The Ringer NFL Show - Julio Jones traded to the Titans

Episode Date: June 6, 2021

Kevin Clark, Nora Princiotti and Danny Heifetz react to the Atlanta Falcons trading Julio Jones to the Tennessee Titans. Host: Kevin Clark Guests: Nora Princiotti and Danny Heifetz Producer: Steve Ahlman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is the Ringwred NFL show, part of the Ringar Podcast Network. I'm Kevin Clark. Join today, Emergency Julio Jones podcast edition. It's Danny Hyfitz. And calling in from the Garden State Parkway is number one Atlanta Falcons backer, Nora Preciati. Nora, what's going on? I'm very upset. What are you looking at right now?

Are you looking at like the Woodrow Wilson Travel Plaza? We're pretty close to Newark Airport. I see a lot of various plants with... smoke billowing out of tubes, your classic New Jersey scenery. We're actually driving right past a structure that's always on fire at the top of it.

Is it the Giants practice facility? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm always, there's always the part of me that's like, is that supposed to be on fire? Even though I've seen it so many times and I know that indeed it is supposed to be on fire, just like billowing smoke and fumes into the sky. I'm very upset.

The Super Bowl parade is canceled. It is very sad when a team that you, I guess I don't root for the Falcons technically, but like I was very excited about that. So let's just tell the listener that so for the last two podcasts, you've said that the fact that Arthur Smith has going to win coach of the year. And the Falcons, what was your prediction? We're going to win the division or something? No, I said that the Falcons were on the list of teams that I couldn't justify putting on the can win the Super Bowl list, but I really wanted to. you wanted them to be on the list of teams they can win the Super Bowl.

High praise. Yeah, and remember that my list was pretty short. I did not do the Danny Kelly nonsense of saying half the league win the Super Bowl. So that's kind of significant. I'd like to do 10 minutes on how New Jersey decided to name Travel Plaza's after the most famous residents, like Thomas Edison and Allison or Hamilton, Vince LaBardi,

which I think is one of the weirdest things. Don't forget the Walt Whitman one. I think it's one of the weirdest things, but we can't do it. We can't do it. We have to get to the Julio trade. Here's the trade. Julio Jones to the Tennessee Titans. The Falcons get a 22 second rounder, a 2023, fourth rounder.

The Titans get not only Julio Jones, but a sixth rounder in 2023. This is big. There's a lot of questions that flow through this. It was funny. We did how many teams going to win the Super Bowl podcast last week, and we've already had a handful of Titans fans who were angry about not being mentioned on that list, say, are they on the list now? It's a great question.

we'll start with the big picture question, Danny Hyphitz, which is how much better does this make the Titans? I mean, they're better for fantasy football. It's a way better team now, but I don't think that this makes them significantly more of a playoff team or not. This is weirdly one of the most fun offenses in the NFL now because you've got Derek Henry,

you've got Julio Jones, you got A.J. Brown. That's amazing and that's a lot of fun. I don't know if it helps them win football games. I can't say I look at the Titans defense, and I'm like, oh, yeah, like, I can name five defenders on that defense. I don't think that the Titans are going to be significantly better.

They still have fundamental questions. How do they deal with their offense without Arthur Smith, who went to Atlanta, ironically? I think that alone, the fact that Arthur Smith left Tennessee goes to Atlanta and is like, yeah, you know what? We'll be able to do this without Julio. That's a little concerning to me. I'm just not sold that the Titans are a better team, although they're certainly a more fun team today. So, Nora, you have to go because they're obviously in transit.

So give us the new expectations of the Atlanta Falcons post-Hulio. I don't know. What did I say they were like a 10-win team? Yeah. In the 17-game era. Like a win. I don't think that it's insignificant, right? Because I think at this point, Calvin Ridley is probably the tougher receiver to defend. Right. And he's on extension watch now. Extension watch buzz are activated. But just every, the problem is that everything that you think about the Titans

offense with Julio that is like fun and exciting, it's kind of for the same reason why if the Falcons had been able to keep Julio, it would have been fun and exciting, right? Like if you think about Tennessee, okay, it's going to present real challenges for defenses. Do you play high and worry about AJ Brown and Julio and then just get eaten to death by Derek Henry? Or do you go the other way around and then risk giving up big,

close to plays? Well, the Falcons theoretically would have been able to present that kind of challenge. And I think to a degree they still can, I think Kyle Fitz's amazing. but you need multiple options, right, to stress defenses in all those different ways. And the offense that I think we're kind of still ascribing to Tennessee that Arthur Smith had a lot of hand in developing works really well for him.

So it's just, it's just a bummer. Like the Falcons, even though I really wanted to put them on that list, they're not going to win the Super Bowl this year. I kept them off for a reason. So sometimes teams have to do things for financial reasons, right? And this happened. And I don't think the Mahalajun, I think a lot of people who are upset about the compensation are saying, well, they traded

Mohammed Sanoo for a second round pick. Why are they traded Julio Jones for a second round pick when Julio Jones is so much better? First of all, any picks in next year's draft are worth a little bit more is how teams are treating them just because of the nature of the drafts coming up after the COVID-altered one. They would have liked a first, but that was going to be tough. They're not paying any of his salary. Like sometimes teams have to do things because they don't have enough salary cap space.

Congratulations. Go sign your draft class. I'm sad. No, why do you like the Falcons so much? What is going on here? I really like Arthur Smith and Matt Ryan. Yes, of course. But we'll get you out of here with this, Nora.

In a couple of years, are we going to look back on this offseason with the Falcons and wonder why they didn't try to just totally blow it up? I mean, obviously the Matt Ryan thing, they almost had to figure out the money there. Do you think that this is a half measure? They should have tried to restructure and keep Julio. I mean, just from a direction of the franchise standpoint,

obviously the Falcons previous regime screwed up the cap royally. There are problems there. But is this the right direction for the Falcons? Should they have done something else with this whole off season? Well, so it puts that into question, right? Like, I don't know. If Matt Ryan's incredible next year, then he's a good enough quarterback where I think you do say,

look like if you could have drafted Justin Fields instead but you're getting not MVP caliber play for Matt Ryan but like top 10 quarterback play for Matt Ryan then I think that's worth it to keep getting that like that's an incredibly valuable asset however I was pretty bought in on their decision to not do that to not tear it down and just try that rebuild again the reason that that's not happening across the board is just because of the financial realities of their salary cap situation but this is the move that fits the other side, right? Like, this is the

rebuild, blow it all up kind of thing. And I don't want to, even though it's Tolio Jones, like he's the best player in the history of their franchise, not necessarily most valuable because of the nature of how quarterback works, but like he's the best player in Falcon's history.

And it's just, and he's a Hall of Fame player. Like, it's just a bummer, right? Like, it stinks for a fan base when those players leave. I still don't want to overrate. Like, he is one player. And I think in smart schemes, which I trust Atlanta will have, I think Tennessee still will.

So in both senses, one player can either seem like he's having this massive impact when some of it has to do with just being in a smartly designed offense with other good players. Or if you're still running that in the team that lost the player, like you can mask it. to a degree like i don't know a receiver in a 30s even if it's leo jones i have a hard time saying trading him is going to like truly truly alter the course of the franchise for the next two years but it does make you think like okay they've been giving all these votes of confidence to their plan to not rebuild and then now they did have to swallow this one big pill where it's like can't have everything and i guess it depends on you know who do they draft with the second rounder Right?

Like, we won't know that for years how well that that turns out. But we'll see. But it does make it a little murkier. Nora, thanks for joining us. I believe this is the first ringer NFL show hit from the Garden State Parkway. But you can never be sure. That kind of surprises me. We have a lot of Jersey, Philly people at the ringer.

I wouldn't be surprised if somebody secretly did it. But thank you for joining us. Thanks, guys. Good to chat. All right. So, Danny, let's talk a little bit more about this from the Titan side. Because I think that. the Titans are not going to win the Super Bowl because of a Julio Jones trade.

And I don't think that that was ever possible. And it was interesting because Jason Lock and Forra of CBS said that they were never going to get, the Falcons were never going to get more than a two because A, number one, you know, the timing of it all. Teams aren't just going to sell the farm in June for a player normally. The age thing. But then also just how many, and this something we've talked about on this podcast many times before in the last couple of months

maybe the last year, but it's a lot of good receivers in the league right now. And there weren't a lot of teams that were super desperate for a game-changing type of receiver. And it will never become a situation where a receiver is valued like a running back for a host of reasons. But at some point, there are so many good young receivers that a lot of teams are going to say, you know what we're good, we're not desperate for that. And there's reasons for that. Obviously, the seven-on-seven leagues, all that stuff, things I've been writing about for years,

things you've been talking about for years, Danny. Like, that's another podcast. But there's a lot of receiving talent in the NFL to where a team's not going to get desperate and say, let's give a first for Julio. I think the biggest question mark, and you talked about it earlier, is Todd Downer, the new offensive coordinator. I assume they're going to keep some of the same principles. Ryan Tannahill last year was fourth in the NFL and play action attempts. He was third behind only Tom Brady and Deshawn Watson in yards per attempt on those plays. We know what this is going to look like.

We know what's going to be a big physical football team with Derek Henry running the ball, with A.J. Brown on the other side, now Julio. They want to beat people up. They want to play bully ball. And it's interesting. This is something that John Robinson's talked about for a long time, but they have a mentality there. When we talked last summer, he said that one of the things he scouts in a rookie is how much they're still hitting

when it's a blowout. He wants to see guys who are just knocking the crap out of people, right? Even when it's, you know, minute 59 of a 38-0, Southern Miss game or whatever. And that's what he goes for. And Julio is one of the most gifted athletes in the history of the sport. He's one of the best size and speed combinations. He's just a marvel to watch on the field. If you ever watched him live, it is something to behold, quite frankly.

And you add that in. And I think, I think as much as this doesn't put them in the conversation to beat the chiefs or even the bills or teams like that, I think this does put them in the conversation. In my opinion, I think, having not thought about it for more than three, three hours, I think this makes them the AFC South favorites. Am I wrong? So, well, I mean, that's an interesting question because I feel like the other team that's kind of a darling of this podcast is the cults. Is the Colts. Yes. Yes. And it comes down to the Titans defense. 24th best defense in the NFL last year. They drafted Caleb Farley, which is obviously a huge

question mark going into, you know, training camp in September, but what he's, he's ready to contribute. And so I don't think that there's, I think it's a leap of faith that the offense can be a top three and if the defense can be serviceable. I think the question is, are we buying on Tannahill? Because that's really the question here, right? Is Tannahill just like this conduit of Arthur Smith? Or is Ryan Tannel actually like a top five quarterback? And we all have to just look at how he's been playing as a Titan and be like,

oh, well, by every statistical measure, he's a top five guy. Now he's got Julio Jones. I feel like believing in the Titans is inadvertently believing in Tannihill or not. That's a really weird thing to talk about after Julio Jones gets traded. But as you said, this is the coolest receiving duo in the N. NFL. That's no question about that. I mean, obviously everything Julio brings on the field, we could talk about it forever, but in a nutshell, look, receiving yards through 10 years, the first 10 years of your career, it's Jerry

Rice and then it's Julio Jones. This is literally one of the best receivers, not in the league, of all time. And when he's playing well, he's still an elite receiver. Like, that's clear when he's healthy. So it's really just, I mean, can this offense be good without Arthur Smith? I don't know. I'm a little skeptical, to be honest, but at the same time, Derek Henry, and AJ Brown have just been kind of, I mean, not to be like, oh, they're doubted, but they've been doubted and kind of prove people wrong for a few years in a row. So when I'm like kind of like down on the Titans,

I feel like I'm jumping in front of a steamroller right now. So Todd Downing, the new offensive coordinator in Tennessee, was the Raiders offense coordinator in 2017. He was fired after the season. Obviously, Jack Del Rio was also fired. But it was an uneven year. He was a young dude. And also, by the way, there are so many guys.

And I'll give you an example, Brian Daibble. is a good example of a guy who I remember, I think I was in Miami when he became the offensive coordinator there. And it was his first stint calling plays full time. And he was uneven. And sometimes it takes a little bit. Now Brian Daibble should be a head coach. So I think that it's hard to say, oh, he was office coordinator for one year. It was kind of weird.

It's over for him. But there might be a little bit of growing pains. And I think, as I said, if they continue on with the same principles that make Ryan Tannahill to quarterback he is, which is play action, keep him upright, obviously, and just get the ball to his unbelievable receivers. I think there's going to be something there. You know, Derek Henry running the ball, obviously that means something to that offense.

We're not going to do the running back value thing here, but that means something. I will say you said they were the coolest receiving duel in the league. So Ryan Clark made the point that AJ Brown playing college with D.K. Metcalf and that that was the swallest wide receiver duo in the history of college. and the Julio, A.J. Brown one might be the most physically fit receiving duo in the NFL right now. Are they the best receiving duo in the NFL? I mean, if they're healthy, unquestionably.

The real question I have, the actual thing I want you to answer is, does A.J. Brown offer Julio number 11 out of respect? I mean, the Photoshop's I've seen have him an eight, which I believe was his college number, right? Oh my God. Yeah, you can go back to the single digits. I keep forgetting about that, to be honest. Wow. So, because I think, did A.J. Brown tweeted this out after the trade game. out that I forgot this. AJ Brown wore a Julio Jones Falcons jersey during warmups. AJ Brown has been extremely online

in the past couple of hours. He tweeted, please excuse my language when I say y'all have done effed up, which is a good endorsement of the arrival. He's been recruiting Julio Jones for weeks now on,

I think it was TikTok. I think it was TikTok. And then even before that, he was wearing his jersey and warmups. He really did manifest this into existence. sense. So, and that's the thing they remember about Julio's. Like, for all the on-field stuff, Julio was like the most respected receiver of his generation. Like the locker room stuff, he goes to Alabama. He was like the alpha prospect or recruit that Nick Saban recruited.

He, his arrival in Alabama almost began the Alabama-Nixabin lineage of like the constant top 100 recruiting cycle that it is of all five-star guys. And then for all like, you can argue about which receivers has which skill sets. But at the end of the day, like, when they're teaching receivers how to do stuff at these camps, the guys. they're showing on tape is Julio Jones. Like, it's not an accident that A.J. Brown is wearing his, his uniform. It's like, all these guys have been watching Julio on tape for years. So I think the fact, like, the fact that he gets to play with A.J. Brown, like, when he's healthy,

he's still, like, an unbelievable guy. So it's going to be a lot of fun to watch. And, like, I just schematically, like, the freedom you can have if you line up Julio and A.J. Brown on other sides, as Nora mentioned earlier, like, the fact that you can have Derek Henry in the backfield, Julio and A.J. Brown on other side, like, it is kind of a nightmare. But I also think the flip side is we also overrate in the offseason how much the addition of a receiver matters

to a team. Even when it's DeFon Diggs in Buffalo, there's always a lot going on to have to get a team to click. I agree with that, but Stefan Diggs was a hell of a pickup for Buffalo. A hell of a pickup. Well, yeah, when you're league in every category, I guess that's what happens. So, let's go through the financial series.

So, Courtney Spotrack, Kuo Jones, bring 17 million guaranteed to the Titans, including cap hits of 15 million this year. Next year is 11.5. Two of that is guaranteed 2023 11.5, a restructure of his contract and Ryan Tannahill's 2021 contract are both likely. The Falcons take on dead cap hits of 7.7 this year, 15.5 next year. So there's a couple of offshoots here, and I want to start with the value thing because we're already seeing

from players, from pundits, people saying, you know, even AJ Brown, y'all done effed up, Pat McAfee, Tori Smith, guys like that are saying it's ridiculous that a guy like Kulia, would go for a second round pick. Were you surprised by the compensation or was this kind of in line what we've been hearing about for a number of months? Well, I think it depends. Do you think the Titans have to give him a new deal? Because I think that's part of it.

I mean, it sounds like they at least have to restructure and probably give him a little more guaranteed money. I don't think he's going to enjoy playing on $2 million guaranteed in 2022. So I think that's part of the reason. I think that the fact that teams weren't just looking this as Julio Jones. They're looking at it as trade for Julio Jones and then pay him a new contract. I think the number was there were only nine teams that could have afforded him without moving money around.

Yeah. And that's the thing. So I think we should briefly explain. I am chief that all the NFL financials are ultimately just smoke and mirrors and nailing smoke to a wall. So I think it's important to kind of explain here. Why the hell did they have to do this? Basically, the salary cap's not fake, but the contracts usually are. Basically, all the NFL contracts are half fake.

The difference here is the NFL, the Julio Jones contract was real. Julio Jones, when he signed this deal, it was completely buried because it was the same day that I think Antonio Brown got cut from the Raiders and signed with the pay. Patriots. So the deal, the day that Julio Jones signed this, it was completely ignored. But it was basically the best contract that a non-quarterback has ever signed. It was a three-year extension for $66 million. So $22 million a year, $66. $64.66.

That does not happen in the NFL ever for anybody. Usually get you like half your money guaranteed. It's good. Julio basically got all of it guaranteed in this extension. and that's basically why the Falcons are. So not only did he get this market setting thing where 22 million a year is a lot for a receiver. It was the most.

And he got the whole thing guaranteed. And he was, I believe, was he 30 at the time? It was into his 30s. And he had the history of lower foot injuries. So there's a lot of reasons that that shouldn't have happened. And it still happened. And I think all of those were a huge win for him at the time.

And all those made him ultimately kind of hard to move. And then a somewhat rigid thing. Because usually a lot of these deals are fluid and then they can move money around. But you can't move money around when it's, all guaranteed like that. Is there a team that you think in week nine, we're saying, oh, my God, why didn't this, why didn't this team get Julio Jones? Because, you know, there were all these pipe dreams because he was available that it was

going to be Kansas City who obviously, we're going to be up against the cap. And when you're, when you have so much talent, you're, you're dishing out extensions as well. And they have more of those to give in Kansas City. Baltimore, I guess. That's the cults. It's the cults. Because if Julio balls out on them for 200 yards in a division rival twice, and then the Colts are like, oh, I guess that Michael Pittman didn't develop enough

as Carson Wentz's number one option, the Colts are going to feel pretty dumb if they lose the division to the Titans. Having said that, the Colts are going to feel very smitten with themselves if Julio Jones missing eight games with a foot injury this season. So, you know, that's just a choice, but the Colts are one of the handful of teams that have, you know, the cap space that it would not have been a problem at all. And they really do have a needed receiver for like a top tier, top flight receiving guy. So the fact that now who is in the division now,

like I think that Chris Ballard has to at least be a little nervous, right? Sure, sure. So, okay, we didn't fully flesh this out. So let's come back to it. What in your mind separates the Colts and the Titans right now post-Hulio trick? Cult are deeper. I think the culture deeper is the way I put it. But does the quarterback question,

does the quarterback question cancel that out for you? Well, I guess I'm irrationally high in Carson Wentz. I guess I believe in Wentz more than everyone else at this company, I think. I kind of think the Colts are going to be pretty good but to be fair, I guess the Colts have I mean, he's a question mark and anytime your quarterback's a question mark there is a, it feels like you know, you have to be a lot more conservative about that.

I think they'll be better, but I totally understand, I guess I'm confused what the Titans defense is. I don't mean a hark on this, but it's like, they have Bud DePree at pass rusher, okay, he came from the Steelers. I don't think Steelers fans were ever particularly impressed this, but with Bud DePree. It's like Bud DePree was the guy who is rushing aside from, you know,

T.J. Watt. Sometimes it's like going on a pod with Kevin. Like there's a certain point where if your partner's pretty good at something like, you'll be fine. And like you're, when you're like Bud DePree rushing with T.J. Watt, like, T.J. Watt's a defensive player that your candidate. It's kind of an easy job because you're never getting double teamed. But you never know who can go from getting single teamed. Now he's going to get double teamed in Tennessee. Can he handle that? Like I just, I'm not convinced that the Titans have any depth on defense really. They got rid of both cornerback spots that they went

into last year with. And also, quite frankly, Mike Rable never been a good defensive coach. He's never really presided over a good defense as a defensive quarter. Dator. I'm just just a lot of reasons I'm kind of down here. But again, I also feel stupid just doubting Ryan Tandall every year, to be honest. Like, I feel like how many years in a row can I kind of be like, well, that wasn't real? Well, that was eventually it's real. You know what I mean? That's really my main sticking point. I just want to point out to the listener that Nora is obviously in transit. She's my permanent co-host. Danny comes in and just tries relentless flattery in the backup position. I kind of like that, Danny.

I don't, I don't flattery will get you nowhere with me, but I like, I like the attitude there. I appreciate it. And then I guess, so I guess producer Steve here is he like, which Steelers defensive line is he? See like the Cam Hayward of this podcast? He's the Cam Hayward. What are you,

Stefan, do it? Yeah, I guess. I don't know. I don't know. All right. Let's not,

let's not do the Steelers and ringer employee match list there. One of the things I like about you, Danny, and there are many of them, is that you have more notes normally than you have questions. questions that are asked to you. What is the number one thing in your notes right now that you want to talk about that I haven't asked about?

There's two things. Like, where is Julio Jones and the greatest receivers of all time? Because I just have been thinking all morning about, no, seriously, he has the most receiving yards through 10 years of every receiver who's not Jerry Rice. Josh Hermesmeyer had a good piece at 538 this week that basically said when Julio's healthy, he's still a top five receiver. I'm not saying it's the Randy Boss trade or anything like that.

I'm not trying to say, Julio as a person seems a very little in common with Randy Moss. I'm not saying he's going to break a receiving record. But it does feel important to say that just because

Julio Jones has been a falcon and somewhat irrelevant from a team standpoint for a long time, this is like an all-time great being traded at the very tail end of his prime. I don't want to just jump over that. I agree with that.

I also think that when you talk about how irrelevant they are from a football standpoint, I agree with that. But every time something like this happens, I just think about how much of a what if the Falcons Super Bowl was. It's so true, right?

It's unbelievable. I mean, there have been reports that, you know, there have been people who have speculated that the Patriots maybe move on from or try to start a succession plan for Brady earlier if that doesn't happen. I mean, there's just so, the butterfly effect of what happens if the Patriots don't blow, don't erase a 25 point lead. It's just really, it's really kind of incredible. And I feel bad for Falcons fans, because this is like that.

scab being ripped off again. It's like you think the scar tissue's been healed because they get Kyle Pitts and then you rip it off again because this is this is the best player in team history. And like, that's freaking brutal when you trade the best player in team history for a second rounder. And I know that the Falcons should not be held to the coals because it's the same compensation as Muhammad Sunnu. Obviously, they got a good deal for Muhammad Sunnu. But that's always how we're going to remember it is Hulia was traded for the same hall they got for Muhammad Sano because of money? Quite frankly, that's never an excuse. football. Fans will never care.

Well, you know, we need a cap space. So we traded the best player in franchise history. And, you know, maybe he'll get 1,200 yards for the Titans this year. That's a calamity. Do you think this trade is overshadowed my 220-yard drive at Beth Pidge Black? It was 289. I will give you that. It was a downhill, but it was 289.

I feel like that was going to dominate the news cycle at the end. And now this trade really just kind of muddies the waters there. Well, the takeaway from the drive was that it was 275 the last time we played. And then I said, can you have to? do it, and then you did. I'm gaining bulk as the summer goes along. Are you lifting? Is it bulk season? I mean, I don't talk about

my competitive advantage. All right. So in one year's time, when we're doing the one year anniversary of this podcast, what is the take on this trade? Julio and A.J. Brown were really fun together, and it was an absolute gift. We got to watch that happen. And the Falcons probably wish that Kyle Pitts had

watched, you know, maybe the Falcons could have been like, hey, Kyle Pitts, want to just watch how Julio Jones works for a year, the greatest professional of any receiver. Like, you know, we always watch his work habits and like chill for a year. Maybe they should have let that happen. But instead, hey, we are the winners. We got to watch AJ Brown and Huli Jones play together and have a ton of fun.

Here's, here's my take on this. I think that Julio plays 11 games. He has two games that are just awesome. Let me pull this up here. Sorry, Steve. First of all, the first preseason game, I'm sure Julio will not play in it is against the Atlanta Falcons, which I kind of like. He plays at Seattle.

the Titans play at Seattle on September 19th. Another team that wanted Julio. Yeah. And I think that that is the game where Julio has like 140 yards. And everyone goes, what were the Falcons thinking? What was the NFL thinking? And then he gets a little bit hurt later in the season. Yeah.

No one's going to say it when he pulls hamstring. He misses the Chiefs game on October 24th. And then he comes back in December. They win 11 games again, which I think is worse because it's 17 games. I still don't understand what's a good record now. But they win 11 games, they win the division, and they lose in the wildcard round. Or maybe get the divisional round. I just don't think, I think this is going to be really fun.

I understand why you do it if you're Tennessee. I'm for this trade, especially if you can afford it. And it's only a second round pick and all that stuff. And you're obviously, and this is something we didn't even mention before, but they did lose Corey Davis and they did lose Jono Smith. There was, they were replacing something. They needed this more than any of the team. This is a need trade.

This is nobody. And this is what we're talking about. We're saying that there was nobody who was desperate, but there were teams that needed Julio Jones, and one of them was Titans. So I understand why they do it. I just don't think this raises their ceiling in as much as that they are not on that top, top level,

and they were already on kind of the B list of NFL team. So they're now on the B-plus list. I just don't think that they're on the Chiefs level. Can we do a thought exercise? We can. you're a quarterback. Kevin Clark is a quarterback now. You get to pick two receivers and a running back.

Like they had to have actually been in an NFL team. Are the 2021 Titan, like, where do the 2021 Titans rank on that list of like those best trios ever for two receivers in a running back? Because Julio, A.J. Brown and Derek Henry is an all-time trio. So like triplets, but instead of a quarterback, it's a second. Like, as a quarterback, who would you rather play with? Like, no coaches, no organization, no linemen. Like, we're just talking about you can have two receivers in a running back that you've actually played to. together. I almost feel like I have to go back to like the cults when they had like Marvin

Harrison and Reggie Wayne and then like, was there even overlap with Edron James? I don't even know the last time. What? How young are you? No, I'm saying I don't know the last time there was a trio that was as exciting as those three players. No, but not only did Edron James and Reggie Wayne overlap in Indianapolis. They overlapped to the University of Miami as well. So that triplets was pretty good in Miami, Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne and Edgian James. But if you're talking about, I think the Colts is up there. We can have the list of. We're probably forgetting, probably forgetting some folks.

I mean, obviously, if you go back to even further, you have Emmett Smith, Alvin Harbor, and Michael Irvin, which was quite amazing. I mean, we'd have to, we'd have to think about it. There are people screaming at this podcast right now with answers. I know. And we'll feel stupid about it. The goodness is we're doing a podcast tomorrow with Nora Preciati, Danny Kelly, and Evan Silva. And so we can talk about this. What a segue.

What a segue. All right. Anything else, Danny? That's it. Bring her fantasy football shows coming back to shoot 14th. What? Check it out. I can't wait.

Everyone's talking about on the streets. Everyone on the streets. They're banging on pots and pans. Yesterday, I was walking in New York City. And in a five-block radius, I saw the Salt Bay and then Derek Dooley. And that means New York is back. The Salt Bay. Like out in the wild?

Yeah, I mean, yeah, he's allowed to walk around. Isn't he also a Florida guy? Salt Bay? I think he's Turkish. But he did, isn't his first restaurant in Florida? This is terrible content. But wasn't any of a Miami restaurant? Don't know.

I'm sorry. Oh, it's okay. I'm sure he does. He has like a million restaurants now. Really glossing over this Derek Dooley part. Okay. Tell me about Derek Dooley. I know.

I'm just, that's, did you say anything? I'm just surprised if you see Derek Dooley and Salt Bay in one walk in the Salt Bay. Doolmeister. Sucks all the energy. Were they together? Were they getting coffee? They were not together. I mean, they could have.

but they were walking the same direction as possible if they were around. This has been the Ringer-Renafel show on the Ringer Podcast Network.