Raiders Upgrade With Jimmy G? (Hour 2)

Alrighty, welcome on in. Hour number two of our radio program.

It is the Zach Yelbsch, Zach Yelbsch Show, Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. We are waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for Aaron Rodgers. Aaron, can you hear me? Aaron, make a decision. Let's go. Enough is enough.

We went to the doctor's retreat with you. You said you weren't going to hold the Packers hostage. It makes all the sense in the world the legal tampering window has opened that Eastern.

It's currently seven o'clock straight up here on the East Coast. And we still have no clue or nothing official, even though I don't even think it would be official then yet until Wednesday, but you got the point. We don't know what you're doing yet. No, I think I know where you're going, but I don't know for sure.

And it's very simple. You go back to Green Bay where the coach and the general manager don't want you. And Mark Murphy doesn't want you as well. You either accept the trade to the Jets or you retire. And I know people could say, oh, maybe the commanders get involved or maybe Tennessee gets involved.

I hear you. If that was a week ago, all ears, I'd listen. But Aaron Rodgers met with the Jets already and not a single other team that we know of, that we know of, has been at that opportunity and said to the Packers, hey, we want to talk to Aaron. You don't want Aaron anymore.

We'll talk to him. Now, if a team, I don't know, like the Lions tried to talk to him, that's different. That's in the division. But I would think, even though the preference was to trade into the AFC, that if a team like the commanders came calling, that the Packers at this point would listen or whoever that other team would be, like maybe if Tampa Bay came calling, they would listen. But you also got to have the salary cap space.

And that could be an issue as well, even though we all poopoo the salary cap and think that it's basically just a number that you could find the way to move the numbers around, the maneuver around there. So this is either Jets retire or you go back to Green Bay, where the GM and the coach from what all accounts that we could gather do not want you. And we could sit here, we could wait. We could say, Aaron, what are you going to do? Aaron, make up your mind already. It's past the point of stupidity at this point. Like we are now at a point where it doesn't make sense for him to wait any longer. And maybe behind the scenes, this is all hush hush, but I don't see what the benefit would be at this point to keep it all hush hush. Like I get you want to divorce the Packers, you want to leave the Packers in the right way, but I don't think that this would end it like the wrong way. I'm not saying it's all good. I'm not saying that Rogers is like BFFs and best pals with Brian Gudekunz and Matt Lafleur. Like I totally get that.

But at this rate, Hickey, like I don't see how this ends in a way that is like filled with animosity. They just gave him a new deal last year. He's made his point. The Packers prefer not to have him there anymore. Like the people that run the Packers, I'm not saying you got to be in love with the idea, but I don't think this ends in a serious point of contention where we're going to look at Aaron Rogers any differently.

We're going to look at the Packers any differently right now. Like that's the thing that's lost in this. We talked about this for a week, the optics of it, who's going to break up with who first.

At the end of the day, you're breaking up. So I don't get why now we have to move at a molasses pace and kind of a snail's pace here where it's just so slow. And we are now well past noon Eastern time. The legal tampering period has opened in the NFL and we don't know where Roger is going to be playing football. Because if he's back in Green Bay, I think the Packers right now or operator, they really haven't made any moves other than like signed a special teamer. But I think they're operating with life and death with life without Aaron Rogers. And I would think the Jets right now are operating, even though you can't fully go there until you get the official thumbs up, they're operating with the belief that Aaron Rogers is going to be there. Like, I don't know where Aaron Rogers is. If Roger's on vacation right now and he basically told the Jets behind the scenes, hey, I'm coming, don't say anything until next week because I want to enjoy my vacation, fine. But the guy just locked himself in a cave for, you know, two weeks ago. And he told us he wasn't going to hold us hostage. And that's what he's doing right now.

So we could sit here, we could bitch, we could complain about it, we could talk about it for the next three hours. Like, Hickey, I'm at a point right now where it's like, you know what the three options are. We tried earlier to find one of the other 30 destinations that we would think would go jump at the opportunity, but they haven't jumped at the opportunity yet. So we need Aaron Rogers.

And maybe he's waiting for a McAfee Tuesday tomorrow. But we need Rogers just to say, hey, my plan is to return to Green Bay. My plan is to go to the Jets or against all odds, the plan is to retire.

It's one of those three options. There's no more, yeah, but maybe at the Dolphins call, they pick up to a tongue of my lowest fifth year option. Oh, maybe the Raiders will get back involved. They're signing Jimmy G. Maybe the commanders will get involved. I don't know if the commanders could do it right now. I know we talked about Lamar Jackson, maybe go to the commanders. They may be selling their football team. I know they just locked up Daron Payne and all that.

So who the heck knows what's going on? I don't think it's realistic to envision Aaron Rogers other than in three situations next year. And I'll say it for the 9,000th time this segment, retirement, back in Green Bay or to the Jets. And Hickey, it would be fascinating if he is back in Green Bay because you know the GM and Mark Murphy do not want him back. LaFleur, I think, is fine with moving on to Jordan Love and is fine with getting rid of Aaron Rogers. But it would be awkward if Rogers is back in Green Bay at this point. Sure, Aaron Jones would be like a fat kid in a candy store. Russell Douglas, who's been all over social media, would be like a fat kid in a candy store.

But that would make for just one bleep show when he knows he's going back into a building. And it's ever when you draft someone and they didn't plan on playing Love the last few years. They have now made it clear that Jordan Love is ready to play. They have made that clear. They have talked about that.

Gouda Coons has said it. So they are clearly giving off enough signs that they prefer to go to Jordan Love right now and get whatever you get back at Aaron Rogers. And Hickey, it would be outside of Lamar getting traded or maybe even Lamar staying with the Ravens this year, but on the franchise tag. I can't think of a more awkward situation that would happen around the NFL because this is all played out publicly.

Like, once you go let Aaron Rogers talk to another team, that shows you you don't want him anymore. Like, Hickey, if you told your girlfriend, hey, Lolly, it's a Saturday night. Give me one of your friends, guy friend. Just give me a name here. Rob. Rob is interested in taking you out for dinner.

You wanna go for him? You're basically saying, hey, go out with Rob and basically go date Rob. And that's what the Packers basically said to Aaron Rogers. We're trying to push you out the door. We don't wanna tell you we don't want you anymore. But we're basically gonna give you a team that's interested in taking you home. And I don't think you come back from that. All right, so I think there's no chances back in Green Bay in large part cuz of what you just said.

And Mark Murphy on, I think it was Friday, when he was at the high school women's basketball tournament, basically said, I guess we could see a scenario when he's back if our plans basically don't happen or if our wishes and hopes don't happen. They don't want him in Green Bay. I'm not even like, if he says I wanna return, I don't even know if they say yes. Well, they have no other options. I locked in on the contract.

He would be holding them hostage. Cut him. No. If you're done with Aaron Rogers.

You can't do that. You'd have to play Aaron Rogers. You know it and I know it. Now, who is it? Bob McGinn, right? Bob McGinn, yes. Who is the reporter originally that tied down that said something along the lines of if Rogers decides to come back, it would be like a competition and expect him to be the backup quarterback. Imagine.

Oh, my. That may be the biggest bleep show in NFL history if Rogers is back in Green Bay as the backup quarterback. You know who wants that? Bart Winkler. He wants that bad. Good for Bart.

I love Bart, but... He is done with AR 12. If they released him...

Wait, now let me ask you a question. If they released him post-June 1, I've never seen this. 2023 cap savings, negative 43 million. It says on spot rack. The dead cap would be 75 million post-June 1. If that's a release. Well, okay.

If it's pre... What is it, like a 130? 23 cap savings, pre-June 1, negative 68 million dead cap, 99.7 million. Okay, so maybe cutting him is not in the cards. And then watch, this would be horrible, but Jordan Love would get injured the first game of the season and then you already cut Aaron Rogers.

Imagine they do... This is not gonna happen. Imagine they do what the 49ers did last year. Remember when Jimmy G was basically off to the side and they're like, they're waiting for it to move them. Jimmy G eventually got his redemption moment. You bring Aaron Rogers back, just keep him off to the side. Don't even give him a playbook. We're gonna trade you. We are trading you no matter what. And they're just waiting for an injury to happen. Just go become best friends with Ayahuasca again for a few months. That would be a storyline and a half to watch.

I don't think... I do think if you ask Rogers though, like if we had Rogers in studio and he was giving us truthful responses, I do think his preference is to go back to Green Bay. But he's got to be intelligent enough to realize, and I'm sure he already has, that Green Bay doesn't want him. So unless he has this big plan to make the Packers want him back, you go to the Jets or you retire.

And I don't think he's ready to retire. The Jets aren't a bad destination. You got a heck of a defense there. You got Garrett Wilson. You got Elijah Moore. You got Breece Hall. You got a young up-and-coming team. You could make the playoffs with the Jets. It's not a lock, but you can make the playoffs with the Jets. I don't think you're winning a Super Bowl.

So does Rogers just say, oh, I'm done? F that. I'm out. I'm retired.

I highly doubt that. I know when there's $60 million on the table, but again, what are we doing sitting here? What is the wait for? What is there? What else is there to deliberate? What else is there to think about or decide?

You know, you heard the Jets pitch. Let's go. Because he's Rogers. Two plus two equals what? Four?

Four. He likes to make two plus two equals five. And just he'll give you the end result, but he'll just try to give you some crazy theory before that. Like that's what happens here with Rogers. I also get it Aaron Rogers. So again, me saying this like I get if you're a Jets player, you're going to ignore it as soon as if the news becomes official that he's a Jet, but they're also, it's kind of embarrassing a little bit as your team is just basically publicly waiting on, you know, this decision. Everyone is tweeting about wanting Aaron Rogers and he's almost kind of giving you in a way the cold shoulder, but you got to remember the Jets are a young team. So you're talking about guys like Sauce Gardner, Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson. These are guys that grew up watching Aaron Rogers play.

So them acting like kids in a candy store and them showing their desperation and how excited they are. You said it, it doesn't, the moment they get Rogers, it doesn't work. The people that look bad here would be Woody Johnson, Robert Sala and Joe Douglas because you could have had Derek Carr. You could have had Jimmy Garoppolo and you are confident that you're going to wind up with Aaron Rogers. The only plan B that I think would give approval if you don't get Rogers would be if you get Lamar Jackson. But if you get Kirk Cousins or Matthew Stafford, whoever that desperation plan would be, yeah, you would take some of the egg off your face, but you still have egg on your face. This is now you got to go get Aaron Rogers or you go get Lamar Jackson. Or you go get Lamar Jackson. Anything other than those two next year for the Jets starting this year in 2023 would be an absolute disaster. And that's why I'm still thinking it's going to be Rogers to the Jets, but whenever you expect the Rogers news, Rogers will just wait and wait and wait because he likes to be this oddball kind of guy and he likes to do things that just really don't make any sense. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. By the way, Jimmy Garoppolo is going to the Raiders.

Did they actually improve? We'll get into that coming up at 7 40 p.m. Eastern, 4 40 p.m. Pacific. But we got to take a break. And when we come on back, Danny Parkins is going to join us as we're going to get ready to make the QB carousel landed and taking a stop in Chicago where Justin Fields now has a new best friend and his name is DJ Moore and some more picks to accompany him with.

We'll get on to all that on the other side. 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 Chicago Bears. You can listen to him on the score. He does a great job.

Afternoon drive. Danny Parkins joins us right now. Danny, you guys got to be on cloud nine in Chicago. You think you have a franchise quarterback and your GM and coach are starting to surround them with some actual talent. Yeah, it's very exciting, but I mean, man, we need to go to Vegas together. You spun a wheel and it landed on Chicago and I just happened to be on the line. What if it landed on Detroit?

Was I going to be talking about Jared Goff? This is unbelievable fortune that you have. It's amazing. That's why I'm a good blackjack player. And sometimes as long as the odds are uploaded correctly in our company's website, when it comes to Kentucky Derby, I usually win more than I lose.

So they say our company has a website. Not very well. Danny Parkins and Zach Gilbert, both free agents right now. No, no, I've said much more incriminating things than that.

But no, the bet. Yes, the Bears have a quarterback. They think and hope and they are adding pieces around him.

They certainly are. I love the trade down from one to nine was incredible and inspired for a number of reasons, like the Bears need to spend money to get to the spending floor and the free agent class where they've got the most cap space in the NFL is not very good. It certainly isn't very good at wide receiver. If D.J. Moore was in this wide receiver class, he'd be commanding a 100 million dollar contract. Instead, you get him for three years and fifty two million left on the contract we signed before last year. He's only twenty five years old.

And so it helps you spend to your floor. It gives Justin Fields a legitimate number one receiver. It bumps down Darnell Mooney and Chase Claypool in importance. And you stay in the top ten when presumably for the top eight picks are going to be quarterbacks.

So you still should be in a position to get a top five non quarterback on your board. I know that there was some talk and I thought it was a lot of jackassery about the Bears moving on from fields and taking a quarterback at one. Do you think that's the right decision and what they did in the last few days? I think it was the right decision. I think that feels more than showed enough to deserve some help, given what he showed with no help.

And don't get it twisted. I mean, the Bears were the worst passing offense in the NFL by far, but they had a good great five week stretch where they showed some really incredible potential where they were averaging nearly 30 points per game, you know, dominated the Patriots on Monday Night Football, put up twenty nine against the Cowboys, like had a very inspiring stretch of play where it seemed like things were clicking. And then, you know, Fields was heard and Mooney got hurt and Claypool got hurt and seems kind of adjusted to the Bears adjustment.

Then, you know, the season did not end very well. But when you talk about a quarterback in Bryce Young, who is small and a quarterback in C.J. Stroud, who would just be the next Ohio State quarterback and Will Levison, Anthony Richardson with their questions coming out, there was no Joe Burrow or Andrew Luck or Trevor Wentz or Caleb Williams level prospect.

If that was the case, it would have been a much different conversation. But given that there was uncertainty at the top of the draft and given that you clearly could get so much for the number one overall pick and the Bears have so many holes, I think it was the obvious move on the chessboard. And we're going to find out how far Fields could take them and how much success Fields could have, because, like you said, not only you get more who had three eleven hundred yard seasons of basically no one throwing in the football, but it moves down all these other guys like a Chase Claypool, who's a fine wide receiver, but isn't great in this league. And you got to put the guy in a position to succeed to see what you really have. Like, I think right now, Fields could be a good quarterback and we'll see how great he could be. But they're giving him a chance, at least.

Yeah, exactly right. And if it goes belly up, you have two first round picks next year, right? Like if Fields is bad, the Bears are probably bad. And if the Bears are bad, they probably have a top 10 pick. And if you've got a top 10 pick and you have Carolina's pick, which, Carolina, if they're starting a rookie quarterback, they could be bad. Or maybe the rookie quarterback's good and their defense is pretty good and the NFC South is pretty bad. And it's late teens or the 20th pick.

Well, if you got a top 10 pick and a top 20 pick, you could trade both of those and move into the top five and maybe select your quarterback next year if you wanted to. So I don't think that that's what their plan is, but I do think that's their insurance policy in case Justin Fields doesn't take the lead as a passer that they're expecting him to make in year three in the league, year two in Luke Yetze's offense. What's kind of been the feel on now what they will do at nine? Could they trade back again or do you expect them to take a player at nine?

I think everything's on the board. I think they could trade up, you know, depending on how it goes in free agency. And they did not add a three technique. They did not add anyone on the defensive line. They kind of surprisingly added two linebackers. You know, if Jalen Carter falls out of the top five, I could see the Bears being the team that selects him at nine or maybe even trade up a spot or two to get him because the three technique is so important in Matt Eberflus' 4-3 defense. So I could see that being an option. I think they, you know, easily could take a tackle to support Justin Fields and continue to build around him, whether it's Karis Johnson or Peter Skowronski. I think that's on the board. So I think that the trade down to nine really opened up the level of possibilities. Could they trade down a few more spots to get even more draft capital? Absolutely.

I think now there's much less urgency on what they need to do. But Ryan Paul did speak about blue players. That's how he grades them in the top tier guys, the blue chippers, if you will. He wants to be sure he comes out of this trap with one of those guys.

So the beauty is in the eyes of a holder. But I guess the question just remains, how many blue chip players does he see in this draft? If he feels like there's more than nine, he could trade down. Less than nine, he trades up. Nine exactly.

He probably is standing path. Danny Parkins, I remember a few years ago when everyone said, oh, the Bengals should take it all offensive line. And they ended up taking Jamar chase.

I know that they just traded for DJ Moore and at the deadline they got chase Claypool and all these mock drafts make it for what it's worth. We don't see a wide receiver going in the top ten. Could you actually see them taking the best wide receiver available?

That would surprise me now. Jackson Smith and Jigba has a relationship with Fields from Ohio State. The guys who came out of Ohio State, like Chris Olave, say he was the best of the bunch when it was him Olave and Garrett Wilson, even if he didn't produce that way this past year.

Ryan Paul said, remember where I came from, which is Kansas City, and they kept adding weapons and weapons and weapons. So I don't think you can rule it out as a possibility, but when you trade a second round pick, which ends up being the 32nd pick in the draft for Chase Claypool, and you trade the number one overall pick in part for DJ Moore, that would be a tremendous allocation of draft capital if you then use the top ten pick on a receiver this year. I think it's on the board that they add a receiver at some point in the draft and maybe with one of their four picks in the top 64, but with the ninth overall pick or wherever they end up drafting first in the first round, a wide receiver would be borderline shocking at this point given the number of needs on the team. Honestly, I guess the best thing that would be possible for the Bears to get a first round pick by moving back a few spots this year, like a few years ago when the Giants made that trade with them and you guys moved up to go get Fields, and they get another first round pick and move back a few spots, I think it's kind of worth it at this point.

Yeah, I think that's in play. I floated today, would you trade the ninth pick to Houston for the 12th pick in Laramie-Tunsell? And then the opportunity to sign Laramie-Tunsell to a huge deal because you don't necessarily feel like there's a franchise left tackle out there. I think the DJ Moore trade, again, was instructive in they need to spend money, they want to spend money on premium talent, and there might not be premium talent at marquee positions in free agency.

So what's a way to do that? It's to trade for the guys who are already expensive. That's what they did with DJ Moore, even though his contract's very reasonable, but instead of paying Jacoby Myers in free agency, they traded for DJ Moore, and that's their wide receiver edition.

So I think that could still be coming as well. Danny Parkins, I got your thoughts on Justin Fields, but the fan base, this has been a tortured fan base, they've never had a quarterback. Do they believe in Fields or is it still a little be skeptical just because of the nature of it?

I always think it's tough when the talk show host is asked. The fan base is not a monolith, right? There are some people that love them, some people that don't, but I would say the majority believe in Justin Fields. I mean hell, he had the number one selling jersey in the state of Wisconsin last year, okay?

There's a lot of excitement. He's the most exciting offensive football I have seen in my lifetime watching the Bears. I was born in 1986, so I missed the Walter Payton era of Bears football. Brandon Marshall, Matt Forte, Alshon Jeffery, Devin Hester as a special teamer, that's the list of exciting Bears in my lifetime for football in their hands. Justin Fields is clear-cut number one.

I'm 36 years old. So the majority of Bears fans believe the majority of Bears fans are excited, but to your point about how tortured the fan base is at the quarterback position, it's the only franchise in NFL history to never have a 4,000 yard passer. Not a 5,000 yard, a 4,000 yard passer. It's the only franchise in NFL history to never have a 30 touchdown passer. Not a 40, not a 50, 30 touchdown passes. So this is also a fan base that believed in Jay Cutler and Rex Grossman and Cade McNown and Mitch Trubisky.

We fall easily, we fall hard because we frankly will fall for anybody. It's arguable that the best Bears quarterback of my lifetime has been Eric Kramer. So it's a fan base that will cling to any sign of hope, frankly, at the quarterback position.

I would think Danny Parkins at the new stadium, there's got to be a statue built for Lovey Smith. You know, he certainly has the two biggest wins of the 21st century. The NFC championship in 2006 to send them to the Super Bowl where they ended up losing Peyton Manning. And then the week 18 game where he pulled off the miraculous win to snatch the number one pick away from the Houston Texans who were about to fire him and give it to his old team here in Chicago. So yeah, Lovey Smith's popularity. He was fired after a 10 win season and 10 win seasons have been very hard to come by. So his popularity has grown already since leaving Chicago, but it might be at an all time high since his departure right now. Two more football questions, then we'll let you run.

I filled in for you before with Filipponia on first and pods. Let me just get your thoughts about two other things around the NFL. Rogers, is he going to the Jets or are you a little looking at this right now and saying something fishy is going on that we haven't found out yet? I think he's going to the Jets and my most recent theory is that it's done and that they are keeping it under wraps for some sort of like technical reason, like that the Packers know it's happening, the Jets know it's happening and they haven't necessarily like dotted an eye or crossed the T or like everything on the trade compensation hasn't been finalized, but like it's happening because why would he want to do this?

Like, I know the idea that he wants like all the limelight and he just loves the attention and all that, but like, okay, fine. You want to stick it to the Packers. I suppose I could get that, but why would you want to make it more difficult for your new team to operate in free agency? So I, I think that he's going to the jets and I think it's going to happen probably tomorrow and certainly by Wednesday, the start of the league year. And who are the Panthers take with a number on overall pick now? I trust the gambling market. CJ Stradwin from plus one 60 to minus 300, basically within an hour of the move happening. Uh, Frank Reich likes big quarterbacks. Um, so I think that, you know, no matter how much you know about sports, no matter how much I know about sports, the sharp gamblers, no more than the two of us combined.

So if the gamblers are saying it's Strad, I think it's Strad. Danny. Appreciate it. Thanks so much. Anytime, man.

Thank you. There you go. Danny Parkins joining us. You can check them out odyssey's podcast first and pod, and also on the free odyssey app on his afternoon show on six 70, the score of the legendary six 70, the score in Chicago, the Panthers who had the number one overall pick are continuing to keep some of their guys as well. Bradley Bozeman, uh, has been locked up. Now he gets a three or $18 million deal. He was on a one year deal a year ago that is per Ian Rappaport.

So bears moved back to nine Panthers move up to one bears, get a whole lot of other compensation along with it. Good stuff right there with Danny Parkins. We'll take a break. When we come on back on the other side, we will get to a little Jimmy G to the Raiders and what it actually means. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. You can think around the auto parts, right?

Car care needs guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly auto parts. So I didn't see this, uh, earlier today, but I'm seeing it now. Uh, Josina Anderson is reporting that Lamar Jackson will play on the tag. If a deal is not met by the deadline that's in July for players that are tagged to get a longterm deal done.

Picky we've talked about this before for a while. I operated under the belief that Lamar Jackson will never sign a longterm deal with the Baltimore Ravens at this point. Um, but my only point of hesitation was, is he going to leave Baltimore this year or next year for the last like month? I would say that I thought he was going to get traded this off season. Originally I was operating under the belief that I'll play one year on the tag and then leave. Uh, I re I'm starting to think that that's probably what is going to happen and going back to the initial thought rather than what I've been saying for the last month. Because even though there will be a team or two or three that miss out on quarterbacks and maybe they'll kick the tires on Lamar Jackson.

There isn't an idea or in a, or a belief. And I know you could take it with a grain of salt because I do think no owner wants to see him get a fully guaranteed deal because then it's back to back years of a fully guaranteed deal to a quarterback. And then it's like, if one happens, you could dance around it. If two happens, it makes it tougher and tougher for these teams to move around that. But the point I'm getting at is there is an idea out there that no team is going to offer him a contract because they believe that the Ravens would just simply match it. And it's like, all right, you're doing the Ravens work for them instead of just having the Ravens and Lamar figure this thing out. I'm starting to get the sense that maybe no teams are actually going to pursue him.

Or maybe when I say pursue, actually give him an offer. And that means it's either Lamar, you figure it out this year with the Ravens or you play on a tag. It doesn't benefit him to sit out because they could just then tag him again and you still have to wait another year before you would reach free agency. So if he is back in Baltimore next year, I do think it's on a tag.

I don't think it's on a long-term deal. And then next off season, you could tag him again. But if you don't get a deal done with Lamar next off season, you have no choice but to trade him because he can't run the risk of just letting a player that young, like this isn't Aaron Rodgers where he's 38, 39. You're talking about a guy that's 26 years old and next year would be 27. You can't run the risk of just letting him walk for a compensatory third round pick, you know, another off season for two off seasons from now. I think one of the things that this report does also too I think would is should quell any speculation or concern that Lamar Jackson was healthy enough to play and chose to sit out the end of the Ravens regular season because he's worried about getting a contract and not want to get himself hurt. If you're willing to play next year on a tag, you're willing to possibly lose out on a lot of money.

Well does it actually mean that? Like explain why you think that way because if he sits out next year, it's not as if he gets any closer to like not like he reaches for agency the next year and you save that year and then you're not hurt and then you get the big time deal. Like he would have to sit out potentially two years in a row or you would sit out and then just demand the trade after that. Because it's all about injury risk, right?

Is that what we're talking about? Like it's with Lamar again if you are concerned or the thought is that he's not going to play until he gets a full-time, long-term guarantee deal then why do you play in a one-year tag? Because you still have to go back to the team the next year. Well he's been stubborn on what he wants, right?

He's not budged yet so far. I think it's different though to miss one game or two games down the stretch than it is to miss an entire season. You think there's actually a chance he would have sat out this entire season?

No because I also don't think he would have, I don't think that's not his DNA. That's why I thought he was actually hurt and I don't think he was even when he was sitting out in January and December. I think he's actually hurt. I don't think he was actually sitting out for a contract. I'm just saying there's people out there that were questioning is he actually hurt? Again I think just reports should put that all to bed that not the case. Yeah I also, you very rarely see players sit out an entire season too.

So if you want to say that it goes back to last year I didn't think of it that way but maybe you're right on that front as well. So that's just the latest with Lamar on something that they can't even talk to him. Teams can't even talk to him until Wednesday but really you talk about a story that has no legs right now. It's this Lamar Jackson situation because we haven't heard any team even thinking or mulling over the idea of having a conversation with Lamar on Wednesday.

I think we've been talking this for like the last week. I think you'll see it after the draft because that's really now especially after today. Jimmy Garoppolo off the market like you've seen a few other quarterbacks shuffle now we presume Aaron Rodgers is going to be with the Jets but if he's not if he pulls in Aaron Rodgers and retires or goes for another team you know all of a sudden that changes calculus but there are going to be teams that still need a quarterback they think maybe in the draft someone will fall or see how things shake out and then come draft time comes and goes I think that's when you guys now start being more proactive and aggressive. Also I really do think the most teams would be interested would be next year because like the most amount of teams because then you are a year away from him reaching free agency there is no urgency if you're the Ravens to want him to go sign a deal somewhere else and you do get another year away from the Deshaun Watson fully guaranteed contract and oh yeah by the way if he doesn't get a fully guaranteed deal this offseason I don't think he's getting a fully guaranteed deal next offseason like eventually there has to be a point here where Lamar gets the message and maybe has maybe hasn't but we haven't heard anything publicly that he's not getting the fully guaranteed deal I know exactly what you're going to say I mean if he plays well next year I think he's wins a playoff game I think that changes guaranteed deal I think it changes absolutely what changes the stance of the owners from from now until next year on the fully guaranteed part recency bias last two years he's missed the biggest games of the season I get why you would not give Lamar Jackson a fully guaranteed deal but if you're looking at he plays six he plays 17 games Ravens get to the playoffs he wins a playoff game you tell me that there's gonna be owners sitting there saying sorry we're still sticking our stance here I don't think you know we just saw we're not going to we're not going to give him the full guaranteed money I'll give you a better argument if you want to say Lamar wants to get a fully guaranteed deal he may he may not get it this offseason but guess who may soon get it if Joe Burrow wants it what are the Bengals gonna do not give him a fully guaranteed deal and then Lamar year from now like even if he just plays fine this year can say well I have you an MS MVP Joe Burrow just got a fully guaranteed deal DeSean Watson just got a fully guaranteed deal I'm deserving a fully guaranteed deal I think another quarterback's gonna have to get a fully guaranteed deal for Lamar to get a fully guaranteed deal I don't know if I agree with that I think it's gonna be out in the Mars play more than anything else you're telling me if Burrow gets a fully guaranteed deal they don't get a deal done you don't think he's gonna even make him ask for that more I could ask you could make an ask for more but I think he's gonna only get it by playing well I don't think other owners care if Joe Burrow gets a fully guaranteed deal why do you care but for Lamar that's what you're asking you're comparing yourself to the other great quarterbacks where you think you're in that conversation no matter what that we're not talking about Lamar wanting it we're talking about him getting it so Lamar's gonna want a fully guaranteed deal this offseason he's gonna want a fully guaranteed deal next offseason yes what's going to change is how the owners view like view that deal I think again I think it the owner's minds will change more if Lamar plays really well next year compared to if Joe Burrow gets one for example owners though do not want to give fully guaranteed deals they don't want this to become an annual thing so therefore that's why Lamar I believe is not getting it right now and therefore if let's say next year Joe Burrow gets one and Lamar gets through next year healthy there's really no reason to not give him a fully guaranteed deal I think he needs other dominoes to fall to get him that fully guaranteed deal or you need the jets to be as desperate as desperate could be if they swing and miss on Aaron Rodgers because just getting Kirk Cousins or Matthew Stafford won't be good enough if you're the Jets and it'll be complicated with the money if you swing and miss on Aaron Rodgers after you let Jimmy Garoppolo go to the Raiders you let Derek Carr go to the Saints if Lamar's best friend right now should be Aaron Rodgers and hoping that Aaron Rodgers goes back to Green Bay because if he if he is in New York then I don't think there's going to be a team that's going to be desperate enough even though they probably should there's teams out there that should but that will give Lamar Jackson a fully guaranteed deal it is the Zach Gilp show on CBS Sports Radio. Real quickly on Jimmy G. Jimmy G going to the Raiders it's kind of underwhelming to me because you move on from Derek Carr and I'm fine moving on from Derek Carr but I think you needed a much bigger upgrade and you could make the case that Jimmy G is at best a slightly better version of Derek Carr. Jimmy G's won a ton of games in this league but with the Niners the Raiders don't have the roster of the Niners. The Raiders have tremendous offensive pieces their line stinks and they got no defense so you could maybe say Jimmy G is a slightly better version of Derek Carr and he's more consistent let's just say where Derek Carr is like more up and down there's times he looks like he's a top 10 quarterback and then he takes four or five steps back but in reality in reality the biggest problem with Jimmy G is actually Derek Carr's biggest strength Derek Carr stays healthy for the most part Derek Carr plays in a lot of games Derek Carr has really only dealt with one big injury it seems like Jimmy Garoppolo's hurt every other year and for the Raiders when the pressure is on and you need to find a way to drastically improve this year there's a chance Garoppolo gets injured week three and then you're screwed like I don't love Jared Stidham but the guy that started for you at the end of last season ended up becoming the backup quarterback today for the Denver Broncos so I don't hate the Jimmy G move but I'm never gonna love any team that brings in Jimmy Garoppolo and this move does seem underwhelming for the way in which Derek Carr was moved on from with this Raiders organization and I do think there's another move coming with this and Jimmy G probably won't like it but tough luck you got your money you gotta think either this year or next year they're gonna go get a quarterback in the draft and then once again it's Jimmy G being there playing the mentor role and eventually handing the baton over just like it was in San Francisco so that's how I kind of look at this Raiders move but right now like if Jimmy Garoppolo gets an entire season healthy this year knowing McDaniel's helps you know he's a solid quarterback really nothing more than that could they make the playoffs yes but it's the farthest thing from a lock like it's more likely they missed the playoffs to make the playoffs next year like the Bills are better the Dolphins only have quarterback concerns they're better the Chiefs are better the Chargers are better the Bengals are better if the Ravens have Lamar they're better the Jaguars are better I already got the seven teams I could probably give you a few more so for Jimmy Garoppolo you got a quarterback but did you really get that much better I don't think so at best you could argue you got slightly very very very in a minuscule amount slightly better but that's all dependent on Jimmy G's help