Trade Deadline Primer AKA F.A.T. AKA Fun-Ass Trades We'd Like to See

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Put it this way: if Joe Shane was able to pull this trade-off, he could run for mayor and win in New York City.

Yeah, they want the Hard Knocks cameras back there at that point.

He would absolutely be heralded as a genius and a hero.

Yeah, it would get annoying.

I'm still not confident that Dart and Scadaboo are actually good.

I just have fun watching.

They are.

Giants fans.

I already ticketed them to be giving giving each other's induction speeches in Ken.

Hey, welcome to Heed the Call on NFL podcast.

I am Dan Hansis, joined by

the great Mark Sessler.

Justin Graver on the ones and twos.

A little jaunty, a little extra bounce in the step of the gravy.

In this Texas Rogers hoodie.

He loves to dance.

He just loves to dance.

He loves the hump day.

He's a hump day guy.

Yeah, I'm also excited because NFL season is over.

I don't have to watch my crappy Titans anymore.

I'm excited for the start of the NBA, which kicked off last night, and the Mavs kick off tonight.

And I'm going to the game, which is sick.

I'm super

super pumped.

Good for you today.

You get to see the Phenom,

number one pick.

Good for you.

That's good.

It's good to have something.

Yeah, I'm a Knicks fan, and they're starting their season against the Cavs.

And especially in a year like this,

kind of going back to our Mariners-Seahawks conversation on Monday night, like having other teams to fall back on.

Like, it was pretty grim for Tugboat a couple weeks ago when the Yankees were getting bounced out of the playoffs.

And then you're like, all right, well, then there's the Jets.

And it's like, usually I'm not a big like NBA guy in October.

I'm definitely more in the category of fans.

Like I'll plug in starting around Christmas time, around New Year's to the NBA.

But this season, I feel like I need a very, what might be a very good Knicks team to really lift me up.

So not putting all your eggs in one sports basket is helpful.

Now, Ceci, you're a good example of someone that doesn't do that.

Like you are a Cleveland Browns fan.

Sometimes you pretend you're not at times.

You say they're my childhood team, but you love your Browns.

Come on.

But you don't have another team that you really stand by.

And I would maybe I would maybe say, you know, jump on a couple bandwagons.

Find joy wherever you can.

I've tried it.

I've tried it.

I do the annual, I'm going to follow baseball this year.

And about eight days later, that's not the case.

But you're right.

I put all my eggs in one basket.

And then the basket had a nuclear bomb drop on it.

So it's like, you're right.

You've got to have other things that bring pleasure.

But maybe I'll try it with an NBA team this year.

I was a Knicks fan back in the day.

Then

they made life very tough for about two plus decades.

They did.

They did.

All right.

And thank you for Jalen Brunson, Justin.

Yeah.

And by the way,

the NBA return to NBC,

we wish we could play it, but we'll get flagged for it so we can't.

But like the package that they rolled out for that stellar double OT

opener between the

Thunder and Rockets, it was like pulling a warm hoodie over your head.

I guess you have to be at a certain age.

And they even did a really nice job of that

where they opened it with a bunch of stars of the league currently that weren't born when NBA on NBC was a thing in the Michael Jordan

era, obviously, which was a fun way to acknowledge this isn't really for everyone, but it was like the same thing.

Like when I was at the Oasis Live 25 reunion, we knew when we were in that crowd, as we were, all these middle-aged men were tearing up, singing slide away, Um, that this isn't for everyone, but man, this is for us.

And what a nice little moment that was

enjoying the hearing the round ball rock by, of all people,

John Tesh.

Plays in the concert all the time.

I'm quite a piano man.

Like, I, I, that's the era of when I would watch basketball every day and all weekend long.

And that NBC tie, you know why I like NBC back in the day, but um,

it was, it was such a special time.

And I think the NBA was in a really wonderful place back then.

And

to give us anything that reminds us of those feelings from way back when, sports-wise, I'll take it.

I would guess what would be the

NFL equivalent of round ball rock and that type of those good like hoodie, warm hoodie vibes.

From a music angle?

Probably maybe, I think Monday Night Football, that theme.

would be it.

And I think that ESPN has done a nice job of really, well, they have that goofy song where it's like a country rap song, which I get it.

They're trying to hit as many demographics as possible.

But once you get past that silly thing, you get the original theme from the old Kosel days, obviously.

And it goes

right up to the ball being kicked off, which I think is a really nice production touch.

That would be, I guess, the equivalent.

But for those, you know, Gen Xers and the elder millennials like myself, yeah,

Round Ball Rock by John Tesh.

It's hard to top it.

Go listen to it.

All right, let's

change gears here.

Let's welcome our Wednesday guest every week on the end around.

And one of our favorites, you know who it is.

Mr.

Wide left himself.

Mr.

host of the Norse Code.

Mr.

hottest Minnesota guy since Prince, Arif Hassan.

That's a heavy burden to carry.

Like, we're the hottest guys ever at of Minnesota.

Let's say.

Okay, Prince.

Joe Maurer was kind of like Joe.

Joe Maurer super had it.

That's, yeah.

That's also a tough one to be.

Adam Thielen, right?

He's.

I'm not going to say Adam Thielen yet, but, like, he's pretty attractive.

Let's go, like, like, athlete category more than, like, you know, Diminutive Viking.

Larry Fitzgerald.

Handsome.

Yeah.

Terrell Suggs.

I guess most people wouldn't consider Terrell Suggs in the category of maybe most conventionally attractive.

Maybe that's true.

I would say Terrell Suggs, based on both his physical looks and some of the off-the-field stuff, might be the ugliest person.

Right.

Yeah.

That's yeah.

So total pull.

We're going to eliminate Suggsy from that combo.

But

sound off in the comments on hottest guys from Minnesota and where a reef stacks up.

All right.

I'm really happy that I have to compete with like chat.

Right.

Like that's.

I'm actively looking up hottest men from Minnesota right now.

The search favorite is just the early search.

Yeah,

that's a good thing to have in my

category.

Don't act like it was already on the browser.

Like you start typing it in, and it takes you back to the website you were on late last year.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right, Arif, great to have you back.

This is what we're going to do.

We're going to cycle through some fun news items, and then we're going to get to our version of

the trade deadline primer.

I feel like we're just ahead of the news cycle on this.

All your content's going to be flooded with this shit in

72 hours.

But I feel like if we come in earlier than we should, we just beat it, even though technically it's too early to do this.

But I don't think so.

I don't know.

I'm just talking out loud now.

I probably should stop talking, Arif, and just...

No, I think we're dancing through the raindrops, but it's good.

I think we're trendsetters, Arif.

Would you agree with that?

Yeah.

Yeah,

I think we're the heroes here, for sure.

Well, we certainly are.

That has been established for many years.

All right.

So, but before we get to that, we're going to do some

realistic trade possibilities.

Well, hopefully, realistic.

I put a lot of thought into mine.

I don't know about you guys.

I want it to happen.

Not a single thought.

Well, okay.

But that's fine, too.

We'll judge that.

But things that we think will

make the league more fun, that will help the teams involved and are plausible.

That's what we're going for.

But first, let's go through through the news i i want to start with one of my favorite tropes always one of my favorite tropes out there is uh the

this one's even better than trope alert player x removes um team logo uh from various social medias as my favorite go-to trope of the season the one that like you know you could bank on is struggling team takes away the fun stuff from the locker room right especially the ping pong it's always a ping pong table.

It's always the poor ping-pong table.

And what did ping-pong do, honestly, in modern society, to be pointed at and be like, we need to single this out as a thing to be removed.

After their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Baltimore Ravens coaching staff removed several distractions from the locker room.

Distractions and quotes, including the ping-pong table, cornhole boards.

They had cornhole in the locker room.

That's it.

That does seem a little extra.

It's next level.

A basketball hoop.

No, you guys, no, you got to have the hoop.

That's fine.

How big is this locker room?

Is it regulation?

Is it adjacent or in the locker room itself?

I would assume in the locker room.

Yeah.

And video game consoles.

That one does seem like a little much, I got to be honest.

I was here for the hoop.

I don't know about the consoles.

First of all, I need to see the square footage of the Ravens locker room.

It sounds like it's definitely bigger than my house.

Two,

these things standalone aren't that big a deal, but when you add them all up, I guess, yeah, it gets a little dicey.

also say arif and you've been in locker rooms like

you know these things are there for a reason it's a hard job uh they went what 14 and three or whatever last year i'm sorry i'm sure all this shit was in there last year too um it does seem like an easy excuse to point to uh when you're trying to fix things but i don't like scapegoating fun stuff

yeah no i'm i'm there with you especially because like uh fun stuff is sometimes put in there also to fix locker rooms right like if your team is losing and they don't have any fun stuff, then they put a ping pong table in there.

So it's like players, you know, are always competing.

It was like one thing that I've been told about like why you put a ping pong table in there to make sure you kind of revive or, you know, keep alive the spirit of competition.

And it's like, okay, I feel like...

I feel like this doesn't matter one way or the other then.

If we can use it to fix losing teams, to just bring it, it's like turning a computer on and off again, right?

It's like, what are we really doing here that's meaningfully changed?

Probably nothing.

But like, I guess when you're struggling struggling and you've tried everything else, tried fixing the schemes, tried watching all the film, tried, you know, changing the nutrition or whatever.

You've tried everything else.

You're just like, the ping pong table, I guess?

You're just at wit's end at that point.

And it's typically the thing that like...

A new coaching staff comes in and does what the other, the last coaching staff wasn't doing.

So we're the fun coaching staff, or we're going to take away all that nonsense because it's time to get serious.

I was reading a little bit about it and it's legit that these guys play a ton of Madden like before games and stuff too to kind of get their head into it.

Not every player, but it's very popular.

Dan, to your point, I remember at the NFL when we had these really nice water coolers and one day you go into the break room and they just replace them with these archaic, nonsensical,

but perhaps not even ethically healthy.

And it's like, you're just knocking the morale down.

Like, or suddenly you can't take a plus one to the holiday party.

It's like these little things don't inspire me to

rise my performance.

They agitate.

Yeah, seeing

working at NFL Media during the Empire's decline, ending with the sale to ESPN,

it was, it happened in little drips and drabs.

You know, the things that were that were taken off the table.

Like when we moved into the new

offices at Hollywood Park, the, I mean, Arif, this was, we're talking the golden age, buddy.

This was the commissary, everything was free, buddy.

Everything was on the arm.

Go get your lunch.

Go get your snacks.

Go get your drink.

It's all on the arm, baby.

You know, trips all across the country, luxury hotels, London, you know, Germany, the owner's meetings.

We're in the suite next to Woody Johnson hearing thumping against the wall.

These were the golden era.

This is the golden era, baby.

And then all of a sudden, like, it was like, okay, that went away.

That went, uh-oh, they're charging at the commissary.

Uh-oh, Dan doesn't have a job anymore.

Like, it just happened in drips and drips.

Right, right.

Every single day.

One more critical than the other.

Yeah.

All right.

And by the way, this is Justin.

Can you get on this for the rest of the program?

Can you look up every team that's ever taken a ping-pong table out of their locker room and then see what their record was after that?

Thank you.

If you can get

within 15 to 20 minutes,

okay.

Thank you.

You got it.

All right.

In other news,

Russell Wilson, man.

Tough times for Russ.

We played it on the Sunday flagship show.

They had that, and good job

by our boy Jimmy Palmer, had the video in the locker room of Brian Burns, you know, screaming about the defensive strategy to drop eight on the game-winning field goal drive by the Broncos and that horrendous Giants collapse slash incredible Broncos comeback, however you want to look at it.

But you saw Brian Burns yelling, and then you saw just like kind of like Russell Wilson next to him.

It was like, oh, yeah, Russell Wilson's there.

Russell Wilson, when this season began, was the starting quarterback of the Giants.

He did a lot of, he did the media tour.

Connor had a catch with him in a local park in New York City.

It was a really nice time, but he quickly lost the job.

And Sean Payton,

he,

you know, he's a guy who can't resist.

taking little jabs.

Payton's

short-term marriage to Russell Wilson in Denver was the stuff of disaster films.

And he found a way to get a little dig in in a media gathering post-game on Sunday.

You know, they found a little spark with that quarterback.

I was talking to John Merron not too long ago, and I said we were hoping that that change would have happened long after our game.

Yeah, and obviously the connection point there is that, yeah, if you would have left Russell Wilson in the starting lineup, it would have been better for the Broncos because Russell Wilson isn't as good.

Not cool.

Russell Wilson then jumps on Twitter.

How about this one, Arif?

He jumps on Twitter and he tweets this on Tuesday.

I love it.

I love the drama.

Feed it to me.

Classless.

Classless, but not surprised.

Well, let me try to say it like Russell Wilson.

Classless, but not surprised.

Didn't realize you're still bounty hunting 15 plus years later through the media.

Emojis all around.

Hashtag let's ride iconic.

36 million views, Ari.

What would you one to 10?

And let's keep in mind the source here.

Russ does, this isn't his ballywick.

He's not good at burns or being cool or funny.

What would you give him one out of 10 for this burn back on Sean Payton?

If he was like a continuous trash talker, I think that the bar would be higher in terms of like what sounds like a pretty good burn.

But given that this just like never happens, I'm going to give him an eight.

I think that eight out of ten on the burn back.

I think that you got to grade every quarterback on a curve in terms of how petty they could be.

And that one's pretty high.

And also, I mean, soft spot for me, I've been following the Vikings for a long time.

Bounting Gate is near and dear to my heart.

So maybe we got a couple of bonus points here.

Yeah, that's true.

How about you, Mark?

On the Bunsen Burner Blowtorch scale, one to 10 for us.

I'm going to go 7.9.

I agree, though, that the unusual nature of getting Russell Wilson to comment in any nature that isn't completely vanilla or manufactured, I respect.

And so he went there.

And you know, if you're going against Sean Payton in a public forum, you're going against a veteran.

Like that's, it's like, I kind of like, anyone in media has had that moment with Sean Payton where it was like, whoa,

we're good.

Yeah.

No, Sean Payton's a dick.

I think we all know that.

And

Russell Wilson probably has been harboring a lot of ill will towards him for some time now.

And it came out in that tweet.

So yeah, you know what?

I feel like it's been a humbling year for Wilson the last couple few weeks.

And I totally feel, yeah, I side with him.

Well, no, I mean, it's been up and down.

I agree with you on that.

But he was, he kind of had his rise when he's like, oh, now I'm playing in the New York City market and I'm QB1 and this is my chance to, and for that to kind of go away, I can understand why you see that quote and you're like, dude, leave me alone, man.

Like, obviously, I, my career is kind of on the downswing.

I get it.

Good for you, Russ.

Way to fight back.

And be, it felt human.

And that's, yes.

I give that to him.

So I'm going to give it an 8.6

on the Bunsen Burner Blowtorch scale.

All right.

Speaking of Woody Johnson and dull thumping against the wall.

That's a joke because the Jets are the type of team that would sue one of their biggest fans for making that, saying that.

So, you know,

F off.

But

yeah.

Woody Johnson

has been

on in the darkness

for

most of 2025.

this is by design.

Last year, obviously, was he looked very bad and caught a lot of negative media attention for his decision to fire Robert Sala early in the season and in general, meddle with the Jets.

I remember there was a there was a story at one point that his grandsons or something were running the team, and there was like Madden ratings.

We were deciding, it was like, It was the type of toxic owner stuff that I was quietly like thrilled about because I felt like this might be the

stuff of humiliation for a billionaire that might lead to him selling the team.

No such luck, at least not yet.

And he had been laying low.

And I did think to myself after they fell to 0-7, the Jets, that Woody probably thinks in his twisted mind that the reason they are so bad this year is because he's not more involved, at least not on the surface.

Anyway, they caught up to him at the fall owners' meetings.

Probably an event, Mark, we would have been sent to and been staying in the penthouse in 2017.

Yes, no longer.

But Woody couldn't help, but well, when Woody opens his mouth, dumb shit falls out.

Let's listen.

What's your confidence level in Aaron to turn it around?

It looks like he's turning around parts of it.

You know, it's hard when you have a quarterback with, you know,

with a rating

that we've got.

You know, I mean, he has the ability, but something just is not jiving.

But if you look at any head coach with a quarterback like that, you're going to see similar results if you go across the league.

You have to play consistently

at that position,

and that's what we're going to try to do for the remainder of the season.

So what gives you hope, then?

I just think defense special teams are doing better.

Defense is pretty good.

And

if we can just complete a pass, it would look good.

You've got to convince them that you can do something.

Otherwise, it's hard to

a game that you can win.

What an incompoop.

I usually don't use that word, but that's fitting.

Do you think, Arif, they are aware, they being Woody Johnson and all of his lackeys, that

shitting on Justin Fields specifically and pointing to him as a scapegoat for the Jets struggles doesn't absolve

Woody Johnson from being at the center of this mess because he hired the people that

went and got Justin Fields and gave him 30 million guaranteed.

And it's that type of disconnect that really I think intelligence is an issue that haunts the Jets in terms of ownership because I really think this guy, he thinks he knows what he's talking about.

And it's very clear to me that he does not know and he doesn't have anyone to actually tell him what's actually happening in the real world or with the New York Jets.

Very troubling.

Yeah, I mean, he's like kind of like of the class of really insulated billionaires.

He's like in the inner bubble of like super insulated billionaires, right?

He doesn't even like pretend to be like a man of the people, like a Richard Branson, right?

He's just, he's completely isolated.

And I think, and I think that, you know, this kind of like accountability flows down culture is like a big part of, you know, problems that these kinds of teams have.

I just like,

as someone who like has ever kind of led a team of any kind, it could even be backyard playground stuff.

Like, you got to know that just like throwing other people under the bus, it doesn't matter whether or not you're right.

Throwing other people under the bus is just never going to endear other people to you.

It's not going to let other people think, like, hey, I want to play for that organization, the one where they just absolutely pilloried that quarterback who is trying to revive his career.

That's just a nuts thing to do and say and say it in such harsh terms.

And also, like, Woody Johnson, whenever he speaks it's it's one of those things where it's like

technically he's not saying anything racist at all but it feels like a little it feels a little curious like I'm worried yeah it just feels something's off right when he said jivin I was like I know how most people use the word jivan right and he's using it correctly here it's not but it just feels off I feel like you most people can say it but you can't actually I've decided just now I think also to your point of like there being a bar in these things, like we're used to and we accept and we almost relish the fact that like Jerry Jones is going to say five to six things during the course of a season, an offseason, that become sound bites for shows like this.

He's getting the name of a star player wrong before he trades me away.

If you're Woody Johnson and you really have been in the shadows,

and you come out of this and you this unfurl this endless soundbite that looks worse, I think, in writing than it did listening to it or watching him.

But you need the PR guy to step in and be like, we got one more question.

Like the minute he starts talking, get him out of there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's, it's bad.

It's sad.

And we'll talk about it.

Yes, for the 7 million people that sent me the video of the sad Jets fan at the Metal Lands.

I'll talk about that on the preview show tomorrow.

But like, yeah, that kid.

Me,

my dad, tens of thousands of other Jets fans want an owner to to actually take some accountability and say, yeah, this does suck.

We're going to get it fixed.

And instead, you get this weird,

like, I don't know.

Like, it's, it's, it's like one of the kids from

the Logan Empire, like, like, telling us it's going to, you know, just parsing blame.

And it's like, this is the guy that's at the top of the food chain.

You are not serious people.

That's, that's what I think.

And by the way, it's also wrong.

Justin Fields, yes, the last two games were tremendously poor.

And now he's going to get benched.

And it might be Tyrod Taylor, but Tyrod Taylor now is hurt too.

Just outrageous.

But Fernando Mania around the New York Jets, tank baby.

But like he had also in six starts, three of those starts, he had a passer rating over 100.

I mean,

he had two dreadful games the last two weeks, but the Jets have had problems that go way beyond the quarterback.

So singling him out.

and talking about how it's not jiving, yeah, it rings all sorts of things that just make you feel uncomfortable.

It's like how our owner also doesn't know football very well.

A little cherry on top there.

Great.

I'm also picturing.

But you are not

serious people.

I'm picturing Woody Johnson paying to get into Studio 54 in 1978 and then trying to use slang terms of the era and people being like, what?

What is it?

Who is this guy?

All right.

Anyway, one more thing before we get to the

trades

that make sense.

I'm so pissed.

I'm so pissed that that guy's the owner of the jets.

Matthew Stafford, he's got that wife of his.

She's a handful.

Kelly.

He wants no part of his wife's new TikTok.

Oh, boy, Kelly Stafford's got TikTok.

Uh-oh.

All right, what is this?

I didn't even see this.

Let's check this out.

Good news is.

Great.

Dream dad.

I'm not pregnant.

Great.

It's good news, right?

Yeah, I don't think you're pretty.

The bad news is

starting a TikTok.

And you, hey, hey.

And you will be featured on it.

No, no, no.

You do you.

Okay, love you.

Good luck with Jen's ears.

I think he handled that well.

He didn't engage.

He didn't belittle or tell her not to do it.

Sometimes, and this is for all you people, like Justin, you're engaged now, and we have a lot of younger

listeners in our 18 to 34 demographic.

Sometimes to de-escalate, you just walk away.

And that's what Matt did there, and I respect him for it.

He did.

Mark, how about you?

I agree.

I thought he handled it in a very Matthew Stafford way,

which I say that in the most positive light.

Kelly Stafford, and you always got to be,

she stopped doing her podcast, but you got to be careful if you mention her because she's got someone somewhere heat-seeking any negativity and then calls that person out on like the next show with her galp for a while.

And I just say

it must be annoying to

be

married to or engaged to a podcaster and a content creator.

Maybe.

But then it's kind of like, uh-oh, that's us.

But I ain't starting to tick tocks and put a sticking, you know,

married quarterbacks.

Your social media is quite quite a wild ride over the years.

So yeah, I guess there is a connection data point here.

The old sex is a lot.

He must really love her.

He must really

love her.

It's so like over the years, it's been so much.

It's like he's always had to answer questions like, hey, what's this conspiracy I'm hearing about that

you talked about?

Like, do I have to respond to this?

Hey, what's this tweet you liked?

Hey, what's this?

Do I got to talk about Colin Kaepernick now?

Is that what's happening just because because you decided to tweet?

Like, that's just so every, it's like for a decade, it's just been so much.

It must be a wonderful connection that they

know it is.

It's everything is kind of a twist on the same question.

Hey, what's going on with that wife of yours?

That's the core curiosity.

All right, let's take a break when we get back.

We will offer up some fun ash trades.

Fat, baby.

Stay right there.

Man, Mark, I used to think paying too much for wireless was just part of life.

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All right, we are back.

Arif Hassan

joining us.

I got one that I think is right up Arif Boulevard.

Uh-oh.

Oh, okay.

He has a boulevard, too?

Like Arif who, I don't know, just picturing it.

He lives in a bucolic neighborhood in like a leafy suburb, cul-de-sac,

a big gilded house on the hill.

You nailed it.

That's exactly my thought.

Hassan Manor.

There's a moat with alligators.

The only alligators in Minnesota.

That's where you think it's a matter of the money.

The key hottest man from the state.

Exactly.

The moat is to keep all the women away from a reef.

That's what it's after.

Prince died.

It was like, shit, I got to amp up my security.

Right.

I got to lock in.

I can't be distracted.

Yeah.

Anyway, yeah, we're all going to offer up trades that we find to be compelling, interesting.

And let's get into it.

I'll do mine first because, yes, you are as knowledgeable knowledgeable of the Minnesota Vikings as anyone.

And I think the Vikings QB situation has reached Boondoggle territory.

Nincom Poop and Boondoggle.

Same show.

Nailed it.

Strong language.

Daniel Jones, Sam Darnold, MVP candidates elsewhere.

Aaron Rodgers is in first place.

And then, of course, former first-round pick, J.J.

McCarthy.

He's now missed 21 of his 23 pro games.

And right now he's living adjacent to Henry Hill's old place in Witness Protection.

And then there's some dude named Max Brosmer.

Brosmer?

Brosmer.

Max Brozmer.

He's one rolled ankle away from taking live snaps in an NFL primetime game that we need to pay Jeff Bezos to watch.

This is America.

And yes, the guy named Max Brosmer.

Brosmer?

Brosmer.

Looks exactly what you would guess Max Brozmer would look like.

This man has seen the chainsmokers perform in Vegas more times than you can possibly imagine.

That's just short Paxton Lynch, man.

It's fine.

And no, Justin.

No, no, right there, Justin.

No, Justin.

I do not care that during a Titans preseason telecast, they had nice things to say about him in August.

Those are not real announcers.

They are moonlighting weathermen and City Hall reporters.

Okay.

Yeah, never mind.

Never mind.

Which takes me to my straight idea.

Rat.

In that photo, he just looks like he's probably,

I don't know, he's a bit of a skater boy.

You've seen him in person, maybe.

One rolled ankle away from primetime action.

It's less skaterboy vibes and more.

I think actually it was, I think Dan nailed it, right?

It's definitely like Chainsmoker's post-hipster, right?

Like he had a previous life as a hipster, right?

But has decided to cash in on the trust fund finally, but hasn't really let go of the aesthetic.

Yeah, it's like, yeah.

yeah it's like if if

timothy chalamay grew up on the upper east side instead of the apartment complex uh downtown in new york maybe there's some there's a disconnect there i don't know anyway so takes me to my trade idea i am particularly invested in this because one

i banged the over on minnesota in our um wins uh

you know wins losses thing um i think it was at nine and a half so i got to get to ten i think.

You smashed that over.

And I have a, as you know, Mark, a Michael Jordan-like need to win at all times.

So I got to get that.

All right.

So that we are aware.

But longtime listeners of this show also know that I've long had a soft spot for Vikings football.

I love the romantic tragedy of it all.

And the Vikings, to me, are like the Jets.

And if the Jets weren't run by an ape dressed as a Nepo baby oligarch costume, purchased at Spirit Halloween.

So with that said, Geno Smith.

Geno

Smith.

Oh boy.

Admit it.

Admit it.

Come on.

You could picture Geno Smith in a Vikings uniform.

You can picture it.

Okay, so here's the thing.

Geno Smith is a

deep ball

genius, right?

Like he loves those deep shots.

Kevin O'Connell loves those deep shots.

He lives on it.

Sam Darn led the league last year in explosives, right?

Yes.

Geno Smith has been a bad quarterback this year, but Geno Smith is not a bad quarterback.

And I'm not like the biggest Geno fan.

I'm far from it.

But Geno Smith, what you're seeing this year, I think, is a good-ish quarterback trapped on a bad, terrible team.

And, you know, I looked at his contract.

He's got one year of guaranteed money after this year on the extension he signed with the Raiders after his trade from the Seahawks.

And

after watching Joe Flacco and other veterans thrive in unfamiliar circumstances, I have no doubt that Geno Smith, another, you know, he's a big-time competitor, too.

I like it.

I feel like he's been humbled.

He would love a reset in this situation.

He could be similarly effective in a KOC offense with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ Hawkinson, Aaron Jones coming back.

This is a wide open season, Arif, and don't throw it away waiting for that McCarthy lottery ticket to cash.

Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid.

I'm really glad that you propose this because it makes my trade feel a lot more realistic.

Wait, tell me why, honestly, tell me why it's unrealistic.

Like, tell me why.

The Vikings are just not going to give up on

McCarthy, even if just for the season.

And I know there's only one year left on Geno Smith's contract, so it's not giving up, giving up, but

it would be enough to feel like it.

And also, the Vikings don't like obviously they'll trade away assets for players.

They do it all the time.

They did it for Hawkinson, right?

But I just don't think that they'd want to give up the kind of capital that it would take to acquire a quarterback when they're confident, you know, rightly or wrongly, in McCarthy.

Like, genuinely, I think that they're very, very confident in McCarthy.

Let me put it this way.

First of all, I don't know

capital-wise.

Now, you'd be taking on money.

You could tell me you know more about their cap than I do, but I know right now they don't have a lot tied up at the quarterback position, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, but they don't have a lot of, they don't have a lot, especially for 26, 25, 26.

And I believe his guaranteed money goes down to 18 and a half next year.

I'm just, and I guess you would take on a pro-rated amount, whatever, but I'm just, my point being is I don't think you're giving up on J.J.

McCarthy so much as you're not giving up on this season.

And McCarthy, who has this lingering ankle injury, now he's going to miss his fifth rate start on Thursday.

That is something also that can easily be aggravated.

And let's face it, this season is over if McCarthy doesn't come back and play well

or gets injured because Carson Wentz stinks and maybe Brosmer or Brosmer is going to be okay, but I don't think he will be either.

So, Mark,

I understand why the reasons you wouldn't do it, but if you had the opportunity and you picked up the phone and the Raiders just wanted to unload the guy for a day three pick or something, would you do it?

The reason it makes sense to me,

and I can see where you're coming from, is that taking on Geno Smith would be urgency around what's in front of you right here and now.

Because my question for Reef, and you just kind of answered it a little bit before, that they do have confidence in McCarthy.

I feel like some of the wordplay we're getting over the past couple of weeks around J.J.

McCarthy has led me to ask like the deeper question of, do they know this isn't the guy?

If that's not the case, then I don't think you make the move.

But if there is creeping doubt, like KOC, who's now coached like 17 quarterbacks in four seasons, it feels like,

You do think you could get a much different version of Genio Smith this season right now if you want to go win this division.

But you are changing the core statements and philosophy around the coach, the coaching staff, in a massive way if you move on from J.J.

McCarthy.

I think it's a very complex message to send.

Not moving on from him.

Not moving on.

He's a very young man.

He's only in the second year of his rookie deal.

He definitely feels like moving on.

That's the thing.

Like, I understand.

But if he's healthy in two weeks,

optics are overrated.

Like, win, go win the NFC.

It's wide open.

Do it.

Do it.

Come on, Reef.

How long has it been?

How long has it been since the Vikings were in the Super Bowl?

Oh, okay.

You can't.

Don't give up on that.

That's emotional manipulation, man.

You can't be doing that.

Okay.

I tried.

Vikings fans out there.

I think the real, like the most significant thing aside from, you know, so O'Connell's been very public about his, like, you can't fail young quarterbacks, you got to believe in them.

And that's, like, I think part of it.

So the optics are important to McConnell or O'Connell.

But I think the other thing is that the cap space, I think, is probably not going to work out.

They've got negative 37 next year.

Okay.

Well, that seems like a problem, but

there's cap nerds to figure that stuff out for me.

That's true.

Also, yeah.

That's like me.

I'm not going to worry about cholesterol.

I'll just take Lipitor.

You know, it's like one of those things.

All right.

Mark, you're up.

Okay.

Because you raised a good question, Dan.

Like, are the Vikings buyers at certain positions?

And you've got to buy into who the real sellers are out there.

And I prayed

to God

for God to remove the Cleveland Browns from earth.

God did not answer my prayer, like many other prayers.

But I think the Browns are in a position to slowly remove themselves from any relevant place on the earth.

And I think we're going to see one of the biggest sellers around the trade deadline that we've seen from one team in a long, long time.

And it starts right here.

I've mentioned it before that you want to talk about a nightmare cap scenario.

They are walking into the pit of hell

next season and partially the one after.

And so you're hearing names pop up.

And it's people that have been very important players for this team, but are not part of the future.

If the Browns want to survive financially, I think you send send David Njoku, 29 years old, contract, very manageable,

and Wyatt Teller to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

for draft picks.

I think in turn, you fairly would get, I'd say, a third-round pick.

Because, Dan, we always like to not over-promote what the pick will be.

I think it's maybe a third and some version of a fifth.

And you get the money off the books.

And you've got Harold Fannin, who is the number one receiver on this team right now.

They're a rookie tight end.

He leads the team in receptions.

Wyatt Teller is not long for the Browns, from what you're hearing.

It just, he was part of what they were doing during the Nick Chubb era.

I think

they can move on.

The Bucs have a guard in Luke Haggard, who's not been performing well.

And you want to talk about a team that's like, we are compromised by injury, but we also view ourselves as a team that can get to the NOC title game.

So the Bucks, and they've got a great front office that can figure this out.

The Bucs are buyers.

The Browns are going to sell and sell on a bunch of other players, I think, too.

They already gave away the best quarterback they have.

They've telecast this for weeks on end.

And I think it's going to be an earthquake level roster change in Cleveland.

And I'm sending these guys to Baker and the Bucs.

Yeah, I like the wish casting here for you too, Mark.

You're going to just take care of two things at once here.

You're going to clear out your cap-hell for your favorite team.

You're going to send it all to Baker, your pet team in the NFC, and try to get them a Super Bowl title.

Everyone wins.

That's good.

Everyone wins.

Yeah.

Reef?

Yeah, I don't have much to add.

This is great.

You know, the Bucs are so injured at so many positions and they're poised to

capture a lot of equity in the playoffs and grab a bunch of wins, but they just don't have the receivers anymore because of all these injuries.

That's awesome.

I love that.

What was it?

Yeah, it was Teller and what?

David Hijoku.

Yeah.

Oh, man.

And Wyatt Teller.

Two very productive players.

You can get a couple of your years out of them if you want to.

To patch up.

Are you going to explore

Baker Mayfield connecting with David Njoku to send the Bucs to the Super Bowl?

I just asked God to remove this team from.

I know, but nobody believes that.

Like, Mark Sessler at like 4 a.m.

was sending Instagrams about how amazing this, like, the next Clay Matthews or whatever the f ⁇ .

Like, you love that team.

You don't want them to be removed.

Who are you kidding with all this Brown stuff all the time, Mark?

I do think they're going to be.

They're up in the middle of the night.

They've got a great rookie class, and that was after our show.

That was minutes after our show.

But

I think they're focused on rebuilding from the ground up.

And you've got to make some tough decisions to do that.

All right.

And this is true, Mark.

Very true.

All right.

Let's see what happens.

All right.

You're up, Arif.

All right.

So

I agree that the Raiders are sellers, right?

Like, I agreed, and especially, you know, I think that Spy Tech is a great GM, but he wants to kind of make the roster his own.

I think that Pete Carroll is a weird enough guy to make a bunch of weird moves.

And

I don't know if the Giants are good, but I know the vibes are immaculate.

And anything to kind of keep that train rolling, right,

sounds fun to me.

So to me, the Raiders are trading Brock Bowers.

Yeah, trading Brock Bowers to the Giants for Theo Johnson and the fourth.

Sorry, Theo Johnson is second.

What, fourth?

What am I talking about?

Theo Johnson was drafted in the fourth.

Theo Johnson and a second for Brock Bowers.

Brock Bowers is a fantastic player.

He would be a cornerstone individual for the Raiders going forward, obviously, right?

But knowing that the Raiders are miserable.

And knowing that Brock Bowers is secretly 35 years old, there's just not much time left for him.

And so you need to send another fun white boy to the Giants to kind of let that hype train keep rolling, let the Giants figure out if Jackson Dart is actually good.

Let them figure out if Camp Scataboo is actually good.

And have, because Theo Johnson's not doing it for them, right?

He's got the lowest depth of target on the team.

He's got less than one yard per out run.

He's not a very good run-blocking tight end, right?

If you can have a seam stretcher, especially, you know, when you've got this like neighbor's injury you're worried about, right?

If you can have another seam stretcher, another receiver that could work with Dart, that's going to work for them.

Obviously, this is a great trade for the Giants, but the Raiders, I think, just need as much capital as they can get to move around in the draft and not just grab a quarterback, but to grab multiple players.

Because I think the issue with the Raiders, despite how poor the receiving situation has been for them, the issue for them has been all of these other pieces that people tend to neglect.

The offensive line, linebackers, just everywhere, things have just been a problem for them.

And they need to have as many pieces as possible going forward to, because I don't think that with the current assets they have, that they'll ever be able to utilize or maximize Brock Bowers.

Otherwise, it's just going to be a Max Crosby situation.

We've got the super talented guy doing nothing forever.

Wait, so per this exercise, days into November, they have neither Brock Bowers or Geno Smith.

That would be...

That would be pretty huge.

I mean, I feel like Raiders fans would be probably fine with the Geno Smith trade at this point, but I feel like they would be absolutely...

They would riot.

I mean, here's the thing.

I disagree with,

first, the value here because Bowers.

Do you think he's worth more than a second and a tight end?

I think Brock Bowers had arguably the greatest rookie season ever for a tight end last year.

That man had 112 catches for 1,200 yards and five touchdowns.

And this year, obviously, he's lost his shine because he's been been battling this knee injury.

And Tyler Warren in Indianapolis is kind of taken on the mantle as like the tight end that everybody wants.

But Bowers is a potential, like to me, Bowers is a building block.

Like if I'm looking at the Raiders, like, yeah, we got to kind of tear this thing down to the studs.

I'd be way more if I were the Raiders and Spy Tech and Tom Brady and

whoever else, Mark Davis, be saying, like, hey, we should have a very hard Max Crosby conversation.

I feel like you keep the young guy that has had a historical start to his career.

Unless somebody's going to give you multiple first-round picks or first-round pick.

Multiple picks.

Why would I?

Yeah.

That's the thing.

It's just like tight ends just don't get traded for very much, right?

Like when the Vikings traded for TJ Hawkinson, right?

He, it was, it was, it was multiple pick swaps, but it was ultimately, you know, closer to a bottom-of-the-second tight pick.

Right.

But with all due respect to TJ Hawkinson, I know he was drafted in the first round, but he never produced at the level that Bowers did in his first season in the league.

Yeah, not with a lunch.

No, I agree.

But like,

I genuinely think that tight ends just don't get very much value in the trade market.

I genuinely just don't think that you're ever really going to get.

And I know that Brock Bowers is an outstanding, outstanding player, right?

That's part of the point.

But I just don't think that you get first-round picks for these kinds of guys, especially because you're not getting the full five years of control, right?

Now that you're trading him partway through this year.

He's an outstanding player, but I think that

an outstanding player gets you you 1,000 yards at tight end, which is great.

An outstanding player at receiver gets you like 1,700 yards some years.

It is a completely different set of expectations, and tight ends just aren't valued as much by the league, even if you draft them in the first round.

I do think the value you mentioned would get the Raiders lacerated from an optics standpoint.

Right.

It would be similar to the Micah Parsons trade, but at least the Cowboys got first-round picks in that deal.

Put it this way: if Joe Shane was able to pull this trade off

in the first week of November, he could run for mayor and win in New York City.

Yeah, they want the Hard Knocks cameras back there.

He would absolutely be heralded as a genius and a hero.

And all my Giants fans' friends would, that would be, that's the other reason I don't want this trade to happen.

If they ever landed like a big-time young player like that to pair with their boy Dart and Scataboo, like they would be talking about a dynasty starting this year for the New York Giants.

I'm still not confident that Dart and Scataboo are actually good.

I just have fun watching.

They are.

Giants fans.

I already ticketed them to be giving each other's induction speeches in Ken.

All right.

One more.

Spicy.

That was a spicy one there, Arif.

I like it.

There we go, Gravy.

Give us one.

All right.

Mine, I put a lot of thought and research into this one, and I think it would be a very fun-ass trade, which is the whole point of this exercise.

San Francisco 49ers.

Let's get into it.

Go ahead.

Very banged up team, but winning games probably have their sights set on a Super Bowl, even with all the injuries they've dealt with.

But they need more playmakers on that offense.

It can't be all Christian McCaffrey.

Ricky Pearsall's been in and out of the lineup all year.

We still don't know when or if Brandon Ayuk is returning.

Kittle just came back, but had a zero catch game, although he was super effective as a run blocker in that one.

Let's add another playmaker to this offense, a team that has historically made mid-season trades for for big-time playmakers like Christian McCaffrey.

How about they send a second rounder and a fourth rounder in 2026 to the Saints for wide receiver Chris Olave?

Why would the Saints part ways with a young productive receiver?

Well, he's had some concussion and injury issues of his own, which, you know, he'd fit right into that San Francisco locker room, I guess.

They're $19 million.

They're poised to be $19 million

over the cap for 2026.

Again, customary Saints off-season trope.

They are over the cap and have to cut people or restructure contracts, which doesn't really help you because all that does is kick the can down the road and puts you in the same position the following year.

They picked up Chris Olave's fifth-year option, which means he's on the books for a fully guaranteed $15 million.

And when it comes to the Saints' cap situation, their top 10 highest cap hits for 2026 are all guys who have either as much or higher dead cap as their cap hit, which means they can't really cut them or make money appear there unless they restructure, which again, just kicks it down the road.

So how about you just trade Chris Olave?

You get $15 million off the books.

You start to accelerate your rebuild a little bit.

You get some draft picks.

The Saints traded for a receiver, Devon Vele, in the offseason.

This guy's played 22% of the snaps.

He has one target this season.

Free up some snaps for him to come to the lineup.

You just parted with capital to bring him to your roster.

So you get Chris Olave out of there, get him able to play on a good offense with a good quarterback and see how good he can be because I think he could be really good with that 49ers team.

And let's have a fun-ass San Francisco trade here.

It's a fun trade.

I think from the standpoint of what could fracture

a new young coaching staff in a front office that's always been a little bit extra is taking a really proven weapon away from Ellen Moore.

Like, I just don't think that's

it.

It seems like a tough message to send to your own team.

Ellen Moore.

You got to make some tough, you got to make some tough decisions because that is coming home to Roost.

That's some of that cap space.

In theory, I feel like we've been saying that for five years.

Right.

And it's not really the Saints' way or Mickey Loomis's way to be a seller, but at a certain point, maybe just accept the fact that you're going to have to go through a real rebuild and you can't just keep trying to reload and push this situation down the line every single year.

This has been talked about around the Saints.

In fact, Crystal Olave even spoke about it after their latest loss to the Bears.

He said this.

What did he say?

The team and the Saints have been in discussions about a potential extension for several months,

but the club has also been in contact with him about the situation right now.

That's all I'm confident about.

Clear communication.

I see what's going on.

We're on the same page.

So, I mean, that leaves the door open, Arie, for something that could happen.

I would put this similarly under the Brock Bowers category, though, that like the Saints are building for tomorrow.

Like a 25-year-old player with number one wide receiver skill set is somebody that I would keep in my building and make a building block unless you really bowled me over.

And I don't think a second and fourth would do it for me.

I don't know about you.

What do you think?

I mean, you have to extend them soon, right?

So it is a little bit different.

And like they don't have the facilities for that.

He's an exciting player.

The San Francisco 49ers definitely need exciting players.

Obviously, you've got the locker room camaraderie of all the injuries that you can just bond over.

But

I am a little curious.

No ping-pong table necessarily.

Let's just talk about how much our knees hurt.

I'm a little curious.

I don't think this makes it a bad idea.

It's just like an interesting note is that, you know, Olave is really well positioned to be a deep ball threat, right?

He's at his best when he's got the ability to do that.

Over the last two years,

his depth of target has reduced drastically.

And I think it's not a coincidence that his production has reduced drastically, even on a per-game or per out basis, when you account for all the injuries.

And I don't know that Mac Jones and Brock Purdy are slinging it deep all that often, Purdy more than Jones for sure.

But

they're intermediate throwers, short throwers when the game is getting tough and they just kind of have to get some easy completions.

And Olave is not completely there, but I still, despite that slight problem,

not even a problem that much, I like it a lot.

I just think

having McCaffrey to punish people for taking guys out of the box, having Olave to punish people for putting guys back in the box, that's fun.

All right, good stuff.

So, Gino to the Vikings, Bowers to the Giants, Teller Nojoku to the Bucks, Olave to the Niners.

Let's see if any of that shit happens.

Would be cool.

It'd be fun.

Those would be fun-ass trades.

What's the worst thing happened to my pricing be completely off?

That would be wild.

Yeah, the Giants fans would be so annoying.

Oh my God.

All right.

Yes, they would.

You've done it again.

Arifa-san, you've said it all.

Got anything to plug before we say goodbye?

Yeah, wide left off football.

I got a bunch of pieces coming out.

Just wrote a piece on

AI in football.

So it's, yeah, it's a little Sumer Sports really Sumer Brain.

I wrote a big piece about that.

Also, like a recap on just the Vikings.

quarterback situation maybe is the most generous word I can use there, as well as, you know, game recaps and stuff like that, all kinds of stuff.

So beautiful.

Make sure you check it out.

Arifa-san's wide left.

Thank you, buddy, and we'll see you down the road.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Thank you.

Top 10 hottest guys in Minnesota.

Arifa-san, baby.

All right, we'll be right back with a game preview.

Thursday Night Football.

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All right, we are back.

Great appearance by our buddy Arifa San.

And now let's talk a little Thursday night football

to end the show today.

And it is the Minnesota Vikings

in Englewood, California, SoFi Stadium to face the Los Angeles Chargers, two teams that have a lot of issues with injuries.

Of course, this was supposed to be See,

the showdown between JJ McCarthy and his old Michigan head coach,

Jim Harbaugh.

They won a title two years ago.

Instead, it's more Carson Wentz.

Carson Wentz

in primetime is like a special type of NFL fan purgatory.

I can't even imagine what it would be like when it's actually your player, but like just watching it, you know there's going to be

a lot of miss throws, a lot of frustrating moments, and the Chargers now, a team that could use a break, to be quite honest, and I've lost three of the past four,

catch Wentz instead of McCarthy.

I don't know if that helps them or hurts them, but that's what we're getting in this one.

It does help.

They were absolutely blown away by the Colts on defense last week.

And some of the Jesse Minter

fervor dies down when you watch what happened there.

And it's like, you know, Derwin James, arguably their second best player, if not first best player on the team, basically said, we played like shit.

We looked like trash.

And they, and it looked that way.

You know, they, they've got to clean that up.

If there's hope, I think we've gotten a little bit of a different Justin Herbert.

It may be even neck up because of the injuries along the offensive line.

But it sounds like Joe Alt is going to return.

That is absolutely huge for Justin Herbert.

Trey Pipkins might play as well.

Like, they just need to get healthier.

You don't have O'Meara in Hampton.

So you're still struggling, but even protecting Herbert better and putting him in a place of more safety where he can do what he does well is a different Chargers' offense.

Yeah, I like the Chargers in this game,

but

yeah, the

Herbert side of things and his ability to stay clean and upright continues to be a risk.

Brian Flores, who's probably not feeling too great after Jalen Hurts

really lit them up in the passing game last week in that loss.

But

he blitzes.

That's what the D.C.

of the Vikings does.

Historically, they have the second highest blitz rate in the NFL.

No quarterback in the NFL has been blitzed more than Justin Herbert.

His teams have looked to take advantage of that beleaguered offensive line.

So that feels like a situation where, man, if the Chargers,

the Chargers to win this game, it's going to be the same thing.

Like their quarterback is going to have to be special and handle what's going to be a very uncomfortable three and a half hours.

I think they do it because I'm just that down on Wentz and Carson Wentz on the road.

None of that.

I don't like any of that.

And as much as I have questions about J.J.

McCarthy to the point that I'm proposing a trade about bringing a veteran in to essentially take the reins for the rest of the season, I'd love to see him and see how this offense looks once he gets his legs under him, but the Vikings just aren't there.

They can't get this kid back in the lineup.

So we'll have to wait

and see.

So, yeah,

I think I'm a little,

I think I, I feel like I've watched a lot of these Wentz starts in real time too.

So I have Wentz exhaustion that in 2025, I'm still watching this guy over.

It's like very clearly, this guy shouldn't shouldn't be a QB1 for any team.

And yet he's on this like nomadic journey from the league where he just keeps falling into NFL starting stints.

And we're just like trapped in a loop right now.

And I can't imagine how Vikings fans feel.

He is a bit of an energy suck for the viewer, depending on your point of view.

But we are at least through the, what was a very odd fortnight, roughly time-wise, and through the looking glass of...

people coming out of the woodwork to say that, I don't know, if this Carson went to the sky's the limit, like what quarterback were you watching all those years?

And there was this sort of bravado around the fact that he was going to ride in and just save the day.

And we're beyond that being a realistic talking point, which is helpful.

All right.

So that is Thursday Night Football.

And make sure you check that out if you want it.

If you want, you don't actually have to.

You can check out our show recapping Thursday Night Football

as well as the week eight preview coming up tomorrow evening.

All right, that's it for the Enderound Wednesday show.

We'll be back tomorrow with Connor Orr.

Check out patreon.com slash heed the call, support the brand, and get some fun, different type stuff over there.

And have a great rest of your hump day, everybody.

Until next time, do what you must.

Heed the call.

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