Mock Draft Analysis (Hour 3)

Our number three of our radio program, that's right, it is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio.

Dwight Freeny, who should be in the Hall of Fame but isn't, he'll eventually get there. He's gonna join us 20 minutes from now. But first up, a lot of sound from the Combine today. General managers and coaches did speak and address the media, so let's get to the News Brief. Time for your Daily News Brief.

We get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports. Brian Gudekunz was asked today if he wants Aaron Rodgers back next season. Yeah, I think, you know, those discussions have to happen and making sure that it's the right fit, but obviously we know the kind of player that Aaron is and, you know, once we had those conversations we'll be able to move forward with a lot more to say.

As Ryan Woods said last hour, it's kind of funny. You didn't hear him say, yeah, I want him back. That just adds more and more momentum in the camp that I've been for this offseason that Aaron Rodgers is gonna get traded at some point by the Green Bay Packers and that relationship is coming to a close. Brian Gudekunz on if Jordan Love is capable of being the full-time starter next season. Yeah, I think he's ready to play and I think he's ready to be an NFL starting quarterback. He's worked really hard. He's done a lot of progression. I know he's really eager to have that and I think that's the next step in his progression is to play.

So, Hickey, you explain this one to me. If Brian Gudekunz who traded up to go get Jordan Love is now saying Jordan Love is ready to go and be in the full-time starter next season if given the opportunity and then he's noncommittal pretty much and basically gives you a no answer on the future of Aaron Rodgers. That all adds up to Aaron Rodgers getting traded this offseason.

Absolutely. Now, I did find it fascinating when Ryan Wood joined us in the last hour that he said he heard from some in the organization that Gudekunz could get a little cold feet, right, when it comes to pulling the trigger on that trade. That to me doesn't line up because Gudekunz was the guy that was on an island when you traded up to go replace Rodgers eventually by drafting Jordan Love and now he doesn't know if he'll pull the trigger on it.

That doesn't make sense to me. If that's the case, Brian Gudekunz shouldn't be the general manager because I would at least respect you more if you were aggressive, if you were bold, and then you follow through with it instead of now all of a sudden where Rodgers had a year, it's like, oh, I have to now triple down on this entire thing. It made sense after the two MVPs to give him a new deal. After last year, if you don't think he's going to win the Super Bowl, move on from him already. And it just feels like, too, the way he talks, like he is ready. If he at least had some cold feet, you would think, like Ryan Wood mentioned, he would have said yes to the answer or to the question of do you want Aaron Rodgers back and then worry about trading him and answering those questions on another day instead of he's not stupid. He knows every answer is going to get dissected. He knows a non-answer is still an answer. And him not committing is still a big story. So still kind of leaving the door, almost feel like he's leaning towards saying he's not going to be back. You asked me the question that Gudekunz was asked today about Rodgers coming back next season.

I'll tell you what he should have said. Brian, do you want Aaron Rodgers back as your quarterback in 2023? We thank Aaron for his time with the Green Bay Packers.

A lot of great memories, a lot of great times. He will be in the Ring of Honor one day. He'll always be remembered as a Green Bay Packer. But we reached the point where we're going to explore to trade in this offseason. And our intention is not to have Aaron Rodgers back on the Packers next year.

We're going to hand the baton over to Jordan Love. You could start calling me. You could start seeing me at the combine right now. Jets, Raiders, whoever you are, we're trading Aaron Rodgers. Line up your offers. Let's go. Line him up. Line him up. That's what he that's what he wants to do. I'm convinced. So stop at this game of a staring contest.

Have the cojones and let's go move on. Joe Douglas discusses the Jets visit with Derek Carr. I can tell you that was a fantastic visit. I really enjoyed spending time with him. Obviously, he's the only quarterback that I can I can really shed any light on for you guys, since he's the only quarterback that's that's a free agent.

But I can say that he left a he left a strong impression with everybody. And so, obviously, we're going to be exploring the veteran quarterback market this offseason and we're gonna look at every available option. We feel like when it's time to make the right decision, when everyone goes through their process, we're gonna make the best decision for the Jets. Translation, we're holding up as much hope as possible as long as we can for Aaron Rodgers. If not, Aaron Rodgers will make a big time push for Derek Carr. Derek Carr is actually in Indianapolis at the combine. He's already met with the Jets of the Saints. I guess I'll meet with them again in Indianapolis and now the Carolina Panthers. I heard from Mike Garofalo going to meet with Derek Carr as well. One more from Joe Douglas. This is on what he likes about Derek Carr.

Obviously with Derek, high level producer, but really a phenomenal person, very authentic. Again, ultra intelligent, very comfortable in his own skin and highly competitive on the tape. You see the talent, you see the release, the velocity, the way he gets the ball out, the decision making, the accuracy, so a lot of things to like. I didn't think that was really a good sell job by Joe Douglas, who's a good general manager, Hickey, but I don't know.

I hear that answer. I don't feel like he loves Derek Carr. I feel that's more believable than saying you're going to make him into a first-bound Hall of Famer and win multiple championships with him. So at least that's been toned down compared to I see a Hall of Fame talent.

I think it's more believable if Joe Douglas went out there and said, oh, Meraz is going to go in a marathon compared to Derek Carr being a first-bound Hall of Famer. You know, I love doing this. Keep on putting a skinny guy like Hickey in a situation to comment about larger people because we always have this rule like myself, a larger person could take shots at other larger people. There's a code there.

But once a skinny guy does it like hot take Hickey, then that's where we attack. I haven't done it. You're close, though. You're thinking about close. You paused there for a second. Looked at me. You keep on like I have a baron. I'm in the batter's box on lobbing softballs away and expecting me not to swing. You know, I'm going to put a pitch clock on you.

Crank went out of the park. Yeah, we're waiting. You've been in for eight seconds. You're alert. Let's go step up.

Take a shot at someone. Josh McDaniel says that Raiders are looking for a long-term quarterback. The goal for us eventually is to have somebody that's going to be here for a long time. You know, you see the teams that are having success right now. You know, they're young players that were drafted by their clubs and they're being developed there under the same continuity. We'll look at everything we can look at. But the goal eventually is to try to have a young player here that's going to be a Raider for a long time.

How long is a long time? And at the end, he finally says, oh, a young player. They're sitting at seven so they could get a quarterback. You know, Anthony Richardson, Will Levis, I would assume one of those quarterbacks are going to be available there at seven. You could trade up and go get a Bryce Young or a C.J. Strout, especially with the Bears reportedly being willing to move that pick.

But you also have to balance still producing in the interim. And Rogers does make a ton of sense for the Raiders. But Roger ain't going to be there for more than three years, you would think. So I think that's the tough part, Hickey, for for McDaniels trying to save your job now.

So you're at least still there years and years from now. And it's like, if it's not Aaron Rodgers, like, I don't know where else you're going to go. Like, you're going to bring back Marcus Mariota. I'm saying outside of the draft, I'm with you. We could quit on another team. They might not have another option but to draft someone. I honestly don't think Marcus Mariota should be brought into any locker room again.

Like, I don't know the specifics of that, but the fact that he left the team and quit on the team. We better get answers that in the Netflix documentary or else this whole thing is a shame. I think we will. Apparently we will. So there you go. We'll find out. Ryan Polls responds to reports that the Bears, his Bears, as the GM are leaning towards trading the number one pick. You know, I think that's always been the case.

We've always leaned that way because Justin did some really good things. I'm excited about where his game is going to go. But at the same time, when you sit in our situation at one overall, you have to do your due diligence.

You have to investigate everything. You've got to spend time with those guys just to make sure we're making the right decision. Are you planning on just being the quarterback? That's the plan right now.

And like I said, we're going to do our homework on this class and we've got to be blown away to say, you know what, I think this is best for our organization. The most ideal scenario for the Bears would be to trade back to number two. Texans go up to one and then at two, you fall back to four and you get the Colts come up to two. And then you get all these extra picks and you still walk away with either Will Anderson Jr. or Jalen Carter in at the four spot. That is the most ideal plan for the Chicago Bears, where you get future assets and you also get someone that is in the top five of the draft and it can get done this upcoming draft when it will be at Kansas City.

All right, let's go to Sean Payton. He says he doesn't care about the backlash towards Russell Wilson in 2022. When we get into the off season, you know, I'm going to park a car with no rear view mirrors, side view mirrors. Those will all be gone. You know, we've got to get past all those difficult things.

It was a tough year and so they have success last night. I don't think the upstairs meeting room matters to anybody. I don't think it matters because I didn't see any articles from any of you prior to week one or week two and that was happening. But that's what happens when you lose.

Everything gets looked at closely. What do you make of that, Hickey? Because you're a Russ believer, you're a Bronco believer. How much is it a big deal that the office was on the second floor and that he had the office and all the turmoil that was supposedly going on in that locker room?

I mean, look, maybe on the second floor. And again, there's a line between coaches and players that it's a little blurred with him, maybe a little bit, but I think Sean Payton's right in the sense of it only got magnified, blown up, talked about when they're losing, he's playing really bad as he did. And when you're playing as bad as you are, I think you'll lose either the benefit of that or some privilege. And it sounds like Sean Payton's kind of ready to lay down the hammer and not allow a lot of the other distractions to be a big deal. Well, that's the big part because there was a disconnect last year with Russell Wilson and his teammates. We had to put together that fake push at the end of the year. Oh yeah, we all love Russ.

That wasn't very believable. Russ is now going to get tough coaching from Sean. There'll be a healthy relationship, but there's going to be tough coaching. And if he's willing to change, then he can be successful again.

If he's going to be stubborn and he's going to fight back a lot, I'm not saying don't have a backbone, but if you fight back way too much, you're not conducive to Sean, then this is not going to work out. And that'd be a team that I'll be curious to just see how we're talking about them at the end of next season. All right, let's get to Pete Carroll.

He responds to a report that Russell Wilson tried to get him fired. I'm always going to hang with him and I'm never going to leave him and I'm going to be there at the end of all of the good stuff and all of the bad stuff. I'm going to still be there. And so, uh, that's it. You know, I'm, I'm hanging regardless of what has happened or taken place or the things that have been said at all. If you hang with them, it all comes back around.

So I'm good. What does that mean? Like at first I thought he was talking about like hanging out with him, but then it's supporting him.

I guess he's like the high road. He did that. Ask me that question. Pete, Ryan Hickey here. Um, there's a report Russell Wilson tried to get you fired.

Your thoughts on that. Yeah, I believed in Russ, but no one believed in Ross. The whole locker room hated me because I believed in Ross. Look, they'll celebrate and dance on his grave this year because they knew he wasn't the true reason why we won these super bowls. It was the LOB. It was Marshawn Lynch and gosh darn it, it was me.

So you know what? Russ tried to get me fired. I made the playoffs last year with Geno Smith. I made Geno Smith who got punched in the mouth by a Jets teammate and also forgot the time zones. I did it out of decipher the time zones to get to the playoffs and throw the most passing yards in the history of the Seahawks franchise. What did Russ do without me?

People want to get rid of them after one year. He just got an extension. Now Russ, I'm glad you tried to get me fired cause we got better. That's what I want to hear from Pete Carroll.

Never would happen though. Winning my own games was fun. Watching Russ lose was even better. I would love Pete Carroll with a cigar. Hey Russ, how you doing?

All right. Pete Carroll is asked if the Seahawks would consider drafting a QB in the first round. We are totally connected to the quarterbacks that are coming out. This is a really huge opportunity for us. It's a rare opportunity. We've been drafted in the low twenties for such a long time. You just don't get the chance with these guys.

So we're deeply involved with them. Did the Seahawks have a top 10 pick last year? Charles Cross, I think it was actually number 10.

I got to double check that. I think right at 10. And then I think to start the second round, they had picks earlier in the third round when Malik was still available, they passed it up. Now Malik ended up falling out of the first round obviously, but they're sitting there at five. Easy to trade up. It's not that tough to trade up.

If we're talking about the Bears maybe trading back to four, they could fall back to five. Oh, that would be great. That would be the ultimate screw hickey because you made a lot of fun of Pete Carroll and the Seahawks.

Imagine if they move past you to go get Bryce Young. That would be poetic. That would not go over well. That would not go over well. That would be wonderful. All right.

Let me play a few more here. Jason Light is asked if he's hopeful that Tom Brady will return to the Bucks in 2023 and maybe come out of retirement. I said I'd leave the desk lamp on before last year I said I'd leave the light on. Maybe it's a flashlight. I don't know. So now we have made the lights smaller. Yeah, that's that's not happening.

Motel 6 calling on line one. If Brady's coming back anywhere, it would be for San Francisco. But I don't think that's happening. Duke Tobin says the Bengals will not trade T Higgins. I'm in the business of making the Cincinnati Bengals better. And so trading T Higgins is not on my mind. That's their problem.

They want to receive or go find your own. You know, in my my opinion, you know, T Higgins is a good piece for the Cincinnati Bengals. So the trade stuff is a little ridiculous right now with how much you could maneuver through the salary cap. But I know you can't keep everyone hickey burrow, chase and Higgins.

Gotta be bangles for the foreseeable future. And you expect I know it's a little tough, but I would expect to show bird and maybe not reset the market or maybe take a little less in order to be able to keep you would hope I got to Higgins around and not you know, I don't know. We'll see. But he seems so far like the guy that would do that kind of the Tom Brady route.

Joe Shane last one. He says there's a limit to how much the team is willing to pay. Say Quan Barkley, Walter Payton, man of the year. You know, I love that about him.

But you also got to look at production durability games played production versus other comps throughout the league. And that's usually where they land from a financial standpoint. And, you know, again, we got to draw a line in the sand like we're not going any further. And if it goes past this, all right, let's shift to plan B. And again, hopefully we don't get to that.

But, you know, we went all over went through all those plans. If they don't franchise tag him. I think there's a very good chance that say Quan Barkley has played his last snap with the Giants because if he gets to the open market, I think there would be a team that would overpay for the potential upside even with all the injuries. I said this, I think two weeks ago when I did these 10 predictions, Daniel Jones will be back with the Giants, but I think say Quan Barkley is going to be playing elsewhere.

Dwight Freeney will join us next. It is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. The Super Bowl is over, but the NFL quarterback carousel is just beginning. You could ask yourself a question.

Do I feel lucky? What does the future hold for all 32 NFL teams at the QB position? Now I'm going to give you an opportunity to spin this wheel right here. Let's spin the wheel and find out which teams we hit today. The Indianapolis Colts. Let's welcome in a Colts legend, an NFL legend, won a Super Bowl, was a three time first team all pro, made the Pro Bowl seven times and did lead the NFL in sacks in 2004, had 125 and a half career sacks.

And that of course is our guy in Dwight Freeney. Dwight, how you been? I've been good. And what about yourself? Well, I've been good, but I'd be doing better if you made the hall of fame.

I thought you got screwed. You should have been a first ballot hall of fame. Well, you know what?

Like I've always said, you know, you never know. You know, I've done what I could do on the field and those people who vote, they vote and you have no control and you don't know why. And there's been a lot of great players that hadn't been first ballots, you know, and everybody has their hands in the air like what's going on? So, you know, it is what it is. Hopefully it happens when it needs to happen.

And I'm trying not to worry about it too much. And they made DeMarcus Ware wait a year and then he got in this year. I know I told you that I thought you were a lock to be a first ballot hall of Famer. If you don't get it next year, then something fishy is going on.

Well, you know what? I would have thought I would have gone this year. And, you know, they had other things, other guys that they wanted in. And there every guy who's made made it this year, they should have been in.

I think they're all great players. So I'm sure this is a tough situation of who goes and what, you know, but, you know, maybe next year for me or not. I don't know, man. There's been guys who've been on that ballot of finalists for three, four straight years now. So, you know, as long as I'm up there in the conversation and get them, eventually I'll be okay. How did you find out that you didn't get in? Well, what they do is they contact you and they call you. And for me, that's basically what happened.

You know, I just I actually reached out to them trying to figure out when we will find out. And the guy told me, hey, you know, I'm just letting you know, not this year. You know, you kind of when you get that news, you kind of like your jaw hits the ground.

You know, and I'm a guy that doesn't like to cat count his chickens before they're hatched. You know, I don't like to even get excited. But when you become a finalist, you kind of just can't help it.

You know, you're getting so close to something that is such an awesome achievement and it means so much to you and your family. It's hard not to really want it. And so when you hear about it and it didn't happen, it is kind of crushing for a little bit. But it is what it is, man. You know, you're just going to have to keep moving on.

You can't control it. And that's all I can think about. And your numbers are undisputable. You obviously are Hall of Famer. People associate you with NFL greatness. And it's just a bizarre spot for you because you can't do anything to add on to your legacy. Your numbers are your numbers.

Your career is the way that we remember it. And it's like now it's out of your control. Yeah. And that's the thing. You know, it's completely out of my control. And, you know, I always said to everyone, you know, look, I know I left my mark on the game, regardless of what has happened this year.

You know, when you watch an NFL football game, you see guys using that spin move. That was because of me. You see different other things from a protection standpoint, different protections that come into the league weren't there prior to me are now prevalent throughout the league.

There's a lot of other things like that that I know that I changed the game regardless. Now, when that happened, Hall of Fame happens. If it happens, hopefully soon. But I know I can sleep at night knowing that, you know, when I turn on that television, I see a lot of what I have left on that game. Dwight Freeney here with us, who absolutely should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Let me get to your Colts. What's your reaction to the hire on Shane Steichen as an ex head football coach?

It's really interesting. You know, he wasn't on my radar as guys that would have been, you know, the guy that had the head caller, you know, head coach. But, um, you know what? He's had success, you know, and I heard a lot of great things about him, you know, and what he's done with the Eagles. I mean, I think there were number one in so many categories offensively, you know, and that was our struggle. To be quite honest with you, in the last three or four years, it's been, you know, offensively making sure that we know we're doing the things that we need to do. Our defense has been pretty solid over the last three or four years.

You know, um, middle of the pack, upper middle, you know, and sometimes in the top ten. So I don't think much change needed to happen there, but bringing an offensive mind like him, I think he can help. Did you guys have any crossover with the Chargers? No, no crossover, man. I was already going.

I was going out of the door. Gotcha. Have you heard anything from people that were in that organization about him? I know it's, it's several years ago.

Yeah. I mean, everyone, everyone has high praises about the guy. I honestly think that, you know, him knowing how to work with young quarterbacks, this draft coming up, we probably will draft a young quarterback. I think, you know, that's going to help, you know, having a guy who's worked with young guys before in the past and gotten success. And so when you have a draft right here, we're sitting at number four, who knows if we're going to trade up or if we don't even try it up, we can still figure it out and get a guy who's a young quarterback. I think we have the right guy head coach to really, you know, build around him and get him in the right mind frame to do the things that he needs to do this year.

Do you have a preference? Like if they can move up to the number one overall pick, do you like Bryce young, better CJ Stroud or is it someone else? Oh, you know what? It's always hard, man. It's always hard to call it with these college quarterbacks. You know, just think about how many Heisman winners or guys who went number one and didn't do much in the NFL, right? It's really about the system that you go into. If you go into a good system with good support, all right, then the quarterback, whoever you pick, they're going to be highly skilled. Obviously when you pick them the first round, first few picks. So, you know, it's all about making sure that there's a great marriage between the offensive scheme and what you do offensively and what's going on in that quarterback's mind.

So that can link up to where as though he can feel comfortable in his, in his position. And they have six, you can see success early. So then all of a sudden it doesn't become this, this rotating door, evolving door of offensive coordinators, different schemes, and no one's blocking for the guy what's going on. So if you can get into a good situation, which I think the coach will have, I think whoever it is, I think there'll be okay.

Dwight Freeney here with us. Were you at all disappointed? I know he's a friend of yours, teammate of yours. We talked about the initial surprise when he got the job that, that Jeff Saturday didn't have that interim tag removed and became the full-time head coach. Yeah.

I mean, it was definitely disappointing, but I get it. You know, it's, it's what it is. You can't really, you know, you go out there and he took advantage of a great opportunity. You know, he's always wanted to be a head coach, which I didn't even know, but I guess that's when I learned over the last, you know, couple of months there that, you know, Jeff always wanted to have that type of position. He had to take it and I don't think it hurts him that he didn't get the job.

I think it is what it is. You know, he, he didn't, he didn't expect to have the job and then he got the job and now, you know what, wherever his life goes from there, I, I, he has something on his resume that no other guy had at Eddie with his type of experience, the head coach of our NFL football team without any NFL experience as a head coach, you know? So for him, I think, you know, whatever he decides to do, I think it's just going to boost him a little bit. I know the popular thought right now is to go draft a quarterback for the Colts or maybe move up to get that quarterback as well. Would you entertain the idea of them maybe going a different way and drafting a defensive player or maybe someone else on the offensive side of the ball and, and going out there and signing Derek Carr, who's available right now? Well, I'm actually a fan of Derek Carr. I think he has the ability to make every throw. I think for him, it's about like, like any quarterback, really.

It's the system that you got to put them in to get them comfortable to do the things that he really wants to do. And I think that's the biggest thing. I think Derek Carr is a great player, but you know, I don't know if they're going to pass up this opportunity to get one of these young studs, right? Now, if you look at the draft, you got to figure out, Hey, what else is out there?

All right. That they would prefer to pick up that would help them. I know we need help at wide receiver 100%. Now is there a, is there a guy and you know, in the draft and the top five or 10 that should be, you know, be that guy in the NFL as a receiver. I don't know.

I hadn't been following that portion of it that closely. But if you don't take a quarterback, I would think you take a receiver or something like that. Our defense has been solid. I don't think you need anybody there and you can kind of fill up the spaces of whoever else is available in, in the draft later on or free agency, but you need to make an impact at four, right?

Or trade it up. And that needs to probably be a receiver or quarterback in my mind. You knew how to just take advantage of offensive lines.

So you have it from the guy that's attacking the quarterback's angle. I was stunned this year and I know health played a factor into it as well, but the cults, we've always kind of associated them with great offensive line play the last few years. Just how bad that offensive line was. Yeah, I think the offensive line, um, quite frankly cost the cults this, the year that they wanted this year. Now for many reasons, maybe let's call it, it was injury injuries. You know, they had to switch guys from left tackle to right tackle to guard guys were out of position all, all year.

Maybe it was the system and scheme. Maybe it was like, you know, maybe they were trying to hold onto the ball a little bit too long. But when you have a quarterback like Matt Ryan in the pocket, he's an older guy. He wants to get rid of the ball. He doesn't want to get hit. You've got to protect him. All right. And if you don't protect him, he doesn't have the mobility to leave the pocket and scramble for 10 to 15 yards.

All right. So you're, you're talking about a guy who's an older guy who doesn't want to get hit and an offensive line who is non-existent. No one could have been a quarterback really, I think, unless you, you know, brought Michael Vick out of retirement or something like that where he doesn't need an office line. He just runs for 30, 40 yards, but it's just, or Lamar Jackson or something. But I just believe that offensive line has to also be something that is needs to be fixed.

And that's kind of like, you know, outside that that's on that offensive side of the ball. You need a quarterback, you need a receiver and you need an offensive tackle or something like that. And the only reason why I didn't say offensive tackle to be drafted up high is because usually offensive tackles take about three to four years to become good.

All right. It's going to take a three to four years for an offensive tackle to be a really solid like player. It just takes that amount of time. You may find something that you need in a free agency from an offensive tackle standpoint. So yes, they need to, they, they need to fix that offensive line because they can't go. They have one of the best running backs in the league. You can't run the ball with an offensive line.

So that's one of the major issues that we need to fix. Maybe they'll trade for Lamar Jackson this off season. You know what? Yeah, maybe they will. And I, and if they get them, I promise you that head coach, he knows how to deal with running, running, you know, how to work with running quarterbacks now.

He understands how to dial that thing up. So, you know, but I don't know if that's going to be in the future, but hey, you never know, man. You never know. Well, Dwight Freeney, you should be in the pro football hall of fame. I'm really annoyed you didn't get it on the first ballot. So if the voters don't punch you in next year, I think at the super bowl, stay an extra day and then try to beat them up. Oh Lord. I'll let you, I'll let you guys handle that.

Very classy. There he is. Dwight Freeney on the Zach Gelb show on CBS sports ready. Always love our conversations with him and Hickey. If I have to just be honest here, I remember when we had him on right when like Jeff Saturday got the interim top tag and everyone was surprised and we were talking about the hall of fame and I said to him like, Oh, it's a lock.

You're definitely like you're, I'm a Patriot fan. I'm telling you a cult and I can't stand the cult that you're a first ballot hall of Famer and it's crazy to me how Dwight Freeney did not get in on the first ballot. But I guess if you made DeMarcus where wait a year, this way you get the stupidity of the hall of fame. I guess then you have to make Dwight wait a year. You put where in and then he'll get in next year. Like if he has to wait more than a year and then after the second ballot he doesn't get in, I would be more stunned than than I am right now. They didn't get it on the first ballot Hickey. I guess that's part of the thing when you only have or only allow five guys in at a time it's in the modern area, right?

Where it's just, you know, not Pandora's box if you will, but it's just one of those things where like if you have a buildup, it's okay. One at a time and this guy waited. So it's, it's a stupid system and it's kind of like in other sports where all we, if this guy waited, we have to make this guy wait. We can only, you know, preserve the first ballot for certain guys.

It's dumb, but yes, I would have thought that Dwight Freeney would have been in, you know, who should be a pro football hall of fame voter. Who's that? Rich Ackerman. I'm a hundred percent serious. You wouldn't want to do that? No. You don't want to sit in those meetings too long. Yeah. You know, it's, it's just, it's like being a lawyer who wants to do that.

I mean, there are people I feel strongly about one of whom works in this building, but that, that to me is very, very tough. We hired Sean Alexander here. Yeah. There you go. You're talking about Tiki.

I'm assuming. Yeah. I do think Tiki's a hall of famer. I didn't think so as a player, but now you look back at his career. I think he's a hall of famer. Yeah. Yeah. And the reason I brought up Sean Alexander is I had a text exchange with Gary Myers and I was asking Gary, he's a pro football, a fan voter, like Sean Alexander again.

And I know he did not play a long time, but like I had a hundred rushing touchdowns and then did a, I had a few receiving touchdowns as well. I do like the process where, where somebody has to be your, I guess presenter presenter, but I think there needs to be more. It can't just be one person because if you have one person, you have one person that's better at presenting the case than somebody else.

I think it skewers it a bit. It should kind of be like a committee, like a three or four people committee, you know, now maybe I'll put my foot in my mouth here, but I actually think you'd be a good hall of fame voter, but just with the history of the game and how many years do you watch football and things like that. And you can't be as bad as some of these other guys that screwed Dwight Frini over.

If you read my notes on Tiki, maybe you might feel even more stronger. Well here's the big question. Would you have put Terrell Owens in on the first try? No.

Oh, okay. Then you'd be a bad hall of fame voter. So I take back everything I just said. Everything. You know what it look, you know, I don't doubt that he's a hall of famer, but I think, I think first, you know, look, there's no, there's no crime in waiting a year or two on guys. And I think Terrell Owens fits in that class. But what was the point like to make him wait?

Like he's one of the greatest things you've ever seen. There are a lot of guys, there are a lot of guys up for, up for election every year. Gotcha. You can only, you can only elect certain amount.

You can't, you can't elect everybody. So that's why they have the process where they whittle it down. I mean, look at how long Joe Kletko had to wait. I mean, yeah, but he wasn't a slam dunk. No, but these are, but there are guys that had to wait a couple of years.

Jerry Kramer had to wait forever. Yeah. Harry, Harry, Harry Carson, you know, I mean, there are, I'm, I'm not, again, I'm not saying Terrell Owens isn't a hall of favor, but I, you know, I don't remember who he had to go up against early on, but. But I just don't know if I can name three wide receivers that are better than Terrell Owens. Like some of the low players can name three better players. Well, the knock on Terrell Owens is the same thing that, that I think, you know, affects the Randy Moss is that, you know, there were times when they wanted out or forced their hand and they were difficult as players.

And I think that that works against you. Yeah. But for me, like it should be the standard on the field and what you did when you, when you play with those teams, like if people want to call you a bad teammate, if people wanted to say you're a pain in the ass in the locker room, to me like that stuff shouldn't matter when we're evaluating the greatness of a player.

But, but were they at their, I mean, look, first ballot hall of Famer is year in year out consistently elite. Can you say that about Terrell Owens every game? Yeah. You could? I could.

Okay. When you look at the, the year to year production, you know, let's like once every game, every game, every year. But even so then the guy still put up 60,000 yards receiving.

I'm not, I'm not disputing that. I think 153 touchdowns. I look, I, I am in agreement with you, but I'm just saying, you know, again, first ballot is really, really, really special. The one of a kinds, the Jerry Rice. And if you're lucky to be in that class, then, then then God bless you. But you know, I don't think, I don't think Terrell Owens is in the Jerry Rice class.

I think he is a hall of Famer, but he's not Jerry Rice. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. All righty. Mel Kiper came out with, I don't know if this is first draft or his latest mock draft, but he had a mock draft today. You want to hear the top 10 hickey? We'll see if you approve or not. Let's hear it with the first overall pick. Do you think there was a trade? Unless this is one of those fugazi mock drafts that doesn't allow trades.

Yes. He allowed trades. Who do you think moves up to the number one spot? I did see this one here, the Texans, right? Number one, Bryce young. So Bryce young, number one to the Texans, then the bears who would then be at the two spot trade down again, Indianapolis moves up. CJ Stroud.

It'd be heartbreaking. I hope CJ Stroud is better than Bryce Young. That's the case, but that would be a tough pill to swallow if the Colts got outbid going from by the Texans and having to now face Bryce Young twice a year.

See it's funny to me though. How like you have no confidence that CJ Stroud could actually be a great quarterback in the NFL. For me, it's sample size. I saw a lot of CJ Stroud.

The one great game everyone talked about is Georgia. I'm concerned that it took almost two full seasons for him to get to that point where you're talking about using his legs and making plays with this, you know, outside the pocket where the first two years that was the biggest knock on him going into that game. That's to me very concerning. Third overall pick, Arizona Cardinals, Will Anderson Jr. What about the Cardinals trading the pick?

Kind of feel like they're no man's land right now. Why don't you just get more assets for the future potentially? Especially if there's a team like the Raiders, like the Seahawks, if they are desperate and or like, you know, a guy that starts to fall.

I think that's absolutely a tradable spot. Well, if this goes this way of two quarterbacks being one, two, then you could see a team just saying, all right, we got to move up because we want to go get the third guy. Or if it's not quarterbacks one and two, you then have to try to go jump the Colts at three because you know, the Colts will be taking a quarterback.

Absolutely right. So next one, Jalen Carter going to the bears like that would be a great scenario for the bears. And we talked about this yesterday.

We talked about it today. You're at one, you fall back to two Texans go up to one, then you're at two. You have the Colts come up to from four to two and then you fall to four. You get all those extra resources, whatever they would be. And you still walk away with Jalen Carter, who many think is the best defensive player in this draft. Now it'd be for them the biggest home run.

Yes. Best case scenario. Now in at number five, there's a trade. I know Pete Carroll was talking about maybe taking a quarterback. The Panthers move up to five. Which quarterback do you think they select? Is it Richardson or is it Levis? I will say Richardson.

They go with will. Levis will us, which would be against all the push really the last two weeks that I think we led via Chris Trapasso coming on this show and saying that Anthony Richardson may be the number one overall pick and he thinks he's going to blow the roof off at the combine. So Levis Panthers at pick five, number six, lions, Christian Gonzalez, cornerback out of Oregon. It would be interesting to see if they go Richardson.

Yeah, that'd be fun. But who knows how long rich symbol will last. They do have a second pick at 18. They could then move up from there. And that's an area I know they need help on the defense side of the ball.

I just took Jeff Acuda a few years ago. I know he got off to a slow slide that had decent year this year. I wanted to take a corner back there at six. I think kind of like receivers. Now you're seeing I don't think you'd have too many corners.

Yeah. Now, like teams are having, you know, one in one, a receivers seven Devon Witherspoon, cornerback, Illinois. McDaniel's talking about a quarterback for the long term of Richardson still there. I know you have your doubts on Richardson. I wonder if they would take Richardson at seven. Yeah, it's a pretty uninspiring pick, to be honest, for the Raiders. I mean, they need help on defense everywhere.

So I mean, that's plugging a need. But yeah, eight will McDonald's out of Iowa State to the Falcons nine Seahawks fall back from the trade that had the Panthers, I believe. Yes. They take Anthony Richardson at nine. That'd be good.

You fall back. I would imagine they still have Gino there for for a few years. Right. You signed him probably to a three year deal.

Right. And you could sit Richardson for a year or two because everyone talks about how he's a little bit of a project with a very high ceiling is all those draft animals like you with the 49ers. They would trade Lance do what the Packers did with Jordan love summer path. And then in a number 10, the Eagles have a top 10 pick because they made the trip with the Saints Peter Skowronski out of Northwestern would be the pick there.

So for an offensive line that's really well built, maybe lose a guy or two for agency getting older and older. There's been a lot of talk about Tyree Wilson being a top five pick at a Texas Tech. He went 12th in this mock draft. The Patriots take Jackson Smith and Jigba the wide receiver out of Ohio State.

I would be fine by that. I think that's the yeah, that was the first wide receiver off the board. I'm just curious where the other wide receivers go here. Michael Mayer, the tight end goes to Green Bay at 15. Any other wide receivers? Oh, Jordan Addison, 21 to the Chargers, maybe replacement for Keenan Allen with all that speculation that maybe he could be done. Zay Flowers, Baltimore going to the Ravens, maybe get Lamar Jackson some help if he's still there.

Ooh, how about this one? Quinnen Johnson out of TCU, who may be the best wide receiver in this draft class, going 25 to the Giants, who I think is the best tight ends in this draft class. Dalton Kincaid going to the Cowboys if Dalton Schultz does walk and then Bijan Robinson, 27 to the Bills.

That would definitely fit a need. I think Daniel Jeremiah said like a top five player in the draft. It's a big one for the Bills.

Yeah, it would be. But you know how running backs are. I would be very shocked even with Bijan Robinson if he goes in the top 10. I would be surprised by that because I think now a lot of people are, unless if it's like the last piece, I think a lot of people are skeptical of taking a running back in the first round. Zach Gilb's show CBS Sports Radio.