Mike Sando: Hendrickson/Bengals, Bosa, Sanders/Ward

It is the JR Sportbrief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Not a laughing matter if you've gotten cut in the NFL. Not a laughing matter if your team is trying to put together a contender.

Not a laughing matter if you're trying to figure out what your team is going to do to improve. To talk about some of the things that we've heard, some of the things that will take place in the NFL over the next several weeks and months as the new league year starts next week. Joining us right now is Mike Sando who covers all things nationally, NFL, for the athletic. Mike, how are you? Good, how are you? I'm excellent.

I appreciate the time. So much to get into, but I feel like, and maybe I'm wrong, there are just so many top tier names and free agents and hall of famers. Do you feel that this is a first or am I missing something here?

It just feels so unusual. You mean as far as becoming available or released? Yes, all over the board, yes.

Yeah, yeah. I think that there's no one getting cut in their prime here. I mean, Devontae Adams or some of these guys have entered into contracts to where they're not worth that anymore on the team that they're on. So the Bosa one with the Chargers was rumored a year ago. They were possibly getting close to that.

So I think each one's a little bit different. One of the things I think is a newer extension of things is when the team has a good player and they can't get going on a contract, now it's, hey, go, you have permission to seek a trade. I think that's happening more, even with some guys who, Alan Lazard is not like a top player, but he's even doing that in addition to the DK Metcalfs and Trey Hendricks and that seems to be something that maybe was more of a last resort before. But now the teams are just saying, all right, hey, you're worth so much. Why don't you go show us what you're worth?

Right there. Someone's got to be willing to trade for you and pay it that right. That seems like what's happening a lot. Mike, you mentioned Trey Hendrickson and the Bengals and we've heard from Duke Tobin about how they they want to retain all their big name brand players, both of the wide receivers and boroughs already making fifty five. Do you see it as a reality that that Hendrickson moves on? Because realistically, they can't have all four of them on big deals, right? Well, Hendrickson's 31 and he's under contract. So the deal the question there is how much would they want to pay him on a new deal? I think that's the whole issue that it's not that they wouldn't want to have him on the team. It's just that at what age do you decide not to go to the top of the market?

He just led the league in sacks. Do you feel like you want to go to the absolute top of the market on that now? They are a different team than some others, too, in the way they allocate cash for them. They may be saying, hey, look, we're going to have we're going to have to eventually do a big deal with Jamar Chase to keep him. Now, if we're going to do that, we're certainly not going to do a long term big deal with T Higgins because then we've got to top that. Right. So we'll do the next best thing, which is tag them, which is, by the way, twenty six million dollars in cash this year.

That's expensive. And now you're like, geez, with Hendrickson, we're not doing all these guys. We're not going to have Chase potentially at thirty five million or forty million or who knows what it is. Higgins at twenty six.

And then Hendrickson also after we just saw the Max Crosby deal come in. Right. Are they going to do that? So I think they're kind of in a pickle where they're still the Bengals to some degree.

They're not going to go over the top. They've got to please Joe Burrow, keep him happy. So, OK, we're not going to let his receivers go away. And then Hendrickson's probably sort of a you know, the the odd man out a little bit least likely to get a big raise this year. Mike Sandoz joining us from the athletic talking about another pass rusher. You had mentioned Joey Bosa. We know that he was owed a twelve million dollar roster bonus that he wasn't going to see based on his injury history. What do you think or what do you think is the most likely landing destination for him?

Everybody could use a pass rusher. It's just a matter of whether or not he's healthy. Yeah. So if we assume he's not going to get the deal that he likes.

Right. I think that's fairly, fairly clear that he's not going to get a huge deal. If he was worth that, the Chargers would keep him. So then you get into where would he want to play? Obviously, he's got a brother on the forty niners. You know, these are guys in California that have been in California. You know, so that's the type of place where, hey, maybe the 49ers can it's a place he can go to win, be with his brother if you're going to take less money.

Is that the type of place you go? And maybe it's just a shorter term deal. Well, Mike, you talk about those those forty niners. We know that they've moved on from Deebo Samuel, moved him for pick. Are they working on a big contract for Brock Purdy? Where do you think that Brock, where do you think that number is going to fall in for him knowing that they've had him on a deal for so many years?

Well, their first offer reportedly was at forty five million a year. The top of the market is 60. So I think you do the math and look somewhere in between those. You know, it's a win for Purdy if he gets closer to a 60 than the midpoint of that. And it's probably a win for the forty niners if they keep it on the lower half of the midpoint of that. So what would that put it? You know, he could be in the fifty four or fifty three, fifty six range, you would think. To me, that would make sense for him because he hasn't made any money.

You know, sure, you could press it to try to get 60. But what's the difference when you've made no money? Right. And I think he wants to be there.

He knows it's a good place for him. So I've always thought that could be one that got done for less than the very top of the market simply because of those factors. He hasn't made money before. Hey, Mike, I mean, his salary jump from just a couple of million dollars over the course of a couple of million years, his salary jump has to be it's going to be the biggest in NFL history.

No, I'm I'm thinking wrong. No, it would be because because in the past when we shoot that Colin Kaepernick making hardly anything either. But his deal is worth 16 million a year back in the day. That's not that long ago. But that shows you how far the salaries have gone up.

So you're right. The ceiling's gone up so much higher now that and yet the floor is similar to what it was before. So anyone going to near the top of the market now from nothing is going to have the biggest gain. He just couldn't have replicated that type of a gain back in the day when the top quarterbacks were 30 or 25 million a year. Pretty, pretty awesome for Purdy to go from making like a million a year. Now he's making fifty three tax. Tax man cometh.

Mike, that's a different conversation. Well, maybe you get a trade to a Florida team where you don't have any taxes. Speaking of someone who's very familiar with California taxes, he currently doesn't have a team. His name is Aaron Rodgers. Like what is what is is is he going to hang it up? He's not going to play for a loser team.

But where could he possibly end up? Well, I think there's enough teams that are desperate. You know, when you look at the top of the draft, you've got Tennessee and you've got Cleveland. I think they wind up taking quarterbacks. So, you know, then after that, you're going to have teams like the Giants. You're going to have teams like the Raiders.

You know, some of those teams in there that maybe would need to get a veteran quarterback. And then we'll see what Sandor wants to do. Does he stay in Minnesota on a short term deal? Does he get something longer term somewhere else?

I think a lot of those dominoes have to fall. And for what's different about this season is Rodgers isn't the first biggest domino. He's the biggest name.

But I don't think that he's, you know, as probably as coveted as he's been in the past. And one of the other things you got to work out there is, you know, to what extent is he joining a team versus the team joining him? And when he went to the Jets, the Jets joined Rodgers. It was Rodgers' coach. Nathaniel Hackett comes in. Rodgers' former teammates come in. I think that's not the way teams will want to do it now. Rodgers will have to fit in a little bit more on their terms.

So that's a process too, to see what the fit is. And maybe it takes time for Rodgers to come to that realization too. And Mike Sandor here with us from The Athletic.

It's the JR Sport Reshow Coast to Coast. You mentioned Sam Donald with the Minnesota Vikings. We know J.J. McCarthy is coming off of the surgery.

Sam Donald played lights out out of his mind until the final two games of the season. Do you think it's it's likely that he sticks around with the Vikings on a on a deal or did he kind of we know he chopped his money down at the end or does he just look for money elsewhere? I think it's to be determined. I have felt like he would leave.

OK. And that maybe that's still the most likely thing. But I think he's also somebody who has, you know, knows what it's like to be in a bad situation and knows what it's like to be in a really good situation. So is there a number there where he could come back and do it one more time? From the Viking standpoint, you know, the players on that team certainly know that he you know how well he played that season. They would be kind of taking a chance with a with an unproven rookie who wasn't even healthy last season and J.J. McCarthy. So there's things like that that maybe have to be worked out on both sides. I do see a path where he could come back. I don't know that I would do a longer term deal because I would assume they're still real excited about J.J. McCarthy.

But it's a little more complicated than most of these are. Most certainly. We take a look at a team that's always competing for a championship. They didn't get the job done with a three p. That's the Kansas City Chiefs as they retool their offensive line, understanding that it's it's March. What are your thoughts on on what this team might look like moving forward? It's too early to say they're taking a step back now.

Yeah, it's probably too early to say that, you know, everyone wants them to fix their tackle situation, but it's not like there's a bunch of great tackles out there now. Maybe they you know, maybe they get one. You know, maybe they have some kind of a plan to even trade for one or or, you know, I think Ronnie Stanley's available this offseason. Short of that, they've just drafted a couple of guys, you know, second, third rounders.

You try to develop one of them. Do you go down that road again in this draft? You know, they're doing something. They're obviously going to pay some of their guys on the interior because they got rid of Joe Tooney.

But, you know, I have faith in them having a plan. It's just not easy to find top tier, you know, good tackles when you're picking last in the draft or 31st. And that's what happens when you are when you're winning. Let's talk about the teams at the top of the draft. So many conversations about the Tennessee Titans and whether or not they'll stick around at one or move out of the spot.

What do you think is most likely to happen? I would think they would stay there because they need a quarterback as badly as any of those teams behind them to quarterback. And I just don't know if you have that luxury to say, you know, we got the first pick in the draft. We could have our choice of any quarterback. We're just going to pass.

You know, we'll we got Will Levis and, you know, we're going to bring in Sam Darnold. Right. Is that really. Oh, my God. You know, the way they're going to go.

I believe it when I see it. Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's bad. You you gave me a nightmare there, Mike. Oh, my goodness. Maybe if you're those teams like I was, for that matter, you know, at the combine, one of the big themes was, you know, shooter Sanders, bad impression with these teams, you know, and all that.

And I'm like. You're telling me that the top two teams in the draft are Tennessee and Cleveland and they're not taking quarterbacks. Like those teams in those situations, I think the odds would be quite high that they would. Well, let me ask you and the Giants are picking third.

Well, we know we know they need a lot as well. Having said that, you brought up Chidor Sanders every year. There's a prospect, there's a player. But this guy's name is Sanders that we hear bad things about him, negative things. It's just par for the course and trying to manipulate and get guys to fall down.

I've heard plenty of positive things about Chidor. Then you read negative things about him. This is all just normal.

What do you see? What do you think is the truth? Well, I think he's different than most quarterbacks because of his dad being Deion Sanders. I think he understands how all of this works. And then also, you know, he's also a product of the NIL era, too. And I think so that awareness, I think Chidor Sanders is much savvier about how the league works from a typical quarterback coming in. And we sometimes see like, you know, when John Elway came in the league, his dad, Jack Elway, was a coach. What did he do? I'm not going to the Baltimore Colts. He refused to report and he manipulated the draft to go to Denver. What happened when Eli Manning came in? His dad played in the league, right?

What did he do? I ain't going to the Chargers. So Chidor Sanders, Deion, dad is a coach. Dad is not a quarterback, but he's not just a coach.

Dad is Deion Sanders. I mean, the man, right? Outspoken. And so I believe that some teams or some of these executives that you see quoted anonymously talking about him, they feel a little bit threatened by somebody who, you know, isn't going to necessarily be naive and just, you know, yes, sir. To everybody, right?

Now we know. So there could be a little bit of a fear of, hey, what happens in week three? If he's taken a bunch of facts and guys aren't getting open? Do you think we're going to have Deion Sanders saying, hey, Chidor's got to play better? Or do you think we're going to have it be more like what are they doing? And so I think there's some people who feel like this could be a situation where not only is it Chidor Sanders, but his dad, Deion, you know, is he going to or is he going to get somebody fired, you know, if it doesn't go well early? I think that's some of this.

Well, Mike, let's wrap things up. I want to ask you about one of the teams that Deion played for, and that's down in Dallas. Yesterday, we got a contradiction from Jerry Jones.

Sounds a little normal. He contradicted his son about how aggressive they would be or not be in free agency. You know, last year to think about Ezekiel being the biggest name and what what should we expect more of the same with the Cowboys this offseason or a little bit more? I think probably more the same. You know, I think it's pretty clear what they want to do, how they want to do it. They did clear a bunch of cap space now, but I think that's, you know, just mechanisms of having super high paid guys and redo the deals as they go along, as long as you think they're going to be productive. But, you know, Jerry hasn't been, you know, really pushing, pushing, pushing to add players in the veteran market. And they've done a decent job of drafting and they've generally paid their own guys. And that's what seems most likely to me.

Same old Dallas Cowboys. Hey, Mike, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you and read all of your work with the athletic?

Absolutely at the athletic dot com. Get the app. It's great. You can find me on at Sando NFL on X and just came out with actually a look through the top 10 picks of the draft through the eyes of league executives at the combine.

So that was kind of a fun, fun spoiler. I did put Chidor Sanders going to Cleveland at two. So we'll see.

We'll see, because everyone's all over the place on that. Listen, the Browns need all the help they can get, Mike. I'm just they chose a quarterback.

They went hard for one. And well, that just didn't work out. Let's work out. Yeah, here we go. Well, thank you so much, Mike. Catch you down the line. OK, we'll see you.

Thanks. No doubt that Mike Sando covers all things NFL coast to coast for the athletic. Pretty awesome to hear what what he had to say about Chidor Sanders. He has Chidor going number two to the Browns.

And he brings up an excellent point. When you think about the ability of just his last name and who his dad is, Chidor Sanders can go out there and he can call call the shots. Or is Dion going to go out there and call the shots?

And there's so much more that comes with it. On a Sunday, you know, is Dion going to play the background, you know, following games in Colorado and Boulder? Or is he going to pop up on Sundays? Is he going to be known? Is he going to be seen?

Is he going to let his son go ahead and have the shine? And as Mike pointed out, we've had we've had cases of dads and fathers who are right there for their kids. You know, whether or not they've played in the league in their respective sport or not. I can look at someone like John Moran, his son or excuse me, his dad. See, these guys been kicked out of games on the sidelines. OK, Mike brought up an excellent point.

When you look at someone like the Mannings, Eli, I'm not going to no Chargers. And so, yeah, we can have we can have dads who are influential and maybe sometimes to a fault. I want to talk more about this on the other side of the break. Is Dion going to be good or bad for his son at the next level? We'll talk more about this on the other side is the J.R. sport re-show on the Infinity Sports Network.