Bills James Cook ends contract standoff, but what star holdout could be next?

Summary

Scoop City: Bills’ James Cook Ends Contract Standoff, But What Star Holdout Could Be Next?
Released on August 14, 2025
Hosts: Diana Rassini & Chase Daniel

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Introduction to the 100th Episode

In this milestone 100th episode of Scoop City, Diana Rassini and the Athletic’s longtime NFL insider, Chase Daniel, delve into several pressing NFL narratives. Kicking off from the Minnesota Vikings’ training camp at TCO Stadium, the hosts set the stage for an engaging discussion on player developments, contract negotiations, and potential future holdouts.

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James Cook Resolves Contract Standoff

A significant highlight of the episode is the resolution of the long-standing contract standoff involving Buffalo Bills’ running back James Cook. Diana Rassini breaks the news live, expressing enthusiasm about the outcome.

Diana Rassini [27:35]: "I’m so proud of where he has grown, you know, on and off the field from the day we drafted him to now rewarding him with this extension."

The agreement solidifies Cook’s position with the Bills, ensuring stability for both the player and the franchise as they move forward into the season.

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Potential Next Star Holdouts

Following Cook’s resolution, the conversation shifts to who might be the next high-profile NFL player to engage in contract holdouts. The discussion identifies several candidates, with particular focus on:

Terry McLaurin – Washington Commanders

Terry McLaurin, Washington’s standout wide receiver, is spotlighted as a likely candidate for the next contract holdout. The hosts discuss the ongoing standoff and the factors contributing to the impasse.

Unnamed Reporter [34:03]: "We just have to keep an eye on how McLaurin’s side is willing to come down."

Diana adds insight into McLaurin’s performance and market value, suggesting that generational talent like his might push negotiations to a resolution.

Trey Hendrickson – Cincinnati Bengals

Another potential holdout discussed is Trey Hendrickson from the Cincinnati Bengals. The hosts analyze the complexities surrounding his contract negotiations.

Unnamed Reporter [35:58]: "He wants two years of guaranteed money... This is the most juicy one we have."

Diana questions why Hendrickson isn’t receiving similar guarantees compared to his peers like Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase, highlighting inconsistencies in contract negotiations.

Micah Parsons – Dallas Cowboys

Micah Parsons’ contract situation with the Dallas Cowboys is also examined, noting the strained communications between the player and the organization.

Unnamed Reporter [40:15]: "Micah Parsons is going to be a Dallas Cowboy... This has become a different type of battle."

The discussion underscores the personal dynamics that might be influencing Parsons’ holdout, setting it apart from previous cases.

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Impact on Teams and League Dynamics

The episode further explores how these contract negotiations and potential holdouts could affect team rosters and league competitiveness.

Minnesota Vikings’ Quarterback Development

A substantial portion of the conversation revolves around the Minnesota Vikings’ young quarterback, JJ McCarthy, and his development under head coach Kevin O’Connell.

Unnamed Reporter [06:18]: "This is a guy who has an outstanding teacher helping him through this."

The hosts emphasize the importance of patience and effective coaching in nurturing McCarthy’s potential, suggesting that his growth is crucial for the Vikings’ future success.

Cleveland Browns’ Quarterback Situation

Discussion also touches on the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Shador Sanders, who recently suffered an oblique strain, impacting his standing on the depth chart.

Diana Rassini [25:27]: "It's gonna hurt him in some sense."

The injury adds uncertainty to Sanders’ prospects, potentially influencing the Browns’ quarterback hierarchy moving forward.

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Listener Engagement and Future Segments

Throughout the episode, Diana and the reporter interact with live listener questions, addressing fan curiosities about player contracts and team strategies. They also tease upcoming segments, including in-depth analyses with experts like Mike Sando and Chase Daniel, promising valuable insights into quarterback performances and team dynamics.

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Conclusion

In this comprehensive 100th episode, Scoop City effectively navigates through the resolution of James Cook’s contract standoff and anticipates future contract negotiations involving star players like Terry McLaurin, Trey Hendrickson, and Micah Parsons. With expert analysis and engaging discussions, the hosts provide listeners with a deep understanding of the evolving NFL landscape, setting the tone for an exciting season ahead.

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Notable Quotes:

• Diana Rassini [27:35]: "I’m so proud of where he has grown, you know, on and off the field from the day we drafted him to now rewarding him with this extension."

• Unnamed Reporter [34:03]: "We just have to keep an eye on how McLaurin’s side is willing to come down."

• Unnamed Reporter [35:58]: "He wants two years of guaranteed money... This is the most juicy one we have."

• Unnamed Reporter [40:15]: "Micah Parsons is going to be a Dallas Cowboy... This has become a different type of battle."

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Stay tuned to Scoop City for more exclusive NFL insights and updates every Tuesday and Friday.

Transcript

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[Diana Rassini]

Hello and welcome into Scoop City. We're live here right now. We're live on the YouTubes, on the Internets. Don't forget to, like, subscribe. You gotta say that when you're on the Internet. That's Diana Rassini, the athletics senior NFL insider. She is boots on the ground right now. Diana, this is our 100th episode of Scoop City. You know, it's wild. Time flies. I feel like I just started doing this show. This is unbelievable. But it's 100. How do you feel?

[Unnamed Reporter]

Unbelievable. How did 99 feel for you first? Your first one and your 99th. Those are some wild planes above my head that I'm sure you can hear. You're right. I'm in Minnesota right now at the TCO Stadium at the performance center. I am boots on the ground. Literally wearing no shoes, though.

[Diana Rassini]

Bare feet on the ground. Got it.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Bare feet on the ground. Because you've been at training camps before for. For many years and you know when it's just so hot and it. The sun is just beating down on you and you will just try to find any way to cool off for. For me today, it was just taking my shoes off. So I am. I'm coming to you live. Obviously, there's no one left out here on the field, but we had lots of action between the Patriots and the Vikings. I finally got to see J.J. mcCarthy up close.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah, we're gonna get to that. We're gonna get to everything you saw with the Vikings. We get to everything you saw with the New England Patriots. When have you open? You know, empty. This is very like. Remember Ben Jones, the center for the Titans back in the day. This is very Ben Jones esque of you, grounding barefoot in the grass, feeling one with the environment. Yes. We're also going to get to James Cook. You broke that news of him getting that new contract. The Buffalo Bills running back is now signed. Will any other holdings come to an end? We'll find out there. But let's get back to where you are right now, Diana, and let's start with the team you mentioned and the player you mentioned, because I think all eyes really are on JJ McCarthy. This is a really good roster with an outstanding coach that it almost feels like everybody just trusts Kevin OConnell so much that this is just going to work.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Yeah, well, he's proved it. Right? So what he's been able to do with all the different quarterbacks that have come through Minnesota, obviously, from. From Kirk Cousins to Sam Darnold, who we saw have so much success last season and now that with this project of JJ McCarthy and I call it a project because my sense of, from, from watching and even just talking to people on the ground is the expectations and the excitement for what this team can be because of the roster isn't in line with the timeline of where J.J. mcCarthy is as a player. He's not a second year player, he's a rookie kind of. You have to kind of look at it through that lens and that's just being fair to him. That's being fair to the team that I think everyone wants him to be at a point right now in understanding the offense and running this offense that matches the rest of the team. And it's, it's just not there yet. He was up and down today. He did, he had some, he was doing some really good things. I wanted to see more in two minute from him. The Patriots defense did a really good job of confusing him and you know, they don't really show that much yet. I thought they had a really good day. We'll get into the Patriots side of it, but I think that my big takeaway from just one practice watching myself was that this is going to be a Kevin O', Connell, J.J. mcCarthy journey together. And the more patience people can have that love the Vikings and even just fans watching this, I think the better they're going to understand what they're doing. But then the expectations are also really fair. So, you know, with that you had, I mean, first of all, he's 22 years old. 22 years old.

[Diana Rassini]

You are Nicks out there. This isn't Tyler Shook. This is a guy who's a youngster.

[Unnamed Reporter]

So I, I just think overall that's going to be something that we're going to keep an eye on this season of. What's the offense look like? What level is it at? Right. Like, I have a hard time imagining that they're going to be doing the same things we saw Sam Darnold do because he's coming off injury. He's still learning so much and I'm sure it's coming at him a million miles an hour.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah, it really is. And listen, he missed out on all those reps. It wasn't like a rookie that sat for a year and got to go out there like Patrick Mahomes did his first season and just sit in the meeting rooms and run the scout team and do all those different things. Yes, he met with the other quarterbacks. He met individually with Kevin Oconnell repeatedly throughout the course of last season, but he didn't get any reps at all on the field. Lost some weight. All of that comes together into the other question I had before we get to the Patriots saying is, when you're there, how much are they going to put on J.J. mcCarthy? Because again, he was very successful at Michigan running the show and not having a lot on his shoulders. And two, did you see the difference in the trenches that the Vikings, you know, with the moves they made, that. That's a key aspect of maybe all this can be really good around him as they build through the season?

[Unnamed Reporter]

Yeah. I had some time with Aaron Jones today talking about what this wrong game looks like and. And they're certainly going to be running the ball a lot this year. That. That is without question. And Kevin o' Connell has been very open with everybody about that. That is something that they're going to have to lean on because they have a young quarterback coming off this injury. So offensive line, absolutely. I thought they did a great job against this Patriots defense. It's still a work in progress. I saw a couple moments where you saw fall apart slightly. I'm not going to criticize too much. It's training camp. Okay. By the way, I had a. I had another coach say to me today because I know I was giving Chase a hard time, but he gave me a hard time this time. I was like, man, you guys on Scoop City are going through these performances as if it's week nine, it's training camp. I'm like, I know, I know. But I said everyone, football coach, come on. Yeah, we're all into it. We're so excited. But it is. And that is. That is true, that even though we. We want to see these players performing at a certain level at this point, that's just. That's just not good to be. We're not going to see that. But. So I think watching to see. See what Kevin feels confident giving JJ is definitely going to be one of the bigger storylines here. But this is why JJ McCarthy with Kevin Oconnell is such a good tandem, because he's got the best teacher helping him through this. Nobody is better in football right now. My opinion in working with a quarterback and their development and also just almost knowing what not to make them do, making them feel secure in their position, not having a quarterback constantly trying to prove to Kevin even that he must be something that he's not ready to be, that. That's something. I think that's important. But my takeaway from jj, this other element, I. I Didn't know this about him until talking to people on the ground here, by the way. It sounds so badass when I'm like, on the ground?

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah, yeah, you're in it.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Standing on the side in the muck, drinking Gatorade. No Gatorades today, by the way. Could have used one.

[Diana Rassini]

A lot of camps, by the way, are putting Gatorades in cans. And I'm all for it. I'm at all these training camps. Talk about, oh, PETA Vea was shotgunning one down in Tampa out of a can.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Wait, is this an 8? Like, because you and I are relatively close in age. Is this a generation thing? Because my boys to some dinosaur park and the only things that they had to offer were orange and lemon lime in a can. And I'm like, I haven't seen. First of all, my son's just like, absolutely threw it back like it was the best thing in the world. But I. I wanted to buy all of them. I didn't know that this was a thing.

[Diana Rassini]

Lemon lime in a can is back, and it's in every training camp. And it's just. It's incredible. It's incredible.

[Unnamed Reporter]

I'm here tomorrow, so I'm gonna look for it, but going back to be my boots on the ground. So apparently, J.J. mcCarthy is just this, like, tremendously coachable human being. Like, he's exactly what you want from a young guy who's going to be all ears to somebody who knows exactly what he wants his offense and what his team to look like. Aaron Jones even pointed that out to me today as well. He's like, everything that we are and that we do starts from the top. And that's Kevin o'. Connell.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah. I think that's why we're like, it's wild to have this guy in this situation, this draft pick that missed his first year with a knee injury, and there's no panic. I think that's all because of Kevin o' Connell right now. We'll see how it turns out. But right now, that's a wild sentence to say when we're in this portion of camp, and there's just not a lot of panic there. Listen, you can jump in this chat. By the way, I'm seeing these already because there's a couple of chats in here about the Patriots. So we're going to jump over to that side. Remember, we'll answer some of these.

[Unnamed Reporter]

So tomorrow I'm gonna be talking to Kevin o'.

[Diana Rassini]

Connell. Okay.

[Unnamed Reporter]

That you'll be able to catch on our YouTube City channel you're also going to be able to hear some of it on the next few shows. But I. I really want to pick his brain on the development of jj. Like, how do you figure out how to teach this and. And what he's really ready for and when you're ready to take it to the next level. I just. I have so many things. Anything. Anything from you. Anything you want me to.

[Diana Rassini]

He's. Yeah. Tell him I said hello. I covered Kevin when he was in college. How about that? So tell him I said hello when he was back there slinging it and. All right, let's jump over to the other side because I believe you're gonna have some interviews tomorrow. I think Mike Rabel you'll be talking.

[Unnamed Reporter]

To tomorrow about Kevin o' Connell today.

[Diana Rassini]

No, I did not.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Somebody asked about him.

[Diana Rassini]

Oh, I know, I know.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Is it.

[Diana Rassini]

Is it. Was it the normal frable answer that he gives?

[Unnamed Reporter]

I. I'll say the same thing about Kevin OConnell that I said about Cliff Kingsbury. They were. Tom Brady was a much better quarterback.

[Diana Rassini]

Yes. That's. That's his go to. That's great.

[Unnamed Reporter]

He doesn't elaborate anymore. Like, he doesn't go anywhere else with him.

[Diana Rassini]

Like, that's where it's at. That's where it's at.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Yeah. So we got. We have raves tomorrow, and we had Stefan Diggs today.

[Diana Rassini]

Oh, Stefan Diggs. He's not a big. He's a big talker, but not on the record talker. That's. I like that.

[Unnamed Reporter]

And on the record talker. So I appreciate him taking the time to join Scoop City. Huge fan. Didn't even know he was a huge fan, but he is, so. I also didn't know that the Patriots have a rule. When you're on the field, like, in the inside the lines, you must always be running.

[Diana Rassini]

Oh.

[Unnamed Reporter]

So I had a, like, corral Steph to our. To our cameras and to. To my little setup. So I was out in the field with him and then.

[Diana Rassini]

Were you able to chase him down? You still got something left in the tank?

[Unnamed Reporter]

No, no, we ran a full sprint together because he said we have to run because it's the rule.

[Diana Rassini]

Is that on camera? Is that captured?

[Unnamed Reporter]

It was not captured. We're working on that here. We're trying to get better at all that here.

[Diana Rassini]

Okay.

[Unnamed Reporter]

We're going to get it next time, though. James, you're going to vomit when you hear my interview with Aaron Jones. I really was trying to press him on giving me, like, I wanted him to brag a little. He's like the nicest guy. Like tell me something like show off.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Reporter]

So he needed time to think about it. So I gave like 17 things about myself to show off about. So you're not, you're going to be very disgusted by me. So, yeah, we got Rael. Look, R.A. was out there doing his thing, you know, running around to me. Drake may almost similar kind of day jj where because as you know, you're on two fields running back and forth watching quarterbacks do different. You. So when I, when I was able to, to, to watch Drake, you know, he had, he had a couple good passes that you're seeing now if you're watching the show. But again, up and down and, and I, I think that's going to be a lot of that story here. And even talking to Steph about where Drake is at, I asked him what is what the best thing Drake does, like the number one thing. And he's.

[Diana Rassini]

And it is nothing.

[Unnamed Reporter]

He's good at everything.

[Diana Rassini]

I don't know how to take that. I don't know how to take that.

[Unnamed Reporter]

I don't know. That's how I got you on the show.

[Diana Rassini]

Is there nothing you can put your finger on? Like nothing stands out?

[Unnamed Reporter]

It's all, it's how I described you to our producers when they were like, so what do you think of this James Palmer guy? I'm like, he's good at everything.

[Diana Rassini]

Okay, now I, now I know how to take it as a massive compliment. I want to know about the pairing of the other two because it's fight. I was having a conversation with Jared Stidham the other day, Broncos backup quarterback, who also spent time with Josh McDaniels and knows Josh really well and I believe had an opportunity to play with Josh again but didn't do it. And there's so much that Josh puts on the quarterback. There's a lot that is on the quarterback mentally. A lot in the quarterback at the line of scrimmage. And this is actually a question coming from Jarrett Stidham. I'm very curious, Diana, of how Drake is handling all of that because Josh doesn't dumb it down. And Hector is also asking in the chat, how good or bad was this Pat's offense, Obviously that's a linchpin to all of it and how Drake is picking up as much as Josh McDaniels is putting on him.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Yeah, first, let's give credit to the Vikings defense when you not when you're not game planning for a Brian Flores defense. It's not, it's not Easy. A couple guys coming off the field. We were talking about that. So considering that they didn't really game plan for this and this is a stout D, it wasn't, it wasn't terrible. But I, I think they're, I think they're at where they, they, they want to be like I'm not getting a sense when I'm talking to these people with the Patriots that, that are part of it saying like gosh, we're, we're so sloppy every day. And even talking to players walking off the field, I love just being like rate the day and everyone kind of says the same thing. It's like, it's good, it's good, but it's got to be better. But it's got to be better. So I, but the Josh McDaniels relationship, from what I hear, it's going really well with Drake because we talked to Sean Payton about this a few weeks ago about that element of teaching and the best teachers can figure out what a student needs and how to explain it to them best. And apparently Drake is outstandingly smart and he keeps up like this is not an issue of a quarterback struggling with what he's being asked to do. That's good that, that, that's a win right, for a second year quarterback who's learning a new system with Josh McDaniels.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah, that's, that's, that's huge. Listen, I have another one in the chat here because Richard wants to know how does Will Campbell's attitude seem? Enthused, charged up. I think we know that's his but I want to talk about the draft general. You can touch on Will, but Also all this JJ McCarthy talk in Michigan is making me want to throw up. You already talked about vomit being the Ohio State Buckeye that am. No big deal. Oh, Travion Henderson. I have heard nothing but rave reviews about the running back out of Ohio State. And I feel like this guy could be just as important as Will Campbell is to protecting Drake May. To being Drake Mays, you know, best friend as it is. He's maybe one of the best. When I talk to evaluators past protecting type of running max coming out with that skill set in recent memory, just outstanding from that aspect. But also, you know, the safety valve, the dump off. Like are the reviews real?

[Unnamed Reporter]

Yes.

[Diana Rassini]

That I'm hearing about Trayvon. Preach, preach like you go.

[Unnamed Reporter]

You know how it is. It's, it's, it's, it can. Especially in these joint practices. There's so many people involved. There's so many different things. Teams do run practice different ways. You're trying to organize over a hundred and what, 50 people at the same time. Even more than that. And people get lost in. In the shuffle of things. You do not lose him at all. Like he stands out like the whole time. I. And it's obvious that they're dumping the ball off to him a lot, knowing that his ability or at least the potential is, is going to be enormous. But credit to Elliott Wolf there for, for spotting that and, and knowing that this was going to be such a good pick for a young quarterback. Even, you know, when we were talking on the other side with Aaron Jones about his role in helping JJ and how he was basically explaining how much more important that position is to support the quarterback than I think people even realize. So I think in the case for the New England Patriots, the fact that they have this run game available, it's gonna probably put them in really good positions this season compared to if. If they were going to rely on. On the arm of. Of the quarter at this stage, you know.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah, for sure. You have anything else from. From boots on the ground that you want to drop before we move on outside of the.

[Unnamed Reporter]

The can Gator that I will be searching for far and wide tomorrow. In fact, I don't even care if I don't get any interviews tomorrow. I just want to find this Gatorade can.

[Diana Rassini]

Can Gatorade. And if you can look it up, go see Vita Vea shotgunning one on the Tampa, which was awesome.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Anything from you? Well, no on Braves or. Or anyone else that we're talking to tomorrow that, that you want me to kind of needle them a little bit because these guys are all very relaxed. It's the best part.

[Diana Rassini]

They are very relaxed. That's why you're a good interview with them. Listen, I think. I think one of the things you have to ask for Abes is, is just what are the realistic expectations for this team? Obviously, like maybe that's off camera. I don't know. So he can be very honest with you. But I want to know exactly where he thinks this dance. I think they are. I think that. I think they are going to make a massive jump. I don't know if they're a playoff team. That's a little asking much. But they might. They have a. They are a really well coached team now. I think that's. And I think they've already changed the trajectory of the franchise right now with this draft class and the coaches that they hired.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Yeah, that's where I'm At Diggs touched on that. So when we, when you hear him talking about what the identity of this Patriots team is, it's going to sound a lot like the Tennessee Titans that you know so well.

[Diana Rassini]

Yep, I love it.

[Unnamed Reporter]

The Titans, the Titans of the past. Not, not the current ones.

[Diana Rassini]

No, no, no, no. The Braves Titans when they're always under talented but always winning games. That's what I remember. Always going to Nashville and covering that team. All right, let's go to another joint practice. Not the one you were at, Diana, but another one was going on in South Philadelphia. The line was down the block around the corner at the NovaCare Complex because the Browns were in town with their plethora of quarterbacks, one in them being Shador Sanders. And everybody wanted to see these two teams kind of go at it. Kevin Stefanski, their head coach, my boy from Philly back home, took the coaching staff back out to dinner in Philadelphia, his hometown. And what happens? Early air is kind of out of the balloon, Diana, when Shador Sanders ends up suffering an oblique shot strain during pre practice warm ups. Now I texted a couple people with the Browns as yes, injury is real. He is day to day. He is not going to practice tomorrow. He is unlikely for the game Sunday. Does this with anybody you've talked to impact his chances of moving out of that fourth spot on the depth chart? Because what we were doing is looking at these joint practices going. Is he going to get any other reps, steps?

[Unnamed Reporter]

Yeah. No. I don't believe this has any effect on where he falls on the Cleveland depth chart. I think he was fourth and that was, I don't think there was any potential of him moving. And I think that's part of this story that has been hard to cover because I do think we're hearing a lot of loud voices of people that loved what they saw on Friday night. But then you hear a completely different story from the people that watched the film afterwards that are in the NFL. So if the people that I am talking to outside Cleveland who watched it and have said that they don't think it, it's good enough for him to move out of that spot. And that Dylan Gabriel probably deserves that chance. And from what I all things I, I've heard there, Dylan Gabriel is ahead of him. Yes, I, I think we are falling for the idea of it. I still think he needs time. I think everybody needs to stop trying to make Shador Sanders the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns in September. I think everyone has to go like, deep breath. It's gonna be awesome. If it happens at one point because of the electricity that he brings with him and obviously Dion and all of it. But when it comes to winning football games, like playing the quarterback position, the way that a Kevin Stefanski offense needs that player to run it, that is Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco is so comfortable. And you can say what you want. And we could probably do a whole Joe Flacco show.

[Diana Rassini]

Wouldn't mind it, right?

[Unnamed Reporter]

Would be.

[Diana Rassini]

I'd use my Joe Flacco accent, possibly.

[Unnamed Reporter]

You. You don't really need to change much of how you talk. It's not far off.

[Diana Rassini]

It's just a little Sal, just a.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Little bit further down the 95 quarter. So I just want everyone to, like. Like, even on the sidelines today for the joint practice I'm at, coaches were coming up to me like, man, what. What is the media's obsession? Which Dory's, you know, he still has a lot of growing to do. Like, he's not there yet. So I think it's okay when we talk about this to be excited about what it can be with some coaching and. And time. But like every other young quarterback that we've discussed on this show today and even last show, it's training camp A and B, nobody is ready at this point. Nobody. So I. I don't even. Injury. Injury or no injury, I don't foresee Shador Sanders moving up the deck.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah, well, he did take a little golf cart ride there with Jalen Hurts behind the wheel. They had a long conversation across. Across the practice fields away from everyone else. Jalen Hurts did not really elaborate on that conversation. Just saying, you know, he asked for some advice and, you know, I wanted to try to give him some advice. And I think what you're describing here, Diane, and I've heard this from multiple people around the league, is this is as difficult as you want to say it, it's kind of like a lose lose for Kevin Stefanski and Shador Sanders. And the way. I mean, that is. It's very difficult on Kevin to manage this with all of the outside noise about having a very realistic approach, which he does, and it's the one that you're describing where they are very realistic. And he's getting better. There's a lot of work to do. He came in with a lot more work that had to be done in growth that had to be done. Even compared to a player like Dylan Gabriel, he's in the fourth spot for a reason. Have we liked what we've seen? Yes. Is he here still in the fourth spot for a reason. Yes. And an injury like this is going to even make those voices louder from the outside. And at the same time, I know there's people in the Browns organization that are thinking this is actually difficult on Shador, like because of all of this and all of this outside noise, that they'd almost wish he would go and just maybe play football and grow the way the Browns would like him to grow. But all of these things after one preseason game, it's essentially he should be going from four to one. He still hasn't taken a snap with the ones yet. Now, these training camp joint practices were valuable. They were an opportunity to get more snaps with the twos and he's not going to get them over those two. So I think it hurts him in some sense.

[Unnamed Reporter]

But.

[Diana Rassini]

But at the same time, I think everybody and what you're saying is right, has to be much more realistic in where this stands because the Browns are behind closed doors being very realistic about.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Where there's no propaganda here.

[Diana Rassini]

There's exactly.

[Unnamed Reporter]

They want to win. If they really believe they're going to play their best guy, they're playing their best guy. There's not some anti Shador movement happening behind closed doors because, I mean, I don't know what reason that they would possibly want that to happen. This is. I've learned over the years of covering football that coaches and even players especially because the players know, the players always know who can ball.

[Diana Rassini]

They certainly do.

[Unnamed Reporter]

If there, they just have more knowledge of what's actually happening both on the field, in the meeting rooms and the overall story compared to just the glimpses that we're seeing and, and some good, by the way. But in terms of the process of playing the quarterback position for right now, I mean, I'm giving the two time coach of the year the nod on making that call and, and maybe, I don't know, trusting that he knows what he's doing because yeah, he seems to know what he's doing.

[Diana Rassini]

I would trust him. And I would also say this as we close out this Shador Sanders conversation. The best thing that could happen to your organization is finding your franchise quarterback in the fifth round. They're not going to be opposed to it. That's the best thing that could happen to your organization. And then guess what? You could find that out this season. If that's the case, they're going to give it a fair shake and you can use all those extra first round pick that you have possibly, you know, on some other parts of your team. Now, talk about a team that is pretty complete, Diana. That's the Buffalo Bills. And they've signed a lot of guys over a billion dollars worth of contracts this offseason. You broke the news this morning. James Cook gets a new contract. You on Monday said, I don't know, Kyron Williams gets three. It's what, three years? 33 million, 11 a year. I'd say a couple million more than that. What ended up happening with James Cook?

[Unnamed Reporter]

Well, we were pretty spot on. It's about 11 and a half, 12 million a year.

[Diana Rassini]

There it is.

[Unnamed Reporter]

So he got that three year deal. And so this thing came together late yesterday. There were some talks. So if you recall, we did our show last episode. Then the next day, James practiced, right? Which right away was like, I wonder what's going on behind the scenes for him to go out there and want to practice. Now this, hold it, hold that, hold in, hold it, hold it. It was like back for back forth.

[Diana Rassini]

So snip, snap, snip, snap.

[Unnamed Reporter]

So I'm assuming what happened here was they either knew they were gonna, they were close to a deal or the team looked at the situation and said, we'll get a deal done if you get on the field, like get on the field and then we'll start negotiating. Because I've seen that happen in Millie, that sometimes that's part of the motivation to get these things done. So what I'm curious about, though, in this, like, good for James. Glad he got his money. I know he wanted more, but I wonder if he, if the offer the Bills gave him earlier in the year, like in the split when they started those negotiations, if that number was more like, I wonder, I truly wonder how much the Chiron Williams deal affected what he was going to get and, and perhaps him declining whatever that number was. I, I, I'm gonna dig on this. I want to find out what that original number was because either way he's getting a great payday. But maybe he lost out.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah, you dig? He got 30 million guaranteed. That's more than last year's free agent class that had Saquon Barkley or Josh Jacobs didn't get 30 million guaranteed in their deals. Now, obviously, Saquon gets the new deal and gets rocking. I want to play this clip from Brandon Bean because this was the first holdout for Beam or Slash hold in, really. And it was kind of different for him. Diane.

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[Diana Rassini]

Workday is the AI platform that transforms.

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The way you manage your people, money.

[Diana Rassini]

And agents so you can transform tomorrow Workday, moving business forever forward. These things can get a little awkward. They can, because. Love, Jimbo. I'm so proud of where he has grown, you know, on and off the field from the day we drafted him to now rewarding him with this extension. So there was, there was never a case of not wanting to extend them. It's just, you know, sometimes these things are hard and trying to get on the same page of what we could make work and, you know, what they felt, you know, would make them happy on their end. Diana was this contentious at all. Like, you know, the preseason game Hard Knocks didn't really cover, by the way. They did cover part of the holdout I was watching last night with Meg. But they did not really do the preseason part where he warms up and he doesn't. Did this get contentious at all? Because. Yeah, I feel like Brandon kind of hinted a little bit at it.

[Unnamed Reporter]

I. I also think that's Brandon Bean's style because he, he doesn't like the drama, actually. I take, I take back those words. I think we both know those gms that like the drama. I don't know, it just entertains them. That is not Brandon Bean. He's, he's, he's, he's all about business. He just wants to win a Super Bowl. So I think, I think because it was so. What was the word? He's not flippy, floppy, but the in and out, whatever this back. And it just is. It was kind of a circus it was not a lot of planning. They could have just gotten this done earlier. So I don't know if it was ever snipey from what I heard. I just, I don't feel like it was. I think we're frustrated. I think it was like, come on, man, like, let's be realistic here because I think sometimes in these situations, it's all about who wants to win these deals and it's ego compared to what's really best for the player, what's best for the organization. And. And by the way, you could take that line and put it right on over all the hold ins and holdouts we're about to talk about.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah, let's get to those real quick. I will say only 47% of the snaps that James Cook was playing in games, he was active. I know that's always used by teams in the part of the negotiations I'm interested to see because my understanding is that he came in bulked up a little bit more up top going, hey, maybe I can get some more carries. Maybe. Let's keep an eye on how things go throughout the rest of this preseason. In those early couple of weeks, does he start getting more snaps and more carries? That would be interesting. Now, when you mentioned the other hold ins, we have one ending. You tell me if we're getting any closer with any of the others. We'll go in order. Let's start with Terry McLaurin, a conversation with Adam Peters. Everybody's reading lips on the sideline. What's happening as he's standing there. Have we moved at all?

[Unnamed Reporter]

Child song here. And just remember, remember that. No, no, no, no, no. Because I feel like that that's going to be my answer to all these.

[Diana Rassini]

Okay, I like it. You got the karaoke mic. Go.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Gosh, where. Where did I get that poll from? Just came. Came right to me. So look, I think the Terry McLaurin thing is going to be this. We've consistently reported this and talked about how they're gonna get there. It's. It's just gonna be a matter of when.

[Diana Rassini]

Okay.

[Unnamed Reporter]

There's no trade conversations. It's not like Washington's doing business going. All right. We need a plan. It's never going to work. Right. Because usually that tells you a little bit of the story.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Sam Newton says hello, by the way. That was Sam. That was a my guy. Assuming that was him clapping at. At the big. James Palmer. He is with the Vikings communications staff. I love Sam best at his job. So I, I think the Terry McLaurin Washington standoff is going to get moving. I just. I still don't know how much his side is going to be willing to come down. And I think that is the hold up here is these are two sides that truly are seeing the value of this player differently. Like, very differently. Very differently. And. And they've come down a little bit in terms of getting to a closer number that they can agree on. Okay, but we're not ready here. We're. We're not. We're not here. Based on my conversation about 25 minutes ago.

[Diana Rassini]

Okay. All right. That's good. That's good. Good intel. I think you and I texted about this a little bit, and I think this is Adam Peters also going. He's 30 years old, and I'm gonna make kind of my first time as a full time general manager here in Washington. I'm going to make sure that, you know, I kind of have some precedent of how I want to do things moving forward, because wide receivers, when they hit 30, the production usually drops. I do think, and I've talked to people around the league, that Terry McLaurin's game does translate to be very effective still in the 30s, by the way, he plays with the IQ Cerebral Route Runner stuff, not ultra relying on physical gifts. I think he could still be very.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Yeah, but how about this? In the 30s, 28. Is this deal done?

[Diana Rassini]

You know, probably.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Probably, probably.

[Diana Rassini]

Probably, you know. All right, let's go to Trey Hendrickson, which has been, to me, the one that's just been like, we're seeing Instagram posts and we're driving to Florida and we're. We're in our tremendous golf attire during OTAs, giving a press conference, and now we're still holding in on a team that. That has real super bowl aspirations with that offense. But they can't get there without Trey.

[Unnamed Reporter]

And they're not realizing it. They either know it and don't care or they want to do business the way Cincinnati has done it. And they're dug in on this, you know, and Trey is going to continue to share and hopefully he'll join Scoop City at some point this summer what this has been like and what he's looking for. And look, there's emotions in all of this, especially when it comes to a high performer who wasn't asking for the moon and stars. He wants two years of guaranteed money. I think at this point, feelings are hurt. There's anger. And he had told me on the record that he wants to be a Cincinnati Bengals. Okay. And that was okay. He wants to Be a Cincinnati Bangle. I wonder if that changes. We get closer at some point here, he's not going to just be okay and be proud to be a Cincinnati Bengal if ownership doesn't want to write him a check that he thinks he deserves. So this, obviously, the Michael one is the juicy one. And we'll talk about that in a second. This one scares me the most. Yeah, that makes sense. Like.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah, No, I agree.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Comfortable? Because I don't think it's. I think there's a world where it doesn't end the way we all thought it would end. When there was a little bit of the cat and mouse of going to Florida and coming back up and, you know, the whole thing. It just. I think this is the one. Let. Let's see how it goes. But I. I have concerns.

[Diana Rassini]

Is that plane landing on the field? No.

[Unnamed Reporter]

So a very loud plane was above me.

[Diana Rassini]

Is that landing on the field? This plane.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Is it on my head? I don't wonder. Look, I know we're not that far from the airport, but they really fly low here.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah. Keep an eye out. I. As Diana, to me, this is. This is the most fascinating one, I think. Trey, I believe him when he says he won't play on this contract. I actually really do believe him when he says that. What I don't get before we move to Mike is this. You broke precedent as an organization when you did Joe Burrows contract and you gave him extended guaranteed years, something you don't do. You broke precedent when you get Jamar Chase's contract and you did guaranteed years past what you usually do. Now, you didn't do it for T. Higgins, but you did it for Jamar and you did it for Joe. And they're both at the top of the NFL in terms of that small group at their position. If you're willing to pay Trey Hendrickson like he's at the top of his position, which they willingly are able to do, why wouldn't he get the same guarantees? To me? It doesn't make sense. All three of them are in the small group at the top of their respective positions. So the guarantee structure should be the same. Yeah, I know the age always comes into play, but doesn't that make just too much sense?

[Unnamed Reporter]

I think that's the problem around. The problem with this situation, because I know you've been on the ground, too, at different trading camps, and. And Trey's name comes up a lot because everyone's always. Everyone's nosy and curious about what's going on there, and that's A. That. That is one where everyone says the same thing. Just. Just pay. Like. And I get it. It's not everyone else's money. It's Mike Brown's. But they're like, this just makes sense. Just pay him. It's. It. He's not asking, asking. We've seen players do this, and the number is obnoxious that you. You can't even take them seriously. All of this is really fair and worthy. And by the way, the Cincinnati Bengals defense needs him. Like, I. This whole operation has been about, let's keep Joe happy. Let's keep Joe happy. Guess what's not going to keep Joe happy If he has to throw up 77 points a game.

[Diana Rassini]

That still may not be enough. Okay, Micah Parsons. Where has this circus gone? Has it left town? It's still in Oxnard. What's going on?

[Unnamed Reporter]

It's there. It's there. And Jerry was asked today about whether or not he's going to engage with this agent. And he continues to just be weird about it. Just avoiding. You know, I'm curious what the communication is It. Both sides claim from. From what we're hearing in the reports that we're seeing is that they're not engaging. They're not talking.

[Diana Rassini]

Micah, by the way, Diana. Micah, by the way, told reporters today, my mouth is shut. He's not talking anymore. That was from Micah today after practice. I don't know how he said it with his mouth closed, but he did it.

[Unnamed Reporter]

What do you think? Wait, wait, let's play. What do you think that means? What's your conspiracy on that one? Is that I'm tired of talking about this or is this.

[Diana Rassini]

I. I think it's kind of like I've. I don't know. And like, four Christmases, Vince Vaughn says I've shut down. Like, I think that's. I think that's what he's done. I think he's like, I'm shutting down. I'm not talking about this anymore.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Do you ever watch Jerry do these press conferences and think. Doesn't he get tired of talking at the. You know, he's. He's actually. I know, and I get it. And I admire that energy he has. But it's. He. If there's a camera and a microphone, he's looking at it and he's willing to talk about. And by the way, he's not saying anything. Like, in every interview, it's the same. It's a. It's one big circle. We're going around, around. So what happens here? You know, this is the good old everyone around the league is gonna. Says the same thing. They're gonna get it done. Jerry's gonna over overpay, and Micah Parson is going to be a Dallas Cowboy. And my only hesitation in. In telling that story is that there was a lot of personal interaction here. And, you know, in disrespect, we'll call it between the Dallas Cowboys and Michael Parsons agent. And I think. I think that.

[Diana Rassini]

Do you think it's just with Michael Parsons agent? I feel like it's partially with Michael.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Oh, no, no, you're right. You're actually right. Yeah, it's. It's both sides. It's, you know, it's. It's more than just business right now. It feels. And that that is going to have an effect. Now, I say that knowing, like, I say that going, oh, my gosh, when. When two sides are going at each other like this and they hate each other, they'll never come back together. How many times do we see a big contract come in? It's like, oh, we're back.

[Diana Rassini]

Look at Miles Garrett did the same thing. But doesn't this have a different feeling? I thought Miles was very upset, and I understood the position that the organization is in when he made that. That statement. But like, Micah writes a novella. And I think what we're gonna find out is, did this get personal when Jerry comes? Eventually, I would think to David Mulaguetta, who is the exact opposite of Jerry, by the way, tremendous at what he does. He does not scream from the rooftops. He does not come out vocally and say anything. What he is, is he's a monster at the negotiating table. And he. That's where he usually files all of these things away, and he remembers all these things that have been said, and he will bring them to the negotiating table behind closed doors. So I just feel like we all do believe that this is part of what Jerry does. Yes, it costs some money, but yes, it came out today. His organization is worth more by a long shot than any other NFL franchise, and he doesn't care. But I do feel like in this instance, and tell me if this is accurate, he seems to be dealing with a different type of player than the ones he's dealt with in the past and a different agent than the ones he's dealt with in the past.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Yeah, it certainly feels that way that. That this may be a different type of battle. But I. I don't think Jerry Jones is changing at his age in terms of how he does business. As much as we want to Scream at him. Just do a deal early or pick up the phone. Because, look, let's. We'll end this conversation with just what the bottom line of the. As we're monitoring this situation, we should have, like, a little clock in the corner.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah, for sure.

[Unnamed Reporter]

According to them, they have not spoken since Micah had that conversation with Jerry Jones that he just thought was a. Was dialogue and Jerry Jones. So it was a negotiation. And until. And this is Micah saying this, until Jerry has a conversation with his rep, there will be no discussion of a contract. And that is yet to happen. So there has been no negotiation since this story came out that he wanted a trade, which was three weeks ago.

[Diana Rassini]

Jerry does these contracts. I. You can't do a contract without the player's agent. Like, it just. You can't. It's not legal.

[Unnamed Reporter]

I don't know why more.

[Diana Rassini]

It's in the cba, not over it.

[Unnamed Reporter]

I don't know why more players aren't, like.

[Diana Rassini]

I'm fascinated. Why, like, the NFLPA hasn't said anything or any. Like, you legally cannot go through a contract without the player's representative. Like, it. It's. It's not legal. You can't do it. So I don't know why we refuse to have a conversation with. With. With Micah's agent.

[Unnamed Reporter]

The NFL PA has its own stuff to sort through right now, but I would. I would like to think at some point, when they've got strong leadership in there, they address this. They should.

[Diana Rassini]

Very true. Very true. Speaking of strong leadership, we have that when it comes to our evaluation of player talent here at the Athletic, and the guy right at the top there is Mike Sando, and we had an opportunity to talk about his quarterback tears, Chase and I, and we had to get the resident quarterback, Chase Daniel, in there to break this down. And this was an unbelievable conversation. Diana went about a half hour or maybe a shade under. The entire thing will come out on Thursday, which we broke down everything. And wait till you hear the conversation about Trevor Lawrence and some of the stuff that was on the editing room floor about Trevor. Just outstanding. Before we roll, a snippet of it. About 10 minutes, and we'll close it out with that. Do you have any parting thoughts? Are you gonna head to the Mall of America tonight and get some shopping done? Maybe ride a roller coaster?

[Unnamed Reporter]

I feel like that was a shot at New Jersey, because New Jersey people love their malls, so I'm with you on that.

[Diana Rassini]

I grew up in the town with the biggest mall in America. Store wise KOP Mall. Let's Go. King of Prussia Mall.

[Unnamed Reporter]

By the way, you mentioned Philly before.

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Do you think Kevin Stefanski needed restaurant recommendations at all? No.

[Diana Rassini]

No.

[Unnamed Reporter]

You think Big Dom got him like?

[Diana Rassini]

No, he didn't need anything. He didn't need anything. With Big Ed in town, he didn't need anything.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Yeah, Big Ed Stefanski. Shout out. I don't know what I'm gonna do. I think I'm probably just going to take the coldest shower possible because it's very hot here and we are back at it tomorrow. James.

[Diana Rassini]

So, yeah, tell me how those interviews go. I'm very excited. All right, guys. Thank you everybody for watching live experience here for Scoop City. I love it. Here is Chase, Daniel, myself and Mike Sando breaking down some quarterbacks for the next 10 minutes, starting with the Super Bowl MVP.

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[Chase Daniel]

The most interesting one on this list to me, and it's the fan base that I seem to rile up the most, is the Eagles, right? Last week I put up my top 10 list. I had him at number nine and that's exactly where he ends up on this list you surveyed, obviously a large panel of folks who put him exactly at 9. Talk us through the differing opinions on hurts that you had.

[Mike Sando]

I felt like the voters were almost apologizing for having him so low. Like they like him. They respect, really, they respect Jalen Hurts, but they just don't feel like he's as much of the reason why the Eagles are good as the quarterbacks above them are. Maybe the reasons why their teams are good. And that if you transported him out of the great offensive line and this last year, the great running back and this last year a really good defense, that maybe he would slip a little bit in this thing more than he would rise. Whereas if you, hey, if we put Justin Herbert in a different system, he may go into tier one, don't you like he, like he may actually ascend in different systems. Whereas Hertz maybe has, you know, less of ability to have it on his shoulders, certainly more as a passer and.

[Diana Rassini]

Maybe overall, yeah, it's. It's almost like he's a victim of a tremendous situation that he's in with those receivers, tight end, offensive line, all of it. He has had a variety of play callers though. I mean they've brought you guys in each and every year for him and it's still some W's. And Mike, that kind of makes me think about another aspect of this. How does the group over the years and even this year as well. Kind of view a guy that is, quote unquote, the system guy, but he's very, very productive versus the other quarterback that can play in a lot of systems. But maybe across the board is not as productive as a system guy who's more valued in this system because maybe that guy can win in a variety of ways, but the other guy in the right system can win a lot.

[Mike Sando]

Well, I think we see that here. And here's who I would say Justin Herbert's valued over Brock Purdy. Right. If we were to just double blind taste test their stats and put them up there and where they rank and this and that, like Purdy's probably going to have the edge. Right? But nobody thinks that nobody would take Purdy over Herbert if they were starting a team, including Kyle Shanahan. Right?

[Diana Rassini]

Yeah, good point, good point.

[Mike Sando]

Right. So I think I don't, you know that it used to be called a game manager or whatever. I think Purdy's more than that because he's, he's more than Jimmy Garoppolo.

[Unnamed Reporter]

He.

[Mike Sando]

With his ability to move around and maybe create some things. But I think there's a reason why he was picked last in the draft and it probably. One of the great quotes in here was like, the draft is over.

[Diana Rassini]

Respect.

[Mike Sando]

Put respect on Purdy. I love that. But it's the same time the reasons why he was a seventh round pick are sort of the reasons why he's not where Herbert is, even though he's out produced him. Does that make sense?

[Diana Rassini]

Totally, yeah, totally does.

[Chase Daniel]

The panel doesn't seem to be buying the Aaron Rodgers experiment in Pittsburgh to say the least. Where do you think this season goes for the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf and all those guys.

[Mike Sando]

So Rogers got votes in four different tiers. He got 1 tier 1, 16 tier 2, 27 tier 3, 6 tier 4. So I think we're going to see a lot of that. I think we're going to see some inconsistency. I'd still think that no one's really excited to play him, you know, because he's got all of those Stafford ability things to control the game too. He's just a little. He's just more, you know, further down the road. He's going to be 41, so I'm a little bit torn because I think. Feel like I heard you guys talking coming in about. No, sorry, it was. Sorry, it was a different show. We were talking about the Steelers.

[Diana Rassini]

They're all running together.

[Mike Sando]

By understanding the circuit they're running together, but I was doing something in Baltimore and they were talking in the break about how, how good are the Steelers really? I think the Steelers have been this kind of disappointing 9 win, 10 win team with lesser quarterbacks than him. So I still think there's a path for them to have a top 10 defense try to lean into the run game a little bit and have Rodgers, you know, maybe pull out a couple games in the end, I don't know, think they're going to go deep in the playoffs. I question whether Rodgers can hold up physically over the whole year. You can create a narrative in your mind that a full year off the injury he's going to be a healthier player, that he was better the second half of last year. I just wonder at 41, I don't. I look at the receipt. Receivers are the DK Metcalf is that his type of guy? He's got no time on task with him. He shows up in June. Arthur Smith's kind of known as, you know, a little bit of a headstrong, you know, guy who, when he was the head coach, get a little snippy in the press conference. Right. I mean, what's that marriage gonna be like in week four if they're one and three and Rogers go takes to the airwaves and says what he's gonna say and spins it like, yeah, I don't know. I'd rather, I'd rather have Rogers than what they were going to have otherwise.

[Diana Rassini]

But still, that's true. And I like that you called art just a little bit snippy. I appre. I appreciate, I appreciate that and you throwing it in there.

[Mike Sando]

I don't want to get snippy with me.

[Diana Rassini]

You know, I think he's the best. I also love everybody should go look at, look at where Kirk Cousins is here right at the bottom of three. I thought that was. Was interesting. Even though he's not going to be the starter in Atlanta, so his future and the different views that people have on him. I thought Mike was interesting and I wanted to tie that into Michael Penix and J.J. mcCarthy. As we kind of wind this down, people are fascinated to see these guys that didn't play a whole bunch. We started this conversation with the one start that Patrick Mahomes had in his first year. What is the anticipation for these two guys that are now going into their first year as a full time starter?

[Mike Sando]

Well, I think the anticipation for Penix is that he'll rise into tier three after this year, getting 11 votes in tier three after three starts is actually really good.

[Diana Rassini]

Pretty good.

[Mike Sando]

39 tier fours for him are like, hey, not enough info. So I feel like it's a little bit more optimistic on him.

[Diana Rassini]

Okay.

[Mike Sando]

You know, climbing up a little bit and then who's the other one you're asking?

[Diana Rassini]

J.J. mcCarthy.

[Unnamed Reporter]

Who?

[Diana Rassini]

Who?

[Mike Sando]

J.J. mcCarthy? Yeah. I think people see a path to. For J.J. mcCarthy to just where he's at. But I say but just because it was a little bit of a weird off season, it feels to me like there's some reservations about JJ McCarthy that aren't being spelled out but exist. Does that make sense?

[Diana Rassini]

Yes.

[Mike Sando]

Like. Like people aren't getting specific with it. Maybe it's not totally fair, but there's something there. And I think one of the quotes I had in there about that was kind of like, hey, you just don't hear complete slam dunk stuff out of the there. So I think this is one that we just need to let ride into the season. Number one, see if he can stay healthy and then just let him play because it's been a weird off season that way with these sort of veiled narratives about him and some of it played into their interest in Rodgers. And so I'm just more interested in. Let's just wait. Let's just get some actual on the field playing time in the regular season for him and then let's evaluate a little bit more fairly.

[Diana Rassini]

Let. Let KOC go, right, Jay?

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah, let them ball out. And talking about KOC to another amazing coach, right. Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams, second year quarterback. It seems like people are both interested, maybe a little bit scared about Caleb Williams based on the quotes you have gathered, the tape you put out there, some good, some bad. Is there more reason to be concerned for Chicago Bears fans than you think or where is a. Yeah, I felt like the.

[Mike Sando]

I felt like the comments and the tone on him was more concerning than you ever wanted it to be for somebody who was the consensus number one pick. And it all was focused around his ability to process the game quickly. You know, some of that plays into taking a lot of sacks, but just in general, I think alarming was one of the words used. So I'll be very interested to see how Ben Johnson either changes that or changes what he does to help Caleb Williams be the best he can be because there's clearly talent there. You know, you would hope that he would.

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah.

[Mike Sando]

Move up in this thing. But I think a couple people said, hey, this guy could be a 2 or a 4. Real quick.

[Diana Rassini]

That was interesting to me that's that's really interesting. I want to squeeze one more in real quick because Ben Johnson's the fascinating name in a lot of this. He leaves Jared Goff. Jared Goff had five tier one votes. What was kind of the, you know, maybe something that's not in the piece that was said about golf that kind of made you perk up a little bit going, where is this going to go now without Ben Johnson?

[Mike Sando]

Well, I thought that, let's face it, there's been some golf skepticism over the years. I thought it was going to be revived here that people would say, oh, Ben Johnson's leaving, because everyone thinks Ben Johnson's good at what he did. But that didn't happen. Like, people gave Goff his due. Even one of the quotes was like, hey, there's a debate between what it's according to the quarterback. I think it's more the quarterback than people are being led to believe. I think Goff moved up and got more respect with less hesitation than I was expecting based on Ben Johnson leaving and not. There's not a Ben Johnson to replace them. Right.

[Chase Daniel]

Yeah, yeah, it's interesting.

[Diana Rassini]

That's really interesting.

[Chase Daniel]

Great stuff.

[Diana Rassini]

We could go for hours and hours, But Mike has 11 more interviews to go. He'll be into the wee hours of the night today.

[Mike Sando]

30 minutes.

[Diana Rassini]

You know, you'll probably forget everything you said to us in the next five, five to 10 minutes and you're on to the next one. This was a blast for us. I will say that. Yeah, I love.

[Mike Sando]

I misquoted you talking about the Steelers. That shows you where I'm at. But I'm still able to hold it together, hopefully.

[Diana Rassini]

No, this is incredible. I mean, I'm still looking at it, so we appreciate the time. And this is just. Yeah, it's just, it's fascinating. It's. It's a big enough panel that you really, really get a sense of, of where everybody, everybody stands. And some of the quotes are hilarious, by the way. I just absolutely love it. Thank you, Mike.

[Mike Sando]

Thank you. Appreciate it, guys.

[Diana Rassini]

See ya.

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