NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2022 Free Agency Frenzy Day 2 with Patrick Claybon

Episode Date: March 15, 2022

A room filled with some heroes – Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Gregg Rosenthal and Patrick Claybon bring you more updates on the latest NFL free agency action. Deshaun Watson has met or will meet with 4 teams, Randy Gregory changed his mind, Marcus Williams agreed to a big contract with the Ravens, Russell Gage is joining Tom Brady in Tampa Bay, the Chiefs and Justin Reid agreed to terms while Frank Clark was restructured, the Jets made a number of quality moves, the Niners found a cornerback, Chase Winovich was traded from New England, and a ton more moves to discuss - plus we visit BOTH the Punter Punch Bowl Social and the Kicker Club. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast would rather take less than play on the Giants. From the Chris Wessling podcast studio, it's Around the NFL. NFL. Take less than play for the Giants. All right. Shots fight. That's true for me. It's like, oh, hey, we're the classy organization in New York. Hey, how about you win more than six games in a season? Eli beat you twice. Sir. Dan Hans is here. Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. Oh, and we have somebody

in the fourth chair, an old friend. Right before the show started, I said, if he has another son, name them shack it's Patrick Claibon that's yeah breaking news I'm out of context I will not we were discussing

the nature of our existence earlier and I currently right now we're sticking it too we're sticking it too well yeah your theory and it's a sound one

was you need to be rich for three that's why the three the three kid households have been diminishing or enjoy children that would help I mean I can confirm

that I do enjoy my children mostly but like I can confirm the second Sesslers will not be having a third child either if we're breaking that type of news. We believe you on that one, Mark. It just, it takes a lot of help. Like, it takes a lot of help.

It takes a village. Takes a village. And they've made villages increasingly expensive over the years. But Shaquille Claibon, you got to say. It's got a ring to it. Shaquille Hanses. Yeah, that would be interesting. I'll bring them in.

Shaq Hands. Yeah, I'll sit them down. Shack Hans. Jack Harrison and Shaquil. Let's talk day two of the legal tampering period. We're now inside 24. four hours before the league has its happy new year and all these contracts become official.

And what are you doing? Why are you throwing your arms up? You just were a remind, I forgot that. And I was like, the whole thing is stupid that the league year starts on Wednesday. Well, by the way, I honestly forgot about that. That's even a thing. And it's a common complaint.

We've been complaining about that for a long time. It is an incredibly dumb way to roll it out. We're just, because we'd like to get the details right. Right. For all intents and purposes, the league year began. Yeah. So it is, you know, it's not like people are reneging on deals from Monday on Wednesday, although we kind of had one happen today, and we're going to get to that around the Cowboys. I'm just saying lift the procession. But that's fine. We've got a whole other calendar year to go on the war path for that scenario. But it's all about things, right? You need a new thing, and Wednesday is our thing, right? It's like Monday was the opening of the window, and then the thing becomes another thing. We love things here. You need a thing. You have to have a thing.

The thing that I took away from the heart of the COVID-19 lockdown that will always stick with me. And God forbid, we end up back in a place ever again, is when you took away the things, the things to look forward to, this meet up with friends, this vacation, my family coming to visit, the start of this, opening day for baseball, when you took away the things and you were just in a world without anything to look forward to, that was to me.

as dark as it got mentally. You need structure. I mean, I think you do especially need structure, and I appreciate that. Wednesday. I don't know, because I take it back. I don't think everyone feels the same way as you do, but I respect what you're saying.

I just floating, you know, and weeks and then months passed, and I was like, I'm just untethered. Part of me enjoyed the, like, mapless chaos of it all for a bit of time. Right. And then it became just tedious. We all did when we were drinking and, you know, it's like, oh, isn't this cool? We're in our little bunkers.

Well, we don't need to go back. And you famously, Mark, have been looking for a world jolting event to happen since the start of this podcast. I think you've probably even mentioned pandemic in that mix at some point. And it happened eventually. I know, but don't peg me. Don't peg the Omicron and everything else. Yeah, it's like it's not my. Mark, with the death.

They were just saying we need something to jolt us out of our complacency. And it's happened. And 38 players, by the way, I just counted off my top one. have agreed to contracts in these first 24. That's the societal jolt that we're looking for. I like that structure. I like the list. I like that there are meetings happening.

I like that there are things in the world that are happening. And I hope they continue. I like being part of the world. Okay. Sue me, Sessler. Claybond. How does it feel, Patrick, to be here for Rosenthal season? The time of year where Greg is the man,

where this is his world and he's focused. Well, first of all, it's always the time of year where Greg is... Hey, Graver! That's true. Right here, buddy. Go ahead. What time, I'm doing? Greg.

But it's always, it's always Greg time. But as you said, then, specifically, right, free agency is when... There's a party behind the glass. We talk... Graver, get on the mic. Graver, I know we're working through this producer. Graver is learning quickly that this is not the shiny, you know... Don't blame...

Don't blame, you know, your co-workers. That's not a good... Let's hear it again. I wanted to hear that again. Can we hear it? What time is it? Greg? That was all teed up nicely.

And then I look at my producer, full-on conversation with Christy Stapleton behind the glass. We can, we don't have to, no one has to know that that happened. I mean, you tell us all sorts of things that people don't need to know. All right. Claibon, go ahead, buddy. Well, as previously stated, all time is Greg time. But Greg puts so much energy and attention into the game. of free agency and to having people know the things that you're hearing aren't necessarily the real

circumstance there's fake years tagged on to deals there's cap numbers that aren't the real cap numbers and that's where Greg excels that's what I'm saying and to be in the proximity of one Mr. Rosenthal during this time the glow is special to be in the glow the aura this is highly the smell this is highly uncomfortable but I have to admit what time is it Greg so loud I mean, that would get you fired up right before you're going to leave the locker room for free agency. I had that feeling a little bit.

I'm being real on Monday morning at my house. I'm just kind of going around, I'm writing things down, preparing. And I said to Emeka, I was like, ah, this stuff still really gets me going. No, I didn't say that. I was like, this stuff really gets me going. I still feel the juice on free agency morning.

When that juice leaves you. Oh, that's great, honey. She's like, no, she said you say that every year. You say that exact same thing. How many podcasts has she listened to? Zero. Never listened to her. She does listen to the Jesselnik and Rosenthal Vanity Project.

Well, that tells me a lot. Or at least she used to. Yeah. Because that's more like personal and not about football. I don't think the football aspect really is. I don't take that. I don't take that personally. It makes sense.

I don't love it. I don't love it. Now, let's get into it. Literally zero. Standing on the shoulder of giant. with Greg Rosenthal. Here we go. We're going to dig into the news.

Let's hit it, Graver. Team that wasn't as aggressive, but I think was a little prudent and doing things very deliberately were the New York Jets, Jets, Jets, Jets. Jets. Jets. Jets. Jets. I'm in, baby.

I'm in. Every year. I'm in. This is their time of year. There has not been one free agent period that you have not enjoyed. this year is different though there seems to be a there's a wisdom to the moves they're making it's not just drunk in sale or spending they're not doing the jaguars move it seems like

big joe knows what he's doing yes it only took him half a decade to get here but he's he's achieved that now i've been i've been hurt before but maybe this is different get to the jets in a little bit but uh well let's focus on your team sessler because you're hoping to shot Watson picks you. No, I'm not. Good sitch over there. Yeah, great sitch. Nishon Watson has a market here.

And let's go through the teams. Saints. Met with him. Met with them. Panthers. Met with him. Met with them. Emerging as a sleeper team.

The Falcons meeting coming. The Browns, a final. to land Watson according to reports. So the man facing 22 allegations of sexual assault has a very active trade market and seems to be in a situation when he's going to get to pick where he goes. We'll see if there's another team that emerges.

But right now, Patrick, we have a group, a bushel of teams that seem very eager to get into business with Watson. Yeah, it seems like the concerns that a lot of people share don't apply to a certain subset of teams who are willing to meet and discuss. And I understand because I've heard people like Steve Smith said on our air earlier this week, the teams want to go in there and look him in the eye and have a discussion. I'm not really sure what value that really has. I'm not sure how much investigation you're really doing, bringing somebody in and asking them questions.

But that's the direction they're going. And when you discuss the football player, he's going to improve all of those teams. The scenario is going to be better. But how is this received in a fan base? How do people appreciate that? We saw Mark's reaction. You know, Greg talked about it earlier this week, the reaction from Adam and Company down there in New Orleans. Not very good.

Just to the idea of the team pursuing the quarterback. Women that work for the team. in terms of it's it's tough it's tough to even reconcile that a team is going to do this at this time considering the circumstances that are out there so I don't even it's an obvious upgrade but what are we doing like collectively what we're just what are we doing here I wonder sometimes the cults wanted to talk to him as well that was shot down by the Texans because it's inside obviously the same division I guess notable that a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers did not. There are teams out there that have taken a different stance.

And I would just say personally, as a Browns fan, I mean, that team has put that fan base through so much for so long that if this is what you see as your avenue to becoming a Super Bowl contender, no, thank you. I just kind of feel it. Just the energy around it, everything that has to do with it. There's so much actually in Cleveland under Stefansky and others with their current coaching staff, where they've actually put such an emphasis on hiring female coaches, hiring female staff, changing the way that your organization looks, that this is a hard right turn in the other direction. From a football angle, it's super clear to me that we are getting closer and closer

by the day to Baker-Mayfield never playing another snap for the Browns. Because if this thing falls apart, and I don't think the Browns are the first in this race, I think he is the next piece to fall out of that roster. But in general, as a Browns fan, no interest in this. It's a weight. It's annoying and it's not worth the idea of winning, not with them. I am curious what these meetings are about because you want to talk to him. He's going to be such an important figure in your organization.

You want to see how this is moving forward. I guess one thing I would be looking for if you were a team was, are you going to be as vocally pushing back an unapologetic? about what's happened as you were in the tweet. Because I think that even for the most cynical team that doesn't care about what he is alleged to have done, you would think that that would make a difference. His agent's first tweet when he was not charged last week

was keep that same energy. Basically, like, if you came at us before, like, you know, you better be giving us credit now or you're not part of our team. And Watson certainly had a very confrontational attitude unapologetic when he was found. So if that's how he's going to be answering questions, he's going to have to answer questions eventually publicly and still make it as unapologetic as possible while he's battling these civil cases. I would think even the most cynical team would have some concerns with that because they have women that work for their organization that they presumably care about. They certainly care about.

you would think they're a fan base and then that would be part of the equation and that it does make me wonder is that why other teams are being floated to get into the mix? Because the part where he was comfortable enough to meet with the Saints and Panthers and we're doing a lot of speculating

but for that to happen there has been speculation in the league that maybe some loose trade terms have been kind of agreed to at that point and that he's kind of up for those teams so why do you have to meet with more teams Like, why is this still happening? It's hard to say because there's so little information

that's not coming out except for from the agent. In other news. All right. So this happens. It's not unprecedented, but it doesn't happen a lot. A player agrees to terms of the team during this legal tampering period. And then, whoops, changes his mind, goes elsewhere. And in this situation, it centers around Randy Gregory,

the talented past rusher, who has really, popped for the Cowboys in recent seasons. He had agreed to a deal to stay with Dallas. It went as far as the Cowboys' Twitter and social media announcing the deal. They had a whole article on the website, too. Someone pre-wrote that thing. A little pre-written article goes up. We know how that goes.

And then... He's tapping to Mark a lot. Do you remember that? He got popped a couple times. He was like, yeah, he got banged on the pre-written ones. Like the Jimmy G. Tape study thing where he was going to become their starter. and then, I don't know, break in New England or something.

Yeah, it was just like lost into the universe. So the deal of Dallas falls apart and quickly the Broncos close with Gregory on a five-year, $70 million contract, a great addition for Denver's defense. People that watch Gregory and watch the game look beyond just the stats, which are somewhat mundane and say this guy is a stud who will only get better as long as he could stay on the straight and arrow on the field and off the field. But Gregory now will be teamed up with Bradley Chubmark on that defense. So not only do you have Russell Wilson anchoring the offense, now Gregory becomes a major addition to the D.

The Broncos are cooking with grease. I kind of love this for Denver. Grease? Either one. Grease is not something you'd be cooking with as a core substance. I think it comes. Bacon grease? Yeah.

I mean, if you throw some grease on that fire, though, it's blowing up. So that's nice. I mean, it could amplify the scenario. You put a little mark a baking grease in your. scrambled eggs. I don't. I'm not the great, I'm not the first person on the panel

you should be discussing probably backdoor cooking, outdoor cooking. Mark hasn't eaten since 2017. I never actually thought about the phrase cooking with gas. Like you're putting the gas in the dish or are you utilizing gas to heat?

Gas stove. It's like in the grill and stuff or in the stove, yeah. People get all sensitive about like cooking with gas stoves too, but it's fine. By the way, cooking with grease is a thing according to several places,

including Urban Dictionary. I'm taking the win. Go ahead. Mark. Okay. Well, I love it for Denver. In fact, a couple weeks ago, I wrote a free agent fits.

And this was, I thought the Broncos were the one spot that Gregory really fit beyond Dallas. Because the cowboys, like, you nailed this one? I believe I nailed it. Yeah. Like I did. And how often, I don't often suggest that that occurs, but that it just like. That's kind of out of left field. I love that.

Well, they needed it. And like, they are, you know, they had the Von Miller void there. A big mark moment. It is a special time. But, like, Dallas, though, I know. It was worth writing this article, see? I guess it was. Dallas puts so much time and energy in this.

And I see a lot of people getting on Gregory for this switch here. But I don't really, I think it had to do with more contract stuff that he bumped on. I have no problem with it. Everyone that I've, like, that has been inside the Cowboys organization that talks about Randy Gregory, talks about someone who put a huge amount of effort into rehabbing. who they were and who they are, and they love them. And so from the risk angle, I think I don't, I'm not as caught up on the risk. I love it for Denver.

And they needed this. They absolutely needed it. Nice job, Mark. You know, Hackert must. I was thinking about the, I'm like thinking about the grease and the gas thing during all that. So it's like, what you know. Here's what it's a hackett must look for pass rushing help to juice up a front, still angling to fill a von Miller-sized void. Gregory's off-field issues and injury history making boom or bust, but his potential is juicy.

that was Mark Sessler a week ago. That was a good job. That was a great job. Crushing it. Now, he's never played more than 525 snaps in an NFL season. He's been eligible to play in the NFL since 2015. So that's concerning to me. That even last season when he was a total beast,

I would have had him in the mix for all pro or through the first seven, eight games of the season. He then got hurt. And when he came back, he wasn't the same impact guy. So he has not shown the ability to stay healthy throughout the course of the season. I don't think you can get on him, though, for changing his mind. Apparently, he didn't like the language in the contract that allowed the Cowboys to go after some of his money if he was fined or suspended by the league more. And they apparently put this in everyone's contract, but he was also taking less money to stay there.

I've thought about this Gregory thing a bit because on one hand, it's like, well, wouldn't it be a good place to stay Dallas? He's comfortable there. had all his issues he started and then i thought about it's like is dallas a good place to stay as a as a player like they've had their share of issues over the years as a culture including this offseason maybe it's better to start new uh and move on to denver listen i'm just saying they've allowed a lot in their in their in their in their front office and other things have happened there that are discouraging so maybe staying in dallas isn't like the best way to stay on the the street and arrows what i'm saying dallas is a spotlight scene

in this league. It is a great spot to get on prime time to get paid. Everybody looks good in a cowboy's helmet and uniform. I think it still has prestige

as a place to play. And they have, yes, there's always issues behind the seams of that organization it seems, but they've built a winner

again now. So that's a good team. For one year, for this year, yeah. I do feel like the Broncos are likely to be put on television a few times

this upcoming season as well. It'll be okay. And they also sign our guy, DJ Jones, who's really Nate Tice's guy. Remember you asked him to throw one name? A guy I had too low on the list. And I thought I had DJ Jones high, Adam 35. That's pretty good for like a rotational guy.

But they also signed him to a three-year, $30 million contract. So that is a nice-looking front. You got Chubb, you got Malik Reid, who I think's an underrated player, Draymont Jones is a pretty good. A lot of Jones is up there. DJJ, like, that's a nice looking group, pretty good, secondary. I'm a little concerned. You lose Vic Fangio as a play call.

but you got a lot of great defensive players. That is a good-looking roster. And don't forget about Josie Jewel. Brought him back. Two-year, $11 million contract. 16-game starter in 2020. Torres Peck blew out his season last year, but that guy could play. Should it not more of these teams?

I know this is not a list doesn't happen in the NFL because you need this like space after you get fired as a head coach, but it's like, can't, like, Vic Fonji, just plug him in as your defensive coordinator. It's less work. He's great at it. You've got all the right players for the scheme. Is it less work? To be a head coach, a defense coordinator of a head coach?

I think it's a lot of a ton of work. You're not taking all the blame. I'm saying just you've got to go move off into the new wilderness, but he's literally in a wilderness. He's not working right now. One thing I do like it, right, but he might be turning down jobs. I mean, he's also making money to do nothing, which sounds. They did hire a guy who I don't know a lot about,

Egero Evereux, who is also with Rams, who comes from the Fongio tree. So it's like they're not changing. He's got a tree now, too. He does. He kind of does. Brandon Staley's, the number. one member of his tree, I would say. So we count Staley as the Fangio tree and not the McVeigh tree?

I think he went to McVeigh after. Yes, because I think, well, first of all, he came to John Carroll and, like, had some great ideas there. But, yeah, because he kind of runs Fangio's principles on defense. He's giving out trees to anybody now. But it makes more sense. He's a defensive coach. His scheme is the one kind of blowing up around the league.

It's kind of, he's had some influence. It does make more sense. The Rams year got him more attention and then he got the job. He comes from the fruit of the Fangio tree. You know how you sometimes try to guess what I'm thinking, Dan? I'm guessing what you're thinking. And it's like, can we move on from this Fangio tree talk? I'm done with it.

No, you got that right. Marcus Williams, he gets paid. We knew it was happening. It's the Ravens that hand out the check. The former saint signs a five-year $70 million contract. Tom Pelliserro reported that the, The deal includes $37 million guaranteed former second round pick. Everybody seemed to want Marcus Williams,

and it's the Ravens who get him, Claibon. They get him at, I think, because Greg and I were talking about this, the price for Marcus Williams, it seems like I'm not sure what the circumstance is in New Orleans, where you have a pretty good player that you drafted that you could have kept, but he's out now and he's in Baltimore. And you offered him a lot. Like we were hearing extension offers that they were giving them. And it wasn't too different from the one he ended up taking.

You do wonder if they're a little distracted by the Watson thing right now and can't handle that business. And there are reports that Suran Armstead is kind of waiting to see how that circumstance shakes out before he makes his decision. And so there's a lot of moving parts there. But I think you can keep Marcus Williams. I think it's a huge win for Baltimore that they're able to get a guy who's got some experience. Of course, there was the one glaring play that people probably point out to when they say, No, Marcus Williams, but he's been fantastic ever since his rookie season in New Orleans, and it helps. And, you know, I'd like to see Baltimore continue.

Maybe they could make an offer to their top 10 quarterback. That sounds like a something. The Minneapolis miracle, Patrick refers to. He was a rookie. For those of you just joining us. Yeah, a great rookie season, too. He was just a bad play. But ever since that, he's continued to build his brand by playing great, staying healthy, and now he has a life-changing contract.

That's wanted him. People were in on him. Honey Badger was reportedly in the mix for the Ravens. So now he won't go there. That's a good-looking secondary. Baltimore very much believes in building back to front. And they got hurt last year, and it didn't work out. But they still have Marcus Peters.

They played Chuck Clark a lot of money. Now they paid Marcus Williams top-tier money. You have Marlon Humphrey, who's going to get the around the NFL podcast guest bump and have a big time season. Wasn't he going to look into the camera for you, Mark, when he does something good against the Browns and remember you? destroyed Cleveland with like a pick six he was going to strangely according to what we told him was it apologized to me yeah sorry mark you're just doing your job like with a note no like into the camera next time you break the brown's heart look into the camera and

apologize to mark it would be a big social media moment but the minute he left set he forgot about that promise he's going to do it but i don't think so this will be the number one free agent signing of anything we talk about let's uh wait what That's a bold statement. Absolutely, it will be. The Ravens don't get these things wrong. This will go down as the best signing by any. You sound like a man who's been hurt by this organization and expects to be hurt again.

I totally respect the way that they operate in free agency. And their secondary, you listed the names, is insane right now. Right. And Williams is one of those guys. The more you watch, the more tape, the bigger a Saints fan or coach you are, the more great things you hear about him as kind of the quarterback of the divan. And safeties have not gotten paid much in the last few years in free agency. It was nice to see one finally actually get it.

Quandre Diggs made a decent amount of money, too, from Seattle. But he got top-tier money, Marcus Williams. Hopefully they allow the guys to cover, and they're not constantly blitzing, and they can get somebody to get pressure up front. You've got this great secondary. Allow them to do their jobs. They don't really have a lot of guys up front now. Brandon Williams, Clayers, Campbell, Justin, Houston, all free agents.

Even by the standards of this show, this one feels like it's going to be a long one. Hey, Graver. We've got to go big early. There's not a lot of juice. Graver, again, just like yesterday, we're not telling you how to do your job. But when Mark comes in and says the safety signing is the greatest, what move of all time, what was it? It will be the greatest free agent signing of all this off season. I mean, he's doing that.

He's box office right now. With lines like that, we want to play that up on social. That's social media gold. Oh, yeah. I saw what you did yesterday with the social. You did a nice job. Credit to Randy made the little edit. Great job by Randy. You're right.

That was all me. They made him look funny. It was a whole thing. I thought you did an excellent job, and they built on it. I also liked the title you gave episode, Day 1, Free Agent Frenzy, Day 1, Cullen, This Guy Gets It. Well, he does. I'm just saying, when you're relaxing on the beach, maybe you come back with a clear mind to be titling episodes at that level, or maybe you just keep falling behind. Don't get on Dan's bad side.

Let's take a break. All right, we're back. We're back. And we keep moving on. Also in the news. Ooh, trade, the bucks. They have a hold of guard. They had a hold of guard because Ali Marpet retired.

And then who did they lose yesterday? Alex Capo went to the Bengals. Went to Cincinnati. So what do they do? They pulled the trigger on a trade with the Patriots. And Tommy is united with an old friend. So Shaq Mason goes from New England to Tampa Bay. in a trade.

The details of the trade are as follows. A fifth round pick goes back to New England. So the final two years of Mason's contract head to Tampa. So that fills a major need that I would imagine Greg sets Tom Brady a little bit of ease because he doesn't like pressure right up the middle. And I guess makes the Patriots a little bit weaker. You were shaking your head. Do you understand this move from New England's standpoint?

I think they're going to spend some money in free agency or else it really doesn't make sense because he's coming off a good year. He's more of a run blocker maybe than a past. He's made it all pro team. He was a PFF top five guard, Brandon the Thorne, who I love, who really just watches the tape. He's not worried about any PFF grade. He said he's a top five right guard in the league.

And I buy it. So why are you trading him for a fifth round pick with two years left on what seems like a reasonable deal? The only explanation is that Bill Belichick likes to get crazy. He likes to feel alive every now and then, and he just likes to shake things up. And I think they'll be spent. They don't have a lot of cap space.

You're going to trade my starting guard for a fifth round pick. I'm alive. Mike, our friend Burke, you know, sent the tweet, which sums up my feelings. In Bill we trust, L.O.L. This guy is a maniac. I mean, sometimes you can't really understand. Well, Burke also quit the Patriots to follow Tom Brady in the Tampa. Please, I've never heard of a non-patriots fan that's more obsessed than going up and down emotionally with every Patriots fan.

Give me a break. Just a couple years ago that wasn't right at the launch of free agency, Bill was photographed like jumping off the side of a small ship or a yacht into the sea on his vacation. So it's like, you know, he's a former Patriot staffer. So like the connection makes sense. Hey, I'll go help out Tom and Jason. Perhaps there's some sort of system where if a player meets a certain, there's an age, right, there's a salary, there's a percentage of the cap. and Bill says, this is it, no matter how good or how much sense this makes for the other trade partner, we have to do this.

No matter how talented you were, no matter how talented you were, if you hit the certain age, you're out of the band. What if Leo DiCaprio's dating life? That's a great example. What if Belichick, the bill, I don't recall this, but I take your word for it, the guy who jumped off the side of the ship and into the sea, you know, probably lost at sea. New England wanted to keep everything in order, so they just got a bell check doppelganger, plugged him in and nobody knows this is just like a fake Belichick. Well, it makes too much sense because within months, his quarterback probably discovered it wasn't.

We're not even sure that quarterback is the actual Tom Brady that, you know, wasn't doing the Disney land ride. Like it's Mike Lombardi dressed up as Bill Belichick. Right? Like, they don't have it. Like, the whole story in New England right now is like, we don't draft Mac Jones. There's no one on their coaching staff.

They've got like seven coaches total and about four people in their front office. It's just Bill like texting people. Who knows? But what if it's like that's how you accidentally. That was the body switch. What if their whole ethos is what would Bill do? Because Bill's lost at sea.

And then they just have to kind of guess what Belichick would do at this point. That would answer some questions. Why would we be so intent on hiding that Bill Belichick, you know, passed away in this scenario through drowning? Why hide that? Kind of an embarrassing way to go. From that angle. They're protecting his integrity.

Okay. He has been very up and down in his career, by the way, Shaq Mason. He's been injury prone, up and down. One year he's an all pro, another year he struggles. They saved $7 million. But it's not like they were, they sold high on them. They got a fifth round pick. So I want to see what's behind door number two.

Dave was the president, though. I can understand there was a little more, you know, he's the president of the Patriots. And now Dave is a 29-year-old movie starring Kevin Klein. But people that have seen Dave, which was a box office hit. Right. Was it? Oh, big did big business.

It did very well. Big numbers. It did around the NFL broadcast Fridays on NFL network numbers. Close to that. 92 million U.S. Oh, that's... Adjust that for inflation. And just it for inflation.

That's in 1993. It was a runaway rom-com hit. Hey, it's like they don't make movies like that anymore. You know, it's like a movie for adults. I once caught a fish. This big. Wait, the guy from the Bronx is like way into Dave, the rom-com. I don't know about that.

Doesn't totally... All right. In other news with the Buccaneers, they have signed Russell Gage, formerly of the Falcons, three years, $30 million. Is there just, I guess, is how it. it always is. But it seems, especially this year, all the guys that are wide receivers, everybody's signing for the same contracts, more or less, give a take, a couple million, but I guess that's how it works. No, you're right. There were a lot of defensive linemen who signed

that exact same contract. DJ Jones, Foley, Fatukasi, and BJ Hill, all the exact three for 30. All the tight ends are signing for eight or nine millions. And this is what Gage got. Yeah. And Gay, you know, Zay Jones is like, hey, agent, just tell them to give me 27 million. They're like, that won't work. And then the Jaggers was like, we'll do it. That's what everyone else is doing. Russell Gage anyway. So the Bucks add more wide receiver talent. He's pretty good player, I think, Patrick Claibon,

and now he's got Tom Brady throwing to him. So that's cool. I take him way before Zay Jones. Russell Gage on a offense that really had, like, pass Cordero, it was Russell Gage. That was the only thing that was working for this Falcons offense. And he had... Well, Pitts as well, but I know what you're saying.

Sometimes Pitts would disappear. and Gage was the guy that was stepping up. In terms of like the time that Matt Ryan had, there was very little to go around success-wise in Atlanta, but Russell Gage still put up 66 catches on 94 targets. And now he's going across the division. It's like you subtract from the Falcons. Wait, yeah, you stole it from an Atlanta team that had like two weapons to begin with.

It feels a little unfair, Robin Hoodish in reverse. But I think Tom Brady is his voice. A reverse Robin Hood. Right, well, kind of. Like he's signing players. Right. He's getting everything he wants. Capitalism.

That's fair. He had 600 plus yards, 50 catches, and three touchdowns just in the second half of the year. I can't remember a player that you didn't really have any thoughts about for most of their rookie contract that looked better than Justin Gage. I couldn't believe how good Russell Gage. I kept confused. I used to confuse him with Justin Gage, the other Titans guy. That's how much he sort of blended in. And he was incredible.

He reminds me a lot of Chris Godwin. He can play inside, he can play out, he can get open. The quality of the catches he made, he looked amazing. So it's kind of nice Chris Codwin insurance because I think they're very similar. And then when Godwin is healthy enough to play, oh, great, you got Chris Godwin and Chris Godwin light.

We can use them both. This will be fun. Right. When Antonio Brown went and kicked himself off the team. Similar style, too. That left a void, and this makes a lot of sense. I love that. Man, the bucks.

How much things can change in, you know, 72 hours, they went from a team that seemed to be completely rudderless to like, all right, this might be another NFC Super Bowl level team. On Fridays now we literally mentioned Mike Glennon five times. Wait, why? Exactly. That was my question.

But apparently. In what context? Apparently, he would hypothetically play football for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020. If it wasn't Blaine Gabbard. Oh, my gosh. Well, yeah. Yes. Playing Pickings.

You know, talking about whiplash. Signing the greatest quarterback of all time in my mind still, you know, playing that well we'll do that that's how important it is but it is crazy the players they've also gotten back we also talked about it when brady did his fugazi retirement and we were like man even though they you know they got two years out of it that was a huge win for the bucks like everything you could have wanted colin is staring at us through the glass i lost my train of thought everything you could have ever wanted the larger man that just passed by thought i was giving him a

thumbs up so we've got that going on it is day he's a big fan of the pie Maybe. It's going to tell people about that. But anyway, two years, you would have signed up for the Bucks. You got a title out of it. You were irrelevant. You won the NFC South. Now they're getting another year.

This all feels like bonus time now. I mean, they could be getting three more years for all we know at this point. They get 10 more years. All right. Now, the Chiefs, the team defeated by the Bucks in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. Let's talk about what they're up to. They signed Justin Reed, the safety formerly of the Texans, three years, $31.5 million. So that ends the Honey Badger era.

I wish I, man, I'd like to get a little more about the Honey Badger situation. I know he's known to freelance and could be a challenged defensive coordinators, but a guy who's known as like a champion, a great locker room guy, they let him walk. He's still, I know we're still early in the process, but he doesn't have a new team yet. Baltimore went in a different direction. Anyway, Justin Reed arrives as the replacement,

the number 68 overall pick in 2018. He's been a starter his whole time in Houston. Now, Greg, he joins the Chiefs upgrade, downgrade. What do you think? I love Justin Reed in this first two seasons of his career. He looked like a future all pro, one of the best young safeties in the league. This deal just makes me think that the rest of the NFL views whatever is happening in Houston as inconsequential. Because Justin Reed really struggled last year.

At one point, he also got suspended for breaking team rules by David Cully. And it was like, no, we don't mind. Whatever happened in Houston the last two years, Reed's kind of known as a very competitive leader type of guy who wants to win and he was frustrated. That was seen is dumb in real time. Right. Everybody was like, what?

That suspension did not check out. It was. And I think this is the best player on the team. Right. This is the chief saying like, we watched you, we know you're good. The team you are on is not good and we're going to not worry about it and give you top tier money. So that made sense to me. Chief's defensive end, Frank Clark, has agreed to a restructured contact.

contract to remain with Kansas City. This is a bit of a surprise, Mark. A lot of people thought Clark would be a casualty. Instead, he is still with the team, and they hope that he kind of turns it around because he's never quite lived up to the billing when he joined the team as a QB terrorizer. Right. He hasn't. He's also had injuries.

He had a felony gun charge that caused some fair disruption at one point. Right. I mean, he had a $26 million. cap hits. So it's, I think it's a win for the chiefs to get him back, but you can't get the same version of him. Do we trust that he's going to suddenly become three times better? I don't. This one mystified me until, you know, a capologist explained it. Basically, they were going to who was the capologist? It was Eric Eager on PFF. It was like a multi. He deserves the pop. I know. Well, it was like a couple different people. So it was tough. But essentially they were only I've been paying one more million dollars more to keep them

than it would have been to cut them anyways. So you consulted multiple capologists on Frank Clark's contract. It's Rosenthal season, baby. What time? If it was my season, I wouldn't need a capologist. I just saw a Twitter thread about it that made me think. Because Frank Clark stunk last year. And he was one of the richest defensive ends in the league.

I think he's only on this team because he had two. Rich and stinky. He had two sacks in the Super Bowl. ball, Jimmy G. So I think that's like, he's had some goodwill from that, but he hasn't played well. But it would have been almost equally expensive to cut him because that contract was so onerous that they gave him, essentially the best contract, almost any defensive end in the league got.

And so it's hard to cut guys off of that. And so if it's just as cheap to keep him, then you might as well keep him. I like it, Greg. In other news, Rams, left tackle, Andrew Whitworth. he gong retires after 16 seasons in the NFL that's how you want to go out you want to go out as a champ you want to go out as a left tackle who protected the quarterback who made the big drive at the end of the game and you get the trophy you have the cool trophy claibon the man of the year walter patent man so you get that you get a ring you get like what 180 million dollars however

much he made probably a ton because he was a left tackle of high esteem for many years even if he's stuck on Cincinnati for a while and now he walks hopefully he can walk and he'll do the thing i'm sure mark where he loses 100 pounds in six weeks and becomes a normal looking human again and goes on with the next phase of his life brothers whispers that he is interest in broadcasting and so he could do the joe thomas thing where he suddenly becomes like one of the hottest five people in america whispers i mean he's yeah i think he's going to be in the nfl broadcast boot camp One of the five hottest guys in America? I think Joe Tom, Joe Thomas, I would say this, like, from where, Joe Thomas, when he was, like, at his beefiest as a left tackle, to what he turned into, like, even in current, current, current hour, like, is a shocking.

But I have to say this. I'm going to say this for all the beefy guys out there. You just assume because he drops the weight, now he's more attractive. What about the whole community that liked him as a big and beefy version? That's why it's total eye of the beholder. you know, subjective scenario, but I do think that most would say that Joe Thomas post-playing career

like upped his game a little bit. I mean, he just looks like a warrior. So why am I still, you don't need to keep, why are they still discussing this? It's not good for his heart. A warrior. He had a job, and he catered his body to his job, and now he's got a different job.

Whatever body type Joe Thomas or anybody, Andrew Whitworth wants to have. Any body type is fine. Go for it. Live your dream. Hey, I was not saying that I am anti-other body types. I thought you were doing a little shaming there.

And I personally took events to it. I mean, it's like who's going for that? Nobody. So it's like I am able just to see what I think generally would be attractive in someone else. Andrew Whitworth made $107 million, according to Spotwreck. That's also attractive. Feels like it should have been more. Maybe.

It's a good football player for a long time. I think PFF, I don't want to give him too much credit, but I think they helped him get paid. I really do. He was like one of those guys that was number one in the PFF rankings year after year and people were like

huh, Andrew Whitworth this guy from Cincinnati and eventually he ended up getting that top tier money whose career finished any better than Andrew Whitworth getting Walter Payton Man of the Year award

with a rousing speech on Thursday and then winning the Super Bowl against your former team on Sunday and he might end up in the Hall of Fame for it and he had this beautiful moment with his kids

on the field after the game. That was Daddy's last football game. That's it. No more. I'm going to be home with you guys. Okay? I promise. I'm going to be a better dad.

I'm going to be around more. I'm going to coach the crap out of you, boys. We're going to have some fun. That's nice. Well learned. And you can hear it in his voice when Tom Brady was saying the same thing. He's like, I can't wait to be around you kids all the time now. You too, Giselle.

I'm going to have a great time around the house. Bleep, bloop. I can't wait to be around that wife of mind all the time. And he just never, in his voice, you could hear it. It wasn't genuine. You hear it, Andrew. He was ready to move. It's authentic.

He also got the mic drop moment at the parade where he called out the teams that said he was too old. Oh. It's like you get to do that. It's true. Kind of like Brady, he's helped change the expectations of what a 40-year-old tackle can do. They did sign Joe Notepo. We mentioned it yesterday on the show to tour. A nice, a nice replace.

I've got to find out who the oldest player in the league is now that Whitworth shut it down. Well, Tom Brady. Other than that. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's, that's, who is number two? Whitworth was too. Probably a kicker, like a punter. Is there a punter?

What about, uh, there's got to be a punter out there that is. Reggie Roeby. No, not Reggie Roeby, but I've got some, how about Nick Folk? Seriously that, that, I mean, other, I get Elway and Strayhan. I don't know. Are there two guys? Oh, Nick Folk is 36. I don't know.

What's up great? I was just saying Elway, Stray Han. are the two guys you think that, like, went out on top. But they didn't win Walter Payton Man of the Year two days before that. Oh, he won it this year? Yeah. He won it this year. It made the speech who was this great.

We talked about his incredible speech during our Super Bowl week. Is this a bit? No, I forgot. I don't know. But it's cool. It's cool that he won it. How about this? I don't know.

Maybe that's not as high up on my personal, like, radar. Like who won Walter Payton Man of the Year? I know it's important to the guys. That's cool, though. This is a good speech. Hey. Justin Colquitt, 39. There he is.

But you've also got a rash of individuals who are 39, but he was a punter. Are both Colquitts still around? You know, who's not still around with the Rams? Let's head to the, we know there's the kicker club. Let's head to the punter punch bowl mixer. Not as exciting the punch bowl mixer. A little old-fashioned, fuddy-duddy, you could call it.

But it's got its niche, and it's a nice little gymnasium. where they, you know, the hoops, they raise the hoops and then they, you know, they pull the bleachers back and open up the dance floor and, you know, the punters and their friends and significant others, they have a nice time together. Intimate. Yeah, it's intimate.

Johnny Hecker is no longer a member of the Rams, which is, I mean, if you're not paying attention to what's going on at the punter punch bowl mixer, this surprises you because Hecker has had an amazing, career and Bill Belichick once said he's godlike i don't remember what he said but he was very high on one of the greatest punters of all time one of the greatest punters of all time great passer so a weapon in the in the trick play game on fake punts but his game had fallen off in recent years and now we could see that the rams had decided to move on so i imagine um Greg that he'll have a

robust market because he's johnny hecker but the old westism is he more name than game at this point yeah i don't know I think he'll get another job. There's only 32. Have a robust mark. He was struggling. He was up and down in the playoffs, certainly. Those games we were at, did not have had some bad puns in the Super Bowl, too.

So I don't think he had a great year, but he will be remembered fondly. He was the longest tenured ram. My son has a number six jersey. It wasn't for Hecker. He was just six years old when he got the jersey, but I'm a little annoyed. That's cool. Because now it's been deemed irrelevant now. It's a throwback now.

we can look at it that way it's fair only 32 years old you would think oh he's 39 so he's falling off but no so maybe he's just in a little bit of a slump also the largest

punter you will ever see we've been at Rams games at the old Coliseum at SoFi and when he walks by you you're like there is no way that's the punter he looks like a linebacker or a quarterback

well he would look different than everyone else at that around that punch bowl he's going to be a little look a little more intimidated he's an alpha he's got a great arm too oh that's true

he made a lot of big place and right now are you body shaming people for height because he's taller all of a sudden. No, I'm saying he's a striking presence as a punter. Based on what? Based on what? Based on his physical body. Not because he's five

foot two, right? No, he's... Mark's not happy. He's large. He turned this on him before. Do you see how quickly you fell into the same trap? I don't quite, I know where you're going, but I don't totally follow. I know where I've gone. Sorry, Patrick. Why do you apologize to me? I think

there's going to be a bones fossil and Johnny Hecker reunion in Dallas. Oh, they think that's going to happen. They do need a... Oh, good one. They do need a dot connect, bro. A punter. Brian Anger, one of the only

punters in the history of the top 101 is on there. Cowboys punter, maybe the best punter in the league last year out of nowhere. He's a free agent. One little tidbit. Yes. From behind the glass, Randy offered this. Jason Peters, age 40.

He has Dustin Colquette beat by about, it looks like a, well, less than a year. Hang in there, Jason. You can do this. Got to find another job, though. We're not going to come back with any more updates, but I didn't want it. Randy came in. He absolutely did.

And saved the day. He's just passed Randy McMichael on the all-time NFL Randy Power Rankings. Bullock is next. Not a lot of competition there. Yeah, who we got? We got McMichael, Bullock. Got Moss 1. Oh, yeah.

That was a bad job by me. Chavez? I mean, that's going to take you a while. It's going to take a while to get there. I mean, catching Randy Moss is going to be tough. But it doesn't mean you can't. Keep doing what you're doing, though. Keep doing things like that.

And in about 17 or 18 years, you'll be there. It's about cumulative effort. Before we take a break, it's time now for news and notes presented by Upwork, where you can build the team that will build your business, learn more at Upwork. I'm giving the Jacksonville Jaguars the Upwork treatment because they've been insane in terms of their moves. We talked about all the different acquisitions yesterday as they essentially are looking to do a reboot and saying take two with Trevor Lawrence

after the abject disaster of Urban Meyer and the 2021 season. So anyway, here's the update around the Jaguars. They release Miles Jack, who was a big-time player for them once upon a time, but has fallen off a bit, and now at 26 years old, he hits the open market.

They also have re-signed Terry Garvey. Godwin, the wide receiver, but there was another move, I believe, Greg. You want to help me out with this one? Zay Jones. Zay Jones, yes, the aforementioned, Zay Jones gets a lot of money for a Raiders wide receiver that had not done much. Did we talk about Jay Jones yesterday? I mean, you brought it up earlier just as a joke, but it was the most mystifying contract

thus far, I would say, in free agents. Did we bring up Zay Jones yesterday? No. It happened after. No, it happened last night. I was at home when I saw the contract, and normally I wouldn't, you know, I'm not going to be kind of druming. It seemed LSD-based.

I'll always remember where I was in bed watching some great tennis action at Indian Wells when I learned at the Zay Jones contract and thought it was a misprint. It was like, what? 24 million for a guy who hadn't had a 100-yard game in about 80-plus games until late last year? It was very strange. You love that event. I do. You go every year.

I try to. I was there on Saturday. and met up with our old friend, the Goldstander. Oh, the gold standard. Zach Goldman. And, yeah, if I could just sit and watch live tennis all day, every day for like a week straight, that sounds like a fun. Now, I know this is not Courts of Thunder, but since that Vanity podcast is in hiatus,

I must ask you, were you there? Were you there for the Naomi Osaka incident? No. Me and Walker went, so we just, we left around. 6 p.m. We did not hit the night session. So you were not the heckler. It was a long day

in hot weather. Good, good, good. All right, so the Jaguar is very busy. Are they going to be better? I don't know, Claybond, have they gotten better the last two days? I think the Jags have gotten better. Was the expenditure worth it in terms of Zay Jones and Evan Ingram? I think the Ingram contract's fine.

The Zay Jones one calls us some questions, but spend the money. I don't care. It's not my money. People get really like about It's like, oh, they need to manage the cap and you have to spend here. I think there are a better football team, which is the goal. I'd like that they're trying to win games. I think they could have spent the money more wisely. But I do think they have improved.

It's like the Patriots theory last year. It's like even if some of those signings didn't work out and some did, some didn't, they just needed players that could play. And the Jaguars certainly were that. It's just their mix of receivers. for Trevor Lawrence. For instance, DJ Shark went to Detroit for one for 10. It's like, is Zay Jones an upgrade from DJ Shark?

I don't think so. The collection of players, Zay Jones, Marvin Jones, Christian Kirk, Evan Ingram, and a running back, it's like Robinson and E.T.N. I mean, that's still a pretty poor group overall. It's not shockingly different than what they floundered a year ago. Well, Doug Peterson is studying the tape. Obviously, he wasn't there last year, and he made decisions on the water seed. You're county on coaching.

Yeah, they wanted a reboot and we'll see if it works. That was news and notes presented by Upwork, the world's work marketplace. Learn more at Upwork.com. We'll take a break. Hopefully you'll get one of those Patrick Claibon-Kindrell ads because nobody reads a kindrel ad like Claibon. Cross your fingers. We'll be right back.

Great job, Claibon. It was one of my favorites. Just taking a shot. Awesome read there, Pat. I once heard you, Dan, and Daniel Jeremiah reading Kindrell ads back to back, which was good because I was kind of not totally focused on the first ad, and I caught some of what I missed the second time. That's mission critical right there.

That's how you do advertising, by the way. I demanded it in my contract of $0.00 for the ad reads to do back-to-back ads, to make sure that the message was getting through to the populace. You care about the consumer. I care about the advertiser. Them also. First and foremost. Let's talk the Jets who are very busy.

My goodness, I like everything they've done so far. The latest news, they signed safety. Jordan Whitehead formerly of the Bucks to a two-year, 14 and a half million dollar contract. You know one thing that I always watch and you're studying, you know, tweet decks up while you're getting ready for the show, when a move like this happens and Jordan Whitehawk goes to the Jets. I see the beat writer's, like, quote, retweeting the sign of, like,

ouch, oh, this one's going to hurt the bucks. Oh, they're going to, this one pains them to see him get away. I'm like, yes, one of the great, like, Twitter moments and something like that happened. So they absolutely needed to replace Marcus May, who's a free agent coming off an Achilles tear. And he'll join Ashton Davis at safety as it stands. It could be in the business to add another safety. We'll see. So that's a nice signing.

They also add to their office. We talked about they made some moves yesterday. C.J. Ozama, formerly of the Cincinnati Bengals, joins the Jets on a three-year, $24 million contract. There it is again, that eight or nine million. A lot of these tight ends getting that. The tag was right around 10. So I liked what we saw from Uzama last year.

And the Jets have been in desperate need of somebody who can catch the ball and make plays at tight end. So that addresses that need on some level. They also Resigned Braxton Berrios Which I think we hit on Tevin Coleman as well So the Jets been very busy

Not making huge splash moves Greg but making moves that are addressing Like Jacksonville, a roster that is barren But I just like the way they're going about it With Joe Douglas right now I like Jordan Whitehead He improved every season Basically didn't miss a snap

The last three years I think if you just watch those two playoff games this year It's a small sample. He was probably the best player in their secondary in those two games. Made a lot of big plays, good tackler. They were in on Marcus Williams, and Marcus Williams would have been nice. Whitehead's a very different player.

You know, he's got to make more plays against a run. But for the money, I think it makes sense. I think it worked out well. They just need to add quality starters. Uzama, big locker room guy, too. You're hearing that with a lot of these games. Maybe not a huge playmaker. And Barrios, too.

And DJ Reed, a cornerback of the Seahawks, signs three. years 33 million as well. So I, listen, this time it's different. Maybe this year's different. That DJ Reed. Maybe this year will be better than the last. Well, it can't be a whole lot where Sala knows how to coach up the secondary individual. So I like the vibe.

Right. He was there when DJ Reed was drafted, I believe, by the 49ers made very little impact as like a fifth round pick there, then went to Seattle and was awesome. That's one of those things. If he was a first round pick and he put together the, year and a half that he just put together and he's not a tall guy he might be like five nine or something like he would have gotten double the money just based off draft pedigree he was great for seattle uh the last year and a half you just i mean just the law of averages at a certain point they're gonna hit on a mix

of players that makes them relevant again but uh i mean the listen the zach wilson thing cannot be understood he needs to take a significant step forward so i would think that their next move whether it's the draft or maybe an Alan Robinson, you've got to add more around the kid. But we're very close to me feeling legitimately spicy about the jets. Offensive line, new red zone target. Draft brings wide receivers. I mean, it's never a great sign as a fan base

when you're leaning hard into the law of averages will bring us back around. But you're not wrong. Eventually, it's going to work. I mean, the Cincinnati Bengals were three plays away from winning the Super Bowl this year. Anything's possible. We mentioned, here's the lines.

You mentioned DJ Shark. He goes from the Jags to Detroit on a one-year $10 million contract. Obviously, they need to build more playmakers out around Jared Goff to give them a chance on offense. I'm not saying Shark is the answer, but he's had his moments. They also add to their defense, Charles Harris, the former first round pick, is resigned to a two-year $14 million contract. He had a nice season for them last year, a career high, seven and a half sacks, 10 tackles for loss. so they say we're keeping that guy in our building. Nice move.

All right. In other Midwestern news, the Bears have lost James Daniels. The guard has signed with the Steelers on a three-year, $26.5 million pact. So a day after Mitch Trubisky signs with Pittsburgh, they add to their offensive line. They also agreed to terms with Senator Mason Cole, formerly of the Vikings, on a three-year deal. And Patrick, it goes without saying that Ben Rothesberger was shot last year and maybe in the last two years. But it didn't do many favors that the offensive line was well below average. So they're addressing that.

They've addressed quarterback. We'll see if these guys can play the guitar. And it seems like an admission that the much discussed, nice air guitar there. Thank you. The much discussed offensive line overhaul of 2021 did not go as planned. No. All that Najee accomplished he did in the face of tremendous adversity. And so you like to see it.

You like to see teams that admit that, hey, this did not work out. The plan did not work out. The players did not work out. And we're coming at a different end. It reminds me of the Bengals a little bit. Yeah. And I like what Pittsburgh did. I mean, they've added three offense blind.

James Daniels got a decent amount of money. He was solid for the Bears. A young player who's played a lot. He also signed Mason Cole. I think you mentioned they just needed upgrades. I was talking with our guy Nate Tice about this. This is where I do think it makes sense. Like, what's the difference between these guys and a Lake and Tomlinson who got top shelf money?

Or some of the guys that got huge dollars. I like what the Giants have done. They added John Feliciano from Buffalo. And who else did they add? I'm forgetting right now. Another guard. Right. Who can play?

Who's sought. Like, the difference in these guards feels like it's not a huge. amount if you can coach them up between like the middle to lower guys you just need guys the giants didn't have guys the Steelers didn't have guys they got some guys in other news

trade alert spicy spicy spicy sizzler you got I think this is Wes's boy somebody's boy Chase Winnovich we all like this guy he did he did fall hard for chase but I was into him too that preseason where he like dominated the browns

have acquired linebacker Chase Winovich from the Patriots in exchange for linebacker Mack Wilson so there you go a little linebacker for linebacker swap you get a handsome fair-haired Winnevich and I know that means a lot to you Mark Winnevich thank you for saying that 11 sacks

and 19 and 20 and then he you know wasn't used the same way they don't have Jadavian Clowney they don't have Tack McKinley and so they're looking for past rushing help and I think that they're not done on that front Mac Wilson is from Alabama, very hard working player who I think is, Wes and I also talked about Mac Wilson's because there would be moments where you could see it

and then it would go away. And so I think he will actually fit well with the Patriots. Widowich, I don't understand. He always seemed like he was a really good pass rusher and he was always on Bill Belichick's bad list. Well, maybe he's a malcontent. I kind of like that. Yeah, they would be honking a little bit.

But I don't know why. It's like they needed a pass pressure. They never played him. I was reading some, like, tweet replies to one of the Pat's beat reporters when they announced it. And apparently he kind of got on the bad side of some people by being way out front, like doing a ton of commercials and off the field ventures. Who cares? I'm not saying, like, that's why he got on Belchick's bad side. It wouldn't surprise me.

I'm just connecting some dots. Why would people on Twitter care about that? Right. It's like, oh, yeah, get him out of here. He likes to do commercials and make money on the side. Because don't you think Patriots fans have become like so indoctrinated? There's such Belichikites. So like we also don't agree with that culture.

Don't promote yourself. We've got to bury this thing that like the Patriot way is to be a certain way and have like it's it's to execute and have and have good players. But they do have their they do have their types. I mean their their free agency has been almost comical. They bring back Matthew Slater who you always got to bring back one of the great special teamers of all the time. I think he's 63 now. James White brought him back. Nick Folk brought him back.

Kirk Ferrence's son brought him back. It's just like a bunch of guys that Belichick likes to have around. They're going to learn this eventually. But here's the dirty little secret. Like the Patriot Way worked because Tom Brady was their quarterback. And Tom is on TV every second. And they change. You know, they did make the playoffs last year here with a rookie quarterback.

That's hard to do. Tom Brady, by the way, you know, famously unretired yesterday. or Sunday, you remember that. Are we cycling back into yesterday's wee news items? We are because I have something to mention about. I forgot earlier. And it was brought up. I've heard from some listeners today on Tuesday's First Things First, hosted by Nick Wright.

I'm a fan of. And I got brought up on, apparently, as part of this show. Oh, great. Come on. Oh, no, I know. The idea that he was bullied. You got to subscribe to more. Greg Rosenthal.

Boston Media. That was talking about Tom Brady. Wait, can you play that again? It was talking about how Tom Brady's dad. That's how he said your name. Tom Brady's dad essentially was saying that Tom Brady got bullied into retiring by the media. That like the media was reporting this stuff. And so then he literally said that he was bullied into retiring.

Let's play that again. Come on. Oh, no, I know. The idea that he was bullied. You got to subscribe to more. Like Greg Rosenthal. Boston media. You are a bully.

Nick was like, who is like the least intimidating member of the NFL media I could possibly think of. Were you linked into Boston media there? Is that the, is that what happened? No, I think the second guy said Boston media maybe. You know, that the media was reporting this. And he was just using me as a person who could represent any and all NFL media. I feel like there would have to be some more connection than that. He also threw an Ian Rappaport and Tompillar.

Let's hear that one too. You got that one too. I didn't want to give them credit. Later on, he also did that. Oh, my half a billionaire, one of the world's most famous people's son, greatest football player ever, got bullied by Ian Rappaport. You won't imagine how hard it was for him. He didn't want to retire, but Tom Pellasaro released a report,

and he had no choice. Get out of here. What are these idiots talking about? Pellarro takes two sabers to the neck on that. Yikes. What is that how are they talking about? Because the father is saying that, like, the icon said that Tom Brady would be, because Joel did unretire because media, nobody's, the way he's sort of saying their names is that they're not. It's like he was so, you know, intimidated or pushed into retiring because all these places were reporting it.

Not that I was reporting it. It is a preposterous idea. We literally have celebrated the man's birthday on air every single year. He breathlessly report every venture he undertakes, including movies, commercials. It's nonstop. Nobody has any power over Tom Brady. Why would Tom Brady's dad, like I also think it's nonsense, but why would Tom Brady's dad cook that up at a thin air

and tell the radio station? That was aggressive by Claybaw on there. That was like a cesslerian right there. Why would Tom Brady's dad just cook that up out of thin air? I'm not saying I believe it's. Why even say it, though? Maybe Tom Brady's dad's the one who's, you know. Love you, Tom.

I love Tom Brady. Love you, bro. Jezzo, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. Every day, every hour, every week. I mean, we were on that beat the minute it was announced that he was... He didn't even miss an OTA practice. He never even filed the paperwork. Yeah, but the minute you saw that...

What a month. It was that beach photo. You knew that was not working. He was so worried about the buck and... First of all, you realized he couldn't get out of there, and then he was so worried that they could have any sort of competitive disadvantage in terms of not keeping these guys that his boys were about to leave, Ryan Jensen and he couldn't make signings that he had to get it done quick.

Since we're bringing up the Patriots, let's just touch on two other moves. They made. They re-sign Nick Folk to a two-year, $5 million contract. He's been a real steady guy. He's 37 years old, Mark. I know you were really anchoring for that age data on Folk. He's going to turn 38 in November. So that's for you.

Thank you. He looks great for his age. He's been very good for the Pats. He's a journeyman. of all journeymen. And then James White, former Super Bowl hero, re-signed a two-year $5 million contract.

So he ain't going nowhere, and he will continue to share a backfield with Damien Harris, remandre Stevenson. Oh, now I'm remembering. I was kind of an annoying fantasy backfield last year. For you, yes, you had Damien Harris. But Damien, yeah, he stepped up in fantasy playoffs. That guy's a player.

He's the best player in that backfield. Just hold on to the ball. I like Stevenson. Well, I think he's, going to become a bigger factor. Well, there were waves. Last season was funny, if you were tracking that backfield closely, it was like, Damien Harris season. I was like, this guy's unbelievable. And then he got hurt,

and Ramandre Stevenson had like 130-yard game. It was like, this is the true stud of this backfield. Oh, yeah. And then Damian Harris is by the end of the season is scoring four touchdowns a week in the regular season. It was like, okay. Then like Brandon Bolden comes in and, you know, spoils your Sunday. I think the fantasy issue with the Patriots backfield is more about how the Patriots handle injuries. than the actual...

This is the host, by the way, of NFL Fantasy Live on NFL Network. So do you want to get in? I know what they're doing with the network coverage this week. It's like, oh, we're going to throw it to Adam Rank. Here we go. Let's get the whole crew in there. Michael F. Florio.

Get Florio in the mix. How about Patrick Claibon now? Give us a little fantasy spin. That's it. That's the total spin. It's also my job to just throw it to those guys and then them do it. I just think, because people think that there's some, oh, it's the team, and it's Belichick.

We never know how they're, we don't know because, like, we just don't know who's going to play. They need another. Yeah, this guy had a torn face for the whole season. They need another receiver. A torn face. I hope that's where that shake, Matt Mason money is going, Shaq Mason. Now, next time Marcus Grant saying to you, like, no, man, you're just the host that don't say anything. No, I, send him the footage of you saying he has a torn face.

That's it. Well, we didn't have that information. That's new information. Face. Hey, Torr's face. The whole thing. It's face off. Torr's face off.

Face off. Which I'm sure the box office numbers for face off. Much better. Very good. Better than Dave? Yes. I would guarantee it. I would guarantee it.

Well, now we're moving the goal post. 245 million. Yeah, I mean, it was a massive hit. We're moving the goalpost now. Right. It went from Dave was a bomb to now it has to beat face off, which was peak Travolta Cage. I never said it. I never said it.

Dave was a wonderful surprise for the story. studio i think surprise hit for the studio yeah middling travolta broken arrow 96 got a moneymaker's like why don't they make movies for that like that anymore it's like who is this guy you know it's like uh maybe i don't want to watch superhero it's just like a mid budget movie i like this guy this guy exists uh all right uh let's finish this up it's time to go uh i tried to bang out that patriots news for you before but you know i think we're we're good. No, we're good.

Anything else is boring. The 49ers have signed cornerback Charverius Ward, formerly of the Chiefs. Three years, $42 million. So that's a nice signing for the Nainers, right? It's one of those guys that it's, any time you watch him, like, well, this guy seems really good. And then PFF grades him really highly, and yet no one never kind of mentioned him as one of the better cornerbacks in the league.

But 10FL teams, no, they watched it. And they paid him like one of the better cornerbacks in the league. They have a young secondary. Emmanuel Mosley, 25, Ambrie Thomas, who was very hot and cold last year. But again, I trust that defense to coach those guys up, that system. Ambrie Thomas was a third rounder a year ago, so it's going to be 22, 23. You're our age beat reporter on today's episode. I know, but I'm looking, I have been, I did a lot of my research on the oldest players.

Now you're asking me on someone on the other. I didn't know, like, if you have all-bases coverage in the age game right now, but I'm learning for it. I'll find out for you. I'll find out for you while you discuss the next thing you discuss. All right, we got one more thing to discuss, and we took a trip to the, the local high school gymnasium, the Puncher Punch Club Punch Bowl mixer. Now we're going to go to the kicker club.

This is where the cool people hang out. This is the buzzy. This is the get behind the velvet ropes. Join us. Because you know who's popping bottles? Young Way Cool. Five years. kickers don't get five years

24.25 million dollars 11 and a half guaranteed know it's better than a million dollars a billion dollars that's what Justin Tucker gets on his next deal but who will take this locked up through his age 32 season

second highest paid kicker in the league trailing only the aforementioned Justin Tucker who's making five and it should be 10 and I'm literally not joking that's how valuable he is to his team and he is a one of one wait justin tucker only makes only makes five million dollars a year five million that seems absurd to me seems like an opportunity to exploit yeah that's that's a little crazy if you if you really think of it no offense to folly fat to cassi who i liked a lot uh but the fact that uh fatacasi is making double

what i'm saying that's pretty crazy it's unjust Tucker is a guy who actually creates points with his feet and he does it at a level that we've never seen before. All right. Anyway, he needs to hold out and change, you know, do it. Change the game. He needs to be like Levion Bell for running backs except more effective in terms of changing the market. You know how Labian Bell said he was doing it for the running backs. Tucker's just got to sit out until he gets more money.

He should hire. It doesn't matter. It was the unselfish nature of that Levian Bell holdout that always stood. You know, that stuck with me the most. He should hire, like, O'Dell's dad and put together just like a clip of all the other kickers in Raven's history, sucking. Left. Like Matt Stover was an excellent kicker, by the way.

Oh, oh, sorry. Well, no. That was the last Cleveland Brown's kicker before they moved. Well, legendary figure, obviously. It's been a fine tradition. It's been an excellent tradition, Ravens kickers. Ambrie Thomas, by the way. 22 years old.

Listen to this factoid. born on 9, 99. Oh, there it is. Matt Stover's 54, by the way. Makes sense. He was kicking in the 90s and, you know, early aughts. Patriots will have them in for a tryout later. Anyway, Koo was awesome last year, 87 or 94.

87, 94 in the past three years. And makes all his extra points. 13 of 14 from 50 plus. So he is. When we watched how he did his business up close, Five feet away. We were standing on the sidelines right next to Koo. In London, right.

In London. And we were impressed at the intensity and how seriously he took his job. Not like we wouldn't think it, but it's a raging intensity throughout the game. Also converted multiple onside kicks in the deadball onside kick era as well. He's right. Shout out to Koo. Versatile. Strong guy, too.

You know. That lifts weights. Oh, yeah. Very thick in the legs. He actually, he does the thing where he cuts. the bottom of the pants to he needs those thighs to breathe nice move you only get that insight when you are down on the field right that's good literally once good note we wish you were there mark it should be said that mark due to health uh issues was not able to join us in london wasn't the

same without you and we understand uh bringing up young way coos thighs gives you a little fomo and i apologize it gives me motivation to get back to london or at least to a falcons game Fair enough. Patrick, you've said it all. Thanks. You've come here and this is a big show to be on. I mean, we don't just hand out the golden ticket to be on the legal tampering period episode unless we know the guy has the goods.

Patrick was on last year's free agency frenzy. That tells you everything. I said, hot damn. It's just stacking wins over here. It's good research by the Gravedigger too. Hey, Grave Digger. And another really strong episode from you. I mean, there's just no other way.

around it. Thanks. And, you know, life is good on a beach during the biggest week of the off season. But what's more fulfilling being behind the glass? Certainly maybe smarter from a career standpoint. I'll leave it there. Let's see. The top 10 free agents available.

Tron Arbsted at number one on Greg's list. Still out there. Von Miller. Number three is still out there. Cowboys sniffing around, supposedly. We'll see. Von Miller has a, I believe, a ranch outside of Dallas or in Texas.

I'm trying to figure out your list here. It goes from one to three. So they're just pulling it out. They're taking players that were signed and putting them at the bottom. So Chandler Jones, out of the original rankings. I kind of like it because you see

where their original ranking is. Okay, so Tehran number one, Von Miller three. Chandler Jones, a little surprise. He has not found a team yet, but it's still early. A lot of people were doing work for his agent over the building.

up to the start of free agency, but generally when a player doesn't sign now through, what is it, 36 hours almost, it's a sign that that was some phony stuff. If you had the money that he wanted, he would have signed by now. Not that he's not going to get a great deal, but he's not getting the deal that was expected and maybe people were promising. Honeybadger is out there at six, Alan Robinson out there. He was eight on Greg's list. That's the top 10 remaining players. Also, notable players in the top 20. Odell, that feels like it's going to happen with the Rams, but we don't know.

Stefan Gilmore, Dwayne Brown, Winston, Wagner, Clowny, Zedarius Smith, and Collias Campbell. Some Gilmore to the Jets talk. It feels like the Jets are in a lot of these, just like being involved in the negotiation, so you don't know how serious it is, but some Gilmore Jets chatter.

Also, I know it. I believe Rich Semeni said that that is not a target for the Jeps, but I noted that Jordan White head is a cousin of Dorel Rivas. So how about that? Oh, okay. Enough time has passed where my frustration and anger towards Dorel's second time with the Jets has passed.

And I want him to be a part of the Jets family forever. So I'm happy to hear that. That's very nice of you. It's a big step to allow Dorel Rivas access to the... Well, I mean, listen, he literally stole from them. Most people... It takes two. Why aren't you more mad at the franchise?

Right. He stole. He didn't work. card like flags five forever i think people think of them as a patriot you know what an important part of the 2014 season he was he really was worst of both really was um you're a bad guy um all right so we'll be back again tomorrow for the official new year uh and then maybe thursday let's see we'll see if we do a thursday show let's cool our jets on making it definitely slow down again we managed to stretch it into well over an hour anyways but it did slow down

today. Right, depending on how things play out, but we'll probably have two more shows this week and then the around the NFL broadcast to close things out on Friday on NFL network. Might have two. I don't like the way you probably will, like probably, again, you might. Listen, you're invited to sit a show out, Mark. I'm more concerned about like, let's be as relevant as possible. Well, that's, you know, sometimes less is more is what you're saying.

If there's less information There's always To give to people Another option We could just change Around the days we do it Let it build up a little Tape it quickie on Friday

After the TV show I mean that would delay your Saturday hammer We'd drop a Saturday hammer Just to keep people on their toes What if we just do 15 minute episodes Seven days a week

I'm not I'm verbally not responding At this point All right Good stuff Thank you again Patrick. Thank you guys.

Where can we find you? Twitter.com slash Patrick Clayvon. There he is. Patrick thought he was going to get out of here about 52 minutes ago. NFL now on Friday. 1 p.m. Easter. Right here on NFL network. All right.

Check out Patrick. Check out us. And remember, heed the call. So, you know, So, Thank you.