Sean Payton Riding With Broncos Country (Hour 1)

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There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch. He is bad vibes. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split.

I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. 855-212-4CBS is the number to jump on in. 855-212-4227. You can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good ol' cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gill.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Derek Johnson, the former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker, is going to stop by coming up 20 minutes from now. Brandon Graham, who's going to be playing the Super Bowl in two weeks, is going to swing by at the top of the hour.

And then at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 Pacific, we will be joined by Sean Pendergast, who does host here on CBS Sports Radio, and also hosts locally in Houston on Sports Radio 610. And we got a lot of coaching news right out of the gate today. But first, producing this extravaganza for the next four hours is no other than Hot Take Kiki.

Hot Take Kiki. So we get back-to-back news items. One second, Sean Paden is the new head football coach of the Denver Broncos. And in the next second, it is D'Amico Ryans going to the Houston Texans. Since, it's been pretty much thought the last day or so, maybe even two days, that D'Amico Ryans was going to land with the Texans. Let's go to the more surprising news. I'm not going to say stunning, but I do think it is somewhat surprising that the Broncos now not only make Sean Paden their next head football coach, but when you do that, you have to give up what I would call a king's ransom to go get the Super Bowl winning coach, as Denver had to give up a 2023 first round pick and next year's second round pick to the Saints, and in return they get Sean and the Saints' 2024 third rounder.

Here's my immediate thought. If you're a Broncos fan, you are happy that you got Sean. Because the last 24-48 hours, you didn't feel good about who you were going to potentially get, because it looked like Sean Paden was not going to be their coach.

It looked like they tried to make a last-second effort to go get Jim Harbaugh, and they couldn't agree to terms. And D'Amico Ryans, even though it was announced after Sean, and that deal went down, we were told the last two days or so that D'Amico Ryans is going to be the next coach of the Texans. So the first reaction, if you're a Broncos fan, is yes, we got our guy. We got a Super Bowl winning head coach. He's one of the more well-respected coaches in the league. We got Sean Paden.

But with that being said, what are you going to accomplish? Because the biggest problem still for me is what is Russell Wilson moving forward in the year of 2023? Is Russell Wilson cooked? Or with Sean Paden, is Russell Wilson going to be able to find his magical recipe of years past? And that's still the biggest question with the Denver Broncos. Yes, Sean puts the Broncos in a better position to win. But how do you define winning? Just getting to the playoffs?

That's not good enough. If this is going to be successful, you're going to eventually need this duo to win a Super Bowl. Because not only do you have a coach that's won a Super Bowl and a quarterback that's won a Super Bowl, you gave up a lot of draft capital to go get both of them.

And if you don't win one Super Bowl, it is a failure. And in that division, forget the rest of the AFC that has Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and maybe even Trevor Lawrence of the foreseeable future, just the AFC West, you have Patrick Mahomes and this unstoppable force inside the AFC of the Kansas City Chiefs. And then you also have Justin Herbert, who even though he hasn't had the postseason success yet, you could argue, and he's only played in one postseason game, I think the Chargers have a better overall roster for the next few years the way that it looks like it's going to play on out than the Denver Broncos. So I wonder what is the apex for the Broncos?

Because you all sit there and you say it's Super Bowl, you got to win a Super Bowl. I don't think it's realistic to think that in one offseason you make that jump. But bare minimum next year, with all that you gave up to get the quarterback now in year number two with the Broncos and Sean Payton back on the NFL sideline, you better make the playoffs. And I can't sit here with great confidence and tell you that when we make our predictions months and months from now, that the Denver Broncos, you got to see what they do the rest of the offseason, are definitely going to be a playoff team. Because maybe at best next year, they're the third best team in that division, at best. And I'm not going to totally dismiss the Raiders.

I'm not telling you I believe the Raiders are this great team, and I'm not telling you Josh McDaniels is this great coach. But for now, and we'll see how many of these guys they're able to retain. But you know Devonta Adams isn't going anywhere. You would assume Josh Jacobs is going to be back in a franchise tag.

Let's see what the future is of Hunter Renfro and Darren Waller. But let's also see how the Raiders are going to approach the quarterback position. Like right now, without knowing what's going to go down in free agency and in the trade market and all the craziness that happens in the offseason, the Chiefs are the best team in the AFC West, the Chargers are the second team, and then you have a debate who's going to be third or fourth. And right now the Broncos would be third. But just because you're third in the AFC West, I know now all of a sudden we're going to hear this talk again. Oh, the AFC West is going to be like the best division of all time. We just went through that nonsense last offseason. And you had two teams make the playoffs from the AFC West. So I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but I do think it's fair to acknowledge that there are conflicting feelings here.

Because, yes, it is woohoo. You get Sean Payton. It's a good hire.

I'm not telling you it's a bad hire. But how far can Sean take this team with the very dark cloud hanging over the organization of what the heck is Russell Wilson going to be? And do I think Russell Wilson is as bad as he played this year?

No. But do I think Russell Wilson is going to be great again? I'm not too sure about that.

I'm extremely skeptical about that. So if you only could get Russ back to a level and he's 34, he turns 35, I believe in November. If you could only get him back to a level of good, is that good enough to reach the heights that you want to go? And I don't think it is because Mahomes is great. He's not going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

He's under contract. You know, Herbert's not going anywhere and they still have to get through all these years of all. They have so much talent and this year they made the playoffs.

So give them credit. But they choked the lead up against the Jaguars. So there's no questions about the Chargers. I do feel, though, more confident about the Chargers future for the next, let's say, five years than I do with the Broncos future. Because at least I know and at least I have the belief that Justin Herbert can be a great quarterback still in this league for the next five years. He's young.

He's in his prime. But Russell Wilson, not everyone gets to be like Tom Brady and play into his mid 40s. You've seen quarterbacks decline rather quickly.

And I know that we look at 34, 35 as not being terribly old. It would not be the first time when a quarterback gets into his mid 30s that his play starts to fall off drastically. So it's all about putting the quarterback in the right position. The Broncos put their franchise quarterback or the guy they're hoping to be their franchise quarterback in a better position today than at any point that he was last year. But I just still don't know to what level the Broncos can take it to. And if you ask me right now, does Russell Wilson win a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos?

I say no. Now we'll see how long Sean Payton lasts there and we'll see if he also gets another quarterback eventually in your years and years away from that happening with maybe life after Russell Wilson. But for next year, I hate to say it, you would take just making the playoffs if you're a Broncos fan. But can I automatically just say, yep, the Broncos are in the playoffs next year?

No, I can't. Alrighty, we will get to this source off that's happening now on Rappaport and Schefter. But first, I would not be doing my job if I didn't get the reaction today out of Hot Take Kiki. Because Hot Take Kiki, other than being the biggest cult supporter on CBS Sports Radio, he also double dips as the biggest Broncos supporter. He has a Russell Wilson jersey, that I got him by the way, and it's a Russell Wilson Broncos jersey. And not only that, last year, he predicted that Russell Wilson would go to the Super Bowl in year one as a Bronco, win the Super Bowl, win the Super Bowl MVP, and maybe his best prediction of them all, he said Nathaniel Hackett was going to be a top three coach of the year candidate. So Hickey, where are you at today on the Denver Broncos' future under their new head football coach in Sean Payton and your BFF in Russell Wilson, a man whose jersey you own, as you have to lead the charge here for the Broncos? Are you leading the charge or are you saying I'm not getting back on the bandwagon and getting burned by this disaster yet again? The Denver Broncos will be a playoff team next year. I can say that with extreme confidence. I will not go Super Bowl.

I will not go MVP for Russell Wilson. I feel great about this team being a playoff team next year with Sean Payton. Now sometimes you say some things and you forget what you say. You did a few weeks ago say that if they got Sean Payton, you would be back on the Super Bowl push. You said that a few weeks ago. I don't recall. I'm not saying that. I honestly do not remember that.

I do not remember that. I was going to ask you if it was in sarcasm, but you did say that a few weeks ago. So maybe it was sarcastic.

I didn't think it was sarcastic. I don't know if you were being a pain in the ass, but you really believe that this team is automatically a lock to make the playoffs next year. Sean Payton in his final year coaching. 9-8. Saints just with the playoffs. Do you know his four quarterbacks that played Trevor Simeon, Ian Book, Taysom Hill, Jamis Winston.

9 wins with that squad. I think Russell Wilson has a lot of talent left in him. I think Sean Payton can get it out of him. So if you go 9-8 with that collection of what is mostly backup slash out of the league quarterbacks, I think he'll get Russell Wilson in the Broncos to the playoffs next year.

Now the biggest thing that I think Sean has to work on right away, and I know Sean holds everyone accountable, but that locker room, say what you want in those last four weeks after Hackett got fired or two weeks, whatever it was, where everyone was making a push. Oh yeah, we like Russ. We like Russ. We love Russ.

But when all those stories are coming out, no one said a damn thing. I think that's tough to right away in one off season and early on in the season when everyone's looking at you and everyone's throwing you underneath the microscope to get that team to be fully bought in on Russell Wilson again. That's a big concern that I have, even with the great leadership, even with the really good coach that you just brought in in Sean Payton. This is why Sean Payton is a per retire for the Broncos. You don't have to buy into Russell Wilson right away. You could buy into Sean Payton. And you buy into Sean Payton and what he can do, kind of like if you bought into Kyle Shannon and what he was able to do with Brock Purdy, you don't have to buy into Brock Purdy when he steps in as a starter for Jimmy G. But you buy into Kyle Shannon and his system and putting everyone in a position to succeed. Either you can buy into Sean Payton and believe in his offense without necessarily day one walking in and saying, forget last year, Russ is our guy this year. Now, just having a conversation with you on this, because I heard the morning show today just thought I was like yelling at you and I needed you to agree with me. I'm fine when you disagree with me.

But let me just give you a different line of thinking here. You mentioned Kyle Shanahan. Easier said than done when you have Kittle, when you have McCaffrey and when you have Deebo Samuel and a good offensive line. The Broncos offensive line was not good a year ago and your best offensive lineman is coming off an injury with Garrett Bowles. You also don't have elite playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. They need that quarterback to work. They need that quarterback to be elite again because the talent around him cannot lift him up to try to manage some of those tough times because that roster on the defensive side of the ball is phenomenal. You won't hear a peep out of me about their defense, but offensively, they got a lot of work to do this offseason because I don't know how many players you look at and you go, wow, I absolutely love, wow, they're explosive, great dynamic playmakers in this league.

And that's fine. Again, he won nine games with, you see the collection of skill talent he had in New Orleans in 2021. And you want to take a guess who the leading receiver is when they won nine games? Michael Thomas was out.

Right. How many games did Kamara play that year? I know he was in and out of lineup. 13, but he started only 10.

Okay. Leading receiver was Marquess Callaway with 698 yards, followed by Deontay Hardy. And then Alvin Kamara was third in receiving yards. Now with that being said, though, you're in an AFC West division. Like, do you think that they're a better team than the Chiefs? Do you think they're a better team than the Chargers?

I know you don't, that's a rhetorical question on the Chiefs. Do you think right now they're a better team than the Chargers? Chargers have more talent. So you would pick them to be third in the division right now? Of course, because you have more talent doesn't mean that you play up to it.

Okay, but I'm just asking. Talent-wise, they're third. Right now, talent-wise, they're third out of four. But you think they're locked to make the playoffs?

Yes. Do you then, so where do you think they'll finish in the division right now? Third? I'd probably say second. Okay, why?

I'm just wondering. Again, I can't really trust the Chargers to put everything together. But they at least made the playoffs last year.

They really did, but I think they have a massive advantage as a head coach. I think the Broncos are going to benefit immensely from a fourth-place schedule. Right now, the Chargers are going to play a second-place schedule.

So again, you're going to get help just from the nature of where you finished in last place, which can actually do you some good for all the laughs and all the criticism they received rightfully. So this year, next year, it's going to actually set a really nice scene now for where you are in terms of trying to get back and win 10 games. So yeah, I trust the Broncos next year. I think Sean Payne's the right coach to get this team turned around. There's still talent there. Still like this roster overall. Areas to improve for sure, but Sean Payne, what he was able to do in New Orleans was that injury riddle team in 2021 with no quarterback.

He's going to make the playoffs. Well yeah, because this team, I'm assuming, if you don't have the injuries you suffered. Again, we have Ian Book starting games, Trevor Simmons starting most of your games. Having, what you call, Taysom Hill have to start a lot of these games and trusting Jameis Winston to start.

Again, if Russell Wilson stays healthy, that should be a massive upgrade. You know, I actually respect you right now, Ryan, because we've all made a ton of wrong predictions. I've made a bunch of wrong predictions. But when a team usually burns you, the next year I don't love doubling down with them.

And you're now doubling down off one coaching hire. I know not to go to the Super Bowl, but you said they're locked to make the playoffs. I personally just cannot be that confident that they're going to make the playoffs in a conference where you know Josh Allen's making the playoffs. You know Joe Burrow's making the playoffs. As long as Lamar Jackson, who's going to get franchise tag, is there, the Ravens are making the playoffs. Someone has to go from the south, probably the Jacksonville Jaguars. You look at the west, you definitely have, in my opinion, the Chiefs and the Chargers getting in next year, or you would think, that's six teams right there. If you want to debate me on the Chargers, you only got two spots, and that's with no one else rising to the top.

Like I know you're a big Tua Tunga Valoa fan. If he's healthy next year, do the Dolphins get back to the playoffs? Do the Patriots take the next step? Does Tennessee get a quarterback this offseason? Does Pittsburgh take the next step? Maybe with Deshaun Watson knocking off Rustin playing an entire season, do the Browns go back to the playoffs?

I think they're, for only having a spot or two open on paper, there's a lot of question marks there. To just automatically say, the Broncos are a lock to make the playoffs. Zach Gelb here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

Now let me also ask you this, who do you believe? Schefter or Rappaport? So this was a Schefter tweet. Timing of today's two hires were completely coincidental. Broncos were zeroed in on Sean Payton, and didn't make any contact this week with D'Amico Ryans or his agent. Denver was focused on Payton and Houston on Ryans. Now, Ian Rappaport, unbelievable.

The Broncos spent today trying to hire D'Amico Ryans again before he recommitted to the Texan, sources say. When he agreed to turn to the Texans, then you did have the Broncos move and finalize the Sean Payton deal. I like both these reporters, but I'm tending to believe Rappaport because y'all said the other Broncos report, and I think that was from Schefter, right?

That they were trying to kick the tires once again on Jim Harbaugh. I believe Rappaport. Oh, was Rappaport? Yeah. On the Harbaugh stuff. At least I saw it first from Rappaport. I think both had it eventually, but.

Gotcha. So I kind of think there's been too much smoke there, Hickey, right? When you look at the rumors of D'Amico Ryans that he was the leading candidate at one point, then you see the Harbaugh stuff. I, like, as crazy as that sounds, because Sean's a really good coach, it doesn't seem like he was their first choice, necessarily.

Yeah, I believe Rappaport, where they tried, and maybe it's just compensation strictly that they tried to hire D'Amico Ryans first. I don't think that's, I don't really believe Schefter here. So look at that. We agree on something at the end. All right, Zach Yelp's show CBS Sports Radio, Derek Johnson joins us. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch. He is bad vibes. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split.

I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app, your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch. He is bad vibes. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split.

I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. It is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. The Super Bowl is set. We'll be heading out to Arizona on Sunday. And thankfully, we're making a trip this year because my oh my, here in New York, when we leave on on Sunday, it's supposed to be like 10 degrees. So I'm ready to go to Arizona and take in the good weather and also eventually watch the Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. Now joining us on the show is a former linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, played there from 2005 to 2017. He made the Pro Bowl four times and he was a first team All-Pro back in 2011. And that is Derrick Johnson, kind enough to join us once again on CBS Sports Radio.

Derrick, it's Zach Gelb. How you been? Doing pretty good. How y'all doing?

I'm doing fantastic. So I got to start you off with that Chiefs defense because they made the timely stops when they needed to. I think they kind of got overlooked going into the game. And Chris Jones, who's been great all throughout the year, came up big when they needed him to on that last drive.

Yeah, absolutely. In order to beat the Cincinnati Bengals, who's kind of had our number the last three times we played them, probably the only team that consistently beat the Chiefs. But I tell you, Chris Jones, I mean, when you talk about affecting the quarterback, getting in the quarterback space, affecting him, pushing the pocket from the middle of the defensive line and the outside of the defensive line. We talk about a 300-pound plus lineman that can just whoop any lineman's tail.

So it was pretty impressive. When you look at the performance of Patrick Mahomes, how do you describe it? Because no one knew what he was going to be able to do on one ankle.

Yeah, honestly, I was a little afraid. I was like, man, because what makes Pat special is his gutsiness, the way he moves. And when he gets outside their pockets, I'm like, man, we're going to have to either run the ball and he's going to have to throw a lot of checkdowns and get the ball out of his hand because I don't want him to get hurt, but at the same time still win the game. But I got to tell you, man, he brung his cape on Sunday night.

And I'll tell you what, man, Pat is the best quarterback in the league and will be that way for a while. And that's saying a lot when you got Hubert and you got guys like Justin Burrow. I mean, Joe Burrow. By the way, when he said Burrowhead, I think that kind of pissed off everybody. So that's why they had a lot of gas on that fire.

Put it like that. Yeah, I don't think you need any extra motivation in an AFC title game, but you know how coaches are and you know how players are. They use anything, especially this late in the season, to kind of even get them more going. You think that made a big impact on the game where Mike Hilton was calling it Burrowhead going into the contest? Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, it's an AFC championship, so it's going to be, it's going to be, juices are going to be flowing regardless.

But when you put that extra personal touch on it, it definitely touches everybody against it. I played there for 13 years. So when you talk about changing the name to Burrowhead and just kind of disrespecting the best, loudest fans. I mean, technically loudest fans in the NFL. They took that offense to that and we came out with some juices flowing and we needed it.

And whenever you can use extra motivation, why not? Derek Johnson here with us. What's your first thought on the Super Bowl because, and I'm not just saying this because we all hope it's going to be a great game, but I think this is going to be a really close one between these two teams. Absolutely. It will be.

It will be. And they're all, they're both pretty different when it comes to their offense, but they're very explosive. Both have really good defenses. Eagles defense, I mean, defense online, I think all of them got close to double-digit sacks when it comes to getting out to the quarterback.

So I hope Mahomes' ankle is really well because he may be running a little bit more than I want him to. But it's going to be a great game, especially with Andy Reid playing his old team. That's always a special time for being, when I was a chief, whenever we played the Eagles, there were always extra incentive just between us players to make sure we get a win over the Eagles.

So I'm sure that's going to happen this coming in a couple of weeks for the Super Bowl. Derek Johnson here with us. So your final year, you played with the Raiders. We all know the Raiders and Derek Carr are heading to a divorce.

The question just is, does he get traded or do they cut him out right? How do you kind of react to the end of Derek Carr with now the Las Vegas Raiders? Derek Carr, you talk about a stand-up guy, a stand-up guy. He's always been in the media for all the right reasons. He says the right things. He's a godly man. When I played up there, I played against him a lot, obviously, but to be able to play with him that one year in 2018, that was pretty special to see how he went about his business. You know, being an NFL player, I'm always curious to see how leaders lead, and he is definitely a leader.

Things don't work out always, so I'm sure they're going to have to cut ties. I don't know how that's going to go business-wise, but he'll land somewhere. He'll do well. He's a good quarterback in this league.

I want to ask you two more before we let you run. Sean Payton now has winded up with the Denver Broncos as their next head coach. Do you think he'll be able to find a way to fix Russell Wilson? We know how good of a coach he is, but Russ Mann had a bad year last year. Yeah, he did. He did.

That was unfortunate. I'm a fan of Russell Wilson. I think what he did at Seattle is unparalleled.

He did really well. I mean, winning the Super Bowl, being able to do some great things there, and at the same time being able to move teams. A lot of things have to go right when you have success in the NFL, so I don't want to blame it all on him, but they have to fix a few things, but the quarterback is the number one thing they have to fix. I believe you could fix a guy like Russell. I mean, you paid him a lot of money, so hopefully they do.

If not, I mean, too bad. There are robberies in the AFC West, so I don't feel too bad, I should say. Well, I've got to ask you also about D'Amico Ryans, a fellow linebacker in the NFL. He's going back to the Houston Texans, the team that drafted him when he was coming out of Alabama, and he's going to be their head coach. How do you think, because you know what it's like to be a leader in this league, and we saw the man that they called Mufasa be a great leader as a player and then a heck of a defensive coordinator with the 49ers. Are you optimistic that he'll be able to be a successful head coach in this league?

Absolutely, absolutely. You see what he's done the last few years with San Francisco being the number one defense in the NFL. That's hard to do, and consistently he's done that. He's got that bully, I should say, and he's well, well worth it.

It's kind of making me feel like I'm getting old because I'm a year older than him, and I remember playing in the games, playing against him, looking at his stats, he's looking at my stats. It's pretty cool to see him getting his success as a young African American coach. This is pretty cool, and I think the Houston Texans got it right this time.

I don't know how soon they'll be winning, but they definitely got the head coach right. For you, have you ever thought about maybe coaching and joining an NFL staff? You know what? I have thought about it. I have thought about it. I have six kiddos, and I have to wait. I have to put that on hold because I'm having way too much fun with my kiddos, and I'm golfing a little bit. Coaching, I definitely will help out here and there, especially with my Longhorns while I'm here in Austin. Coaching, man, it's a lot to coach. The time commitment that they have, it's different, and I'm not committed to that time right now. I would say that, but I know at some point I may be calling guys like D'Mico, saying, hey, let me come up and see what I can do for you. Derek Johnson, you have six kids.

You could practically fill a flag football team right now if you need to coach a little bit. Absolutely. How's your golf game, by the way? It's okay. I just broke 90 a few weeks ago, and I tell you what. I went home and said, I got it. I hit an 85. I'm like, all right, cool.

And then the next week, it went down south. So, I mean, it's probably a game that I'll be trying to get better for the rest of my life, honestly. Well, welcome to the game of golf, my friend.

Just when you think you solve it, you end up just being absolutely horrible. I appreciate the time, Derek Johnson. Thanks so much. We'll do it again soon.

All right, take it easy. All right, let's react to the D'Mico-Ryan's hire when we come on back. Sean Payton is off to the Denver Broncos, and D'Mico-Ryan's going back to the Houston Texans.

We will touch on the Texans' hire when we return in five minutes. And Brandon Graham is going to join us coming up in 30 minutes from now at 7 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. Pacific, on the Zach Gelb show, only on CBS Sports Radio. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations. Coverage of your favorite teams. Live news from your hometown. And millions of podcasts on demand.

Best of all? You can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news. And add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch. He is bad vibes. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split.

I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show.

Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. So the Texans, they got their guy. And they know him pretty damn well. D'Amico Ryan's going to be the next head football coach of the Houston Texans. Did a wonderful job as the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. Now, the obvious thing to say, because how many times do we see the hottest name on the market and take Sean Payton out of it who goes to Denver today, but that was in the NFL last year. There's been so many times when there's a coach, an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, hottest name on the market, going to be wonderful, going to be fantastic, going to be great. Then that coordinator becomes a head coach and ends up being a disaster. I believe that D'Amico Ryan's can be a really good head coach in this league. But the biggest question with the Texans now is, is Nick Casario going to put him in a position to succeed? And we got to see what Nick does in the draft this year. This is now the third head coach that Nick Casario somehow has been allowed to hire.

But here's the difference. The last two times when they hired David Cully, you knew it wasn't going to be more than a year or two. It ended up being one year.

When it was Lovey Smith, it was at max two years, but don't be surprised if he's one and done, he was one and done. When the Texans hired David Cully and Lovey Smith, you never thought, okay, this is going to be the head coach to build into the future with. And by doing that, not bringing in the right head coach and not bringing in a guy that you could see lasting their long term, even though your GM has been in rebuild mode for the last two years, your team hasn't really officially been able to start the rebuild. Now you bring in D'Amico Ryans, you have a thought, okay, this could be the next great successful head coach in this league.

He was a wonderful defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers. Yes, clearly he has to be able to make that transition of being a DC to a head coach. But if you're a Texans fan, I'm happy for the Texans fan today, because that organization has been such a joke for the last five years. You finally have a belief that you got your guy where you could start to turn around the franchise and lead the franchise into the future, where that was not there when David Cully was hired or when you just hired Lovey Smith a year ago.

So, Hickey, once again, I don't know if it's going to work. It's a lot more than just bringing in a head football coach. But this is a positive day for the Texans, because you finally got someone where you could just exhale and go, okay, we could see him, I know he got a six-year deal, at least sticking around for three years, instead of just doing coach comes in, one year, done. Coach comes in, one year, done. And you get out of the coaching-hiring cycle for a bare minimum of three years.

I know, obviously, he played this. That's part of the reason why he's going back. But you look at where the Texans are and how attractive they really should not be. Like you said, the last two years, where it seems like they were trying to hire Joshua Cowen, and it was blowback weather, just not trying to sell it. They panicked and then hired David Cully. And then, Lovey Smith, two years in a row, it's just like, you see where this team is, there's not a lot of talent.

It really should not be an attractive destination for a guy as highly regarded as Tameka Ryan. So it's a thousand percent a home run hire for them, what they could have or really should have gotten out of this hiring cycle. You've got to feel really good going forward that this is the guy for them going forward. And remember, last year, the only reason, because they didn't imagine doing back-to-back one-and-dones. But last year, whether it was the McCount thing or maybe they felt like they couldn't hire Brian Flores because of the lawsuit that was happening. I know Flores ended up working on Mike Tomlin's staff. But what you just said, I got to give you credit because you were the first person that I heard when it was the first report of Sean Payton was going to interview with the Texans. You actually said that it's actually not a bad job if Sean takes it.

Now, I know that a lot has to end up working out. But you see where they're positioned in the draft where any coach that comes in now, you know, within reason, they're getting three years bare minimum. And all the focus and all the attention and all the pressure isn't on Tameka Ryans for this year and next year.

Yeah, you got to build culture. Yeah, you got to build a belief in the locker room. But everyone's attention now looks at Nick Casario and says, Nick, you got two first-round picks this year. You better ace the draft. You better get the quarterback for the future. And if Tameka Ryans has immense growing pains in his first two years, I don't think it's going to be, man, Tameka Ryan sucks.

You got to get him out of there. It's Nick Casario. You've now proven that you cannot hire someone off three hiring cycles if Tameka Ryans does not work. So this is finally, you can put an end to who's going to be the coach of the Texans and now it's what is Nick Casario going to be able to do? And I'm not telling you Nick Casario stinks and Nick Casario is going to be putrid, but I can't tell you he's going to be great. I genuinely do not know what Nick Casario is going to be when he's leading that organization because fair or not, the last two years where, yeah, you could draft some guys, you bring some guys in, all that, but it was a giant waste of time because you knew the guy that was coaching the team. If you were a player in that locker room, even though David Kelly's a nice guy and Lovey Smith got to a Super Bowl years ago back in 2006 when Rex Grossman was his quarterback with the Chicago Bears, but if you're a player in that locker room, yes, it's a job. Yes, you're trying to prove yourself if you're a young player, but it's kind of tough to listen to the message of the head coach when you're not a dummy and you can see it's crystal clear that that coach is not going to be there next year.

Or at max he's only going to get two years in an organization. So the big question becomes what the heck is Nick Casario in the NFL when he's calling the shots and it's tough for me to evaluate really anything, Ryan, that he did the last two years because whether you want to talk about the confusing circumstances and how they wanted to hire other people but they felt like they couldn't, doesn't matter. Those are the moves that were made and you know this, time continues to tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick away in the NFL and you never see a guy that's not had an ounce of success in the NFL in the main position. I know in New England he was very successful, but you never see a guy go into his first job where he's running the organization and he has all the power and he's calling the shots get to hire three coaches with no results and no success in the win column.

It's crazy. It is and that just goes to just what a dumpster fire that the Texans have been really going back to and Bill O'Brien tried to basically fire everyone and get power all to himself and that for what, three, four years has just been one hot, flaming pile of garbage. But now it's like this is finally the first year it actually feels real. Like I said, you have a head coach where you actually know he's not a placeholder.

He is actually right. Like this is the guy that you are trying to at least build around. But if you're a Texans fan, do you look at this like it's your one of the rebuild? Or do you say, Nick Casario, this is not your third head coach. I'm not giving you year one. I'm not resetting the clock on you. Like that's the tough part because it does feel like you reset and I guess Casario probably gets two more years. You would think because I know that the Jaguars just had the number one overall pick and made the playoffs, but that doesn't happen.

Okay? That does not happen. I think the, weren't the Jaguars, I know teams had the number one overall pick and made the playoffs before, but they were the first team to win a playoff game that had the number one overall pick, right? Yes, Chiefs did in 2013, made the playoffs and now win a game.

But I think they're the first one to win one, yes. Oh yeah, when they drafted the offensive lineman. Eric Fisher.

Yes, Eric. And Andy Reid came to town. Yeah, Luke Jochel, I think, and Lane Johnson was also in that draft, somewhere in the first five or six picks. I think Lane Johnson's fourth overall pick. But regardless, if you look at the Texans, like if they get six wins next year, I think you're happy. I think you're thrilled.

I think you're doing somersaults in the streets. But year one for D'Amico Ryans is really a wash, but Casario can't pass on a quarterback here. You're going to be the number two overall pick. You could be the number one overall pick.

You've got to fall in love with someone, and it's either going to be Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, maybe both, and they don't move up and they let someone else move up and go to the one spot. But you've got to find that quarterback, and if you don't have, I don't want to say playoffs or bust in two years, but if you don't see signs from your quarterback in year one and year two, and then there's that thought and we see it right with the Jets, how quickly you could fall out of love with a quarterback that you draft, look at Sam Donald and Zach Wilson, then that's it for Casario. Like this is the last coach I would imagine that Casario gets to hire. Because if we're talking about a new coach that Casario gets to hire, like barring you got like D'Amico Ryans want to go somewhere else, or D'Amico Ryans just after like two, three years walks away, like something crazy that you don't see, if he's hiring another coach, that means the Texans, 99.9% of the time did not succeed. If that's the case, even though you may not have wanted to hire Lovey Smith or David Cully, you did. Regardless of what the circumstances are, this is the last hire that Nick Casario gets to make.

Because if this doesn't work, Hickey, it's over, it's done, it's finished for him. Oh, without a doubt, there's no chance. There's no chance he's getting to hire a fourth coach. If D'Amico Ryans walks away, it's most likely because this team is just a dumpster fire, whether it's ownership, GM-wise, and so yeah, this is the last stand. But you would think that the timeline for D'Amico Ryans is year one it's a wash, right?

Year two improve, year three go make the playoffs. But will that Casario get that same timeline since he's the guy now that hired D'Amico Ryans? That's the tough part for me, because this guy's already been in the organization for a few years. I would probably say next year's a wash for both. Then I would say year two, Casario's the one out of the microscope big time.

Then it's year three, all right, let's see what D'Amico is. Because this is still a team that's, like, they need a lot of help. So it's not like, you know, they are the, you know, not in the Jaguars. You don't have a lot of pieces that you look in this roster and go, wow, Dick Casario did a great job the last two years without a coach.

Fair, yes. Draft-wise, they've had some hits, some swings and misses. They're probably going to trade Brandon Cooks, they're getting rid of more talent before you bring it in. But I just, they're so far away, I would say two years before real star look at Casario as being fireable.

Bare minimum three for D'Amico Ryans. So you got time. Yeah, isn't it crazy? This guy gets time, Casario. He gets time now.

Can I fault him though? That's like part of when you take over the job and you have Jack Easterby rising up power. That's the other thing.

Holy smokes. Who knows, maybe Casario's going to be there for another decade. Maybe he took a few tricks from the team chaplain, the former team chaplain in Jack Easterby, and he has, you know, Cal McNair under control. We have no clue what Cal McNair does. He's a bad owner. He said no control of that organization the last few years.

So I don't know. It doesn't seem like he's had a quick trigger, even though they got rid of two coaches in back to back years. But with Casario, it doesn't seem like he's going to quickly get rid of people.

So it does reset the timetable, but it just feels wrong in resetting the timetable. Brandy Graham going to join us next from the Eagles as they're off to the Super Bowl. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch.

He is bad vibes. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split.

I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch.

He is bad vibes. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split. I have one tattoo that covers my entire body.

Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split. I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. I am so scared of the Grinch.