all I really don't I mean again he needed to move on I think there are a lot of giant fans that are holding on to the idea that he's talented and the Giants stink so it's how can you let a talented player yeah that is however he was talented the whole time you suck the whole time yeah at some point you got to make a change and for that kind of money with the issues that the Giants have they knew they couldn't do this and I think Joe Shane was smart enough to realize we can't go down this road anymore especially if they're not going to be a contract that you know if he wasn't going to agree to the contract that they offered him the year before they can't do this again so there was no I had no issues with the way the Giants handled it and I got no problem with Saquon going to the Eagles you get money where you can get money you go where you you want to go I mean that's that's life that's what it is what it is and that it's just the whole funny part to me even when you see the Joe Shane and I like Joe Shane but you even hear his phone call with the agent and Saquon oh make sure you you come back to us before you leave and we'll see if we get a deal done they were never getting the deal done you know what though I think what he was hoping for and I think what he was thinking I think he misread the market a little bit I don't think he ever thought that Barkley was going to get that kind of deal or go to the Eagles well I think it was that deal I don't know if it was necessarily Eagles because I don't think that's if that's the case then I think you're a bad GM if you're worried about oh I can't have him go to my my rotten no no you can't let him leave because you need him or you can let him go because you don't and it's nothing to do with where he ends up there so I think that he misread the market that he never thought Barkley would get that kind of money once he did then I think Saquon's agent was smart enough and Saquon's were smart enough they're not matching this so it really doesn't matter if we go back to them at this point they're not I think Shane was hoping for come back to us with your three-year you know 18 million dollar offer and sure we'll be thrilled to be you know I think he was hoping for save money yeah nothing's out there you know what we let you go you check the market right you went out on plenty of dates you went out no one offered you dinner now come on back home I think that's what he was hoping for once the Eagles made the offer it's over yeah it was done it's over and I don't fault Saquon for not going back to the Giants no again and I and I don't think Joe Shane played it poorly either unless you say well because he misread the market I think he didn't think Saquon would get that offer he was hoping that he would get him cheap once he saw that he got that offer he knew it was over now to be fair and I get it when you're an NFL GM you get held to a different standard than you know Zach Geld the talk show host or all of us like I think that was a big takeaway for a lot of us though we were all surprised how quickly the running backs went off the board this year you know not that they always got the great prices that they once did but there were a lot of running backs on the market I thought it was going to be this long dragged out process a lot of these running backs went off the board rather quickly which you know from where we were a year ago that was the complete opposite with how long some of these running backs had to wait for yeah and again this one was a big deal but like some of those contracts was it because the running backs are smart enough to realize that this is it this is as far as we're going we're going to wait I think that plays a factor because they already saw it the year before so they realized I mean it was oversaturated but they saw where it was and they were everybody wound up being a little bit happier with the medium I think everybody wanted to get paid and everybody started to realize the market's not going to be exactly the same now the only one that the only contract that I could think of that was this some this offseason that was shocking was the Saquon yeah because no one saw that coming now again he was the best mark running back on the market he was I know you could say you know Henry and all that Jacobs Barkley's upside is higher than everybody else's and it's not like he's 30.

27 yeah there's still something there in value and he ended up getting 26 million guaranteed and the Giants I think their offer in 2023 was 23 million guaranteed so they got three more right again that's fine if that's what you wanted but the idea that like you know well they disrespected me and look what I wound up getting no they offered you basically the same thing the year before you thought you could do better you didn't then when you saw this contract you were like you know what this is it I'm not getting any better than this I tried this once this is what we're doing and there you go you were smart enough to take it this is all about both sides trying to save face but I don't really think there's much to be saved here I think most people what they understand the situation realize once it didn't get done in 2023 the chances of this getting done then the following year was was very slim and I also think the Giants deserve some some credit for that Joe Shane that was smart enough to realize we're not doing the franchise tech again yeah and you know what that would have been a mess and the camp and the Saquon camp should be smart enough to realize you know what thank you because if they did that you could have kept him for another year and you could have done this all over again I know we gotta take a break but I was very surprised when he was meeting with the communications director at the combine they were doing the mock questions about Saquon he was just like well I offered him a lot of money last year and he didn't take it you know that was very telling how that relationship it was it was done and over with back in February at the combat all right we'll preview the Broncos next Ryan Harris is going to join us as we start our NFL team preview we'll go team by team around the league each and every day until football does start football season is right around the corner holding himself runs to the left he's to the five Lamar's in touchdown ravens they're gonna have a championship game in Baltimore because the hay to the barn will it be your team's year to hoist the Lombardi in the shotgun Mahomes he runs and he throws caught touchdown it's caught hard to grab the ball we preview all 32 teams right here on the Zach Gelb show the Denver Broncos all right if you start our NFL preview segment with the Denver Broncos and we're going to bring on a man that won a Super Bowl championship with the Denver Broncos going back to Super Bowl 50 and does a fantastic job covering the NFL and also covering college football and that is Ryan Harris who's kind enough to join us right now Ryan appreciate the time as always my man how you been been great had a fantastic summer and ready for football just like you Zach well let me take you back to the draft because I would not have expected Bo Nix to be the 12th overall pick in the draft but Sean Payton fell in love with him kept it a secret and then took what we will now call his guy with the 12th overall pick what was your initial reaction when Sean and company took the former Oregon signal caller a fantastic pick I got to call his game when USC came to Oregon last year and what I saw was an accurate quarterback who also ran an uptempo offense which you're going to have to do but also got rid of the ball quickly he was about 2.4 to 2.8 seconds getting rid of the football that's where you have to live in the NFL and oh by the way the experience of leaving Auburn and coming to Oregon and continuing to improve playing in playoff games and college football that's a tremendous amount of experience that encapsulates the 61 games that Bo Nix played and for Sean Payton this is the first time really he has gone after a quarterback to be his franchise guy and I don't think he could have made a better choice with the most experience in the highest completion percentage having Bo Nix what's his ceiling in the NFL Bo Nix when you look how his game will translate from college you mentioned the ups and downs at Auburn and the success at Oregon but now going into the NFL waters he could absolutely be a Josh Allen type player look Bo Nix has ability to run and people are going to remember yes he had some struggles at Auburn but I'll remind everybody that's also where his father played quarterback in college I don't know if anybody wants to do that be under the shadow of their parents he broke that shadow and continued to improve but he's very much a Josh Allen a Joe Burrow type of player if he can stay healthy and if that offensive line for the Broncos who had their quarterback under pressure 40% of the time last year if they can protect Bo Nix he's going to have a tremendous amount of ability to impress people in just his first year but you look three five years down the road the AFC West should be the most competitive division in the NFL for the remaining five years talking to Ryan Harris right now former Bronco won a Super Bowl with the organization as we do preview the Denver Broncos for this upcoming season just because you're taking with the 12th overall pick doesn't mean you're going to start week one but what number would you put it at right now as you get set for training camp joint practices pre-season and the likelihood of Bo Nix starting week one up against the Seahawks I think it's a hundred percent he's going to start and look I was at a couple of the OTA practices he was moving quickly he was moving with confidence and one of the things that when you're an NFL veteran you look for how does that rookie operate and most rookies are looking around trying to figure out where to go not Bo Nix he was ready to go in the drills moving faster than veteran quarterbacks who've had more experience at some of the different individual drills that quarterbacks do in the NFL but Bo Nix has clearly been working away from the facility to increase his ability as a quarterback and it showed in the OTAs a lightning arm that can get the ball downfield he made some huge plays only got picked off I believe three times the entire OTAs so this is a guy who's really preparing to start and when I look at the field and I see the players playing Bo Nix to me is the best quarterback the Broncos have right now but we know that Sean Payton and Drew Brees were synonymous for all those years they had so much success in New Orleans then Drew retires Sean doesn't have a quarterback he goes to work for Fox and then he comes back obviously it wasn't going to work with him and Russell Wilson that was made clear last year but now it's okay the Sean Payton era in Denver is finally underway because he picked his quarterback for the future we'll see if it works or not where's your confidence in Sean now in this next chapter with the Denver Broncos with his abilities as a football coach I think he's a fantastic coach players love and respect him he's honest to them he tells them what they have to do to make the team and when you build a culture like that especially with the rocky road the Broncos have had since we won the Super Bowl in 2015-16 season you're going to have to change the culture and bring in some new guys helps and not only did he get Bo Nix but he got Jonah Ellis a really underrated defensive end as well as Audric Estime from Notre Dame god school and I'll tell you something Zach Audric Estime the fifth round pick I kept the stat calling the games for Notre Dame last year for five straight games he knocked the best player on defense out of the game so you add that to getting Josh Reynolds in free agency this is a this is a great uptick for the Broncos but I will always put the caveat that this is Patrick Mahomes's division so no matter how good Bo Nix is it may not be good enough to win the AFC West title now I don't think they have a shot to win the AFC West this year because right as you said the Chiefs Mahomes as long as Andy Reid's on the sidelines and Mahomes is healthy they're going to win that division but you look at that fight for the second spot you know the Raiders don't have a quarterback you know there's questions about Bo Nix year one in Denver yeah you have Harbaugh and Herbert with the Chargers but the rest of the roster has a lot of work to do who do you think is the second best team right now in the AFC West I think it's going to be the Chargers and the biggest thing is going to be coach Harbaugh coming in I mean remember when he was with San Francisco I believe they out rushed opponents by three thousand yards and you put a run game for the first time in Justin Herbert's career and a coach that will run the ball on third down or fourth and one if you get there and that drastically changes not only how a defense plays but how much they got to get on and off the field for the different packages I think a lot of people are going to be surprised with the Chargers I think the Broncos and Chargers are going to fight for that second and third spot but I'm with you Zach I have no idea what the Raiders are doing the Raiders are going to Raider they've got a great roster with no quarterback they got another tight end this year in the draft it's a head scratcher for sure but if any team's going to make you scratch your head in the NFL it's the Raiders Ryan Harris here with us you can tell where he played his football at during his pro career just based off that answer when I look at the Broncos roster Pat Sertan II is their best player do you think he's the best corner in the NFL in your opinion? I really do he's tremendous he baits quarterbacks into throwing interceptions and one of the things that I love watching Patrick Sertan II he understands as a defensive back something that Champ Bailey taught me when I was his teammate you don't have to defend the entire end zone once a wide receiver goes up the sideline there's only so far he can go before he comes back to the field Patrick Sertan plays that way and what I love most Zach it doesn't matter to Patrick Sertan whether he's the best corner or not or whether he whether people think he is he's going out to prove and improve himself each and every game he's going to be a stalwart for the Broncos for years to come and hopefully Broncos country hopes for his entire career. What makes him better in your opinion than Sos Gardner of the Jets? I think Sos Gardner gets away with a lot of grabbing a lot of contact and something that can occur during the season but you see the Jets and Sos Gardner get into the playoffs this year you're going to see some flags on Sos Gardner Patrick Sertan plays with anticipation he plays with knowledge of where his help is and he takes chances on the football and rarely gets called for those pass interference penalties so I think Sos Gardner is a little bit grabby for for my likes as a former offensive player but both players are fantastic and such bright futures in the NFL. Before we let you run so you're a believer in bow necks clearly we just talked about Pat Sertan what are the other foundational pieces that the roster for the Broncos had that you could tangibly latch onto and say okay these are some players I really believe in? Well Garrett Bowles the left tackle still one of the top left tackles in the game you know they did get they did let Justin Simmons go that was a tough one and a head scratcher for Broncos country as he is I believe one of the best safeties in the NFL but they should be getting Tim Patrick back who's back-to-back season-ending injuries really hurt the Broncos and they also have a young receiver in Troy Franklin that has familiarity from playing with bow knicks at Oregon so this is a team that still lacks speed at receiver you're not going to see speed like a Justin Jefferson a Tyreek Hill those kinds of things they still really don't have an answer at tight end those are some glaring air glaring omissions as well as middle linebacker but they've got enough pieces to compete and more than anything with the long contract that Sean Payton has he has to make sure his team is building to a championship level rather than leaping to a championship level in one year.

How much pressures on Sean entering this season like are we in a hot seat territory yet? How can you be in a hot seat with 60 million guaranteed dollars still coming your way whether you win or lose I think Sean Payton's looking at this opportunity to do something new in his career that's why he drafted Bo Nix but Sean Payton there's there's no pressure on on anybody who's got 60 million dollars coming their way. He is Ryan Harris Ryan always great to have you on thanks so much for doing this.

Great to talk to you Zach peace. You got it there he is Ryan Harris excellent debut of a new segment that we're going to do we're going to bring someone on each and every day that represents one team in the NFL could be a current player former player coach GM you never know who will bring on and good stuff previewing the Denver Broncos. I'll tell you he's very optimistic that's clear about Bo Nix now he compared him to Josh Allen that's pretty damn big but what I loved about that the most is that he said a hundred percent that Bo's going to start week one regardless of what you think about Bo Nix throw that aside it's the right move that Denver starts in week one. I didn't know how certain that was going to be if maybe they were going to wait a little bit but I don't need to see a Jarrett Stidham I don't need to see Zach Wilson I would love even though I don't think Bo Nix is going to be great I would love to see him week one. It's time to ask the pros were you the listener gets asked us a question brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts and tweet your question at INF Sports Center at Zach Gelby using the hashtag ask the pros be listening later in the show we might answer your question think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts O'Reilly Auto Parts when we come on back we will react to Mike Gundy's controversial comments at Big 12 Media Days yesterday. Look around what do you see cars lots of them and guess what they're probably on Auto Trader whether you're into timeless classics or the latest trends did somebody say solar-powered eco-friendly vegan leather wrapped aroma therapy scented disco ball equipped self-driving car if you see it on the road you can likely find it on Auto Trader big cars small cars blue cars new cars and used cars electric cars and one day maybe even flying cars with millions of options to choose from buying a car becomes a whole lot easier see it find it Auto Trader listen as Selenia tells us why she chose to vaccinate her daughter I definitely felt like the pros far outweighed the cons the diseases that I am protecting my child against they're still here and at the end of the day it's my job as a mother to keep my child safe talk to your child's doctor and learn more at yvaccines.com brought to you by Merck it's been a three-year wait but the olympics are back and the cbs sports podcast network has you covered with everything happening in paris it's a new era for the u.s women's national team an attacking third will tackle all the women's soccer action first cut will keep close tabs on golf while beyond the arc will follow the u.s men's basketball team on a quest for another gold and we need to talk now we'll provide comprehensive coverage of women's athletes at the olympic games follow and listen to all cbs sports podcasts for free on the odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts