Halford & Brough in the Morning - Is A Maple Leafs Implosion Imminent?

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the troubles surrounding the future of the Toronto Maple Leafs with Sportsnet NHL writer Luke Fox (1:26), plus they chat all the day one NFL free agency action with NFL.com's Nick Shook (28:23). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

On a Tuesday, happy Tuesday, everybody, Halford, Brub, SportsNet, 650. Halford and Brough for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have CRA debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands. That's trustee.com. We are now an hour two of the program. Luke Fox, NHL writer from SportsNet, is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour.

Two, hour two is brought by Jason Hominoch at Jason. dot mortgage. If you love giving the banks more your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason.morgage. We are broadcasting live from the Kintech studio, new year, new opportunity for comfort with orthotics from Kintech guests on Sportsnet 650. Call in on the ABLE Auctions hotline email sales at abelhe auctions.ca to get your business assets sold and your building cleared. Let's go now to the ABLE Auctions. hotline our next guest is an NHL writer from Sportsnet.ca. Luke Falk joins us now on the

Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Luke. How are you? Doing pretty good. Just getting ready to go to morning skate here in Montreal and a bit of a different mood. These used to be big games, especially down the stretch, and now one team's in it and one team has

pretty much waved the way flag. Montreal, this is a big game for Montreal though, because they're not homes. and clear when it comes to being in the playoffs yet, are they? No, I mean, they're in fourth spot in the Atlantic. They're battling with the Red Wings to try and get out of the wild card and into the 2-3 matchup. But, yeah, and they didn't do anything at the deadline, right?

Which I found kind of fascinating just because the team has taken a step, finally got over the hump and got into the postseason last year. and, you know, exciting young core, but obviously management doesn't feel like they want to slam the gas just yet. They're being patient. But yeah, they're in a battle. There's, you know, the Ottawa senators still have hope. They haven't given up yet.

So they need to keep pressing. Speaking of Montreal's management, before we get to Toronto's management, have you gotten a clear picture on why the Canadians did virtually nothing at the deadline? Yeah, my sense is that they are just don't feel like this is the year they can win a Stanley Cup. I think they really like the progress that they've made, but the core is young, right? And I think you have to take your spots when you quote unquote push all in. And I, you know, obviously they were in conversations. Like they teased us, right?

They said they were in on something big and maybe one day you'll find out. but today is not the day. And then yesterday, you know, there was some murmurs that maybe Matthew Nyes was part of their discussions, which would be incredibly fascinating just because he has so many years still left on his deal. And, you know, for Toronto to deal their best guy under age 25 to their historic rival. And it's not a rental. It's for, you know, the entirety. of his prime, that would have been a blockbuster.

So you wonder if that was it. You know, apparently they were in on Nazim Codry a little bit, at least poking around. Robert Thomas, I'm sure. There was a phone call there. But the sense, I think, is that they don't feel like they're one player away from winning a championship. So let's keep our powder dry a little bit. Let the core of our team mature a little bit, and then that'll be down the road. There'll be a time to push all in, but this year was not the year.

Okay, so Toronto's management, you know, here in Vancouver, we're used to Canucks Brass, the executive, the general manager, and the president of hockey ops getting some heat. But our inbox today, multiple messages asking about Brad Tree Living and the job he's done, or as some are suggesting, the job he hasn't done in Toronto. Kevin and Port Moody even wrote in that Tree Living is, quote, one of the worst GMs in NHL history. some of his moves are shocking.

It feels like Kevin Port Moody should be from somewhere in Ontario given this take because I know I know there's a lot of Leafs fans that aren't just disappointed. They are livid and they want to see changes. How much fire is Bradtree living under right now? A ton. And, you know, he hadn't really spoke to all of us as a group, made himself available since he fired Mark Savard,

the power play coach. just before Christmas time. And that at the time was seen as a bit of a half measure. And, you know, so he had been kind of been laying low as the team was falling apart and losing games. But, you know, executives have to be available after trade deadline. And I had never seen him in a press conference like that. He looked visibly disappointed in his team, in himself. I think. I think he had hoped, you know, he said he wanted to do a lot more at the deadline than he was able to do, try and restock the coverts a bit. And he did make some moves, you know. The Leafs ended their string of own rentals. They got rid of Scott Lawton and Bobby McMahon. But he wasn't thrilled with the returns on those guys. I think they did a little bit better on the Nick Waugh trade. But he was trying other stuff. You know, he was trying to make, you know, change a roster that has let him down. That is,

In my opinion, it's been the most disappointing team in the league because at training camp, they were talking about a banner. They were talking about cup dreams. And it quickly dissolved into, can this team make the playoffs to, you know, now losers of seven straight and showing everyone that they're not even a good team, let alone a contending team. so he visibly wore the pressure after trade deadline it was kind of shocking actually just it was almost as if he he had difficulty trying to put a positive spin on it like he said we wanted to do more and we didn't and I think you know you point to the Brandon Carlo trade and the fact that he gave Boston a rival a pick that's only top five protected and not top ten

they're staring at a disaster here. Like if Boston, if Toronto gets the 6th, 7th, 8, 9 pick, that's going directly to Boston, the team that you're trying to compete with. That would be an immense failing on the GM's part. And then the Scott Lawton deal, you look at what they gave up for him, a first and a decent prospect,

Nikita Grubankan, who's now playing in the NHL, and all you get in return for him is a third rounder from L.A. that could turn into a second if L.A. gets into the playoffs. but no matter how you slice it, it's actually the 2025 deadline that looks even worse now than the 26th one. Hey, Luke, we have a saying on this show and considering we follow the Vancouver Canucks,

it is pretty appropriate, and that saying is sometimes you're just screwed. Are the leaves, like, look, look, they had a run. I mean, they made the playoffs for, what, a decade, it seemed like? Now, they never talked to the Stanley Cup final or, you know, won the cup, obviously. but they were a good team for a long time. And, you know, the last few years,

they've been trading away picks to stay competitive. I don't know if there's anyone in their prospect pool that's not in the NHL right now that has star potential. But, you know, you've got a very old blue line that needs to be almost completely turned over. You don't have Mitch Marner anymore. John Tavares is 35 years old. Austin Matthews isn't, you know,

as healthy as he was, you know, seven or eight years ago. I mean, like, is it just, I mean, are the Leafs in a position right now where maybe it doesn't even matter who their general manager is because they're screwed? Yeah, but it does matter because you got to get unscrewed at some point and you want someone making smart, creative, good decisions there. But I agree with you in terms of, you know, there's this, the theory is, is this a one-off, right? Or the idea that has been floated.

Is this a one-off? Can they rebound next year? No. Look at their roster. Maybe they can be like a fringe playoff team, but not, they can't be a real team, like a real contending team. In order to do that, they're banking on so many things to break their way. Like they want Chris Tannav to come back from surgery and, you know, play like he's 30

years old again. He's 36. He's 36. Yeah, they want, they want, yeah, they want Morgan Riley to rediscover himself and he hasn't been himself like his prime self for like three, four years now. They want Austin Matthews to get back to 60 goal form. They want Matthew Nyes to be healthy and take these giant leaps. Like, and then they have guys that just aren't, they're not going to get better. Like, Max Domey is what he is. Dakota Joshua is what he is. Uh, there's just not enough there. And they don't have puck moving defensemen. Maybe their goalies can stay a bit healthy and be a bit better. But I agree with you. It's almost like, you know, Chicago, Detroit, San Jose, these things are cyclical. The problem with Toronto is they never really had the

playoff success to show for it. They got out of the first round twice and that's it. Yeah. I mean, Matthew Nyes, I never really thought that they would trade him, but maybe the argument behind trading him is he doesn't have trade protection. So you can go to literally any team in the league and try and create a bidding war for Matthew Nyes. You cannot do that, even if you did have the guts to try and trade Austin Matthews or William Nielander because they have full no-move clauses.

Exactly. And Nise is the only member of the core that doesn't have at least some form of trade protection. and like you mentioned, the two big guys have full no moves. Morgan Riley has a full no move. So I understand if you're a rival GM and you see Brad Trillivin pop up on your phone,

that's what you're asking about. You're asking about Matthew Nyes, who's only 23, even though he already has quite a bit of experience and has kind of proven to the league what his game is. I think, you know, he's been really hampered with a knee injury that's been bothering them all season.

I think in the right scenario that this is, you know, 30, 35 goal score in the league, excellent four-checker, pretty good two-way game. And he has, uh, his leaders, he has like low-key, good leadership skills for a young guy. And he has the right level of confidence and maturity, um, to handle a big market. So he would improve any team. Why did, why would the Leaks want to get rid of them? and the only answer that I can come up with is if they can get multiple pieces in return because they are realizing as much as Nyes is still young

and one of the few young great guys we have, he doesn't have trade protection like you said and can we turn them into two pieces, three pieces, because we need more things. We need a puck-moving defenseman. We just traded away our center depth. And John Tavares is only getting older. We need another center at some point.

This is a major project. So I appreciate that they're at least listening, but you have to be very careful with an asset like that. Hey, Luke, are enough people talking about the job that the Calgary Flames seem to be doing in their rebuild? In 2024, they had two first-round draft picks, including Zane Perak. Last year, they had two first-round draft picks.

And then for the next three seasons, at least, so far unless they trade them. In each of these three seasons, they will have two first-round draft picks. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Canucks have only added one extra first-round draft picks, and they certainly haven't made four first-round draft picks over the last two years. In fact, they've only made one.

What do you think about the job that Craig Conroy has done in Calgary? I think it's been awesome. I think that franchise has been stuck in the mushy middle, somewhere because, between, you know, a lottery team that never gets the real picks or a wild card team. And they're just kind of never felt like a real serious threat, but never embraced the full tank, the full rebuild. And Conroy, I think, has done an awesome job in the first step, which is the easier step, right?

Tearing it down. You know, the fact that he got three second rounders for McKenzie Weeger, I think was a nice bit of work. He actually found a home for Nazim Kodry, got the player happy, also got a decent return. Yeah, they had to eat some salary, but salary cap isn't an issue in Calgary. So I'm fine with that deal too. And the timing of it is also really impressive, the fact that they got the new building coming. Apparently they made a strong bid to host the World Cup in a couple years. There's momentum and hope in Calgary.

Now that comes the tricky part. You need a superstar. And I know they wanted to pivot and make that Jonathan Hubertow. That's not happening. That didn't happen, right? He's a bust. So you need a face. You don't want to be caught the way, like, say, the Seattle Cracken are.

Like, you need a bona fide guy. And that's all due respect to Dustin Wolfe. And I know they got promising goalies coming up. But you need, I think you need a stud forward or a real stud bonafide, no questions asked, number one defenseman to build your program around. Now, can they package some of those picks and trade for one? Or do they, you know, get some lottery luck for once in their life and draft one? That's the next step.

We're speaking to Luke Fox here on the Halford & Brush Show on SportsNet 6.50. Luke, of course, Sportsnet NHL writer. One more leaves one before we pivot off to some other things. I know we should have some Calgary Flames there. But is Craig Barubei done at the end of the season in your estimation for the Toronto Maple Leafs behind the bench? I feel like he has to be. There's a serious disconnect between the way he wants them to play and the way they are playing, you know, just based on results.

And this isn't a knock on Craig. I just think, frankly, it hasn't worked. And Trey Living has always endorsed Burube every time we've asked him except for last Friday after the trade deadline. He said, you know, Craig's a terrific coach. and then his next sentence was, but it hasn't worked. And it hasn't. You know, he wants them to play this hard-nosed, dump-a-chae style.

Austin Matthews has, you know, had his two worst seasons under Barubei, and it just feels inevitable that change is coming there. What about Baroube's old boss, Doug Armstrong, potentially taking over for Bradbury Living as the general manager? Could we see a GM and coach switch in Toronto? Yeah, I do think it's possible. There seems to be buzz about that. And, you know, we know Doug Armstrong's kind of passing the torch to Alex Steen there in St. Louis, ran team Canada, respected hockey man. And there is a sense that, you know, having Brad as the direct line to MLSC boss, Keith Pelly, hasn't worked, that this is a big enough job that they probably. probably need someone with experience in a president's role. And they,

you know, I'd like to see them go back to the president and GM model, uh, that they had before was Shanahan because Pelley basically fired Shanahan and never replaced them and just had a direct line to, to Brad and, uh, just based on the way things have gone since then,

it, I think Trilling's been a little bit, uh, in over his head. So, uh, I, I do think that noise won't go away until Armstrong addresses it.

and he hasn't yet. Has anything changed between the relationship between Austin Matthews and the team? I know a few months ago, I think L.A. at Friedman reported that they'd had some conversations with Austin and they said basically, look, we're probably going to make some changes.

Are you okay with that? And he said something along the lines of, you don't have to worry about me. The season has gotten worse for the Toronto Maple Leafs. You know, we're looking at the roster right now going, how are they going to be good next season? Are they going to have to retool? Is Austin Matthews on board for all this?

We're going to find out. I think right now he is. He spoke yesterday, and he was pointing out how the Boston Bruins missed the playoffs last year and got back into the mix this year. He referenced the Tampa Bay Lightning who missed the playoffs once during their spectacular run. And you look back and it was more of just a blip. you know, he said we've been really fortunate the fact that we've made it nine years in a row

and sometimes you do have an off year. So I think he'll be on board for, you know, he's got two more years left on his deal. I don't feel like he's giving up on the city or the franchise but I think he wants to know what the plan is. I think he wants to see what moves are made in the offseason. He wants to know who's coaching him. Can he get some wingers?

like he went from having one of the best set up men in the game, Mitch Marner, fine. You know, I think everyone understands that it was time and Marner exercised his right to leave. But what was the replacement? You know, he was playing with Bobby McMahon. Most of his minutes have been with Max Domi. And all due respect to those guys, you know, they have a role in the league. But that role is not first-line winger on a team trying to win a championship. Those are not first-line winger on.

a serious contending team. And those have been his main wingers this season. And a bit with Matthew Nyes, who's, you know, still young, but more of a four-checker, less of a pure setup man. So I think how awesome feels about the direction of the team will depend on who's coaching it, who are his linemates, and how next season gets off. I think it's actually going to mirror the Quinn Hughes year that you guys just went through in Vancouver.

The year before, free agency, the guy just wants to win at this point, and does he believe? So I think time will tell. Luke, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do it. 13 games on tap tonight. Enjoy all the action.

We'll do this again soon. Okay, thanks for having me on, guys. Have a good one. Yeah, thanks for coming on. That's Luke Fox. NHL writer from SportsNet here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. We got a text in.

Can you explain the key responsibility differences in the GM and president roles? Well, it depends on the team. I mean, they'll lay out those teams, those, those roles. And every, every team is different. You know, a president on one team might have the same responsibilities as a general manager on another team. In Vancouver, the way it was supposed to work was that Jim Rutherford would be overseeing everything, but not the guy making all the calls on a day to day. basis. Like the GMs have to do a lot of kind of like dirty work too, right? The grunt work. The grunt work. And I think

the way it was imagined was that Jim Rutherford, who is closer to retirement than not, would not take on the day-to-day grinding responsibilities of a general manager, keeping in touch with other GMs, you know, I'm sure there's a lot of administrative stuff that a general manager has to do. But, we all know in Vancouver, sometimes we're like, what? We're still, still trying to figure out, okay, what do you do? And what do you do? And that was made especially, it was a glaring kind of issue when Quinn Hughes was traded and Jim Rutherford said, yeah, I handled that trade.

Yep. So, you know, I think there's always, there's always questions in this sort of role. And in Toronto, a lot of the time, it's, all right, who's talking to the ownership group and who's the buffer there? Yep. Because you need to sometimes, how do I put this? Without getting fired. You need sometimes to have a buffer so that you can talk to the corporate types. Yeah.

You know? And then that person is the buffer between the corporate types and the guy who's doing the hockey ops, who you only want. want focused on the hockey ops. You don't want that person worried about some of the corporate stuff. Yeah, the business stuff. Also, some general managers, like Patrick Alvin, their plates are very full, right? I mean, if you kind of follow the day to day of Alvin's work right now, just as an example, he also does a lot of scouting. He's flying everywhere to watch all these players. And I mean, as a general manager, takes up a large chunk of your time. It's almost like there's layers or tranches involved

where you want to have not necessarily in what Luke was talking about there, a direct line from the head guy to your general manager. And that's been the case. And Buffalo over the last few years is that Terry Pagula likes having a direct line to his general manager.

And it can get confusing because while the GM's doing all these different day to day things, all of a sudden you got to take a call from your boss who at times wants to talk like it's fantasy hockey. Like who can we make some trades? And he's like, I got a lot of things on my plate here. I'm working. So the corporate structure is very interesting because you want to kind of have a clear chain of command, which is a good thing. The negative of it is

there's a lot of cooks in the kitchen at that point. And I will say this. In the case of Vancouver, it does often come back to, well, who's in charge of what? And who's got the final say? And who's the one that's going to address the big problems? When it comes time for messaging and talk publicly, who's responsible for it? And it's never really been super defined. The messaging has been very odd. Very. And the, remember post Quinn Hughes where Jim Rutherford at the same time Patrick

Alvin was doing his press conference where I was asking him about the culture. Right. Jim Rutherford had his own phone call with three or four other media members. Yeah. Right. It was a very interesting dynamic. That was a interesting way to do it. You had like competing messages going out at the same time.

At the exact same time. And, you know, not everything contradicted. Like, you know, the message was general. Well, we traded Quinn Hughes. Yeah. You know. But sometimes you're like, yeah, but he said this and you said that. So that becomes another confusion when you have a president and a general manager.

Okay. It's time now for the one to watch brought to you by Limitless AV. Vancouver's most trusted audio-visual integration experts. I've mentioned several times on this show. There are 13 games in the National Hockey League tonight. No shortage of games to watch. For the first time, and I think over a decade, a game between the Sharks and the Sabres has huge,

huge importance as it pertains to the playoffs. That's one of them, as a matter of fact. You got habs and Leafs. That's a classic rivalry. But I'm going to focus on one of the late games tonight. You're one to watch Oilers Avalanche. And this, of course, is a matchup of the two top scores in the NHL,

when Connor McDavid and the Oilers take on Nathan McKinnon and the Avalanche. The Oilers got a big win the other night, Sunday night, against the Vegas Golden Nights. Also that same day on Sunday, the Avs got a pretty big win in the shootout over Minnesota, and that was Nazim Kadri's first game back in Colorado. So there's your one to watch tonight. 7 o'clock. It's on SportsNet.

It's McDavid versus McKinnon as the Oilers visit Colorado. It's your one to watch brought to you by Limitless. A.V. They specialize in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid work spaces. Book your personalized tour of their experience center today. Visit them online at limitlessavie.com. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about JanPro. If you're tired of missed cleans or unreliable service, JanPro delivers consistent cleaning and responsive support you can count on. Start clean, stay clean. Visit them online at janpro.com. Coming up on the other side of the break,

Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us. Day one of NFL Free Agency went crazy. I'm tripping over every word right now. Okay, you'll be all right. I think I'll be okay because Nick Shook's going to join us next. Just slow it down. Just maintain your structure. Right.

Don't get running around. The NFL LL. Don't get running around in your own end. And just take it slow. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. from exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app.

7.34 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Krebs, Sportsnet 650. Halverdinbrough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have credit card debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. This is today at sands-trustee.com. Still in hour two of the program, we're at the midway point of the show. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour two of the program is brought to by Jason Homonock at Jason.

If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around. to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason Dow Mortgage. Let's go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline. Our next guest, as mentioned, from NFL.com. Busy day, day one of NFL Free Agency. Nick Shook joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

Morning, Nick. How are you? Fantastic. The bullets keep flying. The news keeps landing, and we are here to process it all. I knew that it was going to be busy. I didn't think it was going to be that busy. And we're going to table all the Seahawks stuff for a moment here because we kind of went over it already.

I want to start with the QB carousel. And I'm trying to get caught up. I know Kyler Murray is out in Arizona. Jacoby Brissette is now the starter there. Okay, so and I think Kyler's going to go to Minnesota. Possibly. Tua's out in Miami who replaced him with Malik Willis. That's right.

And then Tua is going to the Falcons. That's correct. Okay. Is there anything that we're missing here so far? Nick. No, I think that's largely it. I mean, one thing that we could probably guarantee is that we'll wait way too long on Aaron Rogers

to decide what he's going to do. But if you're in the backup quarterback game, Ms. Chubisky, two-year deal with the Tennessee Titan. That's also out there. So, yeah, it's not, the quarterback carousel, I don't think we really anticipated being a huge attraction in this free agency

outside of where Malik Willis would land. And that went very quickly. A lot of the rest of this has been either people finding backup jobs. I thought that the two of pairing with Kevin Sifansky makes a ton of sense. But I think we're largely on the same path. Marcus Mariotto staying in Washington makes sense, for example. Oh, and you know what? The last one I got to say, Snoop Huntley, Tyler Huntley, Ravens finally wised up, decided we're going to keep you instead of just trying to buck you off a practice squad for a third year in a row.

So is Aaron Rogers just going to go back to Pittsburgh? and what are the Steelers doing? They are apparently content with hitching their wagon to a 42-year-old quarterback because they don't believe that anything better is out there. I don't understand that. Do you?

It just seems... It's a difficult market. It's a difficult situation to find a starter. And I think that after they kind of missed the boat last year, the last couple of years, when there was a more active have been more enticing free agent market at the position. I think that they had just accepted that, look, if he's interested in playing here,

he did well enough to prove that he could play another season last year. I thought that he was certainly not the issue with them, and they could credit him a decent amount for getting to the playoffs. So it makes sense, but it doesn't make sense in a long-term planning, but the Steelers right now, look, they're having an excellent offseason, in my opinion, but they're not seemingly concerned about more than this upcoming season in a lot of the way that they plan things. And I think that's the product of just being a middling team,

a team that'll make the playoffs and not win a playoff game. They just want to clear that first, hurdle first. But for those who'd like to plan multiple years out in advance, it's not great the fact that they have nothing, unless you believe in Will Howard to develop and think that might be your future at the position. Who has a better chance of turning their career around from this point? Kyler Murray or Tuatung of Iloa?

Hmm. You know, that's pretty fair. that's a really intriguing question because I would believe it's Kyler Murray I don't really believe that Tua is going to find the right I'm not that they're going to find the right

situation I think that Tua ceiling is just lower Kyle just he has there are certain talents about him that if he was kind of guided through the stresses and rigors of a game and not as to just be a hero like he's been throughout the course of his career I think he would be he would be able to take the next step.

He's still relatively young if you think about when he, you know, selected first overall. And it just felt like Arizona put the entire franchise on his back over the last few years, especially after the end of the Cliff Kingsbury era. And it didn't help with his own progression as a professional signal caller. Now, I think that he's got to find the right spot. And that's why the Minnesota thing is so intriguing because not only could he push JJ McCarthy for that job, he could outright win that job before, you know,

they even get to the end of camp because of his experience. In fact, if they were to sign him, I would project him as their starter right away right now. And it would make a lot of sense being with Kevin O'Connell, you know, one of the noted quarterback whispers of this league, to get there and try to, I don't know, maybe rehab his image and get himself back on track as a quarterback. I just think that there's a lot of potential left than him. Whereas with Tua, you know his physical limitations. You think about the injury history and the way that things kind of went in Miami with him,

even just processing and decision-making of the back half of this last season. it was an ugly picture. But the pairing of his campus defancy makes a lot of sense. You got two left-handed quarterbacks in Atlanta. You got Michael Pennix and two at Tunga by Lola. And I'm telling you, man, find the right archetype makes a lot of sense. And also Atlanta's offense, under Stifansky is going to be very timing-based. And that is Tuos, he doesn't have the strongest arm.

He was more mobile when he was younger. Now he's taking a bunch of hits and everything else. And he's about protecting himself. He doesn't get as mobile. It was never really the biggest strength of his game. But accuracy and timing are big on Tua's, you know, resume and that fits perfectly with Stefansky so he could kind of get

himself back on track too I just believe down the road long term pilot's got a much higher ceiling. Is there still I mean what is the thinking on Michael Pennix Jr. that he's just not going to be healthy enough to start the season? Yeah they're in a weird spot and that's why when you know

I got word that the Tua thing was going down yesterday morning I realized oh this actually makes a ton of sense and I'm sure this is one of their top targets going into the quote-to-quote legal team tampering period because Pennex is coming off of injury. There's no guarantee that he'll be ready to go in week one

or even in the first month of the season or so. They're moving on from Kirk Cousins. They have no option behind him. So adding to, again, and I'm not kidding, you sticking to the archetype of the left-handed quarterback. Like Pennix obviously has a much stronger arm, but the left-handed quarterback thing kind of does make sense because it familiarizes the rest of your offense

with the way that you're going to operate the right tackle. Now your blindside blocker. The ball comes out of the quarterback's hands than the way the ball rotates the opposite of what it would with the right-handed quarterback. It kind of just helps you keep everything intact,

and it also, you know, it fits with what they're going to have going on there. But yeah, it's largely because Pennix is not guaranteed to be ready in the first month of the season or so, and I think the Falcons would, he better off having a veteran like Tungo by Lua behind Pennix

in the event that he struggles or he gets injured again, too. To his replacement in Miami is Malik Willis. Is this gamble going to work out for the Dolphins? you know, I don't know if we can look at it in a vacuum like that. And that's no knock on him because I believe that he has the talents necessary and has developed his skills, kind of cultivated and, you know, progressed his abilities that made him an intriguing prospect coming out of liberty in the last couple of years to qualify for this type of opportunity.

And yes, it's a very limited sample size, but he did a really good job, both cold off the bench in the middle of the game and also making a staff. start, as he did against the Ravens late in the season, this past season, of just handling the job and really starring. Like, not just being a guy who handed the ball up and got the ball out quickly, but, like, being a star player. And I think that the Dolphins need that. But the situation around him, they're in a very clear tear-down mode right now.

They have old Packers leadership, and John Eric Sullivan is their new general manager. You got Jeff Halfley, who was just the D.C. and Green Bay. The Green Bay group has, the brain trust of sorts has moved down there. At least a piece of it is chipped off. and move down to Miami to try to, you know, create, take some of what they learned in Green Bay and apply it to the dolphins. And that is where I think, I don't know if Malik necessarily is in the best situation possible for him to truly make it look like it was a good investment, to really make it pay off for

them. But I think he's got the ability to do it. I just don't know if the team around him is necessarily going to be as good as he might need and the situation around him. Because if you think about what helped him coming from Tennessee to Green Bay, I mean, they, you know, Tennessee trades into Green Bay for basically a bag of potato chips. And then Matt LaFlor is able to kind of coach him through what he needs to know to become an NFL quarterback, an effective one. I mean, Malik, I think he told Ty Dunn a summer or two ago that he didn't even really know the plays in his first year.

And one of the biggest jumps he could make in the second year is that he actually knew the playbook and could become an effective quarterback. So if he comes into this situation, a bit of familiarity from the Packer staff or those that carryover for, from half of these times the Packers and the belief and faith in the new front office that knows what he can do because they just came from Green Day and they'll get the longer runway. I don't think the pressure is on

because they're in the middle of a rebuild, but I also will not say that I'm going to guarantee immediate results because they're in the middle of a rebuild. I want to ask you about a couple more quarterbacks. Daniel Jones, is he just expected to stay with the Colts? Yeah, transition tagged. So this will probably work itself out.

basically preserves their right to negotiate with him at some level of exclusivity. And it was always what the Colts wanted. I started to figure out that this is what we were facing when, I don't know if it was during, I think it was before the Combine, or maybe it was right around, right during it, when Chris Ballard and the rest of the Colts leadership, and they had this had him before the Combine, they just spoke so positively of him.

And essentially said, like, no, they had full intention to keep Daniel Jones around despite the injury and the uncertainty that comes to the injury. So I wouldn't expect him to leave. Transition tag at least, you know, kind of gives him a lot more security with keeping him around. The injury, though, obviously we know what part of the season had happened in last year and how that gives him an uncertain timeline. And, you know, I think about all these Achilles injuries that happened in the NBA, for example, and then we saw Jason Tatum just come back, you know, less than 300 days after suffering the injury,

which is still insane to me. I wouldn't anticipate the same for a guy like Daniel Jones in the NFL just because of his injury history and the physical nature of the job. But they were impressed enough by what they saw last year to believe that this is their guy long term. And then they go commit a ton of money to Alec Pierce too, which I feel like is a vote of confidence toward Daniel Jones and the relationship they established very quickly

and the production that they enjoyed before Jones went out this past season. The other guy I wanted to ask about was Gino Smith. The old Seahawks quarterback, he went to the Raiders, did not go well. I actually wondered if he might be a fit for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I mean, he knows D.K. Metcalfe. I don't know if they get along, but I thought that might be a fit, but I'm also hearing maybe a reunion with the New York Jets. Yeah, which is a nightmare, if you think about it.

I actually kind of like to steal their fit, too, but the Jets reunion wouldn't be a nightmare. Look, there are career arcs, and oftentimes people love a good story, and they love to tie a bow in a career arc by seeing a guy return to the team that drafted him, and he didn't do well with the first time around. This would not be tying a bow on such a career arc.

This would be taking a sledgehammer to it, and just saying, whatever, however happens, however ends, it ends. Because this is, I mean, the Jets, like, I'm not here to knock on them. I think that they've been fairly affected this offseason already, but they are a team that just needs so much more. And if Gino would like to avoid experiencing when he just experienced in Vegas last year, he would avoid going to the Jets. But then again, does he want an opportunity to start?

Because that will be a place that offers him an opportunity to start. I just worry about playing behind that offensive line. You know, they've made a number of additions. They tagged Breeze Hall. They re-signed Zalani Woods. They made some defensive additions. But that offensive line is still largely the same. Now, you get Elijah Vera Tucker back, who is almost constantly, always hurt.

That could bolster the group. But, I mean, none of the quarterbacks that they had, including Justin Fields, right when he ended up, you know, kind of having his downfall was when that line started to fall apart. None of them really had a chance to perform that effectively because they were behind that group. Now, I just realized that Elijah Vera Tucker went to the Patriots. So he's also off the board for the jet. So, yeah, I wouldn't put Gino behind that line. I wouldn't.

And I would hope that he would try to find another opportunity elsewhere. I felt like Arizona might be a decent job opening, but Jacoby ends up being the starter there. So, yeah, again, it's weird, man. This is just a weird quarterback market, and you think about it. And, God, I don't wish that on Gino. I really don't. I would like a better ending for him.

We're speaking to Nick shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Okay. Now we turn our attention to the season. Hawks. Maybe the glitziest move of them all yesterday was the reigning Super Bowl MVP, Kenny Walker, going to the Kansas City Chiefs on a three-year deal with a lot of money attached to it. So there's a few things to unpack here. One, he is just the fourth ever Super Bowl MVP to change teams following the season. The list is not exactly full of luminaries. There was the immortal Larry Brown

who went from the Cowboys to the Raiders. Desmond Howard went from the Packers to the Raiders. The Raiders used to do this with regularity. And then Dexterity, Jackson went from the bucks to the cards. But Kenneth Walker, I want to kind of shelf the chief side of things for a sec. Where does this leave Seattle's backfield? Because Zach Charbonnet tore his ACL late last season. He probably won't be ready until at least after the midway point. And they got a real hole to fill at the running back position right now.

Yeah, but luckily, this is a draft that has some interesting prospect. Okay. Talk to me about that. Well, I mean, it's still early. in the process and we're going to be watching pro days and everything else when it comes to the position but I mean it depends on what type

of guy you really want and what offense do they want to kind of carry over I mean they largely said in replacing Clint Kubiak the new offensive coordinator largely said that he's going to keep a lot of what was in place before so they have they had a weird kind of reliance on the more rugged running back and I think about

Judarian Price from Notre Dame could he be available and kind of step in he's more of a Sharbet than a Walker but at this point, if you're entering this season, you're going to have neither there. And then you just kind of have to dig through the rest of the group because it's clearly, you know, Jeremiah I love and then everybody else. And then everybody else, the next guy on that list is Judarian Price's teammate of Notre Dame. So we'll see.

Maybe you target a guy like Mike Washington who put down that Blazing Fast 43340 time in Indianapolis and didn't do the rest of his testing because he knew that would stand. Had a really good year in Arkansas. Like there are there are opportunities for them to find guys, but we are not at that point in the season right now. We are in the, you know, throw money at guys at the position that are, you know, already in the NFL part of the season. And that's where I think it gets kind of interesting with what's remaining.

I mean, the Walker thing happens so quickly. Way faster than I thought. I thought the Seahawks would have a shot, although I'm not going to lie. When, even when John Robinson was talking about negotiating with Kenny during the Super Bowl for it, I was like, uh-oh, that's not a good sign that they're going to get something done. Rashad White's going to be out there. the Buccaneers went and replaced him already. I would love to say somebody like Kenny Gainwell,

but that's who they replaced him with in Tampa. So there's not a lot of high-level running backs in your top 101 of free agencies. So it's going to be a tough job for them. But you know what? I think that they'll be just fine in figuring it out. And it's going to be a combination of a free agency in the draft. And maybe you just lean a little bit more on my favorite guy who randomly took the field to Super Bowl, George Hollis, baby.

He went from RB3 to RB1 real quick in Seattle, and that's where he sits right now because there's nobody else on the depth chart. Okay, with Walker in Kansas City, what's the outlook for the Chiefs right now? Because they're going to bring back Travis Kelsey for a 14th season. I don't know what's going to happen with Patrick Mahomes if he's going to open the season on the physically unable to perform list or if he's going to be good to go.

Traditionally, they filled that running back position with sort of spare parts and has-beens NeverWorse, and this is a splash for them, unlike what we've seen for a long time. They're losing their way. Yeah. It is a really different approach for them, for sure. So what do you think? I was going to say, how dare you speak of Kareem Hunt like that, but you're right.

You're absolutely right. They have been pieces together. Isaiah Pacheco, a guy who ran so hard that you thought, you know, it's really fun to watch him run. He's a violent runner, but I don't think he's going to have a very. very long career because of this style of play. He's kind of falling back. He's dealt with some injury issues. And you're right.

So now that they've changed their direction and they've got Walker as their top guy at the position and you got Pacheco and Hunt, Kareem Hunt, both headed toward free agency. I mean, at one point they had Damien Pierce on the death chart in that position. It's going to be interesting to see how they're their remaining financial might at filling in behind Walker, but it's also super fun the idea that they're going to have a running back that we'll at least recognize as somebody more than, oh, I first learned about that guy because he played for the Chiefs like you did with Pacheco.

I mean, Clyde Edwards-Hillair, I remember when they added him in the draft, and was like, oh, that's a big deal coming out of LSU. It's first-round prospect. It's going to be great with Pash for Holmes, and he never really came close to reaching his potential there before he washed out of football entirely and called a career. So it's going to be interesting, though, because when we think about the quarterback market, when we think about backups, we can already tell us. on this earlier.

Mahomes is not going to be around for, you know, the first month or two. Does he pull off a Tadon-like recovery where he's back way ahead of schedule? Because that injury happened in the final month of the season. The only other guy on their roster right now is Chris Oladokin, a guy who I think that they believed in as they, you know, an ideal backup candidate who could maybe handle the job in place of Mahomes. But now, Minchew left. You know, I thought the Minshu might be the ideal guy to keep the ship afloat like he did in

Indianapolis a few years ago. Now he's gone. So they're going to have to find another option. And maybe just here, maybe. I don't think the money's going to make sense, but I'm working through this mentally in real time right now. Is Kansas City the place that Gino Smith goes to? Bill in for Patrick Bahams for half of the season or maybe a quarter of the season.

That makes sense. But yeah, there's definitely more questions to answer there. And honestly, I'm a little shocked that, I shouldn't be shocked. I'm a little shocked that Travis Kelsey came back. not because I question his desire to play football but I did wonder like is he at that point in his life where he can tell he's kind of lost a step or so in the last couple of years

he's getting married at that time in his life where he just wants to call it a career his brother Jason retired at 36 Travis is 36 but he'll be back too so it'll be interesting to see how this all shakes out one final question and we're running out of time here so real quick did you like the move by the bills to go and get DJ more Yeah, you know, I was, you know, my dream scenario was a good swing of trade for AJ Brown. But, yeah, D.J. Moore is an upgrade. A reference that upgrade in the most experienced receiver, most cable receiver they've probably had on this roster, no shade to Brandon Cooks or anything like that.

But most capable and experienced talented receiver they've had in this roster since Defon Biggs left. It's also, you know, another example of how the Keon Coleman thing just has not worked out. Now, I'm hoping with Joe Brady as their new head coach that, you know, maybe they'll get a lot of those guys. back on track, but it was long overdue that they made a significant move at the position. And while DG Moore left Chicago, then on the best note, because of the way that he didn't flatten out that route in the divisional round and led to that interception that lost them the game and sent the ramps to the NFC championship game, I still believe in his productivity as a player and what he could do in the offense, especially Josh Allen.

I don't think the bill should be done in the position, though. I think it would be who of them to explore at least one more candidate at the position in the draft or throughout free agency. Nick, this was great as always, buddy. for taking the time to do it. We appreciate it. Thanks, guys. Hope you can keep up with all the madness. I'll be trying to do the same. Trying our best. Thanks, man. That's Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I'm glad you asked about that trade that the bill swung to get DJ Moore from the Bears.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to make it the smartest decision thus far in the trade market, maybe not free agency, because it is the smart decision. Sometimes I think you just do these things last minute. No. Do you have a smart decision? No. How about DJ Moore going? To Buffalo. Actually, you know what? I was all joking aside. When I saw that trade go down, I thought that there was more, pardon the pun, for him to give, because he only had 50 catches for 682 yards last year. Was he squeezed out there by some of the new receivers? Doones-A, and they used the tight ends a ton there. The tight ends that got like,

Komet and Loveling got a lot of attention paid. He's still only 28 years old. He's onto his third team. And they desperately needed a wide receiver in Buffalo. So I think it's a good fit. It's the smart decision brought to you by Crow. You're trusted accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years. Crow, smart decisions, lasting value. Learn more at chroma-kai.ca. Two hours of the show in the books. On the other side,

Randy Jand is going to join us, game analyst for the Canucks here on Sportsnet 650. Also a reminder at 8 a.m., so in exactly four minutes time, be caller number five at 8 a.m. You'll win a $250 gift card to Golf Town. 604-280-0-0-650 is the number. That number again, 604-280-650.

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