Halford & Brough in the Morning - What's Next for Canadian Tennis + NFL Storylines

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

In hour two, guest host Jamie Dodd is joined by Sportsnet's Mike Koreen. Mike talks Vickie Mboko's win at the National Bank Open, and the current state of Canadian Tennis. Then, NFL analyst Nick Shook joins the show. Nick weighs in on Shedeur Sanders, James Cook's new contract, and what to watch for the rest of the preseason.  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.

Welcome back to Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650, Jamie Dodd filling in today. No Josh Elliot Wolf either on the show. He's doing all right, but he'll be back later on this week. 650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. There's like a second beat drop in that one. I had to wait for it. He knew it was coming. You could hear it.

That snuck up on me. Halvin and Brough brought you by Jason Dot Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That's Jason. Dot Mortgage. And, of course, Halvin and Brough brought you by Sands and Associates. learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks, visit sands-trustee.com. We are broadcasting live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step.

And we now go to the hotline powered by Power West Industries editor at sportsnet.com. Mike, Kareen, joins us now on the hotline. Mike, thanks for doing this today. How are you? Jamie, good morning. Good morning. I appreciate that greeting. Very few guests say good morning to me. So thank you, Mike. I appreciate that. It's earlier for you. It is. And it's a lot earlier. Absolutely. You're like cruising into mid-morning out there. I'm still shaking out the cobblins. Yeah. There you go. All right. So we've had a little bit of a chance to kind of digest what Vicki and Boko did at the National Bank Open in Montreal. Of course, incredible performance. We all know, you know, knocking off the Grand Slam winners. and claiming her first title.

So there's the natural question now of what's next. And I think on the one hand, we all saw an incredible performance and she shot up the world rankings. And there's a lot of excitement. I think on the other hand, you know, we have to keep in mind this is an 18-year-old coming off her first victory on the tour. From your perspective, what are realistic expectations now for Vicki and Boko going forward in the near term?

Well, I mean, first of all, we've got to see if she's healthy. enough to play the USO right i mean she she dropped out of Cincinnati totally no surprise she would have had to play two days later and you know the the morning of the final she said it hurt to brush her teeth because of her wrist injury so is that going to be at a good enough level to play grand slam in a couple weeks i don't think there's any guarantee yet and i i really don't think she feel any pressure to do it if she if she doesn't feel 100%. i mean she's played more than 60 matches this year, had to fly all over the globe to some very remote spots, especially early in the year when she was not on the main tour. So, yeah, short term, first question, is she

healthy enough? And secondly, you know, it's not usually a linear route straight to the top in tennis. I mean, look, she had a great tournament. She has some great weapons. She clearly is very mentally strong. But that doesn't mean she's just going to shoot up to number one, the world right away, and you usually have some ups and downs. So, you know, first time in a grand slam, main draw without having to qualify, I think it's a big ass to expect a big run after what she just did. Yeah, you mentioned the mental toughness on display, and that certainly stood out. Overall, what would you say we kind of learned about Mboko in her game in her performance

at the National Bank Open? I think just, you know, we saw she has an amazing backhand. that's just beautiful she could serve the ball quite well she can ease people so we've seen that throughout the year I do think what we learned the most in the last two matches

is just how strong she is in terms of just saying even keel does not get too high does not get too low looks a lot like her father they kept showing her on the broadcast as they should he's very as a very even temperament and she she appears to be much the same

and in an environment like that And I'm telling you, I've been to a lot of sports events. The excitement was off the charts of this event. And she managed to stay, you know, in the present, as we all like to say. And her opponents did not. And to me, that's the main reason she won those last two matches. Her opponent's unraveled. She did not.

Full credit to her. Well, that's interesting, too, because that ability, I mean, we're talking about it in a match and how important it is. but as we were also just talking about, right, as an 18-year-old and, you know, questions about her readiness for the U.S. Open from a health perspective, but even looking beyond that, as you said, it's not always linear, right? Hey, you win a tournament and all of a sudden you're on the rocket ship up and you're going to be top of the rankings. There's ups and downs, and, you know, you've got to think that that same ability

to stay in the moment, stay present, keep an even keel in a match is something that could serve her well between matches on, on her journey from this point on in tennis. I do think so, and I think the new format of the National Bank open with 12 days and a day off between every match to the semi-thaus and the finals, very similar to a grand slam. So she's now accustomed to it and has a great run. So that's going to be an advantage to her. What she's not going to have is those same crowds that really gave a home court advantage. Now, we've seen other players struggle with that home court advantage.

So again, credit to her for really using that momentum. But, you know, you could argue if those matches were on neutral courts, those last two matches, it may have not gone her way. She used that momentum favorably. She's going to have to create it herself more so in New York where you don't expect the same partisan crowds. And, of course, at only 18 years old, there's plenty of development and work on her game left to do.

What are those areas that stand out for you that need to be polished or sharpened up a little bit for her to continue that ascendancy in the rankings? Well, look, I feel like I've been talking about all the things that are preventing her from getting up. I do think she has a real shot to be a top 10, top 20 consistent player just based on what she has in her toolbox. She is 18. She, to me, has to get just a bit more consistent. They don't track on forced errors, the WTA officially, but she made a lot of them in a lot of matches.

So I think she's just got to tighten up a few parts of her game. She sometimes tries to do a bit much when she doesn't have to have to. But, again, you just don't have at the women's level, player on the women's side, I should say, players with those weapons just all over the tour. She's got a lot of things she could do that very few others can. And if she could just tighten up her game a bit and just stay on the same track, good coaching, and just not let the moment get too big and just, you know, stay focused on tennis.

I do agree that the sky's a limit for her. She's really got it all. Talking to Mike Corrine here, editor at Sportsnet.com, on Halford & Brough, Sportsnet 650. And, you know, before that run for Mboko really materialized into something special and ultimately a victory at the National Bank Open. The storyline, I think, from a Canadian tennis perspective, was going to be a bit of a disappointing showing

for the Canadians in the field. And just overall, beyond the incredible victory from Mboko, how do you look at the state of Canadian tennis in this moment? So, yeah, I think the final stats were Mboko seven wins, rest of Canada, five. Wow. So, yeah, it wasn't, she really saved, it would have been a very disappointing Canadian tournament.

The state of Canadian tennis, sure, it's not where it was when Milo Farionage was a threat to make quarterfinal, semi-finals at Grand Slams, and Bianca Andrescu, obviously, for a great year. Eugene Bouchard, with a couple great years. At the same time, though, some of these men and women have shown flashes of being able to do it. Like just a week earlier, Leila Fernandez won Washington, right? the tournament and then she had a very disappointing first round match of Montreal. Same

for Dennis Chappavala, one in Mexico, loses his first match at home. He's really struggled at home since he won that famous match over in Nade de Hall in 2017 in Montreal. So they've shown flashes. This week we've got Felix Oje Aliasia

into the round of 16 in Cincinnati and a very winnable match against Benjamin Bonzi who's in the 60s in the rankings. So you know, it's It's certainly not been as consistent as you'd like, but there are moments where you do wonder if one of these other men or women can break through. Yeah, and it is interesting because as much as we're talking about some of the disappointing results,

it's also disappointing, I think, relative to the bar that these players have helped raise, right? Like, it's relative to a much higher set of expectations than we certainly would have been talking about, you know, 15 years ago in Canadian tennis. Oh, I am. Before, if a Canadian won a first round match at a grand slacks, it's a big deal. So, yeah, it totally changed. I think the disappointment, I guess you want to call it disappointment, I'm not sure if that's the right word, but when it went, Felix Ozaa L.C. I'm in Dennis Chavlov, specifically, when they came up, we've been hearing about them for, you know, close to a decade, just really talented juniors. And I think we all kind of thought they might have a grand slam by now.

Now, perhaps that's a bit unfair. I mean, they first played in the era of Nadal, Federer, and those guys, and Djokovic, of course. And then now he's got Sinner and Alcraz who look just as good as these guys. So they're just playing in an era where there's very, very good players and they have not been able to break through

at the Grand Slam level yet. But having said that, it's not that they're too old. They still have a chance. But, you know, it maybe hasn't happened. happened as quick as obviously a lot of Canadians would hope for. Looking ahead to the U.S. Open and, you know, not just necessarily focusing on the Canadians who are going to be in the field, but tournament as a whole last Grand Slam event of the year, what are some of your big questions, big storylines you're going to be monitoring going into

the U.S. Open. Well, I think we're all hoping for another, for another center outgrath final. Obviously, if Canadian can't get in. I mean, they've played such epic matches. And that would be a total amount of fun. Women's side, I think just like we saw in Montreal, is wide open. Arena Sabalanka is the world number one. She didn't play in Montreal.

So she'll be back. She's playing in Cincinnati this week. Eugis Spontek, she had an early loss in Montreal after winning Wimbledon. So you saw, I think it was the top five seeds, top six, five or six out before the quarterfinals in Montreal, all in what was a really good field, basically only missing Sabalanka. So the women's side feels a lot more wide open, certainly, than the men's side at this stage. Yeah, it's funny how long we've been saying that at this point.

That is true. Sorry, that is not breaking news. No, you're like, you're absolutely right. It's just, it's, it's been that way for an awfully long time at this point. Yeah, yeah. No, it's, I mean, and for Vicki and Boko, I mean, it's a real chance. You do not have Serena Williams and those just caliber of legends, at least at this point, in the women's, on the women's side of the draw right now.

So, yeah, it's a lot easier to break through when you don't have athletes and champions like Cynar and Alcraz in your way. So not take anything away from her, but yeah, there just seems to be that opening that doesn't exist on the men's side. Mike, thanks for doing this. Really appreciate you taking the time. And maybe we can chat again closer to or during the, the U.S. Open as well. Thanks for doing this. Okay, Jamie. Have a good day.

Thank you. I appreciate that. That is Mike Corrine. He's an editor at Sportsnet.com. weighing in on Vicki and Bocco's win at the National Bank Open in Montreal. And what's next for her? What's next for the rest of Canadian tennis as well? And just as we were kind of having that conversation about Sinner and Alcaraz taking over from the previous era of the big three, this text came in unsigned. The ATP is so deep, hard for Canadians to compete with the top. top 10. He also says Diallo is probably the best chance among the Canadian men. I do think

any way you slice it, that has to be part of the story with a certain, certainly on the men's side. It's just going right from the Federer, Nadal, et cetera, Djokovic era to now Al-Qaraz and sinner. And yeah, were there hopes that Chappo and Felix Ogi Aliazim could have been part of that next wave of great players? Yes, but it's also just an incredible. incredibly high standard to hold them against. We'll see how it materializes for Victoria Mbocco now going forward. I will say as a more or less a casual Canadian tennis fan, I'm not a hardcore tennis fan by any stretch,

but I like to watch when I can and cheer on the Canadians. I do have this feeling kind of, you know, once bitten twice shy when it comes to really getting on the bandwagon for these Canadian tennis players because there have been these cycles of hype. you know, even going back to Mela's round itch and Jeannie Bouchard quite a while ago now. And then Chappo and Felix and Bianca breaks through and wins the Grand Slam event and that was incredible. But then her career is derailed by injuries. Layla has a great showing at the U.S. Open.

Hasn't really been able to use that as a springboard to really joining the elite and being a consistent part of that group. And I'm not saying that means Mboka won't do it, right? Just because those players weren't able to successfully do it or haven't been able to successfully do it yet, certainly doesn't mean she won't. It just makes me a little bit more hesitant. And I do think it's probably useful for all of us, as we were talking about with Mike there.

Hey, it's not linear. She's still very, very young, only 18, even if it doesn't immediately translate. That doesn't mean it can't translate at some point for Vicki and Boko. 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. We're going to talk to Nick Shook from, NFL.com here coming up at 7.30, but we got a few minutes here before we go to break and we can dive back into the inbox. And we've been having the conversation of elite contending teams,

the inner circle, maybe that's what I'll settle on, the inner circle of NHL teams, the Big Seven and which teams are poised to join them and do the Canucks still have a path to joining that group. And this text came in hard no. The Canucks, the Canucks, Canucks are soft and poor up front, even after adding cane, not enough toughness and grit. I get where the texture is coming from. If I was ranking my list of reasons why the Canucks won't break through to that inner circle team with this core or inner circle tier with this core group of players, toughness would be way down the list. That to me is a nice to have a finishing piece more than something that is inherently going to help you climb the hierarchy of NHX. HL teams. Would it be great if the Canucks had more of that grid up front? Yes, absolutely. Of course,

it's an area of need, but it's a lot less of a big picture priority item than just the overall talent deficit upfront that they have. Tachiana and Langley says, I see the Canucks as contenders to be contenders. With Petey's bounce back, we have three elite players in him. So she's chalking up a bounce back already for Petey. We'll see if that materializes. is three elite players in him, Quinn and Demko. Lankening gives us one of the best trandoms in the league. D. Pedy and Blander give me hope for the long-term future of our decor. And then if Coutts can join the big team in the next few years,

we have another solid two-way center. I think just in general, we need a better second line to really take a step forward. And if you're trying to lay out the glass half full or the optimistic path forward for the Canucks, I think Tachiana does a pretty good job of laying it out there. The theory, the roadmap for this team has always been elite talent building blocks in Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko, and yes, Elias Pedersen for so long was looked at that way. And if he can get back to that level, and man, trust me, I recognize what a massive hypothetical that is. If he can get back to that level, then I think the way Tatiana phrases it of, okay, they at least got a chance.

They're at least in that next level. and maybe if a couple of things break their way, they've got a chance to make that jump into the inner circle of contenders. I think that's fair. You still are looking at an awful lot that needs to go right. We're not even talking about, you know, the Quinn Hughes decision or anything like that.

You look at Dempco's health. And then just that next wave of talent, especially up front. Braden Coots, I like him as a prospect, also a recent 15th overall pick. It could be, even if things go really, really well, four, five years before you're ready to rely on him as a top six option to help you win games in the playoffs.

And at that point, what does the rest of your team look like? So I think Tachiana does a good job of laying out what the path would look like for the Canucks if some things break right, but also kind of inherent in that is, yeah, there's a lot that needs to break right, starting with, as we all know, A leas Pedersen, then even beyond that,

a lot of things have to happen. for the Canucks to make that jump. Tyler texts in, the flames are on the verge of a breakthrough. I'm not sure about that one, Tyler. I'm not sure about that one. I think if you're trying to identify the teams that are imminently going to take a big leap up the standings,

it always helps what was I just talking about with the Canucks. The elite talent. Dustin Wolf, really nice season and goal for the flames. where is the young elite talent other than that on Calgary? I know they have Zane Perrette coming, but I'm not ready to all of a sudden pencil him in as a top 10 defenseman until we actually see what it looks like.

We know there can be growing pains for young defensemen in the NHL, and that's still only one player. So if you're comparing even then Calgary to some of the building blocks in Anaheim, Son of the building blocks in Utah, out east, Montreal, Ottawa. I'm not seeing the imminent Calgary breakthrough that Tyler is seeing it. Bruceowitz. Come on, you got to throw him in there. Bristavich.

Bristavits, whatever do you say it? I did see they, they, uh, what's like, what's the, the hockey equivalent of DFA? They like terminated the contract of Yoni Yermo. It was the other defenseman prospect they got from the Canucks in that deal. he didn't pan out they got so many pieces it's like yeah one of them's yoni yermo that's that's not gonna pan out the way that you think it's gonna pan out and as much as i love dustin wolf and i think he's great and he's gonna be around a long time can't do it himself no that's the thing he's like even if he ends up being a perennial you know top eight goalie in the n hl that's a great piece to have that's not catapulting you to elite status or even consistent playoff status in the western conference i mean that's the first bar but the calgary flames have to jump over can they be a consistent consistent playoff team. And when you look at the ages of a lot of the players on that team, I mean, the uncertainty around Rasmus Anderson, I think there's a much more realistic chance that we're talking about a step back for the flames than a massive step forward for

Calgary going in to next season and beyond. 650, 650 is the Dunbar-Lumber text line. I got a Thomas Mueller update here for you. He posts on on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. let's fly to Vancouver also says in German I'm not even going to try to pronounce it Germanly but service munchen which I believe means thank you Munich he's on the plane video of him getting on the plane to fly to Vancouver tags the white caps in it so there you go the big acquisition for the white caps on route as we speak to Vancouver despite the fact that the white caps are playing in your beloved Hamilton tonight I believe they didn't send him to Hamilton? I know. It's on the way. You're flying over. Just make a pit stop. You see the big smoky

area down there? All the smoke stacks. See all the smog? Yeah, all the steel mills. That smell wafting up. Who wouldn't want that to be your introduction? Just go ahead and touch down. Cheer the team on. No, he's not doing that. Probably the right move. He is coming straight to Vancouver. We got to get like, do you know how to use like the flight tracker website? We got to get on this. We can give you the updates. Oh, Tony all over. Yeah. Oh, he's going. over England right now, still headed west, still due to arrive in Vancouver today.

That's the update on Thomas Mueller. Right now, what's the rollout going to look like? Are we going to get an interview with Thomas Mueller? Can we do that at the station here? Elon, you on that? Yeah, I think

some show will get it. I don't know if Mueller's a big morning guy. He's a morning guy, yeah, that might put tough. It might be on German time, though. Well, I was going to say get him while he's still jet lagged. And he'll be like, yeah, no problem. I'm up anyways. I'm excited. All right.

650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Keep sending your thoughts in about the Canucks path to potentially becoming an elite contender in the NHL. Other teams you think are poised to join that group. We can get back into the baseball conversation as well. But up next, and of course, we'll continue to give you flight tracker alerts for Thomas Mueller on his journey to Vancouver. Up next, though, we will talk a little bit of NFL with Nick Shook from NFL.com as the preseason continues.

Lots of interesting rookie and second year quarterback situations to be monitoring. We'll talk some of the other big storylines around the NFL with Shook as well. Jan Pro from the boardroom to the break room and everywhere in between JanPro keeps workplaces tidy, clean, and disinfected for a free quote. Visit Janpro.com.com. C.A. Nick Shook next here on Halford & Brough, Sportsnet 650. All right, welcome back to Halford and a Brough, Sportsnet 650 here on a Euro dance Wednesday on the show. Jamie Dodd filling in for Halford and Brough today. No Josh Elliott-Wolf.

He should be back tomorrow on the show with me. Of course, coming to you live from the Kintech Studio, 650, 650 is the Dunbar-Lumber Text Line. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years, visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at Dumbar Lumber.com. Halford & Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates, B.C.'s first and trusted choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit sands dash trustee.com. This hour of Halftambrough brought to you by 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. That's jason dot mortgage. And as a reminder, send your what we learn submissions in. We've got that coming up at 830. And again, guys, I'm flying solo today. So I need you to come through with those really strong what we learns for that last segment of the show. I believe in you.

I know you can do it. 650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber Text Line. Now joining us on the hotline powered by Power West Industries from NFL.com. He is Nick Shook. Nick, thanks for doing this today, man. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Thanks for having me. Of course, our pleasure. I'm doing very well. And preseason football now in full swing in the NFL.

And I think it's fair to say the single individual performance that has generated the most discussion, analysis, maybe even excitement and optimism, is Shadur Sanders with the Cleveland Browns in his preseason debut. And I know you're based in Cleveland. Is Shadur Sanders mania in full swing for Browns fans? Well, he's the talk of the town. I don't know if mania necessarily sets in because even Browns fans have a little bit of rationale when it comes to preseason games. But I've been asked about it pretty incessantly since Friday night. And, you know, understandably so.

I mean, he impressed me. He was better than I expected him to be. He wasn't perfect. He had some mistakes, but he also made some, you know, impressive throws that, you know, including the second touchdown pass and made me say, wow. You know, I didn't expect this from him. So that's all a good thing. Those are all positive things that we look toward and say, okay, encouraging,

especially considering where the Browns are as a team right now at quarterback. And I think that fans are kind of on, you know, they're on board with that because 50% is the hype that's followed him from Jackson State to Colorado. It's now to the NFL and the old Dion thing as well. But I think the other 50% is that Bronx fans would just like to have an answer at quarterback. You know, there are a lot of people in this town who may have felt that, you know, Baker Mayfield, they gave up on them too soon. I personally believe that Baker and the Browns were never going to work out for a number of different reasons.

But since then, they haven't had an answer. You know, the Sean Watson thing flopped on them. So they get one game, one, you know, half to three quarters of a game and a preseason game where they think that could be the guy. And suddenly they're all on board. So we'll see what happens. We've got two more preseason games to figure it out, right? Yeah, and it is interesting because part of this is, of course,

the name and the the hoopla and the excitement around Sanders as a prospect and then sliding to where he did in the draft. That's part of the discussion. Another part of the discussion is, as you alluded to, like the kind of crowded but also unsettled quarterback room for the Cleveland Browns. And I know, of course, there was a lot made of all Sanders' fourth on the depth chart. And they drafted another quarterback in the draft as well. In Gabriel, what does the path forward from this point on look like for Sanders as he kind of navigates all of these different factors

and specifically the rest of the quarterbacks on the Cleveland Browns. Well, first I would like to say that the only position the depth chart matters at this point in training camp is every position not named quarterback because a lot of these depth charts are not, they don't

really inform you know how these position battles under center are going to shake out. They're very helpful in other places because there are more players to sort So teams kind of need to be a little bit more honest with the depth chart. But when it comes to the quarterback, I would not look at that as any sort of, you know, canon or anything like that at this point. But, yeah, I mean, I think that it's an interesting situation with him because from all the people that I've spoken to and heard from, you know, at Brown's camp, you know, there was the whole narrative last week about how, oh, he hasn't got any first team reps. And they're setting him up to fail.

But I've also heard conversely that he's been receiving, you know, additional attention from Kevin's fancy. the play caller head coach himself that, you know, on a separate side of the field during camp often, you know, really focusing on his development outside of the structure of working with the ones and two. So I don't know if they thought that he got there and he needed more tutelage, you know, more tutoring, whatever, to get up to speed at the NFL level. But the challenge is going to be now, you know, dealing with the noise and also trying to string it together twice.

Because, again, look, it's a preseason game. You're playing against some starters, some backups, and it was the Carolina Panthers. Not a great team in the NFL last year. So the expectation is going to be higher, and you hope that when he faces better defenses, in the preseason especially, because who knows if he actually makes it to the field. Yeah. That they'll be able to, you know, he'll be able to capitalize. The rest of this quarterback room, I mean, I think Joe Flacko is essentially your starter right now. Can he pick its hamstring injury, kind of took the life out of any competition between veterans,

and it really depends on who you talk to about Dylan Gabriel. kind of reveals their agenda because some people think he's the worst quarterback in the history of the NFL and other people think that he's actually thrown some nice balls. So there's still a lot to sort out as we get a couple weeks left in the preseason with the Browns. Before we get to some of the other noteworthy quarterback performances and debuts and all that, some significant news for the bills this morning. James Cook running back signing a four-year extension ending a dispute. He was back at practice yesterday. So they get four-year, $48 million deal

done, $30 million of that guaranteed. That's per NFL network insiders, Ian Rappaport and Tom Pellisero. What does this mean for the bills? How important was it for them to get this done at this stage of the preseason? I would like to see how this

contract is structured because I'm kind of surprised they've made him. This has been going on for a while. This has been going on since essentially at the end of last season. James Cook said he wanted in the range of $15 million. He was never probably going to get that. Kairn Williams' recent contracts kind of set the market for what James Cook could expect

because, you know, he's an excellent running back. I felt as if they should pay him, but there were concerns about his ability to be an effective pass blocker and did they want to give, you know, 10, 11, 12, 13. million a year to a guy who's not a true three down back because you know how it is in the NFL unless you're in that upper crust excuse me unless you're in that upper crust that top five to six running backs you're not getting paid and I feel as if cook has the potential to get up there but you also have to evaluate his performance over the last two seasons a couple of back-to-back thousand yard rushing seasons but he's also done it against one of the better offensive lines in the

NFL and an offense that's quarterback by Josh Allen so it's not as if you're facing defenses that are loading the box a lot. But ultimately, he gets the deal that he wants. I guess they get a compromise. The bills tell James Cook, hey, we need you to be back on the practice field before we can negotiate. That's what Brandon Bean said today. And they got the job done. And he gets $12 million a year.

I think it's money well spent. I don't know how they're going to fit into their cap. I don't know how long this deal actually ends up lasting because the numbers that we get when somebody signs often are not real money. But it makes a lot of sense. I think he's earned the contract. and we'll just see how much longer he's with that. Because, you know, two years from now, a year from now, not a year from now,

or probably two years from now. If they're really up against him cap, I could see him being a cap casualty just because it's the nature of the business. But right now, I mean, it makes a lot of sense. And then again, I'm pretty surprised that they're going to pay him $12 million a year. I didn't think this is going to get done. It does feel like we've kind of reached maybe a little bit of an equilibrium in the running back market.

Of course, you know, you go back a few years. And the conversation was all like, oh, you can't pay running backs, never give them the big money deal. And that's certainly become way less common. As you said, with Kyron Williams signing and now this James Cook deal, it feels like there's a little bit of clarity about what that more middle class or above average class of running backs can expect, and maybe it's less fraught than it used to be the idea of the next contracts

for running backs in the NFL. Yeah, you know, I think it's a bit of an apples to oranges, but since they're both running backs, I'll compare them both. If you look at Kyron and then you look at James Cook, I felt like oftentimes you can truly understand the value of a running back by how your offense looks when they're not on the field. And

Kyra Williams, you took them out of that offense with the Rams last couple of years. They lost a lot because of just the explosive type of player he's been you know, out of the back field, the pass catcher as a runner. James Cook, you take him out of that offense

and you're going to get a lot of, you know, Ray Davis, who's one of my favorite backup or spellbacks in the NFL. Ty Johnson's been a phenomenal pass catcher for the bills out of the backfield. I mean, they have found ways to make it work without him and I don't know if that's

short-sighted of me to view the value of a running back that way but it's just kind of how I do so that's why I think you know we'll see how long this deal lasts but it does help you know that that middling group and we can you know everything is cyclical right like we expected running

backs eventually to get paid but I still think it's a position where if you go look at most of the depth charts around the league like I think you know Bijan Robinson's going to get paid but go look at a good portion of the depth charts around the It's a lot of committee or we have multiple option backfields. Not a lot of backfields that are carried by a bell cow like it was in the 90s of the early 2000s. While we're talking about holdouts and contract disputes, of course,

Micah Parsons front and center in that in Dallas, just the latest baffling contractual situation for the Dallas Cowboys. There's a trade request, but it doesn't seem like it's trending in that direction. I mean, is this all just kind of window dressing until a deal gets done? Where do you see this going, going into the season between Parsons and the Cowboys? Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, it's August. Window dressing, I don't know if I would necessarily describe it like that,

but we're all going to look back at this eventually. It's like, oh, remember all that time we wasted? Like, bringing our hands over whether Michael Parsons is going to sign, you know, romantic Cowboy for a long time. And the reason is simple. You'd be a full. You'd be insane to not re-sign Michael Parsons and give whatever he wants. Like, he's in that very elite category.

He's in the Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Miles Garrett, I guess even Jamar Chase, made Justin Jefferson. Like, there's very few elite players where you just look at them and you go, we absolutely must keep you on our team. We'll give you whatever you want. And that is Micah Parsons. Look at the resume. I mean, he's got multiple all pros. He won defensive rookie the year and damn near one defensive player of the year as a rookie with the Cowboys. He's a game-wracking force of a player.

He's also, you know, supposedly not 100% helpful. right now, and I think that's something that's probably related to the contract as well for participation matters, but it's, I just can't imagine that they wouldn't pay them. Cowboys do this, though. I mean, they wait way too long to pay guys, but I think that it's just something that, personally, I'm tired of talking about it just because it's pretty simple to me, pay the guy, and he will eventually because he has to, just why not you get done now? I don't know, it drives me nuts. Yeah, it's, it's kind of baffling because if you're doing the classic, you know, past behavior predicts future behavior thing.

It's all playing out exactly how you would expect, right? Like inexplicably not paying him, but then what's happened in the other examples, they've paid the guy. And it would just be so baffling. Yeah. Once Jerry Jones paid Ezekiel Elliott, his entire approach changed after that. Like, Zeke got on, you know, the stand was like, hey, I demand more money before his contract was over.

Like he did it early in the process. And since Jerry kowtowed to him, he's never paid anybody early or really on time since then. Yeah. And yet they do pay them and it just the price goes up and all of that. So it feels like that's indeed where we're trending here for the Cowboys this time as well. We're talking to Nick Shook from NFL.com here on Halford, and Brough Sportsnet 650. Now with the massive, massive caveat, of course, that we are talking about week one of the preseason.

We all know we all say every year we're not reading anything into the preseason, right? We're all going to be, you know, very responsible about our takeaways. Having said that, Nick, what other performances at quarterback? in week one stood out to you either positively or negatively what was noteworthy for you from that position in week one i'm trying to not start with negative so go positive everybody everybody's talking about tanner key um you know and he had a great game you know for the eagles against vangles uh i'm a little concerned this is not a quarterback thing but a little concerned with how the bengal's defense looked against him because that's like the ones and

the talk out of cincinnati has been oh hey uh our defense might actually be good this year, like way better than we were last year, and we were terrible defensively last year. So I guess maybe the bar was low with them, or maybe it's just one preseason game. You can't take too much away from it. I liked how Justin Fields handled New York's offense, and of course, he finished that drive off of the scrambling touchdown. I did not like the way that Quinn Ewer has looked in Miami. This is a guy who was actually getting a lot of buzz as potentially, you know, taking the backup quarterback job behind Tua Tua in Miami during camp, And he looked incredibly overwhelmed in his first preseason action.

So that wasn't great. You can continue, I mean, if you go around, there's obviously 32 starting quarterbacks and many more. But those are just a few. And, you know, who else? I'm not 100% certain. Well, actually, I am pretty certain now. I wasn't 100% certain after the Hall of Fame game. Kyle Allen is, I think he's going to be Jared Goss back up in Detroit.

I wanted Hand and Hooker to get a shot. Alan did not look good in the Hall of Fame game against Chargers. and Henn and Hooker just can't seem to put it together. So I think Allen's going to win that job with the Lions. And I think, you know, I don't believe the notion that there's an actual competition for the backup quarterback job in L.A. with the Chargers because Tray Lans had a very good Hall of Fame game. I know it's just the Hall of Fan game.

But Taylor Hineke also looked pretty bad, about as bad as Joe Milton did in the Cowboys game, which happened to be in L.A. as well against the Rams, the day before the Chargers played their preseason game last weekend. So like I said, I'm a bit of a skeptic, so I end up leaning more toward the bad. But yeah, Joe Milton and Taylor Heineke both did not have good weekends. And unfortunately, fortunately for one of those teams, the Chargers, they have Trey Lance, which looks encouraging after the Hall of Fame game.

The Cowboys, they need Joe Milton to figure it out because he's going to be their backup. One of the other quarterback situations that I find really interesting, not a rookie, but we haven't seen him really at the NFL level before because of injury is, J.J. McCarthy in Minnesota. And, you know, so often with the high profile rookies, right? Cam Ward, of course, the first overall pick. It's you're going to a team that was really bad and there's not immediate expectations for that team to be really good as you come into the league. With J.J. McCarthy, I mean, that Minnesota team looks Super Bowl ready outside of the quarterback position everywhere else on the depth chart. And so the question is, can he give them a sufficient level to

kind of, I'm not going to say can he win them the Super Bowl, right, but to at least be legitimate contenders. And from your perspective, kind of what level does he need to be at? What do they need him to do to have a successful season from their perspective in Minnesota?

Well, I think they had a successful off season in getting better around him, especially in the defensive side of the ball. Last year was such a shock for them because a lot of us, and myself included, saw it as a transitional year roster-wise. They were turning over a lot the roster, Sam Donald looked like who was going to be their, you know, backup plan if McCarthy

didn't work out, then McCarthy got hurt in the preseason, so we know what happened from there. And Donald exceeded expectations, his entire team exceeded expectations. What does McCarthy need to do? He needs to be kind of near what Donald was. Donald was lighting them up last year at times, but he also reversed as the guy we know, you know, when the lights got bright and the pressure, you know, started to bear down on him. So I don't even know if he necessarily needs to put up the numbers. that Donald did, but he needs to command the offense like Donald did. And frankly, I think that he's got some skills that Sam Donald doesn't have

that could, you know, really help this offense in a number of different ways, just scraming ability, some of the off-platform throwing. What I saw is limited performance in the preseason. I was like, okay, I'm not as concerned about him as I was. And again, it's the preseason. But we've seen one game of this guy prior since, you know, he came from college. So it's a lot to put on the kid. The other thing that he's going to need is he's going to need the support of his teammates, as crazy as it sounds, because the pressure is going to be on.

And it's not, the pressure is always on first round quarterbacks who end up, you know, sliding the starting role early. But this one's different because they were a playoff team last year. And they were, you know, a team that had a lot of high expectations and they felt like they needed to move on from Darnold because it was a flash in the pen that McCarthy was really the long-term guy. The pressure is going to be on him all year. So he's going to need the support of his teammates and that his coach, Kevin O'Connell, and everybody. else to tune out some of that noise. And it's going to be a little bit harder for him this first three games of the season, not having Jordan Addison out there. They lost Ron Dale Morto. If he's not going to figure out some of that receiving room, it's not

going to be the easiest. So he's going to need to support his teammates and the ability to tune out the noise. But I do, you know, I was very encouraged by what I saw in his brief outing over the weekend. Week two of the preseason starts on Friday. Look, I know it is preseason. So maybe we're scrounging a little bit here, but is there anything you're excited or keen to follow through the week two preseason slate, Nick? This is not good advertising for the NFL, but I'm excited that we're one week close to the start of the regular season. That's great advertising.

We're hyped for the regular season. I think that's a perfect answer. Yeah, I mean, you get your quarterback stuff and everything else. And I like, you know, going down the depth chart and looking at positions. I actually really am interested in seeing how this Patriots receiver room shakes out, anything with the Vikings receiver room. You know, there's Lucky Jackson versus, not really versus, but Ty Felton also in there, the Maryland product as potential contributors in this offense that we didn't foresee.

I'd like to see, you know, how the Brown's back feel is going to shake out. We're not going to see Aaron Rogers in Pittsburgh, but, you know, there's a lot of hype building around the Steelers as well. Yeah, there's a lot of different things to watch. But more importantly than anything, I just, as crazy as it sounds, I've officially shifted from, you know, kind of not dreading, but just thinking, okay, the season is coming and, like, I know, it's going to consume my life as it always has. And, you know, I'm fortunate to allow the NFL to consume my life that way. I've shifted from being like, oh, no, hang on to the last clutches of the summer and the

off season to now being like, all right, the season is here. Let's get to the games that matter. Let's get some, you know, legit tape week one. Let's keep going. Just on that point, you mentioned Steelers hype. Are you buying or selling Steelers hype? This is why I want to get the week one. Because I don't know what this offense is

If I can't see Aaron Rods from the field with it I need to see him But yeah You know I don't know if I necessarily buy the whole notion That's been coming out of you know Pittsburgh I don't know since like June Like late June early July That they feel so much better about where their offense stands now

Than they did a year ago because on paper I don't see that it got much better But if one of my favorite guys of the 2033 draft Roman Wilson And if he could get, I know, it was 2024 draft, excuse me, if he could actually prove, you know, his worth because he basically couldn't get off the ground last year

because of an ankle injury in camp. I think that would help this offense go a long way. I think that's one player that people aren't necessarily paying attention to, and understandably so, but I think him and Aaron Rogers could develop quite a connection. And then they could become, you know, more developed at receiver. I think their defense is going to be better because they've invested in the secondary more and they also paid TGWAT.

So that answers that question. Patrick Queen said he's in a much better place. You know, with his understanding of the defense now that he was a year ago. So, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's reasons to believe. But they're also a division with Cincinnati and Baltimore. And they also have a 41-year-old quarterback who turns 42 before the end of the calendar year. So there are, you know, pitfalls within their organization right now.

But, yeah, I mean, I think that they'll be a competitive team. And, I mean, even when they're not competitive, they still make the playoffs. So, yeah, yeah. You're right. The floor for the Steelers seems to be pretty high, a lot higher than a lot of other teams. Nick, really appreciate you taking the time, and you're right. We're getting there. We're all right around the corner.

The real kickoff of week one is going to be upon us before we know it. Thanks for doing this, man. Yeah, thanks for having me. That it's our pleasure. That is Nick Shook from NFL.com joining us here on the show. Halfordham Brough Sportsnet 650. I'm Jamie Dodd filling in right in solo today. Josh Elliott Wolf should be back on the show tomorrow.

Thomas Mueller update. If I have selected the right, Lufthansa flight from Munich to Vancouver, which I think I have. I think I've got this. You did some sleuthing? It didn't look like a private jet in the video or anything. I'm pretty sure I saw the Lufthansa logo in the background there. And there's only one direct flight currently in the air between the two cities today.

So cruising over central Germany, you'll all be happy to know right now is Thomas Miller. He's still in Germany? He's still in Germany? Well, it took off like right. Like he filmed that video obviously before the plane took off. So the plane's only been in the air for like, I don't know, 20 minutes or half an hour or something. So you're going to watch the entire flight. I'm going to go home.

I'm going to get off my shift. I'm going to go home. And for the next eight hours, I'm going to monitor. Okay, yep, over the Atlantic Ocean. Very good. When the plane lands. That's right. I'm going to be really excited when the plane lands.

So, of course, we'll keep you posted on the latest on Thomas Mueller flight tracking information here. But just to map out how the rest of the show is going to go. Of course, 830, it is what we learned. I've got a couple to share. But we need more. We need your submissions. We're counting on you today. 650.

650 is the Dunbar-Lumber text line. What you've learned in the last 24 hours in sports. Send those submissions in. Right now, we will read them at 830. Hashtag WWL for what we learned. Up next, really looking forward to this. Columbus Blue Jackets Forward. Port Moody product, I should say, in town doing some summer skating right now.

He is Kent Johnson. And he's going to join the show next here on Halford and Brough. SportsNet 650. Hey, it's Big 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 podcast.