NFL Head Coach Hire Grades (Hour 2)

Alrighty, our number two of our radio program, that's right, it is the Zach Gelb Show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Sports Radio. We have a conversation for you with Steve Spagnuolo, the three-time Super Bowl champion defensive coordinator, has won two championships with the Kansas City Chiefs, one with the Giants coming up an hour twenty from now.

We will play you that at 8.20 p.m. Eastern, 5.20 p.m. Pacific. So, today we found out, and usually after the Super Bowl, you get a coordinator or two. That gets hired, and there was two jobs left open, and the Colts made their decision, and the Arizona Cardinals made their decision as well, where the Cardinals are going to call over the Chiefs defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, and today, you did have Shane Steichen get introduced as the next head football coach of the Indianapolis Colts. So, that makes it five jobs that were open, five jobs that are now filled, and you go through the hiring cycle, and I just give you my reaction to all five.

I thought it was a little bit of an underwhelming process and underwhelming results. Now, just because it's not the sexiest of names in the world, and there are not a lot of hires that elicit this great response, it doesn't mean that your team has made a terrible hire, because there are years where you get guys hired like Adam Gase, and you get guys hired like Dirk Cutter, and you hear all these things about how great these coaches are supposed to be. And sometimes, guys are just better off doing what they do on one side of the ball, whether that's an offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator, and they're not good head coaches, and there's no shame in that. It's just not everyone is fit and cut out to be an NFL head coach, and there's a reason why you usually have a lot more jobs open than the five that were available this go round.

I know we're coming off a year where there were ten jobs that were open, so if you just go through kind of the cycle process, you expect that number to be significantly lower this year, and for it to be at five, it's not shocking, but outside of really D'Amico Ryans and then Sean Payton, the other three names don't really excite me. And that's not me saying that Jonathan Gannon's going to be horrible as the head football coach of the Cardinals. He did a really good, outside of the Super Bowl, Jonathan Gannon did a really good job this year as the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles.

I just, and I think sometimes people are afraid to say, I don't know in this business. I don't know how he translates to being a head coach. And I know Luann Arumo was one of the finalists, and I hear Charles Davis two weeks ago come on this show and rave about the way that Luann Arumo commands respect in that Bengals locker room, and you know he's a leader of men. So, and this is not me saying that Jonathan Gannon can't do it, and we've heard Jonathan Gannon be considered for a head coaching job before, remember last year with the Texans, but for me, I just don't know how he's going to do in the big boy chair. Same for Shane Steichen. Like I'm impressed with Shane Steichen has done the last two years in Philadelphia. I remember I was interviewing Anthony Lynn after they got rid of their offensive coordinator and made, it's only a few years ago, Shane Steichen, a midterm offensive coordinator, then he took it over for, I believe it was a year on a full time basis before going to Philly. Shane Steichen is a solid offensive coordinator. Now I saw what Phillip Rivers said today. I've seen what other players have said about him. Is he someone that I think is the most sought after guy?

No. And the indie job wasn't that popular. And there's a reason why a guy like Shane Steichen winds up in Indianapolis. Now, if Shane Steichen gets his quarterback, in that division, I know right now, like the really only threat I would say, or the team that you look at for the next five years, you know is going to be solid, is the Jacksonville Jaguars because you have the franchise quarterback in Trevor Lawrence, and you have an exceptional coach in Doug Peterson. You look at the other teams in that division.

Now, I like the D'Amico Ryans higher, but the Texans got a lot of work to do. And for Tennessee, they've had a really good team. They had a win to the last few years.

And they missed the playoffs this year. We know Vrabel's a phenomenal coach, but he needs to find who that next guy is. And as great as Derrick Henry is with running backs, you never know when running backs career could come to an end. And he's their offense.

Because you never know how long the lifespan and the shelf life is of a running back in this league. As great as Henry is. So can Steichen be good? Can Gannon be good? Yes. If I had a job that was open, am I rushing to hire either of those two guys?

No. But I'm also not the one doing the interview. I'm also not the one that thinks I have an understanding of how they're going to translate into being a successful head coach. And for Frank Reich, I think Frank Reich is a fine hire. Frank Reich's probably one of the best guys, even though the Sensers did and also how the Colts did as well, I think you could have done better than Frank Reich. Now, you weren't getting Sean Payton because, I don't think the Saints, even though they allowed you to interview him.

I don't think the Saints were ever gonna find a way to get a deal done to see him twice a year in your own division. Frank Reich is a fine coach. He's not great. He's not bad. He had some success in Indianapolis.

He's a leader of men. He has a ton of NFL connections and you're already seeing him starting to build that staff. When you're bringing guys like Jim Caldwell, when you're bringing Deuce Daley and some of the other names that are winding up in Carolina.

But the thing with Frank Reich that really discouraged me was the last two years. Inside that division, going to Jacksonville and never being able to win. Constantly being unprepared the last two years up against Tennessee and this year when he was there, he got outscored each and every week.

Each and every game. Never had a lead at halftime going in through the first 30 minutes of the game. That's just, I know that you could say all the offensive line regressive. You could say you didn't have the quarterback. Remember who won at Carson Wentz in Indianapolis?

That was Frank Reich. So the ending in Indy doesn't make me say that Frank Reich is this horrible inept coach, but it makes me raise an eyebrow because things got bad the last two years. Now, if you find your quarterback and he's able to stay healthy, maybe you don't see what happened the last two years in Indianapolis. So that's always part of the conversation, but the Panthers have a lot of work to do. The Panthers, for me, have a good defense.

Offensively, they got a long ways to go because outside of DJ Moore, there's not a lot of names that you're looking at that are saying, okay, they're gonna be part of this team when this team is ready to win. But once again, you're in an NFC South that it's up there for the taking. I just personally, if it went to what Steve Wilks did down the stretch, either sticking with Steve Wilks or going to Frank Reich personally, I would have gone what was in the building just because Frank Reich doesn't overly excite me when I hear his name. But the other two hires, for the Broncos, you had to go big because this is a franchise-changing moment in your franchise. You won that Super Bowl with Peyton Manning. Ever since then, it's been a QB carousel.

You thought you got your guy on Russell Wilson. Not only do you give up the draft capital, but right away, you inked him to that lucrative extension. You needed to bring in the best possible coach out there, regardless of the price, regardless of what you had to give up to get him, because this can't be one of those things where you bring someone in and then three, four weeks in or a month or two in, you're saying, uh-oh, I have some hesitation. Because if Sean can't get Russell Wilson right, I don't know, and not that Sean's the end-all be-all, but he's a phenomenal coach, I don't know who is going then to be able to salvage the career of Russell Wilson. So I like that move that the Broncos made, and for the Texans, I do like the hire of D'Amico Ryans because it's finally admitting that even though they've been rebuilding the last two years, you actually bring in a guy that I could finally say, okay, I could believe, whether he's successful or not, that's a different thing, that this is the guy that you're gonna try to build to win with. Because when you bring in David Cully, when you bring in Lovey Smith, you knew those weren't guys that you were going to win with. They were just gonna be placeholders. And quite frankly, and I know there was a lot more to that hire, if you're gonna get rid of David Cully, then you should have never got rid of him in the first place if you were gonna end up going with Lovey Smith.

I know there was other circumstances that factored into it. So hey, can D'Amico Ryans turn out to be one of those guys that is a big-time name and is the the most sought-after guy and he ends up flopping? Absolutely. That could happen with with any defensive or offensive coordinator that gets these jobs. But I do trust the leadership style of D'Amico Ryans, and when I was in Philly towards the end of his career, and the things that you heard about him in Houston as well when he played for the Texans, he was basically like having an extra coach on the field. Now how many players do you get like that that don't translate into being good head coaches?

A ton. But he is deserving of the opportunity. So if I had to kind of rank these these hires, I would say since it's a known commodity, the Broncos made the best hire, then I would say D'Amico Ryans, then at three I would go Frank Reich, and honestly I don't know how you decipher Gannon and Steichen. So I would kind of tie them tied for the last spot when you look at Gannon going to the Cardinals and then Shane Steichen winding up with the Indianapolis Colts. You look back at these hires, Hickey, the five that were made, D'Amico Ryans to the Texans Mufasa, Jonathan Gannon going to the Cardinals, Shane Steichen to your Indianapolis Colts, Sean Payton to the Denver Broncos, and then Frank Reich going to the Panthers.

How do you kind of reflect and look back at those five? I'm with you. I think the Broncos by far had a home run in terms of Sean Payton having him be their head coach because that was, look, you gotta get it, gotta, gotta, you have to get a guy that could fix Russell Wilson. There's no one I would trust to try to turn Russell Wilson's one-year downturn into an upswing more than Sean Payton. So the process maybe is a little uneasy, it was a little disjointed, you could say disorganized with how kind of back and forth some reports were, you know, of Sean Payton's interest, lack of interest.

But that doesn't matter as long as you get the right guy, I don't care how the process goes. The process, like for example, not to be desired but the outcome was absolutely a home run. The process was drawn out in Denver, they ended up getting a guy that everyone gives two thumbs up to. The process in Indianapolis seemed very sloppy and this is not me trashing Shane Steichen like when Doug Peterson was hired in Philadelphia, people thought that was a sloppy process, it ended up working. But with how long and drawn out that Indianapolis process was and how many people they interviewed, you should interview a lot of people, but you heard like reports about like third-round interviews and stuff like that, like to settle on Shane Steichen, it's like okay, like I get it, it's an offensive-minded coach, you're rebuilding that offense, you have Jonathan Telly, you got to fix that offensive line, you're probably, if you heard Jim Earth say today I'm gonna go out on a limb, you're at four right now, it would not surprise me if they move up in the draft to go get their guy of the future, it may end up being a wonderful hire, but right now I have no expectations in me thinking and me saying definitively that, oh Shane Steichen three years from now is gonna be this wonderful head football coach in the league. I would call the Colts process sloppy, that's probably the last word I would use to describe how they went about the last month. It was long, it was drawn out, but it was airtight, I wouldn't say sloppy whatsoever, it was organized. It seemed like a lot of times they didn't know who the heck that they were gonna hire, just with how long that process did go, and maybe because it went out this long and you see sometimes what that happens is a guy like Shane Steichen could not have been hired until after the Super Bowl anyway, but like for example you thought there was no shot that Jeff Saturday was gonna get the job, that's what you said, why then drag Jeff Saturday along and give him a second interview?

Like isn't that sloppy? I mean Jim Earth, I wanted to hear from him, so I mean I wouldn't have done it, but... Guy was there for seven, eight weeks, what else did you need to hear from him?

After one interview? I mean he wants to say, you know, he wants to have a plan, he wants to say his plan, you're trying to have me get in the mind of Jim Earth, I can't do that, I wouldn't give him a first interview, but it's not like they were scrambling to find candidates, it's not like they were rushing people into the last meeting like the Cardinals were after their search didn't really go as they expected. Correct me if I'm right or wrong here, they never ended up, they were the only team to not pursue Sean Payton?

Yeah, yeah. Why didn't that happen? That's the best name on the market, I think that's a bad process if you're not at least kicking the tires and seeing where it goes with Sean. Well I mean I think that they sure breached out and maybe he said thanks for no thanks, I'm not interested, maybe they said I'm not interested in trading for a head coach if we're gonna be trading up to get a quarterback, like I don't think it was, we don't think Sean Payton's good at coach, I would say it's either he was not interested in them or the fact they saw right away we got to give up draft capital that we need to move up in the draft. Would you have given up draft capital for him? If it meant I couldn't trade up in the draft, no, I wouldn't have. It's really tough, but... They have one first-round pick right?

Yes. And four? What happens if you traded a future first-round pick next year? Well you probably need that to trade up with the Bears, probably, so it's tough. You're at four though right now, you could get your guy potentially.

It's one of the two. You know I think it's either you trade up for a coach or you trade up for a quarterback, I would take the risk right now of trying to trade up if it was me, trying to get Bryce Young. Okay, that's fine, but once again to not even have a conversation with the guy, that's part of it what I don't get. Now maybe it hasn't been reported this way, maybe they went to him and he said I have no interest of going there. Now if that's the problem, it shows you how Sean views that Indianapolis Colts organization because he talked to every other team but Indianapolis. So I would wonder then what that reasoning would be. Yeah I have no idea, I mean they got 13 people in the door so it wasn't like a lot of candidates were saying no, it was just very, they took their time.

If I'm being honest with you, and you're not gonna like this, I hope Shane Steichen fails miserably in Indianapolis. That's very nice. That's one reason. Why is that? Because I really wanted Jeff Satteray to get the job to see you rock at a 63 in your skull.

That would have been really funny if you had to shave a 63 into your head. I'm glad I can look back now and like Jeff Satteray again, that's that's for sure. I appreciate Jeff for his great play on the field and I'm glad I can stop hating him. Do you have that audio of what was he like on a river it looked like today?

At a lake or something like that? He was far away from the football field which is all that matters to me. Before I play you this, do we really need to get a video message today from Jeff Satteray? Do we need it?

That's a fair question. Because when I saw it my first thing was you didn't get the job, we know you're gonna wind back up at ESPN, unless he really wants to give this a go and he got a little taste and he's not gonna be a head coach again until you put in some more work. Maybe he wants to go and join one of these staffs. I don't know where his mentality is but I would think Jeff Satteray most likely winds back up on a desk somewhere at ESPN.

I would say the video was appropriate. You wanted the job, you obviously spent outside of the one year in Green Bay your entire career there. You want to say goodbye and thank you to the fans but you're not gonna do it at the end of your press conference because you're thinking I have a chance to get this job. I get it, I had no problem with it.

Yeah thank you for for re-accepting me and and re-embracing me when I went one in seven. Now here's one thing that though Jeff Satteray can't say that Frank Bright can't say. At least he had a lead one time at halftime this year up against the lovely Las Vegas Raiders. A few leads against the Raiders.

I mean they did have at one point a 33-nothing lead at halftime against the Vikings. You know that we'd love to hopefully forget. I love the Jeff Satteray era.

It created a lot of pain for you. If it ends up in Bryce Young I will love the Jeff Satteray era as well. It's funny how that works. I told you very early on Hickey, not that I make a lot of right predictions, but I told you very early on in that Colts podcast that you hosted when I realized your team was not gonna be the team that we all thought they maybe could be. Start to lead the charge. Lead the charge for Bryce Young and I'll never forget you looked at me said, oh why will I do that? It's not gonna happen.

And then a month later you have Hickey on that podcast. Whatever. And so what is it? The blue horseshoe?

The blue horseshoe. Saying, we need to get Bryce Young. Bryce Young no matter what. Well at that point I was like week seven they just lost the Titans again.

I thought foolishly they were too good to tank. Yeah. And Jim Mercy said, oh here's the accelerator.

Let's fire Frank Reich and bring in a guy who has no experience in Jeff Satteray. And then here we are sitting there pick number four. Yep. So you know what? That Vikings game is what we call karma.

That is what we call karma. Since you did not originally listen to me when I was trying to give you some big advice here and and try to get you to have a little bit more personality on that podcast and start to lead the push and be the guy. You could have been the guy.

You would have been known as the guy that led potentially Bryce Young to Indianapolis. Oh no we are that we are that guy. No you're not. Yes no one else is on Bryce Young.

No. It's weird. It is bizarre.

It's because you failed originally. All the cultivation is infatuated with CJ Stroud. There's not a lot of big Will Levis camp. Well that's also another thing and we and we talk about this all the time. Shouldn't and and would like you said there was 0% chance that Jeff Saturday got was gonna get the job. You're not right on that because as I tried to explain to you 9,000 times as even though you're arrogantly looking me at me right now and you're looking for your flowers. You can't claim that you were right on that when you said there was a 0% chance that he was gonna get a second interview and then he did the next day. In this case they were considering him and I tried to explain this. Wasn't likely that he was gonna get the job but there was still a chance and that's where we just disagreed. Now with Bryce Young here's what I think you're doing right now. You should get your hopes up and you should want who you think is the best quarterback but I would you're almost at a point where you I think you've even said this you don't want CJ Stroud. Bryce or bust. So let's just say the Texans move up to one and CJ Stroud so they're at four. You would be upset with that draft pick. I'll be upset with anyone that is not Bryce Young.

Yes that is correct. Even though CJ Stroud could be a really good quarterback in the NFL. He could be I would be disappointed.

Okay. I could be wrong I hope I am wrong if that's the case but definitely draft night if it's CJ Stroud they say the name for the Colts disappointment without a doubt. Colts fans reserve a bust in Canton Ohio for CJ Stroud. You'll hear from Jeff Saturday next it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Listen up team we've got a game to win so here's the strategy deposit $200 at BetUS.com and get $450 immediately to play with. Sign up today at BetUS.com or call 1-800-79-BetUS.

Be like me. Bet for free. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Zach Gelb show CBS Sports Radio. Yeah I will say this about Frank Reich even I don't love the hire with Carolina something I do like right away is the staff that he's assembling because you got a Vero who comes over from Denver as the defensive coordinator now gonna be there DC and Carolina. Jim Caldwell is gonna be a senior offensive assistant. You got Dom Capers coming in to be a senior defensive assistant and RG 3 put a good tweet out there documenting all these moves. You get an assistant head coach and running backs coach and Deuce Daley who's a well respected coach of this league for the last few years you know when he hooked up with Doug Peterson in Philly and I think one day could be an NFL head coach in this league and how about this one Hickey Josh McCown is gonna be the quarterback coach so maybe this is the step that Josh McCown is wasn't willing to take and then realize it's gonna be tough for me to kind of justify get a head coaching job or a team's not gonna do it if I don't go and join some staff and the Texans wanted to hire him twice in the last two years before this search I guess they did not consider him this time around I did not hear his name pop up but now he's going to be the quarterback coach in Carolina and I do think that's someone that can be a head coach one day but you're finally just starting to take that step where I I don't know if it was true or not because I remember someone I think reporting it and I think he was coaching in high school last year I remember there was like a fake story about and then I think there ended up being a correct story about it with McCown being a high school coach last year but you got a bare minimum go into the college game or what you should have done is go into the NFL game and last year I didn't get why if the Texans really wanted to hire him but felt like they couldn't why he wasn't at a bare minimum standpoint then on the Texan staff or on a different NFL staff to make it maybe easier for a team to justify hiring him because a lot of people for years said that they believed that he could be a coach one day with how long he did hang around the league especially at the quarterback position but when you're not joining an NFL staff or at any point a college staff it's kind of tough to say okay we're gonna hire a guy with no coaching experience unless of course you're Jim our son you're Jim mercy other than that yes you are 100% right and I guess Joshua Cowen got the message finally that hey maybe I got to get something my resume here a lot of resistance there yeah I took I yeah I guess he thought maybe Cal McNair and Jim mercy were one of the same he thought I'll hit lunch he was hiring no big deal and as he learned that lesson the hard way well Doug Peterson was once coach a high school ball you could make that step but eventually got to go back and coach somewhere in the NFL right it's like Doug Peterson came from high school to and if I like coach made a few stops along the way yes more than a few I think he actually coached Peterson one of our friend of show Josh booty's brother one of his brothers in high school I think Peterson was the coach and one of booty's brothers was the Peterson's quarterback I remember I'm pretty sure it was Josh's brother Jack I think Jack played quarterback for Doug Peterson when Peterson was a high school coach but anyway that's like too much too much analysis right there let's just say alrighty let's go to Jeff Saturday this is Jeff Saturday on a river or a lake I don't know where the heck he was he looked like he was like camping and then going into the water right like would it surprise Rogers has the darkness retreat coming up would it have surprised you hickey if well maybe Jeff Saturday just has a lake house but that's not as entertaining if Saturday was waiting to hear from this from the Colts about this job and he just pitched a tent somewhere and so I'm gonna camp out for a week and then maybe go into a lake or or and try to get some food or they like it look like he was he was living out in the wild and look like he was enjoying a fishing trip maybe hoping that that was gonna somehow like you know the fish he's gonna reel in is gonna be symbolism for him like reeling in the head coaching job and then got the probably call hey we're going elsewhere he had the bait he was like where's your mercy where's your mercy you know that commercial where you lower the dollar you ever see that with the fishing rod is ago faster than that that was Jeff Saturday a little worm on the fishing rod and Jim Irsay I think he latched on to it and then Chris Ballard came in like a shark and said nah you're not reeling us up today I'm gonna eat whatever whatever fish you were trying to catch cuz I do think Jim Irsay if it was I know he's the owner so technically it is up to him but if he was the only one involved in the search Hickey then I do think Jeff Saturday would have got the job but I think there was enough voices and intelligent voices or just logical voices in the room I don't even gonna say intelligent just people following logic that's a gym you can't do this and maybe after three four five six seven eight twenty seven people told Jim not to do it then Jim finally came to the realization that his dream of having Jeff Saturdays the full-time coach was just not going to come to fruition it's good to know there's people in the Colts organization whose eyes are connected to their brain and realize what we're seeing yeah it is not working the brain does not make sense and Jim Irsay for whatever reason took a while to get there but he's there most importantly now here's the here's the one thing this would be my greatest fear if I'm you this year this is you being me and I will my greatest fear is for this upcoming season is what if you don't have a respectable season I could see Jim Irsay saying see I wanted to hire Jeff Saturday Chris Ballard you're gone because you convinced me not to hire Jeff Saturday and not that I think there's any expectations in your one and I'm not saying stiking would be gone but then he would kind of look at it as okay I gotta go on out there and make a move get rid of Ballard he's not the guy doesn't know what he's doing like the Colts are three or four wins this year I do think that would be the end of of Chris Ballard for many reasons but I do think Irsay would get a little petty and go you were the guy that prevented me from hiring the guy that I wanted to hire and it could be a one-year gamble here for Chris Ballard if he doesn't show some signs of confidence this year yeah first time out for 13 season again I would agree that probably Chris Ballard is done I will say Jim Irsay I think falls into the Jerry Jones camp in terms of people think he's quick on the trigger I think he's actually more patient than we give him credit for has he really had has he really had a coach in there that you felt like he kept around too long Chuck Pagano was a guy that divided the fan base a lot in terms of trying to win a Super Bowl right now is Chuck we're actually the guy that's gonna be here or you know bringing that bring them to the promised land I think that would probably be the most recent one even Ryan Grigson kind of keeping him around a little bit too long as we know with some of the just disastrous drafts he's had after 2012 I would say those two guys probably gone over in history but I didn't Pagano have like three 11 win seasons to start off his I know the one year Arians was the coach when when unfortunately he was battling cancer yes but I'm pretty doesn't didn't Pagano get credited for those wins I think technically you may be right I don't I got to look back I'm not sure first answer coach of the year cuz he's like 13 games it was a good amount of time he was filling in they got to the playoffs and then yeah got to the you know divisional round championship around the next two years and then really after 2015 and the Jason Garrett years like they didn't do yeah kind of crater luck was hurt things are a mess yeah Pagano I guess I'll give you or maybe kept him around a year extra than than what he did the one that stands out in recent memory and it's not it's not ersay based but Arthur Blank keeping Dan Quinn around that that seemed like two two years too long like he should have made that move a little bit earlier and he was fired what was it five games into the year so yeah I'm crazy where it's like one of those like he should have been brought back nothing changed and right away it's like okay this is a mistake and they waited to fire Pagano until after that season right they went eight and eight and eight and then they had a real I remember that a really bad drop-off but he got the entire year yes so that was the year angeluck missed as well which doesn't help but well yeah that's true so it was time you know looking back on that one but the three years and the two years of mediocrity and then they were without luck for that entire 2017 that was when Brissett started right Jacoby Brissett the first go-around it was fair to start a week one cuz it was even he didn't start we want cuz he got there too late it was I think Scott told Zine started week one oh yeah that's right disaster at the Patriots traded him yes the current yes like literally like the the week after cuts were made or the week before I think was like Labor Day weekend so it was a 2017 is a dark year as you could see gotcha I'm now I'm trying to see who was uh who is going who was the quarterback then for game one why you guys pretty sure Scott told you guys lost to the Rams like 46 nothing or something like that 46 to 9 yeah oh they got nine points okay there you go it was Scott told Zine and he was so bad Brissett to plan that he had to come in knowing probably five plays at that point that's how bad told Zine was geez it was ugly he was nine of 18 for 128 yards two interceptions not as bad as honestly I would have guessed right 50% completion percentage well I bet you they ran the ball a lot and that's what when you're down that much and you're running the ball that's when you know you didn't really have much yeah that's the ultimate wave in the white flag all right so anyway to to stop preventing us from going this and getting sidetracked with other things here's Jeff Saturday thanking Colts nation and congratulating Shane Steichen as I guess he's on some fishing trip what's up everybody hey first I just wanted to say to the Colts organization at Colts nation how much I appreciate the opportunity I'm so grateful for the last eight weeks of the season and the opportunity to represent you guys I appreciate the coaches for all your time energy and effort to all the players laying it out there each and every week I can't tell you how much I respect and appreciate what each and every player not only for the Colts but the NFL do and what they put on the line each and every week but it was an absolute blessing I look fondly upon it which would have done better but ultimately that day is where it is and so I want to wish coach Steichen the best of luck I'm still a huge cult fan and pulling for you guys looking forward to a hoist and some Lombardi trophies and excited for your opportunity so for everybody out there including the however many thousand that signed a petition which may have included my wife and son not exactly sure but in all honesty I'm so grateful for Colts nation and who you are to represent the horseshoe it meant the world to me and again coach Steichen best of luck to you and your family in Indianapolis is an incredible town best fans in the world man you'll get the greatest support and look forward to watching your success and the rest of the men in that locker room and the coaching staff that you have with you so to all coach date the Colts nation appreciate you guys love you guys and see you soon if you would have told me that was a Saturday at life skid hickey I would have believed you what's wrong with that what's the oh my thanks buddy the petition the guys spoke way too long and it was so unnecessary 90 seconds I would agree that's brutal the joke I will say the petition joke was very funny for those who don't know there's like 5,000 cult fans signed petition do not hire Jeff Saturday if Larry the cable guy was an NFL head coach he would be Jeff Saturday that was very Larry the cable guy ask it's fine he's trying to be funny Jeff I appreciate the words buddy now I'm glad I can like him again that's all I got also the line that I love the most is Saturday continuing to drink that Jim Irsay water whatever they serve it in that Colts facility about multiple Lombardi's in this decade give me a brain I know why how about you make the playoffs are so tight because they said they drink the the same water they talk the same language yeah they order the same pom-poms from Amazon give me a break eight years what to Lombardi's to go who's counting if that was me and I was the interim head coach and I didn't get the job you want to send a tweet out fine but a nearly two-minute video it was very unnecessary I would just send the tweet out like thanks cult cult nation whatever you want to call them for the time as the head football coach did not go the way that I wanted it to but wish mr. Ursae and everyone else nothing but the best congratulations Shane very simple tweet instead of that just rambling video and blow later in this random world ten years from now somehow as the interim coach of the Patriots for ten games it went terribly I don't need a video what did you want in a little video to say it's not some you want to get this interim coach it's a guy that was a franchise well revered by all Colts fans ready down the field and in a nine-game sample size or eight game sample size bro had the most regrettable I'm the same purse career that trashes all these thank you notes and all these tribute videos for guys that have done nothing you separate the player from what he did as a coach as your interim head coach I don't need Jeff Saturday to be sent out a thank-you video that's ridiculous we'll say different from him compared to the Colts sure oh you don't think you don't think Jim mercy I didn't listen to the press conference in its entirety and thank Jeff Saturday today at that press conference he did think of course but there's no tweet there's no video there's there's no way for inspirational video with him on the sidelines wait until midnight I'm standing outside the private jet I liked it there Jeff Saturday for his you have to be the engine run in the background and you can't hear anything that that Jim mercy says that videos coming that's probably for the best you can't hear what he's saying he probably recorded the video right before he picked up Shane Steichen and he's just waiting to release it I'll do a little QB draft next as we'll try to draft the top ten quarterbacks in the NFL entering the 2023 season with the 2022 season behind you're listening to the Zach Gelb show so we've had a lot of pretty big-name quarterbacks retire in the last three four years or so and also you've seen quarterbacks who still could be in the top ten but one in Russell Wilson who fell off this year and someone like Deshaun Watson who practically hasn't played in two seasons and you don't know how much rust there still is to knock off so I was thinking about this the other day since there's a lot of young quarterbacks who are now in the top ten if we had to do a draft and I made five selections Hickey made five selections that we go in order not and just make this who we think are the ten best quarterbacks in the league like I know there's sometimes we do drafts where I go Oh Hickey I don't think I'll take this one so I'll wait I want to do this we genuinely think of the top ten quarterbacks in this league and I just want to use your voice and we'll use mine to just have two different voices on this little checks and balances in case if a name starts to slide or maybe at the end see who we're really differentiating on in terms of who the top ten quarterbacks in the league so I'll start first I'll clearly go with Patrick Mahomes you I will go then with Joe burrow okay I'm in agreement there I will then go with Josh Allen I will go Aaron Rodgers but think this is when it starts to get tough okay I did not have Aaron Rodgers that high up on the list he's he's obviously in the top ten but I had two to three names in front of him so the next name that I'll give you is Trevor Lawrence hmm in order right yes interesting I had one quarterback in front of Trevor I should be my list was Mahomes burrow Allen Trevor Lawrence and then this next guy would have been in the top five but you went with Rogers this is entering 2023 this what this list is for rockin a hard place here I guess I'm gonna go Justin Herbert okay that was not the name Jaylen hurts that's the guy I was between and then hurts yep so you you went with with Justin Herbert so right now it's Mahomes burrow Allen Rogers Trevor Lawrence Herbert Jaylen hurts next seven names off the board right going into 2023 he still deserves the benefit of the doubt despite injuries I'll go Lamar Jackson okay now this is where it gets tricky yes very much so now to be clear all eight of those names I had and then I was gonna originally do this segment is let me pick my top ten quarterbacks in the league just me and then I started to do the hum and a hum and a hum and a hum and a because after that it's tough so let's just do names we'll consider here okay in the mix for the last two I like let's work together you consider to Shawn Watson you consider Russell Wilson you consider Dak Prescott and I would consider Kirk Cousins let me throw any other things that we have to consider three three okay would you put Jared Goff in the consideration thought about it entering 2023 thought about it just outside the top ten because it was it was one year for me okay how about Matthew Stafford I'm skeptical on his return with injury and how much longer he will play but yeah he's in the conversation that's a good one would you put two in there no what about Kirk Cousins I already I already put Kirk in there but you did yeah so I'm at Watson Wilson Dak and Kirk those are four names that I consider that's what I have man this is tough I'm like really thinking Kirk Cousins because his stats are always good but I have no trust in him in the postseason you know what I'll hold my nose when I say this and I'm I'm gonna hold my nose I do not think he's probably the eighth best best quarterback in the NFL or this be ninth this is not yes we have eight already two left really slim pickins here yes this is tough I'll go Russ I I'm not saying he's gonna be great but can he want good again yeah with Sean because they brought in Sean I don't like it don't been very down on Russell I don't like it like honestly out of those quarterbacks for next year I may trust Kirk the most just because you know he's gonna throw toss like 35 touchdowns or something like that that's true not throw a lot of picks now don't get me wrong wildcard round I'll be like get away get away get away I don't know if I you know me I'm high on Russ going in 2023 I don't think I'd probably put really 10 because you know it's funny a few weeks ago when you said oh he's still a top 10 quarterback I pushed back on you and now a few weeks later we have reversed on that I think he will play that and they at the end of the year I just don't know if we can say that I don't feel good about it to the 2023 see I get it feel good here I would go Matthew Stafford now I get it's tough guys been banged up I thought you were definitely gonna go Watson when he played I know he I just can't just like with the way Deshaun Watson played last year and now played in basically almost two years a year and a half and the Browns always have a stench around them that whenever you think you had the guy it ends up not being the guy I would say probably Dak Kirk golf three quarterbacks I would consider over right now these Deshaun Watson for next year yeah Dak just had a bad season this year I thought and there's injuries now as well golf how close is he actually be in the quarterback that he was this year and for Kirk there's always that stench of of the the shortcomings when the games are actually mattering most so we go Mahomes borough Allen Rogers Lawrence Herbert Hertz Lamar Russ and Stafford those are the five that I drafted the five that you drafted to make the list ten so really what we know in no order Mahomes borough Allen Rogers Lawrence Herbert Hertz and Lamar we're both in agreement art in whatever order you want the eight best quarterbacks in football entering next season nine and ten who the heck knows coming on back with the news brief and Steve Spagnola will join us in 25 minutes from now