Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Take Talk Episode 30

Episode Date: December 16, 2022

Fantasy Points' Chris Wecht (ChrisWechtFF) fills in for Brett alongside host Steven ORourke (@callmesteveo7) to weigh in on Thursday Night Football and how some team's outlooks change if some free agent decisions had gone differently this past offseason. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Hello, everyone, and welcome in to the Take Talk podcast. I'm Stephen O'Rourke, and this Friday, again, I've graced with the presence of Chris Wecht. Chris, how are you? What's going on, Steve? Yeah, Brett is a little under the weather today.

So just filling in again. He probably just didn't want to discuss his takes with both of us at the same time. Yeah, he didn't want to be pressed too much. He felt it was easier to just take me down on Wednesday and then skip out on today. Exactly. So, yeah, last night's game was, I felt like it started out slow, picked up a little bit, got slow again, and then maybe gave us a little excitement at the end there? Yeah, it was, they said it at some point in the broadcast,

and I felt it too. It was, what, 21 to 6 for, like, what felt like the meat of the game. It wasn't even that long, but it felt like it was 21 to 6 for a really long time. And that's only two scores, but it felt like it might as well have been five. Yeah. It didn't feel like Seattle could come back from that at all. And like they made a, yeah, they made a good push there at the end. It was a nice drive to like make it a more respectable game.

But once San Fran went up by two scores, I don't think there. There was an doubt in my mind that they were going to finish that game out. Yeah, there was a, I don't know. I wouldn't say there wasn't a doubt in my mind, but it definitely did feel like an uphill battle. there was I there did seem to be a slight chance I was like maybe if gino could catch some of the magic he's had earlier in the season they're late because the the the Seattle defense did seem to start to figure something out against party late in the game yeah that they did it was just the I mean it was just the constant pressure on gino for me yeah that like I I was like he can't he can't get comfortable at all yeah Nick bosa was a terror for him He was a monster. I mean, that was... They were giving him no help.

Charles Cross, the rookie left tackle, very little help. And eventually they swapped both over to the right tackle side at some point just to, you know, mess with him. Right. But, yeah, there was a point where I was like, just keep a six guy in to block a running back a tight end, something. Like, that extra guy running around isn't going to help you. Right. Right. is just getting right to Bosa is just getting to Gino so fast.

I mean that just that front seven of San Francisco is crazy. Yeah. Like in like them and then they're just so they're so physical like Charvarius Ward all night was right up in D.K. Metcalf's face. Like they were press covering Metcalfe all day and disrupting that timing. Like San Francisco is just a. their defense is really good. I mean, that's what it comes down to is they're just really, really good. They're really physical.

They're fast. And they don't give you many opportunities. No, they don't. So what do you think? Do you think this is a, still a Super Bowl contending team with Brock Party? Assuming Garoplo can't make a very late comeback of some kind? And that, I mean, yeah, that's the question.

That's, it's a good question. And I don't know, the more I see their defense, the more I feel confident, like, the more I feel confident that, okay, I think San Francisco has a benchmark of 21 points, like per game, the rest of the way. And that they win most of, if not all of the games they play if they do that, I think. That was exactly my number. Yeah, they have to keep every team they play under 21 points. Right.

Which is going to be hard to do. it is it is going to be really hard and i we started like for the for when purdy first came in and then when they played last week it looked pretty good like it looked pretty thought it looked stable there wasn't there wasn't a lot of shakiness with purdy i felt like we saw a little bit more of a little bit more nerves and just like questionable decision making from purdy in this game than we had in the previous game in three quarters that he had played. Yeah, he's, I'll give credit to Kyle Shanan. He's done a great job of kind of telling him the easy things that he has to do and try to

keep him in that lane and not making him overthink things. But I do think it will be very interesting because defense is the least stable thing in football. Like it just doesn't transition year to year. It really doesn't even transition to different seasons. segments, like you said on an earlier pod recently, that, you know, the season is split up into like trimesters, essentially. Yeah.

And, you know, defenses get hot and they get cold. And that's just kind of how it works. And right now the defense is playing awesome, but we really don't, we don't know what will happen if they do get into a situation where they need to score more than 21 points. So I did look at Purdy's, like, pressure numbers recently. So last night, the offensive line was awesome for him. He was only pressured 19% of the time. The game before that against Tampa Bay, it was closer to 45%, so way higher.

And so that basically puts him in the last two games around 24%, which would be basically the best of the three San Francisco quarterbacks we've seen play. so far. So it's the same offensive line. Purdy's legs probably help him more than someone like Groplo in terms of avoiding pressure and whatnot. It also could get him in more trouble, though. Gropolo is probably more willing to check down a ball quicker than Purdy is if he thinks

he can avoid a sack. Yeah, Purdy loves to do the little, like just little slides outside the pocket where it works and it's a good move. It just leaves him overly exposed, especially from the back, especially coming from like, really the front side, front side and backside.

And he just like, it works sometimes, but then I feel like he gets himself into a situation where it happened, like he had a couple last night where he should have thrown, he should have had, I think at least two interceptions last night. Right.

And that's something that can't happen. because like you said, the defense is great, but it's also contingent on, you know, playing the game like you did last night where you're keeping the ball away from their offense a lot. And so you're preventing their offense from getting into rhythm. It allows your defense to kind of pin their ears back a little bit more. You know, their offense is playing a little bit more on their heels.

But if pretty, if some of those turnover worthy throws start converting to actual turn. overs like that's that's what'll cave this thing in yeah and that's what I said that's what we started to see last night was some of those cracks some of those like rookie decisions that you would expect from a guy who was taken with the last pick in the draft and it's just like it's just a question of if and when that bill is going to come due because it just it seems too good to be true that he'll just keep sailing through with like turnover free. Yeah. Yeah, we haven't really seen him like maybe a play here or there.

He's done it well where he's like really getting through his reads. Like if the first read's not there, can he get to that second read? Yeah. And still make a good throw. His time to throw is pretty high. It's like two point between the last two games. It's like 2.86, which is higher than at Garoppolo or Lance when they were playing. So that tells me.

there's a good chance he, when his first read's not there, he's not, like, totally sure what he should be doing with it next. Right, right. So he's either standing in the pocket or he's getting to a point where he can scramble or eventually taking a sack. So, yeah, we really haven't seen a defense really stress him yet. We thought, especially Brett thought Tampa Bay would do that last week and it did not happen. Seattle's defense is mediocre at best.

Right. So it's going to be when they get in the playoffs because they're definitely, well, they clinch the playoff berth last night. Yeah. When they get in the playoffs and run into some, you know, whether it's Dallas or Philly, those kinds of teams, what really happens to him? Yeah. And like it's the part, like they had a two game stretch this year.

So against Atlanta and the Chiefs where they gave up, they lost 2814 to Atlanta and then they lost 44, 23 to the Chiefs. It's like those periods where their offense goes into a lull, that's what can't happen. And it felt like it happened last night, but their defense was just playing exceptionally and just completely shut down their offense for basically two quarters. Or like two and a half quarters. This 49ers team is strikingly similar to the 2017 Eagles team that won the Super Bowl when Nick Foles had to take over.

Yeah. So, you know, you're not, you know, Wents was playing at an MVP level that year. Garoppolo was definitely not doing that, but he was playing very well. Pretty much through it. And they had a very good defense similar to the Niners. The Niners probably have a better defense, but when Foles, Foles is probably an upgrade at QB over Purdy, just given his experience. But pretty much from when Foles took over as a starting, they, they won again.

game against the Giants, 34 to 29. The Giants were terrible that year. So they didn't have to hold that team to 21 points. But then they beat the Raiders by holding them to 10 points. Week 18, they benched everybody against the Cowboys. Then they hit the divisional round against the Falcons. And they held them to 10 points. And then they held the Vikings to seven points.

And then basically Nick Foles channeled every ounce of football talent he had left into one game to beat the Patriots 41 to 33. Right. So it's like this, that is the, that is the blueprint for what the Niners are going to have to do and hope that they don't get into a shootout. Because who know, I mean, really, it would be hard to say if Purdy could, could manage that, even with the skill players that he has available to him. See, it would be interesting because I think, like, and that's, that's, I feel like a good

thought experiment too. of like, I feel like if it happens for one game, I think Kyle Shanahan could. Could get a 35 points out of 30. Could scheme up enough stuff in game to like, for like a winner go home game. Like I think that I think that he could pull that together. It's just that you get that for you probably get that for one game, like one game, half a game. You don't get it for more than one.

Right. And then it's done. It's, you know, it's like, it's like a power bar in a video game. Like using, using up like an overpowered move. Like, you get a couple cracks at it. And if you don't hit, you're like, it's done. It's over. Like, you don't get to use that anymore.

And hopefully, hopefully it landed enough times that you can coast your way to the finish. And that I think that's, what it's going to come down to is like is that game going to come are we going to start to see see a game like that you know later on in the season i don't necessarily think so then that like their next game is at home against the commanders and that's probably their toughest game because they go at home against the commanders and then raiders and cardinals to finish the season like yeah they'll probably and they'll probably be benching everybody that game because they're they're unless they can catch Minnesota, maybe.

Which, yeah, that would just depend on, you know, what happens with Minnesota. They can't fall. They're not going to be a little worse than three because Tampa Bay is not going to catch them. Right, right. So they may be benching everybody against Arizona week 18 anyway, depending on what happens with Minnesota. And so, like, it looks like the 49ers probably will make it through the, if they'll make it through the season, they'll be fine, no harm, no foul. It's come playoffs.

Can they string a couple games together? Can they, you know, will they have Debo back? I think is a big part of it. Yes. And the encouraging sign of them getting George Kittle more involved in the passing game last night is also an encouraging sign. Yeah, they, they, it does seem like Kyle Shanhan is struggling a bit with like too many mouths to feed, which is like a good problem to have right because he does seem to it does feel like all right the pecking order is debo is is you know should is getting the most touches outside of mcalfrey out of

the backfield yep and then iuk has his certain role but he's never going to like he's never going to see the amount of targets that debo sees even if debo was not in right because then it because then it funnels down to kittle um and then you know the rest of the guys are pretty much you know role player guys. But yeah, they, they are using, I mean, they are,

like you said, they're pretty, they're kind of eating away at that power bar already, just like getting what they're getting out of all of their skill players. The amount of yards after the catch they get has always been high. Yeah. But that's been,

I mean, that, that is been the problem with the offense, though, is that eventually runs out. I mean, you just eventually run into a game where you, you need to hit that next level.

of offensive firepower and relying on stuff like yards after the catch and Debo breaking three miss tackles, it just, it just runs out eventually. Right. I don't hate the method of just like, the method of, especially now that Elijah Mitchell is out is just like get the ball to McCaffrey 30 times and odds are something good is going to happen because like Shanahan's absolutely right. Like get him the ball 25, 30 times. More games than not, he's going to score a touchdown or two.

And, like, that seems to be there, just their fallback plan is like, all right, let's just, let's settle in. Let's just hammer McCaffrey for three, four yards of carry here for a couple of plays, get ourselves settled in, and then we'll go back to, like, play action pass, things like that. That kind of seems like how they how they kind of settle and reset things for Purdy is just like, all right, let's run. Because it seemed like that's what it would be is they'd go a couple stretches where they'd, you know, do three, two, three runs in a row. And then they'd pass it a couple times in a row. And then they'd run it a couple times in a row. And that seemed to be like they're just the way their offense was flowing last night. And it's not the worst plan to keep the pressure off of Purdy and, you know, kind of keep him dialed in and not having to make every big decision.

but you know that's you can do that if you play with the lead yeah yeah that's going to be the key playing from a lead for them is going to be the rest of the season yeah they're going to be your class that like honestly they're going to be similar to tennessee where it's like we always said forever where like yeah they can play from ahead but the minute they get from about the minute they get down like good luck with them coming back this team is going to be kind of the same way where it's like yeah they're going to catch but if you can jump out ahead of them early and just force them away from being able to you know settle into their run game that is so multiple and utilizes a lot of different weapons and moves the ball pretty effectively like if you can get them away from that and starts a force

purdy the odds of him making a mistake are going to continually go up yep absolutely all right I think we covered last night's game pretty well. On the flip side, so yeah, I guess you had done the, you had done, you know, like picking the game, seeing how the playoffs lay out. Like, do you see a scenario? Do you think Seattle's cooked for sure? Do you think there's a chance they get into the playoffs here? It's pretty much, yeah, it's pretty much done, I think. Yeah.

because they play Kansas City next week. And then, I mean, really, that's it. Like, that's the game that they have to win to stay alive. It's the, they fall too far behind after that, despite then playing the Jets and the Rams after that, which are winnable games. So, but they have to win out, which is just probably not going to happen.

So between the Giants, Washington and Detroit, you would need all those teams to basically lose yeah man it's yeah it's pretty much over for them i mean they had a they wildly beat expectations anywhere already so i don't think that was a bad season by any means for them yeah yeah if they i mean if in the scenario that they somehow went out then they're in but like you said i don't think with the schedule they have coming up i don't really see happening. But like you said, I agree. I think there's a lot to be said about what Seattle did and where the trajectory of their team is going compared to like what we thought of the beginning of the season and now. This is just one of those teams. We had talked about it coming due for

Seattle. We had talked about it coming due for New York and Washington where all these teams that were that exceeded their expectations for the season and we you know we're continually saying like they're going to fall back they're going to fall back Seattle had it New York starting to feel it and it was it's just it's like it's just fun though looking back and saying like and look and thinking about how these teams are so much better off today than we thought they were going to be at the beginning of the year. Oh yeah yeah they yeah we all kind of knew that I mean I mean, people were saying it with the Giants from all season. Okay, this is cool, but it's eventually going to, it's going to regress.

Right. Seattle maybe wasn't getting as much of that because of how well Gina was playing. Right. But I think we all did know that eventually stuff would start to come up or catch up to them. Gino still played well last night, but it's just, you know, he's not going to, he's not Patrick Mahomes. Like he's not done to There was a sliver that they could come back and win that game But it you know

It always felt out of reach once they get down Yeah And they're just you know they're just a few pieces away Like they have a young defense But they're just missing like a couple more playmakers on that defense You know like they just have they don't have somebody That can get consistent pressure or anything like that Like they you know their secondary is really young

And they they have some slip-ups here and there. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. They're what they do with Gino moving forward. I think he's earned his a chance to start next year. I don't even, probably more than a chance. So he probably should just be the starter next year. Yeah. I mean, it easily could backfire and, you know, not, him not play as well as he's been playing. And now they're kind of stuck. But I mean, I don't think they can be unhappy with the result. Yeah, I think it'll be interesting. to see if they just toss a tag at him and see what happens next year and then make a decision from there because like yeah it's there's got to be there's got to be a little bit of a feeling

of like there's of asking you asking yourself there's no way this can happen again kind of thing but i mean like you said he played well last night he was putting some amazing throws that throw to the like corner pie line that got that got brought back yeah um for i think it was like a holding call like that was a that was an insane throw in a moment where like it needed to happen yeah yeah it was i don't know there's still just like always something like it i'm i was thinking through like what would this team have to do to like become a super bowl contender and it just i want to believe gino can do that and he probably should say he can i mean look at at Russell Wilson and maybe Pete Carroll had just been masking that for, I mean, who knows.

Right. It just doesn't, they feel so much farther away than the record shows they are from a Super Bowl. They really do need some guys on the defense to take that next step to, I think, get him there. Yeah, I actually agree. I agree with you. I feel that same type of, like, I don't know how to describe it, but I just like, I just know that they're not there. They're not close.

Even though, like you said, it seems like, you know, a couple things swing their way this year. All of it, like they're in the wild card conversation. Like, them, them even being in the playoff conversation this late in the year is miles upon miles better than anywhere, like anywhere they were supposed to be at all this year.

Yep, for sure. All right. Yeah, that ties. The Seahawks are about done, but that ties off the bow on last night. And you had a good idea for, you had a good idea for today. And why don't actually,

why don't you walk us through what we're going to, what we're going to kind of dive into today. Yeah. So I thought it'd be cool to take a look because the, the schedule is, you know, so, so for this upcoming week. There's some big matchups, mainly Miami and Buffalo.

Yeah. Lions and Jets. is interesting. Other than that, I feel it pretty much feels like we could pick the winners of every other game. Giants Washington is.

Yeah, it's a big game, but it's just like, who can't? I know. They just tied two weeks ago. Like, it's a relevant game. I don't know. I don't necessarily think it's going to be a good game,

but it's a relevant game. We tied and the NFL said, you know what? Everyone wants to see again on Sunday night. These two teams play again. But it's like, nobody care. It feels like, nobody cares just just tie again yeah just because that would i feel like that would just unleash chaos into

the figuring out the playoffs yeah exactly so so anyway instead of going talking through some of the so-so games we have on the upcoming slate um i thought it'd be interesting to take a look at especially as we near the playoffs and the situation certain teams are in what what maybe could they have done differently coming into the seasons, particularly during the free agency period. What if things have gone, you know, a player signs in one team over the other? We talk in football all the time, how it's, you know, a ball bounces a certain way and it changes the entire game. It's not any different with a player potentially signing one place over the other.

Maybe he just decides, makes a different decision and can have massive ripple effects throughout the NFL and how the season plays out. So it came up with a couple, you know, some, not all of these necessarily like had any semblance of truth to them, but some, some definitely did. So I'll kick it off with the first one that I do know for sure was, had a serious possibility of happening with the Eagles signing Alan Robinson and free agency instead of the Rams. They were 100% looking to add a receiver in the off season, no matter. how how that happened and I right the Alan Robinson was a guy they were heavily targeting he ended up going to the Rams um but if that happens they probably don't trade for AJ Brown um they so I mean just starting right there I mean that changes that changes everything that's yeah I mean

gosh you're like honestly so yeah so in that scenario you have Alan Robinson over AJ Brown. AJ Brown never makes his way over to Philadelphia. Like that, I mean, so then DeVant Smith's that they're number one. I mean, is like, are the Eagles looking at pretty much the exact same season as last year? Yeah, well, maybe a, yeah, yes, that's probably what they would be. Yeah, they're pretty much, you know, they're, they're a wild card team probably. Right.

Like they're a frisky defensively strong team whose offense like will pop off occasionally. Because like there's still takes a step forward obviously. Do you think it happens as much? No, that's the thing. Yeah. Right. So he, you know, he takes a step. They're not dropping 35, 40 points on every team that they play.

Not that they've done that this year, but you know, they've done it a lot this year. And they're turning it out. They especially seem to be turning it on now. Like AJ, like AJ Brown was he, he was nicked up or dinged up there in the middle of the season where like he kind of disappeared for a small like. Yeah, he was out there. Yeah. He was more of a decoy almost than. Right.

Yeah. And now they're, now they're getting him more involved again late in the season. Again, like they were earlier in the season, they're starting to put up. up a bunch of points. Right. And it's because AJ Brown is back to being an integral part of that offense. And that's like what, like, it's actually the difference between him and Alan Robinson. Like that, that's miles of difference.

Yeah, it's huge. Because then you lose, I mean, you lose all the yak opportunities that AJ Brown brings. But he's been their main deep ball guy this year. Right. You don't get that with Alan Robinson. and you don't get a lot of the physicality over the middle that A.J. Brown brings as well. Yeah. So we're talking monumentally different. The Cowboys are probably then seen as the best team in the NFC. Yeah. They're at the one seat. I mean, you just, the difference in Philly and Dallas right now is one gets to be the one seat and one gets to be the five seed and not at and have to go on the road for three straight teams just to get to the Super Bowl.

It's a massive, massive implications just from that alone changes everything. So then, so yeah, we kind of, Philly is a whole, in a whole different space. The NFC East is entirely different. Yeah. But then the next layer of this is what happens with A.J. Brown. Does Tennessee hold on to him? Probably not. They seemed pretty intent on, on moving on.

So then who the, who trades for him? And I was looking through the draft order kind of around that ballpark. park of where they ended up taking Traylin Berks, assuming that's still what they wanted to do. Right. And the first team I could come up with that would have, one, been interested and two, had the firepower to do the trade, would have been Kansas City because they just got a bunch of draft capital from trading Tyree Kill. Yep.

They could have made caps-based work. I'm sure pretty much every team can do that. Especially Kansas City. Kansas City is one of those teams where they always find a way. to sneak themselves under. They always have like $300,000 of cap room. They like fit it perfectly under the bill. Right.

So yeah, no receiver goes off the board between Traylin Berks at 18 all the way down to you have to get into the second round, Green Bay when they took Christian Watson in the second round. Right. There may have been some other team around 18 and on that would have been interested in Berks. We don't know for sure. But Kansas City was at 21.

I feel I feel pretty confident Burks would be there. because Trevor Penning was always going to the Saints at 19 and the Steelers wanted Kenny Pickett at 20. So this really could have worked. And man, if Kansas City had AJ Brown on their team, I mean, Tyree Kill is probably a better receiver. But with the way Mahomes is playing this year, they are, they look incredible.

I mean, they would clearly be the best team in the AFC, probably. and I mean, I can't even imagine trying to stop an offense with A.J. Brown and Travis Kelsey on it. Yeah. I mean, because that's something that Kansas City doesn't, I mean, you know, Patrick Mahomes feeds the ball over the middle on his own. That's fine. But like they don't have a real like winner across the middle outside of Travis Kelsey. And like thinking of introducing A.J. Brown to like occupy. defenders in the middle and then have Kelsey operating like having them run a two-man game as comical to think about the nice thing for Kansas and like it's it's why it's fun with Kansas City is like their offense would be amazing their defense would still kind of stink so like it would just be like their offense would just be way scarier which is scary to think about because that's really all they would need because who cares who cares how good their defense is

their defense isn't going to give up 35 points a game because that's what that's what they'd score with a j brown and arguably like i mean is a j brown about a better receiver or would he be a better receiver with mohomes than like hill was with mahomes like i think a j brown fits the bill better or fits what who moham's perfect wide receiver is a little bit better than hill You can make that argument for sure. I can't think of a reason to say definitely not. Yeah, there's a lot there that feels like it would work for him compared to, I mean, Tyra Kill is going to make any quarterback awesome.

Right. And Hill has the ability to, you know, obviously track down any ball. But I think A.J. Brown has that too. But A.J. Brown also has that big body over the middle where Mojombs can just, like, stick it on his chest. Right. And he's a, you know, he'll catch. match that nine times out of ten yeah yeah the only way i wonder if maybe tennessee would have thought

uh you know yes we're like in this weird rebuilding but still competing phase we don't want to make kansas city better than they already are right maybe it would make them think for a second yeah yeah so if if that took the took the case then then it gets kind of ify like where maybe they do just hold on to j brown because there's not really another team like dallas needed a wide receiver but they really don't have the capital and cap space to do something like that. And even in the scenario where Tennessee keeps A.J. Brown, their season is different. True. I mean, they never really maximized his ability, but it's definitely different.

No, he didn't. And like, but like the big thing was, and I guess not really, he was a little bit dinged up throughout the year. But I'd say this is arguably his healthiest. year yeah he hasn't missed the game yet right and so and like that was always you know he would miss three two three four games a year in tennessee like what would like what would having him fully available what would having him like not without the whole trying to do the Julio experiment and just like letting j brown be the number one person that offense like i wonder it i because I think Tennessee didn't think their defense was going to be as good as they've kind of been so far this year.

And I just feel like having A.J. Brown, they would have won. I think that that would have pushed them over the edge in a couple of their close games that they lost. Right. And all of a sudden Tennessee is probably sneakily being talked about for a number one seat again if they have A.J. Brown, which is crazy to think about. but I think they could have repeated what they did last year where they're just kind of like sneaking into a wild card because they get to play eight or you know six super easy divisional games and things like that.

I wonder who they thought wanted Traylin Burks around that 18 spot because when you look at the draft order like there's a world where they stay at 26 where they are initially were. Right. And he's still there. So they took him at 18. It was good in New Orleans, Pittsburgh. we just said for sure wouldn't go green bay maybe bills no dallas maybe but probably not baltimore

just traded for hollywood probably so probably not uh the jets no jacksonville no green and then i'm yeah we're already at jets was 26 so yeah yeah unless someone else was looking to make a move for him Yeah, maybe that's what they and that. Yeah, maybe that had to have been what it was. Because you're right. Like natural order, there isn't really anyone there. Any team there that. Yeah, so they could have totally redone their, you know, receipt.

Well, they could have taken Birx or they could have just rolled in with Woods and A.J. Brown and taken, you know, a Trent McDuffie if he doesn't go to Kansas City or. or some other defensive player probably a there wasn't too many dbs late in that first round because they end up taking roger mccurry in the early second round anyway right yeah honestly they maybe go they probably go like an edge guy there like they maybe go carloftus or germane johnson there yeah um and then i don't know what the rams do because they they had to add somebody at receiver And I was looking through the free agent class, and I was remembering how bad the receiving class was last year in free agency. And like, I don't know.

I don't know what they would do. I couldn't come up with a legit name. Christian Kirk wouldn't have really made sense. NVS definitely doesn't make sense. He plays basically what the role that Van Jefferson plays. Yep. There was there was no, juju, 100 doesn't make sense. So I don't know, I don't know what they would have done, which is probably why Alan Robinson ended up where he did.

Because he, of the options, he just probably fit the most. And they probably said, we'll make the money work. Right. He's the person that like at least, right. Like they needed an ex receiver. And he was really the only ex receiver on the market. Yep. And who does?

I mean, yeah. So then does that. Does that push the Rams to make a different trade? With what? That's the thing, though. They don't have draft capital to trade. They don't. I know.

I just like at that point, I wonder if they did, if they did, if they would reach into the bag and go for like another year forward. You know, like they were willing to do it with, um, you know, Brian Burns and them.

Brian Burns and then what was the other? but you'd have to, what team was willing to give up a decent to above average receiver for future draft capital? Carolina wasn't ready to do it for DJ more. This at the deadline, they probably weren't willing to do it when that was, you know, at that time. Right, right. Yeah, that's right. And the Rams only had like two. It'd have to be a bad teams.

Maybe they can pull Brandon Cooks back from Houston. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah, because that's, that's really the big. part of it is that like Alan Robinson was the figure that was that like made

everyone feel good and seemingly tied together that Rams offense it fooled myself included and like it's it'd be like the it'd be interesting to see where they would have gone just because of

if he doesn't go there we're looking at the Rams offense you know quite a bit differently because now it's like okay they have one receiver they don't have an offensive line we don't really trust their running backs like aaron robinson was the kind of piece that masked and made that masked all the issues and made everyone excited about them going into the season and without him i wonder if there's like if a the rams go and make a different move for someone or you know or maybe it makes them you focus on offensive line and try to

to shore that up. Who knows? Honestly, the best thing that they probably could have done if they don't get Robinson is get Robert Woods to stay. And that probably wouldn't have worked out either. But that was probably the best thing they could do. Yeah, probably. Yeah, honestly, you're probably right.

There's a lot of bad teams this year that didn't go into the season thinking bad. So there really isn't many trade partners that they could offer, hey, we've got future picks that you'd be interested in. Like, Tennessee wanted to make a pick this year. They weren't going to trade Asia Brown for. Yeah, that's a good, that's a good point. That is a good point, especially around draft time. Like, people want value now.

Yeah, yeah. All the bad teams this year thought they would be much better. Denver, New Orleans, Arizona. Yeah. Cleveland. Green Bay, all teams that, you know, we're trying to win. Right. They had aspirations of.

being at the top of their division, top of their conference this year. Yeah. So Alan Robinson, clearly a major part in this, you know, free agent multiverse of like. Yeah. It is funny how you don't realize how it is just like a guy like Alan Robinson who him going to one team over the other completely changes. Multiple teams outlooks.

Yeah, because like, I mean, Alan Robinson was, he was like the guy, the receiver over free agency. Like everybody, like everybody who had a team that thought they needed a receiver was talking about how they should go get Alan Robinson. Like I said, I'm included. Like he was a guy that everybody was like,

it was just his bad situation. And yeah, like he, him signing anywhere other than Los Angeles completely flips a lot of the, like the narrative of most teams just because of how, like just because of how, like just because. of like how much of a kind of negative value he would be yep exactly or who knows maybe he goes

to a offense that was that that isn't run by McVay and he figures something out maybe who knows who knows maybe because like it seems like Allen Robinson only ever ran stick and go routes anyway so with a couple posts thrown in yep but all right moving on to the next next one. You had, and this is the one that it gets up, gets brought up all the time this year. And it's the Cowboys not trading Amari Cooper to Cleveland last year. Trading, in mind you, trading Amari Cooper for like pennies. Yes.

Like a shekel on the way out. Yeah. So the Cowboys had to do something because of their salary cap issues. So it wasn't like. It wasn't like they did this and it was and just to do it. Like there was reason behind this. So the flip side is they either essentially have to let Michael Gallup walk or to Marcos Lawrence walk.

And is either of those doing either of those better than what they ended up doing with Amari Cooper? I mean, the difference between letting Gallup walk and keeping Cooper. Like if that was a one for one tradeoff you could do, like that changes. Yeah. So the Gallup one, they'd probably still have to do something else, not another major piece because, you know, Gallup's cap hit is probably not an added look for sure. But I guarantee it wasn't as high as what Amari Cooper's cap hit was going to be this year.

The Lawrence one was a big one. That one was going to be high this year before they, restructured in. Yeah. So, you know, and that's the other thing. They didn't make this move only with the view of this, you know, 2022. They're thinking long term as well.

And maybe in the long term, we look back and say, yeah, that was the smart move. But man, right now, Amari Cooper just feels like such a difference maker for this team. And it's interesting because it, It would just be interesting to see what would happen if they kept him because of like what kind of had, like what was happening within the team around the team and like with Amari Cooper toward the end of his time in Dallas where like his, like he was not getting a ton of targets toward the end. And, you know, there's the whole like after the trade, Jerry Jones is coming out and talking about how like, well, the real reason we traded him is that. Like he couldn't elevate. You know, he would shrink in big, in big moments. And like he would disappear at times.

And so like it's interesting because obviously retrospectively, we're like put Amari Cooper in here and this team is like they're that much better. But I think there was like Amari Cooper is when there was so much around him where like I want, I do wonder if he add like how much value he truly would have added. given like what was happening around him with the team and all that too. Yeah. Yeah, it's, yeah, it's tough. Michael Gallup does seem like he's been coming on lately,

maybe still recovering from that ACL injury he had a year ago. Right, right. So maybe, you know, if Gallup comes out and let's say he has, you know, he averages half a touchdown a game over the next. you know, four into the playoffs games. Right. And he's got, you know, averages 60 yards a game. Right.

Then I think, you know, you say, who cares? What a Mari Cooper? Yeah. It's probably still not as good, but it's enough. And CD Lamb obviously has to keep playing like CD Lamb is playing. Right, right. So between Lamb, Gallup, Schultz, and their running backs, they probably have enough there to basically match the ceiling they would have with Amari Cooper.

But if C.D. Lamb kind of goes back to not being that true alpha that some people, you know, think he kind of reverts to. Right. If Michael Gallup doesn't, you know, be a good secondary option. And then we, I mean, we should probably meant the team clearly thinks they are missing some Jews because they sign T.Y. Hilton. Yeah. which is clearly a, you know, a desperation move.

I mean, T. Y. Hilton is, he is what he is at this point. It was, it was one of those moves where, like, my ears perked up when I initially saw it. And then I, like, gave myself 15 seconds to think about it. And I was like, that doesn't do anything for me. What am I doing? Never mind. Like, there's nothing. There's nothing here.

Yeah, it's like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right. you know maybe he catches he finds it for like a play or two and he catches like a deep cross yeah he i mean where did you nobody thought of much of anything when dischaun jackson side with baltimore it feels like that to me yeah exactly right maybe he catches a deep ball but okay and so the team clearly thinks they need something uh and at at at best they can hit an offensive ceiling

with the receiving core they have that is shaky. That is, has multiple ways to kind of fall apart on that. Right. Right. If CD Lamb doesn't dominate as an alpha wide receiver, if Gallup doesn't look like he's ever going to fully recover and never takes that next step either. So he's got like two things he really needs to do.

And Schultz is just a tight end that is solid. We kind of know what he is. But they've been very different. dependent on their running game, which we've seen very few Super Bowl winning teams win on, especially in the recent decade or so of games. It's encouraging to me that they clearly did evaluation and they've been about making equal. It's about equal the carry split between the two of them, which I think for Dallas is a massive sign of progress within the building that

they were able to look within themselves and see that. And on a bigger note, like this Dallas offense does right now seem to be hitting the levels that they were at, you know, pre-DAC injury where they were, they were the number one offense. They were putting up like 40 points, like 30, 40 points a game. And they were like straight like, A, they could score at any point. No lead was saved. And it was just an onslaught.

and Dak seems to be getting some of it. Seemingly has his confidence back. He's healthy. He's ripping. He's getting these guys involved. Like you said, C.D. Lambs coming alive. Schultz has started to become much more involved in the offense. And so it will be interesting to see if they maintain that.

And if, like, if it does happen where, like you said, I think that C.D. Lamb and Galp can both disappear at the same time. C.D. Lamb hasn't shown us that he's like a total out, like a total wide receiver one week in, week out. There's still like some concern with him there. Yeah. Yeah. How important do you think to Marcus Lawrence is to what the Dallas defense has become? I think he's becoming less important with each week. It's kind of, I was looking through some of their other pass rushers. So, you know, Obviously, Micah Parsons is possibly a top three, you know, at least a top three pass

rusher. Yeah, without a know. It's probably, I probably put it. For me right now, it's probably Nick Bosa, one. And then Micah Parsons as, you know, the closest two to one as you can get. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, probably top two.

Sam Williams, the rookie they drafted this year, has looked pretty good. He's been solid. Yeah. They have Dante Fowler who, you know, know, probably never lived up to expectations he originally had, but again, solid pass rusher. Yep. So, yeah, I mean, I think there's an argument you can make that, but I will say, you know, no team wants to be short on pass rushers.

Right. And I think that Demarcus Lawrence brings a certain, like, it's a, he, he seems to be, like, a big locker room presence type of guy as well. Yeah. Yeah, so, yeah, this is probably them trading Cooper. Man, I could see letting Gallup walk and keeping Cooper. But yeah, I guess it is hard to say they, you know, keep Cooper and let Lawrence walk. Right.

Like in a vacuum, I think, like in a vacuum where you take out what was happening around him, yes, I think that like Dallas should have Captain Mari Cooper. But, like, as I think about it and, like, what was going on around him, it's like, I don't know how much keeping him would have changed the trajectory of their season. Like, I don't, like, I don't know if he, like, I think the offense would have had seemingly more upside, but that's, again, assuming they, you know, over the offseason, figure out whatever issues were going on with him and within that offense and not getting, him involved. If they figure that out, then yeah, this offense is probably that much better.

And you have your safety blanket where like the odds of Cooper and Lamb disappearing at the same time are super low. But I just, I think like it might have been the best case scenario for Dallas. And I'd like I, I think a lot of Dallas fans would get mad at me for saying that. But I legitimately think that the best case scenario was them. trading Cooper. I don't think he changes that much for him. Unfortunately, the best move, unfortunately the best move that they could have made, that they should have made, but they couldn't because of the contract they signed him to was moved on from Zeke. It would right. The dead cap money would have been to,

it wouldn't have worked. Yeah. Then just like, if you, you have Cooper, Gallup, DeMarcus Lawrence, all on the team and Zeke is the one, I mean, man. Yeah. It's just because yeah, like you said, his dad, his, contract is just like the big red a on the chest like nobody nobody's going after it zee the zeke being on the cowboys has probably has to be one of the worst moves that has ever happened in in recent memory anyway for a team between using the high the number four overall pick on him right using feeling the need that you need to give him the ball 20 times past once he got through those first two or three years when he just, he had too much, too much on his way.

I bet you there's a quote you could pull from every year that has something to the effect of like them quoting a carry threshold that, that Zeeke hits, that they always win, not attributing anything else to the circumstances for why they may have one get that game. Or there's a quote about like, if Zeeke goes over X yards, where X and, one or you know like six and one or six and no like there's a quote they have that like every season like trying to justify why we get to give the ball to zeke 20 25 times yeah he hit the trifecta hurt him by draft capital heard him by coaching decisions slash influence the offense and now hurting them by on the salary cap front and like it honestly it's it's too bad because i like zique as a player i think he is of

I think he is, and he was a very dynamic player. It's just that he was always given these insane expectations. And it's like, how did, like, did we ever really expect him to live up to like what Dallas has wanted him to be at every step of the way? We'll see if the NFL learned its lesson with Bejohn Robinson this year in the draft and what happens with him and then his first contract and all that. Yeah. Because that Zee, that is what Zeeq was. that like he was supposed to be this transformative guy. Yeah.

McCaffrey too. Right. And that's a conversation. That'll be a fun conversation for over the season or over the off season and talking about like team building and stuff because I think that there is a lot of like, that's just running backs are a very interesting case nowadays. Yep. And it's just a matter of are you smart enough to realize it?

and as a coach and as a GMR, if you're smart enough to realize it and not get sucked in? Or if you do, like, being smart about it. Yep. All right, we probably talked about the Cowboys enough. Probably. Once we start talking about Z, it's when you know, like, all right.

I know, I know. The third one I like a lot, because I think this one is another one, like, the AJ Brown, where this completely changes, completely flips. the nature of two, like two teams for sure. And that's, you had put,

what if Cincinnati signs Tehran Armstead instead of signing Lyle Collins? Yeah. As their left tackle. Yeah. So I, first things first, I was like, all right, well, could this have even worked? And so I checked.

And Collins' cap hit for the Bengals is actually higher than Armstead's cap hit for the, the dolphins. He's got a more long-term deal and more money overall. Okay. So, you know, the Bengals would have to make sure all that works, but they are notorious for not, you know, like really betting on themselves and, you know, kicking the can down the road. Like they probably should, given the current state of their team. They did it. I mean, the fact that Jesse Bates was franchise tag makes zero sense whatsoever

because he's. Yeah, that's right. They did do that. One of the best safeties in the NFL, and they're in this window where they've got a QB on his rookie deal. It's two stud receivers on their rookie. I mean, they should be, they should be dumping money everywhere they can to win a Super Bowl. Yeah, I mean, it's a, it's a team building dream. Yeah, yeah. So they, they 100% could make an Armstead deal work. Probably the thing that kept him from signing there was that they didn't want to.

So in this. Remind me, because they're like, Armstead, hung around in free agency, like longer than I think a lot of people thought he would. Do you remember why that was? I don't remember. There wasn't, the tackle market wasn't anything crazy, which is probably, maybe that's what held it up is that no, there wasn't, he, you know, he clearly was the best option. Trent Brown was out there, but he just re-signed with New England, right?

Yeah. So the offensive tackle market was nothing crazy. he probably just didn't feel the need to rush to sign anywhere. Right. And so Miami at the time, obviously McDaniel was brought over. Maybe he just, you know, I don't know. I don't know the motivation for Armstead. If it was money or if it was, I want to try to win.

And maybe a, you know, maybe a team had to convince him that he'd have a shot at winning a Super Bowl. Who knows? I'm sure it was a little bit of everything, probably. but so Cincinnati absolutely could have made a push for him and probably gotten a deal done if they really did too yes I think so I think so because if you look at like because it's like where a team is positioned Miami and Cincinnati are you know obviously Cincinnati having just made the Super Bowl like seemingly they were kind of in the same spots team building wise as like the trajectory of the and the course of their team over the next three,

or even really like for him, he signed a five years, $75 million contract. So like for those five years, they're probably on this, about the same trajectory. Right. As a team,

seemingly as to like where they are, where they're at and building out their team. Right. So the one thing that I'm not totally sure of is do they have, so they have Jonah Williams play left tackle for them. Right. Somebody's got to either him or Armstead would have to move to right tackle. and I don't know

I don't know if they maybe they thought you know like Jonah wouldn't work as a right tackle or we don't want to spend all this money and then have the guy play right tackle which I think is stupid

I don't think it I mean it obviously matters a little bit but the Eagles have been the definition of we've got the best right tackle in football for five years running and it's it's okay to have him play right tackle yeah Like, having a good tackle at either side.

Like, if you had, like, signing to her on armstead and having him and Williams, like, that's a luxury that you want to have because odds are, like, you figure it out.

You make it work. Yeah. You, like, odds are, if the guys are good enough, chances are they can at least make the, like,

it's a tough switch. Don't give me, like, I don't want to understand how difficult of, like, how difficult of switch it, it is. but once the guy figures it out generally if they have the traits that like a Tehran

Armset has it's going to end up being fine there might be some hiccups in the beginning but it's going to end up being fine yeah so yeah and the Bengals so their offensive line was definitely shaky to start the year even with the additions that they did make Collins is not necessarily the main problem by any means but he's not the anchor that he was drafted or not sorry not drafted but he was not the he's not the anchor that he was signed to be right yes um so you drop armstead into that offensive line and and say he is that anchor they obviously still have problems else you know it's not perfect but it's it's way better it's it's significantly like i think it puts them as the other caveat here is that zach taylor smartens up earlier like he has recently and

isn't just running mixin or whatever running back right to the ground. But maybe he's more comfortable with that if their offensive line can pass protect better. And that's the thing. Like, Joe Burroughs been under pressure this year. Like, I don't think people realize it, but he's been under pressure this year. The big thing is that he's just improved his pocket presence and his feet in the pocket, and he's not taking as many sacks and as many hits.

Like, he's being much smarter with the ball. Most of everything that's, like, evolving for Cincinnati's offense is happening because of like evolution with play calling. I think like Sack Taylor has gotten better. And then evolution of Joe Burrow, he's gotten, he has gotten better in the pocket. He's seeing things, you know, that much sooner. And he's reading defenses that much faster. Their offensive line still stinks.

Like, but I have like throwing Tehran Armstead. For them, it completely changes it because, you know, obviously having a stunt on your offensive line just changes their trajectory. how the unit performs. But the big thing is, is that it affects, I think it affects Miami a lot. Like, in that scenario where Toronto Armstead goes to the Bengals, they probably just, they probably just develop like a little bit sooner this year. Like they probably have one or two more wins.

And we just feel like that much better. It could be the one seed in the AFCs. I mean, the one, they're only, they're only what, one or they're 12, they are. was their record now 9 and 4 Buffalo is 10 and 3 and Kansas City is 10 and 3 they're let's say they're the one seat in this scenario yeah which I mean having home field advantage in the AFC I think that's going to be a huge that's going to be huge for one of those teams because I think that all like of the of the teams like Cincinnati Kansas City Buffalo like being able to play in Kansas or being able to play in

Cincinnati over playing in Buffalo over Kansas City is huge Yep, absolutely. So, yeah, so there's that. And then Miami, on the other hand, like you said, it's massive. I mean, they, I mean, there's a chance they, like, don't even make the playoffs. Right. Like, because I think Armstead having him as the anchor to, like, allow to, like, because they still run a lot of, like, a pretty quick game with Tua. And they have been all year.

It's like, that has been. that's what freed that up is having armstead to anchor the line and like give him that extra quarter second that he did that he hasn't had let that he you know he didn't have last year and hasn't had in the NFL much like it gives him that extra little second or extra little quarter of a second to get the to get the ball where he needs to get it and we saw it against he was out against san francisco like they brutalized him. Oh, yeah. I mean, San Francisco is doing that to everyone, but it was happening fast. They were getting up to them really fast. Yeah. So they probably sign a while Collins or something. They

still have to do something. Yeah. So they probably do something like that. And that helps. But they they're they're on track to finish something like 11 and 6, which basically puts them in the same range as the Chargers, the Ravens. So we already said the Bengals in this scenario would have the one seed. Buffalo is still going to win the division. Kansas City is going to win their division. Tennessee is going to win theirs. But then, yeah, they're competing then with Baltimore, the Chargers, and the probably New England and the Jets. Yeah. So if you take a one or two wins away from them, that's going to put the Jets or the Patriots in over them. Right. And then we're talking about, you know, Tyree Kiel having a fun season, but, you know, still having issues.

up front with two taking sacks things like that and the and the run game like armstead's a mauler he's good in both aspects of the game like their run their run game has i mean it's not amazing but it's been what helps make their offense go and mcdan obviously mcdaniel coming from the shanaan tree like having their their run offense kind of keep things going that probably changes a little bit with arm set out as well. Yeah. So, yeah, a lot that can change based on that. You want to do one more?

Yeah, let's do one more and then we'll send it off for the day. All right. So the last one we're going to talk about is what happens if Marcus Williams signs in Detroit over Baltimore, which I believe Detroit was pursuing him back during free agency. Yeah, I'd say they were probably the number two teams. And I think they were second behind Baltimore to land him. And I think Baltimore just came out with more money.

So what do you think? I'd say he's a top five free safety in the NFL probably. So what do you think that does for the Detroit defense and their outlook? So it's interesting because it changes what they do at safety because obviously they don't land arms. said, they draft, they signed Deshawn Elliott and they draft Kirby Joseph with the anticipation of they're signing Deshawn Elliott as like a short term plug and play as like their box safety.

They use Tracy Walker as their free safety and then you have Kirby Joseph kind of being the number three guy with the anticipation of like Kirby Joseph taking over deep safety. and Tracy Walker sliding down into being a box safety. I think like that was their long term plan. Tracy Walker got hurt. So who knows if that changes things. But like they just re-signed Tracy Walker. If they'd sign Marcus Williams,

Tracy Walker goes right into the box safety. They leave, they leave him as free safety. And they probably don't ever draft Kirby Joseph. They're probably just, that's like that's their safety pair for the next four years. Right. and that's it that'd be interesting because i think there's a lot to be said about having a

experienced veteran at the free safety spot i think there's a lot of value in having that especially with a younger secondary group on the at the corner position where you know like they have a kuda they have a ruarii they have a it's a jerry jacobs coming in like it's a younger group i think that like that probably there the lion's past events probably gets better faster or starts the year off better yeah so looking back um you you you tell me which of these if any of these games you think having him on the team makes enough a difference that they that they end up winning so week one they lose to philly 30 to 35.

They then go, they beat Washington, but still give up 27 points. They lose to Minnesota and giving up 28 points. Minnesota, they, like that first Minnesota game, they lost on, they lost on a KJ Osborne, there's a

corner route, and they just lost communication. That probably doesn't happen with Marcus Williams, because he's probably, their deep safety, and it's not Juju Hughes. Right. I think who it was. And, you know, he's not for inexplicably looking middle of the field and then k j osborne you know breaks over for a touchdown that probably changes that game a little bit right so then and then they then they then they lose giving up

48 to seattle i have to imagine that's him doing anything they like they were i mean gino smith had dk mackath and tyler locket and running all over 20 yards down the field middle of the field and was like there were so many throws from that game where the lions got good pressure and Gino just kind of like had the general idea of where his guy was and just threw it and it hit like that is probably one that changes big time yeah and then you go through a stretch where the offense kind of struggles not scoring a point against the Patriots but still giving up 29 points to a bad Patriots offense only putting up six against the Cowboys giving up 31 to Miami which it was a good offense, so not a big deal.

Yeah, that one, you know. And then they beat the Packers in a low-scoring game, and then the offense kind of starts clicking again. And this is kind of where the defense does start to get a little bit better, but still, you know, still definitely not a top unit. Right. You know, they still got thrown on for 400 yards by Kurt Cousins. But I think, like...

Do they beat the bills on Thanksgiving with Marcus Williams? You know, I don't think so. Okay. I think like that's why I didn't think because the argument behind it would be like the only argument I think I could make would be like okay in that scenario does Marcus Williams make the play that Kirby Joseph didn't and I think Kirby Joseph was in perfect position it was just an insane throw by Josh Allen you know obviously like if we want to go over the course of the game who knows but like if you're talking like drop in one play of like where he's like he's an improvement I don't think he changed that. But I do think, like I said, I think he changes a couple of those games early in the season. Like even the Philadelphia game, like a big turning point was the deep ball to AJ Brown. Yep.

Towards the end of the half. Like, I, like, okay, is Marcus Williams sitting back on that? Yep. Because like Tracy Walker being a free safety was fine. Like he's a good swing safety. But that's like his strength is being in the box. they just threw them they threw them to the field just because like Dishon Elliott is definitively a box safety and you like Tracy Walker has decent long speed

and pretty good range whereas like Tracy Walker I think excels more as being in the box being a hard hitting you know like involved in the run game safety and being more of a punisher and Marcus Williams is like you said he's probably a top five free safety in the NFL. And so I think like the Philly game, he probably influences in some way, shape, or form. Yeah. So it sounds like we could pretty comfortably say they pick up at least two more wins somewhere along the way, putting them at 8 and 5 instead of 6 and 7.

So firmly in the wild card race and nipping at Minnesota's heels, especially if you give them a loss to one of those being Detroit, they're now 9 and 4. Right. Like there's there's a chance that Detroit wins the division even. Right. And then it just like, you know, look, it would have been interesting to see who they would have gone with because I don't think they then, I don't think they draft Kirby Joseph. Maybe they go. I was looking around that range.

I was too. Maybe, you know, obviously they don't know this at the time, but they trade Hawkinson. Jeremy Ruckert was a tight end. I liked coming out of Ohio State. And they did. The Lions with their next pick did take James Mitchell. Yeah. I'd much rather have Ruckert over Mitchell. Not that Mitchell is necessarily terrible, but if I had the option to pick. Yeah. Yeah, Ruckert was there. K. Doughton was there. Yep, Kodden was also there.

Nobody else, nobody else, like, really stands out to me. Yeah, like, Kobe Bryant, maybe. Yeah, that sounds like Kobe Bryant, but I don't like that all comes down. Jack Jones goes later. I think the tight end, this was a solid tight end window here with Ruckert, Otten, and even Bellinger as well. And I mean, Ferguson's down there a little bit deeper too. Like likely is there as well. Yeah. Oconquo.

Wow, this was a lot of this. It's a lot of like role playing tight ends. Remember the tight ends got there. They were not drafted at all this past year. That's right. Wow. I forgot about that. Yeah.

So there's this was like a nice window to take a tight end. if you were taking one there. Right. Yeah. So that and then for Baltimore, I don't know. Their secondary might just be worse. It's already bad. It's already bad.

No, that's the thing. It's already bad. So they definitely still take Kyle Hamilton. Like I've zero doubt about that. He's basically been playing slot corner for them now, but that's not what we was doing to start the whole year. And then like some third downs, he'll play like play like play. play a like a box like he'll be in the box he's not a free safety so they're still it's not like they drop hamilton in and play free safety he's probably i mean they probably don't cut tony

jefferson right um there really wasn't was there any other major i don't think the safety market was huge um the rodney mcclout i guess would have been out there he he went to the colts though he had the frank wright connection at the time so he That doesn't seem super likely that Baltimore would have been able to get him. The problem is it's like with Baltimore, it's Baltimore's drafting strategy. You like have no idea what direction they're going to go in ever. Well, they're going to take the best player available. Right.

Just whatever that ends up being. Yeah. And like, is that who we think it is or is it that, you know. Yeah, they're really what. Yeah, the safety market was not, he'd have to, they would have had to pull some other, some player away from some other team, which they would have likely never gotten a shot to do. Yeah. Rodney McLeod is probably the closest thing. And he's probably not enough of an upgrade over Tony Jefferson, who was already on the team.

Yeah, probably not. Like Tyron Matthew wouldn't have fit. Justin Reed, maybe, if they could have convinced him to come to them. him over Kansas City. Which I think he brings value. He was one of the first ones to sign, though, wasn't he? I think so. So he seemed pretty dead set on going there.

But yeah, I think that's, I do think that Marks Williams is one that potentially influences, like has a large influence on who the lions are this year. And now that's not to say that like, I think like it's probably the best of both worlds. the lines end up getting Kirby Joseph. And I think their plan ends up working out. Like the plan of having a deep safety and Tracy Walker ends up working out just it takes a little bit longer than it would have with like Marcus Williams. And then like there's the whole trickle down effect of like, okay, they don't sign Deshaun Elliott. Do they use that free agency money elsewhere?

You know, then do they not take Kirby Joseph, like things like that. But in a vacuum, I think that the line. Lions are probably firmly in the playoffs with Marcus Williams because of potentially one or two plays. Yeah. And I don't think it changes anything major for Baltimore. No. No, because unfortunately when you're like a really negative unit, he's like he's probably he has an influence, but how much can you when the team gets kind of picked apart as easily as they do? Right.

Yeah. There's no there's no other obvious free. they definitely probably they probably just don't cut tony jefferson i'm yeah i don't see another all the all the major safeties resigned with their team they're the teams they were already on so right really isn't another option i mean baltimore could have they already took they take kyle hamilton no matter what right so like it just doesn't there's no they can't take another safety um it really just shows that that kyle hamilton pick was probably not the best use of resources for them they just they could have like at that having a 14th pick with a team contending

the way they do like the resources could have gone yeah they could have had they had other guys that can play slot corner yes i mean marlin huffy is one of the better ones that he still does play slot corner a lot but i know like why not go and get one of the corners Yep. Even if it is early. Like, who cares? Like, go and get a guy. Yeah, they take receiver there and you take a safety down.

What did they do in the second round? They take. They took OJabo in the second round. Yeah. So maybe they. Before or after Brisker? Before I was going to say, maybe they take Brisker because he goes after that. Who I think adds, I think Brisker adds just as much value as Hamilton.

because they probably them, yes. Because he probably, they play him and they'll probably play, they probably would have played Brisker in the box a lot. Okay, last one, I do actually want to touch on this

just like super briefly, but like just if Christian, you'd put it down like, if Christian Kirk signed in Baltimore, just like purely only Kirk on Baltimore, how much better do you think that makes their team? Well, so I think the, the way to frame this is also, let's assume that Rashad Bateman doesn't get hurt.

And obviously, Lamar too. Right, right. Like that Lamar plus Bateman, Andrews, and Kirk is probably one of the better offenses in the AFC. Right. Assuming that they get used correctly and everything, which is a whole separate discussion. But, man, so that, I mean, it's funny because that kind of ties into how, like, Marcus Williams doesn't get there because they would have had to pay to get Kirk and maybe Marcus Williams then does go to Detroit.

Right, right. But man, yeah. Bateman Andrews and Kirk, especially if they didn't, don't view Kirk as a slot only guy, like, or I mean a deep threat only guy like Arizona was and Jacksonville is kind of getting the most out of Kirk. Yep. Play him in the slot. Bateman, Bateman's definitely your outside receiver. Yeah.

let Duverne be your deep threat that you use sometimes. But having Bateman, Andrews, and Kirk on the same offense, assuming all are healthy, is a very good offense. Kirk then doesn't land in Jacksonville, obviously. So Jacksonville, you know, they're iffy at best to make the playoffs. They definitely still need a receiver. DJ Shark leaves, so they're only Marvin Jones. we could say they still signed

Zay Jones, so maybe they go after somebody like a juju, Smith Schuster, to play a lot of those slot snaps. He's probably the closest one to what they're, what they were looking for out of a receiver.

Yeah. So big implications for Baltimore, assuming everybody stays healthy. Yeah. They're currently winning their division and they probably easily, well, Cincinnati would be close to them still. But they definitely have a very good chance at winning their division.

And being in the mix for that one seed at least. Yeah. Because they lose, I mean, we've talked about their offensive struggles before. They lose a number of games where they just aren't scoring enough points. And they just kind of go dark for, they. they would have a couple three-an-ounce here and there. Yeah, they lose to the Giants 24 to 20. The bill is 23 to 20.

Miami down the stretch. Yep. So, yeah, they barely beat the Panthers, Broncos, and Steelers by scoring. They scored less than 15 points in all three of those games. They're lucky to get out of those alive. So, yeah, I don't know if it greatly changed. They're team weird. Oh, yes.

yes they do they just i don't understand their team building strategy yeah neither do i they i don't yeah i don't think it majorly changes their win total i think it just kind of really like really firms up their place in it yes um and it just it makes you feel more solid about their offense yes exactly yeah they because they they've gotten they've gotten just lucky in games this year yeah so i don't think it majorly changes where they're at their outlook is other than that they're viewed as a more serious contender than they are right now. Right. Even with even if Lamar and Bateman were healthy right now, I think having Kirk on that

team is just a major difference maker for them. Yeah. I think right now they're viewed as like kind of a like first round exit. Like I don't think anybody really anticipates them getting out of the first round right now bar. Yeah. We see anything different. But obviously they don't have Lamar right now.

Right. I do think it's definitely. way bigger for Jacksonville than it is. I mean, in terms of the outlook, I mean. Yeah, probably. Lawrence doesn't take a step forward, or maybe doesn't take as much of a step forward without a guy like Kirk. Juju is, if it was him, is just not that type of guy.

No. And then what does that do to Kansas City? Probably not a ton. They probably still do something with him. You know, maybe Skymore plays a lot. more yeah who knows who knows um they definitely so if they don't sign juju maybe they look into the draft they were in a range uh they took devon lloyd at 27 so burks is gone but then you've got all those second round receivers christian watson would have been nice right that's probably that's probably

where they go yeah christian watson would be the guy there yeah so there's him there's uh and then they pick again early second round right or did they or did they move up? Is that how they got the 27th pick? I think it is. Yeah, I think so. So, well, maybe they don't move up. Maybe they do.

You got Watson. You've got Wondale Robinson, John Metchy, it doesn't play this year. Tyquan Thornton. All these guys go, you know, they probably take one of these guys with Watson being the one that you definitely would want to take. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Well, that was fun.

I like that. I think that that's a fun. It's a fun exercise, especially at this point in the season where, like, a free agent could have swung a team's, a team's destiny in one direction or the other big time, both in a good way for the Eagles,

not signing a Rob and in a bad way of, like, you know, what if the Lions did sign Marcus Williams? But, all right. I think that about covers us for today. I think Brett and I, I think we'll be back on Wednesday.

Chris, as always, we appreciate you filling in. Brett was just, you know, he claimed, like we said, he claims he was sick, but we think he was just afraid to face us both. He didn't want to, he didn't really want to show down with us in real time this week. No, he didn't. But thank you, everyone. Thank you, everyone for listening. And we will talk to you next week. And we are out.

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