Trey Hendrickson on joining Ravens + Falcons GM on QB competition (3/16 Hour 2)

0:00Man, if you can't get excited to play here, you need to check your polls. When you're talking about the ASC North, there's history, it's a nasty brand of football. It's punching in the mouth, and to be on the other side of the ball and experience that, I'm so excited to be in the building and experiencing it now. Oh, I can't wait to punch Joe Borough in the mouth. You know, Joe Borough thought he was avoiding the unholy trinity of TJ White, Miles Garrett, and Max Crosby. Crosby's out. Hendrickson's in. So now he's got a former teammate. This is going to be chasing him around who has been dying for the chance to hit the guy in the red shirt for all these years. Now he's going to get a chance to do it. It really is amazing how things pivoted from Crosby to Hendrickson, just like that. And the idea that they were trying to sign both, really, when you take Tyler Linderbaum's salary off the books, you maybe could come up

1:06with a way to do it. Yeah, I mean, I think when we look at it, it looked fishy at first to go, wait, they sent him Max Crosby home, the knee issues that they get cold feet, and then like you and I text the next morning when they sign Trey Hendrickson, because I had people all around the NFL just going, man, it just seems a little weird when it happened with Baltimore. I think you agreed with me where you were like, yeah, it don't look right. It doesn't look good. But when you know that they had been talking to him, engaging the interests, and we're trying to sign him and Max Crosby together, it makes sense why it came together so quickly. So, yeah, it's amazing. The past rushers in the division that we've talked about, poor Joe Burrow. And I don't know if you saw him. Maybe that's why Joe Burrow, he's hanging out at the in Vegas with Jessica Alba. So he's like, wait, that's a little less intimidating. If she chases me around, I'll hang out with her for a little while to get me ready for the year. It's big news right there. Joe Burrow with Jessica Alba. I'm surprised. I'm surprised. Joe Burrow wasn't at the Oscars.

2:12I hadn't seen that Josh Allen was there. His wife was in centers. Yeah, she's awesome in centers. Was Josh Allen there? No, digs. I don't know. I haven't seen. No, he wasn't there. He wasn't there. Okay. Yeah. Well, she's pregnant. Sean Penn wasn't there and he won an Oscar. I thought I saw that at the end. That was like, where the hell is Sean Penn? So, yeah, I get that. But Joe Burrow, I mean, Jessica Alba, Jessica Alba is kind of closer to my age right there. So he's he's, you know, going after a different, different angle there altogether, Joe Burrow. So, so, so I'm reminding you something you said earlier in the show about. Yeah. Remember that. Yeah. Maybe Joe Burrow is going through that same thing. You're going through. Maybe we got a new millinator in town with Joe Burrow. He's a new one. It's my own fall for continuing the conversation on that point. But, uh, yeah, Trey Hendrickson is motivated.

3:14Trey Hendrickson has lived through the penny-pinching Cincinnati Bengals. He's been frustrated with them for several years. He's seen from the inside how they operate. He knows they're motivated by profit, not by pursuing championships. And now he's with a team that has a championship history and that wants to get another to go with the two Super Bowl trophies they have. Here's Hendrickson on joining the Baltimore Ravens. I'm in a win-now window, right? Being at my career has been phenomenal and I've been so blessed to meet great people and win a lot of games with Drew Brees and Joe Burrow. But this opportunity to hoist the Lombardi trophy and get into the win column and build something from the ground up is is an amazing opportunity. So, a lot of things transpired. I've always been a control what you can control type of guy. And this is a great fit for me and I'm excited for this season.

4:17Trey Hendrickson, 31 years old, got started with the Saints four years there, had a career year in his contract year and parlayed that into four years, 60 million with the Bengals. Now it's four years, one, 12. And he had some extensions, just little band-aids here or there. I think it was that most recent deal he did. Yeah, that's where it was messed up a little. He's outperformed. Yeah, he's outperformed and this is the problem. When you underperform, they tear it up. When you outperform, they say, help too bad you sign the contract. That's where teams can can be penny wise pound foolish when it comes to keeping your great players happy. Always got to be ready to financially reward your best players. Yeah, well, it's tough for that one. And we've had a few other instances like this, even with Max Crosby where he just was like, wait, you just signed the new contract. Like, it's one year and we want a whole new thing already. And I think that's where sometimes it gets a hard, it becomes a hard pill to swallow for an NFL football team. And I get that even though I'm I'm pro player as you know all the way.

5:21But I certainly can see the coach and the team's angle when it's a situation like that. But regardless, he's in a spot now where not only do they need him and we've talked about the Baltimore Ravens and the attitude of their defense, they haven't had that guy that can get after the quarterback and close the game. They haven't been able to really just rely on the front four and any big game football in a long time. They've always had a finagle a way to pressure the quarterback. And it's been one of the big reasons they haven't been able to win a lot of big games. It's hard to beat the really good quarterbacks in football when you have to pressure them all the time. We've talked about this. I mean, a ton. There's a reason the Eagles make Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs look silly in the Super Bowl. Oh, that's right. They got to keep seven and eight and coverage the whole game. And then the three or four that rushed got to be all around Patrick Mahomes like it was a blitz. Like, oh gosh, everybody's around me. So we know what a game changer that is. And they have not had that luxury. So hopefully this is what he can bring

6:24back to their football team a little bit there in Baltimore. And we talked last week about before the Max Crosby trade went sideways for the Ravens and the Raiders, the potential influence of Max Crosby on Lamar Jackson. Well, Max Crosby be that force of nature that persuades through his mere presence Lamar Jackson to go all in to be all in to be there for the offseason program and earn his $750,000 a year. He's giving up 1.5. There's another 1.5 that's there to be had or not had based on where the naughty shows up. Hendrickson doesn't seem like no. I mean, we've heard from him when he's pissed off at the bangles. He likes showed up for camp. But no, you instantly know who Max Crosby exactly. Like with Tray Hendrickson, it's one of those. Who's that again? It's not weird that a guy can play in the NFL for as long as he has and be relatively anonymous where you put him on a screen.

7:28And there's going to be plenty of people like, oh, that's Tray Hendrickson. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you see the way they're dressed. I think I've seen. I mean, if you saw Tray Hendrickson in that right there, you'd go, OK, where's the Wall Street barbecue? Where where are we going? All right. Where is business casual barbecue over there? Max Crosby walks in. It's some crazy outfit with a $400,000 dollar diamond chain. And you're like, OK, who lose that guy? And what does he do? And then he's got a personality. This is why he's Max Crosby. This is why he garners two first round picks. It goes beyond like what we're talking about here. Yes, that's why it looks like Tray Hendrickson's just as good as Max Crosby. OK, he's not the same personality. He's not the same polarizing figure on the field. He doesn't bring the same crazy energy and leadership on a day-to-day basis. Yeah, I don't think he will make the blood boil to your point with Lamar Jackson where he's going to feel like, wait, Max Crosby's there and he's saying all these things and he's hitting me up and texting me and like, man, I want to be there for my guy. I don't think I don't know

8:32where if I feel like Tray Hendrickson's that guy. And then as we know, Max Crosby, the beauty of him is forget all the stats and sacks. It's the disruption. It's the play to play attitude. It's his effect on the overall game. And that's where he's a special, special football player. So you're right, it is, it is an interesting conversation, Mike. There's no doubt about it. But yeah, I don't think it has the same effect as Max Crosby. I don't. Well, and I went and watched the entirety start to finish this weekend of the Eric DeCoste press conference from Wednesday. Yeah, what'd you think? And a point that we made, a couple of points I'd like to make, but one that we made last week as it relates to Lamar Jackson, they really wanted to get a new contract with Lamar Jackson. There's no doubt they really, they really wanted to they somehow added another void year to his deal. And I'm still trying to figure out how they added a void year. That helps them from a cap standpoint. It gives them another year that they can dump these converted payments into

9:38you take the bulk of the guy's base salary, you turn it into a signing bonus, you spread it over multiple years. Under the prior deal, they had 2026, 27, 28, 29, they added a void year. And I'm trying to figure out how they added it. And I got a theory, I got a theory that it, I may be the only person who cares about it. I may be the only person who cares about it. I give you a little snippet of it. They can't get an agreement with Lamar Jackson on anything ever. They can't get a deal done. They got that one deal done after the rookie contract. They got the one deal done after it fully and completely expired. Under his current deal, he does have to agree. When they automatically restructure, he does have to agree to the restructure deal. He has to do it within three business days or he's in default under his contract. I have the whole contract. I read the whole thing. I think that in the latest restructuring agreement that they sent him, here's my theory. It added that voidable year. He agreed to that voidable year and he didn't realize he was

10:41agreeing to something you didn't have to agree to. That's my theory. And it's important because it helps the team create more cap space. And if you set aside the whole idea, well, he should want that. He's on the team. He should want to win time out. They want something I don't have to give them. There's no freebies here. They want something I don't have to give them. Well, I want a new contract. So you want capital if you want maximum capital if you pay me. Oh, you want you more cap money? F you pay me. Oh, place got hit by lightning. Well, what do you do? Well, what do you do when they are literally going? No, F us will pay you. We're willing to pay you. I know. We want to pay you. So what do you do then when they're going? No, no, we know you're saying F you pay you worth here with the bag of money and the brings truck. But we can't get you on the phone to ever figure out the details and get it done. I know. So that's like, hey, microphone's broken. You know, right, right. The microphone's broken. You're a funny guy. My point

11:48is this, but hey, what the hell about me? You got to deliver it breathless. There's a certain member of the media who has perfected unwittingly the ability to sound like Joe Pesci in that iconic scene delivering the what the right there's so funny about me. Half breathless all the time. That's all I'm going to say about that. But I think what happened was Lamar Jackson signing off on the restructuring. I think he may have agreed to another void year without realizing it. And again, it helps him indirectly. And it doesn't affect him. He gets all of his money. He gets all of his money. He actually gets more of it. No, he doesn't get more of it. It's the same. But he gets it all now. This is about the Ravens managing the cap charges now and in the future. I just thought it was interesting that they somehow managed to add another void year onto this deal. So that's number one. Number two, number two. At the end at the risk of reigniting our little

12:48fracas from last week. And it is so funny with people like, man, you guys are going to add it as he mad at you. It's like, we've like, once it's over, we forget about it. Like I've forgotten about it. But we were kind of yelling at each other a little bit on Thursday. But the cost of was talking about Hendrickson. And they were talking to Hendrickson. Yeah. While the Max Crosby stuff was still pending. So at some point, you can't divide the two. At some point, they had to think we can get Hendrickson. And we got concerns. And we don't want to give up two first on picks. And wait, you think we can get Hendrickson for 28. And we're paying max 29 on the way through the door. And he may want more. And we give up two first on picks. And we got this report on the knee. And we can get Hendrickson for 28. So we can still address the need. We'd like to have both in a perfect world. We'd have both

13:51want a perfect world. There'd be a lot of things going on that currently aren't. Not just for the Ravens. But it's very easy to say we don't have the risk tolerance to do this deal. Because they had Hendrickson. They pivoted to Hendrickson. If Hendrickson isn't there, maybe they do the deal. And this is where the fine line is between doing something underhanded and making a good business decision. And it all goes back to my biggest criticism of the Raiders in all of this. They allowed the situation to exist. They allowed the Ravens enough time to see if Tray Hendrickson or another past Russia was available. While they're doing the Max Crosby physical, the one big takeaway for the future. Give the Raiders a pass. Hey, shit happens. The one big takeaway for the future for all teams set a deadline on getting the physical done

14:55before free agency opens. Yeah. Yeah. I hear you there. I hear you there. I bet you there's a part of them that probably thought man, Tray Hendrickson. He'll be off the market by then. Maybe we won't have to worry about it. But yeah, I hear you and I definitely would agree with you that if you got information back from the doctor in this scenario, and now you go, wait, there's a guy here that's really damn good. Man, we want Max Crosby, but okay, yeah, there's a there's a knee issue. Yeah, this can certainly give you the confidence to say no and go, we got this. But at the same time, I don't get the feel that's what they ultimately wanted. They wanted the splash of Max Crosby. They wanted the splash of Max Crosby in their building and what he would do for the team. Yeah, Tray Hendrickson's amazing, but it wouldn't have been the same press conference if Max Crosby were there. It would have been a different stratosphere of excitement and all that as well. So that's where I look at it and go, I really do think the Ravens wanted both to happen, but they made a smart

15:56decision and not feeling comfortable about the knee. And that's where we all questioned it. And that's where the lead question it like we talked about because it's just so rare to hear it with a meniscus injury that's such a run of the mill type of injury this day and age in the NFL. But obviously there was something there they didn't feel comfortable with and so be it. And here we are and we'll see where it goes. I still, I still hope, you know, I'm so interested to see how it goes for Max Crosby. Because if he gets 15 sacks this year, I'm still going to be interested to see how the Ravens feel about that. If Max Crosby looks totally 100% himself and he is disrupting the whole league with the quarterback sacks. And he's got even more motivation than ever before to go out there and do it. And you know, remember, the Ravens could have backed out for any reason, no reason, good reason, bad reason, doesn't matter. They did not have to go forward with the trade. They at least had a plausible reason. And I still think it's funny to see all of the unnamed executives who are chirping through insiders about what an indignity this was

17:01to the integrity of the rules in an industry where the whole thing is premised on figuring out the rules and using them to your advantage. And every team at some point is going to try to pull the rules. And if they're not, if they're not, they're a bad team. The good competitive teams find a way like variable, you know the rules, you use the rules to your advantage. And maybe this is the line, something seemed cute. He said, they don't want to be cute. They don't want to be gimmicky. That's the one thing. This felt a little too cute and convenient. And that may be why, well, I think that's yeah, people are that that's right. That that's right. It's a little bit of an unwritten rule, but I hear you, but that like screw you, you still got to do what's best for your football team, the healthy unwritten rule. But I think on top of it is like what I'm saying. Most of the league looked at it and went, wait, Maniscus, he's getting, do they're sending them home? Huh? That that doesn't happen. And I and also on top of that, as you and I both know, in those situations, they usually have gotten to that point because they already know the situation

18:05of the knee and where it's at. And I've talked to the doctors and talked to people around them. So that's where I think it's a double shop. Not only it's a run of the mill type of injury to a degree, and I'd not you know, I know it's a knee and all that. So serious. But same time, commonplace in the NFL. And then the other aspect on top of that is like, no, usually you kind of know before you make this a public thing. And I think that's where everybody's a little bit like, what I don't know about this. Well, but he had the surgery and they needed to see him after the surgery. That's the difference. Like with AJ Brown, the Rams saw enough to say no thanks for whatever reason they're called. They never got to the point where there was a tentative deal with Max Crosby. It was different because he had that procedure. We got to take a break. A pair of intriguing quarterback battles are taking shape after two recent bargain basement free agent signings. That's next on PFT live. Let's ease. Monday edition of PFT live. A couple of former top five draft picks cut last week out from under

19:17significant contracts. Their teams owe them big money. They have landed elsewhere for the minimum of 1.3 million and they stuck into the man. Make them pay the rest. That is the only move that makes sense. Make the old team pay everything except for the minimum. Russell Wilson did it two years ago to the Broncos to a tongue of I lower is doing it this year to the dolphins. Kyler Murray is doing it to the Cardinals. The most recent transaction to officially signs a one year deal Atlanta will pay him 1.3 million. Miami will pay him $52.7 million this year to play for the Atlanta Falcons. Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. It is. It is amazing. It's going to be interesting to see. I don't think we should be shocked by this as far as that there's going to be a little competition down there between him and Michael Pentax. Michael Pentax certainly has not done enough to just say, Hey, I'm the starter. I'm the guy. It's a little bit like we've seen

20:19with JJ McCarthy. It's a very similar story. It's like, you know, didn't get to play a lot your first year. JJ McCarthy, none. Michael Pentax at the end of the year. Then it's like, oh, wait, we got to deal with injuries. And even when you were out there, it was a little up and down and all over the place. And yeah, there were some bright moments, but man, there was a few moments in games too, where it was like holy crap. That was bad. So they need somebody there to put a little pressure on them on a day to day basis. And to us, we know being a pro played at a high level knows where to go with the ball is going to know how to practice and be sharp on a daily basis that way. And that's what you need to do to some of these young quarterbacks is put the pressure on them on a daily basis to where they go. No, you got to be sharp just because it's Wednesday and late April. Doesn't mean we get to come out here and, you know, go 12 for 20 in practice, right? Those things I learned early on. It was like, no, John Groot and whoa, Brad Johnson, well, Brian greasy, holy crap. They're they're 19 for 20. I better be 19 for 22, or I'm not going

21:24to be in the mix things here. And I think that sometimes gets lost with these first rounders where they just roll out the red carpet. So here we go. We're going to see what goes on with the two lefties down there. Here's Falcons, general manager Ian Cunningham. I'm not sure why he's the one talking because Matt Ryan is the primary footballer. Look at you. But here's here's bears fans are so pissed about that. They're still pissed about it. They should be. But here's Ian Cunningham on this competition you mentioned for the QB1 role in Atlanta. Kevin mentioned this in February. We're not in the business of really handing out starting positions in February and, you know, in March, the same, right? For two are coming in here. He knows he's coming in to compete. Just like Michael knows that he's coming into compete and everybody quite frankly, not just those two at the quarterback position, but everybody's coming in to compete. There's no starters right now. And, you know, we're excited to have two of, but we're excited to have all the players that we were able to get this for Asian class. Now some guys have already won the competition like

22:30Bajan Robinson. Okay. Yeah. I think we can stipulate. That's okay. Right. Bajan Robinson will be the starting running back for the Atlanta Falcons. I think Drake London has a safe spot in the starting lineup. Kyle Pitt senior who's been franchise tagged by the Falcons. He's probably okay. Kind of a lot quarterback. And look, two has got the opportunity to come in and get reps to develop rapport with the coaching staff with the players. This current regime in Atlanta has no allegiance. There's no politics involved. They don't care about Michael Pennick's junior, not in the sense that they don't care about him as a person. Like, there is it anything that's going to tip the scales his way. There's nothing. No, it's a blank slate. And if he's not able to fully participate because he's recovering from the the tournament ACL, that's more opportunities for two. And if anything, you know, you want to make the boss happy. You want to make Arthur blank happy? Hey, the guy that the last

23:34people brought in man, sorry, he's not getting it done. Our guy's great. Yeah. Yeah. And so if anything, this regime is going to have more of an inclination to have two under center instead of Michael Pennick's junior. Well, it can go either way there. It also could be like, I'll say just like, let's just take this side of it. Hey, we saved that guy that the prior regime was trying to screw up and didn't make his look and look now he does look like that, right? So there's that too. But I hear you, they're not tied to either one. They're going to be able to pick it and not feel, I think, to your point, the organizational pressure of like, wait, we, this is, we know, we drafted this guy. No, it's clean slate. I think that's where you are. You'd hope it works out for Michael Pennick's because yes, he was viewed as a first round quarterback. And he's got some talent in his skill set that two of which just will never have. Michael Pennick's going to be able to make certain throws, where it's just like, no, two of can't do that. So don't worry. But there's going to be other

24:35aspects like we talk about two of those out of play. He's got a lot of experience. Kevin Stofansky, Tommy Reese's offense. They usually like the quarterback underneath the center a little bit. To it, to it can go underneath the center, play action pass, bootlegs, some of that. Michael Pennick's has not been comfortable in those scenarios. Then like you talked about, he's coming off an ACL injury. How mobile is he is when he runs bootlegs and does some of that? So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how this unfolds. I mean, it's, it's, it's kind of cool. It's, it's, we got, we got two situations with top 12 quarterbacks being picked and smaller quarterbacks being signed for $1 million contracts who had times in the NFL where you were like, whoo, that was a special year or special two years. And they're going to try to dethrone these young guys. It's, it's kind of a cool storyline here in the off season. So which one's more intriguing? Colour Murray versus JJ McCarthy in Minnesota or two versus Michael Pennick's junior in Atlanta? I, I feel like I go with the Minnesota one.

25:41I feel like that. I think the other aspect of it is, I just think first off, Colour Murray has a higher ceiling than two. And then especially when you couple that in, whoa, wait, he could be with Kevin O'Connell and Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and TJ, like, whoa, this, this got some real potential there. I think that's the one I look at. And on top of that, JJ McCarthy, as you know, at the end of the year, had some moments and some games or it was like, damn, that, that looks good. Maybe he can do this. He could be the guy going here for the, in the future. So I think I, I look at that one. I feel like to be a little more intriguing. And especially because it's personal to you that makes it even better. Well, I, I think Atlanta is more intriguing because Tua has a chance to get redemption and to topple Pennicks. And it's not clear which way it's going to go. I feel like in Minnesota, it's Colour's job to lose. I just feel like, I just

26:44like the reaction to it. Yeah. Yeah. And I wrote this last night. We've heard nothing from JJ McCarthy. We don't know how he's going to react to any of this. And I think that they're hoping he reacts in the way that a red hot poker, yeah, would prompt the reaction. And that he steps up, that he fully commits it. He doesn't sulk that he doesn't, doesn't get moody, doesn't pout, doesn't start talking about maybe being traded, but get to work and go out there and try to win the job. But if Colour Murray can still play like he did three years ago, you know, I was looking at all the Vikings quarterbacks since Kevin O'Connell's been there. Jaron Hall is the closest comparison to Colour Murray, a couple inches taller, two threat quarterback, but not nearly as fast, not nearly the same arm talent. But O'Connell wanted to make that happen. He saw, they, they made him a fifth round pick. That's not a throwaway pick for Jaron Hall. And he started two games that year that Kirk cousins had the torn Achilles started against the Falcons got a concussion on the last play from scrimmage on the scoring drive. But I, I think that O'Connell's fascinated by

27:47what he can do with Murray, but it's two different playbooks. Really, the things you're going to have to do to get Murray outside the pocket. I don't know. Maybe they do the same thing, the same thing with McCarthy. I don't know, but I could see different plays and different concepts for Murray, given that he's not going to be able to see what's in front of him. Yeah. Well, there'll definitely be some doubly in that. But, but at the, at the core, I think we know what that offense is. And then we're going to see within that offense, can you got to be able to do the Kevin O'Connell stuff first? And he's a genius and why he is who he is. Like we always talk about, does anybody get more receivers screeching free 25 yards down the football field than Dan Kevin O'Connell? He's in the conversation for the best in the business than that department there. So he's also, yeah, he'll have to do certain things for Kyler Murray. But like we talked about last week, the setup for Kyler Murray, as well as Minnesota Passport techs, can they get him to hang in the pocket just a little

28:48bit more? Can O'Connell teach him a few things about reading coverage just to go, hey, you know, just hang here for half a half a tick more before you leave the pocket because this guy's about to come open for a huge play. And we know this is the nuance that really offensive geniuses have. It's not that the plays are always that different. It's the nuance in the play. It's the nuance in how we teach the route running. It's the nuance in which we teach the quarterback to look for this to give him the clue to go to the right place with the ball. And that's where O'Connell has that magic. And I don't think Kyler Murray's quite had a guide of that capacity in his career yet. All right, break time. Okay. A player who has played 12 games in two seasons. The Titan said goodbye to a big acquisition from just two years ago. I'll tell you who and why next on PFT Live.

29:48Monday edition of PFT Live. A lot of arrivals last week. Some departures to contracts that sounded pretty good when they were signed. But if you don't play up to the expectation of the team, they're going to rip it up the first chance they get for the player. The goal is to get as much guaranteed at signing fully guaranteed. Not just generally guaranteed fully guaranteed. The number that you never hear about from the insiders because the general guarantee is always bigger with the injury guarantee in there. All that matters in a contract is one, the signing bonus. Two, the full guarantee it's signing. Three, the structure over the first three years. Because that tells you how long you're going to be there. The luxurious Sneed in Tennessee who was tagged and traded by the chiefs. Two years. And it's done. And that's how it goes. If not living up to the contract, you're not going to be there. And the Titans have made the move on from the luxurious Sneed. He only played in 12 games and two seasons. No interceptions. They signed him to the

30:52fourth largest contract for corners at the time. And they have added three corner backs in free agency as they remake that roster. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. I mean, this is one of the was one of the best corners in football. I mean, this was a big part of the chiefs dynasty there a little bit. That's what made them amazing is you could just go, Hey, Ligerious, you got him. Hey, Trent McDuffie, you got him. And we're going to do a bunch of crazy shit with the other nine guys. And Steve Spagnol can be like, All right, here we go. I can just do whatever now. That's what was special. But the chiefs and, you know, it's funny that we're talking about this and Lou of just what happened with Max Crosby and the knee and all that. Yeah, they franchise tag them. I feel like they knew his knee was not going to live the test of time. Tennessee obviously did not know that or do their due diligence on that. And Ligerious need has not been the same guy ever since he left Kansas City. And now you just go where is it going to go from here? You know,

31:53unfortunately for a guy as talented as he is. And we saw him make big plays in the AFC championship game against the Ravens and everything. You worry about, oh, yeah, he's going to have to go somewhere and it's probably going to be a one year deal. And he's going to have to prove he can still play in the NFL and stay healthy and do the things you need to do with the corner position because between the health and the quality of the play, yeah, it hasn't been the same for Ligerious need. Yeah. And look, this is just the way it goes. You are only protected by those guarantees in the contract. And the moment that the guarantees are gone, you're vulnerable. And that's what happened Ligerious. Nate, all right, the Panthers had a need at tackle because Iki Ikwano suffered a ruptured Patel attendant in the postseason. They added former Packer Rashid Walker on a one year deal worth 10 million. That was the highest guy on our PFT top 100 list who was still available. Shrine Williams is second guessing whether she put him too high on the list. But a lot of times

32:55what happens is a guy doesn't sign early because he wants too much. Yeah. And he's got he's got to come to terms with the fact that what he wants is an out there. So you got to do a one year deal and you hope to do it again next year. Yeah. And you know, it's it's not an exact science Shrine. It's a tough one. And he's, you know, he's a left tackle. We know that's a position to premium. So you're probably, you know, bump him up and rank him a little higher because of that. But, but, but like regardless, this is kind of a phenomenal signing for the Carolina Panthers. I mean, this is like best case scenario when you're talking about you lost your franchise left tackle. And it's Patel Attendant and that gets one of the toughest injuries out there to go wait. We got a guy who we know has played high level tackle at that position for a team that's damn good and green Bay. And we got him for 10 million. That's phenomenal. Yeah. And got to play the cards. Right. I think to your point of like, let's just sit back. He's asking for too much money. We don't believe the league is going to give him this big contract in what he thinks he's going to get. Let's let it all simmer down now. And then you get him to a point where it's like, oh,

33:59crap. Where am I going to go? Nobody's going to give me anything. And then you as a player, yeah, you succumb to, okay, what's the best possible deal I can get short term play? Look good. So I can get back to the table next year. And this is where it worked out great for the Carolina Panthers to get a franchise left tackle ish type of player there to fill in is amazing for them. Yeah, plenty of opportunities for teams to bargain shop. That's the key. Resist early on the temptation to overspend and wait for the market to come to you. And they blended it in Carolina. They made a big splash with Jalen Phillips. But then on the back end, six days later, five days later, four days later, whatever it was, when the faucet for the big money was off, then you go out and you do a reasonable deal at a position of need. All right, let's take a break or return Seattle Seahawks are concerned that they're going to lose one of the advantages they have available to them when it's time to recruit free agents to the state of

35:02Washington. That's the next on PFT lot. Seahawks defensive tackle, Byron Murphy. Now this is a way to make your first appearance as husband and wife in style. Man. He's got his wife. He's got his trophy. Yeah, there's a lumbarity. He came out of the pool. He's got two small and now he's still small when he's getting married in his tuxedo. He's still looking good. And that's something. Also, like videos we've seen over the years, that's a first with a guy coming out for his wedding with a pretty cool. Big ass trophy. And what I would like to know is and it looks like it's I don't know. Do you think that's the real one of the replica? But some of these teams, the players do get replicas, but I would doubt that the Seahawks would have theirs this quickly in the offseason where the

36:02players would have the replicas. That looks bigger than the replica. So it looks like the real one. And if so, I'm extremely impressed that the Seattle Seahawks let a player have the damn trophy for a wedding. That's that's pretty cool. I got I got to say that for sure. I think you're right. The replicas aren't as big. And how would you have, although I'm sure the folks at Tiffany and company are happy to oblige for the appropriate fee as many right. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. We lost Floria. Yep. That's what happens when you're doing a show from the barn in West Virginia. Uh-uh. Yeah. But you see there Byron Murphy. He's, uh, he's married. He's the man. And that's cool to see. He's had an unbelievable career so far is feeling good. Uh-uh. But yeah, we're going to go to break. We'll wait for him because we're not only going to hit on Byron Murphy and we're kind of done with that conversation. But we want to talk about some comments that John Schneider, the GM and the Seahawks made, uh, this offseason about some of the state taxes.

37:06And if you heard Mike and I last week, we had a conversation where people reached out to me hearing a conversation talk about state income tax. I had people reach out to me to go. That should be included in the salary cap. So we'll go to break. We'll see if we can figure out how to get Mike back on the show. And we'll see you here in a second. All right, we're back and I'm back. Had a brief technical difficulty, a power outage I have since paid the bill online and we are good to go. Bill's to be paid in the state of Washington include the tax man. John Schneider made this point last week and you and I had been talking generally about the impact of state income tax is it's something that a lot of players don't really focus on. It can be a significant significant impact on your take home pay. When you go from a state like Texas. Yeah. Oh, see

38:07Ozygidua gets traded. Also, Diggy Zua. I like it. Sorry. This is over. I knew I knew it was. Also, oh, Diggy Zua. Oh, Diggy Zua. Yeah, there we go. As the Texas located cowboys with no state income tax. Trade him to San Francisco where it's 13.3. It's a huge impact. Yeah. And in Washington, one of the few states where NFL teams are headquartered that had no state income tax, they will soon have come 2028 9.9% for millionaires. And that impacts the Seahawks. John Schneider was talking about it on the radio last week. And he's had agents calling him up, saying up, you don't have your selling point anymore. Yeah. Now, I don't know that there's a correlation. When you look at the teams in the states with no income tax, you got the Seahawks.

39:07Yeah. And the Buccaneers. Right. They're the only ones that have won a Super Bowl or been to a Super Bowl this century. Yeah. The Titans, the Texans, the cowboys, the dolphins, the Jaguars, zero. Yeah. Among them. Right. So if there's an advantage, they're really not taking advantage of it. No. I mean, Arizona, aren't they in those no income tax? They too. Aren't they in that? I think they have income tax. They do have income tax. Okay. But, but regardless, I mean, yeah, you said it. I mean, you're talking about two teams and all these other teams got these advantages. And you go, yeah, for the most part, those teams haven't been worth the damn. And then you go, wait, hey, John Schneider, of course, you can get it. It's done. You know, the team that's kind of been at the top of your division, they've been from California. Lately, yeah, the 49ers, the Rams, yeah, the teams that have been in the Super Bowl and around the Super Bowl and won a Super Bowl. And oh, my gosh. So, and, and of course, before that, you'd argue and go, well, the, the Patriots, I think there was state income tax there.

40:08They seem somehow to be good for 20 years or so. Yeah, it hurts. It's all that. But it's obviously not a deal breaker. But I do think it's something that probably needs to be brought up here a little. I do. It wanted. It's hurting the player. So I'm always in favor of that. And it is hurting teams. And I do think there's, oh, it might not be everybody. But I would say every team that is dealing with this, right, has one situation, maybe once a year or once every other year where they go, wait, that we lost this player because he picked the other team because of no state income tax. So that doesn't seem necessarily fair all the way. And maybe they do need to recalibrate here. Now, remember, it is complicated because you still pay taxes for the games that are played in the states that have personal income tax. You do that. And some states will try, if you've got a per game active roster bonus, it's tied to that game. They try to get that. They'll try to get your bonus pro ration for a roster bonus or assigning

41:13bonus. California, as I hear, it is very aggressive about trying to get every last penny of every player who plays a game there at 13.3%. But here's the example. And this is the easiest way to think of it. Jeff Fisher, when he was coaching the Rams, the Rams draft picks were always the last ones to sign before the very end. They would do it in a flurry at the very end of the offseason program. All the other players were getting their their rookie deals. The Rams were the last ones. He would bring an armored car to practice with a million dollars in it. And he would show them. Here's a million dollars. Here's how much Uncle Sam is going to get 375,000. Boom. Gone. Gone forever. Well, if you're in Texas, and it's time to take out the income taxes, nothing. In Washington now,

42:15of that million dollars, you got 99,000 that's going to the equivalent of Uncle Sam in Seattle. And in the state of Washington, 99,000 gone. If you're in Texas, nothing. And if you're in San Francisco, it's 133,000 gone out of that million dollars. So it really does have an impact. I just don't know what the solution is. You mentioned last week that someone had suggested to you adjusting the salary cap. And I think there's a way to figure out the algorithm and figure out the right adjustments to make and how to do it and make it fair. I just don't think that every owner cares. Is going to welcome the opportunity to pay more money for his or her players, especially because they're paying the state income tax too. And that was one of the issues that came up in the 2006 CBA because there was an imbalance in the sharing of revenue. What was happening was

43:19the salary cap was going up based upon revenues that certain teams were generating that other teams weren't. So driving up the salary cap and I'm not making that money, it's cutting into my profit margin. And that's what the pushback will be if that ever comes. Yeah, yeah, I hear you there. That's a valid point. The owners are going to look at that and go, wait, I don't know if that's necessarily fair to me. But yes, this is a definite advantage as we've talked about. There's two advantages where the league is all about wanting things to be on an equal playing surface and you got state tax. And then if an owner has a lot of liquid cash, those are two ways that you can you can gain a little advantage in the NFL and we know that's a real thing. So we'll see. But I'll be interested to see if it becomes a comp more of a conversation as we go on here the next few years. And this is one of the reasons why it's hard to imagine a team headquartered in another country. Not only do you have an entirely different tax system, you've got exchange rates,

44:27you've got different governments, you've got all sorts of stuff that can complicate the day-to-day life beyond the fact that you're living on the other side of an ocean. Yeah. So they can do that and they want that. You think they could figure out something out here in the states then you would think they could. Well, well, maybe that will be the time to do it because I think that when there's a team in London or two in London and one in Germany and one in France and I don't know how it's going to go. But, but they're going to have to do something to make it more fair for that team. Yeah. And if tax rate equivalences any part of it, that's what opens a box full of Pandora as it relates to balancing out the salary cap to take into account state income tax. So Arizona, by the way, has 2.5%. Oh, okay. It is. It's low. Okay. All right. Got you. Thank you. Right now, the only ones are Washington, Texas, Tennessee and Florida that have NFL teams. Other

45:28states have no state income tax. I ponder from time to time whether or not to live in one of those states for six months in a day. You got to be there six months in a day for the six months in a day. Oh, trust me. You know, I live in Greenwich, Connecticut, you know, in Greenwich, Connecticut, I would say the, you know, there's 30% of the town has Florida license plates right now. I'm seeing all the snowboards and everybody coming home and their blue Ferraris with the Florida license plate because they've stayed there six months in one day. So now they're back here in the area. But yeah, it's a real thing. And I certainly get it. If you're you're making a certain amount of money, I understand it. The only negative to moving to Florida to avoid state income tax is you have to live in Florida. Well, there's a lot of that too. I will tell you that people in our town, they'll go, well, I'm kind of getting sick of Florida. It's crazy crowded down there. And you can't go anywhere. You can't go to the grocery store in under an hour. And so you do hear that too, but, but either way, they're saving money. All right. We'll wrap up this Monday edition

46:34of PFT Live right after this. So, you know, I didn't have an owl in the house. So when I was down to the barn Saturday night, and it was cold enough to burn a couple logs and I opened the door to the stove. And I put a log in and I heard something. And before I could close the door, out came my new pet. And it's a blue bird. It's a blue bird. It's a blue bird. Yeah, it's not a blue jet. That's a blue bird there. And there it is. There it is on the Viking sign. That's really cool. Too bad it's not a cardinal. That would make more sense. So what I did was I opened both doors. There's a door on each side of the barn. And I got a screen door just to give it the good effect. I propped the screen doors open. And I just started urging the bird to fly away. Like go outside. I was trying to plead with the bird. Go outside. And it would land on top of the

47:38door with the freedom right there. And it wouldn't fly out. Well, it goes back inside the barn. Yeah. And it's flying all over the place. And finally, finally, it was probably seven minutes. It felt like seven hours. Finally, it flew out. Well, it's tough with those because it's a bird you're used to like, Hey, when I fly up and high, I get away from everything. Wait, I have to go down here somewhere and it does. It takes them a minute to figure it out. That's pretty cool. Ain't a blue bird at that. Pretty special. I mean, you don't see those all the time. So all right. Good. Good. I like that you're living a little wildlife there. I'm just glad it's I'm glad it got out. I'm glad it lived. I'm glad it didn't shit all over the barn. Sorry. Well, I wish you would have done that. That's a big concern with the bird. Yeah. I wish you didn't want to have these. But, you know, yeah. Yeah. Thanks. I wish you would have shit on your Vikings logo. That would have been nice. Thanks so much. But I just got to the part where it's like, I just got to get this bird out of here. Yeah. We got to get out of here. All right. Most birds. I got my quarterback rankings. Check that out later.

48:38Don't get the bird. Oh, yeah. quarterback rankings.