00:00Talked yesterday on the show about Matt Bowen and Jeremy Fowler's story about the top 25,
00:07they ranked them, players that could be moved by the trade deadline.
00:12And among the 25, seven were listed as good fits for our team.
00:20Several of you followed up with the same message specifically, and this one sums it up.
00:27It's from Kevin J. in Shaw, D.C.
00:30Sheehan, don't you think Jeremy Fowler knows something about the commander's trade deadline possibilities?
00:37Seven players listed as targets for the team?
00:42So I asked Max this before the show.
00:46You have sort of a list.
00:49I think Jeremy Fowler does a really good job.
00:52And several other people, I'm not going to read them all,
00:55but several other people said Fowler knows something.
00:57Jeremy Fowler's always got our team pegged.
01:00He seems to have some, you know, front office contact that feeds him.
01:07I think Jeremy Fowler's just a good reporter.
01:09And it didn't strike me as Jeremy Fowler has a lot on our team.
01:15I didn't feel that way.
01:16Many of you did.
01:17Max, you seem to think the same thing, that Jeremy Fowler knows a lot about our team.
01:23I think he's got an ear to the ground inside the organization.
01:26Like, there's this tweet from August 4th just about commander's training camp and all that.
01:31Jayden Daniels, Terry McLaurin connection humming.
01:33Stephon Diggs on the radar.
01:35Stephon Diggs was signed to the team August 5th the next day.
01:38So I know there was a lot of smoke around that at the time anyway.
01:41But that's just kind of one of the many examples.
01:45I'm going down.
01:46I just literally go to his Twitter and search commanders.
01:49He's got some inside information.
01:52Like, Philly was the most consistent suitor for Jonathan Grenard throughout.
01:55Commanders pursued in March.
01:56The Bucs kicked the tires on it.
01:58But at the end, Philly gets a much-needed pass rusher.
02:00Then, the next one, veteran quarterback Akella Witherspoon plans to sign with the commanders.
02:06The next one, commanders are signing veteran receiver Van Jefferson.
02:10That was on March 13th.
02:13Commanders were in on Trey Hendrickson.
02:15So he dropped that little nugget.
02:17Yeah.
02:17And then also, commanders are still combining the pass rush market after agreeing to terms with Odafe Owe.
02:24One name that comes up often in the league circles, Calevon Chason.
02:27Then, Calevon Chason was signed to our team.
02:30Romeo Dobbs was considered for the Patriots and commanders as his primary options.
02:35Both had competing offers, but Dobbs decided on New England.
02:38Then, another one.
02:39The commanders made an aggressive push for Alec Pierce before he ultimately decided to stay with the Colts.
02:43Per source, New England was also in.
02:45So he brings up our team quite a bit.
02:48I think he knows, like, what Adam Peters is looking at.
02:53Yep.
02:56It did not occur to me in the moment yesterday, reading from that story, that Fowler would be providing sort
03:04of a guideline to the teams that are going to be interested in being buyers.
03:09Remember, he also had Deron Payne as the sixth best trade deadline target in the league.
03:18And he wrote, Washington dealt key defensive pieces at the deadline three years ago and could be faced with a
03:23similar predicament, this time with Payne, who's 29 and still has value.
03:28Payne is a 2027 free agent with a 16.4 million base this year.
03:33But the NFC East is also winnable, despite Washington's 1-4-1 record.
03:38So that could be a point in favor of the commanders keeping him.
03:43Jacksonville is a potential fit, with some in the league noting that the Jags could use a versatile interior player
03:50with pass rush ability and have looked for that since the offseason.
03:54Predicted chance of getting traded 25%, which, for this particular article, wasn't the highest.
04:05There were some that were 35%, 40% in terms of the chances of getting traded.
04:10But it wasn't the lowest either.
04:13And remember, I mentioned that on their honorable mention list of players who could get dealt, Andrew Wiley and Stefan
04:23Diggs were both on that list.
04:25But the players that they were associated with via the Fowler-Bowen story, and it may be more interesting to
04:35now focus in on the player or players that they weren't listed as good fits for.
04:41But the players that they were were Jonathan Taylor, the number one trade deadline target, Jerry Judy, Chris Godwin, Rashad
04:53Bateman, the guard Cesar Ruiz in New Orleans, and Tony Pollard.
04:58Those were the players in which they were listed as fits.
05:03And when they listed team fits, they were not listed alphabetically, which always tells me that these are the fits
05:10that they believe are most likely.
05:13Like, Jonathan Taylor was Seahawks 1, Washington 2.
05:19For Jerry Judy, it was Kansas City 1, Raiders 2, Washington 3.
05:25And then for Chris Godwin, it was Kansas City 1, Washington 2.
05:33But Rashad Bateman was Washington 1, Kansas City 2.
05:38And then you had Cesar Ruiz, it was Detroit 1, Washington 2.
05:43Tony Pollard, Washington 1, Minnesota 2.
05:48It may be more instructive to look at players that do not fit, according to Matt Bowen and Jeremy Fowler,
05:58with Washington.
05:59And I'll start with Brian Thomas Jr.
06:02Because I know a lot of you think that Brian Thomas Jr. is interesting.
06:06I mean, Mark and Largo would have traded for him last year.
06:13And Washington's not listed as a fit for Brian Thomas Jr.
06:17Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco are the three teams listed.
06:24Brian Thomas Jr., there are red flags all over this player.
06:29All over him.
06:30After an outstanding rookie season, he has not been very good since.
06:34And he's been a constant, constant, you know, player mentioned as tradable by Jacksonville.
06:45And he's not off to a very good start this year.
06:48I think I would steer clear of Brian Thomas Jr.
06:51And I know that Jaden, you know, threw to him at LSU.
06:56You know, when it comes to Ayuk and Brian Thomas Jr., you know,
07:00we don't know what Jaden's saying to Adam Peters, Lance Newmark and company.
07:06We don't know.
07:07For all we know, we're like, he's saying, no, we don't want him in our locker room.
07:13I mean, I love him.
07:15He's a brother.
07:15But we don't want him in the locker room.
07:18The Brian Thomas Jr. thing, I'm kind of glad Washington's not listed as a team.
07:24Because for all the talent and ability he has, he has not really produced much since that outstanding rookie season.
07:34And after a rookie season on a rookie contract as a first-round player that the team controlled for another
07:44four years after his rookie year,
07:47Jacksonville's been trying to trade him since the end of his rookie season.
07:51What does that say?
07:54He had 87 catches as a rookie for 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns.
08:00And they were trying to trade him.
08:04You got to sometimes just, you know, look at what's staring you in the face.
08:11Like, okay, there are examples of players who just aren't fits for certain organizations or certain offenses.
08:18You're going to tell me that Brian Thomas Jr., if he's all that, isn't a good fit for Trevor Lawrence
08:25and Liam Cohen?
08:27Like, it can't work in that scheme with that coach and that quarterback?
08:33And by the way, speed with Parker Washington and some of the other players?
08:37No, something's wrong.
08:39I'm not saying that Kansas City won't take a flyer on him.
08:44Here's what you should know about Brian Thomas Jr.
08:47If he gets traded to another AFC contender, that's another red flag.
08:53How is Jacksonville, an AFC contender, going to trade him to another AFC contender
09:00if they think he's going to come back and haunt them or haunt the AFC?
09:07That's a weird one.
09:09And then the other receiver, let me scroll down the list that was not,
09:14Josh Downs was not listed as a fit for Washington.
09:17It's funny, I kind of like Josh Downs.
09:19I think he's a dude that gets separation.
09:21I think he's a guy that can, you know, much more from the slot, you know,
09:26and they kind of have that with Diggs, so it would be sort of duplication,
09:31and maybe that's why Fowler and Bowen said Josh Downs is no,
09:35but Chris Godwin's sort of that, you know,
09:38and he was listed as a yes or a good fit for Washington.
09:44Yeah.
09:47So I don't know.
09:49Ultimately, they've got three players that they think Washington may move on from
09:54as a possibility, and seven in which they think there might be a good fit.
09:58If this story is saying, we know that these teams are going to be buyers,
10:04and these are the teams, and these are the players that they'll be interested in.
10:08So we have some breaking news, not related to our team, but it is NFC-related.
10:13The Tennessee Titans are trading all-pro defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons
10:16to the Chicago Bears.
10:18Oh, my God.
10:21Are you kidding me?
10:23Jeff Simmons in a 2028 fifth, Titans receive a 2027 and 2028 first-round picks,
10:29and the 2027 fourth-round pick.
10:31That is the compensation.
10:35He might be the best defensive player in the league right now.
10:38Yeah.
10:39Right now.
10:39Yeah.
10:40He is having, for a bad football team,
10:43God, I've been the biggest Jeffrey Simmons fan since he came into the league.
10:46This dude is dominant.
10:48Dominant.
10:50He is.
10:52And he, they just traded him to Chicago.
10:56Two firsts.
10:58He's worth two firsts.
10:59Yeah.
11:00He's that good.
11:03That's a heavy price, though, to pay for an interior lineman,
11:06but that is an area in which,
11:10that's an area in which Chicago needed to get better.
11:14Man, they are going for it.
11:15Man, could you blame him?
11:19Wow.
11:20That is unbelievable.
11:23Who's reporting that, Schefter?
11:25Schefter's got it.
11:30No graphic or anything.
11:31So this probably just came across the wire, like, this morning
11:34and caught everybody off guard.
11:37I can't believe that.
11:40Two first-rounders and a fourth-rounder.
11:44Denton's going to love this.
11:45The Bears are giving up.
11:48And so, yeah, look.
11:51The Bears have a chance, certainly, you know, with more consistent defense
11:57to be a Super Bowl team out of the NFC.
12:04Who do they have up front?
12:05I mean, it's Sweat and it's Grady Jarrett, but who else did they have?
12:10Didn't they move Grady Jarrett?
12:11Anybody else, really?
12:11Huh?
12:12Who did they just trade to Atlanta?
12:14Wasn't it Grady?
12:18Hmm.
12:19I don't know.
12:21Well, that is a wow.
12:23Wow.
12:24That is an NFL wow trade.
12:28Quentin Nelson is one thing.
12:31Jeffrey Simmons is another.
12:33And let's just see, you know, where was Simmons contract-wise right now?
12:41Because the two firsts would suggest that he's got years left on the deal.
12:44And didn't he sign a big deal recently, didn't he?
12:48He signed a really big deal recently.
12:49It was this year.
12:50Wasn't it this year?
12:52Where he became the highest defensive paid player ever?
12:55Three.
12:55Defensive tackle.
12:56Yeah, it was this offseason.
12:57Yeah.
12:57He's first year of this contract.
12:59Yeah, he signed it this year.
13:00He's on the Bears until 2029.
13:06Wow.
13:07Ryan Paul's taking big swings on a rookie contract.
13:09Can't hate it.
13:11I'll tell you, man.
13:12On one hand, if I'm a Titans fan, it's like by the time we are Cam Ward's ready to play
13:19high-level football, and we've surrounded him with good pieces.
13:23Jeffrey Simmons, you know, I mean, he's not going to be on the downside of his career
13:29by a long shot.
13:30The dude's only 27 or 28, right?
13:34Is that right?
13:36I think so.
13:37He just turned 29.
13:38Yep.
13:43So, dominant season he is having right now.
13:46He is an absolute A-plus defensive tackle.
13:52What a difference he could make for them.
13:55I mean, a massive difference.
13:57I'm not saying that he's Aaron Donald, but players like Simmons and Jalen Carter, but
14:03Simmons' motor never, never dies.
14:08And that's going to be an impactful to the NFC race trade.
14:15I think I'd feel good about it if I'm Chicago.
14:18Like, they're in a position right now, yes, they are in a very competitive division and
14:22a very competitive NFC with San Francisco, Seattle, and still I would not give up on the
14:26Rams at all.
14:29But Chicago's probably one of those teams that's thinking, you know, if we're better defensively
14:35and we can really add a great player defensively to our team, we can score with anybody.
14:42We're going to be difficult to beat.
14:43They play the Seahawks on Monday Night Football this week.
14:49Let him play.
14:52And he's ready to play.
14:54Suit him up.
14:54It's not like he's injured.
14:55It's not like he's coming off an injury.
14:57Of course he's going to play.
14:59Why wouldn't he?
15:00Fair enough.
15:01That is a massive in-season trade.
15:06I guess last year's would be Sauce Gardner, right?
15:09Because that involved multiple first-round picks.
15:14Gardner was two first-rounders in others, right?
15:17Two first-rounders and I think A.D. Mitchell got thrown in there as well.
15:20Yeah.
15:22All right.
15:23Really interesting.
15:24Really interesting.
