Rory McIlroy Speaks (Hour 2)

All righty, this is that Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Rex Walter is going to join us coming up 20 minutes from now, but first today was the day that Rory McIlroy did address reporters for the first time since the big announcement that shocked the golf world yesterday that the PGA Tour, Live Golf and also the DP World Tour, the European Tour are going to be merging together and we're going to have them merge together from a business perspective and eventually you'll get a lot of these Live Golfers come back to the PGA Tour and get their PGA Tour cards back and all that stuff. So really what has happened here was guys like Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson that did jump ship and go to Live Golf, they look like big winners here because we don't know how much of the money they got, but they got large sums of money to go jump and leave the PGA Tour and go and join Live Golf. And now it seems as if pretty much Hickey, all these golfers that did jump to Live Golf, I know there's talk yesterday there's going to be a fine or there's going to be some punishment to get them back on the PGA Tour. That may be true, that may end up happening, but I think a lot of that yesterday was just writing things and saying things and reporting things to kind of appease or kind of slow down some of the animosity that is deservedly so being, you know, deriving from the guys on the PGA Tour that did stay and didn't take all that money to go join Live Golf. I have a tough time thinking that this is going to be all that complicated to eventually give the tour cards back to the PGA golfers. And even if it's a fine, I mean, compared to the contracts that they got, it's a slap on the wrist. So they're, I'm sure not going to, hey, you just got a $200 million deal, right? Here's a $10,000 fine. Boom, Rose said, okay, farmer back on the PGA Tour.

All good. Yeah, it's going to be one of those where it's going to be a punishment for the principle of it. But in terms of actually impacting their bank account or actually being severe, no. Well, the other thing is too, you got to think eventually Rory McIlroy is going to get his. When you know who's funding this stuff and how much unlimited money, right?

It keeps on being thrown out there. I got to think since Rory McIlroy did carry the flag for the PGA Tour, if they want to keep Rory McIlroy happy, I'm assuming something's going to be done for Rory McIlroy. That's what I would think. I mean, I guess if you're like the public investment fund PIF, like what do they care? Because now you're working with Rory McIlroy. Right. But like when you have unlimited money.

Right. But they don't owe Rory anything. I'm going to imagine whether that's on the books or hush hush. Those guys are going to eventually get that money.

The big name guys, you're going to want to keep those guys happy. I would imagine I'd be shocked if Rory McIlroy doesn't end up laughing to the bank over this. I hate to say, I mean, the only thing is what else are they going to do? Rory can't go anywhere.

There's no other tour for him to play on. You're not wrong on that. Like, that's the only thing where it's just like, it sucks. But if you're getting into a new business relationship, but I know that this is unprecedented, right?

With the people that we're dealing with here. But if you're getting into this new business venture, you're going to want Rory McIlroy to be happy. And when the money is literally irrelevant from the people that are financing it, I would imagine that Rory is going to get a king's ransom here. But also if you're Rory, he's already rich. The money, I don't think is going to make him feel better.

It's the principle. And who knows with how much money was given to live golf, how much money here is going to be given out in the future to these golfers moving forward? I don't know what the business model is going to be. I don't know how much money they're going to get moving forward. You assume the pools and the prizes for winning are going to absolutely increase. How much we'll see. Will there be appearance fees? We'll see. That's been something they've been pushing for now for a while.

So it's like maybe those areas possibly could increase. You could get a bump there, but I guess I look, I feel bad for Rory. I think he, to me, is the biggest loser in this all with the embarrassment he suffered. I guess I just don't envision or foresee like a $200 million check coming his way to be like, Oh, Rory, all is well here.

Here's for all your troubles. A hundred million, something like that. He's going to get taken care of. There's no doubt about that in my mind. And why I further go to that is I know he could say today that Jimmy Dunn just told like, he knew things were going on. And then he finally got the specifics and the finality of this on Monday morning. He knew he was in the, no, he was tipped off about this.

I don't believe. I even said in his press conference that he had an idea that there were talks happening, but he was surprised that it got done this quickly with the people that are making the deal on both sides, with how Rory McElroy carried the flag for the PGA tour. And as he even said, was the sacrificial lamb here for the PGA tour. I got to think to keep him happy for how important he is for the game of golf.

Eventually, whether it's publicly or behind the scenes, he's going to get a ton of money. And I honestly think that if you believe that he's not going to eventually get taken care of, it's really a little bit naive in my opinion, but let's hear a little bit from Rory McElroy. This is Rory McElroy discussing his disdain for live golf. I still hate live. I hate live. I hope it goes away.

And I would fully expect that it does. At this point, do you think it's necessary for Rory McElroy to say that he hates live golf, Hickey? I understand why you would hate it because you look like a fool here, because all you did for the last 15 months was go to back, go to battle for the PGA tour.

And now they basically stabbed you right in the back when a lot of your friends that you're in a similar class with ended up getting $100, $125 million, $150, $200 million. No, I think he's fine sampling. I think he's talking about the principle of it, how it works, 54 holes, kind of basically the team events, the basically no reason to compete or no incentive really to compete. Like, yeah, I think he's well within his rights to just like say how he feels that I appreciate the honesty.

Yeah. I'm going to give you an unpopular opinion here. If I was him, I wouldn't even do this press conference today. I don't think there's any good to come out of this from Rory McElroy. And I know you could say, oh, then you're running for the media. Eventually you're going to have to address this, get this out of the way. Now with how he was used for the last two years or so, a little less than two years, I wouldn't be sitting there talking about, you know, talking to the media today that that's just me. I would kind of just show up, go to the tournament, you know, when it gets underway, I guess tomorrow and that would be it.

I'm not doing anything extra here. That's just how I would handle it if I'm Rory McElroy. Because you know, all this stuff is going to, and here's why I say that, the US Open is next week. This story is not going away. When you do all the press conferences heading into the US Open, every single, the majority of those questions are going to be about the merger. Even though Rory McElroy addressed a lot of this stuff today. That's going to be the number one storyline next week, Hanky.

All right. Just like he answered questions on live for basically the last year and a half, two years, but it's like, I think you only build the story up more if you avoid the media. Like if you just run, yeah, I think it only makes it more of a story. Oh, Rory's not speaking today. Now we're going to watch, now the conversation is not what he does at the first round of the Canadian Open, or now let's not see next week what he does in the first round of the US Open, it's will Rory speak today?

Oh, he's not speaking. That's going to dominate the headlines more than he shot a 65 in round one of the US Open. But there's something to gain here when you're literally going to have to do the entire same thing next week. That's why I just next week, go to the US Open, say I'm going to talk about this once, and then we're going to move on from this.

And when further information comes out, then I'll answer it. That's how I would approach it if I was Rory McElroy. I would not even have given anyone anything today and just say, hey, we'll talk about this next week at the US Open because I know all you guys in the media, all you're going to do next week is ask me about this stuff at the US Open. Rory McElroy on his emotions after hearing the PGA live merger.

It's hard for me to not sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb feeling like I've put myself out there and this is what happens. Again, I see how this is better for the game of golf. There's no denying that.

But for me as an individual, there's just going to have to be conversations that are had. I do think a lot of people have sympathy for Rory McElroy because I've said this before, I'm an enormous Tiger Woods fan. Big time Tiger fan. And I just usually would, I don't want to say grow disdain, but naturally anyone that was ever infringing on Tiger's territory I wouldn't like.

And we know that Tiger self-inflicted went through a lot of dark times and a lot of bad things. And Rory was that guy at that moment that was winning all those majors was very popular. And Rory's not a bad guy. Rory's not bad for the game, but I just disliked him because of the fact that I was a big Tiger guy.

And I'll say this, the last two years I really, whether you were pro live golf or not, I appreciated that Rory McElroy was kind of taken ownership of the PGA and being the face and being the spokesperson of the PGA. Now it didn't work his way, but I do think Kiki where for Jay Monahan, everyone can't stand that guy's guts and deservedly so, because you're going to take the money, just say, Hey, you're taking the money. And I know it goes against everything that I was saying, but when he was using the victim's families of 9-11 a year ago, and then a year later, you're taking the money. That to me is just despicable because the moment when you had an opportunity to get yours, Oh, it's good for you to do that.

But you just told everyone that was trying to get theirs or being offered their money, not to go take that money. And that's why if I was a PGA golfer, I would want Jay Monahan out of a job. Now, wasn't there some really lowly ranked golfer?

I was reading Kiki that at the meeting, I forget what his name is. What is something along the lines of the story that when Jay Monahan was speaking at this meeting yesterday in Canada, that he called for him to reside and then Rory McElroy was like, Hey, play better. So Sports Illustrated is reporting. Now here's the one thing that I'll question about Rory McElroy here. Doesn't that seem like he's defending Jay Monahan at that rate? I mean, in that small exchange, possibly.

Now, I think there's a lot of contacts missing. I've also read that Sports Illustrated kind of was talking about how a lot of golfers are joking about the comment afterwards. And a lot of people took it more lighthearted than coming to the defense of Jay Monahan. So what I read was Grayson Murray is from, it was Grayson Murray called for Commissioner Jay Monahan to resign at the player's office.

Commissioner Jay Monahan to resign at the player's meeting yesterday. Rory McElroy responded by saying play better and was met with bleep off by Murray. That was a playful exchange you're saying? Keep on reading it. Yeah. It's what they're reporting. I don't know.

I was not in the meeting. I have no idea if there's any other words that I have no idea joked to me before. And I don't know. That's what they are. That's what they're talking about. What I'm reading exactly here is McElroy kept quiet until Grayson Murray the world number 227 player shouted for Monahan to resign saying we don't trust you Jay.

You lied to her face. McElroy yelled back just play better Grayson. But in a monotonous atmosphere the world's number three defense of Monahan's apparently did not achieve unanimous approval. Golf Channel first reported the exchange and another source has confirmed to Telegraph Sport that Murray responded by telling McElroy to bleep off. So that's just that's what I was reading. That's the only thing that I read.

The one thing I'm just since you read something different how was that playful? I have no idea. I'm just telling you what I read. That's all.

I'm trying to find it now but that's what at least I was reading. I don't know. I don't know if it's playful. I don't know again. There's no context. We weren't in the meeting.

There's no audio at the meeting. I have no idea. Yeah so I don't get how that's playful but I'll take your word for what it's worth when you go through that but if Rory is defending Jay Monahan at this point that just makes me further even think that Rory's going to be getting his and he knows he's going to be getting his. Rory McElroy explains why he wants penalties for golfers who left Liv that want to return to the PGA Tour. There still has to be consequences to actions.

You know the people that left the PGA Tour irreparably harmed this tour started litigation against it. Like we can't just welcome them back in. Like that's not going to happen. And I think that was the one thing that Jay was trying to get across yesterday is like guys we're not just going to bring these guys back in and pretend like nothing's happened. So I do have confidence in him.

Yeah I don't get why you would have confidence in him. The guy just stabbed you in the back. That to me is a bad job by Rory McElroy. And also what are you really going to do that's really going to move the needle here to get back at the guys that went to live golf that are now coming back to the PGA Tour. It's not a monotonous atmosphere.

It's a mutinous atmosphere. Let me just correct myself from earlier. Rory McElroy says there was nothing he could do to stop the Saudis from taking over golf. Whether you like it or not the PIF and the Saudis want to spend money in the game of golf and they weren't going to stop.

So the thing for me and this is one thing that I've always thought about how can we get that money into the game but use it the right way. And we'll find out how they're going to eventually do that but he's not wrong. The Saudis are here to get what they want and that was just proven true here. Finally Rory McElroy says the hypocrite label. Okay so at least he admitted that on Jay Monahan is accurate. I said it to Jay yesterday you've galvanized everyone against something and that thing that you galvanized everyone against you've now partnered with. So of course I understand it. It is hypocritical. It sounds hypocritical.

So there you go it's definitely hypocritical by Jay Monahan. I think at this point Rory McElroy knows he can't really win here and I would imagine that he's going to be taken care of as I said. So you kind of do that press conference yesterday. You show a little fire or today I should say you show a little fire.

You fight back a little bit but then ultimately you know you got to kind of just put your head down and and move forward and accept what the reality of the situation is. Rex Walters will join us next at the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Alrighty how we doing Zach Gelb show CBS Sports Radio. We will chat a little game three of the NBA Finals that comes your way later this evening between the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets and we'll do so right now with the man that played for the Miami Heat from 1998 to 2000. Also back in 1993 was the 16th overall pick in the NBA draft and has spent a bunch of years as an assistant coach whether it was in college or also the NBA and had a few head coaching gigs as well and that of course is Rex Walters who's kind enough to join us right now. Rex what's happening? What's going on Zach? Thanks for having me.

I appreciate you coming on. So you know Eric Spoelstra very well. When Spoel was a little bit younger what stood out to you the most about him and did you just kind of understand that one day man this was going to be a very successful head coach in the NBA? Well I'll be honest I had no clue he was our video coordinator.

He was very detailed. He already had a good relationship with Pat Riley. Every time Pat Riley broke a remote Eric was always there ready to hand him a new one. If the TV wasn't working Spoel figured it out really really quickly and then the edits that he would come up with. Back then he didn't have the sophisticated editing systems that you have now so he was doing a lot of great work and there was an attention to detail with that because you know coach Riley could come up with amazing crazy ideas, different movies, different commercials, different television shows spliced in with Timmy Hardaway hitting the three, Alonzo Mourning dunking a basketball you know all of us getting defensive stops.

So Spoel was always someone that you know took great pride in his work no question. So after game two he got a little bit annoyed with the questioning about how to defend Nicole Jokic because a lot of people including myself and my producer Ryan Hickey we've been saying there's no easy way to defend Nicole Jokic but I guess you got to try to take something away so let him go get his and focus on everybody else and take away from the assist. If you were in that coaching room with Spoel how would you kind of be devising up the game plan to try to slow down Nicole Jokic in this series? Well he's just like every great player although he's probably the best player in the world right now in terms of you've got to you're not going to stop him you can only try to contain him you've got to make sure that you're making him play to his weaknesses you've got to make sure that you're showing the crowd all the time but then what he's really good at is getting his teammates involved so you've got to show a crowd and yet still get to the three point shooters right maybe on the penetration maybe on the pickup of the dribble you don't want to ever give him straight line passes where he's zipping that ball around and creating good shots for his teammates because that's when they become really really good when he gets his 25 to 35 points but also he adds in 10 to 12 assists now they go up a whole another level so I can understand why he was saying what he said because they're not going to let him score but they are going to make him work and yet at the same time try to take away Jamal Murray who you know really didn't do a whole lot to the fourth quarter you know that that's a big key for Miami having a chance to to win and win this series. What type of performance do you think we see tonight Rex Walters from Jamal Murray because you're right when you look at Jamal Murray so far he hasn't played a great game yet but you know he's so important if Denver's going to find the way to win three more games and hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy. Well just listening to him talk in his interview I mean he missed some shots that he's very capable of making I think the switching effects I think that they threw in some blitzes against him and the zone the zone is a great a great equalizer in terms of you don't know exactly where your shots are going to come from and sometimes it becomes more equal opportunity basketball offensively for Denver and that's not what they want they want to play through Nicola they want to make sure Jamal Murray gets his look but when you're blitzing them you take the ball out of his hands when you're switching if it's a good matchup right for Miami that they still have them matched up and he's going to have to beat that guy and then the zone like I just talked about now you have to play through five guys as opposed to just putting the ball in Murray's hands and creating an advantage for him so you know he's got some I'm sure that they've looked at the tape in depth and they're figuring out ways to get him some some quality looks so that now it's not so much of him making great plays it's also putting him in position to be great. Rex Walters here with us you look at Michael Porter Jr. game one was two of eleven from three game two one of six from three but when you have a player that's struggling to start off in a series as a coach is there anything that you could say or is it just hey keep that mentality up there shooters got to shoot eventually they're going to fall? Well there's no question you're going to tell them hey every time you're open you're going to shoot it and shoot it aggressively I would encourage them though because he's got great size to get on the offensive glass a little bit more maybe create some second chance points for himself when he's not shooting also running the floor and running for layups taking advantage of his size because right now he's just a seven-foot standstill shooter or one dribble pull-up guy he's got to figure out ways to get more involved in the offense and the great way of doing that is running the floor number one number two getting on the offensive glass when the opportunities present themselves. Bam Adebayo is such a big key in this series he's been pretty much flawless through the first two games of the NBA Finals with game three coming up tonight we did see in the last series Bam was really good early and then as the series did go on he didn't have that same greatness earlier in the series that he did later on in the series what do you think Bam's going to be the rest of this series because I really do believe he's the biggest key for Miami to find the way to win the finals? No I think you're exactly right because he's got the double-edged sword they have to run offense through him right when he's on the trail when he gets the offensive rebound he's pushing it up and creating offense for everyone else and himself but also he's got to guard that other guy right he's got to guard Jokic and that's so so there's a very good chance he could wear down I think that you've made a great point right there that this is a guy that's having to do an awful lot of things in his 35 to 48 minutes every single every single night you know I would think that they would try to match his minister Jokic as much as possible because he's the one guy that can really guard him but yeah there's no question that that's a wearing down of Bam could could definitely happen because he's having to do so much on both ends of the floor. Is Jimmy Butler starting to wear down we know how important he is for their success he has been phenomenal in this NBA postseason the first two games though I haven't been all that impressed with Jimmy Butler we know he's been dealing with that ankle injury since the Knicks series. Well here's the thing it's so you know Aaron Gordon really good defender right KCP really good defender and Michael Porter you know gives great size it was surprising to see that late switch in that game for that last shot that he missed against Jokic but there's just no easy matchup they're all bigger than he is except for KCP and and maybe Murray and they can all move their feet so and as as the Denver Nuggets and you know coach Malone I worked with his father for a year I'm gonna throw a shot out to Charles Glass who's behind the bench they've watched Jimmy so Jimmy plays off of your mistakes Boston figured it out after about five or six games that they're going to stay down on shot stakes right they're going to make them shoot it over the top they're not going to bail them out they've done a great job of keeping keeping him off the free throw line staying down on shot makes and making him shoot it over the top so there's been nothing easy for Jimmy Butler in the series and I think a lot of that is really good scouting report defense not bailing them out and put them on the line. Miami in game two they hit their shots I know everyone's going to give you this comprehensive breakdown but Max Shrews was really good from three we know what Duncan Robinson did in the fourth quarter Gabe Vincent was phenomenal in the game eight to 12 from the field four six from three you just keep on watching this Miami team and I know at some point you kind of get like bored with the storyline just because everyone says the same thing how gritty they are and how tough they are but from a coaching perspective was what Miami's been able to do in this postseason when they don't have the greatest team in the world when you look at the construction of the roster and guys that you didn't expect to be here in this spot what jumps out to you the most well the fact that they play through multiple actions the ball continues to move they're going to try to force you to make mistakes they're going to play in pick and roll they're going to play in double drags they're going to play in low splits they're going to make you guard multiple situations and yes all of their guys when you talk about Shrews you talk about Vincent you talk about even Kevin Love who then you know just started the last game Duncan Robinson Caleb Martin who's you know been a little bit under the weather you know and you got Kyle Lowry who's got a ring on his finger from Toronto you know all those guys are going to shoot the basketball aggressively and if you give them good looks they can win four games in this series so Denver's going to have to take it up another level can't foul the shooter you've got to be really clean on all your coverages both in pick and roll in and off the ball screening you got to keep it clean so that you continue to at least have matchups even if there are some switching there's no confusion which creates space for Miami to get those quality three-point looks up we don't know about the future of Chris Paul Rex Walters I saw some stuff today that he's maybe going to get waved then there could be a trade he still could find the way back to Phoenix that's still his preference how much do you think really at this stage of his career Chris Paul is left in the tank at the age of 38 years old well here's the one thing I'll say is everywhere he's been he's taken the team to a higher level they've competed at a very high level he's a basketball genius he's an unbelievable influence on any young team or any aspiring team the health is obviously a big big issue with him especially when you get late into the playoffs but he makes teams better right so that would be the one thing I would say you know maybe with Frank Vogel because he's not the same defender maybe that he used to be that might be a concern for Phoenix they have to make a decision maybe when you talk about salaries of of both DeAndre and Chris Paul but here's the thing I'll say there are a lot of teams that maybe not at 40 million or whatever of whatever he's making but maybe at a relatively decent price that you now got a guy that understands how to win and if he can figure out a way to stay healthy which it's been a difficult thing for him he makes your team a lot better even at 38 and it's worth the gamble at a much lower price maybe after all those years he finally gets to go out there and play for the Los Angeles Lakers because that's especially the relationship with Lebron that's the first destination that I thought of where Chris Paul could eventually land well no question he's a winner he knows how to organize he knows how to play playoff basketball when he's healthy he manages a game I mean just watching him you know you know from behind the bench here in Charlotte like the way he manages again he understands how to win NBA basketball games at the highest level especially in the regular season and if he's healthy in the playoffs as well so if it's not Phoenix I still think that people will want to bring him in take a look see if it's the right fit because he makes your team better Rex Walter is always great to catch up with you I appreciate the time thanks so much uh thank you you got it there he is Rex Walter is joining us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio we will take a break first off you could think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care and easy guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts when we come on back we'll talk about one team that's going to be having DeAndre Hopkins paying them a visit we'll see if a deal gets done you're listening to the Zach Gelb show it is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio Hickey when we talk about a a sense of direction the Tennessee Titans I think are directionless where they have this feeling that they are a really good team because of what they've done outside of last year where they started off 7-3 they didn't win another game the rest of the season but the last few years prior to that they've been a good team I don't think anyone ever looked at them even though they made one AFC title game and viewed them as a team that was going to win the Super Bowl or get to the Super Bowl even when they were a number one seed like people forget that they were at one point a number one team in the AFC playoff picture but now even though you brought in a new general manager at Ran Carathon after getting rid of John Robinson and really John Robinson made this team lose their way because with the core that you were riding with it made no sense to me why you wouldn't pay AJ Brown and then send AJ Brown to Philadelphia for a first round pick and you wanted to reset the contract time clock and you ended up drafting Traylon Burks that team with their best player being Derrick Henry doesn't have that long of a shelf life because naturally running backs don't last very long in this league and also you have a physical bruising back in Derrick Henry that even though he's giving a lot of the hits he also takes a bunch of hits as well and you had a year like last year where he ended up getting hurt so you look at Tennessee and you know that Tannehill he's fine but he's not a great quarterback he's not a very good quarterback in this league looking back at Tennessee who is now bringing in DeAndre Hopkins for a visit and we'll get to that in just a second that's gonna happen I think I read it was reportedly on Sunday but if you look back at Tennessee I think the two biggest mistakes they made number one extending Ryan Tannehill four years when you could have potentially have gotten Tom Brady remember Brady was FaceTiming along with Julian Edelman Mike Vrabel when they're at that Syracuse basketball game with that former big wig rich Syracuse booster at the time Aaron I forget what the guy's last name is and they gave a four-year deal to Ryan Tannehill and then also getting rid of AJ Brown still now more than a full year later I said it at that moment that was the death of this team being a good football team those two moves I still don't understand and now I just don't know what direction they're heading in where I know a year ago they drafted Malik Willis in the third round now we'll even see if Malik Willis is gonna make the team they just drafted Will Levis in the second round so you go on with this football team they had an opportunity and now it just seems as if anything they try to do in this year next year to restore that opportunity you're gonna have to really redefine what this football team's gonna look like because if you are ever really good again odds are Derek Henry's gonna be somewhere else Ryan Tannehill is gonna be somewhere else because I don't expect this team to be much of anything even if they sign DeAndre Hopkins for this upcoming football season that's the thing with the titans they're in a really tough spot because they always have a great coach in Mike Vrabel and I think their direction is clear in the sense that they are going for a Super Bowl this year because they are bringing back assuming there's no last minute trade Derek Henry and obviously Ryan Tannehill is going to be there as well wait time out I don't mean to interrupt you you think they're going for a Super Bowl this year well yeah what else are they doing they're showing up and playing and they're not a contender but like there are people in that building actually think that they're if we shot them up with true serum it's one thing to say you're a Super Bowl contender everyone says they're Super Bowl contender but you think there's actually a belief in that building that they could go contend for a Super Bowl this year I don't have a belief but like that's like this is not one of those years that's a developmental year it's not one of those years where if they are at nine they miss the playoffs oh it's a good year or if they make the wild card and lose in round one it's like oh they're bringing back Derek Henry who is probably not going back after next year and with running backs this is probably the last great year you have you're bringing back Ryan Tannehill like you're bringing those guys back to win right you're not bringing them back just because all their young players and we want to see them develop you're bringing them back to win where was Ryan Tannehill going though they weren't gonna be able to get anything for him via trade so if you couldn't trade Ryan Tannehill for really anything and if there was a destination to go it didn't make any sense to just cut him and get rid of him right so my point is like like they have no other choice but to go for it they're stuck roster wise that's like that's kind of the main point is going to get at they are they have no choices here but to be to go for a Super Bowl because they're bringing Derek Henry back you're bringing back Ryan Tannehill again you're not playing young guys you're not just like you could say they're playing out the string and I would agree but it's like they're you gotta play for something I think Mike Vrabel and he won't say this because you're never gonna have the head coach of football team say this I'm gonna kind of make the comparison to the Miami Heat now not in terms of them going to an NBA Finals but what does everyone say about Miami they're a gritty football team they're a you know basketball team they're a well coached basketball team as well I think for Mike Vrabel this year he's showing you that John Robinson even though he gets a lot of credit for what happened last few years in Tennessee he was the one that ended this run and we're just gonna be a gritty football team that will probably win more games than you expect and maybe be like a nine and eight football team at best that's what I think Mike Vrabel he won't say that but that's what I think is trying to get displayed this year that the same thing that the success of Tennessee was more so Mike Vrabel than John Robinson and John Robinson made a lot of stupid and foolish decisions throughout the last few years that ended up causing him a job I would agree in terms of expectations I guess my thing is just like in terms of like all right what do we set the bar what is this team like I'm not I don't think anyone in Tennessee would consider like oh we made the playoffs or we had a winning record like us like telling the Vikings we don't think like we don't believe they're super bowl contenders no but the Vikings are much they're a much better spot than than Tennessee no they are and but because of Kirk Cousins no one actually takes him seriously enough to get a new quarterback different story the roster's in a different spot but it's like you like you have no choice but to say they're going for it yeah but so here's the thing I'm pretty strict when it comes to saying who's super bowl contender but if you want to tell me Minnesota is the third best team in the NFC and therefore you consider them a super bowl contender even though I don't think Minnesota's winning a super bowl I would not crush you for that I don't see how there's any way and I understand what you're saying that they're not rebuilding in terms of you're ripping down the entire house you still have some of those guys that were prominent players for your run whatever that run was the last few years on the roster so they're kind of stuck in the middle and since you're not fully determining if you're gonna put all you know both of your feet to left or both your feet to the right that yes you have no other thing to then to go on out there and say hey we're still going for it this is our team blah blah blah blah blah but I don't think players are stupid and I don't even say we could talk this team into being a team that at any point next year we're going to be viewing as a threat because if you look at the NFC the NFC is wide open outside of Philadelphia the 49ers the AFC bills dolphins jets bangles ravens and all the browns the Steelers uh chiefs chargers jaguars you just go through and through and through it's what I don't think Tennessee even knows what they're doing is what I'm saying they don't know what they're doing because Vrabel is of the thinking we had a team that was really good and John Robinson getting rid of AJ Brown absolutely screwed us and you then look at the other side of it is your team's really not that good and you're past that window of being open for you guys being whatever sort of contender that you were and you you look at this roster it's not like this offseason they made moves to suggest that they were definitely going for it they just kept a lot of guys that were part of that core but the DeAndre Hopkins one I don't fault them and you're right it does give off that vibe that they're looking to improve their football team because DeAndre Hopkins would improve their football team but just because you bring in DeAndre Hopkins you still have a quarterback that no one really trusts you have a running back that's fantastic but you probably should trade him and get what you could get for him because he could still be a very good player on a different team and maybe at best you could talk me into Tennessee being nine and eight but even that I think is is really a real stretch if they're nine and eight Hickey that's like coach of the year kinds of stuff yeah you won't win the coach here if you're Vrabel but that's if you're like nine and eight ten and seven which is how no one's talking about you there's really no expectations for this team and it's so blah that's a heck of a coaching job that Mike Vrabel I would agree and that's part of the reason why I get so like they are in a really really bad spot veteran laden team there's not a lot of young guys that you're looking at that's saying oh let's see them develop and see what they can be yeah you have Will Leviss he's gonna play this here unless Ryan Tano uh gets hurt probably not so like at least in the sense of DeAndre like them being interested and now going as far as to host DeAndre Hopkins for a visit it makes sense because there's like there's no other way like where for them to go he's 31 years old you're not signing DeAndre like this is not a move like oh we'll get DeAndre Hopkins now and like hopefully two or three years we'll be contenders you're going for it to win now they just kind of they're stuck between a rock and a hard place where they're not contenders no one believes in them but they have like nowhere to turn otherwise but you see it's just funny that you said they're trying to go for a Super Bowl because for the last three years you've told anybody that would listen that you thought Tennessee sucked you thought they were awful you had no respect for them you thought the Colts are gonna kick their ass blah blah blah blah and now when there's no reason to believe in them you're like oh they're going for it that's what kind of belief it's just more like they're going like I don't think they're anywhere near Super Bowl contenders but it's just like they're trying for it because they have no other like like they were even in the years that I was bashing them and they said really kind of laying in they were still going for it I just didn't give them the respect that now looking back they deserved but it's not like oh like this is just a development they were going for it I just thought the Colts were gonna be better and beat them also my bigger takeaway from this whole DeAndre Hopkins stuff if your first visit is with Tennessee it means your market is not robust putting it nicely putting it nicely yes does anyone actually think that he's gonna sign with this team if if he could choose anywhere he wanted to go and money didn't play a factor um which the salary cap is probably going to prevent Buffalo and Kansas City from ending up doing this he would not be picking to go to Tennessee and that's why I ultimately think he's going to wind up in either one or two places I'm really confident he's going to wind up in New England but if it's not New England I could see him winding up in Cleveland as well and that would actually be a pretty nice receiving court when you have Amari Cooper you have DeAndre Hopkins and Elijah Moore as well that'd be a good receiving court and you still have David Njoku there who's a good tight end in this league if he could just stay healthy a lot of talent in Cleveland he would fit well obviously he knows the quarterback there well big year for Cleveland big expectations bringing him aboard would help certainly help where's your prediction now I know when we both uh saw that he was going to be saw that he was available we both agreed that it was going to be Kansas City now I don't think it's going to be Kansas City I'm predicting New England where are you predicted I will say the brands yeah the latter of the team you just mentioned he salary-wise took himself out of the Chiefs the Bills I'll go Cleveland imagine if he winds up in Tennessee all this hot taking I think that's a worse spot for him to go out of the three teams are talking about Cleveland New England Tennessee I would probably put Tennessee last I can't disagree with you because I still don't know what Mac Jones is at least you got Bill Belichick yeah I know what Ryan Tannehill is and for Watson you're hoping he gets back to a certain point if you're a Browns fan now the wide receiving room is a little bit more crowded but that may be your best destination but I still keep on thinking he's going back to New England