Hour 2 - Mariners Are Really Good But Have Concerns, Trending NFL Stories, Blue 88

Get in the freaking auto! From the Quantum Fiber Studio, this is Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports. Brock Heward and Mark Matts. Mark, sorry about just my mic. Heward, not exactly Joe Katz there in the pocket. Now, here are your hosts, Brock Heward and Mike Salk. Ah! Mora, I think it's time to do one of the hardest things in sports radio. So hard. This is so hard, what we're about to do. I don't even know whether we should undertake it because the challenge may just be too great for all of us. We may succumb to the difficulties of what we are about to try to do. Is it because Brock's not here? No, I mean, that's fine. We're always happy to rock out with our Brock out. Whenever Brock is taking some time for himself or in this case, going to work, doing a little, what is it, UFL game this weekend? So he's in Columbus, I think this week. So he took off for Columbus yesterday and wasn't able to do it. No, that's fine. I don't mind doing that. What's really hard, I think, to do in not just sports radio but life is play the both things be true game. People are really wired these days to one thing or the other. And I think right now I'm trying to walk a little fine line here where I believe both things can be true. The Mariners are currently third in ESPN's power rankings. Great, right about where you want to be. They're down one spot from last week when they were number two. The Yankees jumped ahead of them, which makes sense, given that they took two out of three and did look like the better team over those three games. So is there cause for concern? Yeah, are they also still number three? Yeah, both of those things I think can be true at the same time. And I don't know that we need to take a side. I don't know that we need to today say the Mariners are going to be fine. And I don't know that we need to today say the Mariners are in trouble. I think it's very fair to say it's way too early to know there are some causes for a little bit of concern, but also a lot of evidence to show that they're probably going to be okay when things are all said and done. They're still a good team. Being three and four without the help of arguably their three best hitters is actually, I think, and we've said this before, a bit of a testament to how good they actually are, right? The fact that those guys are doing it and aren't doing it rather, and the Mariners are three and four and not oh and seven because the rest of the sort of in between guys have started off hot is all great news. It really is. That is all great news. And I think it's a testament to the way this team was built. They can withstand a week of their three best hitters, not contributing all that much because of the depth of the lineup, the depth of the roster, the completeness of the way they were constructed, the starting pitch, all of it. It's a good roster. It doesn't have any real major holes. So those things are all very true and remain true today. It's also fair, I think, to have some, I don't know what the right word is. You wanna call them concerns. You wanna call them watches, things that you're waiting to see how they play out. I would say just uncomfortable, uncomfortability. Couple things that just make you queasy. Yeah, you'd like to see their three best hitters come out hot. Doesn't mean it's the end of the world that they didn't make you a little uneasy. So like your hand falls asleep or your leg falls asleep because you've been sitting in one position too long, it's uncomfortable, but you know you're not gonna have to amputate. Yes. Is that kind of like, yeah. That works. My leg's asleep. I gotta kind of wake that thing up a little bit. Hopefully it doesn't mean anything more serious, but at least for today, we don't need to amputate this sucker. It's going to be all right. So I guess that's the in-between I'm looking for. There are some things that I think are worth, you know, having that uncomfortable conversation about. One, the weight of expectations. I think it's fair to ask about it. We talked about it all spring. They talked about it and addressed it and said we are comfortable talking about those expectations, but the three guys that they are most counting on, who have the most weight of expectations upon them, have been the three guys that have struggled the most right out of the gates. Is there a, is there a connection there, by the way? The one pitcher who has struggled the most was your opening day starter. So in some ways, the four guys you've asked the most of have been the four that have struggled a little bit. And I think you can come up with reasons on them. Ryan Rollinsmith here on MLB Network talking about Cal. One last thing too on Cal. I know getting back from the Royal Baseball Classic, he made a point to make sure he got to all these pitches. We talked about this last year with the MVP race. Wanted to make sure he was behind the dish, doing all the extra things, trying to play a little bit of catch up. So I think he's a little off time right now, a little bit behind, that's for sure. I think that's a fair thing. First of all, it's a great reason why Cal may not look the way you want him to at the plate right now. Because his primary job is he's got to catch. He's got to get the pitching staff ready to go every day. And if he felt like he was behind because of the WBC, absolutely his priority needs to be getting the pitching staff where it has to be, and then the swing will come along later. I don't know how we can tell whether or not the weight of expectations are part of the problem to start the year, but I do think the fact that those four have sort of been the four in the microscope, and that those four arguably have the most responsibility and pressure on them. Yeah, I think it's fair to ask. I think it's fair to ask about Julio's typical slow start, and I think it's fair to ask about Cal's followup to the season he had last year. In Julio's case, look, on one hand, we know Julio's going to be fine. Julio cannot hit for a month, and we know he's gonna be fine because we've just seen this movie now three or four times. We're not, this is like an AC DC record. You know how it's gonna go. Like you really know there's gonna be a couple songs about rock and roll and a couple songs. You understand the process here. Same three chords over and over again. But if Julio wants to have an MVP season, and that's the conversation around him, it can't start in July, right? He can still have a good season. He can still have the same season, and it can get going in June or whatever because he's shown he can get hot in the summer months. But if Julio wants to have the MVP season we're talking about, it's gotta start in April. It can't start in July. That doesn't work. So I think it's fair to ask about it, watch there, put a little note, a little asterisk, and Cal, we know Cal's in a new world. I think there are some really good reasons. I think Ryan nailed it there. So I'm not overly concerned, but Cal is coming off of this breakout year and the league adjusts and they spend some time looking at you and they're gonna pitch around you and you gotta be patient and make them come back and pitch like all of these things are going to be new. It's new in Cal's world. So I think those are fair questions. I think it's fair to ask a couple questions about the pen because those were questions we had going in. I think it's fair to ask a question about this lineup versus lefties, which we're gonna see again today for the third time in four games. You need Rob Reffsnider to hit. He hasn't yet, I think he will, but that's another thing that you've gotta get going. I think it's fair to ask about Brennan Donovan's defense at third, which has not looked comfortable to start the year. Here was John Moroszi yesterday with Wyman and Bob. He's a really good athlete, but he doesn't have a ton of major league reps at this particular position on an everyday basis. And it's one thing to do it in spring training. It's another to do it again, early in the year. It's still, we're still kind of getting into the spring weather and all those different elements. I need to see more. You're right. It has not been a good start. He has not looked, he's not Williamson over there. He's not even probably Suarez over there right now. I'm gonna give him time. And I'm sure the Mariners will have the same approach. You're not gonna change the schematic based on a week, but let's see where we're at in a month or so. How the defense is going, especially with a pitching staff like this, you just, it's so high-powered. You cannot give the other team extra outs to play with. Yeah, I think all that is true. Some good texts, three, six, oh, if you're not concerned, you don't care. If you're panicked, you just don't get it. Well said. Very well said. Four, two, five, we call them watchouts. Yeah, there's a little watchouts. And then a bunch of people using the word trepidation. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, that's probably fair. I like watchouts. Just a couple of watchouts. Watch out for Brenton Donovan's defense. Watch out for the lineup against lefties. And hopefully they go out today and score six runs against Reed Depmers in the first four innings. And you're like, all right, there we go. Get Rob Rothsnider going, get Victor Robles going, get some of the right-handed bats that are gonna be a part of this thing going. And you're off and running. You don't have to worry about it. But until then, it's a watch out. Watch out. Hands up. Watch out. Come on, Cal. Hit a home run. They're in good company, by the way. Neither Julio nor Cal has a home run. Maura, thanks for sending this over. Some other players with zero home runs this year. Shohei Otani. Bobby Whitt Jr., Vlad Guerrero Jr., Kyle Tucker. Kyle Tucker doesn't have a home run, Lyle. Thank God he's not here. Can you imagine if he had been here and didn't have any home runs? I wouldn't care. Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson, Nick Kurtz, Junior Caminero, Fernando Tateis Jr. And Rafael Devers, none of those people have a home run. Well, it is a good point though. In all fairness, the big four for the Dodgers in their lineup, none of them are hitting yet. So what we're talking about the main three guys in the middle of the Mariners' order, just another example. The best even baseball isn't hitting yet either. All true, all true. All right, well, there you go. That's where we're at. I do like this text because I think it's a fun way of looking at baseball. It says, Rob Refsneider crushes left-handed pitching even though nobody has ever heard of him before he came here. Well, I don't know if that's quite true. I think some people have heard of him. He's been in the league since 2015. He's played 11 years in the league and has a really good number, especially against lefties. Give him some time. He is old. I mean, the question on Rob Refsneider isn't can he hit lefties? It's can he still hit lefties at the age this year of 35? That's the question. It's not has he hit lefties. I mean, you can literally see it in black and white. It says, you know, is there still something there? Boston let him go after what, four good seasons. What's he gonna do for the Mariners? That's a very real one. Okay, you can download the Seattle Sports app every game, one app, totally free, pretty great. Take the game with you on the go, with your running errands, little league practice, hockey tryouts, on a hike, boat, whatever it is. Seattle Sports app travels with you, enjoy every pitch of the final season for Rick Riz, all in one place at no cost, easiest way to enjoy Mariners baseball. And did I mention it's free? Just go download that Seattle Sports app. And you can watch all of these things, all the good, all the bad, all the question marks is what makes baseball fun. We'll come back with everything you need to know, including a big roster move the Mariners made yesterday. What does it mean for tonight? That's next on Brock and Sulk. Highlights don't win games, the full box score does. I'm Brock Hewitt and most business leaders aren't short on data, they're short on clarity. Numbers are scattered across ERP, CRMs and spreadsheets, making decisions reactive instead of confident. And that's not how great businesses are built. Marquee IQ brings all your data together into one clear view, even if it lives in disconnected systems or offline, so you can see what's really happening and act faster. Stop running your business on highlights, get the full picture. Visit datathewins.com to see what Marquee IQ can do. Stream every Seattle Sports show with the Seattle Sports app. Brought to you by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Get new videos, podcasts and articles on the Seahawks and Mariners from your favorite Seattle Sports personalities daily. Old Windows cost you money and security. Lake Washington Windows and Doors installs energy efficient, high security windows that lower your bills and increase protection. With leak armor installation and lifetime warranties, you're protected for life. Choose LakeWashingtonWindows.com today. For decades, Seattle has lived and breathed baseball. The crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the memories made at the ballpark. At Levitt Group Northwest Insurance, they get it because they call Seattle home just like you. They know this community and they know what it takes to protect it. That's why they listen, shop around and tailor coverage for your home, car or business. Call 877-4LEVITT. Levitt Group Northwest Insurance, you can count on season after season. 877-4LEVITT. The Mariners Kids Club presented by BECU is 100% free and a great way to get your kids excited for a lifetime of Mariners baseball. Sign up online at mariners.com slash kids club and your kids will receive exclusive giveaways, access to member events and more. Need to Know. 15 minutes past every hour with Brock and Salk. Presented by Marquis Data. Here's what you need to know. Up first. Our Mariners head out on the road for the first time this season. It's a trip that we'll take them first to Anaheim today for three and then off to the Dallas Metroplex, take on the Rangers. Brian Woo will get the ball tonight, perfect pitcher to try to get them started and break a little losing streak. So, yeah, looking forward to seeing what may really be their ace on the other side of it. You have to see another left-handed pitcher. So Reed Deppmers goes for the Angels. So hopefully some of these righties can get themselves going. It's been a little bit of a challenge to start the year. Hancock Castillo, the other two starters this weekend. It was nice to hear Jordan Schusterman talking about the rock yesterday with Bump and Stacey. And now to kind of fade into the background behind these homegrown starters that were constantly debating, oh, is Logan better? Is George better? Oh, Bryce and Brian Woo, those guys are awesome. But Luis Castillo is still so important to this team in terms of the stability. And now what he shows you when you start like that against the Yankees, there is still real upside there. So if he's gonna be able to show that kind of velocity over the course of this season, we shouldn't be shocked because this is one of the better right-handed pitchers of his generation, even if it's like a tick below the guys that have been winning Cy Young, he's a great pitcher. And if he can get back to being that kind of level, that maybe all-star level pitcher, that just gives so much more room for error. And not to mention, of course, we saw six, though, he didn't even remember some Hancock. Yeah, a hundred percent. And it was really a good start for Castillo against the Yankees. Would love to see him follow that up this weekend. JP Crawford only needed four plate appearances before he was reactivated from the IL. So he's got about 20 combined, including spring training this year. Hopefully he's seeing the ball. Okay. They end up sending Ryan Bliss down in his place. Pirate shortstop Connor Griffin gets nine years, 140 million before making his debut today. Not bad. Beating out Cole Tamerson. So it looks like the Mariners may have gotten that deal done just in time. And yes, the labor uncertainty is part of the reason we're seeing these deals. There's no accident for me that it's a lot of these infielders who have a high ceiling. There are comparables out there from other recent players. And we don't know what the next CBA is going to be. So when you look at where we're at with that, when you look at the unknown, when the unknown is waiting for you in 2027, one way of hedging a bit is to say, okay, I'd like to have a contract that depending on whatever the future looks like, I might be grandfathered into it. And so it's not the worst idea probably if you're a young player to get these contracts signed and on the books, because at least protects you a bit if contracts are grandfathered into a new structure, it helps to have a contract. It gave me a lot of pressure on, well, certainly this kid in Pittsburgh and obviously eventually Cole Tamerson here in Seattle. And he gets to hit free agency still at 28. Cause he's 19. That's so crazy. He was a ninth pick. He wasn't like a number one overall pick. He was the number, I think nine pick in that year's draft. He's come pretty quick. Here's the second thing you need to know. Learn a lot about the Seahawks this summer as they, or we will rather as they go on to Hard Knocks and John Schneider was on with Wyman and Bob yesterday explaining what that will look like. I just always worried about telling our story, but I get it from a PR standpoint, marketing standpoint. You know, we're just very protective of like, how we do things, what our culture looks like. And man, I guess it is a, we're going to make it as possible, we possibly can without sharing as much information as we possibly can. Yeah. It is a bit of a fine line to walk. I, we'll talk to G about this at 830. Look, it's going to be fun for us. I do think there's some positive, more you're right in letting the rest of the league and the rest of just the people around the NFL see who these guys are. I do hope Leonard Williams is featured in it because Leonard Williams is awesome. I hope somebody tells his story about just how great a player he is. DeMarcus Lawrence was amazing last year and super fun. Like they've got some guys on this team that are among the better players in the league and aren't getting enough credit. Nicky Minwary certainly seems to be heading in that direction. Devin Witherspoon, like, yeah, there's some guys here. So I do hope that there is an opportunity for the rest of the league to learn a little bit more about them. We talked to Daniel Jeremiah yesterday as we get ready for the draft. And, you know, one idea is to find another offensive lineman later, perhaps in this draft to, you know, you got four holes probably, right? Running back, edge, cornerback, and then probably one more, maybe on the interior of the offensive line. I'm not convinced they're going to go that way. But if he does, if they do, he says there are options. Yeah, I would say the corner position, 1,000%. I feel great about that. The interior offensive lineman, no doubt. If where they're picking 64, 96, either one of those spots, they can get a player that's a, that'll be a starting caliber player with one of those two picks. Yeah. And if you end up with somebody to compete with Anthony Bradford, that would be fine. But it does seem like they like a lot of the other guys already on their roster. Here's the third day you need to know. Yeah, just a huge bummer to watch the Kraken totally implode last night, got up to nothing, Everly had a goal, and then Bobby McMahon with what his eighth goal in 10 games since coming to Seattle. He's been awesome, but it hasn't been enough. They've been miserable during that stretch. They gave up six straight after taking a two nothing lead to lose six, two to Utah. Yes, they had a goal disallowed on a very soft call, but you know, that's how it goes. It could have been worse. That's just, that's how bad they played after they ended up with that lead. So four points back, eight games to play. They would also need to pass four teams and get into the playoffs. It is looking dire for your Seattle Kraken. That is everything you need to know. And we do that quarter past every hour here on the Brock and Salk Show. Yeah, again, we'll do an early version for you in review. So and we had an awesome guest this week, Philip Rivers and DJ and Jeff Passin and Robert Murray was really good and Jason Benetti. So kind of run through some of the best of that at eight o'clock. G Scott with us at eight, I don't see G out there. It's like 730. Where is he? Usually he's here by now, like parading around and bragging that he's been to the gym and walked upstairs or something like that. He's here like when we get here, he comes here before he goes to the gym. Just for fun. I don't really understand. If I went to the gym that early, I would stagger in at the last possible moment. He's bragging about being a morning person. I'm just pretty much sick of it, but G's gonna be here at 830, Stacy at nine o'clock. Your phone calls at 930. It'd be fun to have some good calls today. And so that's our morning. Now, in the meantime, Mora, you sent over a bunch of these news and notes yesterday and I wanna play a bunch of the sound, but I just gotta, I will say the moment I saw this, I knew I was going to be excited to talk about it. Mora sent over a note and I'll only read you the beginning. You'll have to hear the end in a moment, but the beginning was apparently Adam Schefter has been living under a rock because he seems surprised that. I'll tell you the rest next. Highlights don't win games. The full box score does. I'm Brock Heard and most business leaders aren't short on data. They're short on clarity. Numbers are scattered across ERP, CRMs and spreadsheets, making decisions reactive instead of confident. And that's not how great businesses are built. Marquee IQ brings all your data together into one clear view. Even if it lives in disconnected systems or offline, so you can see what's really happening and act faster, stop running your business on highlights, get the full picture. Visit datathewins.com to see what Marquee IQ can do. Stream every Seattle sports show with the Seattle Sports app. Brought to you by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Get new videos, podcasts and articles on the Seahawks and Mariners from your favorite Seattle sports personalities daily. Old Windows costume money and security. Lake Washington Windows and Doors installs energy efficient high security windows that lower your bills and increase protection. With leak armor installation and lifetime warranties, you're protected for life. Choose LakeWashingtonWindows.com today. For decades, Seattle has lived and breathed baseball. The crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd, the memories made at the ballpark. At Levitt Group Northwest Insurance, they get it because they call Seattle home just like you. They know this community and they know what it takes to protect it. That's why they listen, shop around and tailor coverage for your home, car or business. Call 877-4LEVITT. Levitt Group Northwest Insurance, you can count on season after season. 877-4LEVITT. Get more baseball for your buck with Mariners value options. Tickets for less than $12 to select games all season and the biggest ever value menu and beer lineup. Featuring 36 items and available every game. Check it out at mariners.com slash value. From the Quantum Fiber Studio. This is Brock and Salk. Weeks six to 10. On Seattle Sports and 97-3 FM HD 2. No guesses on what more are texted. I thought we might have a guess or two on the text line, 866-979-3776. It started with apparently Adam Schefter's been living under a rock because he seemed surprised that. So, you know, I'll tell you, I'll give you guys a minute. I'll do one more story before that one, just a quick one. And then if you have any guesses, you can text them in for what Adam Schefter has missed because apparently he's been living under a rock. He's the last person to know that this might have happened. So, yeah, 866-979-3776 text line. I'll give you a different Adam Schefter thing first and then we'll get to that. So, he did address and give us a little bit more information on the whole Pukinakua thing. Here is Schefter. He's trying to get the help that he believes he now needs. And obviously, there are huge implications for the football element of this that the Rams are aware of. But they said it's most important right now for Pukin to get the help that he needs as a person and all the football stuff, the contract, that all can wait until after he's out. We saw Jackson Smith and Jigba already become the highest paid wide receiver in football. Pukinakua is that level of talent and everybody believes that Pukin is going to get paid. But the Rams obviously want him to get the help and treatment he needs first before they move on to the contractual element of this. And when teams are doing contracts, they look at the entire picture. They need that person to be a leader on and off the field. They need to be an example. And you're going to make him one of the highest paid players in the league. Everybody believes Pukinakua will get paid. That's what Schefter said. While you're paying Pukinakua. No, I wouldn't. Not at this rate. How could you pay him? I mean, what is the most obvious comp right now today for Pukinakua is who? Antonio Brown, right? I mean, AB really went off the rails. So I don't know if I want to quite go there yet, but you're right that it's trended in that way. You give him how much money? Yeah, $42 million a year. You don't think it could very easily trend closer and closer to AB? No, I'm not saying it's going to be exactly the same. You're right. That is a level of going off the rails that we've maybe never seen before. I mean, like that is a that's a hall of fame example of going off the rails. But there are arguably more red flags about Puka before the contract than there were about Antonio Brown before his. There are arguably more red flags here than there were then. I mean, I hope I hope to hell the Rams do it. Pay this guy is money. The only reason I don't want it to happen is that I don't like Pukinakua and I don't want him to have all that money, but I think it'll ruin him even more. They're crazy if they pay him that money. That'd be great. That'd be great for the Seahawks. Pay Pukinakua a gazillion dollars and then have Matt Stafford retire. See what happens. Mess around and find out like that sounds great. Please sign me up for that. I hate when you hear that stuff. Oh, everybody believes Pukin is going to get paid. Well, when the NFL owners keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again, like, yeah, I guess that's why we believe it, but it does feel like it would be a mistake. Let's pay him and then Stafford retires. I feel like he's going to demand a trade within a year of that contract. What a mess. All right, Adam, some guesses from the people out here. Adam Schefter was the last one to find out that no one's impressed. He has multiple phones. That's mean. That's not nice. That the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. Yes. That Mike is the MVP of his rec hockey league for 40 plus. No, I don't do that. I don't, I don't play. I just watch. Thanks. Let's see. Last to know that Pukin's a jerk. Yeah, there's a bunch of other good ones here. You guys can keep, keep, keep coming with them, but none of them are right. Adam Schefter is apparently the last person to find out or to, or to not understand why Aaron Rodgers has decided to string along the Pittsburgh Steelers this off season. Here's Schefter again. Art Rooney, the president of the Steelers, essentially said this week that they would like an answer before the draft, which is three weeks from tonight in Pittsburgh. Now, what's interesting is initially when the season ended, they thought they might get an answer within 30 days that it was supposed to be in mid-March. And now it's supposed to be sometime before the draft. It keeps being pushed back. It's unclear why the deadline continues to be pushed, not deadline, but timeline for Aaron Rodgers to give an answer. But there's been no indication that he doesn't want to come back yet. But with Aaron Rodgers, you never know what the actual answer is until you hear it from the man himself. And again, the Steelers are cautiously optimistic that he will return. You couldn't write this script. It's unclear what the holdup is. What do you mean? This is what he does. This is the Brett Favre playbook, part two. I mean, like, how many years did Favre do this? Four or five years in a row, right? When he did it to the Packers before finally they shipped him out and then he did it a couple more times with the Jets and Vikings. Like, it's what he did. There was no mystery to it. You knew he was gonna come back. It's just that he needed the attention and everything else in the meantime. Who do you think taught Aaron Rodgers how to do this? Well, I for one am shocked. It is unclear. They thought they were gonna get an answer right away. And now they're not. Really? The date that they think they're getting an answer keeps moving. That is so strange. Nobody in NFL circles understands what's really happening here. Come on, Adam. Everybody knows what's happening here. Look at me. Talk about me. But I don't like it. But I love it. But I don't like it. But I love it. And I can't quit it. I can't go to the coffee shop down the street without people stalking me. That's so awful. And all I wanna do is be left alone. But I'm gonna go on Pat McAfee and have millions of people watch me talk about it. And make sure that I just won't give anybody an answer so that they speculate about me and talk about me all off season long. God, he's the worst. And here we are. Once again, falling into the trap and doing exactly. To me though, this is more about Schefter. Like of course, like, come on, man. You know what's happening. Do you have, that is the thing that always just amazes me about Schefter. Is that there's just no interest in looking at the why. It's always just the what. It's always the what. And then like, whoa, this is crazy. I never would have seen this coming. I'm sure he does, but he just plays this like naive character on the air that I don't really understand. I don't get it either. But also how excited are you to not have to be in the situation the Steelers are in, where you're hoping Aaron Rodgers is going to get back to you? I mean, nothing could be worse. Thank God, John and Mike did not end up having to go down that road. Cause if they did, it would have been so miserable here. Fernanda Mendoza is going to be the first pick in the draft. That seems pretty clear. And it looks like while his mentor's not going to be Gino Smith, it is going to be Kirk Cousins. Tim Hasselbeck thinks that's probably a good thing. What Mendoza needs to do is basically be a sponge, you know, soak up everything you possibly can from Kirk Cousins. And the reason I say that his cousins is a master of this offense. He's been with Clint Kubiak in the past. He's played in a version of the West Coast offense, pretty much his entire career. And he's got the battle scars. So there's the football side of it. Then there's a side of it, of about how to be a pro, how to be a franchise quarterback, which has been for a long time. How do you treat the people in the building? How do you lead? How do you, you know, what is your relationship like with the offensive line, the receivers? How do you communicate with coaches? All of that stuff. Look at him, he's going to have a great example in Cousins. I mean, you can learn all that from Kirk Cousins, but if you really want to learn from Kirk Cousins, learn how he has become the highest, grossing NFL player of all time. He's made more money than Tom Brady. Kirk Cousins has made more money than Tom Brady or any other quarterback. Kirk Cousins. If you want to learn anything from him, learn the business of the NFL. Don't learn anything about playing quarterback. I mean, that's fine too, but learn the business. Just keep taking the franchise tag on Kirk Cousins. Unbelievable. Yeah, I won't sign. Give me the franchise tag again, year after year after year, there's a lot of money in the franchise tag, that's for sure. And then go get Atlanta to drastically overpay for you. 3-6-0 says, I think Adam and Aaron made a deal. Adam keeps bringing him up in speculation as long as he gets the exclusive final answer from Aaron once he gets around to announcing it. Yeah, maybe. We're things have occurred. That would not be the most shocking thing of all time, but I mean, obviously, I don't know if that's true. Jeremy Fowler, speaking of wide receivers who eventually lose their mind, I think you could put AJ Brown at least near that category. He is in Philadelphia where it sounds like he and Jalen Hertz are not a great fit. I don't necessarily think they're in a terrible place at the moment. And Jalen Hertz said after the year that he and AJ Brown spoke and that they are in a quote, great place, I believe is what he said. So that is a positive. I really think it's one of those situations, Rich, where there's no low out fight. Multiple sources told me they never saw AJ and Jalen in some sort of huge scuffle or issue. Brown can kind of do that on his own as we saw week to week. You know, what happened at the end of the season was probably the eighth worst thing that happened, you know, when he's addressing his coach and getting mad on the sideline. It was kind of a weekly charade. And certainly AJ deserves his share of the blame in the struggles last year too. But I think it's a situation where you have two players who have slightly different personalities but also internalize a lot. Jalen Hertz, I think part of the struggle he has is he's very much an introvert. He's very much to himself. Whether he wins a Super Bowl or throws a pick, he's kind of the same guy, which can be hard to read inside a locker room, especially one with a lot of personalities and ego. What do you think is going on there? What do you think is going on in Philadelphia? Because we keep here, I mean, they are messy. I saw Michelle Smallman on Sportsman like, had them as her like NFL messy team of the week or whatever it is they do. I was like, I don't know. Like, I mean, obviously Philly's good. They're not a mess the way the Browns are a mess, but they do always just seem to have a lot of jumble and noise coming out of that building. And it's funny, in some ways, Jalen Hertz is the perfect person for it. I get what Fowler's saying, but isn't the like ability to just tune it all out and walk away from the noise in Philadelphia part of like Jalen Hertz is super power and why he's won there. I mean, look, I like AJ Brown. I think he's a good player, really good player. I like that style of wide receiver. But if it's become a problem, move on. Like if it's an issue there, just move on. He's a wide receiver. There's also issues with Jalen Hertz and Nick Siriani. I know what is that? He's uncoachable. That he's, I guess they, the offensive coordinator wanted to make some changes last year and he didn't want to do it. So they've got all kinds of drama. But is Siriani part of that too? Because he seems like kind of a drama guy also. He does. Of all of them, honestly, Jalen Hertz feels like the least dramatic from the outside. I'm not in that building every day, but just from where we are, knowing a lot of his story and what happened in Alabama and Oklahoma, like, Jalen Hertz feels like the guy who's the least amount of drama. So if he's got issues or there's AJ Brown problems or Nick Siriani problems, my gut tells me that those guys are more fault that Jalen Hertz. But I mean, again, not in the building. So obviously difficult to tell. That's just my opinion. Adam Schefter probably wouldn't offer his. I do like Jalen Hertz. That's true. I am a Jalen Hertz fan. So yeah, I'm biased. I totally admit that. Schefter also did give us some details on why the Seahawks finally ended up doing hard knocks and the Patriots as well. Let me tell you why there was a double announcement, which we've never seen before, because the NFL in recent years has struggled to get teams to do hard knocks. And when the NFL has asked teams to do hard knocks during the summer, the answer that they're commonly told is, we'll do it next year. We'll do it next year. Like Dan, me, Saint Diel, let's go grab lunch. We'll do it next. We'll do it next month. We'll do it next. No lunch, no lunch. Okay? So the NFL has been asking teams to do hard knocks. And the answer always is next year. We'll do it next year. So what the NFL did this year is when the New England Patriots said we'll do it next year, they said, you're in. You've got 2027. Congratulations, next year. And so they've taken the two Super Bowl participants, the Seahawks this summer in 26, the Patriots next summer in 27, and they held their feet to the fire. And they said, next year, next year it is. Interesting. That's a good report. I hadn't heard that. It doesn't explain the Seahawks side of it, but it does explain the Patriots. I mean, to me, I just figured now that Bill Belichick's not there, they at least have a shot because there was no way it would have ever happened while Belichick was there. Just none. No chance. I mean, they could have tried to do it. He would have sabotaged it in every way. I've watched him do it. There is no way they were gonna do hard knocks as long as Bill Belichick was in charge. Not gonna happen, nugga duh. But, you know, in a new world with Mike Vrable, and yeah, it seems like they've changed some of the rules around hard knocks. Yeah, they were able to get it done. Okay, let's go from there to Brady Henderson, and we'll do some Blue 88. This is Brock and Sock's Blue 88. We're gonna go red, right, tight, close, sprint left, G, U-corner, half back, flat, on one, on one, ready? Brock Heward tackles three football questions as only he can. Boom, it is. Yeah, it's a hut, hut, hut. Now here's your hosts, Brock Heward and Mike Sock. Yeah. Morning, Brady. Hello, Michael, good morning. Good morning. Did you have fun yesterday doing Wyoming and Bob? We'll chat with Schneider. Yeah, it was fun, wasn't it? You've had a bunch of it. So you had Schneider with him, didn't you do, didn't you come home with me and Mike McDonald also? Did that come on with you? Yeah, it was after the Colts game. Yeah. And they played the Rivers. Pretty good. Pretty good. You must have connections, Brady. You must have pretty good connections. That's why we keep having you back on this show. All right, so you talked to Schneider yesterday. Let me play you a short clip from it because he says they missed out on a guy in the past because of the coaching staff and their vision. Listen to Schneider with you yesterday. You know, where we made mistakes in the past was kind of like, all right, I hadn't really wrapped my mind around it enough with how the way, you know, pasting it and, you know, like, and just totally aligned with the Scouts and the coaches and a specific coach's vision for a player. And then we've gone away from that. And like, it's not all aligned and or medical as well. Another piece. Yeah. And so, you know, or missing on a guy that, you know, we should, we should, you know, maybe the coaches didn't have a great vision for them, but we really liked. And then we didn't take none of the players at baller, you know. How often are you? How often are you? I mean, a pro bowler that we won't discuss. All right. Who was the unnamed pro bowler that they didn't take because the coaches didn't have a vision for them? Yeah, I think, I think, and this was not a case of me pulling him aside afterwards and saying, hey, who was it? I think just based on my own past reporting and sit down for this one, if you're listening to this. I think it was George Kittle. Yeah. I think I, in fact, I know that there was a lot of fans of George Kittle at the building and a lot of people in the building wanted to draft him. And I have heard that the position coach at the time just was not on board and they ultimately didn't do it. And that was, you know, a draft where they had some hits. Tequila Griffin ended up being a pro bowl player. David Moore, you know, was a good receiver. Chris Carson was there starting running back. You know, not in the East and Plastic ended up being their starting center for a little bit. But in the middle of that draft, a lot of guys that didn't really amount to anything, but man, would that draft have looked different if George Kittle was in the mix there. And that is just one of many reasons why the draft is so fun to cover and to try to predict and to look back on because there's so many of those wild-water scenarios. And that is one of the biggest ones in recent Seat Ops history. So 21 though, like, what have they had drafted Kittle and the coaching staff just didn't really know how to use them and he ends up not really doing much of anything. Yeah, that's a fair point. I mean, you know, these guys, it's not just about finding the guy, but developing him. I kind of think George Kittle is one of those guys that with his mindset and his attitude and just the way that he plays, I think he would have found a way to be who he is. Maybe not the same exact player, but still would have been a pretty good player. Yeah, probably pretty good. Question number two. See, Oaks gonna play an international game this year. What's the deal? I think, yeah, I continue to get the sense that there is a strong possibility of that happening. Now, at this point, there's really only two international games that are in play. It's Mexico City versus the 49ers and it's London versus the commanders. Now, I am inclined to believe that, you know, if they hadn't won the Super Bowl, that I think there's a good chance they would have been the Rams opponent down in Melbourne, Australia, figuring that, you know, the NFL was gonna put a West Coast team in that, another West Coast team in that game, just given that you're talking about, you know, it's already, what, 17 hours of flying time to get to Australia or whatever it is in the West Coast. So then we're gonna make a team from the Midwest or certainly not the East Coast playing that game. So I think it would have been the Seahawks if they hadn't won the Super Bowl and obviously Super Bowl chance opened the season at home. But yeah, it's either Mexico City or London. Those are the two remaining international games. I heard some scuttlebutt down in Phoenix that Miami, the Dolphins, are a strong candidate to play the 49ers in that Mexico City game. So that would leave just London against the commanders. And I think there is a decent chance that the Seahawks end up in that game figuring that the NFL wants to give the Super Bowl champions some exposure. That would be their second London game, right? They've done London once and Germany once, rather? They did London in 2018 versus the Raiders. And then they did, yeah, Tampa Bay in Munich in 2020. Marshawn, right? Isn't that when they shut down Marshawn? In 2018. Wasn't he with the Raiders? Yeah, he played again. Yeah, he played again. He was with the Raiders that season. He played against them. That'd be crazy. All right, maybe London again. Question number three. So we were arguing yesterday with Daniel Jeremiah, Seahawks picket number 32. As of today, less than three weeks away from that moment, Brady, did they pick at 32? Did they trade up or did they trade back? I think it's more likely that they trade back. But here, let me ask you this, Mike Salk. We all know John Schneider's history about trading back. And if you have heard me say this on your Twitter, on your station the last couple of days, you have to abstain from this. I've heard you say it to me like a couple of weeks ago. What's that? You said it to me a couple of weeks ago. I did, okay, okay. Well, the question is, when was the last time they traded back in the first round? And it actually wasn't until, it hasn't been since 2019. Every year they've had a first round pick since then. They have made that pick. Now, there's been times where they've wanted to trade back, or at least they've been interested in doing so. And they haven't found a partner. So it hasn't always been by design. But the point is, it's not as easy to trade back as people might think. As easy as they've made it look over the years, over all the times that they've done it. So yeah, I think they probably want to trade back. They end up with more than four picks. But I also, I don't know if they love this draft enough to, we've seen them in years where they've turned four picks into double, they've doubled that total. I don't know if they love this draft enough to want to do that. And so maybe they turned four picks into five or six, but I don't know if they're going to try to turn four picks into eight or nine, like we've seen them do in years past. But the point about trading back in the first round is, yeah, even if they are interested in doing that, you still got to find a trade partner, and you still got to find a team willing to give you good value. And there's still got to be a player that feels still has to position you to find a player, later, maybe in the second round that you like, but there's got to be a few players that you think are going to be available in that spot that you're trading back into. So there's a lot of variables that make those trades maybe harder than they've made it look over the first several years that they're tenure there. All right, there you go. That is today's Blue 88 with Brady Henderson of ESPN and good friend of the show. Yeah, no, we actually quoted you to DJ about that yesterday and talking about how you had told us that it had been since 2019. Brock likes the idea of them moving up, and his crazy scenario is trade the first round pick and next year's first rounder to get into the top 10 if Jeremiah loves slips to say number eight or nine. Yeah, we talked about that, Bob Stilton, that I did yesterday. I mean, you're paying a lot. When it's not, you know, it's one thing to go up from like 16 to nine. It's another thing to go up from 32 into the top 10. So you were talking about giving up a boatload of draft capital and you'd be doing it for, you know, a position that as we know has the shortest shelf life in the NFL. That said, I think Jordan Love, excuse me, Jeremiah Love is the exact kind of player that backfield needs. Now, look, if he, you know, DJ's talking about him leaving maybe on the Jean-Robinson, Jameer Gibbs level, so any team could use a guy like that. But I think, you know, they don't just need a running back. They need somebody to replicate Ken Walker's explosiveness. You know, because the guys they have right now aren't really those that kind of back. And so he would be the exact kind of guy that would sit very well in the backfield and really anybody's backfield. But I just think that price, when you're talking about moving that far up, I kind of think that the price may make that product. I would tend to agree with you. All right, thank you, Brady. Great stuff. Enjoy the day on the boat. Enjoy your trip to the home course later today. I'm jealous that I won't be with you. Thanks for the invite and we'll talk later. See you, buddy. All right, sounds good. See you, Michael. Thank you. There you go, the great Brady Henderson from ESPN. I want to make sure we have enough time to buzz through our week for you in review. We had really good guests this week. Couple surprises in there as well. Stick around, you'll hear from them next. I'm Brock and Salk.