The Ringer NFL Show - Super Bowl LIX Media Night Recap, Myles Garrett's Trade Request, and More

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

Sheil, Steven, Diante, and Nora get together after a wild Super Bowl Media Night to discuss their favorite moments from the event. They then talk about Myles Garrett’s trade request from the Browns ...(7:20), break down Cooper Kupp’s current trade value (23:42), and debate what NFL trade would compare to the blockbuster Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade that happened over the weekend (31:11). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Sheil Kapadia, Steven Ruiz, Diante Lee, and Nora Princiotti Producer: Chris Sutton Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 What's up everybody? It's Austin Rivers here and we are back for another season of OffGar. Me and my guy, Pasha Giggy, are hitting your podcast feeds every Monday and Thursday talking everything hoops. Austin is bringing that 11-year NBA veteran perspective and of course keeping you guys entertained throughout the season. Make sure you tap into OffGard with Austin Rivers on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't forget to follow everything we've got going on social media. The OffGar podcast, Ringer NBA. And of course, check us out on Ringer NBA's YouTube channel. we're getting better
Starting point is 00:00:30 welcome to the ringer NFL show we are in the middle of a media room at the Caesar Superdome if this were like 10 years ago there'd be some crusty old writer coming over here saying get get those out of here I'm trying to write on deadline but Ruiz we don't have that
Starting point is 00:00:58 I think hopefully this will be accepted I feel like you're obscuring the fact that we're in a parking garage right now this is not a media room Deante, how's this parking garage treating you? I don't know exactly what I was expecting from our first Super Bowl experience. I guess I probably should have expected that one of the oldest stadiums in the NFL wouldn't have much better than a parking garage for us to be recording out of,
Starting point is 00:01:19 but it's been quite an experience. Is this on your Mountain Rushmore of parking garage experiences? It's got to be. I've never seen a conversion like this. I watch a lot of HGTV. I don't know if I've seen a conversion quite like this. It's top two for me, and it's not two. We're going to talk about Media Night, Miles Garrett,
Starting point is 00:01:35 Cooper Cup, whatever else we want to talk about, and Nora, I saved the introduction for you because you found a nemesis, I understand, at Super Bowl Media Night. Is that accurate? Not just now, not just tonight. This is a long-standing feud. I told everybody at the table before we got on air,
Starting point is 00:01:51 and now they're forcing me into this take on the pond. I hate the Play 60 Kid, always a feature of Media Night. Yeah. Get back to school. I believe one year it was Dylan Schefter, Neppo Kid. not having any of it.
Starting point is 00:02:07 The Play 60 kid is a scourge on the national football. He's got to earn it. Like, we're putting in these hours every Sunday night. And we, this is our reward. The Play 60 kid, he's not doing any of that. Now, here's the way that the Play 60 could get back in my good graces is if the Play 60 kid went up to all these coaches and players and asked some real hard hitting questions. But that did not happen tonight.
Starting point is 00:02:31 No. Okay. All right. Well, another year gone by. another year where, I mean, kids are bribeable, right? Like, Sheila, you've got a family. I could bribe the play 60 kids, right? 100%. 100%. You could
Starting point is 00:02:43 get him to ask a Harrison Butker question for sure. Yeah, I mean, that's what I'm going for. For sure. All right. So that, I mean, that was my highlight of Super Bowl Media Night just hearing about your rivalry, that and as you're talking about the Caesar Superdome and how old it is, I mean, I don't know if anyone hit up the men's bathroom.
Starting point is 00:03:01 We're still doing troughs. And then you have to step on something and get water out at this. I mean, this guy was advising me. Thank God he was in there. I would probably have wet clothes. Query. Yeah. Yeah. This guy is in one of the guys of this table. There's like an advisor for the men's room. He was actually the play 60 kid. He, he, what is it? He walked so I could run. He kind of, he screwed it up and he wanted to look out first. But this is just like a guy who was also using the men's room at the same time. Okay, I thought you were saying there was sort of like an attendant.
Starting point is 00:03:35 No. Who, okay. Would have been a good idea. Ask and answered. I get it. All right. Listen, Super Bowl Media Night is chaos. It's just hundreds of people walking around.
Starting point is 00:03:45 You get claustrophobic. Maybe a yellow question here or there, but it's not the time when you're doing your best reporting, I will say. So I was overhanging out by Howie, Roseman, and Jeffrey Lurrie for the Eagles portion of it where that was a little comer. Deontay, what did you? You said this is your first Super Bowl. media night. What was your plan of attack? Did you find it useful at all? Did you have one highlight before we can move on to Miles Garrett? I had no plan of attack and I feel like having a plan of attack would not have served me at all. I didn't have a stick. I didn't have a bit coming in.
Starting point is 00:04:18 So maybe I need to improve my preparation in that kind of way. I'm not exactly sure how histrionic I'd have to be to get a question in. And I think next time around I'll probably just start throwing things towards the other podium. I feel like that's probably the best way to get people's eyeballs. What would be your schick? Would you do like if you were a... Let's crowdsource my bid. Let's crowdsource my bid.
Starting point is 00:04:39 There's the guys who do like if you were a sandwich, what kind of sandwich would you be? Oh, that's a good one. That's a good one. Yeah, I can do it. I could be a sandwich guy. Be a burrito guy or a taco guy in Southern California. Yeah, you have to go food related.
Starting point is 00:04:53 That's the only way you know they're going to have an answer because someone said it. Was it you that said it? Someone asked Justin Reed about Lord of the Rings and he was just like, Like, I got nothing for you. And it's just the worst thing in the world because obviously a hometown kid. So he's talking about loving being back in Louisiana and seeing family and all that.
Starting point is 00:05:10 And then out of left field, you get your Lord of the Rings question and all the air comes out of the sessions. That movie series is from 20 years ago. Why did they think these young NFL players would have an opinion on it? Great question. I don't know. Now, you saw, what did you say? You saw a genie you were talking about? Yeah, there was a genie.
Starting point is 00:05:28 He was granting wishes. I did not make a wish. I did not see anyone else make a wish. I stayed away from him, quite frankly. The paint, he was painted head to toe blue, and I was very worried that I would get blue on me, kind of like a Tobias arrested development situation, and I didn't want any part of it.
Starting point is 00:05:43 So you stayed as far away from the blue guy as possible. When I walked into this parking garage slash media workroom with Danny Hyphitz, our colleague, and Danny had the opposite reaction, which is he sees the blue guy and goes, I want to go ask that guy what he's doing, runs over, and then comes back.
Starting point is 00:06:01 back five minutes later after having had an interaction and he said he's going around asking people to make a wish, which was apparent as a genie does. I saw I saw Danny Hypert's try to get the Eagles mascot and fail miserably. The Eagles mascot just walked away. Yeah, you don't want to go swoop a question. Oh, you know, you have experience. He's not winning the good guy award or whatever he was better served to go in a different direction there. I saw the chief's mascot. I saw the chief's mascot have a, you know, try to have a friendly greeting with some woman. And then she turned around and bent over and, like, tried to get it. Like, almost, almost caught the Chief's mascot in a really untoward situation,
Starting point is 00:06:48 not of his own doing. Was it entrapment? We don't know. Weird things go on at Media Night. Miles Garrett. That's a good transition. Miles Garrett. I listen, there's nothing else for us.
Starting point is 00:07:01 We like bringing you this scene. That's what we saw. Genies, uncompromising positions, Lord of the Rings, Howie Roseman. I think that about covers our experience. At Media Night, we'll be talking to more people throughout the week, and I think it might be a little more insightful. But honestly, the biggest story of the day
Starting point is 00:07:19 was not anything that happened in New Orleans with the Super Bowl. It was Miles Garrett on my flight over this morning, requesting a trade via Twitter. Deonti, let's start with you, because you were, I mean, I don't know, This man's just covering the Super Bowl, writing analysis posts on already on Miles Garrett. So I don't know when you did that, how you did that,
Starting point is 00:07:38 but you wrote a post on the ringer.com about possible destination. So I know you've been thinking about this today. What did you make of the trade request? Do you think he is going to get traded? And who were some of the teams that came to mind? So a instant reaction was not surprised, right? And I noted this in the piece. He's really made no bones about how he feels about roster pivots and rebuild.
Starting point is 00:07:58 That was a conversation locally with their business. beat riders all throughout the end of the season, December going into January, and he made it very certain that he wasn't interested in the rebuild. He was talking about wanting to compete for Super Bowls. Obviously, he's approaching his year 30 season. It's not to say that the cliff is coming for him as an edge rushery, but he'll be 31 when he signs his extension. So now you're talking about your last payday, your last real shot to compete if that's your priority. And I think if you're going to ask out, now is the time to do so. And I would say if you're Cleveland, and I know this as well, for as painful as it is to hand away
Starting point is 00:08:31 of all pro talent like Miles Garrett, this is the best gift possible if you're looking to try to pivot out of the Deshawn Watson era. This is probably the best way to accumulate the draft capital to address quarterback and some of the other holes on the roster that are going to come as his dead cap number increases and they get closer to cutting him
Starting point is 00:08:47 or trading him away eventually. They needed to have a kind of get out of jail-free card in this way and I think if this is the best opportunity to do so. But my one thing is that I know the Browns aren't going anywhere and probably not on the same timeline as Miles Garrett. But at a certain point, you have to give your fans something. And they're giving their fans nothing. It reminds me, quite frankly, without the Deshawn Watson of it all, of the Panthers situation,
Starting point is 00:09:12 where every year they were trading their best player to kind of get draft picks and reset and help it rebuild. But man, I don't know how you keep the fan base engaged, especially that fan base that has been through so much since they came back into the league, what, 25 years ago? I would not trade them. Nora, what do you think? Well, that has been the party line. It seems like, at least to the insiders, what Brown's folks are saying is that they're not interested in moving him. I think Deonté makes a fairly compelling argument that, you know,
Starting point is 00:09:43 they've got a big hole to dig out of, and maybe this is the way to do it. My question is what they could get for him. Because obviously, you know, he's one of, if not the best defensive player in the league. But where he is age-wise, is it something more approaching the, are you almost in the Kalil-Mac situation? He was 27 when that happened versus are you, you know, the Brian Burns isn't really analogous just because of where that was contract-wise. But is this something where there, is it one-one? Or is it a one and a two?
Starting point is 00:10:21 Or is it less than that? And that's where I think the devil is kind of in the details there. Because if it's a really significant haul, then it makes sense. Yeah, I remember in the trade value rankings I did before the season, there's like a handful of defensive players where you're like, I think this person could get two first round picks. You know, we've seen it before. Jalen Ramsey, Khalil Mack, you mentioned.
Starting point is 00:10:44 Jamal Adams is kind of the weirdest one looking back now. But it's got to be, usually it's a all-pro type player who's in their mid-20. Now, Garrett's 29. I do look at past rushers and like they can play for a little bit longer than, you know, it's different than other positions and also just what a physical specimen he is and how durable he's been. Right. I sort of think there would be a team out there that would be willing to give up two first round picks. Now, if it's not two first, then it's a first and what else? That's the question. Is it two seconds? It is a second and a third, whatever. But I kind of agree. You know, I'm sort of with you, Ruiz. He's like, if you're the Browns and it's a first and, you know, a second and two, day, day, three picks, that's not, that doesn't get me that excited, you know? He's like the best defensive player or at least in the running for best defensive player in the NFL.
Starting point is 00:11:34 He's got probably four or five, six good years still left. And unless you're just accommodating a player, I don't know why you do that. Now once you get into two first round pick conversations, now you're Deontay. You're listening to pretty much almost any non-quarterback in the NFL. I mean, yeah, you would have to. I think that that's really where the tricky spot is if you're Cleveland. And I think it's helped by the fact that he's not expiring right now. And that helps you're negotiating leverage.
Starting point is 00:12:00 Like you said, it's not a Brian Burns situation where you're up against the clock in that kind of way. And that will also probably motivate teams to try to get the deal done quickly. You might be able to move pretty quickly if there is a market commensurate of what we're talking about here in terms of getting two first round picks or a first and maybe a couple of seconds. So, you know, multiple top 100 picks in that kind of way. and I think that there should be teams that are willing to deal him, right? He's only $19 million against the cap over the next two years. That's something that's very manageable for a team that's probably going to be looking to extend them once you bring them in.
Starting point is 00:12:30 That to me, I think, is motivation enough to gin up the market. It just comes back to what Stephen's talking about. You hand away the best player on your roster. Where does that leave you? Even if you do have multiple top 100 picks, you're probably looking at being a three-win team and what's going to feel like perpetuity because it's going to take them so long to dig out of this hole. I do feel like the other part of this is they were in the playoffs two years ago.
Starting point is 00:12:51 It's not that, like, it's not inconceivable that they could be a contender, not a contender for the championship, but a contender for a wildcard spot in a year from now. I think you just wait, waded out with Garrett and see if he rescinds the request. I don't know. I think there's a chance, especially if you give him a contract extension offer. He has no more guaranteed money on his contract. So that could be what he's playing for, actually, with this little request. The flip side, though, is if you're kind of doing it, to give the fans something.
Starting point is 00:13:19 I'm not saying that he's forcing their hand, but you do have a player who's, you know, written a letter to your fan base and said basically like, I'm not interested in this anymore. Thanks, but no thanks. Say you get an offer of two, you know, a first this year and a first next year from a team like the Lions,
Starting point is 00:13:38 where it's going to be late in the round, but it's still, you have that sort of shiny sticker price of two first round picks. team like Detroit motivated after what they went through on defense this year, I would imagine that something like that would get it done, particularly given that the player is coming out publicly and saying, I would like to go play somewhere else. I do think it gives you kind of an excuse to just burn the whole thing down,
Starting point is 00:14:03 which includes obviously getting rid of Watson, which is going to take a financial commitment that's going to stick with the team for at least two years. I mean, if you are trading off Miles Garrett, your best player, you're essentially giving up on the next two seasons. And at this point, you might as well take a $70 million, $80 million cap hit if that's what it comes down to. If you can get rid of Watson, I don't know the means to do that. Yeah, I think the key to getting the compensation is does it give you a path towards getting a quarterback? I mean, that's because that's their only way out of this thing is like, all right,
Starting point is 00:14:34 and this isn't the year where I would think they're identifying a quarterback that it's going to help them. So I think what Nour is saying, right, can you add draft capital in the future? Now you have a high pick this year. be flexible. Maybe you can take a big swing in the future there. You mentioned the lines. I've got to say, hanging around Howie Roseman there at Media Night, this is a move that has like... It hasn't written all over it. It does. I think if he had to make a list of every non-quarterback in the NFL that he would most covet, Miles Garrett would be in the top three. I think we're like Michael Parsons, Miles. I mean, they have a big need at edge rusher. Josh Sweets a free agent
Starting point is 00:15:14 Miles Garrett's 29 He says he wants to play for a contender They could pay him big cash up front They'll give up multiple first round picks Now you have Miles Garrett and Jalen Carter And a secondary that's all on rookie contracts I mean if they're trying to extend this window As long as possible
Starting point is 00:15:31 I couldn't help but think of the Eagles right away When I heard I think that they're in a similar place That you're talking about with the Lions Obviously the lines I think are motivated by the fact that you've been so close, and now you've lost coordinators. Everybody was hurt, and you get bounced out of the playoffs. But Philadelphia is in a similar position.
Starting point is 00:15:46 You noted the need. They're just going to need defensive line help, period. Now, bringing in a guy like Miles Garrett is going to be tough for them, and that was something I noted in the piece, right? They do technically have the cap space if they wanted to make that move this offseason, but they're going to be light roster-wise. You would have to make a lot of different cap machinations to make that work. You might have to add players in to make that work.
Starting point is 00:16:06 So it does get a little tricky. I just think that for teams like that, where you know you're probably going to be drafting in the mid to late 20s anyways. You're going to be contending for a championship either way. You can probably part with a couple of first round picks and be at peace with it. And in both those instances, we're also talking about teams that are locked in with their quarterbacks for probably the next two years no matter what. So it matches your timeline.
Starting point is 00:16:29 What about Washington? I mean, the last thing you did on defense was give up 55 points. Dante Fowler's getting over 30. the middle of that line is really solid. And the ability to go up and get a quarterback at the top of the draft is not something that it looks like you're going to need to be concerned with in the near future. They've got cap space too. So I wonder if that could be a possibility. It's a great one.
Starting point is 00:16:54 And I think for them, I could see him being like that force multiplier where Jonathan Allen, good player, Duran Payne, good player. But now when Miles Garrett's like next to those guys, now all of a sudden you might look at him and be like, man, this is one of the better. defensive lines in the NFL. And yeah, their clock has sped up now with the rookie quarterback. They don't have to worry about that right now. And they just need players on defense. Like, I don't know what their path is to getting blue chip players on defense other than Miles Garrett. What are you laughing? Is NFL 60 guy behind me? No, no, no, no. It's just they need players on defense. Miles Garrett is like, you know, the player. I know. Really? He's one of those guys that everyone basically should be interested in, Ruiz.
Starting point is 00:17:32 Yeah, I would throw the chargers out there as a team that needs defensive talent that has two aging edge rusher still productive. I think you can get something if you trade those guys. I think that's a team that makes a lot of sense. They have a lot of cap room and they are ascending. I think they would be on his list. I'm sure he thinks highly of Justin Herbert because whenever he's played the Browns,
Starting point is 00:17:51 he's had big games. So that could be a team to look out for it. I mean, you could probably throw Joey Bosa in with some draft compensation to make it work because he's on an expiring deal. That might be something that you can consummate, at least on the Chargers side, right? It just makes it tricky. If you ran you Barry and the Browns,
Starting point is 00:18:05 I mean, there's no. nothing that there's nothing that's too much to ask for in this situation. You should do it now on the heels of the Luca trade. It's like, it's not as bad as that one, at least. I mean, that's like your best bet. The ultimate news dump. We mentioned the quarterback situation. Let me throw a curse name out there.
Starting point is 00:18:21 What about Aaron Rogers? What about bringing him into the mix? Bringing Aaron Rogers into the mix room? I think he's going to be very available. I was like Aaron Rogers for Miles Garrett? Nah, I don't think the Browns. Could you imagine that quarterback room? I don't think they do it.
Starting point is 00:18:33 I'm just saying he's going to be available. to Cleveland with Aaron Rogers and Watson in the Kevin Cefansky. Didn't you start this conversation on the point of you've got to give your fans something? Yeah, Aaron Rogers, that's giving them something. Something. It is something good. It is a thing.
Starting point is 00:18:51 Yeah, I think that Kevin Cefansky might walk out on the job if he gave him those two quarterbacks to work with. Kurt Cousin seems a lot more their speed, I would think. Aaron Rogers is a better player than Kirk Cousins at this point. That's all I'm saying. If he's available, I don't think it's, that bad of an option. Everyone just is written to Aaron Rogers off like he wasn't a top 15 quarterback last year. All right. Well, see, and to me, I guess the last thing that I was just, I'm curious about
Starting point is 00:19:14 is whether or not, to Stevens point, if this is really just a contract play for Miles Garrett. Because with two years left on your deal, you're going to have to kick up a lot of dust, I think, if Cleveland decides they don't want to move on from their best player. He doesn't necessarily strike me as a guy that wants to kick up a bunch of dust. Otherwise, I think he probably would have been throwing his weight around a little bit more over the last two years. So I'm really fascinated to see what this offseason looks like for him. Because we knew, like, with Brandon Iyuk last year, that there were rumblings the entire way through. And you knew it was just kind of escalating and escalating.
Starting point is 00:19:45 But that was always about the contract and not about trying to go someplace else. I'm fascinated to know what this guy's in-game actually is. Yeah, he doesn't seem like someone that's going to kick up does. But I do think Mason Rudolph would disagree with us on that front. When you mention Ayyuk, I'm like, I can't take that again. We have to do this for five months and then the guy stays put. No, no, no. Miles, you better, this better result in a fun trade. Like, you know.
Starting point is 00:20:10 The Browns and the 49ers are not the same. Not analogous at all, right. And Kyle Shanahan's not involved, which I feel like was a big part of the Brandon Iuk thing. I don't think this is, I think he's being transparent. I think he wants to be on another team that he thinks can win a super player. I mean, I think he definitely does. Nobody, if you ask any player, I don't think they're going to be like, yeah, I want to be here on the Browns. It's like, Denzel Ward.
Starting point is 00:20:32 I think there was another player. After their last game, they were all like. I kind of want to be out of this place, like to the media. So I don't know. Maybe it's like a groundswell thing where other players start to speak up, and that makes it easier for Miles to get out of there. Well, to bring it back to the Super Bowl, Sequin Barclay is mentioned in recent weeks.
Starting point is 00:20:48 Like his family and friends are like, you look so happy. Like he didn't realize how unhappy he was. You know, he's like, gets to play in big games and everybody's watching. And like, Miles Garrett deserves that. He's seen all these pass rushers have these big moments. And too, Von Miller. Aaron Donald
Starting point is 00:21:06 Bosa, the 49ers defensive line, he's seen them impact games. Brandon Graham had that moment. So, yeah, if I'm him and I'm watching that and seeing these lesser players have these moments, I would be mad too. I'd be like, I want to be out there. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:21:19 Well, there was some quote. I read an ESPN story just when the trade, when the request went out. And there was a quote from him, he tied Lawrence Taylor in something and there was a ceremony. And he said something along the lines of like, this is a really nice honor.
Starting point is 00:21:36 I'm proud of this, but people remember Lawrence Taylor for what he did in big games. And it was like so, womp wom. And it just, I just, I bet he's,
Starting point is 00:21:47 I bet in his mind, it's not like, well, I would love to be on a team that could go to a Super Bowl, but also, hey, maybe I'll get a new contract out of it,
Starting point is 00:21:55 blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, I just wonder if he's like, I got to go somewhere where I can win. He's, like, never been able to play in big games. Like, even going back to college at Texas A&M, that wasn't like some power.
Starting point is 00:22:03 house team that was going to like new year's eve bowls and stuff like that so for him it's a long time coming yeah that one divisional round and and that was it so we will continue i feel like to talk about miles garrick quite a bit of year in the in the weeks and months ahead let's take a break we come back we talk about another not a trade request but another another player who's going to get traded and then we're gonna we got to get it on the luka content i mean nobody you know i feel left out everyone feels left out he's there and what is the NFL equivalent? This has been tossed around. Would there be an NFL equivalent to the Luca Donch's trade? So we'll talk about that as well. The Fandul kick of destiny is back. And this time,
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Starting point is 00:23:47 Other name in the trade conversations today. Cooper Cup, the Rams wide receiver, tweeting out that the Rams have informed him that he is going to be traded. They're going to shop him. And I think, what do you say? Try to find a place. that he likes as well. Ruiz, you look at this one, Cooper Cup.
Starting point is 00:24:05 What does he have left? What should the market be? Are you surprised by any of this? I'm not surprised the Rams want to move on from him. He's very expensive. I don't think he played his best football this year when he did play. And it's been a while since we've seen him play at the top of his game. And with receivers, especially at his age, they tend to go down off a cliff.
Starting point is 00:24:25 Especially with him. He was such a physical player. He's basically like a running back in the open field, just how he took on contact. I would be nervous if I was the team training for him. And I just wouldn't be in that market if I were saying. Nora, what do you think? I mean, unless the market goes way down, right? And he's an experienced player.
Starting point is 00:24:43 I think the one thing is that he does have a chance to be completely healthy for an offseason. And then maybe there's a chance to sort of recoup a little bit of energy, get the body feeling better. Obviously, he's someone who's taken a lot of big hits over the course of his career. And so maybe you see the production start to come back up. I think that's a tough bet with older receivers, particularly ones who play the style of football that he has. But if it gets to the point where it's cheap enough, then maybe a team that's not going to have a lot of resources. You know, someone like the bills, someone where it's like you get an experienced players in there, the Ravens you could see maybe taking a flyer and trying to get a couple more years out of him or something like that. Yeah, I think it almost has to be one of those teams.
Starting point is 00:25:31 Like a team like the Chiefs, I think he would make sense there. Because if he doesn't work out, you have all these other receivers you can go to. And if he does work out, he's kind of exactly what they need, like that trusty third down target with Kelsey kind of declining. I don't know if Kelsey's going to be back next year. I don't know if he's going to play at a high level next year. Cup could be a guy that steps in and kind of takes that role. I mean, Kelsey's not really running really fast anymore either. Deonti, are those the names that?
Starting point is 00:25:59 Are those the teams that you think make sense or Jiff someone else in mind? I think it makes sense. I just think I have a hard time with Cooper Cup because he has running back mileage, right? Like we don't necessarily use all of the kind of movement body tracking technology on the basis of thinking about cumulative miles when you're talking about motion. You're talking about the routes that he runs. You're talking about how often he's blocking. There's just a lot of wear and tear on his body. And you just think about the way he was talked about coming into the season, right?
Starting point is 00:26:27 where nobody was really sure what the hamstring and the calf was going to look like. And then I got the training club. I was like, okay, he looks decent. And then six, seven weeks into the year, it again looks like he's a guy that you can't count on to get through 17 games in a season. I think that for me, unless, to Norris point, the market completely falls off and then you're able to get him at a major discount if you're a contending team. And he either doesn't have to play a bunch on early downs. It doesn't have to play a bunch on third down. This is just a guy that you're going to have to manage the rest of the way, which is, though.
Starting point is 00:26:57 because he's been a high volume player and really productive, a champion. I just think that the reality of the situation is they probably should have traded them midseason when we first started hearing those rumors come up. I think that them winning that game right before the trade deadline kind of motivated them to take another chance at it, which is fine. You know, it's just one of those things where we see it in coaching, we see it in all these different facets where teams get motivated, understandably, but maybe by the wrong reasons, trying to chase immediate wins.
Starting point is 00:27:25 and now you're looking at the same problem again once the dust is settled on the season. It's not just the fact that he blocks either. It's who he's blocking. Like when he's so tight to the, he's like blocking defensive ends and linebacker. That probably hurts compared to blocking cornerbacks. Do you guys think this means anything for Matthew Stafford? Great question.
Starting point is 00:27:43 I think it's a great signal for what they're thinking about what the next couple of years are going to be. I mean, that's, I think that's the next like story. I mean, is Jordan Rodriguez covers the Rams that does a great job. like, Chaddard. Yeah, this is in her story. I feel like she has just been pointing out that the restructure was basically a one-year commitment.
Starting point is 00:28:02 And we talked about it, I think, after the Rams got knocked out of the playoffs, like, what do they do now? And it's kind of like they should run it back with Stavre. And maybe they will, but also maybe they won't. They might be like, we had a run. Our runs over. We don't want to commit more money to him. We want to go in a different direction.
Starting point is 00:28:19 So I do think Stafford's name is going to come up one way or another this off season. And that would be a very interesting quarterback chip that would be available. Yeah, what if they go against like the fuck them picks mentality and do the opposite? And they're like, let's stockpile picks now. They're like, we're killing the draft. They're like, this is sweet. We just got Jared verse. We should do more of this.
Starting point is 00:28:40 Why didn't anybody tell us about this? The draft is good. So, no, I do think that's a good question. I think people with Cup are going to be shocked at how low the compensation is for him. I mean, you mentioned it. 32 years old. It's missed 18 games the last three seasons. Like this to me is a day three pick,
Starting point is 00:29:00 and I don't know where on day three. I like the names Nora pointed out. The Ravens sort of seem like a, like if you can, you basically want to sign on and hope you get something for one year. That's what you're signing on for with Cooper Cup. So I think it's going to be fourth round, fifth round,
Starting point is 00:29:15 sixth round, something, maybe a conditional one where if he plays a certain amount of games, but I don't think they're getting much more than that for Cooper Cup at this point. I think any team that's interesting, we'll probably be able to work it out with the Rams in terms of how do you, the price isn't going to be super high, how do you want to pay for it? Do you want to, do the Rams need to do some sort of restructure where they're taking on some of the financial burden so that he's not 30 million a year for the next two years,
Starting point is 00:29:39 which is what it looks like right now versus is it a little bit more in, is it less in the picks, more in the cash or vice versa? Yeah. Which matters for some of those contending teams because the books look different. Got to be a contending team. I'll throw out a non-contending team that could use them. I would say Ben Johnson in Chicago, like trying to look for that Amun Ra, St. Brown type, the guy that can play close to the line of scrimmage and block and we went on option routes on third down and get open against me.
Starting point is 00:30:06 Now, that's what Cooper Cup used to be. I don't know if that's the version you're getting, but if you're looking for a discount version of St. Brown, that's the guy I would go with. But they still got the other three receivers, right? I mean, unless you just did that last offseason with Keenan Allen, right? And that's not to say that they're the same player. In fairness, the Cup, I'm not saying that they're the same player. same player. I just don't know if that's additive enough for it to make sense for that
Starting point is 00:30:27 offense. No, they would have to move on from Keenan Allen, which I think is something they should be thinking about anyway because it didn't look great when they featured him in the offense last year. Commanders? Commanders, I could see. I mean, for a one year. No, it's tricky role-wise because you don't want him on the bubble screen because he's just not as explosive anymore. Yeah, I don't know. But I think a team like the Ravens makes a lot of sense, right? I mean, that's what he would have to play. Yeah. A team like the Ravens makes a lot of sense. A team like the bills, I think what makes some sense. A team that's going to play with enough big bodies
Starting point is 00:30:57 to where you're not going to have to lean on him and 11 personnel a ton. You definitely are just going to have to manage the usage and I think going to a run-heavy team where you can spend early downs on the sideline. You can protect his legs a little bit better that way that probably would make the most sense for him. All right. Last topic.
Starting point is 00:31:13 The Luca content. It is everywhere. Monster trade, obviously, in the NBA. So, you know, NFL media, we got to be a bunch of like, we can't just let the NBA have. a week. We're like, no, what is it in the NFL? We got, and that's exactly what we're going to do here with
Starting point is 00:31:29 the Luca Donchi. So, I have, you know, I don't know if you guys have some of my, I'll start, I'll start, so I was thinking, what would the NFL equivalent be? And so I think you have to start with top three to five player in their prime, but who hasn't won
Starting point is 00:31:45 a title yet, basically. And so I narrowed it down to Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen as the Luca comp. I went with Lamar Jackson, then I was thinking, who do we trade for? And I don't think there's another quarterback equivalent to like, oh, well, this other quarterback. It has to be a player who everyone agrees is a good player, but like, what are you doing? What about Lamar Jackson for Max Crosby?
Starting point is 00:32:09 Okay, so you're thinking about it the same way I was thinking about. Okay, all right. I wasn't even thinking about modern players. Honestly, you know, obviously being here thinking a lot about Philadelphia, my thought was more like, what if Philadelphia would have traded Jason Peters for like a Philip Rivers or something like that in the late aughts you know instead of Michael Vic you bring in a quarterback that you think could be an MVP level player and you're trading a a premium position talent who's an all pro but obviously not as effective as that guy it would have to be something like
Starting point is 00:32:36 that in the NFL I mean I would I think the equivalent is like Justin Herbert for jalen ramsie at this point like a good player an athletic player but someone who's passed their prime for a guy who hasn't won anything yet but is clearly on that track to being one of the I don't know five best players in the NFL. This is where I'm falling into the football brain trap because I'm hearing you say that and be like, yeah, but that would never happen, which is exactly how you would have responded to the lucid trade three days ago. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:04 I had to go quarterback quarterback just because I couldn't wrap my mind around it. I had the same starting of the thought process that you did, Sheel, but I went, Lamar Josh Allen, pick your guy for Kyler Murray. Like, just it just has the same sort of. What? I like that. Factor to me somehow. I think that's a good car.
Starting point is 00:33:27 I think that's a good car. I feel like he's sort of in a class of his own. I like that one. Tyler's very useful for certain comps. Yeah, it's like he's, you know, he's young enough,
Starting point is 00:33:36 he's talented enough. He hasn't done anything yet. Yeah, okay, all right. I'm trying to think. The problem with the Jalen Ramsey thing is that it is the age stuff in football, I feel like,
Starting point is 00:33:48 we're like, no way, no one would ever trade for a cornerback yet. That applies the bad. I guess you're right, but I mean, Anthony Davis has still been a good player, like really good this year, right? How about Miles Garrett for Aaron Rogers? Would Dad Prescott be an Anthony Davis in this scenario? No, because I don't think he was ever viewed as like one of the three best players in the league.
Starting point is 00:34:11 And at one point, Anthony Davis was like a foundational superstar in the NBA. It's a tough one. Amazing. Maybe we'll get one. All of this sounds like a bunch of reasons not to trade Luca. We've come to the same conclusion as everybody else. I wish we could have come on and said something else. All right.
Starting point is 00:34:29 I think those are all the topics for today, our first day in New Orleans for the Super Bowl. We will be back throughout the week. Thank you to Nora Princiadei. Deonti Lee. Stephen Ruiz. Thank you to Christopher Sutton for producing. I'm Sheila Kapade. We'll be back next time on the Ringer NFL show.
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