Lamar Landscape (Hour 1)

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It's just, you just learn to deal with it, you know what I mean? It's the Kick Rocks Wrestling Podcast with Evan T. Maxx. Subscribe now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. We got to start the show off today with a little bit of a conversation regarding Lamar Jackson. Now, I have said this on this show since the draft of last year when Lamar was clearly frustrated at the Baltimore Ravens that I thought that was the beginning to the end of Lamar Jackson's time in Baltimore. The problem that I've just had in making up my mind on when it's going to end is, will it be this offseason or next offseason?

Because I will make this abundantly clear for the 9000th time. If the Ravens this offseason have a breaking news announcement that they have inked Lamar Jackson to a long-term extension, I would be stunned. They should, but since this has now been a two-year song and dance, and we're going into year number three, and it seems like they're nowhere even close to getting a deal done, I am operating under the mindset that they're in counsel, like they're in couples therapy right now, and we all know that this is a relationship that appears to be fractured beyond repair. Now, could the Ravens go over to Lamar and kind of ooh and aah him with a new expensive diamond ring? Yeah, it's still a possibility, but when you keep on reading and hearing all these reports and seeing some of the signs, it's almost as if like the Ravens are, we're okay if we go through the franchise tag the next two years. And Lamar, two years ago, I understood why he didn't want to get a deal done.

It behooved him already having unanimous MVP to get Josh Allen paid, and then you could top that contract. But this past offseason, that was really the time to get a deal done. And for a while, it was when Lamar wants to get to the table and negotiate, we're ready to get a deal done. That's a term from the Ravens. And there was even one quote that was given out like, oh, Lamar feels like he has to put all of his time and attention and focus into winning a Super Bowl that he doesn't have time to negotiate a contract, which is the biggest load of crap and jackassery and hogwash that you'll ever hear. And Lamar shows up to camp or sometime in the summer, and he goes, guys, I'm ready to get a deal done. Like that notion that I had to put all my attention in winning a Super Bowl and I couldn't negotiate a contract is a bunch of BS. So the reason why we're bringing this up today is we know the Ravens have hired a new offensive coordinator, and there's more information coming on out about how involved Lamar was in the hiring process.

So I'll play you an audio clip in a second. But this is just a Twitter exchange that I saw. So Jonathan Jones is great job covering the NFL for CBS. He said sources per sources. It was my understanding that the Ravens did not fully integrate quarterback Lamar Jackson into the hiring process for their new offensive coordinator.

That's from Jonathan Jones. Now, the athletic in Baltimore said that it was their understanding that Lamar was given multiple opportunities to provide input and be involved. So you have one report saying that they didn't really fully integrate Lamar into the offensive coordinating search. And then you have another report, so conflicting report saying he was given multiple opportunities. So here be my follow up to the athletics report from Baltimore.

When you say he was given multiple opportunities, did he not take them up on it? Because if that's the case, like if I go manual, I'm hiring someone here at CBS Sports Radio. I want you to be involved in the conversation and you never get back to me. That's on you. That's not on me to keep on reaching out. But it seems like here they kept on reaching out. My question just is, did Lamar ever hit them back up? Because if Lamar did hit them back up and that's just not being reported, that's one thing.

Then he was more involved than what we are led on to believe. But if the Ravens called him a few times or if they gave him multiple opportunities to provide input and Lamar didn't provide any input, that means one of two things. Number one, Lamar just doesn't give a crap on who his offensive coordinator is and that's tough to believe or two, Lamar knows that he's frustrated with the organization. He's perturbed with the organization and he even thinks that this relationship is fractured beyond repair.

So I'm really, really, really curious when you get to this point from Jeff who covers the Ravens and the athletic. Was it more so that the Ravens gave multiple opportunities and Lamar didn't budge? Like, was that what it was or was he given multiple opportunities and he did cooperate? But that wording of that report, my understanding was he was given multiple opportunities to provide input and be involved. That doesn't say that he was actually involved. It was he just got provided opportunities. Like if he was actually involved in the offensive coordinating search, wouldn't the report be, oh, actually, it's my understanding, Lamar provided his input on multiple opportunities. He was just given multiple opportunities to provide input. So this whole situation seems contentious and it seems like both sides are kind of like Rogers and the Packers.

They're staring at each other, knowing that they're not talking the same language, knowing that they're not seeing eye to eye. And eventually they're going to part. But it's almost as if who's going to say I want out first? And that's really where I believe we're at with Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens and also Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. Now, Rogers, I said this multiple times, he's done so. He's gone. He's getting traded this offseason. But for Lamar Jackson, what I struggle with is will it be this year that he gets traded or next year?

Because you could franchise tag him twice. But if you don't get a deal done this offseason, you franchise tag him again. You can't run the risk of letting Lamar Jackson walk and all you get back is a compensatory third round pick. So I don't expect the deal to get done this offseason, but if they don't get a deal done this offseason, it just becomes will the Ravens look to trade him before the start of the season?

Or are they going to use Lamar, try to make one more run, say Lamar, we're basically going to run you into the ground and then we'll trade you afterwards. And even if you get hurt, we saw Dak Prescott get hurt and still get a mega extension. And let's be real, even if an athlete gets hurt, even though how much Lamar uses his legs as a weapon on the field, you know how many teams are desperate. Like Carson Wentz was embarrassing in Indianapolis. He still got traded for a decent amount to the commanders this offseason. So there's always a market for someone to get traded, especially at that quarterback position.

But in this case, Lamar has accomplished a lot more in the football field. So even though if he gets hurt this year, and let's say it's three straight years with him not being able to get on the field, you're telling me a team like the Jets. You know, a team that has a quarterback in forever, or a team in the NFC South, that right now there's no quarterbacks there, wouldn't be willing to not only trade for Lamar for the upside and what he's proven in the past, and then also give him a mega extension, they absolutely would. But if you're a Ravens fan, you want to get a deal done. But I think you got to be realistic and start to realize that it's unlikely that a deal is going to get done.

Maybe the third time's a charm and maybe I'll be an idiot and more than a dope potentially, but I'm just not going to be a sucker for this one. Because the more and more you hear, and it used to just always be like Lamar doesn't want to get the deal done, but the more and more you hear, it seems like the Ravens aren't rushing to get a deal done. And with the caliber of player that we're talking about, you would think you would be doing everything possible and then some to get this deal done because it's bad optics to let it go on as long as it is.

And in this case, if a deal does get done, I don't want to say that my jaw will be on the floor. Because in life now, especially in the sports world, it's tough to really be shocked by something, but it would be surprising if a deal gets done because everything is telling you right now that if you do the math and you add up what you're seeing and what you're hearing, it does not appear like Lamar Jackson is ever going to get this long term deal done with the Baltimore Ravens. And I don't know why the Ravens aren't happy with Lamar, but clearly Lamar is not happy with the Baltimore Ravens organization.

So let me play you this. This is Jordan Schultz, NFL insider on 105.7 The Fan, and he said that the Ravens, this is him explaining why the Ravens did not guarantee Lamar's return when they were interviewing candidates for the offensive coordinator position. There was not only were there no assurances, but the fact that they genuinely didn't know the organization and John Harbaugh didn't know what was going to transpire this offseason and that it was almost like anything is possible type of deal. So that's a different tone than what you heard a few weeks ago from Coach Harbaugh after the playoff loss, like Lamar's our guy. He's definitely going to be here.

He's the franchise quarterback. When you then go into it saying, yeah, we don't know what's going to happen, that's a quick 180. And I know when the way that you hear Jordan explain, it's like, OK, maybe like Kyle Shanahan from a few years ago, I don't know what what the future holds. Right.

We could all be dead tomorrow. One of those type of deals. That's what it sounds like.

It was a little bit. But when you're talking about an offensive coordinating position and if an offensive coordinator ask you, well, what's the what's the real truth with Lamar? And is Lamar going to be here for next year? And you go, we don't know.

Yeah, that's rough. That once again just adds more fuel to the fire. And even just enhances the speculation that Lamar potentially could have already played his final game with the Baltimore Ravens. Once again, where I'm at and it's doesn't matter to me that they hired Todd Monken or not, but where I'm at is I know or I think I know that this relationship is coming to an end. But once again, is it this offseason or is it next offseason?

And that's the tricky part of this question. Right now, I lean slightly lean that he'll be there for one more year and then they'll trade him after that. But if you're already kind of under the assumption that they're not getting a deal done, you may as well pounce on the picks and not run the risk of an injury or not run the risk of something happening where maybe the market does get altered now for the potential destinations. And let's just operate under the assumption that the Ravens wouldn't trade him inside the AFC, because if if they are willing to trade him inside the AFC, we don't won't be in the north. But you get teams like maybe the Jets or Miami that would be interested. But if you had to just look at the NFC, the NFC South is probably in the best position to go trade for Lamar Jackson, because all of those teams but Tampa. And at the time, Tampa didn't need a quarterback because they had Brady literally a year ago, had big pitches, had contracts drawn up and also trades that they were ready to execute to go pull off for Deshaun Watson.

So it's like a year later. And you can obviously trust Lamar, the person a lot more than Deshaun Watson, the person. But for a year later, a team like Atlanta, who's still in need of a quarterback, the Panthers who are still in need of a quarterback, the Saints who are still in need of a quarterback. They just went through something very similar and actually even more complex and difficult because of what Deshaun Watson was facing in order to be at the table to try to pull off that deal for Deshaun Watson.

So you know that those teams are willing to give the capital and you know they're willing to commit the money. So I think it gives a team like the Saints, the Falcons, the Panthers, if they don't draft a quarterback this year in the first round, a leg up and you could and you know that there's going to be a level of desire there. And if you're the Ravens, it actually could be the perfect storm because if you have the Panthers bidding against, the Falcons bidding against the Saints inside the division, that's just going to drive your return price up and up and up for Lamar Jackson. Now the other two teams, I'll give you three more teams inside the NFC. One, I think would have to be next year, not this year because they already committed so much money for this upcoming year for Kirk Cousins.

But I've been saying this since last year. When you have Justin Jefferson, Dalvin Cook, you have Adam Thielen still part of that team, now TJ Hopkinson, now KJ Osborne, you know all those players, all those weapons, I would love to see Lamar Jackson with the Minnesota Vikings. But since Kirk's contract is where it at this year, if he gets traded this year, it's just not going to happen.

You would need him to get franchise tagged and then that deal be done next offseason. But the other two NFC teams that really stand out to me for a potential Lamar Jackson trade, once you move past the NFC South, is actually the Detroit Lions and the Washington commanders. You look at those rosters.

I know Daniel Snyder is a crappy owner and is a bad person and looks like he's selling the team anyway. But you look at that commander's roster with guys like Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Bryan Robinson Jr., you got pieces there and they need a quarterback. Like if you're going into this year with Sam Howell, you may as well just be punting the season if you're the Washington commanders.

If Lamar is available, the commanders have to do everything in their power to go get Lamar Jackson. Like they gave up a decent amount to go get Carson Wentz and we all knew Carson Wentz sucked. So you think they would automatically jump through whatever hula hoops are necessary to go land a player like Lamar Jackson. And the other team that I'll throw out there in the NFC, and I would actually love to see this happen, it's the Detroit Lions. I know Jared Goff just had a really solid season and Jared Goff is people believing. But you look at that Lions roster with the young wide receiver from Alabama, you then look at a Monroe St. Brown as well.

You got DeAndre Swift, assuming Williams comes back. You had a team last year in Detroit that surprised a lot of people even after what was a really bad start to the season. If that Detroit team could go get Lamar Jackson, that would be really fun to root for.

Because I think we all love Dan Campbell, right? The Lions have been the lovable losers for so many years. You go put Lamar on that team and also remember this, the NFC doesn't have a ton of quarterbacks that you look at right now. You go, okay, they're going to be there for the next five to ten years and be major faces in the NFL. Like Jalen Hurts is one of them. Outside of that, Dak Prescott's good, not great.

Collin Murray's good right now, we got to see if he can be elite. Kirk Cousins we know, good, not great. Matthew Stafford, I don't know how many more years he's going to play in the NFL. Rogers probably on his way out this offseason. The NFC is looking for big names and faces for that conference for the next decade.

You know, five to ten years. Lamar goes there, unanimous MVP in his past, that would be a major, major win for the NFC and it would be a major win for the Detroit Lions. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio, so here's what's on the table today. Do you think Lamar is done in Baltimore? Is the end near? Will it happen this offseason? Will it happen next offseason? Do you think they're going to get a deal done?

And also, if Lamar gets traded, what's your number one destination for Lamar to get traded to where you would love to see Lamar playing football either this year or next year in the NFL? 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227, we'll talk more quarterbacks when we come on back. A little conversation about Bryce Young and CJ Stroud when the Zach Gelb show rocks and rolls and continues in five minutes.

Zach Gelb show, CBS Sports Radio. So, by the way, Emmanuel Vivari is here with us today, who's like, Mr. Fordham. Not that I expected to talk Fordham basketball today, but this just popped up in my head when I saw you.

Fordham basketball. Pretty damn impressive what they're doing right now. Rolling. Like killing it.

Absolutely killing it. Now, hold on. This is your school. You're like Mr. Fordham.

And all you give me is that they're rolling? Stolen time to get my headphones in, but I'm extremely excited by the Fordham Rams. Let's go, this is the big leagues. You've got to be ready to go right now. This isn't a Fordham basketball game. It's the Zach Gelb show, gosh damn it, on CBS Sports Radio.

I'll be quicker next time. 21 season already. They have a legitimate shot at an 810 regular season title.

Like what is going on on Rose Hill? I know they have more talent. I know it's a year after Kyle Neptune.

You have Keith Urgo taking over, but it's amazing. There's something special brewing there because even in the best possible world, they would be like a 500 810 team this year or a little bit above that. They have a legitimate shot to go dancing. Like last year, they were 500 on the season.

I know inside the 810, I think they were like 8 and 10 or something like that. And that was a remarkable accomplishment for them to be 21 and five. If I would have told you that before the start of the season, even with the success that they had last year, but the Neptune leaves, they promote from within all that. If I had told you this team would have 20 wins right now and we're sitting here in mid-February, you would have said what?

I would have said you're crazy. And a big reason why people didn't expect them to do all that much in the 810 is the 21 wins. They played a light out of conference schedule and people were wondering, does that translate? But they opted for let's pick up wins and create some sort of winning vibe here as opposed to let's get steamrolled by superior teams and out of conference play. And it's paid off.

It's translated to the 810 and then some. Now you don't come off to me as a petty person. And I know you had a relationship with Kyle Neptune and Kyle was actually in studio with us like a week and a half, two weeks before he left to go to Villanova. Like no one could fault him for taking that job. He was there for a year, had a really impressive year number one at Fordham. But I noticed this was smaller schools and remember whom I'm alma mater is it's Temple. So like there's people in the Temple fan base and I always laugh at this that like fault mat rule for leaving to go to Baylor and they're still annoyed.

And it's like a small contingency of people. Is the Fordham fan rooting against Kyle Neptune at Villanova? And I know that Villanova is now in a three game win streak but for Villanova standards there are 500 team this year at 13 and 13. I don't think a practical Fordham fan would fault him at all. You get the Nova job sitting in your lap right after a great year one with Fordham.

Like what would you do if you were in his shoes? Yeah. And I think. Well does the zany Fordham fan exist?

That's my question. The crazy Fordham fan and they do exist out there. I think it greatly softens the blow that Fordham has picked up the mantle and is going to greater heights post Neptune.

Now they're like we don't care. He could do great. He could do poorly at Nova. They probably want him to do great because Fordham is doing great.

So it looks like the future is bright. If the future wasn't bright I think there would be a little bit of saltiness for the crazy Fordham fan out there. Yeah like if Fordham right now is like 7 and 20. Oh that would be rough. Yeah that would be pretty rough.

Right back to the abyss the year after Kyle Neptune leaves. That would be a tough pill to swallow for the crazy Fordham fan out there. I didn't think we'd be spending five minutes talking about Fordham basketball. If you're A.D. Eddie Cole is listening out there and you want to sponsor the Fordham 5 on the Zach Gelb show we'll take the sponsorship dollars. I think you'd be interested. But there you go.

That's your free plug. Those are your free Fordham five minutes right there. But I did enjoy meeting Neptune last year and going to a few of those events and Fordham has a tremendously strong broadcasting program and they're not like arrogant. Like the Syracuse some of the Syracuse media members like their noses are held high up in the air and it's like oh we're so snobby we're Syracuse. And I know there's always like a see like I'm not at that intelligent intelligence level when we're talking about people that went to Syracuse and Fordham like I went to Temple for a reason. But I never feel like when I'm talking to the Fordham grad that there's like that arrogance around them. Yeah they'll drop in the tweet every so often like I went to Fordham sports alum that type of thing.

They'll do it where they can but they're not puffing the chest out. I think the most you see on a yearly basis is a graphic on a Yankee broadcast that says here are the notable Fordham and WFUV alums and everyone can celebrate it once a year. Gotcha.

All right. So when we get to the NFL draft and just looking at this draft order and we know what the draft has turned into it's how many quarterbacks are going in the first round. Where are these quarterbacks going to go. And it didn't seem like there was going to be a lot of intrigue when the Texans had the number one pick because the Texans would then have their choice. But with the Texans messing things up in the final week of the regular season then you have the Bears at one. I don't think anyone legitimately believes that the Bears are are going to take a quarterback. They'll most likely probably trade down but this creates a scenario that we see every once in a while we have teams trying to move up to get to the number one pick so you could get either Bryce Young or C.J.

Stroud. Like the Texans could stay there at two if they fall in love with both Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud and say if someone else wants to move up that's fine. But if you have a preference which you got to have a preference I would be inclined if that number one pick is available which I do believe it will be to move up and get your guy. But a team like the Cardinals could also trade if let's say the Bears stay put at one Texan ticket quarterback then whoever the next quarterback is off the board. You know teams will be trying to move up to get to that Arizona spot because then the Colts sit there in at number four. So there's teams like Seattle I don't think is going to move up. The Lions I don't think are going to end up taking a quarterback. The Raiders if the right guy falls there at seven potentially. You go through Carolina at nine probably looking to move up if they can't go and acquire a big name at the quarterback position this offseason. And so there are teams there that are waiting to pounce. But I do think teams need to figure out first.

And this is why these evaluation processes happen now and been happening all throughout the year. Who do you prefer over Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud. And after watching a ton of Alabama football this year and watching a ton of Ohio State football and I got a chance to spend a few moments with C.J. Stroud at the Heisman. I have never talked to Bryce Young in my life and there was actually on the Zach Gelb show CBS Sports Radio history we had a nice little run of speaking to Tua or speaking to Jalen Hurts then speaking to Tua. And then speaking to Mac Jones right here on this show for whatever the reasons where Bryce Young was very busy before the start of the season. But I look at Bryce Young and also he's the reigning Heisman Trophy winner too at the time before this past year you had the award handed out to Caleb Williams. So with all that being said just watching them actually on the field I think Bryce Young is the better quarterback. The one big knock on Bryce Young is that his size.

But I look at Bryce Young compared to C.J. Stroud this year. This is one of those rare years where Alabama didn't have these huge household names at the skill position spots. Like obviously Jameer Gibbs was an absolute stub but receivers no one really moved the needle for you this year at the wide receiving position for Alabama.

I know this wasn't your normal Alabama season when you go to college football playoff and you see how far you could go and most likely your season ends one way or another happy or negative in a national championship game. I was impressed with the way that Bryce Young really carried that team and like actually even though he was great a year ago this year was more impressive just because he didn't have all those weapons that you're accustomed to at Alabama. And for C.J. Stroud there was a lot of times this year even though the stats would suggest otherwise we were like okay he's playing fine but he could be better. The part that I was most impressed with C.J. Stroud was his last game of the season I know they lost because I remember when I talked to him at the Heisman he said I'm more athletic than when people give me credit for it and I'm hoping that I put that on display soon.

And you saw that mobility and that athleticism the way that he extended plays with his legs in that semifinal game when Ohio State was in that semifinal game so you got to see that when they just lost to Georgia. So I look at Bryce Young my preference because he did more with less I thought this year is Bryce Young over C.J. Stroud but I wonder how much of a sticking point is the size or lack of it for Bryce Young. I think we've seen enough smaller quarterbacks dominate in the NFL where I'm fine going young instead of Stroud but I wonder the teams near the top like Houston. You heard what Jim Mercy say the other day about the Alabama quarterback clearly referring to Bryce Young you wonder what those decisions are going to be and you may get three quarterbacks actually go in the top 10.

Like Will Levis is also a hot name. Right now when I think Will Levis usurps Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud no. Anthony Richardson because of potential even though I think there's a lot of work there Anthony Richardson is also another guy that is going to go in the first round. So last year we had one quarterback go in the first round that was Kenny Pickett we didn't have another quarterback go until the third round no one went in the second round. This year it looks like there's a really good chance that four are going to go in the first round and the question just is how many are going to go then in the top 10 or maybe even the first 15 picks as well.

Remember the five that went two years ago when you had Trevor Lawrence you had Zach Wilson Trey Lance go one two and three then fields went shortly after that I think at 10 it was either 10 or 11 and the Mac Jones went with the 15th overall pick. But you look at the other two that I mentioned in Richardson and Levis I'm not making the direct player comparison here. But the way that we talked about Josh Allen and Carson Wentz I kind of feel like is a similar way that we talked about a real talk about Anthony Richardson will Levis where it's more based off of potential and the athleticism and the big arm. But there's still a great unknown like Josh Allen ends up being a boom Carson Wentz look like he was me a boom for a while but that ended up being a bus like I believe bare minimum. And I think Bryce Young could be a superstar I think CJ Stroud could be a great quarterback in this league but bare minimum you know those two guys they should be able to just be good bare minimum in the NFL. Like if you tell me Will Levis and Anthony Richardson I could see the upside being great and being phenomenal but then I could also seeing the downside just being absolutely horrific like there is no concern for me that Bryce Young or CJ Stroud are ever horrific. But that could be the case for Will Levis and Anthony Richardson because when you keep on hearing about those guys are potential potential potential and you saw that a few years back right like Josh Allen no one thought he'd be this good. And that's because a lot of us didn't see him play Wyoming, and then he turns out to be a star Carson Wentz not a lot of us saw him play at North Dakota State. And he turned out to be more bad than than good and now he's doesn't even have a home it feels like his commanders are probably on the verge of releasing it and Richardson played a Florida I get that.

But outside of the first game of the season it's not like you saw these heroic moments. And then for Will Levis did a nice job the last two years at Kentucky. I wonder how great he could be in the NFL 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27 let me take one before the break. Scott in Maryland is first up on CBS Sports Radio Scott with shaken. Hey Zach, I, I went to the Fordham at Davidson game on Saturday, and I'll tell you, Darius Quisenberry and Khalid more.

Those are players. So, I'm not surprised to see they've got a really good record it was a heck of a game, and that's a good team. Thank you. I appreciate it. By the way, I did not expect the big Fordham conversation to start. I actually just got a text. Did you say something to Eddie Cole.

I actually didn't. I just got a text from Eddie. Wow, he's listening. I made that like I made that as a joke, like, Eddie, if you want to sponsor us the Fordham five will gladly take it I just got a text from Eddie. I appreciate the Rams love, my man, hope you are well, Eddie Cole.

So I guess that he calls a big listener to the Zach Gelb he's all over it. So, given, given the Rams a little bit of love on the national airwaves. So that's the thing that I love about smaller schools, like anytime I talk about my temple owls like right away you hear from the administration you hear from the 80s same things like that when you get a wonderful story of a team like Fordham this year that coach. And then you have Virgo come in and that people he was already there but you get what I'm saying get promoted, and that team doesn't not only miss a beat they actually get better.

Appreciate it. They do. Hey, that's got work your way with the smaller schools, and then when they're in the end, right you think they're making NCAA tournament, think they can. Okay, so if they're in the NCAA tournament. Got to remember us when you're at the top of the mountain you're the big dog got to remember people like us that help you climb to the top.

This is turned into like a very douchey segment that this is, this is gone in the last 30 seconds to a minute. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio I always love to the teams that are smaller that come tournament time people are like, don't let them get hot, or this team could really pull off an upset, and most of the times we are terrible at identifying those teams, and then every so often, you get a team that you're hot on that you identify and the next thing you know they're in the eight or the final four. Just say it about every small school with potential, you're guaranteed to get one right. That's what I'm going to start doing we got a few weeks until March Madness I'm going to go to Linardi or Jerry Palms website, and any small school they talk about every day.

You know I really like this Fordham team I really like this Florida Gulf Coast team or whoever it's going to be so on and so on. Zach Gelb show CBS Sports Radio. I want to play you some audio from part of my take. This is Justin Fields we're all hearing about this potential new bear stadium and if it's going to get moved and will it have potentially a dome on it or not there's a lot of conversation in regards to this bear stadium. This is Justin Fields on part of my take. And this was his take on a potential new stadium.

The thing is about that weather is like, when it's that cold, you have to bundle up like put a bunch of layers on and stuff like that and your body's cold so you're not warmed up so I feel like way slower in that cold weather so it's tough but uh, yeah, I mean you know you of course want to try to stay warm on the sideline and stuff like that but I mean, it's hard to stay warm in that weather, warm ups and stuff like that your hands freezing up so it's tough. I hope we just get a dome. I don't care if we're at Soldier Field, I don't care if we're in Arlington Heights, I hope we get a dome on this. So he doesn't care where the stadium is located, just as long as it has a roof on top of it.

Now, here's like the part of me that immediately wants to say. I do think the weather answer is a little bit bizarre. Because then now you have to start to wonder, you bring the conversation upon yourself, like, how good can Justin Fields be in bad weather? Because it seems like the weather has been a tough adjustment I guess for him.

Now, it's not like he played college ball in this warm environment, I know he's originally at Georgia, but when he had his success he was at Ohio State. The roof comment, I don't know, when I think of the Bears, I have a tough time seeing a roof on that new building. Now, here's the reason why you put a roof on that new building, then Chicago gets a Super Bowl. Like Chicago, no roof, even if they have a new stadium, you're not getting a Super Bowl. If you put a roof on a new building in Chicago, you have a great city, you have all the hotels that you need, you can get a Super Bowl.

There are times, like I know Maggie on the show before us, Maggie and Perla on CBS Sports Radio, she has advocated for the Bills when they build their new stadium to put a roof on top of it. Buffalo, as much as I love Buffalo, if they get a dome, they're still not getting a Super Bowl. Now, I know we've had Super Bowls right in Indianapolis and stuff like that, and you could go to cold weather cities for a Super Bowl, but they gotta have a roof on it. I would have a tough time thinking the NFL wanting to put a Super Bowl in Buffalo, but they would want to put one in Chicago. But I don't know about you, Emanuel, I never really thought I would hear that from a quarterback, like, okay, they're building a new stadium, who knows how long it's going to take? But I basically feel to say, you know I'm the franchise quarterback, you guys drafted me, if I'm going to be here for the long term, regardless of how long it takes that stadium to build, my preference is, doesn't matter where it's at, just as long as it has a roof on it. It's a weird take. Internally, it benefits you.

Everyone wants to play in a dome, everyone wants to play in favorable environments, so you can't fault him for thinking that internally. Sure. It's a weird thing to say.

Yeah. Why would you come out and say that? Because what it does is, and I know when you're on part of my take, it's not a traditional interview, it's more conversational. Like, there's a few shows, and I always say this, interviews, to me, I don't look at them as interviews, I look at them as conversations. And McAfee does a heck of a job making it very conversational with his guests, part of my take may be the best in the business, in the podcasting world, podcast radio, whatever you want to call it, the media world, in making the guests feel extremely comfortable.

So maybe this is like a different version of Justin Fields that you usually don't get in a traditional interview, but with that being said, more eyeballs on you, because that's like the most popular podcast, or one of the most popular podcasts in the world. I feel like now, and maybe I'm looking too much into it in the moment, but I feel like now we're going to look at Justin Fields whenever he plays a game in a dome compared to outside a dome. Now currently, he plays outside at home, but I do think we're now going to highlight Fields' numbers in a dome compared to outside a dome, and now we're going to start to have these just stupid debates, you know, is he actually right in this conversation? That's why it's such a weird thing to say, because we already blow this up with guys who have never said something like this before.

We say it about guys who would never even broach the subject. Can he play in cold weather? Can he play in the elements?

Can he play in the conditions? Now Fields has said it, so of course we're going to make a big deal out of it when he plays in cold conditions, tough conditions, as opposed to domes. The two that I remember, Peyton Manning early on in his career, whenever he would go up against the Patriots in the playoffs and lose, it was like, oh, needs to be in the dome. Now we all know what his career turned out to be, and we know how great he was at the time.

True breeze. He went into Philadelphia when Nick Foles was the Eagles quarterback. That was the first time Foles was the quarterback when he had his lone Pro Bowl season where, here's a fun fact, Nick Foles, Pro Bowl MVP.

I think a lot of people don't remember that, but he had 27 touchdowns, two interceptions. Chip Kelly was the coach. There was a narrative going into that game like Drew Brees needs to be in a dome, can't go on the road and win in the playoffs, and Drew Brees goes into Philadelphia and he ends up winning the game. So now I feel like with Justin Fields, he has to get to the playoffs first, but if there's a big game late in the season and he plays poorly outside, and I know he's not in a dome right now, but if he had like four or five games next year in a dome and his numbers are astronomical, electric, and then he goes late into a year, Bears, this is a crazy scenario, making a playoff push or something like that, and he falls flat on his face, there's going to be a lot of people, fair or not, that are going to be going back to this clip and saying, Justin Fields can't play great outside. And if I'm a cold weather environment team, like this isn't a team that goes on the road to cold weather environments. They play their home games in cold weather environments, so I don't want my franchise quarterback or anyone like that making a comment like this. You want Joe Burrow, if you're the Bengals, saying, oh, I'd rather play in a dome.

He's Joe, cool, he shows up, I don't think it matters, wherever he's at. Right, but if you're Cincinnati, would you ever want somebody, like that's your identity, you're attached to the cold weather. Yeah, and it does make you sit back and say, well, what happens if they don't build a dome? Like we all saw what Justin Fields can do this year, but he's now made it clear he doesn't like the cold weather and it's an adjustment because they have the extra layers that you have to play and he wants a dome. I've never heard a quarterback, when a team's been in the mix of building a stadium, because these things take so many years, say, yeah, I want a dome. I don't care, I know the debate is, where do you want them to play? It's not, I don't care where they're playing, I just want that building to have a dome on it. And that's also your advantage, you want to welcome teams that can't play as well in the cold weather and that's your advantage.

You want to get accustomed to play well in that cold weather, so that's your advantage in the biggest games. Now let's just see, so Fields' numbers this year, so San Francisco, that was, I remember that being an awful weather game in week one. They won, he was 8 of 17, 121 yards passing and then had 28 yards rushing, that was, remember, the slip and slide afterwards. Then he goes to Green Bay, but it's early September, only threw 70 yards passing, uh oh, only 70 yards passing at Lambeau Field. Then they play the Texans, that game was in Chicago though, they go to New York up against the Giants, it's early October, he throws 174 yards. And then has 52 yards rushing, Minnesota in a dome, 15 of 21, 208 yards passing, and also had 47 yards rushing. Pretty good statistics in a dome. Thursday night at FedEx Field, low scoring game outside, only 190 yards passing, and he did have 88 yards on the ground. That team though, only put up 7 points that night. Just saying.

Narrative building. Now they go to New England, that wasn't like a frigid October night in New England, but they did win the game and they dominated. Then they go to Dallas in a dome, they lose 49-29, but he put up 151 yards passing and had 60 yards rushing, 17-23. So completion percentage was good and threw for two passing touchdowns. Goes to Miami, that game was in Chicago, they lose 35-32. In Detroit, that game was actually, let's see, any other domes? Atlanta, 153 yards passing, 85 yards rushing, and Detroit final game of the season, eh, and the dome didn't play all that well. I had 132 yards rushing, but they only put up 10 points, so who knows? It's just like a stupid conversation. But now I'm all for it. Fields in a dome, outside a dome, what is it going to be next year? We'll find out.