It is the JR Sport Brief Show here, coast to coast on the Infiniti Sports Network. We got NFL players who want new deals, we got NFL players who want new contracts, we got NFL players who want to be traded. And we've only had one one preseason game. It's only August 1st, and We got so much NFL news to get into. Joining us right now is someone who's covered the league.
Someone right now covers the league from Sumer Sports. Joining us right now is Lindsay Rhodes. Lindsay, thank you for taking the time to join us. Hey, never a dull moment in the NFL, huh? How about that?
Did you request a trade today as well like Michael or no?
Well, if I did, I would only be guaranteeing that I would stay exactly where I am, because I think that that's exactly where all the rest of these trade requests are going. Yeah, I hear we we heard this yesterday from Terry McLaurin. What are your thoughts on on Dak? What are they gonna do? Wait not Dak, on Mike.
Are they gonna wait until what? The game day or one week into the season to get a deal done? Oh, for which one, Micah or Terry, or honestly, both, right?
Well, yeah, both. What are your thoughts? Yeah, I think in both cases, they get deals done. And well, let me not necessarily. I think they both end up staying where they are.
I think that first things first. I don't think either team can even entertain a trade. Like they're for different reasons, but I just don't think that I think the trade request is literally just: okay, I'm finally pulling out the big guns here. This is the leverage that I have. Um, get it done for crying out loud, right?
Like, I think that that's what we're hearing from both of these players. I think that they're different in the sense that, like Micah, we've seen the Cowboys play this way. This is how they play. This is how they do it. They did it with DAC, they did it with CD, they did it with Zeke back in the day.
Like, they take it up to the deadline and then they go to the top of the market and they pay that guy exactly that. And they end up paying way too much for that person because. If they'd signed them when they could have signed them at the beginning of the process, the price would have been so much cheaper. Like Micah has gotten so much more expensive since this offseason started. Since this offseason started, we've seen TJ Watt, Miles Garrett, Daniil Hunter, and Max Crosby all sign deals.
All of them have gone top of the market. TJ Watts now has 41 APY. Prior to this offseason, Nick Bosa was the highest paid edge at $34 million a year.
So, you could have probably signed Michael Parsons at the beginning of the offseason for 35, just made him the highest paid guy. And based on the things that he said today in his statement, he probably would have signed that.
Now it's contentious. You have to go to the top. There's no hometown discount. There's no conversation to be had there. You got to go over 41 a year.
and 108 guaranteed. And I think that the only question that remains from a trade standpoint is whether or not. Micah doesn't want to be there enough because I kind of believe that he doesn't want to be there based on the things that he's done in the statement. Would he turn down a top of market deal to force a trade? And I kind of don't think that that's likely to happen.
Like, that's literally missing time and rolling a whole bunch of dice, which I kind of think he could. I think he could sit out the whole season and someone would just sign him next year to a top-of-market deal. He's that good. But I don't think that's going to happen. The Cowboys are clearly going to get this done.
They're going to pay. We all know it. Just do it. Terry is different because I think that he sees himself At a value price point, that I think the commander, the commanders just might not see him. If he wants 33 million a year plus, which is what DK got, which is what Schefter's reporting, and I think.
that it's entirely possible the commanders are way off that. Because it just doesn't really make sense from a statistical standpoint to slot Terry. in at that price point. I think I would argue that I don't think it's a particularly great deal of the Steelers sign for DK. And so I get Washington not wanting to chase that.
So that one, they might be really far apart. And I could see that becoming problematic, but they also can't trade him. Because They're they're a team that's going for it right now. Like we didn't trade for picks, like any year where you are trying to win the Super Bowl. Yeah, do it.
Gotta keep him around. Worst case scenario, tag him next year. Yeah, bad idea. Especially you got Jaden Daniels moving into year number two. We saw the success that they had.
Lindsey Rhodes is joining us from Sumer Sports. He's kind of been pushed into the back burner amongst all these talks over the past few days. What are your thoughts on Trey Hendrickson? Apparently, they have to get a deal done as well. What do you think the holdup is there?
I think the holdup is that Deep. probably want to build without him long term. Like he's he's a little bit older. from a pass rush standpoint. He's had These past two years have been very, very good.
Um My guess is that the age is to a degree a the the holdup. Like you want to ideally pay somebody for what they're about to do and not what they have already done. And you're at that point where it's almost like a tipping point of is he going to start to decline now? And so, do I want to lock him up for four years at this age, at this point? And Pay for something that we're not gonna get in terms of productivity.
So I think that that one's potentially a tricky one in that regard. Also, you know, the defense was not good last year in Cincinnati.
So you could make the argument: like, we need a lot of pieces here, right? For on defense. And when he was on the field having an all-pro season, that still wasn't enough to tip us over the edge. Like, we were still bad on defense.
Now, the flip side of that for me is you certainly can't trade him. You take him out of that defense, they didn't make that many changes this offseason from a personnel standpoint.
So, if you think that you're going to be better this year and you're going to lift Trey Hendrickson out of that, like I don't know that I see that either.
So, I think they probably come to some sort of like band-aid deal that's a short-term thing that is not a long-term thing that lets him. Um you know, get paid in For now, but he's probably looking for a new deal somewhere else moving forward, if that makes sense. Cool, Lindsay. You talk about the age of Trey Hendrickson. We got an older, the oldest quarterback still running around out here.
I mean, not Joe Flacco, but Aaron Rodgers.
So far, so good. Things seem good in Pittsburgh. He's throwing flowers at the feet of Mike Tomlin. How long does this last and what do you think this season ends up like for the Steelers? I So, I'll say anything super negative because it, like, I'm just, I'm not.
Aaron's a tough one, right? Like, I think people, he's one of those guys that has a tendency to kind of rub people the wrong way sometimes when he talks. And then the whole going on Pat McAfee and all of this stuff. Like, I think there's a lot that goes with Aaron Rodgers. And at this point, I'm not seeing production on the field that matches What a team has to take on when they bring him in.
His persona is a little bit different, the way he handles that. The word I would use is self-awareness. He doesn't strike me as somebody that has a huge amount of self-awareness about the way that he comes across and what his media. Um Appearances What they do to the team, like what it puts back on the team and what they have to handle as a result of all of that stuff. From a statistical standpoint last year, he did not play well.
And I know some people will make the argument about the jet and the pieces around him. I don't think that there's a way to take him out of that. Like, this is a guy who was 22nd in EPA per dropback. This is an efficiency metric, right? He was 25th in success rate.
He was 34th in completion percentage, overexpected. He was eighth in passing yards. But he also threw the ball the second most time in the NFL. And if you break that down to yards per attempt, he ranked 28th.
So and then you could make the argument that if it was about the offense, well, who had more power? Like they bent over backwards to give him everything he wanted there in New York. And he called the plays that he play that he called, like he could have checked out of them at certain times. He had so much power there, and it went the way that it did.
So I am not entirely like. a huge, hey, go get Aaron Rodgers. I don't think you're necessarily getting somebody that plays at the caliber of the Hall of Fame player that I think he will eventually be and that we will remember him as. I just don't think he's that right now. And I also kind of Heal that.
like DK is a guy, like I said, with the contract, they went really high up for decay. And paid him a lot of money. And I think that he's another guy who's kind of like a borderline. I think some of the stats that we saw from him last year were. Um They don't match the reputation.
I think I would say that. Like he was 71st. percentile success rate. 71% success rate versus zone. Last year, according to Reception Perception, which is one of my favorite websites that tracks wide receiver charting.
And that's the same historical range as like Jalen Rager. In 2020, and Devontae Parker, like, yeah, it's not, it's not good company. Yeah, and I think. Yeah, so I guess this is a very long-winded way of saying I'm not entirely optimistic about the Steelers, but maybe they will prove me wrong and the offense will work great. Lindsey Rhodes joining us from Sumer Sports.
I want to talk about a team also in Pennsylvania on the East side that happens to be the world champion Eagles. There's been a lot of conversations over the past couple of weeks about Jalen Hurts and where he fits in. And is he where he is because of the complete team around him? Cam Newton is not too high on him. What are your thoughts on him and Being one of the top quarterbacks in the game.
I I don't know if I would put him in the conversation for the top quarterbacks in the game, but I also don't think it matters because he is on a team that does put him in that position. Like this is one of those things that feels like a splitting hairs. situation to a degree right like There is For every quarterback in the NFL, save save for a few. I think the environment is so, so important. That was the story of Sam Darnold last year when he went to Minnesota, right?
Was like he was a bust. Everybody talked about him as a bust. And then he finally was in an environment that was good with good pieces around him and a competent play caller and coaching and all that kind of stuff. And we saw. what we had hoped to see from him all along.
So, I think the fact that Jalen Hurts is in a good situation, he's going to continue to be in a good situation. They're certainly not moving on from Jalen Hurts anytime soon. I don't know that it matters so much if he, if you lifted him out and put him on another team, if he would be in the Patrick Mahomes conversation or anything like that, because he's not. He's in the situation that he's in. And so I don't really enjoy those types of things because there's really no way to know it.
Like he is definitely benefiting from playing in an offense where the coaching and the front office and the offensive line and the path catchers and certainly the running back now, like all of it is top notch. There's no way that that doesn't elevate him as well. But there's also, it's really hard to separate him from that because there's so much that really just relies on your environment. Like it all kind of goes together. We know, Lindsay, that they're favored by a lot with that stacked roster to go out there and maybe potentially repeat as champions.
Do you think the Kansas City Chiefs have fallen off? Who are you favoring in the AFC given what we have right now? The AFC, the AFC. Let's see. I mean, I don't think that you can, I would never bet against the Chiefs.
I just would never bet against the Chiefs. I think that Patrick Mahomes, he did have a year that was not Patrick Mahomes-like last year. There's just no way, like even all of the advanced stats that, you know, nerds like me go through that track efficiency metrics and stuff like that. There's, it's really hard to make an argument that he still absolutely was, you know, the best version of himself last year. Although there are ways, I suppose, that you could argue that what they were doing within the offense was just so different and that that affected some of the efficiency metrics.
um like the a dot was super super low Um I mean, you look at the you look at the path catchers going in and out of the lineup and I think that I'm certainly optimistic that if they're able to get Rashi Rice and Xavier Worthy and get these guys on the field with somewhat more consistency this year. that they go back to being the chiefs that, you know. We have expected them to be. But also last year, the way that they were all season long, not particularly impressive, they didn't blow you away and they were in the Super Bowl. Yeah.
I would never bet against them. The Ravens are another team, obviously, that you have to consider as being in that conversation. Probably can just go ahead and punch their ticket and schedule your playoff travel right now if you knew where you were going because Um, they're a fairly well-oiled machine, and Lamar Jackson last year, the steps that he took forward. particularly against the blitz. Like he, he just last year, that was the one area that he really improved.
Like, he became just a monster against the Blitz, which kind of leaves you as a defense in a position of, like, what do we do? How do we attack him? And I don't know the answer, and so that's scary for years to come. Oh, final question for you, Lindsay. No mention of the Buffalo Bills?
The bills also. Oh god. I mean it's very usual suspects, right? Like we know that these teams are But also, those are the teams back to your Jalen Hurts. Those are the teams that do have quarterbacks that are 100%.
Um like they're in good situations. But Daniel Jeremiah, who I think is brilliant, talks about a tractor trailer conversation in drafts. Like when you're looking at a player, is this player a tractor? Are they pulling the team along with them? Or are they a trailer?
Are they like going with, you know, if the environment is good, then they can go along with it? Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson. Patrick Mahomes, Odark Joe Burrow, like there are certain guys in the league that are certainly the tractors, right? Like they are 100% pulling everyone along with them. Josh Allen is obviously that.
And I think as long as you have that guy, And the team will always be in the conversation.
Well we'll see. It's August first. We're going to blink. We're going to be staring at the regular season, but we already got all these stories, these hold ins, these holdouts, these trade requests already all over the place in the NFL. Lindsay, thank you so much for the time.
Please tell everybody where they can follow you, listen to you, all your work with Sumer Sports. Yeah, we just brought the podcast back. This week is the Sumer Sports Show with Sam Bruckhouse, who's one of our data scientists. We have so many scouts, former general managers, former coaches, all that kind of stuff on staff, along with the many data scientists. And so they'll be coming on a week-to-week basis, kind of rotating through with their expertise.
And so that's the Sumer Sports Show. You can find that wherever you get your podcast. All right, Lindsay, thank you so much for the time. Enjoy the football as it starts to trinkle in, okay? Woohoo, you too.
Thank you for having me.
