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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
00:02It's always fun to chat with Adam Kaplan here on the show,
00:05especially when I get to watch all of the NFL games.
00:07I didn't think that was gonna happen yesterday.
00:09My son had a travel baseball game,
00:11and these people were keeping us at the park,
00:13raining and raining and raining and raining
00:16for like three hours before they let us go,
00:18but right on time to be able to get home
00:21and catch from about 1.30 Eastern
00:23all the way through the 4 p.m. game.
00:24So I'm very well schooled to drill Adam Kaplan
00:27on what happened in the NFL yesterday and get his thoughts.
00:29Adam, thanks again for coming on Newswire.
00:32Great to catch up with you on a high-scoring,
00:34fun day in the NFL.
00:35Not every week, but last week for sure.
00:38Yeah, the overs.
00:38I know the betters were like, what in the world?
00:41Because Pharrell and I always talk about it.
00:42Like the first three to four weeks,
00:44unders were the big play.
00:46The other thing that I noticed is, man,
00:48these dogs of 7 1⁄2 or more, they're covered.
00:51Clip is ridiculous.
00:53I mean, I said, Scott, Scott was kind of surprised.
00:56I'm like, take the Cardinals of the 7 1⁄2.
00:58I said, listen, the Niners are not,
01:01we're probably gonna talk about the Niners today.
01:02They're not playing great football.
01:03They were awesome week one against the Jets at home,
01:06but they've been very inconsistent.
01:07They've got issues on defense.
01:10It's funny with the Niners, Greg,
01:12as we go over what's happened so far,
01:14particularly week five.
01:15If you looked at where the Niners are ranked statistically,
01:18offense, defense, you go, wow,
01:19how are they not 5-0, 4-1?
01:21It's a play here.
01:22It's a play there.
01:23It's a key mistake at an important time.
01:25Then they lose their kicker, Jake Moody,
01:27who's a right-footed kicker.
01:28He's got a right high ankle sprain,
01:30so he's weak to weak.
01:31That absolutely positively impacted that game.
01:33Now, you couldn't predict that,
01:35but this has been a weird season, okay?
01:38This has been, I heard you talking earlier
01:40on Newswire about the Vikings.
01:43You can't predict that stuff.
01:44That's the beauty of the National Football League,
01:46and the NFL loves it, by the way.
01:48Yeah, no, it's been great.
01:49Also, I cannot understate taking away 300 catches
01:54the last three or four years
01:55from Christian McCaffrey out of the backfield
01:58for San Francisco, too.
01:58It's like, oh, Jordan Mason, he's so good.
01:59Yes, he is, but he ain't catching passes.
02:02Like, I mean, this is a big element of their game
02:04that's been completely removed.
02:06The Ladanian Tomlinson, Marshall Falk,
02:08and all, I mean, just remove those guys,
02:10put in a runner, it ain't the same.
02:12But by the way, credit to the Cardinals.
02:13I thought they were dead in the water
02:14after that blocked kick back for a touchdown.
02:18They came all the way back, and they won that game.
02:20Now, meanwhile, so much attention on Devontae Adams here.
02:23I guess for good reason, but it's like every team, Adam,
02:27that I hear that is potentially gonna make a push
02:29for this guy, to me, seems like the wrong team.
02:32Like, I mean, to me, it's like the Chiefs, okay, sure,
02:36but you mentioned Pittsburgh, yuck.
02:38The Jets, yuck.
02:40Like, I don't think he's gonna change those teams around.
02:42Maybe I'm off with this.
02:43I don't know.
02:44What do you think?
02:45All right, so let's start with the Steelers.
02:46The Steelers have a major problem
02:48at receiver opposite George Pickens, okay?
02:49They were very high in on the Brandon Aiyuk sweepstakes.
02:52They kind of won it, but the deal, as you know,
02:54did not get completed,
02:55but it was very close to being completed,
02:57but they were looking for a younger receiver, okay?
02:59Aiyuk is significantly younger than Devontae Adams,
03:02but the reason why I wanna talk about Adams
03:04in addition to, obviously, what's going on with him
03:06is that if he goes to the right team,
03:08and I think that's what you're alluding to,
03:09let's say he goes to the Jets, okay?
03:12I know the Jets have had some problems
03:14in their passing game, okay?
03:15Guy Wilson's terrific.
03:16He had his best game of the season yesterday,
03:19and now when Lazard has kind of revived his career now,
03:21he would have been cut, if not for the $10 million
03:23that's fully guaranteed this season,
03:24so he's back, he's doing a good job,
03:26but you'd rather have him as a backup.
03:29They need to find someone to take attention away
03:31from Garrett Wilson.
03:33The Jets were in on Devontae Adams' trade deadline last year.
03:35They could not make it work.
03:37That was actually around the time that Josh McDaniels
03:40and Dave Ziegler were fired,
03:41the head coach and the general manager,
03:42so that deal did not get completed,
03:46but they're still in on it.
03:47They're very much in on it right now.
03:49The trade deadline, we should mention,
03:50people are acting like this trade's happening right now.
03:52It doesn't have to get done now.
03:55Teams have until November 5th, that Tuesday,
03:57at 4 p.m. Eastern, to complete a deal,
04:00so look, the Raiders, I can tell you from talking to them
04:03leading up to the season,
04:04they never thought about trading Devontae Adams.
04:06This was not on the radar.
04:08They wanted to see, Craig,
04:09what is this team gonna look like mid-season?
04:12And then unfortunately, you have the Pierce situation
04:14favoring the Tweed.
04:16Adams feels hurt.
04:17He doesn't want to be there, so he's asked for a trade,
04:19but on your point, before we move on here, on New Orleans,
04:21that's a team that's kind of strange to me.
04:23Yes, we know about him and Derek Hart
04:24being college teammates
04:25and also being reunited with the Raiders.
04:28They're another team that, yes,
04:29they could use a guy like Devontae Adams,
04:31make Rasheed Shaheed as terrific as an explosive guy
04:34as a third receiver,
04:35but that's really not their issue.
04:36Their issue is on their offensive line.
04:39They need more pass rushing help.
04:41It is interesting, though.
04:42That was not the team that I thought would come in on it,
04:44but they're very much in on it.
04:46Yeah, no, to me, it's compelling
04:48as we go down to the wire with it,
04:50and again, it's gonna have to happen.
04:51If it does happen in the next couple of weeks.
04:53Sam, we're gonna skip ahead here
04:54because Adam and I are gonna disagree here.
04:57I think the Washington Commanders
04:59are one of the best bets to win it all,
05:01or at the very least, win the NFC.
05:03I've been saying this here on the show for weeks.
05:05Nothing has changed my mind.
05:07They have the biggest impact player
05:09from one year to the next in their quarterback.
05:12They have an elite wide receiver.
05:13They have an elite running back.
05:14They have a really good backup running back.
05:16Their offensive line is good.
05:18I know their defense has been shaky,
05:20and I know that Adam's gonna say
05:22they've played no one this season,
05:23but welcome to the NFL,
05:25where that doesn't matter to me anymore.
05:27You know, it doesn't matter to me.
05:29And by the way, the Commanders,
05:31I'm not asking them to win it all.
05:32I'm a smart bettor.
05:33They just need to get there,
05:34and then I take the other side, make half my money.
05:37Their odds are insane.
05:38They used to be plus 400 to make the playoffs,
05:40plus 300, plus 200.
05:42Now it's minus money.
05:44What am I missing here?
05:45By the way, well, first of all,
05:47if you look at the books before the season started
05:49with the Futures numbers,
05:50there were six and a half,
05:51six or six and a half, depending on which book you took.
05:53And I said to Pharrell, I'm like,
05:55oh, they're gonna get seven,
05:56but they're not gonna get much more than that.
05:57Now, yeah, are they better than I thought?
05:58Of course.
05:59Elite quarterback play could take very average talent
06:03and rise everybody up.
06:04Now, McLaurin's on average.
06:05He's a good football player.
06:06They've got nothing, really,
06:07next to nothing out of that other receiver spot.
06:10And then Zach Ertz is an older tight end.
06:12Zach's there for leadership.
06:13He knows Cliff Kingsbury from their days with Arizona.
06:16Brian Robinson's a good running back.
06:17You're right.
06:18And their offensive line, I do want to say one thing.
06:20It's very average.
06:22The coaching is good.
06:23They're getting good coaching from Bobby Johnson,
06:25their line coach, Cameron from the Giants,
06:27but they've kind of overachieved.
06:28Let's call it like it is.
06:30Gales has taken them up.
06:32Look, that division's not very good,
06:34and they could very well win it over the Eagles,
06:36and the Cowboys.
06:37They're not a Super Bowl team.
06:38I'm just telling you, they're not a Super Bowl team.
06:41Save that, Cliff.
06:42Save that for me.
06:43Save that for me later on.
06:45Save it, I'm good.
06:47I think they're fantastic here.
06:50But Daniels is the rookie of the year, right?
06:52Like we can say that?
06:53Oh, yeah.
06:54Yeah, he would be, and I was super high on him
06:57before the draft day.
06:58He's been an unbelievable story development.
07:00He sees it.
07:01He processes so well.
07:02He's so mature, and he's so far ahead of schedule.
07:05Yeah, I think he should.
07:06He's not gonna win MVP,
07:07but I'd love to see him in that conversation too.
07:09All right, Adam, as always, fantastic stuff.
07:11We'll see you soon.
07:12Got it.