Are Jets Upgrade Over The Packers? (Hour 3)

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Additional terms apply. We continue this at Yelp Show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio gearing up for the NFL Draft. We head to Kansas City for the start of three live shows coming up tomorrow. And now joining us is a former number one overall pick. He got drafted 20 years ago to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Also won a Heisman Trophy and he's here today on behalf of Level Select OTC. Joining us in studio on the Zach Gelb show is Carson Palmer. Carson, how you been? Good, Zach. Thanks for having me.

I appreciate you coming in. So 20 years ago you got drafted. What are the memories that come back to mind of that night when the Bengals made you the number one overall pick? Yeah, just excitement. It's a near and dear moment to anybody's heart that sits in that green room. And I don't pull for any individual team as much anymore, but when the draft comes on, I love watching the draft. It just brings back 20-year-old memories.

And so I'm not even pulling for a team or an individual player. I just like watching the draft, seeing the green room, remembering that experience, the nerves in that green room. Everybody's smiled and dolled up and looking good in their suits and jewelry and everything, but just the anticipation of each guy and each family member that's there with that guy that's about to get drafted or hopefully to get drafted. And you don't know what new uniform you're going to be wearing. You don't know what colors you're going to be playing in. You don't know what fan base you're going to be playing for, what ownership group, what coaching staff, what offensive and defensive playbook you're about to run. There's just so much excitement around it. It's almost like when you're having your first child and you don't know whether it's a boy or girl. And just that anticipation, that excitement, there's very very few true surprises left.

And draft day is one of them. My situation was different. I signed a contract three days before the draft and I knew where I was going. I didn't, and I kind of was sitting there with a little bit of jealousy. You wish there was some suspense.

Yeah, there's so much suspense for everybody. The other guys were saying they were jealous of the contract you were getting too. Well, they were jealous at the moment.

They're like, man, you're lucky. You know where you're going. And I remember thinking to myself, it's kind of cool though, that suspense of not knowing you're about to go from here in New York to the new place you're about to live, maybe for the next decade or more or less if you don't handle your business the right way.

But that kind of suspense and excitement is hard to replicate. It's hard to find outside of the green room. If you could go back and if you could give yourself advice now, knowing what you know about the NFL, right? The business side of it, the ups and downs of a career. What advice would you give yourself? You go back into that green room.

You know, I don't look at anything with any wish of changing something one way or another. But I think the best advice for the guys in that room is surround yourself with a really good team and not the team that drafts you in the uniform you wear. Just from top to bottom, the right support group, the right influences, the right friends. And sometimes that's getting rid of some of the right friends or some of the right people that shouldn't be in that group.

And it's just so important for these guys. If you're Bryce Young and you're going to Carolina, having the right team around you is so important. And the right chiropractor, deep tissue massage to keep you healthy, to keep you on the field, to keep you continuously playing throughout the years. The right advice off the field from a financial advisor, from a mentor, just really surrounding yourself with the support system. And more often than not, I've seen so many guys that have come in with just too many people around them, too many voices, too many opinions, too many people hanging around and just really focusing and being selfish. You can be selfish. You need to have the right people that make you the best you, that make you the best person off the field, that make you the best person on the field.

So my advice to all these guys that come, because I've seen them come and go, is just surrounding yourself with the right group. And I was fortunate to have that coming in the league. Carson Palmer here with us on behalf of Level Select OTC. You look at this draft class, you said it, Bryce Young, we all think is going number one overall to the Carolina Panthers. Then after that, we truly don't know. And that's what makes it fun from what we do and what's going to happen in two and on in this draft. Usually we have an idea of the first three picks or so. Some years you do, some years you don't. When you look at these quarterbacks, do you think Stroud's the second best quarterback?

Because it's weird. The last like two weeks, it seems like his stock is falling. And that's also why I hate this draft process because all the years previously, it seems like they don't matter. The rumors that you hear these, these two weeks leading up to the draft.

Yeah, it's a crapshoot. I mean, Will Anderson's a phenomenal pick for somebody. I mean, if you want a plug and play guy, a guy that probably is a rookie, he's going to get seven plus sacks and a dozen or so tackles for loss and stout in the run game and right attitude. Like he's a great pick. He's a great number one pick. If you need a quarterback, you can't take them because there's a, there's a great number one pick at quarterback.

And Bryce, I mean, Bryce is also plug and play. He is ready. You, you can probably, if you're Carolina and you take him, you would can assume that he's ready and week one, he can be your starter and they need a week one starter, but it's a crapshoot. And you know, you look at these guys, I don't know who the best, the second best quarterback is. I can, I think the most confident answer I have right now is there's going to be two quarterbacks that get overdrafted. There's going to be two quarterbacks probably taken in the top three or four picks. There's going to be three quarterbacks that get three quarterbacks, probably taking the top 10 picks. I think if you look back in 2029, I think we're going to look back and go, Oh, so-and-so should have been drafted 18, not four. And so-and-so should have been drafted 47, not nine.

I think it's one of those drafts. There's, there's, there's Bryce who is ready. And there's a lot of guys past him that are, it's a 50 50.

You just not quite sure. I mean, you look at Richardson out of Florida and man, he's a specimen. Levis out of, out of Kentucky, man, he's a specimen, but you're just not quite sold because they don't have the film that Bryce has. Bryce's film is really, really good and hard to question these other guys. There's a lot of hope. There's a lot of expectation, but they don't have the film that Bryce has.

They have the size that Bryce doesn't have. And because there's so many teams at the top of this draft that, or that want to get to the top of this draft and need a quarterback, there's going to be a couple of guys that are overdrafted. I think the difficult part now Carson Palmer is that everyone tries to find the next Patrick Mahomes and there's only one Patrick Mahomes. And it seems like each and every year there's a guy or two, like you said, that goes early or than expected just because they're like, okay, he could be, if he puts everything together, maybe like 25% or 50% of Patrick Mahomes.

But every time that guy gets drafted, it's like when you watch the tape, you haven't seen that player, whether it was a Jordan Love a few years ago or Zach Wilson, or if you want to go to Richardson and Levis, put it together consistently. It's such a challenging position and even more challenging to critique and to figure out who is the next Patrick Mahomes. The worst thing that happened to all these guys is Patrick Mahomes. There's only one of him. There's only one guy that can throw the ball with that much velocity off platform accurately. The way the only one I've seen, I haven't seen another one and I've seen some great ones up close and been on the field and played against, you know, worked out with an off season. You can't assume that there is another Patrick Mahomes. Just take him out, take Aaron Rogers out.

Those two guys are physically so far ahead and above everybody else that they are outliers. So don't, you know, that's the one thing from, from a team's perspective, don't look to draft another Patrick Mahomes. That was a once in a generation kind of deal. Him not being the number one pick or number two pick and falling to where he fell. You just can't try to replicate that.

You need to find the right guy. If you're Carolina and you're going to build, you look at the way that salary cap is structured. That's a defensive minded organization that has been for a long time. They've really focused on defense and they've had some, you know, Cam Newton's and Steve Smith's and some outliers, but things are based around that defense. If they continue to build around the defense and build around the run game, which something they've done until they traded Christian McCaffrey last year, you need more of a game manager. You don't need, you know, the, the Richardson who, you know, has all the athletic ability in the world, has some unbelievable tape coming out of Florida and then some head scratchers coming out of Florida or organizationally for Carolina, you want more of a plug and play guy, a guy that controls the football, takes care of the ball. If they're going to continue to build that organization around defense and really around the defensive front, which is something they've been known to do, you want a game manager. You don't need the freakishly athletic type.

That's going to pull a wild play out of nothing. You need somebody that consistently moves the chains, that gets you in the right play in the run game, that gets you in the right pass protection in the pass game. And I think the guy for them, it just looks from my vantage point, it looks like Bryce is that guy. I have to ask you, cause I saw your name in the news a few weeks ago and I knew we were having you coming on in.

So I didn't listen because I wanted to just ask you in person. I saw a few weeks ago, there was a headline that you said, Burrow is the best quarterback in the NFL. Explain that one.

Let me, let me defend myself. I'm gonna still stand by my statement, but I was asked, I was on my brother's podcast called The Room and this is during the playoffs. Joe was still in the playoffs. Patrick Mahomes was still in the playoffs and we got to be a GM for a day and picker. And I picked, I got any pick I wanted. I picked quarterback, X receiver, Z receiver, tight end. We each picked and I picked Pat.

I actually went all issue. I picked Pat or I picked Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson in Minnesota and, uh, Jamar chase. So I had that, uh, the trio of the LSU guys. And then Travis Kelsey was my tight end. And then it comes out months later. And you know, that was wow.

That was back in January. And then Patrick Mahomes goes out and wins the AFC championship on one leg and then wins the super bowl on one leg again. And I got my foot in the mouth, but I'm standing by my, I'm standing by my point. My point was Joe's younger.

He's extremely consistent. And that's who I picked. Now, Patrick Holmes, like I said, went out and won a super bowl on one leg and just does mind boggling things on the football field that I haven't seen done before. Uh, but I'm still standing by cause I said it back in, in January, I'm still standing by Joe cause he's younger.

Well, I would be a hypocrite if I didn't admit this to you. I was starting to make that shift leading into that AFC title game. I said, if Burrow wins, he will be viewed as the best quarterback in football. And then Mahomes did what Mahomes did. And you have the two MVPs and you have the two, uh, super bowl championships and the two super bowl MVPs. And it's like, okay, that argument fades away.

And you look at it, the Bengals have the better team than the chiefs and borough has more weapons. It's not me crapping on Joe burrow. I love the guy.

I love his family. He's phenomenal. He's the second best quarterback in the league, but it's funny how that came out when it did. And then you said it months earlier. Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, you're comparing the internet, the internet, of course, but you're comparing a Rolls Royce to a Bentley. Yeah.

You know what I mean? We're right. I'll take either one. They're both great. I think PA I mean, Pat has done things we haven't seen done in this league. Joe's done things we have seen done in this league and really only by Tom Brady, which as far as the way he plays the game in the pocket, the consistency, which with he plays the game weekend, week out, you know, you just don't get a bad game or an off game from Joe. You don't get the spectacular mind boggling plays that Patrick Mahomes has, but I just love Joe's consistency. I love his toughness. He's got really good players around him, no doubt. Um, I know how hard it is to do that for that organization and what he's come into that organization and brought and steadied the ship and they're building or it's just a perfect recipe.

Um, there's a lot, a lot of good going on in Cincinnati and it's great to see. We're waiting to see what the contract will end up being for Joe burrow. I just saw a few hours ago, the bangles made the biggest no brainer of all time, picking up his fifth year option. If you were Joe burrow, would you ask for a fully guaranteed contract? Not if that was the sticking point. I think, I think the thing that needs to, to be factored in is when you fully guarantee a contract, that ownership group has to have that money in the bank and that's tough to do.

If you didn't sell home Depot like Arthur blank did and on the Falcons, that's a family run organization that is one of one of their few businesses. So you know, either the bangles have the 250 million in the bank or they don't. Um, there are some owners in this league that do, there are some owners that don't.

So I think if that's a sticking point, then you don't ask for that. Um, just cause at the end of the day, they either, they either can foot the bill or they can't. It's not like they can just whip up that money out of nowhere. They either got it or they don't because that money has to go into a hold as soon as he signs it. So if that is a sticking point for the organization, no, but Joe's got all the leverage in the world. I mean, he needs to take advantage of this opportunity. He's got a chance to sign a phenomenal longterm deal, but he needs some insurances that they're going to continue to spend. What they did this last two off seasons and the amount of money they spent in free agency was an anomaly.

They have not done that in, in the history of the organization. So they've made some great steps. I think those are big bonuses and big pluses for Joe. He's got a chance to structure this contract. If they can't fully guarantee the whole thing, he's got all the leverage. So he needs to make sure they continue to spend a certain amount in free agency or, um, he gets some sort of input on certain things. So he's in a perfect position. Um, you know, the AFC North is down with Lamar and what's going on in and what's going on in Pittsburgh. They're in a prime position to take over and be the dominant team in that, in that division. And, um, the AFC is loaded, uh, and he's got a good young team around him. Jamar, you got to figure out and pay him coming up here pretty soon. T Higgins is another guy you got to kind of figure out. So Joe's got a chance to have a fingerprint on that locker room in that roster. And he's at the perfect, he's in the perfect position to have leverage, uh, to be able to get certain things he wants around him. And I'm just happy for Joe. I never fault a guy for taking the most amount of money possible, but you mentioned Brady earlier and like that idea, that conversation just comes up. This Bengals team is loaded.

You got to find the way, even though you can move around the cap now. And I don't even understand the salary cap anymore with all the deferred years and things that they do. It makes you wonder like, should borough take a few million less so they could ensure that they can keep a Jamar chase entity Higgins. It's every quarterback's question. What are you going to do? Do you want to max this thing out or do you want to continue to keep money on the table for other guys for when Jamar's up for when T's up?

So, yeah, I mean, that is the question. Only Joe knows how bad, uh, he needs T or how bad he needs Jamar or how bad he needs that fully guaranteed contract. But the ball's in his court and I'm excited to see how it ends up. Carson Palmer here with us. I got to ask you about one of your other former teams, the Arizona Cardinals, you talk about the Bengals being in a great spot. The Cardinals are an absolute mess, not only with ownership and you have a whole new regime coming in.

So we'll see what happens there. But Kyler Murray, a lot of people, even his own teammates have been questioning his leadership. It looks like Hopkins won't be back. Buddha Baker wants out as well with two years left on his deal.

If you could talk to Kyle, I don't know if you have relationship with him, what advice would you give him? Yeah. I mean, it's the exact opposite of what's going on Cincinnati. Um, you know, you look at Arizona and, and, you know, Seattle's making a play to be really good. The Rams could be really, really good.

San Francisco's really, really good. That is a loaded division. Your quarterbacks hurt.

You're going, you're on your what? Third coach in four years, five years from Wilkes to Kingsborough. I mean, fired Steve Keim. There's issues we're hearing in the media with, you know, whatever that there's a lot of, of, it's a mess in Arizona.

It is very stable in Cincinnati. So it's the exact opposite situation. Kyler's coming off a knee surgery. You know, his work ethic has been questioned. And when you go into a knee surgery, nothing is more important than having incredible work ethic and desire to train and train harder every day. And it's hard and it's monotonous.

And you got to learn how to walk again and learn how to jog again, learn how to sprint, learn how to do drops, learn how to step into thrills. Like he's in such a challenging time with a whole bunch of just a mess going on organizationally. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if Kyler didn't come back until, you know, the fourth quarter of this upcoming season. You know, he's probably not going to be ready week one. He's probably going to be ready midway point week. You know, let's you know, let's call it week 12.

The team could be one and 11. And then it's like, well, do we put them back out there? They just signed into a massive contract. They're not going to be able to trade him because the cap hits going to be humongous.

It's just a mess. And, and, you know, as far as like, you know, is there a silver lining here? I don't know what the silver lining is because he's probably not going to be ready to play this season. And then you got to organizationally decide, are we going to put him back out there and put him in harm's way? If we're already out of the playoffs and we don't have a shot.

So there's a ton of questions to be answered. New regime, new coaching staff, new GM. This draft is going to be interesting. They've got a high pick. They got to make some decisions. You know, as far as giving Kyler advice, man, just keep your head down, block out all this noise and train your butt off and find, find that work ethic that people have questioned.

Dig deep, use that as a, put that chip on your shoulder. Let that be what propels you through this off season. Cause he's got a lot of work ahead of him to get ready and get healthy. Do you think the jets can contend and win a Superbowl with Aaron Rogers now as their quarterback? I think whoever Aaron plays for has a shot because he's that good.

I think he's got an uphill battle ahead of him. I mean, you got, you got Josh Allen and Buffalo, who have dominated that division. You've got a really talented, well coached Miami team.

That's knocking on the door that has as much talent as anybody on anybody's roster in the league. He had a much easier path to the playoffs and to a Superbowl in Green Bay. I mean, you, Detroit's Detroit, I know they're up and coming, but they're Detroit. Minnesota has kind of been a mess. Chicago's a mess. I mean, that, that was as easy a trip to the playoffs and probably first round home game in the playoffs, as you'll find, it got a lot harder.

You got to go through Buffalo. You got to worry about Miami and then you got Belichick. Who's pretty good at coaching too. And I know they're down, but you still got Belichick. So he went from a pretty bad division to one of the best in the game and a conference.

That's a whole lot tougher, man. You got my homes, you got the discrepancy from the AFC quarterbacks of the NFC quarterbacks is wild. It's not even close. So Hertz is the best quarterback in the NFC, like the second best quarterback. You could make a case for Kirk cousins, Dak Stafford. It's messy in the NFC.

It's a mess, but the AFC is top heavy and it is loaded with quarterbacks. And so I don't know, it just kind of felt like a lateral move from green. It's not like he went, you know, when Tom Brady left new England, he went from a B minus roster to an A plus roster, but defense in, in, in, uh, Tampa was phenomenal. They had past rushers, they had Devin white at linebacker.

They had guys all over the place. They had Mike Evans and Godfrey and, or Godwin and a stable of backs. You know, he went from a decent roster to a really good roster. I think Aaron's going from a decent roster to a decent roster. So it's not getting any easier as he's getting older. And Tom Brady was getting older. The game got easier when he went to Tampa, cause he had all the, he could just dump these little checkdowns to running backs. He could throw all these screens and guys would score. It's hard when you get older, you want to go, if you are going to, if you are going to leave one team and go to another, you want to go to a team that's got thoroughbreds like Brady did.

I don't think that's the case. I think Aaron Rogers is leaving Aaron Jones, who is one of the, you know, a home run hitter at running back. He was the second best player after Aaron Rogers. So he's leaving some good players in, in green Bay and going to some good players, but it's not a massive upgrade and you want a massive upgrade when you're 37 39 and going to a new team on the way out with Carson Palmer. I want to ask you about Caleb Williams because he's a rock star and he just won the Heisman. We know USC is going to have college football playoff expectations this year, but that's kind of tough when you're already anointed the guy and you still got to play college football and everyone's already calling you the number one overall pick in the draft. It's tough, but if anybody can do it, it's Caleb. I think if Caleb was in this draft, he'd be going to Carolina. I think he'd be the number one pick and it wouldn't, there would be, Bryce would be a whole level below Caleb when, when you evaluate those two players.

So if there's anybody that can deal with the expectations, the LA media, you know, not sneaking up on anybody now, the Heisman trophy winners coming into your stadium every week. I mean, those kinds of expectations, that kind of pressure, Caleb seems really built for it. I mean, he is mature beyond his years. He's athletic. He can throw it with the best of them. I'm just really excited about, you know, he, he's got a legit chance to be a two-time Heisman winner. It hasn't been done since Archie Griffin.

So, I mean, decades ago, this is a rare and unique opportunity. And he's, like I said, he is mature beyond his years. He gets it.

He's not going to get distracted by all the hype and get distracted by all the hoopla being in LA, being, I mean, I think if anybody's built for this, it's Caleb Williams. Tell me about Level Select OTC. Level Select OTC, you can go on levelselect.com right now, type in promo code Carson20, get 20% off everything on the site. If you've got aches, pains, bumps, bruises, sorenesses, I use it every day because I have all of those things. So I use it every day. It's something that's, that's part of my morning, part of my evening. I'm still active. I'm still fit, chasing kids, coaching kids, basketball and football.

And just, I feel great in Level Select OTC is a big reason. Appreciate you coming in Carson Palmer. Thanks so much.

Thank you. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. Alrighty, Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. I thought that was very interesting where we had Carson Palmer on. We've also talked to Kevin Harlan and Kevin Harlan basically said, Roger's going to a new home.

We'll be more motivated. He thinks he'll be locked in, fully engaged. And Kevin Harlan said, quote, I think we are going to see Aaron Rodgers at the very top of his game and close quotes. Then you bring in Carson Palmer and ask Carson Palmer, the question was, do you think Aaron Rodgers can win a Super Bowl in New York? And he said, you'll always have a shot with Aaron Rodgers. But this was Palmer saying this, he views Rodgers going from the Packers to the Jets as more of a lateral move. And he doesn't think it's this massive upgrade and pointed out how tough the AFC is compared to the NFC. And he talked about Tom Brady, who when he left the Patriots to go to the Buccaneers from a roster construction standpoint, that was a massive upgrade at the time. You went from you went from throwing to like who, Jacoby Myers, to throwing to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and having on paper a much better offensive line. And even though the Patriots defense was good, the Bucks had a ridiculous defense that year.

So Hickey, I never really thought about it this way. And I think we do it to separate it because when you go from the NFC to the AFC, it doesn't get easier. Everyone can agree with that. Like you look at the NFC, we have a poll question out today. Jalen Hurts is the best quarterback in the NFC. After that, who's second? And even Carson Palmer, I kind of like asked him that question and he gave me this look like, oh, slim pickings, right? When you look at the quarterbacks in the NFC and those poll question results just right now, when I'll give them to you, who's the second best quarterback in the NFC?

The options are Matthew Stafford, Kirk Cousins, and Dak Prescott. And the other option is other. I don't get how 49% of the votes are with other, but I think it's a lot because people look at the first three names and now it's 47% or other. I think a lot of people look at the first names like, oh, I don't want to pick any of those guys. But if you're arguing other, like, are people really that high on Derek Carr or Jared Goff or Geno Smith or now people are going to put Bryce Young without playing an NFL game in that other conversation? Is it Brock Purdy?

Like, who is it? And you look at the other three names, Stafford is at 16%, Cousins at 12%, and Dak Prescott at 25%. So from having a better chance to win the Super Bowl based off the easier road, yeah, you can't say that it got easier for Aaron Rogers because it got tougher when you go to a conference that does have Mahomes, Burrow, Allen, Herbert, Lawrence, Jackson, Watson, Wilson, and so on and so on and so on.

I'm sure I'm forgetting another name or two. But on the other side, it's like, is the roster in New York better than the roster in Green Bay? Defensively, yes. The Jets have an elite defense. But you look at the offensive weapons, you have the reigning rookie of the year in Garrett Wilson, Christian Watson looked like he was a stud down the stretch. You have better running backs in Green Bay with Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. But if Breece Hall can recover from the injury last year, Breece Hall looked like through the first few games, he was going to be the rookie of the year and he was going to be a stud. So it's like, I don't think the options in New York from a receiving standpoint and like the entire offense are these studs with the Jets, but you get your guy in Allen Lazard, you have the reigning rookie of the year in Garrett Wilson.

If Breece Hall can be healthy, he was solid last year. They signed McColl-Hardman. We'll see who else they do add. So I'm not saying they upgrade on the offense side of the ball, but defensively for Aaron Rogers, I think Rogers is saying not that he's going to be a game manager because that's like the craziest thing in the world to say he's going to throw the football a lot, but all the Jets needed last year was just like solid quarterback play, Hickey, and they would have been in the playoffs. Yeah, I mean seven wins last year with no win at quarterback is respectable for sure and I would agree definitely defensively.

They upgraded without a doubt, but it's like offensively, I'm with Carson Palmer. Maybe a slight upgrade with the Jets over the Packers overall, but nowhere near as dramatic as what Tom Brady did going to the Buccaneers or nowhere near as dramatic. We're looking at Aaron Rogers and the Jets as a real threat.

I think it's part of the reason why even yesterday we were talking about it. Most people look at the Jets as a playoff team, but nowhere near, you know, an elite team in terms of being a Super Bowl contender. I think part of that is when you look at the Jets roster, it's solid, but not that big of a jump from what he had in Green Bay. Yeah, so my list of Super Bowl contenders are slim and I don't like always put just because you're a top five team in the AFC or NFC does not mean that you're a Super Bowl contender. Like right now, if you gave me three choices to go to Super Bowl this year, it's the Chiefs, it's the Bengals, and the Bills.

I don't think many people would argue it. So it's like, can the Jets be a double digit win team? Yes. Do I think the Jets are going to Super Bowl this year?

No. And the other part about this is Rogers with an easier road in the NFC and the number one seed at Lambeau Field twice came up small. Like Tampa Bay, Brady tried to give that game away. Rogers didn't take advantage of it and against the Niners, he was so locked in on Devontae Adams and he missed Allen Lazard, who was wide open down the field and they scored one touchdown that was early in the game. So I have questions about Rogers on the regular season, but just what he would be like in the postseason now up against tougher competition. If you're a Jet fan though, you should be excited.

Like let's not rain on your parade. You should be excited if you're a Jet fan because it's the greatest quarterback that you're ever going to have, or you've ever had in franchise history. But I'll give you a stat that it's a pretty good stat and it's from Hembo over at ESPN, who does a good job with get up. Aaron Rogers went 80 and 10 with the Packers when they allowed fewer than 20 points. The Jets allowed 18.6 points per game last season.

Think about that. He went 80 and 10 with the Packers when they allowed fewer than 20 points. And we know that the Jets have a really, really, really good defense. And I think you're going to see from Salah kind of that 49ers formula where you're going to win based off the defense and the offense just has to be solid. But now that does change the expectation because the Niners never had a quarterback like Aaron Rogers.

And remember, Salah comes from the 49ers coaching tree. It is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. We will take a time out. We will come on back and I will give you my top 10 teams in the NFL if the season was kicked off tomorrow. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show.

Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. Hickey, I put together a premature list entering the NFL draft of my top 10 teams in the NFL. Now, forget everything I said yesterday about the three wildcard teams that I put in the playoffs in the AFC. But I'm just looking at this based off roster construction, who the quarterback is, who the coach is, and also for some of these teams, do they get the benefit of the doubt or not?

More so towards the bottom than when you get to the top. So you want me to go 10 to one or one to 10 here? I'll let you decide this one.

Ooh, let's go. Let's go 10 to one. Let's build it up here and gradually get to the top team.

Okay. I always thought maybe you could maybe go one to 10 because I think the first few teams are fairly obvious. In at number 10, it's the Baltimore Ravens.

I thought the 10th team was the most difficult team to pick. I'm going to operate under the assumption until he gets traded that Lamar Jackson is going to be on the Ravens this year. Maybe DeAndre Hopkins after this weekend will be joining Odell Beckham with the Ravens. If JK Dobbins could stay healthy, I do believe he's a very good back in the NFL. You've got a solid defense in Baltimore, and you've got John Harbaugh, who's a very good coach and an organization, even though I don't love the way that this Lamar Jackson situation has played out, they do usually get the benefit of the doubt. And if Jackson can stay healthy, they're usually in the playoffs.

Even last year when he didn't stay healthy, they still found the way to make the playoffs. And almost if it wasn't for that bad play by Huntley where he tried to go air Huntley at the goal line, they could have been in the second round last year. We were that close to seeing the Bengals go down in the first round of the Ravens advance.

And remember the Bengals almost went to the Super Bowl last year where they got to the AFC title game for a second year in a row. So the Ravens are in at number 10. Nine, a team that we give a lot of crap to, but this is a team that's the last few years very solid in the regular season, and they've double digit wins in the regular season. The last two years with Mike McCarthy, that's the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys are a really, really, really, really, really, really good team, but come postseason time, they fail. Cowboys are in at nine. Number eight, I'm concerned if a big player won't be there this year because of the contract situation.

And I like the construction of this roster, but if they lose this player, that is a concern. I like the quarterback, but I don't like the coach. It's a Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers are in at eight.

Seven, this team has an easy path to the playoffs this year. This team has a stud young quarterback. This team has a Super Bowl winning coach. They got to get better on the defensive side of the ball, but they should be a double digit win team in the postseason. And they won a playoff game last year.

It's a Jackson ville Jaguars. So right out of the gate, Ravens ten, Cowboys nine, Chargers eight, Jaguars seven. Remember Jaguars beat the Chargers last year in the playoffs.

Now to team number six. It's the New York Jets. The Jets get Aaron Rodgers. The Jets might be the fourth best team right now in the AFC. I think there's a debate and it's a tough debate between the Jets, Jaguars and Chargers. I like the Jets defense a lot. We know Rodgers is a great quarterback.

The offensive side of the ball, it's fine, right? Garrett Wilson won rookie of the year. Breece Hall could have won rookie of the year if he didn't get hurt. You got Lazard, who Rodgers loves. You got Nicole Hardman there coming over from Kansas City. I put the Jets in at six and Rogers is the difference there. And that defense is really good. Now I think you could name the five teams that are remaining, but the order could be tricky. In at number five, a team that all they do is go to the NFC title game.

It's the San Francisco 49ers. The reason why the Niners aren't higher up on this list is I just don't have a damn clue what they're going to do at quarterback this year. They really like Brock Purdy.

They keep on bashing Trey Lance. Is there really a situation if Brock Purdy isn't healthy that Sam Darnold PU will be starting the first few games of the season? But that roster is so good with Bosa, McCaffrey, Deebo, Aiyuk, and all the names of the defensive side of the ball. But until they figure out their quarterback situation and we see more from Brock Purdy, it's tough for me to argue that they could be this much higher up on the list. Four, everyone loved this team last year. They did not meet expectations.

I actually think that will somewhat be a good thing for them because it could wake them up a little bit. It's the Buffalo Bills. The Bills still have a solid defense that deal with some injuries last few years. Offensively, they got to run the ball more.

This could be a big year for Cook. They bring in the former Patriot running back as well. But Josh Allen, Safon Diggs are still studs and that's why I put them in at four.

Three, I wanted to put this team a little bit higher up, but it just speaks to the other two guys and the other two teams. It's the Eagles. The Eagles last year for most of the year were the best team in football. Now they lost some pieces like Hargrave on the defensive side of the ball, CJ Gardner-Johnson.

Their line's still great. Dallas Goddard's still one of the more underappreciated players in football. You do have Devante Smith. You do have AJ Brown.

Hertz is a stud. Now I know you could line up pretty much anybody and you got success in the run game, but Rashad Penny's just not usually healthy and they're asking a lot out of them. I know they still have Gainwell on the roster.

If they get Bijan Robinson in the draft, this may change that conversation, but right now the Eagles are the best team in the NFC and I think they're on paper the third best team in football. Two, this is a great roster. Their defense knows how to make timely stops. Jamar Chase is a stud.

T Higgins is a stud. Maybe they had a tight end in the draft and a loaded tight end draft class and Joe Burrow is just the winner. The Bengals are in at two and the number one, this team just lost Tyree Killen still won a Super Bowl. Mahomes, even if he spots you a lead as the Eagles learned and many other teams, they're the toughest out in football. They may not be the best team on paper, but they're the toughest out because of who that quarterback is, who that tight end is, and who that coach is. So my top 10 teams right now entering the draft, Ravens 10, Cowboys 9, Chargers 8, Jaguars 7, the Jets at 6, Niners 5, Bills 4, Eagles 3, Bengals 2, Chiefs 1. Any problems that you got with that, Hickey?

Yes, I do. Two teams I think that should be in the top 10. Number one, the Dolphins. They are a team that made the playoffs even with two out, almost won a playoff game.

The third string quarterback in the game on the road in Buffalo have all town everywhere. They got Jalen Ramsey as well. I think, and they beat the Ravens last year if you want to take that into account as well. If you want to tell me, and they had a great comeback up against the Ravens too. A lot of early season collapses by the Ravens. If you want to tell me swap out the Dolphins or stop at the Ravens for the Dolphins, I can't really crush you for it.

And there's, it's a logical argument to be made. It just shows you, and I know, right, Lamar's had his own injury problems. How just, not that I'm down because I like Tua, but I just have no confidence he's going to get through the season. I know they have Mike White there, but you're right. They got a really good defense and you got Tyreek Hill and you got Jalen Waddle. That's fair. The Dolphins are fair.

You can make a case for them. And who's the other team? How about the Lions? I'll put the Lions in over the Cowboys.

So here's the funny part. I think the Lions will win the division, but I don't think they'll have more wins than the Dallas Cowboys. Like the, the Cowboys could be 11, 12 wins once again. The Lions division, not that it's easy peasy, but outside of the Vikings, there's no one that really is in that division that intimidates you this year. Lions are a fair one to bring up. I just would not put, I give the Cowboys more of the benefit of the doubt than the Lions because the Cowboys have had more regular season success recently, clearly, but we'll see if the Lions can meet those expectations. Maybe the Cowboys should lose to Kellen Moore who helped direct to top five offense what each of the last three years.

I actually think that's a good thing. I'm not a big fan of, of Kellen Moore. I don't think Kellen Moore is as great as what everyone tells you, what he is. That's what I'd say otherwise we'll see Mike McCarthy can, you know, step in and take it to the next level. I have a lot more confidence in Mike McCarthy than I do Kellen Moore. I think Kellen Moore is overrated and he lands in the best spot though. He gets to go, all the jobs are open. He gets to go to the Chargers. Come on, is Herbert now going to really, really take off because of Kellen Moore? He's already taken off. He's got to make sure Staley doesn't mess things up down the stretch. And if you're going to throw the Lions in there, let's go throw the Vikings baby in there, throw them a bone as well.