The Hardline - NFL Today

0:00I'm Sam Slaton, CEO and co-owner of Sante Center for Healing. We're celebrating 30 years of transforming lives. Every day, families call us in crisis, and every day we show them that recovery is possible. If you or someone you love is struggling, Sante is here for you right now. Please reach out at SanteCenter.com. Patrick Mahomes will make his 2026 date but on Monday night against the Broncos. I believe that's a game in Denver, do you believe? Is it? Or is it Casey? Is that a real head? It's Casey. That's Casey. All right, thank you. And really last year was the first year that Patrick Mahomes and the chiefs seemed mortal. There were signs. There's always been signs. But Patrick has always had the ability to take that team over the top because he's going to go down as one of the best four quarterbacks probably to ever play the game.

1:01Even right now, like if he went down right now and couldn't play anymore, his legacy is sign sealed and delivered. But they're at a really interesting spot right now and I think that the difference between being where he is right now and being thought of as otherworldly superhuman, untouchable, and there's only one quarterback or maybe two that are thought of that way. Brady's obviously at the very top and then you've got Joe Montana and Bradshaw right there. But I think he would be in front of Bradshaw as far as the way that we view him historically. Maybe not Montana. But close. Yeah, very close. But the chiefs are in a really weird spot. It's not a rebuild or anything like that. But it is a reset, I think, if you want to look at it that way. And he tore his ACL late last year and made his way all the way back.

2:01And even today, the articles. Even today, the articles. Yeah, the articles came out and said that he's full tilt boogie and no limitations whatsoever starting week one. So that'll be interesting to see. But of all the guys in the NFL and all the teams and storylines that have been talked about preseason wise, I feel like that he was such the talk. I mean, that was it. We talked about my homes and the chiefs for five years straight almost. And now they've taken a back seat. And I just wonder what that does to a guy like that who's still young and who's still hungry and who's still incredible. What that does to him if he's glad or if he's like just wait, MFers. It's a it's a it's a weird spot. Brady went through it. Everybody goes through it. If you play long enough and now we're the second half of his career. And what does he do? What do they do? And I don't know the answer. Well, I guess when I look at the chiefs, I just don't see.

3:03You know, I didn't put him in the playoffs after I put him in the Super Bowl. So I know that's complicated. But I just I I don't see enough, man. I see a cowboys level. And when I'm saying this, I'm thinking the bad cowboys. I'm thinking the bad cowboys had a roster of like five guys who you thought were amongst the best at their position. And then just the rest of the roster doesn't look like it's good enough. It just doesn't. They like we think they had a pretty good draft class. And and Montsew or Delane and our Mason Thomas and and Peter Woods like maybe maybe these draft picks can come in and and be what they need. But dude, they traded Trent McDuffey. That's not something you do. If you think you're about to go win big a couple more times. I'm not saying they're they're salary cap related. Well, of course, but I mean, your your quarterback is on the books for 90

4:05million next year. 90 90 zero of a. I think I'll have to restructure that. Well, okay, but the next year he's on the books for 86 million. So I'm not sure how much restructuring is available. I'm sure they're going to try to figure it out. But he's on the books for somewhere in the 100 million dollar vicinity for for the next several years. And so then you're like, well, look, he deserves it. He's Patrick Behoem's. Well, of course he does. But in a capital league, now you got to get pretty carried away and and pretty creative. Okay. Well, Chris Jones is on the books for 45 this year. 45 million for Chris Jones. I don't know if you think he's Miles Garrett, but he's being paid better than Miles Garrett. And so then you start going down the list. Who else do you think is top five at their position on that chief's team? Nick Bolton? Okay, he's fine. Creed Humphrey. All right. They got a top five center. I bet.

5:05Carl Oftis maybe the point is Travis Kelsey is turning 37 next month. Yeah. That's the thing is that they don't have wide receivers. No, you have you're dealing with Rashee rice. And who knows where he's at. You're dealing with Xavier Worthy. You're dealing with, you know, smallish guys that I'm not saying they're not good because they're both really, really good. Sure. But I don't know how far that's going to take him. But Kelsey's the big one. I mean, this is it. He's not for another year. This is the last year of a guy that's been fading in the last couple of years. Xavier Worthy has played in the NFL two years. I know he ran fast, but that's only part of it. And if you were just to simply look at Yardage, his production Yardage wise last year or the last two years, his entire NFL career is basically Jake Ferguson. He's basically hitting about five, 50 or 600 yards a season.

6:08And I got to tell you that's not anywhere close to a lead. And so you start going down the list and we got to do the Rashee rice dance again. And then we look at that offensive line and we say, well, where is Joe Tuny? Oh, that's right. We couldn't afford him anymore. I mean, this is a classic case in a cap league of having your peak. And then everybody wants to get paid. And so you pick the ones that you feel strongest about like Chris Jones and Travis Kelsey. And you kind of tell the other guys, man, we love to have any of it, but we can't keep you at the price. Other teams will pay you now. And what you end up with is an extremely top heavy roster where you're asking your quarterback to do even more than he's ever done before as he gets older and recovers from an ACL. I just, I don't like it, man. No, it's not great. It's not great. But I think that this is going to be one of the, you know, defining years for him mentally, I think, where he does he think like,

7:09all right, I now, because I am so good. And I have carried this thing for so long. And I made so many unbelievable plays and season, savers and miracle type moments in my career. Can I do that for a full season? Am I going to need to do that not only in January, but in September and October and November, December, if we want to have a chance to just break even and sneak into the playoffs. And then you put yourself at risk, you know, you really do, especially coming off the injury like you were saying, Bob, like that's that ain't no joke, especially at that age. And especially with hit, look, he's not Lamar Jackson, but he has always been one of the most elusive quarterbacks in the pocket for, you know, pick three or four plays a game and you're like, how did he just do that? What the hell did he just do? And if you take that away from him, if you turn that into like, you know, like even Jalen Hertz, where you're like, we can't risk it in him hurt. Well, if you take that away from Patrick Mahomes,

8:10you're taking away 15% of what makes him great. And that 15% is the difference between, you know, eight, nine and 11 and six. Yeah, I come back to looking at Tom Brady's second dynasty, which is obviously hilarious to say that about anybody, because you can't say that about Tom Terry Bradshaw or Troikman or Joe Montana or literally anybody that's ever played in the sport. They don't get a second dynasty. They get though those, those years in time that were glorious, but then when those five years are gone, it's over. And for Brady to come back at age 37, 39 and 41. Like if you want to say, and I realize the, the legend of Bill Belichek is not being done any favors right now, but if you want to understand the legend of Bill Belichek,

9:10you have to look at the fact that they built a second dynasty with completely different players when Tom Brady was 37, 39 and 41. And that is incredible on so many levels that they just did it all over again. Like they lost all those, remember what I just said about the chiefs? When you start winning, everybody wants to get paid and they all leave. That happened in New England and they just replaced them with a whole new team. And that team was also good enough to win three Super Bowls in five years. It's really, really impossible to imagine. And that, that team had grog on it, of course, and the first crew did not. So you look at that and you say, what would that look like for Mahomes and Kansas City? I would just say that's the eye of the needle. Like if you could thread the eye of a needle with that and pull something like that off, like that's what's going to be required is kind of starting over when Kelsey and Chris Jones,

10:14and their chunks leave. And now you say, okay, we have Patrick Mahomes. Can we build a title winner around him? And you know what the answer is about 95% of the time? Steph Curry. It's Steph Curry. You still got a guy who's really good. You still got a guy you want to watch. You still got a guy that, you know, brings you joy. But the idea of ever figuring out how to get Jonathan Cummings and freaking, you know, James Wiseman or whoever that was around him to build a second dynasty, it's probably not going to happen. No. And you know, Curry did drag them to one more when it seemed like it was over that 22 thing against Boston. But you know, if you had to set the over under for Patrick Mahomes Super Bowl right now, what is it? Is it one? I would say the over under is probably 0.5. Yeah. Like either you think he has another one in him or you don't. Well, and that's not even a question about him.

11:14That's a question about the chiefs in my opinion, sorry Dave. Yeah, well, but I do think that the one thing that works in his favor, I totally agree that he will have to some degree reinvent his game because he is just nine months after blowing out two ligaments and, you know, he's going to be tenetive at first and he's definitely not going to run as much as he has. But I think the fact that they went out and invested in Kenneth Walker that maybe if they can finally establish the run game to complement what he does, you know, they've tried so many different backs and they have never had a certain number one, like a bell-cow type of back. And I'm not saying that Kenneth Walker necessarily is. He's a Super Bowl MVP, but we don't know if he can carry an offense. But if he can be a nice compliment to my homes, then I do think that they will have a shot to win that division or at least make the playoffs. I think Kenneth Walker, though, for four years in Seattle until last January was probably thought of

12:22as like a top 20 running back, not a top five running back. No, totally agree. Right? They pay him. Yeah, what did they end up paying him? I mean, they paid him in the 10 to 15 range. I think. Yeah, let's see. They gave him a pretty good deal, but I just closed the page, Stan. Three years, 43 million. No, that's a lot. Damn. It's a lot, but it's like 14. 28.7 guaranteed. Yeah, they guarantee the first two years. Kenneth Walker, four years in Seattle, a thousand 50 with nine touchdowns. That's nice. 900 yards and eight touchdowns in year two, 500 yards and seven touchdowns in year three, and then came back and barely got to a thousand. Now, this is 17 games, guys. So a thousand yards is about 50 is at 57 yards of game. He had a thousand 27 and five touchdowns last year. Now, of course, in the playoffs, he ran off.

13:24Another 300 yards with another four touchdowns and, of course, a big Super Bowl. So he got himself paid. But I don't know that they just signed Jameer Gibbs or Elvin Kamara and his primary thing like that. They got a guy who was part of a job share in Seattle with with with the Charbonne. Yeah. Right. It might be a stretch, but if they have anything from the running game, it's at least something to help prop up. Yes. Patrick Mahomes. That's right. That's Schneider. Jobs dot com.

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