Transcript of Geno Smith traded to Raiders, Myles Garrett’s Trade Request Drama, Free Agency Talk | The Insiders

Breaking news right now, and no, this is not a drill. Just moments ago, the Seattle Seahawks have agreed a terms with the Las Vegas Raiders on a blockbuster trade, sending their starting quarterback, Gino Smith, a two-time Pro bowler, to Las Vegas in exchange for a 2025 third round pick. We've got this covered from all angles right now. Welcome inside with the Insiders alongside Ian Rappaport and Mike Gareffolo. I am Tom Pelacero. This has all kinds of domino effects across the rest of the quarterback market. Let's dig into it right now, Ian, starting out with the fact that this trade came together. My understanding has been the Seahawks were in talks with Gino Smith about a new contract. They stood willing to give him a raise in 2025, give him a new deal, but they were not able to come to an agreement. So what do you know? His old coach, Pete Carroll, who gave him the starting opportunity in Seattle, revised Gino Smith's career. Now, those two reunite once again in Las Vegas.

That's right. A reunion. The Las Vegas Raiders have a quarterback. Gino Smith is now their quarterback. And for the Las Vegas Riders, we'll start with their side of it, guys. It has been quite a winding road. Of course, we know they're one of the teams, the team, to try to trade for Matthew Stafford. He eventually stayed with the Los Angeles Rams. They explored plenty of options, but it really seemed they just weren't set on any one. At the Combine, the first conversation happened between the Raiders and the Seahawks. Hey, could this actually happen? Obviously, they know each other. Pete Carroll with the Seahawks. The sides are friendly. Everyone on the same page here. Could this happen? Not really. Let's check back, maybe stay in touch. Then contract talks really got nowhere with Seattle. They reengaged yesterday, had a meeting this morning between new general manager, John Spitech, Seahawks general manager, John Snyder, got together on a deal. It is Gino Smith headed to the Raiders, a third route pick, going to Seattle. And Mike, Seattle now needs a quarterback. Lucky for them, it's before free agency. Every option is available. Besides, the quarterbacks are already spoken for.

I wouldn't be surprised if they target Sam Darnold, among others.

Yeah, Sam Darnold, a possibility. Clint Kubiak up there. His quarterback last year was Derek Carr. We're still waiting to see what's going to happen in New Orleans with that situation. I know the Saints said they want him back, but they've got to come to some financial agreement there. Yes, the contract negotiations with Gino Smith. Go back to last year when we reported that there were conversations or Gino Smith tried to have conversations about a contract last year, and the Seahawks said, No, not with two years left on your deal. He confirmed it to the media. Did not seem very happy at the time that he didn't get an extension. So coming into this offseason, feeling like he proved it again, wanted an even bigger number this time around from the Seahawks. There was a gulf between the sides from our understanding here with regard to the financials on this one. So in the end, the Seahawks say, well, if we're going to go and spend the money, let's get a pickback in return. So they're getting a third round pickback in return. And yeah, the Raiders had an extra third round pick because of that Devante Adams' trade when they traded Devante to the Jets in the middle of last season.

So that gave them the flexibility, this new regime, to still have a third-round pick after making this trade with the Seattle Seahawks. So Pete Carroll gets his reunion with Gino Smith. We know he thinks highly of him, and we know that there are two, there's one of Dike Metcalf, the other one being Tyler Locket, two wide receivers that Gino Smith threw to in Seattle while Pete Carroll was the coach. I'd say pretty sure at least one of them is going to land in Vegas. Tyler Locket being the other one. He is a free agent. We'll see. Maybe even Both. Maybe a reunion of all three of them with their head coach, Pete Carroll. We'll see.

Again, this is going to set off a lot of different dominoes here, but let's focus in first on the two teams involved. I'll start out with Seattle. You are asking yourself probably right now, What exactly is the Seahawks plan after going 10 and 7, the only double-digit win team that missed the playoffs last season? They have D. K. Metcalf, who is in the middle right now of a trade request, and they are exploring trades for DK Metcalf. They released Tyler Locket, And now they're trading their quarterback, Gino Smith, to Las Vegas for a 2025 third-round draft pick. Well, starting out with Gino here, again, they were willing to give him a raise over the roughly $27 million that he was due in 2025. They offered him that. They had conversations, but they had one conversation yesterday in which it became apparent, from my understanding, that Gino Smith was not happy with the state of things. He felt like he should be making a lot more money. And that opened the door to potentially then say, Okay, Much like Matthew Stafford a few weeks ago, go out and see what else is out there for Gino Smith.

They have not yet done a new deal in Las Vegas with Gino. You would anticipate that that is something that's coming. But for Seattle, not only, Ian, do they now have the flexibility to go out and sign another quarterback. They may well be able to sign another quarterback for the same amount or less than they stood willing to pay Geno Smith in 2025, while also picking up a third-round draft pick that's going to help them build this thing the the way that Mike McDonald envisions it looking as he heads into his second year.

Yeah, and my understanding is Seattle did make a good faith offer to Gino Smith. From what I'm told, around the Baker Mayfield area, so up into the '30s, for Geno, it was met with a, this is just not enough. If you're an organization of a starting quarterback and you are just not on the same page with value, and you can somehow, someway get an option that you consider to be the same or maybe even better, or if it ends up being Sam a lot younger with plenty of potential, this is the time to do a trade. And look, for Seattle, it's a risk. You go into a free agency knowing that you do not have a quarterback, and it's a risk. But there's not that many chairs available, and there's not that many quarterbacks available. So if you're Seattle, you know you got a pretty good chance at someone like Donald if you can outbid the Vikings who have said publicly and privately that they want him back. This is an interesting situation for Seattle, but John Schneider, the general manager, one of the best to do it in the NFL for sure has a plan for how to make this happen.

Yeah. Sorry. If I look like I'm getting text from my friend saying, What are you so confused about? We're told which pick it is. I'm just trying to figure out if it makes sense. You guys work on that. I texted you that there. Do you know Gino Smith. Yeah, please. What are you looking at me for? Look down. Start figuring it out.

I'm on it. You talk. We're working here. Yes.

With Gino Smith here, the quote from him after that game, They wrote me off, but I didn't write back. It was a great story. It was a great job by him to restart his career here after being with the Giants. I believe it was the Giants previously before him. Gino had two stops in New York, heads to Seattle there. Now restarts in Vegas. This is a guy that has played with a lot of pride throughout his entire career, and pride helped really restart things in Seattle. He kept those mental notes in his head of everything that people had said through him throughout his career. You know that Pete Carroll is going to feed into that. He is going to make sure that Gino Smith knows that people are writing him off, probably once again, and motivate him to once again restart his career. They're working on getting more targets there. We talked about the possibility of adding some wide receiver But having Brock Bowers there and what we saw from him in his rookie season, excuse me, not a bad start from Gino Smith right there.

One thing I wanted to mention as you look at this new Raiders regime, obviously, they're getting a starting quarterback. They have wanted one He's in his mid-30s. We'll see how long this ends up lasting. But to me, Pete Carroll is trying to set the culture here. Gino Smith has been in it. He is a leader. He is a guy that the other guys in the locker room consider to be one of those dudes. He can go a long way in helping Max Crosby, who, by the way, just tweeted LFG, which I'm not going to translate, but it means he's very excited. He can help Max Crosby set this culture in Las Vegas and really be some of the translators for Pete Carroll. So, so important when you have a new regime and a new coach.

All right, let's take a look at some of the other ramifications here. Again, the breaking news tonight, it is Gino Smith traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for a 2025 third-round draft pick. This is significant in so many different ways. Again, we will get to the fallout on the rest of the quarterback market as this continues to go on. We also know Las Vegas Raiders all of a sudden have something Max Crosby has been waiting for, which is a quarterback. He's saying, Let's go, with another word in there. It's a sign that he's very excited. One day after he signed that Monster contract extension, now the Raiders are hoping that they have found their quarterback for more on this. Let's bring in our Brian Baldinger as well as Steve Weitz into the conversation. Steve, I'll start out with you here. When you hear this news of this trade, what do you make of it, knowing the dynamics of what the Raiders have been trying to accomplish in this offseason?

Tom, you guys are hitting the real high notes right here. Look, I saw Raiders owner Mark Davis at the Super Bowl. He told me, We have got to get a quarterback. And real quick, to go to that, Max Crosby, LFG, the guy helping them, helping find the quarterback Tom, to help him find the quarterback Tom braided. That was a big thing for him, too. And Mark Davis said they were going to lean on Tom. So now, as Ian said, they've got a veteran quarterback in here with the experience that can help them level up and change the culture, much like the Chargers did last year. Look at how tough that division is. They had to get a quarterback with some skins on the wall who still got some time left in his career to get things turned around. Now, Chip Kelly, the new offensive coordinator, can start designing an offense that plays to Gino's strengths. Just historically, what do the Raiders like to do? They like to throw the deep ball. We know Gino can throw the deep ball, so he checks some of the boxes organizationally, but more so culturally, as Pete Carroll tries to turn it around, and then we'll get to the Seahawks and the things a little bit later.

Well, Steve, he goes from the NFC West to the AFC West here. When you look at Chip Kelly, and when he came to Philadelphia the first time, it was everything that he did at Oregon. It was up-tempo, it was spread. Well, that's the offense that Gino Smith grew up in at West Virginia. I mean, it's exactly the same offense. So he understands tempo, he understands shotgun, he understands getting the ball out of his hands fast. So I think there's a marriage there. And just going back to when Gino got that job with Seattle. I remember there was a quarterback battle, him and Drew Lock, and Gino won that battle. I remember talking to Gino at that time, and he said for the first time in his whole career, he felt like the organization had his back, and Pete Carroll has his back in this deal right here. You got Pete, you've got Chip, you got Gino, and they've got a quarterback here that is lined up for more yards this year with a coordinator that's not even in the league anymore in Ryan Grub, than he had ever thrown in his career. So he's coming off healthy, a good year, a year where they won 10 games.

I think it's a good win here for the Raiders right now.

And of course, they also have a Another key player on the trade block, Steve, DK Metcaf, who met with team officials a couple of days ago. The decision made that DK wanted to have a trade. The Seahawks said they were going to work at that. My understanding is they've been in contact with a bunch of different teams here. So a chance not just to add a high draft pick for Gino, but perhaps another high pick or two. What does the Gino trade make you think about how this now plays out with DK?

Well, this is intriguing right now because Tom, they're not going to move DK Metcalf unless these are very worthy draft picks. I spoke to someone up there today. They don't want to get rid of DK Metcalf. He's only 27 years old. He was only eight yards shy from having his third consecutive 1,000-yard season. When every coordinator interviewed for the OC job this year, one of the first topics I was told that came up with every one of them is, how are we going to get DK Metcalf involved in this offense? That said, this dynamic, maybe it is a reset for Seattle when they see that this division, this NFC West, could be open. Let's say they get into the Sam Darnold sweepstakes. They get him in here. They get him some other wide receivers because Seattle is going to have to draft a wide receiver to go with Jack Smith and Jigba, whether DK Metcalf is there or not. They've got to build up that area. By stacking draft picks, and if they add with DK Metcalf, this could be a reset of sorts. But at the same time, Tom, as you alluded to, this was a 10-win team, and people think they're much closer than a lot of other people do.

Maybe they go ahead and get a veteran wide receiver, Amari Cooper, someone like that if they get rid of D. K. Metcalf to add to a draft pick. But I think there's a lot of layers to this now that Gino Smith is no longer part of the equation, Paul D.

Steve, let's be very clear about this. D. K. Metcalf is a straight dog. Yes. You could put him in every offense in this league, and he would upgrade your passing. I was amazed last year at games where they just ignored him and went away from him. He is a nightmare for any corner. If you're playing man coverage, he's got you beat right off the bat, whether it's his release, whether it's jump ball skills, whether it's his route running, whether it's his hunger for the ball. This guy is a straight dog. There's going to be a lot of teams that are interested. Seattle, I don't know what they're going to do at this point. If he wants out, there's going to be a lot of takers out there that would give up a lot to go and get him and insert him at the extra receiver in anybody's offense.

Baldy, Steve, thank you very much. A lot more from you guys on free agency and other topics as this show continues to roll on. Once again, breaking news. I will reiterate, this is real. The Seahawks trading their two-time Provo quarterback, Gino Smith, to the Raiders for a 2025 third-round draft pick, reunion, of course, for Pete Carroll, who's in the background there, wearing some sunglasses in his Seattle days. He was the guy who gave Gino Smith the opportunity to be a starter again. And now Gino is set to rejoin his old coach in Las Vegas, which in Return, guys, is quite possibly the first proverbial domino in a quarterback market that everybody within the league was waiting on a few things. They're waiting to see how things are going to work out in Pittsburgh, whereas Ian told us a couple of days ago here, Justin Field seems like the most likely option, but there's nothing done there. It's Derek Carr, which Mike mentioned. They've been trying to figure out as they were a revised contract. And then it is in Seattle, where this really started to materialize and become real within the past 24 to 48 hours here.

Gino now headed to Las Vegas. We set off the top, Ian, that Sam Darnold, from what I am told, is at minimum a leading candidate to be the next quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. If that indeed is the case, that means the Vikings now potentially It could pivot to Daniel Jones, but he might have options elsewhere. Where do we stand?

Let's go right there because this is the biggest domino that we've seen in the quarterback world, I would say even bigger than Matthew Stafford or somewhere in that realm, just because of what it means for so many other places. We'll start in Seattle. I would agree. It does feel to me, feel like Sam Johnwood will be the first one targeted there. If they could beat the Minnesota offer, which if he's going to be their starting quarterback and they don't have someone like JJ They're waiting. Maybe Seattle would come in over Minnesota. If that's where he wants to play, then certainly that makes sense. Then the Vikings have Daniel Jones, who they really like, did a really nice job for them. But does he have other opportunities? The Indianapolis Colts who have Anthony Richardson, who want to bring in competition, they would make a lot of sense with Daniel Jones as well. If he wants to really come in and compete for a starting job and potentially have it long term, is Indianapolis a better place than Minnesota, or does he want to go with Kevin O'Neill and this Minnesota Viking team that is so well-coached and did such a good job with Darnold last year?

That's where we're at, Mike, is the different variables of who would choose where based on how much playing time and whether they could start and So much has to play out next week.

Let's follow the bouncing ball and let's fill it in with some of the things that we have been talking about the last couple of days. If Sam Darnold does wind up in Seattle as the next starting quarterback of the Seahawks, the fallback, which the Vikings started to work on last year there is Daniel Jones, whom they brought in late last season. But Jones has other options as well, it seems, as the start of the League year is approaching. So let's say he heads somewhere else. So now the Vikings are going to want some A petition for JJ McCarthy, a bridge quarterback, what they did last year with Sam Darnal before McCarthy got injured. I had mentioned at some point that I had been told Aaron Rodgers would be interested in returning to the NFC North. We know Rodgers has been in talks with the New of our Giants about potentially winding up there. But if Rogers heads to Minnesota, then where do the Giants wind up? We've got so many more holes to fill in here, and this being the first domino that's really going to get things going here. Now we're going to have to wait until Monday when the teams can talk to some of these guys as well.

But this being a domino that could really have a ripple down effect that could affect the Vikings, could affect the Giants, could affect the Steelers, could affect all these teams. The Browns, I didn't mention them. Indianapolis looking for one with Anthony Richardson as well. It is going to be a fun couple of days. Ian, you say it all the time. You root for chaos. This is the beginning of some chaos, I believe.

I think it's fair to say besides Gino Smith and obviously the Raiders, the biggest beneficiary of what's taking place in the last hour, without a doubt, is Sam Darnold, who had a one-year offer from the Vikings that he's been sitting on through the course of the week. There was some sense within the league that perhaps the Darnold market was not going to be as lucrative as it otherwise might have been projected. Now, all of a sudden, with Seattle in the mix, running an offense that with Clint Kubiak calling it is pretty similar to the one in which Sam Darnold just had the best season of his career in Minnesota. He suddenly becomes that much more in demand. And I would also mentioned, too, because, again, we've got a lot of moving parts here. If somebody else steps up now for Sam Darnold, prevents him from going to Seattle, could Aaron Rodgers even be an option for the Seahawks and reunite with one of the guys who was in Green Bay when he drafted him general John Snyder. These are all possibilities. These are all things that we're going to be sorting out as we move forward here.

We got a lot more on free agency, a lot more on the quarterback carousel, a lot more on tonight's top story as this edition of the Insiders rolls on. Once again, Gino Smith is headed to the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Seahawks need a new quarterback. Somebody's going to get this guy, James pierce Jr, one of the standouts at the scouting combine. He runs faster in a hood than anybody since James Jones. He's going to run all the way to our set with us next on the Insiders. Breaking news tonight. The Las Vegas Raiders have their quarterback, which happens to be their new coach, Pete Carroll's old quarterback. But in the past hour, the Seattle Seahawks and Las Vegas Raiders finalizing a trade, sending Geno Smith to Las Vegas in exchange for a 2025 third-round draft pick. An opportunity for Seattle to continue to make over that team as Coach Mike McDonald enters his second season coming off of a 10-7 campaign in 2024. The Raiders had been in on Matthew Stafford before he decided to stay with the Rams. They wanted a veteran quarterback as Pete Carroll tries to turn around the culture. They got one in Gino Smith, who has been to a couple of Pro Bulls as part of a career renaissance that began when Pete Carroll gave him the nod as their starting quarterback several years ago.

A lot more on this story and all the fallout for all the other of our quarterback needy teams as this episode of the Insiders rolls on. But first, there's some fast guys in this year's draft.

He doesn't have the compression shirt on. He's one of the few that's got the shirt with a little hay, actually.

I can't recall seeing too many hoodies in the 40.

It's like me running with my sports coat. A parachute.

It's what I'm saying. I don't think it mattered based on that start.

Wow. Okay. Keep wearing the hoodie, James. That shows up on tape.

He is explosive.

His first three steps as a rusher, and he goes. He covers ground and he goes, and he is relaxed.

Look at the hoodie flowing.

How fast is James pierce Jr? A full 10th of a second faster than any other defensive end who attended this year's Scouting Combine. So fast, in fact, that he just wrapped up a workout and sped over here to join us on The Insiders with me, Tom Pellicero, as well as Ian Rappaport. Thanks for being here, James. A lot to discuss with you here, but let's start out with this. There was a lot of fascination, as you heard there from Rich Eisen and Daniel Jeremiah on the hoodie. Is the hoodie always present? Did you have any concerns about it being like a wind resistance type of a thing? Obviously, it didn't stop you, but tell me the backstory here.

No, that's just the swag I was working out in and what I had on all day and what I was warming up in. And then I just took the tank top from off. I'm on the knee off. But when I FaceTime Coach Mo before I ran, he was like, What's up with the hoodie? That's going to slow you down. I'm like, This is all I got. And it was go time Man, all I had to do was run.

Man, you could have been 0. 0001 second faster. Then you would have just beaten everyone just a little bit more. It was pretty fast, he. One of the fun things that happen... Well, one of the fun things that happens when you run really fast at the combine is we do the simulcams, right? Simulcams. You could see you beating Saquan and AJ from the Eagles. It's a fun thing for us. Did you get to see... Oh, I see it right here, literally. Jalen Hertz, too. Did you get to see any of this? What do you think when you see your 40 times compared to all these superstars?

Yeah, like you said, I know I'm running, but then that's just me running with superstars house. And so it just shows my speed amongst superstars.

So, James, tell us more just about you, your game. Do you watch certain guys in the NFL? Do you emulate certain people? Just take us through what somebody in the NFL is getting from James pierce, the football player.

They just get a great pass rusher, great run defender, great overall defensive player, a dog on the defensive side. Yeah, I really don't watch pass rushers, like just one-on-one pass rusher. I watch groups, but I watch Lauren Taylor as well. That's probably one of my favorite pass rushers I watch.

That's a guy who's got some speed as well. You also met with a bunch of teams in Indy. I know that's a huge part of this process. What's been your message to teams as they try to get to know you? What about you do you want teams to know during this process?

First of all, I'm just a great person, great teammate, great ball player, and then they're getting everything that they need, a dominant edge, a dominant player, and so on, and so forth.

James, from reading your bio, one of the interesting things that jumps out is you ended up being a five-star recruit, top 15 recruit nationally, but you did not have a power five offer until March of 2021, basically right before the signing period. Did you have a growth spurt? Did you suddenly find your game? What changed there right at the end of the recruiting process?

Probably just not putting myself out there as much. Probably just being laid back, probably just letting my talent speak for itself, probably not just really selling the talent. And then I also graduated class 2022 of my high school career. So I think that was going into my senior year, my junior year summer. So yeah, just a lot of people watched him there.

When I was covering the SEC, which was a long time ago, way before you were there, I was covering Alabama, and Tennessee was not very good. Alabama would just beat them basically all the time. They would get to smoke the cigars in the locker room, and it was a whole big thing. Since you were at Tennessee, Tennessee has won a ton more than I can ever remember, including last year. What do you think? Look, you're going to go into the NFL and you're going to be on a team, and they're going to talk about culture. What did you learn about culture with what Tennessee now has built over the last several years by winning like they've done?

Yeah. Before I got there, we were super close to winning, super close to getting over a hump, super close to just becoming a powerhouse. It taught me a lot during culture, especially even in the big games, you talk about Thursday or October, it builds a lot. Just the whole college theme and structure of everything, just being a powerhouse, you got 102,000 fans streaming in there and everybody on your side, and it just goes down. So it teaches you a lot about culture, a lot about how to stick together through the ups and downs after the long years of Alabama beating us a lot and stuff like that.

Last thing for you here, James. Right now, if you search the internet, you're in every mock draft. You're somewhere, some you're higher, some you're lower. Do you pay much attention to what people projecting for you? Where do you want to end up in late April here?

I really don't pay much attention to it. It really don't bother me. As long as I'm working and being at the place I'm at right now in the gym, just got done getting some work in, just Just keep putting one foot in front of another and just keep showing the scouts and the teams type of player I am. And I just keep putting that out there. I feel like everything will go well. And I probably want to end up... I feel like I'm the best edge in the draft. I've been there. I've been the best edge in the draft in college for the last two years. I just want to keep proving that, keep showing on that. Production numbers down a little bit this year, but missed a couple of sacs when I got home, but that's not about nothing. Not about too much.

Only 48 more days, man. 48 more days of wondering, and I can see. I mean, you're literally on with us from the gym. I have a feeling most of your time is going to be spent right there. So best of luck, man. Can't wait to see you find out your home here in the 2025 NFL draft. Thanks for being here.

Thanks, James.

Yes, sir. Thank you all for having me. Sure. See you soon.

That is a fast man who is still wearing a hoodie right now. 2025 NFL draft all kicks off Thursday, April 24th in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The likes of Abdul Carter, Shador Sanders, Travis Hunter, Ashton Genti, and so many more like James pierce Jr. Will have full coverage all the way leading up to that. But you know what's before the draft? Free agents Agency. It is the final countdown. It's just three days away. Our guy Adam Rank is going to be here after this to talk about playing matchmaker. Where's the best fit for guys like Sam Darnold, Justin Fields, and Russell Wilson? Rank always has answers. He's got them next on the Insiders. Breaking news tonight within the past hour, a blockbuster trade three days before free agency begins. The Raiders have landed their quarterback, and it's Pete Carroll's old quarterback, Gino Smith, traded from the Seahawks to the Raiders in exchange for a 2025 third-round draft pick. We had some fun off the top of the show because this news broke about two minutes before we were on the air. But exactly which of the Raiders many third-round pics this involved? Mike, we have finally a firm and final answer on which pick it is.

If you were looking earlier at me, I was like this, looking like what's... Because we were I told it was number 92. But if you go anywhere on the internet and search for NFL draft order, you see number 92 come up as the Jets pick. And it says that number 73 was traded from the Jets to the Raiders. That is not accurate. Apparently, number 92, so adjust your mock drafts now. Number 92 belonged to the Raiders after the Devante Adams trade. That is the pick that is going from Vegas to Seattle as part of this trade right here. This is very dramatic. Again, the Jets have number 73. The Seahawks now have number 92. Your three-round mocks are all topsy-turvy right now. You're just going to have to. I'm sorry to make you work on a Friday. Don't we do three round mocks? Sure.

92, by the way, was originally Detroit's pick. Here's your trivia question to Google during the break, Mike. How did the Jets get that pick that they traded to the Raiders? We'll find out more from you It was a Trade Back.

No, I already looked at that. It was a tradeback during the draft last year. Okay, there you go.

Trade Back. I'm on it. That's how they got it. We'll get the full web of everything, but there could be more draft picks on the move if the Browns ever changed their mind about their superstar pass rusher, Miles Garrett. As I reported this morning, Miles Garrett recently requested a meeting with Browns owner Jimmy Haslem, who declined to speak directly with Miles Garrett amidst his ongoing trade request. Both sides at this point remain dug in. The Browns have made clear publicly and privately they are not trading Miles Garrett under any circumstances. They are aligned in that offseason plan. Meanwhile, Miles Garrett has also made clear, as he did with his public trade request a month or so ago, that he intends to continue his Hall of Fame caliber career elsewhere. Obviously, Mike, there's different layers to this right now. We said it a month ago, this was going to take some time to work through it. Jimmy Haslem deferring to Andrew Berry saying he's the football decision maker. If you're Miles Gary, you're also going, But I know he's not doing anything. That's why I'm coming to you. What does it all mean?

Yeah, look, The Browns stance on this one, Jimmy Haslem's stance on this one was, I trust Andrew Berry to handle this situation. You've been dealing with him. He's the general manager. He makes the decisions on these things. And we are in lockstep from the owner down to the general manager, down to the head coach. I'm sure the janitor is on board as well, saying, We want to keep Miles Garrett with the Cleveland Browns this year. They have been adamant publicly. They have been adamant privately as well on this one. And Jimmy Haslem saying, No, you're not going to go around Andrew Berry. Now, you can disagree with that. And I saw a report from our buddy Albert Breer earlier today saying that Kirk Cousins got himself a meeting with ownership down in Atlanta, and Arthur Blank took that meeting. That's a different way of approaching it. In the case of the Browns, they have been criticizing in the past. Jimmy Haslem has been criticized the best, saying he meddles too much. This is the opposite of meddling, I guess. I know a lot of people are still going to disagree with that. I'm just telling you that that is my understanding of where the Browns stance was on this one.

I never understand how an owner can medal. It's literally his team. It's like saying a CEO meddles. It's like they're in charge. Anyway, whatever. That's a different saltbox for a different day. I want to focus in on the edge market here and focus in on what Tom and I mentioned yesterday, which is that Trey Hendrickson does have permission to seek trade. Miles Garrett wants permission to seek a trade and wants to be traded. Trey Hendrickson actually has it. My understanding here, guys, is that when Trey Hendrickson went to the bangles with this saying, I would like to be traded. I'd like to explore. The thought was that he could go for a first-round pick. He could go for a premium pick. The bangles were basically like, if you can go for a first-round pick, explore that. Talk to teams. They certainly have had some level of interest, the bangles have. But these veteran trades, just like If you're in the trade, oh, I don't know, we told you about earlier in the show with Gino Smith going for just a third, they're never quite as much as you think they are because a lot of times they're with older players, Trey Hendrickson, certainly an older player.

The NFL sack leader, yes, for sure, but also wants a new contract It's not impossible. It's not impossible. It can be done. But for the bangles to get a premium pick for Trey Hendrickson and agree to move on from a lot of things need to happen.

This is all part of the summer of the as we talked about on Super Bowl Sunday, because you got five or six guys who are all going to be trying to be the highest paid non-quarterback in the NFL. That guy at the top, Miles Garrett, certainly has a good argument. The Browns, not for nothing, are prepared to pay him if Miles Garrett changes his mind about returning to Cleveland. Michael Parson is up for a new contract, Trey Hendrickson, Deneal Hunter, too. We haven't talked much about him, but certainly he's going to be looking for additional years, only one year left on his contract, as we bring back our Brian Baldinger and Steve White. Okay, Baldy, you study line play more than probably literally anybody else on planet Earth. When you talk about a Trey Hendrickson potentially being available, when you talk about a Miles Garrett asking for a trade, if you're their existing teams, the Browns and the Bengals, what do you think?

Well, I mean, I wouldn't trade either player if I was both Cleveland or Cincinnati because they're pillars. That's what you want on your defense. You want guys that can affect the quarterback on any given pass. That being said, this This happens to be a great draft and a deep draft for defensive linemen. Now look, if Miles doesn't want to be there and he wants out, I mean, Andrew Berry should pick up the phone and talk some teams in this league to see what he could get for Miles Gareff. Because if you look at what the Rams have done over the last two years, where they have completely rebuilt their defensive line and they got four studs in the last two years, you could do that this year. There's those level of players. I'm not saying anybody is We're never going to be as good as Miles Garrett in this draft, but just going to be a lot of really good players, tackles, ends, edge guys. For Trey Hendrickson, only T. J. Watt, over the last five years has more sacks than Trey Hendrickson. He's from Apopka, Florida. Steve, if you're from Apopka, like Warren Sapp or Jalen Carter, you show up and you show out.

That's what Trey Hendrickson has been doing in Cincinnati. They just don't recognize his value. He helped them get to a Super Bowl and within one drive of winning a Super Bowl, and he was That's the key component to that defense.

But, Baldy, to that point, first off, I don't think either team should trade either guy, but I'm with you on this. Now is the time to strike because Miles Garrett did work last year as did Trey Hendrissen. And guess what? Neither team made the playoffs. This could be one where leadership says, You know what? We can lose without you. At the same time, we can restock. We know in terms of the Cincinnati Bengals, that defense has not been good. It was not good last year. Lou Anarumo, he is now in Indianapolis. Hey, maybe pick up the phone and call the colds. If you want to see if you can move Trey Hendrisson to Indianapolis or maybe some other teams, I think they need to explore some opportunities. The fact that the Bengals are saying, Hey, Trey, go see what's out there. Okay, see what the market is. Maybe it's not what he thinks it is. In terms of Miles Garrett, this is a different thing because he seems dug in to the point where he will hold out, he will not be in the summer. He just does not want to be there anymore. That might be one where teams will wait and wait and wait.

If you're Cleveland, you want to restock on compensation for this draft, or do you want to wait and see? I think this is going to be an interesting stare down because I'm sure a team like Washington and a couple of other teams would love to have Miles Garrett coming off the edge, feeling that they're pretty darn close.

Baldy, Steve, thank you very much. Sit tight A lot more news to come throughout the course of this show. We already had a big trade in the NFL. Geno Smith headed to the Las Vegas Raiders. Could Sam Darnold be the next quarterback of the Seahawks? Our guy Adam Rank will be here next to play matchmaker for all the different moving quarterback parts with the first big domino having fallen. Stick around. A lot more to come. It's The Insiders.

Our top story of the day. Doesn't really get any bigger than massive quarterback trades. Exactly what we had to start this very show tonight. Gino Smith gets traded to the Las Vegas Raiders. I could have some pun about how the Raiders called and then Gino called back, but it doesn't really make sense in my head right now. So just know this, Gino is the new starting quarterback for the Raiders. Seattle needs one, and we need to make sense of it. So no one better to make sense of it than Adam Rank right there, Mike Garifo with him. Two bald guys Two bald guys are here to talk to me about Gino Smith. We got it. Thank you. Let's start with you right there. Gino Smith to the Raiders. What do you think?

I love this move. Last night, I'm sitting there pouring over, spending hours, Ian, trying to figure out the certain matchmakers. Who would be the best fit for the Las Vegas Raiders? I think about Justin Fields and stuff like that. But Gino Smith ultimately makes the most Smith because, of course, Pete Carroll probably wrote to him, Gino Smith did write back to Pete Carroll and said, yes, I will come down to Sin City and guide your offense. And of course, right when this happens, I'm sitting down, you guys are doing the A block there, and then I'm getting text like, hey, where do I take Brock Bauer's now in my fantasy? That's where we are. That's where we are in life. Where do I draft? Rock Bauer has excelled last year with less than spectacular quarterback play. You might look at Geno Smith's time in Seattle and be like, Noah Fant wasn't necessarily tearing up the league. But I think that Brock Bauer is slightly above Noah Fante. He's going to be the most targeted player in that offense. Jacobi Myers is also going to be another guy that you want. The one thing that I'm really interested to see, and I know this isn't part of it, I'm sorry, I'm blowing up the rundown a little bit, Ashton Genti.

I wonder if this This is going to be something that allows the Raiders now to take a look at somebody like that. They're trying to get some skilled guys around there. Obviously, you know what? They got the wide receiver, they got the tight end. Do they make a move for Ashton Genti? A lot of people are really excited about him. We saw what happened with Saquon this year, what he meant to the Philadelphia Eagles. Could that be something? Could this be the big thing? So much to look forward to in the next couple of months.

We talked about Tyler Locket potentially coming in as well to the Raiders, reuniting with P. Carr. Bring Bring Lynch back. Bring them all back. Let's do it. Reunite the whole- Marshawn Lynch was already there. That's what I'm saying. It's so easy. Just come here. Come practice. Let's play free agent matchmaker. Although I feel like this... You talk about blowing up the rundown. We blew up the rundown right before the show. Yeah, it's over.

It's over. Forget the rundown.

I feel like this got easier for you. So just take the layup. Sam Darnold. Let's match make Sam Darnold with the team.

Well, you guys did such a great job of laying it out in the A block. Again, sorry to use the television parlance as well, But listen, Seattle makes a lot of sense. You got the same system. Kubiak is going to be there. Last night when I was putting this together, trying to think about a good place for Sam Darnal. Now, obviously, a couple of weeks ago, I was on this show saying his best situation is staying with Minnesota, staying with the coach that got you where you needed to go. But I do believe that if he is going to leave the Minnesota Vikings, don't go to one of the New York teams. Don't go to an uncertain situation. I believe that Pittsburgh makes a lot of If you look at a team that can go out there and give you a lot of success, the Steelers, you know they're going to be in the mix for the playoffs. They're going to be above 500 as they always are. They've got a great defense. Depending on what they do with George Pickens, they always find a way to be competitive especially offensively. Don't just take anything.

If the Tennessee Titans call, be like, Yeah, hold on. I got somebody on the other line. I'll call you back later. Don't write back to that one, Sam Darnold. Be a little judicious. Put some thought on this. I think Seattle and Pittsburgh are probably the only two spots that make sense for him. And Minnesota.

Seattle and Pittsburgh. Yeah. The Jets involvement in this whole thing, by the way, the Devante Adams trade, that pick being a part of this trade with a former Jets quarterback being traded away, potentially a former Jets quarterback filling in here. It always... Brian Costello tweeter, It always comes back to the Jets, and it always comes back to Adam Rank. Thank you, brother. We appreciate it. Coming up here, Kirk Cousins, where he might wind up. We talked about his meeting with ownership. We talked about how unhappy he is there with the Atlanta Falcons. We're going to talk about a lot of things involving Cousins and other guys coming up here on the Insiders.

New today, Falcons' quarterback still, Kirk Cousins, met this week with owner Arthur Blank, made clear that he would like to have an opportunity to start somewhere in the NFL this season. My understanding, however, good meeting, but the Falcons are not budging, still not going to release Cousins, but remember, does have a no trade clause. Levante David also not going anywhere. He is back for year 14 with the Tampa Bay Bucaneers, agreeing to terms on a one year, $10 million contract earlier today. Meanwhile, While he tightens, moving on from Harold Landry, their pass rusher who's had about 50 sacs for the course of his career. They tried to trade him. No takers. He was due a big number, but now, a still young pass rusher set to hit the market. We already got a big trade tonight It's Gino Smith from Seattle to Las Vegas, a reunion with Pete Carroll. Some final thoughts on that and where everything goes from here for the quarterbacks next on the Insiders. Breaking news tonight. The Seattle Seahawks have traded Gino Smith to the Las Vegas Riders in exchange for a third-round pick, number 92 overall in next month's NFL draft.

Like all trades, this cannot become final and official until Wednesday, giving Gino Smith time to pass a physical and whatnot. But all kinds of fallout that's now going to impact everything else we're talking about with a special Insider's coming up Sunday night, 7: 00 PM Eastern Time. We're on all day free agency frenzy on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Are you ready?

Good job in this segment. I'm ready. Let's go. We're starting tonight. Gino got traded.

Are your phones working? That's really the key. No. Our phones are going to freeze like they usually do. We'll find out. It's going to be fun. See you.