Whose stock has risen the most for the Saints in 2025?

Whose stock has risen the most for the Saints in 2025?

[Music] Welcome back to another episode of New Orleans. Football presented by PJ’s Coffee. Coming to you from New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Co. up here on St. Charles. Outstanding atmosphere. Come through here, get a great burger. Uh grab a drink, hang out, watch your sports. They got TVs everywhere. Just kind of a great place to uh hang out. We got a great show for you guys today. Brandon Cooks got released this morning. So, we’re going to talk about all of that and what that means for the Saints and their path forward. And this is being brought to you by the Mobile Ashner Andrews Institute podcast studio. And if you’re coming to New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Co., do it in the car that you buy from my guy Matt Bowers. Um, he’s going through it. You guys might be taking his college football coach Matt Matt Matt’s locked in. He’s he’s tweet he’s tweeting through the Lane Kein stuff. Um, so go buy a car from him. Tell him that Noo sent you. And if you want to celebrate your fandom beyond the field, Kesler Federal is proud to be the official credit union sponsor of the New Orleans Saints are a notfor-profit organization, meaning their members always come first. You can enjoy better fees, lower rates, and everything else Saints fans need to help you get one step closer to living your dreams. All right, first topic today presented by Aaron Rose. Saints signed Brandon Cooks before the season. Saints let Brandon go. Brandon Cooks go before the end of the season. What’s kind of the impact of this on the team? First of all, I think they’re pumping in crowd noise here at New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood. I mean, we were sitting here talking and everything as soon as the show started all of a sudden. All of a sudden, they’re pumping it in. Yeah, a little bit. The the atmosphere is killing it right now. Um, look, I mean, Brandon Cooks, we debated whether he made sense in the first place. Uh, I think he signed when Derek Carr was still expected to be part of this team and and and then later obviously it became more of a rebuild than it was. I I thought he was probably going to get traded. I think he probably obviously thought he was going to get traded. I mean, it it just makes sense to move on. This team is thinking about the future and he’s one of those veteran players that um, you know, probably wants to be on a win now team. So, uh, I’m glad it was amicable. I’m glad both sides got what they wanted. Saints will save a little bit of money, insignificant amount of money, but you know, every little bit counts and hopefully he lands somewhere good. You know, I mean, he was a good leader for a young receiver group. He did some good things even in the offseason with the quarterbacks. He organized like the the throwing session that that uh Tyler Shuck was at. I think that’s still paying dividends to this day. Actually, Tyler Shuck mentioned Brandon Cook’s first among all teammates when he was talking about how supportive they were after the first time he played and the advice they gave him. So, he was good for all those reasons, but but obviously, um, you know, this team’s about the future right now. Always thought it was a weird signing and I feel like it never came together. Like, I thought they wanted to have like this offense where everybody was running like making turn it into a track meet and I thought maybe that was the vision that Kell Moore had for for the team and I don’t even think we necessarily see that per se. Like I there’s definitely a huge emphasis in trying to play in space and create space. Like they run spread out sets and 11 personnel and they’re they’re in shotgun and they’re trying to get catching runs and like all this stuff. But like it just doesn’t it just hasn’t quite come together. Um and I thought that was the vision and then it wasn’t. And then the only way this made sense for me was like if you were creating insurance for either a Shahid or a L injury and with the Derek Carr team maybe that made sense but they were still always lacking the 6’3 6’4 big bodied receiver. They made the trade for Vele that hasn’t quite worked out like so building out this receiver core is like something that has not come together um at all for them. We’ll see like how how Pulk does and like you know there’s some flyers out there. Vle now I think the emphasis on on him becomes even greater. Brandon Cooks obviously I think the the off the- field tremendous on the field not much impact like and I don’t necessarily think that that’s all his fault. I think he has probably more to give on a different team but 19 catches 165 yards no touchdowns. I I think it makes sense for him to be out here. I think it makes sense for them to be moving on and and trying to figure this out with someone else because you can get this production from Devon Ble and and at least that is an investment in the maybe a better future. This is an investment into like something that made sense with Derek Carr and absolutely that questionably made sense with Derek Carr and absolutely doesn’t make make a whole lot of sense now. Um Cooks I was told Cooks had requested a trade going into the deadline. That didn’t happen. Came back requested the release. They granted the release. He accepted it. A reduced salary, a pay cut to facilitate facilitate that release. He’ll go on waiverss. Now, probably wouldn’t be a surprise if there’s something in there that kind of emphasizes um him not getting claimed, you know, off that like some type of incentive or something because he he’s going to want to pick his team. Like that’s the whole reason for doing this at this point and working with the team to make it happen. So he asked they granted uh like a lot changed in the t like maybe the criticalness of of of the fit here is completely different if if they get to execute their vision with car but he signed and then car left and like everything just kind of went haywire. So it just it never it never came together on this build. Maybe it would have on the other one but like it always was a little bit like Brandon Cooks like you know it was a little bit of a surprise. Yeah. Yeah. plug definitely for him. Kudos to him being the leader he was since he ended up on a team that that that had no it’s funny I talked to him in the locker room after their last loss I think when they fell to one and eight and I said something about bad on me I used the word like re you know you know you knew guys this was going to be a rebuilding year but still is it hard and he goes I didn’t look at it that way I didn’t that word didn’t that word wasn’t in our locker room and he’s like you know yeah the circumstances are what they are, but like we came in here to win every game, you know what I mean? Like he just like quickly changed that, you know? But um and and he he gave a really good quote. It was in my notebook a couple weeks ago about how they keep this mindset even when they’re a one and eight team, how they can keep coming back into the building and have an energetic mood. He was very clearly good for all those reasons. And good on him because this couldn’t have been what he signed up for. Definitely not what he signed up for. And look, he he kept a good attitude throughout it, too. I I want that to kind of be a point of emphasis. And when he felt a little bit like he’s hanging in there and I don’t think he ever let anyone feel that in the locker room on the field probably behind the scenes frustration probably went home was frustrated tried to find his way out of it. Like it all makes like I think he handled it the the best he could. um he he’s probably one of the biggest casualties of like how everything shifted because he came in under pretense is that like two weeks later are completely different um for him. So moving on to our next topic presented by Rouse is the official supermarket of the New Orleans Saints teams do their like self scouting this time of year. This is where they look at what they’re doing. They change some stuff up or they lean more into things or or whatever. Like what’s what are you looking at coming out of the buy? Like what do you think should change? but needs to be better. Like what’s kind of what’s kind of your your note that you’d put on the board for them? I think it’s an easy number one. Where the hell is the run game and and Alvin Chimera? Uh and the two go hand in hand. I thought it was going to be the calling card for this team. I thought it was going to be the calling card for Kell Moore’s offense both because of, you know, what we expected out of him and just the personnel and the offensive line. And obviously they don’t have Eric McCoy anymore and Trevor Penning did not work out at guard. So, the offensive line is not the same strength across the board that we expected going into this season. This has been a huge disappointment to me. Even in this game where where there’s all these good vibes coming out of Tyler Shuck’s first start, they only scored 17 points because it felt like every time they crossed midfield or got to the Tampa 30 or got to the Tampa 2, they couldn’t even run for two yards when they needed to run for two yards. They got to self scout. I hope they self scouted and I hope they’re like all right, especially with the opponents that are all beatable the rest of the season. They should be able to stick to the run game in all these games. They got to find their run game. The uh the the hype of a like this this was like the most hyped 17-point game of all time. But like honestly, it should have been it probably it would have been 24 if they hadn’t tried to like bleed out the clock at the end. Like so so it was a very like strong it was probably the strongest 17 you could possibly get. It kind of feels like that that first game with with Jamus where he had like all the the the touchdowns against Green Bay then you look like he passed for like like 10 and some yards. What happened? But like it was like a really strong but but look I’m encouraged by by that and where it’s going to go. But yeah, it’s like funny to look back like they Yeah, they did score 17. They still haven’t crossed that 20 threshold really like with any type of cons. Was it only the uh the Arizona game? Was that the only time they got over 20? Was that the one that was 26-20 or was that San Francisco? I get those two confused. One of those early two games. But yeah, anyways. Yeah, just kind of kind of fascinating to look at it um that way and kind of see where it was at. Yeah, they got Yeah. No, they got to 21 against the ners. Okay, that was it. Yeah. Okay. That’s the only time. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, I mean, and then the the Giants went obviously. Oh, no. They beat the Giants 2614. So my my thing for them is I want to see like stylistically either they’re going to confirm they’re this one thing where it’s just shotgun every single snap. Really no help for for your tackles at all. You’re getting two by two sets and you’re just operating the way you operate. They’ve ran 75.2% of their plays from shotgun, 69.8% of their plays 11 personnel. 50% of their snaps about from 2×2 formations. Like this is who they are. like that’s our look, but is it is that more of a a Rattler thing or like do you want to be a more diverse offense? Do you want to be just this one thing, one look? This is what we do and we do everything from it. I mean, it it it’s going to be interesting. Like I don’t know if that was a Rattler thing, if it was a shock thing, if this was the idea and you kind of like figure out over time, all right, we need to do some different stuff cuz like they have been running more from under center looks, but they aren’t passing a lot from them and they don’t do any play action. I mean, it’s just it’s it’s fascinating to kind of see where they’re going with it. And it feels like league trend is going away from this kind of look. Like this is how the Chiefs play football and like that was kind of like the last iteration of like offensive ingenuity or whatever. But like it feels like you’re kind of on the other side of that now where it’s getting to more like McVeyy’s going to 13 personnel and everybody’s trying to run out of out of run heavy looks and like the Saints are showing pass to get you to defend pass to try to run against it which that’s a great play but like it’s a much better play if you get people to defend run and you pass against it. So like are they going to mix in more play action? Are they going to do more of this stuff? my my hunch and I looked it up this week and I was wrong. Like I I thought like okay, Rattler didn’t do a lot from under center in college and he didn’t. It was like 53 attempts his whole entire career and I thought for some reason I thought Shock did way way more uh in college and last year he he was 15 to 25 at Louisville. I thought they did more from it. So like not a ton of experience there. Texas Tech, they didn’t do a ton of it. I couldn’t get the numbers for for Oregon because you’re going back um eight years. Let’s ask We’ll ask Joan in a lot. So, those didn’t exist, you know. So, um yeah, it’s just kind of fascinating to me to see where it goes. Like, is this what they’re doing or are they going to try to mix more in? Um we’re going to find out. The thing is is with some of the stuff they’re doing that seems frustrating. I do wonder if you get false positives going forward cuz like the schedule’s kind of a little bit softer and I wonder if there’s going to be stuff they feel good about going down the stretch that we’re like, “Oh yeah, they got better at this.” And then next year in September when they’re playing good teams, they get punched in the mouth and it’s like, “Okay, like was that fool’s goal?” So I think I think part of our analysis and part of their analysis going forward is going to be like trying to temper that and really sort through kind of like all right, but that was the Jets. Like that was a bad Panthers team that was, you know, so uh the Titans. So, it’s going to be interesting to see. Hopefully, they hopefully if if it looks bad against those teams, then it’s really bad. Yeah. So, I’m fascinated to see where it goes. You know, I think the defense can be tighter. There’s there’s I think they can be better kind of everything. But that’s kind of my biggest watch point going forward. And I’m not saying it’s broken or not. Like, I just want to I want to see more of it and see if it changes and see where where it goes from there. Uh we’re going to hit a quick break and we’ll be right back with more show after this word from our sponsors. Whether you’re an athlete or just trying to stay active, Ashner Andrews Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Institute can help get you moving and keep you moving. You’ll have access to the highest levels of specialized care, nationally renowned expertise, the latest equipment, and modern facilities, including a convenient walk-in orthopedic clinic when you need care fast. From the field to recovery, Ashner Injuries Institute is there to help move your healing forward and get you back to what you love. Learn more at ashner.org/ org/ortho. Ralph’s Markets is voted best grocery store in New Orleans, best grocery store in Baton Rouge, Mississippi, GF Coast, Tibido, Poma, Hammond, Lake Charles, Mobile year after year. 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And hardhide strawberry whiskey tells the story of a small town famous for strawberry farming. A delicious natural strawberry infused 86 proof whiskey for whiskey lovers. Just look for the red and orange bottles in your favorite stores, bars, and restaurants. [Music] Welcome back to New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Co. up here on St. Charles for more New Orleans. This next topic is presented by Shawberry Insurance, the Airheart Agency. They just hit me up before my home in uh homeowners insurance renewed. Saved me a ton of money on that and uh yeah, they’ll do the same for you. So, we’re at kind of the midway point of the season. Who would you say like for you who whose stock has risen the most like throughout this this first portion of the season? I wanted to have more answers to this question. Um, there’s a lot of young players on this team that I feel as good about as I hoped, uh, after some SC, you know, like Kelvin Bangs, Kool-Aid, Mckistry. I don’t know that their stock has risen. I definitely some of the rookies we talked about, like day three rookies, Stzman, Sanker, whatever. Like core players whose stock has risen. I mean, honestly, Spencer Rattler was on this list for a while and then and then he got benched for Tyler Shock. I don’t have a ton of guys. I mean, I thought about Chase Young, but I think his stock has just gotten back to where we hoped it would be. Like, I I I don’t know that there’s anyone I feel wildly better about now than I did at the beginning of the season. Jawan Johnson, but I don’t know if it’s fool’s gold or not, but at least he’s heavily involved on this team. I I don’t know. I don’t I I wish I had more answers for this question. I I I think like Chase is a name that that was kind of interesting. Um, I I definitely think I feel a little bit better about him than I did coming. I think I feel a lot better about him coming into this season or coming into the midway point than I did going into it. And it’s just hard with me cuz I you know I already had the stock valued so high above it market price. No doubt about it. Like and you were you were right like you were right on that. But like I think just kind of like seeing some consistency with him like has has made me feel like all right that was a guy to kind of to kind of invest in like that made that made some sense and and that could go the right way and hit for sure. Um outside of him man the pickings are are kind of slim. I think there’s a lot of people who kept their stock price even which isn’t a bad thing. They’re doing what they need to do to be like all right they can be a part of the team going forward but Ryzen is is a tough tough threshold. I thought Brian Brezie was going to kind of bust through the ceiling and and like I feel like it’s kind of like leveled out a little bit. He felt like a guy that that was that was pushing up quite a bit. Um I don’t know. I don’t I don’t know where else to go on this one. Like it’s kind of a reflection of of where the team’s at. Like it feels like some guys are holding steady. I feel like some young guys are are are putting things together, but I don’t want to like overhype any any progress there. Um you know, Kool-Aid some weeks feels like a guy that that could be on this list. like if we were having the conversation at a certain point in time, like he he could absolutely be a guy, but I don’t know that there’s anyone that that we’re like, “Yeah, that’s a guy you build around.” Chase Young’s the only one that I feel like maybe has a shot at solidifying that, but I don’t think he has that bolted down quite yet either. Like, let’s see see where it goes. Of course, we forgot Luke Forner in this. But, um um look, Chris belongs in snowing guy on the team. Um, Shawn Peyton, Drew Brees, Lyn forget. U, anyway, um, Chris belongs on this list. I I should have started with him. Um, we’ve talked about Chris so much, but huge question marks about his health going into this season. Um, is he, you know, we we we bumped him off of number one on our top 21 players list on the team. Like last year he was number one. This year I think we had him maybe he was two or three or four but like he got bumped off the list when we ranked when we ranked the Saints roster this year. He’s back to being Chris Olive like and that was health related but um so so I would say his stock has risen. Has Jawan Johnson’s stock risen? He’s he’s about to obliterate his career highs in catches and yards. That’s what’s he on pace for? Um well I mean he only needs about five catches. He’s at 47 already. I think his career high was 51. I I’ll yap while you do the math on 11. Um he just set his career high on uh uh in the last game with 92 yards in a game. He’s obviously someone that Rattler liked throwing to. He’s obviously someone Shuck likes throwing to. And now that Brandon Cooks isn’t here and Rasheed Shahid isn’t here. It’s going to be the Alav and Jawan Johnson show the rest of the season. I mean he could end up with I’ll do the math while we’re talking. He could end up with 75 80 catches this year. Like even before the the Cooks thing, like I I took a topic off here about like who who’s going to benefit the who could benefit the most from the the the Shuck offense. The Shuck let offense feet keeps playing well. I mean, it was Chris. Chris was number one on my on my list on that. I mean, I I think Shuck just throws a very catchable ball. And I and I think when we talk about drops and stuff, like I think that that’s part of the equation is is the catchability of a ball. Like a receiver has to obviously like clean up mistakes and make plays, but like there are just some guys that know how to throw a catchable ball. They put the right They put the right, you know, torque on it. They the velocity is right. Like they kind of put it where it can go. And I think we saw some of that in this very last game. I think Shuck just throws a very catchable pass. And, you know, I think that’s a benefit to to him. It’s a skill. Like there’s just certain quarterbacks who like don’t have a lot of drop passes and I think it’s just cuz they they add the a little bit of that that, you know, touch to it. So, he was definitely on that list. Jawan, I got to I just got to keep seeing it, man. Like I know. I agree. I got to keep seeing it. real quick. He’s on pace for 73 catches, 834 yards. I mean, it’s wild. It’s wild. And and TDS is a three, so let’s give him five TDs or whatever. I mean, that would be like a holy crap season. But obviously, we’ve seen a lot of warts. We’ve seen if you clean up the drops and if if at all what I’m saying is true, like it would apply to him as well. And if those go away and you’re playing like that the second half of the season and we aren’t seeing all these missed opportunities due to drop passes. I mean, yeah, then then the whole the whole thing shifts. We’ve been burned too many times by his potential. So, he has to prove it now. But he’s on pace to be the answer to that question by the end of the season. That’s insane. I would have never guessed that many yards. Like it doesn’t It’s just like we’ve seen too many lows. Yeah. Like, man. All right. Well, we’ll see. We’ll see. And if he like really turned it I mean in theory like a thousand’s not out of the question cuz he’s kind of underachieved. That’s kind of an important subplot to the season because like the investment in him and the contract if he becomes a real like answer. Yeah. Well, as we transition into whose stock is down, they they made three big signings this offseason. Jawan, we all said we thought they paid a little like more than we expected for the market value. Three-year deal. Um Chase Young three-year deal. feel better about that than we did before. Justin Reed three-year deal. Is is his stock down? Is he about matching that deal? What I mean, yeah, he’s more of the in between. He kind of he kind of exists in an in between and I think like with a better team around him like some of the stuff we’re seeing like there’s probably things that are getting to him. It’s like it’s like a short stop with good range sometimes like especially when you’re playing safety. Like there’s some stuff that it’s like oh he’s got to go clean this up. Oh, he missed the tackle. and it’s like well like if A and B had happened you know that that probably shouldn’t have turned out like that. I think I think the overall impact isn’t necessarily all the way there though but I’m reluctant to call him a a big stock down but I think I think it hasn’t met expectation I think is a fair way to put it. What I will put in stock down then involves him. When this team went out and signed Devon Gotcha or traded for Devon Gotchaw and signed Justin Reed as their first two big moves of the offseason, I was like, “Oh, they’re like 31st ranked run defense is finally going to get better.” And I’m disappointed that those two guys combined the overall run defense has not I thought that was going to be something you could count on in this team and we’re about to find out. They were great against Carolina. Now they’ve got two matchups in the next seven weeks against uh Bejian Robinson and Tyler Algier. I I’m going to pick the over on Bejian Robinson and Tyler Algier. I think that team is going to be able to run the ball against the Saints. If they stop them, I’ll start believing in their run defense. Yeah, I I I think that’s totally fair. Like a guy that whose stock is up too, like and I mentioned this on on uh my members only podcast yesterday, Shepard. Yeah, Sheps. Shep Shep’s a guy that’s for sure. Um yeah, run defense as a whole, run game as a whole, on offense, like I think those are all stock downs. like everybody touching those like are in that mix. Um so yeah, I don’t I don’t I don’t know. Like I feel like a lot of guys are what we thought they were going to be and then some of the like it’s just like so many disappointments across the board. I think yeah there’s not I mean there’s not a a lot of huge downs. Alvin Chimera as part of the run game. I mean I blame Alvin a little bit. Mostly I blame them like why aren’t you using Alvin more? Why aren’t you figuring out how to use Alvin? And then Devon Vele is obviously a stock down and and I’ll say since I got credit for for being too high on Chase Young. I I feel like I was on the defender side of the veil trade because I was defending the concept of trading a fourth round pick for a guy who was putting up like the Jawan Johnson numbers we just talked about. Like Vele last year in Denver was doing that. He was like the guy with the 43 catches and the 500 yards or whatever and he’s been nothing close to that. So now that they’ve cleared the decks for him, he he he sure better start looking somewhat like that again. I’ve said this a few times like 15if of his production last year was on scramble drill plays, which I I don’t know how that I don’t know how much stock you put into that. Like some like you want guys kind of winning within the structure. I think like that’s probably a better indication of like if you’re looking at a guy that like gets open, gets hit, gets a pass on schedule, like that’s probably a better better indicator of like how a guy creates separation as opposed to like the plays broken down, the quarterback scrambling, and I know how to get back to it. I think that’s also a valuable skill, but I don’t know. We’ll see. I mean, with the way Shock plays, maybe him getting opportunities, there’s more scramble drills and and opportunities and and things like that. But, um, I I would say that’s the thing for Shock, too. just in this next game. I would like to see more like from the pocket hit a guy like Ross brought that up the other day and I thought it was a great point. Um since all his all his highlights that we raved about were we’re were sort of adapting. Those are great plays to make like but you want all of it like bring it all together over the second half of the season. Uh next topic presented uh by Bobby Abear’s Cajun Cannon Restaurant. Is the Saints offensive line on the right track? There’s been a lot of talk about this kind of like it’s become a conversation. uh things take hold in the bye-week. This is a thing that has taken hold. Um I’ll let you start. What do you feel like? Yeah, I’m encouraged by Kelvin Banks and and I think it’s always been impossible and a lot of lot of people have tried, you know, a lot of people who do great work like Football Outsiders and PFF and NextGen Stats and ESPN has their their pass rush win rate stats and their pass block win rate stats for offensive and defensive line. I still don’t think any metric has really been able to nail offensive linemen and being able to show you through statistics. Um, so obviously, you know, some analysts are out there. I saw one person, I don’t I don’t remember for sure who it was, give a C minus for that draft pick. That surprised me. Somebody already came out and said they think they missed with that pick. And it just it it blew me away cuz I thought I thought he’s been a a huge boon. like I mean he hasn’t been dominating but I mean it’s like great they hit on their first round pick and I asked Kelvin Kell Moore about it um the other day and he gave a long detailed answer everything he likes about Kelvin Banks I like that he’s being thrown into the fire on an island in this shotgun offense having to go against every you know the the best of the best in the league I I’m sure the stats don’t show it because they’ve thrown him into the deep end of the pool so much but I feel like the battle testedness of that. I feel like he’s a big asset going forward. I I have more questions about Tali Fuaga, which we can talk about in a minute, but I I was surprised to see how many people are down on Kelvin Banks. Yeah, it was surprising to me, too. I mean, obviously that there’s stuff that can be way better like he gives up a lot of pressure like and there’s stuff that he gets beat on. He’s also like I I’m I’m surprised by the rush to judgement on a rookie player from smart people. Like that that surprises me that we’re already like concluding that draft bust. Like I I just watched a draft bust, a first round draft bust. Like I feel like I feel like we all know what that really looks like when a guy busted at left tackle. Um I don’t see that. I don’t see a bust. Like that’s like a wild um claim to me. Look, I think it also probably might help him playing against like playing like alongside a guy that knows how to play guard. That that probably has to help, right? Like there has to Well, there was somebody was putting that clip out. Again, I apologize for people I’m not giving credit to, but somebody put that clip out where one of actually I don’t think he gave up a pressure on the play. He tripped over Penning’s leg felt like his legs hit the ground and he’s still like half to the ground was still making the block. Yeah. Um, so I mean there’s a lot of stuff that that I think could could probably help a little bit like that. That’s got to be some like just being next to like a steady guy. There has to be benefit to that for a young player. Um, I’m not discouraged by him. I I don’t know that I don’t know that I’m like they got Terron Armstead 2.0, but like they got a a guy that I feel like you can Speaking of someone who raves about Kelvin Banks is Tron. Tran like genuinely raves about him. Yeah. Yeah. So, I don’t know. I was very surprised by that discourse. Like obviously I think some stuff can get better. Like obviously he loses too much on bull rushes and like there’s just like some stuff where I feel like yes, there’s room for improvement. I feel better about Banks than I did about Fuaga last year. And I don’t I didn’t necessarily feel bad about Fuaga, but I felt like, you know, I think we talked about a bunch of times I was like, hey, like we probably allowed this to fly under the radar a little bit. He showed some there were some ups and downs with with him and and obviously he was playing out of position and everything, but man, Jeff Bus like, you know, I when I wrote a story about Penning, it was just like they need to bench him and he actually ended up getting benched and like I I knew like I was watching a guy that shouldn’t be on the field. It’s not at all how we feel about I know like people like oh like someone told him no like we have to walk through an alley through the back part of practice because they thought I saw something I shouldn’t have seen and like I didn’t I just watched the film and I was like I don’t think they should be able to keep playing him and I wrote the story like so I’m not afraid to say it and I feel like I like when I see a bus like I don’t know like this could turn to a point but it would have to like take a drastic turn for me to get to a point where I’m like oh man this is penning 2.0. Meanwhile I’m I’m still a little tenuous on Faga. Like I would rank him among their top five assets. Um part of it is these nagging injuries. He’s had three now in the like dating back to the tail end of the last season that he played through, but that said he was bothering him. Uh and now he’s had to miss time twice and when he tried to play through the injuries, he put some of his worst um performances on tape. So hopefully that was injury related and him trying to battle through it. But I’d like to know that he could stay healthier and hold up more. And I’d like to see a little more consistency from him cuz he’s another guy that you’d feel a lot better about this team. If if you said Kelvin Banks is their number one asset and Tally Fogg is their number two asset. I don’t know that he’s reached that level yet though. Yeah. The line as a whole um you know I I’ I’d tag it as a disappointment for the season though. Like injuries they aren’t they aren’t a strong unit. They aren’t the identity of the team. They aren’t they’re just okay. Like they’ve just been okay. And you know, with all the investment on the line, I think we were kind of looking at that like, hey, this this is a group that can can really uh be something. 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Ian Rapaort reported that the Bengals checked in on Derek Carr before trading for Joe Flacco. If Carr came back a year from now, next year, shoulders good, whatever, he feels like he wants to keep playing. like what do you think the compensation would look like on that type of deal? First of all, I wanted to make sure and confirm and did that um they do have his rights still. I I wanted to make 100% sure because since he gave that money back, I want to make sure there wasn’t a release involved like all right, we’re just nullifying the entire type deal. Yeah, but they still have his rights. He’s still on their reserve retired list. Um so they would somebody would have to trade for them. But I think it would be a We’re washing our hands. We’re moving on. Like I would honestly think sixth round pick. Like I don’t think we’re looking at the Carson Palmer deal unless there was some sort of a bidding war. Um but like I wouldn’t get my hopes up and think they have this huge asset. I I don’t really know for sure. But um I I would think I would think fifth rounder if you’re if you’re really really hoping for something special, but I don’t think that’s a that’s like a gold mine that they’re sitting on. My mind went to the uh the Grank deal where I think they traded a fourth and a seventh for like a fourth and uh Grank and a seventh for a fourth. Okay, that my mind kind of went there a little bit with that similar circumstance. That’d be huge. And it’s a quarterback and not a tight end like and he’s still a young quarterback and it’s a quarterback needy team league in a sense. So I don’t know like I feel like I feel like you could do something with a pick swap and probably get in the like fourth fifth range like something in there. Like I I don’t know. Six feels light, but like maybe you’re just like whatever. Let him get out of here. Get something for him. Who cares? I think you could hold out and do better, but I guess it would depend if there’s a market. So like I’m kind of speaking in like a sense of like someone being like we have to have your GR comp. Your Grank comp is I mean he was only coming back to play for one team. He wasn’t going to play anywhere else. I guess where that falls apart is that like they had to have Grank. Is Tom Brady he has to have Gronk? You have to get Tom his guy there. Like is there is there a team that has to have Derek Carr I guess was would be the question. Boy though man like if they traded him like you know beforehand I don’t know what I would have guessed what the comp would have been but it probably probably would have been stronger than a fourth like I would have been like yeah you probably trade him for like a two or a three maybe. I I don’t know maybe I’m wrong though. I don’t know. And if he comes back he’s coming back to start. He’s not coming back to like be someone’s you know veteran backup. Uh so so it would be a team that that values him. Um I I’m still but I’m going to call that a long shot as well. So I mean like that would be money found under the couch or money found in a pocket. Yeah. And I also I also don’t think I’d hold him hostage just given that that like he it seems like it seems like they work together to kind of create an amicable resolution to this. He did them a huge favor by giving that money. Yeah. Or they just out foxed them which is also a possibility. So who who knows? They that they also have Tyran’s rights. I feel differently about Tyran. And I feel like if I feel like if Tyron wants to play, he took two pay cuts for you. You should just let him go play. Like he did you favors to allow you to like go get Justin Reed to allow you to go get Chase Young. Uh he worked with you, decided to step away from this, which totally makes sense. I would I would Yeah. I don’t like I wouldn’t take anyone the mats for Well, I mean, they just did that with Brandon Cooks, so I mean, yeah, they’re willing to do that when they realize their situation isn’t the same as a a player’s situation that they value. For sure. Yeah. So, I don’t know. Yeah. I guess I wouldn’t I wouldn’t kill car on it either, but like T be like, “Yeah, go ahead.” Just like you gave us two pay cuts, whatever. Like, here’s the payback for it. Um maybe maybe I’m being too sentimental about like a guy too nice. Nick Underh Hill too nice. We always say it around here. All right, that’s going to do it for today’s show. Uh we’ll talk to you next time. [Music]

Nick and Mike discuss the direction of the Saints’ future.
– Brandin Cooks waived
– Juwan Johnson trending toward career highs
– What would a Derek Carr trade look like?

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