March 13, 2024 • 56 mins
Gregg Bell who covers the Seattle Seahawks for the News Tribune is filling in today. Gregg talks about how big the opportunity is for the Washington State Cougs as they'll have a chance to do something special in the PAC-12 tournament. The Seahawks never make big splash moves, and when they do, they tend to backfire, so what can we expect from John Schneider and the Seahawks this season? Eric Branch, who covers the San Francisco 49ers for the San Francisco Chronincle drops by and shares why Maliek Collins is a good fit, what the hiring of KJ Wright on the Niners staff means, what is Richard Sherman's legacy, who are challengers in the NFC, and much more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
We'll get to that in a littlebit. Watching Huskies play today twelve noon
tip off in the eight to ninegame, the first game of the PAC
twelve Tournament at T Mobile Arena,could be the last game of Mike Hopkins's
tenure has already been let go afterthe season ends, and could end today
for the Huskies if they don't winin the opener. That's going to be
(00:22):
eleven thirty pre game show with Tonycash Cone and Jason Hamilton from Las Vegas
here on KJR, So we'll bewith you, Chris and I from now
until then. Eleven thirty pre gamefor the Huskies and then a tip is
at noon against number nine USC Numbereight Washington winn against number one Arizona tomorrow
at noon in the second round ofthe PAC twelve Tournament. The husk the
(00:45):
Cougars are the second seed, alreadylocked into the NCAA tournaments as a matter
where they're going to play now andwho they're going to play to open that,
But in the meantime they play tomorrow, they're waiting on Cayl Stafford's winner.
Callen Stamford play the seven to tengame tonight at six pm in Las
Vegas winner of that plays Washington Statetomorrow at six pm. That's on PAC
(01:07):
twelve Networks for koog fans. Itcan't be like Jim Moore and be in
Las Vegas right now. So theCougs have one win against the cal Stanford
winner, then they would go intothe semifinals. That they win that they're
in the opposite bracket of Utah slashArizona State that winner today against Colorado,
So it looks like maybe a ColoradoWashington State in the semifinals, and then
(01:32):
of course they would play. Itwould appear Arizona. I was going to
play the Washington USC winner. AsI mentioned, Arizona is opposite the Oregon
UCLA sas Oregon State bracket on thatside in the PAC twelve tournament. It
Chris, I think if Washington Stategets to the finals, which they should,
(01:53):
they should beat Utah or excuse me, caler Stanford, and they should
beat Colorado and Utah, which they'vealready done. And they if they go
to the finals against Arizona and winfor the third time over what some think
is a number one seed in theNCAA tournament, maybe they get to play
in Spokane. I would hope.So, I mean, that's really what
(02:14):
they're playing for here. That lostto the Huskies in their regular season finale
didn't help these chances. But ifWashington State can get to the Pac Total
Championship, play Arizona for a thirdtime and beat a top five Arizona,
top ten Arizona for the third timethis season, no one's beating the top
ten team twice, a top fiveteam twice, let alone three to let
(02:35):
alone three times this season. Iwould have to think that they would get
some preferential treatment from the seeding committeeand play in Spokane Arena to begin the
NCAA tournament, and then let's justsee what happened. Let's see if they
can do those things, can theywin this championship? And then yeah,
put the pressure on these guys tosay, damn, they really did this
three times. We gotta give themthe number one seed. We can't they
(02:58):
well, they don't even need anumber they they would they need a top
four, maybe top five. Thereare some five seeds who get preferential geographic
treatment, but they are There isa tournament by law, if you will,
or a custom that if you're ina top four in a region,
you get preferential geographic treatment. Butyeah, that would. I mean,
(03:19):
you're talking maybe going to Pittsburgh orOmaha versus Spokane for the first round.
And I'm sure the tickets are alreadygoing to be hard to come by at
Spokane Arena. But if Washington Statecan go to my son who goes to
Washington's already talking about he and hisbuddies, no more finals for him this
week, not this week. He'son spring break nice and next week he's
talking about if the Kougs are somehowput in Spokane that I mean, half
(03:45):
the campus would be up in thateleven thousand seats Spokan Arena. Anyway,
we're getting way ahead of ourselves becauseWashington State first has to take care of
business starting tomorrow against the cal StanfordRenner. But first up, as I
mentioned, our show here ten toeleven thirty, and then we'll break for
Tony Kasher own in Jason Hamilton fromLas Vegas for the pregame show tip at
noon for the Washington Huskies against USCthe nine seed, the eight nine game
(04:08):
to the winner to play Arizona.That's only one thing that's going on the
Kraken last night. I'm watching thatgame. They're up four to with about
eight minutes left after a rally froma two to one deficit, and then
man, they gave up two goalsin what seemed like two shifts, the
second one with sixteen seconds left forcedovertime, and then the Vegas Golden Knights
(04:32):
win in overtime and a barely costlyloss for the Kraken, who are already
nine points out of the final playoffspot in the Western Conference and the Canilaford
giving away points. They got onelast night from going to overtime, but
really needed the two and needed theteams they play in the Western Conference to
not get any points, and Vegasgets the two points last night kracking.
(04:53):
Now we play tomorrow night against Washington. The Capitals themselves have gone from last
place team in their division to justthree points out of a playoff spot,
so they are playing absolutely for something, and I would have to characterize the
Krakens playoff chances as on life supportat this point. After last night's crushing
a lot, I was a toughloss. Join everybody played in his a
(05:15):
thousandth n NHL game, that's abig deal in hockey. Anyone who's played
hockey for more than a period anda half will tell you how hard that
is to play a thousand games inhis career. He got a silver stick.
It's a big milestone in the NHL, and he had a new contract
recently to stick around as a crackand cornerstone guy. So the kracking are
up against it. That's what's goingon in hockey, and the Mariners trudging
(05:41):
long till about what two and ahalf weeks till opening day here in Seattle.
This time of the spring training becomessomething of a grind for the veteran
players, the young guys that weretrying to make it. See those you
who don't know, I was aMajor League Baseball beat writer for about five
or six years before I went tothe NFL, covered the Oak and this
part of the spring training becomes agrind for those that are And it's not
(06:04):
hard. I mean they're working fortwo or three hours and then going to
play golf or do whatever for therest of the day. But at this
point you're like, let's get theregular season going now for the young guys
and the people in the bullpen thatare trying to make our last roster spot
or two. These are big deals, But I mean, the Mariners don't
have a whole lot of spots upfor grabs and they have a pretty set
(06:26):
lineup with going into the spring training. So this is just playing out the
string of these last couple weeks beforethe opener and then what I do most
for a living in the NFL thatloves to keep itself in the news.
This is the third day of thefree agency negotiating period. That period actually
ends today at one pm. Thenew league year begins, and the new
(06:47):
league year means that all these dealsand agreements that we've been reading about.
Technically when they say signed, isnot true. You can't sign an unrestricted
free agent until one pm today whenthe new league's new league year starts.
Leonard Williams did sign yesterday with theSeahawks. He flew in from Japan.
The team said, why could hesign before the league year started, because
(07:10):
he wasn't yet technically an unrestricted freeagent because he had yet to enter the
market. Technically, he was resigned after his contract ended from the Seahawks,
but he had not yet gone officiallyinto the open market. But all
these deals that they've agreed to,including this morning with for those of you
that woke up late, the Seahawkshave an agreement on a one year contract
(07:30):
for about two point three million dollarswith former Huskies center Nick Harrison all Pac
Towl Center. That deal will becomeofficial after one pm today. So,
well Barrow Brown the tight end thatthey signed last night to a three million
dollars one year deal. We arein that stage of free agency already.
It hasn't even officially kicked off yet. We're in the secondary phase that it's
(07:53):
not the big bucks one hundred milliondollar contract sixty four and a half million
dollars till Leonard Williams. It's nowone year, three million, one year
two million. That's where the Seahawksdo most of their free agent work.
It does make me laugh, Chris, that people still get very very upset
and the fear of missing out FOMOis really large for the Seahawks fan base
(08:16):
this time of year. Yet thisis what John Schneider does every year.
Yes, it's the same thing.They're never gonna go big, a big
splash. It's always just hey,well well Nikol and dimya, that's what
they do. That's what John Schnyderhas been doing. So this doesn't surprise
me. This is their philosophy isnot to spend triple digits one hundred million
(08:39):
dollar contracts, but to build throughthe draft. And you can argue that's
not really worked in the last fouror five years, but in the aggregate,
his philosophy has been consistent. Wearen't gonna splash in the first wave
of free agency. I don't care, and this could taste. They had
fifty million dollars in cap space.Most of that was to re sign Leonard
Williams and Noah Fan to keep itfrom leaving. It wasn't to bring in
(09:01):
the big, splashly free agency.Get all the headlines this week. That's
what these first days are for thoseteams. And there are studies abound.
You can just look at the twentytwenty one and twenty twenty two biggest contracts
signed in the offseason, and thereare studies in proof, scientific proof that
(09:22):
that doesn't always work, and infact, it's sometimes an inverse relationship to
succeeding during the success season. Imean, look at Russell Wilson's contract with
Denver signed in twenty twenty two,an abject disaster, eighty five million dollar
cap pit that Broncos swallowed that contractbefore it even officially began. The largest
cap pit ever Jamal Adams in ourown backyard, seventy million dollar contract riches
(09:45):
for a safety and NFL history intwenty twenty one. Another failure. That
is why teams Dyke Seattle don't spendin this free age. There are cautionary
tales. Go back to Todd Gurleya half dozen years ago, sixty one
million dollar contract or the running back. He barely fulfilled that with the Rams.
The big splashes. Yeah, itgets all the news and the attention
(10:09):
and the fans get excited about it. There is some prudency to not doing
that. Yeah, he just gaveall the examples as to this is why
you probably shouldn't because hey, that'sover. I don't know how much money
you just added up with Jamal Adams. It's over one hundred millions of dollars
there, So lesson learned maybe.But again, there might be another player
(10:30):
that comes along with the Seahawks thinkwe need this guy for our offense or
defense, whatever the case may be, and they go out and get it
and maybe it works. Obviously,the Quandre deal, the Quandre deal that
they traded for him. They gaveup what was it, two first rounders
or one first rounder Jamal Adams deal, yesue, So what did they give
up for Digs? Diggs was amiddle round pick, fifth to six round
pick that worked out in the middleof the line season. That's a steal.
(10:52):
So I think they repaid him atthirty eight million dollars after that.
But yeah, then they had thehighest paid safety duo in the NFL and
they cut them both at the sametime. So that was one Getting Quandre
was a steal, that fifth roundpick for that guy, and he turned
out to be what three time Probowler? So he was he was great.
I thought he was fine, seamcaptain, Yeah, all of that.
(11:15):
So they have their good and bad, but I think there's a lot
more issues with them going out andgetting these big time guys and they don't
really just they don't pan out forwhatever reason. And you just mentioned Jamal
Adams. It wasn't successful at all. Two first round picks and seventy million
dollars. I mean that will godown as maybe John Schneider's one worst,
(11:37):
one worst two combined with the contracthe offered. But so now we're into
where John Schneider does his work,and they will sign more free agents.
They are probably going to sign acouple of defensive interior, defensive linemen.
They have habitually signed defensive lineman inJune, July, even August, I
think got al Woods. And theywill bring guys back like they got a
(12:00):
few years ago in August, likeright before I think the first preseason game
was it Dion Jordan in Guacway.I mean, they will do those kind
of deals. He also loves himselfsome former first round picks. I mean,
if you look at Okay, whereare they going to go next?
Go to whatever. If you're goingthrough the internet of available free agents left,
(12:22):
go to first round picks in thelast four to seven years who are
still available. And that's who theSeahawks are looking at because John Schneider loves
that. They're usually and why becausemost of the first round picks in the
last fifteen years have been picked beforethe Seahawks even had a choice. Whether
(12:43):
it's because the Seahawks were in thehigh twenties because of their success the previous
season, or because John Schneider hastraded down nine times in the last eleven
years. In the first round hisoriginal first round pick. So all these
first round picks that he ends upre signing I'm talking about Deeion, Jordan
and Guackway to others is because hedidn't have the opportunity but wanted to draft
them, love them when they cameout of college. So now he gets
(13:05):
the chance in the open market toget him for a one year deal at
just above veteran minimum. So hetakes him because he never had the opportunity
to take him under a rookie deal. That explains some of that, But
if you're trying to guess what's next, start there no doubt. Now I
hear the fans and on ex Twitterall the time and emails I get.
(13:26):
I hear the fans about the frustrationof yeah, okay, waiting for the
draft. We only have seven picks, we don't have a second round pick,
and we have more holes than wehave draft picks. And that is
true. If it wasn't true,Pete Carroll would still be the coach.
Yes, they have massive holes upthe center of their team. Everyone talks
(13:46):
about a baseball team needing to buildtheir defense up the center catcher, shortstop,
second baseman, center fielder. Well, some of that is true in
football to a certain extent, andthey have a grand canyon sized gives them
and gap in the center of theirdefense, defensive tackle that can stop the
run and play every down and alsorush the quarterback, both interior inside linebackers.
(14:11):
Now that Jordan Brooks has signed withMiami and Bobby Wagner is still shopping
elsewhere, they missed on Patrick Queen, who went to Pittsburgh for about thirteen
million a year. We can talkabout that and why that may have happened.
And then safeties, you've just cutboth your starting safeties. Julian Love
is coming back, but all ofa sudden, he's in the last year
of his deal. He only gota two year contract last year. He's
(14:33):
coming off his first Pro Bowl season. He will command a lot more money
than the average of six five anda half million that you signed him for
last year. And they don't havea number two. They don't They have
Jerrick Reid, who was a specialteams player as a six round pick out
of New Mexico last year, barelyplayed on defense, had a major injury
for most of the season, andthat is it. They could have got
(14:54):
Genostone for what was also not alot of money he ended up going to
since for I think it was atwo year, thirteen million dollars year or
something like that, or maybe afour year averaging thirteen. There is a
reason, Chris, why Mike McDonalddidn't take Gino Stone or Pro Bowl safety
last year with the Ravens or PatrickQueen, a Pro Bowl linebacker with the
(15:16):
Ravens, because he McDonald knows himbetter than anybody and he could have had
him financially. You would think theywould bring somebody from the Baltimore Ravens.
Maybe there's still time they might getsome young guy. I'm not sure who
that young guy is, but therewhat are your thoughts on that? Are
they still do you think someone fromthe Ravens could potentially join the Seahard Well,
Jadevion Connie makes sense. I mean, he revived his career last year
(15:41):
in a situational role. He wasn'tsupposed to be a factor at all.
Get signed late in the offseason andbelieve by Baltimore and becomes a I think
it was a seven and a halfsack guy was here in Seattle a few
years ago. He makes some sense, but I don't not what they need
Chris which is in every down.Oh yeah, he would be what third
down past rush specialist with an incentiveladen contract built on sacks and pressure rates.
(16:07):
They need a guy who can stopthe run. This team was thirty
first. I don't need to remindtoo many people. They were thirty first
in the NFL against the run,and they were thirtieth the year before.
They didn't improve. They were thirtieththe year before. They spent up to
one hundred and twenty million on defense. They took their number fifth overall pick,
a generational draft pick, and spentit on defense, and they got
worse. Yeah, that's it's unfortunatethat you put it that way because when
(16:32):
you look at yeah, that's that'srough, and that's true. It is
rough. There's no and part ofme thinks, dang, if they did
take a defensive lineman, let's saya James, why would you bring that
name up he only played every gamelast year. If Devin Witherspoon was a
failure, And that's the thing,that's the crazy part. Devin Witherspoon damn
(16:55):
near Rookie of the Year. Yeah, so he is clear. The problem
isn't the secondary. What's up front? There. And that's a good point,
Chris, is that when you lookat, Okay, what has happened
to the Seahawks since January when sincethey last played well? Of course they
fired Pete Carroll. What happened there? They went into the end of the
year meeting. Pete Carroll had onevision, John Schneider had another, and
(17:19):
Jody Allen picked John Schneider's vision.We're now starting to see what the differences
are. And Pete Carroll's vision wasto build your defense from back to front,
going back to the Legion of Boom, drafting Earl Thomas with a top
ten pick, Richard Sherman, turninghim into an all pro cam Chanceller.
We're gonna build from the back up. And Carol after the Legion of Boom,
(17:42):
tried to replicate that with the bigfree aiden signings and Kerrie Williams and
the projects he had of turning safetiesinto corners and corners into safeties, and
I mean, up until he gotfired, he was doing that. He
took the fifth overall pick, andlet's not be mistaken, and it was
Pete Carroll that the ultimate say thatwould decide who would pick their first round
(18:03):
picks. Devin Witherspoon. He turneda corner who rarely played nickel into a
Pro Bowl nickel as a rookie.He builds from the back to the front.
And that didn't work in the lastwell actually really hasn't really worked consistently
in the post legion of boom Erasince they've lost it to the Super Bowl
almost a decade ago now, andso John Schneider says, we got to
(18:26):
build from the front back. Yeah, I try something different. We got
to stop the run, get defensivetackles, ends, linebackers, and build
from the front to the back.Now that we've invested so much in the
front in the bag and they dohave what still is the strongest part of
the team is the secondary. RiekeWollen is still going to be there at
(18:47):
corner, and Witherspoon is your ProBowl returner at nickel. But now you
have two holes at safety and youhave Leonard. That is why Leonard Williams
for sixty four and a half milliondollars is a very non Pete Carroll type
investment. He's they're building from thefront with Williams. They think it Williams,
who will turn thirty this year,is the guy they're going to build
(19:07):
their defensive front around that is completelyopposite of the way Pete Carroll did it
defensively. But there's reason for JodyAllen to say, no, we're not
going to try your way anymore,Pete Carroll, because they went from thirtieth
in the NFL on defense to thirtyfirst and out of the playoffs for only
the second time, third time intwelve years. So that's where it starts.
(19:29):
They've decided to build John Schneider's way, and John Schneider's way, apparent
is not going to be from theback to the front. We're only in
the beginning stages of how he's goingto build this defense, obviously, because
he only has Leonard Williams and abunch of guys right now up front.
We'll see who the rest of thebunch of guys are. But yeah,
there are so many holes to filland we're just getting into the seven draft
(19:53):
picks. Will they trade back fromsixteen to get a second round pick?
Odd say yes, History says yes. Well, that's still even with a
chance for Michael Pennix in round two. Some say he is going to be
they need a quarterback now since theyonly got one time is now, isn't
it right? Two quarterbacks drafted inthe last fourteen years, Well now they
have only Gino Smith on board undercontract after Drew Locke signed for one year
(20:15):
and five million dollars for the NewYork Giant yesterday. Agreed to sign with
the New York Giants yesterday. Tonsto talk about with the Seahawks and where
they're headed. We have the nexthour to do that before the Huskies tip
off in the Pac twelve Tournament.We're gonna also talk today with Eric Branch
He's a friend of mine who coversthe San Francisco forty nine Ers with San
Francisco Chronicle. He's going to talkabout forty nine Ers, letting go of
(20:37):
Eric Armstead, what they've done infree agency coming off of Super Bowl,
what their philosophies are. We'll talka little more crack and get more into
the NFL. Chris Kidd, GregBell the News Tribune, filling in for
Jason Puckett and Jim Moore on ninetythree point three KJR. Chris Kidd with
Greg Bell here in the News fromthe News Tribute on ninety three point three
KJR filling in for Pucket in Jimmore and more. Jim is on his
(21:02):
way to Las Vegas. I don'tthink he's on the plane yet, but
he's going to be there well intime for the Cougars in the Pac twelve
tournament. They play tomorrow. Today, the Huskies play the eight to nine
game that they have to win tocontinue their season. They play usc The
winner is going to get Arizona.But the Huskies play at noon today an
eleven thirty pre game show on KJRwith Tony casher Cone and Jason Hamilton from
(21:26):
Las Vegas. So we will yieldto them. At eleven thirty, we
have a chance for you, thelistener, to qualify for two Alaska Airlines
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six two eight six nine nine five. The Seahawks this morning, if you
(23:40):
missed it, they agreed to signNick Harris center build as a center.
He was a center All Pack twelvecenter for the Washington Huskies. But let's
talk a little bit about this Chris. On the surface, he's a center.
But hey, they already have aTimmy. They just let Evan Brown
walk. His contract is ended.Brown on the veteran that they had gotten
(24:00):
from Detroit before last season, bythe way, remains unsigned. He's still
on the market. He could stillpossibly have played to come back to Seattle,
but they drafted over with Timmy fromMichigan, the Rimington Award winner to
be their safety of or the suitof their center of the future. He
started one game last year, andthe only reason he started last year because
Brown had to move to guard becauseof injuries. But what's interesting about Harris
(24:25):
to me or two things. Chrisone, he started multiple games for the
Browns at guard even though he's acenter, and John Schneider loves offensive lineman
to be versual and play multiple positions. He actually seeks it once it.
The other thing, of course,is that Nick Harris played for the Seahawks
current and new offensive line coach ScottHuff. Scott Huff was the Huskies offensive
(24:48):
line coach from twenty seventeen until justJanuary when the Seahawks got him, and
Nick Harris flourished with him as hisoffensive line coach. So Scott Huff college
offensive line coach brings his all Packtwelve center to the Seahawks, not saying
Nick Harris's gonna be a new startingcenter, but Scott Huff knows him better
than anybody does. Ryan Grubb willtell you that the new offensive coordinator that
(25:14):
former Huskies play caller will tell youthat he is an offensive line guy at
heart and that he builds his offensebeginning with offensive line. So it's not
just a coincidence that Nick Harris coachplayed for the current offensive line coach for
the Seahawks, and now he's aSeahawks himself. Nick Harris is the second
outside free agent the Seahawks have signedin the last twelve to sixteen hours.
(25:38):
Late last night, they reached anagreement to sign p O Brown from the
New England Patriots, a former OregonDuck tight end. He has never had
more than twenty four catches in aseason, so that again, this is
the type of backfilld depth free agencysigning that John Schneider major's in, not
huge impact signings he's too. TheSeahawks were the last one of the last
(26:03):
two teams in the league. Ithink Dallas was the other one that had
not signed an outside free agent asof yesterday afternoon, driving the Seahawks fan
base crazy least those haven't been afan for too long. But again,
this is the norm, and thisis how the Seahawks spend their money in
free agency. This year. They'vechosen to spend the bulk of their cap
space, the largest cap space fiftymillion dollars that they've had going into a
(26:25):
free agency period in a long time. They've chosen to do that on their
own, guys. Yeah, theyactually. Adam Schuted not too long ago
tweeted out that free agent cornerback ArtyBurns as returned to the Seahawks on a
one year deal. Not so.I don't know how much the cash will
be, but I wouldn't be surprisedif it's not a lot. Maybe above
the minimum maybe or at the minimum. Former first round pick of the Steelers,
(26:45):
who they brought back last year insomewhat of a late spring surprising deal
for depth. They've turned Arty Burnsinto a nickel last year, a backup
nickel for the first time. Hewas an outside corner until then. He's
been with the Bears and started withthem. The Seahawks sign him a couple
of years ago, let his contractlapse, and then re signed him last
year at the LEAs I said laterin March or excuse me in May.
(27:08):
Heading into the offseason in training camps, they moved in a nickel and he
played well there and it's spot timehe had. Of course, Devin Witherspoon
is their nickel Pro Bowl nickel.It'll be interesting to see if Mike McDonald
wants to keep Witherspoon in that nickelrole or if he has other ideas.
Witherspoon is a shutdown corner by trade. It's why he was the fifth overall
(27:30):
pick. It's what he did atIllinois. They did some shadowing and matching
up. If the top receiver ina Big Ten opponent was in the slot,
then Witherspoon would follow him in there. But last year was by and
large the first time he had everydown snaps as a nickel guy. Is
that what McDonald wants to do.Everything is on the table. I mean
(27:51):
usually going into a season or duringan offseason, we can say, Wow,
the Seahawks will do this, andthey like to do this because philosophically,
this is how they play defense,and this is how Pete Carroll doesnt
with Mike McDonald, we don't know. One of the interesting things Chris that
McDonald said when he got hired lastmonth was we asked him, so,
does this mean you're just part andparcel bringing the Raven's top ranked defense to
(28:14):
Seattle. Scheme the way you playyour philosophies and he said, not necessarily,
because I don't know what we're goodat here in Seattle. I don't
know. He doesn't even know whathis roster is going to look like,
and who a starter. He doesn'tknow who starting inside linebackers are. He
doesn't know who their others starting safetynext to Julian Love's going to be.
So his answer was honest and saying, I don't know, because I don't
(28:37):
know what we're good at, andit may not be I'm there's not saying
there's any indication yet, but itnot necessarily a given that Devin Witherspoon is
going to stay in the nickel role. I got a question for you,
Greg, and I want you andjust when we come back from break,
we saw what Hamilton for the Ravenscan do. Cole Hamilton, he was
at strong safety, but they usedhim virtually everywhere. Could you see Mike
(29:03):
McDonald using Devin Witherspoon that way?Put him maybe at strong safety. Move
Kobe Bryant back to nickel back andhave him play that Kyle Hamilton role.
So I want you to think aboutthat. Maybe on WAYO, maybe like
absolutely not Chris. He's too small, He's only I don't even think Devn's
a one hundred and ninety pounds,so that might be more of a challenge.
But I did want to throw thatat you. I will. The
(29:23):
short answer to that is everything's onthe table. But I will talk about
that more after the break. ChrisKid, Greg Bow with you on ninety
three point three KJR. We're gonnahave Eric Branch at the San Francisco Chronicle
talk forty nine ers and what they'vebeen up to since the Super Bowl.
He released Eric Armstead, among othermoves. Sam Darnold got ten million dollars
to be potentially the new quarterback atMinnesota, leaving his backup role in San
(29:47):
Francisco. Well talked to Eric Branch'sfriend of mine since I covered the Raiders
in the Bay A a long timeago. We'll talk to him at eleven
am, and then at eleven thirtywe're going to break to go to Las
Vegas for the Washington Huskies pregame showbefore their Pack twelve opening round game against
USC, the eight to nine game, the first game of the Pac twelf
Tournament in Las Vegas, the men'sbasketball tournament beginning today running through Saturday.
(30:12):
Winner of Washington at USC gets numberone Arizona, which doesn't sound fun.
That's tomorrow at twelve. New oneteam who doesn't mind playing Arizona is Washington
State. The coug's their best seasonin fifteen years. They've beaten Arizona twice.
That's why some people have them asa six seed in the NCAA Tournament.
They're firmly in the field. They'reawaiting their first opponent in the PAC
(30:33):
twelve Tournament, which will be tomorrow. Their game is at six pm tomorrow
night. In the second round,they'll play the winner of Kyle Stanford Cayle
Stanford's a six pm game. WashingtonUSC is the first game today in the
Pactell Tournament. Then the five totwelve game is UCLA against Oregon State.
The seven to ten game is caland Stanford. The winner of Cayl Stanford
plays Washington State tomorrow night, andthen Utah Arizona State is the final game
(30:57):
of the day in Las Vegas tonight. The winner of that game's plays
Colorado in the third seed. Coloradois the opposite bracket from Washington State in
the PAC twelve tournament. Again,it seems like it's a collision course of
Washington State against Arizona one two forthe final and if it is, and
if Washington State can beat Arizona forthe third time, I would think that
(31:18):
that would vote pretty well for WashingtonState getting a top four or five seed
in the region and perhaps perhaps playingtheir first two NCAA rounds in Spokane.
That's getting ahead of ourselves. Butanyway, Husky's at eleven thirty pregame show
twelve noon tip here on ninety threeto three kJ are you asked me Chris
kid before the break about Devin Witherspoonand could Mike McDonald, the new coach
(31:41):
coming from the Baltimore Ravens, usehim like he used Kyle Hamilton in Baltimore.
Hamilton is, as you brought up, excelled doing a little bit of
everything safety outside nickel, matchup guyand coverage. I would first blushed when
you answered that question. I wouldsay, Devin with Spoon is one hundred
and eighty five pounds and if youput him in the middle of your defense
(32:04):
and expect him to be a safetytaken on perhaps tight ends or having to
come down in the box and stopruns. Now, he isn't a ferocious
tackler for his size. We've seenit like Tasmanian devil type of whirling dervish
into the line of scrimmers. Hisfirst game, he played in Detroit.
I was in the press box andI was It caught my eye on the
(32:25):
very first drive that Devin Witherspoon playedin the NFL, that he got his
first two tackles of his career Chrison dive plays. Yeah happen. He
was an outside left cornerback twenty fiveyards from the center, wide and deep,
making tackles on dive plays up themiddle for the line against the Lions.
(32:46):
I think personally that you don't messwith Devin Witherspoon. Do keep him
what he's been excelling at, whichthey found gold with him as a nickel
last year. I think he mayend up more as a left outside corner
than he was last year. Perhapsless nickel than he was when he became
a Pro Bowl guy, but rushingthe quarterback, aggressive on the line of
(33:07):
scrimmage, tight coverage off the line, bump and run type coverage, that's
what he excelled at last year.That's what he did well at Illinois.
He was so good at Illinois.Think he kind of just went wherever he
wanted to against the top receiver theline I were facing. But it wouldn't
surprise me if Mike McDonald makes himmore of a traditional corner rather than more
(33:28):
of a nickel corner. We'll see, but I didn't I wouldn't think.
Yes, he has the expense withKyle Hamilton, but I don't know it
his size, Witherspoon's size, Ifthat's something that they're gonna do, that
was my thing. I don't thinkI think he's too small, but it
did come across my mind just becauseof right as you mentioned, he is
everywhere and he can do it,but how can you do it for seventeen
(33:49):
eighteen weeks? That's the big question, and probably not I think the splashes
that we see, for your instance, when you saw him the first time
against Detroit and he's making tackles forno gain or a loss on an inside
play he's outside, that's pretty impressive. And if you can do that while
being a cornerback, that's great.But maybe moving him to another role probably
doesn't benefit the Seyawks defense. Now, there were a couple times last year
(34:13):
that opponents, including the Lions inthat first game, took advantage of Witherspoon's
aggressiveness. Flicker double moves, theflea flicker right, and and that was
because they saw twenty one flying upand how fast Witherspoon was to the line
of scrimmage. But yeah, he'sI'm no doubt. I'm sure whatever Mike
McDonald's got cooked up and trying todo defensively schematic wise, Devin Witherspoon's going
(34:37):
to be a large piece of it. So always Leonard Williams. Now that
they've spent up to sixty four anda half million dollars on him, You
see these contracts three years, sixtyfour and a half million. I make
a point of writing up to sixtyfour and a half million instead of sixty
four and half. Sixty four anda half million is what the agents will
tell you. They want you topublish that number because they want the max
value. They want to look likethey get their client. In the reality
(35:00):
these days, very few contracts reachtheir full value at the end of it.
And why is that Because most contractsin the NFL, because of salary
capitals, are backloaded, where mostof the value is realized in the end
of the deal. And for instance, salary cap charges for Tyler Lockett being
thirty million dollar twenty nine some milliondollars this year that then he renegotiated Geno
(35:21):
Smith was north of thirty million dollars. The Seahawks renegotiated that down to twenty
six. So when you see totalvalue, that's if they get all their
incentive bonuses, they play all theirgames, they get roster bonuses, they
get per game bonuses, they makea Pro Bowl, they perhaps become named
All Pro in the quarterbacks case,you make up Super Bowl, the conference
(35:43):
championship, you get more money.That's the max value. Very rarely,
there's one a player hit all thoseincentives, but two. Very rarely does
a team a contracts that large wantto take on a salary cap hit later,
especially if that player has been injuredor less effective than he was at
the beginning of his deal. Sothe term up to Carrie does a lot
(36:05):
of work. An NFL free agencyup to sixty four and a half million
dollars foot lend of Williams doesn't meanhe's going to realize all of that,
especially because Williams in his case,is turning thirty this year, and there's
some justifiable concern about giving him thatmuch money while he's still only twenty nine.
He's gonna turn thirty during this yearand that contract will end. He'll
be turning thirty two to thirty threeyears old, So we'll see if it
(36:25):
ends up being sixty four and ahalf million, is my point. But
that is the bulk of where theSeahawks fifty million dollars in cap space has
gone this go around in free agency. They also agreed to bring back Already
Burns. They agreed to bring backNoah Fan. Burns was on a one
year deal just announce this morning,and a two year deal for Noah Fan
for twenty one million dollars. Thismorning. The Seahawks agreed to a one
(36:47):
year deal with former Huskies All Packtwelve center Nick Harris, who I would
remind you played two started two gamesat guard for Cleveland and over his three
years. And also last night,Barro Brown, veteran tight end, former
Oregon Duck tight end, a oneyear deal to Seattle again just about three
million dollars. So that's the thiswave of free agency that the Seahawks are
(37:12):
now in. They specialize in everyyear. Coming up top of the hour,
Eric Branch He's a beat writer ofthe forty nine ers for the San
Francisco Chronicle. He'll join me nexton ninety three point three KJR. Eric
Branch, and I've summoned him outof his free agent off season get away
from football time, which I don'tknow if you can do right now anyway,
(37:32):
Eric Branch joining us A ninety threepoint three KJR. Welcome, sir,
Hey, yeah, what do youmean get away from football? We've
got Eric Hendrick Sins straight from theLake. Collins, Kyle, you check
restructure this contract. I mean,my dog is over here. Like when
am I going to get a walk? Not anytime soon, Charlie. The
(37:58):
NFL is pretty good at that,aren't they. Eric. Let's start with
Ustek. He's been unbelievably effective,and not just as a true fullback,
but as a pass catcher, asa wing, as a tight end type.
The reason they obviously it's money,but the reasoning did you see this
coming? And what did the fortynine ers long playing try to do with
(38:20):
him? Well? I think theyyou know, they also approached you know,
I'm sure you know Eric Arms saidabout restructuring, which you know can
be translated to we want you totake a pay cut, and Eric Arms
said declined. I think it wasa more significant pay cut that they're asking
(38:40):
from Armstead than they were from Uschek, who was you know, he's scheduled,
he was scheduled to count more thanseven million against the cap this season.
He's thirty two, He's still veryeffective. He's still very important to
their offense. Probably not as effectiveas he has been in past years.
(39:01):
And you know, frankly, theyprobably you know, had a little power
over him and that he plays fullback, and because of that, his
market isn't going to be as robustas someone like Armstead, just because you
know, probably more than half theteams don't employ a full back, and
(39:22):
you know, a fair amount ofthe things that do aren't in need of
one, so that really limited them. He Striker said in the past he
would not ever take a pay cut, but you know, I think it
wasn't significant, and he saw thewriting on the wall and it's best to
kind of swallow his pride and staywith the Niners. Eric Branch of San
(39:45):
Francisco forty Niners beat writer for theChronicle down in the Bay Area, joining
us on ninety three point three KGr. You mentioned Eric Armstead. He has
been a stud against the against theSeahawks and the forty nine ers last five
wins over then, of course,everybody wearing a forty nine er uniform has
been a stud against Seattle the lastcouple of years. What was that a
(40:06):
case of this is just having thebills are coming due now and they're gonna
have to be players that they're goingto have to say goodbye to or ask
to take huge pay cuts. Andthat's just the way the NFL is.
Or was there something in particular withArmstead in this case, well, a
little bit of every saying Armstead wasgoing to count twenty eight line against the
Caps this year. They're only goingto save depending on how they do it,
(40:30):
it'll be a modest cap savings thisyear, but it clearly will,
you know, if they don't.We don't need to get into the whole
post June first designation, but puteveryone to sleep. But let's just say
the standard release. It'll clear thebooks, you know, for off him
for twenty twenty five when they havean even trickier salary cap situation, navigate
(40:55):
because they've got to pay brock Purdy, you know, which will be a
you know, presuming he has anothergood year, a fairly massive extension.
So there's that. There's also theyou know the factor of Armstead's age,
he's thirty. He's been he's hadplant fascia, he's had a you know,
(41:16):
hairline fracture in his ankle, andnow he's had a knee injury.
Played the Super Bowl with Toniscus rightin the Super Bowliscus thanks Eric, Yeah,
here's here's your thanks for that.Is there any chance Eric did he
bring Is there any chance of fortynine ers bring Armstead back on a new
deal. No, they just tradedfor Elite Collins from the Texas and Collins
(41:43):
you know, they're going to payhim eight million this year, so that
would would rule out that was thatwas the replacement for Eric Armstead, So
you know, maybe that's what theywere saying to Armstead, Hey, he
wanted instead of making a seventeen millionbase salary this year, you want to
take eight he says. No.They said, okay, let's strade for
Lillie Collins, who makes eight million. I'm just kind of guessing at that
(42:06):
number, but that's clearly the replacementthey have. And they also they signed
a brown Seep at the attack ofJordan Elliott last yesterday, who you know,
bolstered their interior. So yeah,it's not officially official, but they
are moving on from amstip. EricBranch of San Francisco Chronicle forty nine ers
beat writer for the hometown flagship paperthere in San Francisco, joining us on
(42:30):
ninety three point three Kjar talking aboutthe Seahawks' biggest rival. Did it surprise
you, Eric that Sam Donald gotwhat he got from Minnesota up to ten
million dollars? No, not really. I mean Donald came in looking at
it. You know, he hopedas a kind of a one year reboot,
(42:52):
and after being surrounded by kind ofconstant upheaval and dysfunctioned with the Jets
and the Panthers, it was kindof you know, a little bit of
reputation rehab. Hey, he's withyou know, Kyle Shanahan, a competent
you know, organization and you know, well respected offense, and you know,
I don't know, you know,I'm not saying, hey, you
(43:15):
know, he's going to make everyoneforget about Kirk Cousins in Minnesota. But
you can see why he was thenumber three pick in twenty eighteen. You
know, just you know, obviouslyarm strength is overrated when it comes to
you know, quarterbacking, but hedoes possess that and you know, he
(43:36):
really seemed to. He talked alot about during the season with the forty
nine ers take what the defense givesyou. You know, he was a
turnover machine, you know in hisfirst five seasons, and I think he
learned a lot, you know,just being with Shanahan in in that system.
So it didn't surprise me he gotyou know, because he's probably gonna
(43:57):
well, he's going to more thandouble the salary with a Vikings and you
know, how's the chance to bea bridge quarterback, which was the idea
you know when he joined the nineErs last year, you know, but
it would give him, you know, a chance to repair his image a
little, you know, make everyoneforget you know, what had happened in
the past. Uh, and thenget a you know, probably one last
(44:20):
shot to prove he started material.Eric Branch San Francisco Chronicle forty nine Ers
beat writer joining us on ninety threepoint three kJ R. So you they
just make the trade from Elie Collinsfrom the Texans, tell us why he
fits and and where you see theforty nine ers defensive front Nick Bosa and
friends being with Collins joining it?Yeah, what the good news for the
(44:44):
I guess Seahawks fans is you know, I don't think this is an upgrade.
You know, Eric Constead, Uh, you know, it was a
run stopping force, you know,went healthy, you know, or if
he's not, you know, ChrisJones, but you know he's top fifteen,
top ten defensive tackle. Lilie Collinsis not that. So you know,
(45:07):
in that sense, you know it'sa downgrade, you know, But
with the other moves the Niners havemade, you know, they got Leonard
Floyd, uh, and that couldbe you know, the bookend you know
to Nick Bosa that they've really beenlacking really ever since Bosa has been in
the league. They had d Fordand they invested a lot for him,
(45:29):
hoping that would be you know,this dynamic duo, and it really didn't
pan out just because Ford was soinjured. You know, Leonard Ford is
not you know, Dan Hunter orsome of these other guys that went off
the board. But you know,he's had thirty nine and a half sacks
the past four seasons and uh,you know he'll get plenty of one on
(45:49):
one opportunities with boths on the otherside. So you know, I guess
the some of all the moves isyou know, the Niners defense defensive line
maybe you know, roughly the same. You know, don't don't have Armstead,
but they do add Floyd and youknow that's where you know, like
a lot of teams, uh,you know, they've they've invested a lot,
(46:12):
and you know, they realize theimportance of being able to harass other
teams quarterbacks. So I don't know, I guess you know, they're kind
of you know, probably treading waterthere. But you know, they're pretty
good last year, not as dominantas they have wanted what would would have
wanted to be, and they kindof fell apart in the Super Bowl because
(46:35):
Mahomes at the end. They're stillnot treading water against the Seahawks. They
still dominate them every time they playthem. Chris, Hey, what are
you guys doing with that offensive line? Yeah, well let's get to that.
Nothing. There's nothing yet to worryabout San Francisco about the Seahawks offensive
line. They still have they don'thave two cards. They're gonna have an
unproven center. Yeah, nothing forNick Bosa to worry about yet. Hey,
(46:58):
Eric Christopher here, I would curiousbecause a lot of Seahawk fans are
upset about this player, and that'skJ Wright, former player. He has
now joined the forty nine ers asthe new linebacker assistant coach, last defensive
quality control. What has been thetalks amongst the Niners about getting kJ and
what he can bring to this defense. Well, I mean, from what
(47:20):
I understand, and I'm not justfrom what's been reported, I mean,
the Siggs didn't hire him right theguy break did his coaching career started,
you know, and it's no longerquite so taboo right after Richard Sherman then
and all the rest. So anyway, I think ideally the Niners would would
(47:43):
love for kJ Wright to become thenext Jamiko Ryans. You know Jamiko.
When Shanahan Lynch came to the fortynine ers, he began as you know,
a quality control guy, you know, from a Pro Bowl linebacker.
Four seasons later he was the defensivecoordinator and last year he was a runner
(48:06):
up for NIFO Coach of the Year. You know, getting ahead of ourselves
there with kJ Wright, who hasn'tdone anything as a coach, but you
know, there is that kind ofblueprint an opportunity for him, so you
know, we shall see. He'llbe starting, you know, as the
assistant linebackers coach, which is astep up from what a lot of guys
(48:29):
get when they first you know,entry level. You know, job in
the NFL is generally have to bequality controlled before moving into any sort of
position coach role, you know,so that speaks well for him. He
obviously is familiar with a new defensivecoordinator, Nick Sorenson, who was with
the Seahawks for a long time,and you know, so he's well versed,
(48:49):
you know, in the Seahawks fortynine ers you know scheme which obviously
has you know, tons of similarities. Thanks for making news, Eric Branch,
you just predicted kJ Wright is goingto be a head coach and NFL
coach year candidate here pretty soon.Thanks for that. Yeah, I think
that would be what two thousand andthirty or thirty one, the Big ariseally
(49:09):
thirty nine years old, Eric Brandsof the San Francisco chrodigal forty nine ers
beat writer joining us in ninety threethree, kJ Are you mentioned Richard Sherman.
What is his legacy in San Francisco? We know what it is in
Seattle and how he's thought of hereand even his legal troubles and driving under
the influenced troubles that have been wellchronicled up here in Seattle. But what
(49:31):
is his legacy and how's he viewedin the Bay Area. I didn't positively.
I mean, there's not obviously asmuch emotion attached to Richard Sherman,
you know, with Niner fans asit would gain Seattle for obvious reasons.
But you know, he was,you know, part of that first Super
Bowl team under the Leinster Shannon hammershimein two that nineteen the ender All Pro
(49:55):
season. You know, he's justat you know, at the end by
injuries. It wasn't quite the sameguy. You know, I guess started
in twenty twenty, but you knowhe after be initial like what the hell
is going on? You know,Richard Sherman to cover the Niners? We
hate this guy, you know,I don't know, beloved, it is
(50:16):
too strong, But you know itdidn't take long for people to warm the
idea and the fact that he beganhis career, you know, playing well.
You know, obviously if a guy'shelping your team, you kind of
forget whatever animosity used to exist.So I think overwhelmingly positive memories you know
(50:37):
of Richard Sherman here, Eric Branch, San Francisco Chronicle forty nine Ers beat
Ryer joining us on KJR. Eric. Big picture from the forty nine ers
up here in Seattle, it lookslike their Niners are tweaking, but they
aren't really changing, and they're stillgoing to have Rock Purdy, and they're
still going to have the offensive weaponswith Samuel and Auk in the running game
with McCaffrey, and the defense stillhas both. And I mean really up
(51:00):
here in Seattle, it looks likethey are still miles ahead of the Seahawks,
especially at the line of scrimmage.Big picture, where do you see
the forty nine ers coming off theSuper Bowl loss? And are there any
viable challengers do you see in notonly the NFC West, but in the
NFC to them? Well, yeah, I mean the Packers and Lions to
(51:23):
start with, because they you know, you can make it pretty strong case
they should have beaten them in theplayoffs, right you know on the h
and those you know, those areboth very young teams, you know,
on the on the app swing.So you know, there's there's those two
right there. The Niners weren't particularlyinterested in playing the Rams in the playoffs
(51:45):
last year. I'm not saying theywere scared, but you know, the
way the Rams were playing at theend of last season and the way Matt
Stafford was playing, and you know, you know, suddenly their ability to
kind of avoid any sort of rebuild, you know, caught their attention.
So, yeah, they are contenders. You know, certainly they can challenge
(52:07):
the forty nine ers, who youknow are not the youngest team, and
you wonder when some of these guysmay not you know, fall off a
cliff, but start to decline alittle bit and noticeably. So you know,
George Kittle is thirty, John Hargravesis thirty one, Use Check as
we talked about, is thirty two, you know, so yeah, and
(52:30):
then there's just bear and tear andTrent Williams is thirty five, and you
know there's a lot of you know, they played you know what, nine
postseason games, the equivalent of youknow, half a regular season over the
last last few years, which isa great problem to have. But you
(52:50):
know, you do wonder if someof this will catch up with them,
and the fact that they you know, last year, I'm not sure they're
going to be able to repeat this. They had nine Pro Bowl players,
and those nine Pro Bowl players onlycombined to the miss five games to the
injury. Right, So you know, all things went well last year and
they still couldn't quite realize their goalof you know, winning their first Super
(53:15):
Bowl since January of nineteen ninety five. So yeah, there's well, you
know, looking at them, they'repretty loaded. They're still going to be
pretty dann good. But you know, I'm not sure there's you know,
an invincibility right there. There isup here, I can tell you.
So you're saying, you're saying prayfor injuries. Okay, that's good advice
(53:35):
for Seahawks fans for the forty nine. I got you, okay, Eric,
Eric Branson. But yeah, they'vebeen unusually injured over the years.
Yes, they have an ordinate matterof attrition, and the fact that they
didn't last year was you know,just particularly notable in light of that history.
All Right, so see, ourfans will hang their head on that.
(53:59):
I got you, Eric, sanFrancis Krona, thanks a lot for
joining us. Go back to walkyour dog. Hopefully get some time off
as an NFL beat writer always nevergets to in the spring. Thanks Eric,
all right, appreciate you all.Thanks so much. Thank you,
Eric Brandtch talking forty nine Ers andtelling Seahawks fans, yeah, they may
be threatened by the Packers and Lions, but otherwise he's a hunt. I
(54:20):
was gonna ask that and then yougot it. But yeah, I don't.
The Seahawks are not in that conversation, right, Seahawks are not even
the second best team in the division. Right. We talked about this off
Wax last week. You were onYes. Yeah, I asked you,
like, hey, what do yousee the Ram You're like the Rams they
swept the Chris Are you kidding me? That's soubbering to think about, is
that we talk about the forty nineers all the time, but the Rams,
(54:43):
who were supposed to be restarting lastyear rebuilding just boat raced them in
the opener up here at easily.I mean that was an embarrassing defeat and
then down and lost in the lastsecond. The Seahawks did malfunctioning and the
clock management at the end in Inglewood. I hear Eric, because the only
time to see it the forty Nineers, I've not been to the playoffs in
(55:05):
the last few years, has beenwhen they had an injury filled season a
couple of years ago, and otherthan that, they have dominated the Seahawks
in the NFC West. We'll see. I mean, it's it always looks
different and that everyone looks better onpaper in March and April early. It's
so and the injuries are such ahuge factor and it just takes one or
two or it takes a Bosa toget hurt or a Kittle to get hurt
(55:29):
or McCaffrey and the entire division canchange. But yeah, to the point,
they have to sneak up on thenot only the Seahawks, they have
to steak up with the forty nineers. Be there'd be better than the
ram Sean McVay has the Seahawks numberthat to say the least well PAC twelve
Tournament basketball, We're gonna yield tothat. Next, the Washington Huskies.
(55:51):
I have to run the table toget in the NCAA tournament. That seems
like a long shot. As theeight seed. They play nine seed USC
at noon. Coming up next,we're gonna have the pregames show from Las
Vegas. Tony caster Cone Jason Hamiltonwill bring you the pregame show at eleven
thirty and then tip off at twelveHusky's Trojan's winner to get Arizona again at
Washington State will play tomorrow. Theyplay the winner of today's Kyle Stanford game.
(56:15):
Chris Kid, Thank you, noproblem, Thank you, Jason Puckett,
thank you for being gone. JimMoore, thank you for being gone.
Be safe, be sober. InLas Vegas, Greg Bell, the
News Tribune Filling in Husky Hoops isnext on ninety three point three KJRFM
We'll get to that in a littlebit. Watching Huskies play today twelve noon
tip off in the eight to ninegame, the first game of the PAC
twelve Tournament at T Mobile Arena,could be the last game of Mike Hopkins's
tenure has already been let go afterthe season ends, and could end today
for the Huskies if they don't winin the opener. That's going to be
(00:22):
eleven thirty pre game show with Tonycash Cone and Jason Hamilton from Las Vegas
here on KJR, So we'll bewith you, Chris and I from now
until then. Eleven thirty pre gamefor the Huskies and then a tip is
at noon against number nine USC Numbereight Washington winn against number one Arizona tomorrow
at noon in the second round ofthe PAC twelve Tournament. The husk the
(00:45):
Cougars are the second seed, alreadylocked into the NCAA tournaments as a matter
where they're going to play now andwho they're going to play to open that,
But in the meantime they play tomorrow, they're waiting on Cayl Stafford's winner.
Callen Stamford play the seven to tengame tonight at six pm in Las
Vegas winner of that plays Washington Statetomorrow at six pm. That's on PAC
(01:07):
twelve Networks for koog fans. Itcan't be like Jim Moore and be in
Las Vegas right now. So theCougs have one win against the cal Stanford
winner, then they would go intothe semifinals. That they win that they're
in the opposite bracket of Utah slashArizona State that winner today against Colorado,
So it looks like maybe a ColoradoWashington State in the semifinals, and then
(01:32):
of course they would play. Itwould appear Arizona. I was going to
play the Washington USC winner. AsI mentioned, Arizona is opposite the Oregon
UCLA sas Oregon State bracket on thatside in the PAC twelve tournament. It
Chris, I think if Washington Stategets to the finals, which they should,
(01:53):
they should beat Utah or excuse me, caler Stanford, and they should
beat Colorado and Utah, which they'vealready done. And they if they go
to the finals against Arizona and winfor the third time over what some think
is a number one seed in theNCAA tournament, maybe they get to play
in Spokane. I would hope.So, I mean, that's really what
(02:14):
they're playing for here. That lostto the Huskies in their regular season finale
didn't help these chances. But ifWashington State can get to the Pac Total
Championship, play Arizona for a thirdtime and beat a top five Arizona,
top ten Arizona for the third timethis season, no one's beating the top
ten team twice, a top fiveteam twice, let alone three to let
(02:35):
alone three times this season. Iwould have to think that they would get
some preferential treatment from the seeding committeeand play in Spokane Arena to begin the
NCAA tournament, and then let's justsee what happened. Let's see if they
can do those things, can theywin this championship? And then yeah,
put the pressure on these guys tosay, damn, they really did this
three times. We gotta give themthe number one seed. We can't they
(02:58):
well, they don't even need anumber they they would they need a top
four, maybe top five. Thereare some five seeds who get preferential geographic
treatment, but they are There isa tournament by law, if you will,
or a custom that if you're ina top four in a region,
you get preferential geographic treatment. Butyeah, that would. I mean,
(03:19):
you're talking maybe going to Pittsburgh orOmaha versus Spokane for the first round.
And I'm sure the tickets are alreadygoing to be hard to come by at
Spokane Arena. But if Washington Statecan go to my son who goes to
Washington's already talking about he and hisbuddies, no more finals for him this
week, not this week. He'son spring break nice and next week he's
talking about if the Kougs are somehowput in Spokane that I mean, half
(03:45):
the campus would be up in thateleven thousand seats Spokan Arena. Anyway,
we're getting way ahead of ourselves becauseWashington State first has to take care of
business starting tomorrow against the cal StanfordRenner. But first up, as I
mentioned, our show here ten toeleven thirty, and then we'll break for
Tony Kasher own in Jason Hamilton fromLas Vegas for the pregame show tip at
noon for the Washington Huskies against USCthe nine seed, the eight nine game
(04:08):
to the winner to play Arizona.That's only one thing that's going on the
Kraken last night. I'm watching thatgame. They're up four to with about
eight minutes left after a rally froma two to one deficit, and then
man, they gave up two goalsin what seemed like two shifts, the
second one with sixteen seconds left forcedovertime, and then the Vegas Golden Knights
(04:32):
win in overtime and a barely costlyloss for the Kraken, who are already
nine points out of the final playoffspot in the Western Conference and the Canilaford
giving away points. They got onelast night from going to overtime, but
really needed the two and needed theteams they play in the Western Conference to
not get any points, and Vegasgets the two points last night kracking.
(04:53):
Now we play tomorrow night against Washington. The Capitals themselves have gone from last
place team in their division to justthree points out of a playoff spot,
so they are playing absolutely for something, and I would have to characterize the
Krakens playoff chances as on life supportat this point. After last night's crushing
a lot, I was a toughloss. Join everybody played in his a
(05:15):
thousandth n NHL game, that's abig deal in hockey. Anyone who's played
hockey for more than a period anda half will tell you how hard that
is to play a thousand games inhis career. He got a silver stick.
It's a big milestone in the NHL, and he had a new contract
recently to stick around as a crackand cornerstone guy. So the kracking are
up against it. That's what's goingon in hockey, and the Mariners trudging
(05:41):
long till about what two and ahalf weeks till opening day here in Seattle.
This time of the spring training becomessomething of a grind for the veteran
players, the young guys that weretrying to make it. See those you
who don't know, I was aMajor League Baseball beat writer for about five
or six years before I went tothe NFL, covered the Oak and this
part of the spring training becomes agrind for those that are And it's not
(06:04):
hard. I mean they're working fortwo or three hours and then going to
play golf or do whatever for therest of the day. But at this
point you're like, let's get theregular season going now for the young guys
and the people in the bullpen thatare trying to make our last roster spot
or two. These are big deals, But I mean, the Mariners don't
have a whole lot of spots upfor grabs and they have a pretty set
(06:26):
lineup with going into the spring training. So this is just playing out the
string of these last couple weeks beforethe opener and then what I do most
for a living in the NFL thatloves to keep itself in the news.
This is the third day of thefree agency negotiating period. That period actually
ends today at one pm. Thenew league year begins, and the new
(06:47):
league year means that all these dealsand agreements that we've been reading about.
Technically when they say signed, isnot true. You can't sign an unrestricted
free agent until one pm today whenthe new league's new league year starts.
Leonard Williams did sign yesterday with theSeahawks. He flew in from Japan.
The team said, why could hesign before the league year started, because
(07:10):
he wasn't yet technically an unrestricted freeagent because he had yet to enter the
market. Technically, he was resigned after his contract ended from the Seahawks,
but he had not yet gone officiallyinto the open market. But all
these deals that they've agreed to,including this morning with for those of you
that woke up late, the Seahawkshave an agreement on a one year contract
(07:30):
for about two point three million dollarswith former Huskies center Nick Harrison all Pac
Towl Center. That deal will becomeofficial after one pm today. So,
well Barrow Brown the tight end thatthey signed last night to a three million
dollars one year deal. We arein that stage of free agency already.
It hasn't even officially kicked off yet. We're in the secondary phase that it's
(07:53):
not the big bucks one hundred milliondollar contract sixty four and a half million
dollars till Leonard Williams. It's nowone year, three million, one year
two million. That's where the Seahawksdo most of their free agent work.
It does make me laugh, Chris, that people still get very very upset
and the fear of missing out FOMOis really large for the Seahawks fan base
(08:16):
this time of year. Yet thisis what John Schneider does every year.
Yes, it's the same thing.They're never gonna go big, a big
splash. It's always just hey,well well Nikol and dimya, that's what
they do. That's what John Schnyderhas been doing. So this doesn't surprise
me. This is their philosophy isnot to spend triple digits one hundred million
(08:39):
dollar contracts, but to build throughthe draft. And you can argue that's
not really worked in the last fouror five years, but in the aggregate,
his philosophy has been consistent. Wearen't gonna splash in the first wave
of free agency. I don't care, and this could taste. They had
fifty million dollars in cap space.Most of that was to re sign Leonard
Williams and Noah Fan to keep itfrom leaving. It wasn't to bring in
(09:01):
the big, splashly free agency.Get all the headlines this week. That's
what these first days are for thoseteams. And there are studies abound.
You can just look at the twentytwenty one and twenty twenty two biggest contracts
signed in the offseason, and thereare studies in proof, scientific proof that
(09:22):
that doesn't always work, and infact, it's sometimes an inverse relationship to
succeeding during the success season. Imean, look at Russell Wilson's contract with
Denver signed in twenty twenty two,an abject disaster, eighty five million dollar
cap pit that Broncos swallowed that contractbefore it even officially began. The largest
cap pit ever Jamal Adams in ourown backyard, seventy million dollar contract riches
(09:45):
for a safety and NFL history intwenty twenty one. Another failure. That
is why teams Dyke Seattle don't spendin this free age. There are cautionary
tales. Go back to Todd Gurleya half dozen years ago, sixty one
million dollar contract or the running back. He barely fulfilled that with the Rams.
The big splashes. Yeah, itgets all the news and the attention
(10:09):
and the fans get excited about it. There is some prudency to not doing
that. Yeah, he just gaveall the examples as to this is why
you probably shouldn't because hey, that'sover. I don't know how much money
you just added up with Jamal Adams. It's over one hundred millions of dollars
there, So lesson learned maybe.But again, there might be another player
(10:30):
that comes along with the Seahawks thinkwe need this guy for our offense or
defense, whatever the case may be, and they go out and get it
and maybe it works. Obviously,the Quandre deal, the Quandre deal that
they traded for him. They gaveup what was it, two first rounders
or one first rounder Jamal Adams deal, yesue, So what did they give
up for Digs? Diggs was amiddle round pick, fifth to six round
pick that worked out in the middleof the line season. That's a steal.
(10:52):
So I think they repaid him atthirty eight million dollars after that.
But yeah, then they had thehighest paid safety duo in the NFL and
they cut them both at the sametime. So that was one Getting Quandre
was a steal, that fifth roundpick for that guy, and he turned
out to be what three time Probowler? So he was he was great.
I thought he was fine, seamcaptain, Yeah, all of that.
(11:15):
So they have their good and bad, but I think there's a lot
more issues with them going out andgetting these big time guys and they don't
really just they don't pan out forwhatever reason. And you just mentioned Jamal
Adams. It wasn't successful at all. Two first round picks and seventy million
dollars. I mean that will godown as maybe John Schneider's one worst,
(11:37):
one worst two combined with the contracthe offered. But so now we're into
where John Schneider does his work,and they will sign more free agents.
They are probably going to sign acouple of defensive interior, defensive linemen.
They have habitually signed defensive lineman inJune, July, even August, I
think got al Woods. And theywill bring guys back like they got a
(12:00):
few years ago in August, likeright before I think the first preseason game
was it Dion Jordan in Guacway.I mean, they will do those kind
of deals. He also loves himselfsome former first round picks. I mean,
if you look at Okay, whereare they going to go next?
Go to whatever. If you're goingthrough the internet of available free agents left,
(12:22):
go to first round picks in thelast four to seven years who are
still available. And that's who theSeahawks are looking at because John Schneider loves
that. They're usually and why becausemost of the first round picks in the
last fifteen years have been picked beforethe Seahawks even had a choice. Whether
(12:43):
it's because the Seahawks were in thehigh twenties because of their success the previous
season, or because John Schneider hastraded down nine times in the last eleven
years. In the first round hisoriginal first round pick. So all these
first round picks that he ends upre signing I'm talking about Deeion, Jordan
and Guackway to others is because hedidn't have the opportunity but wanted to draft
them, love them when they cameout of college. So now he gets
(13:05):
the chance in the open market toget him for a one year deal at
just above veteran minimum. So hetakes him because he never had the opportunity
to take him under a rookie deal. That explains some of that, But
if you're trying to guess what's next, start there no doubt. Now I
hear the fans and on ex Twitterall the time and emails I get.
(13:26):
I hear the fans about the frustrationof yeah, okay, waiting for the
draft. We only have seven picks, we don't have a second round pick,
and we have more holes than wehave draft picks. And that is
true. If it wasn't true,Pete Carroll would still be the coach.
Yes, they have massive holes upthe center of their team. Everyone talks
(13:46):
about a baseball team needing to buildtheir defense up the center catcher, shortstop,
second baseman, center fielder. Well, some of that is true in
football to a certain extent, andthey have a grand canyon sized gives them
and gap in the center of theirdefense, defensive tackle that can stop the
run and play every down and alsorush the quarterback, both interior inside linebackers.
(14:11):
Now that Jordan Brooks has signed withMiami and Bobby Wagner is still shopping
elsewhere, they missed on Patrick Queen, who went to Pittsburgh for about thirteen
million a year. We can talkabout that and why that may have happened.
And then safeties, you've just cutboth your starting safeties. Julian Love
is coming back, but all ofa sudden, he's in the last year
of his deal. He only gota two year contract last year. He's
(14:33):
coming off his first Pro Bowl season. He will command a lot more money
than the average of six five anda half million that you signed him for
last year. And they don't havea number two. They don't They have
Jerrick Reid, who was a specialteams player as a six round pick out
of New Mexico last year, barelyplayed on defense, had a major injury
for most of the season, andthat is it. They could have got
(14:54):
Genostone for what was also not alot of money he ended up going to
since for I think it was atwo year, thirteen million dollars year or
something like that, or maybe afour year averaging thirteen. There is a
reason, Chris, why Mike McDonalddidn't take Gino Stone or Pro Bowl safety
last year with the Ravens or PatrickQueen, a Pro Bowl linebacker with the
(15:16):
Ravens, because he McDonald knows himbetter than anybody and he could have had
him financially. You would think theywould bring somebody from the Baltimore Ravens.
Maybe there's still time they might getsome young guy. I'm not sure who
that young guy is, but therewhat are your thoughts on that? Are
they still do you think someone fromthe Ravens could potentially join the Seahard Well,
Jadevion Connie makes sense. I mean, he revived his career last year
(15:41):
in a situational role. He wasn'tsupposed to be a factor at all.
Get signed late in the offseason andbelieve by Baltimore and becomes a I think
it was a seven and a halfsack guy was here in Seattle a few
years ago. He makes some sense, but I don't not what they need
Chris which is in every down.Oh yeah, he would be what third
down past rush specialist with an incentiveladen contract built on sacks and pressure rates.
(16:07):
They need a guy who can stopthe run. This team was thirty
first. I don't need to remindtoo many people. They were thirty first
in the NFL against the run,and they were thirtieth the year before.
They didn't improve. They were thirtieththe year before. They spent up to
one hundred and twenty million on defense. They took their number fifth overall pick,
a generational draft pick, and spentit on defense, and they got
worse. Yeah, that's it's unfortunatethat you put it that way because when
(16:32):
you look at yeah, that's that'srough, and that's true. It is
rough. There's no and part ofme thinks, dang, if they did
take a defensive lineman, let's saya James, why would you bring that
name up he only played every gamelast year. If Devin Witherspoon was a
failure, And that's the thing,that's the crazy part. Devin Witherspoon damn
(16:55):
near Rookie of the Year. Yeah, so he is clear. The problem
isn't the secondary. What's up front? There. And that's a good point,
Chris, is that when you lookat, Okay, what has happened
to the Seahawks since January when sincethey last played well? Of course they
fired Pete Carroll. What happened there? They went into the end of the
year meeting. Pete Carroll had onevision, John Schneider had another, and
(17:19):
Jody Allen picked John Schneider's vision.We're now starting to see what the differences
are. And Pete Carroll's vision wasto build your defense from back to front,
going back to the Legion of Boom, drafting Earl Thomas with a top
ten pick, Richard Sherman, turninghim into an all pro cam Chanceller.
We're gonna build from the back up. And Carol after the Legion of Boom,
(17:42):
tried to replicate that with the bigfree aiden signings and Kerrie Williams and
the projects he had of turning safetiesinto corners and corners into safeties, and
I mean, up until he gotfired, he was doing that. He
took the fifth overall pick, andlet's not be mistaken, and it was
Pete Carroll that the ultimate say thatwould decide who would pick their first round
(18:03):
picks. Devin Witherspoon. He turneda corner who rarely played nickel into a
Pro Bowl nickel as a rookie.He builds from the back to the front.
And that didn't work in the lastwell actually really hasn't really worked consistently
in the post legion of boom Erasince they've lost it to the Super Bowl
almost a decade ago now, andso John Schneider says, we got to
(18:26):
build from the front back. Yeah, I try something different. We got
to stop the run, get defensivetackles, ends, linebackers, and build
from the front to the back.Now that we've invested so much in the
front in the bag and they dohave what still is the strongest part of
the team is the secondary. RiekeWollen is still going to be there at
(18:47):
corner, and Witherspoon is your ProBowl returner at nickel. But now you
have two holes at safety and youhave Leonard. That is why Leonard Williams
for sixty four and a half milliondollars is a very non Pete Carroll type
investment. He's they're building from thefront with Williams. They think it Williams,
who will turn thirty this year,is the guy they're going to build
(19:07):
their defensive front around that is completelyopposite of the way Pete Carroll did it
defensively. But there's reason for JodyAllen to say, no, we're not
going to try your way anymore,Pete Carroll, because they went from thirtieth
in the NFL on defense to thirtyfirst and out of the playoffs for only
the second time, third time intwelve years. So that's where it starts.
(19:29):
They've decided to build John Schneider's way, and John Schneider's way, apparent
is not going to be from theback to the front. We're only in
the beginning stages of how he's goingto build this defense, obviously, because
he only has Leonard Williams and abunch of guys right now up front.
We'll see who the rest of thebunch of guys are. But yeah,
there are so many holes to filland we're just getting into the seven draft
(19:53):
picks. Will they trade back fromsixteen to get a second round pick?
Odd say yes, History says yes. Well, that's still even with a
chance for Michael Pennix in round two. Some say he is going to be
they need a quarterback now since theyonly got one time is now, isn't
it right? Two quarterbacks drafted inthe last fourteen years, Well now they
have only Gino Smith on board undercontract after Drew Locke signed for one year
(20:15):
and five million dollars for the NewYork Giant yesterday. Agreed to sign with
the New York Giants yesterday. Tonsto talk about with the Seahawks and where
they're headed. We have the nexthour to do that before the Huskies tip
off in the Pac twelve Tournament.We're gonna also talk today with Eric Branch
He's a friend of mine who coversthe San Francisco forty nine Ers with San
Francisco Chronicle. He's going to talkabout forty nine Ers, letting go of
(20:37):
Eric Armstead, what they've done infree agency coming off of Super Bowl,
what their philosophies are. We'll talka little more crack and get more into
the NFL. Chris Kidd, GregBell the News Tribune, filling in for
Jason Puckett and Jim Moore on ninetythree point three KJR. Chris Kidd with
Greg Bell here in the News fromthe News Tribute on ninety three point three
KJR filling in for Pucket in Jimmore and more. Jim is on his
(21:02):
way to Las Vegas. I don'tthink he's on the plane yet, but
he's going to be there well intime for the Cougars in the Pac twelve
tournament. They play tomorrow. Today, the Huskies play the eight to nine
game that they have to win tocontinue their season. They play usc The
winner is going to get Arizona.But the Huskies play at noon today an
eleven thirty pre game show on KJRwith Tony casher Cone and Jason Hamilton from
(21:26):
Las Vegas. So we will yieldto them. At eleven thirty, we
have a chance for you, thelistener, to qualify for two Alaska Airlines
vouchers to go wherever they fly.Every hour from six am to six pm,
you'll hear the opportunity to call andcaller ten's gonna win, or at
(21:48):
least I should say qualify for havea chance to win. I won't get
ahead of myself. Caller ten everyhour from six am to six pm will
qualify for a grand prize of twoAlaska Airlines vouchures. The winner's going to
be announced tonight at seven pm.One winner, two Alaska Airline vouchers by
calling two oh six two eight sixnine again. If you want to win
(22:11):
two a last Airline vouchers to flywherever they do. Call on the hour
every hour six am to six pm. We'll out on the hour a little
bit after the hour. Now you'llhear the sounder and you'll know exactly.
It's very obvious, so there won'tbe any tricks when you hear the sounder.
Great gave you the number. Giveus a dial eight six two eight
(22:32):
six nine nine five. We're alsointroducing a Deep Sweeps Cracking sweepstakes. Say
that ten times fast. For thirtytwo days in a row, Fans will
have a chance to win incredible prizes, including the Last Airlines round trip tickets,
signed cracking jerseys, and Pucks concerttickets. I assume the Climate Pledge
arena where the crack and Play andmore. Enter once and you're eligible for
(22:55):
each day's prize. The Deep Sweepsruns now through April second, and the
sooner you enter, the better yourchances are to win. You go to
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Seattle dot Seattlecracking dot com slash deepsweeps plural for more information and again chance
(23:17):
to win two Alaska Airlines vouchers.Every hour today from six am to six
pm, you'll hear a sounder thatwill play and tell you to be caller
ten. Caller ten will qualify asfor grand prize to a last Airline vouchers.
A winner will be announced at sevenpm. One winner two alask Airline
voucher is called two oh six twoeight six nine five nine five two eight
six two eight six nine nine five. The Seahawks this morning, if you
(23:40):
missed it, they agreed to signNick Harris center build as a center.
He was a center All Pack twelvecenter for the Washington Huskies. But let's
talk a little bit about this Chris. On the surface, he's a center.
But hey, they already have aTimmy. They just let Evan Brown
walk. His contract is ended.Brown on the veteran that they had gotten
(24:00):
from Detroit before last season, bythe way, remains unsigned. He's still
on the market. He could stillpossibly have played to come back to Seattle,
but they drafted over with Timmy fromMichigan, the Rimington Award winner to
be their safety of or the suitof their center of the future. He
started one game last year, andthe only reason he started last year because
Brown had to move to guard becauseof injuries. But what's interesting about Harris
(24:25):
to me or two things. Chrisone, he started multiple games for the
Browns at guard even though he's acenter, and John Schneider loves offensive lineman
to be versual and play multiple positions. He actually seeks it once it.
The other thing, of course,is that Nick Harris played for the Seahawks
current and new offensive line coach ScottHuff. Scott Huff was the Huskies offensive
(24:48):
line coach from twenty seventeen until justJanuary when the Seahawks got him, and
Nick Harris flourished with him as hisoffensive line coach. So Scott Huff college
offensive line coach brings his all Packtwelve center to the Seahawks, not saying
Nick Harris's gonna be a new startingcenter, but Scott Huff knows him better
than anybody does. Ryan Grubb willtell you that the new offensive coordinator that
(25:14):
former Huskies play caller will tell youthat he is an offensive line guy at
heart and that he builds his offensebeginning with offensive line. So it's not
just a coincidence that Nick Harris coachplayed for the current offensive line coach for
the Seahawks, and now he's aSeahawks himself. Nick Harris is the second
outside free agent the Seahawks have signedin the last twelve to sixteen hours.
(25:38):
Late last night, they reached anagreement to sign p O Brown from the
New England Patriots, a former OregonDuck tight end. He has never had
more than twenty four catches in aseason, so that again, this is
the type of backfilld depth free agencysigning that John Schneider major's in, not
huge impact signings he's too. TheSeahawks were the last one of the last
(26:03):
two teams in the league. Ithink Dallas was the other one that had
not signed an outside free agent asof yesterday afternoon, driving the Seahawks fan
base crazy least those haven't been afan for too long. But again,
this is the norm, and thisis how the Seahawks spend their money in
free agency. This year. They'vechosen to spend the bulk of their cap
space, the largest cap space fiftymillion dollars that they've had going into a
(26:25):
free agency period in a long time. They've chosen to do that on their
own, guys. Yeah, theyactually. Adam Schuted not too long ago
tweeted out that free agent cornerback ArtyBurns as returned to the Seahawks on a
one year deal. Not so.I don't know how much the cash will
be, but I wouldn't be surprisedif it's not a lot. Maybe above
the minimum maybe or at the minimum. Former first round pick of the Steelers,
(26:45):
who they brought back last year insomewhat of a late spring surprising deal
for depth. They've turned Arty Burnsinto a nickel last year, a backup
nickel for the first time. Hewas an outside corner until then. He's
been with the Bears and started withthem. The Seahawks sign him a couple
of years ago, let his contractlapse, and then re signed him last
year at the LEAs I said laterin March or excuse me in May.
(27:08):
Heading into the offseason in training camps, they moved in a nickel and he
played well there and it's spot timehe had. Of course, Devin Witherspoon
is their nickel Pro Bowl nickel.It'll be interesting to see if Mike McDonald
wants to keep Witherspoon in that nickelrole or if he has other ideas.
Witherspoon is a shutdown corner by trade. It's why he was the fifth overall
(27:30):
pick. It's what he did atIllinois. They did some shadowing and matching
up. If the top receiver ina Big Ten opponent was in the slot,
then Witherspoon would follow him in there. But last year was by and
large the first time he had everydown snaps as a nickel guy. Is
that what McDonald wants to do.Everything is on the table. I mean
(27:51):
usually going into a season or duringan offseason, we can say, Wow,
the Seahawks will do this, andthey like to do this because philosophically,
this is how they play defense,and this is how Pete Carroll doesnt
with Mike McDonald, we don't know. One of the interesting things Chris that
McDonald said when he got hired lastmonth was we asked him, so,
does this mean you're just part andparcel bringing the Raven's top ranked defense to
(28:14):
Seattle. Scheme the way you playyour philosophies and he said, not necessarily,
because I don't know what we're goodat here in Seattle. I don't
know. He doesn't even know whathis roster is going to look like,
and who a starter. He doesn'tknow who starting inside linebackers are. He
doesn't know who their others starting safetynext to Julian Love's going to be.
So his answer was honest and saying, I don't know, because I don't
(28:37):
know what we're good at, andit may not be I'm there's not saying
there's any indication yet, but itnot necessarily a given that Devin Witherspoon is
going to stay in the nickel role. I got a question for you,
Greg, and I want you andjust when we come back from break,
we saw what Hamilton for the Ravenscan do. Cole Hamilton, he was
at strong safety, but they usedhim virtually everywhere. Could you see Mike
(29:03):
McDonald using Devin Witherspoon that way?Put him maybe at strong safety. Move
Kobe Bryant back to nickel back andhave him play that Kyle Hamilton role.
So I want you to think aboutthat. Maybe on WAYO, maybe like
absolutely not Chris. He's too small, He's only I don't even think Devn's
a one hundred and ninety pounds,so that might be more of a challenge.
But I did want to throw thatat you. I will. The
(29:23):
short answer to that is everything's onthe table. But I will talk about
that more after the break. ChrisKid, Greg Bow with you on ninety
three point three KJR. We're gonnahave Eric Branch at the San Francisco Chronicle
talk forty nine ers and what they'vebeen up to since the Super Bowl.
He released Eric Armstead, among othermoves. Sam Darnold got ten million dollars
to be potentially the new quarterback atMinnesota, leaving his backup role in San
(29:47):
Francisco. Well talked to Eric Branch'sfriend of mine since I covered the Raiders
in the Bay A a long timeago. We'll talk to him at eleven
am, and then at eleven thirtywe're going to break to go to Las
Vegas for the Washington Huskies pregame showbefore their Pack twelve opening round game against
USC, the eight to nine game, the first game of the Pac twelf
Tournament in Las Vegas, the men'sbasketball tournament beginning today running through Saturday.
(30:12):
Winner of Washington at USC gets numberone Arizona, which doesn't sound fun.
That's tomorrow at twelve. New oneteam who doesn't mind playing Arizona is Washington
State. The coug's their best seasonin fifteen years. They've beaten Arizona twice.
That's why some people have them asa six seed in the NCAA Tournament.
They're firmly in the field. They'reawaiting their first opponent in the PAC
(30:33):
twelve Tournament, which will be tomorrow. Their game is at six pm tomorrow
night. In the second round,they'll play the winner of Kyle Stanford Cayle
Stanford's a six pm game. WashingtonUSC is the first game today in the
Pactell Tournament. Then the five totwelve game is UCLA against Oregon State.
The seven to ten game is caland Stanford. The winner of Cayl Stanford
plays Washington State tomorrow night, andthen Utah Arizona State is the final game
(30:57):
of the day in Las Vegas tonight. The winner of that game's plays
Colorado in the third seed. Coloradois the opposite bracket from Washington State in
the PAC twelve tournament. Again,it seems like it's a collision course of
Washington State against Arizona one two forthe final and if it is, and
if Washington State can beat Arizona forthe third time, I would think that
(31:18):
that would vote pretty well for WashingtonState getting a top four or five seed
in the region and perhaps perhaps playingtheir first two NCAA rounds in Spokane.
That's getting ahead of ourselves. Butanyway, Husky's at eleven thirty pregame show
twelve noon tip here on ninety threeto three kJ are you asked me Chris
kid before the break about Devin Witherspoonand could Mike McDonald, the new coach
(31:41):
coming from the Baltimore Ravens, usehim like he used Kyle Hamilton in Baltimore.
Hamilton is, as you brought up, excelled doing a little bit of
everything safety outside nickel, matchup guyand coverage. I would first blushed when
you answered that question. I wouldsay, Devin with Spoon is one hundred
and eighty five pounds and if youput him in the middle of your defense
(32:04):
and expect him to be a safetytaken on perhaps tight ends or having to
come down in the box and stopruns. Now, he isn't a ferocious
tackler for his size. We've seenit like Tasmanian devil type of whirling dervish
into the line of scrimmers. Hisfirst game, he played in Detroit.
I was in the press box andI was It caught my eye on the
(32:25):
very first drive that Devin Witherspoon playedin the NFL, that he got his
first two tackles of his career Chrison dive plays. Yeah happen. He
was an outside left cornerback twenty fiveyards from the center, wide and deep,
making tackles on dive plays up themiddle for the line against the Lions.
(32:46):
I think personally that you don't messwith Devin Witherspoon. Do keep him
what he's been excelling at, whichthey found gold with him as a nickel
last year. I think he mayend up more as a left outside corner
than he was last year. Perhapsless nickel than he was when he became
a Pro Bowl guy, but rushingthe quarterback, aggressive on the line of
(33:07):
scrimmage, tight coverage off the line, bump and run type coverage, that's
what he excelled at last year.That's what he did well at Illinois.
He was so good at Illinois.Think he kind of just went wherever he
wanted to against the top receiver theline I were facing. But it wouldn't
surprise me if Mike McDonald makes himmore of a traditional corner rather than more
(33:28):
of a nickel corner. We'll see, but I didn't I wouldn't think.
Yes, he has the expense withKyle Hamilton, but I don't know it
his size, Witherspoon's size, Ifthat's something that they're gonna do, that
was my thing. I don't thinkI think he's too small, but it
did come across my mind just becauseof right as you mentioned, he is
everywhere and he can do it,but how can you do it for seventeen
(33:49):
eighteen weeks? That's the big question, and probably not I think the splashes
that we see, for your instance, when you saw him the first time
against Detroit and he's making tackles forno gain or a loss on an inside
play he's outside, that's pretty impressive. And if you can do that while
being a cornerback, that's great.But maybe moving him to another role probably
doesn't benefit the Seyawks defense. Now, there were a couple times last year
(34:13):
that opponents, including the Lions inthat first game, took advantage of Witherspoon's
aggressiveness. Flicker double moves, theflea flicker right, and and that was
because they saw twenty one flying upand how fast Witherspoon was to the line
of scrimmage. But yeah, he'sI'm no doubt. I'm sure whatever Mike
McDonald's got cooked up and trying todo defensively schematic wise, Devin Witherspoon's going
(34:37):
to be a large piece of it. So always Leonard Williams. Now that
they've spent up to sixty four anda half million dollars on him, You
see these contracts three years, sixtyfour and a half million. I make
a point of writing up to sixtyfour and a half million instead of sixty
four and half. Sixty four anda half million is what the agents will
tell you. They want you topublish that number because they want the max
value. They want to look likethey get their client. In the reality
(35:00):
these days, very few contracts reachtheir full value at the end of it.
And why is that Because most contractsin the NFL, because of salary
capitals, are backloaded, where mostof the value is realized in the end
of the deal. And for instance, salary cap charges for Tyler Lockett being
thirty million dollar twenty nine some milliondollars this year that then he renegotiated Geno
(35:21):
Smith was north of thirty million dollars. The Seahawks renegotiated that down to twenty
six. So when you see totalvalue, that's if they get all their
incentive bonuses, they play all theirgames, they get roster bonuses, they
get per game bonuses, they makea Pro Bowl, they perhaps become named
All Pro in the quarterbacks case,you make up Super Bowl, the conference
(35:43):
championship, you get more money.That's the max value. Very rarely,
there's one a player hit all thoseincentives, but two. Very rarely does
a team a contracts that large wantto take on a salary cap hit later,
especially if that player has been injuredor less effective than he was at
the beginning of his deal. Sothe term up to Carrie does a lot
(36:05):
of work. An NFL free agencyup to sixty four and a half million
dollars foot lend of Williams doesn't meanhe's going to realize all of that,
especially because Williams in his case,is turning thirty this year, and there's
some justifiable concern about giving him thatmuch money while he's still only twenty nine.
He's gonna turn thirty during this yearand that contract will end. He'll
be turning thirty two to thirty threeyears old, So we'll see if it
(36:25):
ends up being sixty four and ahalf million, is my point. But
that is the bulk of where theSeahawks fifty million dollars in cap space has
gone this go around in free agency. They also agreed to bring back Already
Burns. They agreed to bring backNoah Fan. Burns was on a one
year deal just announce this morning,and a two year deal for Noah Fan
for twenty one million dollars. Thismorning. The Seahawks agreed to a one
(36:47):
year deal with former Huskies All Packtwelve center Nick Harris, who I would
remind you played two started two gamesat guard for Cleveland and over his three
years. And also last night,Barro Brown, veteran tight end, former
Oregon Duck tight end, a oneyear deal to Seattle again just about three
million dollars. So that's the thiswave of free agency that the Seahawks are
(37:12):
now in. They specialize in everyyear. Coming up top of the hour,
Eric Branch He's a beat writer ofthe forty nine ers for the San
Francisco Chronicle. He'll join me nexton ninety three point three KJR. Eric
Branch, and I've summoned him outof his free agent off season get away
from football time, which I don'tknow if you can do right now anyway,
(37:32):
Eric Branch joining us A ninety threepoint three KJR. Welcome, sir,
Hey, yeah, what do youmean get away from football? We've
got Eric Hendrick Sins straight from theLake. Collins, Kyle, you check
restructure this contract. I mean,my dog is over here. Like when
am I going to get a walk? Not anytime soon, Charlie. The
(37:58):
NFL is pretty good at that,aren't they. Eric. Let's start with
Ustek. He's been unbelievably effective,and not just as a true fullback,
but as a pass catcher, asa wing, as a tight end type.
The reason they obviously it's money,but the reasoning did you see this
coming? And what did the fortynine ers long playing try to do with
(38:20):
him? Well? I think theyyou know, they also approached you know,
I'm sure you know Eric Arms saidabout restructuring, which you know can
be translated to we want you totake a pay cut, and Eric Arms
said declined. I think it wasa more significant pay cut that they're asking
(38:40):
from Armstead than they were from Uschek, who was you know, he's scheduled,
he was scheduled to count more thanseven million against the cap this season.
He's thirty two, He's still veryeffective. He's still very important to
their offense. Probably not as effectiveas he has been in past years.
(39:01):
And you know, frankly, theyprobably you know, had a little power
over him and that he plays fullback, and because of that, his
market isn't going to be as robustas someone like Armstead, just because you
know, probably more than half theteams don't employ a full back, and
(39:22):
you know, a fair amount ofthe things that do aren't in need of
one, so that really limited them. He Striker said in the past he
would not ever take a pay cut, but you know, I think it
wasn't significant, and he saw thewriting on the wall and it's best to
kind of swallow his pride and staywith the Niners. Eric Branch of San
(39:45):
Francisco forty Niners beat writer for theChronicle down in the Bay Area, joining
us on ninety three point three KGr. You mentioned Eric Armstead. He has
been a stud against the against theSeahawks and the forty nine ers last five
wins over then, of course,everybody wearing a forty nine er uniform has
been a stud against Seattle the lastcouple of years. What was that a
(40:06):
case of this is just having thebills are coming due now and they're gonna
have to be players that they're goingto have to say goodbye to or ask
to take huge pay cuts. Andthat's just the way the NFL is.
Or was there something in particular withArmstead in this case, well, a
little bit of every saying Armstead wasgoing to count twenty eight line against the
Caps this year. They're only goingto save depending on how they do it,
(40:30):
it'll be a modest cap savings thisyear, but it clearly will,
you know, if they don't.We don't need to get into the whole
post June first designation, but puteveryone to sleep. But let's just say
the standard release. It'll clear thebooks, you know, for off him
for twenty twenty five when they havean even trickier salary cap situation, navigate
(40:55):
because they've got to pay brock Purdy, you know, which will be a
you know, presuming he has anothergood year, a fairly massive extension.
So there's that. There's also theyou know the factor of Armstead's age,
he's thirty. He's been he's hadplant fascia, he's had a you know,
(41:16):
hairline fracture in his ankle, andnow he's had a knee injury.
Played the Super Bowl with Toniscus rightin the Super Bowliscus thanks Eric, Yeah,
here's here's your thanks for that.Is there any chance Eric did he
bring Is there any chance of fortynine ers bring Armstead back on a new
deal. No, they just tradedfor Elite Collins from the Texas and Collins
(41:43):
you know, they're going to payhim eight million this year, so that
would would rule out that was thatwas the replacement for Eric Armstead, So
you know, maybe that's what theywere saying to Armstead, Hey, he
wanted instead of making a seventeen millionbase salary this year, you want to
take eight he says. No.They said, okay, let's strade for
Lillie Collins, who makes eight million. I'm just kind of guessing at that
(42:06):
number, but that's clearly the replacementthey have. And they also they signed
a brown Seep at the attack ofJordan Elliott last yesterday, who you know,
bolstered their interior. So yeah,it's not officially official, but they
are moving on from amstip. EricBranch of San Francisco Chronicle forty nine ers
beat writer for the hometown flagship paperthere in San Francisco, joining us on
(42:30):
ninety three point three Kjar talking aboutthe Seahawks' biggest rival. Did it surprise
you, Eric that Sam Donald gotwhat he got from Minnesota up to ten
million dollars? No, not really. I mean Donald came in looking at
it. You know, he hopedas a kind of a one year reboot,
(42:52):
and after being surrounded by kind ofconstant upheaval and dysfunctioned with the Jets
and the Panthers, it was kindof you know, a little bit of
reputation rehab. Hey, he's withyou know, Kyle Shanahan, a competent
you know, organization and you know, well respected offense, and you know,
I don't know, you know,I'm not saying, hey, you
(43:15):
know, he's going to make everyoneforget about Kirk Cousins in Minnesota. But
you can see why he was thenumber three pick in twenty eighteen. You
know, just you know, obviouslyarm strength is overrated when it comes to
you know, quarterbacking, but hedoes possess that and you know, he
(43:36):
really seemed to. He talked alot about during the season with the forty
nine ers take what the defense givesyou. You know, he was a
turnover machine, you know in hisfirst five seasons, and I think he
learned a lot, you know,just being with Shanahan in in that system.
So it didn't surprise me he gotyou know, because he's probably gonna
(43:57):
well, he's going to more thandouble the salary with a Vikings and you
know, how's the chance to bea bridge quarterback, which was the idea
you know when he joined the nineErs last year, you know, but
it would give him, you know, a chance to repair his image a
little, you know, make everyoneforget you know, what had happened in
the past. Uh, and thenget a you know, probably one last
(44:20):
shot to prove he started material.Eric Branch San Francisco Chronicle forty nine Ers
beat writer joining us on ninety threepoint three kJ R. So you they
just make the trade from Elie Collinsfrom the Texans, tell us why he
fits and and where you see theforty nine ers defensive front Nick Bosa and
friends being with Collins joining it?Yeah, what the good news for the
(44:44):
I guess Seahawks fans is you know, I don't think this is an upgrade.
You know, Eric Constead, Uh, you know, it was a
run stopping force, you know,went healthy, you know, or if
he's not, you know, ChrisJones, but you know he's top fifteen,
top ten defensive tackle. Lilie Collinsis not that. So you know,
(45:07):
in that sense, you know it'sa downgrade, you know, But
with the other moves the Niners havemade, you know, they got Leonard
Floyd, uh, and that couldbe you know, the bookend you know
to Nick Bosa that they've really beenlacking really ever since Bosa has been in
the league. They had d Fordand they invested a lot for him,
(45:29):
hoping that would be you know,this dynamic duo, and it really didn't
pan out just because Ford was soinjured. You know, Leonard Ford is
not you know, Dan Hunter orsome of these other guys that went off
the board. But you know,he's had thirty nine and a half sacks
the past four seasons and uh,you know he'll get plenty of one on
(45:49):
one opportunities with boths on the otherside. So you know, I guess
the some of all the moves isyou know, the Niners defense defensive line
maybe you know, roughly the same. You know, don't don't have Armstead,
but they do add Floyd and youknow that's where you know, like
a lot of teams, uh,you know, they've they've invested a lot,
(46:12):
and you know, they realize theimportance of being able to harass other
teams quarterbacks. So I don't know, I guess you know, they're kind
of you know, probably treading waterthere. But you know, they're pretty
good last year, not as dominantas they have wanted what would would have
wanted to be, and they kindof fell apart in the Super Bowl because
(46:35):
Mahomes at the end. They're stillnot treading water against the Seahawks. They
still dominate them every time they playthem. Chris, Hey, what are
you guys doing with that offensive line? Yeah, well let's get to that.
Nothing. There's nothing yet to worryabout San Francisco about the Seahawks offensive
line. They still have they don'thave two cards. They're gonna have an
unproven center. Yeah, nothing forNick Bosa to worry about yet. Hey,
(46:58):
Eric Christopher here, I would curiousbecause a lot of Seahawk fans are
upset about this player, and that'skJ Wright, former player. He has
now joined the forty nine ers asthe new linebacker assistant coach, last defensive
quality control. What has been thetalks amongst the Niners about getting kJ and
what he can bring to this defense. Well, I mean, from what
(47:20):
I understand, and I'm not justfrom what's been reported, I mean,
the Siggs didn't hire him right theguy break did his coaching career started,
you know, and it's no longerquite so taboo right after Richard Sherman then
and all the rest. So anyway, I think ideally the Niners would would
(47:43):
love for kJ Wright to become thenext Jamiko Ryans. You know Jamiko.
When Shanahan Lynch came to the fortynine ers, he began as you know,
a quality control guy, you know, from a Pro Bowl linebacker.
Four seasons later he was the defensivecoordinator and last year he was a runner
(48:06):
up for NIFO Coach of the Year. You know, getting ahead of ourselves
there with kJ Wright, who hasn'tdone anything as a coach, but you
know, there is that kind ofblueprint an opportunity for him, so you
know, we shall see. He'llbe starting, you know, as the
assistant linebackers coach, which is astep up from what a lot of guys
(48:29):
get when they first you know,entry level. You know, job in
the NFL is generally have to bequality controlled before moving into any sort of
position coach role, you know,so that speaks well for him. He
obviously is familiar with a new defensivecoordinator, Nick Sorenson, who was with
the Seahawks for a long time,and you know, so he's well versed,
(48:49):
you know, in the Seahawks fortynine ers you know scheme which obviously
has you know, tons of similarities. Thanks for making news, Eric Branch,
you just predicted kJ Wright is goingto be a head coach and NFL
coach year candidate here pretty soon.Thanks for that. Yeah, I think
that would be what two thousand andthirty or thirty one, the Big ariseally
(49:09):
thirty nine years old, Eric Brandsof the San Francisco chrodigal forty nine ers
beat writer joining us in ninety threethree, kJ Are you mentioned Richard Sherman.
What is his legacy in San Francisco? We know what it is in
Seattle and how he's thought of hereand even his legal troubles and driving under
the influenced troubles that have been wellchronicled up here in Seattle. But what
(49:31):
is his legacy and how's he viewedin the Bay Area. I didn't positively.
I mean, there's not obviously asmuch emotion attached to Richard Sherman,
you know, with Niner fans asit would gain Seattle for obvious reasons.
But you know, he was,you know, part of that first Super
Bowl team under the Leinster Shannon hammershimein two that nineteen the ender All Pro
(49:55):
season. You know, he's justat you know, at the end by
injuries. It wasn't quite the sameguy. You know, I guess started
in twenty twenty, but you knowhe after be initial like what the hell
is going on? You know,Richard Sherman to cover the Niners? We
hate this guy, you know,I don't know, beloved, it is
(50:16):
too strong, But you know itdidn't take long for people to warm the
idea and the fact that he beganhis career, you know, playing well.
You know, obviously if a guy'shelping your team, you kind of
forget whatever animosity used to exist.So I think overwhelmingly positive memories you know
(50:37):
of Richard Sherman here, Eric Branch, San Francisco Chronicle forty nine Ers beat
Ryer joining us on KJR. Eric. Big picture from the forty nine ers
up here in Seattle, it lookslike their Niners are tweaking, but they
aren't really changing, and they're stillgoing to have Rock Purdy, and they're
still going to have the offensive weaponswith Samuel and Auk in the running game
with McCaffrey, and the defense stillhas both. And I mean really up
(51:00):
here in Seattle, it looks likethey are still miles ahead of the Seahawks,
especially at the line of scrimmage.Big picture, where do you see
the forty nine ers coming off theSuper Bowl loss? And are there any
viable challengers do you see in notonly the NFC West, but in the
NFC to them? Well, yeah, I mean the Packers and Lions to
(51:23):
start with, because they you know, you can make it pretty strong case
they should have beaten them in theplayoffs, right you know on the h
and those you know, those areboth very young teams, you know,
on the on the app swing.So you know, there's there's those two
right there. The Niners weren't particularlyinterested in playing the Rams in the playoffs
(51:45):
last year. I'm not saying theywere scared, but you know, the
way the Rams were playing at theend of last season and the way Matt
Stafford was playing, and you know, you know, suddenly their ability to
kind of avoid any sort of rebuild, you know, caught their attention.
So, yeah, they are contenders. You know, certainly they can challenge
(52:07):
the forty nine ers, who youknow are not the youngest team, and
you wonder when some of these guysmay not you know, fall off a
cliff, but start to decline alittle bit and noticeably. So you know,
George Kittle is thirty, John Hargravesis thirty one, Use Check as
we talked about, is thirty two, you know, so yeah, and
(52:30):
then there's just bear and tear andTrent Williams is thirty five, and you
know there's a lot of you know, they played you know what, nine
postseason games, the equivalent of youknow, half a regular season over the
last last few years, which isa great problem to have. But you
(52:50):
know, you do wonder if someof this will catch up with them,
and the fact that they you know, last year, I'm not sure they're
going to be able to repeat this. They had nine Pro Bowl players,
and those nine Pro Bowl players onlycombined to the miss five games to the
injury. Right, So you know, all things went well last year and
they still couldn't quite realize their goalof you know, winning their first Super
(53:15):
Bowl since January of nineteen ninety five. So yeah, there's well, you
know, looking at them, they'repretty loaded. They're still going to be
pretty dann good. But you know, I'm not sure there's you know,
an invincibility right there. There isup here, I can tell you.
So you're saying, you're saying prayfor injuries. Okay, that's good advice
(53:35):
for Seahawks fans for the forty nine. I got you, okay, Eric,
Eric Branson. But yeah, they'vebeen unusually injured over the years.
Yes, they have an ordinate matterof attrition, and the fact that they
didn't last year was you know,just particularly notable in light of that history.
All Right, so see, ourfans will hang their head on that.
(53:59):
I got you, Eric, sanFrancis Krona, thanks a lot for
joining us. Go back to walkyour dog. Hopefully get some time off
as an NFL beat writer always nevergets to in the spring. Thanks Eric,
all right, appreciate you all.Thanks so much. Thank you,
Eric Brandtch talking forty nine Ers andtelling Seahawks fans, yeah, they may
be threatened by the Packers and Lions, but otherwise he's a hunt. I
(54:20):
was gonna ask that and then yougot it. But yeah, I don't.
The Seahawks are not in that conversation, right, Seahawks are not even
the second best team in the division. Right. We talked about this off
Wax last week. You were onYes. Yeah, I asked you,
like, hey, what do yousee the Ram You're like the Rams they
swept the Chris Are you kidding me? That's soubbering to think about, is
that we talk about the forty nineers all the time, but the Rams,
(54:43):
who were supposed to be restarting lastyear rebuilding just boat raced them in
the opener up here at easily.I mean that was an embarrassing defeat and
then down and lost in the lastsecond. The Seahawks did malfunctioning and the
clock management at the end in Inglewood. I hear Eric, because the only
time to see it the forty Nineers, I've not been to the playoffs in
(55:05):
the last few years, has beenwhen they had an injury filled season a
couple of years ago, and otherthan that, they have dominated the Seahawks
in the NFC West. We'll see. I mean, it's it always looks
different and that everyone looks better onpaper in March and April early. It's
so and the injuries are such ahuge factor and it just takes one or
two or it takes a Bosa toget hurt or a Kittle to get hurt
(55:29):
or McCaffrey and the entire division canchange. But yeah, to the point,
they have to sneak up on thenot only the Seahawks, they have
to steak up with the forty nineers. Be there'd be better than the
ram Sean McVay has the Seahawks numberthat to say the least well PAC twelve
Tournament basketball, We're gonna yield tothat. Next, the Washington Huskies.
(55:51):
I have to run the table toget in the NCAA tournament. That seems
like a long shot. As theeight seed. They play nine seed USC
at noon. Coming up next,we're gonna have the pregames show from Las
Vegas. Tony caster Cone Jason Hamiltonwill bring you the pregame show at eleven
thirty and then tip off at twelveHusky's Trojan's winner to get Arizona again at
Washington State will play tomorrow. Theyplay the winner of today's Kyle Stanford game.
(56:15):
Chris Kid, Thank you, noproblem, Thank you, Jason Puckett,
thank you for being gone. JimMoore, thank you for being gone.
Be safe, be sober. InLas Vegas, Greg Bell, the
News Tribune Filling in Husky Hoops isnext on ninety three point three KJRFM
Puck & Jim Show News
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