Frank, how are you, man?
Thank you for taking the time. Doing well. How about you?
I'm very well. When you take a look at all the trades that took place today, is there any trade that actually surprised you? I wouldn't say surprised. I mean, the cowboy's trade for Mingo was just totally bizarre and off the wall because I don't, you know, I get it. Mingo's a young guy, he's cost control, all that kind of stuff. You know, he's got some future ahead of him. But the fact that Jonathan Mingo went for a higher price than DeAndre Hopkins or Deontay Johnson is just blows my mind.
I mean, Jonathan Mingo by just about every single analytical measure has been one of the worst receivers of football. So yeah, that was a surprise. There's no doubt about that.
Nothing else completely crazy, I don't think. You know, we kind of built up a deadline day, you know, a lot of deals are going to happen. But the fact is, the deals have been happening for weeks now, and we're just finally, you know, settling in and, you know, most of the teams already had already made their moves, whether it was the Chiefs or whatnot. So yeah, no big, crazy move today, I'd say.
Frank Schwab is here with us from Yahoo. We saw early this morning, the Lions did go out and get some pass rushing help in Zadarius Smith, but we know that there is no replacing Aidan Hutchinson and what he's been able to do, seven, seven and a half, eight sacks in the early portion of the season. It's Zadarius, this is a better option and not bringing in anybody, right?
That's the whole thing, yeah. If your only bar for success for the Lions at the trade deadline was replacing Aidan Hutchinson, well that wasn't going to happen. There's nonsense about like, oh well, Max Crosby or Miles Garrett, like those guys aren't going to trade us. What are we talking about? Like, the problems are not trading Miles Garrett.
That's just silly. So, what did the Lions have to work with? Who could they go get? Zadarius Smith was out there, and that's what happened. I still really, truly don't understand why Chase Young is not a Detroit Lion right now, but the Saints are the Saints, we don't really know what they're doing half the time, so that made no sense to me. They got some pass rushing help, and like you guys said, it's better than sitting pat.
Yeah, just because you can't land a one for one replacement for Aidan Hutchinson doesn't mean you don't do anything. I thought this was a perfectly reasonable move. I thought it was smart for the Lions. I think it gets them closer to the number one seed being the best team in the NFC, maybe making a Super Bowl. Obviously, again, don't replace Hutchinson, but yeah, they're a pretty good player. And that's not the goal of what you do at the trade deadline.
Absolutely. Well, Frank, you did mention the Saints, and we know Marshawn Lattimore is moving on onto the commanders, but the Saints, they have plenty of players. You talk about Chase Young, Cam Jordan, maybe not necessarily move his veteran status. Why do you think the Saints, for what they did yesterday, why don't they go all out? I just think it's a trash organization at this point, to be honest.
They don't know what they're doing. You look at the salary cap hits that they have coming up just to be mediocre. They weren't chasing a Super Bowl, really. They keep pushing all these cap hits to the future to try to go 9 and 8. It was just a mess before the season started. It's a mess right now. They have a long way to go, and they just refuse to look in the mirror and say, we're a bad team. We need to just tear it all down and just take our L's and start again. There's no leadership there.
They're going to be in a bad way for a long time. And the inactivity at the trade deadline. Extending Alvin Kamara, basically taking him off the trade market.
What are you doing? What's the point of that? What's the point in holding on to Alvin Kamara, who at least 29 years old right now, maybe even 30, could have helped a contender, but you just decide to extend him? For what reason?
He's not going to be good by the time you're good again. Stuff like that just makes me shake my head and wonder, who's in charge in New Orleans? Is there any voiceover project in the whole organization? I just think that they've screwed up many, many things in the trade deadline. It was just one of them.
Frank Schwab is here with us from Yahoo Sports. Do you think that's a matter of Mr. Benson being gone and family? It has to be all the way at the top, no?
Yeah, it really is. I mean, at some point, somebody in that room should have practically just said, we need a different direction. What is our direction? Because they have none right now. They've been mediocre for years. They've been chasing mediocrity.
Nobody seems to want to admit they're mediocre, so that's a problem in itself. It goes all the way to ownership and everything else. They fired their coach on Monday, and that's probably a step that had to happen. You've got to do that. What's the point in firing your coach if you're not just going to commit to change?
That's just cosmetic at that point. I wasn't surprised with the things not doing much at the trade deadline, but definitely disappointed just because I think their fans deserve better. Their fans deserve somebody to take charge and lead a different direction for that franchise.
You talk about franchises with new ownership. I mean, the place where Marshawn Lattimore is right now, the commanders with the rookie quarterback are 7-2. Jaden is lighting it up. Their offense is top five, almost three in the entire NFL. What are your thoughts on these commanders and what they could do the rest of the way? I guess I haven't ranked them yet, but off the top of my head the best move of the entire trade season was the Marshawn Lattimore move because it's not just for the now, it's also for the future.
This commanders team has a lot of flexibility. Whenever you have a star quarterback in his rookie deal, which they're going to have for a couple years, you can make expensive purchases. Marshawn Lattimore is not going to be cheap, but he's a really good player. They didn't give up that much to get him.
I mean, highest pick was a third rounder. That's reasonable. He helps them immediately in their second area with their biggest need. He helps them in the future too.
When you start checking boxes for what's a smart trade, that one did it all. It wasn't cost prohibitive. It helps them in the future.
It doesn't change any of their plans in the future. Kudos for that A plus for them. You start looking at this team and yeah, there is some doubt in the back of everybody's mind. Look, I was high on the commanders this offseason.
I had the receipts. I kept saying this could be a playoff team this year. This could be a really big surprise team this year. I didn't expect them to be this good. I didn't expect them to compete for NFC East title, but here they are.
I guess a half season isn't a huge sample size, but it's not a small one either. At some point you just have to say this offense is super efficient. The defense is getting better every week because Dan Quinn is a great defensive coach.
Why can't they win the East? I think the Eagles are going to win the East. I just think they're a little bit better team and the commanders are kind of a year away from that jump. There's no reason really to doubt the commanders at this point. They are who they are. They are one of the NFL's better teams and I don't think they're going anywhere. Just because again, well coached, star quarterback, a team that believes in themselves, has a lot of confidence, a lot of momentum. There's a lot to like about where the commanders are right now. Frank Schwab is here with us from Yahoo Sports.
It's the JR Sport Reshow Coast to Coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You talk about a team. They're always there. They always win. They're always in the space of going to the postseason. I'm talking about the Steelers. They were able to pick up Mike Williams for the Jets. They bring in Preston Smith on the defense.
Incremental moves. This is typical Steelers. They missed out all the big names. Yeah, that's disappointing for them. I guess that, you know, you look back and you're like, why didn't they give the Titans a little more than the Chiefs did for DeAndre Hopkins? That seems like a much better fit to me than Mike Williams who has, I believe it's 12 catches for 166 yards all year.
Looks like his body is just kind of broken down at this point after all the injuries. So you look back and you say, well, yeah, why didn't they give? Because they got DeAndre Johnson back, right?
Because of the trade rules. But there are other options out there that would have been better than this. But I still think that the Steelers are just that organization that they push a lot of right buttons and they deserve the benefit of the doubt. Mike Tomlin is going to get everything he can out of his team. I didn't expect Steelers to be good this year, but they're really good.
And they're another team I don't think is going anywhere. That tough schedule we thought they had at the end of the season, they're not a little tough anymore. The Cleveland Browns being bad. The Cincinnati Bengals not being maybe as good as we thought. So you look at it now and you say, yeah, the Steelers probably needed to do a little bit more than they did, but they did what they could.
They got some help. We'll see if Mike Williams pans out like they hope, because they do need some help with the receiver position. But the rest is looking pretty good for the Steelers. And I don't really think a lot of people have faith that they'd, including me, faith that they'd be leading the AFC North at this point. Frank, you talked about a lot of the trades that took place the weeks before the trade deadline. You mentioned DeAndre Hopkins.
We saw his two touchdowns last night against the Buccaneers. What team do you think actually took a legitimate step forward in becoming more competitive, increasing their chances of winning a championship? Out of all the teams that have made trades over the past month or so?
That's a good question. I probably, I'd have to say the commanders. Like I go back to that and you say, you know, with the Lions, yes, they made the move they had to make. But that did come, you know, after Aiden Hutchinson leaves, so they were just filling that gap.
And the same goes for the Chiefs and Rashee Rice and DeAndre Hopkins. So a lot of the moves were almost reactive where, you know, okay, we lost this guy. We need to replace him.
Let's go get somebody. Whereas the commanders just added a really, really good star player to their secondary, which was a big need. So I think the answer has to be the commanders, but a lot of these contenders made what I think are pretty smart moves. I think the Ravens getting DeAndre Johnson for free, literally for free. Like, I mean, we're talking about a late round pick swap from the fifth to the sixth, a late fifth to early sixth. We might be talking about like a difference of 12 picks that they gave the Carolina Panthers to get DeAndre Johnson, who literally wakes up and he's wide open.
Like, he's one of those guys that just gets open in his sleep. Like, I don't understand why he was so cheap for the Baltimore Ravens. And, you know, a team like that, something like that, that's a move that's going to pay off. And everybody by the end of the year when the Ravens are sitting there, probably is the North champs, is going to say, how did the rest of the league let DeAndre Johnson go to the Ravens for free? And yeah, why?
I don't get that. So I think that the Ravens definitely help themselves, commanders, but a lot of the contenders did well for themselves in this trade deadline. I think that, you know, I think there's a few moves that I look at and I say, wow, that's egregious and dumb other than maybe the Cowboys and Mingo, where, you know, a lot of these teams just made pretty smart moves that don't, you know, don't mortgage anything for the future, but make them better in the present. Last question for you, Frank. Are you favoring these Kansas City Chiefs to 3-P?
Not at the moment. I think the Lions are the best team in the NFL. And if you're just saying, like, you're giving me the Chiefs to the field, I got to take the field. Although it does at some point become this game of how do you beat the Chiefs? They got the best coach. They got the best quarterback. They have a defense that's absolutely stellar. You see these games like last night and you just say, how do you beat these guys? Maybe by going for two, Todd Bowles. But it's, yeah, look, the Chiefs are great. They could win in those two. Well, it wouldn't surprise anybody.
But I'd have to pick a field. And specifically, I think the Lions are the best team right now. But yeah, it's, you know, going against the Chiefs is always kind of a dumb idea.
I'm sure they're going to make me feel dumb in February when they're just winning it again. Well, we'll find out soon enough. Hey, Frank, where can people follow you in all your work with Yahoo? Yeah, best places on Twitter, formerly X, or ex-formally Twitter, at Yahoo Schwab or, you know, one of the best places, our inside coverage podcast three times a week, Sunday night, Wednesday, Friday. We talk about all things NFL. So, yeah, a lot of stuff going on at Yahoo. It's been a fun season and it's going to just get better from here. Hey, Frank, thank you for the time. We'll catch you down the line, okay? Absolutely. I appreciate it.
