Who is the 49ers Quarterback in 2023? (Hour 3)

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For home home solutions that fit your life well, Rocket can. It is hour number 3 of the Zach Gelb show on a football Friday on CBS Sports Radio. Let's head out to the guest line right now. Welcome in one of the greatest NFL writers of all time. Football morning in America.

You could also always catch him on NBC and that is Peter King. Peter, I know it's been a while. Appreciate the time as always. How you been? Hi Zach, everything is going okay. Thank you. How about you?

I've been fantastic. Last night we all saw the news Christian McCaffrey traded from the Carolina Panthers to the San Francisco 49ers when you first got wind of it and had a second to process it. Take me through your thoughts on the move. I thought San Francisco paid a lot for it in the deal in giving four picks. But honestly, I thought that this would cost basically about a two because Christian McCaffrey obviously when healthy is an excellent player. But he's missed so much time the last two years that even though he's only 26 years old, I don't know how you trade for him and think that you're going to get a guy who's going to play 16, 17 games every year. But I think the other side of this is that San Francisco is only paying $690,000 for him this year and next year the big money kicks in, $11.8 million. I'm not sure I would want to pay him even that much. I'd rather put some of that in incentives, but who knows whether McCaffrey will be willing to redo the contract. We'll see. But in essence for now, the 49ers have a good weapon, an explosive player in the backfield who if he stays healthy will be a huge asset to them.

And that's the big thing. If he stays healthy, Peter King, and no one knows the answer to that. Before this year, the last two years, he's only played in 10 games. When you look at this NFC West though, it's wide open. The NFC other than Philadelphia is really wide open. Do you kind of now give the edge to the 49ers to win the NFC West after this move? I gave the edge to the 49ers before this move. The only issue that I have with the Niners basically is that this past week in Atlanta, they had 11 starters on injured reserve and they had four players, starters, who were hurt to the point where they couldn't play in the game, including Nick Bosa. So, the 49ers annually basically have some of the biggest injury problems in the NFL and it's no exception this year. But I think when I look at the rest of the division, I don't trust the Rams. I like Seattle, but you've really got to depend on a lot of young sort of unproven players in Seattle and who knows, maybe they'll keep it up.

I don't like Arizona. I think that their defense is going to let them down and I'm just not convinced that that was kind of a flukey game last night with the two pick sixes at the end of the first half. So, you know, we'll see what happens.

But I do think the 49ers are the best team in the division. If the Cardinals miss the playoffs, and I know they just extended Cliff Kingsbury through 2027, is he going to lose his job or will he be back next year because of the recent extension? I think it depends on how the season goes. If they play competitively and go 9-8 and they have some big wins, they're not going to fire them. But if they have a debacle of a year and finish 6-11 and Kyler Murray regresses, I would think that Michael Bidwill will bite the bullet and probably get rid of them. But again, that's something that you just have to wait and see what happens the rest of this year.

Peter King here with us. Getting back to the McCaffrey deal, when I was looking at it from all angles last night, I started to think about 2023 because that roster, it's loaded and there's a big quarterback decision coming. Jimmy G is a free agent. Trey Lance is going to be coming back from injury. And the name Tom Brady just crept into my mind. Is there any chance Brady finally gets to go to the Bay Area and play for the 49ers this offseason?

I don't see any way that happens. I mean, look, the 49ers have basically gone all in with Trey Lance. And unless there are some significant issues, health issues with Trey Lance this year are coming into next year. He's playing quarterback for them next year, period. They're not going to fart around with Tom Brady.

I can't imagine it. And look, there is an X factor in this that we can't predict right now, and that is the health of Trey Lance. He's a mobile guy and he's got to have some legs.

He's got to have the use of his legs going forward. So we don't know that for sure right now, but I would be shocked. I mean, the time to go in on Brady for the 49ers was two and a half years ago. It's not going to be next year when he's 46. And look, I don't know what the rest of this year is going to bring Brady, but I can't imagine that the 49ers would cast their lot with him next year. We'll see, but I just can't see it. I know right now a lot of it's unpredictable, but do you feel like this is Brady's final season or does he have another year, two, three, who knows at this point, right? You know, I just don't know. I think that we can all guess and say, oh, there's no way he's going to play again. And if I had to absolutely throw a dart at the wall, that's what I'd say, but I don't have any insight knowledge of that at all. And I would doubt knowing Brady that he's absolutely made that decision now either.

So that would be my guess, but I truly don't know. Talking to Peter King, when it gets to Odell Beckham, it's kind of crazy the difference a year makes. We saw what he did last year, unfortunately gets hurt in the Super Bowl, did score a touchdown. This market you got to think is going to eventually heat up and there's got to be a lot of teams interested in maybe bringing in Odell, right?

You know, you would think so. And we'll see what happens. But most of the teams that I think would logically want to pay to bring in Odell Beckham Jr. I mean, let's say if the Packers can rebound, okay? They've got over $6 million of cap space and they're in good cap shape next year. I think it's logical to think that the Rams would still be interested if somehow they can stay in the pennant race.

Kansas City has some new cap room because of redoing Travis Kelcey's contract. But again, teams, if they really want him on their team, can find a way to make it work. My only issue with Beckham is that, look, this is a guy who, let's say you sign Odell Beckham Jr. around Thanksgiving, okay? And then you expect him to play in say the middle of December, okay?

Just remember one thing. He's only going to be 10 months removed from having major knee surgery. So how can you really count on Odell Beckham Jr. being a huge factor in the pennant race this year? I mean, somebody's going to sign him and somebody's going to try. But look at all of the players right now.

Look at JK Dobbins right now, okay? Now, every knee injury is different. But JK Dobbins, you know, 12 months after having ACL surgery, basically wasn't ready to start the season. He played, I don't know, maybe three games and now today he's having more surgery on the knee. So, and again, every injury is different. But I don't know how today, right now, you can say, let's go sign Odell Beckham Jr. and he's going to be a huge factor for us like week 17, week 18 in the playoffs. I mean, Parcells used to say, they don't sell insurance for that stuff and I don't think they do in this case. That's why I think Buffalo would be a perfect fit.

Like, you don't have to ask him to do too much and it makes sense for both parties. Now, it's not going to be Odell being a number one wide receiver because you got Diggs and you got Gabe Davis there, but you have the Von Miller connection. There's been a lot of talk there. I kind of like Buffalo for Odell. Well, consider this. I looked that up last weekend when Von Miller, I was in Kansas City for that game and Von Miller said he really wants to, he really wants the bills to sign Odell.

He thinks it would be a great fit for two months or whatever it would be. So, I looked at it and the Buffalo Bills have the third smallest cap space in the league this year right now. They are negative on the cap for 2023.

Of course, you can redo contracts. I get it. But the Bills have a lot of people they need to pay and I'm not sure they think they're going to need Odell Beckham Jr. We'll see, obviously. I just, for some reason, I tend to think that a team like Kansas City, which might need a little bit more explosiveness outside, would be a better candidate for them, but we'll see. Wrapping up with Peter King, the NFC East has become really compelling. I think they're going to get three teams in the playoffs this year. Eagles are 6-0, Cowboys are 4-2. That was kind of expected that both those teams would be competing for the NFC East, but the Giants have come out of nowhere. Are you buying this playoff push, especially with how the schedule shapes out for the Giants already at 5-1? Well, obviously, the Giants sandwiched their buy around Jacksonville, Seattle, Houston, and Detroit. Now, Jacksonville could beat them this weekend. Seattle definitely could beat them next weekend, but they've got Houston and Detroit at home and I'd be surprised if they don't win those two. But look, I think the way that you look at it if you're the Giants, defense travels.

Everybody said, oh my God, Daniel Jones, how is this happening? They're winning with their defense. You saw last week against Lamar Jackson where Kayvon Thibodeau made a great play at the end of the game to really ice that game. The bigger thing in that game, I think, is they continue to get incredible play from that defensive front. They don't make it easy for any offense to breathe, so they're going to be in a lot of games. I don't know necessarily that they're going to be good enough on offense to make big plays in fourth quarters of big games.

We'll see, but I think Philadelphia is clearly, without question, the class of that division. Two more with Peter King before we let him run. You've seen a lot of football. You've covered this game for a long time, Peter. The first six weeks so far of Nathaniel Hackett and Russell Wilson has just been a disaster.

What's your read and your observations on it so far? Well, first of all, Russell Wilson now has hamstring issues, so this is probably a moot point. It was a major mistake for Denver Broncos and Russell Wilson to not incorporate running into his game. That was one of the things that always made him great in Seattle. Yet, in the first five weeks of this season, other than three kneel-downs, he only ran it 14 times. Almost every one of those was when he's pushed out of the pocket by pressure from a pass rush.

That was a big mistake to make him just a pocket passer. That's number one. I think number two is I don't like how Nathaniel Hackett has not had answers for new ways to make that offense go.

What have you seen? Mike Kafka in New York with the Giants has done some really smart, imaginative things. From the Wildcat with Saquon Barkley, which was kind of necessity being the mother of invention there, but they've done a lot of imaginative things with the Giants. I've not seen anything really imaginative with Denver, and that falls on Hackett. Especially with Russell Wilson now being hobbled with a hamstring, I don't see how they're going to get out of this.

I really don't. It feels like Hackett's going to be one and done. The question just becomes that you get rid of him in season. Sean Paden is always going to be a big name in this coaching carousel. Is Denver, to you, still an attractive job with the way that the roster is currently constructed, or does Sean maybe look elsewhere this offseason? Well, I mean, what job is going to be open? Carolina's going to be open, and you have to ask yourself, okay, telling Sean Paden that you can pick. Because, hey, look, the season ends today, and they're already going through the tanking business. If the season ended today, they got the first pick in the draft. That is, imagine being able to say to Sean Paden, this is an above average year for college quarterbacks coming out in the draft. You can pick anyone you want.

That's your guy. That is an attractive way to look at it. But, look, if Russell Wilson continues down this path this year, that's not an attractive job.

What would make that an attractive job? They're in a terrible division, I mean, a very competitive division, rather, and the quarterback might be finished. So, I don't know. Paden would have to think, I can fix Russell Wilson, and maybe he does. And then, you know, you just don't know what's going to happen with other teams the rest of the year. Who has a really good quarterback?

Are the Chargers going to implode? We just don't know. So, not knowing what jobs are going to be open, and not knowing for sure that Paden would come out this year anyway, I think it's a little early to tell. Peter King, always great to catch up with you. Thanks so much for the time. You be well. Okay, thanks. There you go. Peter King joining us on the Zach Gelb show.

You can think of O'Reilly Auto Parts while your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Got a few things that I want to react to from that conversation. Did the Carolina Panthers get back too much for one Christian McCaffrey? The Brady conversation as well. And then that Broncos job. Is it attractive?

After six games of Russell Wilson not playing well, is that job now unattractive? We discuss next. Hey, I'm Thamy Redwood, host of the podcast Beyond Black History Month. Here's reason number 568 million of why you should be listening. From in-depth reporting on the shortage of black sperm to how one house of the dragon star is dealing with online trolls who don't love seeing black dragon riders.

I can't lose sleep over that over worrying about things that are beyond my control. Listen and subscribe to Beyond Black History Month on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Thamy Redwood, host of the podcast Beyond Black History Month. Here's reason number 568 million of why you should be listening. From in-depth reporting on the shortage of black sperm to how one house of the dragon star is dealing with online trolls who don't love seeing black dragon riders.

I can't lose sleep over that over worrying about things that are beyond my control. Listen and subscribe to Beyond Black History Month on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Thamy Redwood, host of the podcast Beyond Black History Month. Here's reason number 568 million of why you should be listening. From in-depth reporting on the shortage of black sperm to how one house of the dragon star is dealing with online trolls who don't love seeing black dragon riders.

I can't lose sleep over that over worrying about things that are beyond my control. Listen and subscribe to Beyond Black History Month on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. The Zach Gelb show is on the air across the nation on CBS Sports Radio. Here's Zach Gelb. I'm kind of stunned. I almost just had a heart attack during the break. So you know the college football writer Pete Thamel, you know, who now works at ESPN, I think was at Yahoo for all those years. So on my timeline, I see and I probably shouldn't be talking about this because then people are going to think I got got on the air.

I just saw it during the break and like my heart attack had a heart palpitation for five minutes because I was just like, Yo, this has been up since 730 p.m. Eastern. If that's the case, we haven't talked about it. That's pretty big. So let me just full disclosure. This is not true. But there is a verified account and it's called Grace and Tony.

Now, I Googled Grace and Tony and it's supposedly a musical duo in Tennessee. So that's probably why. Now, this has been retweeted by a few people in the media, Connor. And the tweet says now they change a profile picture to Pete. They have his name and it's a verified account. So you just see Pete's name, blue checkmark and his photo, right?

You think that's a legit account. And this is the tweet source. Nick Saban has informed his team that this will be his final season at Alabama. He will finish the season with the team. Saban will finish his career with seven total national championships. More to come as details are made available. Once again, fake tweet, fake tweet, fake tweet.

But Grace and Tony, who I guess this musical group from Tennessee from a quick Google search. Change their name, still have their verification because they change their name, not their their handle. So that's how you don't lose the blue verification.

And that was the trolling that they go on. See, that's really easy to fall for because the first thing I see whenever I see like a really explosive big news tweet is I always just check to see if it's a verified account because you often will fall for like the fake ESPN account or the fake Woj account. But once you see the verified checkmark, you rarely then go to the handle and say, well, that's not actually Pete Thamel.

So that's like actually a genius way to troll people is if you already are verified and you want to do it, you probably could get away with it. I think Chris Jones, Chris Long, the former football player who's with the Eagles and the Patriots and the Rams. Whenever there's an airline issue, like a player's bitching about the airline or media member bitching about the airline, he makes his account like Delta and like responds back to the player. Or let's say the media member, like, shut up, like no one cares about you.

We don't either. Everyone's like, oh, wow, it's Delta. It's American Airlines.

And it's actually not. So the person that retweeted it, I slid into their DMs because it's someone I respect and like and don't want to see them make a fool out of themselves. And I go, yo, you know, that's a fake tweet, right? And he goes, yeah, I know, but fun to get fans going like, what are we doing here?

Why would you retweet that nonsense, that garbage? And then someone sees it and they're like, oh, wow, maybe that's a move that went down. Now, do you think that that person that, you know, said that just to save face and they actually did get tricked and they want to act now like they thought it was just a big joke and it was fun? I'm not going to say zero percent, but I think this is a honest, trustworthy, well, I used to think noble person, all things I used to think. So maybe my read was wrong.

I would say that they did not. Like, this is not them trying to justify and backtrack now. But that's a I guess a it's a good prank, but geez, and I'm not going to lie when I saw this tweet and it took me about like it wasn't actually five took me like 30 seconds to realize it wasn't real. But as my heart was beating out of my chest, I love you, Connor.

Like, Connor, you are one of the more well respected people here at CBS Sports Radio. But my first thought was, how is Connor Green producing this extravaganza and not know about this story until I go, oh, it's not actually a story. Big break for me.

Big break that it was not a real story. I'm like, this thing's been up since 730. You know, I know we had Quinnen Williams on. I know we just had Peter King on. We did another segment in between. I'm like, is Connor plugged in?

Is he giving me one hundred and ten percent tonight? And then I go, oh, it's this Grace and Tony musical group. So got a big break. Yeah. And Grace and Tony have like three thousand followers.

I know nothing about them. I bet you their followers are are going to definitely go up after this. Or there's going to be a lot of fans in Alabama or a lot of people in Alabama that are going to be tweeting them both. Some mean, nasty things coming up tonight.

So how about that? Now, I wonder, since this is not a true story, if you just immediately search Nick Saban, if like people are seeing this all over the place and it really isn't coming up that much. It's just it's crazy how something that isn't really going viral because it's not true ends up on on your timeline.

So there you go. How many things been up since 730? Now, this account only has three thousand followers. How many likes do you think this has, Connor? I would say in an hour that probably has around five thousand likes. Not as many as you think. Four hundred and fifty. And then there are four hundred quote tweets.

So this is starting to be a little game that's starting to catch up slowly. And the quote tweets, I'm sure are all like, I can't believe Nick Saban stepping down. Unbelievable. Breaking news. One is Saints next head coach.

And other wait, he just signed an extension expert level troll job. So how about that act? Did you see this fake Nick Saban tweet?

I did not. So Pete Thamel, who's a great college football writer, as you know, as good as they come. There is a account by this musical group, Grace and Tony, that is verified. Now, they didn't change the at Grace and Tony.

They just changed the name and they put the profile picture of Pete with his name. And they put a tweet out there, which is not true. But we saw it during the break that Nick Saban has informed the team. This is going to be his final season at Alabama. He will finish the season with the team.

Saban will finish his career with seven total national championships. More details to come as made available. So that was the fake tweet out there.

And this is a musical group from Tennessee. There you go. Good little troll job, right?

Not bad. Now, have you ever had a situation in your career? Yes. I'm sure it's happened where you see something like that and then you go on the air with it in the immediacy. I was doing eye on football and I don't use that show. Yeah. They moved on to much better things.

They hired a real pain in the ass right now to do that show. So and I don't remember what college it was, but it made no sense. And I maybe it was Miami. I don't remember. But they put there was somebody who use Schefter's. I have a target. Yeah, whatever.

And profile picture. And I didn't realize I didn't look for the blue check and I'm like, boy. And I just kind of opined on the air. I was like, I see this on on Twitter. So and so got fired. I'm like, this makes no sense. And then like two minutes later, maybe it was Tom Benedetto was producing at the time. Somebody said to me, no, it's a fake account.

You could then there's no blue check. I'm like, oh, you know, there you go. It's kind of a Twitter novice. And, you know, nor do I really. But, you know, you look at it, it looks it looked like the real deal.

And, you know, it wasn't. Now, you've been in this business for a long time. Yes.

Like there used to be old. Yeah. Well, you said it, not me.

I just say you've been in this business a long time. Yeah. But here's the thing. Like when you were in when it was like the early excuse me, the 90s, the early 2000s, there was no Twitter.

So when you had a. Yeah. You would just get notes to the station of hate notes, not just directly to your Twitter account. But you guys would get stories and then there would be like a vetting process before you could actually report it. Yeah. Now, since the reporting platform is on Twitter. Yeah.

This happens all the time where people get fooled by things. Absolutely. We you know, you used to have to have a second source.

That was a big thing. Not anymore. Yeah.

Now, some of the sources just come from direct messages like that. Hack Ben Volin in Boston. Poor guy. No, he's not a nice guy.

No, no, no. Jerk. Jerk. All right. Once one wanted to charge me to do a college radio interview.

That's not nice. Yeah. And he found out, well, I said, you want to come on WHP in Philadelphia? It's a college radio station. He goes, he goes, WIP. Yeah, we'd love to. I go, no, no, no. We're not the professional station where the college station is willing to come on the professional station.

Once it's at the college station. Direct words. Don't want to be a jerk. But but I'm going to be a jerk. You would have to pay me for me to come on. If you could pay, I would be glad to do it. I'm like, yeah, I'm just trying to get like 10 bucks on a Saturday night.

I get a pizza, a beer and you want me to pay you to come on a radio station. So when someone slid into his D.N. with the story this week and he goes on a radio station, we call that a little Zach Gelb show karma.

And now I'm happy that the troll Ben Volin got trolled himself anyway. So, yeah, there used to be like a big process to get stories on the like. My dad has told me numerous stories that he had ready to break. And since he didn't have a third source or sometimes they didn't trust him, he couldn't break the stories. Where now you just go right to Twitter, you put something out there and it's a rush to be first where it's not always right. I had I had a story once about a little more than 15 years ago and I knew this was was a lock.

But we were working for a second source and we couldn't get one. And then the AP broke the story. Do you remember the story? Yeah. Mike Jarvis getting fired at St. John's. Oh, OK. You know, there's a New York sports story.

I think has the inside track on it. Most of the time. I mean, I knew it was a lock, but, you know, you wanted to be responsible about it. Yeah. Guy, you know, it's a guy's life. And, you know, you want your you want your listeners listeners to have trust in you.

So that's important. Now, real quickly, getting back to our conversation with Peter King, just three quick notes. The forty niners, he thought they gave up too much for Christian McCaffrey, a two or three or four and a five. I never thought they were going to get a one. I thought, like Peter said last week, that may be a two and a four.

So I would agree. I did not think they were going to have to give up that much to go get Christian McCaffrey. He's a really good back, but he can't stay healthy.

And he played 10 games the last two years prior to this season. Clearly, the 49ers have already been saying, F those picks, say it once again. And the NFC is wide open so we could see if they'll go make a run this year. The Broncos, I thought it was very intriguing after six games. And I agree with Peter because I didn't think that organization was as great as what people thought when Russ went there. And I did think the Broncos won the trade. And that so far is not looking like the case.

But I thought the roster, especially the offensive side of the ball, was overrated. And Peter King, he said that job, if it becomes available, what you expect it does with Nathaniel Hackett eventually getting fired. He doesn't think that job is that attractive because Russ is a major question mark right now. We don't know how much good football Russell Wilson has left. And now you're going to have Javonte Williams coming off a leg injury. Melvin Gordon is fumbling the football left and right. Not going to be a big time player there for the long term.

And who knows how many more years he has left in the league. Offensive line concerns. And the wide receivers, Patrick Hurt, Sudden's good.

But Jerry Jeudy has been a bust so far in his young NFL career. And then finally, I threw out the idea because Brady has always wanted to go to the 49ers in recent years. I threw out the idea about the possibility of maybe Brady leaving the Bucs this offseason and going to the 49ers. You make Trey Lance wait another year. He doesn't even think they will flirt and mess around with Tom Brady. And he believes that next year it's going to be Trey Lance at the quarterback spot.

But that's where my brain went. Once it was, wow, the trade happened. React Panthers side. Alright, they recouped some pieces from the draft. Okay, 49ers get another big weapon.

I go, how can this get funky next year? Everyone's talking about Garoppolo, probably going to be free agent and leave. Trey Lance probably going to get his job back. That roster looks really damn good now on the offensive side of the ball.

And you know what they can do on defense with Run CMC, Kittle, Ayuk, Debo. And now you think to yourself, maybe Brady wants to go back home and go there. I'm sure Brady would love to go there. But when you have a young quarterback like Trey Lance and you move up all those picks to go get him.

I think you owe it to him. But I could see the 49ers saying, alright Trey, wait one more year. That means he wouldn't play football in like four years, which is tough. But we got to go get Brady in here because Brady would win a ring or put them in better position to win a ring immediately. If they could go get Brady in this offseason.

We'll come on back, five questions, five answers, onsides, offside. And we will now get the latest CBS Sports Radio update with the man that used to be like the Adam Schefter of WFAN and CBS Sports Radio. The insider himself, the Ackman, Rich Ackerman. Or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Thamy Redwood, host of the podcast Beyond Black History Month. Here's reason number five hundred sixty eight million of why you should be listening. From in-depth reporting on the shortage of black sperm to how one house of the dragon star is dealing with online trolls who don't love seeing black dragon writers.

I can't lose sleep over that over worrying about things that are beyond my control. Listen and subscribe to Beyond Black History Month on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Thamy Redwood, host of the podcast Beyond Black History Month. Here's reason number five hundred sixty eight million of why you should be listening. From in-depth reporting on the shortage of black sperm to how one house of the dragon star is dealing with online trolls who don't love seeing black dragon writers.

I can't lose sleep over that over worrying about things that are beyond my control. Listen and subscribe to Beyond Black History Month on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports. Which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on?

Offside, defense number sixty-nine. It's onsides, offsides with Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio. This season for the first time you can hear every Westwood One NFL broadcast stream live for free Mondays, Thursdays, Sunday nights, the International Series, holiday triple headers and every post-season game. Catch all the action on the Odyssey app on westwoodonesports.com via Westwood One station streams or by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports all sponsored by AutoZone. Free battery testing, free battery charging and replacement batteries that fit your needs.

That is what makes AutoZone America's number one battery destination. Get in the zone, AutoZone. Alright, Connor Green, CG, CG3. What do you got for me today?

Alrighty, Zach. Number one, the Carolina Panthers recently fired head coach Matt Ruhl and yesterday they traded their most talented player. Panthers sent running back Christian McCaffrey to the 49ers in exchange for a second, third and fourth round pick in the 2023 draft along with a fifth round pick in the 2024 draft. So onsides or offsides, the Panthers are in tank mode and will wind up with the number one overall pick in this year's draft.

Well we all know they're in tank mode so it's the second part of this question. Will they end up with the number one overall pick in this draft? Now the last team that we really said was tanking was the tank for two of Miami Dolphins and they actually were tanking. If you go back to that investigation and they didn't finish with the number one overall pick, they ended up picking five where they did get two of the emergence of Joe Burrow. But that wasn't tanking by design before the start of the season for this Carolina Panthers team.

The standards change once Matt got fired and it's like alright let's just get everyone out, new regime is going to be coming on in next year anyway and Scott Fitter will pick his next head coach you would think. So you look at right now according to Tankathon, the top five picks in the draft. Houston would be at five, won three and one. The Eagles would be at four from that trade with the Saints. So the Eagles could have a top five pick in the draft this year if the Saints continue to suck as they're at two and five. Detroit's at one and four, Las Vegas one and four, Carolina's one and five. I don't know how Carolina is going to score unless their defense just continues to play really well more than two touchdowns a game. I don't know how they get to two touchdowns and more a game. They're going to lose to Tampa this week, they lose to Atlanta next week, Cincinnati, Atlanta again. Maybe Atlanta is a bad effort one of those nights. Baltimore, Denver, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Tampa. Those games at the end of the year against Detroit and New Orleans, that could be the tank bowl or the toilet bowl. I think the Panthers are going to have the number one overall pick.

I think that's a very safe bet too on sides. Number two, turning to San Francisco, they acquired one of the most talented running backs in the NFL. McCaffrey's dealt with injuries, playing in only ten games over the last two years, but did have a 1,000, 1,000 yard season in 2019 and put some huge numbers when healthy.

The Niners love to run the ball and now they have one of the best backs in the league, so onsides or offsides. With the addition of Christian McCaffrey, the 49ers will win the NFC West. With Trey Lance as their quarterback before the season, I thought there'd be some ups and downs and they would just miss out on the playoffs. But leave you with enough thinking, okay, he's the guy for next year. Then when Trey Lance got hurt, I said this will help them for this year if their goal is to win the most amount of games possible this year because Jimmy G right now is a better quarterback than Trey Lance.

I don't think in an ideal world that you believe that Jimmy G is going to have a big time success level over a long period of time. And the last two weeks I've shifted my tone on not only them making the playoffs, but them winning this division. Because I don't trust the Seahawks, I don't trust the Cardinals, the Rams offensive line is horrible. You look at the roster, they have the best roster in the division. Now this could get ugly, they could lose this weekend, they probably will lose this weekend to Kansas City. And there's going to be some down moments, but this has been a team the last few years. They've been good, then they go through a few weeks of bad and they always find a way to get back to that good category. The number is probably 10 and you win this division this year. And I think the 49ers have the most well-rounded team and there could be some bad moments, but there will be more good than bad.

So I like the 49ers to win the NFC West, so I will go on sides. Number 3, the Yankees dropped Game 2 of the ALCS to the Astros last night 3-2. In the 8th inning, Aaron Judge nearly hit a home run to give the Yanks the lead. And Aaron Boon said the reason it wasn't a home run was because the Astros had the roof open in Minute Maid Park.

Who would have thought, I think the roof open kind of killed us. I think it's a 390 ball, I think it was like 106 at whatever. And when I went out to take Seve out, we noticed it a lot with Tucker's ball. You know, the base hit he got to right, it kind of looked like it just went and stopped.

And then I think Judge is a homer all the time. The wind was blowing in? The wind was blowing, yeah, across like that. And Luis Severino, the starting pitcher, also said after the start that Alex Bregman's home run was a 101 exit velocity. Judges won a 106 exit velocity, so the Astros got lucky.

No, stop with exit velocity. It's ridiculous. The analytics said it should have been a homer, but obviously the analytics weren't accounting for wind and whatever that means.

Onsides or offsides. Aaron Boone blaming the roof for the loss is an embarrassing look for the Yankee skipper. Big baby Boone.

Baby Boone. That is pathetic. That is awful.

That is a disgrace. Your team struck out 13 times in Game 2, and you're going to blame it on the roof being open and the wind? How about you get some damn hits and don't just rely on Judge to bail your ass out each and every time? He's not going to get fired. He should be fired because they're not going to beat the Astros again, and that is a lame, pathetic, weak, embarrassing excuse. And he should know better, and he should get ripped for it today. I'm sure he did, but that's disgraceful. So yes, onsides, blaming the roof for the loss is an embarrassing look for the Yankee skipper. Joke. They've struck out 30 times in two games.

30 total times. And everyone talks about, oh, the Yankees don't have pitching. The Yankees don't have pitching the last few years. They don't hit in the postseason. Maybe the analytics can figure it out.

I don't know. We'll see. Number four, we have a big matchup in the Pac-12 tomorrow afternoon. Number nine, UCLA and Chip Kelly squares off with number 10, Oregon on the road.

The Ducks got crushed by Georgia in the season opener, but since then have scored over 40 points in every game, including a 70-point outburst against Eastern Washington. So Zach, onsides or offsides, Oregon will beat UCLA and Chip Kelly tomorrow afternoon. Now we all know the long home win streak for Oregon.

So that's going to be tough. I just think UCLA has a better quarterback and a better running back. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the streak stops here. Give me the Bruins of UCLA this week taking down Oregon. If you ask me, Oregon will beat UCLA and Chip Kelly tomorrow afternoon. I'm going offside.

Offside. And number five, the Packers head on the road to face the commanders on Sunday, following back-to-back losses against the Giants and Jets. In the Giants game in London, they blew a 17-3 lead. And last week against the Jets in Green Bay, they were completely manhandled in that loss. So onsides or offsides, the Packers will bounce back in Washington and finally figure things out on offense. The Packers have been brutal this year. And maybe it would behoove them to actually go up against Carson Wentz instead of Heinecke. Because at least then you'll get two easy interceptions throughout the game.

Now the commanders, though, are banged up. And I don't even know if Jahan Dotson is going to play in this contest. And he's been really good, the rookie wide receiver out of Penn State.

He did not participate in practice on Friday. If the Packers don't win, cancel the season. I don't even care what happens the rest of the way. I know they're on the road, but this is a home game for them because you'll have all those cheesehead fans taking over that dump of a stadium in Landover, Maryland, where Dan Snyder has just sucked the life out of every potential commanders fan that there is.

And even if you go to that stadium, they poop on you with the sewage pipes and that person just pour out crap on the fans. So this will be a Packers home game. Rogers will do enough against a commander's defense that has not been playing well and they're overrated. And if Heinecke out-duels Rogers, then I've seen it all. So you asked me if the Packers bounced back in Washington and finally figured things out on offense.

I would think so. I don't know if it's going to last throughout the rest of the year, but this week, yeah, they'll bounce back on sides. This is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. You could always answer our poll question on Twitter at ZachGelb at CBS Sports Radio. And the poll question is a very simple one tonight. The 49ers this year will, and we want you to fill in the blank, be in the Super Bowl, win the NFC West, be a wildcard team, or miss the playoffs. 10.6% say miss the playoffs. 19.1% say be in the Super Bowl. 31.9% say be a wildcard team. And on sides, off sides, I think they will win the division, the NFC West, and that's where 38.3% of you agree with me. When we come on back, we give you one thought about each and every game on the Sunday slate, and even bleeding into that Monday night football game between the Patriots and the Bears.

We're all over week seven next. I lose sleep over that, over worrying about things that are beyond my control. Listen and subscribe to Beyond Black History Month on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Thamy Redwood, host of the podcast Beyond Black History Month. Here's reason number 568 million of why you should be listening. From in-depth reporting on the shortage of black sperm, to how one house of the dragon star is dealing with online trolls who don't love seeing black dragon riders.

I can't lose sleep over that, over worrying about things that are beyond my control. Listen and subscribe to Beyond Black History Month on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Thamy Redwood, host of the podcast Beyond Black History Month. Here's reason number 568 million of why you should be listening. From in-depth reporting on the shortage of black sperm, to how one house of the dragon star is dealing with online trolls who don't love seeing black dragon riders. I can't lose sleep over that, over worrying about things that are beyond my control. Listen and subscribe to Beyond Black History Month on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.