Halford & Brough in the Morning - Ray Ferraro On Rick Tocchet's Challenges In Getting The Canucks To Score

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with NHL analyst Ray Ferraro (1:27) about Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet's challenges he faces in getting the team to score, they chat some other NHL stories with Ray, plus the boys talk Free Agency with NFL.com's Nick Shook (25:51). 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.

Ferraro, Ferraro, let's chat with Ray Ferraro. It's time for Ferraro, let's talk to Ray Ferraro. Ferraro winds up with a shot, SCORE! Ray Ferraro, breakaways on site, SCORE! Rebound score! Ray Ferraro! Ferraro, Ferraro, it's time for Ray Ferraro. Let's chat with Ferraro, it's time for Ray Ferraro. 7.02 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Halford Brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are now in hour two of the program. As the music suggests, Ray Ferraro is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk at jason.mortgage.

If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him on the internet at Jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio, Kintec Footwear and Orthotics working together with you in step. To the phone lines we go. It is with happiness and sadness that we are joined by Ray Farrarro for his final hit of the season

here on the Haliford and Brush Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Ray, how are you? I'm good, thank you. I got to say, I might have bit off a little more than I can chew. It doesn't sound like much with all one hit, but with, with what's going on right now, basically is as Ovechkin gets closer to, um, breaking Wayne Gretzky's record, I ended up with five games added to my schedule. And so it's like the travel becomes, you know, now we're trying to dance

this thing in amongst my travel and I'm like I just I just can't do it right so I I kind of apologize for saying oh yeah I'll do it all year and then going oh yeah it's February 28th or whatever I said and I'm like I yeah I can't do it so I've enjoyed it you guys are kind of a couple of knuckleheads and I enjoy that stuff. So as you know, I do enjoy that part of it all. So yeah, that's why I just can't keep doing it. Totally understandable, Ray. I've seen your schedule.

I could not do your schedule and I certainly could not do your schedule and talk to a couple of idiots like us once a week. I can't do that. So I understand that. By the way, I apologize. I lost my voice over the weekend. I had a bit of a cold and then I coached two U9 games and you know what's really tough?

Line changes, getting those kids to come off the ice. Like this is our first year of changing on the fly and I feel like you as a kid, definitely, or maybe even you in junior would have maybe not heard your coach once in a while calling you to come off the ice. Like you heard it, but you weren't sure you heard it.

So you're going to stay on the ice a bit longer. Well, the other, the other disadvantage to coaching at that age is they can't reach over the boards and open the door themselves. Oh, the doors are a mess, man. It's a whole week. They always, they never let the guy come out before they get on. So it's just like a massive pileup. Did you get your feet stepped on yet?

Not yet, not yet. I'm, anyway. Yeah, that'll happen. Yeah. That'll happen. Ray, so we were talking about Rick Talket, I'm, anyway. Yeah. Season. That'll happen. Yeah. That'll happen.

Ray, so we were talking about Rick Tauke at earlier in the show. Um, and we were noting that he's looked and sounded a little more frustrated. He, he hasn't completely lost it yet, but he's looked and sounded a little more frustrated with everything going on with his team and with the media and that sort of thing.

And, uh, you know, I'd be upset with the media too, if I had to face those guys every day. But, um, you know, what, what do you think he's thinking about the Canucks right now? Well, I, I would say probably since July, I mean, has there been any real smooth patch to the season? And the answer is no. And so, you know, the expectations were high on the ice. They got news off the

ice that threw everything into uncertainty, right? First, you know, I forget which was first the Dakota Joshua's news or Demko's news. And so now you come into camp and you know, you don't have two really important pieces. And then I don't know how long it was before, you know, the chat about the dressing room discord started. And then of course, that never went away until Miller was traded and Pedersen's tough year. It's just been one thing after another. And then of course that never went away until Miller was traded and Pedersen's tough year. It's just been one thing after another. And the frustration comes when some of the stuff you don't have an answer for.

Like what are you, what are you going to say sometimes? And then one of the reasons why, like honestly I got out when I was doing daily radio, one of the reasons I stopped doing it was I didn't like the interpretive part of so and so said this, what do you think he meant? Like, I didn't like doing that because you don't know these people directly and all that you do is interpret what they say. So if you're the coach and in this case, cause we're talking about talk and everything you say gets interpreted

without context or fact. And some of it is because you don't have the interaction like the media guys don't have the interactions they used to have. So they have to, I won't say guess, but they have to take an educated whack at a situation. And if it's not correct in your view, well, you're going to get pissed off, frustrated. Like of course you are.

Yeah. And, and so to me, it's just like the old snowball, right? And now it's like, you can't push it back up the hill and it's easy to say, ah, yeah, I'm just going to forget about it and I'm not going to listen, but we all know it's impossible not to forget about it or not listen.

Well, I mean, that's what we do on the show, but we're given these limited sound bites and frankly, one of the soundbites that stood out to me was, this was either a week or two ago. Um, he kind of said, everyone wants this fancy offensive system. And his point was like, you can play whatever system you want, but if your players are scared

to shoot the puck or they're not moving their feet, it, it doesn't really matter. I think I've asked you this before, but like is there anything Tocket could do differently? Because you know, you said, you know, sometimes you don't have the answers to everything and I kind of feel like Tocket's reached that point. He's like, I don't know how many more times I can say move your feet. And if I was him and I saw people blaming him for Pettersons play I would lose my mind. So I think sometimes you I don't know every fan would like to have the style of play that Colorado plays, right? Like when you like to watch Nate McKinnon 80 times a year, like it would,

it would be amazing and it's fast and it's a little bit reckless at times and, but they have the personnel that can outscore some of those reckless times. Right? So a, you, you, if a coach says, this is my system, I don't care who the players are, this is my system, I think he's making a mistake because you can have a template in your head, but you have to be able to adjust that to the players that you have. So that's the first thing I'll say. This is not a wide open offensive team, right?

Like it just isn't. It's built to be a hard, heavy checking, uh, offense through effort type of team. And then the top end of your roster has to score. Type of team. And then the top end of your roster has to score. So for the people that don't like the system at the end of it, your top end people have to score, right? Like that's, and if they don't, you can have the best system and you want, you can put Scottie Bowman behind the bench.

Not going to matter if the top end of your roster does not play. What do you think is going to matter. If the top end of your roster does not play, what do you think is going to happen? Remember when Scotty Bowman won five Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens, then he went to Buffalo and all of a sudden he wasn't such a good coach anymore. Right? Like it's, at the end of the day, I've had this

line in my head, the reason coaches walk back and forth behind the bench is because they're looking for new players. Right. And unfortunately you've got the 18 that are sitting there. And if again, we can nitpick the edges of the roster, but the top guys have to be able to score and if they don't, you're really going to be in trouble. And if you go through the top end of the Canucks roster, how many of them would you say have had productive or not spectacular years but expected

years? Like not the great year, the career year, but how many have had expected years? You wouldn't, it would be a really short list. Yeah. Yeah. In terms of goal scoring, maybe I'd say Debrusk, but then he just got called out by Tucket. Right. Because the one thing, this is what I do

think about Jake. I think he's one of those players you can kick in the ass and he responds. Some guys you can't, you've got to get to them a different way. Uh, what I found, like personally, I, I responded to that, um, which turned out to be a bad thing because then the coach was always on my, on my heels because I responded to it. Some guys just don't. Right. Some guys don't. Yeah. And so, but the brassica, I mean, like, Suder's not supposed to be one of your top goal scorers.

He's had an excellent year, but go down the list. Like you're, who else, who else can you put in the group? So goal scoring is the issue for this team, consistency of offense. And if the top guys don't score on a team that's built to check and be heavy, then how are you going to score? We're speaking to Ray Ferraro here on the Haliferton Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We're speaking to Ray Ferraro here on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. We may be like overthinking this sometimes, Ray, in that when Quinn Hughes is out.

Whatever you're gonna say, yes. Yes, yeah. We're overthinking it. A rare accusation for the Haliford and Bref Show that we're overthinking anything. But no, like if Quinn Hughes isn't in the lineup, it just so dramatically alters things. Now that may be not ideal roster construction, but the reality is reality.

If number 43 is in the lineup, you're going to have a hard time generating offense. Well, so the top three contenders for the Norris are McCarr, Hughes and Wurenski. I think McCarr is probably probably gonna win it again. Take one of those three guys, take any of those three guys out of their lineup. How are any of those teams the same? Doesn't even matter who you have. I mean maybe call it, maybe Nate can, I don't know, go on a superhuman thing for a while. But all of a sudden it's like I think De'Von Taze is awesome. He would be, he's just a terrific defenseman.

If he's running your power play or Sam Gerrard, as opposed to Cale McCarr, how do you think that's gonna go? Like, just not the same. So it's not overthinking at all. I mean, you just cannot replace one of the best players in the league. You just can't. You can wallpaper over it for a while. But it's a devastating blow to not have them available for the games. Since you were on this subject, and it actually got me thinking, because of course tonight's opponent is going to be the Montreal Canadiens, I'm curious to get your thoughts on the year that Lane Hudson's having, because we're going to see him front and center tonight.

And you look at the point totals and especially the assist totals, and like offensively, he's been brilliant. I don't know how much you've had a chance to watch him this year, but we're gonna get to see him for the second time this year Tonight's seven o'clock at Rogers Arena Looking forward to it a lot because I haven't seen him live this year. I've just seen him on TV there is There is a similarity In Because Lane Hudson is a small guy like he's not because Lane Hudson is a small guy. Like he's not, like he's just, he's not even,

he's not short, he's small. Like he's not thick. So he has like, Quinn can absorb a little bit more punishment, but the similarity between the two is their exceptional agility and escape ability. They rarely get cornered. And with that, which is what a gift to have, right?

Like you can escape these monster forwards, is that they have a vision and a sense of where the puck needs to go, really before they get their hands on it. So they don't get caught hanging on to it very often. They, they get it, they'd shake somebody off and then boom, the puck's gone or they've got room and they carry it. It is, um, they're going to be forwards always that are going to be too much physically for them. So both of them.

And that may be once every 10 games. Like, do you even care? Like, who cares? Lots of big guys get beat too, and nobody says, oh they got beat because, well, they're big, right? They find some other reason. There's always a reason to nitpick a player when it's obvious that they're small or smaller. That's what you nitpick. But there, there's an exceptionality to these guys. Like the weight, I watch when somebody's chasing Hudson to four check. First of all, they don't chase them with as much vigor.

Same as Quinn. They don't want to get embarrassed. Yeah. I'm going to get down there and now I'm standing next to the Zamboni driver. Like this is not good. I'm like, I love watching, one of my favorite things that Quinn does and I, and I'm curious to see if Hudson does it too, is Quinn will pull the forward right up to the blue line.

I think he almost does it for sport. And then he goes, shakes one way, goes the other way, comes back the other way and the forward spins around and Quinn's gone. Like, I'm like, I'm going almost does it for sport. And then he goes, shakes one way, goes the other way, comes back the other way and the forward spins around and Quinn's gone. Like, players can't do that. These are the best players in the world and they make them look pedestrian. And so I mean, Hudson's got this thing that he just vanishes. And it must be terrifying to for-check against because you always get told, don't get caught.

Okay, well then I'm not going to for-check. Well, then he just skates by you. So you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. Work on your edge work kids, I guess. Oh yeah, get on it. I want to ask you what's going on in Carolina and in particular, Rod Brindemore's comments about the whole ranton and thing.

And one of the quotes he had on the radio the other day is, um, the better question is, should we have known that he wasn't going to sign with us before we signed him or attempted to sign him, which sounds to me like a shot at management, which is his boss. What do you think about that whole situation and, and, and Bryndamore's comments on it? Well, I was surprised to read them because

they're very direct, very blunt. That is Rod's style. When we talk to him, when we get a chance to talk to him, we always come out of there and we're just so impressed with his honesty. Most guys kind of talk around the edges of any issue and he just doesn't. Um, I'd say if you're coaching the team and it's clear that after these moves, no matter how anybody in media tries to, um, soften the blow, Carolina's not as good a team today as before

they made the Carolina trade. Yeah. Or the Colorado trade. Colorado. And so he's like, wait a minute, we had natures and we had jewelry and now we've got Stankhoven and a couple of firsts. Like how does that wash out?

It doesn't. And so you can argue for future. Maybe this is going to be okay. You got the two first, you got a young player that projects to be a really good player in Stankhoven. That's fine. But if, if, if the guy gets to town and tells you when he says there, there's four teams I'm going to play with it.

You're not one of them. You probably should have had an inkling that that was going to be part of the equation. Now, I don't know how you go about getting that done. Everybody's got a friend of a friend and you could probably have had a general idea. And I think that's what he was talking about because it was clear, Granton and Hart wasn't in it in Carolina. I mean, that was, that was pretty clear. Sometimes you got to do some light tampering,

just some light tampering. Like, like on honestly, like what do you think happens July 1st? Like, or like, what do you, what do you think is going on? Oh, you can't talk to anybody till June 30th at midnight. Oh, come on. Like I, I, I'm not saying that they should have known they could have had a contract done, they should have known that he wasn't going to be heartbroken and crestfallen to

come to that team. And then you deal with it in the off season. But this is two years in a row, right? That, you know, they, they lost Gensel and, you know, I think they got a third round pick for him from Tampa and they lost Rantanen. He also, he also, by the way, kind of criticized that.

He said, um, if we had offered Gensel the contract, we offered him at the end, he's here, but we didn't for whatever reason. Yeah, look. So that's like, he's frustrated. This was a, you know, so you're talking about, you know, about pox frustration. And so here's in another city, clearly

frustration is there. Cause he didn't, he didn't leave much up for And so here's in another city, clearly frustration is there. Cause he didn't leave much up for interpretation, I would say yesterday in that press conference. It was pretty clear he was talking about more than Rantan. Right? Like that wasn't just about the Mika Rantan situation. In a very interesting way, there are some parallels to be drawn because it's largely

about roster construction and then what the coach is handed going into a season or in the case with Bryndamore and Carolina midway through a season. Like I'm sure Bryndamore sitting there and saying, our MO is to win a Stanley Cup, yet you've greatly decreased the chances of me being able to do that because I don't have as strong of a team as I did to start the year and That's a that's a legitimate complaint and you know, you know, sorry, go ahead Oh, I was just gonna say it is and there there is Plenty of stories that there's a lot of fingers in the pie. Yeah

with each decision and That just can't be that that just can't be and the reason is is that somebody else's frustration are going to be different than yours their level of frustration is going to be different and so if that's the case you've got to figure out who's really making the last decision. And if you're not comfortable with that, then you know, like you might not be in the right place. Don't forget a couple of years ago, his contract, I mean, this is one of the best coaches in the

league and his contract went right down to the wire because he was fighting for his assistant coaches. I remember, yeah. So it's not like this has been like John Cooper and Tampa Bay for 13 years, right? You've never heard anything there. But there's been some potholes to dance around in Carolina for sure. Well, Ray, this was great having you on the program this season. We really and thoroughly enjoyed it. And we understand if we have to take a backseat

to chasing Alex Ovechkin all across North America. Fair enough. Fair enough, right? We get it. So enjoy it. I mean, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I'll say that. Like Gretzky, we're getting past.

First and last time that sentence will ever be uttered in the history of language. Well, so let's just think, so today's last hit, we heard the Gretzky reference, right? You say last time ever. And you also accused yourselves of overthinking. This is twice in one interview. This is fabulous. History was made today.

Ray, enjoy the chase. Enjoy your travel. Uh, if you can, um, make sure you catch all your flights and, uh, we will, we will meet on the golf course this summer. I look forward for you to seeing you blade a wedge again. Can't wait. It is another of my specialties.

See you buddy. See you Ray. Thanks bud. Guys be well and thanks for everything. Hey, you guys are awesome. Appreciate it. Thanks man. Uh, that is Ray Ferraro here on the Haliford

and Brough show on Sportsnet. Six feet for the very last time. All right. Forget about Ray. All right. We got some NFL, we got some NFL talk coming up. We haven't even mentioned. And we got his son, so we're fine.

Yeah, that's true. Yeah. And, uh, so Nick Shook is coming up next. We haven't even mentioned yet another massive So we're fine. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. And, uh, so Nick Shook is coming up next. We haven't even mentioned yet another massive move that the Seahawks made bringing in Sam Darnold as their quarterback, um, free agency continues today. They didn't get Will Fries.

Offensive lineman Will Fries? Will Fries. He was high on the board. They didn't get Fries with them? They didn't. Well, like no Fries. He was high on the board. They didn't get fries with that? They didn't. Well, like no fries. He went to the Vikings. Oof. Uh, so the search for help at the offensive line

will continue for the Seattle Seahawks. We'll talk to Nick Schuch about the moves the Seahawks made. I want to talk to him about the 49ers. Yep. And where they are right now and all the other stuff that's going on in the NFL. We'll talk about it with Nick Schuch.

Landon Ferraro is coming up at eight o'clock and we will preview tonight's game against the Montreal Canadiens for your Vancouver Canucks. You're listening to the Halford and Brush show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Mick Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets. Weekdays three to four on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 7.33 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday everybody. Halford Brough Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the morning

is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour two of the program. Nick Shook from NFL.com is gonna join us in just a moment here.

To recap everything that happened on the opening day of NFL free agency and look ahead to what might happen in the coming days Our to this program is brought to you by Jason hominac at Jason dot mortgage If you love paying too much for your mortgage Then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you Visit him on the internet at Jason dot mortgage to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him on the internet at jason.mortgage. To the phone lines we go, Nick Schuch, NFL.com, joins us now on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Good morning, Nick, how are you? I'm good. The breaking news items are flying left and right. We are in the thick of the first wave of free agency for sure. So the number one question that I had asked of me yesterday to all of the listeners of the show and my buddies and the guys that I know that are also Seahawks fans, is Sam Darnold any

good? Can you help me answer this question for all those people? It's a valid question. If you didn't watch a lot of Viking games last year, You know, I would understand why you would say, well, I saw him put up great numbers, but is he any good? And of course everybody remembers what happened most recently, which was his two pretty dreadful performances in losses to the Lions and the Rams to end the season and end their dream after what had been such a great March.

But I kind of asked myself this, and I think this was part of the reason that he encountered the market that he did, yet he still went very quickly. I think back to what we saw this season, and there were many times where I thought that he had graduated from who he used to be. He would make great decisions under pressure. He still has a ton of arm talent. He seemed more poised than we'd ever seen before.

And those last two games still stick with me though because it reminded me so much of what we saw from him before. So if you want to take the larger sample size then you could tell them yes. You can tell them that, you know, behind a decent to slightly better offensive line he's going to, you know, light up an opposing defense.

But he was also playing with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Attenson and TJ Hawkinson. What the Seahawks have right now is Jackson Smith and Jigba and a group that still needs to be filled out, especially after the DK Metcalf trade. There is work to be done. I think the situation around him, like a lot of quarterbacks, has to be ideal to really maximize him. I think the Seahawks need to do a good job of,

you know, improving what is around him right now. But don't count him out entirely. I mean, the guy did just put up career numbers and, you know, lead one of the more explosive offenses in the NFL last season in Minnesota. So when I was trying to answer the question, I would tell people that I think a large part of this might have to do with a new offensive coordinator

in Clint Kubiak coming in and Wanting to run a very different and also very specific style of offense and that Finding a guy in Sam Darnold who they work together in San Francisco who knows how to do it and can do it Well is maybe the biggest reason why this could work. Is that a fair analysis? Yeah, absolutely You know, it's the Kubviak offense is more of, you know, the zone scheme, the stuff that, you know, really, I mean, his dad came from when he was playing,

well, he's a backup quarterback behind John Elway, way back under Shanahan and all that. They all come from the same tree, and that is not the offense that you would want Geno Smith to run because you're really not taking full advantage of him, I think, in that offense. So, Darnold makes more him I think in that offense. So, Darnold makes more sense to put in that type of offense and I think that when it comes

to fit, it matters a lot when you're going to transform like that so drastically. I also wonder if this was what John Schneider viewed as an opportunity to retool and kind of, you know, Gen mean Gino's no young guy, he's in his mid-30s and kind of, you know, see if, all right, well we're doing this now, let's approach it this way. You know, there's competing theories on the moves that they had made in the last couple of days, which is that are they aligned, you know, John Schneider and Mike McDonald, or are they actually, you know, pulling this off together with the longer term?

I'm curious to see. It may not be an immediate production thing, but I think as long as, you know, Donald doesn't completely tank, I think it'll make a lot more sense and it'll be fine. Are the Seahawks going to be able to meaningfully address their offensive line in free agency or at the draft?

I know one of the guys they had their eyes on was Will Fries and he went to the Vikings. So what's left out there? Yeah, here's the thing with this offensive line group, the numbers don't match the play. Um, and the problem with that is Ronnie Stanley took a pay cut, not a pay cut, but he took less money than he was really worth in the

open market. And now if you try to compare every other player who's signing for app or more money per year at tackle It you know it kind of boggles the mind there are guys out there who are signing multi-year 15 million dollar a year contracts I believe that that's what the beast did with the signing Who haven't even played full seasons as a starter before the The need for offensive line is extreme, it always is. And there's always a need for offensive line in this league. But I will say this, there is some legitimate talent and depth, especially on the interior offensive line

in this upcoming draft. So now may not be time that you invest a ton of resources in getting better. Obviously they need to get better overall. Um, they did not do a good job upfront last year. And, but I think that most of that, and it's a risk, you're betting on rookies and everything, right, but I do like the depth in this class.

And I think if you can snag one or two of some of these guys that I was at, saw out there at Indianapolis at the combine, then I think you'll be in a much better spot, even if it's a bit of a risk. Uh, has there been any update on the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback situation? Not since we all heard the things that probably

made our eyebrows raise yesterday, which is, oh, they're interested in Aaron Rodgers. Oh, they're actually very interested in it and nothing is imminent, but it is building steam. And I'm just sitting back thinking, are you sure for a year? I mean, it's, it's, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me personally.

I think maybe Pittsburgh looks at it as, you know, we're the one organization you could go to and cause a lot of drama. I mean, they kind of just proved that with Russell Weldon last year, but now that field is out of the equation, I think that they've drama. They kind of just proved that with Russell Willis last year, but now that field is at the equation, I think that they've been forced to kind of consider veterans and what they really wanted to.

I do know one thing, and that is that that fan base is very tired of making the playoffs and not winning in the playoffs. Now you can say, hey, privileged and everything else, but this is the Steelers. I think that that is going to motivate some of the decisions that make this off season. Is the Steelers, I mean, you kind of touched on this already. Is the Steelers culture a fit for Aaron Rodgers? Heck, I wonder if it's a fit for DK Metcalf. On the surface, no for Aaron Rodgers, but he's also 41.

Like he's, if this is last year, I could understand why they would, you know, partner up and try to make a run at things. I also, you know, I struggle with it because I think Rodgers is just like, I don't give a damn what people say. I'm just going to let my thoughts fly even if they're crazy. I mean, he got a Netflix documentary out of it for God sakes. But at the same time, I wonder if like he would just tone it down just to be like, look, man, I just want to play one more year of football and then I'm walking away from this

stuff and let's just, you know, let man, I just wanna play one more year of football and then I'm walking away from this stuff. And let's just try to maximize whatever we have there. I mean, the DK thing, actually that's a tough situation for me too because you guys know, everybody knows that he had a, he was displeased with the situation in Seattle over the last year and a half or so. And that's part of what led him to get traded. But I also think that the Steelers are quite well versed

in dealing with Diva receivers, considering Antonio Brown was on that team and they still have George Pickens on that team. And even Deontay Johnson caused a bit of an issue from time to time. So if there's one place that'll, you know, try to, at least experience enough to try to adjust or get a player to adjust it's

Pittsburgh when it comes to DK Metcalf. Could you imagine trying to manage a room that has Aaron Rodgers, DK Metcalf and George Pickens in it? I think that's the only coach I could probably manage is Mike Tomlin. Although Tomlin might be like you know what I've been here for a long time I think I'm out of here. I mean, I could understand as it pertains to his career path and he's been there a long time. And I think that he was unfairly on the hot seat a year ago. And I still think he is the fact that he was

given Russell Wilson and Justin Fields and just said, all right, make the most of it. Um, and, and George Pickens and you know, Calvin Austin and receiver, and they still made the playoffs as an achievement. Most coaches wouldn't do that. We're speaking to Nick Schuch from NFL.com here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650.

Did you want to get into the 49ers stuff now? Well, yeah. Anytime there might be some negative news about the 49ers, I'm willing to talk about it. Where are the 49ers right now? Well, according to Tom Pelicero, as of an hour ago, they're assigned safety richie grant to a one year, $1.5 million deal. So that'll fix everything.

Exactly. They're in a kind of a weird situation where like Dre Greenloft would be a guy that they would keep in the past and yet they let him walk. And they had a lot of injuries last year, Tylenol and the past and yet they let him walk. And, and, you know, they had a lot of injuries last year, Tylenol and the fungo, they let him walk. It's almost like they're going to let people walk because they kind of need to reset and the injury, you know, injury laden season that they dealt with last season was, I don't know, maybe a, a, a bit of an early wake up call to that

fact, they got to pay Brock Purdy. And I think they understand that. Even though they traded Devo, which we kind of knew was coming, there was even a report that Brandon IU could be available too. I'm not sure what's necessarily going on with them other than the fact that they have

multiple holes to address. They also have not been able to get fully available or even somewhat available seasons from some of the most important players being Christian McCaffrey, Nick Bosa. And so I think that they're gonna watch some of this happen, sit on a little bit of their money

and maybe they got something up their sleeve because they've been a little bit too quiet. And anytime a team is real quiet like this, something ends up shocking us all. Who in your estimation had the best day one of free agency? That's tough because I tend to side with the group that does not subscribe to the belief that if you win free agency you're gonna win on the field. Too often in the past we have seen that teams that win in free agency don't produce on the field. But the Patriots sure spent a lot

of money because they had a lot of money to spend. They did. They did. And they got guys that fit the Mike Vrabel ideology, you know, Milton Williams, Robert Spillane, Carlton Davis getting $20 million a year. Sure, go ahead. Why not? And also, even in the year to Morgan Moses, if he could stay healthy, that would be a

nice little addition and tackle. Otherwise, I don't know. I mean, that's the one that like stood out to me the most as well. They're throwing a lot of money at them. Thought the Bears made a couple of nice veteran signings, not exactly sure how that's going to pay off in the long term. Dolan's still there. You know, Dolan's a great addition for them because they need it on the interior but Grady Jarrett's 10 years into the league at this point. So still a disruptor for sure but I don't know if that's going to be as much as they believe or as effective as they might believe it is that they needed to beef

up the interior. I mean maybe the Buccaneers is my answer because they found a way to keep Chris Godwin, they got Ben Bredesen and they convinced Hassan Reddick to come play for one year and $14 million. And hopefully, you know, this time, unlike what the Jets, he will play from the outside. That would be a nice get for them. Just getting back to the quarterback situation, besides Aaron Rodgers, who's out there? Well, do you believe that the Falcons are

interested in trading Kirk Cousins or do you believe them when they say that they're fine with keeping him on the roster for a long time? Because that is one of the guys that I would put atop that list. After that, we kind of start to go down the train into the second tier guys. And by second tier in this class, I mean second tiers and second string. You know, what about the Daniel Jones situation out there? You know, there's a number of lower tier guys that I mean, we just saw Dorian Thompson Robinson and a hit around picket traded the Eagles for Kenny Pickett yesterday. Anything is possible at this point because some

teams are just looking for backups and they're planning on trying to address it in the draft. It's a weird, it's kind of a weird scenario right now to be honest with you. Seeing reports about the Broncos really wanting to hang on to Zach Wilson and then after they, you know, kept Jared Stidham and everything else before Wilson moved on. Yeah, I mean, it's Zach Wilson. Like this is a weird quarterback market. So there's definitely things to sort out, but yeah.

Is Jamus still out there? I believe Jamus is still out there. Yeah, he's still out there. Last time I checked. So if Jamus is looking for like entertainment. I mean, yeah, I was listening to the Vamani Jones' podcast last night and they were having a hard time describing

Jameis between a bridge or a trap door and I think it's somewhere in between. Maybe a drawbridge, but the one that goes in reverse and unexpectedly too, there's no bells dinging to a warning that the bridge is about to move. That's Jameis Winston, so who knows? Maybe somebody wants to go down that trip too. The deal you just mentioned,

since you're so close to Cleveland, is Kenny Pickett gonna start for the Browns? Here's how I've been characterizing it to the many panicked Browns fans, or despondent depressed Browns fans at this point, because they've essentially. I think they're beyond panic. They're just like, numb me. No, I mean, I think he could,

because anybody can start for them. Sure. Because they started Dorian Thompson Robinson last year, and they started Jameis Winston, and they went and got Bailey Zappi and started him, and the year prior they started Dorian Thompson Robinson last year and they started Jamis Winston and they went and got Bailey Zappi and started him and the year prior they started five different quarterbacks so yes he definitely could. Over the long term you know it consistently like that's part of the plan. No I don't think that that's necessarily what they envision. It's it

looks to me like a situation in which they're going to they add Kenny Pickett they are going to add another veteran I believe and they're going to, they added Kenny Pickett, they are going to add another veteran, I believe, and they are going to draft a quarterback and just kind of throw it all out there and say, may the best man win. And we're not completely caught with our pants down like they have in the last couple of years because they're still dealing with the Watson thing.

They're still dealing with the fact that he's on their payroll. That's a roster spot. I mean, he's going to be on IR probably to start the season and for a good portion of the season. So at least it doesn't take up an actual roster spot, but he's on that payroll and takes up a huge chunk of it. So there's only so much they can do.

Sending a fifth and moving on from DTR to get Kenny Pickett makes sense because I think they were finally exhausted of their curiosity and fascination with him last year because he was just so dreadful. And Pickett was okay in the game against Washington. They should have won. He was playing quite well, throwing very accurate passes.

His receivers hands were just coding Crisco that day. And he didn't get enough job against Dallas the next week. So, and he got snatched in the Super Bowl. Good for him, hooray. Like that's how you can sell it. It's the Super Bowl champion coming to the Browns. They just, they have to try a lot with this situation. Before we let you go, I just wanna look ahead to the draft.

I don't know if anything's fundamentally changed from the first day of free agency to how it might alter the draft, but the top three picks still belong to Tennessee, Cleveland, and the New York Giants, and I guess the top three guys are still Cam Ward, Travis Hunter, and Shadr Sanders. How do you see the top end of the draft playing out?

This is gonna be one of the most unpredictable drafts you've seen in a long time. I hope that it's not the same outcome in terms of class strength as the 2013 draft because that was you know notoriously really bad. But I see this going a number of different directions. It all starts at Tennessee at one obviously. What do they do? Do they go quarterback? Do they go Cam Ward, do they go chidor, do they not go quarterback at all, do they go Abdul Carter? All of these questions have not really been answered and frankly you can go sign a guy now

and it still wouldn't preclude you from drafting a guy in the first round of quarterback. Chad Reuter actually, a colleague of mine, put out a great list on Twitter yesterday that showed, historically over the last 10 or so years, a number of teams have spent money on quarterbacks that were veterans in free agency and still drafted first round quarterbacks.

So it's not like we're gonna be able to read the tea leaves here as it pertains to that position, but it's gonna be unpredictable because you have to really understand what teams value, what their priorities are about position and are we gonna see a team really value a guy like Carter at edge rusher or a player like Travis Hunter

who you could figure out where you want him to play or even a running back like Ashton Gentry or are they that focused on solving quarterback that maybe they take a guy a little higher or way higher than he's supposed to go in order to at least try to help themselves sleep at night because, all right, well, now we have an answer at quarterback.

Charles Davis had a mock that came out. It might have been about a week ago now where he had the first three quarterbacks being Shidora to Tennessee, Kam Ward to the Browns, and Jackson Dart to the Giants at number three. That would be chaos, but that just kind of goes to show how unpredictable this draft is gonna be. I lied, I do have one more question. Travis Hunter, I know I was reading the stuff out of the combine in Indianapolis where coaches

and executives are already convinced he can play both ways and both sides of the ball in the NFL. Do you think that's actually gonna happen when he's drafted and then steps on the field for a team or is this just off season chatter? I think that, I mean, this is tough because I grew up in an era in which Troy Brown ended up playing both ways to the Patriots.

Everybody made him sound like a hero for it, which he was in terms of the physical toll that it takes on your body. So those early Patriots teams, they were the gritty ones. They were the blue collar teams that nobody saw coming. And Troy Brown embodied that, but they didn't do that again with anybody else. And they did it out of necessity when they did

because they were so thin in defensive backs. And I think that's really what it comes down to with such a limited roster, 53 men. You would think that there would be some value in that, but if you're spending a first round picker, is it really wise business wise to ask a guy like that to go play 85, 90 snaps because you're spending a first round pick, is it really wise business wise to ask a guy like that to go play, you know, 85, 90 snaps because you're giving him, you know, a good collection on defense.

I mean, at that point, you might as well make him a returner too, right? So I don't think it's that realistic except in certain spots where we see, I mean, I just think about Sam Hubbard who just retired and edge rusher who ran around in the end zone caught a touchdown pass. It was the final play of his career because he got injured on the play. We could see Hunter used in certain scenarios in which you wanna put him in a position on offense, let's say he's a DB and you wanna play him a receiver,

all right, well, it's third and short, we're in the red zone and we like his dynamic ability here and we're gonna capitalize, we're gonna throw him in the game here. The question really comes down to where do you see him? Do you see him as a receiver or a corner? Which is a great problem to have, but I think back to when Chris Gamble was playing two ways at Ohio State, he did not play two ways in the NFL when he was at the Panthers. Nick, this was great.

As always, man, thanks for taking the time to do it. Enjoy the next couple of days as free agency continues along. We'll connect again as we get closer to the NFL draft. Oh yeah, wheels keep turning. Thanks for having me on, guys. Yeah, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. That's Nick Schuch from nfl.com here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. So I'm okay so far with what the Seahawks are doing, but if they don't. If they don't improve the offensive line, then it's going to be a disaster.

Yeah. I don't, they had a lot more pieces in Minnesota on the offensive side of the ball. That's what I'm talking about. Then they need another wide receiver and a tight end and maybe a fullback. Here's the thing is they don't have them in Seattle right now.

Who's the number two receiver in Seattle right now? Is it Jake Bobo? Bobo. Yeah. Is it Jake Bobo? Bobo. I think it might be Bobo. They don't have the pieces.

So not only do they need to acquire the pieces, you have to then watch them play and make sure that it works because sometimes you acquire guys and it just doesn't work out. Yeah. They haven't even gotten to that. Wait a sec, this guy sucks. He's terrible.

Can't block anything. A human turnstile. So I'm worried about that. I am, I won't say highly skeptical. I am moderately skeptical of Sam Darnold replicating what he did this year. Now maybe they're not asking him to replicate the just basic counting stats. Doesn't it make you a little just more, more

curious about the season though? Like I knew what Gina was and I think he was ask him to replicate the just basic counting stats. Doesn't it make you a little just more, more curious about the season though? Like I knew what Gina was and I think he was, I mean, honestly, I've said this before, but he was the dumbest of the good quarterbacks. Some of the throws he made last season were, well, some of them were incredible. Right.

But some of them were just. And that's the big difference. You, I mean, I don't know, I don't know how's the big difference. I mean, I don't know how much Sam. What were you doing, man? I don't know how much Sam Darnold you watched last year. But there are certain throws. I watched his last two games, and I was not impressed. There are certain throws he just can't make.

The Gino can. Yes. Yes. Now, in a system with Kubiak where he'll be asked to do very particular things and throw very particular passes, he might really flourish at it. It might be the perfect fit with the perfect

guy and they've got the history there. But I look and the biggest issue that they've got right now is the talent surrounding him. It was just, I mean, you're talking about a terrible offensive line last year that, I mean. I mean, that was one of the reasons Gino threw some bad passes like that. Cause he was just constantly on the run.

So, I mean, I'm moderately skeptical. It's still Sam Darnold. I know he had a nice year last year, but it's still Sam Darnold. Remember when Case Keenum had a really nice year in Minnesota? Yeah. The Miracle Case Keenum year.

I'm getting those vibes. I hope I'm wrong, but I might be right. He has more pedigree than Case Keenum though. Does he? By the way, I got an update on the beer garden at UBC. Okay, confirm beer garden UBC Shout out to Stu Walters our guy boots on the ground out of UBC. I'm bringing this up because Beginning on Thursday. It's the 2025 U Sports men's and women's final a basketball championship out at UBC Go check it out whether you're a Hoops fan or not,

it's a great event, it's the first time ever that the men's and women's tournaments are being held in the same location. 22 games over four days, so it's a basketball frenzy. If you want tickets, go to Final Eight, and that's the number eight, you don't have to spell it out. Final8.ca for more. Daniel Jones is joining the Colts.

Wow. Yeah. Okay, I thought you might go back to Minnesota. So the plan there was to bring in a veteran type to compete with Anthony Richardson. Yeah. And there's the veteran. Danny Dimes.

Danny Dimes is now known as a veteran. Okay, we gotta go to break. We're way up against it for time. Landon Ferraro is gonna join us next on the Halford and Brefshow on Sportsnet 650. Who's the number two receiver in Seattle right now? Is it Jake Bobo? Bobo. Yeah, I don't know. Is it Jake Bobo? Bobo. Yeah, I think it might be Bobo. Bobo. Bobo.

Bring back Sheriff Bobo. Bobo. Bobo.