- 5 weeks ago
Seth and Sean discuss the Colts using the transition tag on QB Daniel Jones, that leaving them unable to tag WR Alec Pierce, where they hope Alec Pierce doesn't end up, and Travis Hunter primarily playing DB for the Jags.
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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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