The Ringer NFL Show - Mock Trade Mania! Five Players Who Could Be on the Move | The Scramble

Episode Date: October 20, 2022

This week, Sheil is joined by The Ringer’s Danny Kelly to explore five mock trades that benefit both teams. They propose trades for Christian McCaffrey (2:00), David Montgomery (10:00), Chase Claypool (15:00), Kendrick Bourne (25:00), and Darius Slayton (31:00) and share other teams that may also have interest. Finally, they close the show by answering some mailbag questions (40:00). Do you have a question for Sheil? Email [e-mail] for a chance to have your question answered on the show. Host: Sheil Kapadia Guest: Danny Kelly Associate Producer: Mike Wargon Additional Production Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mac Jones is ripped. Matt Patricia's calling plays. The Celtics are title favorites. And The Ringer has a new Boston show. I'm Brian Barrett, host of Off the Pike, the show covering all things Boston sports. I'll have shows multiple times a week covering your favorite teams and with your favorite ringer and local guests.

Plus, maybe Bill will stop by to rant about the socks. Follow off the pike with me, Brian Barrett, now on Spotify. Welcome to the Scramble. I'm Sheila Kabatia coming to you on the Ringer NFL feed every Thursday with a guest. and today we get my friend. I don't know. You're like a scramble regular, I feel like.

Danny Kelly, the ringer's own, joining me. D.K., how we doing? Doing excellent. Thank you for having me back again. I love the show. A big fan of you. So let's do this. I'm excited.

This is, there's not many things I love more than fake traits. I mean, you know, the NBA people, they get to do it to like a higher level than we get to do it because there's just not as many trades in the NFL. Although I feel like it's sort of picked. up last offseason. So maybe that will be the start of a trend. But we've got the in-season deadline approaching in 11 days, November 1st at 4 p.m. I mean, we already got the Robbie Anderson Blockbuster. I don't know how that didn't. That should have led. Yeah, we should have done an in-person pod or something for that one. But there's going to be more to come. And so I have come up

with five fake trades that I think makes sense for both sides. Some of them are more on the fence about. I tried to come up with the right compensation, the right fit, the right player, motivations, all that. And so I'm going to run through those five to Danny Kelly. And he's going to tell me if I'm nuts, if they're stupid, if they're great, if he wishes, I put a player on another team, whatever his thoughts are. We're going to go through those five. And then, of course, as always, we will end with a mailbag. All right, let's start it with the one with the most juice. You know, we don't need to tease it and make people wait until, like, the middle of the episode.

So Christian McCaffrey is the name that he seems to be buzzing about quite a bit. I was trying to think, where do I want to send him? I've got Christian McCaffrey to the Los Angeles Rams, baby, for a second and a third. And I made the third, one of those conditional thirds. Like if he hits a certain mile benchmarks, then that can turn into a second. So if you're the Panthers, you're maybe getting two seconds at the very worst. You're getting a second and a third. what was your reaction when I sent you that trade this morning?

My first reaction, pardon my French, but fuck them picks, right? Like, that's the main thing with the Rams. They came into the season, the ringer, by the way, this is a good plug, did a all index prior to the season, which talked about how, like, leverage teams are to win it all this year, like how much their cap is going into the season, how much they've traded future picks for this year. And the number one team in the NFL is the Rams. They're leveraged to the hill. in terms of, you know, they just want to win this year. And I think obviously a lot of things

have gone wrong for them this season. There's been injuries on the offensive line. The offensive line hasn't been playing as well as it had last year. You know, Stafford hasn't been as good. But I do think this is exactly the type of move the Rams make. This is their philosophy. This is their style. This is what they do.

So I'm in. I like this. I think actually it's one of those trades where you're not giving up a first round pick, which is a key. And I don't think team, I can't see any team giving up. first round pick for McCaffrey. Can you? Well, yeah, I mean, there was the report that said multiple first.

And I just said we did a ringers-filly special episode, Solek and I, and there was a question about, you know, how about the Eagles with McCaffrey? And I said there, so I guess I'll say it here. If a team gives up multiple first-round picks for Christian McCaffrey, I'm going to let the listeners choose a deodorant that I have to wear for a full month because we have a lot of deodorant talk on that podcast. And I'll give that to the scramble audience, too. You guys, you know, if you go to CVS and you take the tops off and you're smelling some of those and going, who would wear this? That's, you can pick that one and I'll have to wear it for a full one. So, first, I mean, one first, if you're picking late in the round.

Yeah, very late. Yeah, it's not like, I wouldn't be like, I'm not going to do the deodorant thing for one first. But I agree with you. I don't see it. I don't think that's likely, no. Two seconds, though, I think you can talk yourself into it, particularly with a type of player that McCaffrey is in. both the run game and the past game. The Rams, to me, desperately need, like, a second weapon in this offense.

It's all Cooper Cup right now. You know, I mean, I think Stafford is going to Cooper Cup on his first read at a higher rate than any other quarterback is going to any other receiver in the league, which is not too surprising. You know, he's just depending on Cooper Cup. And with the way that the offensive line has been underperforming, I think that McAfrey could help in terms of, like, dump off screen plays, get their screen game going. They have gotten absolutely nothing from their running backs this year. And I'm not saying that running backs.

I've been a long believer, like running backs aren't going to move the needle all that much. But like getting a guy like McCaffrey will take some pressure off of Stafford, I think. And I think they need to do something like that. So do I think that the trade makes long-term sense for the Rams? Probably not. But that's not how they think. Right. This is just not how they operate.

So, yeah, I'm in. Go for it. Yeah. So the other numbers with McCaffrey, he's got 670 yards from scrimmage. That ranks fourth league-wide. So like you said, it's not just a running back, although he absolutely. absolutely would be a huge upgrade for them, just in the run game.

If you didn't even play passing downs, but then you think about the possibilities with like McVeigh and then McCaffrey and mismatches in the passing game. I'm with you. Yeah, they just feel like they need some juice, you know, they don't have a lot of juice on offense. And you're probably right.

Like the smart football move for them would probably be like, you know, forget about McCaffrey. Like let's get some offensive linemen in here who can play. But if they convince themselves, hey, we might get a little bit healthier. We have some guys who haven't played a lot. And also it's what's available to you. Every team needs offense, not every team, but most teams need offensive line help.

And there's just not enough guys to go around. Where are they going to find that? Yeah. Right. So you're not going to find like the offensive linemen of Christian McCaffrey and be able to trade for him here. So I feel like they could figure it out. I mean, McCaffrey and Cop, I always think about like a defensive coordinator on a Monday or Tuesday when they're game planning.

Are they like nervous or are they like, oh my God, this team, they've got no, no one I need to worry about. And if it's McCaffrey and Cop and now like Robinson and Higbee are your, you know, your third and fourth, then it's a little bit different than what they have right now. So the risk with McCaffrey, I mean, he played 10 games the previous two seasons. The contract's interesting because this year it's cheap. Like, you know, people are probably saying, how can the Rams afford McCaffrey? I mean, he's due like no money this year.

You're paying him $575,000 for the rest of this season. Now, he's signed through 2025 and that price goes up to about $12 million per year. But it goes to what you said. I mean, if he plays well this year and is awesome for him and keys their offense, then they can be like, yeah, $12 million. You're paying him like a top 10 running back. We can figure out the rest. It's not that big of a deal.

So I like that one. Yeah, for McCaffrey, you kind of have to think about which team would sort of be, I don't know, like crazy enough is the right way to phrase it. Exactly. Which team would be like, yeah, we'll give up draft compensation for him. Here are the other teams I wrote down as potential McCaffrey suitors. Let me know if you like any of these better than the Rams. I had the Bills, the Ravens, I thought.

That kind of got me, ooh, the Raiders. Lamar and McCaffrey is interesting to me. The Chiefs, the Eagles, how about the Bucks? What if the Bucks were like, shoot, we got to do something. Brady is just so mad right now. Let's add McCaffrey and the 49ers. That was just, I basically went through the list of every team. And if anyone, I was kind of like, ooh, that's interesting.

I wrote them down. Yeah, that's a tough one. I would say with the Ravens, to me it's just like you're not getting enough bang for your buck if you get McCaffrey because Lamar's just not a checkdown guy to the running backs. He's not going to get running backs is involved in the offense. And you could say the same, I guess, about the bills because, you know, Josh Allen historically is just like, I'm going to take off and run. And the Eagles. Yeah, it's a good point. Same deal.

The running quarterbacks there, yeah, the scrambling is their checkdown. So those are all good points. But at the same time, I mean, I'm looking at the rate of passes that go to running backs. year and Stafford's like near almost at the bottom of the list. I think that's probably more like a talent issue than like a scheme issue because in the past we've seen, you know, McVeigh's offenses are very good in the screen game and all that. So maybe, you know, maybe that's just like a moot point. Like if you have McCaffrey, any of these teams are going to get him involved in the past game.

But to me, the one obviously that stands out the most is the bills because, you know, to me that would be a huge, huge upgrade over everything they've got. Nothing against Singletary, but like McAfree is just so good in all phases of the game. me so explosive. And to give that offense another just like weapon on the ground and in the air would just be kind of absurd. So that one to me stuck out, stuck out. But I don't like I don't really buy the 49ers ones.

Like they cycle through running back so quickly. I don't buy the bucks just because they have four net. And then they drafted a guy in third round, Rashad White, who, you know, has looked pretty good at times. So I don't know if like they are going to see that as like a solution. So yeah, to me the bills or. the Rams make a lot of sense. Yeah, the bills, that would be just, that would really be an F-D-N-Pix type move.

And I feel like they're not in that mode. You know, they got more aggressive with the Vaughn-Miller signing in the off-season, but I feel like Bean sort of wants to pick his spots there where this, that would be a really aggressive move. But man, McCaffrey, Diggs, Gabe Davis, and Josh Allen, I mean, that would be, that would be pretty fun. All right, so we're on board. We'll see if the Rams make it happen.

All right. Trade number two. David Montgomery to the Eagles for a fifth round pick. What do you think? Interesting. So my first question would be, since you mentioned the Eagles with McCaffrey, too, do you think that Eagles need a running back? They need a running back help?

Well, I think it would sort of be an insurance move. I mean, I think Miles Sanders has played pretty well. His numbers are really good. I would say his film is a little more up and down than his numbers. I mean, it's the most, it's the best spot for running back in the NFL, I think. It's a great offensive line. You have the threat of Jalen Hertz as a runner. I mean, the film was really interesting last week

against the Cowboys where they would have these zone raids where they're just freezing that edge defense. It's not even for a long time. Like it's so subtle. It's like half a second, maybe under half a second. And that just opens up space. They ran it on like third and two, third and four. And you picked up the first down.

And so I thought Miles Sanders played really well in that game. They've got Gainwell. I don't know that like they haven't trusted Miles Sanders on third down. a lot this year. And so Gadewell's kind of been the third down guy. So if they're just like, hey, let's add some insurance. You know, Sanders is a free agent at the end of the year. Maybe this could be someone we could think about signing, that kind of thing. And he's a different type of back. You know, Montgomery is more like big, reliable punishing. He's been good. Tackle breaker. Yeah, yards after contact. I think he's 13th this year. So as I was thinking about,

you know, Howie Roseman and they're six and no and they probably feel like they can win the Super Bowl. I feel like they're going to do something. Maybe it'll come on the defensive side of the ball. But I do think it's possible that they add a guy, not necessarily to replace Miles Sanders, but to just be like, we run the ball a lot. Let's make sure we're covered there. And Sanders doesn't go down. And now all of a sudden, it's December where the playoffs, and it's Kenny Gainwell and Boston Scott only. Yeah, my first reaction was like, oh, I didn't really peg the Eagles as a target for a running back. But when I thought about it more, and you look at the, you look at the number. So obviously, Jalen Hertz is one of the highest volume running quarterbacks in the NFL, but still,

they're averaging 38 runs for game almost. That's first in the NFL. The foundation of their offense is still the run game. I know we've talked about how great A.J. Brown has been, how great Devonte Smith has been. Goddard has been awesome this year, but they're still running the ball. That's like the foundation of their offense. They still want to be able to lean on that. that was a big reason that they were so good last year or played I guess above expectation last year so obviously with all the Jalen Hertz the improvement in the passing game they still want to run the ball

53% rush rate which is third highest in the NFL and you mentioned it this is a good insurance policy Sanders has missed at least four games in the past two seasons he's not necessarily been the model of reliability and health and so getting a guy like David Montgomery you can come in he breaks tackles he's not super explosive but he does bring, you know, the physicality and, like, intensity that I'm guessing they probably want to add. I wouldn't put Miles Sanders in that same category, by the way. I don't know. How would you see

see you? Yeah, no, I think you're right. It's a good compliment. Sanders, there, when he doesn't play well, there are like, there's film of offensive linemen being like, why didn't he go to where the play we blocked the play for? But at the same time, I mean, he's made a lot, he's, I think he's improved in that area for sure, and he is explosive. And he can, you know, break off a, 20-yard run, whereas Montgomery is probably more of kind of the grinder, you know, who can handle a heavier workload. So I sort of like how the two, you know, maybe have certain run, they have such a diverse run game that maybe it's like, hey, these schemes, this guy's really good at, these schemes, this guy's really good at, just kind of put them both out there when we want to, let them

share the workload so that they're both fresh in December, in January, and then you have insurance in case one guy goes down with an injury. The other teams I had down for possibly Montenegroft. Gummery where the bills again, you know, if they just kind of want to add somebody else there. How about the Ravens for a Monk? Now I'm saying this. Kenyon Drake looked really good last week. I know, right? Yeah.

Maybe I'm giving the, maybe I'm unfairly given the Ravens back. The Chiefs, I thought, maybe. I mean, I know. That would make a lot of sense. Yeah. Yeah. That could be a good one. And then I guess if the Rams can't get McCaffrey and are just like we want a reliable running back

because their run game stinks that he could be an option. for them there. And the fifth rounder seems like a good price. I mean, honestly, he's not going to resign, I would assume, in Chicago. It seems like Chicago is in the midst of,

you know, basically a rebuild season and rebuild year. Even though they have won a couple of games this year, I don't think that the leadership, like, I don't think they're delusional in that thing, and thinking that they're like a good team, right? No.

They're not approaching this season. On the all index, you know, the thing that I mentioned earlier, like, you know, they're definitely playing for 2020, three and beyond. Like they're basically putting all their cap into future years. They want to have a ton of

flexibility. So trading Montgomery now, you know, would at least net them something. And I don't think he's going to get necessarily a huge contract in free agency and net them a comp pick. Plus, by the way, they're probably going to be signing free agents and, you know, because that's what they're saving a lot of their cap. So they may not get anything for him for a compick, depending on what their plans are for 2023. So. And Khalil Herbert's been good. So it's not, you know, you're not like estimating your team. Like he looks really good. So. They've got somebody there who can step in and fill a heavier workload. All right.

Number three, I'm trying to think, is this my favorite one? This might be my, this might be my favorite. When I got to it, I'm like, oh, yeah, that fits. Chase Claypool to the chiefs for a second round pick. Now, I'll tell you what I struggled with more. I struggled less with the chiefs on this and more with the Steelers. Does it make sense for them? What do you think from both sides or that fit there?

I love this for the chiefs. So anytime you say chiefs in trade and a receiver, like the ears are going to perk up a little bit. And I think Chase Claypool is one of those guys where it's hard to kind of figure out what he is. Because as a rookie, obviously, he was very good. And he, like, whether it was just his raw numbers, his touchdowns, or if you dig deeper in some of like the reception perception stuff, Matt Harmon does. Like, everything looked really good for his route running. basically, you know, he just looked like a dynamic up-and-coming player as a rookie. And then everything kind of fell apart as a sophomore, you know, second season in the league.

He just wasn't as good. They kind of like didn't seem to trust him as much clearly. You know, he had a couple of one-headed plays. He got in trouble with the, you know, kind of got on the bat in the doghouse or whatever, just because that especially, I think in particular, the signaling for a first town when they're trying to like run the hurry up often. That made him one of my favorite players. I love it.

Fantastic job out of that. to him. So, you know, I think maybe he's worn out as welcome and then, or, you know, at least, like, made, that put him on the potential to be traded kind of like block or whatever. And then they have, and they're always so good. The Steelers always so good at identifying and drafting receiver talent. They got, you know, Pickens in the draft this year and he looks like he's maybe a future superstar. So to me, this makes a lot of sense for the Steelers who, again, they just have like a lot of good depth and they always have been able to like, I think, refill the coffers there. So. To me, that makes sense for them, especially for a second, which is, I think, what they paid for him, right? Like, he was the second rounder a couple of years ago. So to me, that makes sense. And then for the Chiefs, like, the Chiefs' offense has been very different than it was last year.

You know, they're much more matriculate down the field. Big plays are down. They are passing to receivers far less. I saw this. They were 29th right now. And the percentage of throws that go to receivers this year, less than half, 46%. That's a big drop from last year, 10% drop.

obviously, you know, Tyree Kill leaving is going to be a big major reason for that. But like they're passing to the running backs. They're passing to tight ends, of course. And receivers have been sort of like the tertiary option, it seems like, in this offense. So getting another guy that can kind of come in and make big plays, go down the field. He's pretty hit or miss at the catch point. But, you know, he's got the size. He's got the physicality.

He's still an ascending player, I do think. And so this makes a lot of sense to me. And in particular, because I'm not a big believer in either MVS or Juju or McCull Hartman. So, like, to me, he's an upgrade over all three of those guys. And I like his sort of fit with those guys, you know, like whether you like Hartman or MBS, like, all right, those are field stretchers. They can get down the field. Juju is almost like, you know, slot inside the numbers, toughness.

And like you said, Claypool can kind of do a little bit of everything. I mean, that rookie season, I remember they were running like jet sweeps to him in the red zone and stuff. And he looked really good. And he's such a big physical guy to add to that group with Kelsey that I was just like, even on those scramble drill plays with Mahomes or you got to get the ball out quickly or red zone like high leverage situations.

I feel like you would solve. Not that they have problems, I mean, an EPA per drive, they're by far the best offense in the NFL. That's the interesting part is like their offense is still ridiculously good. Yes.

Yeah, it's different. Like you said, it's, yeah, it feels like this happens every year. You'll look at a couple, at least for me, I'll like,

they'll have an offensive performance where I'm like, okay, that was okay. Let me go to the numbers. And it's like, oh, yeah, they're still the best offense. in the NFL, but you know what?

To play, if they're looking ahead and after that Bill's game, like basically you just have to build the biggest, baddest offense you can and not have any drives where you turn it over or have a three and out, I mean, you can build up the defense, but are you really going to do enough to stop that Bill's offense? No, probably not. So to me, it makes sense from that aspect. The reason I had a second round pick here,

which might sound high to some people, Claypool's on a rookie contract, and he signed through a 20-23 next season with no guarantee. money. And so, like, think about what Christian Kirk got this offseason. You know, like, yeah, you can draft, you can draft somebody for sure. But if you're trading for him, you are getting a really inexpensive quality, starting caliber wide receiver for not a lot of money. And so even if you're looking at it from the Steelers perspective, like, they've got to be motivated to move him. You know, if it's like a third or fourth round pick and I'm the Steelers, I'm like, no thanks. Like,

he still plays for us. He was really good last week against the bucks. But if you, if you, You can get to a price where they say, all right, we've got Deontay Johnson, we've got George Pickens, we draft an awesome wide receiver every year. We're not winning the Super Bowl this year or next year probably. We can get extra draft capital, which we need some other help on the roster. Maybe it makes sense. So I don't know what that compensation could be right. It could be totally wrong.

He was a hard one to sort of peg there, but I was trying to find that happy medium between what would a team be willing to give up and what would motivate the Steelers enough. I think, yeah, it's tough because you're totally right to bring that up. I mean, the run on receiver talent is so high. And like you said, he's very cheap. Because my first thought it was like, oh, Amari Cooper was traded for a fifth rounder. But like a big part of that was his contract, right? And, you know, someone's going to take on that big deal.

And with a guy like Claypool, you got him under contract for two years at a very good, like very, very low number. And so that gives you tons of fat flexibility going forward. and maybe you still believe that he is more the guy that you saw as a rookie. He looked to me like a future star, honestly. Yeah, I agree. And I keep going back to this. I know it's not everything,

and I know that there's a lot of other things that go into playing the receiver position, but I still can't forget that at the combine, Claypool ran the 40 at 442 at 238 pounds. The only other receiver that was 230 plus to run the 40 at that fast, Calvin Johnson. Like, this is the athletic.

he's an elite elite elite tier athlete. So, you know, and the chiefs have liked athletes in the past. So maybe this is a guy that they see that they can develop over the years and be like a big part of their offense going forward and not just sort of like a short-term rental. Yeah, even last year with Rafflesburg, I remember being surprised by the numbers because I was like, oh, he didn't do anything this year. And like just the catch and the yardage numbers weren't as much of a drop off as I thought

they were going to be from his rookie season. Like I think he still had over seven hundred. hundred yards. He had like 860 as a rookie, but he averaged, I could have believed this, he averaged 14.6 yards per reception with Rafflesberger last year. Upgrade to Mahomes and it's like, ooh, you know, it actually could be really,

really interesting and there could be really good value there for the Chiefs. Yeah, and then he was like, to me, he looked better than Juju when they were playing on the same team. So... I agree with that. Yeah. Yeah. Certainly more like a, yeah, explosive or like a big play guy. Yeah, it wasn't even a contest between

those two guys. The other teams I had written down potentially for Claypool. Tell me if you like any of these more. The Packers, of course, the Colts, the Chargers, the Rams, and the Ravens. From that group, I actually love the Ravens fit. Now, they're in the same division. I know they've made trades before. So at first I was like, don't include the Ravens, but I'm like, they've made trades before, you know, so I was like, cool, Claypool in that offense, you know,

he's going to be big and physical, gives them kind of just another option. at various levels of the field. Now all of a sudden, if it's Claypool, Bateman, and Mark Andrews, now I'm like, hey, that's not a bad, you know, trio to throw to. What about you? You like any of those other fits? The Ravens one is definitely very interesting. Just thinking about it too.

And like stylistically, I remember a couple of years ago, I think it was maybe the year before they, before Claypool came out in the draft, they drafted Miles Boykin, who was a big Notre Dame receiver with elite measurables, right? And so he kind of fits in that mold. Obviously, Boykin didn't work out. But yeah, to me, this is, you know, the Ravens certainly, I think, need a little bit more firepower in their passing game, especially with Bateman battling a foot injury. I mean, it sounds like he's going to come back pretty soon. But still, you know, when you're running out an offense, pass offense with, you know, Tim Marcus Robinson.

Yeah, like all these. DeMarcus Robinson is like sort of their number one receiver right now. Yeah. That's not a great thing because he was, you know, just a afterthought, more or less. the in the chiefs offense. Did he go anywhere in between? I can't even remember. I can't remember.

But yes, like I think that makes a lot of sense for them, get them a little more depth. Again, you're right. Like, you look around the league and the teams with the best and most consistent offenses are the teams with elite talent at receiver.

And I know that Mark Andrews is the number one guy there and he'll continue to be that. But yeah, I think that that Lamar could definitely use more help. They traded away Marquise Brown. We saw how good Marquis, Marquise was legitimately one of the best receivers in the NFL. It's playing great, yeah.

Yeah. You know, from the fantasy point of view, which is what I pay attention to closely. Like, he was outscoring some, like, of the most major names in fantasy through the first, like, six weeks. Obviously, it's a bummer you got hurt. Like, yeah, but like, I believe he was, like, even ahead of, like, guys like Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase through, like, six weeks.

So that's fantasy. So that's a little different. But he was making, like, highlight level catches. Like, yeah, it wasn't, like, fluky. We're like, oh, wow, he's really kind of helping their offense. Yeah, it would have been fun to see him with Hopkins back, but it looks like we're not going to get to see that. But all right, I've got two more.

These are not as exciting, but not as exciting. Okay. Not as exciting the names, but it still could make sense, I think. All right. Kendrick Bourne to the Green Bay Packers for a fourth round pick. Maybe it's a fifth that turns into a fourth if he had certain requirements, but that's the range. We're talking about fourth or fifth round pick.

Born had 800. Born is just one of those classic patriots. what is going on here, what happened here type situations. He had 800 receiving yards last season, average 14.5 yards per reception, ranked 13th out of 113 players in yards per route run, like one of the most efficient wide receivers in the NFL. And this year, 11 catches, 156 yards. He's run 73 total routes, which is fourth on the Patriots. I'm sure you guys have been talking about him in the fantasy.

before the season. And now, I don't know what's going on with him there, but I feel like the Packers could use an upgrade and he could be fun on their team. Yeah, to me, this is funny. Can you imagine being a Packers fan listening to this right now and talking about Claypool going to the Chiefs and then we get Kendrick Bourne?

Like, screw you guys. I do really like the idea of Claypool on the Packers, by the way. I think that would be. Yeah, me too. I like that one too. Yeah. But then I'm like, are they going to give up a second round pick for a wide receiver like Clay.

I couldn't get there with them. But I agree with you in terms of, fit. Yeah, that would be awesome for them. Yeah. But sticking with this, though, I do think, honestly, he'd be a nice fit with the Packers. I think, you know, he brings the veterinarianosity that I like to say to the position. Obviously,

Aaron Rogers is kind of particular, kind of particular with his receivers. He tends to have his favorites and then stick with those guys, whether they're good or not. And so I'm just looking at the Packers' Deptart. Obviously,

Romeo Dobbs has played very well this year. And he looks like a potential future, like star for them. But at the end of the day, he's a rookie. He's got a little, like, has had some issues with drops. You know, maybe he's not always in the right place at the exact right time. There's still like chemistry issues. I think with that Rogers is probably, you know, going to get frustrated with it or at least like there's going to be growing pains there. And so getting a guy like born opposite Lazard would make a ton of sense for them. And it would come on the cheap. And so I don't have in front of me, but like you mentioned the yards were outrun. I think it was over two.

were outrun in 2021, which is like, sort of like the benchmark for like, this is an elite receiver kind of deal. And so, yeah, to me, he's like, honestly, like, I had to go back and watch some of his tape from last year because I'm like, I don't even actually remember what this guy's all about because he's so underrated and he's so just sort of a forgotten man. But like you said, he's a good player. He also brings a little bit of yards after the catch abilities, like kind of got that sneaky. Yes.

You know, creativity after the catch. So to me, this makes a time of sense. I would way rather have him in there than like a guy like Sammy Watkins. It doesn't seem like they're going to be able to rely much on Christian Watson to do anything this year. That was their second round pick from the season. He's been battling injuries. And, you know, for better or for worse, he's like raw. Like they've been using him on like end rounds and like sweeps and stuff.

Like they haven't really gotten him too involved in the offense. So to me, this is a logical move. I'd probably be happier if I was a Packer fan if it was a fifth round pick. Like you said, a conditional fifth rather than the fourth. I balked a little bit at the fourth. But when you dig a little deeper and look at some of his stats, he's still, I think, 27. So he's not like an old guy or whatever.

And so there's still some like, you know, meat on the bone from develop into a good player for them longer term. To me, this is like, you know, fourth and fifth round picks. Just like nothing. Yeah, you're right. The competition was hard on this. Like if you told me it was like a sixth or a seventh, that wouldn't shock me because he's not playing for them.

I mean, they obviously have no use for, I don't know what's the deal with them. Like what did he? I would be very curious as to what he did. Yeah, the only two things, and I was reading up, preparing for this, there was something about how he missed a team meeting, like in the preseason, which it's like, I don't know, is that going to be enough to not? You're never coming back. Never coming back from that.

So there was that. And then there is this, actually this one might be more important. He's had some kind of toe injury. So that's the hard thing when you're trading for these players. Like, if that's a legit injury and something that's slowing him down, then obviously you don't want to make that trade if you're another team like the Packers. But I mean, we've seen this with the Patriots. If you're another team, it's probably tricky because you're just like, you have no idea.

I mean, the information's not getting out like it would on other teams. And you're like, they might have just, they might just be annoyed with him for some reason. They got Matt Patricia on offense. We know that's happened with him before with a player where they're just in his doghouse. So it might be worth taking a flyer. The salary thing, it's not exactly like Claypool, but still, you know, born signed a deal with the Patriots before last season. And so he's making three and a half.

half mill this year and 4.75 million next year. So again, compare that to some of the wide receiver salaries we've seen. If you think he's a starting caliber player, that's a really nice value for a player who's not old, who could potentially fit your offense. You know, he was with the Niners, so Niners and then LaFleur, like there are obviously similarities, not that they're exactly the same, but similarities with those schemes where it could make sense. The other thing I wasn't sure how much he had played in the slot and outside. I thought he was mostly a slot guy, but I was looking up last year.

He had over 500 yards on the outside last year and 261 in the slot. And I think with the 49ers, he was more in the slot. So that versatility could be nice as well. So yeah, if he's on the 49ers, remember, yards after the catch, that's what they love. That's right. Yes. So, yeah, I agree. I like this one.

It wouldn't be like a sexy move, but it probably would be an effective one. And honestly, the other thing I was thinking about, like, you never can really tell with the Patriots, they might just give them away for like a seventh round pick. You know what I mean? They trade some of their starters for like fifth rounders, you know? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Could be.

All right. Last one, this is just like a personal sort of project where I'm like, am I the only person who thinks this player is good? Because like, what is going on with him? I've got Darius Slayton, Giants wide receiver for those of you going, who are you even talking about right now?

Darius Slaten to the Ravens, for a conditional sixth round pick. I would love to get your take on this one. I don't know. Maybe it's because I covered like the Eagles and there were games where Slayton was lighting them up. But then I watched that London game a couple of weeks ago. And I'm going, look at this guy.

He looks like a good starting caliber wide receiver. He had over 700 yards. His first two seasons in the league, 2019 and 2020. He's only 25 years old. He had that game against the Packers two weeks ago where he had six catches for 79 yards. who was the best game by a Giants wide receiver this season, but they obviously do not like this guy for whatever reason.

There were the reports in the summer that they might just cut him. He's run 70 routes this season. That's seventh on the team behind guys like David Sills and Tanner Hudson. Sills and Hudson are running more routes than Darius Slayton, who's had over 700 yards twice in the NFL. So this one would be a half-season rental. He's a free agent at the end of the season, not expensive. but, you know, so that's why he had a sixth, you know, six or a seventh round pick maybe for him if you're the Ravens.

You add another pass catcher. I don't know how much Darius Slayton film you've been grinding or if you have a strong opinion or if I'm nuts. But I just feel like he looks like he should be a guy who plays most Sundays and could catch some footballs. No, I mean, you're speaking my language. I think I said it, I don't know the verbatim quote, but I was like, I don't understand why the Giants don't like this guy. I said this on the fantasy football pod the other day. to me he's always been a guy who's outplayed his draft position. He was a fifth rounder. He came in immediately. He was scoring touchdowns for the Giants his first year.

I mean, again, not that athleticism is everything, but this is a 439 guy. He got a 40 inch vert, 11 foot broad jump. He's twitchy. He's fast. He's very, very athletic. And, you know, getting some additional team speed never seems to hurt anything. And, you know, obviously, like we talked about earlier with, with Claypool, it's, like, having just more weaponry for Lamar Jackson just isn't going to be a good thing. He has a career

14.3 air yards for target. He's a deep threat. He can take the top of a defense. He can stretch the defense out. He can be like a legit actual deep threat for a team that generally speaking

attacks the middle of the field is very concentrated that runs ball a lot. If you can stretch the defense out make them cover more of the field and have more respect for the outside shot. I don't think that would hurt

So, yeah, I've been sort of a Slayton stand, like quietly. Not like I love the guy. I don't think he's like a superstar at hiding or whatever. But like he's just one of those solid receivers. And I don't understand, again, I really don't understand why guys like David Sills or whoever Hudson or was that Tanner Hudson. I don't even not honestly like. I don't even know who that is.

Tanner Hudson, me neither. I'm like, okay, Tanner Hudson getting more routes than Darius Slaten's. I don't know if we can, I don't know if Slaten hive, if it's popular enough where we would like necessarily get that trend. But hey, it has two members. It has me. It has Danny Kelly. Yeah, I think it shouldn't take much to get the guy.

I mean, they don't play him unless they're just like, well, we need to field some wide receivers. And all our guys are injured. And so we can't give him up here. But what about Slaten? What about Slaten to the Chargers? Okay. Yeah. I like that.

A little speed element. Yeah. I like that. I have him with Mike Williams and Keenan Allen. I'm in. That would be more. What about a team like the Colts? Like, how do you just not trade for Darius?

Right, right. Like, what do you doing? I mean, yeah, they've got no depth at receiver right now. I think Ashton Doolin, it was their depth, and he's injured at least at the moment. Yeah. Yeah, totally. I mean, Paris Campbell can't stay healthy, you know. Right.

Just do it. So, all right. Darius Slaten, we will see if he gets moved or if he stays put. All right. Those were my five fake trades. There was one name that I didn't get to where I went Montgomery. Should a team trade for Antonio Gibson? What do you think?

They don't like him. They get Brian Robinson back. When I watch him, I'm like, he looks like a pretty good player. Like I almost put him, the same conversation I had with Montgomery, I was like, maybe Gibson should be the guy I should stick in here. Do you have a strong opinion one way or another on Gibson? I would really like to see that. You know, he's another guy, honestly, like on the bills or the chiefs.

Like, they need a little bit of juice at the running back position. I would say I would not say I love Antonio Gibson as a pure running. back. I think he offers more as like a all purpose. Right, like an all purpose playmaker. Obviously, he was a receiver in college. I know that's like the biggest talking point of his entire career. But to me, he's not a grinded out, carry the ball 20 times, you know, stick between the tackles and like pick up hard yards, push the pile. He's not that type of guy to me. And I think that's actually why Washington doesn't really like him. And, you know, they've made Brian Robinson the starter, like immediately after he came back from the gunshot.

injuries. And so I think they want a guy, I think Washington wants a guy like Robinson who's just going to like pick a hole, get down, get downhill, you know, get the hard yards, all that stuff. And that to me is not really what Antonio Gibson is. But when you see him like accelerate, you're like, okay, yeah, this guy can do something. Yeah. Give him a swing pass. Give him a little checkdown. Let him get more involved in the passing game because I think he's a pretty good pass catcher. And I think he could definitely, there's some meat on the bone there for this guy. He's not, like to me, he's not a lost cause. So I'm 100% with you. Get him on a team. that's going to create, like use him creatively, creatively.

And, you know, I think he could definitely be of value to them. And, you know, again, it's like he's not going to be expensive in the current, like, running back market. So, yeah. If I were a GM, I would have a, I would either I would do it myself or have someone of my staff, just have like a doghouse list. Like read all these reports and be like, which coach hates which player. Because there's value there.

Like sometimes they're really good players and they need a change of scenery. And you can get them for not that money. And it works out. Like with the Montgomery thing, I was thinking of, you know, the Eagles, their Super Bowl year, trade for Jay Ajay. And he was seen as like a malcontent in Miami. And they got him. And he was awesome for him.

And like everybody in the locker room liked him. And there was no issue at all. If you can identify those guys, I think you can get some value. All right. Those were all the guys. Those were the trades. Let's take a quick break. And then we'll finish it off with some mailback questions.

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or visit www.w.w.w.1-800 gambler.net in West Virginia. From The Scramble, you can, of course, submit your mailbag questions to me on Twitter every week, or you can email the Scramble Mailbag at gmail.com. That's the Scramble Mailbag at Gmail.com. Always love hearing from the listeners. First question, Jonathan. Hey, guys, it feels to me like rookies from recent draft classes are entering the league

and making more of an immediate impact than we've seen in the past, like Micah Parsons, being one of the best, if not the best linebackers in the league last season on sauce Gardner. He's already looking like a Pro Bowl level cornerback. Where would you place him among current cornerbacks? And what were the Texans thinking, taking Stingley over him? Thanks and love the show. Any thoughts? Stingley and sauce.

How did you see those two going into the track? Love me some sauce. Love sauce. I'm actually going to pull up my draft guide. I think I might have had. I can't remember who I had in front of whom. But they were both like top ten players for me. Let's see.

I had Sauce Gardner ranked at number five. I had Derek Stingley ranked at number six. So obviously, if I was in that position, probably would have taken sauce. That's fine. I think Derek Stingley is going to be fine, just to say that. I think probably with Stingley, they were thinking, you know, playing in a bigger division, playing against, like, you know, much higher competition at LSU. Like what he did early on in his career at LSU was, like, extremely, extremely rare.

He has the size, physicality, everything basically you're looking for. I don't know. To me, the Texans not going sauce over Stingley. That's not like a huge mistake, at least. I don't think it will be in the long term. But obviously right now, sauce is just balling out. So we could definitely make that determination. But either way, I think both players are going to be good in the long run.

So to answer that, I had Soss a little bit higher, but I don't, you know, I don't say, I don't think the Texans made a massive mistake in going with Stingley over Soss. Yeah, I agree. I thought it was defensible. I could see it with Stingley. It was more a matter. Can he stay healthy? than anything else.

And I think he's going to be a really good player if he does stay healthy. Sauce has been fun. Sauce has been one of the stories, really, of the first six weeks of the season. I love to fit with him on the Jets, too. It just feels right in that market. It gives their fan base someone to just kind of get behind and be like, all right, this is going to be our guy for the next seven, eight years, or whatever. And he's been awesome.

I mean, he, you know, Jonathan asks, where would you place him among current cornerbacks? I'd have to give that some thought. You know, I would, it feels like he's already a top 10 cornerbacks. in the NFL, honestly, based on the first six weeks of the season. And you could probably make a case his performance so far has been top five. So yeah, like an all-pro season as a rookie corner. Shoot, I would have to look up how many guys have done that.

It feels like it's really hard to do for corners. Usually even good corners come in and take their lumps. And hey, maybe that'll happen as we get a bigger sample. But so far, he has been outstanding. All right. Yeah. So I was just looking at the list of like, if you had to be, to jot down like a list of top corners like Patrick Sartan Ramsey Jalen Ramsey yeah those two I think

would be my first team all pros right now probably yeah and then you got guys like derry slay James Bradbury both played well this year Jamil Dean for the bucks and then like you know maybe this is legacy guys but like Stefan Gilmore Marlon Humphrey those are some of the top and then of course we got Tron Diggs for the Cowboys a G. Terrell has not played very well for the Falcons I haven't watched them closely but the numbers don't look good and so there's there's a lot I would say high-end corners. J.C. Horn's been playing well for the Panthers. You know, there's a lot of guys.

In fact, there's actually several rookie corners that are playing very well. I'd say sauces by far the standout, but Tariq Wollin. Your boy, yeah, your guy, he's been awesome. Like, legitimately shades of Richard Sherman rookie season, you know what I mean? And I don't say that lightly

because Richard Sherman is obviously like a Hall of Famer. But, like, what Tariq Wollin is doing, I think he has six takeaways. in six games. So that's good. Four picks. And I believe a couple of force fumbles are not sure exactly. I just remember seeing that stat, six takeaways,

six forced turnover. So yeah, but to me, like, sauce, he was a picket and forget, like no doubt pick that early in the draft. And he's already living up to it.

Those numbers for his college, like just this coverage stats on him. We're like, I've never seen anything like this. Wow, what a performance. So he's been awesome. I'm all right. Garrett asks, hey, shield, loving the show so far. I want to get your thoughts on the

Chargers offense so far this year. And who's to blame for how bad it's been? Is this on Herbert and his injury? Brandon Staley becoming conservative where Lombardi's play calling being awful, keep up the good work. I can start on this one. Yeah. The Chargers statistically do not have a terrible offense. I mean, if you look at EPA per drive, they're ninth right now. They're in the top tent. That's with Keenan Allen being out for so long. That's with Herbert dealing with the rib injury. That's with you lost Ray Sean Slater at left tackle. Corey Lindley, the all pro center hasn't been playing. So I like, I thought about this this week. Like they're really the offense where the eye test, eye test doesn't match statistics. I mean, it was last year too.

They had a top five offense. I don't know if it was DVOA or EPA per drive, whatever. They had a top five offense and like smart football people were going what are they doing here and my issue has been is that Herbert his rookie year like I watched him and I just go oh my gosh like I love that I can't wait to watch this guy for the next 10 years he's amazing look at what he's able to do they found a way to make Justin Herbert boring really this year I mean that game on Monday night against the Broncos I was falling asleep on this chair so weird I had to do a pod with so like after I'm like I snobes. I'm like I snoburned. out of a chill. You got to be, you know, you got to be taking those things attention. I'm like,

I should be so excited. So, like, I was thinking about it because Sunday, you had Mahomes versus Allen and you're just like, this is awesome. Oh my gosh. Like any, any possession, any play, they could do anything. And Herbert's talent, I legitimately believe, is right on the level of those guys. And then you're watching him. And again, he is dealing with a ribbon tree. So it's hard to know what the deal is there. But it's just a boring offense. It's not as bad statistically as it looks as you're watching it, but just in terms of, shoot,

are you really maximizing this guy's skill set? It's like impossible to watch them and think the answer to that question is yes. So I don't know, where are you with me?

Poor Joel Lombardi, I hope his family doesn't go on Twitter. The guy just gets crushed every time they're on national TV. But how do you feel about Herbert and the Chargers offense? Yeah, I mean,

basically, I think you nailed it. They're not bad, per se. I think it's just a expectations versus reality thing, because Herbert is a unicorn physically, you know what I mean,

like as a passer, and his ability to, he's has some of the most ridiculous throws. It's like him and, him and Mahomes and Allen have the most ridiculous throws of any player in the NFL. And you see these throws

where he's like 50 yards downfield, like to the far side of the, like field, to the opposite, you know what I mean? It's just like all these throws are just ridiculous. So to look up and see that he has a 6.8 average depth of target,

which is right in line with Matt Ryan and Matt Stafford and Kirk Cousins and Daniel Jones and 25th in the NFL. It's like, what are we doing here? So I think to me, the biggest like issue or like the reason people are disappointed with what is actually like a, well, been a good offense in terms of efficiency. It's just like the big plays are not happening like they used to. And I mean, I remember last year, just off the top of my head, every time it seems like you look up during red zone, Mike Williams is catched a pass 50 yards down the field, you know? And this year it's just like dink and dunk, dink and dunk, dink and dunk.

This is a, you know, this is something that's happening across the entire NFL. But this team in particular is sort of been, you know, even worse than average and even worse than expected. So to me, that was actually why I threw out Slayton for the Chargers. I'm like, just get them somebody that can like take the lead off the defense. That's better than mine. Yeah, I want to, I'm changing mine. I like yours better. Slaten's the Chargers.

I think so we had talked about potentially Robbie. Anderson to the charges before he got traded to the Cardinals. So just somebody in that mold who is going to like threaten defenses and actually be like a legit somebody somebody that defense is actually just have to pay attention to because you know, Josh Palmer, I think is a good possession receiver and underneath an intermediate guy. He has strong hands. He's big physical, all that.

But he's not going to take the top of a defense. And then, you know, if you have teams being able to tilt their coverage towards Mike Williams with Keenan Allen out, like it's just kind of limits what you can do. And so I don't know. I think, you know, getting a little bit more speed in that offense. could help, but it's sort of the nature of the beast right now, like the NFL, across the NFL, there's just not a lot of super explosive offenses, even like Mahomes. Yeah.

You know, like I was looking at Mahomes, his deep or his percentage of throws over 20 air yards is like eight. Like everything is dink and dunk right now. So, you know, it's just, this is kind of the NFL we live in right now. And I think they're like, they're an extreme example of it because it's just like, this is just hard to watch at times. Yeah, absolutely. All right.

Last one, let's get to this one. Quickly, Max asks, who's more to blame for the Broncos offense at this point? Is it Russell's, Russell Wilson's play or Nathaniel Hackett's play calling? I tend to put more of this on Hackett. You are the perfect person to ask. I've watched every Russell Wilson game, every minute of every Russell Wilson game, I would imagine in his career. Like, what has your feeling been like watching this version of Russell Wilson this year?

It's like an out-of-body experience where you're like, oh, now Broncos fans know my experience. I do think that Russell Wilson has been worse than he was with the Seahawks, generally speaking. 100%. You know, because they're learning a new offense or ostensibly a new offense. He's learning new players. Like, just everybody's getting used to each other. These type things, these things tend to take a lot of time to, like, get everybody on the same page. Like, the margins in NFL offenses are so small if you're, like, not on the same page.

with everybody. You know, that just makes a big deal. We saw that early in the year when, like, the play clock kept running down to, like, one, every freaking play. It's because you just not, they're just not a well-oiled machine right now. But at the same time, honestly,

like, stylistically, Russell Wilson doesn't look all that different to me. Like, this is something that we saw a lot during his years with the CX, even when you're really efficient, even when he had, like, if you look at a stat line at the end of the game, it's like, oh, he was 15 of 20 for,

or 204 yards, three touchdowns and no picks. You know, like, this is like just an example, but, um, like you look at that stat line and you're like,

oh, he's very efficient. And then when you, but if you watch the game, it's like you want to pull your hair out because they're going three and out, 75% of the time. You know what I mean?

And then these games are, these plays and games are just punctuated by like big plays, but Russell Wilson. The only problem is the big plays aren't happening right now. So I think to me that the difference is this Russell Wilson, this version of him is, is inferior than what he was at his peak. But stylistically,

it's not all that different. Like, Russell Wilson, you're going to expect a lot of three-in-outs. You're going to expect a lot of frustration. But the big play is kind of over, you know, they weigh more in the game and just like in your perception. So like, that was just that that was kind of where Russell Wilson's perception came. So like from my point of view, Russell Wilson's always been a frustrating quarterback to watch.

His offensive always, his offenses have always been frustrated, frustrating. And generally over the years, we've placed the blame on Pete Carroll versus Russell Wilson. I think we're starting to see like there's some common denominator. So it's not all Pete Carroll. Or maybe it was more Russell Wilson. Who knows? Obviously there's there's, there's been stretches during Russell Wilson's career where he looks like just the most elite quarterback I've ever seen in my life. But those stretches are kind of were kind of short lived. And more often than not, to me, I was just like this offense is, it sucks to watch. If I'm being totally honest. Like, the vast majority of the Russell Wilson era, I hated that offense. If I'm being totally honest. So

I do think that they will get it together. I think they'll get better. And I think they'll get more on the same page, well-oiled machine. But man, the growing pains are definitely apparent right now. Yeah, I didn't think the floor would be this low. Like, you could have sold me on, hey, he's older. He can't scramble as much. They're going to be mediocre.

And I would say, yeah, okay, if he's like the 16th best quarterback in the NFL, that wouldn't shock me. I mean, they've had one of the three or four worst offenses in the NFL. He doesn't look accurate. He can't move at all. but he tries to move. The pressure is affecting him to such a great degree, which again, like you said,

there were times in Seattle where, yeah, he would do the thing that every quarterback is taught not to do where your eyes drop and you're kind of like looking around and then you look back up and he throws it, throws a bomb down field. But he was, I mean, we had a 10 year sample of him doing that. And most, you know, eight out of 10 years,

they had a top 10 offense. And so I was just like, all right, that's the most likely outcome. And it's just been such a disaster. And, you know, the locker room stuff, the connection with teammates. It's like that to me I felt didn't matter if the offense was playing well and the team was winning. But now when you're in a new spot and the offense sucks and now that that's still happening,

it's just a really messy, ugly situation. Now he's got the hamstring injury. So we'll see where they go from there. That does not help matters because we've seen it. When he plays hurt, it's a very different story. It's ugly. Yes, it's terrible. All right.

Danny Kelly, what do you have to plug for our audience? All right, check out the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. We do that four times a week. Check out the Ringer Fantasy Football rankings at the ringer.com. If you want to sit down, that is a great place to go. You can sort by position. You can sort by format. So like PPR standard or half PPR.

And then check out the rewatchables. I did the rewatchables this week for Pineapple Express with Craig and Danny Hyfit. So yeah, check those out. There you go. The man is just producing content at an epic level. Love having him on the Scramble. We'll definitely have him on later this season. Once again, thanks to Danny Kelly for joining me.

Thanks to Mike Wargon for producing additional production supervision by Connor Nevins and Arjuna Ram Gopal. Stay tuned tomorrow for the Ringer NFL preview show on this feed. And I will talk to everybody next week.