Drake Thomas Signs With Seahawks

Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Hawk Blogger Mornings. I am Brian.

M has you can find me and everything we do on this show on YouTube TikTok, Instagram,

at Hawk Blogger. And if you like the audio versions, you can get those at Apple Podcasts

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also gets you access to the Discord server where people are hanging out, talking about

Seahawks and all sorts of things, even the Mariners right now is spring trainings underway,

all that over on the Discord server. And I am, as you can tell, kind of playing it fast

and loose with when we're going to do the shows this week, because it feels a little silly

to do a show in the morning when we did one last night and not a bunch changed. And

you just feel like news is going to be breaking. So I am kind of playing around with when

is the best time to do the show each day and appreciate all of you who join at all hours

and make this somehow the number one Seahawks podcast on the planet for the number one football

team on the planet, your world champion, Seattle Seahawks. And sure enough, waited long

enough today. There was a decent amount of news. And if you're just joining, if you're

just hearing this, it's good news for once. The Seahawks have resigned Drake Thomas, the

linebacker, to a two year deal, reportedly worth $8 million could be worth as much as

$9 million. And this was first reported by Ian Rappaport. And, you know, I tweeted immediately

when I saw that this is a good deal for Thomas. It's below the second round tender and above

the R.O.F.L. tender. And the first reply was, can someone translate what Brian means? And

so let me, let me be a good reporter here, I guess, and give a little bit more information.

So Drake Thomas was one of the seven unrest, sorry, the seven restricted free agents the

Seahawks had on their roster. And I went over these guys in the restricted free agent show.

I did earlier this week and why there were some big decisions that the Seahawks had to make.

The way that restricted free agency works is that you have different levels of tenders

that you can apply to a player in order to keep them as a restricted free agent. You can also

choose to apply no tender at all and say, you know what, we're not going to tender you.

That means you become an unrestricted free agent. That is reportedly what's going to happen

with Jake Bobo, who was reported by, I think it was Jeremy Fowler earlier this week that they

do not anticipate the Seahawks using a tender on Jake Bobo, which takes him from an RFA restricted

free agent to a UFA, an unrestricted free agent. So with Drake Thomas, he was clearly the most

valuable of the restricted free agents the Seahawks had on their list. And the lowest tender that you

can apply to a restricted free agent is called the right of first refusal tender, R-O-F-R.

And that tender this year costs three and a half million dollars.

If you apply that tender to an RFA, then that person can negotiate with any other team. And if they

come back with a deal that you don't want to match, then they leave and you get no compensation

for them leaving. All that buys you, all that right of first refusal tender buys you is the right

to refuse to match the deal. Now, Seahawks have had history where teams have written some crazy

contract language, the Steve Hutchinson Poison Pill, the most famous one, where maybe they wanted

to match, but they couldn't. And so it is a little bit risky. I don't think it's quite as

risky as it was back then because they've changed some things. But it felt unlikely to me that the Seahawks

would be comfortable letting Drake Thomas go out and negotiate with only a right of first refusal

tender. That felt risky. So what's the next level up from that? Well, since Drake Thomas was an

undrafted free agent, you don't have the option of doing the original round tender because he wasn't

drafted. So there's no round, which takes you up to the next level, which is the second round tender.

The second round tender means that if you apply that to your restricted free agent,

if they sign with another team and you don't match it, you get a second round pick in return, right?

Much bigger deal than right of first refusal. It also costs more. That second round tender is

$5.8 million. So why did I say this was a good deal for Drake Thomas mixed sense for the Seahawks?

And why did I say it was in between? Well, I already explained, I don't think it made sense for

the Seahawks to risk just a right of first refusal tender on Drake Thomas. He's a starter,

he's young, he's up and coming. I think he's a pro bowl caliber linebacker to get nothing

in return didn't make sense. Drake Thomas is agent also understood that most likely. And it was

like, we're not going to take three and a half million per year because otherwise just apply

that tender, which you're not going to want to do. So it was more than $3.5 million a year,

but it was less than $5.8 million a year, which is a second round tender. I don't think the Seahawks

wanted to place a second round tender on Drake Thomas. That's a bit rich. And $5.8 million

against the cap would have been used. Like now you get it back once you negotiate a deal, but it puts

essentially a hold on what's almost $6 million in cap space, which I don't think the Seahawks

like. They generally don't want to have cap holds. They want contracts. That's why the Seahawks tend

to sign their RFAs before they ever hit the market because they'd rather know exactly how much

cap they have to work with makes sense. So in this case, $4 million per year with a chance to be

as worth as much as $4.5 million per year, APY, if he reaches some incentives that we don't know

about yet. And that is a nice big jump for Drake Thomas who has not made that kind of money yet

in his career allows him to still get out to free agency when he's 28. I think Drake Thomas,

if I am correct, is 26 right now. Yes, he's 26. He literally just turned 26, 26, and eight days.

His birthday was February 25th. So happy belated birthday, Drake Thomas.

So this allows him to go back out on the market as an unrestricted free agent in two years.

28 years old. If he has the seasons, I think he and I and others expect from him, he will get

a pretty penny at that point. So there is the kind of explanation of why the number came in,

where it came in, why it makes sense that that's the number. And then as far as the player,

I mean, let's remember the player for a second. This is a guy that John Schneider

claimed from the Raiders during cut down day, I think it was two years ago, if I remember correctly.

2023. So three years ago, three seasons ago. And he got hurt his first season. He came back

for Mike McDonald's first year. He was late to come into training camp. Somehow did enough

late in that training camp for John Schneider or for Mike McDonald to see it himself to convince Mike

to keep him on the 53 man roster, which was a surprise to me because he came so late into training camp.

But he was, he barely played in his first season with Mike McDonald.

And so you get to this season and he was in somewhat of a rotation with Tyrese Knight.

And part of what happened is Tyrese Knight was injured during preseason. And that opened the door

for Drake Thomas to get a lot more reps. Well, that was to his benefit, not as much to Tyrese Knight's

benefit. And to his credit, he took full advantage of it. Drake Thomas ended up last season with

96 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, six quarterback hits, an interception, a fumble recovery,

three and a half sacks. Like he filled up the stat line. And to give you some idea of like

how impressive it was what he did, there aren't a lot of inside linebackers that have had

three, three and a half sacks, 10 tackles for loss, at least six quarterback hits,

and an interception in a season. Like of recent years, like kind of funny Drake Thomas and Tyrell

Dodson are the only two inside linebackers that did that last year in the entire NFL.

You go back to 2024, Edge Cooper did it, who was an excellent rookie that year.

Frankie Louvue, who was a big free agent signing for the commanders did it. You kind of keep

going back. DiMario Davis did it in 2022. Frankie Louvue did it again. Bobby Wagner did it in 2022,

with the Rams as a case may be. Rokwan Smith did it in 2020. For the most part, these are pretty

big names. And to have Drake Thomas at four and a half million or four million for the next two

years, to give you some idea of where that falls on the inside linebacker contracts. I mean, Ernest

Jones signed last year for the Seahawks with an average per year of nine and a half million.

And that is three, six, nine, 12, 15, that's 17th on the inside linebacker list. So you're talking

about getting down to four and a half million or four, let's say four million, like Isaiah McDuffy

makes four million. Mac Wilson for the Cardinals makes four point two five.

Jolani Tevi for the Patriots who's 30 years old makes five point three. You can kind of keep going

up this list. Cody Barton for God's sakes for the Titans makes seven million. Blake Cashman for

the Vikings makes seven and a half. You've got these are some decent players like an Blake Cashman

Nate Lamb and just signed a deal for seven and a half million. And so to have Drake Thomas for

the next two years at that price is a steal. It just is. I don't know that there's many linebacker

inside linebackers who aren't on their rookie deals that are better bargains than what Drake Thomas

will be for that price. And I think he's just getting started. I think he's just getting started.

I think this guy is going to be a pro bowl linebacker. I think the his ability to knife into the

backfield and make plays read plays. This is a guy that every time I went into the locker room,

he was buried in his iPad reviewing film. I talk to Ernest Jones about Drake Thomas and he's like

that guy makes me feel like I should be studying more because he's just always looking for an edge

and it shows up. He plays with that kind of confidence that he sees something and he just fires

his gun and goes after it. So yeah, I think this is a really, really good deal for the Seahawks,

a really good deal for Drake Thomas. It's a win-win. And one of the things this kind of brings up

for me as I kind of reflect on it is you now got Ernest Jones and Drake Thomas pretty clearly.

years two starting linebackers for the next couple of years. Tyrese Knight is a starting

caliber linebacker. He might not be your starter, but he is a starting caliber linebacker.

You've got Patrick O'Connell behind him who might be a starting caliber linebacker.

Now you've got Jamie Sheriff behind him who I don't know as much because I haven't seen as much

of him as an off-ball linebacker, but I know the team is pretty high on him.

You've got a little bit of a pile at inside linebacker, which is ironic considering a lot of us

thought that that was a position group that the team did not address as much as they should have

last year shows what we know. And it makes me wonder if any of those guys will be dangled in any

kind of trade. Like does Tyrese Knight become a player in a deal? Does I don't know if Patrick O'Connell

would really probably net much, but Tyrese Knight for me is an interesting one because

that guy is so talented. I don't think he belongs on the bench. And he might, he might have

like this really positive situation. The 49ers for years, they had Drake Greenlaw and Fred Warner

and then you had, you know, oh my gosh, I'm forgetting the guy that went to Houston,

starts with an A as he's a shy year, right? So you had like this linebacker

crew that was there that were all really, really quality talented players and they weren't all

able to start. I don't know that this is that level of like surplus of talent, but there is a

little bit of a pile there and you only play two of those guys at once. And often you're taking one

of them off the field sometimes if you're going to go into dime. So it does make me wonder a little

bit if there's a surplus there that they'll utilize a different way. And I see people in chat

also mentioning players that were not on the 53 man roster like Chris Paul Jr., who was I think

a really promising player and they claimed from the Rams last year. There definitely there are

other guys on that list as well. So it is a position of depth and it is a question to me about

whether that depth is best used on the roster or whether it's best used trying to package that

and maybe find a buyer that would would find that value interesting for something else,

somewhere else on your roster. Now that isn't the only news of the day and I'll come back to it

because I want to I'm going to luxuriate a little bit in Drake Thomas numbers. I want to do a

little couple searches and see if we can find some things. I already did a couple things, but I want to

see I'll do it right now. I'm going to do one quick search right now, which is when's the last

time a Seahawk linebacker did what Drake Thomas did. And let's do yeah, let's do this.

Interesting, interesting. So there's only been three linebackers in Seahawk's history and none of

that actually two. None of them were really inside linebackers other than Drake Thomas.

Julian Peterson played for the Seahawks played for the 49ers by the way as well, but he was more

of an edge player. He's more of an outside linebacker for the Seahawks. He's the only other Seahawk

linebacker to ever have at least three and a half sacks at least 10 tackles for loss and at least

one interception in the same season other than Drake Thomas. So in Drake Thomas's first year

getting the majority of the snaps as a starter, he did something that no other Seahawks inside

linebacker has ever done. Now I will caution or add a little caveat, which is these databases and

these places where I search tackles for loss as a stat probably doesn't go back quite as far.

It could be only certain years that it actually shows up, but still it is a rare occurrence

for what Drake Thomas did last year and a good sign. All right, so I see questions in chat and

I'll talk to some of those in a second. As far as I'm concerned, there's no real new news on

Rashid Shaheed. We talked about that yesterday. Yes, he did post a picture like the Mike Scott

from the office picture tearing up in response to the Seahawks posting the NFC championship banner.

That was hanging. And yeah, I think there are some pretty strong signs. He's not coming back.

We already talked about that. I don't think that that's going to change. Nothing new there.

We also talked about the fact that it's pretty unlikely that Ken Walker is coming back at this point.

I don't think there's any new news there as well. So what is new news? Well, I continue to be on

the Max Crosby watch for a lot of reasons. And I realize a lot of people aren't or they think it's

a bad idea or a million other million other reasons. I believe it makes sense for the Seahawks to go

after Max Crosby because I think that is the biggest area that the Seahawks could change their

outcome and change their their calculus for next season. And in particular, I believe it shows up

really when going up against the Rams and Matt Stafford. I thought that the past rush was not

sufficient in those games. And you need alpha level ed rushers. And by the way, I don't think Jonathan

Grenard is an alpha level ed rusher that wins on his own on a on a regular enough basis

to totally change the calculation and change the equation with the Rams. Do I think it would help?

Yes. I'm not I'm not out on Jonathan Grenard, but I don't think it's really a question between him

and Max Crosby who would have the bigger impact. Now, the cost is different as well, which we've we've

talked about. But there has been some movement at least reported relative to Max Crosby. Some of it

direct, some of it indirect. So in like throughout the day, we've got word from, you know, Jordan

Schultz. We've got word from, you know, a number of different people that there's there's movement

on Max Crosby and that people believe that now the Raiders are willing to make the move. And so

things have kind of heated up. Okay. We've also seen interestingly Lane Johnson, the right tackle

for the Eagles, tweet at Max Crosby with the eyes emoji. Now players sometimes do know things

before front office people. Sometimes they don't. And it does make me wonder. The Raiders are in

need of a top receiver. We know the Eagles are shopping AJ Brown. I think it can make a lot of

sense for the Eagles and the Raiders to make a deal that included AJ Brown and Max Crosby. I believe

the Eagles would have to include more than AJ Brown to make that deal happen. But that could be

something that would make some sense for both teams because the Eagles edge rush was not that good

last year. And Max Crosby certainly would help that team. And we know that how he Roseman has paid

a premium for pass rush and defensive line play for years. So that's something. Don't know if it's

anything that's going to turn into reality. But that's one bit. Trey Wingo tweeted things are

moving fastest three hours ago. Things are moving fast with Max Crosby. Last night Dallas thought they

were close to a deal. But since then other teams have raised the anti and potentially are offering

the Raiders to first round picks. It's expected that Dallas is now going to shift their focus to Trey

Hendrickson. Now again, Trey Wingo, don't know for sure how credible that is. But it's more credible

than other folks that are tweeting about sources they have that don't have sources.

So that's interesting. I think part of what I take from that is what I already predicted at the

beginning of this week, which was this deal is going to happen. I've been convinced it was going to

happen. I thought it would happen either today or tomorrow. I said it would be late in the week

because you know the Raiders are going to wait as long as they can to get the best offer that they

can. And that's kind of what's happening. Teams are up in the ante and we'll at least based on that

report. There was another tweet earlier, honestly, I don't think I have it handy, but it was basically

it was basically a tweet that kind of implied that the Raiders hadn't yet really gotten the offer

they're looking for. That's not what the tweets said, but the interpretation for anyone that

follows the NFL and interprets these things was the Raiders were pushing this news out there that

they really are trying to move Max Crosby, but you know the offers haven't met their bar yet. So

I think that they're hitting up again, they're going to start hitting up against the deadline

for them because the Raiders want to know what cap space they have to work with so that they can get

into planning their free agency which is starting in just a few days.

From there, this is where it gets a little indirect and this is this is follow me for a second here.

So earlier today, there was a trade made by the Chicago Bears and the Buffalo Bills where they

traded the Bears traded wide receiver DJ Moore to the Bills and the compensation for this deal

was kind of wild to be honest. The Bills got DJ Moore and a fifth round pick and exchange

Chicago got a second round pick. I don't think anybody, anybody thought the Bears would get a second

round pick for DJ Moore. I like DJ Moore. I think he's a good player. I know he had some tough times

in Chicago. He's a pretty electric receiver, but he's not worth a second round pick at this point,

especially because the Bills also had to pay DJ Moore. He has a huge contract. So I don't understand

why the Bills gave up as much as they gave up. I will also just from a quick aside on the Bills

perspective, everyone's like, oh, look at Josh Allen's got a great new target and it's true,

but does he defend the run? Because if he doesn't, it wasn't Josh Allen, the offense that was

really the biggest problem with the Bills this past season. It was their run defense and their

defense in general. So I don't know how DJ Moore helps that at least, you know, specifically,

directly. But in any event, my interpretation of that deal was Chicago's clearing cap space,

and Chicago just got another second round pick. They're now have two second round picks within

a few picks of each other this year. And my read of that was the Bears are loading up their clearing

cap room to fit a big additional, a big addition. And they've got some additional draft cap will

include. Chicago was already, if not the favor, depending on where you looked, one of the favorites

to land Max Crosby. So I kind of had been resigned to the notion that Max Crosby was going to go to

the Bears. Like, that seemed logical to me. I thought the Cowboys were maybe the most likely,

and it seemed like for a while they were. Then I was like, ah, it's probably going to be the Bears.

But Adam Schefter just a few hours ago was on ESPN radio in Chicago. And he said, quote, I would

be surprised if Max Crosby ends up in Chicago. Hmm. Interesting. So let's for a second take that

at its face value to be true. If that's true, if the Cowboys are out, if they've pivoted to

Trey Anderson, if the Bears are not the one, the team that's going to go after Max Crosby,

then it starts to get a little bit more interesting for your Seattle Seahawks.

And the word is that the Bears or the Cowboys did not want to include two first round picks.

I'm telling you, the Seahawks are going to be willing, I think, to do that because they've got

picked 32 this year, and they could have a pick 32 next year if they make the deal for Crosby.

They legitimately could. Those are not that valuable. We've seen the Rams do this over years where

they basically have said, if it's not a top 10 top 15 pick, teams are probably overvaluing

a first round picks, and you can get more by getting a good player for that late first round

pick than sticking and picking at 32. We can debate that another time. But let's just assume

that for a second that there's no question about Max Crosby being a very good player. There's

some question about his health and durability, but I think that's a little bit overstated as well.

If you get Max Crosby for two first round picks, I will be here telling you

that's a great deal. Now, is it a risk? Absolutely. Has John Schneider swung and missed

when he's gone big with some of these types of trades, especially trading first round picks?

Absolutely. But I think you also have to look at the opportunity cost. What are you really giving up?

Yes. I think there's probably some players at 32 that could end up being good starting players.

Let's say Colton Hood, a common mocked player to the Seahawks at 32 becomes a good starting

cornerback. That's really valuable. And you've got them on a rookie deal. Super valuable.

I don't think that raises the level of your team from what it was last year to what it would be next

year. In some ways, you have to wonder if it's even treading water with where you were last year.

I personally happen to believe the Seahawks next news, if it's not a Crosby trade, will be

Josh Job signing. I think Josh Job's the next domino to fall for the Seahawks. And if they do that,

then they've got their starting defense pretty much in place. But if you trade for Max Crosby,

there's no question in my mind that your ability, your odds to be the next,

the repeat Super Bowl winner, raised by more than any other single move you could make.

I don't think there's another move. If you trade for Jonathan Grenard and it's a day two pick,

it's a second or third round pick, and you get another first round, that could all be good.

It is not a paradigm shift. If you get Max Crosby,

every other fan in the NFL, but especially in the NFC West, will be in mourning.

They will, whatever they'll say, cope wise, they will be in distress because the notion of Mike

McDonald, having the ability to run Max Crosby, Byron Murphy, Leonard Williams, DeMarcus Lawrence,

Jaren Reed, Riley Mills, potentially Derek Hall, if he's still around, like running those guys out

there, however he chooses to deploy them, it would be cinema. It would be the most fun,

like, and we just watched them win a Super Bowl, but you get that collection of defensive line talent

from the edge to the inside. Watch out. Watch out. So that's why I will continue to talk about this

until there's nothing to talk about anymore. And the good news for you, if you're sick of this topic,

is this should resolve itself within probably 24 hours. Maybe it'll leak into the weekend.

But I think that's likely the timeline is in the next 24 hours.

And yes, I see it in chat. People are like, stop talking about it. It's not going to happen.

You know, good thing for me, it's my show. I'll talk about what I'm talking about. And I genuinely believe

this has a legitimate shot of happening or I wouldn't be talking about it. I would not be wasting

time on it. Now, do I think it's the most likely outcome? No. The Seahawks do not have the ammunition

that other teams do. So yeah, and I get it. There's people out there that are like, yeah, but you can

get Grenard for less. There's people out there like, oh, you can sign Khalil Mack at 36 years old,

35 years old, whatever he is. Yeah, there's there are backup plans.

But they're backup for a reason. So yeah, that's kind of where things stand. I believe on the Max

Crosby front. I could be back on here in an hour with this news actually getting resolved, but more

likely could be next year or next tomorrow. Sorry, I was looking at a tweet that said, it could be

Friday. So we'll see about that. Let me see if there's anything else that I wanted to cover before

I check for any super chats or other questions. I think so. I don't think so. Like

it is, I mean, people are watching as like the Vikings are letting go a lot of the players that

they signed because of salary issue, salary cap issues. You know, you've got the commanders

had to let go of their center. You've got a bunch of teams having to deal with just releasing

players because of poor cap management. The Siocs thankfully are not in that category.

Yeah, I'm just looking through seeing if there's anything else I missed before

turning over to questions from you guys. So I do not see any super chats at least not there.

Let me check Venmo real quick. See if there's anything there.

And you can get if you have not done a Venmo super chat and you want to Venmo.com slash Brian

dash nemhouser. And all you have to do is leave your question as a comment on your Venmo.

And I will treat it as a super chat.

12 for life just gave a nice not really a super chat, but appreciation for making sure that

he got credit for the pre-agency idea, which I will try to remember to continue. It definitely

happened on this show. And it was really, it's a great, great pull from you 12 for life. So

thank you for the super chat or at least the gratitude there. People want me to do a mock draft.

I don't know. I'm not feeling a mock draft today. I still got a sick kid at home. So I'm trying to

be pretty brief with my shows and make sure I'm available to help out with him. Let me see if

there's other things here. I'm just going to scroll back through. Let's see. I see someone's

just like FM comp picks. Well, the funny thing with the comp picks is if you trade for Max

Crosby, it doesn't affect the comp pick formula. If you trade for Grinard, it doesn't affect

that formula either. If you sign Clio Mac, it does. If you sign Tyler Algier, the running back,

it does. So I think that they do care about comp picks this year. I know Jeff doesn't like the

comp picks, but I think if you can get a third round comp pick, I think John Schneider with a third

round pick is a lot better than the 49ers front office with a comp pick. So I see someone here asking

about what about Jalen Phillips? That would affect comp picks. And he's going to be very expensive.

I don't see the Seahawks going out and spending big money and free agency on an ed rusher.

Like Trey Hendrixson, Jalen Phillips, I don't think either of those guys are necessarily the

guys that you go and spend big free agent dollars on. I'm going to just see if there's anything else

here. This is kind of, yep, we got someone asking if my thoughts on the shift are saying the

bears are likely not for Crosby. I mean, if the bears are clearing this cap space for another reason,

maybe they're going to go over after Tyler Linderbaum, the center, because they're center drew

dominant, who they just spent a bunch of money on last year and free agency is retiring, which is

wild in his 20s. So maybe, but I would kind of be surprised if they go back to free agency and

spend again on that position, but it is very valuable. Tizo TD says, my only one who wouldn't mind

Rico Doudal. I didn't love Rico Doudal in general. And I definitely didn't like the way he handled

his situation in Carolina. He was pretty mouthy about, mouthy's the wrong word. He was vocal.

He was vocal about not being used and, you know, he was hesitant about whether to come back

based on how he was going to be used. And I don't know, I just didn't get a great vibe that he's

a good fit for this locker room and for the Seahawks. And I'm also not really sure that he's an

upgrade over what they've already got. I like, I like George Hulani. I like Vailess Jones.

I like Jakartier Wright. Kenny Macintosh is recovering from an injury. If he can recover,

then he's interesting. Not as big on, uh, cam acres, but, you know, he's, he's fine as well.

So, uh, yeah, I don't know. I don't think Rico Doudals would be my cup of tea.

Uh, let's see. Other questions. Thoughts I'm producing, pursuing Adafé O'Way.

I mean, Mike McDonald knows him. If they go after him, then that would be a good sign. But I just don't,

uh, I just don't see the Seahawks spending on edge. This might be confusing. You're like,

why would you trade two first round picks and not go spend on an edge? Because you're going to have

to spend on Max Crosby if he's here. Well, I don't know that the edge players in free agency are

such perfect fits and the right price that the Seahawks are going to get the return on that investment

there. Like if you spend top dollar on a free agent edge rusher, likely they're not going to be as good

as they're not going to be returning what you're paying. Crosby, now, other than injury,

you know he's going to be worth what he costs. And the other piece here is it's a decent edge class

in the draft. So if they don't get Crosby, I think they'd most likely pivot to prioritizing edge

in the draft as opposed to maybe they, maybe they pivot to Grinard, maybe they,

there's some other edge available via trade. But I think it's kind of a Crosby by itself kind of

situation. Part of the reason is we know that they've gone after Crosby at least two times before

and they didn't go after someone else. Like they didn't then pivot to a different edge. They just

stopped. So I think that they are after Max Crosby and they will be after him until they either

get him or someone else does. And I'll point out that John Schneider, when he kind of picks a player,

a lot of times he ends up with that player. I mean, all the way back to Marshawn Lynch where he was

bugging the bills about Marshawn Lynch for months and they were like no deal, no deal, no deal. They

finally got a deal done. Most recently Rashid Shaheed, no deal, no deal, no deal. Got a deal done.

Leonard Williams, no deal, no deal, no deal. Got a deal done. So like

John Schneider, I don't think if he strikes out once, if he strikes out twice, he often doesn't

strike out the third time or fourth time or fifth time and he doesn't stop. So that's part of

why for me there's a lot of evidence that this is real. This is not just to get clicks.

By the reaction to some people, it might not even get clicks because they're sick of the topic. So

yeah. Question here, leaves Dallas LA, Seattle, New England, and who else for Crosby? I don't really

know who the list is, but it sounds like Dallas might be out. I think the Rams are probably in.

They still have, well, they still have one of their first round picks, the 13th overall.

They also have Byron Young. Don't know if they will pull the trigger on that.

I think the Eagles make some sense. They definitely need help on that line.

Get this question from a member here, Cokanelius. Are we still considering tibido? Well, I don't

know that we were ever considering tibido. I was considering tibido. I don't know that the

Seahawks ever have. In fact, there's been some evidence that the Seahawks were not super high on him

coming out and that that could color their desire. Just go get him now. Question here,

there's any new thoughts on K9 and Shaheed? Nope. I think they're both leaving. That's the thought.

Matt and Beaverton says, do you guys think Cam Jordan has enough in the tank for a one year of

ring chasing? I do not. I think Cam Jordan, who is going to hit for agency for the first time,

I think he's done. Now, can he be a rotational guy that helps a little bit? Sure, but I don't think

he's even to Marcus Lawrence level. I don't believe in that. Thoughts on Josh Sweat. I don't

understand this unless for some reason the Cardinals are making him available. That would be shocking.

Maybe I missed some news there.

Scrolling through. Yeah, I already mentioned the Cam Jordan, not a believer at 36, whatever he is

years old. I thought he really degraded. He used to be fantastic. I just don't think he's that

player or close to it anymore. So the only area we're looking to improve his defense when that

was our strongest area to begin with. I don't think that's how to look at it. The way I look at

roster building in general, and I think the way teams do as well is who can you add that makes you

a better team? Who is the biggest difference by adding? Actually, it's a philosophy that goes into

management and leadership as well, not just for roster management, but a lot of first-time managers,

they focus on their weakest performers and they spend all this time trying to get low performers

to be mediocre performers. When all the data and research shows that you're much better off spending

your time with your high performers and getting them to perform at their best and making sure that

they're happy and engaged, it's not that much different than how you manage a roster. Like

there's no amount of pass rush that's too much. Doesn't exist. And if you want to know the things

that ultimately win Super Bowls most often, quarterback, coach, pass rush, those are the three things.

Now those aren't the only things, but those are the predominant things that determine who wins in

the end. And I think the Seahawks are in great shape with coach. They're certainly not going to make

any changes at quarterback. Pass rush was good, but at times disappeared. That was great in the Superbowl.

It wasn't great in the NFC championship. It wasn't great against the Rams in two of the three

games. And so that was a part of this defense as good as it was that at times was not a factor.

And to have a team that's so interior dominant in terms of where their pass rush comes from,

it's not ideal to only have interior pass rush. If you can only choose one, I'd take interior.

But the Seahawks just have not yet unlocked a true edge rush. So I think that this is the biggest,

this isn't like take what was already strong and make it stronger. I think this is taking an area

that was good and making it great. And I think that that's going to make a huge difference for

this team. I think that affects offense even. I think it's going to create more turnovers,

short fields. It's going to lower the bar for all sorts of things that help this team out.

Now, if the biggest move the Seahawks could make was, I don't know, left tackle.

Like, if that was really a big glaring hole for them and there was a chance to get much better,

we'd be having a different conversation. But I don't even think getting a marginally better

right guard, which is probably for everybody a big to do item. I don't think that makes that big

of a difference, to be honest. I think it would help. But I don't think it changes the calculus of

of where the Seahawks are as a contender. Think about the other positions. Corner back. Maybe.

I think you're going to get Josh Joe back. And if you get Josh Joe back, you've got your starting

secondary from the last year. Wide receiver. Maybe, but I wouldn't spend free agent dollars on

wide receiver. I would look, I would look elsewhere or I would look at one at like, get one of these

guys that was released by their teams. The guy from Atlanta. What is it, Mooney?

I can't remember. Anyway, I think it's, oh, whatever. I can't get, it's not loading. It doesn't

want to load. So I don't think receivers the biggest place you can make a difference. I honestly

think this is the biggest place that you can make a difference with this team. So that's,

that's where my mind goes. Got a question here. Wouldn't Crosby only make sense of D-Law

retires? No. You're losing Boya Moffe. If you're replacing Boya Moffe with Max Crosby and

everything else stays the same, guess what? It's a pretty big upgrade. And in fact, I've been getting

Max Crosby. Could help you keep to Marcus Lawrence. He might want to play with that guy

another year if he's considering retirement. A question here. Are we doing our draft show like

usual? Yes, we will do our live draft show. I should be at the V-Mac for that, I believe.

Now, if they don't have a first round pick, I don't know if I'm going to go down there and do a live

show for the whole first round of the C-OX not making a pick. Probably not. But who knows? We'll see.

Is Trevor Salani a possible backfield next year? Maybe, but I don't think

Charbonne is going to be available to start the year. I would be surprised if he is.

Certainly wouldn't build an off-season plan around that.

I see this question. What if the Hawks try to sign Linderbaum and then move Lindell to the guard

on the right side? There's almost zero chance they're going to spend that kind of money

on an external free agent to begin with. They like Jalen Sundell at center. He played really

well and he was improving and he's young and he's like, Gray's Abel's buddy who plays right next

to him. I think there's a lot of reasons to think that chemistry is only going to grow.

The thing with Jalen Sundell is, yes, he can play guard, but his biggest issue is that he can be

overpowered at center. Usually guys that are at risk of being overpowered at center really

struggle at guard where power is a much bigger part of the equation. So I don't think Jalen Sundell

moving to guard is the best idea. I think it's going to be everybody stays exactly where they are

and you open competition for right guard as you did last off-season. And if Bryce Cable do or Mason

Richmond or Christian Haynes or maybe a drafted player, beats out Anthony Bradford, then so be it.

And if they don't, then so be it. And people are just going to have to pound sand because

the team likes what Anthony Bradford did. Oh my gosh. This question about Jalen Jennings,

where is this rumor coming from? I will not be a fan of that move. If that gets made,

I will not be a fan of that move. I've respected that Jalen Jennings is one of the most fierce

blockers at the receiver position. That I do respect. How he generally handled himself

with the 49ers, not so much. And to bring in like another not like a slow blocking, run blocking

possession receiver, I think you don't need like you had Jake Bobo and Cooper Cup and

Dorik Young who's not really slow. But anyway, like you had that kind of player. I don't think

you need another one of those players. So I don't see it as additive and it could be a negative

depending on how he fits into that locker room. So I really hope that rumor is just a rumor.

Um,

thoughts on two first and Bradford for Crosby. No, they're not going to take Anthony Bradford for

Crosby in that deal. And I don't think they're going to sign Linda bomb. So like I don't know why

everyone's going through so many hoops to replace Anthony Bradford at right guard when you just

want to Super Bowl with him. Um, and he, he, he played like reasonably well. They did not play

well in the Super Bowl. But he played reasonably well, the back half of the season. So I think,

I think people have been watching way too many low light reels. Um, people asking about his

tray Hendrix in a thought. No, I don't think he's a thought. I don't think he was ever in, they were

ever in on him last year. Got a super chat from Colin lunchroom. Do you think Sam Donald will look

for a revised deal and extension? He might look for one. He's not going to get one. John Schneider was

very clear on this at the combine that he signed a three year deal. He's got two more years on

that deal. And John Schneider does not negotiate extensions until you're on the last year of his deal.

So he's not, not going to happen. Uh, John Hobart. Hey, John, good to see you, dude. He has gifted

five hot blogger memberships. Great to see you here and nice that you are doing that. If you get

one of these free memberships, consider upgrading to a club level. It gets you access to the discord

server or just gifting some yourself. Pay it forward. Give it to somebody else so they can get

part of this community. Um, all right. I think that we got a little empty super chat here from

Zahier Boyd. Thanks for that. Um, so yeah, I just, I think people are going to get enamored with

external free agents. I don't think the CEOcks are going to be particularly active in external

free agency. I think they're going to try to sign their own guys. I think they're going to extend

their own guys. I think Derek Hall extension would be really smart if they could get that done.

You're already going to have 40 million plus for JSN, 30 million plus for Devin Witherspoon.

You've already signed Charles Cross-Nabe Lucas to extensions. Josh Job will probably get signed.

The money starts to run out and then I think you look at some trade, excuse me, some trade options.

We'll see. But, um, sorry, getting some funny, some funny news here. Um, yeah. So that will, I think,

and most of this is from Matt and Beaverton. This is for range balls. Well, thanks, man. I

appreciate it. I actually went and tried to golf today. Whether said it was going to hold,

the rain was going to hold off. It did not hold off. So I bailed after like five holes.

It's okay. I was not hitting the ball well off the tee anyway. I had one great, two great t-shots

and then a lot of not great t-shots. Jalen Mossman says, bought your book. Love it, man. Well,

thank you. If you haven't got the book, we did not care. You can get it at hawkblogger.com slash book.

And I'm still looking to figure out some more book signings. We'll figure that out soon. I know

people are hoping to get some book signings. I will do my best to make that possible.

All right, folks. Someone asked about Travis at TN. I'm not. I like Al Jire a lot more.

At TN is fine. I think he's like a slightly above average starter. Al Jire to me has upside of being

proble level. Like I think he's got that kind of upside kind of lurking in there behind

Bajon Robinson. But like he's the only guy that to me perks me up when I look at the running

back room, like the running back list. And he is an external free agent and it would count against

compics. He might be worth it. But honestly, I mean, this is why I was a fan of signing Ken Walker.

I think Ken Walker is in a tier by himself. Bruce Hall was in that tier. He got franchised.

So yeah, there's not another Ken Walker out there. I don't think.

Justin Burns says your book is awesome. So cool to see at Costco. That's really nice to you.

Thanks, man. I'm glad you like it. And someone says they ordered the book yesterday. Excited for

it to come in the mail. Cool. I really, really appreciate everybody giving some positive feedback.

Not everybody gives positive feedback. And that's fine too. All right, everybody,

that'll do it for this edition of Hawk Walker Mornings in the afternoon. If there is something else

that comes up, you know, I'll be back here. But until then, that'll do it. Take care. Have a great

rest of your Thursday.