Green Bay Back & Forth (Hour 3)

And away we go, hour number three of our radio program.

It is a Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. So we'll get into a little bit about Russell Wilson and then also Deshaun Watson in just a second, but Lamar Jackson continues to dominate the headlines. Hickey, right now, I think we could all agree if we had to have like the three most likeliest destinations, you would say what the Panthers would probably be on that list. I would think that the Falcons would probably reengage or initially engage in conversations.

And then after that, like who is your third team? Because I know that you've been saying, oh, it should be the Dolphins. And I understand your point.

You make a great case. I don't think enough is going to happen this offseason where two is not going to be the starting quarterback come week one, because I just don't it's very tough for him to get hurt. And I do believe they believe in Tua. And I get your argument of, hey, it's not realistic to expect that Tua is going to have this long career. So even though it stinks, because you think he's a very good player and I at once thought he could be a great quarterback in this league. You got to kind of go move on and replace him now, whether then a year from now he gets another concussion and people wondering if he's ever going to play football. Again, along those lines, because you know, with the attention that was there with Tua last year, if Tua suffers another concussion, I do think he would be held out longer than any other probably player in the league that suffers a concussion. I mean, bare minimum, if it doesn't end his career, look at the three concussions he suffered last year.

If we're all going to assume, and most of us do, that the Bills wobbling early in the year was a concussion. So he missed obviously no time in that game. He was concussed. Four days later, gets concussed against the Bengals.

Misses, I think it was what, the next, definitely the next two games, I believe it was the next three games off the top of my head. So misses those three games after getting the first concussion. Then the second, or the second concussion, the last one he suffered against the Packers on Christmas Day, he missed the final three games and was in the concussion protocol a month after that. So basically he was in the concussion protocol for six weeks. His concussions have progressed in terms of length. He was in the concussion protocol. So you think, bare minimum, if it doesn't end his career, like, six weeks, two months, we're talking about him not coming back.

It's like, it's daily. And also, I think there would be a lot of outrage if he gets a concussion and then he's back in a week. So what head injury possibly could cost two and a half the season? And you're more likely to get another head injury if you already have some in the past. So you're really, for the dolphins, playing with fire if you're actually going to trust two to stay healthy in 2023 and not get a concussion, let alone another injury.

Which also he's had problems with as well with his brittle body. Now don't give me your dark horse option because, or your long shot option, because I saw you tweeting about this yet. I'm talking about in terms of the realistic options right now, I would say the Panthers and I would say the Falcons are the first two teams I think of. Who would then be the third team? I would split it between the Dolphins and the Commanders. I think the Dolphins will be interested.

I think the Commanders also, again, another team where you can't afford not to be interested. Yeah, the only tricky part there is the impending, you know, the eventual sale, let's just say, of the Commanders. And we don't even know if that's going to happen. It's been speculated that's going to happen and Wright Snyder did hire the firm and all that. But then there's been some talks that he's not going to sell the team and he's starting to resist on that. It would not shock me if what Florio was saying yesterday with this is kind of true, in where you could give a middle finger to the owners even though you've been doing wrong. Where you're going to fully guarantee the contract and that's precedence back to back year. Where quarterbacks get fully guaranteed deals with Watson and Lamar Jackson. And then you do get some credit if Lamar goes on to be the player that we all think he, you know, has already shown in this league and will continue to be in this league. Then that will be associated as, oh, Dan Snyder got Lamar Jackson there.

He finally did something positive for the Washington Commanders. Or the way that I was kind of saying it to Florio yesterday, Dan Snyder may go do that because if you bring in Lamar Jackson for the first time in a long time, there's actually some excitement about having Lamar Jackson on the team. And there's actually some excitement with the Commanders where maybe the public drive to get you out.

Not that it ever fully goes away, but it does quiet down the waves and calm down the waves a little bit. Where right now, and it's been this way for a long time, everyone's like, get Snyder out, get Snyder out. That's the first thing you think of with the Commanders. If you go get Lamar Jackson to bring some actual excitement, probably the first time to that team with a quarterback since they drafted RG3. It would, I agree with you that he would really kind of, I think he hates the owners more than anyone else in the NFL. So he wants to spite them and give Lamar a guaranteed contract in which you kind of assume he won't pay most of it. He would kind of appreciate that and get the last laugh.

The only thing I don't know is this. If you're Dan Snyder, you're getting forced out. Do you really want to see the Commanders right as you're getting kicked out the door, bring them a generational quarterback that could turn them around and all of a sudden now the new owner. There's new life and all of a sudden this team is back to contention and now you're kind of out in the outs.

And everyone's not only celebrating your ouster, everyone's also celebrating now a competitive winner. And when you were there for what, 20, I forget the exact year he bought it, but it's been over two decades, they've not really been a threat whatsoever. I just wonder if he kind of wants to give them the gift as he's on the way out and he doesn't get to reap it in terms of seeing the success on the field which the new ownership will presumably if you do get Lamar. It's a great point that you bring up because Dan Snyder does seem like a guy that if the house is burning down, he's not going to want to see them rebuild back up that house.

Right. He wants everyone to suffer. Owners, fans of the Commanders, everyone.

If he's going down, he wants everyone to be miserable with him. Alright, let's go Dark Horses here. I have one. I've seen yours because you tweeted about it last night. You give me your Dark Horse. Dark, Dark, Dark Horse. The Los Angeles Rams. We were talking about it earlier this week. What is going on at the Rams?

Sean McVeigh was back after flirting with retirement. We thought, okay, maybe they'll be back to contention, run it back, and just hope that no one gets injured. And all they've been doing is selling off veterans, cutting guys, they're about to trade other pieces as well. And look, there's no one, if you're the Ravens, there's no one you're going to trade with and get a better quarterback back right now than Matthew Stafford if he can stay healthy. There's no team that is more, outside of the Saints maybe, more adept at moving money and getting under the cap and still acquiring players somehow than the Rams.

So even though right now they're under or they're over the cap, there's a way Leslie will absolutely be able to do so. I think and make magic and get Lamar's contract and get enough picks in a trade. And you talk about, you know, Sean McVeigh. If you want to keep Sean McVeigh there if you're Leslie and you're the Rams. I think the one way you do so is by giving him a young talent that he's just going to have so much fun working with that he won't ever leave. That one of those guys is Lamar Jackson. Here's the only problem with it. If you're Lamar, I get going to the NFC and I get going and teaming up with Sean McVeigh.

And we'll see how they would be able to find a way to work that deal out if they were able to. But that roster kind of stinks right now. It's a bad roster right now. Like that roster has crumbled quickly since winning a Super Bowl two years ago. Like on the offensive side of the ball, you got Cooper Cup.

I love Cooper Cup. But outside of that, there's not many pieces that I go like, wow, on the offensive side of the ball for the L.A. Rams. And I'm not going to say Matthew Stafford because of the fact that if you go find a way to get Lamar Jackson in there, then you're getting rid of Matthew Stafford. And defensively, Jalen Rams, he's on his way out. That's clear. You know Aaron Donald is a stud, even though he missed a lot of time last year.

But Donald kind of does have one foot in, one foot out. That roster, it ain't as pretty as it used to be. It's actually like a pretty broken roster right now.

It needs help for sure. But if I think you could sell Lamar on two things. Number one, you just saw Matthew Stafford win a Super Bowl with the Rams.

And again, you're not going to win a Super Bowl in 2023 for sure. But you could convince Lamar you are a more talented quarterback than Matthew Stafford. Give Sean McVay time.

Lines things though. And you've seen the system Sean McVay, is it the system or the players? I think you could make a good, strong argument that it's a lot more of Sean McVay's system that leads to the success than just the players winning their battles and bowling out, attrition on offense. So if you can convince Lamar that of, hey look, right now we don't have the exact players we're going to be in Super Bowl contention with, but give us a year or two to figure it out.

That's one thing. Number two, look, they've used to or they're very used to not having first round picks. You're going to give two first round picks bare minimum for Lamar Jackson.

Nothing new for the Rams. They've done actually a really good job drafting later in the draft. So it's like you're in familiar territory for Lamar where it's like, okay, again, you're giving up a lot of draft capital. But also we have done a really good job of identifying guys in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh round that have contributed.

We'll do the same thing here with you. Here's the tricky part. Because you know Lamar's been wanting a number one wide receiver.

They haven't been able to find it. You get that number one wide receiver in Cooper Cup, assuming he could stay healthy. But then you take a massive hit on this offensive line. I know you got to rebuild back up that offensive line, but that offensive line, it is a brutal offensive line. Like that to me is a big concern. And Lamar's style with how he plays, you need a good offensive line. And that offensive line's got a lot of work to do.

That's fine. I'd absolutely trust Sean McVay to scheme up a way to keep Lamar safe. And if I'm Lamar, I'd absolutely trust Sean McVay to keep me healthy.

And I think he would. Okay, here's my dark horse. What about the Patriots? And that's not just because I'm a Patriot fan. Bill Belichick brought Lamar Jackson in for a pre-draft interview when they had Tom Brady as their quarterback. They had two first round picks. They ended up taking Isaiah Wynn and Soni Michelle in that draft.

But they had Brady, so it's kind of tough to take a quarterback in the first round. And also, Lamar Jackson, he shared this story before that he was surprised by Belichick because Belichick was smiling during their pre-draft interview. And he wasn't expecting Belichick to be smiling because of kind of the looks that Belichick always have given. And not only that, Belichick has been quoted by saying, we had a great visit with Lamar. We spent a lot of time with him.

He's a really interesting guy. So we've seen Belichick be complimentary about Lamar. They've had a meeting going back to the draft, but you had Brady there, so I understand why you didn't draft him. And Belichick was, this is from my sports update.

This was back earlier this year when the Patriots played the Ravens. Belichick on if Lamar Jackson has answered all the pre-draft concerns people have with him. Without a doubt, he's the type of player that's an MVP candidate. Wait until we see what his contract is.

That will answer them. Now, you have Mac Jones there. I don't believe the Patriots are as down on Mac Jones as what some of the reporting is. I think there's a reason why there's been major coaching shakeups in that organization on the offensive side of the ball. Like, Patricia's not even going to be back with the team. I do think Joe Judge will be back with the team in some capacity when they were at that East Shrine Bowl.

He was there from some of the reporting, but it was like, we don't know what his role is. And there was a lot of, I guess, bad blood with Mac Jones and Joe Judge from what people say. But that all goes away because Bill O'Brien is now running the offense. So I do think Jones is going to be the quarterback. But if you say all it takes is a contract and two first-round picks. And I don't know what then the market would be on Mac Jones. Like, hey, you call up the Raiders. Who knows what McDaniel's would give up for him.

He loves the guy. I would be down for Lamar Jackson going to New England. Do you think Bill would give up two first-round picks and give Lamar Jackson $45 million a year?

That's the thing. It's not the two first-round picks. I think Bill would do the two first-round picks. It's the pain of the quarterback, because here's the problem with Bill.

Even though he's been so great at adapting and adjusting the players on the roster, right? When you look at some of his concepts, like he never had to pay Brady the most. Like that just didn't, Brady took the discounts.

So you look at that, this is no discount, obviously. And you look at the way that since Brady has left New England, has run the offense, he's still running it like if Brady is there, where you're not going out there and getting a star-wide receiver, because when Brady was there, you didn't need a star-wide receiver. And that to me is a mistake when you're not getting Mac Jones a star-wide receiver, because we've seen other teams of young quarterbacks go get their guys the studs. So that's the tough part for me. It's not the two first-round picks, because I do think Bill would give up two first-round picks. It's more so the contract. And that's where I pause on it.

Yeah, that's for me. I don't think he would do it. He's been, like I said, two decades now of having flexibility from the quarterback. He's never really used to having a large chunk of salary paid to one position. We know Bill Belichick is always someone you'd rather get rid of someone a year earlier than a year too late.

And a lot of that had to do with contract stuff, too. Any time a player is getting up on a big contract, boom, out the door. I get it, Lamar Jackson, things change, people change. I just don't see Bill Belichick drastically changing that much to make this bold of a move to get Lamar Jackson. Now, for Bill, we don't know what the ceiling is for Mac Jones. For Bill, you're getting a player that you know can be great. Does the personal motivation of Brady winning a Super Bowl, and who knows how much longer Belichick's hit a coach.

I think he's going to at least bare minimum coach until he breaks the Shula record. But do you think that all that makes Bill do something differently? Because, hey, Brady got a Super Bowl without me. I just missed the playoffs. I've only made the playoffs once in three years post-Brady.

Does that maybe make Bill operate differently? I mean, the only thing I'd say that so far is no, just because we've seen Joe Judge and Matt Patricia last year coaching the offense. And if that's your answer to getting back to the promised land and getting back to the playoffs, you're a fool.

So it's not like he's really been ever since 2020. Don't call my coach a fool. When you're hiring Matt Patricia in that instance, you're a fool. It was a foolish decision.

He's not a fool. That he just has not struck us, I guess maybe the word is desperation, in terms of chasing that seventh Lombardi to match Brady. And if so, don't love that your desperation move is Joe Judge, Matt Patricia, unlocking Matt Jones. Or taking him, I should say, from his rookie year and somehow making it even better than what Joshua Daniels was able to do.

By the way, I just thought about this. We're in this point right now of the contentious relationship between the Ravens and Lamar Jackson. All because of the Browns last year with the Haslam family giving him a fully guaranteed deal. Imagine if the Browns, I know other teams are interested, but just did the right thing and said, we're not trading for this guy. Deshaun Watson is a bad dude. Can't trust him.

Don't want him on our team. Imagine if they did that. Now, Watson would have got traded. I don't know if he would have got a fully guaranteed deal, but let's just say he didn't get a fully guaranteed deal. We know the Browns are willing to get the fully guaranteed deal because they just did so to Deshaun Watson. Imagine if they never traded for Watson and then the Baltimore Ravens slapped the non-exclusive franchise tag. Let's say they still couldn't get the deal done, that they slapped the non-exclusive franchise tag on Lamar Jackson. And that's where the Browns swoop in, given that deal of, oh, we'll give you $240 million fully guaranteed. Because worst case, Lamar's already on the Ravens.

You make your rival in your division pay the fully guaranteed deal. But then if they say no, you give them two first round picks and you steal Lamar Jackson from the Ravens. Imagine if the Browns just said no to Deshaun Watson. They could have stolen Lamar Jackson from the Ravens this offseason. Potentially. Yeah.

That would have been awesome. I'm assuming they feel the same way about Lamar as they do Deshaun Watson. And now you have that creep Deshaun Watson on your team.

That should do. And the Browns, too, were a team that you'd always used to root for. Remember, I would do the, here we go, Brownies, here we go, hoo, hoo. Or the song, and here we go again, it's the Cleveland Browns and it's first and ten.

Like, that stuff? You know, we rooted for the Browns here. Like, now it's, I don't want to root for the Browns. I can't, like, I used to love Watson. I can't stand Watson anymore.

It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. A year ago, Russell Wilson, right? The Broncos robbed, absolutely robbed the Seattle Seahawks. How does that look a year later?

Not so good. What are the Broncos going to do next year? We'll discuss when we return in five minutes right here on CBS Sports Radio. You got it. There's Jake Deloam joining us on this.

It is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. I'll make a point on Russell Wilson in just a second. But first, I see a lot of conversation right now, conflicting reports on how much the Packers are going to get back for Aaron Rodgers. So I just look back at the last three years and they draft Jordan Love.

He goes on to win back to back MVPs. Hickey, looking back at it, I would say after the year, and I know it's tough because they lose the NFC title game. But then I'm OK there with them bringing Rodgers back after that.

But after the 49ers lost in the playoffs. And they eventually, right, trade Devante Adams. And I know they got the deal done last offseason and then Adams gets traded after that. Kind of feels like last year should have been the year where they traded Rodgers and you would have got a haul back now. Maybe they end up getting more than than what the feeling is right now.

And there's been conflicting reports out there. But it doesn't seem like it's going to be that lucrative of a deal that they're going to get back in return for a team like the Jets, who's so desperate to go get Aaron Rodgers. And the Jets are really only negotiating against themselves right now because the meeting's over.

There's no other meetings lined up. It seems like for Rodgers, if you don't want to be there and the Packers don't want you there anymore, it's either retire, go back to Green Bay or you go to the Jets. It's like, why would you want to go back to a place where you're not wanted?

I don't think you're ready to retire. And I do believe he's going to wind up with the Jets. So I know it's tough because, right, you win the back to back MVPs, you have the playoff shortcomings. And I'm not going to say they should have traded him at the NFC title game because you were that close. You think you run it back. But the fact that they never like went all in again.

And they never did it at all. It's like after you lose 13 and three, 13 and three, 13 and three back to back MVP years, it seemed like last year probably shouldn't have happened. Like we talked about Jim Boeheim today and John Juszemski said it earlier. This year shouldn't have happened for Boeheim. You should have left after last season.

It feels like when you look back and it could be revisionist history now. When it comes to Aaron Rodgers, if you knew that love was a year away, you should have just either got a stopgap, which would have been tough, or just, let's be real, go to love last year and traded Rodgers when you would have got a lot more back. What I'll say is this. I understand if you're the Packers saying, you know what, we have a two-time reigning MVP. We got close. We had the best record, the number one seed two years in a row.

Let's see, maybe third time's the charm. The frustration though is if you're going to then go all in Aaron Rodgers and last year, as you know, last season they gave him the contract extension. That really tells you we're all in three years, $150 million. You have to act like it and they didn't. And that's the biggest thing. They kept the entire time in the last few years, one foot in the camp of the present day, keeping Aaron Rodgers, one foot in the camp of Jordan Love of we're going to still preserve our picks and still make sure we have flexibility to whenever the day Jordan Love is playing, we still have somewhat of a competent team around them.

It's not a disaster. They never picked a lane. And that's the frustrating part.

You have to pick a lane. You're dealing with last year 38-year-old quarterback. Well, they didn't intend.

It's that we're never. I know it's from their own actions and also probably Adams got fed up with Rodgers with this whole song and dance. They made the offer to Devante Adams and Adams left money on the table because he was just done. So you could put that some on management and also some on Aaron Rodgers. But and I know that's so tough because they gave the deal and then that deal basically Adams was gone after that.

But if if they would have I don't know if they knew or not. But if you got that sense that Adam was done with your team, it was like almost like, OK, you should never give the deal to Rodgers. You should have traded him last offseason. But. It's then also, OK, did I expect the Packers to miss the playoffs this year?

No, I didn't. So it may be easier for me to say that now. It just felt like it's a missed opportunity because maybe the Jets end up giving back more than than we think it's going to go down. But right now, I don't think the offer is going to be that crazy as what people have has speculated or thought it was going to be before the offseason did start. But it even goes back to two offseasons ago and Devante Adams was there and didn't request a trade. The first offseason, after you lose to the Buccaneers going from twenty twenty to twenty twenty one, when that really the firestorm first started for starting in that whole offseason is really stay where we go. They try to keep up. And again, once Aaron Rodgers said, I'm coming back to nothing to kind of again, put themselves in a position to put over the top. Right.

And then even when Adam says, Trevio, I'm out of here. OK, then do whatever you can and try to get Darren Waller then back in the trade instead of a first round pick. Use the extra first round pick you get to maybe go for a Terry kill or trade up to get like just be aggressive to make some sort of move and not just up.

OK, Devante's gone. We'll see what we can do now and just kind of, you know, draft two guys on defense and hope it works out. Obviously, it did not work out just like they consistently had. We're going to you know, we want to win now with Aaron Rodgers, but also you want to win in the future with Jordan Love and they refuse to pick a lane. And that's kind of reason why it's like you're driving a car. If your foot is on the gas and the break at the same time, you're still going.

You weren't at the break and you're not really, you know, you're not going the way you should be and you're not getting the most out of the car. And that's exactly what happened when you had the Packers just kind of one foot in the future, one foot in the present. They could do neither. Well, right now, or you just find a way to keep Adams there. Right now to just say, hey, look, we're not trading you. Aaron Rodgers just paid him. We'll pay you. We are going for now.

And again, it's just like, OK, you want to go? OK, not I don't remember this. Was he in the final year of his deal in Green Bay?

I have to double check. I know he tried to get an extension two years ago and that's where his frustration came from. The Packers were like, we don't we don't talk to guys with two years after the deal. We only do it with one year out. So I think that's I think it stems from two years ago, I believe. And I think then last year would have been the last year.

I think the franchise year of his deal, I believe. Yeah. So I want to say that they they had the franchise tagging.

And then they then they got the deal done. But maybe I'm wrong on that. So like in that case, just keep around and say it's either you play or you sit out. Because once you go all in and you bring Adams back or you bring Rodgers back, I mean, no sense to get rid of Adams. Or if, you know, it's divine to Adams once out, then, OK, you know what?

We'll blow it up. Adams is out. We get a first round pick from him. We'll trade the two-time reigning MVP in Aaron Rodgers. Maybe get two firsts from him. And let's go to Jordan Love. And they just stayed down the middle of, OK, Adams is gone, but we're still going to try to win with Aaron Rodgers.

Give him this big time deal. We're not going to do everything possible to make sure Aaron is the best team around him. So maybe we'll be a playoff team.

Like he was on the tag. No one predicted them to go eight and nine last year as a playoffs. But also no one predicted them to be a Super Bowl contender next year and actually be one of the teams that actually could hoist the Lombardi Trophy. We thought they'd be a playoff team, maybe win the division.

Nothing more than that. That's not good enough for Aaron Rodgers at 39 years old when you give him a three-year, $150 million extension. So they did place the tag on him, and he informed them that he was not going to play on the franchise tag. Now, there's one thing to say that in March, and it's a little bit different once the season does roll around, but they ended up making the trade that they did with the Raiders. So this is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio with teasing us. We'll get to this on the other side. A year ago today, you had Russell Wilson getting dealt to the Broncos. What are going to be your realistic expectations for the Broncos in year number two? We will get to that in five minutes. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show.

You can think of O'Reilly Auto Parts where your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Hank, I'm going to throw a little trivia question at you. Sean Payton's first year with the Saints, he won 10 games. They went 10 and 6 in his first year. They had 10 regular season victories. They eventually lost in the conference championship game to the Chicago Bears. And I'll let you have some decent memory because then the Bears went on to the Super Bowl where the Super Bowl is really Patriots and Colts in the AFC championship game. And your team got their biggest win in your lifetime up against the Bears in the Super Bowl where that was Peyton Manning's one and only Lombardi trophy with the Colts.

And then he went on to the Broncos and won a Super Bowl there to end out his career. How many wins do you think the Saints had the year before Sean Payton got there? So that'd be 2005. Four. Pretty close.

Three. So they made a seven win improvement in the regular season and even more because they found a way to get to the NFC title game. Last year, the Broncos had five wins. If you had to just take a guess without knowing the Broncos schedule this year yet.

Without looking at all the opponents. How many wins would you say the Broncos get this year with Russell Wilson at quarterback and Sean Payton as the head coach? Eleven. Eleven. Six win increase from 2022 to 2023. Eleven wins. You're really doubling down with that team again. They're a playoff team.

I already guaranteed them to be one of the seven playoff teams in the AFC next year. You just don't learn. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not going on the same whale. You don't learn.

You don't learn, bro. This script is going to be different. Sean Payton is the answer. Nathaniel Hackett is gone. Russell Wilson has been humbled. I think last year is actually going to be a good year for Russell Wilson's career going forward.

It's going to be a blessing in disguise. The guy that was not humble, you think is now all the sudden humbled right away. He was humiliated, humiliated last year. Didn't say the word. He was embarrassed.

Yes, he was the he was every joke in the NFL. He wanted Sean Payton to think he knew Sean Payton was the guy to unlock him. He's going to listen to Sean. Eleven wins.

Lock it up. You heard it here first. Oh, yeah.

March 8th, 2023. Eleven and six Broncos. I'll talk to you in January. Yeah. Do me a favor. Clip the last two minutes so we could use that in December when the Broncos are. Gladly. I'll do it right now.

I cannot wait. Can I ask you a serious question, though? That was I thought that was a serious question. That was not the serious question. Well, you didn't give me a serious response.

OK, so what's the now actual serious question? When you look at their offense. What impresses you about that offense right now outside of the coach and the coach putting the players in the best position to succeed? Because I do I do think there will be an improvement by the Broncos. I'm giving you that there will be an improvement by the Broncos from their pathetic five wins of a year ago. I'm not ready to say double digits in playoffs like you are. And you've been smoking that that grass out there in the in Denver on the Broncos since last year.

But I'm like being I'm asking a serious question. What do you love about that offense? I like Corlan Sutton a lot. I think Tim Patrick coming back is also going to be a nice little one to punch with the receivers as well.

The thing I love the most is Sean Payton. Yeah, I'm not disagreeing with that, but I think Tim Patrick comes back and that's it. That was a tough blow in the preseason. Terry losing to a 20 CL solid one to punch with Corlan Sutton, Tim Patrick. There's been some not encouraging reports about there's been some discouraging reports about Javante Williams rehab. That's right.

I mean, look, it's March. He comes back. Number two, I mean, we know the most replaceable position in all football is running back, so they don't have any running back, so they'll get some.

I'm not concerned about that. Again, Sean Payton, he'll he'll be OK with running backs. And that offensive line? Solid.

Solid? I don't see a solid offensive line. When Russell Wilson gets rid of the ball faster, I think you'll see it. The defense is the strength. Offensively, they got a lot of work to do now. I do sometimes tell you that you give a number just based off instinct and then you look at the schedule and you're like, I'm going to have a tough time getting to 11.

So entertain me here on a very premature. We don't even have the draft done yet. We don't even have free agency done yet. Win loss on the Denver Broncos. You ready?

Let's do it. Kansas City loss. OK, I'm doing the home schedule first, right?

You know, the dates, right? Charge. OK, home schedule win versus the Chargers. OK, so that's one Raiders. Oh, when?

Patriots win jets. Let's assume Rogers is on there. That's tough. I'll still say when.

OK. What? What Aaron Rodgers again? How fast is Aaron Rodgers going to develop chemistry with his young receivers? I'll trust Aaron Rodgers a lot more than Russell Wilson. OK. Green Bay Packers.

When? Minnesota Vikings. Tough. Come on. Come on. All we do is talk about the Vikings as friends.

You already got them at six wins if you give them a win against Minnesota. When? Commanders. Hmm.

That's the one you got. Jackson, it's a different story. Hello, Lamar Jackson win. So you went win win and the Cleveland Browns. And I can't say loss right now. What's the what's Sean Watson going to be? You have them at eight wins before we even get to the road schedule.

If you want to knock one down. OK, fine. I'm getting you already. I know you have a Russell Wilson jersey. I'm getting you Russell Wilson pom poms eight and one.

Like what's the most egregious thing there? I get Russ go Russ go. How can I sit here and tell you Aaron Rodgers with a new team and young receivers after struggling last year with young receivers is going to hit the ground running with a brand new offense. I can tell you how can I tell you that you could have confidence in the Broncos to get eight home wins with that quarterback and an offense that, quite frankly, isn't any good. All people talk to the Vikings last year is the F word. So how am I supposed to get believe that they're going to be any any real contender or real threat coming to Denver election of the F word? I use a different F word.

I say fraud. OK, that was like what were you talking about the C word yesterday and be like, oh, the C word is happening now. Like, what's the C? The C word is is something else that you would maybe take away a few letters if you combine Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Pause, pause.

That's what I kind of thought. But it's all the sudden collusion. So he has the Broncos. I love you.

I love how much of a jackass you could be. Eight home wins next year. I don't see that.

That's that's that's really egregious. They had five wins. Look at their schedule.

They're also benefiting from a third place schedule. That means they only that means, you know, you're saying they're going eight and one more. And again, I gave you a free out if you wanted it. If you want to give them a free loss, I'll give them a free loss.

I'll say seven and two. No, no, no, no. You don't get the problem. I don't get to take your wins away. This is your prediction. I'm trying to be realistic here. I'm not trying to allow. There's no bias. I'm not biased. I'm not a Broncos fan. I'm just telling you how it is. OK, so I'm saying if you want to truly make this a quote unquote unbiased or take you away because I'm drinking the orange Gatorade.

That is the Broncos. I'll let you do it. Stop.

I'm asking you for your opinion, not for my opinion here. So eight wins eight and one at home. Let's hear the road. Bears on the road. Win Lions. We'll give him a loss. Lions are good.

Nice of you. Santa Claus. Chiefs. Loss. Raiders win. So they're going to sweep the rate.

Oh, yeah. Raiders are easier. The worst in that division. OK. Chargers loss. They'll split. OK. Nice of you. The Dolphins.

Two is healthy. Yeah, I mean, I can't. I can't.

I mean, honestly, he's not going to the quarterback. I know that for a fact, but this power. Just tell me what you think. When two exactly healthy win. So 11 the bills loss and the Texans win.

So you actually have them at 12 wins. I don't see how that's unrealistic. Do me a favor. You could pick out any steakhouse in the city that you want. Any steakhouse you want. You could clip this.

You could put it out wherever you want. Hot take hickey. It is March 8th, folks. And I already know what I'm rooting for in the NFL.

And I'm sorry to do this. Mike Westoff, friend of the show. He's running the special teams there. I hope your special teams unit and his assistant coach. I hope the special teams you're overseeing is wonderful this year. Now kicking it with McManus.

I like Brandon McManus. T for Temple U. But I hope that offense is a disaster. Hickey, if the Broncos get 12 wins next year. I know you said 11, but then you went into 12 on the win loss.

I'm doing 12. If they get 12 wins. I will take you to whatever steakhouse you want to go to in the city. And we will wine and dine on my dime.

I am so confident that the Broncos don't even have a chance to get 12 wins. That I'm not even going to ask in return that if you lose, you get me something. Because the last time you made a bet with me and you lost. I had to like hunt you down and then you gave me a Christmas gift with the gift on the debt that you owe me.

So I didn't want to go through that stress. But you actually think the Denver Broncos are going to win 12 games? 12? 12 games would be a seven win improvement in year one under Sean Payton.

You just laid it out. Sean Payton in New Orleans, seven win turnaround in year number one. Very favorable schedule.

Not too many gauntlets there. Home schedule is very easy. 12 wins. Wild card team. Guaranteed playoff team.

We'll see you in January, folks in Denver. I promise you this. Here's one guarantee we'll make outside of winning.

How many more are you going to make? You will not be leaving the game early because the offense sucks. That is for sure. You'll be in your seat for all four quarters. This is not going to be another Nathaniel Hackett butcher job where you're leaving in the third quarter because you want to gouge your eyes out after watching him burn three timeouts in the first five minutes of the game. This is going to be a fun offense to watch. Russell Wilson is going to be back and you're going to have a 12 and 5 football team.

You know what? We may go to a Broncos game together. My sister lives in Colorado now.

She lives about 20 minutes from the stadium. We may go to your favorite football team. You're not a Colts fan anymore. You're a Broncos shill. That's what you are.

I would say realist is what I like to do. You can't say realist after last year. You said the team is going to be in the Super Bowl and winning in the Super Bowl.

I swung and missed. You said that Daniel Hackett was going to be a top three coach. If anything, you should believe me more because, again, I'm not somebody who wants to get burned twice here and it looks way worse the second time.

Again, fool me once. Shame on you. Shame on the Broncos. Shame on you, Nathaniel Hackett. Stop.

Russell Wilson, your lack of leadership. Stop. But what did they say the second time? You get fooled again. Shame on me. You're a fool. I'm not getting fooled twice. This Broncos team this year is legit. You can promise my word on it. Okay. Now I know that Hickey gets drunk before the show or high.

That's all I could say. Next thing we know, Penn State is going to the college football playoff. Penn State basketball is going to win the national championship. The Mets are going to win the World Series and the Rangers are going to win the cup all in one year. And his favorite team, the Broncos, won the Super Bowl.