00:00This is it's a great time of year. There's there's stuff going on this week in the NFL.
00:03The franchise tag deadline was yesterday. Ultimately, only four players get some version
00:10of a franchise tag. We knew George Pickens and Kyle Pitts were both getting tagged by the Cowboys
00:16and Falcons. Reese Hall's franchise tag came to fruition over the last day or two. And then the
00:21big one that we've been watching here in the AFC South, Seth, and we got a little AFC South
00:25nuggets for each of our each of our colleagues here in the division. But the big one that
00:31I think matters the most is that the Colts end up using the transition tag on Daniel Jones.
00:37So you got you got different types of tags. The transition tag means a lower salary for
00:41Daniel Jones. But if someone goes and signs him, they don't have to give up any draft compensation.
00:47They the Colts have the right to match. Colts have first right of refusal. Yeah. Yep. Yep.
00:52They can match. So so Daniel Jones, and it's about $37 million. The significant thing about
00:58that is they they were reportedly struggling with who do we use a tag because you only use
01:04a tag on one guy. You can't tag multiple players. Do we do it with Alec Pierce, who is arguably
01:09alongside George Pickens, the crown jewel of this wide receiver free agent class? Or do we
01:14do it with Daniel Jones, who is plays the most important position, but it's coming off a serious
01:21injury. They ultimately chose Daniel Jones. It looks like Alec Pierce is now going to test
01:26free agency. Before we dig into this, here's Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network confirming that
01:32saying Alec will not confirming it, but saying there's a good chance that Alec Pierce wide receiver
01:36is going to hit the market. There is incentive for the Colts shooting to do a long term deal
01:40with Daniel Jones sooner rather than the later right up against it with the salary cap. They
01:44could restructure some guys. They can figure this out. But if they do a long term deal with Daniel
01:48Jones, their cap situation gets a lot easier. And that might be pretty important because as you
01:53mentioned, Alec Pierce going to be a free agent now. Now the Colts made an aggressive move to try
01:59to sign him before the franchise tag deadline. That was never going to happen. He was not going to sign
02:05unless he knew for sure who his quarterback was going to be. Now he knows it's Daniel Jones,
02:10but timing really is not on the Colts side here. Today is Tuesday, right? And so in like five days
02:16or four days, whatever the math may be, the tampering window begins. Players never get this
02:22close to free agency. Don't at least entertain offers. So hard to imagine he does any deal
02:28until at least the end of the week before he's going to find out what's out there. Besides George
02:32Pickens, who now is a franchise tagged member of the Dallas Cowboys, this is one of the top free agents
02:39regardless of position, certainly the top right receiver. He's going to get a huge deal and the
02:43Colts are now not competing with themselves, but the entire rest of the NFL. Okay. The funniest
02:47part about that is Ian Rapoport not being able to count. He's like, uh, you know, and that was
02:53yesterday. He, he, he dropped that on Tuesday. He's like, you know, when the, when the free agency
02:58begins in five days or four days, whatever, it's actually six days. Yeah. I get that. I'm in that
03:05zone about three or four times a day. Yeah. Um, this, this would be huge to get Alec Pierce,
03:11the hell out of the AFC South. Oh, it'd be awesome. He hits the Texans right in their
03:16Achilles heel when it comes to this defense. I was talking to my brother-in-law who's a
03:20Bills fan yesterday and you know, he's miserable about the bills right now. Doesn't like Joe
03:25Brady. Doesn't know what the hell they're doing. It seems like half their, half their offense
03:29is a free agent right this moment. Yeah. And, uh, and I said, well, I don't know, man. I think,
03:34I think Alec Pierce could really do some damage for you guys. I know with the Texans,
03:40look, you guys, as a Bills fan, he's miserable about the bills coming to play in Houston again
03:45next year. Three years in a row. He's refusing to come to the game. He's been to every, he's been
03:50the last three bills at Texans games. And he's like, I'm not, I'm not doing that again. I'm not
03:56doing it again. I'm not going to subject myself to that. Um, but I said, well, I mean, the big
04:01thing
04:01has been these last couple of matchups is that the bills don't have any receivers, the Texans,
04:05the Texans, you want to beat the Texans. If you're the bills and you want to beat the Texans
04:10and NRG, how about have a guy that continually maddeningly gets behind the Texans coverage
04:18and hits you for big plays? Yeah, that's exactly the Alec Pierce to the bills is not something I
04:24want to see. No, I think that, I think that would be awesome for that would be, that would be
04:28awesome
04:29for Josh Allen. So you, would you, okay. As a Texan fan, would you rather he stay with the Colts
04:33or,
04:34or, Oh yeah, I'd rather. Yeah. Okay. I'd rather him go elsewhere. I just, I'd rather him go
04:39somewhere in the NFC. Well, um, but the bills, I'm still looking at the bills, the team. Okay.
04:43Those are one of the teams you're going to have to face. Yeah. I think it's a totally valid
04:46question. The fact of the matter is that the Colts might not be able to take advantage of Alec
04:50Pierce's skills the way Josh Allen will. Okay. That's a good point. Yeah. Yeah. I don't,
04:54I'm trying to think short-term versus long-term short-term glory. I feel like Alec Pierce to the
04:59bills hurts you more than Alec Pierce staying. The bills are, the bills are definitely a bigger
05:05impediment to your ultimate goal than the Colts are right now. I think, right? Like you're the
05:10Texans long, long-term long-term. I don't want Alec Pierce on the Colts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's,
05:15it's a, it's a, I don't know if it's Pender poll worthy or not, but I think it's a, it's
05:19a more
05:19complicated question than it seems like on the surface, you know, um, get him, you know, get him out of
05:25the
05:25division, but if he goes to another contender, that's tough. Maybe with Alec Pierce, cause Alec
05:29Pierce has become the new T Y Hilton, the guy that you're just like, Oh, great. This guy,
05:34every time you face the Colts, ah, this guy. Awesome. And every time the ball leaves, it doesn't
05:39matter who the quarterback is. It can be Daniel Jones or Anthony Richardson. The ball leaves his
05:42hands. And if you see that it's a number 14 downfield, you're like, Oh, this is getting
05:46completed. So maybe Alec Pierce on the bills. Shouldn't scare me as much because he doesn't, you know,
05:51have two opportunities per year to figure out all the little wrinkles. That's the math. Staying
05:57in the AFC South. This was, um, this was Bucky Brooks. Uh, he was on Texans all access back at
06:02the combine last week. Um, covers the Jags. He's what their sideline reporter, Seth, the Jags. Yeah.
06:08For their, uh, yeah, he was asked by, he was on with John Harris and John Harris asked about
06:13Bucky, uh, asked him about, uh, Travis Hunter. I think he just asked an open-ended question about
06:19Travis Hunter, who it's been announced or at least was reported that Travis Hunter is going to spend
06:24most of his time on the, he's going to be a full-time defensive player this year with sprinklings
06:29of offense. You play DB, you know, the position, you know, well, you study it. Travis Hunter as a DB,
06:35what do you expect from him going forward? Oh, I think it's, I think it's his best position.
06:39Yeah. Uh, looking into it. If you watch him at practice, he has some of the best instincts and
06:44ball skills of anyone that I've been around. And I would say that at a wide receiver, he catches the
06:48ball
06:48naturally, but on defense, man, he is a C ball, get ball player. And in a zone-based scheme where
06:54you're allowed to watch the quarterback and understand how to make breaks on throws and
06:58those things, it's going to play to a skill set. And then still being able to come in on
07:02occasion and play wide receiver. But to me, it's the best move for him. And it's the best
07:05move for the team to put them on defense. I think, uh, everything you said there, I agree
07:09with. And just by evidence of when Travis Hunter played against the Texans this year, I mean, he,
07:14that one pass breakup he had on the right sideline for the offense, he had a, well, he had a
07:19penalty
07:19in that game too. That was kind of maybe sketchy a little bit. Um, yeah, I think him focusing on
07:26the
07:26defensive side of the ball is it's going to be tough for the Texans. I mean, he's just, he's,
07:32he's the kind of defender that kind of like Derek Stingley just shows up all of a sudden when it
07:38looks
07:39like a receiver is open that I think a lot of quarterbacks are going to get duped into thinking
07:43they can make a throw that they can't because Travis Hunter can just, just appear in the frame
07:49all of a sudden. And, um, that's a, so it's a good move for them. The trade, the trade and
07:55how
07:55aggressively do they trade it up for him? It's probably never going to look like it makes sense
08:00because even if Travis Hunter is a really good defensive back, that was still too aggressive
08:04of a trade. But in terms of what the Texans have to worry about, yeah, he's going to, he could
08:08be a
08:08potential headache a couple of times. Well, you brought up Stingley's name. And as I'm listening
08:12to Bucky Brooks lay that out, I'm going, Oh boy, it sure does sound like he's describing Derek Stingley
08:16jr with the style of play and everything. And that's what made me think Stingley was the third
08:21overall pick Travis Hunter. They moved up from five to two to draft. And we know why the magnificent
08:26Gladstone laid it all out. Cause he's going to revolutionize the sport. That's obviously not
08:30happening now. So we actually have a template for whether or not this trade would ever be worth it
08:35because ask yourself if the Texans had moved up a couple spots and given up a future first
08:40to get Derek Stingley jr. How would we feel about that trade right now? And Stingley is arguably the
08:45best cornerback in all of football. And I don't know that it's worth trading a second and a first
08:51to move up three spots to get him. I think if this is how they're going to approach it with
08:55Travis
08:55Hunter, they're never, ever, ever going to recoup what they gave up in that trade. It's a really big,
09:01it's an aggressive price and an aggressive trade for a guy who's a, a really, really good player.
09:06Yeah. Um, but adjust corner now. I, you know what, if Travis Hunter ends up being an awesome
09:14defensive back, one of the best, I guess, zone corners in the league, um, then it, at least you
09:21can have a conversation about it. It doesn't look like a ridiculous look. There's a, there's a good
09:25chance, whichever, whoever they picked with the first round the next year, just is wouldn't,
09:30wouldn't be all that spectacular. No. And like, you know, and like the Texans with the
09:33will Anderson trade, that first round pick from the Jags ended up being much further down
09:38the draft board than probably Cleveland anticipated it being when they, when they made, when they
09:43made the trade. So yeah. So, so there, and here's the other thing. They went 13 and four
09:48last year. The year that they had as a team really kind of masks how bad that trade was.
09:53They went 13 and four without Travis Hunter on the team for half the season. Right. The,
09:59so, I mean, that's the huge question is with the Jaguars, the two big questions are, okay,
10:05how much does Travis Hunter staying healthy an entire year, make a difference in how far
10:09they go in the playoffs? If, if he's able to, he was injured twice last year, missed a chunk
10:14of training camp and then went on IR. So there's that. Yep. He's a small guy. Um, but then also,
10:21so, all right, does Trevor Lawrence continue on this trajectory or is this just yet another
10:25time in Trevor Lawrence's career where he plays a half season of impressive football? And
10:30then once teams figure out exactly how he's operating, cause he's in an offense with Liam
10:35Cohen where they're there, he's Trevor Lawrence is not back there directing traffic and doing
10:42a bunch of ornate and complex things. It's he's, he's given sure answers of where he needs
10:49to go with the football. When teams start to get a beat on that, is he able to continue
10:53elevating? And I'm, I'm skeptical. We'll see. I am too.
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