August 3, 2020 • 48 mins
Mike Blewitt and George Kurtz are back again for another edition of Football Full Circle! The guys continue to discuss the recent NFL player opt-outs. Then, they discuss Antonio Brown's 8-game suspension and his future as well. Which teams are interested in AB? Will he ever play in the NFL again? Mike and George take a look at the Texans WR group, focusing on Will Fuller. The guys also discuss the recent Jamal Adams drama
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports grid dot com Betting insights and entertainment at your
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Sports grid dot Com, Welcome to another edition of Football
(00:21):
Full Circle right here on the Grid. Thanks for watching
and listening. Everybody appreciate it. So, George, you're gonna get
right into the news surrounding the NFL, talking all NFL
this hour. We got a interview a little bit later
this hour with Brian Costello of The New York Post
about the Jamal Adams trade or Douglass reaction to that trade.
(00:44):
I think you'll enjoy listening to his insight. So, George
Damien Williams, I wanted to bring up this story first
because George and I we should just tell everybody. George
and I have a little bit of a running joke
that the show should change in its name to Circling
the Drain, because in some ways it does feel like
(01:05):
we are doing that. We're staving off the temporary or
long term suspension of these sports. Baseball second team has
been hit with coronavirus. Their games have been canceled St.
Louis Cardinals. So we understand the for the things that
(01:26):
are are in front of us, the hurdles that are
in front of us in order to complete these seasons.
But in terms of Damian Williams opt out, he was
one of the high profile players that opted out. And
I do think there's a human side to this that
sometimes goes under discussed, uh not reported well enough, and
(01:47):
I think it's important to note why he's doing this.
Nate Solder has a history of cancer, with both himself
and his five year old son, Marcus Cannon was a
survivor of non Hodgkins lymphoma. Damien Williams, the star running
back perhaps robbed of the Super Bowl m v P
by the half billion Dollar Man two touchdowns in the
(02:10):
fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, has opted out this
season and the reason is because his mother has stage
four cancer. He revealed that today he's dealing with a
major family issue. With everything that's going on. Quote from him,
he said this on Sirius x M NFL Radio. With
everything that's going on, she was the only one there
for me. I never had the opportunity to have my
(02:32):
dad there. My mom is my rock, my everything, So
during a hard time like this, I think I should
be next to her every step. Yes, and I love that.
I respect that. I think it's the way most people
should do. You can I understand if you're a Chiefs
fin or you know you d have to Damian Williams
in the third round your fantasy that you're upset right now. Yeah, Hey,
(02:53):
if you're at the Edwards Hillary, you're probably celebrating. But
you know, every player has to do what is best
for them. We don't know what is going on in
every player's personal life about why they are had that
started not to play. I think there are very few players,
especially in football, that are gonna say ah, I want
to hear off, have no other real eyes. Don't feel
(03:13):
like playing your career is so finite or you're not
gonna have a ten twelve year career. Most of these players,
you need to play and make that money. While you
can position right running back, especially right, they don't last
long as it is. Plus, he has someone challenging first
starting job, I mean rightment. He may not be on
the Chiefs next season alright. I think that contract with
(03:35):
Toll so he's still be on the last year technically,
but we all know those contracts are written on paper
none if the Chiefs want to go that way. But
I said, I don't blame these players. You have to
do what's best for you, what's best for your family,
and take care of them right families forever, you know,
So I don't. I'm not angry at Damian Williams on that,
an angry at Nate Solar. I'm not angry at any
of these players are really in any sport that decides
(03:57):
to take the year off. Yeah, we talked about football
in general. I think we're over thirty, around thirty players
right now. They'll be rolling in over the weekend and
that number will concede will definitely go up before Monday,
which is the deadline August three. But I thought it
was important to kind of start out and say, look,
(04:19):
this is difficult for everybody and for those of us
to say, why wouldn't the football players just go out there?
They'll be fine, They're young, guys, are healthy. Well, there's
other reasons. He doesn't want to expose her, and with
stage four cancer, we've seen other football players in the
past take time off. Chris Spielman famously did this when
his wife was battling cancer. He took a year off
(04:41):
in the middle of his career. So I respect it.
I just think it's a really cool story and gives
some insight as to him the person as opposed to
him the fantasy football asset. Absolutely. I think we don
hear a lot of stories about this about players who
opted off of this reason for that reason you mentioned.
(05:01):
It could be a kid, could be your wife, you know,
it could be in this case, a mother in lawns
that live with you, all sorts of things. I also
wonder this, you know, our this really goes back to
baseball a little bit. But we're hearing now that ice
On Diaz is thinking about opting out for the Marlins,
not because of anything in his life, but because was
(05:21):
it eighteen teammates havoc, you know, and maybe he thinks,
you know what, this is nuts, This is just nuts.
I wonder if what's happening baseball is gonna push more
football players out and going. You know what, if one
person gets that, I have a better chance of getting
it already has not worth it. I think it already
has to some extent, right, It's got to have an
impact on guys that have said something this week, perhaps
(05:42):
their decisions were already made. Um, I you and I
discussed that August third deadline. Maybe it's a little too early.
I understand if you're the GM, it can't be September three,
simply because guys walking away right before the season, you
don't have any time to install a backup could take
care of the assignments that he was supposed to take
(06:03):
care of. So from that perspective, I understand why it's
as early as it is. But I would assume baseball
is having some impact on this decision making process. And
I welcome into radio audience to hear your response to that. Yeah,
I wonder what I think. August starts is way too early.
I just do Why can't it be done before final cuts?
(06:24):
Either way, if you have a guy does walk quick
be able to pick up somebody from another team who
got cut at the same position if you want that guy,
Rather than make the why make the player make a
choice which might be an uninformed choice in three days
or tomorrow, you know, why, why not give them all
the opportunities. I wouldn't want a player to say, you
know on Monday, well I'm not sure here, but I'm
gonna I'm gonna, you know, edge on the side of
(06:46):
a caution. I'm gonna opt out when two weeks he
might be like, all right, it was okay, I'm gonna
be all right, I'll play. They won't be available for
those opt out financial deals. I would presume if they
walk away after that. I I think it's difficult. I
understand why it's early, because it gives the team a
better chance of feeling a more competitive team across the board. Off,
(07:08):
Damian Williams walked away right before the season. Hard to
get a replacement that's of his ilk. So we'll come
back after this and talk about Antonio Brown right here
on FFC. Get on the Grid sports grid dot Com
(07:28):
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(07:55):
you're watching sportscreen, Get on the back on a grid
with George Kurtz. Please follow us on Twitter at sports
grid and on Instagram at sports grid TV. George is
at George kurtz Um at Mike Blue, and George gets
the hate mail, I get the niceties. We'll see how
that works out long term. Maybe we switch when the
(08:15):
season starts. I don't know. I don't feel good about it,
but anyway, Uh, news on Antonio Brown. I'll be honest.
I tend to avoid discussing the daily goings on in
Antonio Brown's life. The constant I'm retiring, I'm not retiring.
(08:38):
I find it to be boring because I don't really
believe him every time he says he's going to walk away.
So what's the point of saying something for news sake
when I don't really believe it's true and I end
up being right. I'm not saying I'm a soothsayer. I'm
saying I think the guy talks too much, and a
lot of the things he says just sort of fade away. Right. Absolutely,
he certainly talks too much. Us. We love social media
(09:02):
because it gets it gives us information. But a lot
of players, man, they really need to stay off of it.
It only gets you in trouble. They want they want
to be heard, because everyone wants to be heard, right,
everyone's a talk here. Their voice and he has said
some things that we know he's not gonna follow through on,
and then I've got him in trouble, right. So the
report it comes first via Robert Klemco. He's a staff
(09:22):
writer at the Washington Post. Antonio Brown is being suspended
for eight games for violation of the NFL Conduct Personal
Conduct Policy, beginning where ever he signs, per league's source UH.
To follow up, Adam Schefter says, if Antonio Brown is
signed before the start of the season, he would be
(09:42):
eligible to participate in his club's preseason activities. Brown suspension
would take effect as a final roster deduction on September five.
He would be eligible to return after the team's eighth game.
There was some confusion when this story first came out,
but to to everybody, and if he remains unsigned, he
(10:03):
can return in week nine. So it is for the
first eight games of this season, George. It does not
matter whether he's signed or not. It's not if he
signs then it's eight games. It's the first eight weeks
of the NFL season, or the team's first eight games,
whichever um. He's already effectively served a fourteen game suspension
(10:24):
by nobody having signed him, So you tack this onto
that I sort of put them together. It's a harsh penalty.
But there's a lot going on with Antonio Brown, and frankly,
the book isn't closed on all of it. I don't
know if I'm gonna say I put them together. Nobody's
signed you. Nobody signed you. There was no suspension. Team
could have done it. You made that bet yourself, agreed, agreed.
(10:45):
I'm just saying that he served as suspension by way
of his actions, because he made himself radioactive. Right, that's
what you do when you keep when you give up
with two teams, right, when you screw over the Steelers
and certainly screw over the Raiders and four second, Right,
I'm not I'm not feeling bad for the man. I
thought it would be eight games. Uh, originally we told
(11:05):
about a couple of months ago. I just thought, I'm
just's not trying. I know, using logic with the NFL
probably not the brightest way to do things, but right,
and it's it's really a guessing game. You're gonna give
Zeke six for what he did well, then Brown went
way over that, so it's gotta be worse. He has
multiple multiple transgressions he had to go over. It'll be
(11:26):
interesting to see if a team will sign him. As
you mentioned, it's just the first eight games with the season,
not when he signs. Uh do you want to sign
him for? What's gonna be. He's gonna want some money,
you know, So I don't know what team's gonna have
the cash to sign him. The distraction that comes along
with it. What's he gonna do for eight weeks? Is
he a guy you really want to be out on
his own for eight weeks away from the team in
(11:48):
September and October keeps himself in an unbelievable It's nothing
on the field, he's great, one of the greatest receivers ever.
On the field, it's everything that comes along with it.
Every that comes along with it, I mean a little.
As as as a teammate. I wouldn't want to on
my team alone, because I keep remembering the last game
of the Steelers about the eighteen season, when he just said, hey, no,
(12:12):
you know that was greater. The Steels weren't like you
to make the playoffs anyway. They need a lot of help,
but they needed to win that game first. And he
give up on my team and as a teammate. I
can't forgive that alone. He no showed a playoff game.
It wasn't an actual playoff game, but it was a
playoff game. We all know how this works. They're playing in.
If they won, they could have gotten in. He didn't try.
(12:32):
He didn't show up and try to show up Sunday
morning after not showing up to practices during the week
and said I'm ready to go, and he hung out
on the sidelines in a fancy coat and took off
before the game was over. So he made it easy
on the Steelers. I'm done really feeling bad for him
in any capacity, if I ever was in the first place.
(12:55):
It is what it is. It's the eight game suspension
and per NFL media uh, it covers two of the
three pending items against him, an accusation that Brown harassed
via text message a woman who went public with concerns
about Brown's behavior to si dot Com. And an arrest
followed by a no contest plee on felony and demeanor
charges from earlier this year after an altercation with the
(13:17):
driver of a moving truck. You know, it's there's so
much going on. I don't remember that. I think maybe
I've blocked him out, but I don't even remember the
instance that I believe he didn't pay the guy, and
the guys wanted to get paid and Brown so altered him.
I believe that's what happened there. But there were we
sort multiple things on your whatever social media want to use.
(13:40):
When he was yelling at I don't know who's the
mother of his children or something with children and using
epithets that you just can't use. That does that doesn't
help your case any We're trying to do this, and
even at the end of the said it's only these
two things. Well, of course they took those at the
consideration as well. You don't police officers the whole deal.
That's sort of mean. It just makes you look bad.
(14:02):
It just makes you look bad. I said, I'm as
curious anybody else. I I there's no doubt in my
mind he's a difference maker on the field, right he
could transcend any team. We show Lamar Jackson what we
heard Lamar Jackson this week, pretty much stumping for him. Hey,
you know we would, he'd be great here. He used
some words you probably shouldn't have used. That may people
made fun of as far as that I don't know
Brown never gives up or something like they're never quits,
(14:23):
which we know he has. He meant it a different context,
but that some of them people in the media had
fun with that. I just think, Mike, if I'm a GM,
I'm a coach. No, No, I just I don't want
to deal with it, you know, as a coach, I
don't think. I certainly don't want to deal with it.
I just I don't need the headache he might bring
to my team. Belichick couldn't get you know, he wasn't
bad with them, but it didn't work out there either.
(14:45):
If it can't work out for Bill, I just kind
of like getting into it, Bob Kraft, you know, the
day after they cut him for obvious reasons, He's like
getting into it, Bob Kraft. It's just anyway. Via NFL
Media of the punishment does not include an allegation of
sexual assault and rape made against Brown in a civil
lawsuit file last September. The league apparently is going to
(15:08):
await resolution. This is all via Pro Football Talk and
Mike Florio. The league will await resolution of that lawsuit
before making a decision as to whether further punishment is required,
which obviously can do but also not will not place
Brown the Commissioner Exemption exempt list if he signed before
the civil lawsuit results in a vertict, dismissal or a settlement.
So a lot there. Uh, that's the bottom line. He's
(15:32):
out for the first eight weeks of the season or
the first eight games of whatever team chooses to sign him.
I think Tampa is one of those teams that's absolutely
still looking at him, even though Bruce arians said no,
go um. The Ravens are one of those Seattle. It
makes the most sense for Seattle from a football standpoint.
(15:55):
I really think it makes them a really legitimate threat.
I think Jamal Adams helps. I think Antonio Brown makes
them better than the Niners possibly. I think that's the
kind of difference maker it could be. He could be
if they went more vertical with him. But I don't
know if Pete Carroll is going to do it. I
don't know. I agree with everything he said, right, I
(16:17):
think he's going to Tampa. They don't need him, right,
they just don't need another You've got Evange, you got God,
when you got grond Cows, you just don't radio won't
leave it alone' leave it alone, Brady, I mean, you
just don't need it, and it's it's just I think
it hurt the team more because I think Evans and
God would be upset about it. We don't need this,
you know, you're taking away cats, taking away full you know,
food out of my mouth, of my conscientt and my
(16:37):
numbers here. So I don't see him going there, even
though Brady keeps stumping for it. I don't think Hard
was going to deal with it. But Brown, I just
don't see that happening either. Seattle does make the most sense.
They need his kind of player, Cayle's stronghead coach, Russell Wilson,
one of the best quarterbacks in the league. But I
keep going back to that Cattle says a lot of things,
but then it doesn't follow through, you know, capite he
(17:00):
Brooke Kaptnick, Oh, I should have signed Cabinick. Yeah, but
you didn't. You know that sort of thing. You'll say
all the right things, but then you won't do it,
you know. So I don't think he's going there either.
I think you'd have a tough time finding any team.
I can tell you this as a Cowboy fan, I
am very thankful that they are loaded at wide receiver
because Jerry Jones would definitely take a shot. If the
(17:21):
Cowboys had the receiving group they had two years ago
before Cooper right down Broadway right, he would definitely take
a shot. I don't think there's any doubt about it.
And it's funny because as I was rolling through the teams,
in my head, I was like, man, if there was
a spot, they'd be looking at it. But the Cowboys
are actually loaded at wide receiver. Whether or not you
think they overpaid Amari Cooper, they are loaded. Ceedee Lamb
(17:43):
fell to them, and they got Michael Gallup who had
a good season there last year. I'm gonna come back
to a little bit more news and notes regarding certain players,
including somebody that did end up in Tampa. MIKEA and
George Back on FFC. Get on the Grid. We'll be
right back. Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment
at your fingertips as our team covers the most important
(18:06):
topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
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the Grid Sports grid dot Com Back on the Grid,
Football Full Circle. Mike and George, welcoming in our radio audience.
Thanks for listening to us. And we're getting into a
(18:26):
little bit of news and notes here regarding the NFL. Obviously,
this whole show is really dedicated to NFL news and notes,
but some quick hitting stuff here. And it is that
time of year, George, We're in August. It's that time
of year where you like to say, how do we
know when a coach is lying? When is the lips
are moving? So we do our best to sift through
(18:48):
what the coaches are telling the reporters and then trying
to figure it out from there. You had a note
during the break we were talking about how it is
going to be a little bit more difficult for us
to get some news this here. Correct. Yeah, I mean
the reporters are not gonna have the access they normally
have because of what's going on with the pandemic and COVID.
(19:09):
You know, they're not could be all over the locker
of all over the practice fields. Uh. And I think
I don't think. I think professional sports sort of like this,
by the way, I think they might use use this
as an excuse even when the pandemics buy us to
you to have I guess loosen the access and uh,
I should say tighten the access reporters after the team here,
I think they might just mighte come on for a
(19:29):
few years yet, which is silly by the way. Yeah,
they're gonna reports of things you don't want report, but
they also bring publicity to your game and the reasons
why p media members have fought for so long to
get the access that they have. It's it's it's probably
not a good idea of NFL teams, but I do
think this is coming for a little bit here that
we're gonna see this uh play out not the way.
Not fan friendly, That's really what it comes down to.
(19:51):
It's not fan friendly. If the reporters don't have accident,
we can't you know, we can't read stories, see highlights,
certain highlights of practice games of the I think it
is well, I shouldn't say that. As far as I know,
it is to l A teams, correct, I haven't heard
it canceled. It's supposed to be the two l A teams.
But how can it happen? How can you have that
those that kind of access in this environments League sponsors, Yeah,
(20:15):
I think that's really what they want. It's not a
it's it's like a league sponsored HBO partnership, right, So anyway,
Uh so that that's going to restrict access. But we
are getting some quotes, some good, some I'm not so good.
But generally, when the coaches are talking, they're being effusive
(20:35):
with their praise of said player. Uh. And this one
is a guy that George and I both like for
this season. I'm particularly on board in terms of his
fantasy value this year. I think he could be a
league winner. And that's Will Fuller. Bill O'Brien. This is
via Aaron Wilson, Houston Texans reporter for the Houston Chronicle.
Excuse me, Bill brian on wide receiver Will Fuller, who
(20:57):
has recovered from offseason growing surgery. Quote. Excited about having
him for sixteen games. He looks as good as he's
ever looked. How about fat head? Coach says he's as
good as he ever looked? Shocker, George, Yeah, that never happens, right, Uh?
What else is he gonna say? I mean I always
find that kind of funny. What else they're gonna say?
Oh man, these guys terrible? Alright? He reported into the camp.
(21:19):
He's like forty eight pounds overweight, he can't run, he
can't cut, he can't do anything. Of course they're not
going to say that. But it's also why during the
break you and I laughed a little bit, because you know,
when you do here report of negativity and it's just
slightly negative, all of a sudden that raises the red flags.
D'antanna goes up, what what he said? What about this
guy in August? You know? Uh? And I always wonder,
(21:41):
once again, is it true? Is it a motivational ploy?
You'll give hm a kick in the buddy and let
you go, Hey, stop stuffooling around here. We gotta get serious.
So I always wonder about that. But I always as
it's the negative stuff, and I I don't think it
because I'm a negative guy. I'm not trying to be
negative net here. But I always pay much more attentionive
and negative stuff, Mike than I do the positive stuff. Yeah,
(22:01):
I think that's fair. I think most of us would
have to do that logically, because the coach is going
to hide even if he feels negatively about a player,
most coaches will take the time to put them in
a positive light. There's obviously different scenarios where that might
not happen, but generally those relationships fizzle out quickly. So
(22:21):
in terms of will Fuller this year, look, he has
an injury history that everybody is well aware of. He's
now effectively the number one wide receiver. You could argue
that Cooks is. I would argue that Fuller is because
he's been in the system. He's worked well with Deshaun Watson,
even in a limited number of games to where he
should have played, and I do think he has a
(22:43):
lot of abilities. Is shown himself to be explosive. The
injuries are really what's gotten him George. It has not
been him failing on the field in my opinion, and
DeAndre Hopkins was obviously a much more reliable targeting He's
a better player than nobody's arguing, uh, the reverse of that.
But um, I just think Fuller is a guy with
(23:04):
the Texans, I think pushing the ball down the field
a little bit more than they have in the past.
I think they'll be in a little bit more of
a need for scoring. I don't know if the defense
is going to be quite as stout as it's been
in the past. That's sort of my thought process. That
doesn't mean I have all the data to back it up.
But I just feel good about Fuller going into this
(23:24):
season if he can stay healthy. Yeah, I mean I'm
looking at his numbers here now, the bugaboo has definitely
been health right. I mean for four NFL seasons, he's
missed games every season, uh two, six, nine, five. I
mean that's an issue. I don't a doubt that's an
issue he does when he plays. It's a lot of
(23:44):
games in four years. That's six and a half games
of season that this is not good. I can't it's
not gonna get it done. He's gotta play it do
better than that. I think he's an interesting players. I
would agree with you. I think he is the number
one wide receiver. You know. I understand they have a
lot of name guys here, Brandon Cooks, Cob Stills, all right,
but Cooks is another guy can't can't stay healthy for
(24:04):
any really length of time here, And I think cook
is gonna be the guy that Houston is going to
use to blow the top off the defense, get that
safety to play over the top there so that guys
like Fuller Cobb have more room to roam here. David
Johnson coming out of the backfield that's yes, it's time
(24:25):
NFL standards. Uh. But I think everyone's sort of in
a perfect world here. I think they all have their roles.
You know, Fuller is your is your wide receiver. Here
a guy can go deep short in the media every
anyway you wanted to go Cooks, the deep guy, Cobb
is your slot guy, right and it Steals is somewhere closer,
probably the Cooks than the Fuller. As far as another
deep guy. Yeah, home run here, that's that's actually a
(24:47):
very good term. I like it. So I do think
Fool is the number one guy. And you know what
I do worry if this is another Smith shooes the
situation and what I mean by that is the number
one guy's gone. Antonio Brown left the Steelers. I was it,
as you many times that Smith Shooter wouldn't have the
kind of year because a sudden he's gonna face number
one cornerbacks, He's gonna face safe, He's at the top,
(25:07):
he's gonna face defense is worried about him. We didn't
get to see that last year. He goes to the
injury and the fact that steel said no quarterback on
a tangent. The two players that I constantly think about
whose evaluations were really important last year that got put
that got completely paused are Juju and Sam Donald because
it's like, all right, we gotta do this all over again.
I don't really know what happened last year. Everybody got hurt,
sick and had bad play around them. So it's like
(25:31):
a reset button. It is like, and you we'll see
what's gonna happen with Smith Shooter this year. Uh Donald
Ial Jets. I don't know what the Jets do. We'll
see what those two number one picks bringing a couple
of years. Nice tease for for the next segment with
Brian Costello. I'm a professional, Mike, I'm a professional. I've
forgotten about the segment move up ran. But that being said,
(25:52):
I do think that this the wide receive. A group
of the Texans is a solid Groupie you look at this.
I just wonder this all right, and this is good
those for Fuller. What separates Hi from Smith Schuster is
that Steels didn't have a lot else going on beside
Smith Schuster right Washington at that time, wasn't anybody all
that great. The Texans do have other options. You might
(26:13):
see a defense go you know, what full is good,
But I don't want Cook's blow on the top off
and getting you know, seven yard touchdown. Can't have that.
Let's put the stay at the other on top here.
We'll keep one on one on one and Fuller is
the old theory, you know, death by a thousand paper
cuts rather than the big job gunshot wound. So I
wonder that plays him too as well. Cobb could be
a threat. He's mentioned Stills can be a threat to
if you're going forward wide receiver. Set more guys to
(26:34):
worry about here. So I do think as long as
full I could stay healthy, he'll have a good season.
The problem is you when you play the old over
under game. He's averaging six and a half games missed
the season. What's the overrun done games? He plays eleven
eleven and a half in a sixteen game season, and
I would stink if he missed another quarter of the season.
(26:55):
If he played like eleven or twelve games out of sixteen,
that would not be what I'm looking for. But because
his injuries have been nagging to it's not like he's fine.
After the four games are over, He's probably gonna come
back hurt. You know, that's that's what you're worried about. Anyway,
draft will Fuller he heard it here. First. If he
gets hurt, don't say I didn't tell you that was possible. Uh.
(27:16):
Next one, Ralph Acciano from s n Y reports um
that Joe Judge said, tight end. Evan Ingram has been
out on the field doing some work. Obviously he wasn't
placed on pup but Judge said basically, quote, we'll see
on how quickly he'll be ready to go full good
news is he's not on the pup list. He can
get out there. He's not gonna be a six game
(27:38):
start to him, be on the on the pup or
the I R or whatever. And here he is Liz
Frank injury though big, bigger player. Obviously those can be
tough to heal. But whenever a player, whenever a coach
is not effusive with praise, as I said earlier about
somebody at this time of year, I'm concerned. Yeah, once again,
(28:00):
what did I say? Well, when do I get worried
when I hear negativity, anything that's negative, I get concerned. Here, Uh,
as Evany gre was a guy, I believe in, Mike,
I believe in the talent, that's what I should say.
I think the talent is there. I think the Giants
are gonna have to throw a ton of this season
to stay in games here, h I mean that they're
not a good team. They're gonna have to throw the ball.
There's plenty of all they passing to go around. It's bad.
(28:24):
I granted Nate Soldier just left. Maybe you're gonna get
Daniel Jones killed this year. We'll see what happens there.
But he's another guy can't stay on the field, you know,
And I wonder this, you know, I just just came
to my mind. Dear Fantasy football, if you're thinking about
drafting any of these, but Will Fuller comes in mind
here as well. Should you be staying away from guys
(28:44):
that get hurt all the time, because I don't know
what the rules are going to be in your league.
But if you don't, if we only played twelve weeks
this season, we don't get to the playoffs, your league
might have a rule where we switched to a points league,
which you need points. I don't know if I want
to have a god guys on my team, they get
hurt all the time. Now I missed, you know, weeks
fourth through eight, and I'm county on the return for
the Fantasy playoffs, but there might not be a Fantasy
(29:04):
playoffs this year. Yeah, yeah, I mean that those are
complications which you're gonna have to work out with your
commissioner potentially calling this if the season gets called. You
have to have a certain amount of games played, um,
as well as adding at least one extra I L
spot or I R spot, however you'd like to phrase it.
I think you have to make it unlimited this year. Um.
(29:27):
That gets dicey though, because it really eliminates strategy. I
think you do have to have at least a couple
of slots though, for guys that are on the COVID list.
So anyway, Evan Ingram's first three seasons he played eleven
He played fifteen games, eleven games, eight games, so he
missed half the season. Last year, he caught sixty four
passes forty five passes forty four passes. His yards per
(29:50):
catch have come down each year. He's got a total
of twelve touchdowns, so obviously they're gonna come down when
he's playing less games. So that's the impact of those
numbers there. I'm not waiting around anymore, dude, Like, sometimes
you gotta cut bait on guys, and I think every
Ingram is a guy that I'm cutting beat on. I'd
rather have Golden Tate or Sterling Shepherd this year and
(30:12):
in years to come. Georgian and I'll come back with
Brian Costello The New York Post to talk about the
Jamal Adam Street Sports grid dot Com betting insights and
entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more want the edge than get on
the grid. Sports grid dot Com Welcome back to Football
(30:38):
Full Circle and with us today we have Brian Costello
The New York Post. He's the New York Jets beat
writer for the Post and appears on w f A
N in New York regularly. First of all, Brian, thanks
for being on the show. And secondly, it's obviously been
a really big week for the Jets. They are in
the news in the NFL in a really interesting way,
(31:01):
trading off one of their biggest assets for quite a halt. Yeah,
it's been quite a week. I expected some quiet days
leading into training camp, but they didn't get them. Um,
you know, obviously you can even go back a week
and a half when stuff came out about Wody Johnson
overseas and the allegations against him, and then Jamal Adams
was forcing his way to the town and he got
(31:22):
his wish on Saturday afternoon. You know, obviously this has
been a story all offseason about what the Jets were
gonna do with Jamal and whether they were going to
give them extension or not. Then it became whether they
were going to trade him or not. On for me,
you know, I just I never thought they'd get the
package that they got from Seattle, So I thought they
probably wouldn't would you know, have to wait a while
the trade and maybe even to the deadline in October
(31:43):
to get a deal that they liked. So I was
just stunned, you know when I saw that what they
got for him, and I think, um, you know that
that made it a deal that they really couldn't say
no to. Yeah, Brian, I don't think anybody could argue
that the Jets got a good package in return. I'm
sarious as far as you know, Deeed Adams force his
way out did that did him roasting the team? Really, uh,
(32:06):
move this along? It was this work. Do you think
this was in the works for some time now? Uh, well,
he's been roasting a team for some time. So in
terms of like what he said in that article last
week about Adam Gates, the deal was done before that,
the deal was agreed to. From what I understand, they've
been talking for a few weeks. The initial offer was
not as great as what they've got at sometime the
(32:27):
week before the trade was made, Seattle offered the second
first round pick, and that's when the Jets were like, Okay,
this is something we really have to consider here, and
you know, hard to turn down two first round picks
and the player they get, a player that can they
plug into McDougal and the third round pick. So, but
the salary cap was still in flux, so for see,
(32:48):
from Seattle's perspective, they wanted to sign if they're gonna
sign them out to a contract, which it sounds like
next year they might do that. They wanted to know
what the two one salary cap would look like, because
remember there were reports out there that the cap could
drop by seventy million dollars and things like that. So
when the cap got settled Friday afternoon, they agreed to it. Um,
that's when this deal kind of came together. And you know,
(33:11):
they ironed things out on Saturday and made the deal.
So in a way, he shot himself. He just shot
his way out of town because he if he had
never made waves through May in June, they wouldn't even
consider trading him. But it wasn't like what he said
Friday about Adam Gates was like the final straw. They
had agreed to this deal before that article even came out.
With My thing is, I was surprised Seattle didn't come
(33:32):
back after that article came out and said, no, I
think we're gonna pull one of the first round picks,
because why don't you guys bring this to training camp
Tuesday and see how that goes. Like Seattle had some
leverage there that I don't think they really used, and
they jest should be thanking them for that. I tend
to agree. He sort of rolled the grenade into the
middle of the locker at the Seattle said, no, no problem,
(33:52):
we can deal with it. So and uh so, again,
as Brian Costello of The New York Post, you find
him on Twitter at Brian case CEO Z and to
recap the hall that we're talking about, Jamal Adams and
a fourth round pick in two go to Seattle. Seattle
brings back to the Jets. Trades back to the Jets.
Bradley McDougald, who is a safety that can plug in
(34:14):
right away, but it's in the final year of his contract.
First round pick in third round pick in the first
round pick in two, so quite a bit. It's obviously
um official now that the physicals, as you stated on Twitter,
officially official with the physicals having being passed. But you know,
I thought it was really pointing at what you wrote
in thinking your three major thoughts that came from this situation,
(34:39):
that the word that you said you kept coming back
to was that it was sad. Jets fans love Jamal Adams.
He played great, he was a he's the he's the
one of the Frankly, I wouldn't call it rare, but
he's one of the guys that returned an extremely high
draft pick and value. Yeah, I'd call it rare. I mean,
look at the last ten years that there's not there's
(35:00):
not many guys on this team that they drafted and
worked out, Um, you know, so he yeah, and I
just think back to like when they drafted him and
the story was, oh, you know, he fell to the Jets.
No one thought he'd be there, you know, which happens
a lot. But they were very excited. I mean, they
were genuinely excited when they got Jamal Adams and they
felt like, not only would he be a great player,
(35:22):
he'd be a culture changer. And you know, the Jets,
the Jets have tried to change culture plenty over the
last ten years and it never seems to work. And
they felt like this was the guy that was gonna
do this. And he really embraced the Jets and Jets
fans and all that stuff at first. So to see
him go out like this just torching the organization, the
(35:42):
fans really not feeling, you know, hating him, and a
lot of stuff on social media. It's just it made
me sad, like it makes it. It makes me sad
when you think about it. It's like you just, um,
how did it get to this point? And you know,
we talked about the Hall. It's a good trade, you
know for the Jets and what they got, but it
should have never gotten to that point. They should just
you know, just you wonder how how it got to
(36:04):
this point and where things went wrong between him and
the Jets. Right, I have uh two point question, I
really one for each team here. Were you surprised that
the Seahoaks didn't have a contract ready for Adams to
resign them? Are they sort of making the same mistake
here the Cowboys are made with the Marie Cooper where
now the player is going to have all the leverage
when his concred does come up in a few years
(36:26):
to get really whatever contract he wants. And also, why
didn't the Jets view that Jamal Adams was worth a
long term contract? Is it because he plays safety and
some teams don't view that as an important position? Why
didn't Adams get the deal he wanted from the New
York Jets. Yeah, so from the Seattle perspective, it's kind
of weird. It's become a trend now where these teams
make these trades without deals. Like I I remember the
(36:49):
Jets were in the Khalil mac discussion for that trade
back then, and I remember thinking and writing like this
is tough because the team has to get up draft
picks and they have to give him a big contract,
so it's like a big commitment. But now we've seen
you know, you mentioned to Marii Cooper, but Jalen Ramsey
got traded without a contract, Laramie Counsel got traded without
a contract, and then Council has cashed in, you know,
getting I was twenty two million dollars a year or
(37:11):
something like that in the contract. So you're right, they've
got they've got leverage. Jamal has leverage with this thing
now because they gave up two first round picks. So
it's a strange decision to me why these teams are
doing this. I can't really figure out why. I mean,
it's resulted and we're getting a lot more star players traded,
which is kind of fun for the league, but it's
a weird trend. As far as the Jets, I think
(37:33):
their thing was, um, you know, when you draft a player,
you feel like you have them on a cost control
contract if they in the case of a first round pick,
for five years, but at least four, and I think
they would have done until next year with Jamal. They
looked at it as there was there's only three defensive
players who has gotten a contract after their third year.
(37:54):
J J. Watt, Luke Keikley and then Myles Garrett just
became the third since the cb A went to Affect
in two thousand and left him. So they was kind
of saying, well, this is kind of you know, not
a president. We want to set here where defensive players
get this after three years. Now, they might feel differently
next year with Sam Donald if he has a good year,
to give him a contract after three years. But I
do think they were kind of hung up on that
(38:16):
um and then when uh, the pandemic hit. I do
think that's part of this is that teams don't know
what the financial future looks like and they weren't going
to commit to a long term contract to a guy
UM with that. But the bigger deal to me was
I think the Jets felt like, you know, we drafted
you with you know, within mind that we're gonna be
at least four years of you at a low price,
(38:38):
the fifth year options a little bit higher um, but
you know they didn't want to do a deal after
just three years. Right. So there's two major questions I
want to ask. I'll go the way of Joe Douglas first,
because you in your second article regarding this, it was
really a Joe Douglas interview where he was going through
the paces of this trade, and he was very specific
(39:01):
in saying that there was no contract discussed with Jamal
and his team. George and I had reviewed jamal adams comments,
taking them as such in that he felt like he
was promised and then it was taken off the table.
It's got to be impossible for you to really sift
through that, but they're just add odds as to what
(39:21):
happened there. Yeah. So yeah, Basically, Jamal says he was
promised the contract offer and the Jets say they never
promised him a contract to offer. Um, you know, you
gotta in my job, you kind of have to evaluate
what people tell you and try to use logic and
see if it makes sense. And to me, I don't
know why the Jets would promise him a contract offer.
(39:41):
That's what I keep coming back to. I don't know
why any general manager on any team would promise a
player or contract offer. There's no need to give him
the contract offer. I think it's just about to say
that unless it's ready, don't say anything about it. I
think Patrick Mahomes might be an exception to that rule.
Like after in the glow of the Super Bowl in
the locker room, Brett each might have said, hey, we're
gonna pay you Like I get that, but now you
perstand the time, it makes no sense. Why would a
(40:03):
general manager ever say that. I don't think Jamal is
lying necessarily. I think what happens is the GM talks
to the agent, the agent talks to the player. It's
a little bit of a game of telephone, you know.
I think maybe the message got a little misconstrued. I
also think Joe Douglas said some things publicly that I
took as a contract offer was coming, and maybe Jamal
did too. When he when you say I wanted to
(40:24):
be a Jet for life in February, I can understand
the player thinking, Okay, I'm going to get a contract
he wants me to be like now, Joe Douglas would say, well,
I never said that meant a contract now, like I
could that come in a contract next year? So and
then he said right before the draft he said that
they were going to have discussions with his agent after
the draft. Again, that to me says, okay, we're gonna
(40:46):
start talking about a contract. So I understand maybe where
Jamal got that misconstrued, but I do. I don't think
the Jets ever promised him a contract extension. You know,
he is part of this train. We all know that
Jets too, Number ones, number three. How about Bradley McDougald.
When I talk about no one's really talking about Bradley.
(41:06):
What kind of players in the Jets get here? Yeah,
I think they got a solid starter, you know, from
everything I've talked to people about. Um, you know, he
had a really good game I guess against the Eagles
and the playoffs I've heard, and you know, he's consistent
starter for the seat for Seattle for a couple of years,
and obviously they have a good team, so he's he
can be a starter. And we talked actually talked to
him on a Zoom call today and he seems like
(41:27):
a you know, a pretty energetic guy. He's enthusiastic about
being with the Jets. Uh. They're the Jets are excited
to have him. They think he's gonna be good in
the locker room. He's got a good reputation as a
team guy, so you know, and Greg Williams will figure
out a way to use them. You know, a lot
of pressures on Greg now to make this all work
without Jamal um, But I think the Jets are are
genuinely excited to have McDougald on the team, and he's
(41:49):
not gonna be Jamal Adams, but I think there they
feel like he can be a good starter for them. Now,
I didn't intend to bury the lead, but the the
article that you wrote almost immediately after the trade was
white Jets players won't be shedding tears over Jamal Adams ending.
So is it because they felt it was going to
be a distraction. He seems to be a likable player
(42:09):
as certainly amongst fans and potentially his teammates. So can
you explain a little bit more about what that meant.
I think all guys have guys that liked them and
don't like them. And I'm not saying Jamal wasn't liked
by everyone in the locker room. There are people. There
were people who Jamal rubbed the wrong way. Two years ago,
at the end of the season, you might remember he
gave a speech after the last game where he thought
(42:29):
the Jets needed more dogs in their locker room, and
basically the insinuation was there weren't good players on the
team around and he was the only good player on
the team, you know, and some of the players were
upset with that. And then last year at the trade deadline, um,
it was pretty well known that he was trying to
push his way to Dallas, that he was calling players
um on the Cowboys, saying get me there, bring me there.
(42:51):
That didn't sit well. And after the trade deadline when
he blew up, he said to us the media said,
I'd love to be a Cowboy. I grew up in Dallas.
And you know, a few player said to me, like,
you really say that, Like you know, so there was
a player. Yeah, he runned them the wrong way with
that stuff, and you know he was a bit of
hes a lot about himself. Um, So you know, I
(43:13):
think and then all this stuff all spring ripping the
team on social media and print. I don't think that's
that well with a lot of guys. So you know,
there are guys who are gonna be upset you while
I was gone. He's a very very good player. They
know that, but I didn't. I don't think it's it's
like these locker rooms going to be beside themselves if
they traded Jamal Adams bro We have less than a
(43:33):
minute left here a little quick question for you. Let's
have a little funny and we have sports Creep. We
we may like to make a wager or two here.
If you had to set the over under on how
many NFL games are played this year. What we just
said at that over underferent games played, I probably go, mmm,
like twelve and a half. That's pretty good. That's pretty good.
(43:55):
I think that's my number. Good. I'll take it. Well.
Is Brian Costellos, the New York Jets beat writer for
The New York Post, and he appears on w f
A and regularly find him on Twitter at Brian Coz
at c o Z Bryan. Thanks for Jonny as we'll
talk to you again soon, no problem. Thanks for having me, guys,
thanks for sure. Sports grid dot Com betting insights and
(44:28):
entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than Get on
the grid Sports grid dot Com m hm hmm, you're
(44:54):
watching sportscreen. Get on the back on the grid. Quick
segment here to close out this hour. Just got done
talking with Brian Costell a great job there, he of
the New York Post talking about Jamal Adams and the
fallout there. So George, now, now the Jets mission is clear.
(45:15):
If it wasn't already, there's one guy on the team
that matters. Now there were two. Now there's one. You
want to throw Quentin Williams on there, go for it.
And now, sorry, Denzel Mims, forget the rookies. They matter.
I don't know how good they are yet, but if
they're all great and Sam stinks, then it doesn't matter.
(45:38):
So really, one guy matters. It is often the case
with NFL teams that one guy matters, because that's how
you building a franchise. But that's it. They've stripped it
all down, and Joe Douglas did a good job getting
him some assets he can work with. Denzel Mims. He
signed a whole bunch of offensive linemen, some of whom
are just guys out there. But give me your thoughts.
(46:01):
We're the Jet set. Now this is a good move.
Are they pointed in a better direction now than they
were two weeks ago? Is it a good move? Well,
if you weren't going to sign him long term, then
this is a very good move. You got value a
one one of three and at the very least, uh
a serviceable safety in McDougald. At the very least he
might even be a little better than that. I'm not
(46:22):
saying he's an all pro or anything like that, but
he's a solid safety. So you did well, assuming you
make good draft choice picks, which remains to be seen here,
but you're absolutely right now you need to make that
definitive decision on Sam Donald. Is he the man? If
he's not, that everything has to stop and scratch. Again.
That being said, if it's not nailed down, it gets traded. Right.
(46:42):
If you looking at anybody you can now who's not
nailed down doing what the Miami Dontlins did last year,
you're not going to compete this year. You're pretty much
announced that by trained Jamal outstay and even trying to
compete this year. So if you could trade Levi on
Belle at the deadline for anything, he goes, you don't
want him anyway, he goes, Paraman goes how it goes.
Anybody would go Herndono, Griffin, someone's looking for a tight end, goes,
(47:03):
say anything with defensive players. I would thought anybody that's
not nailed down. You truly don't believe it was a
part of your future. Should be moved for pretty much anything.
I agree Levy on Bells. This is last year in
New York, whether he wants, whether he likes it or not,
he's out of here. The Jets total is six and
a half minus one to the under, so not a
(47:24):
lot of juice yet. Um Is there a positive effect
with Jamal Adams leaving because his teammates didn't like him?
I don't see it. That's your top five draft pick
next to next April. The schedule was brutal even before
they get rid of Adams. Yeah, I don't. I don't
think he's an impact of wind total all that much.
They get to pay Marcus may Now though his counterparts,
(47:45):
so that's a good thing. Thanks for watching this our
football full circle on behalf of Brian Rokowski and George
Kurtz on Mike blew Ittt. Thanks for watching sports crit
dot Com Betting Insights and entertainment at your fingertips seven
as our team covers the most important topics in sports wagering,
real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks, and more
want the edge than get on the Grid, sports grid
(48:06):
dot com, h
Sports grid dot com Betting insights and entertainment at your
fingertips as our team covers the most important topics in
sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks,
and more. Want the edge than get on the grid.
Sports grid dot Com, Welcome to another edition of Football
(00:21):
Full Circle right here on the Grid. Thanks for watching
and listening. Everybody appreciate it. So, George, you're gonna get
right into the news surrounding the NFL, talking all NFL
this hour. We got a interview a little bit later
this hour with Brian Costello of The New York Post
about the Jamal Adams trade or Douglass reaction to that trade.
(00:44):
I think you'll enjoy listening to his insight. So, George
Damien Williams, I wanted to bring up this story first
because George and I we should just tell everybody. George
and I have a little bit of a running joke
that the show should change in its name to Circling
the Drain, because in some ways it does feel like
(01:05):
we are doing that. We're staving off the temporary or
long term suspension of these sports. Baseball second team has
been hit with coronavirus. Their games have been canceled St.
Louis Cardinals. So we understand the for the things that
(01:26):
are are in front of us, the hurdles that are
in front of us in order to complete these seasons.
But in terms of Damian Williams opt out, he was
one of the high profile players that opted out. And
I do think there's a human side to this that
sometimes goes under discussed, uh not reported well enough, and
(01:47):
I think it's important to note why he's doing this.
Nate Solder has a history of cancer, with both himself
and his five year old son, Marcus Cannon was a
survivor of non Hodgkins lymphoma. Damien Williams, the star running
back perhaps robbed of the Super Bowl m v P
by the half billion Dollar Man two touchdowns in the
(02:10):
fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, has opted out this
season and the reason is because his mother has stage
four cancer. He revealed that today he's dealing with a
major family issue. With everything that's going on. Quote from him,
he said this on Sirius x M NFL Radio. With
everything that's going on, she was the only one there
for me. I never had the opportunity to have my
(02:32):
dad there. My mom is my rock, my everything, So
during a hard time like this, I think I should
be next to her every step. Yes, and I love that.
I respect that. I think it's the way most people
should do. You can I understand if you're a Chiefs
fin or you know you d have to Damian Williams
in the third round your fantasy that you're upset right now. Yeah, Hey,
(02:53):
if you're at the Edwards Hillary, you're probably celebrating. But
you know, every player has to do what is best
for them. We don't know what is going on in
every player's personal life about why they are had that
started not to play. I think there are very few players,
especially in football, that are gonna say ah, I want
to hear off, have no other real eyes. Don't feel
(03:13):
like playing your career is so finite or you're not
gonna have a ten twelve year career. Most of these players,
you need to play and make that money. While you
can position right running back, especially right, they don't last
long as it is. Plus, he has someone challenging first
starting job, I mean rightment. He may not be on
the Chiefs next season alright. I think that contract with
(03:35):
Toll so he's still be on the last year technically,
but we all know those contracts are written on paper
none if the Chiefs want to go that way. But
I said, I don't blame these players. You have to
do what's best for you, what's best for your family,
and take care of them right families forever, you know,
So I don't. I'm not angry at Damian Williams on that,
an angry at Nate Solar. I'm not angry at any
of these players are really in any sport that decides
(03:57):
to take the year off. Yeah, we talked about football
in general. I think we're over thirty, around thirty players
right now. They'll be rolling in over the weekend and
that number will concede will definitely go up before Monday,
which is the deadline August three. But I thought it
was important to kind of start out and say, look,
(04:19):
this is difficult for everybody and for those of us
to say, why wouldn't the football players just go out there?
They'll be fine, They're young, guys, are healthy. Well, there's
other reasons. He doesn't want to expose her, and with
stage four cancer, we've seen other football players in the
past take time off. Chris Spielman famously did this when
his wife was battling cancer. He took a year off
(04:41):
in the middle of his career. So I respect it.
I just think it's a really cool story and gives
some insight as to him the person as opposed to
him the fantasy football asset. Absolutely. I think we don
hear a lot of stories about this about players who
opted off of this reason for that reason you mentioned.
(05:01):
It could be a kid, could be your wife, you know,
it could be in this case, a mother in lawns
that live with you, all sorts of things. I also
wonder this, you know, our this really goes back to
baseball a little bit. But we're hearing now that ice
On Diaz is thinking about opting out for the Marlins,
not because of anything in his life, but because was
(05:21):
it eighteen teammates havoc, you know, and maybe he thinks,
you know what, this is nuts, This is just nuts.
I wonder if what's happening baseball is gonna push more
football players out and going. You know what, if one
person gets that, I have a better chance of getting
it already has not worth it. I think it already
has to some extent, right, It's got to have an
impact on guys that have said something this week, perhaps
(05:42):
their decisions were already made. Um, I you and I
discussed that August third deadline. Maybe it's a little too early.
I understand if you're the GM, it can't be September three,
simply because guys walking away right before the season, you
don't have any time to install a backup could take
care of the assignments that he was supposed to take
(06:03):
care of. So from that perspective, I understand why it's
as early as it is. But I would assume baseball
is having some impact on this decision making process. And
I welcome into radio audience to hear your response to that. Yeah,
I wonder what I think. August starts is way too early.
I just do Why can't it be done before final cuts?
(06:24):
Either way, if you have a guy does walk quick
be able to pick up somebody from another team who
got cut at the same position if you want that guy,
Rather than make the why make the player make a
choice which might be an uninformed choice in three days
or tomorrow, you know, why, why not give them all
the opportunities. I wouldn't want a player to say, you
know on Monday, well I'm not sure here, but I'm
gonna I'm gonna, you know, edge on the side of
(06:46):
a caution. I'm gonna opt out when two weeks he
might be like, all right, it was okay, I'm gonna
be all right, I'll play. They won't be available for
those opt out financial deals. I would presume if they
walk away after that. I I think it's difficult. I
understand why it's early, because it gives the team a
better chance of feeling a more competitive team across the board. Off,
(07:08):
Damian Williams walked away right before the season. Hard to
get a replacement that's of his ilk. So we'll come
back after this and talk about Antonio Brown right here
on FFC. Get on the Grid sports grid dot Com
(07:28):
betting insights and entertainment at your fingertips as our team
covers the most important topics in sports wagering, real time odds,
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(07:55):
you're watching sportscreen, Get on the back on a grid
with George Kurtz. Please follow us on Twitter at sports
grid and on Instagram at sports grid TV. George is
at George kurtz Um at Mike Blue, and George gets
the hate mail, I get the niceties. We'll see how
that works out long term. Maybe we switch when the
(08:15):
season starts. I don't know. I don't feel good about it,
but anyway, Uh, news on Antonio Brown. I'll be honest.
I tend to avoid discussing the daily goings on in
Antonio Brown's life. The constant I'm retiring, I'm not retiring.
(08:38):
I find it to be boring because I don't really
believe him every time he says he's going to walk away.
So what's the point of saying something for news sake
when I don't really believe it's true and I end
up being right. I'm not saying I'm a soothsayer. I'm
saying I think the guy talks too much, and a
lot of the things he says just sort of fade away. Right. Absolutely,
he certainly talks too much. Us. We love social media
(09:02):
because it gets it gives us information. But a lot
of players, man, they really need to stay off of it.
It only gets you in trouble. They want they want
to be heard, because everyone wants to be heard, right,
everyone's a talk here. Their voice and he has said
some things that we know he's not gonna follow through on,
and then I've got him in trouble, right. So the
report it comes first via Robert Klemco. He's a staff
(09:22):
writer at the Washington Post. Antonio Brown is being suspended
for eight games for violation of the NFL Conduct Personal
Conduct Policy, beginning where ever he signs, per league's source UH.
To follow up, Adam Schefter says, if Antonio Brown is
signed before the start of the season, he would be
(09:42):
eligible to participate in his club's preseason activities. Brown suspension
would take effect as a final roster deduction on September five.
He would be eligible to return after the team's eighth game.
There was some confusion when this story first came out,
but to to everybody, and if he remains unsigned, he
(10:03):
can return in week nine. So it is for the
first eight games of this season, George. It does not
matter whether he's signed or not. It's not if he
signs then it's eight games. It's the first eight weeks
of the NFL season, or the team's first eight games,
whichever um. He's already effectively served a fourteen game suspension
(10:24):
by nobody having signed him, So you tack this onto
that I sort of put them together. It's a harsh penalty.
But there's a lot going on with Antonio Brown, and frankly,
the book isn't closed on all of it. I don't
know if I'm gonna say I put them together. Nobody's
signed you. Nobody signed you. There was no suspension. Team
could have done it. You made that bet yourself, agreed, agreed.
(10:45):
I'm just saying that he served as suspension by way
of his actions, because he made himself radioactive. Right, that's
what you do when you keep when you give up
with two teams, right, when you screw over the Steelers
and certainly screw over the Raiders and four second, Right,
I'm not I'm not feeling bad for the man. I
thought it would be eight games. Uh, originally we told
(11:05):
about a couple of months ago. I just thought, I'm
just's not trying. I know, using logic with the NFL
probably not the brightest way to do things, but right,
and it's it's really a guessing game. You're gonna give
Zeke six for what he did well, then Brown went
way over that, so it's gotta be worse. He has
multiple multiple transgressions he had to go over. It'll be
(11:26):
interesting to see if a team will sign him. As
you mentioned, it's just the first eight games with the season,
not when he signs. Uh do you want to sign
him for? What's gonna be. He's gonna want some money,
you know, So I don't know what team's gonna have
the cash to sign him. The distraction that comes along
with it. What's he gonna do for eight weeks? Is
he a guy you really want to be out on
his own for eight weeks away from the team in
(11:48):
September and October keeps himself in an unbelievable It's nothing
on the field, he's great, one of the greatest receivers ever.
On the field, it's everything that comes along with it.
Every that comes along with it, I mean a little.
As as as a teammate. I wouldn't want to on
my team alone, because I keep remembering the last game
of the Steelers about the eighteen season, when he just said, hey, no,
(12:12):
you know that was greater. The Steels weren't like you
to make the playoffs anyway. They need a lot of help,
but they needed to win that game first. And he
give up on my team and as a teammate. I
can't forgive that alone. He no showed a playoff game.
It wasn't an actual playoff game, but it was a
playoff game. We all know how this works. They're playing in.
If they won, they could have gotten in. He didn't try.
(12:32):
He didn't show up and try to show up Sunday
morning after not showing up to practices during the week
and said I'm ready to go, and he hung out
on the sidelines in a fancy coat and took off
before the game was over. So he made it easy
on the Steelers. I'm done really feeling bad for him
in any capacity, if I ever was in the first place.
(12:55):
It is what it is. It's the eight game suspension
and per NFL media uh, it covers two of the
three pending items against him, an accusation that Brown harassed
via text message a woman who went public with concerns
about Brown's behavior to si dot Com. And an arrest
followed by a no contest plee on felony and demeanor
charges from earlier this year after an altercation with the
(13:17):
driver of a moving truck. You know, it's there's so
much going on. I don't remember that. I think maybe
I've blocked him out, but I don't even remember the
instance that I believe he didn't pay the guy, and
the guys wanted to get paid and Brown so altered him.
I believe that's what happened there. But there were we
sort multiple things on your whatever social media want to use.
(13:40):
When he was yelling at I don't know who's the
mother of his children or something with children and using
epithets that you just can't use. That does that doesn't
help your case any We're trying to do this, and
even at the end of the said it's only these
two things. Well, of course they took those at the
consideration as well. You don't police officers the whole deal.
That's sort of mean. It just makes you look bad.
(14:02):
It just makes you look bad. I said, I'm as
curious anybody else. I I there's no doubt in my
mind he's a difference maker on the field, right he
could transcend any team. We show Lamar Jackson what we
heard Lamar Jackson this week, pretty much stumping for him. Hey,
you know we would, he'd be great here. He used
some words you probably shouldn't have used. That may people
made fun of as far as that I don't know
Brown never gives up or something like they're never quits,
(14:23):
which we know he has. He meant it a different context,
but that some of them people in the media had
fun with that. I just think, Mike, if I'm a GM,
I'm a coach. No, No, I just I don't want
to deal with it, you know, as a coach, I
don't think. I certainly don't want to deal with it.
I just I don't need the headache he might bring
to my team. Belichick couldn't get you know, he wasn't
bad with them, but it didn't work out there either.
(14:45):
If it can't work out for Bill, I just kind
of like getting into it, Bob Kraft, you know, the
day after they cut him for obvious reasons, He's like
getting into it, Bob Kraft. It's just anyway. Via NFL
Media of the punishment does not include an allegation of
sexual assault and rape made against Brown in a civil
lawsuit file last September. The league apparently is going to
(15:08):
await resolution. This is all via Pro Football Talk and
Mike Florio. The league will await resolution of that lawsuit
before making a decision as to whether further punishment is required,
which obviously can do but also not will not place
Brown the Commissioner Exemption exempt list if he signed before
the civil lawsuit results in a vertict, dismissal or a settlement.
So a lot there. Uh, that's the bottom line. He's
(15:32):
out for the first eight weeks of the season or
the first eight games of whatever team chooses to sign him.
I think Tampa is one of those teams that's absolutely
still looking at him, even though Bruce arians said no,
go um. The Ravens are one of those Seattle. It
makes the most sense for Seattle from a football standpoint.
(15:55):
I really think it makes them a really legitimate threat.
I think Jamal Adams helps. I think Antonio Brown makes
them better than the Niners possibly. I think that's the
kind of difference maker it could be. He could be
if they went more vertical with him. But I don't
know if Pete Carroll is going to do it. I
don't know. I agree with everything he said, right, I
(16:17):
think he's going to Tampa. They don't need him, right,
they just don't need another You've got Evange, you got God,
when you got grond Cows, you just don't radio won't
leave it alone' leave it alone, Brady, I mean, you
just don't need it, and it's it's just I think
it hurt the team more because I think Evans and
God would be upset about it. We don't need this,
you know, you're taking away cats, taking away full you know,
food out of my mouth, of my conscientt and my
(16:37):
numbers here. So I don't see him going there, even
though Brady keeps stumping for it. I don't think Hard
was going to deal with it. But Brown, I just
don't see that happening either. Seattle does make the most sense.
They need his kind of player, Cayle's stronghead coach, Russell Wilson,
one of the best quarterbacks in the league. But I
keep going back to that Cattle says a lot of things,
but then it doesn't follow through, you know, capite he
(17:00):
Brooke Kaptnick, Oh, I should have signed Cabinick. Yeah, but
you didn't. You know that sort of thing. You'll say
all the right things, but then you won't do it,
you know. So I don't think he's going there either.
I think you'd have a tough time finding any team.
I can tell you this as a Cowboy fan, I
am very thankful that they are loaded at wide receiver
because Jerry Jones would definitely take a shot. If the
(17:21):
Cowboys had the receiving group they had two years ago
before Cooper right down Broadway right, he would definitely take
a shot. I don't think there's any doubt about it.
And it's funny because as I was rolling through the teams,
in my head, I was like, man, if there was
a spot, they'd be looking at it. But the Cowboys
are actually loaded at wide receiver. Whether or not you
think they overpaid Amari Cooper, they are loaded. Ceedee Lamb
(17:43):
fell to them, and they got Michael Gallup who had
a good season there last year. I'm gonna come back
to a little bit more news and notes regarding certain players,
including somebody that did end up in Tampa. MIKEA and
George Back on FFC. Get on the Grid. We'll be
right back. Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment
at your fingertips as our team covers the most important
(18:06):
topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than Get on
the Grid Sports grid dot Com Back on the Grid,
Football Full Circle. Mike and George, welcoming in our radio audience.
Thanks for listening to us. And we're getting into a
(18:26):
little bit of news and notes here regarding the NFL. Obviously,
this whole show is really dedicated to NFL news and notes,
but some quick hitting stuff here. And it is that
time of year, George, We're in August. It's that time
of year where you like to say, how do we
know when a coach is lying? When is the lips
are moving? So we do our best to sift through
(18:48):
what the coaches are telling the reporters and then trying
to figure it out from there. You had a note
during the break we were talking about how it is
going to be a little bit more difficult for us
to get some news this here. Correct. Yeah, I mean
the reporters are not gonna have the access they normally
have because of what's going on with the pandemic and COVID.
(19:09):
You know, they're not could be all over the locker
of all over the practice fields. Uh. And I think
I don't think. I think professional sports sort of like this,
by the way, I think they might use use this
as an excuse even when the pandemics buy us to
you to have I guess loosen the access and uh,
I should say tighten the access reporters after the team here,
I think they might just mighte come on for a
(19:29):
few years yet, which is silly by the way. Yeah,
they're gonna reports of things you don't want report, but
they also bring publicity to your game and the reasons
why p media members have fought for so long to
get the access that they have. It's it's it's probably
not a good idea of NFL teams, but I do
think this is coming for a little bit here that
we're gonna see this uh play out not the way.
Not fan friendly, That's really what it comes down to.
(19:51):
It's not fan friendly. If the reporters don't have accident,
we can't you know, we can't read stories, see highlights,
certain highlights of practice games of the I think it
is well, I shouldn't say that. As far as I know,
it is to l A teams, correct, I haven't heard
it canceled. It's supposed to be the two l A teams.
But how can it happen? How can you have that
those that kind of access in this environments League sponsors, Yeah,
(20:15):
I think that's really what they want. It's not a
it's it's like a league sponsored HBO partnership, right, So anyway,
Uh so that that's going to restrict access. But we
are getting some quotes, some good, some I'm not so good.
But generally, when the coaches are talking, they're being effusive
(20:35):
with their praise of said player. Uh. And this one
is a guy that George and I both like for
this season. I'm particularly on board in terms of his
fantasy value this year. I think he could be a
league winner. And that's Will Fuller. Bill O'Brien. This is
via Aaron Wilson, Houston Texans reporter for the Houston Chronicle.
Excuse me, Bill brian on wide receiver Will Fuller, who
(20:57):
has recovered from offseason growing surgery. Quote. Excited about having
him for sixteen games. He looks as good as he's
ever looked. How about fat head? Coach says he's as
good as he ever looked? Shocker, George, Yeah, that never happens, right, Uh?
What else is he gonna say? I mean I always
find that kind of funny. What else they're gonna say?
Oh man, these guys terrible? Alright? He reported into the camp.
(21:19):
He's like forty eight pounds overweight, he can't run, he
can't cut, he can't do anything. Of course they're not
going to say that. But it's also why during the
break you and I laughed a little bit, because you know,
when you do here report of negativity and it's just
slightly negative, all of a sudden that raises the red flags.
D'antanna goes up, what what he said? What about this
guy in August? You know? Uh? And I always wonder,
(21:41):
once again, is it true? Is it a motivational ploy?
You'll give hm a kick in the buddy and let
you go, Hey, stop stuffooling around here. We gotta get serious.
So I always wonder about that. But I always as
it's the negative stuff, and I I don't think it
because I'm a negative guy. I'm not trying to be
negative net here. But I always pay much more attentionive
and negative stuff, Mike than I do the positive stuff. Yeah,
(22:01):
I think that's fair. I think most of us would
have to do that logically, because the coach is going
to hide even if he feels negatively about a player,
most coaches will take the time to put them in
a positive light. There's obviously different scenarios where that might
not happen, but generally those relationships fizzle out quickly. So
(22:21):
in terms of will Fuller this year, look, he has
an injury history that everybody is well aware of. He's
now effectively the number one wide receiver. You could argue
that Cooks is. I would argue that Fuller is because
he's been in the system. He's worked well with Deshaun Watson,
even in a limited number of games to where he
should have played, and I do think he has a
(22:43):
lot of abilities. Is shown himself to be explosive. The
injuries are really what's gotten him George. It has not
been him failing on the field in my opinion, and
DeAndre Hopkins was obviously a much more reliable targeting He's
a better player than nobody's arguing, uh, the reverse of that.
But um, I just think Fuller is a guy with
(23:04):
the Texans, I think pushing the ball down the field
a little bit more than they have in the past.
I think they'll be in a little bit more of
a need for scoring. I don't know if the defense
is going to be quite as stout as it's been
in the past. That's sort of my thought process. That
doesn't mean I have all the data to back it up.
But I just feel good about Fuller going into this
(23:24):
season if he can stay healthy. Yeah, I mean I'm
looking at his numbers here now, the bugaboo has definitely
been health right. I mean for four NFL seasons, he's
missed games every season, uh two, six, nine, five. I
mean that's an issue. I don't a doubt that's an
issue he does when he plays. It's a lot of
(23:44):
games in four years. That's six and a half games
of season that this is not good. I can't it's
not gonna get it done. He's gotta play it do
better than that. I think he's an interesting players. I
would agree with you. I think he is the number
one wide receiver. You know. I understand they have a
lot of name guys here, Brandon Cooks, Cob Stills, all right,
but Cooks is another guy can't can't stay healthy for
(24:04):
any really length of time here, And I think cook
is gonna be the guy that Houston is going to
use to blow the top off the defense, get that
safety to play over the top there so that guys
like Fuller Cobb have more room to roam here. David
Johnson coming out of the backfield that's yes, it's time
(24:25):
NFL standards. Uh. But I think everyone's sort of in
a perfect world here. I think they all have their roles.
You know, Fuller is your is your wide receiver. Here
a guy can go deep short in the media every
anyway you wanted to go Cooks, the deep guy, Cobb
is your slot guy, right and it Steals is somewhere closer,
probably the Cooks than the Fuller. As far as another
deep guy. Yeah, home run here, that's that's actually a
(24:47):
very good term. I like it. So I do think
Fool is the number one guy. And you know what
I do worry if this is another Smith shooes the
situation and what I mean by that is the number
one guy's gone. Antonio Brown left the Steelers. I was it,
as you many times that Smith Shooter wouldn't have the
kind of year because a sudden he's gonna face number
one cornerbacks, He's gonna face safe, He's at the top,
(25:07):
he's gonna face defense is worried about him. We didn't
get to see that last year. He goes to the
injury and the fact that steel said no quarterback on
a tangent. The two players that I constantly think about
whose evaluations were really important last year that got put
that got completely paused are Juju and Sam Donald because
it's like, all right, we gotta do this all over again.
I don't really know what happened last year. Everybody got hurt,
sick and had bad play around them. So it's like
(25:31):
a reset button. It is like, and you we'll see
what's gonna happen with Smith Shooter this year. Uh Donald
Ial Jets. I don't know what the Jets do. We'll
see what those two number one picks bringing a couple
of years. Nice tease for for the next segment with
Brian Costello. I'm a professional, Mike, I'm a professional. I've
forgotten about the segment move up ran. But that being said,
(25:52):
I do think that this the wide receive. A group
of the Texans is a solid Groupie you look at this.
I just wonder this all right, and this is good
those for Fuller. What separates Hi from Smith Schuster is
that Steels didn't have a lot else going on beside
Smith Schuster right Washington at that time, wasn't anybody all
that great. The Texans do have other options. You might
(26:13):
see a defense go you know, what full is good,
But I don't want Cook's blow on the top off
and getting you know, seven yard touchdown. Can't have that.
Let's put the stay at the other on top here.
We'll keep one on one on one and Fuller is
the old theory, you know, death by a thousand paper
cuts rather than the big job gunshot wound. So I
wonder that plays him too as well. Cobb could be
a threat. He's mentioned Stills can be a threat to
if you're going forward wide receiver. Set more guys to
(26:34):
worry about here. So I do think as long as
full I could stay healthy, he'll have a good season.
The problem is you when you play the old over
under game. He's averaging six and a half games missed
the season. What's the overrun done games? He plays eleven
eleven and a half in a sixteen game season, and
I would stink if he missed another quarter of the season.
(26:55):
If he played like eleven or twelve games out of sixteen,
that would not be what I'm looking for. But because
his injuries have been nagging to it's not like he's fine.
After the four games are over, He's probably gonna come
back hurt. You know, that's that's what you're worried about. Anyway,
draft will Fuller he heard it here. First. If he
gets hurt, don't say I didn't tell you that was possible. Uh.
(27:16):
Next one, Ralph Acciano from s n Y reports um
that Joe Judge said, tight end. Evan Ingram has been
out on the field doing some work. Obviously he wasn't
placed on pup but Judge said basically, quote, we'll see
on how quickly he'll be ready to go full good
news is he's not on the pup list. He can
get out there. He's not gonna be a six game
(27:38):
start to him, be on the on the pup or
the I R or whatever. And here he is Liz
Frank injury though big, bigger player. Obviously those can be
tough to heal. But whenever a player, whenever a coach
is not effusive with praise, as I said earlier about
somebody at this time of year, I'm concerned. Yeah, once again,
(28:00):
what did I say? Well, when do I get worried
when I hear negativity, anything that's negative, I get concerned. Here, Uh,
as Evany gre was a guy, I believe in, Mike,
I believe in the talent, that's what I should say.
I think the talent is there. I think the Giants
are gonna have to throw a ton of this season
to stay in games here, h I mean that they're
not a good team. They're gonna have to throw the ball.
There's plenty of all they passing to go around. It's bad.
(28:24):
I granted Nate Soldier just left. Maybe you're gonna get
Daniel Jones killed this year. We'll see what happens there.
But he's another guy can't stay on the field, you know,
And I wonder this, you know, I just just came
to my mind. Dear Fantasy football, if you're thinking about
drafting any of these, but Will Fuller comes in mind
here as well. Should you be staying away from guys
(28:44):
that get hurt all the time, because I don't know
what the rules are going to be in your league.
But if you don't, if we only played twelve weeks
this season, we don't get to the playoffs, your league
might have a rule where we switched to a points league,
which you need points. I don't know if I want
to have a god guys on my team, they get
hurt all the time. Now I missed, you know, weeks
fourth through eight, and I'm county on the return for
the Fantasy playoffs, but there might not be a Fantasy
(29:04):
playoffs this year. Yeah, yeah, I mean that those are
complications which you're gonna have to work out with your
commissioner potentially calling this if the season gets called. You
have to have a certain amount of games played, um,
as well as adding at least one extra I L
spot or I R spot, however you'd like to phrase it.
I think you have to make it unlimited this year. Um.
(29:27):
That gets dicey though, because it really eliminates strategy. I
think you do have to have at least a couple
of slots though, for guys that are on the COVID list.
So anyway, Evan Ingram's first three seasons he played eleven
He played fifteen games, eleven games, eight games, so he
missed half the season. Last year, he caught sixty four
passes forty five passes forty four passes. His yards per
(29:50):
catch have come down each year. He's got a total
of twelve touchdowns, so obviously they're gonna come down when
he's playing less games. So that's the impact of those
numbers there. I'm not waiting around anymore, dude, Like, sometimes
you gotta cut bait on guys, and I think every
Ingram is a guy that I'm cutting beat on. I'd
rather have Golden Tate or Sterling Shepherd this year and
(30:12):
in years to come. Georgian and I'll come back with
Brian Costello The New York Post to talk about the
Jamal Adam Street Sports grid dot Com betting insights and
entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more want the edge than get on
the grid. Sports grid dot Com Welcome back to Football
(30:38):
Full Circle and with us today we have Brian Costello
The New York Post. He's the New York Jets beat
writer for the Post and appears on w f A
N in New York regularly. First of all, Brian, thanks
for being on the show. And secondly, it's obviously been
a really big week for the Jets. They are in
the news in the NFL in a really interesting way,
(31:01):
trading off one of their biggest assets for quite a halt. Yeah,
it's been quite a week. I expected some quiet days
leading into training camp, but they didn't get them. Um,
you know, obviously you can even go back a week
and a half when stuff came out about Wody Johnson
overseas and the allegations against him, and then Jamal Adams
was forcing his way to the town and he got
(31:22):
his wish on Saturday afternoon. You know, obviously this has
been a story all offseason about what the Jets were
gonna do with Jamal and whether they were going to
give them extension or not. Then it became whether they
were going to trade him or not. On for me,
you know, I just I never thought they'd get the
package that they got from Seattle, So I thought they
probably wouldn't would you know, have to wait a while
the trade and maybe even to the deadline in October
(31:43):
to get a deal that they liked. So I was
just stunned, you know when I saw that what they
got for him, and I think, um, you know that
that made it a deal that they really couldn't say
no to. Yeah, Brian, I don't think anybody could argue
that the Jets got a good package in return. I'm
sarious as far as you know, Deeed Adams force his
way out did that did him roasting the team? Really, uh,
(32:06):
move this along? It was this work. Do you think
this was in the works for some time now? Uh, well,
he's been roasting a team for some time. So in
terms of like what he said in that article last
week about Adam Gates, the deal was done before that,
the deal was agreed to. From what I understand, they've
been talking for a few weeks. The initial offer was
not as great as what they've got at sometime the
(32:27):
week before the trade was made, Seattle offered the second
first round pick, and that's when the Jets were like, Okay,
this is something we really have to consider here, and
you know, hard to turn down two first round picks
and the player they get, a player that can they
plug into McDougal and the third round pick. So, but
the salary cap was still in flux, so for see,
(32:48):
from Seattle's perspective, they wanted to sign if they're gonna
sign them out to a contract, which it sounds like
next year they might do that. They wanted to know
what the two one salary cap would look like, because
remember there were reports out there that the cap could
drop by seventy million dollars and things like that. So
when the cap got settled Friday afternoon, they agreed to it. Um,
that's when this deal kind of came together. And you know,
(33:11):
they ironed things out on Saturday and made the deal.
So in a way, he shot himself. He just shot
his way out of town because he if he had
never made waves through May in June, they wouldn't even
consider trading him. But it wasn't like what he said
Friday about Adam Gates was like the final straw. They
had agreed to this deal before that article even came out.
With My thing is, I was surprised Seattle didn't come
(33:32):
back after that article came out and said, no, I
think we're gonna pull one of the first round picks,
because why don't you guys bring this to training camp
Tuesday and see how that goes. Like Seattle had some
leverage there that I don't think they really used, and
they jest should be thanking them for that. I tend
to agree. He sort of rolled the grenade into the
middle of the locker at the Seattle said, no, no problem,
(33:52):
we can deal with it. So and uh so, again,
as Brian Costello of The New York Post, you find
him on Twitter at Brian case CEO Z and to
recap the hall that we're talking about, Jamal Adams and
a fourth round pick in two go to Seattle. Seattle
brings back to the Jets. Trades back to the Jets.
Bradley McDougald, who is a safety that can plug in
(34:14):
right away, but it's in the final year of his contract.
First round pick in third round pick in the first
round pick in two, so quite a bit. It's obviously
um official now that the physicals, as you stated on Twitter,
officially official with the physicals having being passed. But you know,
I thought it was really pointing at what you wrote
in thinking your three major thoughts that came from this situation,
(34:39):
that the word that you said you kept coming back
to was that it was sad. Jets fans love Jamal Adams.
He played great, he was a he's the he's the
one of the Frankly, I wouldn't call it rare, but
he's one of the guys that returned an extremely high
draft pick and value. Yeah, I'd call it rare. I mean,
look at the last ten years that there's not there's
(35:00):
not many guys on this team that they drafted and
worked out, Um, you know, so he yeah, and I
just think back to like when they drafted him and
the story was, oh, you know, he fell to the Jets.
No one thought he'd be there, you know, which happens
a lot. But they were very excited. I mean, they
were genuinely excited when they got Jamal Adams and they
felt like, not only would he be a great player,
(35:22):
he'd be a culture changer. And you know, the Jets,
the Jets have tried to change culture plenty over the
last ten years and it never seems to work. And
they felt like this was the guy that was gonna
do this. And he really embraced the Jets and Jets
fans and all that stuff at first. So to see
him go out like this just torching the organization, the
(35:42):
fans really not feeling, you know, hating him, and a
lot of stuff on social media. It's just it made
me sad, like it makes it. It makes me sad
when you think about it. It's like you just, um,
how did it get to this point? And you know,
we talked about the Hall. It's a good trade, you
know for the Jets and what they got, but it
should have never gotten to that point. They should just
you know, just you wonder how how it got to
(36:04):
this point and where things went wrong between him and
the Jets. Right, I have uh two point question, I
really one for each team here. Were you surprised that
the Seahoaks didn't have a contract ready for Adams to
resign them? Are they sort of making the same mistake
here the Cowboys are made with the Marie Cooper where
now the player is going to have all the leverage
when his concred does come up in a few years
(36:26):
to get really whatever contract he wants. And also, why
didn't the Jets view that Jamal Adams was worth a
long term contract? Is it because he plays safety and
some teams don't view that as an important position? Why
didn't Adams get the deal he wanted from the New
York Jets. Yeah, so from the Seattle perspective, it's kind
of weird. It's become a trend now where these teams
make these trades without deals. Like I I remember the
(36:49):
Jets were in the Khalil mac discussion for that trade
back then, and I remember thinking and writing like this
is tough because the team has to get up draft
picks and they have to give him a big contract,
so it's like a big commitment. But now we've seen
you know, you mentioned to Marii Cooper, but Jalen Ramsey
got traded without a contract, Laramie Counsel got traded without
a contract, and then Council has cashed in, you know,
getting I was twenty two million dollars a year or
(37:11):
something like that in the contract. So you're right, they've
got they've got leverage. Jamal has leverage with this thing
now because they gave up two first round picks. So
it's a strange decision to me why these teams are
doing this. I can't really figure out why. I mean,
it's resulted and we're getting a lot more star players traded,
which is kind of fun for the league, but it's
a weird trend. As far as the Jets, I think
(37:33):
their thing was, um, you know, when you draft a player,
you feel like you have them on a cost control
contract if they in the case of a first round pick,
for five years, but at least four, and I think
they would have done until next year with Jamal. They
looked at it as there was there's only three defensive
players who has gotten a contract after their third year.
(37:54):
J J. Watt, Luke Keikley and then Myles Garrett just
became the third since the cb A went to Affect
in two thousand and left him. So they was kind
of saying, well, this is kind of you know, not
a president. We want to set here where defensive players
get this after three years. Now, they might feel differently
next year with Sam Donald if he has a good year,
to give him a contract after three years. But I
do think they were kind of hung up on that
(38:16):
um and then when uh, the pandemic hit. I do
think that's part of this is that teams don't know
what the financial future looks like and they weren't going
to commit to a long term contract to a guy
UM with that. But the bigger deal to me was
I think the Jets felt like, you know, we drafted
you with you know, within mind that we're gonna be
at least four years of you at a low price,
(38:38):
the fifth year options a little bit higher um, but
you know they didn't want to do a deal after
just three years. Right. So there's two major questions I
want to ask. I'll go the way of Joe Douglas first,
because you in your second article regarding this, it was
really a Joe Douglas interview where he was going through
the paces of this trade, and he was very specific
(39:01):
in saying that there was no contract discussed with Jamal
and his team. George and I had reviewed jamal adams comments,
taking them as such in that he felt like he
was promised and then it was taken off the table.
It's got to be impossible for you to really sift
through that, but they're just add odds as to what
(39:21):
happened there. Yeah. So yeah, Basically, Jamal says he was
promised the contract offer and the Jets say they never
promised him a contract to offer. Um, you know, you
gotta in my job, you kind of have to evaluate
what people tell you and try to use logic and
see if it makes sense. And to me, I don't
know why the Jets would promise him a contract offer.
(39:41):
That's what I keep coming back to. I don't know
why any general manager on any team would promise a
player or contract offer. There's no need to give him
the contract offer. I think it's just about to say
that unless it's ready, don't say anything about it. I
think Patrick Mahomes might be an exception to that rule.
Like after in the glow of the Super Bowl in
the locker room, Brett each might have said, hey, we're
gonna pay you Like I get that, but now you
perstand the time, it makes no sense. Why would a
(40:03):
general manager ever say that. I don't think Jamal is
lying necessarily. I think what happens is the GM talks
to the agent, the agent talks to the player. It's
a little bit of a game of telephone, you know.
I think maybe the message got a little misconstrued. I
also think Joe Douglas said some things publicly that I
took as a contract offer was coming, and maybe Jamal
did too. When he when you say I wanted to
(40:24):
be a Jet for life in February, I can understand
the player thinking, Okay, I'm going to get a contract
he wants me to be like now, Joe Douglas would say, well,
I never said that meant a contract now, like I
could that come in a contract next year? So and
then he said right before the draft he said that
they were going to have discussions with his agent after
the draft. Again, that to me says, okay, we're gonna
(40:46):
start talking about a contract. So I understand maybe where
Jamal got that misconstrued, but I do. I don't think
the Jets ever promised him a contract extension. You know,
he is part of this train. We all know that
Jets too, Number ones, number three. How about Bradley McDougald.
When I talk about no one's really talking about Bradley.
(41:06):
What kind of players in the Jets get here? Yeah,
I think they got a solid starter, you know, from
everything I've talked to people about. Um, you know, he
had a really good game I guess against the Eagles
and the playoffs I've heard, and you know, he's consistent
starter for the seat for Seattle for a couple of years,
and obviously they have a good team, so he's he
can be a starter. And we talked actually talked to
him on a Zoom call today and he seems like
(41:27):
a you know, a pretty energetic guy. He's enthusiastic about
being with the Jets. Uh. They're the Jets are excited
to have him. They think he's gonna be good in
the locker room. He's got a good reputation as a
team guy, so you know, and Greg Williams will figure
out a way to use them. You know, a lot
of pressures on Greg now to make this all work
without Jamal um, But I think the Jets are are
genuinely excited to have McDougald on the team, and he's
(41:49):
not gonna be Jamal Adams, but I think there they
feel like he can be a good starter for them. Now,
I didn't intend to bury the lead, but the the
article that you wrote almost immediately after the trade was
white Jets players won't be shedding tears over Jamal Adams ending.
So is it because they felt it was going to
be a distraction. He seems to be a likable player
(42:09):
as certainly amongst fans and potentially his teammates. So can
you explain a little bit more about what that meant.
I think all guys have guys that liked them and
don't like them. And I'm not saying Jamal wasn't liked
by everyone in the locker room. There are people. There
were people who Jamal rubbed the wrong way. Two years ago,
at the end of the season, you might remember he
gave a speech after the last game where he thought
(42:29):
the Jets needed more dogs in their locker room, and
basically the insinuation was there weren't good players on the
team around and he was the only good player on
the team, you know, and some of the players were
upset with that. And then last year at the trade deadline, um,
it was pretty well known that he was trying to
push his way to Dallas, that he was calling players
um on the Cowboys, saying get me there, bring me there.
(42:51):
That didn't sit well. And after the trade deadline when
he blew up, he said to us the media said,
I'd love to be a Cowboy. I grew up in Dallas.
And you know, a few player said to me, like,
you really say that, Like you know, so there was
a player. Yeah, he runned them the wrong way with
that stuff, and you know he was a bit of
hes a lot about himself. Um, So you know, I
(43:13):
think and then all this stuff all spring ripping the
team on social media and print. I don't think that's
that well with a lot of guys. So you know,
there are guys who are gonna be upset you while
I was gone. He's a very very good player. They
know that, but I didn't. I don't think it's it's
like these locker rooms going to be beside themselves if
they traded Jamal Adams bro We have less than a
(43:33):
minute left here a little quick question for you. Let's
have a little funny and we have sports Creep. We
we may like to make a wager or two here.
If you had to set the over under on how
many NFL games are played this year. What we just
said at that over underferent games played, I probably go, mmm,
like twelve and a half. That's pretty good. That's pretty good.
(43:55):
I think that's my number. Good. I'll take it. Well.
Is Brian Costellos, the New York Jets beat writer for
The New York Post, and he appears on w f
A and regularly find him on Twitter at Brian Coz
at c o Z Bryan. Thanks for Jonny as we'll
talk to you again soon, no problem. Thanks for having me, guys,
thanks for sure. Sports grid dot Com betting insights and
(44:28):
entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than Get on
the grid Sports grid dot Com m hm hmm, you're
(44:54):
watching sportscreen. Get on the back on the grid. Quick
segment here to close out this hour. Just got done
talking with Brian Costell a great job there, he of
the New York Post talking about Jamal Adams and the
fallout there. So George, now, now the Jets mission is clear.
(45:15):
If it wasn't already, there's one guy on the team
that matters. Now there were two. Now there's one. You
want to throw Quentin Williams on there, go for it.
And now, sorry, Denzel Mims, forget the rookies. They matter.
I don't know how good they are yet, but if
they're all great and Sam stinks, then it doesn't matter.
(45:38):
So really, one guy matters. It is often the case
with NFL teams that one guy matters, because that's how
you building a franchise. But that's it. They've stripped it
all down, and Joe Douglas did a good job getting
him some assets he can work with. Denzel Mims. He
signed a whole bunch of offensive linemen, some of whom
are just guys out there. But give me your thoughts.
(46:01):
We're the Jet set. Now this is a good move.
Are they pointed in a better direction now than they
were two weeks ago? Is it a good move? Well,
if you weren't going to sign him long term, then
this is a very good move. You got value a
one one of three and at the very least, uh
a serviceable safety in McDougald. At the very least he
might even be a little better than that. I'm not
(46:22):
saying he's an all pro or anything like that, but
he's a solid safety. So you did well, assuming you
make good draft choice picks, which remains to be seen here,
but you're absolutely right now you need to make that
definitive decision on Sam Donald. Is he the man? If
he's not, that everything has to stop and scratch. Again.
That being said, if it's not nailed down, it gets traded. Right.
(46:42):
If you looking at anybody you can now who's not
nailed down doing what the Miami Dontlins did last year,
you're not going to compete this year. You're pretty much
announced that by trained Jamal outstay and even trying to
compete this year. So if you could trade Levi on
Belle at the deadline for anything, he goes, you don't
want him anyway, he goes, Paraman goes how it goes.
Anybody would go Herndono, Griffin, someone's looking for a tight end, goes,
(47:03):
say anything with defensive players. I would thought anybody that's
not nailed down. You truly don't believe it was a
part of your future. Should be moved for pretty much anything.
I agree Levy on Bells. This is last year in
New York, whether he wants, whether he likes it or not,
he's out of here. The Jets total is six and
a half minus one to the under, so not a
(47:24):
lot of juice yet. Um Is there a positive effect
with Jamal Adams leaving because his teammates didn't like him?
I don't see it. That's your top five draft pick
next to next April. The schedule was brutal even before
they get rid of Adams. Yeah, I don't. I don't
think he's an impact of wind total all that much.
They get to pay Marcus may Now though his counterparts,
(47:45):
so that's a good thing. Thanks for watching this our
football full circle on behalf of Brian Rokowski and George
Kurtz on Mike blew Ittt. Thanks for watching sports crit
dot Com Betting Insights and entertainment at your fingertips seven
as our team covers the most important topics in sports wagering,
real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks, and more
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(48:06):
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