March 10, 2025 • 35 mins
In the first hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain react to the Seahawks signing Sam Darnold to be their new quarterback, ask Tim Benz in Pittsburgh why the Steelers got DK Metcalf for a 2nd round pick, then they talk about the fallout for Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I mean, come on, we've been playing this thing for
how many years now on the year six seven years?
How long has Donald been around the NFL for seven years?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
And now? Was that correct?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I know he's on his fifteen and six years going
back to his last year with the Jets, because he was.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
A young guy. He was like twenty one when he
came into the NFL.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I think he said seven eight years in the NFL
now season, Yeah, seven years in the NFL. And we've
been playing this clip right there for about that long.
And now that guy, this guy right here, Sam Donald,
what time is a freaking Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Baby.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
He is our starting quarterback. He's our guy. I don't
care what you thought about him yesterday. I don't care
what you thought about him six months ago. We're six
years ago. Sam Donald is now a member of the
Seattle freaking Seahawks, baby, no surprise. I mean, look, when
the Genos Smith thing came down on Friday afternoon, it
took like five seconds right for the Sam Donald with
(00:51):
time rumors to start flying around the NFL Twitter fear
and we all thought there was a chance that maybe
we could find something out. Over the weekend, we found
out about DK for the weekend, the DK Metcalf deal,
and the Sam Donald news came down today. Has there
ever been I'm trying to think of the history of
the Seattle Seahawks three bigger moves over the span of
four days. Then getting rid of your starting quarterback, getting
(01:15):
rid of your big time wide receiver, and then going
out and getting the biggest name available in the free
agent market at the most important position of sports.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
That's never happened, right.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I mean, we can argue that there's been bigger moves
that were made, like Pete Carroll getting fired for example,
Mike Holmgren getting hired for example, But having all this
activity bing bang boom Friday, Sunday and Monday with Gino
and DK Metcalf and now Sam Donald, it's been about
as monumental as seismic shift for the Seahawks in three days,
(01:46):
or three of the last four days. Dick, then we've
seen in a long long time. But I give John
Schneider a lot of credit. Man there's a lot of
general managers that would just sit back and say, you
know what, I'm not going to give up a talent
like DK. If I'm giving up a top half of
the NFL quarterback in Gino Smith. I'm gonna milk the
system and try to get what I can for the
guy and really kind of make teams sweat. But I
(02:08):
think whether you're ten and seven or whether you're four
and thirteen in Seattle and you're John Schneider, if you're
not making the playoffs and you're not competing for a
Super Bowl title, it doesn't really fricking matter, Okay, and
missing the playoffs two years in a row has absolutely
forced John Schneider to act to blow this thing to Kingdom.
(02:29):
Come on offense at least well at the same time,
let's face it, so far protecting what could be a
top ten defense in the NFL for next year. So
I'm kind of like you, and I think Bob was
the first one. Bob Candota was the first one to
throw the r A word out there on Friday. They'll
rebuild thing.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I don't understand that. I just don't get it.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I mean, look, we can debate Sam versus Geno, and
we will. We can debate whether John Schneider is gonna
be able to fix the offensive line and we will.
We can debate, you know, the wide receiver room and
we will. All that's gonna come. But the defense is
still intact right.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
From what I saw. I believe so okay, and I
believe blown that up.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I believe Hugh has made the argument that they were
the best defense in the NFL second half.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Season, and so you're gonna start the year with at
minimum one of the better defenses in the National Football League.
You're bringing a quarterback that is going to be better
in the red zone, There's no question about that, at
least he was.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
A year ago.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You're bringing it a quarterback who's not gonna cough up
the ball the way Gino Smith did a season ago.
You know who knows what numbers Darnold will put up.
I'm sure the numbers will decline a little bit from
what he did in Minnesota. We can chat about that
in a second two. But I'm not buying this rebuilding
stuff at all. I would say retool, that's fine. Retool's fine,
But I'm not buying that this team is rebuilding whatsoever
(03:46):
with the moves they've made.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
No, and they had this plan when they let go
of Dkay and or traded DeKay and traded Gino Smith.
They obviously knew what they were going to do with
the quarterback position. And for me, just what thrills me
about this is not necessarily the ball move because I
think Donald is better than Gino. I think I don't
think Darnald is massively better than Gene.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It was better last year. For sure.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
He's a better quarterback than Gino Smith, whatever that means.
He's four or five spots ahead of Gino on the
quarterback pecking order.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
He's not massively better.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
But financially, I just go back to think about what
I thought about Gino. You and I sat here and said, well,
forty million dollars a year, we give him the Daniel
Jones contract. We said that, We said we'd give him
two years, forty million dollars.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Said that last offseason. We said that last we said
that last offseason.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I would have been happy a month ago, and I
said it on the air with cutting Geno Smith and.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Just taking the dead cap.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
But instead the general managers of the Seattle Seahawks didn't
cut Gino Smith. He actually got reasonable value for Gino
Smith in a third round draft pick and then signed
a better quarterback for ten almost ten million dollars less
than what we said we would have given Gino Smith.
That's what makes me so about this. It is a
(05:01):
financial boom I think for the Seahawks, and I think
it's a slight upgrade on the field.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Ye well, the boom isn't what it would have been
if you had gone out and signed Kirk Cousins for
a million bucks, obviously, because you're spending a lot of
the money you're saving on Gino on Sam Darnold. And
by the way, just for giggles man, and we can
debate this all you want, PFF. Last year had Sam
Donald the thirteenth rated quarterback in the NFL, and they
had Gino Smith at number nine last season.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So do with that what you want.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I mean what I saw, the guy that I saw
come to Seattle and beat the Seahawks, and the way
he played that day, Gino Smith did not look like
that last year. There were a couple of occasions, maybe
the game against Arizona, maybe the Atlanta game or whatever,
but he didn't look like that. And look again, for
those out there who want to argue what Donald had
(05:48):
in Minnesota, I get. I mean Jordan Jefferson or Justin Jefferson,
Jordan Addison Hockinson and Aaron Jones caught like fifty one
passes a year ago from Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
He had good talent around him out.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
There, and he's not going to have that talent here, right,
and he's coming to a place where they've gotten rid
of their maybe number one wide receiver. Some would argue
Jackson Smith and Jigba, we'll see you about Kenny Walker,
We'll see about the offensive line. We're going to talk
to Paul Allen coming up at five o'clock and talk
about that Viking offensive line, how good they were.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
But this is a guy that was inside.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
He was playing indoors, you know, in Minneapolis at us
Bank Stadium, in a pass happy offense that threw the ball.
I think it was like thirty three less times than
Gino Smith did a year ago. So they were right
about the same when it came to pass attempts, and
he had maybe you could argue better talent around him.
And look, I mean, the one thing about Sam Donald
that I will say is that two years ago when
we were kind of goofing around on the air talking
(06:39):
about Geno Smith being an MVP candidate, nobody at that
point in time would have argued that Sam Donald's better
than Ginosmith. I think he was in Carolina as a backup.
He may have been in San Francisco. Go back and
check and he blew up. I mean, let's face it,
there's nothing wrong with admitting this that everything that we're
basing our enthusiasm on, if you are enthusiastic about about
(07:00):
Sam Darnold, is about one year.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
And the guy's played seven years in the NFL and
he said one really decent year.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
So what is this? Is this a guy that found himself?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Is it a guy that stops seeing ghosts like he
was when he was in New York? That's almost a
famous quote. Now is he just older? He's going to
be twenty eight in June and now he's figured this
whole thing out.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Was it the talent? Was it the coaching? Was it?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Kevin O'Connell, I don't know the answers to those questions, Dick.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I think we have to wait and see what this
guy does.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
But I do know this that even if he gives
you exactly what Gino Smith gave you a year ago,
which was not a lot, right, even if he gives
you exactly what Geno Smith gave you a year ago,
you're still saving money and you're still giving yourself an
extra third round pick. And the way this contract is structured,
it doesn't seem like, oh, look, dude, I'm in the
same boat now as I was the day that they
(07:50):
traded for Sam Howe.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
If they want a quarterback in the draft, go get him.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
This should not preclude them from doing anything on draft
day if they're in love with a young girl.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
What it does do is it buys them flexibility that
if they don't want to dip into the quarterback pool
in the draft until next year when the quarterback pool
is supposed to be deep, right, they've given themselves the
flexibility they can do. I don't know if if I've
said it once, I've said it a hundred times on
the year. The number one rule to wreck your football
team is to what paying good quarterback elite money?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Right? Right?
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Well, the inverse of paying a good quarterback elite money
is paying a good quarterback below average money. And there
is a list, a long list of just two starting
veteran quarterbacks that are no longer on their rookie contracts
that are making less money than Sam Darnold. You are
paying him a bottom basement quarterback contract for a veteran
(08:43):
and that's what gets me the most exciting.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, no, again, I mean it absolutely could be huge
for these guys.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
You know.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
And by the way, I put a pull out and
I instead of Darnald, I wrote Darnell. I don't know
who Sam Darnell is, for God's sakes, freaking auto correct
for crying out loud.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
But just could correct yourself. Not late. Yeah, it's too late.
I like most stuff I knew, I wasn't paying attention.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
What's your reaction to the Sam Darnell becoming a Seahawks story?
Twenty nine percent fired up, fifty five percent wait and see,
sixteen percent say they're not excited at all, So fifty
five percent in the wait and see category. And that's
probably where I am, you know, I mean again, this
is a guy who was a journeyman. He's on his
fifteen and six years for a reason. You know how
(09:25):
much of last year again was just about the people
around him, the coaching, the atmosphere. The context of the
situation is Sam Darnald better off staying in Minneapolis and
staying as the quarterback of the Vikings. Did they even
want him back for this kind of money because they
got JJ McCarthy coming off the knee injury.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
I just know this. This team needed a.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Change, They needed to take a chance, and they took
a chance. Could it backfire? Of course a could backfire.
Could Gino Smith go to the Raiders and be phenomenal.
Could Darnald come here and start seeing ghosts again and
be terrible? Could he be the guy that he was
in the final eight quarters of the season last year?
May I mean Warren Sharp's got a tweet out and
he's kind of, you know, a skeptic. I think of
(10:05):
this deal by the way, Warren is because he's talking
about the protection that Sam Darnold got last year versus
what he supposedly will get in Seattle with their offensive
line versus the Seahawk offensive line. He said twenty nine
percent of Donald's incompletions were because he was being pressured
number five highest rate in the NFL and the single
biggest reason Donald would miss passes. That was behind a
(10:27):
Viking zo line that ranked number two and past block
win rate. He's going to a place here where the
offensive line last year ranked thirtieth in pressure rate. Here's
my problem with this stuff, though, it's March tenth. They
haven't signed a linebacker, they haven't drafted alignment, they haven't
traded for alignment. What I love to see John Schneider do.
(10:47):
What they're doing in Chicago with their offensive line apse
a freking lutely, dude. I mean, what they're doing for
Caleb Williams is unbelievable. They got Dolman, they got Jackson,
they got Tony, and they got Grated Jared at defensive tackle.
It's just incredible what those guys have done in just
a week with their offensive and defensive line. So if
they can do something like that, I think a lot
of people are can be pretty damn fired up out here.
But you know, look, man, again, they were just mired
(11:10):
in mediocrity. They were going nowhere. They haven't won a
playoff game at home, and almost ten years now, going
back to twenty sixteen, they had to make a change,
and they made a change with Pete Carroll last year,
and they made a change with the second most important position,
their quarterback.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Today.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I don't think Sam Donald's a great quarterback. I don't
think Sam Donald's going to be a great quarterback. In fact,
Sam Donald may never have the season that he had
last year against Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I think you're right.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Well, you know what, I'm comparing Sam Donald to what
we have had in Gino Smith, which was a declining
asset year after year after year. Better in twenty twenty
two than he was in twenty twenty three, better in
twenty twenty three than he was in twenty twenty four.
He's seven years younger, and he's going to make ten
to twelve million dollars a year less than Gino Smith is.
(11:57):
And you got compensation for Gino Smith.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
That is a win.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Even if Sam Donald gives you the same production that
Gino did last year.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, I mean, I'm fine with it. Again, I'm not
gonna go, you know, dance naked in the streets.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Number one.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Nobody wants to see that. Number two, I'd be arrested.
Number three. It's not worth it. But again, I just think,
you know, I Jackson. Hate to be repetitive, but if
there's a young quarterback the Seahawks like, and they were
thinking about maybe a second round pick, maybe a Day
two pick, maybe a third round pick.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Take the guy.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
This is not a contract that precludes you from doing anything.
I mean, look at the freaking Falcons for God's sake,
they gave Kirk Cousins one hundred and eighty million dollars
and then drafted Michael Pennock's. Yes, and that was the
right call. It was the right call to draft Michael
after they paid Kirk Cousins. So this should change nothing
for them when it comes to the quarterbacks spot.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
It shouldn't.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
And they should absolutely take a quarterback in the first
three or four rounds just to have that guy, because
I don't think Sam Howell. I mean, like, okay, whatever,
it's this is Sam Donald's show until the next guy
takes over. But I mean to go to the comment
of mediocrity. Listen, there's a lot about this deal that
I agree with you, Dick. I really like the amount,
the age, that the draft pick we got for Geno.
(13:05):
There's so much to like about this. Here's the thing
in the NFL, you just don't want to be where
the Seahawks were last year. You don't want to be
nine and eight, ten and seven and missed the playoffs
by one. It's the worst place to be. And yes,
we you know, getting rid of g You know this
is our show prom right now. We joke about how
we've popped the life reserver, and we're no longer gonna
be nine and eight. I fear though, that Sam Darnold
(13:28):
will regress from where he was at Minnesota because of
those offensive line stats you just mentioned, Softy, and we
are gonna be in the same ten and seven nine
in eight area.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I fear we're gonna be right back there. And that's
what scares me. Well.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
But okay, but even if it does get back to
ten and seven and nine and eight, you're saving money,
You've got more draft capital, you're not locking yourself in
long term to a contract that's gonna kill the franchise.
You can still draft the guy. I mean, nothing really
changes again with the draft. That doesn't change. And then
number two guys, let's face it, we're kind of still
in the exact same both that we were in a
(14:00):
week ago. Yes, and that is to fix the frickin' line. Yes,
nothing's changed.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Well, what scenario Jackson would have taken us out of
nine and eight or ten?
Speaker 4 (14:09):
So I think, what what? What would the move that
I would have done? Is I see Justin Fields getting
a two year deal for twenty million a year.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Then I thought, and yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Same here million guaranteed that is that is a high deal,
but much higher than I thought. But at the same time,
I don't think Justin Fields is a quarterback that puts
you in the mediocrity of nine to eight ten and seven.
I think he is, you know, in more of a
six to seven win guy that gets you a higher
draft pick, that gets you the next Super Bowl potentially
winning quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, potentially. I'm gonna emphasize
(14:39):
that word, and I just I hate the world of
thinking we're gonna be ten and seven, which I think
we very easily could be next year and maybe win
a playoff game. But this I don't think Sam Darnold's
gonna win a Super Bowl for US.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I guess draft capital, guys, you've got eleven picks. You
don't have to lose to move up in the first round.
You've got massive draft capital to move up in the front.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
You do, and they got to take advantage of it.
I mean, this is it for Schneider. This is like,
I mean, he's been given a huge gift, he's got
a lot of money. He's even well, you can afford
to go seven and ten, but then you better Dan,
We'll go thirteen and four the next year, right, I mean,
if this is gonna be, if this is gonna be
twenty eleven, next year, better be twenty twelve, right, twenty
twenty six, Better be twenty twelve, if you know what
(15:20):
I'm talking about. So again, I mean, it's just nothing
has really changed for me in regards to the Hawks.
I'm I'm excited for the newness of it all. Honestly,
I'm excited for something to change. I'm exciting excited for
a new a new system. I'm excited for a new name,
a new quarterback. This is the first time the Hawks
(15:40):
have gone out and gotten a you know, a free
agent quarterback to be their regular everyday starter since what
Matt Hasselback and when Holmgren grabbed him. I mean, you
count touchdown, Jesus, I guess it was gonna be Matt
Flyin so but but the first time you're gonna have
a regular guy was Hassleback. So this franchise doesn't do
this very often, and they went out and got the
best guy in the market. I will see if they
(16:00):
can do some damage in free agency. I don't expect
John to do much in free agency. He'll probably do
what he always does, and just wait until you know
the B and C options come rolling in and then
grab as many guys as you can. Tim Benz is
in Pittsburgh. He's gonna join us next. DK Metcalfe is
a stealer. We'll talk about it from their perspective coming up,
and then Hewett four on ninety three three kJ r f.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
M live from the R and R Foundation Specialists Broadcast Studio.
Now back to Softie and Dick on your Home for
the Huskies and the Craken Sports Radio ninety three point
three kJ r FM with the signy full peak in
the twenty nineteen NFL trow.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
DK He's on fire.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
DK metcalf is now with freakingcy All My thoughts are
get your breath talking to us again.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Finally got my two two sets. You can sleep in
laws too.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
You know, I've always wanted to know what it's like
to watch an NFL n let's have sex with the
floor on draft nights. We saw it and we saw that,
Yes we did the nights kind of the Seahawks drafted
DK metcalf I don't know if anybody has ever been
that excited for a Seahawks draft pick. As Hugh Millan
was that night when they took DK Metcalf. And now
here we are and DK Metcalf is a member of
(17:18):
the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Well, in old Palavars.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
We got to know this guy twenty years ago in
Detroit at the Super Bowl. He's still going. We're still going.
Our friend Tim Benns from Pittsburgh with us right now
on the radio show Timmy, how are you man?
Speaker 6 (17:34):
Well, I had sex with the floor when the Steelers
took Jarvis Jones. So it worked out better for you
than it did for me.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, So it doesn't take much for you, is what
you're telling me. By the way, Oh yeah, I gotcha, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well, you know, Dick and I were talking off the
air about this deal. Why would the Steelers do this? Uh,
with their history where they're at right now, with their history,
don't even have a quarterback yet, why would they choose
this time to give DK metcalf five year, one hundred
and fifty million dollar deal.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Well, my first thought.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
Was when he got here that they must have something
cooking quarterback wise, but it hasn't played out that way
to the degree that you feel like they're making that
much of an upgrade So the second thought that I
had was that they had made up their mind that
they were going to unload George Pickens come hell or
(18:25):
high water and basically maybe move him for a second
round pick, the same second round pick that they got
for DK, and then use that to either draft the
defensive lineman a round two so they could use the
first round pick on like Buka out of Ohio State
or something to that effect. Basically have DK be the
guy who Pickens was going to have to get the
(18:47):
money for to keep him anyway, because they feel like
maybe he's a little bit easier to manage and coach
than Pickens ever could be.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
That was my line of thought on is Pickens more
likely to stay or less likely to stay?
Speaker 6 (19:01):
Now less likely I think based on how Art Rudey
the second was talking about him at the interview session
that he gave at the end of the season, and
then Omar Khn sort of mollified that at Indianapolis for
the combine. But now that I've got some texture on
(19:22):
it with the DK thing, I wonder if that was
con just sort of driving up the price and making
it sound like Kicky's was going to need a lot
to move you know gms do that, and it was
a It was a significant disconnect from how Tomlin and
Rooney were talking about him a couple weeks earlier. And
you know, even I wrote about it, like when when
(19:43):
Art Rudy the Second starts talking about how he wants
to see George Pickens mature and says that a couple
of times but never uses the word mature. Here you
can start putting two and two together and then you know,
like I said, was mollified by by the GM Omar Khan,
but I think he was maybe angling to make Pickings
look like a hot commodity and someone that would need
(20:03):
to be ripped away from them.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Well, Tim Bens is with us in Pittsburgh. Seahawks over
the weekend traded Dk Metcalf to the Steelers for a
second round draft pick, and then the day signing Sam Darnold.
So you mentioned that you kind of thought maybe there
was a plan in place at quarterback. So what's the
plan now? Is it Aaron Rodgers, is it Daniel Jones?
Is it bringing back mister unlimited and Russ so Wilson.
(20:27):
What is your kind of gut crystal ball call on
who's throwing balls to DK Metcalf in September.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
My thought now is that when they got DK to
sign the contract after the deal or agree to whatever
the terms would be to make the trade happen, that
they told him that it would be no one less
than Russ, all right.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
They might have.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
They probably told him, hey, look, we're talking to Donald.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
We've got an offer out already the fields to stay.
Speaker 6 (20:55):
If it's neither of those two, it's gonna be Russ.
We'll get Russ for you, at least, because I may.
You guys know him better than I do. You tell me,
would DK ever want to come here if the quarterback
was anything less than Russell Wilson, because at least those
guys connected for three years since Seattle.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Right, yeah, right, Well, we're not sure what DK wants
because he said he wanted to go to a warm
weather climate anyway, So we're not sure.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
What did he say that or something? Yeah, I think
Schafter tweeted that out.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I think that was like his He was reporting that
that he wanted warm weather contender.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
I mean, guys, we've been doing this long enough to
know and Tim, you just asked the question, would DK
go to Pittsburgh. If I think DK would go to
Pittsburgh if they gave him the most money, of course,
end the story periods.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Okay, so I guess where I'm going.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
The ancillary thought is, wouldn't you have gotten that much
anywhere else? Like you think it was basically Pittsburgh bidding
against themselves that much money for him, then.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I don't know what the Chargers would have offered him,
the Patriots would have offered him. For example, there were
a couple teams out there, like the Chargers that we
thought would be a great fit for him going indoors, playing.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
With Justin Herbert and Jim Harbor, all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I'm just telling you from my perspective, and I can't
speak for Dick. I just think it's an odd time
for the Steelers to go out and make a move
like that when they don't even have a damn quarterback
to throw the guy at the ball.
Speaker 6 (22:11):
We've kind of been thinking some of that too, But again,
the likely absence of pickings, if not before the start
of this season, then definitely after this season is partially
what we can use to explain that, because then the
rest of the receiving room is going to be very
young and cheap. So you could explain it that way.
And I'll be honest with you, we were we were
(22:32):
saying the same thing about Seattle. It's like, why do
they go out and get Darnold now after DK's gone
and now that Lockett's gone too?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Is it just and Jake?
Speaker 6 (22:40):
Basically Jackson Smith and Jake But then that they're that
they're banking everything on.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Hey, don't you be don't you be criticizing Jake Bobo?
Now all right, we got Jake Bobo.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
I mean to answer your question, Lockett's Lockett is done.
I mean Lockett Lockett no longer is Lockett. So that's
that's kind of a move point. JSN was a better
wide receiver than DK was last year.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
I mean, I don't think any thinking that.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
The thinking is they still have their number one right
to go get a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Okay, yeah, I mean I can see for me. I
was just surprised at the number.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
I mean, he's making more money than Sam Darnold this,
I mean at the wide receiver position. And another guy
that I'm surprised at the number was Justin Fields. Are
you surprised that Justin Field's got twenty a year, and
do you think Pittsburgh even came close to twenty a year.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
We were thinking in the neighborhood at twenty five guaranteed,
maybe thirty. What he got was a little bit higher
than I expected. Yeah, I am.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Surprised at that.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
Well, the one that anybody in Pittsburgh, like we we
can sort of wrap our brains around a contract for
a quarterback being high. When Dan Moore got eighty two
million and fifty guaranteed in Tennessee, that just reset everybody's
calibration as to what the heck is going on around
here because people couldn't wait for him to leave, and
(23:53):
then Tennessee's given him fifty million guaranteed to come play
tackle there to move another guy to go over to
the other side, because he can only play one side
of the line, like right, That's the exact reason why
Pittsburgh wanted to get rid of them. So I'll be
honest with you guys, anything contractually after the Dan Moore
contract makes perfect sense to me, whether we're talking about
Donald Fields or a fockaff. But you you talked about
(24:14):
he's making more money than Donald, he might be making
more money than TJ. Watt too, Like that's the other,
you know, tentacle that goes out for this because now TJ,
as his brother has campaigned repeatedly on the Pat McAfee show,
his negotiation windows opening up. This is when the Steelers
usually start to do their deals for guys that are
(24:35):
one year out. And Crosby's already reset the market, then
Garrett reset the market. Who knows what Trey Hendrickson's going
to get? And now they just gave thirty three million
to a wide receiver where they were making it sound
like it was an afterthought. Oh, TJ's gonna get done.
TJ's gonna get done, don't we'll take care of that. Well,
that's become complicated by how much you paid a wide receiver,
how much you still have to pay a quarterback, and
how much every other pass rusher of watts Ilk has
(24:58):
gotten so far this offseason.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yeah, well, Tim, let me just leave you with us.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Tim Ben's with us in Pittsburgh, and I think a
lot of us in Seattle were frustrated with DK. Thought
he could have been more than he was. And by
the way, a lot of that's not on him. He
never had a great offensive line here in Seattle. He
had like four different coordinators when he was in Seattle.
Everyone who came in, they were always looking to be
the guy that would unlock number fourteen and just for
(25:22):
whatever reason, never happened. But when this deal came down, like,
what did you guys think you were getting getting Jefferson,
you're getting Chase, you're getting the number two guy kind
of right behind them.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
What did you think you were getting in dk Metcalf.
Speaker 7 (25:36):
Honestly, the illogical folks who have been drunk on the
idea of finally getting a second receiver and one that
might be a bigger name than Pickens saw a number
one coming here. The more logical folks are of the
mindset that I outlined before that you're getting a guy
(25:56):
who can be a number one, but also, by the
back end of his contract, hopefully, hopefully you've drafted.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
A more true number one within two years. I think
that's the more logical way to look at it, because
you're right, first of all, you're saying he didn't have
a very good offensive line. He had offensive coordinator inability,
and he had offensive he had passing instability. I mean,
that's everything. This is outline the Steelers. You know, so
like it's if it didn't work in Seattle, what's it
(26:23):
gonna do magically work here because we sprinkle black and
gold pixie dust on him?
Speaker 5 (26:27):
No?
Speaker 6 (26:27):
Probably not. I mean I know that this is the guy,
correct me if I'm wrong. He didn't have a single
game over seventy yards after he spraining the MCL right,
So I have a little bit more realistic expectations, But
I expect a guy who can be as good as
Pickens was last year, you know, maybe a thousand yard
to eleven hundred yard guy next year. Yeah, and by
(26:49):
the time gets into year three of the contract, maybe
the rookie that they gets better than him, just like
JSN basically just like Jays. And that's what I'm hoping for.
That's how I'm painting it.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Timmy great stuff. Man, appreciate this and we'll talk down
the road.
Speaker 6 (27:02):
Pal, Yeah, great, catching up with both of you, guys.
I always enjoyed being on call any time.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Take care you bet, Tim, Bens and Pittsburgh. And now
there's a gaping hole at wide receiver in Seattle. So
you got the new quarterback and now the question is
who does he throw the football to? And what does
this all do to Jackson Smith and Jigba. I mean
Jackson Smith and Jigba. Let's face it, had the best
year of his career last year. He's lost his coordinator
who got him to that year, and he lost maybe
(27:27):
the biggest magnet for sucking coverage off of him in
DK Metcalf And now that guy's gone, and now his
mentor and Tyler Lockett has gone. So Jackson Smith and Jigba,
he needs some help.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
We'll talk about who they can go after to replace
those guys. What this means for Darnold, what it means
for Geno. Man, There's a lot going on a busy
Monday right here on ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
Love from the R and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio.
Now back to Sofie and Dick on your Home for
the Huskies and the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three point
three kjr FM.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Arnald under center when Action Jones back to pass. Both
have picked up deep shot.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Jefferson, he asked put at the fifteenth head one to
the forty touch back to the twenty five head.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
To the right. He's trying to outrun the Niners to
the five touchdown.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Saved seven yard topdown trucks, Damn Donald suggestion, Jefferson. So
that guy right there, Paul Allen, by the way, our
longtime friend at every game of Sam Darnold's Minnesota career
first sixteen games of the season, had a passer rating
(28:41):
of one hundred and six point four. In the last
two weeks fifty three percent passer rating of sixty six
point four, and they scored eighteen points combined in their
last two games of the season. Playoff game obviously was
one of them, after that big NFC North Championship game
against the Lions. So that guy right there is Now
(29:02):
you're a new starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. Sam
Darnold picked up today in free agency. Nothing will be
official I think until Wednesday, is that right, twelve o'clock Wednesday,
But being reported by a lot of people, three year,
one hundred point five million dollar deal. There were some
reports out there that set one hundred and ten point five.
But the Seahawks have already saved ten million dollars since
(29:24):
this morning since the report came out. Dk Metcalf getting
traded for a second round draft pick, Gino Smith getting
traded for a third round draft pick. They are taking
a blow torch to this freaking thing.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Man.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
So I think there's a lot of things that you
can kind of discuss here, a lot of tentacles, a
lot of avenues. And by the way, Cooper Cup is
going to get released by the Rams as well, so
we can talk about whether or not you want to
m in Seattle. For me, all of a sudden, the
wide receiver room is a huge position to need, right.
I mean all of us can agree with that. They
got one guy right now, they got Jackson Smith and Jingba.
No disrespect to Jake Bobo or anybody else, but they
(29:59):
need to upgrade at that spot. As I said on
Twitter a couple of days ago, not that you give
a damn, but the wide receiver at number eighteen possibility
is certainly now on the table. I don't think it
was on the table a week ago. It's on the
table now. Zerline, who's going to join us on Thursday?
Land Zerline. Had the Hawks taken a wide receiver in
the first round, I think they were going to go after.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
The kid from Texas. Is that right, Matthew Golden? Is
that correct?
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I'm taking Matthew Golden out of Texas? In the first round,
so it's certainly a possibility they could go after a
wide receiver in round one. But one thing that I'm
just curious about, Dick, is what this means for Jackson
Smith and Jigba.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
I mean, the guy had a.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Career year and part of the reason why he was
able to have a career year is because of what
DK Metcalf did to deflect attention off of him. And
now that guy's.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Gone, Well, you just look at what kind of talent
JSN has.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
The talent's not going anywhere.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
The quarterback is getting better, and you would assume the
offensive lines getting better, So I would assume Jackson Smith
and jig But and he's another year older and another
year more experienced.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
So losing Dk Metcalf is in regards to what it
means for Jackson Smith and Jigba doesn't concern HI much.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
I would say losing.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Correct, losing DK is a hit, but at gaining a
better quarterback, a second year in the offense or second
year in the NFL, rather a different offense, but second
year in the NFL, third year in the NFL, and
you would a third year in the NFL, and what
you would assume is a better offensive line more than
makes up for the lack of DK Metcalf.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
I mean, I hope you're right, Dick. I don't know
if I'd go down that road yet. I think DK
Metcalf was pretty special, and I think you when you
talk to him. You know, one thing that Hughes talked
about is how much he had DK metcalf helping to
block for him on screenplays.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
And that guy's now gone. They got to replace that.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
And what was the was it the Sunday Night game
where Collinsworth was just drooling over how much DK metcalf
was just deflecting players off of Jackson Smith and Jigba.
Is there a player out there that can deflect that
kind of attention and do exactly for him what DK
metcalfe did, or as you said, is the is the
quarterback upgrade, hopefully, offensive line upgrade, hopefully play calling upgrade,
(32:07):
hopefully is all that gonna be enough to wipe out
with DK metcalf what you lost in DK Metcalf And
I can't say that yet. I mean, look, all I
know is this is that Jackson Smith and Jigb we
know had his best year with DK metcalf playing alongside him,
and he was a tremendous help for Jackson Smith and
jigbas So. I think it's a huge concern right now
for the Hawks. I mean they've got the capital to
(32:29):
fix it. They got the money, they got the draft
capital to fix it and go out and get some
guys in the draft to take some attention. There's gonna
be some free agent guys out there. Cooper cup is
one of them that just came available. He's not an
X receiver, obviously, He's also thirty two years old coming
off an injury.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Who knows what the guy's got left.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
I got no idea if the guy can play him
or he may just be washed for all I know.
But I think there's there's plenty of options out there
at wide receiver. But I still think as much as
you need to get that room taken care of, John
Schneider cannot fall in love with the toys and games department.
He's got to stay focused on the mission, which is
to fix the fricking line above anything else. We are
(33:09):
right back to where we were two weeks ago, before Darnold,
before DK, before Gino.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Nothing has changed. Fix the damn.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Loss so's talking to a friend of mine today and
I said the exact same thing. I was like, if
you could promise me that the interior the offensive line
is going to be fixed through the draft with high picks,
I'll take.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Jake Bobo for a year opposite Jsen.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
I don't give a damn as long as the interior
that offensive line is fixed. Now, having said that there
are options, there's four guys in DJ's top thirty one
wide receiver a land Zerline who we're gonna have on.
He's got three first round wide receivers. All of them
could be there as at the eighteenth pick. You got
Ted McMillan, you got Golden, you got the local kid
(33:50):
from stillicomg Mechagbuka. There are first round options out there
for the Seahawks to pair.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Up with Jass.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Absolutely, and there's gonna be some big time free agents
that will come open. Not sure if I'm really up
for spending fifteen million dollars on somebody. To be honest
with you, well, the only guys in free agency that
potentially could cost that much would be like a Stefan
Diggs or an Amari Cooper. That would be Everybody else
is gonna be less than what less, maybe much less
than ten million dollars.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I think.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
I think there's two ways to win in the NFL.
Number one is to have a cheap young quarterback like
the Bears does. Other way is to be elite at
something like the hawksporter when they were elite on defense
in twenty twelve and thirteen. You're not gonna have a
cheap young quarterback. You're not gonna have a fifty million
dollars a year quarterback. But you're not gonna have a
cheap young quarterback period. I mean, he's gonna cost you
(34:38):
thirty three million dollars a year. So the amount of
money that you're spending on quarterback, Dick, they've got to
go out and try to find some savings somewhere else.
And I think the way you do it is a
place is like wide receiver, offensive line. If you're gonna
spend money in free agency, I'd rather see him spend
it on the offensive line. The problem is, now it's gone.
(34:58):
It's seven o'clock on the East coast or six pm,
whatever the hell it is seven o'clock, and they're all leaving.
I mean, you know this, this this wave of the
top three or four linemen. I mean, the Bears got
like four of them, for crying out loud. Seahawks gotta act,
and I'm not surprised they're not acting. I thought there
was ever a year two act that would have been
this year. But they'll do exactly what they always do.
(35:19):
They'll wait until the B and C level options come around,
and they'll grab a bunch of those guys and get
quantity over quality is what they'll do. So I still
have that concern, guys that they're not gonna be able
to fix this offensive line to make a real big difference,
no matter who's playing quarterback for you or who's playing
wide receiver. All right, Hugh Melin's gonna join us a
little more at four with Hugh next on ninety three
(35:41):
three kJ A RFL
I mean, come on, we've been playing this thing for
how many years now on the year six seven years?
How long has Donald been around the NFL for seven years?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
And now? Was that correct?
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I know he's on his fifteen and six years going
back to his last year with the Jets, because he was.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
A young guy. He was like twenty one when he
came into the NFL.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I think he said seven eight years in the NFL
now season, Yeah, seven years in the NFL. And we've
been playing this clip right there for about that long.
And now that guy, this guy right here, Sam Donald,
what time is a freaking Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Baby.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
He is our starting quarterback. He's our guy. I don't
care what you thought about him yesterday. I don't care
what you thought about him six months ago. We're six
years ago. Sam Donald is now a member of the
Seattle freaking Seahawks, baby, no surprise. I mean, look, when
the Genos Smith thing came down on Friday afternoon, it
took like five seconds right for the Sam Donald with
(00:51):
time rumors to start flying around the NFL Twitter fear
and we all thought there was a chance that maybe
we could find something out. Over the weekend, we found
out about DK for the weekend, the DK Metcalf deal,
and the Sam Donald news came down today. Has there
ever been I'm trying to think of the history of
the Seattle Seahawks three bigger moves over the span of
four days. Then getting rid of your starting quarterback, getting
(01:15):
rid of your big time wide receiver, and then going
out and getting the biggest name available in the free
agent market at the most important position of sports.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
That's never happened, right.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I mean, we can argue that there's been bigger moves
that were made, like Pete Carroll getting fired for example,
Mike Holmgren getting hired for example, But having all this
activity bing bang boom Friday, Sunday and Monday with Gino
and DK Metcalf and now Sam Donald, it's been about
as monumental as seismic shift for the Seahawks in three days,
(01:46):
or three of the last four days. Dick, then we've
seen in a long long time. But I give John
Schneider a lot of credit. Man there's a lot of
general managers that would just sit back and say, you
know what, I'm not going to give up a talent
like DK. If I'm giving up a top half of
the NFL quarterback in Gino Smith. I'm gonna milk the
system and try to get what I can for the
guy and really kind of make teams sweat. But I
(02:08):
think whether you're ten and seven or whether you're four
and thirteen in Seattle and you're John Schneider, if you're
not making the playoffs and you're not competing for a
Super Bowl title, it doesn't really fricking matter, Okay, and
missing the playoffs two years in a row has absolutely
forced John Schneider to act to blow this thing to Kingdom.
(02:29):
Come on offense at least well at the same time,
let's face it, so far protecting what could be a
top ten defense in the NFL for next year. So
I'm kind of like you, and I think Bob was
the first one. Bob Candota was the first one to
throw the r A word out there on Friday. They'll
rebuild thing.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
I don't understand that. I just don't get it.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I mean, look, we can debate Sam versus Geno, and
we will. We can debate whether John Schneider is gonna
be able to fix the offensive line and we will.
We can debate, you know, the wide receiver room and
we will. All that's gonna come. But the defense is
still intact right.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
From what I saw. I believe so okay, and I
believe blown that up.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I believe Hugh has made the argument that they were
the best defense in the NFL second half.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Season, and so you're gonna start the year with at
minimum one of the better defenses in the National Football League.
You're bringing a quarterback that is going to be better
in the red zone, There's no question about that, at
least he was.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
A year ago.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
You're bringing it a quarterback who's not gonna cough up
the ball the way Gino Smith did a season ago.
You know who knows what numbers Darnold will put up.
I'm sure the numbers will decline a little bit from
what he did in Minnesota. We can chat about that
in a second two. But I'm not buying this rebuilding
stuff at all. I would say retool, that's fine. Retool's fine,
But I'm not buying that this team is rebuilding whatsoever
(03:46):
with the moves they've made.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
No, and they had this plan when they let go
of Dkay and or traded DeKay and traded Gino Smith.
They obviously knew what they were going to do with
the quarterback position. And for me, just what thrills me
about this is not necessarily the ball move because I
think Donald is better than Gino. I think I don't
think Darnald is massively better than Gene.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It was better last year. For sure.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
He's a better quarterback than Gino Smith, whatever that means.
He's four or five spots ahead of Gino on the
quarterback pecking order.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
He's not massively better.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
But financially, I just go back to think about what
I thought about Gino. You and I sat here and said, well,
forty million dollars a year, we give him the Daniel
Jones contract. We said that, We said we'd give him
two years, forty million dollars.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Said that last offseason. We said that last we said
that last offseason.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I would have been happy a month ago, and I
said it on the air with cutting Geno Smith and.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Just taking the dead cap.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
But instead the general managers of the Seattle Seahawks didn't
cut Gino Smith. He actually got reasonable value for Gino
Smith in a third round draft pick and then signed
a better quarterback for ten almost ten million dollars less
than what we said we would have given Gino Smith.
That's what makes me so about this. It is a
(05:01):
financial boom I think for the Seahawks, and I think
it's a slight upgrade on the field.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Ye well, the boom isn't what it would have been
if you had gone out and signed Kirk Cousins for
a million bucks, obviously, because you're spending a lot of
the money you're saving on Gino on Sam Darnold. And
by the way, just for giggles man, and we can
debate this all you want, PFF. Last year had Sam
Donald the thirteenth rated quarterback in the NFL, and they
had Gino Smith at number nine last season.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So do with that what you want.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I mean what I saw, the guy that I saw
come to Seattle and beat the Seahawks, and the way
he played that day, Gino Smith did not look like
that last year. There were a couple of occasions, maybe
the game against Arizona, maybe the Atlanta game or whatever,
but he didn't look like that. And look again, for
those out there who want to argue what Donald had
(05:48):
in Minnesota, I get. I mean Jordan Jefferson or Justin Jefferson,
Jordan Addison Hockinson and Aaron Jones caught like fifty one
passes a year ago from Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
He had good talent around him out.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
There, and he's not going to have that talent here, right,
and he's coming to a place where they've gotten rid
of their maybe number one wide receiver. Some would argue
Jackson Smith and Jigba, we'll see you about Kenny Walker,
We'll see about the offensive line. We're going to talk
to Paul Allen coming up at five o'clock and talk
about that Viking offensive line, how good they were.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
But this is a guy that was inside.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
He was playing indoors, you know, in Minneapolis at us
Bank Stadium, in a pass happy offense that threw the ball.
I think it was like thirty three less times than
Gino Smith did a year ago. So they were right
about the same when it came to pass attempts, and
he had maybe you could argue better talent around him.
And look, I mean, the one thing about Sam Donald
that I will say is that two years ago when
we were kind of goofing around on the air talking
(06:39):
about Geno Smith being an MVP candidate, nobody at that
point in time would have argued that Sam Donald's better
than Ginosmith. I think he was in Carolina as a backup.
He may have been in San Francisco. Go back and
check and he blew up. I mean, let's face it,
there's nothing wrong with admitting this that everything that we're
basing our enthusiasm on, if you are enthusiastic about about
(07:00):
Sam Darnold, is about one year.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
And the guy's played seven years in the NFL and
he said one really decent year.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
So what is this? Is this a guy that found himself?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Is it a guy that stops seeing ghosts like he
was when he was in New York? That's almost a
famous quote. Now is he just older? He's going to
be twenty eight in June and now he's figured this
whole thing out.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Was it the talent? Was it the coaching? Was it?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Kevin O'Connell, I don't know the answers to those questions, Dick.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I think we have to wait and see what this
guy does.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
But I do know this that even if he gives
you exactly what Gino Smith gave you a year ago,
which was not a lot, right, even if he gives
you exactly what Geno Smith gave you a year ago,
you're still saving money and you're still giving yourself an
extra third round pick. And the way this contract is structured,
it doesn't seem like, oh, look, dude, I'm in the
same boat now as I was the day that they
(07:50):
traded for Sam Howe.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
If they want a quarterback in the draft, go get him.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
This should not preclude them from doing anything on draft
day if they're in love with a young girl.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
What it does do is it buys them flexibility that
if they don't want to dip into the quarterback pool
in the draft until next year when the quarterback pool
is supposed to be deep, right, they've given themselves the
flexibility they can do. I don't know if if I've
said it once, I've said it a hundred times on
the year. The number one rule to wreck your football
team is to what paying good quarterback elite money?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Right? Right?
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Well, the inverse of paying a good quarterback elite money
is paying a good quarterback below average money. And there
is a list, a long list of just two starting
veteran quarterbacks that are no longer on their rookie contracts
that are making less money than Sam Darnold. You are
paying him a bottom basement quarterback contract for a veteran
(08:43):
and that's what gets me the most exciting.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, no, again, I mean it absolutely could be huge
for these guys.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
You know.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
And by the way, I put a pull out and
I instead of Darnald, I wrote Darnell. I don't know
who Sam Darnell is, for God's sakes, freaking auto correct
for crying out loud.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
But just could correct yourself. Not late. Yeah, it's too late.
I like most stuff I knew, I wasn't paying attention.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
What's your reaction to the Sam Darnell becoming a Seahawks story?
Twenty nine percent fired up, fifty five percent wait and see,
sixteen percent say they're not excited at all, So fifty
five percent in the wait and see category. And that's
probably where I am, you know, I mean again, this
is a guy who was a journeyman. He's on his
fifteen and six years for a reason. You know how
(09:25):
much of last year again was just about the people
around him, the coaching, the atmosphere. The context of the
situation is Sam Darnald better off staying in Minneapolis and
staying as the quarterback of the Vikings. Did they even
want him back for this kind of money because they
got JJ McCarthy coming off the knee injury.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
I just know this. This team needed a.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Change, They needed to take a chance, and they took
a chance. Could it backfire? Of course a could backfire.
Could Gino Smith go to the Raiders and be phenomenal.
Could Darnald come here and start seeing ghosts again and
be terrible? Could he be the guy that he was
in the final eight quarters of the season last year?
May I mean Warren Sharp's got a tweet out and
he's kind of, you know, a skeptic. I think of
(10:05):
this deal by the way, Warren is because he's talking
about the protection that Sam Darnold got last year versus
what he supposedly will get in Seattle with their offensive
line versus the Seahawk offensive line. He said twenty nine
percent of Donald's incompletions were because he was being pressured
number five highest rate in the NFL and the single
biggest reason Donald would miss passes. That was behind a
(10:27):
Viking zo line that ranked number two and past block
win rate. He's going to a place here where the
offensive line last year ranked thirtieth in pressure rate. Here's
my problem with this stuff, though, it's March tenth. They
haven't signed a linebacker, they haven't drafted alignment, they haven't
traded for alignment. What I love to see John Schneider do.
(10:47):
What they're doing in Chicago with their offensive line apse
a freking lutely, dude. I mean, what they're doing for
Caleb Williams is unbelievable. They got Dolman, they got Jackson,
they got Tony, and they got Grated Jared at defensive tackle.
It's just incredible what those guys have done in just
a week with their offensive and defensive line. So if
they can do something like that, I think a lot
of people are can be pretty damn fired up out here.
But you know, look, man, again, they were just mired
(11:10):
in mediocrity. They were going nowhere. They haven't won a
playoff game at home, and almost ten years now, going
back to twenty sixteen, they had to make a change,
and they made a change with Pete Carroll last year,
and they made a change with the second most important position,
their quarterback.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Today.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I don't think Sam Donald's a great quarterback. I don't
think Sam Donald's going to be a great quarterback. In fact,
Sam Donald may never have the season that he had
last year against Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I think you're right.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Well, you know what, I'm comparing Sam Donald to what
we have had in Gino Smith, which was a declining
asset year after year after year. Better in twenty twenty
two than he was in twenty twenty three, better in
twenty twenty three than he was in twenty twenty four.
He's seven years younger, and he's going to make ten
to twelve million dollars a year less than Gino Smith is.
(11:57):
And you got compensation for Gino Smith.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
That is a win.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Even if Sam Donald gives you the same production that
Gino did last year.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, I mean, I'm fine with it. Again, I'm not
gonna go, you know, dance naked in the streets.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Number one.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Nobody wants to see that. Number two, I'd be arrested.
Number three. It's not worth it. But again, I just think,
you know, I Jackson. Hate to be repetitive, but if
there's a young quarterback the Seahawks like, and they were
thinking about maybe a second round pick, maybe a Day
two pick, maybe a third round pick.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Take the guy.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
This is not a contract that precludes you from doing anything.
I mean, look at the freaking Falcons for God's sake,
they gave Kirk Cousins one hundred and eighty million dollars
and then drafted Michael Pennock's. Yes, and that was the
right call. It was the right call to draft Michael
after they paid Kirk Cousins. So this should change nothing
for them when it comes to the quarterbacks spot.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
It shouldn't.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
And they should absolutely take a quarterback in the first
three or four rounds just to have that guy, because
I don't think Sam Howell. I mean, like, okay, whatever,
it's this is Sam Donald's show until the next guy
takes over. But I mean to go to the comment
of mediocrity. Listen, there's a lot about this deal that
I agree with you, Dick. I really like the amount,
the age, that the draft pick we got for Geno.
(13:05):
There's so much to like about this. Here's the thing
in the NFL, you just don't want to be where
the Seahawks were last year. You don't want to be
nine and eight, ten and seven and missed the playoffs
by one. It's the worst place to be. And yes,
we you know, getting rid of g You know this
is our show prom right now. We joke about how
we've popped the life reserver, and we're no longer gonna
be nine and eight. I fear though, that Sam Darnold
(13:28):
will regress from where he was at Minnesota because of
those offensive line stats you just mentioned, Softy, and we
are gonna be in the same ten and seven nine
in eight area.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I fear we're gonna be right back there. And that's
what scares me. Well.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
But okay, but even if it does get back to
ten and seven and nine and eight, you're saving money,
You've got more draft capital, you're not locking yourself in
long term to a contract that's gonna kill the franchise.
You can still draft the guy. I mean, nothing really
changes again with the draft. That doesn't change. And then
number two guys, let's face it, we're kind of still
in the exact same both that we were in a
(14:00):
week ago. Yes, and that is to fix the frickin' line. Yes,
nothing's changed.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Well, what scenario Jackson would have taken us out of
nine and eight or ten?
Speaker 4 (14:09):
So I think, what what? What would the move that
I would have done? Is I see Justin Fields getting
a two year deal for twenty million a year.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Then I thought, and yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Same here million guaranteed that is that is a high deal,
but much higher than I thought. But at the same time,
I don't think Justin Fields is a quarterback that puts
you in the mediocrity of nine to eight ten and seven.
I think he is, you know, in more of a
six to seven win guy that gets you a higher
draft pick, that gets you the next Super Bowl potentially
winning quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, potentially. I'm gonna emphasize
(14:39):
that word, and I just I hate the world of
thinking we're gonna be ten and seven, which I think
we very easily could be next year and maybe win
a playoff game. But this I don't think Sam Darnold's
gonna win a Super Bowl for US.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I guess draft capital, guys, you've got eleven picks. You
don't have to lose to move up in the first round.
You've got massive draft capital to move up in the front.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
You do, and they got to take advantage of it.
I mean, this is it for Schneider. This is like,
I mean, he's been given a huge gift, he's got
a lot of money. He's even well, you can afford
to go seven and ten, but then you better Dan,
We'll go thirteen and four the next year, right, I mean,
if this is gonna be, if this is gonna be
twenty eleven, next year, better be twenty twelve, right, twenty
twenty six, Better be twenty twelve, if you know what
(15:20):
I'm talking about. So again, I mean, it's just nothing
has really changed for me in regards to the Hawks.
I'm I'm excited for the newness of it all. Honestly,
I'm excited for something to change. I'm exciting excited for
a new a new system. I'm excited for a new name,
a new quarterback. This is the first time the Hawks
(15:40):
have gone out and gotten a you know, a free
agent quarterback to be their regular everyday starter since what
Matt Hasselback and when Holmgren grabbed him. I mean, you
count touchdown, Jesus, I guess it was gonna be Matt
Flyin so but but the first time you're gonna have
a regular guy was Hassleback. So this franchise doesn't do
this very often, and they went out and got the
best guy in the market. I will see if they
(16:00):
can do some damage in free agency. I don't expect
John to do much in free agency. He'll probably do
what he always does, and just wait until you know
the B and C options come rolling in and then
grab as many guys as you can. Tim Benz is
in Pittsburgh. He's gonna join us next. DK Metcalfe is
a stealer. We'll talk about it from their perspective coming up,
and then Hewett four on ninety three three kJ r f.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
M live from the R and R Foundation Specialists Broadcast Studio.
Now back to Softie and Dick on your Home for
the Huskies and the Craken Sports Radio ninety three point
three kJ r FM with the signy full peak in
the twenty nineteen NFL trow.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
DK He's on fire.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
DK metcalf is now with freakingcy All My thoughts are
get your breath talking to us again.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Finally got my two two sets. You can sleep in
laws too.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
You know, I've always wanted to know what it's like
to watch an NFL n let's have sex with the
floor on draft nights. We saw it and we saw that,
Yes we did the nights kind of the Seahawks drafted
DK metcalf I don't know if anybody has ever been
that excited for a Seahawks draft pick. As Hugh Millan
was that night when they took DK Metcalf. And now
here we are and DK Metcalf is a member of
(17:18):
the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Well, in old Palavars.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
We got to know this guy twenty years ago in
Detroit at the Super Bowl. He's still going. We're still going.
Our friend Tim Benns from Pittsburgh with us right now
on the radio show Timmy, how are you man?
Speaker 6 (17:34):
Well, I had sex with the floor when the Steelers
took Jarvis Jones. So it worked out better for you
than it did for me.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, So it doesn't take much for you, is what
you're telling me. By the way, Oh yeah, I gotcha, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well, you know, Dick and I were talking off the
air about this deal. Why would the Steelers do this? Uh,
with their history where they're at right now, with their history,
don't even have a quarterback yet, why would they choose
this time to give DK metcalf five year, one hundred
and fifty million dollar deal.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Well, my first thought.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
Was when he got here that they must have something
cooking quarterback wise, but it hasn't played out that way
to the degree that you feel like they're making that
much of an upgrade So the second thought that I
had was that they had made up their mind that
they were going to unload George Pickens come hell or
(18:25):
high water and basically maybe move him for a second
round pick, the same second round pick that they got
for DK, and then use that to either draft the
defensive lineman a round two so they could use the
first round pick on like Buka out of Ohio State
or something to that effect. Basically have DK be the
guy who Pickens was going to have to get the
(18:47):
money for to keep him anyway, because they feel like
maybe he's a little bit easier to manage and coach
than Pickens ever could be.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
That was my line of thought on is Pickens more
likely to stay or less likely to stay?
Speaker 6 (19:01):
Now less likely I think based on how Art Rudey
the second was talking about him at the interview session
that he gave at the end of the season, and
then Omar Khn sort of mollified that at Indianapolis for
the combine. But now that I've got some texture on
(19:22):
it with the DK thing, I wonder if that was
con just sort of driving up the price and making
it sound like Kicky's was going to need a lot
to move you know gms do that, and it was
a It was a significant disconnect from how Tomlin and
Rooney were talking about him a couple weeks earlier. And
you know, even I wrote about it, like when when
(19:43):
Art Rudy the Second starts talking about how he wants
to see George Pickens mature and says that a couple
of times but never uses the word mature. Here you
can start putting two and two together and then you know,
like I said, was mollified by by the GM Omar Khan,
but I think he was maybe angling to make Pickings
look like a hot commodity and someone that would need
(20:03):
to be ripped away from them.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Well, Tim Bens is with us in Pittsburgh. Seahawks over
the weekend traded Dk Metcalf to the Steelers for a
second round draft pick, and then the day signing Sam Darnold.
So you mentioned that you kind of thought maybe there
was a plan in place at quarterback. So what's the
plan now? Is it Aaron Rodgers, is it Daniel Jones?
Is it bringing back mister unlimited and Russ so Wilson.
(20:27):
What is your kind of gut crystal ball call on
who's throwing balls to DK Metcalf in September.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
My thought now is that when they got DK to
sign the contract after the deal or agree to whatever
the terms would be to make the trade happen, that
they told him that it would be no one less
than Russ, all right.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
They might have.
Speaker 6 (20:47):
They probably told him, hey, look, we're talking to Donald.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
We've got an offer out already the fields to stay.
Speaker 6 (20:55):
If it's neither of those two, it's gonna be Russ.
We'll get Russ for you, at least, because I may.
You guys know him better than I do. You tell me,
would DK ever want to come here if the quarterback
was anything less than Russell Wilson, because at least those
guys connected for three years since Seattle.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Right, yeah, right, Well, we're not sure what DK wants
because he said he wanted to go to a warm
weather climate anyway, So we're not sure.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
What did he say that or something? Yeah, I think
Schafter tweeted that out.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I think that was like his He was reporting that
that he wanted warm weather contender.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Blah blah blah.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
I mean, guys, we've been doing this long enough to
know and Tim, you just asked the question, would DK
go to Pittsburgh. If I think DK would go to
Pittsburgh if they gave him the most money, of course,
end the story periods.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Okay, so I guess where I'm going.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
The ancillary thought is, wouldn't you have gotten that much
anywhere else? Like you think it was basically Pittsburgh bidding
against themselves that much money for him, then.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I don't know what the Chargers would have offered him,
the Patriots would have offered him. For example, there were
a couple teams out there, like the Chargers that we
thought would be a great fit for him going indoors, playing.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
With Justin Herbert and Jim Harbor, all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I'm just telling you from my perspective, and I can't
speak for Dick. I just think it's an odd time
for the Steelers to go out and make a move
like that when they don't even have a damn quarterback
to throw the guy at the ball.
Speaker 6 (22:11):
We've kind of been thinking some of that too, But again,
the likely absence of pickings, if not before the start
of this season, then definitely after this season is partially
what we can use to explain that, because then the
rest of the receiving room is going to be very
young and cheap. So you could explain it that way.
And I'll be honest with you, we were we were
(22:32):
saying the same thing about Seattle. It's like, why do
they go out and get Darnold now after DK's gone
and now that Lockett's gone too?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Is it just and Jake?
Speaker 6 (22:40):
Basically Jackson Smith and Jake But then that they're that
they're banking everything on.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Hey, don't you be don't you be criticizing Jake Bobo?
Now all right, we got Jake Bobo.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
I mean to answer your question, Lockett's Lockett is done.
I mean Lockett Lockett no longer is Lockett. So that's
that's kind of a move point. JSN was a better
wide receiver than DK was last year.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
I mean, I don't think any thinking that.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
The thinking is they still have their number one right
to go get a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Okay, yeah, I mean I can see for me. I
was just surprised at the number.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
I mean, he's making more money than Sam Darnold this,
I mean at the wide receiver position. And another guy
that I'm surprised at the number was Justin Fields. Are
you surprised that Justin Field's got twenty a year, and
do you think Pittsburgh even came close to twenty a year.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
We were thinking in the neighborhood at twenty five guaranteed,
maybe thirty. What he got was a little bit higher
than I expected. Yeah, I am.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Surprised at that.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
Well, the one that anybody in Pittsburgh, like we we
can sort of wrap our brains around a contract for
a quarterback being high. When Dan Moore got eighty two
million and fifty guaranteed in Tennessee, that just reset everybody's
calibration as to what the heck is going on around
here because people couldn't wait for him to leave, and
(23:53):
then Tennessee's given him fifty million guaranteed to come play
tackle there to move another guy to go over to
the other side, because he can only play one side
of the line, like right, That's the exact reason why
Pittsburgh wanted to get rid of them. So I'll be
honest with you guys, anything contractually after the Dan Moore
contract makes perfect sense to me, whether we're talking about
Donald Fields or a fockaff. But you you talked about
(24:14):
he's making more money than Donald, he might be making
more money than TJ. Watt too, Like that's the other,
you know, tentacle that goes out for this because now TJ,
as his brother has campaigned repeatedly on the Pat McAfee show,
his negotiation windows opening up. This is when the Steelers
usually start to do their deals for guys that are
(24:35):
one year out. And Crosby's already reset the market, then
Garrett reset the market. Who knows what Trey Hendrickson's going
to get? And now they just gave thirty three million
to a wide receiver where they were making it sound
like it was an afterthought. Oh, TJ's gonna get done.
TJ's gonna get done, don't we'll take care of that. Well,
that's become complicated by how much you paid a wide receiver,
how much you still have to pay a quarterback, and
how much every other pass rusher of watts Ilk has
(24:58):
gotten so far this offseason.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yeah, well, Tim, let me just leave you with us.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Tim Ben's with us in Pittsburgh, and I think a
lot of us in Seattle were frustrated with DK. Thought
he could have been more than he was. And by
the way, a lot of that's not on him. He
never had a great offensive line here in Seattle. He
had like four different coordinators when he was in Seattle.
Everyone who came in, they were always looking to be
the guy that would unlock number fourteen and just for
(25:22):
whatever reason, never happened. But when this deal came down, like,
what did you guys think you were getting getting Jefferson,
you're getting Chase, you're getting the number two guy kind
of right behind them.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
What did you think you were getting in dk Metcalf.
Speaker 7 (25:36):
Honestly, the illogical folks who have been drunk on the
idea of finally getting a second receiver and one that
might be a bigger name than Pickens saw a number
one coming here. The more logical folks are of the
mindset that I outlined before that you're getting a guy
(25:56):
who can be a number one, but also, by the
back end of his contract, hopefully, hopefully you've drafted.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
A more true number one within two years. I think
that's the more logical way to look at it, because
you're right, first of all, you're saying he didn't have
a very good offensive line. He had offensive coordinator inability,
and he had offensive he had passing instability. I mean,
that's everything. This is outline the Steelers. You know, so
like it's if it didn't work in Seattle, what's it
(26:23):
gonna do magically work here because we sprinkle black and
gold pixie dust on him?
Speaker 5 (26:27):
No?
Speaker 6 (26:27):
Probably not. I mean I know that this is the guy,
correct me if I'm wrong. He didn't have a single
game over seventy yards after he spraining the MCL right,
So I have a little bit more realistic expectations, But
I expect a guy who can be as good as
Pickens was last year, you know, maybe a thousand yard
to eleven hundred yard guy next year. Yeah, and by
(26:49):
the time gets into year three of the contract, maybe
the rookie that they gets better than him, just like
JSN basically just like Jays. And that's what I'm hoping for.
That's how I'm painting it.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Timmy great stuff. Man, appreciate this and we'll talk down
the road.
Speaker 6 (27:02):
Pal, Yeah, great, catching up with both of you, guys.
I always enjoyed being on call any time.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Take care you bet, Tim, Bens and Pittsburgh. And now
there's a gaping hole at wide receiver in Seattle. So
you got the new quarterback and now the question is
who does he throw the football to? And what does
this all do to Jackson Smith and Jigba. I mean
Jackson Smith and Jigba. Let's face it, had the best
year of his career last year. He's lost his coordinator
who got him to that year, and he lost maybe
(27:27):
the biggest magnet for sucking coverage off of him in
DK Metcalf And now that guy's gone, and now his
mentor and Tyler Lockett has gone. So Jackson Smith and Jigba,
he needs some help.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
We'll talk about who they can go after to replace
those guys. What this means for Darnold, what it means
for Geno. Man, There's a lot going on a busy
Monday right here on ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
Love from the R and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio.
Now back to Sofie and Dick on your Home for
the Huskies and the Kraken Sports Radio ninety three point
three kjr FM.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Arnald under center when Action Jones back to pass. Both
have picked up deep shot.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Jefferson, he asked put at the fifteenth head one to
the forty touch back to the twenty five head.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
To the right. He's trying to outrun the Niners to
the five touchdown.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Saved seven yard topdown trucks, Damn Donald suggestion, Jefferson. So
that guy right there, Paul Allen, by the way, our
longtime friend at every game of Sam Darnold's Minnesota career
first sixteen games of the season, had a passer rating
(28:41):
of one hundred and six point four. In the last
two weeks fifty three percent passer rating of sixty six
point four, and they scored eighteen points combined in their
last two games of the season. Playoff game obviously was
one of them, after that big NFC North Championship game
against the Lions. So that guy right there is Now
(29:02):
you're a new starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. Sam
Darnold picked up today in free agency. Nothing will be
official I think until Wednesday, is that right, twelve o'clock Wednesday,
But being reported by a lot of people, three year,
one hundred point five million dollar deal. There were some
reports out there that set one hundred and ten point five.
But the Seahawks have already saved ten million dollars since
(29:24):
this morning since the report came out. Dk Metcalf getting
traded for a second round draft pick, Gino Smith getting
traded for a third round draft pick. They are taking
a blow torch to this freaking thing.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Man.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
So I think there's a lot of things that you
can kind of discuss here, a lot of tentacles, a
lot of avenues. And by the way, Cooper Cup is
going to get released by the Rams as well, so
we can talk about whether or not you want to
m in Seattle. For me, all of a sudden, the
wide receiver room is a huge position to need, right.
I mean all of us can agree with that. They
got one guy right now, they got Jackson Smith and Jingba.
No disrespect to Jake Bobo or anybody else, but they
(29:59):
need to upgrade at that spot. As I said on
Twitter a couple of days ago, not that you give
a damn, but the wide receiver at number eighteen possibility
is certainly now on the table. I don't think it
was on the table a week ago. It's on the
table now. Zerline, who's going to join us on Thursday?
Land Zerline. Had the Hawks taken a wide receiver in
the first round, I think they were going to go after.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
The kid from Texas. Is that right, Matthew Golden? Is
that correct?
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I'm taking Matthew Golden out of Texas? In the first round,
so it's certainly a possibility they could go after a
wide receiver in round one. But one thing that I'm
just curious about, Dick, is what this means for Jackson
Smith and Jigba.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
I mean, the guy had a.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Career year and part of the reason why he was
able to have a career year is because of what
DK Metcalf did to deflect attention off of him. And
now that guy's.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Gone, Well, you just look at what kind of talent
JSN has.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
The talent's not going anywhere.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
The quarterback is getting better, and you would assume the
offensive lines getting better, So I would assume Jackson Smith
and jig But and he's another year older and another
year more experienced.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
So losing Dk Metcalf is in regards to what it
means for Jackson Smith and Jigba doesn't concern HI much.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
I would say losing.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Correct, losing DK is a hit, but at gaining a
better quarterback, a second year in the offense or second
year in the NFL, rather a different offense, but second
year in the NFL, third year in the NFL, and
you would a third year in the NFL, and what
you would assume is a better offensive line more than
makes up for the lack of DK Metcalf.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
I mean, I hope you're right, Dick. I don't know
if I'd go down that road yet. I think DK
Metcalf was pretty special, and I think you when you
talk to him. You know, one thing that Hughes talked
about is how much he had DK metcalf helping to
block for him on screenplays.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
And that guy's now gone. They got to replace that.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
And what was the was it the Sunday Night game
where Collinsworth was just drooling over how much DK metcalf
was just deflecting players off of Jackson Smith and Jigba.
Is there a player out there that can deflect that
kind of attention and do exactly for him what DK
metcalfe did, or as you said, is the is the
quarterback upgrade, hopefully, offensive line upgrade, hopefully play calling upgrade,
(32:07):
hopefully is all that gonna be enough to wipe out
with DK metcalf what you lost in DK Metcalf And
I can't say that yet. I mean, look, all I
know is this is that Jackson Smith and Jigb we
know had his best year with DK metcalf playing alongside him,
and he was a tremendous help for Jackson Smith and
jigbas So. I think it's a huge concern right now
for the Hawks. I mean they've got the capital to
(32:29):
fix it. They got the money, they got the draft
capital to fix it and go out and get some
guys in the draft to take some attention. There's gonna
be some free agent guys out there. Cooper cup is
one of them that just came available. He's not an
X receiver, obviously, He's also thirty two years old coming
off an injury.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Who knows what the guy's got left.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
I got no idea if the guy can play him
or he may just be washed for all I know.
But I think there's there's plenty of options out there
at wide receiver. But I still think as much as
you need to get that room taken care of, John
Schneider cannot fall in love with the toys and games department.
He's got to stay focused on the mission, which is
to fix the fricking line above anything else. We are
(33:09):
right back to where we were two weeks ago, before Darnold,
before DK, before Gino.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Nothing has changed. Fix the damn.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Loss so's talking to a friend of mine today and
I said the exact same thing. I was like, if
you could promise me that the interior the offensive line
is going to be fixed through the draft with high picks,
I'll take.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Jake Bobo for a year opposite Jsen.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
I don't give a damn as long as the interior
that offensive line is fixed. Now, having said that there
are options, there's four guys in DJ's top thirty one
wide receiver a land Zerline who we're gonna have on.
He's got three first round wide receivers. All of them
could be there as at the eighteenth pick. You got
Ted McMillan, you got Golden, you got the local kid
(33:50):
from stillicomg Mechagbuka. There are first round options out there
for the Seahawks to pair.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Up with Jass.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Absolutely, and there's gonna be some big time free agents
that will come open. Not sure if I'm really up
for spending fifteen million dollars on somebody. To be honest
with you, well, the only guys in free agency that
potentially could cost that much would be like a Stefan
Diggs or an Amari Cooper. That would be Everybody else
is gonna be less than what less, maybe much less
than ten million dollars.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
I think.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
I think there's two ways to win in the NFL.
Number one is to have a cheap young quarterback like
the Bears does. Other way is to be elite at
something like the hawksporter when they were elite on defense
in twenty twelve and thirteen. You're not gonna have a
cheap young quarterback. You're not gonna have a fifty million
dollars a year quarterback. But you're not gonna have a
cheap young quarterback period. I mean, he's gonna cost you
(34:38):
thirty three million dollars a year. So the amount of
money that you're spending on quarterback, Dick, they've got to
go out and try to find some savings somewhere else.
And I think the way you do it is a
place is like wide receiver, offensive line. If you're gonna
spend money in free agency, I'd rather see him spend
it on the offensive line. The problem is, now it's gone.
(34:58):
It's seven o'clock on the East coast or six pm,
whatever the hell it is seven o'clock, and they're all leaving.
I mean, you know this, this this wave of the
top three or four linemen. I mean, the Bears got
like four of them, for crying out loud. Seahawks gotta act,
and I'm not surprised they're not acting. I thought there
was ever a year two act that would have been
this year. But they'll do exactly what they always do.
(35:19):
They'll wait until the B and C level options come around,
and they'll grab a bunch of those guys and get
quantity over quality is what they'll do. So I still
have that concern, guys that they're not gonna be able
to fix this offensive line to make a real big difference,
no matter who's playing quarterback for you or who's playing
wide receiver. All right, Hugh Melin's gonna join us a
little more at four with Hugh next on ninety three
(35:41):
three kJ A RFL
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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