Speaker 1: It is Tuesday, February twenty fifth, twenty twenty five. This
Speaker 1: is another off season addition of football today. Justin Pennick
Speaker 1: is here, Chris Rose is here, Producer Connor is here
Speaker 1: as well. The man who's not here, and he's got
Speaker 1: a really good excuse, Bobby Skinner and Pennick. Why isn't
Speaker 1: he here today?
Speaker 2: Oh well, he got married on Sunday. Chris Rose and
Speaker 2: I am just getting home from the ceremony by the
Speaker 2: time that we're recording this. We had a great, great time,
Speaker 2: I requested Shania Twain. I was the star of the evening.
Speaker 2: Forget Bobby, Forget Bobby Skinner and his lovely wife getting married,
Speaker 2: and lots of tears and family and loving and things
Speaker 2: on the sides of Bobby Skinner I've never seen. I
Speaker 2: was the star of the evening because I danced very well.
Speaker 1: I saw a little bit ad on social media. There's
Speaker 1: no question. Yeah, we'll leave it at that. So really,
Speaker 1: Bobby got very emotional.
Speaker 2: Huh he did, And he's probably gonna hate that I'm
Speaker 2: saying it. But it was nice. It really was a
Speaker 2: nice day, wholesome day. Bobby's Skinner. Believe you, I believe
Speaker 2: it or not. It's always the people that you wouldn't
Speaker 2: expect to be loving and deep, to be the deepest,
Speaker 2: deepest of people. So I saw a side of Bobby
Speaker 2: that I haven't seen, and I've thought of it, so
Speaker 2: I have to admit something justin what if they asked you?
Speaker 2: Even though none of his family members really know me, well,
Speaker 2: some of them do more than you would think I
Speaker 2: know me, but like I never really met his mother
Speaker 2: or his father or anything like that. But I still
Speaker 2: had this dream and fantasy of like, well, what if
Speaker 2: they ask you to perform a speech? Because that's how
Speaker 2: conceited I am. And I would have been, like, how
Speaker 2: have you talked to Bobby Skinner for like twenty thousand hours?
Speaker 2: That's the amount of time that I've calculated in our
Speaker 2: in our couple of years have known each other between
Speaker 2: phone calls, podcasts and everything, twenty thousand hours, And that's
Speaker 2: how that's that's how I would have like started off
Speaker 2: my speech and I would have went from there.
Speaker 1: But that wouldn't been adorable. Woh, you said they didn't
Speaker 1: ask you?
Speaker 2: Okay, no, we seated my conceited mindset, Like if they do,
Speaker 2: that's what I would.
Speaker 1: Say way to represent the John Boy media family. So
Speaker 1: that part is good. Yes, thank you, and congratulations to Bobby.
Speaker 1: His bride's name is it? What's her name? I'm sorry, Lisasa? Okay, well,
Speaker 1: iet to meet her. So I look forward to that.
Speaker 1: Today it's mister and missus Skinner. That'll be nice. So
Speaker 1: Bobby will be back somewhere down the road, I'm sure
Speaker 1: before the first game of the twenty twenty five season.
Speaker 1: At any rate, we're getting ready. I'm heading to the combine.
Speaker 1: We'll do that next show. We'll have a little preview
Speaker 1: for you. That'll be fun. In the meantime, there's a
Speaker 1: bunch of headlines out there, so why don't we just
Speaker 1: scour through them before we do it? Though? I want
Speaker 1: to ask this. Apparently for the competition committee, there was
Speaker 1: one anonymous team that brought up banning the tush push,
Speaker 1: and Diana Russini of the Athletic came out and said, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not anonymous anymore. It's the Green Bay Packers. Ooh,
Speaker 1: do you respect the Packers for trying to ban the
Speaker 1: push push or since they're the only one where you
Speaker 1: like God, that's kind of a weasly move. Just learn
Speaker 1: how to stop it.
Speaker 2: Stop it because it rose if every NFL team did
Speaker 2: it and did it successfully, and I would be like,
Speaker 2: all right, maybe this is a little bit of a
Speaker 2: cheat code. There's one team that does it and does
Speaker 2: it better than everybody else. So I respect the Packers
Speaker 2: for maybe trying to get something going, but it's we
Speaker 2: see other teams try to do it, like didn't the
Speaker 2: Bills try to do it against the Chiefs a bunch
Speaker 2: of time in the Conference championship, But it's like, what
Speaker 2: are we doing? It's not working. There's one team that
Speaker 2: does it, one team that does it really well, and
Speaker 2: somebody's got to try and find a way to stop it,
Speaker 2: and nobody can.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, the quarterback sneak has been a part
Speaker 1: of this game ever since I've been watching. Some team's
Speaker 1: always ran it a little bit better. The Eagles just
Speaker 1: happened to have it. It's an amazing combination of a
Speaker 1: wonderful offensive line that knows how to get low, they
Speaker 1: have guys behind Hurts that don't mind doing the pushing,
Speaker 1: and then Jalen Hurts is probably as strong a quarterback
Speaker 1: as we've gotten this league. The Bills, they don't run
Speaker 1: a tush push they run Josh Allen and unfortunately for
Speaker 1: the biggest play of the year for them, they couldn't
Speaker 1: get or some people think they did get the first
Speaker 1: down on fourth down. But you know, it's not a
Speaker 1: tush push. It is a true quarterback sneak. Even occasionally
Speaker 1: when they have guys pushing from behind. They just other
Speaker 1: teams don't run it as well, and there's certainly no
Speaker 1: way to stop it with the way that the Eagles
Speaker 1: run it. They just do a tremendous job. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I guess teams will figure it out or until Jalen
Speaker 1: Hurts gets injured, which he has yet to do on
Speaker 1: that particular play. Anyway, we're gonna do the intrat scale
Speaker 1: of one to five, one being passed not even blinking
Speaker 1: my eyes at it, and five being all the way
Speaker 1: in on this story. Let's start with my colleague Tom
Speaker 1: Pelisero over at NFL Network who says that the Rams
Speaker 1: have given Matthew Stafford's agent a chance to talk to
Speaker 1: other teams, and then there was a follow up report
Speaker 1: it said this coming week in Indy, Stafford's agent is
Speaker 1: going to talk to the Rams about trying to figure
Speaker 1: out how there can be a financial agreement moving forward.
Speaker 1: The entire story scale of one to five.
Speaker 2: How interested No, it's a five for me since since
Speaker 2: my my team that I'm repping behind me is primarily
Speaker 2: involved in that right now, I honestly think there's one
Speaker 2: out of four teams there. You know, there's Matthew Stafford's
Speaker 2: going to be on one of these four teams coming
Speaker 2: this year. It's either going to be the Rams, well,
Speaker 2: I think, you know, I think that's likely, the Giants.
Speaker 2: I also think that could be likely, And I also
Speaker 2: think the Raiders and maybe the Steelers could be players
Speaker 2: in this. Do you think your Browns are players in this?
Speaker 1: Or No? No, I wouldn't.
Speaker 2: I would say no to but those four would you
Speaker 2: agree with those four?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 1: The Steelers are an interesting one. I think. I think
Speaker 1: if you were to ask me to rank the three
Speaker 1: other teams, because I think it's the three that you mentioned, Rams, Giants, Raiders,
Speaker 1: if you were to have me ranked in order of
Speaker 1: where I think he'll end up, I think it's Rams,
Speaker 1: then I think it's Raiders, and I think the Giants
Speaker 1: are a distant third.
Speaker 2: A distant third. Okay, I think you know I came
Speaker 2: on here last week saying oh, I'm pretty I'm pretty
Speaker 2: sure and everything like that. I do think I think
Speaker 2: he's gonna wind up staying with the Rams. I think
Speaker 2: he's gonna wind up staying with the Rams, and especially
Speaker 2: doing some reading about this is all money. This is
Speaker 2: all Matthew Stafford wants more money, and I do think
Speaker 2: he deserves more money. But also, at the same time,
Speaker 2: rose that contract extension that he agreed to in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two. You know, we didn't have a football show
Speaker 2: at the time, but you know, the NFL, I'm sure
Speaker 2: the NFL world really looked at that forty million dollars
Speaker 2: average annual value and kind of scratched their head at it.
Speaker 2: Because now it's Stafford in his camp that agreed to
Speaker 2: that deal that now they want, not necessarily a new deal.
Speaker 2: And this is really the funky part about this Matthew
Speaker 2: Stafford situation. It's not necessarily like this extension, but he's
Speaker 2: kind of looking for more money right now. Now. There's
Speaker 2: typically not a big precedence for this, but the Rams
Speaker 2: have a precedent for it since they did the same
Speaker 2: thing to Aaron Donald just a couple years ago, where
Speaker 2: they kind of scrapped his current deal and made him
Speaker 2: the highest paid interior defense alignment in the NFL and
Speaker 2: didn't really extend him but just gave him more money
Speaker 2: in the moment now here Now, Jason Fitzgerald of Over
Speaker 2: the Cap kind of kind of broke this down. And
Speaker 2: this is what's making me think that it's kind of
Speaker 2: a little bit more likely than I did a couple
Speaker 2: of days ago. In last week, you know, I'm thinking, oh,
Speaker 2: I think Giants, Giants, Giants, And now I'm kind of
Speaker 2: I'm walking back a little bit, and I still have
Speaker 2: hope as a Giants fan, but I think the money
Speaker 2: is just so complicated here, and Stafford and his team
Speaker 2: really really did dig themselves a hole here. So there's
Speaker 2: players like Kyler Murray and Deshaun Watson that are getting
Speaker 2: forty six million dollars average annual value. Stafford's at forty
Speaker 2: You know, Peter Schrager comes out and says that Stafford
Speaker 2: was looking for fifty million, right, And that makes sense
Speaker 2: because you have Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson and then Jared Goff,
Speaker 2: the player that was involved in that trade, that are
Speaker 2: just getting north to fifty million dollars. So you would
Speaker 2: have to think that's what Stafford's looking for, and I
Speaker 2: think that's fair. Here's the thing. Currently, every player with
Speaker 2: a fifty million dollar a year contract has at least
Speaker 2: one hundred and sixty million dollars guaranteed. Currently, Stafford has
Speaker 2: sixty three million dollars remaining on his contract, So on
Speaker 2: a minimum, that means the Rams are committing an extra
Speaker 2: forty million dollars, which likely means committing him to be
Speaker 2: the QB until he's thirty nine and then possibly being
Speaker 2: able to walk until he's forty. So the money on
Speaker 2: this rose it's a lot. It is a lot. If
Speaker 2: he wants to get up to fifty and you know,
Speaker 2: we're talking about kind of throwing out the deal that
Speaker 2: we have now, but we're adding more guaranteed years. That's
Speaker 2: adding a lot of guaranteed money on. You're probably going
Speaker 2: to have to add on those guaranteed years, and that's
Speaker 2: not something the Rams really want to do, knowing the
Speaker 2: window that they're in right now, and you know, knowing
Speaker 2: that Stafford could take it down to kind of at
Speaker 2: any moment.
Speaker 1: Well, he obviously wants more money. We don't know how
Speaker 1: much more. I don't know if Peter's right, or wrong,
Speaker 1: I'm sure, but you would think.
Speaker 2: Fifty would make sense, right, like Deshn Watson, Like, you know,
Speaker 2: if I'm Matthew Stafford, I'm looking at the Rams being like,
Speaker 2: if you're not willing to pay me more than what
Speaker 2: those like those two guys are getting and not paying
Speaker 2: me the literally you traded away Jared Goff for me,
Speaker 2: if you don't think that I'm worth that, Yeah, I
Speaker 2: would feel very disrespect well, and I'm won a super
Speaker 2: Bowl for you.
Speaker 1: I think he probably wants to pay play another couple
Speaker 1: of years. If I were to guess he's been healthy.
Speaker 1: He missed one game this year, and that's because they
Speaker 1: sat him out in a game where Jimmy Garoppolo played
Speaker 1: the last week and they didn't care whether they were
Speaker 1: the third or the fourth seed didn't matter to them.
Speaker 1: I would say this, I wouldn't discount the Raiders from
Speaker 1: this equation only because it's a forty minute flight from
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. He's got four girls. I can't imagine he
Speaker 1: wants to uproot a family, move them all the way
Speaker 1: to New York to go play with the Giants who well,
Speaker 1: by the way, when three and fourteen last year, he
Speaker 1: might want to not like the Raiders were any better,
Speaker 1: but I will say this, it's a forty minute flight,
Speaker 1: it ain't five hours, it's not in the snow, it's
Speaker 1: inside a dome, it's on grass, it's all sorts of
Speaker 1: stuff where he's won his ring. Now, I think that
Speaker 1: if you hooked him up to a lie detector test,
Speaker 1: I think he'd want to say, let's figure this out
Speaker 1: with the Rams. I can live in the home that
Speaker 1: I've built, one of the many homes that I've built,
Speaker 1: and just stay here with a damn good team. And
Speaker 1: by the way, the Rams don't have to pay anybody
Speaker 1: on defense yet and they're shipping Cooper Cup out of town.
Speaker 1: So I don't know. I just I think it's gonna
Speaker 1: end up. But for me, the interest is one to
Speaker 1: it's a five yeah, because so many teams are affected.
Speaker 1: It's a domino effect one percent.
Speaker 2: What could happen with Donald and you know, then then
Speaker 2: you get into the other two b's that are gonna
Speaker 2: get paid a lot less, like the Rogers. The I
Speaker 2: wouldn't really put Russell Wilson in that category, but Rogers
Speaker 2: and Kirk Cousins like, there is a domino effect and
Speaker 2: it is waiting for Matthew Stafford to fall. Now, I
Speaker 2: do think, you know, another team could negotiate a contract
Speaker 2: that Matthew Stafford likes and the compensation could be right,
Speaker 2: and the Raiders of the Giants could could really pull
Speaker 2: that trigger. But it does seem it really does just
Speaker 2: seem like the easiest alternative and kind of meeting at
Speaker 2: the middle, Right, what's the word I'm looking for when
Speaker 2: you meet at the middle with some compromise. The easiest
Speaker 2: compromise is the Rams kind of just give Matthew Stafford
Speaker 2: a little bit more money. Maybe maybe they maybe they
Speaker 2: get close to fifty million or you know, again, it's complicated,
Speaker 2: but they would really it's working within year to year
Speaker 2: and not if you give them forty million dollars guaranteed more,
Speaker 2: then you're you may be adding more years and adding
Speaker 2: bad money. And the Rams don't want to do that
Speaker 2: if they have to do that, especially when Stafford's camp
Speaker 2: kind of made this mistake and they dug their own
Speaker 2: grave to begin with in twenty twenty two with this
Speaker 2: extension on.
Speaker 1: Their own grave, right, Yeah, I mean, it's just this
Speaker 1: is the way the system works. It's not always the
Speaker 1: best guy that gets paid. It's the next guy up,
Speaker 1: and that's what happens. So let's move on to Miles Garrett.
Speaker 1: We know this story. He's requested a trade, he did
Speaker 1: the rounds at Super Bowl. Do you think things will
Speaker 1: move forward with all the teams when they get together
Speaker 1: in Indy? How much does this story now up? You're
Speaker 1: anti on a scale of one to five.
Speaker 2: Rose, I'm down out a two for this because it
Speaker 2: seems like the smoke I don't even know if they're
Speaker 2: ever the only smoke that we really had. Is it
Speaker 2: all Miles Garrett requested a trade. It's really the only
Speaker 2: kind of smoke that this story has ever had. The
Speaker 2: brown should want to keep Miles Garrett self explanatory. I
Speaker 2: think they kind of came out and said that as
Speaker 2: soon as this happened. So Rose, let me let me
Speaker 2: ask you this, any chance they could just work on
Speaker 2: an extension? Yes, more more money, continue to kick money
Speaker 2: down the road. Would making Miles Garrett the highest paid
Speaker 2: defensive player in the league menfences, Yeah, of course it would.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing. I get it. The Browns totally
Speaker 1: screwed up this Deshaun Watson thing. It has set them
Speaker 1: back immensely. But let's remember this, who has won more
Speaker 1: playoff games over the last five seasons. The Cleveland Browns
Speaker 1: are the Pittsburgh Steelers Rounds. So the Browns, although since
Speaker 1: ninety nine, have been a total dumpster fire for the
Speaker 1: most part, and I believe have only bed the playoffs
Speaker 1: three times since then. I want to say, but twice
Speaker 1: under this regime. Last year was a huge, huge step
Speaker 1: back for them and the Watson stuff. Until they come
Speaker 1: out and admit their failures on many fronts here, I
Speaker 1: don't know if they can move forward. Now. I get it.
Speaker 1: I understand Miles's frustration, and he took a personal shot
Speaker 1: at the GM Andrew Berry with the way that he
Speaker 1: worded things when he came out with his statement about
Speaker 1: I don't want to go directly from Cleveland to Canton.
Speaker 1: I want to win multiple Super Bowls. That was a
Speaker 1: shot at Andrew Berry's line where he said, Miles Garrett,
Speaker 1: we fully expect him to go right from Cleveland to Canton.
Speaker 1: That's what he said is his year end presser. So
Speaker 1: for me, it's a one because I don't think it's
Speaker 1: gonna happen. I don't think they're going to trade him
Speaker 1: I get it. It sounds great for this sort of
Speaker 1: fodder for all sorts of morning shows and podcasts, and
Speaker 1: everybody's trying to figure out, well, should he go to Detroit,
Speaker 1: Should he go to Green Bay? Should he go to Buffalo?
Speaker 1: Oh shit, why would Cleveland do all that stuff if
Speaker 1: they're gonna get a pick in the late twenties. And
Speaker 1: by the way, this stuff is if you go figure
Speaker 1: out the cap stuff, it can't happen till after June anyway.
Speaker 1: So is Miles really gonna sit out a year or two?
Speaker 1: I don't see that. I think they're gonna get back together.
Speaker 1: I think they'll figure it out. I understand he was
Speaker 1: hot at the end of the season. I want guys
Speaker 1: that are pissed off that they went three and fourteen. Me,
Speaker 1: it's not that big a deal now. At first, when
Speaker 1: we did that show and they and you and Bobby
Speaker 1: were arm wrestling to see who could break the news
Speaker 1: to me, that day was a difficult one. The next
Speaker 1: few days for the Super Bowl were really hard. But
Speaker 1: after that I haven't really given it much thought. So
Speaker 1: very low one or two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we'll see. I mean, I think this is
Speaker 2: the week where if steam starts to pick up and
Speaker 2: we hear teams then this person's interested, this team's interested,
Speaker 2: blah blah blah. But it's kind of died since it
Speaker 2: initially broke that Garrett wants to be traded. And I
Speaker 2: really think, like believe it or not, the Cleveland Browns
Speaker 2: are actually in a good salary cap scenario. Two years
Speaker 2: down the line from now, you can push money down
Speaker 2: the road on a Miles Garrett. I really think an
Speaker 2: extension will kind of be like the Cleveland Browns as
Speaker 2: an organization or you know, putting their arms out and
Speaker 2: then Garrett becoming the highest paid defensive player in the
Speaker 2: league with the Cleveland Browns. You know, maybe that's the
Speaker 2: contract that sends you into your mid thirties. That could
Speaker 2: be another word compromise, using it again for both sides.
Speaker 1: All Right, a report out there that Sam Darnold and
Speaker 1: the Vikings are talking about an extension. His football future
Speaker 1: scale of one to five. How interested, it's a four
Speaker 1: for me.
Speaker 2: I am very very fast to see what's happening with
Speaker 2: UH with Sam Donald and Albert Brier put out an
Speaker 2: article today, Rose and you talked about this on last
Speaker 2: week's show. This is from Albert Brier. The Sam donald
Speaker 2: situation still merits watching in Minnesota, and in a weird way,
Speaker 2: I could see JJ McCarthy's weight being a factor. He
Speaker 2: lost a bunch going through the knee surgeries over the
Speaker 2: past six months. So returning to his fighting weight, we'll
Speaker 2: play in an element in the Vikings confidence and there
Speaker 2: is confidence there in parentheses that they could go forward
Speaker 2: with him. End quote. So, Rose, you talked about it
Speaker 2: last week JJ McCarthy and his weight, and you know
Speaker 2: you talked about it last year at the combine. It's
Speaker 2: kind of seeing him that, you know, he kind of
Speaker 2: looked like kind of put some put some weight on
Speaker 2: specifically for the combine, like you could see it in
Speaker 2: his face. So certainly his playing weight is a conversation
Speaker 2: in the Minnesota building. Now here's my only question. Rose,
Speaker 2: you're if you're the Vikings, you're not giving Sam donaldlake
Speaker 2: a three or a four year deal, right, but that
Speaker 2: I feel like he could get that on the open market.
Speaker 1: Right, Well, whatever it is, I would have to frontlad
Speaker 1: this thing, and I don't know their cap situation enough.
Speaker 1: I'll put it up on over the cap.
Speaker 2: It's decent.
Speaker 1: Fine, here's the point, would I would front load it
Speaker 1: because I'm not so sure that you're going to get
Speaker 1: a better Sam Darnold than the one we saw in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. I really mean, he's got a great
Speaker 1: receiving corps, he's got an innovative offensive mine. Their offensive
Speaker 1: line is good enough, although Darrisaw was missing the back
Speaker 1: half of the year and they had to make that
Speaker 1: trade for Cam Robinson. So Darrisaw comes back and that'll
Speaker 1: help him, you know. I think they're going to add
Speaker 1: more weapons. Wouldn't surprise me if in a deep running
Speaker 1: back draft class that they add something there in the
Speaker 1: backfield to help them out. Like, I think there's gonna
Speaker 1: be more playmakers available. So could he play better? He
Speaker 1: could do I expect him to than he did in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. I don't. Yeah. Everybody says, well you
Speaker 1: got JJ McCarthy there, Well, hold on, we just saw
Speaker 1: in that same division. How long was it before Jordan
Speaker 1: Love made his second NFL start? It was until year four,
Speaker 1: and he wouldn't have made one if Rogers hadn't gotten
Speaker 1: Pop for COVID. Right. Isn't that why he missed the
Speaker 1: Kansas City game a few years ago? Or was it
Speaker 1: an injury he played. He had one start basically before
Speaker 1: his fourth season, so you can put him on layaway.
Speaker 1: You run the risk of not knowing what your quarterback
Speaker 1: looks like until the time you have to decide whether
Speaker 1: or not to extend him. But still you can do it.
Speaker 1: So I don't know. I said last week that I
Speaker 1: would move on from Sam Donald. There's a big part
Speaker 1: of me that still says, yes, that's what I want
Speaker 1: to do. But yeah, it's an interesting story because of
Speaker 1: all these other teams that need some kind of help.
Speaker 1: So I would I would put it at a four
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, now here's here's my here's my thing. If you're
Speaker 2: the Vikings and you want to bring in somebody, whether
Speaker 2: that's Sam Donald or somebody else, for let's say a
Speaker 2: two year deal to give JJ McCarthy more time, wouldn't
Speaker 2: it be smarter to just pay a guy like Aaron
Speaker 2: Rodgers way less money on a two year deal that
Speaker 2: you can probably even get out after one year. So
Speaker 2: that timeline makes more sense, because I really think Sam
Speaker 2: Donald could go somewhere and get a three year deal
Speaker 2: that's maybe two years, or a four year deal that's
Speaker 2: maybe actually three years, like he's going to get more
Speaker 2: money than what it realistically makes sense for the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: Right right, so it makes sense. Do you think any
Speaker 1: part of that equation is Aaron Rodgers sitting there saying, well,
Speaker 1: hold on, as compared to Brett Fahr for so long?
Speaker 1: Do I really want to go Packers, Jets Vikings?
Speaker 2: It would be very funny.
Speaker 1: It'd be funny for us. I don't know if he
Speaker 1: would think it's funny.
Speaker 2: But Rose, we talk about it with any with any
Speaker 2: quarterback that has a pulse, whether you're a rookie, a veteran,
Speaker 2: or whatever. If you want to if you want to
Speaker 2: have a good freaking year, you go to Kevin O'Connell.
Speaker 2: All right, go to Justin Jefferson. You've got those tackles. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers had a good last ten games. We'll talk
Speaker 2: about that momentarily. I mean, at least statistically, not when
Speaker 2: it comes to wins and losses. But they were a
Speaker 2: dumpster fire up there. So yeah, it's an interesting story
Speaker 2: for both of us. But let's move on to the
Speaker 2: veteran quarterbacks the future, Kirk Cousins, Rogers and Russell Wilson.
Speaker 2: Can any of them be the missing piece. They were
Speaker 2: expected to be in Atlanta, New York, and Pittsburgh, respectively,
Speaker 2: and it didn't really happen for two of them, and
Speaker 2: for Uss it kind of crumbled there at the end.
Speaker 2: So with that full story scale interest scale of one
Speaker 2: to five, Rogers is the only one that really fully
Speaker 2: interests me. So I'll put Rogers at like a three.
Speaker 2: You know, I still have questions about Rogers's body because
Speaker 2: that you know, it took him over half a year
Speaker 2: to kind of fully get into it, which he's coming
Speaker 2: off the Achilles. I get it, but you're forty two.
Speaker 2: There's going to be another reset after playing this year.
Speaker 2: I think Kirk is done. What's going to be really
Speaker 2: interesting with Kirk and I'm interested to get your thoughts
Speaker 2: on this. The Falcons are going to have to release
Speaker 2: and cut Kirk Cousins. They're not going to find a
Speaker 2: trade partner that's going to want to even take on
Speaker 2: part of that contract. And also, why would anybody give
Speaker 2: up any kind of draft capital when the Falcons are
Speaker 2: in this own mess that they've created themselves. So the
Speaker 2: Falcons could release Kirk Cousins and then we have a
Speaker 2: Russell Wilson situation. Just like the Steelers had last year,
Speaker 2: where you can basically sign him for a veteran minimum deal,
Speaker 2: and that's what an NFL team is going to prefer.
Speaker 2: And then also, I just don't fully believe in I
Speaker 2: don't fully believe in Russ. I think he does the
Speaker 2: moonball thing well and throwing the deep ball on the sideline,
Speaker 2: and I don't know, like you know, I don't know how,
Speaker 2: I don't know if he can fully elevate a team anymore.
Speaker 2: So Rogers has me at like a three, and then
Speaker 2: Kirk and Russ A Kirk, I'm more interested too, and
Speaker 2: then Russ.
Speaker 1: On a one. Yeah. Well, whatever team Russell goes to,
Speaker 1: he has to come up with some little cute saying
Speaker 1: at the end of interviews. So whether it's the Boks
Speaker 1: or let's ride. And I heard him do something with
Speaker 1: the Steelers this year. I think that's about the only
Speaker 1: interest I've got with that. Rogers, I think is somewhat
Speaker 1: fascinating because his last ten games eighteen touchdowns, four picks.
Speaker 1: Jets went three and seven in those starts, and there
Speaker 1: were times where the game was on the line and
Speaker 1: the Jets couldn't get their shit together, but they I'm
Speaker 1: really curious to see if he could get with whether
Speaker 1: it's a Kevin O'Connell or somebody else that can coach offense,
Speaker 1: can get him pointed back in the right direction to
Speaker 1: where he can put him the team in a position
Speaker 1: to win. I still am fascinated by that, and I
Speaker 1: don't think he wants to finish the way that it
Speaker 1: literally limped out with not even playing in twenty three
Speaker 1: and then in twenty four just it felt so clunky
Speaker 1: and awkward, and yeah, I don't know. Now. The Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins is interesting because of the reports that he's saying
Speaker 1: now that yeah, you know what, my elbow and my
Speaker 1: shoulder were kind of screwed up at the end of
Speaker 1: the year and he was only on the injured list
Speaker 1: like once in the last six games or whatever. Now
Speaker 1: he's saying after saying, well, no, I was fine. No,
Speaker 1: I was really a little banged up. I don't know
Speaker 1: whether he's trying to save face or that's real. It's
Speaker 1: probably some combination of the two.
Speaker 2: It's his legs, though, Rose he he can't generate any
Speaker 2: power from his lower body.
Speaker 1: Well, he couldn't this year, but that doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: a year removed from that surgery that he won't be
Speaker 1: able to Cousins was playing the best football of his
Speaker 1: career when he got hurt in the middle of the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three season. Are you saying that no team
Speaker 1: should take a shot on a what if? What if
Speaker 1: the deal is just slightly more in terms of finances
Speaker 1: than what the Steelers paid Russell Wilson, which was under
Speaker 1: two million I think last year.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah. But regardless that that is what's going
Speaker 2: to make Kirk Cousins interesting to a team is that
Speaker 2: would you want it going to have to cut him?
Speaker 1: Would you want him quarterbacking your team? No, I would question.
Speaker 2: I would get very frustrated with the limiteds. Like now
Speaker 2: I will say, like it was Stafford, old Man Stafford
Speaker 2: and Kirk Cousins. I was looking at this the other
Speaker 2: day that you know, because PFF does like the the
Speaker 2: ship like the QB shares responsibility for the amount of
Speaker 2: pressures that he has, and it's those two guys that
Speaker 2: are down there, even though they're older and they can't
Speaker 2: move per se. But I would just say, Cousins just
Speaker 2: got rid of the ball very fast. So I don't know, man,
Speaker 2: you know, the pistol and play action you know the
Speaker 2: you know the Zach Robinson and the and the McVeigh stuff.
Speaker 2: They really utilized the play action stuff. They did not
Speaker 2: utilize the bootleg and Atlanta, and that was the issue
Speaker 2: for them. But I would just get very frustrated about Cousins' limitations,
Speaker 2: especially like that he just can't use it. I'm not
Speaker 2: even talking about using his legs mobility, using his legs
Speaker 2: to generate power on his arm. That's how a lot
Speaker 2: of those interceptions I feel like happened last year.
Speaker 1: Where do you think he ends up?
Speaker 2: Where do I think he ends up? You know there's
Speaker 2: this team in Minnesota that may look for a bridge. Now,
Speaker 2: did you do you have an idea he might end
Speaker 2: up in my city, Cleveland? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean I think that the offense that Stefanski's gonna
Speaker 1: end up running again could be interesting for him. We'll see.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's gonna play and I think he's gonna
Speaker 1: start Week one. I really do so that to me,
Speaker 1: I do find the whole. I think I find at
Speaker 1: least two of the three interesting. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I can I don't know with Russ, but I find
Speaker 1: two of the three pretty interesting and Rogers and cousins.
Speaker 1: I would say at least a three. Last thing here,
Speaker 1: will the Bengals franchise t Higgins yet again the second
Speaker 1: straight year? Will they get you know, Jamar Chase done?
Speaker 1: What's gonna happen with Trey Henderson who's headed the last
Speaker 1: year of his deal? Are they going to trade him that?
Speaker 1: I've seen some stories that say, well it makes sense
Speaker 1: instead of paying a guy who's over thirty despite leading
Speaker 1: the league in sacks, trade him now? You could probably, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: there are there are reports. I don't understand it, but
Speaker 1: there are some people who say, yeah, if we add
Speaker 1: draft capital, then you know what, we can get a
Speaker 1: few guys that can help us. It just doesn't make
Speaker 1: sense on the Bengals offseason situation. How interested are.
Speaker 2: You now the Bengals as a whole, I'm I'm at,
Speaker 2: like you know, ranging between three to four, But in
Speaker 2: terms of like T Higgins, I'm down at a two.
Speaker 2: I just don't think they're gonna franchise tag them. I
Speaker 2: think from a from a football standpoint, you trust your
Speaker 2: you trust your elite quarterback, you trust your offensive coach,
Speaker 2: and you trust in your elite wide receiver and Jamar
Speaker 2: Chase that you're going to pay right. You trust that
Speaker 2: they can make it work and the front office can
Speaker 2: patch that wide receiver to with someone else. You know,
Speaker 2: vas is taking a step up. I'm saying I'm wrong
Speaker 2: for the wide receiver from Princeton.
Speaker 1: He took.
Speaker 2: He took a step up, especially in the red zone
Speaker 2: last year. But I still think you're you're gonna need
Speaker 2: another compliment on the outside at wide receiver two. But
Speaker 2: I think the Bengals trying to, I guess, make some
Speaker 2: sort of EXTENTSI with te Higgins. They already franchised tagged him.
Speaker 2: They let talented defensive players walk out the dorm past years.
Speaker 2: We gotta add defensive talent, Like enough, t Higgins, go
Speaker 2: go and get paid from New England. Go be the
Speaker 2: wide receiver one for the Patriots. Go get your bag.
Speaker 2: Trust everybody on offense to do what they have to
Speaker 2: do to get by and still be really good. We
Speaker 2: gotta add defensive talent and extend Trey Hendrickson like this
Speaker 2: is ridiculous, Rose, It's a steal. It's criminal. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,
Speaker 2: ten eleventh. Trey Hendrickson is eleventh. An average annual value
Speaker 2: among all edge rushers in the NFL, just in front
Speaker 2: of Joey Bosa and behind Bradley Chubb, Max Crosby, Vershan
Speaker 2: Gary and Danelle Hunter Montes what is up there too? So,
Speaker 2: I mean, we got to give Trey Hendrickson the bag
Speaker 2: that he that he's like deserved throughout all of his career.
Speaker 1: The Bengals really don't have a problem paying good players.
Speaker 1: It's the glue guys that they'll let walk out the door.
Speaker 1: Ye that's been That's part of the issue with this franchise.
Speaker 1: And you can't pay everybody. I would let Higgins walk.
Speaker 1: The difference between this past season's franchise tag and this
Speaker 1: year's franchise tag for wide receiver is gonna be about
Speaker 1: five million. It's gonna go from twenty one to twenty six.
Speaker 1: Do you want to tie that up and pay Jamar?
Speaker 1: You have to get the Jamar Chase Steel done this offseason.
Speaker 1: You can't wait again, because my god, if he has
Speaker 1: another season the way he did this year, forget about it,
Speaker 1: like you better. This is the mistake that the Cowboys
Speaker 1: have made in recent years. That Dak was good. You know,
Speaker 1: he finished second in the MVP in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: You waited, so you probably cost yourself tens of millions
Speaker 1: of dollars on that deal to the Bengals want to
Speaker 1: do the same. You're gonna pay him, Just pay him now.
Speaker 1: He is freaking incredible, and he will end up being
Speaker 1: paid as the highest paid non quarterback in the NFL,
Speaker 1: is my guess.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be thirty six. Right, You don't you
Speaker 2: don't want to bid against yourself, and you're right, that's
Speaker 2: what the Cowboys have done, you know, to their detriment. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so you're paying them more than justin Jefferson, So you're
Speaker 2: he's getting thirty six or at least thirty five to five.
Speaker 2: So get your more Chase done and you gotta you
Speaker 2: gotta add defensive talent. You just you just have to
Speaker 2: do that.
Speaker 1: So as far as the interest in the story goes,
Speaker 1: it's a two. Unless here's the prediction, Chase gets extended,
Speaker 1: even if that's closer to training camp. That's fine because
Speaker 1: that's when a lot of that stuff happens. Yeah, uh,
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase. I'd extend Trey Hendrickson on a nice, short,
Speaker 1: fat deal, and I'd let t Higgins walk, and you
Speaker 1: can get a comp pick for him. Oh wait, is
Speaker 1: the com pick attached to him once they're franchised.
Speaker 2: That's that's a good question. Don't know that on top
Speaker 2: of my head. Even CAP people sometimes don't know how
Speaker 2: the cap works because it's very complicated.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it's all interesting, all right, but regardless, could
Speaker 1: be an interesting off season in Cincinnati. We are back
Speaker 1: at it again later this week. We'll have a new
Speaker 1: episode out in time for the Combine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what, I have a very interest you're gonna be
Speaker 2: at the combine, Chris Rose. Yes, I have an interesting
Speaker 2: last question that I didn't I didn't we didn't prep
Speaker 2: on Okay, but I uh, I'm gonna this is a
Speaker 2: Chris Rose question that I'm asking Chris Rose. Great, maybe
Speaker 2: an unexpected piece of news rumor that we're going to
Speaker 2: start to hear at the combine. Do you have any
Speaker 2: that's now on the fact that it's unexpected means that
Speaker 2: you're not expecting it. So I'm putting you on the
Speaker 2: spot to think of one.
Speaker 1: You know. Daniel Jeremiah put out a great tweet on Monday.
Speaker 1: He's our lead draft analyst and he and Richisen will
Speaker 1: be in the booth on Thursday, calling all this stuff,
Speaker 1: and he said, listen, I I've done some homework as
Speaker 1: well on the free agent class, and he goes, it's
Speaker 1: got me even more excited for the draft. And then
Speaker 1: somebody took that and said, this is why you expect
Speaker 1: a lot of extensions coming up. So I think that
Speaker 1: because of the lack of wow in the free agent
Speaker 1: class that you'll see in the middle of March, there
Speaker 1: are going to be some extensions that perhaps you don't expect. Okay,
Speaker 1: who could that be? I don't know. I mean, is
Speaker 1: there a guy that's Is there a pass rusher that's
Speaker 1: two years away from free agency that ends up getting
Speaker 1: a huge haul? Does that sort of stuff make sense?
Speaker 1: Is there another wide receiver like does Puka Nakua get
Speaker 1: a deal? He's heading into the third year of a
Speaker 1: four year deal. Remember he is a fifth round pick,
Speaker 1: so he doesn't have a five year contract. He's got
Speaker 1: a four year rookie deal. Does he get one? That
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to make sense. But maybe with the lack
Speaker 1: of a you know, big name available free agents, go
Speaker 1: take care of your own now, get ahead of it.
Speaker 1: I don't think a guy like Tyreek Hill's going anywhere.
Speaker 1: Stuff like that, So this does Travis Kelsey retire, Like,
Speaker 1: that's the sort of stuff that would I think would
Speaker 1: be that would be huge, right, Yeah, not sure. I
Speaker 1: think he's gotten eleven and a half million dollar roster bonus.
Speaker 1: Let's do it the league year. Oh yeah, so that
Speaker 1: would be big. I don't know if that was a
Speaker 1: good enough answer for you. No.
Speaker 2: I like that. I like that, and I really do
Speaker 2: think teams should start As the cap continues to expand,
Speaker 2: I think eventually it won't be booming twenty million every year,
Speaker 2: but as long as these TV deals keep coming in
Speaker 2: and money keeps flowing for the NFL like, it's going
Speaker 2: to continue to expand rapidly. So I think teams should
Speaker 2: start to normalize, like why why are we going to
Speaker 2: wait and bid against ourselves? As these guys and these
Speaker 2: players have good years, you can responsibly extend players and
Speaker 2: responsibly you know, you know, spread out cap hits if
Speaker 2: you extend guys early. And I think that's a good
Speaker 2: move and I think NFL teams and good players should
Speaker 2: start to do that and reward these.
Speaker 1: Guys absolutely all right, As I mentioned, we are back
Speaker 1: at it again later this week with a combined preview
Speaker 1: so for our producer who puts it all together, Connor,
Speaker 1: for Justin Pennock, for the newly married Bobby Beginner. I
Speaker 1: am Chris Rose. We will see you later this week
Speaker 1: here on Football Today.