DeAndre Hopkins Future (Hour 4)

We continue, this is Zach Guilbe's show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. We inch closer and closer to Wild Card Weekend. We also got some jobs that are opened up in the NFL. If you're looking to become a head coach, we got five jobs open.

The Colts, Panthers, Broncos, Cardinals, Texans and maybe more to come. But now joining us from the NFL Network does a fantastic job. That's a friend of the show and James Palmer kind enough to join us right now. James, how you been?

I'm good Zach. Don't undersell the weekend. I believe it's like super terrific happy hour Jerry Seinfeld Wild Card Weekend, right? I can't stand that and I know you work for the NFL, but this super wild card weekend where they want me to say super before Wild Card Weekend, I say this the last two years. I think it's super stupid. It's superly wild, superly stupid.

It's fine by me. What everybody's opinion is of the name doesn't impact the amount of people that are going to be watching this weekend. Yes, especially on Monday night. Could you put the Cowboys against Tom Brady in an isolated Monday night window like that? That game is going to just be ridiculously rated.

Just nuts. I mean if you remember, what was that? It was Brady. It was the first game of Brady down there when they started the season with Cowboys.

Was that two years ago already? Yeah, I think they started the last two seasons with Brady and going up against the Cowboys. Everybody knows what that matchup does nationally for ratings and it's kind of funny if we want to talk that game first just because it's, I mean, obviously that's not the way Dallas wanted to head into the postseason, the way they went out there and performed and it was funny because I know some people in the building and it was just kind of like there was, you know, not a complaint, but it was kind of like down the stretch.

It was like, God, the last place we want to go is Tampa in the first round. It was like, you know, that was even a thought, you know, several weeks ago because just, you know, Brady at the, you know, in the postseason is just the guy you don't want to face and when you went out and saw the way he played, it makes you think that even more so. I just think this is going to be the game. Obviously, both teams are kind of a little short-changed with a shorter week playing the Monday night game, but also they're getting the, you know, everybody gets the stage to themselves, but Monday night with those two teams and what, you know, we still, I feel like people have forgotten who Tom's throwing the football to when they're playing well and what that offense could do. It's going to be an absolute blast watching those two teams. See, that game all, like for the last two months, I've been saying I'm not concerned about the Bucks and I never count out Brady.

I love Tom Brady and then as we head into this week, it's like, oh, I wouldn't want to be the Cowboys this weekend. No, that's what I'm saying. I mean, that was a little bit of the mood. I mean, they won't say it publicly, but that was a little bit of the mood in the organization.

Like, and this was before, obviously, and this was weeks ago. I was hearing this, but you know, that's the place you don't want to go. And then I think that probably sentiment is even further after the way they finished up the regular season last Sunday. I know that Jerry Jones is going to come out publicly and say that Mike McCarthy's coaching for his job this weekend when he does his weekly interview on the fan in Dallas, but that's the way that I interpret this. If they go out back to back years and wildcard weekend, I don't see a McCarthy's back next year.

James is going to be tough. And if you heard his response this weekend, when he was asked that it was, it was almost like you took it as he was saying, no, no, no. But it was almost like, no, I don't want to go there.

Yeah. Like that was almost how he was responding to it. Like, no, we're not even going there.

I'm not even going to entertain that because it's almost like, I don't even want to think about myself in that situation. We all know the way he thinks of Dan Quinn. And I think everybody, if you follow the lead closely enough, knows what he's done in that building and what they'd be losing if he goes out and gets one of these jobs that, you know, that, that, you know, Denver's obviously interested again for the second time around after he finished third in kind of their, if you want to call it finishing third, he finished behind Hackett and O'Connell, uh, the first time around there. But the point is, I don't think he wants to even think about the situation he'd be in potentially. And a lot of people would think Dan would be the one to slide in considering the way he's thought of in that building and the way he has gotten guys to rally around him a couple of years. He's been there, but obviously Jerry doesn't even want to put himself in that situation right now.

We'll wait till Monday. If it does come down to that. And we've heard Jerry Jones just loves Sean paid in for years and years and years. Do you think he'd be more inclined to hire Sean or Dan Quinn? Cause you hear a lot of love about Dan Quinn as well. Like you're saying for sure.

You definitely do. I just think it's going to be tougher to land Sean. Um, I just, uh, you know, it's, it's easier to keep the guy a lot of times in house. It's already a beloved that we see it so much so often. I know it's a different situation, but we see it so often with interim head coaches, right? Like how often do you ever hear an interim head coach take over from the staff and like the guys aren't ecstatic about the guy and then it's a little bit different.

You know, obviously you become the head guy permanently moving forward. It's a little bit, you know, different in that sense. I just think luring Sean there and obviously, yeah, he definitely has had a, an infatuation with him for awhile. I just think Sean has kind of laid things out. I think a little bit in his mind from knowing some things that, that he kind of has an idea of the way he wants us to go. And I'm not sure if Dallas is entirely in that I could be wrong, but I think there's some spots he definitely has his eye on. If I had to guess today, where Sean's coaching football next year, I think it's Arizona.

Your thoughts. I think we tie in the thought process on, on, on Jerry, Arizona makes the most sense to me. And from what I've heard around the league because of several things, one, he, he really likes Kyla Murray and he thinks he can do some things with Tyler.

Also you parted ways with Steve time as well. And he has the ability to come in and run the organization and to be almost the de facto GM or hire the GM he wants the note. I mean, he had a great working relationship with Mickey Loomis in new Orleans, but also he had just, you know, the final say in a sense, you could, you could really put it that way and to have the ability to go in and work with the quarterback you want, have the structure that you want and have it in place exactly how you want it to be to come in.

And with both spots being open, that's a very different situation coming in than when you'd have to come in and work side by side with Jerry every day, uh, as opposed to, Hey, Michael Bidwell saying, please get us back to relevancy with the quarterback. We just paid a boatload of money to, I just wonder what the compensation would be because the Cardinals have the third overall pick. And if you really want to go there and you're leaving the saints anyway, like, is it going to require that third overall pick? Yeah, that's the interesting aspect. The only place that we've really heard so far, and we can get to them in a, in a second is Denver to where there were discussions between new Orleans and Denver about the compensation.

Everybody appears to be on the same page. What that means we're entirely unaware of right now, but Denver doesn't have a pick like Arizona has, like you're saying, right? I think they have the pick from Miami that would be towards the bottom of the first round. If I'm, if I'm not mistaken in the Bradley Chubb trade. So that would be their first round pick that they have, because they don't have obviously the one they sent to Seattle. Um, but there seemed to be already a discussion there in terms of those two teams, knowing where things stood in terms of compensation.

I would assume Sean would know that as well. So he has to have a pretty good idea and everybody else involved on, on what it's going to take, uh, to land him. And man, if you give up three, whew, that's, that's asking a lot, but the way things have gone in Arizona and as bad as it was this past year, I wouldn't put anything past my little bit. Well, trying to get, you know, something bright back on track. You're on the seat in Denver, James Palmer, who's going to be coach of the Broncos next year. I don't see how it's not Jim Harbaugh. I really don't.

And if you just try to piece everything together, the way this has gone from what they want, the connections between the two sides, uh, it just kind of shapes up to be that I look at what they want. They want to, uh, uh, head coach with, you know, head coaching experience. Obviously he's been to multiple NFC championship games.

He's been to the super bowl. He's won a lot in the NFL and what they are coming from is a team that was just very undisciplined penalties were a huge issue. It was a very, I don't know how to put it, fun atmosphere after Vic Fangio was there.

Uh, you know, the last couple of years and ran a very, very tight ship. It's almost like they want that back. I think, um, in terms of what they're looking for, it's, it's discipline, it's an offensive identity. I think if you look at everything that Harbaugh has done everywhere, he's been, I think, you know, exactly what that offense is. And I think, you know, fixing Russell Wilson as, as owner Greg Penner put it, uh, after the last couple of weeks and then changing some things offensively, I don't know if fixing him is as in depth of a process as we thought it was going to be mid season. Cause I saw over the last couple of weeks, more of the old Russell Wilson than we've seen. And I think there's this changed up the offense a little bit. And so I think everything just kind of fits as well as Greg Penner and his wife, Carrie Walton Penner, both being from Stanford Condoleezza Rice is part of the hiring process as a, as a partner of this ownership.

She obviously has been through the hiring process at Stanford, all those connections connect to our ball. It just seems like also they can pay whatever they want. I mean, they really can't. And I don't think the ownership has hid that they're going to do that when you put in $400,000 new grass field for one game for your team, that's four and 12. Um, I think that's a telltale sign about how this team thinks.

James Palmer here with us, get them back to the games this weekend. Where do you lie on giants and Vikings? Cause on Monday I said, okay, I could see the giants winning that game. But then after hearing everyone say that it's going to be the giants win this game, I'm kind of looking back at the town on this Vikings roster and go, okay, they should be able to beat the giants.

I think if you go and look at the duration of both their seasons and just literally just watch each game and go, I don't see how the Vikings lose this game. Like there's a lot of games and there are people inside that giant's building that I think Brian Dable has done a great job. I think he's obviously in contention for coach of the year.

I don't think he'll get it, but I think he's definitely in contention for it. Uh, with the job he has done with Daniel Jones and company, you look at the games, you're like, I don't know how they won some of those games. I mean, it's like, it is kind of wild. Now I do think that what we saw in Philadelphia game, I was at to end the season, a bunch of backups playing their heart out in a game that doesn't matter, shows you what Brian Dable has done to the New York giants. I mean, it's, it's fantastic to continuing the culture, to what, you know, guys are doing with, you know, with what they have, but I just think the Vikings are too talented and I, and I just don't see how they end up losing this game. So the coach of the year, I'm glad you bring that up. Cause I think it's down to four people, uh, Doug Peterson, Pete Carroll, Brian Dable, and then Kyle Shanahan. I think Peterson, Carroll, and Dable, just cause no one expects their teams to be good in a weird way that they're going to kind of just cancel each other out with votes. Cause they're all in the post season. I think it's going to be, even though Shannon has the most, you know, the best team on paper out of those four, I think he's going to win just because of the level of dominance it is with the now a third string quarterback. Yeah. And I don't think you can mention Brock Purdy's name without saying Mr.

Irrelevant, right? It's not just your third string quarterback. It's the last guy taking in the draft, you know, everything that they've been through with Trey Lance. And then you go back to Jimmy and then you still have in all of the uncertainty where a quarterback turbine league that they've had there. And they've still been, I think you could say they're probably not probably they are the only, in my opinion, real, real threat to Philly. If Philly plays the way they've played most of the season and that defense is absolutely insane, but I do look at it and go, all right, he's a, he is a brilliant coach specifically for the spot that Brock Purdy's in.

He has one of the best group, if not the best group of skill players around him with the best defense in football. To me, if I was voting and I can't, I would vote for Peterson just because of everything we knew he had to clean up from the last year. And it was beyond X's and O's. It was beyond, you know, just trying to make sure Trevor Lawrence doesn't regress. We were all going like, I thought this was the most certain draft pick at quarterbacks and Andrew Luck.

Like what is going on here? Like he had to regain trust of an entire, not just locker room, but organization into a head coach and to do what he did to have them continue to buy into what he wanted to do after the start that they had, what were they three and seven at the buy or something like that. I mean, like they start two and six, there's only like two other teams that have started two and six and made the postseason. Like the, I just think what he's done to reestablish a culture to where we didn't squander one of the best, as I said, draft picks in a long time, it was almost malpractice what was happening in Trevor Lawrence. I think to me, Doug would be my pick, but I think your, your group is great. And the guy that isn't even getting mentioned, and I'm not sure why is Nick Sirianni. I think he deserves some discussion and what's gone on in terms of like, we talk about what Brian Daybull did with, with Daniel Jones and making things work for him. I think Nick has done a great job with making sure their offense is unbelievably successful with Jalen hurts. A guy that they were questioning was going to potentially be their starting quarterback moving forward. And they set just a zillion franchise records and have the number one seat.

Yeah. I think the one thing with Sirianni that hurt him was hurts getting hurt. And then the team dropping those two games, I think even though he's right there in the conversation, it kind of now takes him out this late in the year. It's funny that you said that. Cause I kind of thought that too, during the process, I was like, well, listen, if he goes down and then just wins both these games with Minshew, it actually hurts Jalen's chances at MVP and helps Nick.

And I thought that's kind of the way it worked now. It's almost like, well, maybe now it hurt Nick. They lost both of those. And actually may just, I mean, Jalen's not going to win MVP, but it sure shows he's way more important than some people in the division thought he was. So we know two, a James Palmer is out this weekend. It's trending that Lamar Jackson is not going to return. So it does take the air out of the balloon a little bit, obviously with dolphins bills and then the bangles and the Ravens. Do you think Lamar is ever going to sign a long-term deal with the Ravens? Cause I'm starting to think it's going to be no, and maybe plays on the franchise tag next year and they trade them after that. Or maybe this off season, Lamar just says, Hey, we need a split.

Yeah. I mean, that's, that's, it's, it's going to be a fascinating off season and for both, actually for we can, for both the teams you mentioned, right. I think it's a fascinating off season in Miami as well with, to his future, but we'll, we'll talk about Lamar first and, and you're right because they, the rope wants Smith deal gets done and you know, you're, you're going, okay, well now Lamar is the tag option for what happens here. And I think the injury could play into the thinking of everyone involved as well. Like I'm not entirely, and nobody's questioning Lamar's desire to win. I think if you ever met him or talked to him, uh, ever seen him in a post-game press conference, uh, after a loss and he played brilliantly against my homes in those years, a couple of years ago and lose, he does not care. He cares about winning and that's it. And the Lombardi is the only thing that matters.

It's not individual stuff. But my point is with the style of play, I'm not sure if it was a different style of play. He was a Brady sit in the pocket, drop back. Like if he'd be able to play this weekend, you know what I'm saying? I think the injury is connected to how he plays and whether he's available. And so I think that comes into your thinking because if he's on the field, he's not really going to be Lamar with the limitations of this injury with how much his legs are a weapon.

Exactly. And how much his legs are a weapon and how much that is their offense. Like you can't change your entire style of play. It's not, I mean, it's, it's, it's how they play.

And so, I mean, that's their offensive philosophy. So that part is playing a factor where you're going, if you play the position differently, he'd probably be on the field this weekend in the postseason. Hmm.

Does that make us think? But at the same time, we're not in the postseason if it's not for Lamar and we're not the team we are, if it wasn't for him, it's going to be fascinating. And then the two discussion is for another reason, but it's also going to be a wild off season where, you know, that's a talented roster down there and you got to make a decision on whether you're going to pick up the fifth year option on two.

He showed you that, you know, he can, he can lead this team to be very successful, but this is something sorry to say with the concussions. If, if you're going to tie that amount of money to somebody, you're not sure if they're going to be on the field, it's going to be really difficult for both organizations to make a call, uh, this off season. It's risky. Where's Brady playing next year? We know, we know it's not in Tampa.

I think we're all pretty, you know, certain of that. I think he's going to weigh, you know, weigh his options. I don't think Vegas is completely out of the question with the way things ended with Derek and obviously the connections to, you know, to, to McDaniels.

It depends. I think with Sean, there's always been, I think we've all heard the rumors and the, and what's going on that the two of them would like to reunite somewhere. Um, is that a possibility? And that winds up where he's, where he's going to end up going and playing. Um, you know, he wants to go to the 49ers Brady, you know, yeah, he would, yeah. He would love to go back to San Fran and go where, you know, he grew up and, and, and finish right at home in the backyard. And that would be, you know, poetic for him. There were people are always saying, I don't think it's going to happen now, but there will, well, champagne is going to come back to the, to the saints and it's going to be Brady. Um, but I think, I think his is going to be an interesting one to watch because I think some other dominoes have to fall to figure out where exactly he's going to, he's going to land. You know, it's funny cause I agree with you that it's not going to be Tampa, but then I think to myself, why wouldn't he return to Tampa?

Well, I don't know. I mean, part of me is thinking, I mean, obviously it didn't go as well as they wanted to this, this past year, but you're right. You could go, man, I still have Mike Evans. I still have Chris Scott, two of the better receivers in the NFL. I, my, my offensive line is, you know, I lost guys in free agency, you know, this off season, but I didn't think I'd lose Brian Jensen to an injury that was just catastrophic, lose Chris, Tristan worse to, you know, to the injury that he did for a period of time.

I, you know, maybe I, maybe I do come back. I just think if you're like, as my buddy, Mike silver was reporting, holding meetings on Saturday to run your own audibles, uh, outside of the knowledge of the coaching staff with your skill guys. I don't know if you're entirely happy with, with what's going on down there.

If that's your, uh, if that's your mindset on the, on the day before game day. So, uh, before we let you run James Paul for the NFL network and the AFC, how do you rank the bills, bangles and chiefs headed into the post-season? You know, you know, what changed my opinion of Cincinnati is this Alex Kappa injury. I don't think anybody's really talking about Joe burrows going to go into this game against the Ravens who were fifth in the NFL and sacks without the right side of his offensive line. I mean, like, I know Joe's like an athlete and he can move.

He probably doesn't get enough credit at all for the type of athlete is because of the other two teams. You just mentioned the way we see Josh Allen do it and the way we see the homes do it. But, but I think that changes things for Cincinnati a little bit. I think Casey's just still the, the, the, the one out of the three because of just of the way Pat's playing right now. And because of the way that offense is clicking and because of the history we've seen with Steve Spagnolo is he's going to find moments to make a play, to keep the defense just good enough through the post season, right? Cause he knows that he has the other guy as his quarterback that's going to score. And can we just make a, can we blitz at the right time to make the right play, even though they've given up more, you know, receiving touchdowns than any other team in football by like five, I think. I still think it's Kansas city, my issue with Buffalo.

And this is just, I don't know. It may be like a, something that would get had me ripped apart, but it's just, I just, can they keep this going emotionally through the duration of the post season and the super bowl with everything they've been through? I mean, it's just been unbelievable.

Everything that organization has been through Sean McDermott's been above and beyond anything we ever expected of a head coach. Everybody who knows him personally, I do too, is we expected this, but this is out of control with how amazing he has been and what these players have been through. You know, I just find it like, it might be hard to keep that up throughout the post-season, even if there's, you know, all this positive news that keeps coming with tomorrow, which is unbelievably brilliant. What if he shows up like Peter Schrager tweeted out, like what if he shows up at that game? Like, I don't know, the stadium might fall apart. Like it'll be insane, but just the magnitude of the emotions that they've had to deal with may play a part in the post-season. I'm not sure.

I hope it doesn't in a negative fashion, but it's just, it's exhausting in any aspect of what they've been through. Where do they have you this weekend, by the way? I have a bye with the chiefs. I am sticking with KC. Maybe that's why I picked them to be the best team so I can go all the way to super bowl with them, but I'm sticking with KC. So no game for me this weekend.

And once they start, I'm with them all the way through and who knows, maybe it's at a neutral site in the in the AFC Championship camp. Wow. Yeah, that would be something. All right. I do care about you.

So I'm going to do this to try to be your therapist here as you wrap up with James Palmer. How upset were you watching that national championship game when it was 65 to 7 thinking, man, if they would have just made a field goal or held that lead, your Ohio State Buckeyes against Georgia, you would have won a national championship. I barely watched. I'm not going to lie.

I was so distraught after what happened because listen, it is if we let's rewind because I paid a tuition, I guess just real quickly. Harrison doesn't go down. They win the game. Yeah. I mean, it's on New Year's. Did you did you ruin New Year's?

Like it was three to one. You didn't even give your wife a kiss because the ball was was wide left. No, I'm staring at a television screen at a Marriott in Kansas City because I'm about to do. I'm about to do the chief Broncos game the next day. I'm all by myself in front of the television. The ball drops.

It sails to the side. I literally turn off the television as the ball's dropping and climb into bed and go, I got to get up at five for for game day morning with Eisen and those guys. It was the worst feeling. And then I'm trying to fall asleep.

And then my phone just buzzing like crazy. My dad's blowing me up saying like, you know, cursing like crazy. How upset he is.

Like, what does this play play? And he's actually right. He's like, why are we not trying to get more yards? Do we think a gimme 50 yarder is just in the bank?

What? So, I mean, it is what I the only positive I take out of the college football playoff and everything that went down is I do think CJ Stroud really helped himself quite a bit draft wise for the way he went out there. And I think also for the way he played but the way he handled the Michigan loss, the way he handled this, his character evaluations have actually gone up as well for the type of guy he is. So, I guess that's my positive. Maybe the best quarterback we've ever had at Ohio State talent wise.

And he ends up not winning a Big Ten title or a national championship. It's wild. Great stuff. James Fama, we appreciate it as always. Thank you. Enjoy your bye week. Appreciate it, buddy.

Thanks. Zach Gelb's show CBS Sports Radio coming on back. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show.

It is Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. So, my two biggest takeaways, Hickey, from that interview that we just did or a conversation we just had with James Palmer is he really does believe. He can't imagine a way that it's not Jim Harbaugh winding up in Denver, which I think when they fired up Daniel Hackett, the immediate reaction was, who would want to touch that job?

That job is horrible. But then you remember they have the richest owners in the NFL. They can make a lot of people want that job, but they check that they're going to go right to go get whoever that coach is. And not only that, I know that Russell Wilson had an awful season. And I wonder if Russell Wilson could ever be a great quarterback again. But with the way that the ego of these coaches work, you got to think that coaches believe, especially coaches that have a big background of the offensive side of the ball, that they would be pretty confident they could find a way to quote unquote fix Russell Wilson. So, I know that I said that I thought Dan Quinn was going to get the job, but I also said I do believe it's either going to be Dan Quinn or Jim Harbaugh. If Harbaugh really wants to go to the NFL, does it come down to he's looking to get the right job or he's just looking to get a job? Because you know that the Broncos are going to go take a heavy run and make a big push to go get Jim Harbaugh. And I guess Jim Harbaugh, if you believe some of the things that people have been hearing, that he really wants to go back to the NFL and he's fed up with people at Michigan or the NCAA, that you would think, you would think, right, that the Broncos think he would at least offer him the job, offer him the job, and then it's up to him if he wants to go take the job. Another thing that's the perfect guy for what Russell Wilson needs is a guy like Jim Harbaugh that's going to be rigid.

It's going to kind of get him back into some sort of structure. It's very loosey-goosey on the offense and there's really no direction. Russell Wilson is not one of those vocal leaders that's going to kind of get everyone on the same page. And coincidence or not, I know you kind of laugh, but you look at the last two games when Nathaniel Hackett was fired, two of the highest point toes they've scored all year are the last two games.

24 points and then 31 points. And the Chargers played their starters for most of the game and they beat the Chargers. So it's like, you can see, albeit in a very small sample size, glimpses that maybe it's a lot more Nathaniel Hackett than Russell Wilson than we think. The only thing is, and I know that this is just one isolated game, but it took forever for the Michigan Wolverines in that semifinal game to use the mobility of J.J. McCarthy.

Does that at all concern you a little bit? Because part of what makes Russ really good is the way that he can extend some of those plays with his legs. But I really think the biggest part, looking back at this, you can answer that question in a second. Actually, the biggest problem with Russ this year was just, in a weird way, his vision. And I don't know if the outside noise got to him and he felt that pressure and he felt that heat, but we talked about it numerous times where he wasn't even looking at half the field. So approach those two things, just those two points however, which way you want to do it.

I'll go second first just because it's freshest. I mean, I agree. Again, he wasn't bad because he physically declined. He looked like he was trying to force it. He looked like, honestly, like we play Madden where it's like, you throw the four versions. You're throwing the ball deep. Double cover it. I don't care. I'm just going to throw it anyway.

And same here. 95% of the time, it doesn't work, especially in real life. And that's how he's trying to play it. So I do think that's why getting a guy like Jim Harbaugh that's going to run a rigid structure way better.

To your first point about J.J. McCarthy not using his legs, the thing I'll say about Russ is a lot of time when he does use his mobility and his legs, it's uncult. It's what's the word I'm trying to look for? It's unwanted. No, it's just in the spur of the moment. It's not scripted. It's not, oh, we're going to roll out here. It's he's looking around. No one's open. Oh, here's, I'm going to duck in and then break out of the pocket. It's all unscripted.

Thank you. That's what I'm looking for. Unscripted. There's not a lot of like, we're not looking at Russell Wilson is like Lamar Jackson running the ball 15 times a game. His best use of mobility is when he breaks out of the pocket when the contain gets there. And then that's when he's able to throw the ball deep or use first downs.

Right. Not scripted runs like some other quarterbacks are usually used to getting. So we talked about say two earlier, how the Cardinals are going to use Kyler Murray in some regards to not necessarily make the decision for them, but they're going to consult Kyler Murray on the coaching candidates and all that. If Russ gets consulted on this and they use Russ's voice in this situation, which I don't know if they are or not. You think that previous relationship with Dan Quinn gets Dan Quinn the job? Cause Dan Quinn's going to get a second head coaching job in this league. And you know, Dan Quinn was with Russell Wilson in Seattle years ago, but I just wonder, and even heard Russell Wilson speak glowingly about Dan Quinn and his exit press conference. If they do consult and you don't know how this new GM actually, you don't have this new ownership groups going to work and you got George paid in there as well.

Who's now hiring a second coach. I wonder how much of a role that Russell Wilson gets in this, in this process. And I actually think if you give Russell Wilson a role, it's actually a mistake, even though you committed all that money, because how much did you hear how a lot of players felt isolated in that locker room or Russ isolated himself in the locker room with his office and then right. His, his private quarterback coach and all that stuff. If you didn't give Russ even more of a say, more of a power, does that really do you any good at the end of the day?

Cause you're right. It does seem like you need some checks and balances in that locker room. I think every quarterback in his position of star power of name of paycheck does have their voice heard, but you're right. I think you could hear Russell Wilson's voice, but he should not be by far that the lead man on this or the defining voice and who the head coaches he's proven.

And when you kind of got a little responsibility, he can't handle it. Do you think when the new ownership group goes up to him and asked him, he wears that a black skull cap, has a little, a subway sandwich, takes a bite and then goes, I think we should hire Dan Quinn or do that. Cringy Tik TOK video dance.

Like what we need as our next head coach, Dan Quinn, Jim Harbaugh. And you have that flash up on the screen. You think that's how I like what it shocked you. I'm getting the chills thing about that. That's how cringy those videos were. I don't know which one is worse for the Tik TOK of what's important to them.

Even though the danger is nice. It was just more cringe-worthy if you asked me like, why is Russell Wilson doing take talk dances, go on. And then the stuff on Sean Payton with the Cardinals. I know you don't think Sean should take that job in Arizona, but I said this now for two and a half, three weeks, almost that I thought Sean was going to wind up in Arizona. It seems like the way that James at least used his words, that there's a lot of chatter about that in league circles as well. And that's a growing sense throughout the league now that Sean likes Kyler Murray. And I thought Sean, and I've said this before, wants to go to the Chargers. I don't think the Chargers job is going to open up. Is Dallas maybe a wild card in this? And maybe that makes him change his mind, but the appeal of having power without a GM there right now. And if he likes Kyler Murray, as long as you can figure out the compensation, I think Sean winds up in the desert out in Arizona. Yeah. The only thing I don't know is just, you know, injury factor, if that changes your perspective. And again, if Sean McVay walks away, like we believe he's going to, you have a win now window in LA where you currently live, or you got to go to Arizona. Oh yeah. I don't think that window is as open as you think it is.

It's not long, but it's open. Stafford coming off an injury with an awful offensive line. Defensively, maybe Aaron Donald's only there for one more year. I just don't think that team, like sometimes they win and then they fall off hard. I think this team showed this year and now a lot of things worked again so that they're falling off hard. And isn't that pretty much an indictment on what Sean McVay thinks the team is? Even though you could say TV, and this was talks before, if McVay is walking away or potentially walking away now, in some belief, it does say that he doesn't really believe in this team of going on another run.

I would agree if this wasn't the discussion we had last year. But he did sign an extension. Right, but he won a Super Bowl and was literally thinking about walking away. But then signed an extension and then after one year, okay, I'm going to go back on those thoughts.

It makes me believe that his team is that good. Players all the time, they conflict, retirement, I'm going to come back. And then it's always a question every single year. It's not like that goes away. Like that's such a big decision.

It doesn't just poof, go away out of nowhere. It's obviously eating at him. It's a bad year. So only it does help nudge him towards retirement compared to coming back. But I wouldn't say that him retiring is just an indictment or just a sign that this team is cooked. Or that's the reason why Sean Payton shouldn't go there as like a sign of, oh, don't go here because this team is no good. So how much, like if you had to give me a percentage of Sean Payton, or excuse me, Sean McVay, sorry, now we're confusing myself with all these Sean's.

Sean McVay walking away from the Cardinals of the Rams of him saying they're just not good anymore. How much of a percentage do you think that plays in? His belief? I mean, maybe a little bit. I mean, it has to, right?

I don't think you'd want to, I'm just trying to gather where your brain is at on this. 15%? You think it's that low? Yes.

Oh, I think it's much higher than that. He must have walked away last year. But he didn't. He signed an extension. But when the thought is there, again, even when you're at your mountaintop and this time last year, do we see the thing, the Rams are going to fall off?

No. So it wasn't like this was sure the window was short. It wasn't like a 10 year run, like the Bengals or the Bills have. But we saw, okay, they have a three, four year window where everyone's kind of tied together contract wise.

Let's see how many you can win. And he still, even after you win the Super Bowl, is like, I don't know, maybe this is the time for me to walk away. Maybe I'm just crazy here.

So I'll bring it another voice in this conversation, Marco. If Sean McVay walks away from the Rams, don't you have to think in a big extent that that's him not thinking that team's any good anymore? I think it's 100%. I've lost total. I have no respect for Sean McVay if he walks away from this job.

None, zero. To me, you sold your soul to get a Super Bowl and that's fine. But then you're going to walk away. If you're burned out, I get it. I get it.

There are guys that walk away like I can't do it. No one works more than you. No, but I mean, this job is hard. It's hard on my family.

I can't do it 24 hours a day. That makes all the sense in the world. He's not walking away because he's burnt. He's walking away because he looks around and he goes, we sold our soul. I got to fix this. I'm not fixing this.

I'm getting out of here and I'm going somewhere. I'll sit around for a year and then I'll come back and have a better situation to get me another Super Bowl because I'm not dealing with the slop that I had a hand in building when we tried to cut every corner to get to the title. I have no respect for that. Maybe he would stay in TV a little bit longer, but it is very similar to Sean Payton. Now, Sean was there for several more years after winning a Super Bowl, but Sean Payton, the number one reason why he left the Saints was because they didn't have a quarterback. Yeah, again, I have a hard time with that.

Payton, at least I can live with because he was there for a long time. He built that program from the ground up. They did it the right way. They did get to a Super Bowl.

I understand it was still tough for me. We're looking at it. Well, no more Drew Brees.

You know what? Hell with this. I'm out of here. And then he's going to come back and I'm going to go to a better situation.

To me, that's weak. You're taking the long, the easy way out. Your contract ends and you walk away. So be it, but you can't just get paid, take the contract and then take a year off and then find something else. It's garbage. You want to take a year off because you're mentally fried.

That makes sense. Don't take a year off because, well, I want to still get paid. I just don't want to deal with you. No, no, no. I'm with you. That's why when I asked the question and the number was solo from Hickey, I was like, maybe I'm just wrong here.

Maybe I'm missing something here because I had like the number like 85, 90 percent. That's why. Again, if you're like Dick Vermeil where he walked away, like the guy couldn't do it anymore. And he walked away for a long time. And so Bill Parcells walked away a bunch of times. And you could have your, you know, your arguments of when and how he did it. But a lot of time he walked away because he just didn't want to do it.

And then the itch came back. That's different. I can live with that. This is a hard job and it's really, it's hard on your life and it's hard on your family. I get that. Sean McVay has said numerous times, I'm not burnt out.

You're not burnt. You just don't want to be there because you don't want to deal with what? Baker Mayfield? You don't want to deal with whatever slop quarterback you're going to get and an offensive line that can't protect him. And everybody on your defense getting old at the same time and you're paying them a fortune and you have no draft picks for the next 10 years. That to me is not, I don't want to do this situation. This is, I can't fix this and I'm going to look stupid. I'm not doing that.

I'll go somewhere else. And I'm not saying the personal stuff doesn't factor into this, but it would look pretty bad if you leave one year, say how much you want to do to TV to kind of ease up your schedule. And then it's like next year he then comes back and just takes a better job. And again, it looks a lot better when on your record at the end of it, you see a lot of 11, 12 win seasons in the playoffs.

You don't see a lot of those four and five win seasons because you had to sell yourself to the devil to get that Super Bowl win in LA. So the Rams are going to go in the toilet, but Sean McVeigh's name is not going to be next to it. Garbage. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show.

Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. So I'm looking at potential destinations for DeAndre Hopkins. If we go division by division, you tell me if you could argue with this one, Hickey, real quickly. AFC East, obviously the first one is the Patriots. They need a star wide receiver. If you're going to move forward, Mac Jones, whoever you bring in as a quarterback. Dolphins have two great wide receivers, the Bills. They have Stefan Diggs and Gabe Davis and the Jets. They need to figure out who their quarterback's going to be first, but you do have Garrett Wilson and Elijah Moore, who are two nice young players, not to the level, well, Garrett Wilson could be one day be a great wide receiver, but I think the Patriots are in biggest need of him. Agree or disagree?

Biggest need, yes. AFC West. I would actually argue. Now I think the Chargers would be very compelling because then you have those three receivers, Keenen Allen, Mike Williams and DeAndre Hopkins.

Hello. But I think the team that's in the biggest need is actually the Denver Broncos. I don't love their weapons on the offensive side of the ball. I thought they were a little bit overrated. Now, Jerry, Judy had an okay season. You got Courtland sudden there. I think they could be a team that could really use the Andre Hopkins.

What are the chiefs? It's a possibility receivers aren't exactly great. I don't think it's a need though. As you've seen this year, you could put anyone out there from a homes that he could, but you go put Kelsey and Hopkins.

Yeah, good luck. That's a good one. AFC North. You could argue the Steelers, but I would actually argue the Ravens. If you're keeping Lamar Jackson, finally go get this guy number one wide receiver. That is a genuine number one wide receiver to prove a number one wide receiver in this league.

Or the Browns. Pairing back up with a Sean Watson. After what was a pretty bad five game stretch, you got to think he's going to be better. Yeah, you got Omari Cooper there who's good. He's really good. Solid.

Yeah. AFC South. Well, you know, it's not going to be the Texans.

Tennessee is the first team that comes to mind. And here we go. Go ahead, Homer Hickey. No, I'm with you.

It's absolutely Tennessee. Okay. Absolutely.

Making sure. Jaguars too. Imagine Calvin Ridley. Who's there.

Some national radio host may not know that. Then you got Christian Kirk. You go throw DeAndre Hopkins there. That's not a bad trio.

I'd receivers, especially with Zay Jones and Marvin Jones also there too. So that's fat. Maybe I'd argue actually the Jaguars over the Titans. It's close.

Cause you do have Trevor Lawrence. And if you're DeAndre Hopkins, you'd rather go there now. Absolutely. Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely. NFC East giants. Got to be the giants. You could also argue the Cowboys, but the giants just need a wide receiver. Uh, it's not even worth to do the NFC West cause they're not going to trade them in division. NFC North. Green Bay. Now how many times do we beg, implore the Packers to do something at the wide receiver spot for a proven talent?

They go with unproven guys. The lines would be fun. They have a lot of weapons. That'd be a lot of fun.

It would be a lot of fun. And then the NFC South. Can I even argue any of these teams? You know, Brady stays there, different conversation, but you already have Mike Evans and you also do have, uh, Chris Godwin. It's like the Panthers don't have a quarterback right now. So I'm not going to make a case at the same side of a quarterback right now. And the Falcons don't have a quarterback right now.

Like how can they even make an argument for anyone in the South? And Brady's probably leaving. Well, that's a little, uh, first thoughts on the potential destinations for DeAndre Hopkins. Alrighty. Big thanks to James Palmer, the pro football of fame or Drew Pearson for joining us. We'll be back tomorrow at 6 PM Eastern three Pacific. We out. Bye-bye is that Gelb show. Talk to you tomorrow, everybody. Peace.