Mike Florio on Kalen DeBoer; Receivers, Love, McCaffrey Deals

Mike Florio of PFT joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about Kalen DeBoer possibly eventually jumping to the NFL, Justin Jefferson getting a massive new deal, what it means for other wide receivers, Jordan Love’s market, and Christian McCaffrey.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Now with Mike Florio. Here's SoftianDick all right here he is always fun.
Every single Wednesday at this time youget a chance to talk to the
heavyweight champion, the undisputed heavyweight champ, the king of all NFL media from
the NFL and NBC Pro Footballtalk dotCom courtesy is simply a Seattle our friend,
Michael Florio, Michael, how areyou pell so great? Guys?

(00:22):
Are you? We're good? Man? Weigh in on the conversation. Dick
and I were just having there.We both agree there's kind of a dearth
of big time available names to becollege excuse me, head coaches in the
NFL. Lots of guys getting recycledthrough the system. And we're talking about
Kaylen de Bor, who's now thehead coach at Alabama. I don't know
how much you follow Kaylen de Bor'scareer, but if Kaylen de boor does

(00:44):
at Alabama what he did at Washington, would he be an attractive name maybe
in three or four years for theNational Football League. You think it's weird
how the college game and the NFLgame two and don't have overlap. I
think it's cyclical. I think differentorganizations at the NFL level get different ideas
about who would or wouldn't be attractive, but you got to look at it

(01:06):
from divorce perspectives. If he doeswell there, I mean there's that constant
NIL pressure that caused Nick Saban totap out because Alabama doesn't have the same
overall pool of money that some ofthe bigger schools might have. So if
he does well there, I thinkhe would be looking at pathways to the
NFL. I think every college coach, other than the coaches the richest programs,

(01:26):
have to be looking at the NFLnow because it's better than having to
screw around with it NIL uncertainty,absolutely, because you've got the general manager
that can deal with all the financialmatters in the end of the NFL,
and you're the general manager when you'recoaching the college team. Mike, Obviously,
the biggest story in the NFL therecord breaking contract of Justin Jefferson.
So tell me what the next dominoat wide receiver is to fall and will

(01:49):
they match Justin Jefferson's contract. Well, I think that the Bengals should have
immediately the day that that news cameout, gotten with Jamar and come up
with a new deal. For him, because you know what the target is.
He's going to try to get asclose as possible to thirty five million
per year in new money. It'sactually easier to get there on Jamar Chase's

(02:12):
deal because he's got two years lefton his rookie contract at thirty one point
six million. When you tear upthat remaining contract and do a full deal,
let's say a six year deal,which would technically be a four year
extension, you could get to thirtyfive million a lot more easily than the
Vikings did the Jefferson So that's oneto watch. Tyree kills the other one.
And it dawned on me last weekbefore the Jail and Wattle deal,

(02:34):
the Hill's contract was not aging wellafter two years, and then Wattles deal
came that same morning. I startedpoking around. It was clear to me
that Hill's been trying to get anew contract since the end of the twenty
twenty three season. The aj Browndeal gave it more urgency. The Wattle
deal surely is a factor, andnow this Jefferson deal gets him a target
as well. I don't know whetheror not the Dolphins are going to tear

(02:59):
up his contract act replace it withsomething new, only two years after they
made him, at the time,the highest paid receiver in football. They
might just say, you know what, we're in the process of transitioning from
Hill is our number one. Kwadleis our number one. We're content to
stay put and we hold your rightsfor three more years. You have to
play for us or retire. Ashe retired, you'd have to pay them

(03:21):
back a bunch of money. Soit's gonna be you have to see what
the Dolphins are willing to do.So justin Jefferson got one hundred and ten
million dollars guaranteed? Is that correctfrom them from the Vikings DK mexcast matter?
The practical matter at one hundred andten now the full one ten becomes
guaranteed in March of twenty twenty sixafter two seasons. Are they going to

(03:42):
cut him after two seasons? Idon't think so. So I think it's
a practical matter. He's going toget one hundred and ten minimum, and
it's more like one twenty five becausethat fourth season that gets to the one
ten guarantee, the full compensation pushesit to one twenty five. So I
think he's realistically under contract for fouryears at one twenty five, which is
about what thirty one point two fivemillion per year. Well, and the

(04:03):
reason why I bring it up,and we can argue if DK Metcalf and
Justin Jefferson belong in the same categoryor not, that certainly is fair.
But two years ago DK Metcalf signeda three year deal for fifty eight million
dollars guaranteed. Two years later,Justin Jefferson with the extra year gets an
extra fifty two million dollars versus whatDK Metcalf got. Now, DK Metcalf

(04:25):
is a free agent after next year, so I would expect and when you
expect Mike after this season going intotwenty twenty five, the Seahawks and DK
Metcalf will want to get something done. And how much is he worth?
Like, where does DK Metcalf sitfor you on the list of the elite
wide receivers in the NFL. It'shard to tell because I always feel like

(04:46):
he's been underutilized. One of thecomplaints that Christians and I have had dating
back to the early years of DKMetcalf's career. Where are the jet sweeps,
the bubble screens, the efforts toget the ball in his hands and
let him go do what he cando. It's too much run down the
field and get open and hope thequarterback gets it to you. You don't
generate the kind of numbers that willcause people to say, damn, this

(05:08):
guy's one of the best receivers infootball. Now, from the perspective of
opposing defenses, does he strike fearin their hearts? Does he keep defensive
coordinators up at night staring at theceiling wondering how they're going to stop him
because they don't use him like aTyreek Hill gets used, like a Justin
Jefferson gets used. That's the problem, And it might just be that kind

(05:28):
of like the Russell Wilson thing wherethey don't view him at a certain level,
but maybe somebody else does, andmaybe somebody else would be willing to
pay him, and they could tradehim and get a significant return, and
then that other team could say,we're going to take him and feature him
while he's still got some time lustin his prime and make him a true
number one receiver. So our favoritename of the NFL, Brian guten Kust,

(05:49):
has come out this week and tellyou sad he wants to get a
deal done with Jordan Love before theseason starts. But man, there's such
small samples of what Jordan Love cando. So what is the market value
on Jordan Love when you have sucha small sample size. So look,
market value doesn't matter if a teamwants to keep a guy, and if

(06:12):
a team feels compelled to put aguy who has shown based on the last
half of twenty twenty three, hecan play at a high level. You
got Jared Goff at fifty three millionper year. As Tuaton Debilo has said
yesterday, the market is what themarket is, and that's the reality.
And the question is at what pointis one of these teams going to say,
we don't care what the market is, go ahead and test the market.
We'll let you hit three agency andmaybe you'll find out that our offer

(06:35):
is the best one. I don'tthink the Packers want to play that game.
I remember there's one very important factorwith the Green Bay Packers. There's
no owner, there's shareholders. There'sno profit in anyone's sucking away to go
buy us super yacht or whatever else. Really, rich people buy a roller
coaster, whatever the case may be. So reinvest the money in the team.

(06:56):
Your most important players or quarterback,and they're trying to go far to
Rogers to love and based upon theturnaround that we saw last year halfway through
the season, when he accessed thehigh degree of ability and looked great down
the stretch, I mean, helooked like Aaron Rodgers until at the works
all of the time he looked likeBret Park. But there's enough there that
they're going to have to work thisout and he's probably going to be the

(07:17):
next guy to be in the fiftymillion per year club. That's, by
the way, that's a hell ofa way to spend your disposable income.
By a roller coaster, and youput the hurricane in your backyard, man,
that'd be badass. Mike Florio's withus courtesy is simply see Allen,
Mike. I'm not usually a bigfan of paying running backs a buttload of
money. Christian McCaffrey, though,is not just the running back making now
nineteen million dollars a year. Wouldyou make his new deal in San Francisco?

(07:42):
Did you say buttload of money?I thought it was a boatload.
I think buttload is something else entirely. I mean, you like to say
butthole on this radio show a lotso, butl I've been saying buttload since
I was six years old. Man, I would prefer to have the kind
of things you would store in aboat versus the kind of things you would
store in a butt That's all I'msaying. Regard they did the right thing

(08:05):
with Christian McCaffrey. When you considerthis guy's value to the team. Look
at what receivers are getting paid.Justin Gifton gets thirty five million a year
in new money, and here's ChristianMcCaffrey, no new contract since the forty
nine Ers traded for him, averagingtwelve million a year on the three years
the forty nine Ers inherited. Whenthey did that trade, they tear up
the final two years. They replaceit with a four year contract. It

(08:26):
pays out in total fifteen million inchange. It's twenty four million guaranteed when
he had zero guarantees. He turnstwenty eight on Friday. This was a
win win, and I'm surprised McCaffreydidn't draw a line in the stand earlier.
I thought going into the twenty twentythree season, at some point halfway
through the year he would say,please, sir, may I have some
more and maybe he did that.They just didn't bite, but they knew

(08:48):
they needed to do something here becauselook, he's getting closer to the end
of his contract, and with AdamPeters, the former assistant GM now in
Washington, and Christian's brother Luke nowon the Commanders, you could have had
a situation where he starts saying,I want to be traded to a team
that really wants to use me likeyou do, but also wants to pay
me. Accordingly, he was glaring. Unough he became metcaf Deebo Samuel at

(09:11):
twenty four and Christian McCaffrey at twelve. Are you kidding me? That needed
to be fixed and they fixed it. Well, we got another matchup we
can circle on our NFL calendar.It's Texans and Jets on Halloween. After
C J. Stroud made comments aboutAaron Rodgers this week, what did you
make of him? And more importantly, what will the SENSEI pooh Aaron Rodgers
make of them? Well? Ithink this was amazing in a couple of

(09:33):
ways. First, there aren't manyactive players who would criticize other active players
at all, And the idea thathe would fire shots that the most sensitive
player that I've ever covered in AaronRodgers is really stunning and you know a
lot of Texans fantasill if you listento the full podcast he praised Aaron Rodgers.
I heard the parts where he didn'tand I don't care what he said

(09:54):
the rest of the time. That'senough. In the quotes we played on
PFG Live and the quote that weuse as PFT, that's the kind of
thing that Aaron Rodgers going to lookat and say, what's this guy's deal?
And I'm not happy about it,And I think it's really going to
sting Rogers more than the usual criticismfrom idiots like us, because he can
just look at us and say you'reidiots. When the call is coming from
inside the house, man, that'swhen it hurts. And I think that

(10:18):
Aaron Rodgers is going to be upsetand is going to have something to say
at some point. And what Ihope happened since that team has played Halloween
Night on a Thursday night. Ihope because one of the things c J.
Salut said is he'd rather have EliManning's career than Aaron Rodgers. I
hope, And they'll walk up tothe stadium that they'll have on the Amazon
pregame show c Drafts wearing an ElimeManning jersey. I gotta tell him that'd

(10:41):
be funny as hell, that Mikebefore you go. I really really like
the Jets a lot this year.I love what they've done over the offseason,
the draft. I'm a big believerin the Jets this year. Are
you on the Jets bussing me?Like a team pended a hope to like
three or four veteran players who haven'tbeen healthy lately and they're all going to
stay healthy. You like the teamthat's doing that. Pin in your hopes
on a forty year old quarterback you'veplayed four snaps and Jenior at twenty twenty

(11:03):
three. Fine, Hey, atleast they've got no expectations. I mean,
you know, it's unlike last year. Everybody just assumes they're gonna win.
I don't know what they're gonna dothis year, but it's not gonna
surprise me if they flame out again. They've got a history of flaming Aloho
way back to twenty ten. Keeptalking, smack Man, We'll see what
happens come February. Appreciate it.By man, I'm you're supposed to.
I hope you're supposed to be aSeahawks. I am a Seahawks fan,

(11:26):
but thank you. I'm just aJet believer. I just I got money
on the Jets, A lot ofmoney in the Jets, and I needed
to come through otherwise it be Ihope, I hope, I hope you
say something to take your bills.Because you ain't gonna win. It might
as well have burned it. Allright, we'll find out. You keep
you both, you guys, keeprunning your mouth. All right, Michael
Grant stuff. We're talking a weekman. But all right, Mike Florio

(11:46):
with us on the radio show.We'll gotta break. We gotta talk about
that DK Metcalf justin Jefferson thing,because there's got to be a part of
DK Metcalf that is seething watching thecontracts these guys get and looking at how
many targets he was getting under BeateCarroll and how much that should change.
I think under Ryan Grubb, Imean he force fed his number one receiver.

(12:07):
We saw that. No doubt,will Ryan Grubb be allowed to do
the same thing with DK Metcalf underBig Mac in Seattle. We'll talk about
it next,