Nick Saban's Future (Hour 4)

All right, we have our number four on our radio program.

It is the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Hecky, I don't know if you saw this, but we were talking about Nick Saban's interview with Stephen A. Smith on his Odyssey's No Mercy Podcast. And the big line from it was talking about people may be saying they'd rather have Will Leviss or Anthony Richardson over Bryce Young. And he said, we've all seen the 6'4", 225-pound guy that can throw it like a bazooka, but he can't make the choices and decisions. He can't distribute the ball.

He can't throw it accurately. So who's the better bet? I'm going on history, production, performance, and Bryce Young's done it about as well as anybody. There was another quote to circulate from this. Did you at all see, Hecky, what he had to say about potentially retiring? I did not. Okay, so play into this. You're Nick Saban. I'm Stephen A. Smith. And I just ask you the simple question of, Coach, have you thought about your future? You've been doing this forever. You're the best coach around. Have you thought about how much longer you want to retire? You be Nick Saban and tell me what the answer was or what you think the answer was. I have, Stephen. Thank you so much for asking. I will stop coaching when I am six feet under and dead.

When my heart stops working, that's when I'll stop coaching. Did you try an impression at first? No. I was trying to be nice. Your voice just got very high.

I don't know what the heck you were doing. He's very nice. He's very respectful. So I was trying to exude the proper respect. If I'm going to be Nick Saban, I'm not going to best approach him.

Gotcha. I didn't know if that was a bleepy Nick Saban impression. I was like, yeah, don't quit your day job. No, I cannot do a Southern accent. He has that down to a T. Yeah, you're not like the Joey guy. Or Brian Kelly. Family.

I'm not going to do that. So this is what Saban said. I basically love what I do. I love the relationships with the players. I love trying to build a team with a group of people. That's a lot of fun.

I enjoy doing that. I'm also very aware that I don't want to ever ride the program down. In other words, there's going to come a time when my age and my circumstance, everybody is going to be able to tell somebody, well, he's not going to be there.

I mean, how long is he going to coach until he's 90? That will start to affect the program maybe in an adverse way. I don't want to get there. I don't ever want to be in a position where I don't feel like I'm making a positive contribution to the program. They still do the work at a quality level. This is making contribution to the success of the organization. So I'm not there yet. But all those things are factors that I would consider whenever the time comes. It hasn't come yet.

And I enjoy doing what I'm doing. You know what that sounds like? First off, it sounds like a guy that's nowhere close to retiring. But you know what's going to decide when Nick Saban retires?

In a weird way, I think it's going to be the public. Because he basically said there that, I mean, how long is he going to coach until he's 90? And he thinks that will start to affect the program.

But really, if you keep on winning. I don't think anyone's gonna be like, oh, Nick Saban's got to go. You got to get Nick Saban out. But there are guys, and I know that Jim Boeheim did not win to the level like Nick Saban, but it was clear towards the end that the act that Jim Boeheim was running was the same when he was winning, but then he wasn't winning anymore.

And that's where you look like a jerk and you look like a pompous ass. And that's how Jim Boeheim unfortunately left college basketball, looking like a pompous ass. But for Saban, I don't think he's old. Now, I know he's old.

He's 71 years old. But there's some coaches, Hickey, like, you know, Pete Carroll? Pete Carroll is the same age. Pete Carroll doesn't seem like he's old. Nick Saban does not seem like he's old. So it would not shock me if Saban coaches like another 10 years. And again, with what the results we're seeing right now, why would he like assuming his health is OK?

Like, why would he stop? Like, I don't like he's not going to be Jim Boeheim. I think it's safe to say where he's not going to be coaching and the program like Alabama is just dragging in the mud, finishing eighth in the SEC every year. And he's still just going to keep on coaching and just not hearing anyone. I think he's very almost those quotes remind me so much of Tom Brady, where it's like everyone's asking when Tom Brady going to retire. He goes, I want to keep playing until I suck and I can't do it anymore. But I don't want to be basically a shell myself. And it sounds like Nick Saban has a similar attitude where it's like I want to keep coaching, but basically I will keep doing until I'm hurting the program. And like you said, it's safe to say that's not happening anytime soon. Great point.

You know, it also reminds me of. Roy Williams. Where Roy Williams, when you listen to him.

When he retired, he said and no one realized it. Like I know that final year they were like 18 and 11. They still made the NCAA tournament.

They lost in the first round. But when Roy Williams retired, he said, I felt like my skills were deteriorating. I felt like I wasn't as good of a coach anymore. And we may all look at Saban. And even though like Saban is a perfectionist, he is. And if Saban starts to feel like he can't give it his all, which he's not there yet, or he feels like even like five percent of his fastball is gone. I do think there's guys that operate in one or two ways.

One, they're in denial. They never tell you that losing anything off their fastball or the other guy is the guy that goes, yeah, I'm recognizing it. And it scares the crap out of me. If I feel this way at five percent, what does it look like when I get to 10 or 15 percent losing my fastball? And I think Saban will be more so that guy. That even though we look at him sometimes as stubborn, I think he's honest with himself. And when he feels like he's losing any bit of his fastball, that'll really start to contemplate retirement. Now, I haven't seen him come close to losing any speed off his fastball.

You can even argue that it looks like the speed is even picking up. Now, I know that they they didn't make the playoff this year, but the last two years they made the national title, they won in one year, they lost it another year. So for Saban, it's when does he feel that internally?

Like internally, when does he say, OK, I'm losing a little bit? And that and if he feels that in five years, then I don't think he'll coach a decade because I don't I think Saban has too much respect for the game and too much respect for himself. Even though we all look at him sometimes like an egomaniac.

Right. And someone that even when his team's not at his best, it's like, OK, you try to make excuses to go make the college football playoff. I don't think he'll do what Boeheim did where it's basically he holds his nose up in the air and goes, yeah, nothing's wrong with me. It's all you guys.

I don't know what the heck you're seeing. And the scary part, too, by Nick Saban in terms of scary part in terms of everyone else as a college football fan and hoping for the demise of Alabama or hoping for, you know, a little more parity. And by the way, full disclosure, if you've never seen the show before, I love Nick Saban. I hope Nick Saban continues to kick ass for the next decade because I love watching his program and the way that they're up in these championship games up by like 30. And he's still coaching to last five seconds and yelling at people.

I love that crap. Now you could break in headsets. But the scary part is, again, for everyone else who's hoping for Alabama to take a step back is these last two, three years should have been the time when Nick Saban kind of loses his fast. Well, the transfer portal with NIL for a guy of his age and having so much of experience in like the quote unquote old school, he shouldn't be able to adjust as quickly as he has to the new school of pain players. And now it's about me, me, me.

And you could transfer once for free. So now you have basically less power and less control of the players because they say, OK, screw you, coach. I'm leaving and going somewhere else. This guy's going to treat me better. And the fact that Nick Saban, again, not only has made it through there, but like Alabama is one of the best in terms of NIL, one of the best at going into the transfer portal, identifying players that come out and are super productive. These last two or three years should have been for a guy of his age, should have kind of really may help push him out the door.

And instead, he again just continues to get stronger. And I do think that played a reason why Jay Wright, Mike Krzyzewski. I know his coach gets a little bit older by guys like that and we're going to basketball, but it's all under the umbrella of college athletics where they walked away because they didn't want to deal with this stuff. Absolutely. Absolutely. Like Jay Wright, he will go on to be a TV star.

I would imagine. I know he's doing the NCAA tournament this year for CBS. I think of the selection Sunday show. I texted Jay today where I'm trying to get him on next week, but he's 61 years old. He looks like he's 50.

Okay. That guy's 61. Could he return to basketball?

Yeah. Maybe goes to the NBA and becomes a head coach. Maybe goes back to college for a big time program.

But I actually think that's a guy that when he walks away. Now, I'm not going to never say never on that, but I think that was a guy that just didn't want to deal with the crap that was coming, even though I like it in college athletics and was basically saying he's probably done. I would say actually with college athletics, you know, is there a blue blood job that maybe opens up and he wants to go there like five years from now?

I guess that's possible. But I think if Jay Wright's coaching and it's going to be in the NBA, I think for a guy like Saban, you're right. He could have got knocked down a peg or two or three just saying, I'm going to stay here in my old ways and not adjust. And look, Coach K originally, he didn't want to embrace the one and duns and then started embracing the one and duns and then you start winning again. So it's adapting with the times. And some guys, sometimes especially in college, where for years it was like the coaches, the drill sergeant, what the coaches goes. The coach is the only one that makes money. Guys just don't want to change. And eventually it's like, OK, if you're not having fun, then why do it anymore?

And and that's that's a big part of it, a big part of it as well. And also for the rest of college football, if let's just say Saban was to retire like a year or two from now, you want to have your program ready to go to pounce. There's a new force to be reckoned with in college football. You not only have to deal with Alabama now, you got to deal with Georgia, who forever could not beat Alabama. And now they're beating Alabama at their own game where they won a championship. How many times Alabama won a championship and they come back better the next year? Georgia won a championship, lost everyone, so many guys. And then they go undefeated and just make them, I say this not in a bad way, but like a mockery of the sport. Like look at that national title game. Didn't matter who you put on the field.

It was not going to be close. I really do think. The next decade of college football hickey. If I had to pick three coaches that they were going to be defined by. I really still think it's obviously going to be Saban.

It's obviously going to be Kirby Smart. It's also going to be Brian Kelly. Because I look at LSU and I know we all laughed at Brian Kelly. We made the jokes when he got the job.

I did too. He didn't have a good exit from Notre Dame. Everyone trashed him.

People didn't want to really join him. The weird dancing, the family stuff, the accent, the shtick, all of that. Go look at the last 25 years of LSU football. Now we know Saban won a championship, but he wasn't Saban the way that we know him now. You had Les Miles win a championship there. And you also had Ed Orgeron go Tigers.

Win a championship there. When everyone wanted Tom Herman to be the coach, he took the Texas job and Ed Orgeron, everyone was like, oh. Look at this guy.

Look at this clown. And he had maybe the most dominant team I've ever seen in college football. Brian Kelly brought Notre Dame back and I was critical of Notre Dame.

Because it got to a point where they were just like very, very, very, very, very good, but not great. Now you have the resources. You're in the SEC. And I know Notre Dame's not the sister of the poor.

I get that. But you look at LSU, it's a whole different ballgame. And I think Brian Kelly's going to succeed at LSU and he already showed that. And those are three coaches in the SEC. Buckle up.

Let's go. And those three coaches, they're going to be dangerous for the next decade. And you know, I'm probably you know, I'm probably most intrigued by here, Hickey.

The two guys that really do intrigue me. Lincoln Riley. It is definitely one because Lincoln Riley, when he left Oklahoma, I was operating under the belief. It's like, oh, he didn't want to eventually go join the SEC. Right.

And you dominated that. Then he goes to USC and USC is now joining the Big Ten. So it's like, OK, that's a step up in conference.

And then also. I'm going to say Dabo Sweeney. Dabo has reached a level where he's great. But now if you just win the ACC and then get blown out of college football playoffs or don't even get to college football playoffs, it's like, OK, what are you really doing? And I wonder if Clemson is the last stop for Dabo Sweeney. And I just also wonder, can Dabo get Clemson back where not only they they win in the conference and go into the college football playoff, but then being that threat in the college football playoff like they were for so many years. So those five coaches probably intrigued me the most for the next decade.

To be fascinating to see. Like I said, Lincoln Riley, especially is kind of you think on the cutting edge of in terms of looking to look ahead now where the quarterback is the most important position. It's taken a while for college to get that way.

But now it has. We're going to play defense, though. Right.

Makes all the difference in the world. And we're starting to see Lincoln Riley be the best quarterback recruiter. Now, you're right. Their defense and lack thereof really is cost to them playoff births. And once they get there, especially at Oklahoma, playoff wins. But if you get that figured out, he should be a guy with USC, whether it's in the Big Ten or whatever conference we're talking about here. I mean, because, again, we're talking about five, 10 years. Who the hell knows what's going to happen to conferences? He's definitely on the cutting edge for sure. And one of the four leaders or four front leaders.

But it's still crazy. We're talking about next five or 10 years. And Nick Saban is going to be still one of the main coaches we're looking at talking about.

And probably right now, talking not much different about them, him in 2030 than we are right now in 2023. Here's the poll question today. The Jets starting QB next year should be Lamar Jackson or Aaron Rodgers?

Returns right now. 60 percent. Aaron Rodgers, 40 percent.

Lamar Jackson will be my answer later on the show. We'll come on back with a QB carousel. Stick around to find out where we land next. 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 New England Patriots. All right, let's go out to New England and we will chat with Tom Curren, who does a great job as a longtime Patriot insider for NBC Sports Boston.

Tom, appreciate the time. How are you? I'm great. How have you been, Zach?

I've been fantastic. So this is the part that I don't really understand. So many people are talking about the relationship of Mac Jones and Bill Belichick. I know last year it was not pretty in terms of the product on the field. But I know you can never really get a truthful answer out of Bill, but what do you think your understanding is of the relationship between the two? Well, at the beginning of training camp, Belichick professed how much Mac Jones had developed in the offseason, how much he had improved. And that was from an already, as Belichick termed it, and he was effusive, an already very impressive rookie year. By the end of the year, Belichick's final press conference, when asked about Mac Jones, he said, well, you know, we know he can play in the league. That's an outstanding and astounding come down from where he was in July.

So what transpired over the course of time? Well, Mac Jones was kind of served a poop sandwich with no bread on the coaching staff. And as a result, his production suffered.

And as a result, his attitude suffered. And as the season wore along, his patience wore thinner and thinner with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. So that I think that there was a level of agitation that Belichick had towards Mac Jones to, OK, suck it up a little bit here. But I still think Mac Jones had a point. When you go back to that decision to have Patricia and Joe Judge run the offense, why the heck did it happen?

Because I remember at the time when we found out about it, it was like, this makes absolutely no sense. It happened because Bill Belichick has great confidence in his own ability to coach, in the people that he has fostered the careers of and surrounded himself with to coach. And I think he had great confidence in Mac Jones being able to just rise to the challenge.

But in the end, it was a hell of a lot more difficult. What Josh McDaniel did for a decade with Tom Brady did for two decades, I think was a hell of a lot harder to do than Bill Belichick even appreciated, even though he had more than a front row seat to it. I thought Bill Belichick imagined it would be a lot easier than it was.

I mean, think about it, too, Zach. They didn't only replace one of the best coordinators in the league with two guys who hadn't done the job. They changed the offense. They completely shelved what they had been doing to go to something that the players had not done before. And they were ill-equipped to do it. So it was just it was horrible decision making by Bill Belichick and whoever was advising him all down the line.

Here's my concern moving forward. Like, I love that they brought in Bill O'Brien. It makes one hundred and ten percent sense. But with that being said, like, are they going to add a number one wide receiver? Because if you just bring in Bill O'Brien and you don't bring in someone to really elevate Mac Jones, I think it's a mistake. And you take a glance at when Brady was there, you could afford to not get the best players, the best wide receiver, because you knew Brady would find a way to just make it work. Yeah, it's an ongoing conversation here. I believe that the Patriots and because I've watched them for so long, I kind of subscribe to the same belief that if you have enough pass catchers on offense, the notion of your W.R. one is overrated.

I am in the minority. I know that. But when you look at Kendrick Bourne's production two years ago in Max Brookie year, when you look at the ability when he's on of Devante Parker, when you look at Hunter Henry and John Smith, who have yet to be completely unlocked in this offense, Taequann Thornton, who's a burner. And if they re-signed Jacoby Myers, nobody is expecting any of those guys to make the friggin' probable. However, when you put them all together on the field once, you do have a defense that's going to be stretched thin.

Your question is good, though. Do the Patriots need to go get somebody like Gronk, like Edelman, like Randy Moss, like you name it, James White even on occasion, who made defensive coordinator say, what the hell are we going to do with this guy on third down? The Patriots don't have that guy. Do you think players still want to be a part of New England? Like the free agents, guys via trade, do you think they still view New England as a destination? Talking about that tonight, actually, I'm going on to Boston Sports tonight on NBC Sports Boston, and DeAndre Hopkins is obviously an accomplished player. He is on the trade block, and I think he's gettable for the Patriots. If he wants to play with Bill O'Brien again, but DeAndre Hopkins at 31 with all he's accomplished, want to go from Houston to Arizona, not in New England, where you're going to work 90-hour weeks, you're going to run your ass off. You're going to be in the cold. You're going to be in a place where it's demographically and culturally different from the Houston's and the Arizona's. It's a big country.

New England's a different place, as we all know, from being around the country and realizing different places. Does he want to do that at 31? So, four years ago, five years ago, he'd say, yeah, maybe the Patriots will dame to talk to DeAndre Hopkins, because that's the sway they had.

I don't know if they still have that same sway. I would probably say, certainly not at the same level. What do you think the ceiling is, Tom Kern, for Mac Jones in this league? I think he could play in a Super Bowl. I think he could guide a team to a Super Bowl. Could he carry a team to a Super Bowl?

No. If you want to have a 5,000-yard, 45 touchdown season, I highly doubt it. But I think that he is a good enough quarterback to, with the right surroundings, make the right decisions. We're looking at a league where guys are able to restart plays and turn third and eights into first and tens because of their athletic ability when something breaks down. What the Patriots are trying to find is a player who's smart enough who never has to restart the play because he figures it out before the snap. That's the advantage that Mac Jones can bring you. You don't need 17-yard scrambles on third and 11 because he makes a 12-yard read before the snap and gets the ball out on time. So, he can be a top 10 quarterback, but right now, he's honestly probably between 15 and 23. Tom Curran, do you think, and maybe it already happened, will Josh McDaniels and Bill Belichick have a conversation this offseason about a Mac Jones trade?

Even if they do, I don't think that that would be a wise move on Bill Belichick's part. The reason being, so far Mac Jones was drafted. His first year, he had to beat out Cam Newton.

He did that, and he played well. The second year, the Patriots, to put it plainly, pissed it away. Now you're into the third year of a four-year rookie contract in which he's making about $4 million a year. If you're going to go to Robert Kraft and say, hey, Tom Brady's been gone now for going into his fourth season, we want to reboot again. We want to get rid of Mac, who we loved last July, and try and figure something else out. I think Robert Kraft's going to look at him and say, no, you broke it.

You bought it. Fix it. Look at what John Mara had to say last year after Joe Judge left about Daniel Jones. We've done everything in our power to screw this kid up.

It's time to help him. And they did that with Brian Deval. The Patriots had a good year in Mac's first year, but since then, they did everything in their power to screw the kid up. Give him a year. Don't bother talking to Robert Kraft, in my estimation, about moving on from Mac Jones. Next year is a different time.

Figure out what you got. And it's a right first step, like we're talking about, bringing in Bill O'Brien. I think, and I know we disagree with this, they have to go get a number one wide receiver. But what happens if Bill, I don't want to say he's starting to feel the heat, because I think that's a stretch, but if he knows what the perception is, right, Brady wins without him. Maybe he kicks the tires on Lamar Jackson this offseason.

I know they have respect for one another. Can that happen at all, or is that just too big of a price tag that the Patriots historically would never pay? I think it's too big of a price tag, and if you really scrutinize what Lamar Jackson's done over the last two seasons, it doesn't look like someone you say, wow, that's a guy who's worth giving $200 million guaranteed to.

Which seems to be at least what he's looking for, unless we're all missing the tea leaves on that. So again, you're going to reboot at the quarterback position after using the 15th overall pick with a kid who was fairly capable in his first year to go spend $200 million on a player who's played 12 games each of the last two seasons. I just think it's not the right time for it. I don't think it would be the right player for it, because Lamar Jackson, to me, is someone you have to wholly commit to embracing every bit of his unique, and really, honestly, if you look at the numbers, including Michael Vick, never before seen skill set in terms of running with the football. Nobody's run up like he has in as few a game as he has played. So you're going to embrace that, or you're going to have, again, the money that you're investing in tight ends and just say, you know, we'll just take a flamethrower to that. To me, I don't think Lamar Jackson will be the answer here, nor do I think they'd look into it. It's Mack or Buss for your quarterback Carousel here in New England. Well, it's kind of weird, Tom Kern, because if someone's probably listening to this conversation and they're hearing me talk about Belichick, they probably think, like, I just trash Belichick all the time. That's the farthest thing from the truth. But it's kind of weird to how we evaluate Belichick now, because he is getting the most out of this roster, but he's also in charge of this roster, and this roster, when I look at it, is just not all that impressive or good. He's not getting the most out of it.

I mean, that's what's interesting. If you're on the beat, if you're here, you're looking at the numbers and realizing that in 2022, the Patriots spent more in cap capital on tight ends than any team in the league. And they got like 14 catches from Johnny Smith. They had a decent season for Hunter Henry. They spent the third most that we're talking about wide receivers and need to have a WR one. They spent the third most in cap space on wide receivers in 2022. In the entire friggin' NFL, the wide receivers and tight ends. And how did their offense look?

Anemic. So you're right to scrutinize. Yeah, they have a good defense. And I don't know if you lose the greatest player of all time and go 25 and 25 as the Patriots have in three seasons with any other coach. Bottoming out for the Patriots is going seven and nine because Bill Belichick's here. But still, he, Carroll, gets fired after never having to lose in season in New England.

The expectations are different because of what they've accomplished and the foundation that they've built, that Bill has built in many ways. When does Bill get put on the hot seat, just wondering? I never thought I'd ask that question, by the way, Tom. I mean, he's there.

He's on it. How warm is it right now, though? It's warm enough for him to check the controls and say, how hot is this seat right now? Because I'm sitting in my car as I do this. I'm working my little seat warmer. But sometimes, would you have a seat warmer in your car? Yeah.

Okay. And you look down, you forget, you put it on, you're like, holy crap, my butt's hot. Yeah, my ass is on fire.

I've been there and done that. Yeah, I didn't turn this thing off. It's enough for him to say, that's warm.

Is this thing on? The reason being, for anyone out there who's listening and saying, are you out of your mind? Look, Robert Kraft in 2022, right at the beginning of the season, the owners meetings, he said, we haven't won a playoff game in three years, and that's unacceptable. He asked him when he expected for the team to compete again. He said, this year, now, immediately, we have a quarterback, we have a coach. They're both in place.

We expect it this year. And what happened? They went eight and nine. They were anemic on offense.

They were a punchline. So there's players that have been signed that the Patriots have gotten very little from. The decision made to put that Patricia and Joe judge in those positions of power were wrong, stupid. So all of that puts Bill Belichick in a position where he's kind of on a cold streak. And Robert Kraft wants to win. And you look at this division, the Bills are very good, we know that. The Dolphins, if two could say healthy, can be a force. The Jets may have Aaron Rodgers. If they missed the playoffs this year, you think Belichick's out at the end of the year? That's kind of a bridge too far for me to go at on March 10th, whatever it is. Depends on what it looks like. But the expectations remain what the expectations have been, which is to compete, to be a playoff team, to win your division, and to look like a threat to the rest of the AFC.

And right now they are not that. And it's going on the fourth season of that. So if you get fired, I mean, what's it look like? How close is Bill Belichick to Don Shula at the end of the year?

Does Robert Kraft have it in him to have Bill Belichick eight games from tying or surpassing Don Shula after a 10-win season and saying you're fired? I don't know. Tell me what it looks like.

Let's say they go seven and ten or eight and nine. Call me after they do that, you dink. I was looking for the headline.

Tom Curran says Bill Belichick will be out at the end of the year if he gets fired. That's my first rodeo, Zach. See, you're a dink. You didn't help us tonight, Tom.

No, I'm just teasing. Tom, appreciate it. Thank you.

Hey, buddy. There's Tom Curran. That's a great job.

NBC Sports Boston. That's good stuff. Marco Valletti is here. Marco, what's happening, my man? What do you say, Zach? Did you hear what happened with our boy hot day kicky tonight?

Oh, boy. What happened now? What are we doing? Dropped an F-bomb on the air. I don't think you could say that on the radio.

Well, maybe a common practice in our company these days to be able to do multiple shows in our company. Well, we dumped it. That was a good thing. Okay.

Good thing for the dump button. Yeah, always. He was talking about Russell Westbrook. Russell Westbrook got him that fired up?

Yes. I was making a point how I want to see Nuggets and the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Finals. Like, that would be my dream NBA Finals this year, even though it may not be sexy nationally. I'd like to see Nicole Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks and the Nuggets.

That's what I wanted. Just got to tell you, sidebar, that might be the lowest rated NBA Finals of all time, but go ahead. Okay, Kenny Perkins.

I'm just saying it might be. But anyway, I was then asking him, like, who else could we consider in the Western Conference? And Hickey said he doesn't think they'll get there, but he wanted to see the Clippers. And then somehow when we talk about the Clippers, he's like, yeah, but you know what? Who knows what to expect when we get from what he wants and then what will happen with that bleeping guy, Russell Westbrook.

Fire from Westbrook from Hickey. I was unaware. I got to be fair.

I was unaware of your it was more of just a classic. It was just kind of talking casual. I do. I will say say some words I shouldn't say on the radio to casually to friends. You say the F word to your friends.

Shocker. Yes. And just kind of talk like, oh, you know, that freaking guy or like, oh, look at this guy. But, you know, you add a few extra colorful words in there and just kind of one of those for whatever reason, just kind of almost forgot where I was for a second and just kind of like, oh, I'm just hanging with friends, casual boom. Talk like I normally would. And it quickly realized, oh, that's not the setting. Yeah.

So it wasn't like it was a little bit of anger, but it was all just kind of more just just a lapse of of forgetting where you are. So me being someone that sometimes likes to stir the pot just a little bit, just a little bit. I then texted three people, morass, spike and Meredith. Anybody else want to get Olivera on the phone? David, David Field. Thursday night, David. Here. Well, I tried to text David Field and he was a little bit.

Anyway, I just asked the poll question. Hickey, by mistake, just dropped an F bomb. What do you think it was about? A, he was annoyed that Penn State basketball had a bad defensive play against Illinois in their conference. B, called Russell Westbrook that bleeping guy. C, told me to bleep off because I was making fun of his podcast. Or D, was young at a caller who was making fun of Andrew looks time with the Indianapolis Colts.

All three of those geniuses. But with the Penn State answer, I was going to say the Penn State one makes the most sense. Too obvious.

They're also in a shooting drought at the time, so it didn't help. I do like those answers, though, because they're all viable. But also the three people I asked Hickey probably had no clue that Penn State was playing Illinois in the Big Ten tournament, too. But regardless, I if you would have like if you would have told me that you cursed, I would believe it. But you're a terrible guy, Marco. Yeah, I look at you and I just say that guy curses. I'm catching street bullets. What the hell just happened?

That's the rules. But like Hickey, I would have never expected in a million years Hickey would have cursed on the radio. If we lined everyone up in this company, me, you and Hickey, and we asked everyone who cursed on the radio, they would guess me and you before Hickey.

I'm sure they would. But, you know, part of that I actually like because I like the idea that you were that comfortable. That's good. I like that. No, I like that. No, because I mean, the idea that, you know, you forget where you are and you're just talking. That's good. That you're that comfortable. That's good.

But he wasn't even worked up. You also kind of have to know where you are, though, at all times. And you're putting that evil on me. Knock on wood, I've been doing this with a mic in front of my face for 20 years. I've never cursed on the air.

You didn't have a bulging. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's different. That's different.

That's technically, I guess, kind of. But that's just a slip of the tongue. I had one cursing incident. Actually, two. But one I didn't curse.

It was someone cursing and the dump button just didn't register. And I'm the guy. Whatever he's pointing at. I was talking about Kareem, pause, pause, hunt. And I said it quickly. Yes. But see, I get like, no, no, no, that's different. That's a slip of the tongue. That's different.

What Hickey did is actually cursing on the air. There's a difference. Mine was an intention. There's a difference. And then again, it's not that you wanted to, but like you messed up. Not a slip of the tongue where you're, you know, you get tongue tied, as I can't even speak to be able to say it. That's different.

At least you didn't get that T twisted up and then say whether you're not allowed to say it on the radio either. Right. Right. And again, catching strays. And then there was this one time I was hosting in Philly and this guy called me up. And it's postgame after an Eagles game.

And he made a point. And then out of nowhere, he goes, oh, by the way, Zach, I want to bleep your mother. Oh, that's nice. So I pressed the dump button. The producer pressed the dump button at the station we were at. For whatever reason, the dump button didn't work. My mom texted me because she was listening. Oh, what did that last caller say? Oh, that's nice.

And I was like, oh, OK. So I told management, obviously, the dump button didn't work. They told me, no, I did. It probably was just a stream. Your mom was listening on the stream. It didn't get on the radio the next day because I was working on a Sunday.

It was a Monday. The afternoon host was on at said station and I hear the same caller because they didn't have as elaborate as a call screening system as we did. We could just block you. Mike, this is not Francesca, to be clear.

Make it a point. I want to bleep him up. And then they're like, oh, they call me. I guess you were right that the dump button didn't work.

The next week, I'm doing post going to get a post game again. Same guy calls it. Now they fixed the dump button by that time, but I recognize the guy's voice and he kind of stuttered. And he's like, and by the way, Zach, I go, you want to do what with my mother?

Click and hung up on him. So that was the story. Those are my two cursing stories on the air. And then inevitably now tomorrow, because we're messing with karma, I'm going to say something quickly.

Absolutely. We're going to get messed up. And when I curse on the air, I'm going to blame both of you. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show.

Zach Gelb show CBS Sports Radio. So I'm very surprised by the poll question results, Hickey. Most of the time we release a poll question and I think I know what's going to win. And usually it does win.

And if it's not winning, then I sit here and just berate you in the listening audience to eventually see my side and then vote for me and hope that you follow the opinion. The Jets starting QB next year should be Lamar Jackson or Aaron Rodgers. Now, I know everyone just is already assuming that Rodgers is going to be in the Jets.

And I fully believe I've said it that, you know, this entire week that he will be a Jet by the end of the weekend. But if I was to separate what the Jets have done this week, the answer is Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson is younger. Lamar Jackson, sure, you're going to have to pay him and he will cost you more than what Aaron Rodgers would be in terms of a trade. But two first round picks for a guy that could be your quarterback for the next decade, I would sign up for that.

And here's the biggest sticking point. Even if the Jets get Rodgers and it's a positive move. He's 38, 39.

You probably have a three year window with him. Does anyone actually think the Jets are going to go win a Super Bowl? Does anyone actually think the Jets are going to get to a Super Bowl? He had teams that were 13 and three, 13 and three, 13 and three, back to back to back years. Two of those years, he won the league MVP. And he did not perform well in the second half up against Tampa.

And he did not perform well up against the 49ers where they scored one lousy touchdown to open up the game. So I don't think the Jets with Rodgers are going to a Super Bowl. And you could question if Lamar can win a Super Bowl in this league.

Personally, I think he can. But there is a higher, there is a longer window with Lamar to figure out that answer than there is with Rodgers. You could maybe have your guy for the next 10 years. And I don't know how long Lamar's body is going to hold up. But for Rodgers, it's two or three years. And I can already tell you right now, I don't see how he's going to go win a Super Bowl with the New York Jets.

So Hickey, I look at this, I think the right answer is Lamar Jackson. But I think why most people aren't seeing it this way is because Aaron Rodgers already seems like it's a done deal with the JTS Jets, Jets, Jets. And there's probably some Jets fans on this poll that are already excited for that. So therefore, they hammer the Rodgers vote. I think you're 100% right. Like I said, with how reportedly close it is and now almost it feels like everyone universally has accepted Aaron Rodgers as a Jet. You've already seen some photoshops on Twitter of him in a Jets uniform. So even though that's not what you're asking, it almost feels like Aaron Rodgers is leading in part just because everyone's like, oh yeah, it's going to happen.

So I'm just going to, of course, pick Aaron Rodgers, even though it's not the question. 100%. Yeah, you're right on that. Classic Twitter.

Yeah, well, that's why we get emails that Twitter's not really a good gauge of the actual people. Alrighty, good stuff today. Hickey, good job as always. Big thanks to Pat Kelsey, the head coach at the College of Charleston for stopping by. They're going to the NCAA tournament. Mike Morell at UNC Asheville also go to the tournament. Dane Belton for the Giants stopping by in studio and then that dink. That's what he called me, so I just called him a dink back and we were having fun with it.

Tommy Curran, who just does a fantastic job covering the New England Patriots. All right, we'll be back tomorrow on a Friday. I can't believe it's Friday, Hickey, because I feel like today was Friday. I felt like yesterday was Thursday because I'm jet lag coming back from Barcelona and this entire week. I don't know how I've been able to do these shows on Wednesday. I got on the air. I was like, I think it's Wednesday.

Hickey, give me like a thumbs up. Oh, yeah. OK, now it's Thursday and tomorrow it's Friday. So we'll talk to you on Friday, everybody. We out. Bye bye. Peace.