NFL Belief Level (Hour 3)

Hour number three of our radio program.

That's right, it is the Zach Gelb show, Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio, broadcasting to you today from one of our affiliates in Philadelphia. I always appreciate when they have me in the building in Philadelphia. And thank you to our affiliates for making my life a little bit easier. I have a wedding to attend this weekend in Philadelphia and I had to be here bright and early for it tomorrow morning since I'm in the wedding party. The wedding's not until Saturday, but there's rehearsal dinner. There's other events happening tomorrow.

So I asked our bosses if we could find the way to get into one of our affiliates in Philadelphia and the staff here, Rod Laken and company at WIP just do a great job. So big thanks to them for allowing me to invade and infringe on their territory to host my show. Hickey's back in our New York City studios. And right now, since I'm not here tomorrow, we're going to treat this like a Friday show. And on every Monday and Friday on the Zach Gelb show, we do five questions, five answers, a little onsides offside.

So hot take Hickey, let's go hit it. Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports. Which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on? Offside defense number 69. It's onsides, offsides with Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio. Boom, boom, boom.

All right, what do you got? Let's start with a little baseball here. Yesterday, race star Wanda Franco took smooth to a whole other level as he fielded a ground ball with his glove, then reached into his glove with his right hand. Ball in right hand, flipped it up to himself in the air, caught it through to first for the final out of the game.

It was a playlist I've never seen before. I would equate it maybe to the equivalent of a batter hitting a home run, bat flipping. Maybe in the NBA, you get a breakaway dunk, they throw down a big voracious windmill dunk, a little bit of showboating to go along with what it will be in normally a routine play. So onsides or offside Zach, you have no problem with Wanda Franco's showboating before throwing to first base. So I understand because it's baseball, it's like the only thing you compare it to in baseball is bat flipping, but he did it in the play.

Like, bat flipping, the contact is already made, then you flip the bat. This was so different, and I don't know about you, Hickey, and I know Twitter is not always a great reflection of our actual society, but it does represent some part of the society. I thought when I first saw it, you were going to get the baseball purists and like the old snob going, that's disrespectful, or that hooligan shouldn't be doing that, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I didn't see a lot of that where I don't think a lot of people are upset or am I totally wrong on this? No, I'm with you. I was surprised that for the most part, people use their brains, use common sense and said, wow, this is cool.

We got to see more of this. I actually thought it was awesome. And the only way that I would have had a problem with it was if he then after that fired the ball like 10 feet wide of first base or 10 feet, you know, up in the air of the first baseman's glove. So the fact that he made the play, I have no issue with it. So the question you asked me, do I have a problem with Juan DeFranco showboating before throwing to first? I don't offsides.

Game two between the Warriors and Lakers is later on tonight. Hey, by the way, do you think we'll see more of that from Juan DeFranco or do you think it's like one of those things you did it once? Let's not kind of push our luck here that you'd try to do it again and then you misfire the ball. Cause that's tough to do. Like just to toss the ball up in the air and just catch it. That's not always easy. Like how many times do you see a player when they feel the ball and they're transitioning the ball to their glove, just drop the ball occasionally. Like that's not an easy thing.

What he did. Maybe not that exact replica, but I think we'll see more like it. Yeah. I don't think this is just a one-off if you will. So this is going to turn into like the Mahomes no look pass where you'll see it like here and there, but he's going to do this once again. I think so.

Yeah. Or more than runners to a baseball. I would be surprised if he consistently does this, but I do wonder he clearly was thinking about this for a while because I don't think that's something you just do spontaneously. That looked like he's done it in practice a million times. It was very smooth. And it looked like you said, it wasn't just a spur of the moment. I'm just going to toss the ball to myself.

I think he practiced at a time. Who were they playing by the way, pirates Pittsburgh pirates. It's not like a team that you really need to showboat against. I know that the pirates are off to a heck of a start this year.

They're like seven or eight games above 500 and the Rays what they only have like six losses or five losses on the season, whatever it is. It's not like there was animosity there. If you were let's saying playing the Yankees or the Blue Jays or the Red Sox or the Orioles, like inside the AL East, maybe you want to show up your opponent. But I on that one, I was surprised, you know, against who the opponent was that it happened.

So you're probably right. He probably did try that in practice. Now they didn't try to hit him after like in the next game, right?

Uh, not that I've seen. No, because that happened yesterday, right yesterday to end the game. So they, they played today and the Rays won three, two. I wonder if there was any like, and that's just stupid old school baseball where I think we operate the same way. When someone hits a home run off someone and then the team's responses, oh, I didn't like the way that he celebrated. So let me go try to put a fastball in his back. I always would say, go strike the guy out. And instead of trying to put a fastball into someone's back. So in this case, I just wonder if someone retaliated or if there's going to be retaliation. Cause he does felt like you're getting showed up, but I wouldn't have a problem with, I think this is good for baseball.

Actually. I think bad flips. I think entertainment.

I think personality is good for a sport that needs more of it. That is a hundred percent true for sure. Right on the hardwood tonight, game two Lakers warriors LA looks like a two Oh, seriously before heading back home and an NBA history. When teams have gone down Oh two at a series, they have won and come back just 8% of the time. Although we are talking about a golden state team that justified the odds last round, they fell down Oh two to the Kings before rallying to win in seven games on sides or off sides game two is a must win for the warriors.

Oh, that's a good question. Now, when they were playing the Kings, they lost the first two games on the road. And you know, that old adage, which I absolutely hate a series. You don't get concerned about a series until you drop a game on your own home court. So in this case, they're now at their home court and they've been such a bad road team this year.

Now I understand up against the Kings when only having 11 regular season wins this year on the road, the warriors, they were able to win games five and seven on the road, but they were not able to win game six, which was at home. This does feel like a must win tonight because if you go down Oh two, you're playing with fire with how bad you've been on the road. I know the warriors are always going to be a tough out. And even when they go down, they're not going to go down without a fight. But if you lose two on your home court, and then you go into Los Angeles, I got to think the Lakers are going to win at least either games, three or four, they got to win one of them.

And then to come back from down three one is so tough. So I do feel like this a must win game tonight for the warriors. I would go on sides. Would you agree with that? By the way?

I would say offsides. I don't think they have to win tonight in order to win the series. I think they still could come back from mocha like we just saw.

Yeah, but I feel like it's different. And I know they've been a bad road team this year. But they dropped those two games on the road in the last round. And then they were going home to drop those two games at home and then go on the road where you're not a good team this year.

I think that's very tough to do than what they just did the last round. Oh, being easier. That's for sure.

But I think if there's one thing that right now could do in the postseason, it definitely would be the Warriors for sure. All right, your favorite topic. Let's get into it.

Tom Brady's future. Guess what? It's a question again. Sure.

Is it really something else happened? Yes. Yes. Are you talking about him returning to play football this year? No.

Oh, okay. I was about to say not that future. I was about to go Drew Rosenhaus on you. You know, since I'm in Philly, I'll drop this line when he was representing T.O. Terrell Owens and just do next question when the sit ups are happening in the driveway. Because if I had to speculate here about Tom Brady's future on the football field, I would have projectile vomited because he retired once, then came back. He's retired again. He should not come back and play football again. But this is off the field, you're saying?

Off the field. Is he dating someone? No. Oh, okay. So what does that have to do with? New York Post's Andrew Martian is a media reporter. Oh, broadcasting? He claims that he talked to a few people close to the Tom Brady camp and he says it's more unlikely than likely than likely that Brady broadcasts for Fox. He said in his own words, his calculations, that's Andrew Martian. There's a forty nine percent chance that he does work for Fox. Wait, one percent chance that he doesn't. Some of the issues and reasons why he said Tom Brady.

Wait, time out, time out, time out, time out. When you say someone is unlikely to broadcast. I know percentages still shows that it's more unlikely he broadcast than he does, but you're going fifty one percent to forty nine percent. That's so sensationalized the way that that was worded by Marsha. And if that's true, that's ridiculous. I mean, it's not wrong. You say it's more unlikely than likely.

I know. But if I say, hey, it's more unlikely than than likely that I'm going to fire you. You think that you're going to end up being pretty safe. The fact like and then if I say, oh, but there's a forty nine percent chance that I fire you, you're not sitting there high and pretty, feeling good about your job status. That's ridiculous. Forty nine fifty one is even conversation, I think is interesting considering the fact that he signed that deal last year. It seemed to be all but a guarantee. And now all of a sudden it's becoming less and less likely.

And now suddenly you have someone again. It's forty nine fifty one. It's semantics is very close, but still right now leaning more no than yes in terms of broadcasting some of the issues that Marsha did cite that again, he claims he talked to people close to the Brady camp that Marsha know in the Brady camp. I don't know. I don't know who he would get in touch with in terms of broadcasting.

Maybe it's a whole different camp now. I know Donnie brought represents him. I don't know. Does he hire someone for for a media agent or something like that, a broadcast agent? I would imagine he would still use Donnie, but who knows? Because there's so much representation probably with Brady. Maybe talking to people like Fox, too, because some of the things they said, maybe talking to Giselle, maybe family, maybe Giselle.

You know, Giselle's like listed. I don't want Tom to broadcast. I wanted to spend time with the kids, even though she's not married to him anymore. You know, Tom Brady always having to be all in their thoughts of does he really want to be all in on broadcasting? And there's also thought that and this is very true, he can make money elsewhere if he really does need it. As a reminder, he is set to begin his broadcasting career, not this year, but next year in twenty twenty four. So onsides or offsides, Tom Brady will not, after all this, be a Fox NFL analyst and will not kick Greg Olson out of the booth. I'm going to go offside. That contract was like three hundred million dollars, right?

I think three seventy five. Yeah. Something crazy like that. I know you're Tom Brady and you have stupid money. I don't think you'll at least say I don't think you say no before giving it a try.

I think he'll give it a try. Did you also see that other Brady report last week that Brady's done dating models after the whole Giselle thing? Imagine being in that stage of your life where there could be a report about you that you're done dating models. So everyone else has a chance. You do something about your life, huh?

Yeah. I'm telling you, leave him for the rest of us. The two guys I think I'm the most jealous of, Justin Bieber and then Tom Brady, like they have the perfect life. When we were growing up, like everyone would want to be Justin Bieber.

And if and if you said you didn't want to be Justin Bieber, it's because you were just jealous of him. Like every girl loved Justin Bieber and then Tom Brady. There's not a flaw about Tom Brady. The dude is is the greatest quarterback of all time. He's good looking. And he could decide when he doesn't want to date models anymore. I don't think there's another person on the planet.

I'm sure there is. But for me, it's Brady. And then it's also Justin Bieber. Those are two people that if I can get reincarnated, I would love to come back and live their lives. Yeah, I love to get tired out by models. That's for sure.

That's the challenge I'll take on Tom. Well, I don't know. You have some high standards after last night saying you're no longer interested in Jessica Alba, you loser. No, you know, it's not. I'm not interested.

I'm just I think that all don't walk it back running is just to me overblown. That's for sure. By the way, at least does your girlfriend know about your Jessica Alba take? No, I did not tell her about it. You should probably tell her about that. Probably get me some good graces. A hundred percent.

She would be like, oh, my man is is so in love with me that he doesn't even care about Jessica Alba anymore. I think that would be great boyfriend of the year right here. Right. Get some brownie points right there.

You heard it first. You could thank me. You could thank me later for that one. All right. So I will.

I'll take tips in terms of Venmo. All right. Speaking of Jessica Alba, she was at the Knicks game number two. Knicks are obviously in the Eastern Conference. Both home teams and the Eastern Conference did drop game one and bounced back to win game two. The aforementioned Knicks with Jessica Alba in attendance did hold on to beat the Heat on Tuesday night while on Wednesday. The Celtics just absolutely obliterated the Sixers winning by 34 points.

Joel Embiid did return after missing game one playing 27 minutes and recording five blocks while looking pretty good with his knee injury. Onsides or offsides, the Eastern Conference Finals will be a matchup between the Celtics and Knicks. Celtics will get there. The Knicks will not. It will be the Miami Heat. So I think the Celtics will get there. The Heat will get there. You asked me if it will be the Knicks and the Celtics. I will say no because the Knicks won't get there offside.

Offside. And finally, Lamar Jackson had his press conference today after signing his massive extension and he was talking pretty confidently about the offense's ability this year. When talking about his goals for the season, he said this. I told, I think I told someone like, man, I want to throw for like 6,000 yards with the weapons we have. You know, and I'm not an individual award type of guy or stat watcher.

You know, I just want to do that, you know, because no one ever done it. And I feel like we have the weapons to do it. You know, we got explosive guys. So 6,000 yards is the goal of the career high for Lamar Jackson passing yards in a season 3,127. Onsides or offsides, Zach, Lamar Jackson will throw for at least 4,000 yards in 2023. So that tells me that Lamar Jackson wants to throw the football more.

That's the way that I hear that answer. Now, he's not going to get to 6,000 yards. He's not even going to get to 5,000 yards.

You just set the bar at 4,000. Man, that unanimous MVP season, he had 1,206 rushing yards and then he threw for 3,127 yards, like you just said. That was only in 15 games. I guess he didn't play game 16.

So you now have two extra games to the regular season, you know, off of that, off the 15, because they added one more regular season game. And even with, if he played all 17 games, which that's also up in the air because he hasn't done it the last two years. I don't think he's making that jump. Even if he throws the ball more from 3,127 to 4,000, because he's still going to run the ball a lot. And if he's not run the ball that much, I think that's going to be a heated locker room where there's going to be people annoyed that Lamar isn't doing what makes him so great. It's that dual threat ability. So I'm going to say no, he does not get to 4,000, maybe mid 3,000, like 3,500, something like there. He could even get into the high ends, like 3,800 and something, but I don't think it's going to get at least 4,000.

I would go offside. Take a time out on the Zach Gelb show. When we do return the Denver Nuggets are up 2-0 against the Phoenix Suns.

Is this series over or do you still think there's a chance the Suns are coming back? Scott Hastings will join us next. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Welcome back in and it's the Zach Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. I really love this Denver Nuggets team and it's not just because they're up 2-0 in the second round of the NBA playoffs and I'm not rooting for the Phoenix Suns, but I go back to 2021.

That team was cruising, they were built the right way, they made the right trades, they drafted correctly, and then unfortunately you had the Jamal Murray injury happen and ever since then it was like, all right, Nikola Jokic is great, but they don't really have a chance until Jamal Murray comes back and now Murray is back and not only is he back, the Suns are going to have to find the way to come on back because they're now down 2-0 to the Denver Nuggets and joining us is Scott Hastings who does a great job, did play for the Nuggets, a bunch of other teams as well, was on the Pistons where they did win a championship and is their color analyst for altitude sports now covering the Denver Nuggets and he's with us right now. Scott, appreciate the time. How are you? Doing good, Zach. How about yourself? Well, I'm doing fantastic. I know Murray did not play great in game two, but it's been so awesome to see him back and contributing in the postseason.

Yeah, you know, it's amazing. It was nearly a thousand days in between the playoff appearances, you know, they were in the bubble and the quote-unquote bubble Murray terminology came out. Then the next year, as you said, they're rolling. He tears his ACL is out the following next year and then Porter gets hurt. And so they're in the playoffs the second year now without Murray and the second year is without Porter as well. And, you know, I've been reading an article in, in, in the San Francisco paper.

It says, you know, the Golden State Warriors, we're doing a good job controlling the color. You'll get your daughter done. I'm like, he averaged 28, 13 and a half and nine. I don't know about control, but you need another dog or two. And that, that data has been missing. It's been good to see. I still think he's getting his legs underneath him. I still think he's, you know, getting his, his post season body, right. Um, as you've seen in all the playoffs, Zach, I mean, it has gotten 10 times more physical, uh, than the regular season.

In fact, I asked Michael blown who I, I played for his dad was assistant goats in Detroit. And I said, could you play 82 games? Cause the guys, they go, he thinks they can adjust.

But to be honest with you, I'm not sure you could, there'd be way too many people out to me, many injuries. So it's a lot more physical. They're letting guys lean and rest on you. And both Minnesota now Phoenix are putting bigger, thicker guys, if you will, heavier bodies, or at least taller bodies on Murray the entire time he's on the floor. Does this Denver team, do you sense a chip on their shoulder? Cause heading into the post-season they had a wonderful regular season. It seems like everyone was trying to find the reason to not pick them to go to the finals.

Yeah, I don't know. You know, they, they, they played Memphis, uh, about 20, some 20 games or so left to go in the season, maybe, maybe under that. And it was the number one, number two, and that's where Memphis was, you know, still within reach and, and Denver pounded them in Denver and they kind of put it on cruise control the end of the season. Uh, I think it turned off a bunch of people as far as the color for MVP. It scared a lot of fans of this team. What are they doing?

Oh, they're not as good. And it probably hurt them a little bit. Um, so yeah, I think they probably got a little chip. Um, I think they were waiting, I think, and this is, this is maturity and growth of the team, as you mentioned, drafted well put together well, the right free agents, good trades.

Um, you got to go through a little adversity. They've done that, but you also got to get to a mindset where let's get through the regular season, but let's win the playoffs. And they were able to get the number one record. They held on long enough.

Did that. Um, you know, they play the first series. I would bet. And I haven't looked that there's never been a number one seed in the East or West that was relegated to, you know, 10, 10 or 10, 30 starts Eastern time, every single game in the first round. And I think every game, except for the game one, they played at, uh, at six Denver.

So, well, I guess it still be a, it'd be eight o'clock. So they played a one game in prime time in East coast, East coast time. And I don't know any of the number one seed that's ever done that.

So yeah, do they have a little chip probably? Um, but they also got some real good players. They got a determined coach and they, and they just got some nice pieces that, that fit with the stars. It's also so bizarre to me, the conversation around the joker, Nicole Jokic, where he wins the MVP back to back seasons, and he's had a great year this year. It seems like people are still so critical of his game, trying to find reasons why he shouldn't have won the MVP. And the thing that I can't stand the most Scott Hayes things is people say that his game is boring.

Like I just don't get that stuff. Well, then it's probably people that didn't watch magic Johnson play, uh, probably didn't watch Larry Bird play probably didn't watch, you know, stocked in the Malone play probably didn't watch some of the all time great guys that have hall of fame jackets. Um, because the one thing, and I, you've heard this least when I was a kid, used to talk about baseball players here, but he just made that, that hard play look easy. And we were amazed at that center fielder when Kenny King, Griffey Jr. Could spread down a shot in the middle and all sudden glove. And you're like, how'd he get there? He made that look so easy.

And, and anybody who's ever tried to play outfield in baseball, and I only went to Legion, dude, that's amazing. I think he just makes hard plays look easy. He plays a little bit of a YMCA game. He plays a little bit of the, you know, game below the rim. And for guys my age, and I remember talking to the late grade Eddie Sutton, one time about basketball, they said, this is basketball, the way we were taught how to play all below the rim. And he dunks it, they can dunk it, but, but he dominates below the rim. Jeff Ruhland, how can you rebound when you can't jump?

He goes, cause 90% of the rebounds are below the rim. It's, it's an old school theory that's working in the flash and pomp and circumstance of the ESPN worlds that if it isn't shiny and bright, it must not be any good. When did you know that he was going to be great, Nicole Jokic, watching him?

Probably his second year. I remember, and I'm seeing him do it, the world's seeing him do now, and I'm going, Oh my gosh. I mean, I haven't seen guys do, I've not seen a big man with the vision that he has, you know, ever. And I remember we're playing a game against the Pacers and we're actually in London. And one of my former teammates is there, Isaiah Thomas, who I, I respect his opinion on basketball. And I said, I die, Isaiah, before the game, I said, watch his kid named joker, a jokic. I said, watch him. I said, I think he's got a chance to be the best player that's ever played for the Denver nuggets. Now, you know, the nuggets have got, you know, insulin, Alex English is in the hall of fame, fat lever with, you know, wrote the code on triple doubles back in his day. Um, I said, but watch him.

I think he's going to be the best that's ever played here. And so Dave's going on, they're killing them. He's doing crazy things. I think he throws to an over the head, uh, not looking back, pass lob to Kenneth three to Duncan.

I mean, it was just stupid stuff until we get Isaiah on in the third quarter. And I said, well, what'd you think? I pretty good. I said, he reminds me maybe of a lottie or, you know, Subona. And he goes, nah, he's magic Johnson.

Wow. That's how this kid plays. I, and this was, this is what probably second or third year in the league or something like that. Um, he, he's, he's any, and you know what, on top of it, he's a good guy in all this stuff. You know, uh, the people try to say when he says, somebody asks him after game one, what do you think about the MVP? How much, how much percentage of the time are you thinking about this? And he went zero.

Now it's a cute sound bite and everybody gets to play it, but guess what? That's true. I remember early in his career, we're in Los Angeles, you know, the league stack.

So, so just keep this and keep this in mind. We're in Los Angeles, just beat the Lakers in LA. It's like a Saturday night. We're not flying out till Sunday.

So you're an NBA team that just beat the Lakers in LA and you have a Saturday night off in Los Angeles. I'm going out. I'll tell you that Scott. Okay. Joker's the only player that made the bus ride back to the hotel with all the slugs.

That's media slugs, right? And when I saw him get on the, on the bus with us, I went, I said, okay, this cat's different. This, this cat's different. He he's, he's married, has a daughter. We saw the pictures of him waving to his daughter the other day.

So cool. Uh, he, he wears his wedding ring tied to his shoes. Like it's 19, you know, 68, right. Or they're 55 or what he's got his ring tied to his shoe when he plays every single night. He's a different breed of guy.

He's legit. I think part of the reason the machinery didn't want him to win the MVP this year, uh, was because he doesn't do the talk shows. He doesn't, you know, he's not going to come in live and have a press conference and bring everybody in. He, you know, they gave him as his trophy last year as he's coming in from, uh, riding his horses in Serbia, you know, he, he, he, he doesn't care. The early this year, I gave him a long window.

I apologize. He, he gave a story earlier this year, they're giving him for the playoffs and he goes, you know, w what do you know about winning a championship? And he goes, nothing. I said, I have, I haven't won anything yet. Go talk to Christian Brown. He just won the NCAA championship. He knows about winning championships. Wow.

And I went, wow. I mean, this guy's making, you know, buku monies and MVPs and all star kids want to, you know, wearing his jerseys around town, blah, blah, blah. And he's saying, go talk to this rookie. He won a championship just this past year with Kansas.

He knows what it takes to win a championship. Scott, Scott Hastings, uh, I got to ask you about, uh, from the sun side of it, they're down. Oh, two. Uh, now Chris Paul is hurt. They haven't had a lot of time to gel. Can you make an argument how they find a way to not only get back in the series, but take command of the series?

Cause I don't see it. Well, the, the, um, they've got to shoot. Well, listen, they got beat by 18 in game one and they shot 52%. I was going to say, they got to shoot better.

It's it's who controls possessions, who controls rebounds, defense doesn't stop to your rebound. You know, Monty was, was really propping up his team. Look what we did. We, we held this team to 97. I was like, but you only scored 87.

So, I mean, I don't know how good of accomplishment that was. I think they're a high scoring, big team. They averaged 122 against the Clippers.

There was an old saying when I grew up that said, sometimes you just got to dance with the one that brung you. They're a scoring juggernaut and they're trying to do bring in their own form of defense into this series. And I think it's affecting what they do best and that's just score. So for them to get back in the series, I think they got to make this 130, 125 type of series, which would be really entertaining for the fans. But I think that's what they got to do.

And it'll be interesting going forward without Chris Paul, because now you got Booker and Durant high volume guys. Is it your turn? My turn?

Is there going to be, let me get mine. You know, what are you going to do? It's, it's really an interesting time.

If Denver can find a way to win tomorrow, this thing could be short-lived. Scott Hastings, appreciate the time as always. Thanks so much for doing this. Same time, buddy. We'll talk to you later. You got it. There he is. Scott Hastings joining us. His great job calling the Nuggets games for altitude sports.

So come on back. Hickey has put together a list of 10 teams that I don't want to say are polarizing, but we have questions about entering this NFL season and where my confidence is at from one to 10 post NFL draft with those teams, pretty much knowing how we think the roster will be by week one. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Alrighty, Zach Gelb show, CBS Sports Radio.

Hickey, give me some NFL music, please. So the NFL draft is over. Free agency. All the big names are off the board. Maybe we'll have some trades happen because we thought there were going to be a lot of trades at the draft.

I didn't think DeAndre Swift was going to be the biggest active player that was going to be traded because he's not even really that big of a name, even though I think he will fit in well in Philadelphia, but all those rumors about Dalvin Cook and Joe Mixon and Austin Eckler and DeAndre Hopkins, none of them ended up happening. So since we have an idea of what these rosters are going to look like after the draft, Hickey, give me some teams here. I think we'll go through 10 of them and I'll tell you where my confidence is at heading into the season with them. Let's start in familiar territory with your team, the New England Patriots. I think you're going to be surprised by this. Three.

The number's three and here's why. I think this team is seven or eight wins at best nine. I don't think they're making the playoffs.

And at this point, it's not, it's not Super Bowl or bust anymore, but it's playoffs or bust. And I just, with how deep the AFC is, and even though Bill will do a great job with that defense and offensively, at least you have Bill O'Brien in place. They don't have enough in the wide receiver room. Like they have some depth at wide receiver, but they don't have stars. They don't have a star at wide receiver. Like you look at the Bills, they have a Stefan Diggs. You look at the Vikings and they just drafted wide receiver in the first round and they already have Justin Jefferson. Look at the Dolphins just in your own division with Tyree Kill. And then also Jalen Waddell, Philadelphia. Look what they did for their quarterback, getting Devontae Smith and then A.J.

Brown. Yeah, it's nice to go get an offensive coordinator that's actually an offensive coordinator, but they don't have enough stars at wide receiver. They don't have a star at wide receiver. So I don't think this team's making the playoffs.

That's why I put it at three. Not a lot of confidence. How about the Pittsburgh Steelers? I actually feel decent about the Steelers. Like I think there is a chance they make the playoffs this year.

I'll put it at a six. That defense was not healthy last year. You got to think they're going to be healthy this year. I like some of the moves that they've made this offseason. Pickens I think is going to be really good too.

Then you have Pickett. We'll see what he does in year two, but I liked some tangible moments that he gave you in year one. The line is a little bit of a concern, but I think they got a chance to battle and go get a wild card spot.

So I'll put it at six. The Houston Texans made a lot of splashes. C.J. Stroud, Will Anderson Jr. Where's your confidence in them after the draft?

Like a two? They're going to be a bad team this year, but I do like that they're finally starting to take some swings where you know they're actually going to make contact. Because the last two years they were just taking swings with a blindfold on their face. Hiring guys that you knew were never going to be able to lead this team into the future.

It's not year one for Nick Casario, but it does feel like year one because now he finally has a coach that he hired that he believes in. You go draft a quarterback with the second overall pick and in addition to that you go trade a future first to go get Will Anderson. But this team is still going to be bad. Like if they get six wins this year, seven wins, I think that's a super duper success. But I think next year this team will still be in the top five of the draft and that team already sent their first round pick to the Arizona Cardinals even though they do have a first round pick still because they still have one more first round I believe from the Deshaun Watson deal. How about the Chargers?

Seven. The Chargers will make the playoffs. I love the move of drafting Quinn and Johnston and it looks like Austin Eckler will be there, but I don't trust this coach Brandon Staley. I think Herbert will carry them to the playoffs and they have so much talent on the roster that they'll be in the playoffs, but it's still like when push comes to shove the reason why and I think some people are like oh seven's a high number. The reason why it's not higher than that is because I don't trust this coach to get the job done when it matters the most, but I just love the talent on that roster. The team with arguably the most polarizing draft is the Detroit Lions.

Where's your confidence after draft day in Big D? Not really Big D, that's Dallas. Yeah I'm gonna say that's not the Dallas Cowboys. That's the Motor City all right.

It's like a six and a half. I think they're gonna win that division, but I think a lot of people are overlooking Minnesota and I know Minnesota's defense is still god awful, but offensively they have so many pieces, but if I had to pick between one you'd probably give the slight edge to Detroit because you got to think that the Vikings are gonna lose. Dalvin Cook as well with all the rumors this offseason, but it's like a six and a half. They could win the division if they don't. They should still be a playoff team as a wildcard team, but I don't think they're anywhere close to contending for a Super Bowl yet because eventually you're probably going to need a different quarterback even though Goff did play well last year. Panthers got a new head coach in Frank Reich. They also got a new quarterback in Bryce Young.

Where's your confidence in Carolina? I don't love Frank Reich like everyone else does. I think the last two years he did a really bad job with the Indianapolis Colts.

Now it's not all his fault, but a lot of it was his fault. I love Bryce Young. Miles Sanders, I'm fine with Miles Sanders. I don't think he's gonna be as great as he was great as he was last year behind the best offensive line in football. Thielen's still a solid player.

DJ Chark is still a solid player as well. Defensively they're really good. I like their defense.

I'll put it at like a four. If you tell me that this team goes and wins a division I wouldn't be surprised because the division stinks, but you're probably looking at like six, seven wins. I know last year that they almost won that division and now you have a much better quarterback in there, but there's going to be a lot of growing pains with a new regime and then also a new quarterback as well. So I think they could be anywhere six to eight wins, but it's not like I'm oozing with confidence with this Panthers team. How about the Seahawks?

I feel good about Seattle. I really like their draft. They took Witherspoon. Then they also got Jackson Smith and Jigba. They added Zach Charbonnet out of UCLA to complement Kenneth Walker as well.

That secondary is going to be good. Pete Carroll's a heck of a coach. I don't think it's a stretch to say that the Seahawks, even though we got to see how much regression, if any regression at all, occurs with Geno Smith, are the third best team in the NFC. Like Eagles are one. Niners are two.

That's clear cut. If you're looking at that third team you could argue Dallas. You could argue Minnesota, Detroit like we talked about. I could make the case for Seattle.

I'm going to put my confidence of the Seattle Seahawks. It's a little bit more than a 7.5. I don't want to go 8.

I'll go like 7.8. Pretty damn close. Like I feel really good about the Seahawks entering this season. All right, we got three more. Speaking of Big D, how about the Dallas Cowboys? Seven. They'll be a wild-card team. They'll probably have 10, 11, 12 wins in the regular season, but come playoff time I have no confidence in Dak Prescott to get the job done. They're a good team, not a great team.

That's why you kind of just get an okay grade of a seven. How about the Falcons? Three. I know that's a roster that's really talented on the offensive side of the ball. When you have Bijan Robinson, you have Tyler Algier, Drake London, you have Kyle Pitts if he could stay healthy, but I can't trust Desmond Ritter right now, so I don't really have any great expectations for them. You know, what did I give the Panthers? Do you remember what I gave the Panthers a few seconds ago? Was it three or four?

Three. All right, so they're probably slightly better than the Panthers, I would say. Three and a half if you want to go there, but not much higher than that just because I have no confidence in Desmond Ritter. Like if you put Bryce Young on the Falcons, that number would be higher, but Kaleis Campbell talking about this team, you know, you should be surprised by them. That's just the money talking.

I don't really believe him. And also you have Matt Collins on that team who walks around New York City and the dirty streets of New York with no shoes on, so I have a problem with that because that's just gross behavior. And let's finish up last but not least, the Buffalo Bills. Where's your confidence in them post draft?

I'm not even going to say I love their draft, but I think a lot of people are sleeping on Buffalo this year, and the reason why I say that is because people aren't going to go back to the well because they disappointed a year ago. This is still the third best team in the AFC. Yes, the AFC got even tougher. Yes, the AFC East got even tougher. Last year they got embarrassed in that game up against Cincinnati. I'm not taking anything away from them, but I kind of put my confidence as a 9. Like if you tell me that the Bills are in the Super Bowl this year, I don't think anybody should be surprised by that because you would hope or you would think that eventually they're due. Last year they took a step back. I think a lot of people will be off their wagon and maybe there won't be as much pressure on the Buffalo Bills entering this year because everyone's going to be talking about Kansas City and the Cincinnati Bengals and then also Aaron Rodgers because he's on the New York Jets now and because he's Aaron Rodgers. Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. We'll do a news brief next.