Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - SumerSports analyst Sam Bruchhaus thinks Budda Baker should be a Vikings trade target

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

Matthew Coller gets together with SumerSports Senior NFL analyst Sam Bruchhaus to talk about a fresh trade idea that he thinks is realistic and whether he believes the Vikings are building their roster the right way Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and back by popular demand of Sumer Sports Senior NFL Analyst Sam Brookhouse also does the Sumer Daily podcast that is a must listen. Sam, a former player such as yourself, turned nerd analyst. We got to talk trade deadline, but I also want to know how much, in your opinion, should Vikings fans be freaking out? Because just before we came on, I was kind of explaining to you what it's been like over the last couple of days for Vikings fans after their loss to the Los Angeles Rams. What should be the concern level of the Vikings going from 5-0 to 5-2? 5-0 to 5-2 is not a very big drop. I mean, especially to the two teams that they lost to, like the Lions are a very good team. That was also just a fantastic game to watch. It was one of my favorite, maybe in the past five, six years, regular fantastic game to watch it was one of my favorite maybe in

the past you know five six years regular season games to watch and then the rams when they have cup and and nakua they're an absolute titan on offense they're one of the best offenses of all time when in the limited sample size that they have those guys so i wouldn't worry too much but there are some concerning metrics out there particularly about the back end uh in the quarterback position which we talked about you know months ago at the beginning of the season that you know may draw some concern specifically because that's what we were a little bit scared of coming into the year and we'll see especially at the deadline how they manage that we saw that when got cam robinson that'll that'll help sam donald back there a little bit especially because they're losing some elite play from Christian Darasaw. And so we'll see if they

make a move on the defensive backend here. Well, that's where I've targeted as well. I want to get your opinion though, as you being a former division one player at the linebacker position, if people can tell by the, you still got the linebacker traps going on a little bit there. Blake Cashman being out the last two weeks. This is a drum that I have banged pretty hard about as explaining why the Vikings lost the last two games and have struggled so much on defense. When you look at someone like him with as many responsibilities as he has in his versatile skillset,

I guess what, what do your eyes see in terms of his value and what he has and his versatile skill set. I guess, what do your eyes see in terms of his value and what he has brought to the defense and how much it may have impacted them when they did not have him? Yeah. So both him and Pace in terms of these tracking metrics that utilize or trying to do a more objective view than just watching the tape in essence have shown that Cashman was really, really good in the run. And they just faced two teams led by Sean McVay, led by Johnson over there in Detroit that want to run the ball. And we've seen them kind of struggle against those running

games. Kyron Williams had a very good game alongside Kup and Nakua who had good games. I thought it really opened them up and helped them convert late downs. And I think that's really the core loss because when you do lose, especially with such an attacking complex defense as Brian Flores runs, when you lose kind of that leader in the middle, it kind of takes a lot to fill that up and pace did it to a certain degree, you know, but when you lose two, like it's very difficult for one person to do the job of the other, particularly in today's NFL where linebackers are really thought of to cover a lot. And typically the way it's set up is like one guy is the run guy, which has typically been, you know, kind of a blend on this team, especially given that they like to drop Van Ginkle into coverage as well.

But it's really a big loss. And I think as they move forward in the season, as Cashman kind of comes back, we'll see how he helps out in that run game. Yeah, I think it's a huge, huge deal in the run game. And then the Lions and the Rams were able to just build off of that. They had favorable down in distances. They were able to throw the ball to some extent. Well,

especially to Jameer Gibbs, but even to Williams a little bit, he scored a touchdown in that game. And there were a bunch of times where I thought this is where Blake Cashman would be, or even when it comes to a bubble screen or something, he's really good at identifying and sideline to sideline. Like you just can't really overstate how much he brings to the defense.

So they need him back as soon as possible, but you opened the door to the conversation about the trade deadline and the secondary. What type of opportunity do you see to add to the secondary? Because I am with you. I think defensive tackle is a little bit of a pipe dream. There's just not that many available defensive tackles. Calais Campbell, maybe I'm interested in that if Miami is going to sell him as a rental, but as far as cornerbacks,

they need someone who could play man coverage. They can't ask the fine Gilmore to play a thousand snaps at his age. What should they be looking at in the trade market? Yeah. The, the cornerback position is an interesting one. We actually haven't seen any like big time, major trades at that cornerback position in years. Like we've seen Stephon Gilmore kind of change hands a couple of times between the Patriots and Carolina. And now he's on the Vikings joined right before the season he's playing like okay he's playing as well as you could really ask him to play at this age and at this point and particularly coming into a team so early so late in in the in the kind of preseason where I

really have highlighted is kind of the safety position like I know they love Harrison I think he's a a great player especially a long-term Viking, but I have Buda Baker circled as kind of a rental. Yeah. The Cardinals are in a spot, very interesting spot where their offense is actually doing pretty well. Particularly, they got James Conner, Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison Jr. has not been able to get on the same page as Murray, but maybe it clicks, but their defense is really bad.

And I don't really think there's a way to improve it at this point. They just don't have many players who are playing even an average level right now. And I think when you look at their kind of scenery, they're sitting at four and four, but the metrics seem to play out that they're a little worse than expected. They have Buda Baker sitting there, multi-time all pro, multi-time pro bowler. He's sitting there on a hefty contract that I don't think they're probably going to pick up next year. And I think he would be incredible on the Vikings. Could you imagine him and Brian Flores' scheme with his flexibility and his ability to fill in maybe as Cashman is injured,

fill in some of those kind of covering the running back, covering the tight end snaps, and also being able to cover guys on the outside, provide run support blitz, man, it's kind of a, a, a dream in heaven for me, if Buddha could come to this team. That's somebody that really hasn't crossed my mind too much because I figured, well, Arizona is competing and they've been so bad that they're going to want to keep competing. But if they were willing to move on from him, I think I've only seen him against the Vikings maybe once. And he was the best player on the field for the Arizona Cardinals. The flexibility for him, the sort of Tyron Matthew ish play that would open the door for me because I

know they don't want to take Harrison Smith off the field very much. Cam Bynum is pretty solid in his role as that deep type of safety, but Brian Forrest is really good at mixing and matching talent and where they are a little bit on the weak side is with a former Arizona Cardinal with Byron Murphy Jr. He's got a couple of picks, but tackling has been an issue for him, especially those bubble screens that teams are using and getting the ball into playmakers hands and forcing him to tackle Shaq Griffin is the other option he can't really play out of the nickel having somebody that they could throw onto the field for a nickel position even slide him into

a linebacker depending on like in the middle of the field depending on the situation haven't played deep safety on specific plays if they're blitzing somebody else i love that idea i mean i think that that's the type of move that takes a defense from being very good which i think the vikings still are to great my question of course is how much is it going to cost to bring in someone like buda baker the vikings have a first round pick and two fifth round picks right and that's it so can heikings have a first round pick and two fifth round picks right and that's it so can he be had for a first round pick i i think looking back at these trades you know again he is a rental and that has to the interesting thing with these trades and especially as we're building these models that we have at sumer sports that we that we work with

teams on is when you're considering these contract informations, there's so much that can move. And so if the Vikings are truly viewing it as a rental, that changes the valuation as compared to if they're going to give up a new contract, which I don't really know if the Cardinals are going to do. And you look at some of these older trades and the value for a safety, the safety position has really gone down much as the running back position has. Now, Buda is elite. You mentioned tackling. Buda has the ability to miss tackles that no one else would be around the ball. It's such a hard position for him to be in. And he obviously converts a lot of those plays that wouldn't even be remotely close with other players. The compensation really isn't that much. And I circled those two fifth round picks

because that might be able to do it. Like the Kevin Bayard trade last year was some day two picks. Now they did swap starting safeties. I don't know if that's in the cards. Like you mentioned, the safety play is like good for the Vikings right now. They're struggling in some of particularly the coverage metrics, but the run support has been pretty well played.

And so I think, you know, a combo of future picks, maybe a player of need for the Cardinals. And those two fifth round picks this year could actually be of great value to the Cardinals. Well, and, uh, Cam Bynum is also a free agent himself going into next year. I don't know if that could factor into it at all for them to have a player for right now. Um, it would be a little bit on the dicey side for Arizona, I think, from how it would look because teams can say all day long, well, if you're listening to the fans, then you'll be sitting with them. But, you know, they care a lot about what is said about their teams.

And if you trade Buda Baker for two-fifths, even though I tend to agree with you about the safety value and we see it in the prices or we see someone like Jesse Bates who was not even picked up until late in the season. And he was once thought of as a top player. These guys are not getting paid. It's looked at as a fairly replaceable position, but he's also such a popular player. So well thought of that.

And the team is competing that I'm sure they would get a lot of criticism locally for kind of making a tank ish move when they have a chance to actually make the playoffs from the Vikings angle. I think that there's also some belief of the Vikings that the building, the coaches, the environment that they bring players into that if they bring them here, they can extend them. And that was really part of the bet with TJ Hawkinson. Like you're going to trade them, you're going to bring them in and you're going to convince him with your money and your environment, you should stay here and keep playing for this

team. The idea that I've had, because of course, I mean, if you're telling me two fifths for Buda Baker, I am absolutely in on that. The idea that I've had involves the Carolina Panthers, who should be fire sailing everything. But the hardest player to get away from them would be J.C. Horn. Right. A corner of his caliber, hard to find. That one might be worth the first round pick. And the fifth year option, you can extend him a lot easier than someone who's going to be an unrestricted free agent.

How married would you be to the first round pick for next year for the Vikings? It's a great question. And you mentioned the bad look, you know, like I think the teams that are a little bit more on the ropes are really having to consider this right now. And like the Vikings obviously think that they're a team that is competing. They have competed. Now they are in a tough division. They're going to have, you know, multiple more matchups with the Packers and the Lions that are going to be tough. But all that said, like their offensive line is elite, even with their saw going down. Jefferson, Naylor, and Addison have all been very, very good this year. Aaron Jones has been revelatory.

And across that defensive line, Greenard and Van Kinkle have been great. So the pieces are certainly there. I think you have to tamper yourself a little bit, though. I'd be a little uncomfortable letting the first round pick go particularly you know in that kind of secondary market where you you look at the grades and and some of these guys are are really good you look at the metrics but secondary coverage metrics typically don't follow in in future years and again like you said the idea is you get them under b flow you you have them in the system they're able to really compete but it gets tricky giving up first round picks for guys that aren't

like edge rushers and wide receivers frankly like the last time we saw a trade of of that magnitude was jalen ramsey uh when he went from the jaguars to the rams and that was a massive trade for a player who was like a defensive player of the year type candidate. And even then, like the first round pick was probably a highly, highly discussed trade item between the Rams and the Jacksonville Jaguars. So I'm a little bit more conservative when it comes to keeping the draft picks, but of course I'm an analyst. So like we, we love our draft picks over here, particularly like basketball and baseball analysts think about this really, really deeply, about the true value of those and being able to move around and be flexible. In terms of JC Horn, I'd probably not feel super great about the first-round pick,

but man, that would be a great addition to their team. Particularly, you mentioned the issues both in tackling and in coverage. I think it'd be a really cool addition to have. Well, the biggest thing for me with someone like him and that it's a really hard needle to thread because there's not too many players that you would actually do this for but it's the fact that you get to keep him and you get to extend him and make him one of the higher paid corners in the league but the thing is that jj mccarthy is going to be the quarterback of this team next year so there's the unless sam darnold wins the super bowl then maybe we're having a different discussion as of McCarthy's going to be the quarterback of this team next year. So there's the, unless Sam Darnold

wins the super bowl, then maybe we're having a different discussion as of right now, the long-term plan for the salary cap is to have so much money to use. And if you use it in free agency, you can get some really good players, but also if you don't sign the top guys and they sign somewhere else, then you're looking around going, uh, Shaq Griffin is our starting corner, right? I think that that happened a little bit to them last year. And this next year has got a good free agent class that they can fill out with, but there's no guarantees in that.

So if you trade for the player, then there is the guarantee that he's with you. And then you could try to extend him after that. So that that's part of it for me. That's along the same lines as the Hawkinson type of thing where you trade for him, you extend him and they can use this salary cap space. I do want to take a slight detour off of this and ask you about, because this dovetails into the bigger philosophy of K-adoptful Mensa, because I think when he got here and his first draft 2022, which went so well,

he traded down and tried to stack draft picks. And if you don't remember all the picks, it didn't go well at all. But he, you know, he tried to get more draft picks, fill out a bunch of spots on the roster. He kind of later admitted that he was trying to fill every weakness with the same draft and that may have played a role in, in why that went sideways for them. Since then though, he has treated draft picks. Like these are things that get me real players, not necessarily putting that into filling

out the roster with the picks and development players, but more of I'm going to use it to get a TJ Hawkinson. I'm going to use it even to trade up to get a Dallas Turner, which we'll see how that ends up playing out for them. That was highly debated by the analytics community this year, but the bigger build has been, they got here with an old team. They tore it down. They've rebuilt it with veteran players that will be here when JJ McCarthy takes over. And with a lack of draft capital, that's what they're going to have to do through free agency and trades. I wonder if you think that that is like, how would you categorize it? Is it risky? Is it reasonable? Is it sound?

Is it unique? How would you frame it? So the reason why the stack, the draft picks strategy has kind of taken over in the analyst community and particularly like with teams that you see the Eagles do this like every year and the Browns as well, where they're like trading back, gaining new picks. And all of a sudden they're taking like three out of seven picks in the middle rounds is because the draft is just an absolute crapshoot and it's very difficult to take away in any given year what what to take from and i mean we see this with the lions they took players

kind of out of order jameameer Gibbs high and Laporta low and Jack Campbell in the middle. And all of those hit despite where they were and despite not being at that level on the consensus big board. And so that's kind of like, it's kind of random. It's really hard to be good at. And so if you can identify a spot

to kind of refill the cupboards and then go get good players, it's good, but it's also really expensive. We mentioned if you're going to trade someone, then extend them, you're basically trading for the right to pay him more money in a certain degree. And over time, that gets really, really hard to do. And it's also risky. We're seeing the fruits of this with Deshaun Watson right now.

They basically traded for him to extend him. They go ahead and extend them with a groundbreaking deal. And insurance is now involved with injuries. But for six-ish weeks, like it was looking pretty dicey there. And so there's, I think, a lot more risk involved financially. And that's why people kind of move away from that. Now, what Kweisi has been able to do is you know hit you think of the players who are going to be the cornerstone of this team and and that's people they've drafted

you know like Justin Jefferson a Vikings draft pick JJ McCarthy uh a draft pick there and and they're hoping Dallas Turner can come along as well and be that like quality edge rusher through the draft I know they traded up to get him as well, but it's really hard to not build through the draft. I mean, how many times, uh, Matt have, have we seen, you know, Oh, this is the dream team. We brought all these guys in. I remember the Eagles from years ago. Uh, and it worked like, again, it worked out for the Vikings this year, but there was a lot of smart maneuvering letting daniel hunter go bringing in you know greener and van genkel on like a a kind of a lesser financial profile and and those kind of moves were really smart and and they did bring veterans but they did have like a degree of nuance to them that allowed them to maneuver a little bit more well that's the thing is that they are in

such a favorable salary cap situation going forward it's a couple years until derisaw's deal is really big or even just the jefferson's before it's untenably big and then even then they've set it up so they can restructure it and bring that cap hit down exactly and now it's just funny how things change quick what people were saying look they're gonna play pay je pay Jefferson as much as a quarterback. How are they going to work around it? Then a quarterback got 60 mil and blew that out of the water. And so there's still that big advantage there.

Where I think it's difficult with free agents is that they are not young. Precisely. You're bringing in people with mileage. And we're talking about Blake Cashman being hurt. And you look at, yeah, I mean, someone like Andrew Van Ginkle has been phenomenal for them, but he is, what, 29 years old? And he has been battling a foot injury all year.

Stephon Gilmore has got a bunch of mileage on him. Aaron Jones has a bunch of mileage on him. That's the risk there. The risk with someone who's in the draft is that they can't play football at all and then you just have to let them go like lewis seen and you're just out a huge asset that you could always go back and go hey i wonder if they had traded that for somebody else uh rather than keeping it and that would be part of my argument is i know that they've gotten jefferson then gotten Derris on the first round, but they've also taken a lot of players that didn't work out that could have been real players. And as soon as McCarthy steps on the field, now I guess your winning window is open now because you're five and two, but the window really swings open. And it's three to four years with McCarthy. And what we know from the New Orleans

Saints is that if you want to create enough cap space to do whatever the hell you want for three to four years, you can. And what I think that the Vikings are trying to do is be the 49ers, where they traded for McCaffrey. They traded for Trent Williams as a trade, right? I think it was a trade. Yeah. And they went out and uh hargrove and they've made these big moves for big money around a couple of cornerstone players that they've drafted in the past and they're filling it out that way rather than trying to pick and hope as long as brock purdy is cheap and after that they might not even keep brock purdy the way that their philosophy has been it's it's so interesting that way but i see a lot of parallels between what San Francisco has done and what the Vikings are trying to do once McCarthy takes over. And what you just outlined was the reason why I was actually

much lower on the 49ers this year, because all those guys are old and all those guys are injury prone. And, and even the stuff that isn't injury related and just kind of the breaks of the game like Debo gets pneumonia and they probably like they take it they take a loss or who knows how well what strength he's playing at I mean that's tough and that has nothing to do with football and you just kind of look at the teams who have tried their best to build through the draft I mean the Texans are a great example of this right now. They sit at six and two. They made some moves to bring in guys, but when it comes down to it, they have Tank Dell. They're going into Thursday night football with Tank Dell, who they drafted, and CJ Stroud, who they drafted. And they have the pieces that they made moves for, Tunsell, Mixon, Hunter as well, that they made moves for. But all of those are like,

if you don't have CJ Stroud, if you don't have those cornerstones that you draft, it's very difficult to be good. And, and so like, it's just risky. Like it, it's so, it's so tough in terms of team building to like build a philosophy because you have the 49ers who have been super bowl, you know, bound for, for years now. And then they just like hit a flat tire and all the guys are going out and who knows how they're going to play. I mean, at any given point in time, they could have virtually no offensive weapons in any given week for, for Brock Purdy to throw to. Yeah. I think that there's so many different ways to approach it is what makes it so fascinating for folks like you and I, which is you can try to tank, but this organization does not

tank. That's something that they were fully against. And so what I think about is how we evaluate Kweisi Adafomensa and his team building. It really has to start with when he gets hired in 2022 and they say, you're not going to do what the Lions did. You're not going to do what the Bears did. And for the ownership, it worked out. They got a home playoff game out of it. They won 13 games.

And the division was so bad that year that they took advantage of the tanking teams to ultimately get into the playoffs. But that also pinned Kweisi Adafo-Mensa in a situation where he had to fix the salary cap and they didn't have a ton of draft picks that he was able to work with already because they never sold off parts at the trade deadline they always said no we're gonna we're gonna hang on to our guys they never sold off parts in the off season with those older players they waited until they

basically just had to cut them and rick Spielman didn't set up Kweisi with a whole lot to work with. And so I think that in answering the question, how do I stay competitive? Do I have years to wait until somebody develops? Probably not. And if you're five and two and you can finish 11 and six, that means you're in the playoffs.

Probably not a home playoff game, but you're in the playoffs. Where are you drafting 23rd? Do you have a good opportunity? When does that player help you is kind of the point, even with Dallas Turner, we're seeing maybe a little of the reason that he wasn't a top 10 draft pick is because he needs some development and he's not somebody that was ready to come in right away and dominate. So I also think of it that way, even when the Vikings are trading for Cam Robinson, while they're giving up a 2026 pick, when is that player supposed to help you?

If you're a crazy enough, and you know what type of timelines GMs work on, if you're, if you didn't tank and get all the draft picks and you have seasons now, and you have moves now and a sample size, the clock is ticking. So you better find a way to win kind of right away. That's why I think moving on from the first-round pick,

if you can get a great player, does make more sense than maybe most would look at it from an analytical perspective with no skin in the game, none of us lose our jobs. Yeah, and I think that they're in a place of privilege here too because i believe in kevin o'connell and i believe in in brian flores and moreover sam darnold has played well up until now now like we can go dive deeper into the analytics and see why he's doing well is he doing well because he's throwing it deep and kevin o'connell is scheming out plays for justin jefferson like maybe but nonetheless it's been relatively successful until kind of the last couple weeks in some of the losses but but you also have JJ McCarthy who you drafted and so

like you're kind of in that position like the Chiefs were all that all those years ago where you think you have you know uh maybe a b plus answer at quarterback right now and you think you have maybe an a a minus a plus even perhaps answer for the future and so then those you're not hunting for a quarterback like the panthers we mentioned the panthers is like a big seller like the panthers are in the market for everything right now and it's like you said it's going to be expensive and old for them to add any players in any other way other than the draft. And I think given that the Vikings do have, you know, cornerstones at multiple positions, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, I think maybe

they can be more loose. I'm just really worried because it's hard to get good secondary players. I mean, like I mentioned, it's difficult to trade for those guys. Like it's difficult to make happen. They're valuable and they're few and far between and it's unpredictable how they are. And the best way to go get them is through the draft. I mean, Saul Skardner was an all pro year one. Diggs and who hasn't been good this year

over in the Cowboys. Like he was, his best years were in his first couple years. You can get instant impact guys in that first round. And if you can manage it, at least for the next couple weeks, and you can lean on Brian Flores to keep you there, I think that puts you in a much better team-building position

moving forward, rather than locking in this year, where I think they're probably in a position where they can still compete, but are they better than the Lions? Are they better than the Packers? It's a really difficult conversation. We were talking to Thomas Dimitrov

on the Sumer Sports Show this week, and he's like, it's just a different calculus when you're in that seat. You're watching the games every week, and you don't know what the future holds, and we can try to predict and prognosticate,

but you got to put yourself in a position to win right now. Cause that's what the fans want to see. And that's what this game is about. It's the NFL. It's not for long. Hold on. Let me silence my phone real quick. So I can tell you that us days are back at us cellular again,

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Visit us cellular.com for details. Well, the other thing is too, that you're five and two, and let's take a look around the NFC. All right. Detroit is super dangerous, but who else, who else would you be saying? Oh my gosh, the Vikings can't compete with in the nfc if you have a chance and this isn't even a first round pick sale but just a you gotta do something type of statement uh especially at the cornerback position if you look around and go all right are they better than philadelphia probably even are they better than was? Maybe rookies usually don't win the Superbowl.

So I don't know. They're Washington's good. They got their flaws. San Francisco. You mentioned the Rams might be coming. Arizona's okay. Seattle's okay. Nothing special here.

And Jordan loves banged up for the second time in green Bay. I mean, if it comes down to, you can make an argument as we stand right now, if they win the game against the Colts and they're six and two, and the only team that you could say is better than them, they lost by two points at home. It's hard for me to say, oh no, actually hold onto those fifth round draft picks, which does bring up another question of any other ideas. I love Buddha Baker idea, please. Yes.

DJ Reed's not going to be for sale right maybe because that's great with the jets yeah dj reed i was looking at him uh because i'm going to the jets texan game tonight and he he's been playing really well and the jets are such a confusing team. And, and I think this is a year where, like you mentioned, the lions are good. The chiefs are good. The Ravens are good. And then, you know, a question mark, I was asked on a show earlier in the week, like how many teams you think can realistically win the super bowl or you're confident. And I was like three, like, maybe like the Ravens are even making moves to add to their offense as well and their defenses look shaky so like maybe maybe two really look good right now and there's a bunch of teams in this almost like basketball like stance where if you

take a loss this week what are you moving forward i mean the bingles are a great example of this as well like the bingles are sitting there below.500. Burrow's having an MVP-level year. Jamar Chase has played really well. Tee Higgins has been in and out the lineup. He's played really well. Their defense has been atrocious, particularly against the run. It's really fun to analyze because we could easily tank.

We could get rid of Trey Hendrickson if you're the Bengals. We could get rid of DJ Reed if we're the Jets. But then, like, we're done. Like that's it for us. But I think DJ Reed would be very interesting. I wonder if the Vikings have the compensation in order to get him. I mean, you could get him a first, but you're trading a first for, you know, cornerback two on that team. Like that's an interesting look. Like maybe you package

those fists and some future stuff there. But I mean, the jets it's, it's a, it's muddy waters for the jets right now. Certainly. So I love the DJ Reed idea. And I think I got to look at his contract. I think it voids after this year uh but the vikings if they got him would have an opportunity to try to extend him um because if the guy has is this right if the guy has void years that makes it easier to negotiate an extension with him maybe i'm wrong about that um to spread out the dead money but i don't know how that works in a trade someone who knows the salary cap can correct me in the comments. Either way. So his contract voids, he's a guy that would be at least in trading for him in that rental category. I have been amazed at the prices.

They are just horrible for sellers. Sellers are not getting anything. And you look at that trade for Deontay Johnson there's more at play there with his personality and if Pittsburgh gets rid of anybody their value goes down into the tank because everyone knows that Pittsburgh keeps their good players but with someone like DJ Reed I don't think you have to go to a super high price because the Jets should be looking to just get whatever compensation, but Joe Douglas has got to be fired, right? This also has to play into it where how can a GM be thinking, you know what I should be getting is a draft compensation or just, Hey, let's see if we

turn around from being horrendous because what else do I have to do here? I wonder about Nate Hobbs with the Raiders as a player like this, that maybe they're not under pressure as a leadership. Although if you're for the Raiders, you're kind of always under pressure, but they might be able to make a little bit better sales pitch for acquiring draft capital, knowing that they have to add to that roster. Maybe.

Yeah. And we we've seen them be sellers already now. Very interesting situation with the Vontae Adams. Like, I mean, and we've seen them be sellers already now. Very interesting situation with Devontae Adams. I mean, and now it's an even more interesting situation. But you look at the Raiders, I think the Raiders are one of those teams that we discussed where they're in the market for a quarterback, so anything goes right now.

I mean, we were talking, Lindsey Rhodes on the Super Sports Show was talking about potential landing spots for the Super Sports Show was talking about, you know, potential landing spots for Bryce Young. And I'm like, with the Raiders, you've been up and down with O'Connell, then Minshew, then back to O'Connell, then he gets hurt and back to Minshew, like, just need a little consistency, you want to try to hit, you know, at least get on base, much less hit a home run, like, who's to think that maybe they won't trade for Bryce Young or something like that? And so when it comes to Hobbs, I think that definitely is a good fit for the Vikings,

especially given that level of compensation they probably have. I think it's a good fit. And I think the Raiders are probably a team that is likely to sell. They're in that Panthers-Patriots category at this point, especially given they're in a division where the Broncos all of a sudden have an unstoppable defense and the chiefs look like kind of a juggernaut in a way that we haven't seen yet with my homes at quarterback. But I mean,

they're, they're killing teams physically at this point. Okay. Last thing, biggest trade. You'd love to see give, give me the, it doesn't matter with the vikings it's any team in the league what's the one where you guys are playing around your little toy

trade machines and saying oh now this would be juicy what do you got i'm gonna refrain from upsetting the nfc north crew because i don't think max crosbyby is getting traded. But man, that would be... To see Max Crosby, who is such an Ironman kind of player, join that Lions team would be fantastic to watch as a football fan. Probably not fantastic to watch if you're dropping Sam Darnold or Jordan Love or Malik Willis or Caleb Williams back there. But in a similar vein, the Falcons are sitting kind of in this situation where they're sitting at five and three they've had kind of an up and down year they're kind of the the version of the jets that's a little bit better and has performed a little bit better they have an older

quarterback can't really move some good wide receivers that they brought in uh this year in terms of mooney at least um some young guys garrett Wilson, Drake London, kind of a corollary there. The thing that they're missing is edge rushing. And they went and got Matthew Judon already for a third-round pick, I believe it was, and it just hasn't come together. And you analyze the environment. The Bengals are in a tough spot. Their defense is really bad.

Can Trey Hendrickson go to that Falcons team? And then you look down the line like a in true conspiracy theory format you know their general manager formerly of the Saints he was there for years and years including the years where they had Trey Hendrickson Raheem Morris was a coach for the Falcons in the NFC South around the time where Hendrickson was there they probably know a lot about the player I I think that he costs substantially less than a Miles Garrett or a Max Crosby would be worth. And he's extremely productive. And that's the one that I's like, hey, we got to pay Chase. We got to do whatever we can to pay Chase. We're a little cash conservative as a team. We already have T on kind of a deal where he's probably going to go somewhere else this year. Let's clear off the books. Let's get some draft capital in there. You mentioned Jesse Bates earlier. They did a similar thing with Jesse.

You don't want to let him walk for anything. Let's get him to the Falcons. Let's get some draft capital. Hope that the Falcons maybe take a downturn. Some of their analytics do show that that's possible. And let's make a deal here. And the Trey Hendrickson to the Falcons thing is one where I'm like, this is a perfect fit for both teams. And it could work out very well for both teams. I like that move.

And I think that it would be shocking if Detroit did not pick up an entrust or maybe Zedaria Smith. He has illness, the old getting traded flu as has popped up a few times through the last couple of days. Deontay Johnson missing the game and then Cam Robinson was pulled from the game. Maybe they were thinking about potentially trading him before they did to the Vikings. That seems to be maybe the case with Zedarius. They've got to be in on that. Yeah, I think that the Raiders would be crazy to trade Crosby.

And I feel like just in general, there are names that come up from bad teams that are locked into big contracts and they're franchise players that the teams are just not going to give away. Oh, we're going to give away Jeffrey Simmons or Dexter Lawrence. I'd be very surprised if there's anything like that, because you don't plan on being bad forever. Exactly. Maybe, maybe just for this year.

Sam Brookhouse, Sumer Daily, senior NFL analyst. Now the title over there at Sumer Sports. Great to have you back on the show. Super fun conversation. Always great to dig into the front office mindset. And you know, when you were talking about Max Crosby, I thought you were going to hit something. You got a little like, you got a little juiced. It's still the linebacker guy is still in there. You looked like you were about to kind of tackle somebody. Hey, when I was watching that Lions-Vikings game, and in particular, there was a play where, you know, Jared, great edge rush off the edge.

Jared Goff, you know, holds tight to the ball, delivers play. And then a couple plays later, you know, two seconds plus, the Vikings get a huge sack. And, man, I was juiced up. I was watching the game with some friends and like, dude, you got to calm down. I'm like, this is great football. This is football time. Like I know a lot of people go through a mid season slump, but like this is where we really dig down deep and we watch some of those great things that Brian Flores is scheming up and

some of the, some of the awesome things that some of those lines playing players are doing. And the NFC North is so good this year. I'm enjoying every single one of those games. That Lions Vikings game. What if the Vikings win it, we're talking about how it's a classic over here for sure because it was one of the best,

I think one of the best overall football games of the year. And had the Vikings beaten the Rams, it would have been a lot easier for everybody to get over. But unfortunately, no. So we'll see what happens here and the trade deadline.

Great to preview it with you, Sam. And we'll talk to you very soon, man. Appreciate the time. Appreciate it.