Green Light with Chris Long - NFL Free Agency! Sam Darnold To Seattle, Laremy Tunsil & CJGJ Traded From Philly!

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

Chris Long reacts to the first couple days of Free Agency and the flurry of moves from around the NFL. Sam Darnold leads the QB news as he signs with the Seattle Seahawks to lead Mike Macdonald's defense after they got rid of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. In surprising moves, the Texans traded star LT Laremy Tunsil to the Washington Commanders and the Philadelphia Eagles traded C. J. Gardner-Johnson to the Houston Texans. Chris recaps his other favorite moves from around the league including the New England Patriots signings, Justin Fields linking with the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills getting Josh Palmer. More moves to come, has your team made a splash yet? (00:00) - Intro (6:35) - Sam Darnold (18:30) - Laremy Tunsil (30:10) - C.J.G.J Traded to Houston (38:15) - Patriots Signings (40:04) - LA Rams & Davante Adams (43:00) - 49ers (49:15) - Bears (55:22) - Colts (59:55) - Moves Chris Loves Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open. Green Light Hotline: ‪[phone]‬ In need of sweet threads to vibe like Chris and the fellas? Check out https://greenlightpodcast.org/ for everything merch wise and then some! Also, check out our paddling partners at Appomattox River Company to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. https://paddleva.com/ Green Light's YouTube Channel, where you can catch all the latest GL action: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxWFAA-wuB7osdiAJyLOcw Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And, you know, like, if you're McDonald's, like, it makes a lot of sense that you say, hey, let's spin the wheel with this guy. I thought Sam played maybe his best, most important game of the season last year up in Seattle. He made some brilliant throws in that game, and that's a tough place to play. Again, if you can win in Seattle, they love you, and it's a really tough place to play. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast presented by BetMGM. If you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code Greenlight, and you will get up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with BetMGM.

Here's how it works. Download the BetMGM app and sign up using bonus code Greenlight. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. If that bet loses, you will receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets. Just make sure you use bonus code greenlight when you sign up. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast. NFL free agency. It is firing away.

Chris gets on to break down all the moves. Sam Darnold of the Seahawks. The Steelers getting DK. Laramie Tunzel headed east. And a few teams that are kind of head scratchers. This is a real treat. If you listen to Greenlight Pod, you know we love this. First order of business, congratulations to our trustee.

Do it all. football guy, Nolan Mert, on his holy matrimony. Appreciate you. Big wedding this weekend. Cowboy Reed was in rare form at that wedding. He sure was. Cowboy Reed put on a performance for the ages. The word on the street is that he has become the fifth Mert brother.

An honor that I just makes my heart sing. the first day that just an amazing time the merch were that were a blast to party with as were the walsh's yep it was a very philly wedding uh which i loved uh you know when your was a very uh catholic wedding and when the priest should i call him the priest yep he was talking about jesus turning water into wine yeah i was like yes we are here that's right in Philadelphia. It was fantastic. Also, starting to feel like I'm getting old because the priest was a lot younger than me.

Oh, yeah. Yep. An old buddy of mine back in the day. Yeah. Another, an Irish Catholic, just like the rest of in the building over the week. He's starting fast. Yeah. You know?

Yep. Pretty young guy up there doing the priest thing. Yeah, congrats, man. It was a beautiful wedding. You're going to love it. I mean, it's just. Yeah. It's awesome.

We're pumped. And shout out to my amazing wife, Mags, and my Super Bowl ring. So, there we go. There we go. They're pumped. You know, they give you a Super Bowl ring and it's all downhill from there. That's right. That's the big difference.

You know, I'm on a family vacation. And that explains the background. I'm stuffed in my daughter's room here, who is 18 months old. And maybe 19 at this point. I haven't really done the math lately because my head is buried in work and raising three children. The calendars are out the window. What day is it? I have no idea.

I'm on a family vacation. Free agency feels like three days. Yeah. Note to self, if you're going to do a family vacation, the baby doesn't know that you're on vacation. Baby doesn't care that you're in Arizona. Baby doesn't care at all that, you know, the night. miners cut cow use check or that the Texans have traded laramie tonsol baby doesn't care so a baby doesn't care about time zone none of that so we are working through it and you know like planning this

vacation kind of didn't do the math that all of a sudden half the league was going to change uniforms in a single day uh when i'm supposed to be going to the fucking water park so it's just a blur like your Twitter timeline is just a blur of chaos. On top of the time zone, or on top of daylight savings time, so you're already a little groggy and then you see things coming across? Oh, yeah, the first day, you know, I'm going west.

So, you know, I'm in, I presumably am I on Pacific time, my own mountain time. No, I'm in Arizona, which never changes at all for daylight savings time. And then on top of that, we get spring forward and for a, agency. So my head is fucking spinning. I'll give you the best best I got on everything that happened yesterday. So you know, this isn't going to stop. Free agency is not over. We're going to do one more show this week. Meena Combs is going to be joining us. Heavy hitters. Heavy hitters only coming on the show. Talk about free agency. We'll be having me on later in the week. I'll talk to you more

about that before the end of the show. But yeah, like let's just pick up the pieces when it comes to day one of agency and try to figure this thing out on our own. Today, it is Tuesday. It's about noon, Arizona time. So that means I have no idea what time it is on the East Coast. I think it's about 3 p.m. Is that, is that accurate, guys? What time is it? What time is it? No, noon Eastern. It's noon. No, no, my fucking computer's at noon. I don't know what time it is. So it's 9 a.m. here in Arizona. So I was right at least about the three-hour time difference.

My computer, man. I'll blame it on my computer. Damn, it's only noon. I have that much time left in this day. Yep. I wish I could do family vacations in 2X. You know what I mean? The way some of you all listen to my podcast.

That's how I like do family vacations. I love my family. Love them the most when we're at my house. You know what I mean? Yeah. You know, hopping on a phone. five-hour flight, not necessarily going to make me love them more. Staying home, I love them the most. It's a little, little.

It's not playing road games. We like home games. So anyways, here we are yesterday. Where do I start? Probably the most surprising move on the surface, like because he's a quarterback and because it's a big domino. And you can fill in the blanks on the rest of it. You can try to, you know, try to figure out where Aaron Rogers is. is going. Now we know where Daniel Jones is going. Quarterback musical chairs. It's not the sexiest game this year. Gino Smith, 34-year-old Gino Smith, is the first dominant of fall. He heads to Vegas after he turns down a deal supposedly from Seattle, which would have been a lot more costly than what they had to end up paying Sam Darnel, which is why I don't think it's the worst thing in the world

considering their circumstance. You know, listen, it's three years $100.5 million, which is a team-friendly deal in today's NFL. 33.5 per year is about 18th in the league when it comes to QB market and slots him right above Baker Mayfield, which, by the way, seems like a big bargain at this point. And it's basically the same deal he got last offseason in Tampa, which is not quite approve it. put it, Nolan, but it's also, you know, it's not quite a you're our guy. It's kind of wild to think

about in today's NFL that $55 million guaranteed is not, it's not a, hey, you're our guy. You know, it's not a commitment to the player on a level where you're like, yeah, this is our quarterback of the future. That's the way things are now. It's a lot of money. Good deal for Sam Darnold, who gets to get paid one more time before he turns 30. And that's part of the deal. It's like he's not 30 yet he's at 27 years old gino is seven years older um you know you could make a case that both guys have only worked in one place so far you know so paying a 34 year old gino well i thought the the cards were kind of stacked against him last year in a lot of ways with the the protection up front and the way the offense ran um you could also say on the other side of ledger that he had

some of the best wide receivers in the league and they just couldn't make it happen You know, and I think either statement boiled down on either side of this thing would be too oversimplified. You know, Gino couldn't get it done. Well, the offensive line was terrible. Gino was held back by the offensive line. Gino was held back by the offensive structure. Gino was held back by the lack of run game over the years. You know, he also made some really bad mistakes in the Red Zone last year.

You know, he also made some really bad turnovers in big spots last year that were back breaking for them in big games. So I think Gino may well be the upgrade in the short term that Vegas needs to get this ball roll in the right direction. I think you will get the ball roll in the right direction. What their ceiling is, I don't think it's like tremendously high. I don't know if the ceiling in Seattle is tremendously high. But again, Sam Darnal winds up in a place where if you get a home game in the playoffs and they failed to do that last year because of the way they sputtered down the stretch, you can win some games in the postseason in Seattle with this. this particular team if you fill the offense out right now that's a big if but you got a

jm and john schneider who does a hell of a job generally and now has five picks in the top 100 and they had three when they woke up the other day before they traded dk mccav to pittsburg and i think the dk capital you get back from that is like a it's a fringe top 50 pick where the you know it's a fringe top hundred pick you get back for gino so you know you know, like, there's some Gino truthers out there, right? And they're going to say this is terrible. You should have given Gino till 40 to figure this thing out. You know, what I don't know, people fall in love with quarterbacks. I'm not a Sam Darnold truther, although I think he deserves to be a bridge somewhere at the very least at this point in this group, what he proved last year.

And he's also got something more to prove as evidence by the end of last season. And that's kind of what it's going to be in Seattle, you know, and the risk that Seattle takes on is this first year, it's on the heels of the guy's best season of his career by far. And now you got to commit to him because of where you are at north of a prove it deal, right, as we talked about, and hope in year one that the mass doesn't come off this guy and that he's not hideous, you know, like that it doesn't look more like Carolina, that it doesn't look more like New York. And I don't think it will. I think it'll look better than that. But we have to be prepared for this prospect. The prospect that he is truly walking into an offense that is a level below the offense he was on last

year. I like JSN. And getting rid of D.K. Metcalf and lock it, I think it's two things. Number one, getting rid of D.K. Metcalf is it's a football move, but it's also a cultural. remove, I think. You know, like reading the tea leaves, I don't know that things were ever perfect in that wide receiver room or that it was ever easy to get on the same page with DK Metcalf. He's not a guy who's got the whole route tree at his disposal. He's a tremendously talented guy. You know, he helps you a lot in the red zone. You have to replace a lot of that production there. But I think there's something to the best guy in your room being JS head. And the vote of confidence that tells you now they're like, hey, you're the lead dog.

Bobo's like our number two right now, but that's going to change between now and the opener this year. But no matter what they do, they could hit it out of the park, they still have work to do. You know, they had trouble inside. They had trouble outside last year up front. And, you know, when you had Charles Cross and Abe Lucas,

and again, I say this all time, Charles Cross came out of the gates and I thought he was going to be one of the better tackles of the decade, right? You know, he was tracking that way off the top. I don't know about his anchor anymore. I don't know how I feel about Charles Cross. He has some work to do. He has something to prove this year.

And Abe Lucas has not been able to stay healthy. And the guard spots, it's been a shit show. I think no matter how you slice it, as it stands today, the risk is that you are paying a guy based off a one year of production. A little deep into his career, right? And then on top of that, the offense in Seattle is not going to be the, offense in Minnesota. Like there is no Justin Jefferson. You've got a Jordan Addison type guy, right? Like I don't know who you like better Jordan Addison or or JSN, but I do know this. JSN doesn't play next to Justin Jefferson. So I tend to be pretty bullish on JSN's future.

And I think if you can fill things out around him, I know that Clint Kubiak on the positive end of things has been with Sam Darnold in San Francisco. I think part of this whole thing is, you know, McDonald's saying, hey, I like the way we went on defense. last year. We improved as the year went on. Lennar Williams comes in the picture. Jones comes in the picture of Backer, which we saw out the gate was the biggest problem with that defense was linebacker. I mean, it was a really bad situation. They improved. Okay. And so now you're like, hey, Clint, I trust you, who comes over from, you know, New Orleans. And, you know, if that first month of the season is evidence enough, like that offense can work, right?

There's a small sample size of that offense, you know, performing at a high click, but they have backs in Seattle who they like. They're going to run the football. Maybe wide receiver isn't as important in an offense like that. You know, everything's condensed. You've got multiple tight ends on the field a lot of times. Running the football is going to be key. Physicality, getting on the edge, play action pass.

Like all that stuff, I think Sam can do. But the coverage is going to be a little more bare than it was in Minnesota off the top. and not take anything away from Clint Kubiak, who I like, and I think McDonald likes him enough to say, hey, do your thing. Let's hit the reset button offensively a little bit. He's not Kevin O'Connell yet, right? And so on every level, Sam Darnold is taking the field in Seattle with probably less bullets in his gun than he had last year. So I think it's going to be an interesting year. It's definitely a risk that you're taking, but it's a lot less risky than paying Gino, a boatload of money, you know, and say,

hey, you're a quarterback until you're 37, 38 years old. That just wasn't going to work. I think within this too, Chris, like you mentioned having those, having that draft capital hall now, the way that defense improved now, they look to this draft and they can focus on. Yeah, I mean, five top 100 picks. You can add a couple receivers, a couple of alignmen if you want to. And work to build around Sam looking to maybe year two of that deal. Yeah, they've got the capital now, and that's someplace they were lacking. So in a lot of ways, this works out.

Now, Gino could go light it up in Vegas and look like he looked at times in Seattle, and you might say, what the fuck were we doing? But I don't think it was going to work. I think sometimes, you know, the reset button has to get hit. And I think sometimes like an experiment kind of runs its course. And it's not to say that Gino can't win somewhere else or play as well as he did in spurts again somewhere else. But it just doesn't work to pay the guy and go forward with the status quo because that offense to me was one of the most frustrating offenses in the league relative to the talent levels in certain spots over the past few years. the inconsistency really got me.

And, you know, like, if you're McDonald, like, it makes a lot of sense that you say, hey, let's spin the wheel with this guy. I thought Sam played maybe his best, most important game of the season last year up in Seattle. He made some brilliant throws in that game, and that's a tough place to play. Again, if you can win in Seattle, they love you, and it's a really tough place to play. So if they can find a way in the dance, and you look around the division right now, like I think the Rams are very good.

I think they're going to be good again. You know, San Francisco's got some stuff that they've got to handle. You know, we saw that yesterday. I mean, it felt like one of my buddies is a Niners fan. He's like, is Elon Musk running the Niners? Are you just firing everybody? Like, they're just letting everybody walk. A lot more transparent of a process with the Niners,

right down to the cap spin. that it frees up. But, you know, like the Niners are in the middle of a total, a total kind of like reset in preparation to pay their quarterback. And that's going to be a polarizing thing. You know, the Cardinals, although they improved and they got a lot better last year, I still don't think we're anywhere closer to coming to terms with like a consensus on who Kyler Murray is.

So this is an opportunity for them to shake it up and try something and see if it sticks. And we will see. So, yeah, they also locked up Jones, who we talked about, Ernest Jones, the linebacker who changed everything for them last year. And Jaron Reed as well, who's an important piece for them up front. So I think defense is going to be continuing to build. And the offense is let's see what happens. Um, not a bad way to be. The other big one was Laramie Tunsell, as I mentioned earlier.

You know, I, I understand like when you draft a very good quarterback like C.J. Stroud, you have to, you have to circle dates on the calendar when things are going to get tough. And from an accounting standpoint, they are going to get tough in the next year and a half, right? Like Josh Allen's deal massive, by the way, congratulations. to Josh Allen, one of the best two quarterbacks in the NFL, two or three. And he's paid like it. And C.J. Strout has an opportunity to prove that he's one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, maybe not best two or three, but he can make up a lot of ground next year.

And it's going to be time to pay the Piper there. And when it's time to pay the Piper there, you're also going to have to pay Will Anderson. You're going to have to pay Derek Stingley. there's a lot of decisions you have to make. And if you are going to let Tunsell walk, who I think you owe 21 next year, he's going to want an extension, like let's get something for an elite left tackle

who still, by every metric in the book, other than penalties, is one of the best in the game. Like he's still locking people down in pass pro. I think part of the issue is he's supposed to be the lead dog on that offensive line. and that offensive line was terrible last year. Now, part of it was possibly the coaching. They let the offensive line coach go.

They promoted from within the assistant offensive line coach. They have let Bobby Slow it go. They have a new offensive coordinator. The problem remains the offensive line was terrible. And so you might think you walk into that room and you say, hey, you come from like a place where you say, hey, who do we keep? You know, that's sometimes a lot more simple, a couple. conversation and you would stand a reason that you would walk into that room and say,

hey, yeah, we keep Laramie Tunsel. But when you look at what they got for him, 2025, third, seventh, and a 26 second and a fourth, and you save $14 million in cap space, 42 in cash over the next two years. Like, it's not the worst thing in the world. I know it's not going to sit well with some people who are like, you know, like look at the team on the other end of this. When you have a great rookie quarterback on a rookie deal, you invest in the protection of said quarterback. Well, one team's doing that and the other is saying, hey, we got to take this risk here because we got to pay so many people, including that quarterback soon. And they're ahead of the commanders on this timeline. So, like, they've got to do this. This is a math

deal. I also think there might be more to it internally. I don't want to speculate, but like, it just feels like a thing where maybe things got stale. And part of that is the unit was terrible last year. And I know like heavy is the head that wears the crown. Sometimes you get blamed for things that aren't your fault. And sometimes when you have 19, 20 penalties in a season and you're not publicly accountable for those things like, you know, if you talk to certain Texans fans, they might say, well, I didn't hear him taking accountability for those penalties or,

or the issues up front or that sort of thing. Like, I think eventually you become a little bit more expendable. Now, I think he's going to make the commanders very happy in this thing. I think he's a hell of a football player. And Laramie Tunsell's a guy that I've always had a soft spot for in my heart. And it's not, you know, it's not because he smokes pot. It's because, like many other people do. It's because he got so fucked over for put, like, when you think about what actually

cost him tens of millions of dollars and changed the trajectory of a couple of franchises there. I mean, it's the dumbest thing in the world. Fast forward a few years from now. They don't even test for it anymore. Right. Essentially. I mean, I know they kind of do. But like, the guy got absolutely fucked over early in his career for doing something stupid at the time in the context of what the norms were in the league, but not harmful to anyone.

except maybe himself. That's a lot. The gas mask thing, I've never tried that. I'm pretty sure he just slept it off. But the whole thing is he's a guy that I always want to do well. I think he's a great football player. He's in some ways can be one of the most forgotten elite tackles in the NFL. Like we often talk about rightfully so lame and Trent Williams and people like that.

And we talked about Tyron Smith before he kind of came back down to earth. and age got him and injuries got him. People like that, Penae, Sewell, but this guy is one of the elites. And now the commanders have an elite tackle to protect Jaden Daniels, who they believe is an elite quarterback. I do too.

But again, lots of penalties last year. And that Texans offense line, if you include the postseason number, 65 sacks. So it's kind of a reset button thing. So who plays left tackle? I'm not really sure. like, you know, it could be Fisher, you know, it could be any one of these guys that are already on the roster. Like, they had to shuffle a lot of people over the last couple years.

I know that Nolan, you said that the draft class at tackle is not like elite maybe. But I think for me... Yeah, that's what it sounds like. I think for me, if you've got a guy like CJ Stroud, I don't care if you have to overpay a little bit or reach, you have to fill this spot. whether it's somebody on the roster or somebody in the draft, like you just cannot go into the season without feeling good about this spot. So even if you have to draft a guy in the second who you had as a three, something like that, like you have to have a starting caliber tackle coming out of this draft

or somebody in the building and hope for the best of the group that the offensive line coach was a huge problem last year. That sometimes can be it, you know? And I think for the commanders, it's a huge move because if you remember at the end of last season, Cosme got hurt, really good guard for them. He's going to miss a lot of the season. This year, you can slide Coleman in to guard. He's their rookie from TCU last year who did an admirable job in there at tackle. Can bounce around.

He can play guard for you. Tunsell at tackle, obviously. You still have Wiley, Beaudish, who's a really. good player at center. It really turns into a decent group, Allegretti, playing the other guard. And then when, when Cosme comes back, you can actually move Allegretti to a depth piece or, you know, you'd have maybe a guard trade chip at some point in the season because you know, guards, they get hurt in the NFL. And sometimes there is a demand for those guys. But I think more than anything, like, hey, how do you beat the Eagles? Well, one of the ways you got to block the

pass rush. And so I'm not saying it's a completely, you know, Eagle-centric move. Like, whether you're in the NFC East or not, you want a dominant left tackle to protect your franchise quarterback, especially when he's young on a rookie deal. This is what you do. You go all in. And it is kind of ironic, though, that Houston, who was in this mode a year ago, is shedding probably the first thing you think about that you want when you have a, a quarterback on a rookie deal, but the math is the math when it comes to the Texans. Yeah, the math is the math. And I think it does get into an interesting question too. I just wonder if internally the Texans look at the changes they've had to the group they were

excited about last year. Now you have a new play caller offensively and Nick Cayley, Tank Dell, just had an additional knee surgery last week to repair his ACL. He had the, the other torn ligaments repaired. The first surgery, now he's doing the ACL. That resets his return to play clock. So you don't know when you're going to have him. They trade for Christian Kirk. He's only played 20 games in two years.

So really, you're only certain commodity at receivers, Nico Collins. And so I think with that, you mentioned the accounting, which I think is a big piece of it. And it's also the question of, hey, our offensive line was not good enough last year with tons. So now we look at, hey, the cupboard might be kind of bare for CJ this season. Maybe this is the time we make this change, both from an accounting perspective, and to get some assets that we can kind of replenish the skill spots. You also think about, hey, like, since the commanders are signing elite tackles, what are the Eagles doing at Edge?

you know, these two teams are going to be, I'm not quite on the Chris Brockman train on the Rich Eisen show, my boy Chris, who had such a ridiculous take that it prompted a, come on, bro, from Rich Eisenman. I've never heard Rich Eisenman, Isman is his new name. Rich Eisen, I've never heard Rich Eisen say, come on, bro. But Brockman was like, yeah, the commanders of the team to beat in the NFC now. You know, it's like, you got to hold your horses. I've done this. I did this last year with the Texans. I was like, hit the next year they're going to be, you know, that team.

To outright say that they're the clubhouse leaders is a little bit rich, but they are going to be a tough team to beat. And especially when you look at the Eagles, losing all these guys on defense, right? I mean, we can go through that in a second, but like one of the places where I'm really interested of what they're going to do is Edge.

Because they lose Milton Williams. I mean, forget about the fact. they've lost now, Isaiah Rogers, CJ Gardner Johnson, which we'll get into a in a second, Bradbury as well, who's an important kind of personality in that room probably this year. You know, they haven't really addressed the edge. You know, Milton Williams is gone, and that's one less dog up front, right? Like Josh Schwett heads to Arizona. They have lost some dudes defensively in Vic Fangio's group. So I'm kind of wondering who the edge guy is going to be. You know, I think it's going to be either Trey Hendrickson or it's going to be

Joey Bosa. You know, Trey Hendrickson via a trade or Joey Bosa, you know, might be the simplest, you know, it's going to take no capital to pick him up off the street. I mean, he just got cut by the chargers. He's still got some juice in him. Listen, last time the Eagles rolled out a Caucasian edge rusher on third down, they won the Super Bowl. Let's go. So I think that's a movie. move you got to make one of those two moves or you could talk sam hubbard out of retirement one of the three anyways i i just want to see what they do at edge be you know after the the commanders make this move it's not like exactly an arms race but it is interesting to me so uh commanders coming out of this thing feeling pretty good they also picked up debo next we'll get to cj gardner

johnson and woke up to that news this morning um eagles trading him to the texans and on the texan side of things man, that secondary, we talk a lot about how fast and violent that secondary is. I'm sensing a pattern. Love CJ's energy. Love his speed, the way he'll throw his hat in there in the box. You know, I know that Darius Slay's comments led to some sort of like conversation online about who are the leaders in Philly and the secondary. Who are the leaders going to be with the departure of Darius Slay? you know, slave bestowed that responsibility upon Reed Blanketship.

And C.J. Gardner Johnson kind of took issue like, hey, what about me, bro? Well, it turns out that Reed Blanketship probably is actually going to end up being the leader in that secondary. But I think CJ probably has a different kind of leadership where it's his energy. It's his dog mentality. It's the speed with which he plays, the intensity that it elevates everybody around him. and I think you're going to Houston where he's got some guys just like him. You know, like the physicality in a group that features Lasseter, Stingley, Petrie, this dude, I mean, they're just, they're going to be taking heads off.

And you talk about trying to get on the perimeter in the run game and see them bodies flying downhill and, you know, catching a checkdown and picking your teeth up off the fucking turf in Houston. And like that's the, that is the visual that I think D'Amico Ryan's has for the secondary. And I really like it. Now moving on to the Eagles, like, you're kind of like, hey, well, brought him back this year. It worked out so well. And obviously him leaving this time a little bit sweeter than him leaving last time where he was like, I fucking hate that city.

And then like a year later, he's like, I'm back. This time he leaves a tweet that's like, hey, Philly, I love you. We're champions forever. And I'm so glad to see him go out like that. because I've just always liked this game. But it kind of seems like something that they needed to do, and they were going to get it done, and they wanted to get something for him.

So you get Kenyon Green back, who's actually pretty young considering the mileage on him. So it ends up being a pick swap and basically Kenyon Green for CJ, which I think is like it's not a real sexy thing. It's not one of how he's like, wow, look what Howie did trades. But like if you're actually paying attention, I think if you frame it in the context of Beck,

negotiation that's what's interesting like what does that mean does it mean necessarily they don't think they're going to get beckton back so they go out and get this guard um maybe like beckton could be in the middle of kind of playing hardball with them and not coming down off his number and they're kind of like okay this ain't going the way we wanted to be we need somebody to compete with steen for this other guard spot or it could be a thing where you want them no matter what you know like or you could be feeling like you're going to get Bechton, but you want the number to come down a little bit. And this kind of, you know, this kind of tips to scale in the direction of giving you some leverage. So either way, a good move.

And I think you also know, and part of the leverage play is like, we have stout. Like, look what we did for you. We'll do it for him. What makes you special? Although I think Bechton had a really good year. And I have an attachment to the guy. I wouldn't be an eagle. but I also, you know, just like Josh Sweat, when it's tough to see him leave and end up in Arizona,

like you want the guys to do well and get paid. But it helps for the Eagles to have, you know, contingency plan. Because whatever they were coaching in Houston last year, he's going to get better this year in Philly. And also when you consider, and I think Brandon Thorne pointed this out, but there's a lot of reasons that this might be a. sneaky good signing for the Eagles, you know, his age being one of them, right? Like physical tools and pedigree, he talks about this. This is from Brandon Thorne tweet.

Former top 15 pick, ideal size, raw power, draft age, green enter the league at 20. And is entering year four as the age of some 2025 rookies, 24 with 23 starts under his belt. So that's pretty, that's pretty young. I was 23 as a rookie. You know, when I put things into context, it just gives you a lot. more time to develop and figure out who you are. And sometimes with a 20-year-old rookie, what you see the first couple years, you know, it's still debatable who that person is. So I think when you stick him in a in a Stoutland room, that's great. He points out Brandon Thorne does

situation and environment and all that stuff. So I just think there's there's a lot of reasons to be bullish on this kid, being better than he has been. And it increases the leverage that you have at your disposal in a negotiation with Mackay Beckton, who is important? So, you know, of all the losses that the Eagles sustained, I kind of feel like Milton Williams is the biggest one on defense. I mean, you could argue that Slay's the biggest one, you know, because of the importance of corner. But I don't know.

Maybe I'm like some of you and you figure eventually there will be, there will be age regression with an older corner, right? Like, if I'm looking at, like, who's a young player that I would love to see play their whole career in Philly, Milton Williams? And what hurts is, like, you found him in the draft, but you've gotten so good at this thing that, like, you can't afford everybody. And so, you know, I think Josh Swett, hell of a player, watched him, kind of grow up as a rookie, love the dude. obviously it was very cool seeing him where I don't know if we've podcasted since that I think we have but like it was super cool watching him wear the coat and all that thing and he'll always be part of I hope a tradition that way where if we the Eagles get another chance to win that thing I can find

some other kid and hopefully he'll ask me like Josh asked me and I won't have to hunt some kid down in 10 years or whatever it is shit could be next year the way things go with this organization, but I'm a big Josh Sweat fan. You know, when you talk about a guy who damn near had his leg amputated and the career that he's ended up having, I'll never forget watching him the very first time. And, you know, like, I'll take my victory lap on this one, and he'll tell you. I've heard him say it. Chris is the first person who believed in me. I believed in him right away because he reminded me of Robert Quinn. And I think had he not had that knee injury in college, this guy was a limit for him when it came to the draft.

Like, I think he could have been a top five pick and justifiable too. But the injury slowed him down a little bit. It probably affects his ceiling as a player even today, and he'd tell you that. But what he's been able to do post that injury and the subsequent surgeries and the rehab and the road back and, you know, being picked a little bit later. Like the dude has had an incredible career and I'm so happy for him to end up in Arizona. But I will say, and him and Gannon, right, like knew each other from a couple years ago. He knows what he's getting into.

Gannon knows what he's getting into. I think Milton Williams is the biggest loss for that defense. And, you know, I know you have Jalen Carter and I know a Jomo play great. Like, a Jomo, if you look at some of the pass rush win rate stuff, like his. win rate was just as good, maybe better. But they're going to have to count on guys like that to step up and possibly find people in the draft, you know, how he does. I just think Milton Williams is a dog.

And I think he's going to be a great pickup for the Patriots. Talking about the Patriots here, I thought they went out and got a bunch of variable guys. I mean, obviously, you know, Landry is the guy that he's had before. But Spillane, guys like that, Milton Williams. I forget who else they picked up yesterday in a flurry of, of, day one moves, but they all seem like brable guys. Morgan Moses as well and Carlton Davis. Yeah, Carlton Davis, big pickup, longer corner.

You know, you think about like matchups with the bills and Keon Coleman. You know, you need length to play ball against that group. Comparing with Gonzalez as well. Exactly. I mean, you've got two good corners now. you have what you hope as a franchise quarterback. You move to protect him with a left tackle. You've got a defensive tackle adding to what I think is a pretty talented defensive

line in some spots like Keon White is somebody that we've been on early. And I think he's going to take off playing next to Milton Williams and that sort of thing. So excited about what the Patriots are doing for sure. And on the offensive side of the ball, our guy, Mac Hollins. Mack Hollins is a big one. I think Mack Hollins makes your team better, man. We were just talking about it with Shakir, Kole. Lil Shakir, who that came out today, spoke highly of them.

I mean, no surprise. That guy played some big, big roles for that Bill's team, not only on special teams, but as a position player this year, had to catch a lot of footballs and big spots, including the playoffs. You couldn't get rid of them, you know? So I do think the Eagles, the cupboard got kind of like, it's not bare, but they went in that motherfucker and got some fine China and absconded with it, you know? took some of it to Arizona, took some of it to the Patriots.

You talk about another team in the NFC that's trying to catch up or trying to keep pace as the Rams. Cooper Cup, listen, a storied career with L.A. had to really hurt seeing, you know, half of the breakfast club leave town there. You know, Cooper Cup and Matt Stafford, that longstanding relationship that they really flourished that year, or he had like triple crown i don't think he's had a full season since nolan you he told me the most games he's played in since 2021 is 12 yep so you know it's not like it's not like he's been available and honestly the play has taken a couple steps back listen i think you can still help people but he ends up just being a cut and uh you know because you can't get a trade for him And then you end up upgrading at this point with Devante Adams,

who's probably catching footballs from the best quarterback he's caught footballs from since, what, 2020 or something like that? It feels like a long time that he hasn't been with Green Bay, where he used to catch balls from a prime Aaron Rogers. And now he's catching the ball from pretty damn good quarterback in his own right, Matt Stafford, who can still play, right? We just talked about how elite he still is. They were on the doorstep of trying to get back to the,

NFC championship. Eagles were too good in the snow, kept them out of the end zone. Thank you very much, Jalen Carter, and probably the most impactful coffee house in NFL history. Maybe you know a coffee house is a little fake game, crafty play from the young defensive tackle. But anyways, you end up in a situation now where if you want to beat the Eagles or the Niners in your division Or Seattle, like, you know, you talk about Woolen, who didn't have as great a year last year, but you've got some pretty damn good Witherspoon guys in the secondary. You know, San Francisco has now lost the corner in Ward. You know, the Eagles have now lost the corner in Slay, right?

You know, Rogers is gone. So, like, you're seeing some of these groups lose some guys in the secondary. It's important to have at least two really good wide receivers, and they have that in L.A. now. who's the number one? I don't know. I think it's Puka. That's just my opinion. You know, somebody's going to call me crazy,

but I think the guy's pretty fucking good. I think Devante Adams is still a dog, but he's not what he was a couple years ago. Either way, they're happy because they feel like it's an upgrade and because you look around the league, you look around the division, and like we have gained in an area where I think some other elite defenses

or traditional powerhouses in the NFC are losing a little bit. it right now. And so that that's a that's a really good move for them. He wanted to be on the West Coast. The Niners right up the road from the Rams sat I saw on Reddit today they said sourdough Sam got cut. He's the mascot. So that's the way that the Niners fans are feeling. They said breaking news sourdough Sam got cut released. It was too expensive. Um, the use, use check is gone. Juice is gone. like that feels like that feels like old yeller for those guys like he was like the first guy they brought in from Baltimore yeah you know like he saw the whole big swing in a mess and I say that

respectfully because like to not win a Super Bowl is not the end of the world like 31 teams every year don't and a bunch of franchises are chasing it for the first time a bunch of them haven't done in a long time San Francisco with everything that they had like lined up for them over the past six, seven years, not able to win one. And now it feels like the time where we have to really start over in preparation to pay Brock Purdy, which is probably going to be a polarizing issue in and of itself. But we have to line things up so that we can do that. And that includes like the Niners bringing in a guy like Farrell, who's a tight end that most people don't even think about three years, $20 million or whatever it is, to probably

absorb some of Kyle use check's responsibilities and he's now 33 years old and that's how fast things go in the NFL like you remember when they brought him in San Francisco that kind of like was the start of the era I'm not saying it was the Kyle use check era but like he was one of the the first guys and now he's he's going somewhere else and he says he still feels like he has football in him and he wants a ring and I hope he gets one because he's one of the most well-respected players in the league teammates and opponents. They really respect the guy. And being a fullback, it's a dying art form.

But the tricky thing is now, like, tight ends can play fullback and tight ends can pass protect. And, you know, they needed more pass protection at the tight end position. They need to be able to absorb some of the blocking responsibilities that he had in that very unique offense. And I think that offense changes. You know, no one and I've been talking about it for about three weeks now, kind of since the Debo trade.

it just feels like an offense is going to tinker with things a little bit. I don't know if they're going to go full spread offense type deal, but I do think if you didn't know about the Farrell signing, you might think that the use check, you know, cut is another step in that direction of saying, hey, we're going to spread it out, and we're going to go with the personnel that we have now. We can't run that souped up West Coast offense that we have been running to the degree that we've been running it.

You know, IUC seems to be on the block. you've let Debo go. You know, I think McCaffrey's on his last leg. You know, I say that respectfully. And it's a team that's worn out, man. Like, that's a team that poured everything into those runs. And now they kind of have to start over. So Niners, I think this is going to be an interesting year.

And Shanahan really, I mean, like, you're up, bro. Yeah, exactly. Let's find out. Let's find out how good a coach you are. I think you're an incredible coach, but, you know, sometimes you're only as good as the context that you're coaching in. And I do think the coverage is going to be a little bit more bad. They also lose Hufanga.

We talked about Ward, right? We'll get to him in a second in Indy. But like, Hufanga going to Denver, which is definitely a good thing for the Broncos to get a safety that can play in the box there, right? Like you want to be physical in that in that division. Kansas City, they've got run game. Chargers have run game. Raiders want to run the ball.

They want to be physical. That'll be part of the plan there. Right. So it helps to have a guy like that. They also end up with Greenlaw in San Francisco or in Denver. Denver, Cowboy, you guys, as you put it, kind of like swinging a miss on some of the huge names, but you end up getting some guys who are good names with maybe a little bit of an injury history. Like, Hufanga, I think, at a point in like 2021, maybe that was the year that he played really well.

I can't remember. 22. 22. Yeah, that was his all pro season. It's all pro season. Yeah. He looked like he was going to be a 15-year-niner. Like, he just looked like he was the next, I don't want to do the Troy Palomalo thing, but that was the guy who was, like, training him.

And, you know, he had some of those elements in his game. But the injuries over the last couple years really knocked him down and knocked the, the future outlook down on him. And Drey Greenlaw, who I thought was the difference in the Super Bowl, ends up being one of those guys who has to go elsewhere. He ends up in Denver as well. So just if you're a Niners fan, this has to be one of those days that you can't even enjoy. They're like, yeah, but it could be exciting.

You know, we're going to change some things. And we have a quarterback of the future and all that stuff. Like, it's interesting. If you ask Niners fans who were cynical on the quarterback play over the last five, seven years, like, you know, would everything be okay if we had a franchise quarterback? Because they've always been in limbo, right? Like they felt like Jimmy G wasn't the guy, right? Well, now you've got a guy who you're getting ready to pay like a franchise quarterback.

Does it feel any better? Like, at the moment, I don't know that it feels any better. So what is it that's keeping San Francisco from getting over the home, over the last six, seven years? A lot of times it's just the way the playoff games have played out. a lot of times it's been quarterback play but now you've got your quarterback careful what you wish for you had to let half your team go all told uh 258 and a half million dollars signed in free agency from x 49ers crazy in the last 12 hours dudes got paid and most of them aren't going to have to deal with california taxes so pretty pretty impactful day for a lot of those gentlemen

So Rams, Niners, we got the NFC West there, the Texans. We talked about the big trade with the commanders. I thought the Bears did a great job. Shout out to IYC and Poles, who, you know, a lot of people took out some of the issues last year on probably the whole organization, but to me, that was going to be what it was. You were going to deal with a year like that.

We said it when you drafted Caleb Williams. It's not going to be all. sunshine and glory holes in Chicago, as Jerry Jones would put it. You know, like that kid was not quite ready, but I sure did like what I saw from him. You know, like we talked about it all year, the getting hit, the getting up off the turf, the tough situations where, you know, things aren't going your way. The end of game sequence on Thanksgiving, that had to be rock bottom for that whole team, the organization, they have to fire Iber flus, the whole thing.

But I think through it all, what you realize is you have a franchise quarterback. I do believe that. I think you finally got the guy that can pull the sword from the stone. And for Bears fans, they don't have to go through this whole running joke about Kyle Orton and Jason Campbell and Jay Cutler and yada, yada, yada, and the varying degrees of how close they've been to having the guy over the last 20, 25 years, however long it's been Rex Grossman, Super Bowl quarterback there, not a winner, but an appearer.

I think Caleb Williams is the guy. And I think that is why you're making the push. You also have a group in Ryan Poles and Ian Yates Cunningham who I think independent of the situation they're in and how you perceive that situation will be pushing hard to fortify this rookie quarterback or this second year quarterback. But they're also not like on the front end of their tenure. And I think being aggressive is to be expected with guys who last year, some people were saying, not me, but some people were saying, like, well, the GM's got to go too.

You know, like when things go wrong, eventually everybody in the building is in the crosshair. And so I think like them being aggressive is part of that, but I think it's just the right thing to do. Tuni from Kansas City, Dalman from Atlanta, Jonah Jackson from L.A. They've kind of put together an all-star group of interior alignment. You know, it's not the flashiest thing in the world.

And like if you're building a dream team in sports, like the least sexy subset of athletes is probably guards and centers. But they do have like a garden center dream team here. Right. Like they've got some good football players that they've accumulated. in just like a week or two period. And so the outlook for Caleb Williams is a lot better immediately. Not only that, on the defensive line, they had Grady Jarrett, who's a player I respect immensely,

who had a great career in Atlanta, who wants to finish on top, who's been close, man, like 283 game, all that stuff. He's been an Atlanta athlete for his entire career, like not exactly a factory of happiness. and now he heads to Chicago to see if he can turn that place around up front along with Montez Sweat and O'Daynbo from the Colts.

Am I saying that name right? Yeah. Dio O'Dangbo. I want to make sure we get this right because I think we're going to be saying his name a lot. You know, we set it a good amount in Indy. I thought he had a really nice year two years ago. And last year, the, you know, the numbers

weren't eye-popping, but, you know, I think most people can see, including Dennis Allen and the Bears, like, this kid can play. He's got great size. That's a Dennis Allen staple, having big physical guys up front. So in New Orleans, they had guys like Davenport. They got guys like Cam Jordan. They got guys like, you know, I think Anya Mata is like a, as a guy who's, who can move around a little bit, like, right? Like, they've got these big bodies, these big body types. I think Grannerson's a bigger guy. Like, it makes sense why Dennis Allen would want a bigger frame guy. And I think, honestly, like, where he was in indie last year with not a lot of past coverage

behind him, fractions of time, not in his favor. He's going to be playing in front of some really good corners on a fun defense across from Montez Sweat next to Grady Jarrett. I think that's exactly it, Chris. Like, we talk about this all the time on the show. a better as a D-N to rush opposite an elite guy or next to. And you have those things here now, though, with like Dio, you know, across from Montez, and now Montez next to Grady Jarrett.

So really good combinations there. Yeah. So actually, immediately this team got more physical. You think about who they play in a division with. They play in a division with Detroit. They play in a division with Green Bay. Very physical, right? Like, not leaving Minnesota out.

I think they're physical in a different kind of way. They're trying to add, look what they're doing. They added Hargrave. They added Jonathan Allen this morning, right? Like, Quasi's just going out and making his team. Adds Will Fry's up front. Like, they're trying to get big and physical there. They're trying to get big and physical in Chicago.

This is a physical division when you look at the other two teams. Like, we went to Green Bay in preseason. That's a big-ass team. Okay. So these teams are trying to get bigger, more physical, and protect this very special quarterback. I think he has a chance to be very special. Very special. Let me just, let me say special.

Very special. I need to leave some room for, you know, growth. If I want to call him, you know, like, what's better than very special? He's got a chance to be special in that. He's a guy that could be your quarterback for 10 years. Okay. So Colts. Talk about the Colts.

with the guys, you know, they just, a dangbo came from there. You know, Colts seemed to me when I woke up earlier this week to be like the most, I mean this with all due respect, like just kind of like, why are you here? Right. Like franchise right now. Like, what are you doing? You know, you're kind of in purgatory because you can't figure out like, damn, do we really fuck it up bad with this quarterback?

Is Richardson, is he that bad? or is he worth fighting for it for another year? Is he worth giving an honest try? Is he worth building around a little bit? I know one thing is like Chris Ballard, I'm a little bit surprised that he's there, and I don't mean that disrespectfully. I really like Chris.

He's been on the show, but like the temperature was so turned up on him last year. And frankly, like the whole organization, fans didn't seem happy. Media members didn't seem happy. Pat McAfee was getting into a spat with his team. Like that was how ugly the whole thing was last year. Over the last couple of years, they hired Jeff Saturday,

who I love, but like what, you know, wasn't a head football coach. They've just, and they've gone through every possible aging, Caucasian quarterback in the NFL that was on like his second or third act like they've tried it all Rivers Ryan Wence now they signed Daniel Jones like they have a fucking fetish at this point like honestly like I need to see your browsing history it's a bunch of statuesque 31 year old white men that could once throw a football um but I do like what they've done defense

I think Ballard's in go mode, dude, because like, again, borrowed time, like, hey, I'm maybe 20% surprised I have a job this year. I don't know. Like, I'm going to shoot. And I like the shots he's taken, you know, Ward, buying him in the secondary. That makes things a lot better. That was a big issue for them last year. I think, you know, good for Ward getting his money.

He's had a really hard year, you know, on and off the field. And then Bynum coming from Minnesota where, listen, Luana Rumo is going to be your D.C. Like, you're going to bring pressure. The defense is going to blitz. You're going to have to. I mean, it's not going to be vanilla. I'll put it that way. Right.

And so you want a guy that comes from a system like B-Flow is. Like, that's perfect. So I like those pickups. You know, it's funny. I just compliment the Colts and, you know, basically did a 90-second intro just shitting on him. but they got to do more, man. It just feels like they're the most middling team in the NFL. Yeah, and I think that kind of the chatter out of the Colts fan base yesterday

was excited to see Chris Ballard make some moves on day one of free agency. That's not really his history. But I think it is kind of a reflection of maybe where his positioning is as far as security goes, wanting to give Luan Rumo some new toys. but yeah, the offensive stuff has been really confounding. You know, you mentioned Will Fries. You know, they see him walk. And they also let Ryan Kelly walk, a center.

You have not only are you hoping maybe Anthony Richardson figures it out this year, but now you're going to bring in Daniel Jones too, and you let a veteran center walk, which is so important for a young QB. So really, really tough to figure on the offensive. It feels like maybe Daniel Jones is going to get some time this year. Oh, yeah, I think so. I mean, you know, like it almost feels like. inevitable because of the injury history with Anthony Richardson.

Yeah, what's more, one more injury to do it? Probably is like, hey, we're good here. Yeah. And, you know, he's going to have to pick his play up a good deal. I still think he's really talented. I'm pulling for the guy. I'm not closing the door yet on his development, but, you know, bringing in a Daniel Jones, like, hey, that's not a hollow threat.

That might be a hollow threat somewhere else, but like, Indy, we will play this old white motherfucker. Oh, yeah. We'll do it. We have done it in the past. we have done it the last five, seven years. Like, we will play this guy. Like, you know, all right, the stuff I love, like I mentioned the Patriots signings.

Like, I don't know about love, but like, hey, good for J.C. Horn, highest paid corner, highest paid defensive back of all time. 70 million guaranteed. And I like the Morig signing for them. The guy from Vegas who got a chance to show his stuff last year. one of the more physical guys in that secondary and looking forward to seeing him in a panthers uniform a group that's quietly building quietly building we'll see palmer to the bills Josh Palmer the bills I'm going to say it right now it's going to pay off he's get listen I think he's a very

underrated player that's an affordable option basically gives you another solid number two right like when you think about who who's your one who's your two who's your three, like, it seems to me like they're gunning for having a one in Keon Coleman, who showed flashes of being a one last year, and then adding, like, tremendous depth, whether it's Shakir, Palmer, Cooper. I mean, this guy might end up being Cooper's replacement, right? Like, you look at a guy who's a really good separator, good route runner. I don't think you get to show all this stuff in L.A.

I think we get to show a lot more of it with Josh Allen, the $300-plus million-dollar man. I can't wait to see him in a bill's uniform. I do think that ends up being impactful. And then Justin Fields, who heads to New York, like Jets fans, another strange twist in your quarterback history. It feels like another, like, we'll see deal for him. It would end up being $30 million, basically, 40 over two years, 30 guarantee is basically one-year deal? Yep, yeah, exactly.

For 30 million, not going to be. go to hell. That's what Shannon Sharp said. I think he was talking about New York. I think he was talking about New York's quarterback situation. And hey, Justin Fields to do it for less. He'd do over $30 million. He was in Dubai last night.

They had the sparklers out, him and his boys in Dubai, celebrating his deal. And he should with the New York Jets. You might as well celebrate because you never know what kind of year is going to be when you put the chin strap on and play quarterback for the New York Jets. Like, I have no idea how this is going to go, but, like, this is going to be entertaining. I'm a big fan of Aaron Glenn. Like, he made a big fan of me over this past year, especially.

And I love seeing him at the podium kind of operate. I think he's going to be a really sharp head coach. Is this a buy-a-year thing? Is this, hey, we're going to draft. the guy anyways thing is this uh you know we'll see we're taking a stab at this thing kind of deal i don't know but um i'm pulling for justin fields i am you know i'll i'll admit that young team in new york too brailyn allen 21 fashonu's 22 brees hall 23 wilson sauce both 24 mcdonalds 25 and then fields yeah and he's and fields gets paired with with wilson as his former college teammate too

so some pre-existing chemistry there that is cool yeah that is cool You know what I'd love to see them do? Just like quarterback run game. Yeah. Just like, you know, like just figure out a way to make, to differentiate yourself. Like, and I'm not talking about every once in a while. You got this guy for a year. You know, like, like put some wrinkles in that offense that makes it a bitch to deal with and prepare for.

Because if he's your quarterback, that has to be part of the deal. And you talk about the really good backs that they have. Right. I mean, they could be a physical football team if they work at it with Justin Fields, a quarterback. But that's going to involve the offensive line being very physical as well. So I don't know, like last thing left Steelers. That's where he just came from. Like, what are they doing? Like, first off, I don't know what scriptwriter pitched, D.K. Metcalf. And George Pickens in the same wide receiver room, hey, here's Van Jefferson. Hey, guys, calm down a little bit. Hey, guys, it's not that serious. Hey, chill out for a second.

Like, what are they hoping happens? Like, what do they think is going to happen in that room? Is this an experiment of some sort? Could be. Now I'm a fan, especially at George Piggins. And I think D.K. is immensely talented and is going to look cool as shit in that in that Steelers uniform. Like he's going to look like scary in that Steelers uniform.

But, you know, skill sets, I wouldn't say redundant, but both home run hitters, right? Like both home run hitters, you still got Mike Williams on the roster? Is that the case? Or is he free? you got van jefferson is calvin austin under contract i don't know like i don't know what what is going on because you don't have a quarterback currently that you really feel like is the qb of the future like russell is an option justin was an option he's no longer there erin rogers is it's starting to feel like there's two teams fighting over erin rogers the

giants in the in the in the in the steelers is is that what it kind of feels like yep as of today yep giants uh like hey you can throw the ball to malik neighbors it's going to be awesome and uh can you imagine pittsburgh with erin rogers d k mccaff and george pickens can you imagine him trying to take george pickens to sit in a dark room with him like how long george pickens would last in a dark room george figgins would fight his way out of the dark room. He would be he would be breaking windows,

punching invisible men. He would be flipping out to get out of that room. It's like that meme, you know, like Mike Tomlin's sitting there and he's like, God, why are you keeping me your toughest battles? And God's like, yeah, this one's,

this one's a little messed up. Yeah, this one's a little messed up, but also this one's a little tough. Mike Tomlin is the guy who, who's doing this to himself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a sadistic guy. Yeah, yeah.

God's like, you did this. Not me. I'm not doing this one. You're the one that keeps, like, they have a tradition of like, of just guys who seem to be a little tough to deal with. Yeah. Like embracing that challenge.

And so we'll see. Like, for the record, I think George Pickens has the chance to be. I mean, like, some people are going to be like, we know. And I'm like, a year ago when I told you that, You were all like, oh, I don't know about that. Now it's pretty clear to see the guy could be the best in the business.

I mean, he's got that kind of talent. I'm not saying he's there or anything close, but he's got a lot of talent. And D.K. Metcalf is pretty damn talented, too. But yeah, like, where are your other guys? Like your possession receivers, you know, it kind of feels like they're building. Remember when Brandon Staley used to say, I want like the Chicago Bulls? and he forgot to put like the fucking the Steve Kerr's out there with him. And he's just had a bunch of tall guys.

Like it kind of feels like we're going that direction where it's, hey, we've got these home run threats. Who's the quarterback? Not sure yet. Could be Rogers. Could be, I don't know who else. Like, could be. James Winston.

James Winston. Maybe a trade for Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins trade. You never know. Kirk Couss is not done. I don't think he wants to be done. Yeah, no, it's, it's, Steelers are becoming really good reality TV.

Yeah. And this year is going to be very interesting. I don't have a take. I just am wondering, like, fly on the wall. How did those conversations go? When somebody was like, hey, we should trade for D. I got an idea. We should trade for D.K. Metcalf, too.

And the wide receivers coach. asshole puckers he's like how am i going to control who's the wide receivers coaching jack is on zach azani joins the stealer staff from new york jess where he serves as a wide receivers coach in 2020 23 he has coached wide receivers for 26 years spending the last seven seasons coaching that group in the NFL with denver and chicago following 18 years of collegiate level for his lifetime of service he will be rewarded by being beaten up by two of his elite wide receivers in meetings at least once a week. When-

When- On the same page every Sunday. When the D.K. Metcalf tray was proposed, what did that look like? Zach Azani was the Popeye's lady meme. Oh, yeah. He just sat outside the meeting room like, holy shit.

Like, hey, I'm hoping they have a great year together. because I like the Steelers, I like George Pickens, I like D.K. McCaff. It's just the consumer in me cannot ignore the entertainment factor that comes with pairing these two together. What if they're just like the two, like best friends, just best friends? There's no, that's what they're just beat the shit out of like their secondary in OTAs and then every AFC North team. They just fucking harness their pictures.

It's like, finally, somebody who gets me. Yeah, right, right. Agents of chaos, dude. Total agents of chaos. Now, I think we might be, I think we might be laying it on a little thick for D.K. MacK., Macaf. Like, there were times where he seemed to freak out on the sideline,

but that's a pretty run-of-the-mill wide receiver thing. Right. I think George might be on another level. and maybe DK's the voice of reason. Prepare for that. So I don't know what you're doing in Pittsburgh, but boy, you're making an interesting and fun.

That's an hour around the league. Oh, one more big one. Dallas signed Trent Sieg to a three-year $4.45 million deal with $3.1 million in guarantees. They have their long snapper of the future. which I think is a pretty important deal when you plan on punting and kicking field goals

for most of the next couple years. I don't know, their offense might be pretty good. I don't know. Don't let Jerry cook. But yeah, this is Jerry cooking. This is Jerry cooking. You walk into a five-star Michelin restaurant. They get on the fucking

the habachi. They get the habachi set out and everything. And the guys flipping this. thing and pouring the fucking and he hands you a peanut butter sandwich because that's kind of what in Dallas is, dude. Yeah.

It's like, what are we doing here? So Dallas fans, I'm sorry you're dealing with this, but you do have a quality long snapper on the books. All right? I look them. Day one splash. It's not all suns

and gloriaos and free agency. Yeah, and then later in the week, we got a guest to talk about all this and more. Mina Times. I don't know if you've heard of her. She's only on everything. She's only one of the smartest people in football. I don't know if you've heard of her. She'll be here Thursday.

Talk to your boy, and that will be out Friday. So we are under a Tuesday, Friday cadence. I'm sure half the legal change teams again by next. or by the next podcast, and we'll pick up the piece and try to figure it out. So, um, enjoyed talking to you. I will get back to, um, my family vacation,

which, uh, I would rate five stars so far. What is up? It's the Butter King Dairy Expert. This episode of the Greenlight podcast is brought to you by Dea Pizza featuring dairy free cheese now made with Dea oat cream blend. Let's talk about Fomu.

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