Cam Ward's Confidence (Hour 2)

Alrighty, our number two of our radio program, it is the Zach Gelb Show on the Infinity Sports Network. You know what, looking back we should have played some Big X The Plug going into this interview, because I was at that after party for the Eagles, and I love Big X The Plug, but I got to see him live, he was unbelievable. And even Vic Fangio was getting down on stage, celebrating as Big X The Plug was rapping after the Eagles won their world championship, their second world championship, Super Bowl champions once again, as two weeks ago right down in the Big Easy in New Orleans, able to just destroy the Kansas City Chiefs. And now joining us is a Super Bowl champion from the Philadelphia Eagles, Evante Maddox, who's kind enough to jump on board with us. Evante, first off, congratulations, I would ask you how you're doing, but I'm sure you haven't come down from the Super Bowl high, right?

No, thank you, appreciate it. Yeah, I'm still hungover, actually. Well, that parade, man, you know, I'm just getting back to myself after being in New Orleans and I've had a whole week, you had a parade, that thing was crazy in Philadelphia. It was crazy, it was crazy, it's like one of the craziest things I've ever seen, actually.

So many people, millions, probably. So, it died down afterwards, and I saw a photo from John Clark, who covers the team, and it was you and Saquon Barkley just sitting down and kind of taking it all in, after all the mayhem did go down, what was that moment like, you and Saquon just sitting there kind of getting a moment, probably, to catch your breath and process everything that did go down? No, it was good. It was just a moment for us to, you know, we played against each other in college, so, you know, it was a chance for me to, you know, just sit back and realize what we did, and, you know, I was just telling them I'm happy for them, and, you know, being able to come here and be teammates for once is always on the opposite ball, you know, he played at Penn State, I played at Pitt, he went to the Giants, I was here in Philly, so we always played against each other, and it was a chance for us to play our first year together and win the Super Bowl, it was like, it was a moment that you never couldn't ask for. Is it still kind of surreal that he's on your team?

Because I still can't believe how that did go down. He's with the Giants, right, you guys are rivals, and then I remember when you guys played them in the playoff game, and Brandon Graham is like talking smack to Saquon, and that was on Mic'd Up, and now he's an Eagle, and he had one of the greatest rushing seasons we've ever seen, it's crazy. It's crazy, I mean, it's so surreal, I mean, like, just having him on your team, I mean, just having him as a teammate, but, you know, knowing him as a person, and I've known him for a while, he's just a great person, and, you know, bringing someone into this organization that's like that, I mean, I'm happy for every accomplishment he got, and, you know, every accolade he had gotten in this year, and, you know, just being in a rush the most yards ever rushed in the season, and, you know, winning the Super Bowl, it was a great feeling, and, you know, I'm happy for him. Now, I know when you play defense, right, you're on the sideline when Saquon's on the field, and you're supposed to be listening right to Vic from a ball.

Hey, I can finish this for you. I don't sit down. I do not sit down. My eyes are on the field 24-7 because I just know he's going to do something crazy, and it's like, I already tell everyone that I know in my family, they're like, yeah, like, what do you do, like, after, like, you guys come off the field, I say, well, we're supposed to be sitting down taking corrections, but you got somebody like 26 out there that got any time to get the ball and explode for a touchdown, I'm watching it. And it's not just him, right? You got Jalen, you got AJ, you got Devontae Smith, the best offensive line in the league. You probably get mesmerized on that sideline watching that.

Oh, no, definitely. I mean, I'm watching all of them guys. I mean, every time they're lining up, there's a play that can happen that could be a touchdown at any moment, and, you know, Dallas Gotti is one of my best friends, and I always tell him, you know, I'm always excited for when he catches the ball, but you can ask him now, like, what do I watch for you out there?

He always say, he might block it. So I'll be watching a lot of blocking, too. So I watch blocking, I watch the handoffs, the throws, the catches, all that from the tee up to the down, but, you know, I watch the blocks because, you know, that's how that's the game, blocking and tackling.

Devontae Maddox here with us. You've been with the Eagles since 2018. When you walked into that locker room, they were coming off a Super Bowl championship. I know you guys got close a few years ago and it didn't go your way at the end. To finally be able to get one after getting a taste what it's like to be around champions and then almost winning one a few years ago and now getting yours, just I know it's a simple question, but what does that mean to you when you kind of look back at it two weeks later?

It means a lot. I mean, it's like when you look back seven years ago, they just come off of the Super Bowl championship. Me, you know, sniffing the Super Bowl and almost winning again. But, you know, it feels, like you said, surreal when you win it because it's like no other accomplishment that you can get that's higher than that, you know, playing in this ultimate team sport. And, you know, you go into it, you create this relationship with guys over the years and you go out there and you all are sweating and putting in the time, effort and, you know, getting to know each other, connecting. And when you go out there and you can finish it with a Super Bowl, I mean, it doesn't get no better than that. For you personally, right, you've been with the team for a while.

I know James Bradbury got hurt, but he's been with the organization for more than a few years. And you had a lot of younger corners that were coming in that you had to kind of mentor as well, but you're still trying to get yours, you know, for it to end with the Super Bowl with all the ups and downs, right, getting released in the offseason and then coming on back. Just how do you kind of define what this year was like for you with the crazy roller coaster ride that you went on?

I mean, all I can say is it was worth it. I mean, you know, when I have an opportunity to, you know, mentor the younger guys, you know, I'm all up for it. Because when I first got here with the Eagles, I feel like it's the organization, the culture. I had guys that mentored me, you know, in and out from since I've gotten here. So, you know, when I had a chance to, you know, take a little step back and, you know, mentor the guys, the younger guys and help them any way I could, it was all worth it, you know, coming back here and playing in Philly. I love Philly and, you know, being bringing a Super Bowl, another Super Bowl here and, you know, making this my dream come true. So like everything, everything like played out well in my cars.

And, you know, I'm happy all for it. And it's amazing, especially at that position. What Quinon Mitchell and Cooper to Jim are able to do this year. They didn't look like rookies. How are they able to make that transition just so seamlessly?

I say the same thing. Everybody always asks me like, you know, they say rookie, rookie, rookie. I'm like, I don't know, you know, I look at them and they don't really shot like they don't really look at it. I don't look at them as rookies because they know the game so well. They're smart, you know, they got all the physical traits and, you know, they do it. They don't make the same mistake once and they're open and they open ears and they always asking questions.

So usually you got rookies coming in, you know, they're kind of nervous and they don't fit in as well as soon as they get there. But as soon as they stepped into the building, you know, it was almost like they've been there for a while. And, you know, kudos to their organizations that they get their schools, their colleges they came from. You know, they they're definitely pros as soon as they got into the NFL. And they made our job a lot easier, you know, when it came to coaching them and, you know, trying to give them little tips on things because, you know, they always had questions and they always had open ears.

So going out and cool. I mean, they're going to be definitely great pros in this league. And, you know, I can't wait to see that how far their career goes. And that picked six by Cooper to Jean. Oh, yeah, that that still has to just send the chill up your spine, right?

Oh, yeah, it definitely did. As soon as I've seen him call it, I was on the side. I scream and go, go, go, go, go. He got into the end zone. I said, OK. And by the way, we were good. Hey, both of them at the parade. I don't know Quignan Mitchell by that. He's very quiet.

You know, from what I can observe, he was I think he may have been enjoying himself the most him or Nolan Smith. That that might have been him. That's his he's quiet. But once you get to know him, he opens up a lot.

And that's what I'm saying. Like when we've been here, we got we built connections with each other. And, you know, you got here and usually they're quiet, but he talks a good amount. But right there at that parade, he was playing all his emotions out at that point. Yeah, he was lost in the sauce. I saw Cooper to Jean had that chain hit him in the face. Howie Roseman even took a beer off the beer off the head. I know.

But Nolan Smith, I thought it was the funniest thing. Takes a picture with the child, puts him on his shoulders and then starts walking away with the child. It's like, oh, I got a child on my shoulder. He's got to get that back.

Give the kid back. His shirt is drenched. He looks like he had got out of a pool.

I say, was that all beer on your shirt? He just said he screams. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, God.

Somebody help him. Unbelievable about the Maddox here with us and the Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia Eagles. When you look back at the game, what did you think was the biggest play of the game? Because I have a thought in it.

But I'm curious what you think it is. Of course, you know, Coop had a major, major, major play in that on that defensive touchdown. You know, that put us up a little bit more touchdowns, actually. So but I'll have to go with.

I'll say I had to go with the PBU stuff because they came back out on by me by me. But it's not just that play every. Right after that play, you came in with the dagger from Jalen to Devontae for the touchdown. And that, you know, I felt like that just that just that just took all the hope out of them of making that run back, you know, because at that moment, I think it was twenty seven zero.

Twenty seven. It was like a mid third quarter. And, you know, playing against a quarterback like Mahomes, you never know what could happen.

You know, they could put points up on a board as fast as you blink. So, you know, when that happened, I felt like that was that was a dagger there. So that was the first moment you exhaled and you go, OK, the thought of Mahomes and him coming back. And yeah, that was it's over with. It's done with.

Yeah. Soon as somebody caught that touchdown, I said, it's over with. You know what I actually thought it was? I thought it was the bond interception because it's 17 nothing. You know, with two minutes left, did they go down, even get a field goal, they get the ball coming out of half to get that pick.

And then basically, I know it wasn't a pick six, but then you score a few plays later. It's right there. Yeah, that was big. That's the dominance of what you guys kind of showed in the first half on the scoreboard to be up 24 nothing.

Oh, yeah. I mean, Zach, he's an incredible leader on our team. And, you know, I'm actually just so happy for him as well, because, you know, he never really had the opportunity here with the Saints. And he got his opportunity to show his, you know, his attributes, his abilities to play.

And, you know, he made the most out of it. And that pick was that that that can be in the line of the series as well. I mean, it's right before halftime. Come on, halftime. That happened and that happened.

It was it was definitely it was definitely a major play. And, you know, you know how this works, right? When you go through the course of entire season, people write us in the media fans, they'll say nice things. They'll say bad things.

It's all play to play. When you had that past breakup, I went on Twitter and every Eagle fan was like, I'll never say a bad word about Avante Maddox ever again. They love they love me now. Finally, it took them a while. I mean, we have taught us six years I was here. Now they don't like me, but now they love me.

They got what is it also like? So I went to school at Temple. I live by the art museum when the Eagles won their first ever Super Bowl. So I understand the passion of the city. But you being a player in this league to just the fans. Right.

They're going to hold you accountable. But when you win, they celebrate you like no other to feel that love really through the last month and in the last two weeks. Just how do you kind of put that into words? I mean, it feels good. I mean, it's everything. This city, like you said, the city is so passionate about the game. And, you know, what could you expect?

I mean, it's a hard nose fighting city. And, you know, they want the best out of us. They expect the best out of us. And, you know, we want the best out of us and we expect the best out of us.

So why not hold us accountable? So, you know, as much as they, you know, they say their mean things as what they want to say. But at the end of the day, if you're winning, they won't let anyone talk about you. And if you winning, you know, they're going to praise you and they're going to let you know how much they love you. And, you know, that's all you can respect for someone. It's almost like a family member.

You know, they tell you when you're doing bad, but when you're doing good, they let you know. So, you know, I got all respect for Philly. And, you know, I love it here. My first organization I've been at and, you know, it's been the best, the best, best dreams come true for the rest of my life, really. That's unbelievable.

I mean, when I have a child, I get married. But other than that, yeah. And then we'll get you back.

We'll have you write those back up on that. Avante Maddox for the Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia Eagles with us. I got to ask you about Jalen Carter. You know, we always know what's expected out of him, but he just sets the tone for the rest of that defense. Just kind of give me your perspective of him still at a young age, what he's been able to do in the NFL.

I mean, he's going to he's the leader of that defense. I've told him I've told him since last year, since he got in here and I told how he and I told him I said, you all might have just drafted the best defensive player to play in the NFL because he has every every thing that that can make him the best. And, you know, he's smart. He's he's he's physical.

He's you know, he puts fear into opponents. And, you know, I always tell him, like, you're a leader on this team and you're going to lead this team to a lot of more Super Bowl championships. And because this defense don't run through nothing without you and that D line and he gets some boys going.

And, you know, it makes it a lot easier for our jobs on the back end. When you win a quarterback, I only hold the ball for a second. And, you know, he's he's trying to double team when it's hard to do that. So, you know, having Jalen Carter, man, he's he's a dog and clearly from Georgia. But having them all up there on the line, Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, all of them guys are going to be great defensive players in this league. And, you know, I'm excited to see their career goes on as well.

But Jalen Carter, he's definitely a beast. You guys always had the talent. The question was, could you put it together last year? Right.

You know what? Avanti Maddox, the team was 10 and won you in one game down the stretch. Obviously, now looking back at it, you guys were able to fight through that winning a championship. Why didn't you not allow last year to really define what this team was going to be able to do the following season? Because when you go through what you went through last year, that could have derailed the team for this year, too.

Oh, yeah. I mean, you don't want to dwell on what happened last year. Every year is a new year, new team. And also, you know, you got new players, you have new coaches and things change.

And but the culture always stays the same. And, you know, we always been, you know, you know, what are what are what are key fundamentals when we're connecting and fundamentals and and and, you know, tough and things like that. But other than that, you know, we can't we can't we couldn't dwell on the last year. And it almost made us, you know, more hungrier for this year in a way of like, man, it was right there.

We went that far 10 and one. And then we let the wheels fall off. But we can't let that happen this year. And we're not even going to talk about last year. This is a new year and we're going to make sure we make everything right for this year.

You know, lay it all out on the line. Now, when you're right, you're right. You got to say you're right when you're wrong, you're wrong.

And you got to admit you're wrong. I was dead wrong on your football coach in Nick Sirianni. Why do you love playing so much for Nick Sirianni, who, man, all this guy has done since getting into the NFL as a head coach has been taking this team to the postseason.

You've been to two Super Bowls and now you won one. So tell me a little bit about Coach Sirianni from your perspective. He's a player's coach. I mean, that's what all a player wants is a player's coach. And that's a coach that, you know, dedicates to his players first and puts his players first. And, you know, that's Nick Sirianni.

You know, you might see him all out and going crazy on Sunday. But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, we want that. We want someone that wants to win. We want someone that wants to fight.

And, you know, that gives us a boost of energy. And, you know, Sirianni has been here. He's been here for the past, what was it, four years now, three or four years now. And, yep, four years now. And, you know, ever since he's gotten to this building, he's changed it. And he's a winner. And you can see that.

And it's nothing you can really take from that. And at the end of the day, on the outside, you know, you're looking in, you don't really know what he does with us or what he says to us. And me being on the defensive side, and he's more of an offensive coach, but he spends time on the defensive meeting rooms. He spends time to talk to us. He spends time to make sure we connect and do things like that because that's the number one thing.

And not just connecting between player and player, but player and coach. So, you know, I got tons of respect for Sirianni. I love playing for him. And, you know, he's going to be a great coach always.

And I love the story of Jalen Hurts going back to everything that happened in Alabama and what he did at Oklahoma and what he's done now in the NFL. It's nice, though, to see Jalen smile because he gets real serious in season. And I finally got to see a smile after you guys won a Super Bowl.

I had to be good, right? It takes a lot to crack a smile out of him. He's almost like Vic. He's got to keep poking him until he smiles. But, no, it was definitely nice to see a smile from him. And I'm extremely glad he got the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl again, and he's going to have many more. He won the MVP. I mean, he's well-deserved. And, you know, he's a winner as well. He knows how to win, and he knows how to get his players going, and he knows how to win as well. I'm going to ask you two more things. I'll let you get out of here.

I saw Emmanuel Ocho the other day on FS1. He was saying, oh, the Cowboys are an Eagle offseason away from doing what the Eagles did. And you guys just won the Super Bowl.

The Cowboys got a lot of work to do. When you hear stuff like that, you got to laugh at it, right? Yeah, you got to laugh at it. I mean, you can't sit here this or that away. I mean, they got to have all the pieces put together at the end of the day because it's not easy. I mean, there's times during our season where we had adversity, and there's times throughout our season where we had the tough conversations. But, you know, you got to have guys that's willing to do that. You have to have coaches that's willing to let you guys do that.

And at the end of the day, you know, you'll put it all together, and you'll be smiling at the end. Now, I love Brandon Graham. I think it was the worst-kept secret in America. He was going to play in that game. Do you feel like that was Brandon Graham's last game? He's going to ride off into the sunset and retire? I don't know, man.

I don't know, man. I think the way BG was playing before he hurt him, so he was playing like he had five more years in him. So I won't be surprised if he comes back, but at the end of the day, BG had a wonderful career if he decides to end it this year. And what's wrong with going out on top?

I say, hey, you go out on top. You're the man. So with BG playing, he's a great, tremendous leader of our team.

I'm happy he was able to be. I'm sorry, my dogs are crazy. That's good. Don't worry.

We can't even hear it. Yeah, okay, cool. Yeah, so he's had a tremendous, tremendous captain of our team and leader of our team, leader of our defense. And, you know, he always spoke highly of us and we always spoke highly of him.

And, you know, I'm excited to see what he actually does, you know? Last thing for you, Vontay Maddox. I'll let you run for the Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia Eagles. So from when the game ends to today, what was your favorite story since being a Super Bowl champion? What was the one memory? My favorite story, walking into that locker room after that game, it was almost like a party.

I don't know. The Saints locker room is crazy. Nice. It got it. It has almost like a like a party in there.

You can have the lights flicking in any type of way you want. And then but when you walked in, there were bottles and champagne bottles and goggles and, you know, just feeling that enjoyment and excitement with your teammates that you have played this year all throughout the year with. And, you know, just being able to celebrate that moment with them. It was it was a great feeling, a wonderful feeling.

Well, Vontay, so happy for you. Really appreciate the time. Thanks so much for doing this.

Enjoy the off season. All right. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Appreciate you. There you go. Avante Maddox from the Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia Eagles, joining us on the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Wonderful conversation with him.

We'll take a time out. We go from the Super Bowl champs to the latest mock draft. Yeah, Daniel Jeremiah has won. And also Cam Ward said something that I absolutely love.

We'll get it all that when we return in a few moments. So Cam Ward gave a quote the other day, and this is via the Associated Press, and he issued a stern warning to any NFL team who may not draft him. OK, you're either going to draft me or you're not. If you don't draft me, that's your fault. You've got to remember, you're the same team that's got to play me for the rest of my career.

And I'll remember that. Now, we've seen players say things similarly like that before. Josh Rosen, it didn't work out. Randy Moss, Justin Jefferson obviously worked out. But I like that confidence by Cam Ward. And I had a chance to interview Cam Ward two years ago. And the story is unbelievable. Zero star recruit, had to play at incarnate word, then goes to Washington State.

That's when I got a chance to speak to him. And then this past year, here's what I like the most about Cam Ward at Miami. That team's not that good.

Right. And he's the straw that stirred the drink at Miami. And they had no defense. And I know they didn't get to the ACC championship game.

And right, they blew the game up against Syracuse. But Cam Ward had a masterful season with really the only other player. When you looked at that offense, that really jumped off the page was Xavier Restrepo. And he's a very good wide receiver. But it's not as if that guy is going to be a first round talent as an NFL wide receiver.

Probably not even a second round talent, if we're being honest. So Cam Ward knows how to do more with less. And that's something that I like about the Miami quarterback. And I got a chance to see Cam Ward in person.

I'm not talking about playing. I was at the Heisman Trophy presentation and he's a big dude. But he's even bigger in person.

And usually that's not the case. Like you usually see athletes because right when you're watching them on the field, they're in shoulder pads and they usually look smaller, like off the field. But Cam Ward, I didn't realize how big he was. And I've watched a lot of Cam Ward football.

And I know that he's not as big as this guy. But you know, he kind of reminds me of I've been trying to think of a comp for this guy all the time. And the cop that I'm going to give here, he kind of reminds me and I don't think he'll be this great because I don't think he has the ceiling of being this great. But he reminds me of a poor man's Ben Roethlisberger. Like if Ben Roethlisberger and Josh Allen had a baby.

It's always funny when you say things like that. If Roethlisberger and Allen had a baby, I kind of think the offspring would be Cam Ward. And I'm not saying that Cam Ward is going to be Josh Allen or Ben Roethlisberger. But I see a lot of similarities with the way both those guys play and how Cam Ward plays as well. And I think Cam Ward could be a good quarterback in this league. I don't know if he'll be a Hall of Famer.

I don't know if he's going to be great. But you look at both Shadore Sanders and Cam Ward, who I don't think are generational talents. If you look at last year's draft class, right, Caleb Williams went one last year, he would have gone one this year. If Jayden Daniels was in this draft class, he would go one before Cam Ward and Shadore Sanders. If Drake May was in this draft class, I think he would go one, you know, before Cam Ward and Shadore Sanders. Let's talk about first quarterbacks off the board, not necessarily with the first overall pick. And you look at the other three guys that went in the first round last year.

I wonder what the answers would be with Boonix. I wonder what the answers would be with Michael Pennix Jr. and then J.J. McCarthy. I'm going to say, and tell me if you agree or disagree here, Stu, I'm going to say that J.J. McCarthy wouldn't be the first quarterback off the board if he was in this year's draft class. Do you agree or disagree with that? I would agree with that. I think Michael Pennix Jr., even with the injury history, would be.

I think Michael Pennix Jr. would be the first quarterback taken if he played in this year's draft, or if he was in this year's draft class. Your thoughts on that? I'm just judging by your reaction.

Stu did the whole, ugh, I don't know. I'm going to say that you don't believe that's the case. I think he would not. I think he would go third still. Okay. Boonix.

Now, it's easy to look back at it now, but when Boonix is coming out of college, I don't think any of us thought he was going to be the 12th overall pick of the year. Yeah, I'd say no. No to him as well. Okay. So you would think that if you put all, if you put Chador and also Cam Ward in last year's draft class, you would think only three guys would go in front of them. And those three guys would obviously be, right, I'm assuming you agree with Jayden Daniels, Drake Bay, and Caleb Bowles.

Yeah, definitely those three. Okay. So the one that we really disagree about is Michael Pennix Jr., and I think it's up for discussion. Debatable. That one's very close. Yeah.

No, you're definitely splitting hairs with those guys. So that's a few things on Cam Ward. Now, I did see Daniel Jeremiah's latest mock draft. Stu, have you been stalking these mock drafts? Now, I'm new into my team being in the outhouse and not in the penthouse, and I've always, I'm a nerd for mock drafts, but this year and the last two years really more than ever, because I'm curious how they're going to lay the way until we get to four for the Patriots and when a lot of these big experts and all these mock drafts prognosticators are predicted. Did you see the Daniel Jeremiah latest mock draft? I have not seen this one yet.

Okay. So this is Daniel Jeremiah 2.0. This is second mock draft. First pick, let me just ask you, do you think it's a quarterback or do you think it's either Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter? I think it's a non-quarterback.

You are correct. It is Abdul Carter out of Penn State. Second pick, do you think the Browns take a quarterback or do they go with Travis Hunter or do they trade the pick? I think they go quarterback.

You would be correct. It's Cam Ward. The Giants at three, Shadore Sanders is available. Do you think they take Shadore Sanders? I do.

They do not. Wow. Travis Hunter is the pick here, and Daniel Jeremiah says the Giants do their best to make up for letting Saquon Barkley walk in for agency last year by adding the dynamic two-way playmaker in Travis Hunter. Alrighty. Patriots in at four. Now this would be a scenario that I would not be happy about. And maybe in this case, I would say trade down because you still have Shadore Sanders there. He's starting to fall. Maybe a team's trying to come up and go get a quarterback. I'd be fine if I don't know, maybe the Raiders or the Jets call and they want Shadore Sanders. Well, Daniel Jeremiah has the Patriots taking Will Campbell out of LSU, the offensive tackle. He has the Jaguars taking Mason Graham, the defensive tackle out of Michigan, who I think is going to be a stud. And then he has the Raiders taking Shadore Sanders in at six. Wow. Do you think Shadore's going to fall to six?

I do not. I think he will be gone by four. Here's what I think is going to happen. I do believe Cam Ward is going to be the first quarterback taken. It's either going to be Tennessee or Cleveland or if Tennessee doesn't take a quarterback, I could see Cleveland trading the pick.

Right? I think either Tennessee or Cleveland will take Cam Ward. If Tennessee doesn't take Cam Ward, I could see Cleveland taking Cam Ward or I could see them trading the pick and just recouping a lot of those draft picks. The more and more I think about this, and I would not have said this probably last week, I think Cam Ward's going number one overall to Tennessee. I could see them taking Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter, but I kind of feel like they're still going to go quarterback. It's so tough to pass up on a quarterback when you have the number one overall pick and you have an offensive mind to head coach. But also remember you have a new GM coming in, Borgonzi, he's not necessarily tied to that new head coach.

So that's a fascinating dynamic. But right now you put a gun to my head, I'm going to say, and I don't feel good about this by the way, I'm going to say Cam Ward's the number one overall pick. Then at two, I really want Abdul Carter to be there at four for the Patriots. But with the Miles Garrett rumors, if Abdul Carter's there at two and Miles Garrett wants out, don't you just take Abdul Carter, you get your pass rusher, and you hope he could be similar to Miles Garrett or something along those lines, right?

That's your pass rusher. And then you trade Miles Garrett and you get a king's ransom back for him. So right now I'd say Cam Ward goes one, Abdul Carter goes two. I think the Giants are going to take Shadore Sanders.

And then the Patriots sitting at four. I would want, as a football fan, them to take Travis Hunter. I would hope they would take Travis Hunter in that spot. And you would have Christian Gonzalez and Travis Hunter being your two corners. What I really want is them to get Abdul Carter, right?

With Barrymore and you got Keyon White, it would be nice to have Abdul Carter. But it wouldn't shock me to end up passing on Travis Hunter and taking an offensive lineman here. So the way that I see the first five picks of the draft going right now, I would say Cam Ward one. I would then say Abdul Carter two, Shadore Sanders three. I'm going to say Travis Hunter four.

And then in at five, the Jaguars there become fascinating. Do you take a tackle? Do you take a defensive lineman?

I would then say that they try to give Trevor Lawrence some help there. And I'll say they end up taking Will Campbell. So those would be my first five picks of the draft right now, if I had to take a look at it. Now, just to give you Daniel Jeremiah's mock draft, just I'll do the first ten picks.

I already gave you six of them. Abdul Carter one to Tennessee, according to Daniel Jeremiah. Cam Ward two to Cleveland. Giants taking Travis Hunter third. Will Campbell going fourth to the Patriots. Mason Graham going fifth to the Jaguars. Shadore Sanders going sixth to the Raiders. And Daniel Jeremiah said, I wouldn't be shocked if the Raiders decide to wait until day two of the draft to address the QB position.

But I do see Sanders is a good fit in the Chip Kelly offense. Then here about at number seven, two Penn State players in the top ten. I remember right when Brock Bowers getting drafted, I said the Jets should have taken him.

I think they were at ten. They traded back one spot and you had the Vikings coming up. Well, a year later they would go with the tight end. That's Tyler Warren out of Penn State. Jalen Walker out of Georgia, the edge rusher. He's going to Carolina at eight, according to Daniel Jeremiah. Mike Green from Marshall, the edge rusher, going to the Saints. And then at number ten, offensive tackle out of Texas, Kelvin Banks. So those are the top ten picks right now of the draft. And I'll just give you one last note here.

I'll give you two notes. I want to see if he goes any more quarterbacks. Also, Niners in at eleven. He has then taken Will Johnson, the cornerback. Imagine if Will Johnson, who was thought, I know he didn't play a lot this year, to be a top five pick.

If he falls and the Niners end up being able to snag him at eleven, that would be something. Now, is there another quarterback in Daniel Jeremiah's second mock draft? Kenneth Grant, sixteenth to the Cardinals, he's very good. Is there another quarterback?

McMillan. Wow, the wide receiver out of Arizona hasn't fallen all the way to nineteen to Tampa Bay. Ashton Gente, twenty-one to Pittsburgh. Omari and Hampton, twenty-two to the Chargers. It wouldn't shock me if Hampton goes before Gente in this draft.

It would not. Oh, he has Travion Hampton. Three running backs in the first round. Twenty-four to the Vikings. Ibuka to the Texans at twenty-five. And does he have another quarterback?

He does not. So, two quarterbacks. And I think that's the right analysis of this draft so far. Alrighty, Zach Gelb's show, Infinity Sports Network. We'll take a break. We'll come on back. We'll do a little overreaction, proper reaction. Update time first.

Here's Zach. Another NFL week is complete, which means it's another week to freak out about your favorite team. Which tanks are truly crazy. But sometimes a game can be so bad, it's almost good. You know what I'm saying?

And which are so crazy, they might be right. He's six-five. He's two hundred and forty-five pounds.

He's probably a Popeye's biscuit away from being a tight end. Zach lets you know in this week's edition of Overreaction or Proper Reaction. This portion of the show is brought to you by Ethos Life. The easy way to get life insurance in ten minutes. Up to two million dollars in coverage with no medical exam. Just a few health questions. Get your free quote at checkethos.com.

Not available in all states. Alrighty, Stupak. What do we got cooking today?

Alright, Zach. So the Bengals, they had the oddest trifecta over last year with Joe Burrow leading the NFL in passing. Jamar Chase leading in receiving yards and Trey Hendrickson leading in sacks.

All while the team missed the playoffs. Now reports say that the team is going to franchise tag T Higgins and hope to get a long-term deal done with him, Chase and Hendrickson. So overreaction or proper reaction, the Bengals will extend both Chase and Higgins this offseason. I think they will extend Chase. Higgins is the holdup. But I think they'll get a deal done.

And here's why. Joe Burrow is the most powerful person in that organization. And Joe Burrow is sitting there saying, look at Philly.

Look at the team they built. They got AJ Brown and Devonta Smith already paid. Why can't we find a way to figure out how to pay not only Jamar Chase but also T Higgins.

So I think that push by Joe Burrow is what's going to make sure, you knew that Chase wasn't going anywhere, but it makes sure that Higgins is going to be back as well. So I'm going to go proper reaction there that the Bengals will extend both Chase and Higgins this offseason. The Tennessee Titans have the first pick and need a quarterback in a bad way. But new GM Mike Borgonzi has made it clear the team won't pass on a generational talent, leading many to believe they'll go with either Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter first overall. Now at the Senior Bowl ESPN polled other executives with 63 percent of them saying that they believe that the Titans will trade the first pick overreaction or proper reaction. The Titans will pass on a quarterback with the number one pick. I kind of didn't even like I thought about the possibility of trading it. But I'm still going to say that Tennessee ends up taking Cam Ward to pass up on a quarterback when you had the number one overall pick.

It's tough now. Borgonzi could kind of look at what the Bears did. Right. They passed on taking a quarterback. They traded the pick to Carolina and then Carolina gave them a king's ransom and they ended up getting their guy a year later with Caleb Williams and had other picks too. So it is possible to do so.

And right. We saw years ago it was Tennessee who passed up on a quarterback when Jared Goff and the Rams did go one. There was a trade there. So we've seen trades before. But I still just feel like Tennessee.

There's some smoke here. Maybe ends up being wrong. I think they're going to take Cam Ward. So I'm going to go overreaction there when you say the Titans will pass on a QB with the number one pick. Travis Hunter won the Heisman Trophy thanks to his incredible feat of playing both receiver and cornerback, though many don't consider him the best in the country at either position. Now reports say that Hunter will enter the combine as a defensive back. Overreaction or proper reaction, Travis Hunter is the best defensive player in this draft.

So two things. One, how I think Travis Hunter will be used and then two, I'll answer the question. I think he's going to be mainly defensive back, primarily defensive back. And then there's going to be packages for him throughout the game where he could be in the backfield running the ball or, you know, being as a wide receiver. But I think the majority of his snaps, like it's been said, is going to be at the defensive back position. But the way you worded the question is Travis Hunter is the best defensive player in the draft. I think that's an overreaction. The best defensive player in the draft is Abdul Carter out of Penn State.

And not only is he the best defensive player in the draft, I think he is the best player, period, in the draft. Stop, Warren Sapp, cry. Stop, Warren Sapp, wah. Stop.

Alrighty. Abdul Carter, best defensive player in the draft. Love Travis Hunter, but I give the slight edge to Abdul Carter over Travis Hunter.

So when you ask me, Travis Hunter is the best defensive player in the draft, I will go overreaction. Miles, Garrett has made it clear that he wants out of Cleveland and even told us at Radio Row that the Eagles would be an intriguing option. The Eagles have been out in full force.

I've heard a good amount from Detroit and the commanders have spoken up a couple times as well. And the Eagles, right? They're in the big game.

Yeah. Howie Roseman's always reeling and dealing. You could see yourself eating some cheesesteaks and winning a championship in the city of Bradley Love. I mean, we went there for a preseason and definitely got me a cheesesteak. It lived up to my hopes. I'm not going to stay too attached to any one team at this point.

I know my fate really is in my hands, but it would be a hell of a destination. However, longtime Browns reporter Mary Kay Cabot says that this drama could last into the season, reporting, quote, I believe the Browns are prepared to exercise patience and let this play out as long as possible. If that means Garrett sits out some games. So be it with Browns GM Andrew Berry telling us at the Senior Bowl that he wouldn't even take two first round picks.

He's ready to dig in his heels and stick to his guns. End of quote. Overreaction or proper reaction, Miles Garrett will be traded before the draft. So Stu, you have dealt with an incompetent organization for the majority of your life. Yes.

So I kind of view you as the expert here. The player wants out now, just because the player wants out doesn't mean you have to treat him. But Miles Garrett has done so much for your franchise. Miles Garrett is one of the best defensive players in the league. If it's not him, it's T.J. Watt. Right. Very open conversation about that.

You can't go wrong with either. Those are the two best defensive players in the league, though. It's T.J. Watt and it's Miles Garrett consistently year in and year out with now Aaron Donald obviously being retired. So Miles Garrett is getting up there in age and he wants to go win a championship. Now, Miles Garrett is 29, so he's still young, but he's getting up there in age. And not like he's 33. So you can still get a king's ransom back for Miles Garrett and your organization right now has no direction.

And here's the thing. Miles Garrett only has two years left in his contract. So if you want to play these games and you don't trade him, I know you can then slap the tag on him, but let's be real. Is Andrew Berry still the GM here three, four years from now?

Probably not. But there's two years left. You got a player who's still, he's not incredibly young, but he's young enough. And you know that bare minimum, you definitely got a first round, but I think you get two first round picks. If we're being honest for Miles Garrett. So why wouldn't you, Stu? When you're the Browns, you don't got a quarterback, your team's not good, you got Miles Garrett, he's great, but he wants out. Why wouldn't you trade him now and get a ton of picks back for him?

Like, that's my question. Why wouldn't the Browns, knowing that they're nowhere close, why wouldn't they just meet that demand? And also, why wouldn't you meet that demand by the draft so you at least know where one, if you get two first round picks, let's say. You at least know where one of those first round picks are. You could make a trade, I'm just gonna throw the Jets out there, for example. I don't think the Jets are gonna go get Miles Garrett. But you know the Jets had the seventh overall pick in the draft. Why would you wait till after the draft, still potentially get two first round picks, maybe make a deal with the team that is better than what they were the year before, and then you could screw yourself right there. So that doesn't really make sense to me here, Stu. It doesn't because he's only gonna lose value and then, yeah, it's just do it now because this isn't gonna end well. It's not even like they're close to being a contender, right?

Like, they're so far away. The only thing I could gather, and why they would maybe wait till afterwards, and this is the part where when we talk to Miles Garrett, I believe he's actually looking to go win a championship. Some guys say it and then they talk themselves into a place they know can't win that they can win. Maybe it's because the Browns go, okay, if we're going to trade him, we'll actually send him to a championship contender. So the Eagles, the Chiefs, the Commanders, the Bills, right, the Lions, they're all picking late in the draft anyway. So maybe trading the pick, now I'm arguing with myself, maybe trading the pick before the draft doesn't really matter, but Miles Garrett will be trading before the draft.

I'm gonna alter this question. Will he be traded by the end of the first round? I think that's the fair way to do it, and I still think so.

I think you play hardball now and eventually you'll trade him because it doesn't really help, it doesn't behoove you to keep on holding on from him because it's not as if he's gonna go back on his word, in my opinion. So Miles Garrett will be traded before the end of the first round of the draft. I'll go proper reaction then. Alright, last one here. There are seven new coaches hired this offseason, with the Cowboys being the only team that had more than five wins. The Jets, Jags, Bears, Saints, Raiders, and Pats all had four or five wins, though many had the Jets, Jags, and Bears as playoff teams before the season.

So overreaction or proper reaction, the Cowboys, with Brian Schonheimer, has the best shot of all the new coaches to make the playoffs in 2025. So the Jets, I don't know who their quarterback is right now, so that's tough to say they'll make the playoffs. The Jaguars have a shot.

The Bears have a shot. The Saints do not. The Raiders do not. The Pats do not. And then you got the Cowboys. So I'm picking between the Cowboys, Jags, and Bears. Now the Bears have a tough division. Can the Jaguars put it together? I don't know, Liam Cohen after Duvall.

That kind of scares me. It's wild, even though I thought the Schottenheimer hire was the worst one. You got Dak Prescott, you got Micah Parsons, you got CeeDee Lamb. Yeah, they could be a wildcard team. They could make the postseason. They won't win the division, but they could make the postseason. The Cowboys, with Brian Schottenheimer, has the best shot out of all the new coaches to make the playoffs in 2025. Can't believe I'm saying that. But yeah, proper reaction.

Alrighty, well come on back. We'll get back into this college football playoff expansion. Also, more speculation on Matthew Stafford. More to come in 5 minutes at Kelp Show Infinity Sports Network.