Hugh Millen on Seahawks Draft, No Quarterback, UW Spring Game

Hugh Millen joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about the Seahawks picks in the NFL Draft last week as well as the team not selecting a quarterback in the draft, plus the Washington Huskies Spring Game tonight and what he wants to see from the team.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Our buddy Huey Miller with us onthe radio show on a Friday evening.
How are you, man? What'sup, Fellas? I'm well, how
are you? We're good, man, We're good. We'll talk about the
Husky spring game in a second.We're gonna get your thoughts on kind of
what we're looking for in this gametonight. But let's first of all go
back to the draft last week,and this is another year where the Hawks
did not take a quarterback. GinoSmith and Sam Howe we'll fight it out

(00:22):
for the starting job. Gino hasthe upper hand of courses of right now.
But what you make of the Hawksyet again passing on a quarterback in
the draft. Well, I thinkit's just the acquisition of Sam Howe.
And we heard John Schneider say wordsto the effect when asked about quarterback of
the future. He said, Hey, look, we made a substantial acquisition

(00:43):
and how and if you look atthe Seahawks, as we know, they
went from seventy eight to one.Oh, they went from basically traded a
third and a fifth for a fourthand a sixth if you go by the
draft value chart. Now, Dave, we've been talking about this for years,
right, Dick Jimmy Johnson. Onehas been kind of been replaced since
the two thy and eleven CBA becauseprior to that, the value that you

(01:08):
know they're paying these number one draftpicks so much like Sam what's the Oklahoma
quarterback Bradford? Sam Bradford? Right, like back then when they just mad
the insane amount, so it affectedthe value. So if you go by
the rich Hill chart now equating allthose numbers, it the amount that Seattle

(01:30):
gave up is the equivalent of thesecond to last pick in the third round,
so well almost a fourth rounder,but in fact a third rounder.
That value that they gave up forSam Howe. So just think of it
like this. The Seahawks used athird rounder on Sam Hall, and I
think it's It's also interesting if youlook at just go by the high school
classes, because there's there's so muchconfusion who red shirted, who had who

(01:53):
had a COVID year, YadA,YadA, YadA. Of the top ten
quarterbacks in the draft this past year, three of them were in the class
of twenty twenty one, meaning theyonly had three years in college. That's
Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, andJJ McCarthy. None of them actually went
four years. The other guys wereeither five or in the case of Pennix,

(02:16):
Jordan Davis, Joe Milton, andDevin Leary, they were six years
in college. So here getting backto Sam Howe, he's class of a
high school class of twenty nineteen,meaning five years in college. He's equal
or less than seven of the topten quarterbacks in this draft, yet he's

(02:38):
played two years in the NFL.So I think they felt like that's a
pretty high expenditure. It's, youknow, he's the right age, and
there's some questions about him being justa little over six foot only running a
five flat, jumping less than twentyfive inches, not a great athletic profile.
That's why I was a fifth rounder. And then there's question is about,

(03:00):
you know, how much can youglean from his commander season last year
because they threw the ball. Theirpass play percentage was sixty six point one
percent. Sixty six point one Notonly was that number one in the NFL,
second place was three points listed sixtythree percent, So they really threw
the hell out of the ball.And uh, and I just think that

(03:23):
you've got in John Schneider a guythat now turns his attention from Drew Locke
to Sam Howe. Feels like youmade a pretty big expenditure for a young
guy, and we'll go from there. Well, a quote unquote NFL insider
by the name of John Fracella,I've never heard of his. H John
Facenda, No, not John Persndasaid Gino Smith is on shakeier ground than

(03:45):
people realize. He compares the situationto Pittsburgh, wherever a starter falters,
the backup is coming into which GenoSmith responded today on Twitter, you just
made this bs up. Media isfull of liars. It's so crazy.
So I mean, to me pastmy sniff test. If Gino Smith is
getting pushed by Sam Howe, whywouldn't we have a quarterback competition? What

(04:06):
do you think? Let's see howSam Howe performs in practice and in the
preseason, and let's see how Ginoresponds to a new offense. I mean,
this is an offense that wants tostretch the field that it's best,
right, And I'm assuming And nowthere's a little bit of an interesting dynamic
here because Ryan Grubb had an offensiveminded head coach in Kaitlyn Debor. Now

(04:31):
Ryan Grubb has a defensive mind,a head coach obviously in Mike McDonald oftentimes,
and there's a hell of a correlationwe can run the numbers by.
But just the summary is that mostof the young quarterbacks over the last five
ten years in the NFL, theytend to thrive more with offensive coaches defensive
coaches. They want to rain thingsin and make decisions even into how practice

(04:53):
is run. But you know inthe game, like, hey, let's
let's choke this thing down, let'sbe conservative, and what have you.
And so, now is Ryan Grubbgoing to exercise all that you know,
bombs away Pearl Harbor mentality that hedid at Washington with a defensive mind,
a head coach. If he is, and Gino's not executing, then if

(05:14):
Sam House seems to be a guythat can exercise that, I could see
how absolutely he'd be on it onshore. Because the quarterback play, and
I use the term literally, thequarterback play was dead ass average. I've
got an entire eight and a halfby eleven, you know, narrow sheet,
a space piece of paper in frontof me, with all these stats,

(05:36):
I could run all these numbers,bore the hell out of you.
But everything is right in the middle. It's just you know, right hovering
around sixteenth, seventeen, all ofthe numbers, whether it's the Seahawks as
an offense, whether it's the quarterbackin Gino, everything is right around the
meeting. He's a median quarterback play. Now, you could say he didn't
have the offensive line, you'd makeexcuses for him, but the quarterback play

(06:00):
was dead ass in the middle.And they've got to be better if they're
gonna be you know, away fromyou know, get better than nine and
eight. Yeah, but Hugh definingboard like you mean like eyes bleeding board
or just like distracted kind of passingout kind of board, because I want
to hear more about that, becausehere's the thing. Last year, the
last two years, you guys know, there was a bit of a ground
swell for people that wanted to seeDrew Locke play football, right, especially

(06:23):
after the Eagle game for crying outloud. So if there was a ground
swell for him, there certainly shouldbe one for Sam Howse because Sam How's
done more than Drew Lockas. Hello. Yeah, well look, okay,
touchdowns. He's seventeenth rating is seventeenthyards per pass he's he's sixteenth. Red
zone passer rating twenty ninth, redzone completion percentage thirty first, The sex

(06:43):
is a team, red red zonescoring were twenty fifth, offensive touchdowns per
game, twenty fourth points per game, eighteenth, third down conversions twenty seventh.
So yeah, I mean the rating, seventeenth, completion percentage, nineteenth,
touchdown, seventeenth yard sixteenth goes onand on. Now, Gino did

(07:03):
lead the NFL in in comeback ortied for the NFL in in fourth quarter
comebacks. That's real. That's that'sgreat situational stuff. But so is red
zone and so is third down.And he was approaching thirtieth in the league
in those numbers. So so itmight even be charitable for me to surmise
that he's he's dead ass in theaverage. But but most of them are

(07:25):
are right there in the mid teens. Hang, I'm sorry my fault three
to two? What you turn meoff, Dave? I mean I can
just go home three two on.Brady Anderson reported today that the Hawks were
not considering either layout two law Toor Troy Faltano because of injury concerns.
I mean that I had to readthat twice. To believe it. I

(07:46):
mean, especially on the Faltanos side, is that you think that was the
right move to take both those twocompletely off your list? Well, I
don't think they were completely off thelist. Are you telling me that in
the seventh round? Yeah, he'stalking first round? Yeah, now I
understand. So at some point,okay, does it slide you back from
sixteenth? Uh? Look the Fatanothing. Uh? You know, we

(08:09):
had Troy on the radio. Hesaid, this is a knee thing,
going back from his first year.Uh, he claims there's nothing to it.
I mean he played, he practiced, right, we know that.
Yeah. And and so now Ithink there could be two truths. I
think that there could be a truththat for whatever reason, Seattle got a
little spooped off of it. Uh. You know, look what they're going

(08:30):
through with with their right tackle rightnow, and and and some knee issues
and some concerns there. So it'spossible that that they they were just ultra
conservative. Hell, the Huskies wereon some level could be described as conservative.
With lat too. Relative to themedical staff at UCLA, could they
not sure? And and so soperhaps Seattle, Uh, what was in

(08:52):
that situation with Abe Lucas and andhis uncertain status at right tackle that that
maybe they say, hey, wedon't we don't want to have another guard
with any of those issues. Theywant to clean bill of health. And
it could be possible that Pittsburgh said, hey, we're not interested about you
know, a minor issue that happenedfour years ago that hasn't cost him practice
or game time. Well, Humillain'swith us obviously, and we had a

(09:16):
conversation. Is yesterday Dick with meto comes on the show and Dick and
I and Jackson have talked about thisthat who got the shorter end of the
stick in Atlanta? Michael Pennix orKirk Cousins. Because I can paint a
picture for you. We're in twoyears in Atlanta and year two of that
four year deal, Kirk Cousins isplaying well and has the Falcons maybe in
the NFC Championship. I mean,if that happens, they're gonna cut the
guy and turn the thing over toMichael Penix in year three. Probably not

(09:39):
So who got the shorter end ofthat stick? Pennis having to wait or
Cousins because the Falcons went out andgot his replacement. Uh well, probably
Pennix I mean Pennix. You know, when you consider his money making opportunity,
it's in the second contract. Right, We're talking tens, perhaps hundreds
of millions of dollars that are atstake here for Michael Pennix, Whereas I

(10:03):
think for for Kirk Cousins. Heyou know, there's two issues here.
Number one, the opportunity costs.He assumed that he was coming to a
playoff contender, likely NFC South frontrunner. And you say, okay,
give us a pass rusher, giveus alignment, give us another target,
give us something to push us overthe edge. That that's what I would
think if I was Cousins. Andthen now let's say, oh, you're

(10:24):
drafting a guy my replacement that youknow, if we have a couple of
bad series and we go three andout and all of a sudden, the
whole stadium's, you know, clamoringfor this young guy. So I think
he did get screwed, But Ithink that there's more at stake for Pennix.
But you know, one thing toconsider from the Falcons perspective, Uh,

(10:45):
these numbers are very easy to graspif you're sitting in a classroom or
a meeting room looking at a whiteboard. It's a little bit harder because I
know people are driving, they gotother things on their mind. But I'll
just walk you through some really importantnumbers. But to grasp but you got
it, We got it. Wegotta define two terms, absolute terms,
absolute figures and relative figures. Forexample, in nineteen seventy, the average

(11:09):
new car costs three thousand and fourand fifty dollars, but the average income
was nine four hundred. So theabsolute number of thirty four to fifty like
that doesn't change. But the relativenumbers we could compare that with modern times.
Right, So so we're looking atthe salary cap, which which can
flow and it's lible to raise.But the absolute numbers of Cousins contract is

(11:31):
app is absolute all right. Sowhat you have is over the last three
years the salary cap has gone upeleven point nine percent on average per year.
So what we're gonna do is we'regonna say, what if the fauc
what is the financial picture if twoif if not four years like the contract
says, but two years if KirkCousins plays two years for the Falcons and

(11:54):
gives way to Michael Pennix. Sothe salary cap. If it goes up
at that level right now it's twofifty five point four. Uh, it
will go up to at the endof two years three nineteen point seven.
So now relative to that, thecontract number is already in stone at twenty

(12:18):
five million. So at that time, if it's three nineteen point seven,
then cousins percentage of the capital willbe seven point eight percent. We know
what Pennix's number is because that's slottedagain, and that's a relative term.
The absolute number goes up every year, but relative it slotted the rookie,
according to the CBA, he's goingto be at about two point two percent.

(12:41):
Add those two and you're right atexactly ten percent. The combination of
every quarterback first and second. I'mlooking at the chart right now, the
first and second stringers combine him,what's their percentage of the cap? And
ten percent lands you at sixteenth inthe league. So they'll be dead in

(13:03):
the middle. You know, wethink this this huge financial implication. It's
manageable because of the dead cap money. That now, if it's only one
year, if the Falcons, let'ssay something happens and the Falcons want a
cutbait after one year, Oh,boy. Now, Cousins dead cap is
sixty five million, not twenty fivemillion. And the combined percent of the

(13:26):
cap between Penis and Cousins is notten percent, it's twenty four point seven
percent, and that would be secondin the league. So what's the summary.
And by the way, if youdo it after third third there it's
only five point nine percent. IfPennix needs to wait three years like Aaron
Rodgers. But if we just gowith the two years and done for Cousins,

(13:48):
what's the salary cap in like Cousinsof the car just cut his ass,
let him go, Fisher coach,then they're gonna be the salary cap
hit for those two guys gonna besixteenth in the league. And uh,
now you lose the benefit. What'sthe benefit of of drafting a first round
guy? They say, well,you've got a rookie contract on a rookie
South you know you can fill around, So you lose that benefit. Sure,

(14:09):
but it is somewhat manageable, manageableif it's going to be two years.
Hugh or here at Usky Stadium,what are you looking for tonight?
And what if anything can you takefrom reviewing the film of a Spring game.
Well, I think the first thingyou're just looking at Will Rogers and
and and just seeing his plate.You know, how does he read?

(14:33):
What's his movement skills, you know, to release velocity, accuracy? What's
his decision So so, yeah,I just start right there. I mean,
he lost Michael Pennix, Right,Who's Will Rogers? This is a
guy that that was, you know, wracked up a lot of yards in
the SEC. Right, Is henot a ten thousand yard guy? Yeah?
And so's second all the time inthe SEC. Yeah, with over

(14:54):
ten thousand yards. Right. So, so I've watched him in practice,
I've watched him up close. Ithink there's some physical limitations. I think
if he was coming out in thedraft, I think he'd be projected as
as a third day guy, butthat could be very fluid, depending on
depending on how he plays. Hell. Jadan Daniels would have been projected as
a fourth rounder twelve months ago.So but I do think there's probably you

(15:18):
know, he doesn't have Jaydan Danielsphysical traits, but I'm interested to see
there. You know, what arethe what are the targets you lost?
You know, three receivers in thefirst three rounds and a guy in the
top ten. The offensive line isit is as scary of a situation as
I thought. Can we look atsome guys that look like they have some

(15:39):
size and some movement, you know, move their feet a little bit without
tripping, you know, you know, I'm not expecting much talent just jumping
off the uh jump jumping off thefield, to my eyes, But I
think some of those will be someimportant things, right, I mean,
everybody's gonna have their eye on,no doubt, no doubt. All right,

(16:00):
man, good stuff, Love it, Enjoy the weekend. We'll talk
soon, buddy. Appreciate it,pal. All right, We're at you,
dub. As Dick said, whenwe come back, Jake Locker,
it's gonna be in town for thespring. He's gonna hop on and join
us next on ninety three three kj R F