The Fumblerooski Podcast - Setting the Narrative -Ep 376 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

On tonight's episode, we take a look at some Preseason takeaways from Week 2. Is Abdul Carter soft? Is Ashton Jeanty's performance indicative of what's to come? Joe Flacco named the Week 1 starting QB for the Browns, what is the outlook for the Browns and when could we see a switch? Efton Chism is making a splash for the Patriots this preseason, how can the Patriots fit him into a crowded receiver room that hasn't proved much? And the latest on Trey Hendrickson. Chris Costich, CJ Medeiros, and Justin Tucker talk all this and more!

Well, folks, we got one more week of pre-season football and then another week of break in football action. Then we're right back into the regular season, just as we have hoped since February. For so long, such a long summer. Finally, fall is here. This is the Fumbarooski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot.

He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fumble Rusky podcast by Parity 18 Radio and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Chris Kostitch and with us, C.J. Medeiros and our resident college graduate, congratulations, Justin Tucker. Thank you. Yes. Thank you.

It's an honor and privilege to be here as a master's level, level person. I'm happy. Hell yeah, man. That's awesome. I'm very happy for you. Not, that's the thing. Not many people can say they got themselves a master's in something. It doesn't matter what it is.

You're one of the few. Absolutely. And now for the doctorate. Thank you, guys. Thank you. I appreciate it. We got a good show lined up for you guys. Preseason Week 2 takeaways.

a unlikely undrafted free agent really stealing the show this preseason and the latest on Trey Hendrickson and Terry McLaren all that coming later on in the show but preseason week two takeaways did this last week very short and simple so we'll do the same thing here today I'll go first ascenty he's a dog That's all it really is. I mean, you see what he was doing in this past game against San Francisco. It's basically what we're saying in college. He is that he deserved to be the six-pick overall, maybe even higher,

and he's just running through motherfuckers' faces. That's really it. Ashton Dinty is that guy. Also, wanted to, my other preseason week two take away is a build-off of, one of my takeaways from week one, and that is football is fun. It doesn't matter if it's regular season, preseason, and my football is fun example this week

is the ending of the Patriots Vikings game. My sister was at this game, actually. But, you know, just the end of the game, final three seconds. Vikings trying to win it. They throw the ball into the end zone, gets picked off, immediately fumbled in the end zone, and then recovered by the Vikings for, well, it could have been a touchdown, but they ruled Pat's player down via contact before he fumbled it.

So a little bit, you know, a little bit of fun drama for a preseason game to end. But that's my preseason. Those are my preseason week two takeaways. Tuck, since you're our recent graduate, I'll let you take the reins on this one. I can't believe I'm saying in this, but I'm enjoying another team. the AFC north outside of the Baltimore race, because I'm not going to lie, the drama that's going on with the Cleveland Browns at the

quarterback position has been nothing short of sensational. I mean, we already know that Joe Flacko's pretty much going to be the week once started, but the competition between Dylan Gabriel and Shador Sanders has been amazing and nothing short of stellar this

week. After Dylan Gabriel's performance, he went to the media and said there's a difference between performers and competitors, him calling himself a competitor and then looking back on it i don't think he was commenting about shador but that whole thing just went way out of control and i've just been liking the fact that everyone's been killing delin gabriel and just letting chamois sanders just lay in the background not doing anything but all in all i think this has been a fairly even back-and-for-game

or a competition outside of the interception that turned into a pick-six but overall this is been highly entertaining that's been going on in Cleveland. Yeah, Dylan Gabriel went 13 for 18, 143 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, as you mentioned, Tuck. Yeah, he did try to clarify afterwards that he wasn't trying to completely shit on Shadur. I've seen a couple other takes about Shadur recently in terms of his post-game interview after week one, after his performance.

And it was very, you know, shudur is a very outgoing guy with his emotions. And so he was talking a lot of shit to the media about it and saying, hey, you guys, you guys are counting me out and yada, yada, yada. And the main take was, well, it's, it's preseason. Let's take a chill pill, which was one of our takeaways last week, actually. okay um cj wanted to comment on that real quick yeah the whole thing with dylan gabriel and uh shedore sanders it's just i'm sorry i know gabriel had to clarify his comments but

yeah no it's pretty obvious he's upset by you that and just getting more attention you know it was like 2.2 million people viewed sanders game which i think is the most ever for a preseason game so yeah and he's like he's trying to put out this thing about oh he's an entertainer i'm a competitor and it's just like all right man whatever if you're a competitor then play better than him and you're just not you know i just i don't know it just feels like the shadore haters whether you like and whether you don't stop trying to make dylan gabriel a thing he's not a thing he's too small he's too slow his arm strength isn't there like can we at least be honest with ourselves on that i'd say so apparently it's more there than

door apparently yeah yeah yeah because getting carried by Oregon where like a quarter of your passes are thrown behind the line means you should be third round pick sure after you flopped at oklahoma but i digress um real quick before we get to cj's uh week two takeaway uh breaking news brown's just named joe flaco is their week one starter uh via ian rapport who i would assumed that he announced this while he was on the Pat McAfee show. We'll get to that a little later though.

But there's Tuck speaking it into existence right there though. For props, do you get? CJ, preseason week two takeaway. My preseason week two takeaway actually is more social media oriented, ironically,

than anything that happened on the field. So for those of you who don't know, the pre, even though it's the preseason, we were privileged to see the toilet bowl, aka the Jets versus Giants in MetLife Stadium. And there

was a play that caught a lot of people's eyes. Abdul Carter got absolutely flattened by a chip block on the Jets backup, from the Jets backup tight end, Stone Smart, which by the way, really cool name.

Yeah, so it was just supposed to be a chip block, right? You know, just like a usual chip block. we see it all the time and Carter was caught completely off guard and got sent to the ground and the NFL on Instagram you know it's it's pretty big right you know the third overall pick guy who's absolute record ball in college gets flat and so of course they post it and Carter handled it in probably the worst possible way ideally you could either laugh it off or keep your head down to say nothing so he and his infinite wisdom said, and I quote, might be the only highlight of the Jets all season and we put

BTA, felt to ask for those who don't know, weak ass shit, ate that MF like barbecue. Now, don't get me wrong. Tuck's got the right idea. See, he's laughing. It's funny. And it is, you know, but you did everything wrong if you're Abdul Carter. And look, he's young. He's a rookie.

He'll learn. but you know when you're drafted you do get like media training extensively there's like seminars for and all and it's like dude are you not paying attention like you clapped back at the NFL over a preseason game like dude just just take it on the chin and keep going you didn't need to insert yourself in this because now you just look like a sore well they won the game but you just look sore over it and it's like it's just it's not a good look you did every that's like the worst way you could have gone about it but yeah and also by the way i just want to address the factual accuracy of weak-ass chip well if that was and i quote weak-ass chip what does that say

about you if it puts you on the ground move for thought that yeah shout out uh shout out stone smart He was the guy that flattened him. Tucker, sorry, were you about to say something? I would have to say about it is, it's a preseason game. It's not that deep. Yeah. No, I agree, but he made it that deep. That's the thing is like, you go out to social media in response to the NFL about it.

And it's like, dude, I mean, talk, don't say that to me, say it to him. It's like, too, it's not that deep. Just like, chill out. I think that's what Tuck was trying to do. Oh, I thought he's just chill out. It's a preseason game. He'll be fine. It's just a moment where he had a little.

Is it really this easy to get into his head, though? I saw a few comments saying that, but whatever. Well, he's a rookie. He'll learn. But, dude, that's, you know, just raided in a bit, man. You're going to be good. Just, you know. Yeah.

All right. Well, those are our preseason week two takeaways. We're going to take a quick break when we come back. We're going to get into Joe Flack. being named the Browns Week 1 starter. How short of a leash will he have? When will we see Shudur?

Maybe Dylan Gabriel. Who knows? All that and more. This is the Fumble Ruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns.

Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fulburwski podcast by PowerD 18 Radio and Secret Weapons Consulting. We got Chuck. We got CJ and myself, Chris. Joe Flacko, well, if you're listening five minutes ago, broke the news that Joe Flacko named the week one starter via Ian Rappaport. Just reading completely off the tweet here. Browns are naming QB Joe Flacko as their starter, the end of a training camp competition

that never really was. Flocko quickly emerged as QB1 while the others battled injuries. The player who led them to the playoffs in 2023 is back. Yeah. So that's

basically it right there, right? You know, Shadr was battling an injury himself. Dylan Gabriel didn't play in the week one game. Tyler Huntley's your fucking QB4. Kenny Pickett was dealing with something as well. So the Browns didn't really have much of a choice Besides go with the guy that's most ready

Which is the most reasonable thing of course And at this point Who better than Joe Flacco and having a vet like that I guess Or a guy that knows the system The question that I have for you fellas is How short is this leash? At what point do the Browns end up going to the bullpen

and get the righty in Shadurr-Sanders or maybe the lefty in Dylan Gabriel or they just throw everyone a fucking curveball and go Tyler Huntland. I think they would go Tyler Huntling before they go Dylan Gabriel or Shador. I don't think the thing is about,

I don't think he has a short leash in general. I think Joe Flagg will play good enough to keep him on the field. And I think the Browns defense will be good enough to keep them in games long enough for Joe to do something. on the offensive side of the ball because he does have some weapons surrounding him. But overall, I don't think he'll do anything that'll be like, oh, my God, we need to replace

him, throw any one of these quarterbacks in. If he gets injured, which is fairly possible, though, I think they would probably go towards Tyler Hunt and Lee or Kenny Pickett, one of those two quarterbacks. I'm not sure they'll try to throw into Dior Sanders or Dylan Gabriel yet, because I'm not sure if they're there quite yet to be the starters like day one. I would rather them sit a year and then see what we got. But all in all, I think this was inevitable. I thought Joe Flacco was going to be the starter, regardless of who they drafted,

and that this will continue on for at least this season, because I don't think Joe Flacko's going to play bad enough to lose that job. C.J. Who really thought Joe Flacko wasn't going to. be the starter. I mean, this is a team he already had experience with. He may have that little miracle run that he had not too long ago that got him comeback player of the year. So, I don't know, even like the Shador fans and the Gabriel fans, like, I don't understand how they didn't realize it was going to be flacco. I mean, I don't think any of us are particularly shocked. And as far as

his leash goes. I know it makes for some really unsatisfying commentary, but I don't know. I have no idea, like, if they even want Sanders or Gabriel out there, I don't even know what's going on with Kenny Pickett. Apparently, he's still banged up. You know, he's kind of forgotten at this. Where does Tyler Huntley fall? Do they see him as two? Do they see him as emergency depth? Like, you know, that one QB, that's, like, the emergency that doesn't count against your starters on game day. Like, I just, I don't know. Like, I literally just don't know. You know, like I said, I know, I'm sorry, guys.

It's not, like, satisfying analysis, but I feel like there might be a change whenever Kevin Stefansky feels like his jobs in jeopardy. Because multiple news sources believe that he's on the hot seat. frankly i don't know why this is a nightmare of jimmy haslam and andrew barry's creation and stephansky's doing the best with what he has but hey heads will roll before haslam faces any kind of real accountability so yeah i feel like when stefansky's feeling the squeeze he might pull out all the stops but that's like my best guess yeah i feel like if anything it'd probably be a mid-season change we've seen a lot of that uh in the past I mean, look at the Patriots, for example.

They went with a mid-season change and what would Drake May away from Jacobi Berset at some point. So maybe we see the same thing here. But to your point, it's really just depending on when Stefansky feels that Chatur is ready or I guess in what you just said, CJ, ridiculous to think that jobs is jeopardy, of course. So I don't know. it doesn't mean you think he would get in do you think shador would get in over dylan gabriel right now because i think he's still number four on the death chart i mean he is yes i i don't and here's the thing it's not a matter of talent at this point it's just a matter of what they believe and they

believe gabriel's the better quarterback and it's very clear that analysts and pundits and fans and everyone in between alike even other players think sanders ceiling is higher than Gabriel's, but it only matters what the Deptchar says at the end of the day. And they would go with Gabriel. I can't speak to how long, though. Yeah, I think it just, in terms of Shadir, I said this last week, it's one of those things where you just has to get smarter with the football as a quarterback. Like, you can't be scrambling 20 yards behind your own line of scrimmage and then just try to huck something up there when you have, like, two guys hanging all over you. You know, just try to,

cut down on those idiotic plays and still move up the depth chart in due time, you know. And that's why Dylan Gabriel's in the three spot. It's just guys that can make smarter decisions at this point in time. You know, I've

seen it in college too. Like, a guy that clearly shouldn't be or just guys in general that shouldn't be above this other guy in the depth chart, but they are because this other kids just not making the right he might have a higher ceiling he's probably going to be

the starter of the future like next year or the next two years but he's not there yet so that's probably where we're at right now and also can you picket's like the number two do we really need to see more Kenny picket playing football it's bad enough I dealt with him for two years in the aFC north I don't want to see any more of this with all due respect let's see I'd rather see Shador or Dylan Gabriel something new I don't need to see Kenny Pickett. We know what he is. It is pretty crazy. He's number two on the depth chart right now.

Hey, to be fair, that is Super Bowl champion, Kenny Pickett. Yeah, we have to give him his flowers for that. That's like Santerat Taylor is a Super Bowl champion. That doesn't care. Yes.

Yeah. All right. Anything else we want to touch on with Flacko? Are we no that's pretty much it's pretty cut and dry cool cool the funny thing is joe flacko's a former pro bowler the only other pro bowler that that's on the team is tyler huntley at this moment in time well and miles garrett i'm talking about from the quarterback position oh wow wow wow oh my bad yeah i mean it's true you know those pro bowl alternates man they will get you i don't even know where to begin with that it's i still can't believe he made it. I mean, Mr. Chubisky made it.

Mac Jones made it. It's argued for another day, but oh, my God, the Pro Bowl has lost so much I think that it's more impressive to say Flacco was a Pro Bowler when it was still meant something. Yeah. Because I don't think he was an alternate

for any of those Pro Bowls, right? I don't believe so. He made it once and no, it wasn't as an alternate. There you go. He was a Pro Bowler when it still mattered. He's elite. We're going to take a quick break when we come back. We're going to talk about another white slot receiver in New England.

They've done it again. Epton Chisholm. Remember the name. We'll be back after the break. It may not have always showed it in the staff sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot.

He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumble Ruski podcast. C.J. He's talk. I'm Chris Costich. Efton Chisham. That's the name flowing around NFL spaces right now. And for damn good reason. Undrapped a free agent goes to the Patriots, shows out this past week in Minnesota,

six catches 71 yards you know we can talk about this performance we can even talk about what he was able to do in week one as well and there's a lot of a lot of people right now that are saying that there's a damn good chance that afton chisholm is going to make the 53 man roster which i'm all four if he can produce I'm all for it. Give me some Efton Chisholm, man. But, C.J., we'll start with you. Efton Chisholm.

I know you're big on Efton Chisholm. Talk to me about him. So, Efton Chisholm, you know, was a guy who was largely overlooked during his time in, you know, the college level there. A little white slot receiver out of. Eastern Washington, fun fact, on the modders of wide receivers like Cooper Cup and Kendrick Bourne. You at home might know Eastern Washington is that one school that, hey, it's got the red field. We all know the red field. And people don't realize this, but, you know, he played five years there.

In his senior year, he went ballistic, hauling in 120 catches, 1,311 yards. and 13 touchdowns. So, hey, you know, I cannot hate on that. And as you know, he was brought in by the Patriots as an undrafted free agent. And, you know, we all like, ha, ha, another little light slot guy in New England. But, hey, so not a little light slot guy, he broke Cooper Cup's FCS record for most consecutive gains, the reception, as you can see right there. And I thought, I thought Eastern Washington was FBS.

I do not believe so, no. And, but that's neither here nor there. So Chisholm, he just, he, I just, like, right out of nowhere, this man just starts dominating. He's been one of the darlings of the preseason burst onto the scene against the Washington commanders, you know, in week one of the preseason, where he had six catches for 50 yards and a touchdown. And then, most recently in the Patriots game against the Vikings, he had six catches again, this time for 71 yards and another touchdown.

And it gets to a point where I believe, as a Pat's fan, I can conceivably see him making this roster. I wouldn't count out Elliot Wolf that are probably not even rail and be more wolf saying, I don't know, but, you know, maybe favoring someone like Javon Baker or Jalen Polk. But no, it's got to be Chisholm. He's producing. He's already building rapport with the players. And the only issue I see is that New England's wide receiver room is crowded.

Not Packers crowded. We have a bunch of guys who could start. New England's just crowded with mid. Diggs is obviously your number one, right? DiMario Douglas is obviously your number two. I can, Matt Collins will make the roster. Third round pick, Kyle Williams will make the roster. And what's his name there?

Kisham Bouti will also make the roster. So that's five. How many wide receivers do you plan on carrying? Because then you have veteran Kendrick Bourne, two draft picks from last year, Jalen Polk, and Javon Baker, and then Efton Chisholm. it's obviously Chisholm because what's his name there? Born caught lightning in a bottle in 2021

and since then hasn't been able to reproduce that magic you just can't stay healthy on top of it and Polk and Baker have shown literally nothing and truthfully I'm tired of hearing about oh Javon Baker could be a real threat to Efton Chisholm because he's been bawling out in camp yes he's been bawling out in camp he has not been doing that in the preseason

where I think he's got like two total catches. I don't care how you look in camp. I care how you look on the field. And outside of having some special teams outside, I'm not really afraid of Javon Baker. So have F. and Chisholm make the roster because I'll be damn, but New

England has found yet another little white slot. Let's simmer down about saying we found the next great slot receiver. No, I just said they found another one. I never Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm not, I'm not considering West Walker just yet. All right. I don't know much about that. Won't go Julian Ellman far either. Talk, what's your take?

My thing is about Efton Chisholm. The reason I know about him is because you guys were raving about him even before a preseason started. And so I was like, hopefully he can make the team so I can see him when the Ravens destroy the Patriots. that's when I That's when I'll actually get to see Efton Chism on the field But from what I've heard in the stats I've seen He looks like the real deal

He looks like a good receiver for the Patriots Who desperately need receiver help For Drake May You guys didn't really get in the draft Drafting a first round receiver Because there wasn't really a first round receiver For your position in the draft But overall

Hopefully Eftanism can be that guy for you all and hopefully he can attain West Welker's status. Based upon his career at Eastern Washington, like Cooper Cup, if he has even a semblance of what Cooper Cup has, you guys may have gotten this deal. May have. But he's an undrafted free agent for a reason. Let's just calm down with the expectations and let's take it week by week.

He's had a solid couple of weeks. Will he make the roster? Will that be enough for Mike Vrable? We'll see. Yeah, I'm kind of interested to see, to CJ's point, I'm kind of interested to see how they end up kind of just maneuvering around the wide receiver room. Because as, Christ, I just knocked over my mic. As CJ mentioned, you know, this is a wide receiver room that is filled with not great talent. So it kind of just depends on if the Patriots are saying, you know what, I'm good on Jalen Polk.

I'm good on Javon Baker. I'm good on these other guys. They can sit in the practice squad. Or they decided to say that for Efton Chisholm. You know, I wouldn't, like, I feel like that's going to be the route that they're going to have to go, is that they're just going to have to throw some guys on the practice squad and see what happens after that. If someone performs well on the practice squad, we elevate them or they elevate them. If not, then they're just on the practice squad.

That's all it is. Or, I mean, the Patriots are used to filling a useless roster spot with somebody. And that name was Tom Brady. So not calling Efton Chisholm Tom Brady, but Patriots are known to fill a roster spot for no fucking reason sometimes. But if you put Efton Chisholm there, do you think he'll stay there or do you think another team will take him? If they put Chisholm on the practice squad, another team is just going to coach him. I can't speak to what he does on a different team, but he's, you know, when you have one of these guys who's been one of the breakout players of the preseason, some team will take a flyer on him. Yeah.

It's just a matter of what the, at this point, it's a matter of what the Patriots want to do with their wide receiver room. That's, that's all it really is. They got choices, not great choices. that that's all it really is i mean besides stephan diggs of course besides stephan diggs and pop is that really a great choice because he's coming off injury pop or stephan dix stephan diggs yeah i'd say so i'd say that's still a great choice i mean if we've seen anything from his post-acel workout videos it's shown that he's fully recovered i mean they're making comments that right now that he might not be available for week one, which I think they're just going with the old Bill Belichick mantra of don't feed him any, don't feed him any bulls, or don't feed him anything and just feed him bullshit.

So that might just be what we're looking at here. Yeah, I need to see him week one before I'm convinced. Yeah, week one is going to be, I think it's going to be a big tell of what's to come, or at least those first four weeks. Word. Anything else you guys wanted to touch on? No, I'm going on the Epim Chisholm. Epton Chisholm. I'm excited. I'm excited. All right. We're going to take another quick break when we come back. We're going to get into the latest on Trey Hendrickson and a little bit of Terry McLaurin as well with some other recent Pat's news coming out that Elliot Wolf, Pat's GM is interested in potentially getting rid of a top pick to improve the team.

This is the Fulmbriski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the staff sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws, back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fulmleroski podcast by Parity 18 Radio

in Secret Weapon Consulting. C.J. Medeiros, Justin Tucker, Chris Costich. Trey Hendrickson, quest another trade. For real, I don't know. They're listening to offers. They're doing something. That's the latest. That's basically it.

And this has been a long, enduring storyline that is basically captivated all of Cincinnati, or most of Cincinnati, if not the majority of the NFL. it's one of those things that it took that it's such an ongoing storyline that you kind of forget it's happening but all start of course with Trey Hendrickson wanting a contract extension getting paid as one of the top edge rushers in the league bengel said no they're playing hardball de use and of course we get to about a month ago players are reporting for training camp and Trey Hendrickson is is all the way in Florida.

He comes back. He's at training camp a couple weeks later. And all of a sudden, it's another trade request. I mean, who's going to, at this point, it's a matter of when will they get the deal done, if they will get a deal done, or in this case, who's willing to take a flyer on a 30-year-old edge rusher. That's basically what it's coming down to, is who's willing to give us. up a top draft pick for a 30-year-old edge rusher. That's all it is.

If I'm a playoff team, I'd give up a first-round pick because basically I've treated like a second-round pick. If I'm in like late 20s, early 30s, why would I care for a first-round pick? I would give that up for a stud pass rusher in Trey Hendrickson. He led the league in sex last year with 17 and a half and we're just going to, and he's available and we're not even going to attempt to check in on that. please if i'm the kansas city chiefs i'm checking in on that if i'm the detroit lions i'm checking in on that pairing him up with aidan hutchinson if i'm the eagles i'd see i wouldn't say

i'd necessarily agree but i'd see i don't understand how the bengals can be this stubborn when it comes to trey hendrickson they don't really have much of an option on defense outside of shimar's steward who they just drafted i don't understand how they can be this way knowing how bad the defense was last year and then saying nah can't pay you i understand age is an issue but the contract has been an issue for a long time now and you're still not willing to pay him this is ridiculous and it's not like they're like very far away i think it's like at max 10 million dollars between the two 10 million dollars just give him the money for at least this year and we can worry about next year this this is ridiculous

I don't understand how Cincinnati can be this damn cheap when it comes to T. Andrickson, when they just played Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. I don't understand. It makes no sense. You're going to jeopardize your season just for this. Bangles are going to bangles. If he's not on the team, I don't think they're a playoff team at all. And that defense is just going to be abysmal.

Bangles going to score 35. They give up 50. That's it. In terms of potential trading of Trey Hendrickson, according to NBC sports three hours ago, Bengals remaining the betting favorites to keep Trey Hendrickson. This is another article from Saints Wire, because Trey Anderson used to be on the Saints. Basically, you know, at the beginning of this, they shut down trade calls earlier this year because they were demanding a first round pick for. from somebody that was only offering a second rounder, but it seems that they're starting to soften on that price.

Diana Rusini, according to her, according to teams that have reached out, Cincinnati isn't only seeking draft capital in return. They're also targeting defensive players in a potential deal. So take the Patriots, for example. They also just came out today, and Ellie Wolf just came out today saying that they're opening to trade a first or second round pick

to improve the team. this season, which kind of also segues into the Terry McLaurin conversation as well of, well, what are you willing to give up for a guy like Terry McClureen who's about a turn 30 next month? What are you also willing to pay him? Because that's the other thing is that it's going to be a one-year rental. If you can't, if you can't get him to sign an extension, then why even bother trading the first or second round pick. At that point, you're going to trade a fourth round pick.

Same thing with Trey Hendrickson. Are you willing to give up said money for this 30-year-old edge rusher who, if he's not willing to give, if you're not willing to pay in the money or if he's not willing to sign, why are you giving up the first or second round pick at that point? So I think that's where teams are, or at least the Bengals are going to have to have this reality check that no one's actually going to sign or try to trade if they're not looking to sign trey hendricks into this deal that he's asking for with you're not willing to give this deal that he's asking for so figure it out that that's basically long and short of it really yeah i'm i'm so done with this just

at this point just train him or re-sign it like oh my god i'm so i just it's so stupid it's so unbelievably stupid we and tuck you want to know why the bangles are doing this because they need to feel like they're in control let's be real joe burrow emasculated then he called the mountain public and said oh you better read oh obviously in nicer words but it's like you better re-signed higgins and chase right he was really unhappy with the team and he made it known you know what the bengals did they collapsed they bent to his will and they resigned him they literally let joe burrow and publicly embarrassed them like that so now they're trying to bully trey hendrickson to get any kind of you know semblance of control back and we already saw it happen with shimar stewer they

dragged that poor dude through the mud and now they're doing the same thing with trey hendrickson And at least finally, they're at least entertaining trade offers. But if I'm a team, I don't think it makes sense. Or when I say a team, I mean New England, because, you know, the pets are looking at them or at least Wolf said he would, their GM, you know, like, hey, I'll trade a first rounder for the future, sure. There are other teams, too. Like I think I've heard the Colts looking at him at a report.

the Panthers might be and it's like no maybe Carolina but a lot of these teams I don't think have any reason to be looking at him a team trading for Trey Hendrickson that is a win now move or a move for the future because he's already in his 30s early 30s old granular pass rushers they tend to stick around a lot longer than a lot of people think and at this point why If you are not a contending team, why would you trade for him and screw yourself dynamically by giving up a first round pick? Anyone who's like, oh, yeah, the Patriots, the Colts, the Panthers, they should give up a first round pick for him. I say, no, put your fandom aside, and no. Then there's Terry McLaurin.

He's a wide receiver and he's over 30. I'm not giving up a first rounder for him. Debate a wall because I'm not changing my view. I don't care what stats you throw on me. A wide receiver over 30 on an expiring deal. No. I'm not giving up a first round pick for that. And if you're a GM, be it McLaurin or be at Hendrickson,

you have to be careful because essentially you're going to have to pay twice. Not only will you have to give up assets to get said player into the building, you will then have to pay him to stay. So is paying twice really worth it when you're not a contender? That's a rhetorical question. No, the answer is no. I don't even think the Trey Hendrickson thing is that much of a big deal. I understand if you look at the contract itself is like, yeah, you're going to be paying at minimum $38 million, if not $41.

But I feel like if you just set that out for the next two years and void the other three, it's not really. really a problem. And the truth of the matter is it wouldn't be this big of a deal if Cincinnati just resigned him a few seasons ago when he asked for this. And now they're in the position there. Now they have to pay 40 million when they just been paying like 34, 35 million. It's ridiculous. Whatever. They find themselves in this position because they were they stupidly thought they could resign them later. And now they can't sign them. And they refuse to or sign them. You guys want to know the best part about this?

What's that? Washington and Cincinnati are playing each other this week. Talk about a precincts and game getting overshadowed by storylines by two guys, one on either side, taking up the conversation because they want to get paid. Now, that is something. Joe Burrow might throw over 6,000 yards and still miss the playoffs. That's tough. and yet you'll say he's a better quarterback

and whatever what do you what do you mean what do you mean what do you mean by that what what do you want what do you want to do about a bad defense I want him to actually think about

team roster hey man it's not not his problem he got paid 100 mil no one in the league is like Tom Brady we're not getting that i understand that last season wasn't his fault and i don't blame him for the last season however you are aware that your defense is ass and you are doing nothing to help that not putting pressure on the on the front office to get him the bengals the bengals the bengals defense

was ass and joe burrow knows this so if i'm him i'm gonna be like it'd be great if i got some defenders on my team. What they do, get rid of Jermaine Pratt, what they do, not re-signed Craig Hendrickson, what they do, not even, they almost didn't sign Samar Stewart. We actually questioned whether or not Samar Stewart was going back to college. That, whatever. You know what? So you're asking Joe Barrow to take pick us in what you're saying. Yeah. Well, he should know that. He's getting better about the decisions. I would have let T. Higgins go. I would have signed another defender. I mean, Honestly, and Chris and Adam, who's producing, did I not literally say that Joe Burrow, it would have been wiser for him to take a pay cut and actually start making adult decisions because if you have, because if you want to be a leader, you have to make these tough choices.

I mean, obviously you're not the GM. You don't like get the final say, but you could have taken a pay cut so, you know, you would have a defense or better. Yeah, an offensive line. and then you're complaining, you know, when the defense, you know, breaks through and puts you on your ass every other play. And, and I mean, I'm just saying, Tuck, I've literally said this. And look, well, I'm a big Burrow fan. I think we all are, except you, you know, AFC North, we get that.

But like, a little bit of this is on him, kind of like, for example, how Packers fans would endlessly bitch and moan, Well, Aaron Rogers doesn't have any help. It's like, well, if he wasn't hugging up all the cap space, then, yeah. That's all. Yeah. I mean, I think the long and the short of it is that no quarterback is going to actually do what Tom Brady did and take that many pay cuts so they could go out and get guys.

And that's a shame. Or just never mind like quarterbacks. Really, you could say that for anybody, I feel like. Let's say Miles Garrett, for example. He literally sold his soul to stay in Cleveland, but if he gets upset, then I'm not going to cry for him. Again, 40 million. Yeah, but the point being, though, like, there's not going to be many guys that are going to be like, hey, organization, billion dollar organization, please take my millions of dollars away. there's not going to be many people here like that well they have a hard cap so whatever the work of the organization means very little yeah that is all the scheduled content that we have for you today uh anything else that you guys had uh on your on your brain space before we end the show no not really i'm good i'm fantastic yeah that's all i have actually um one last one minute thing

Cam Newin, getting his number retired at Auburn. Yeah, congrats, congrats. Well deserved. Yeah. Cam Newon is better than Gailen Hertz, by the way. Cam Neum better than Jalen Hertz. Oh, brother. No, we're not starting this.

We're not starting this. That's a next week thing. That's a next week thing. Oh, man. Thank you for tuning in for another Tuesday episode of the Fulm-Beriski podcast. A new episode coming out next Tuesday at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. And if you haven't figured it out by now, we record this on Monday.

So if anything happens in the next 24 hours, please do not yell at us for not talking about it. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. All our episodes are available on Spotify, Speaker, Apple Podcast, I-Hart Radio. I'm blanking on it right now. Google Podcast. And so much more. Be sure to follow our Instagram, Fulmuruski, underscore, podcast to keep up with our pod and the latest coverage on the NFL. otherwise for myself

Chris Costich Justin Tucker C.J. Medeiros. We'll see you next week. We'll learn out.