Futures of the Losers (Hour 4)

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Learn more at Goalie.com today. He's more than just a running back with what he could do catching the football as well. Christian Kirk was better than what people thought. Zay Jones turned out to be pretty damn solid. Evan Ingram had a really good year. The defense made a lot of plays.

Like, I just look at Jacksonville. I think they need more seasoning. I think they need more experience.

They should be able to win that division next year. I guess if you could make one improvement, maybe go get a more consistent, proven piece for Trevor Lawrence to throw the football. But with that being said, now he hasn't played in two years pretty much.

A lot of people forget, Hickey. They did trade for Calvin Ridley. And we know Calvin Ridley, when he's on the field, is a number one wide receiver. Now, as you've seen, Deshaun Watson, who up until two years ago was considered to be a great player.

They get the trade. You think he could just go right in and we'll be magnificent. I didn't think Deshaun Watson looked all that great when he came on back.

So you do have to knock off some of the Russ when you just aren't playing for two years. And we'll see for the Browns if they could get that out of Deshaun Watson next year. And for Calvin Ridley, how long it takes him to get back to being acclimated into being an NFL player. But I think the Jags are set up in a really good position for the foreseeable future, where you don't have questions about the quarterback, you don't have questions about the coach, just about fine tuning the rest of that roster. Ryan, you make a good caveat with Calvin Ridley.

It's basically been two years. So it's like if you are Trevor Lawrence or if you are really actually Trent Balk in the front office, you've got a guy like John Hopkins out there on the trade market this offseason. You cannot bank or say, oh, we're good on that because we have Calvin Ridley.

You get both. But honestly, you could say that and maybe you're right. I'd be surprised if they do trade for DeAndre Hopkins. It would make a lot of sense. But I do think a lot of teams, if they traded for Calvin Ridley, are going to think that he could just go back to being that number one wide receiver. But I don't know how long it takes to knock off that Russ. And I don't know if maybe missing two years makes him a one and a half type of wide receiver. I would think after four or five, six games that Calvin, and having a whole offseason, I would think that Calvin Ridley would be able to get back to number one wide receiver rather quickly. But I truly don't know the answer to that.

It's just based off feel. And I mean, look, if you're the Jaguars, why don't you strike while the Irons hide? Coming off a good year, you know, you win a playoff game. Let's get DeAndre Hopkins.

Let's go. Let's try to, you know, really make a real run at this. Forget about just winning the division next year. Like, go make a real run at trying to take down the Chiefs or the Bengals or the Bills in the playoffs. And being one of those teams that can legitimately, you know, compete for a Super Bowl.

Now, here's the thing. I don't think Calvin Ridley, because of how young he was, was on a contract extension. I think he was because he was a first round pick. I think he was on his fifth year option. So next year is his last year.

So you could. Now, theoretically, this is where it gets tricky because they already have money tied up in Christian Kirk. An 18 million dollars a year, I think was the number just off the top of my head. So you could next year bring in DeAndre Hopkins and you're only paying Calvin Ridley on that fifth year option. But if Calvin Ridley goes and balls out with how much younger Calvin Ridley is compared to DeAndre Hopkins.

That's a lot of money then if you are tying up. But I know then Hopkins only has two years left in the deal. If you're paying Christian Kirk, DeAndre Hopkins, then if Calvin Ridley balls out, you're going to have to pay all three of them a pretty high price tag for the year after that. So I guess it's one of those good problems to have if you could go down that road and get DeAndre Hopkins, Hickey.

And how many times do we say this? The salary cap is just a number. There's so many ways now to kind of like move around and make up these fake years on the contract that are voidable years and push that salary number down the road. There's always a way.

There always is a way. But also too, I mean, you look, you have two years of Trevor Lawrence already, you know, already in the books. Like he's cheap now.

Go like, go kind of make your, again, that's part of the reason, you know, strike all the irons hot. Go get a DeAndre Hopkins while you still can afford to have, you know, let's say two or three highly paid receivers on your team before Trevor Lawrence gets a big deal next offseason, two years from now, whatever it may be. And you see it kind of in Philadelphia, how valuable that rookie contract is because they went from being in a bad spot coming off a Super Bowl win. I know then the next year they made the playoffs again, the year after that, they made the playoffs for them. And Carson Wentz, when everyone realized he wasn't going to be the guy in Philadelphia, they had to go find another quarterback. Not everyone's able to just pick a replacement while your guy is there that you're trying to replace. And at the time we didn't know that that was necessarily the way, but they were concerned about the health of Carson Wentz. Like, I don't think they drafted him saying Jalen Hurts is going to be the replacement to Carson Wentz. I think they drafted him as a really early insurance policy that turned out to be the best insurance policy in the league. But look at the Eagles, where they now have Hurts still on a rookie deal. He's balling out like the way he is, and they could go out there and trade and pay for an A.J.

Brown. They could go on out there and, you know, they have Devante Smith on a rookie contract. You'll sign a Hassan Reddick who may be the most underrated player in football. You go trade for a Darius Slay. Having Jalen Hurts on that rookie deal is enormous.

Enormous right now, and you are right. If you're Jacksonville, go take advantage of having Trevor Lawrence on the rookie deal. Because eventually, Trevor Lawrence, and I don't know if he's getting Mahomes money. And I know that Mahomes' deal is actually advantageous for the Chiefs because of how long it is and everything. But eventually you're going to be looking at Trevor Lawrence as getting 45 something million dollars a year. And it's going to make you have to trim some fat along the rest of the roster. Winning on that rookie deal or getting your team in a good spot when you have your quarterback on the rookie deal.

It's so important now when constructing the formation of a roster. And look at the Bengals. They won't have an issue in the short term because even still the receivers are cheap. But pretty soon, T. Higgins, Jamar, Chase.

Tyler Boyd? There's going to be Tyler trimming the fat. Unfortunately, everyone's going to get paid soon.

So it makes these next few years for Cincinnati even that much more important of trying to capitalize on getting at least one Super Bowl. And you've got to think, Chase is not going to get squeezed out. They're going to have to pay Burrow. They're going to have to pay Jamar, Chase. I do think there's going to be a decision. Is it Higgins or Boyd? Now I think you would prefer Higgins, but Higgins is going to cost you more. So maybe that's going to get kind of taken care of by itself because the market's going to dictate it. But you never know. Maybe T. Higgins' sale will take a few million less to go play with Joe Burrow.

But that's another conversation for another day. So that's Jacksonville. The Giants, here's what I'll say about the Giants. They built good culture this year.

They made you, for the first time in a while, respect their coach and their general manager. In terms of foundational pieces moving forward, the guy I feel best about is Dexter Lawrence. I think Dexter Lawrence is a stud. I'm going to assume Saquon Barkley is back, but you've got to pay him. And Daniel Jones, this is the tricky part you get into. Daniel Jones had a good season with nothing around him. Throwing to James and Hodgins and Sladen, like those are not number one wide receivers. Most of those guys aren't number two wide receivers in this league. I do think they're going to pay Jones.

I think Jones is going to be in a three or four year deal, which I'm okay with. But we're talking about Dak. We're talking about Kirk Cousins, guys that are good, not great.

And look how much money you're tied up into those two. I do wonder if a few years from now, you look back at that Jones contract, and even though you have to pay him right now, if you kind of wonder, all right, do you just have a good quarterback? Or if you get the right pieces around Daniel Jones, can he maybe become a great quarterback? The Giants this offseason, they need to fix a lot of holes. Because there is going to be some regression next year, you would think.

But you could avoid that aggression if you put Jones around some legit playmakers, which they don't have many on that roster right now. It's going to be so interesting to see how Joe Shane approaches this. Because with him coming from Buffalo, how they built Buffalo was they built a team around the quarterback, and then they got Josh Allen. And Josh Allen was able to kind of work his way into becoming the quarterback he is, in part because the team around him was so good, not the other way around when they got the quarterback and nothing else around him. And then eventually got Diggs to go take the next step.

So Joe Shane has been, or has come from a mold where it is build a team first, then find the quarterback. And now I'm sure him and Brian Dabble came in not thinking they were going to make the playoffs and go to the second round this year. They declined to fit their option on Jones. They didn't think Jones was going to be back. Now they know Jones is going to be back. They haven't even said it tonight.

It's going to be fascinating to see the calculus that now goes on. Like I said, you're going to have to figure out how to pay Daniel Jones, what's going to be too much. And now kind of go the opposite of what you did in Buffalo. If you're starting to beat Buffalo 2.0 here with the Giants, right now with the Giants and what they had, it's going to be kind of tough to do that. Because again, if you want to keep Daniel Jones, most of that money, most of the cap, most of the resources will go to the quarterback.

And now you're going to have to find shorthanded, outfits alignment. And like I said, especially receivers and tight ends to go along with them. I think in a weird way, the Giants need to learn from the Patriots. And I know Mac Jones was a rookie and Daniel Jones just completed his fourth year. But Mac Jones and Daniel Jones are both players that no one really knows what their ceilings are. And the Patriots off year one with Mac Jones didn't give him anything in year number two.

And he regressed significantly. Now here's the upside for the Giants. You're not going to have Matt Patricia running your offense. I'm assuming Mike Kafka's not going to get a head coaching job.

Maybe I'm wrong on that. And he'll be back next year with Brian Daball. Even if Kafka goes, you still have Daball in the building who was a big part of the development of Josh Allen. But what I mean by this is don't just go into next year thinking Daniel Jones is going to be able to do the same thing that he did the year before. Because there's always signs of regression. And if you do what the Patriots did and not get legit weapons around Daniel Jones, even though Jones this year did a nice job without those legit weapons. I think that's a dangerous formula and you're playing with fire and you'll eventually get burned. Because ultimately in this league, you need the right fit, but talent does make up for a lot of the shortcomings of a roster year in and year out.

Okay. Now let's go to the Buffalo Bills. I think the Bills have a lot of work to do. The Bills should still win their division next year. The Bills should still be a top three team in the AFC next year. But I think the Bills, this is their most crucial offseason up to date because you've shown you could be really damn good in this league.

You've shown at times you could be great. But now every year until you get the Super Bowl, because of your past success, it's Super Bowl or bus. And the Bills this offseason, they need to get tougher in the trenches, defensive line and offensive line, without having Von Miller, they had no pass rush. They had no pass rush against the Bengals with three offensive linemen that were out for Cincinnati. You saw how important Von Miller was because in that win earlier in the year up against Kansas City, he was the one that got off the edge, got to Mahomes to force him to throw that ball and got picked off by Teron Johnson.

That finisher wasn't there because he was hurt, unfortunately. But I really do believe Buffalo needs to get a tough back this offseason. Because the formula of having Josh Allen be the entire offense and having him run, run, run, run, run. You're asking for your quarterback to get hurt and you're asking your quarterback in a 17 game rigorous season to do too much. They got to change the running back spot in Buffalo. And I don't know if this guy will be available because they could franchise tag him. But Ryan, wouldn't Josh Jacobs be the perfect running back? And I mean the perfect running back for the Buffalo Bills. He would.

I would even say it goes further than that. You need identity change on offense. You have to become more physical. Not even just in your thought of how you run the ball, but actually how you impose your will. But Josh Jacobs is the perfect back for that. But also at the same time, if your offensive line is not blown in off the ball anyway, Josh Jacobs has been running into the backs of Lyman at the line of scrimmage and not going anywhere.

He's going to help because he's kind of that physical bruiser that Buffalo has not had for a long time and part of the reason why they haven't been able to establish a run game. But it also starts with a 5-lineman up in front of Josh Allen and trying to get a push, which is another thing they have struggled with. And that's why it goes back to a philosophical thing of trying to now work the run game and not just be basically a pass-happy team or a put-it-all-on-Josh Allen team.

You have to be able to impose your will, which some of the Bills up front especially have not been able to do this year. You need to get someone that can hit the quarterback too. Because you got Von Miller back, but you're going to need someone to compliment Von Miller as well.

Yes, both the trenches need an identity change without a doubt. Now for the Cowboys, I don't think Dak and McCarthy are going anywhere. You know who would actually make a lot of sense for DeAndre Hopkins?

It's the Cowboys. They need another wide receiver there. And I think they'll say goodbye to Zeke this offseason. You're going to need to figure out if you're going to be able to bring back Tony Pollard.

And I don't know when he'll be cleared to play with the whole injury and all that. But you're going to have to get another running back too. The Cowboys have a lot of work to do. They have a ton of work to do this offseason. And you're building at a point where no one thinks you can really get past the second round. This is a tough, and I mean a tough offseason for the Cowboys who were so, who in the big spot yesterday Dak Prescott just once again. In a game that was closer than probably what most people thought was just extremely disappointing. It's talent and it's also just like the intangibles.

Even like some of the little things of just like fundamentals. Seven penalties again. This has been a very highly penalized team in the three years that Mike McCarthy has been there. They're just a stupid football team. Like even the other day, just how does the kick returner not beat the kicker?

How does he run right into the kicker? It seems like those things for a team that's good in the big spot, they just do dumb things in Dallas. And you see in the playoffs when those mistakes are magnified, it's so hard when you're playing great teams. It's so hard to overcome those small mistakes and give great teams second, third opportunities. You can't do it and win games.

And again, that's now two years in a row. A Mike McCarthy-led playoff, Cowboys playoff team. You make mistakes and you can't overcome them.

And the awareness is bad. You look at last year, the end of game scenario. You look at Dak almost taking that safety yesterday. Whatever that play was at the end of the game. For a team doing double-digit games back-to-back years, they are a stupid football team.

And they do stupid things. And ultimately, as long as Jerry Jones is still their owner, I don't expect much to change. Well that's really, like if you were talking about what needs to change for this team to actually win a Super Bowl. But it's not. It's a waste of conversation.

We do this every year. But that's where, like if we're talking about actual change. And don't get me wrong.

That's the answer. Jerry Jones has a ton of power. Wilbur Clay has a ton of power. But as long as Jerry's there, I don't think much will change. Alright, Dan Olofsky will join us next at the Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. And you can think of O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care needs. Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. I learned a lot of things this weekend. One of those things that I learned, well maybe not this weekend, but it was more throughout last week, is that Marco Belletti has a heart. And Marco Belletti is a regular human being like everyone else. Because Marco Belletti, who I kind of really do appreciate around here, and I think a lot of people look up to. And I think sometimes Marco kind of gets this view of him or people look at Marco as like this guy that when you're walking in the door the first time, don't talk to. He's a little grumpy.

He can be rough around the edges. Sometimes I think people forget that Marco is just a good guy and he's like all of us. So the reason I say that is last week, and Marco is usually negative about his teams, doesn't ever believe in his teams. But there was a strong confidence from Marco on Monday about his Giants being the Eagles. And then as the week progressed, that 50 percent confidence went to 60, 65, went to 70, 75, went to 80, and then it went to 100.

And Marco, I do feel for you on this day because I know it's got to be tough. It's got to be tough when you thought your team was going to win and then they just get embarrassed like that. Mistakes were made. Many mistakes.

I think you should be the strength and conditioning coach of the Giants. Look, I mean, it is what it is. They got boat raced from the opening kick. The only good part about the whole thing was simply after a game's over, any game, there's always, oh, if they would have made this play. Oh, if they would have made that play. Nothing from this one.

No, there's nothing. That game was over five minutes into it and you knew it right from the start. I did preface that again. I was completely wrong. I thought the Eagles would play a C-minus game. The Giants would play an A-plus game and they'd be able to squeak it out. I never for a second thought Jalen Hurts was healthy and that the Eagles would play a solid game. They weren't great.

Don't get me wrong. The Eagles have another level than that. They're better than that. I just thought that they would play poorly. They played well. They went into halftime with a 20-0 lead and they knew, OK, we don't have to go on in the second half. But even that, they played well.

They have another level to that. Look, if they play that well the rest of the way, they can win the whole thing. Playing that well against the Giants, no matter what level the Giants played, they can't match that. They also played an F game.

So you get a B game from the Eagles with an F from the Giants and you get slop that we got Saturday night. Now, I will say this. I thought Hickey was just disgraceful in the newsroom. I saw something. I don't know if Hickey meant it this way, but he saw you. He was like, Oh, Marco, how are you?

Sorry. That did not seem like a very genuine that he was looking after you. I think Hickey has been someone that has just been absolutely destroyed on the airwaves here. Has been beaten down, torn down for some of his takes.

I think he kind of, in a sick way, enjoyed that it was someone other than him. That's fine. See, I've always said, you take the accountability, you take the responsibility. I don't care. I'm good either way.

Whether he was being genuine, whether he was being an ass clown, I'm cool either way. I said what I said. I stood by it. I meant it. I take accountability. I'm big on that. Take accountability and responsibility for your actions.

Go ahead, Ryan. You don't really think that was genuine? Honestly, I wasn't really thinking anything of it. I hear you and I appreciate the, I guess, the I'm sorry. I don't even hear you say hello back. I think that's how annoyed you are.

No, it wasn't that. I said hello when he first came by. Get away from me.

The idea of like, you know, I'm sorry. I appreciate it. I feel bad. I've been there.

What are we doing? It just sucks. As someone who has many, you know, many times, unfortunately, seen my teams in a similar spot. But I'm with you, Marco.

I have a similar result as you. As someone who, again, shares that, knows what that feeling is like, I would just send you my sympathies too, that's all. Marco, Marco, I'm 100% with you. When you lose the game, I hate when someone comes up to you that doesn't root for your team and is like, oh yeah, I'm sorry. There's two things. One. Why?

One, let's not make it seem like there was a death in the family. That's first off. The other part of it is, I'm not on the team. So like, yeah. And then on top of it, like, you know, I don't know, expressing, is it going to help me? Like in any way? Do you want to dance in your grave then?

No. Hey, if you want to, but like, I'm cool with nothing. Like, I don't know. I just, I don't feel like... Pretend the game didn't happen. Let's just care about the person and just say hello, how are you?

Hickey, after the game is over and a brutal cult loss, anything I'm going to say to you make you feel better. No. So then what are we doing? So if you actually know, then what the hell are we doing? It's just, it's just more common courtesy, like, Hey Marco, I know you're hurting.

Is it? I know on Saturday, like I rarely know what you do outside of work. I know, I really know how you feel in general. I know for a fact at probably starting at 8 45 PM Eastern, you were hurting for the next two or three hours. So I know as a human being, you are in pain. So all I want to do today is there's nothing I could do to make up for it.

Just say, Hey, I'm sorry. Basically, I've been there. I get it. It sucks. I'm with you.

That's all. All right. I'm not sure I make you feel better. I go back to the same concept.

I can sympathize. Would you want to hear this after your team lost? No. Then what do we do? And also, I think Marco is the complete opposite of someone that ever needs a pep talk and like a... I'm not giving him a pep talk. It's just like, I feel like it's honestly worth it if you ignore the elephant in the room. We know the elephant in the room. What? Yeah.

We all know what happened. Just to ignore it and pretend like, Oh, what game? There's a game on site. I don't even know what you're talking about.

I think that makes it, that's, that's cowardly. It is the Zach Gelt show on CBS Sports Radio. Look at Hickey. Just lives on this little island of, he needs to check on everyone here for their checks and balances because his team sucks. So he has to make sure that everyone else's teams that also sucked at a big spot needs to feel good about themselves. Now, I do agree with you and I know we got to take a break. If your team's going to lose, no one ever wants to see your team lose, but it's just better to realize, okay, they were completely the better team than to play that what if game.

Yeah. I mean, again, it makes it feel a little bit better in the three hours afterwards where you're not... You're just not, Oh man, if they could have been like, it was nothing to do with the game. Man, did you did sit on the couch for nine hours? No, I mean, what do you stare at the TV? Like you knew that this game was over five minutes in at 14 to nothing.

The Giants couldn't possibly come back no matter what they did. Like there was nothing, there's nothing there. So you're just watching it. The only thing that sucks is that you're watching three and a half hours worth of, you know, getting stabbed in the eye. Like you just, you know, like who the hell wants to sit through that, but you got to sit through it.

We'll get to the closing bell next. Goalie gummies get you so close to your goals. You can actually taste them. The trick? Simply start with bite-sized steps like Goalie's apple cider vinegar gummies with added B vitamins for daily health or Goalie Ashwagandha gummies to help you relax, restore, and unwind. Mmm, tastes like wellness just got a whole lot better. And when goals taste this good, it's easy to achieve them. Goalie taste your goals. Learn more at Goalie.com today.