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The Sports Junkies break down yesterday’s massive trades in the NFL.
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00:00So a massive trade goes down in the NFL yesterday.
00:04I did not see this coming.
00:06Miles Garrett gets dealt from the Cleveland Browns to the L.A. Rams.
00:12Rams trade away a first-round pick in 2027, second-rounder in 2028,
00:16third-rounder in 2029.
00:18They also include third-year pro Jared Verse pass rusher going to Cleveland
00:24in exchange for Miles Garrett, probably the best pass rusher in the NFL,
00:28had 23 sacks in 2025.
00:32I think it's one of those trades which could benefit both teams
00:34because Cleveland got a pretty good haul.
00:36Jared Verse is a really good player.
00:38But Miles Garrett is an amazing player.
00:42He's a Hall of Famer.
00:43The Rams don't care about first-round picks.
00:46This year was an outlier when they drafted Ty Simpson with the first-round pick.
00:51So they're going for it.
00:53They're probably the Super Bowl favorite now in the NFC.
00:57I mean, Matt Stafford's 38 years old, so they're bringing in Miles Garrett
01:02to upgrade the defense in what are sure to be the last year or two
01:07of Matt Stafford's career.
01:09They bring in Ty Simpson to be the heir apparent.
01:12But yeah, this is clearly a go-for-it move by the L.A. Rams
01:16to upgrade that defense, get the most effective pass rusher in the league.
01:21And look, if you're the Cleveland Browns, of course you're going to do this deal.
01:25You have to do this deal.
01:27I mean, your team was garbage with Miles Garrett,
01:30and you're going to be in salary cap hell until 2028 because of the Deshaun Watson deal.
01:36They had to make this move.
01:37I guess.
01:38I just love how the Rams just don't care, and they push draft picks out.
01:44They just don't care.
01:45They go for it.
01:46They go for it.
01:47I actually love it because it's kind of against the conventional wisdom
01:51that you have to build through the draft.
01:52And they'd already made a big trade this offseason.
01:55They traded four draft picks for cornerback Trent McDuffie from the Chiefs.
02:00So they've added a pass rusher.
02:02They've added Trent McDuffie on the back end to improve that defense.
02:07And the offense, they gave an extension to Matthew Stafford.
02:11They drafted Ty Simpson for the future.
02:14Yeah, I mean, you're going to look at Seattle, of course,
02:18defending Super Bowl champions, but the Rams got to be right up there.
02:23And they were there last year.
02:25So going to be even stronger.
02:27I heard that Garrett's actually ahead of Reggie White's sack pace at this point in his career.
02:36That's how great he's been.
02:38He's an absolute monster.
02:39I mean, it's a huge pickup for them.
02:41Some people were wondering, were they doing this because of the criticism they got
02:46for drafted Simpson in the first round?
02:49I don't think so.
02:51I think they just got an opportunity to get arguably the best defensive player in a game.
02:55They did it.
02:56This is good news for Matt Valdez as well.
02:59His Ravens don't have to face Miles Garrett twice a year.
03:03Now, Jared Burst is a good player, but he's not Miles Garrett.
03:05Well, think about it.
03:06If you're Jared Burst, you're right there on the cutting edge of a Super Bowl.
03:09You're playing with a great team, and now you're with Cleveland.
03:11But he's from there.
03:13He's from Ohio.
03:15I'm sure that gives him some solace.
03:19Yeah, he went from a Super Bowl contender to a doormat.
03:23Yeah.
03:24I mean, it may be the team that he grew up with.
03:26Put it this way.
03:26Somebody put down, I don't know if you saw this.
03:28It's a downgrade.
03:29Somebody put down 200K on the Browns to not win the Super Bowl.
03:33And you know what they win if they don't win the Super Bowl?
03:35Is it like $1,000?
03:37$1,000.
03:37Yeah.
03:37They put $200,000 down to win $1,000.
03:41I mean, if you have just $200,000 lying around, it's a weird bit.
03:46I mean, you can make more interest.
03:49I'm sure you make more interest.
03:49You're parking $200,000 for like 10 months.
03:53That screams money laundering.
03:55Yeah, maybe.
03:55Yeah, you're probably right.
03:56Something shady is going on there.
03:59So that deal kind of pushed the A.J. Brown and the Patriots onto the back burner.
04:03Because we knew that A.J. Brown was going to get dealt, and most likely to the Patriots.
04:08And that was made official yesterday.
04:10He gets dealt for a first-round pick in 2028 and a 2027 fifth-round pick as well.
04:17So now Drake May has a premier weapon to throw to on the outside in A.J. Brown.
04:24That hurts the Eagles.
04:26That's good for Commanders fans that A.J. Brown is departing the division.
04:30Yeah.
04:31Now, they loaded up a wide receiver.
04:32We talked about this yesterday.
04:34The Eagles have drafted somebody, and they've picked up a couple guys via free agency,
04:40and they, of course, still have Devontae Smith.
04:43But, yes, you lose A.J. Brown.
04:45But, you know, I was driving in this morning, and I heard our pal, John Kincaid,
04:51and he was saying that he might be a nice person, A.J. Brown,
04:55but he takes all the oxygen out of the room.
04:56Yeah.
04:56And that he wasn't finishing routes.
05:00And if you look at the percentage of hurts completion percentage to Devontae Smith,
05:05I want to say it was in the high 70%.
05:07Yeah.
05:07To A.J. Brown, it was like in the low 60s.
05:09Now, part of that is a lot of deep balls being thrown to A.J. Brown that they have a
05:16smaller percentage of chance of being completed.
05:20You know, if you're throwing a 40-yard bomb downfield instead of a seven-yard pass to Devontae Smith,
05:26it's less likely that 40-yarder is going to connect.
05:28I don't know if they threw more deep balls to A.J. Brown versus Devontae Smith.
05:34It seems like Devontae Smith catches deep balls, too.
05:36What I'd say is, if you have a receiver, and I didn't study his routes,
05:40who's not completing his routes, who's giving up during games,
05:45that's probably not helpful to your team.
05:47Well, it's not great, but the Pats know they needed a premier number one wideout for Drake May.
05:56He's a huge addition for them.
05:58And Mike Vrabel's coached him before, coached him in Tennessee,
06:01so maybe they feel like they can keep his head on straight in New England
06:05when he was kind of going off the rails in Philly,
06:07and his relationship with Hurts kind of fizzled.
06:12So I guess it's worth taking a chance with, but he is 29 years old.
06:16He makes a ton of money, and he's often injured.
06:18So those are the cons for A.J. Brown.
06:21The Patriots, apparently, I was watching NFL Live yesterday on ESPN,
06:28and the Patriots really struggled against man-to-man coverage.
06:31So they're bringing A.J. Brown to be a man-buster.
06:35By the way, A.J. Brown is one of seven players in NFL history
06:39with at least 8,500 receiving yards and 60 touchdown catches in his first seven seasons.
06:46It's a list with basically all Hall of Famers.
06:50It's Tyreek Hill, Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Randy Moss, Marvin Harrison, and Jerry Rice.
06:59I mean, that's a pretty select elite company that A.J. Brown is a part of.
07:04If I'm the Pats, though, I'd have to be worried about,
07:08has he already had the best portion of his career in both Tennessee and Philly?
07:13Probably.
07:14I'd be worried about that.
07:15Probably.
07:16But you're still getting a great player.
07:18Yeah, I mean, you're getting a guy who hopefully at least for at least two or three seasons
07:23continues to put up 80 to 100 catches, 8 to 10 touchdowns every year.
07:28Like, that's a sort of weapon.
07:29How old is he now?
07:31I think he's 29.
07:31It's so funny.
07:32My daughter called me yesterday.
07:34We were just chatting.
07:35And she said, you know, she lives in a New York City apartment.
07:38And you know how sometimes you get into an elevator, like you get into a cab,
07:42and there are ads in the elevator?
07:43He's 28.
07:44He's 28.
07:45She saw an ad in her elevator as she was going down that said
07:51the peak physical prime for humans is 35 years old.
07:57And I thought, that's kind of old.
08:00Seems very old.
08:01Maybe for a normal person, but not for professional athletes.
08:05Certainly not for tennis players.
08:06Those guys are probably peak at like 25.
08:09I don't think in the NFL you could say that their physical prime is 35.
08:13Maybe for a quarterback, but not for a wide receiver.
08:17Maybe they take too many reps and it skews it.
08:22Maybe that number applies to just rank and file humans that don't play sports at an elite level.
08:28Yeah.
08:28Just random Joes.
08:30That didn't seem right to me.
08:31That means our physical prime was 21 years ago.
08:36I can attest to that.
08:37At least.
08:38Absolutely.
08:39I can attest to that.
08:41Anyway, he's going to be super impactful for them.
08:44There's no doubt about it.
08:45Which one's the bigger move?
08:46I think it's Miles Garrett.
08:49Might be.
08:50Might be Miles.
08:51Although the Patriots were a Super Bowl team last year.
08:54So you add AJ Brown to the Super Bowl team to specifically what they needed.
09:02That's a big move, but it just seems like the Rams were knocking on the door last year.
09:08And then you add Miles Garrett, throw in McDuffie.
09:13They are all in.
09:15And they were actually in the AJ Brown hunt, at least rumored to be.
09:21Which I found crazy because they've got Puka and they've got Devontae Adams.
09:27They're up for trading for anybody.
09:29They don't care.
09:31Did you happen to see...
09:32I'm trying to see if he has this on the outline.
09:34I don't see that he has it.
09:37Funny that somebody highlighted, and I think it's accurate,
09:41that Brandon Ayuk follows three accounts on Instagram or Twitter.
09:46One or two.
09:47I can't remember which one it was.
09:48And one is, I think, his wife, maybe, or mother.
09:51The other is Jaden Daniels.
09:53The other is the Commander.
09:54He follows three accounts.
09:55Those are the three.
09:56That's it.
09:57Yeah.
09:58I think that's confirmed.
10:03Maybe it's his way of trying to force the issue here.
10:08I've gotten completely over the,
10:10hey, did you see, fill in the name of the athlete here,
10:13has scrubbed the social media of his teams.
10:17I've gotten over that.
10:18You're over all of it.
10:18To me, that doesn't really mean that much.
10:21I don't think it means much either, but it is interesting.
10:24If there's any doubt where he wants to end up.
10:26Yeah.
10:27I don't think there's any doubt.
10:28I'm sure he wants to come and play with Jaden Daniels.
10:31It's just a matter of, is that what the team wants?
10:33Is that what Adam Peters and Dan Quinn want?
10:36I used to think so.
10:37Now I have no idea.
10:39Yeah, those are the three accounts he's following.
10:42Yeah.
10:42Is it the wife?
10:43It's the wife.
10:44It's got to be the wife.
10:45It's the wife or girlfriend because she's young.
10:47Yeah.
10:48Yeah.
10:48It's wild.
10:50It's a real thing.
10:54So, just waiting and waiting and waiting for them to do something.
11:00I would not expect anything to happen with Ayuk anytime soon.
11:05I don't think the Niners want to help him out one bit.
11:08I agree with you.
11:09The Niners, I'm sure, they've sat in a room and said, when's the last second we can have
11:14him on the roster and then get rid of him without any other further repercussions?
11:20And I've told you, I'd rather have, at this point, Debo back and or Diggs.
11:27Right.
11:28Those guys are both available.
11:29But I think it's crazy to think that Ayuk's not still in play.
11:32I think he's still in play.
11:33I think there's still a chance, but it just...
11:35Until they sign somebody else.
11:37Although, as Smoot said, he did make an excellent point.
11:42I mean, how many receivers are you going to keep?
11:44They already have seven or eight.
11:45They've got a lot of guys in the pipeline.
11:47They've already got seven or eight.
11:48Now, I know that most of us don't think super highly of the bottom four or five of them.
11:54But they each have their own case that they could make.
11:58Deami Brown had his moments.
11:59Van Jefferson is a capable receiver in the league.
12:02What do you think the odds are they just go, yeah, we're good?
12:0575%?
12:07But that's their desire.
12:09Their desire is, you know what?
12:10There's no way to know.
12:11We're not going to sit there and wait around for Ayuk that deep down, like privately, they're good.
12:17What do you think the odds are?
12:19I think it's fitty-fitty.
12:21Look, I know that Adam Peters wants McCaffrey and Jalen Lane to work out.
12:25He wants those picks to work out.
12:27Makes him look better.
12:27But, I'm sorry, Stephon Diggs and or Debo and or Keenan Allen are better options than either of those guys.
12:36They're going to come in and be more effective than probably those guys combined.
12:41You have to give McCaffrey credit, though.
12:43He did make a big jump last year.
12:45I'm not saying McCaffrey doesn't belong on the roster.
12:47He definitely does.
12:48He has a role.
12:49Don't you think Deami deserves a role?
12:51Deami was pretty good in that last six months of the team.
12:54Or last, whatever, six games.
12:55He's a hard baby for me.
12:57I just never know what I'm going to get with Deami Brown.
13:01He's a mixed bag.
13:03Yeah.
13:04He's got a chemistry.
13:06He did have nothing.
13:07They did give him nothing, though.
13:08They gave him nothing to come back.
13:10I mean, that's the case for a lot of these guys in the four, five, six, seven spots at wideout
13:15for the commanders.
13:16So, we did know that June 1st was going to be big and that the A.J. Brown deal was
13:20likely to happen.
13:21I did happen to see something else significant about June 1st yesterday related to the NFL.
13:27Do you know what it was?
13:28I don't.
13:29I believe it was 100 days from the first kickoff in the NFL.
13:33Oh, really?
13:33Is that wrong, ready?
13:34Wow.
13:35100-day countdown.
13:36I guess we're at 99 now.
13:37Just three-plus months.
13:39Not that far away.
13:40It's kind of depressing, though.
13:41This is my favorite time of the year when it's nice and warm outside.
13:45I like football, believe me, but I'm in a rush to get to game one.
13:48It'll still be warm in early September.
13:50It's all good.
13:51Oh, if you could tell me week one was this week.
13:54You want to erase summer?
13:55Sure.
13:55Oh, no.
13:56It doesn't erase summer.
13:57It kind of does.
13:58I wouldn't fast forward through summer.
13:59No chance.
13:59Yeah, I love summer.
14:00It's too great.
14:01I'm not erasing summer.
14:02Just starting the NFL now.
14:04Yeah.
14:05All right.
14:05When we come back, we're going to talk about a longtime NFL quarterback who won't be on the
14:09field in week one.
14:11He'll be doing a pregame show helping hype up the action.
14:15And we'll discuss whether he's a Hall of Famer or not.
14:18We will do that next here on the fan.
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