Albert Breer on Hall’s Jets Extension, Njoku to Chargers, Love Inks Deal in AZ

If you're telling me he is going to come in at half the price, I think that deal has a chance to age pretty well.

All right.

Welcome in to the Brew Report for May 12th.

It is scheduled release week.

I can't believe they're making an entire week out of this, but now they are.

The NFL can make a big deal out of almost nothing, which is where we are this week, and we will have a ton of content coming for you on the schedule release later in the week.

We've got 3 good topics to get to right here, right now, and it's going to start with the Jets signing Bruce Hall to a 3-year deal worth $45.

75 million.

Uh, and there is the running back value element of all of this, which we will get to.

I want to start with where the Jets are as far as the infrastructure they have around their quarterback.

Geno Smith now.

And a young quarterback later.

Whether that's Brendan Soarsby later, that's a possibility now if he does enter the supplemental draft, or a quarterback next year in 2027 with one of those three first-round picks that they have.

And what I see right now is a talented young group on the offensive side of the ball coming to coming together.

And it's 1st round picks at receiver, and Garrett Wilson, who's become a true #1, and Omar Cooper now is a rookie.

It's a 2nd round traditional wide tight end in Mason Taylor.

It's a 1st round move tight end in Kenyon Saddiq, and it's a 2nd round running back.

Um, and Bree Hall, who's now signed to a longer-term deal, and two first-round tackles in Olu Fshanu and Armand Membu.

Now, you are projecting a little bit there.

You're projecting, of course, with the two rookies with Siddiq and Cooper.

You're still projecting a little bit with the 2nd-year guys in Membu and Taylor.

But again, all those guys are gonna get a chance to work together now and have a chance to come together in Frank Reich's offense, and this could wind up being a really good group for a young quarterback to play with.

So I like where the Jets are at from that perspective.

Um, and I like the contract too.

And this is where we're gonna get into the running back value argument.

I, I look at this just from a production standpoint, right?

And what a guy is giving to an offense.

And I had this conversation with an executive of a very successful team, probably about a decade ago now, maybe, maybe even a little bit longer.

And his team at the time had a workout horse running back, and they had a true number one receiver, and a true number one receiver was locked into a contract dispute.

And we were standing on the sideline of a practice and he pointed out to the running back, he said, do you know how much that guy gets the ball versus that guy?

And he was making the point that investing in the running back at, at, at, at, at, at that stage , which again was a long time ago now, and was before the disparity between the way running backs and receivers are paid had grown to the point where it's at now.

Um, and his point was Like the running back position was becoming devalued to the point where now it was actually becoming a value.

Then 2 years ago, I remember watching Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs hit free agency.

And it really struck me that year that the Eagles, the Packers, and the Ravens were the, were the teams giving those veteran running backs top of the market contracts.

My thing was those aren't stupid teams.

Baltimore, Green Bay, Philly, not dumb teams, teams that have been sustained winners, teams that have programs that are established.

And my whole thought was that that whole train of thought that had been presented to me all those years ago, that the running back position had been, been devalued to the point where now it's becoming a value is something that those three teams were seeing.

And here we are now, and the Jets are getting their workhorse running back.

Signed at $15 million per year.

And so, from a Jets perspective, I want to take this and look at it just from a production standpoint.

Again, there's a ton of other things to consider here , durability, sustainability, um, the replaceability.

Those are all things that I think you have to look at.

It's easier to replace a running back.

There's no question about that.

Um, running backs generally aren't as durable in year 8, year 9, year 10 of their careers.

Uh, the sustainability of the production, of course, you know, that can be a diminishing thing with the running back.

So that's all stuff to consider.

But just from a raw numbers standpoint, right?

When we look at this, OK.

Bruce Hall at $15 million a year now in new money.

He has he has touched the ball 943 times in 56 career games.

That's 16.8 touches per game.

OK.

Garrett Wilson was making more than double what Bruce Hall is.

His deal was at $32.

5 million in new money per year, right?

And he was signed a year earlier than Hall.

325 touches over 58 career games, that's 5.6 touches per game.

So that means Bruce Hall is touching the ball almost exactly 3 times as much as Garrett Wilson is touching the ball from a yardage perspective.

The, the, the, the, the scrimmage yard totals for these two guys, 5040 yards for Bruce Hall, 3,644 yards for Garrett Wilson.

This is not a shot at Garrett Wilson.

I want to make that clear.

I think Garrett Wilson was worth the money.

They did well to get him paid at the level they paid him at.

But If you're telling me that one player is going to touch the ball 3 times as much as the other player, and on a second contract, he is going to come in at half the price, I think that deal has a chance to age pretty well, especially when you can get out of that deal after just 2 years.

And so I look at that and I say, OK.

Seems like a pretty good deal for the Jets.

What receivers are making the same amount of money that um that that that Bruce Hall is?

So, Romeo Dobbs with the Patriots and Jaden Reid with the Packers are both making substantially more money than Bruce Hall.

Who's more valuable, Bruce Hall to the Jets, or Romeo Dobbs potentially to the Patriots or Jaden Reid to the Packers.

I don't think it's really close.

So, I think it's a good deal for the Jets to do.

I think it's the right deal for the Jets to do.

And now I think the Jets have a nice level of infrastructure for whoever the young quarterback is, whether that quarterback comes in.

Later this year or next year.

So, again, I, I hate to say this, um, because I've been caught in this position before, where I really liked where the Jets were going , and they haven't made the playoffs in a decade and a half.

But I kind of like the way the Jets are set up now just from a roster standpoint.

OK, our second topic, the Chargers add David Njoku on a one-year deal worth up to $8 million.

And first, I think you want to look at why David Njoku was available this late in the game and why.

A player like that would still be on the market.

He's an accomplished player, a guy who has been a factor, a major factor in, in, in, in his offense for a long, long time and was a very good player for the Cleveland Browns over his 9 years there, same draft class, same first round as Miles Garrett.

And I, I think the, the reality of this is David Njoku had a ton of issues with his contract over the last few years.

I think as a result of that, finally making it to the market, um, gave him this feeling, OK, now I've got to capitalize.

This is what I've been waiting for, and I think to some degree, maybe he overshot his market a little bit and what he was looking for.

And, you know, I think that that can happen a lot with players that are getting a little bit older and again, he's going into year 10.

I'm also not sure what sort of blocker he is at this stage.

He had turned himself into a pretty good blocker.

I don't know how willing he is in that area, um, versus where he was maybe earlier in his career.

Um, and so, like, do teams view him as more of a specialist than an all-around tight end?

I think that's an open question.

And I think along those lines, he went to the perfect spot.

Um, and going to, to, to play for Jim Harbaugh, who has been masterful in his use of tight ends wherever he's been, and that goes, uh, back to Michigan with all the tight ends that he had in Michigan over the years and, you know, guys that, that, that played really well, you know, Jake Butts, a name that comes to mind.

Um, they were really able to get the most out of that position there, Luke Schoonmaker, you go to the, the Niners with, you know, obviously, Vernon Davis was all pro for him in those years in San Francisco and then back to Stanford, you know, with guys like Kobe Fleener, um, they did a fantastic job developing that position.

So he's going to a good place for the tight to, to play the tight end position.

And then on top of that, They aren't really gonna need him to do the dirty work cause they just signed Charlie Kollar from the Ravens to be their traditional wide tight end, their blocker at the position.

So that's gonna allow them to move David Njoku around a little bit more.

So, I think it gives the Chargers some flexibility in the way that they use their, their, their receiver position .

Um, and what they're gonna be able to do with, with Lyd McConkie and with Quentin Johnson and with some of the younger guys that they like at that position, um, down the line.

Um, they really like where they're at at receiver, believe it or not.

And this was something that was like a little bit more, um, I would say, You know, like a little bit more of a, of, of, of, of a, a factor for them than people realize when they said no, um, on the AJ Brown situation, um, when, you know, AJ Brown had told the Eagles where he was comfortable being traded to the Chargers were one of the teams that were in the mix, and people thought, OK, like that makes some sense.

Um, but they like McConkie, they like Johnston.

Trey Harris is a young player that they've brought along that they think has a chance to be really, really good.

And so now you can mix and match 11 personnel when you got 3 receivers on the field, 12 personnel when you've got 2 receivers on the field.

Um, you just, if, as long as their tackles stay healthy now, this is looking like a much more complete offense.

Again, Joe Walt back, Rashaw Slater back, Omari and Hampton in year 2 in the backfield.

And Justin Herbert playing for Mike McDaniel now.

I'm really interested and intrigued to see where that Chargers team goes, and they filled a lot of their holes, you know, they, they've gotten a lot younger, um, at the edge position, you know, over the last couple of years with the development of Tulle and now you're adding Akeem Mezador to that.

Uh, I really like where the roster, where, where the Chargers are from a roster standpoint after making the playoffs their first two years under Jim Harbaugh.

Finally, uh, my third topic for today, Jeremiah Love inks a deal.

Most guaranteed money for.

Running back ever.

This is one of those situations, um, where, again, you see the financials kind of come into play in real-time.

And I can remember going back to 2010, what a big deal it was when Eric Berry went 5th overall and became the highest-paid safety of all time.

And it's because how pay at that position it lagged versus other positions.

It was a factor with Caleb Downs and where Caleb Downs went.

Um, he, he winds up going 11th overall, but some teams looking earlier in the pecking order, consider, OK, like, you know, where is this guy gonna stack up from a salary standpoint when he comes into the building.

I would make this point, you know, what it means for, for, for, for running backs going forward.

Again, we brought up the point about what a bargain, I think Bruce Hall is at that position.

I, I don't think that this is an overpay for a rookie running back either.

And to me, this goes back to a point that actually Stephen Jones once made on the Cowboys COO back in 2016.

They drafted Zeke Elliott 4th overall.

And when they did it, their point was one of, 11 of, one of the factors was, well, the way we look at it, yeah, we're paying him a lot for the position.

But we're getting in the prime of his career in his rookie contract.

Now, they wind up having to pay a heavier price down the line and maybe you could say the second deal was regrettable.

But while he was on that rookie contract, the 3 years he was on that rookie contract, Zeke Elliott won 2 rushing titles.

And being that productive, helped them develop Dak Prescott, who's still their quarterback now.

And so, like I think having Jeremiah Love on a rookie contract is gonna wind up looking like a bargain because you are going to get prime years out of him because guys at that position translate to the NFL faster than what we see at other positions.

And eventually, whether that young quarterbacks Carson Beck or someone else, it's really gonna help that young quarterback having Jeremiah Love there to get you into 2nd and 6th and 3rd and 2 more often to give you an easy outlet in the passing game .

And so, I, I don't view the contract that Jeremiah Love is doing with the Arizona Cardinals, despite it putting him at the top of the heap from a running back pay perspective as any sort of overpay.

If he is what almost everybody thinks he is, which is one of these backs that's pretty rare.

I think there's 7 or over the last 15 years that are in the category he is as a prospect.

Appreciate you guys coming out.

As always, you can leave your feedback down below here on the YouTube page or you can get to me on my social media at Albert Breer on Twitter, at Albert R Breer on Facebook, at Albert_Breer on Instagram.

Appreciate you guys coming out.

Again, we've got more scheduled release content coming for you later in the weekend.

We'll have a mailbag edition of the Breer report for you on Wednesday morning.

We'll see you guys then.