March 6, 2026 • 19 mins
Gregg Bell of The Tacoma News Tribune joins Softy and Dick to talk about Seattle’s free agents to-be next week, Kenneth Walker likely leaving the Seahawks at this point, Zach Charbonnet being in line to take over the backfield, not being able to pay wide receiver money for Rashid Shaheed, the NFL catching on to stupid spending, and Riq Woolen.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It said down to the Tacoma Dome, I believe is
where he's at. Our friend Greg Bell. Is he there
as a fan? Is he there as a writer covering
the event? He was on the air at five point
thirty over on nine point fifty call in the game
with Mike Benton? Is that correct? Today? Joining us right
now on the radio show from the high school State
Basketball Championships talking some Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
How are you man? I'm good man, How are you good? Good?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Can you hear us? Hello?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah? Hello?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Got you just think one to two? Wait before we
start talking some Seahawks. What's the atmosphere like down there?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Man? Paint the picture for us.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, it's a home game for two Tacoma teams. A
couple of local college coaches are calling this maybe the
biggest day in high school basketball history for Tacoma, like
a dollar and preps plan. The number one high school
player in the country and the number twenty team in
the country in we're near beach. That's the first semi final.
It's like beaches. I can't see the scoreboard from here.
(01:02):
And then the second game is link in the Age,
just around the corner from the Common home going against
East side Catholic for the right to play the winner
of the first game tomorrow night. We'll have them all
on nine fifty am, Like that's doing the tall right
now on the AM side, not to take siphon listeners
away from you guys, and then I'll be on a
five thirty with the East side Catholeic against Lincoln.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well, Greg, let's talk some Seahawks football, and obviously, I
think there's some trepidation right now. I think that's the
general term to describe Seahawks fans right now, specifically with
Ken Walker and Rashid Shaheed. I mean, two valuable members
of that offense slash special teams to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Where are we on those two particular players.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well, we're three days away from then becoming free agents.
The legal tampering period hits a joke around inside NFL
buildings because get the combine. That's when agents were talking
to teams. That's when Ken Walker's new agent, David Canter
and the r Sports Group in Florida. He just hired
(02:08):
them right before the NFC title game in late January.
That's when he started talking to the other teams. John
Schneider joked the other day what's this. Rashi Ji Heat's
been gonna go sport free agency. He was doing that
last week, Hester doing that last week in Indianapolis. So
what this is, guys, inflation for winning a Super Bowl.
(02:29):
The cost of winning a Super Bowl, your players costs
go up. And there couldn't have been a more opportunity time,
especially for Ken Walker to win a Super Bowl MVP
at the last game of his contract. So his value
is higher than the Seahawks and John Schneider had had
expected it to be when they forecasted what their budget
was gonna be for next year. Same with rashid Jaheat
(02:52):
and his performance late in the season. Checkoff returning against
San Francisco for the touchdown, the whole world watching their
prices of gotten too high, which is why they're going
to go shop. And guys, my experience doing this for
twenty five years. If a guy goes in shops, especially
the first time in free agency. This is the second
NFL contract. Is what these guys did two days for
(03:14):
in captains practices since they were in high school. It's
for the second NFL contract, that's the generational wealth contract.
And once a guy gets to go shopping in that
it's really hard to get him back.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Well, I don't blame him at all, taking advantage of
this and seeing what the market will bear. I guess
Greg the question I've got about Kenneth Walker. Do the
Seahawks have an offer on the table for him right now?
And do you believe that it might be a fair offer?
But Kenny Walker and his agent say, hey, look, we
appreciate it. It's a fair offer, but we've got to
(03:47):
take advantage of this and go out there and see
what's available. Because of exactly what you just said.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I haven't been told directly that they have an offer,
but they have. Yes, what you just laid out is
exactly how this is playing out. That's how John Schneider
does it. If the number's way far apart from what
the agent and a player are looking for, that's when
Schneider says, go shop, Hey, give us a solid and
give us the right of matching, chance to match before
(04:14):
you sign somewhere else. But often in these situations that's
the numbers so high the Seahawks don't match. But that's
what he's doing here. And look, if i'm Ken Walker,
he's contract year. He was a three year starter in
his first three years in the league, one of them
a thousand yard season, and then in your contract year,
(04:35):
you give me a job here and you take me
off the field when I'm running the ball between the twenties,
and then Sharvi Day comes on the field to score
twelve touchdowns while I'm on the sideline. Wait, what's going on?
What are you doing here? Yeah, So, if they've gotten
this close to the free agent market, of course he's
going to shop. His agent would be doing him in
disservice not to find out what the Super Bowl MVP's
(04:57):
market value is a month after winning Super Bowl. Of
course he should shop. And I think that number is
going to drive him out of Seattle.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
So, Greg, what do you think your best guess is
at the running back plan for John Schneider.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, the plan blew up when zach Scharbenna got a
major knee injury. It might sideline him into next season.
The plan obviously was let's do this job share to
audition Charbonate for the job, and he was doing it
in a lead back fashion, which, as I mentioned, the
twelve touchdowns and being a third down back and a
blocking back, a guy that can pass block. This was
(05:32):
a guy that could see doing multiple roles as a
lead running back, and then he gets torn ACL and
hasn't has surgery just a couple of weeks ago. Even
if he comes back sooner than estimated, he's probably gonna
miss at least through training camp into the start of
the season. I mean he got injured. He ripped his
knee out in mid January. Eight to twelve months normal
(05:55):
recovery of that, we're talking mid September on the short end.
And if you're bionic man and that's a running back
who cuts and needs his knees and lateral movement, it's
really tough to ask him to be full go before
the season starts. So that was the plan. If Walker
got too rich. We have sharpon Ander one more year
of a contract. Oh, by the way, we have Ken
(06:17):
Kenny Mackintosh coming back, but we've yet to see if
he can stay injury free for entire season. George Hallani
showed him something by the end of last year. Yeah.
They have Cam Akers, a former number one running back
for the Rams, on their practice squad. Damn last season
right back. She as active as was Bellis Jones for
the Super Bowl. I know none of those names are
going to inspire Seahawks fans to say, wow, we've got
(06:38):
to their apparent. They'll shop in free agency, but not
in the first wave, because Snyder never does. The one
time Schneider has stopped shopped in the first wave of
free agency in the last decade was Jamont Jones. If
you know how that ended up. That was fifty four
million dollars wasted. So it will be a second or
third free agency shopping for a running back, perhaps a
Brian Robinson, perhaps a Tyler Algier, who both twenty five
(07:00):
to twenty six years old. Younger still they want to look, guys.
The key in the NFL free agency is to get
younger and cheaper, not more expensive and older. The teams
to get older and more expensive loose And when you
see all the teams next week to spend all this
money on free agency, let's see how many of them
(07:21):
are playoff Super Bowl contending teams. That's not the way
to build. The build is the way that John Schneider
to sustain his success over sixteen years, his pattern has
been second and third waves of free agency, make to
judicious moves in free agency drafting. And then he mentioned
this this week we save money so we can make
(07:43):
mid season trades for the big impact playoffs. We've seen
him doing with Leonard Williams. We've seen him do it
this here for shot Rashid Shaheed. It takes money to
do that. You can't spend eighty million dollars in free
agency in March and then go try to find a
guy who can help you win the Super Bowl in November.
So he's gonna hold. He's also got Jackson Smith and
Jigbit to repay. With an extension. He's got Devin Witherspooner
(08:06):
could command thirty million dollars. Smith and Jigba could get
forty million dollars a year. Just is the offensive player
of the year. It's a cap league, a hard cap league,
and you just can't pay everyone, and especially after you
win a Super Bowl, this stuff gets expensive. So we'll
see what the next few days will determine what the
priorities are.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, three years in a row with Leonard Williams, Ernest
Jones and then Rashid she Heat. I mean, that's as
good a mid season run as any GM's ever had.
I would think at the deadline, just a phenomenal run
by him. But Greg Bell with us. He's going to
be calling some high school basketball over on nine fifty
am at five point thirty tonight, So spreading his wings,
showing how versatile he is by the way, one moment
he's talking about Kenny Walker and then the next he's
(08:46):
doing high school radio over on nine to fifty am.
So check that out. But Dick and I have talked
about Rashid she Heat. Obviously, and look, I mean obviously
his impact was felt. It seems on paper and in
reality more as a return man that as a pass catcher.
Can they afford to give a guy if the market
does bear fourteen to fifteen million for Rashid Shiheed, can
(09:09):
you pay that to a guy who would have been
on pace for three hundred and fifty five yards receiving
if he had played seventeen games here last year.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
No, And that's where the sticking point is, Dave, is
that they value him more than primarily as a kick
returner because they have a deep threat off the top
the defense receiver and Tory Horton, who they think is
going to be back by the start of training camp
next year this summer. So that's why they drafted Horton,
(09:40):
and in fact, they traded the week that Horton got
his shit injury and was out for the rest of
the year, Shihit basically became Horton right. Horton was doing
all those jobs. Now Shihed did it at an all
pro Pro Bowl level. But their plan to be younger
and cheaper is Tory Horton, So they're not going to
see They don't see Shaheed as the rest of the
league does the rest of the league season as a
(10:01):
wide receiver slast kick returner. The Seahawks, he has him
as a game breaking kick returner, and we've got a
game breaking wide receiver coming off of an injury. That's
a lot of faith to put in a fifth round
pick who had a torn acl of Colorado State two
years ago and now another season ending injury in his
first NFL year. But again, the method, the teams that
win year upon year over year and to kick back
(10:23):
into Super Bowls after winning it get younger and cheaper,
and the ones that get younger and cheaper the best
are the ones that go back. And that's the simplest
terms I can describe what John Schneider's doing right now.
He's trying to get younger and cheaper while sustaining and
keeping and retaining his core guys like Smith and Jigba
and Devin Witherspoon. And we'll see if it's Kobe Bryant
(10:45):
who I think will stay as well.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Greg Bell joins from the Tacomany Distribune from Tacoma at
the Tacoma Game Dome, getting ready to call some high
school basketball action. Greg, it seemed to me like last
year's free agency week was it was not as reckless
us as years prior do you think we're getting out
of the trend of just stupid, reckless spending or was
that a one year blip because you mentioned accurately, these
(11:10):
teams have got to know, Hey, the teams that overpay
are the teams that go six and eleven the next year.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
So maybe are they figuring that out?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Finally, yeah, I think some of it. The New England
Patriots got good at doing this. Yeah, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick.
But if you look closely at what the Patriots did
in free agency and drafting, they got younger and cheaper
while they kept paying Brady and kept augmenting with veterans
signings and trades. Their Super Bowl success was their success
(11:39):
in drafting in shrewd second and third wave free agency
deals and not taking the big splash first day free
agency stuff. And I think the rest is starting to
catch on to that. Too many coaches, too many owners
are firing gms, and gms are firing coaches for splash
free agent signings in March that kill in November, December,
(12:01):
and January. It doesn't do any good to lead the
league and money spend in March if you don't have
any to make your team better when you need it
going down the stretch, like John Schneider has at the
trade deadline. But I get because there's nothing else to
do in the NFL right now but watch signings and
rumors or no games. There's nothing to judge your team's
success on. But he just won a super Bowl four
(12:23):
weeks ago. They have a general manager who's done it
with two different regimes, two different coaches, the two different players,
two different sets of contracts, and two different years. Basically
that no one's ever done that before. I think, and
I'm not a cheerleader for Johnson, are those of you
who know me. I'll ask him tough questions he doesn't like,
But I think the Northwest owes him a solid of
(12:45):
just he must know what he's doing by now, and
it's the off season that maybe if he's not bringing back
Walker and she need, it's because doing so would blow
out his budget for what he wants to do with
the rest of the team. It's more than two, it's
way more than two guys.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Well, or he's made so many great moves consecutively that
he's bound to blow one sooner or later, right, I
mean will at some point he's going to make a mistake, right,
But I mean overall, the guy's obviously been just an
absolute magician.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Man.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
But how about Rieke Wollan?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Right, I mean, this is a guy who I think
like halfway through the year, a lot of people would
have said get out of here, goodbye. And then he
started playing better, and then during the Ram game in
the NFC Championship, most people had gone back to where
they started. Get the hell, get the guy the hell
out of here. So what do you think Riek Willan's
future looks like?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Rich? He plays a position of high value of course, cornerback.
He's still only twenty six years old. He has shreakish
athletic town as we all know, tall, long, fast, he
has stuff you can't grow, you can't sign, and if
you sign him, it's going to pay. Even his tawning
(13:58):
penalties and and his lapses in coveries Week one in
particular in San Francisco, he still has those physical gifts
that Pete Carold discovered and the rest of the league saw.
He's gonna get paid right, and it's probably gonna be
more than the Seahawks are willing to do. And that
is why you're twenty five to twenty six years old
at corner than a pro bowler and has played eighty
(14:21):
percent of your snaps in the first four years. Yeah,
he's gonna get top of cornerback market for this free
agency cycle.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
How about the rest of the secondary Kobe Bryant, Josh Job.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
You know, Kobe Bryant, a safety market looks to suppressed.
I won't say depressed when you say ten to twelve
million dollars does not depressing, but it is suppressed and
that works in the Seahawks favor. McDonald loves him, he is.
McDonald sees Bryant as a Seahawk type of guy, a
guy who does everything right. It assignment sound is a
(14:53):
short tackler, has gotten better on the ball and passes
in the air in his last couple of seasons. I
can tell you mc donald loves him, and I think
they're going to get him back. I think it's a
priority for McDonald. He loves how he works, how Bryant
works in the secondary with Julian Love in the back.
Josh Job could be another one who is easier to
(15:13):
re sign because of his season. Former waiver pickup from
the Eagles, he's been a starter, but of all the
club Requona for instance, going to command far more bidding,
an attention and money than Josh Job. Therefore, Josh Job
is much more signable as far as the Seahawks budget
and plans for the rest of the team than is Woolen.
I could see those two coming back. In addition, uh to,
(15:38):
we'll see. I don't I don't want to make people
hand me on. Will you said they're coming back. I
think they're easier to bring back, let's say, than certainly
Walker Woolen and she.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, I don't know if you're aware of this, but
everything you just said is locked in stone, and there's whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Okay, Chuck, Chuck plows is asking you, so, what do
you think's gonna happen. And then I tell him and
he says.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Right now, you just guaranteed that Kenny Walker, Rashid she
Head or gone, Kobe Bryant, Josh Job are back, and
Riek Wilan's gonna walk. And if you're not right, then
you're an idiot. Okay, just so you know, all right.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Uh my wife doesn't take that approach.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Oh God, Greg five thirty tonight over on nine point
fifty am. Enjoy it, man and we'll talk soon, buddy,
Thanks Palace, appreciate you guys a good week. You know,
I was looking at our buddy spa track. Michael Jannetti.
I'm okay with spending a buttload of money in free
agency under a couple of conditions, one of which is
(16:38):
if one of the guys you sign as a quarterback,
because you got to pay money for a quarterback, you
got no choice, Like, for example, do you guys realize
the Seahawks were number four in off season free agency
spending last year in the NFL Sam dar because of
Sam Darn, you know, Marcus Lorren. Do you know who
spent the most, by the way, the Patriots, and they
did not sign a quarterback. Because they had Drake May.
(16:59):
They ipent three hundred and sixty million dollars, way more
than anybody else, and they made the Super Bowl. So look,
I think, like anything, Dick, we're talking general terms right
every now and then, there's going to be an outlier.
If you take away Darnold's contract, the Seahawks would have
spent one hundred and five million dollars, which would have
put them dead middle of the NFL sixteen, right in
(17:23):
front of the La Rams, who spent ninety four and
also could have won the Super Bowl last year, but
didn't need to spend as much money as the Hawks
did because they already had the quarterbacks. So you know,
I don't think the Hawks are going to go out
and do something like that this year. I don't expect
a big splash. I'm really just curious about the Kenny
Walker thing, man, I really am, because I don't blame
(17:43):
him at all for wanting to see what's out there
after what he just did. This is the time in
his life where he should go out there and test
the market and see what's available. But because of the
Charbonney injury, because of what we perceive to be available
in the draft, because of what we perceive to be
of available in free agency. It makes me a little
squeamish man, a little squeamish. So I'm just more curious,
(18:07):
I guess, to see how they handle all of them.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
There's some running back names that intrigue me, and you know,
Greg brought up a couple of them there in Algier
and Brian Robins.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I don't think they're as good as as ken Walker.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Donels one for me, by the way, Donald saw that
was one for me.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
I was just looking. I took it back to twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
So twenty twenty to twenty twenty five, the Hawks are
twenty third in average free agent spending per player, got it,
And they're ninth in actually overall free agent money because
they have spent a lot of they do get a
lot of free agents in that like five to ten
million dollar range. So they just sign more free agent
players than a lot of people, a lot of teams do.
(18:42):
They just don't sign the big money free agents other
than Darnold.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, they spread it out right totally exactly. That's that's
exactly what they do, and that's what they'll do again
this year. We're going to break for twenty three. Hugh
Miller going to join give us his thoughts on all
this as well. Man coming up at five o'clock tonight
right here on ninety three to three k jr FM.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Listen to you often because you're not interesting
It said down to the Tacoma Dome, I believe is
where he's at. Our friend Greg Bell. Is he there
as a fan? Is he there as a writer covering
the event? He was on the air at five point
thirty over on nine point fifty call in the game
with Mike Benton? Is that correct? Today? Joining us right
now on the radio show from the high school State
Basketball Championships talking some Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
How are you man? I'm good man, How are you good? Good?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Can you hear us? Hello?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah? Hello?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Got you just think one to two? Wait before we
start talking some Seahawks. What's the atmosphere like down there?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Man? Paint the picture for us.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Well, it's a home game for two Tacoma teams. A
couple of local college coaches are calling this maybe the
biggest day in high school basketball history for Tacoma, like
a dollar and preps plan. The number one high school
player in the country and the number twenty team in
the country in we're near beach. That's the first semi final.
It's like beaches. I can't see the scoreboard from here.
(01:02):
And then the second game is link in the Age,
just around the corner from the Common home going against
East side Catholic for the right to play the winner
of the first game tomorrow night. We'll have them all
on nine fifty am, Like that's doing the tall right
now on the AM side, not to take siphon listeners
away from you guys, and then I'll be on a
five thirty with the East side Catholeic against Lincoln.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well, Greg, let's talk some Seahawks football, and obviously, I
think there's some trepidation right now. I think that's the
general term to describe Seahawks fans right now, specifically with
Ken Walker and Rashid Shaheed. I mean, two valuable members
of that offense slash special teams to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Where are we on those two particular players.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well, we're three days away from then becoming free agents.
The legal tampering period hits a joke around inside NFL
buildings because get the combine. That's when agents were talking
to teams. That's when Ken Walker's new agent, David Canter
and the r Sports Group in Florida. He just hired
(02:08):
them right before the NFC title game in late January.
That's when he started talking to the other teams. John
Schneider joked the other day what's this. Rashi Ji Heat's
been gonna go sport free agency. He was doing that
last week, Hester doing that last week in Indianapolis. So
what this is, guys, inflation for winning a Super Bowl.
(02:29):
The cost of winning a Super Bowl, your players costs
go up. And there couldn't have been a more opportunity time,
especially for Ken Walker to win a Super Bowl MVP
at the last game of his contract. So his value
is higher than the Seahawks and John Schneider had had
expected it to be when they forecasted what their budget
was gonna be for next year. Same with rashid Jaheat
(02:52):
and his performance late in the season. Checkoff returning against
San Francisco for the touchdown, the whole world watching their
prices of gotten too high, which is why they're going
to go shop. And guys, my experience doing this for
twenty five years. If a guy goes in shops, especially
the first time in free agency. This is the second
NFL contract. Is what these guys did two days for
(03:14):
in captains practices since they were in high school. It's
for the second NFL contract, that's the generational wealth contract.
And once a guy gets to go shopping in that
it's really hard to get him back.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Well, I don't blame him at all, taking advantage of
this and seeing what the market will bear. I guess
Greg the question I've got about Kenneth Walker. Do the
Seahawks have an offer on the table for him right now?
And do you believe that it might be a fair offer?
But Kenny Walker and his agent say, hey, look, we
appreciate it. It's a fair offer, but we've got to
(03:47):
take advantage of this and go out there and see
what's available. Because of exactly what you just said.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I haven't been told directly that they have an offer,
but they have. Yes, what you just laid out is
exactly how this is playing out. That's how John Schneider
does it. If the number's way far apart from what
the agent and a player are looking for, that's when
Schneider says, go shop, Hey, give us a solid and
give us the right of matching, chance to match before
(04:14):
you sign somewhere else. But often in these situations that's
the numbers so high the Seahawks don't match. But that's
what he's doing here. And look, if i'm Ken Walker,
he's contract year. He was a three year starter in
his first three years in the league, one of them
a thousand yard season, and then in your contract year,
(04:35):
you give me a job here and you take me
off the field when I'm running the ball between the twenties,
and then Sharvi Day comes on the field to score
twelve touchdowns while I'm on the sideline. Wait, what's going on?
What are you doing here? Yeah, So, if they've gotten
this close to the free agent market, of course he's
going to shop. His agent would be doing him in
disservice not to find out what the Super Bowl MVP's
(04:57):
market value is a month after winning Super Bowl. Of
course he should shop. And I think that number is
going to drive him out of Seattle.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
So, Greg, what do you think your best guess is
at the running back plan for John Schneider.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, the plan blew up when zach Scharbenna got a
major knee injury. It might sideline him into next season.
The plan obviously was let's do this job share to
audition Charbonate for the job, and he was doing it
in a lead back fashion, which, as I mentioned, the
twelve touchdowns and being a third down back and a
blocking back, a guy that can pass block. This was
(05:32):
a guy that could see doing multiple roles as a
lead running back, and then he gets torn ACL and
hasn't has surgery just a couple of weeks ago. Even
if he comes back sooner than estimated, he's probably gonna
miss at least through training camp into the start of
the season. I mean he got injured. He ripped his
knee out in mid January. Eight to twelve months normal
(05:55):
recovery of that, we're talking mid September on the short end.
And if you're bionic man and that's a running back
who cuts and needs his knees and lateral movement, it's
really tough to ask him to be full go before
the season starts. So that was the plan. If Walker
got too rich. We have sharpon Ander one more year
of a contract. Oh, by the way, we have Ken
(06:17):
Kenny Mackintosh coming back, but we've yet to see if
he can stay injury free for entire season. George Hallani
showed him something by the end of last year. Yeah.
They have Cam Akers, a former number one running back
for the Rams, on their practice squad. Damn last season
right back. She as active as was Bellis Jones for
the Super Bowl. I know none of those names are
going to inspire Seahawks fans to say, wow, we've got
(06:38):
to their apparent. They'll shop in free agency, but not
in the first wave, because Snyder never does. The one
time Schneider has stopped shopped in the first wave of
free agency in the last decade was Jamont Jones. If
you know how that ended up. That was fifty four
million dollars wasted. So it will be a second or
third free agency shopping for a running back, perhaps a
Brian Robinson, perhaps a Tyler Algier, who both twenty five
(07:00):
to twenty six years old. Younger still they want to look, guys.
The key in the NFL free agency is to get
younger and cheaper, not more expensive and older. The teams
to get older and more expensive loose And when you
see all the teams next week to spend all this
money on free agency, let's see how many of them
(07:21):
are playoff Super Bowl contending teams. That's not the way
to build. The build is the way that John Schneider
to sustain his success over sixteen years, his pattern has
been second and third waves of free agency, make to
judicious moves in free agency drafting. And then he mentioned
this this week we save money so we can make
(07:43):
mid season trades for the big impact playoffs. We've seen
him doing with Leonard Williams. We've seen him do it
this here for shot Rashid Shaheed. It takes money to
do that. You can't spend eighty million dollars in free
agency in March and then go try to find a
guy who can help you win the Super Bowl in November.
So he's gonna hold. He's also got Jackson Smith and
Jigbit to repay. With an extension. He's got Devin Witherspooner
(08:06):
could command thirty million dollars. Smith and Jigba could get
forty million dollars a year. Just is the offensive player
of the year. It's a cap league, a hard cap league,
and you just can't pay everyone, and especially after you
win a Super Bowl, this stuff gets expensive. So we'll
see what the next few days will determine what the
priorities are.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, three years in a row with Leonard Williams, Ernest
Jones and then Rashid she Heat. I mean, that's as
good a mid season run as any GM's ever had.
I would think at the deadline, just a phenomenal run
by him. But Greg Bell with us. He's going to
be calling some high school basketball over on nine fifty
am at five point thirty tonight, So spreading his wings,
showing how versatile he is by the way, one moment
he's talking about Kenny Walker and then the next he's
(08:46):
doing high school radio over on nine to fifty am.
So check that out. But Dick and I have talked
about Rashid she Heat. Obviously, and look, I mean obviously
his impact was felt. It seems on paper and in
reality more as a return man that as a pass catcher.
Can they afford to give a guy if the market
does bear fourteen to fifteen million for Rashid Shiheed, can
(09:09):
you pay that to a guy who would have been
on pace for three hundred and fifty five yards receiving
if he had played seventeen games here last year.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
No, And that's where the sticking point is, Dave, is
that they value him more than primarily as a kick
returner because they have a deep threat off the top
the defense receiver and Tory Horton, who they think is
going to be back by the start of training camp
next year this summer. So that's why they drafted Horton,
(09:40):
and in fact, they traded the week that Horton got
his shit injury and was out for the rest of
the year, Shihit basically became Horton right. Horton was doing
all those jobs. Now Shihed did it at an all
pro Pro Bowl level. But their plan to be younger
and cheaper is Tory Horton, So they're not going to
see They don't see Shaheed as the rest of the
league does the rest of the league season as a
(10:01):
wide receiver slast kick returner. The Seahawks, he has him
as a game breaking kick returner, and we've got a
game breaking wide receiver coming off of an injury. That's
a lot of faith to put in a fifth round
pick who had a torn acl of Colorado State two
years ago and now another season ending injury in his
first NFL year. But again, the method, the teams that
win year upon year over year and to kick back
(10:23):
into Super Bowls after winning it get younger and cheaper,
and the ones that get younger and cheaper the best
are the ones that go back. And that's the simplest
terms I can describe what John Schneider's doing right now.
He's trying to get younger and cheaper while sustaining and
keeping and retaining his core guys like Smith and Jigba
and Devin Witherspoon. And we'll see if it's Kobe Bryant
(10:45):
who I think will stay as well.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Greg Bell joins from the Tacomany Distribune from Tacoma at
the Tacoma Game Dome, getting ready to call some high
school basketball action. Greg, it seemed to me like last
year's free agency week was it was not as reckless
us as years prior do you think we're getting out
of the trend of just stupid, reckless spending or was
that a one year blip because you mentioned accurately, these
(11:10):
teams have got to know, Hey, the teams that overpay
are the teams that go six and eleven the next year.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
So maybe are they figuring that out?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Finally, yeah, I think some of it. The New England
Patriots got good at doing this. Yeah, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick.
But if you look closely at what the Patriots did
in free agency and drafting, they got younger and cheaper
while they kept paying Brady and kept augmenting with veterans
signings and trades. Their Super Bowl success was their success
(11:39):
in drafting in shrewd second and third wave free agency
deals and not taking the big splash first day free
agency stuff. And I think the rest is starting to
catch on to that. Too many coaches, too many owners
are firing gms, and gms are firing coaches for splash
free agent signings in March that kill in November, December,
(12:01):
and January. It doesn't do any good to lead the
league and money spend in March if you don't have
any to make your team better when you need it
going down the stretch, like John Schneider has at the
trade deadline. But I get because there's nothing else to
do in the NFL right now but watch signings and
rumors or no games. There's nothing to judge your team's
success on. But he just won a super Bowl four
(12:23):
weeks ago. They have a general manager who's done it
with two different regimes, two different coaches, the two different players,
two different sets of contracts, and two different years. Basically
that no one's ever done that before. I think, and
I'm not a cheerleader for Johnson, are those of you
who know me. I'll ask him tough questions he doesn't like,
But I think the Northwest owes him a solid of
(12:45):
just he must know what he's doing by now, and
it's the off season that maybe if he's not bringing back
Walker and she need, it's because doing so would blow
out his budget for what he wants to do with
the rest of the team. It's more than two, it's
way more than two guys.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Well, or he's made so many great moves consecutively that
he's bound to blow one sooner or later, right, I
mean will at some point he's going to make a mistake, right,
But I mean overall, the guy's obviously been just an
absolute magician.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Man.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
But how about Rieke Wollan?
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Right, I mean, this is a guy who I think
like halfway through the year, a lot of people would
have said get out of here, goodbye. And then he
started playing better, and then during the Ram game in
the NFC Championship, most people had gone back to where
they started. Get the hell, get the guy the hell
out of here. So what do you think Riek Willan's
future looks like?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Rich? He plays a position of high value of course, cornerback.
He's still only twenty six years old. He has shreakish
athletic town as we all know, tall, long, fast, he
has stuff you can't grow, you can't sign, and if
you sign him, it's going to pay. Even his tawning
(13:58):
penalties and and his lapses in coveries Week one in
particular in San Francisco, he still has those physical gifts
that Pete Carold discovered and the rest of the league saw.
He's gonna get paid right, and it's probably gonna be
more than the Seahawks are willing to do. And that
is why you're twenty five to twenty six years old
at corner than a pro bowler and has played eighty
(14:21):
percent of your snaps in the first four years. Yeah,
he's gonna get top of cornerback market for this free
agency cycle.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
How about the rest of the secondary Kobe Bryant, Josh Job.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
You know, Kobe Bryant, a safety market looks to suppressed.
I won't say depressed when you say ten to twelve
million dollars does not depressing, but it is suppressed and
that works in the Seahawks favor. McDonald loves him, he is.
McDonald sees Bryant as a Seahawk type of guy, a
guy who does everything right. It assignment sound is a
(14:53):
short tackler, has gotten better on the ball and passes
in the air in his last couple of seasons. I
can tell you mc donald loves him, and I think
they're going to get him back. I think it's a
priority for McDonald. He loves how he works, how Bryant
works in the secondary with Julian Love in the back.
Josh Job could be another one who is easier to
(15:13):
re sign because of his season. Former waiver pickup from
the Eagles, he's been a starter, but of all the
club Requona for instance, going to command far more bidding,
an attention and money than Josh Job. Therefore, Josh Job
is much more signable as far as the Seahawks budget
and plans for the rest of the team than is Woolen.
I could see those two coming back. In addition, uh to,
(15:38):
we'll see. I don't I don't want to make people
hand me on. Will you said they're coming back. I
think they're easier to bring back, let's say, than certainly
Walker Woolen and she.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, I don't know if you're aware of this, but
everything you just said is locked in stone, and there's whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Okay, Chuck, Chuck plows is asking you, so, what do
you think's gonna happen. And then I tell him and
he says.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Right now, you just guaranteed that Kenny Walker, Rashid she
Head or gone, Kobe Bryant, Josh Job are back, and
Riek Wilan's gonna walk. And if you're not right, then
you're an idiot. Okay, just so you know, all right.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Uh my wife doesn't take that approach.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Oh God, Greg five thirty tonight over on nine point
fifty am. Enjoy it, man and we'll talk soon, buddy,
Thanks Palace, appreciate you guys a good week. You know,
I was looking at our buddy spa track. Michael Jannetti.
I'm okay with spending a buttload of money in free
agency under a couple of conditions, one of which is
(16:38):
if one of the guys you sign as a quarterback,
because you got to pay money for a quarterback, you
got no choice, Like, for example, do you guys realize
the Seahawks were number four in off season free agency
spending last year in the NFL Sam dar because of
Sam Darn, you know, Marcus Lorren. Do you know who
spent the most, by the way, the Patriots, and they
did not sign a quarterback. Because they had Drake May.
(16:59):
They ipent three hundred and sixty million dollars, way more
than anybody else, and they made the Super Bowl. So look,
I think, like anything, Dick, we're talking general terms right
every now and then, there's going to be an outlier.
If you take away Darnold's contract, the Seahawks would have
spent one hundred and five million dollars, which would have
put them dead middle of the NFL sixteen, right in
(17:23):
front of the La Rams, who spent ninety four and
also could have won the Super Bowl last year, but
didn't need to spend as much money as the Hawks
did because they already had the quarterbacks. So you know,
I don't think the Hawks are going to go out
and do something like that this year. I don't expect
a big splash. I'm really just curious about the Kenny
Walker thing, man, I really am, because I don't blame
(17:43):
him at all for wanting to see what's out there
after what he just did. This is the time in
his life where he should go out there and test
the market and see what's available. But because of the
Charbonney injury, because of what we perceive to be available
in the draft, because of what we perceive to be
of available in free agency. It makes me a little
squeamish man, a little squeamish. So I'm just more curious,
(18:07):
I guess, to see how they handle all of them.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
There's some running back names that intrigue me, and you know,
Greg brought up a couple of them there in Algier
and Brian Robins.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
I don't think they're as good as as ken Walker.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Donels one for me, by the way, Donald saw that
was one for me.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
I was just looking. I took it back to twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
So twenty twenty to twenty twenty five, the Hawks are
twenty third in average free agent spending per player, got it,
And they're ninth in actually overall free agent money because
they have spent a lot of they do get a
lot of free agents in that like five to ten
million dollar range. So they just sign more free agent
players than a lot of people, a lot of teams do.
(18:42):
They just don't sign the big money free agents other
than Darnold.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, they spread it out right totally exactly. That's that's
exactly what they do, and that's what they'll do again
this year. We're going to break for twenty three. Hugh
Miller going to join give us his thoughts on all
this as well. Man coming up at five o'clock tonight
right here on ninety three to three k jr FM.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Listen to you often because you're not interesting
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