NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 40s and Free Agents: How Free Agency Affects the NFL Draft, DJ Thinks Darnold is Geno Jr., Steelers Extend DK Metcalf

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

NFL Network’s Gregg Rosenthal and Daniel Jeremiah combine their areas of expertise in the latest episode of “40s and Free Agents.” To start the show, the duo discusses how the first week of free agency changed the draft outlook for several teams, including the Browns, Giants, Patriots and Raiders. Then, DJ defends the Seahawks’ aggressive pursuit of QB Sam Darnold. Later, Gregg analyzes the Steelers signing WR DK Metcalf to an extension, and the potential for an Aaron Rodgers team-up in Pittsburgh.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Welcome to 40s and Free Agents, where we marry up the draft and free agency. And it's been quite a week. I'm Greg Rosenthal. My friend Daniel Jeremiah has been celebrating his anniversary. I'm glad you got that out of the way, DJ, because I don't want to hear about Eisen or Bucky Brooks.

This is the only partnership that matters to you now. Well, I'm committed to this partnership, not committed enough to make that two-hour drive after a vacation, but I am committed to it at least via, you know, this online video communication setup that we have. Yeah, a lot has been going down this week, and we'll get into some of the big free agency moves. You were all over it last week with like Gino leaving Seattle. But before we kind of go with what we like the most, I thought we'd look at how the top of the draft has been affected by free agency. and we could just go through the first pick starting with Tennessee. And I wonder if you agree with me or not.

The way they built up this offensive line and then the quarterback that they sign in free agency is Brandon Allen, who's a backup at best or a number three type of pick. Does that make you think they're looking a little more at Cam Ward than maybe people thought a few weeks ago? I think you can logically get to that point when you look at what they've done. And they've brought in some veteran offensive linemen now in terms of, you know, how much better they're going to be and where there's some overpays in there? That's another conversation, you know, Greg, with what they added. But, you know, Kevin Zitler, I don't know that that's, you know, a three-year move.

That's something for the next year or two to help, you know, you would thank a young quarterback to kind of get assimilated into the league. Man, Dan Moore got way more money than I ever anticipated. He was going to get coming out of Pittsburgh to be their left tackle. So they fortify, you know, in their way of doing it, they fortify the offensive line. And you can make a strong case for that. I would just say that, you know, there's nothing coming out of Tennessee, but in talking to people around the league,

there still is an expectation that Tennessee is playing a little more the long game here. Don't rule out a quarterback there at one, but also I still think they would be intrigued to at least listen to what offers are out there with them not sliding out of the top three. So that would, I wouldn't rule that out just yet. So that makes sense to me, but how long of a game can you play?

If you're Brian Callahan, they didn't win a lot of games last year. You don't want to go through another year like that. It was really the quarterback signing. When they could, there's a lot of good backup, real bridge type quarterbacks available. And they signed Brandon Allen as their guy. I'm like, okay. Well, I don't know that that was a destination for a lot of folks. I mean, if you look at the free agents that had a chance to be a starter

and to be a starter for several years or even via the trade options that were available, I don't know that that Sam Darnold was interested in going to Tennessee as well. what I'm getting at. Okay, you push me off that, that take, but I'm still going to stay there. All right, so the Browns and for ages, haven't really done a lot. They got that Miles Garrett deal done at just huge money. And otherwise, they're picking around the edges. They, they trade for Kenny Pickett, baby.

I mean, the worst take I saw all week was that Kenny Pickett somehow says something about this draft class. And I'm thinking, there's no, they're out on a quarterback now because they got Kenny in the fold. they're good to go. Come on. I mean, if Kenny Pickett's competing and he believes he competes, he's competing, I got to think it's for a backup job. And Kirk Cousins could still shake loose there as a potential quarterback. Do you think they'll be looking quarterback early? Who knows, they could trade up from two to one. Yeah, well, they also just, you know, had Russell Wilson in their building, who they're at least intrigued by. And Kirk Cousins is still

out there potentially down the line for for them to get. So there are some other options there. And I think we talked about this on the last episode, but I do know that the Browns have done their homework, not just on the top of the quarterback class, but the entirety of the quarterback class. So if they're not in love, you know, with what's going to be there for them, you know, between the quarterbacks, then, you know, maybe they're sitting there saying, ah, we'll, we'll take, we'll take some of these veteran options. We have Kenny Pickett. Maybe it's a Russell Wilson. We'll get a, you know, get you through the year guy. We're going to kind of push that long-term need to next year. But then we'll use this top pick to get a.

big time impact player. So that's something that they could do and then just take a flyer on a quarterback on day two, you know, who's interesting to you? If you don't think there's that much of a gap between the second and say the fourth quarterbacks in this draft class, then they just take the premier player there at two or, you know, sit and wait for that quarterback option that would be there on day number two. Yeah, I go back to what you said on your warmup podcast, move the sticks. I feel like that was that was you in the minor leagues and just getting ready for this one.

And you made the point when Miles Garrett asked for that trade that he might have been doing them a favor because then the trade wouldn't have been as unpopular. Yeah, there's no blood on their hands. I thought it was a reset moment. There's, and this is a, again, we could go a thousand different directions. This is what I love about this show. And I heard you talking about this the other day because I had a long flight home. And I did, I did listen to you and Mina kind of banning about a lot of the free agency stuff, which is a good pod, good episode. But there's like some organizations who are, you know, quote unquote, running it back versus maybe. taking an opportunity to reset and let's just kind of maybe not tear it down but let's make some tweaks and let's kind of let's look a little bit more long term i thought the browns were in

that situation uh with miles giving them a get out of jail free card you know by requesting a trade that they could have had a haul and try and collect picks for next year but they decided to you know not only to to to not do that they decided to extend them and put him right at the very tippy top of the market so i don't know that that that makes cleveland a little bit tricky to figure out with the way they're doing business right now and bringing in these veteran quarterbacks is, I think they believe they're much closer than maybe the team that's picking number two overall should be thinking. Well, it also might be something where what's best for the organization doesn't match up

with the needs of who's trying to keep their jobs. Andrew Barry and Kevin Stavancy coming off that kind of year, they want to win now. So maybe thinking about the deep future without Miles Garrett, that's not helping out your team at all. But, man, they don't have those. Let's get to the most interesting team. Let's move on. I know.

I'm just saying like if the most exciting thing you did was Malik Collins. By the way, I noticed that was Mina Kimes podcast that you listened to. It was not mine NFL daily. So that's sticking in my craw a little bit. The Giants are the most interesting. In free agency, they attack the secondary with Paulson Adibo and they, you know, go at the safety position. Right. It's wrongs from the safety decision not too long ago.

I thought Joe Shane doesn't, he only spends on premium draft. positions. That's why they left Xavier McKinney go. Now they're looking at Aaron Rogers. They're looking at Russell Wilson. Are they the team maybe most likely to trade up for that quarterback? Yeah, to me, that makes the most sense. I always look at trade, you know, opportunities is who is the, who's the most, I don't want to say desperate, but who has the most urgency? And of those teams up there in the top three, who has the most urgency to go get the top quarterback in the draft? I think without question, it's the New York Giants. So, I was looking it up, Greg, and historically, to go up to number one for a quarterback, there's a premium.

And for the most part, most of those trades require a 20% overpay. I don't think you're going to have to do that this year. I don't. And so if we were to just look at a 5 to 10% overpay, which is still what the price would be of doing business, this is what a trade would look like if the Giants were to try and get all the way up to number one. It would cost them a third pick, obviously. it would cost them their two this year, which is pick number 34, and it would cost them their two next year.

So when you look at those resources, I mean, it's not cheap by any stretch, but if you're the Giants and you have a regime that needs to win right now, are you going to really worry about a two this year and a two next year? I just, I think you'd be the most aggressive of those teams wanting to get up to number one. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense to me. And yeah, I don't know. if they're just hoping that Aaron Rogers sends out the bat signal

and he arrives there. Adding him and a rookie quarterback does not make a lot of sense to me. The Patriots don't have to worry about that. They got the best young rookie quarterback in the entire league in Drake, May. I'd still take them over Jaden Daniels. I don't care. And I thought they would add some protection for him.

And they signed Morgan Moses, which if you listen to 40s in Free Agents, that was one of the names I threw out there, just a guy to at least take one tackle spot. But otherwise, they really didn't address offense. It's all about the defense. I think they tried, man. I think they tried.

I think they tried on Ronnie Stanley and just came up short. They tried on Godwin. They threw him literally gobs of money, much more than he ended up getting where he stayed. So they swung and they weren't able to land. But I actually like what they did from the standpoint of you've got all this space. You know, you've got tons of room. So if there's not, you know, we're not going to reach for the fourth, fifth, tackle that we're going to be looking to replace a year from now. What's the point of doing

that? You're better off just plugging some holes on the defensive side of the ball with really good players, which, you know, Harold Landry was a, that was a little more expensive than I thought, but, you know, the rest of those, I like what they did defensively. And so what that does, Greg, and that's why we do this show is because it's marrying free agency in the draft. Now they could free themselves up to go heavy, heavy offense in the draft, starting with where they are, where they can, they'll have their choice of the top offensive linemen where they're picking, if Travis Hunter were to somehow be there, you take him, and now you've give Drake May a big time weapon.

So I think they're freed up. I think in free agency, I give you credit because the Patriots had good job of freeing themselves up for the offense. I love what you said there, that you just are almost assuming if they take Travis Hunter, he would be a wide receiver, at least for that team. You have Carlton Davis and Christian Gonzalez. That is an identity on defense.

I love the Carlton Davis signing. It ended up being basically the same that Adibo got and DJ Reed. They were all in the same area. There was actually five cornerbacks, and maybe they're just picking off my top 101, five of my top six. They all basically got the same contract, Byron Murphy, Charverius, Ward, Adivo, Carlton Davis, and he fits what they want to do. I'm with you. I liked Milton Williams. If you're going to spend a lot of money in free agency, do it for a young defensive lineman that can get better and better, and it frees them up.

The Jaguars, they didn't go quite as aggressive as I expected in free agency. They said they have slots on their team that they want to fill with draft picks. And then finally you look at the Raiders who end up getting Gino Smith feels like that takes them out of any Chedur Sanders market if he's available there. Otherwise, they've been relatively quiet. Do you think they're an Ashton Genti team? They could use another wide receiver. Who knows? What do you think about the Raiders where they're at right now?

Yeah, I do agree with you. It sounds weird to say you got a 34-year-old quarterback in the building so you're for sure out of trying to find your future quarterback. But when you just look at Pete's age where he is, the fact that they chose him as their coach to go, it feels like they want to try and get better right now. So you've got Gino in place. You've got a steady veteran quarterback. So now you're freed up a little bit in the draft. You look at some of the other needs that they would have, you know, just getting another weapon, whether that's at running back or at wide receiver. They need an explosive playmaker to pair up with Bowers.

And so, yeah, I think Ash and Gentie comes into play there. you look at the wide receivers that's a little early for the wide receivers for me in this draft but you could easily kind of slide back a little bit and potentially be a trade down team but yeah I think that does you know I think that does pull them out

of the of the Shador Sanders market which is going to make him one of the more fascinating players because I think the you know the Jets signing and you know look at what they did with fields I don't see I think they're going to give him a little runway there I don't think they're going to bring another young quarterback so it's it's interesting to see

where Shudor could go. I think the Giants, if the Tennessee sticks and picks, I could see the Giants being in play for Shudor, but if he gets past the Giants at three, then it becomes really interesting. Yeah, then I look at the Saints at 9 as a team that I just feel like needs some hope for the future at that position. I would be with that. I was driving up to the desert with my son. We were going to watch some tennis when the Gino Smith thing happens. And I, in my immediate reaction was like, DJ's coming for these insiders. If you listen to 40s and free agents, you kind of, you had Gino on the move. You have so much more info than you let out there, DJ. I want to bring that out of you, and I want rap sheet to be

mad at you by the end of this podcast in nine weeks. You know, my favorite though is it's not Ian, just like insiders as an entire community. When somebody from outside the club tries to like come in and, oh, man, if you're wrong, they will, they will rally and they will, they will, punish you in a big, big way. They get a little of territorial. They dismiss you even if you're right. They don't even want it if you're right. Oh, no, he doesn't know anything.

How could anyone else know anything? Hey, by the way, can I call you on the carpet for a second, Greg? Please. As the president of the Gino Smith fan club and as someone who's a member of the Sam Darnold fan club, I don't know that I'm the president, but I'm probably on the board of directors. This is what I don't understand because I've heard a lot of people. I've heard you say it.

I've heard a lot of people say it. Oh, it's a step down. you know, Gino to Sam. And my question is, isn't Gino, Sam? I mean, Gino's first good year came as a 31-year-old. That was the first time he got an opportunity. What happened? He bounced around.

We always knew he had ability. He was a first-round talent. You know, coming out, first, second-round talent, who had all these tools, but just needed to get in the right situation. Now he's got the knowledge to go. He still has the ability there. And then at 31, he gets the opportunity and goes with it. And then all of a sudden, it's like, Sam does the same thing at, what,

26, 27 gets his first real supporting cast. And he takes off. And it's like, well, no, that was a one-off. That'll never, ever happen again. I just, I think you're, you're talking about Gino Smith seven years younger. That's what the, that's what the Seattle Seahawks did. They're like, we can go with Gino at 34 and pay him this money. Or we can take the same contract and give it to Gino Jr. who's seven years younger. Well, Gino didn't, you know, melt under the brightest of lights. And maybe he's not as scheme dependent. I do think he's shown more as like an upper tier processor. He just throws such a pretty ball. But I know Darnold is very talented to. Since you're bringing it up, that's a fair point. Donald's year last year is as good as a year as

Gino's had. That's that's absolutely true. He was in the perfect situation since since you're bringing up Seattle here. I just didn't love. By the way, by the way, by the way, by the way, I love how the Vikings supporting cast gets all the credit. But then when they can't block anybody in the in the game against the Rams, it's all Sam's fault. But nonetheless, go ahead. Yeah. And they, they attack the interior line. We'll get to what the Vikings did is off. Which is weird because they had a perfect team. I don't know why they felt the need to redo the offensive line because it was an all-star team. But just when you watch those, those Gino throws to the middle of the field, you got to just admit it's pretty. And you're right, Darnold could keep developing. And maybe he's the better

fit for that system. But I just felt like John Schneider's trying to have his cake and eat it too. They didn't really want Gino Smith back. And when he spoke to the media to defend saying, hey, we tried. We made an offer to him. And we never heard back. from him. It's like, we know what you're doing here. And he kind of blamed it on DK Meckoff. Hey, he didn't want to be here. We want the guys that were here. They wanted to do a reset. I give them credit because I think it was a bold move and they're standing behind it. They got to be absolutely right about it. While we're talking Seahawks, let's talk about another guy they brought in to Marcus Lauren. So instead of spending on the interior

offensive line, another thing I didn't love from Schneider was he said, hey, we wanted to bring in Will Fries, but we wanted them to take a physical. And another team just blew us out of the water money-wise. So that's what happens in free agency. You can't get irresponsible. And so they didn't end up getting the interior alignment that ends up going to Minnesota. In the end, they spend that money on DeMarcus Lawrence. Let's listen to Lawrence in his first day in Seattle. You know, Dallas is my home. I made my home there. You know, my family lives there. You know, I'm forever going to be there. But, you know, I know for sure I'm not going to win a Super Bowl there. So, yeah.

Oh, man. And so Lawrence throws that out there. It didn't seem like he had planned to say that. He just said it because that was how he was feeling. He's like, oh, man, I just said that. And then Micah Parsons responds on Twitter. He says that this is what rejection and envy looks like. This is some clown stuff. And what I liked even better is he left this tweet up. And eventually, Lawrence responds, calling me a clown won't change the fact that I told the truth. He's standing 10 toes on this. maybe if you spent less time tweeting and more time winning, I wouldn't have left.

I'm actually taking some real takeaways from this that all's not right there in the Cowboys locker room. Like, did you take something from this, DJ? It's not great. Yeah, even though it's a former player, yeah. And I think there's been a lot of speculation out there. I know from going out there to training camp, there was a lot of talk around Michael Parsons,

which was, okay, hey, the DAC deal is going to get done. CD Lamb deal get done. I don't know about Micah. I'm curious to see if they'll, you know, if they'll, you know, make that long-term commitment there. So I think there's, you know, there's always a little kernel of truth in some of this stuff. So I'm sure there was some frustration and it's not just to Marcus Lawrence on, hey, you know, was Micah, you know, focus on all the right stuff all the time? I mean, I think that you can take that from that by Micah Pars is a heck of a player and there's not many people on the planet that can do all the stuff he can do. So you got to factor that in, too. I, I've, I've said he's the best.

just pure pass rusher that's coming to the league, I think, since I've covered the league, which is about 20 years. He reminded me, I got a lot of flack because when he was just starting to get to play more on the edge. And I was like, man, if they committed to let him play on the edge full time, like he gives me Derek Thomas vibes, like just watching him rush. And it was like, that was a little, people thought it was a little rich. But when you see him, he's got some unique ability, man. Well, they're going to have to pay him. And they're now going to have to pay him more than Miles Garrett. Maybe they won't have to and they'll just welcome the drama. What do you think about what the Seahawks did in free agency? So I mentioned, you know, they take the risk in terms

of Sam Darnold. It's a $55 million guaranteed contract. Actually, the deal is very similar to what Baker first signed in Tampa for, what Gino first signed in Seattle. This is a bridge quarterback money. They're not really invested past this year if they didn't have to. A very similar to the Derek Carr contract that he first signed with the Raiders where he only ended up staying one. more year. But they spend that money on DeMarcus Lawrence. They spend a lot of money on Dron Reed, who had a good year for them last year. They bring back Ernest Jones, one of the many offball linebackers that gets paid. They don't really spend on the offensive line. They bring in MVS, Marcus Valde Scantling on the offensive side. Does that make you think they're going more

towards the draft here? And is this a case where sometimes a defensive coach ends up just like worrying about his side of the ball a little more than the other side of the ball? What do you think? Well, a couple of things. You know, this is dangerous when you're doing this when news could break at any moment. But as we're recording this, nothing's happened here. But a couple moves that makes sense to me. I thought Cooper Cup made a lot of sense for them to give them just a reliable, dependable pass catcher, always going to be where he's supposed to be,

going to catch everything. I thought he could compliment, you know, you can move him around a little bit. With him and JSN, you've got two really smart, heady players. So that one makes sense there. Garrett Bradbury, reuniting with Sam Darnold. I know Bradbury struggles a little bit with power, but in the run game, he's really good, can get up and climb to second level,

cut guys off all that stuff. So just having the relationship there with Sam, I thought that one would make some sense. But, you know, the interior of the offensive line is, you know, that would be my greatest concern right now. And that's not just going to be solved with a move like that. They're going to have to draft and they're going to have to hit. And I think some part of what we saw with the DeMarcus Lawrence thing

is not just to help the defense. Again, Greg, I think it all marries together with the draft, and they're thinking, man, there's going to be a run on these defensive linemen in the first round. There's a ton of them. And so they can sit out the, you know, they don't want to be on the middle to tail into the de-lineman run when they might be able to get near the top of the interior offensive line run

with where they're picking. So that made some sense to me. And you saw the vision, the Mike McDonald defense late in the season, was outstanding. And if you look at their fun. Ernest Jones is a big part. of that, man. I'm glad that was a great signing. And we said it last week. He's one of those players like, what the heck? Why is he getting bounced around the league like this? This guy

plays well everywhere he goes. Yeah, I love the fit. I have a hard time finding a weakness on that defense. So if they had snuck into the playoffs, they wound up with 10 wins last year. I think, you know, they would have been a dangerous type of team. And they're hoping Clint Kubiak can help fix the offensive line in terms of the town. And I did notice Schneider also said, hey, our coaches, he likes some of the talent that's there. They've drafted guys in the middle rounds, Christian Haynes and Anthony Bradford. And so it's one another case where I think they're betting on John Schneider,

right or wrong, and he's done a great job there overall over the years. They're really trusting him his vision at quarterback, developing some of his players, and he's working in concert with Mike McDonald. But he's got the juice in that building, kind of like DJ's got the juice on this show. a quick break, you know, ultimately. Hold on, hold on, real quick, before you get to the break, real quick, real quick. This team's 28th in the league in rushing yards, Seattle. Their backs are

so much better than that. That tells you again, they've got to get offensive line. Gray's able, go get him. Just go do it in the first round. Do it. Okay. I like that pick. And, you know, according, I've watched some of the mocks, including you talking out there. He might not even make it all the way to Seattle. But if he does, he would be a fantastic pick there. All right, we're going to take a quick break. We're going to come back. We're going to talk about some of the teams, some of the moves that we like the best in free agency. And yes, how that all fits with the draft back in a minute. Good to have, DJ, back on California soil,

even if he didn't want to come up to Englewood. Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now, I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that?

Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game

from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you.

Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. Michael F. 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. All right, we talked before the break about the Seahawks and what they did in terms of bringing in people. Let's talk about one of the guys that they sent out. D.K. Metcalf goes to the Steelers, very unstealer-like move. Not only that they gave up the draft pick, you know, second round pick, but that's good

business for D.K. Metcalf, but they gave him a four-year, $132 million extension. When you look at him and Pickens on the same team, do you think they're at all duplicative? The Redundancy Department of Redundancy? Yeah, they're kind of win in similar ways, right? I mean, they're different. I don't see how, I don't see George Pickens there. I mean, I look, we've got a long time before we get to the start of the season and maybe they decide to let these guys partner up and pair up. But to me, it does feel like they're very similar. They're going to ask to do similar things. To me, it makes sense. And I don't know, maybe it's your Patriots, Greg, but, you know,

I would think there would be somebody that would be willing to cough up a third round pick for George Pickens. But I just, to me, I feel like D.K. Metcalf was brought in with the hope that he could kind of do what, you know, A.J. Brown did when he went from the Titans to the Eagles, which was, you know, immediately infuse some much-needed playmaking into that offense. And he's still in his prime. He's still young for as long as he's been in the league. He came in the league really young. So I understand how he fits individually in there.

I don't understand how he and George work together. I just don't see that as a great pairing and a great fit. So who knows? Maybe I'll be proved wrong when it's all said and done. But that to me felt more like a replacement than a compliment. Right, because he's still got two years left, George. pickings on his rookie deal, but they haven't had to declare whether they give him the fifth year option. So maybe that is something I hadn't really thought about it. That happens during the

draft, before the draft, that could be a situation to watch. And then isn't it a little weird team building wise that you're investing all this in your wide receiver and you don't have a quarterback? At some point, aren't they going to take a little bit of heat for not having any post-bend plan that works? I know. I mean, I think this is the challenge. I think this is the challenge. I think that they took their swing. I think they took their swing on Sam Donald. They tried to get it to make it work, and he chose to go to Seattle. So, you know, you can't. It's like what we were saying with the Patriots and some of the issues and holes that remain

for them on offense. You don't get everybody you want. You don't snap your fingers, and they all decide they want to come play for you. But they have a major, major, major quarterback issue right now. And maybe there's a short-term Band-Aid, a 41-year-old Band-Aid they can put on it for a year or two, but eventually they're going to have to hit on one, and they're going to have to hit on one in the draft. And this year, there's some intriguing guys, those day two quarterbacks. They could be a team. I wouldn't put it past them. Maybe they are a team that slides down a little bit, trades down, get some extra picks to fill some other holes, and then maybe they take a

swing on that second group of quarterbacks a little earlier than people think. But they have to, they have to keep swinging, man. They tried with Kenny Pickett, didn't work. You know, they've got to keep swinging and find that because you're in a division when you've got burrow and lamar like it's hard you're literally bringing knife to a gunfight you know you've got to find a way to hit on a quarterback well they keep trying to swing in the wrong years for it picket was a little bit of a reach that year certainly in hindsight but even at the time it wasn't a great quarterback class and now they're in another quarterback class that maybe second round it makes sense but you don't get credit for swinging they should be getting some comps though right they're going to get

some comps with, I think Fields getting the contract that he got, they'll get it, I would have probably get a third round pick on that. So they'll have some, they'll have some extra picks going, Dan Morf, shoot, he got 50 million guaranteed over two years. I'm sure that's a third or a fourth round pick next year. So they'll have some extra ammunition next year if they want to be really, really aggressive. All I'm saying is it's like baseball. You don't get credit for swinging and missing.

Yeah, they tried for Sam Darnel, but if they had a better infrastructure and if they had actually gotten a deal done, then we would have given some credit. Let's give credit to the Rams, at least I will. I know you don't like it when your cross-town rival. You know, you're with the Chargers. That's bitter. That's bitter rivalry. It gets a great deal done because to me, this Devante Adams contract could have as much of an impact in who is winning playoff games as any of these free agent deals.

And they ultimately chose him over Cooper Cup, not at that much more money than Cooper Cup was on the books for. What did you think about this move? Yeah, it was interesting. I mean, because there are some similarities as players. I think Devante's got a little bit more quickness at this point as they've been. both are getting a little bit older, but I think it's someone that's going to be able to win outside that's going to be able to win in the red zone. And I think, you know, him paired up with Matthew Stafford is a, you know, I don't see how he's not ultra-productive. Look at the numbers

that he put up last year. I think he's going to be an easy 90 catches in this offense with him and Pooka Nakua. Yeah, I think it's a, I think it's a great fit. I don't know that you would got your value at of Devante Adams. If he goes somewhere with mediocre quarterback play, I'd be like, ah, that doesn't really make a lot of sense. But when you're trying to push and you've got all this young talent on defense and you just want

a little bit more on offense, yeah, I like that move. And it's a team that at this point probably just assumes they're going to nail every draft pick that they do have. They did send an extra second away last year, so they're missing one pick, but they've just hit pick after pick the last couple of

years. Less need on a hot streak. We mentioned the Vikings. I like Puno Ford too, man. Puna Ford was a good signing. I obviously saw all his games last year. He played great for the charge. Yeah, and he's exactly what they need because they have those great edge rushers, but need a little beef inside. The Rams will be one of the NFC favorites next year. Will the Vikings be if J.J. McCarthy is their weak one starting quarterback? I would argue yes, because I think the rest of the roster is outstanding and the weaknesses. You mentioned the interior offensive line for Darnold. They bring in the Colts interior offensive line and Ryan Kelly and Will Fries, and there's some risk there.

Kelly's a little bit older, but good players. And then on the defensive side, you spend a lot of money in terms of Hargrave and Jonathan Allen. This team, like $300 million in contract. Do you like this as a build around a young quarterback like JJ? Yeah. And I think, you know, people look at it and go, okay, the reason they want aggressive in free agency is because they, you know, you're not having to pay the quarterback now with JJ. The other reason they went aggressive in free agency, they don't have any draft picks. So they needed to go out and solve their issues and solve their problems during free agency. So I thought that made a lot of sense how aggressive they were along the line of

scrimmage. And we'll see. Maybe they can slide down, trade out, trade down in the first round, try and recoup some of the picks that they've lost over the last few years. But that to me is another reason why that team was ultra aggressive and doing what they did. And we'll see if what happens with Aaron Rogers, but I am convinced that he's just, he's just, he's a hoping he can get them interested and that's why he's stretching this thing out because he knows that would be the best situation for him just just go down in minnesota like what is there is there a team you you would want rogers to go to by the way well i mean i gosh i i just can't the minnesota thing i can see it i could see him trying to talk kevin o'connell into it being like look j jay maybe he

gets there but i'm there right now i can see aaron's sales pitch to him i just don't see how this benefits J.J. in any way, shape, or form. Like, I don't think it makes any sense from that standpoint. So, you know, I would be surprised if that's what ultimately ended up happening. For me, you know, who's desperate for them? The two teams, the Giants and the Steelers, man, if I was Aaron Rogers, I think the Giants have a little more firepower with the elite neighbors. You know, that would be kind of fun. But, you know, hey, Pittsburgh, that's a, you know, that's a team that's done a lot of winning over the years and still has some, some star. Yeah, that's fight. That's fighting. That's fighting.

words that you say the giants are a better spot who i've said yeah dk and george just you know paired up together perfect match i i would like rogers in pittsburg just for the content and that's i'm just selfish i just feel like it'd be good podcast fodder tomlin rogers with that organization give it to me i have been skeptical about much of the ryan polls era and that skepticism has been born out because every offseason bears fans who are just the most optimistic and zealous, like, fans. I love them. They always think the bears are going to be awesome year after year. This is the first year where I'm kind of in on it. They spent big in free agency. They signed Drew Dalman as the center. We talked about the trades that they had made at the

guard position. Let's listen to Ryan Poles, their general manager, and how he looks at the free agency spending. Yeah, this really opens the whole board for us. So we're going to be able to sit back and kind of look and say, what's the best thing to do for this? Chicago Bears and who's the best player that can impact. So we got some tough decisions and a lot of film to watch between now and the draft. I don't think that was GM speak. That makes a lot of sense to me. When I look at their depth chart now, I don't see huge screaming needs.

I feel like they can attack whoever they want. Where would you go, DJ? Yeah, I've mentioned a couple options there. I think Ashton Genti comes into play big time. When you've kind of fixed a lot of the offensive line, you could make a case they could still go out and get an upgraded left half. tackle. But Ash and Gentie to, you know, play behind this front that can create, should be able to create some push. And I would be fun. I would be a lot of fun to watch him with Caleb

Williams and Roma Dunzee, that kind of little triplets grow up together. So I love that option. I've mentioned, which is a little bit out of the box when you already have a tight end and Colcomette. But Tyler Warren, Tyler Warren, to me, just live in 12 personnel and you've got a creative play caller. You could have a lot of fun with him now that you've addressed that interior the offensive line. And that just goes to, you know, what they were saying there is that they're freed up. So literally just take the best available player, somebody that's going to come in and make an impact for your team. So, you know, I'm excited about the Bears. I'm excited to watch that team next year, maybe more so than any other to see, you know, what type of step Caleb makes

and really to see what kind of offense Ben Johnson is going to run because it's not going to be the same thing you had in Detroit. I feel differently about Ben Johnson just from watching him handle the public duties of being a coach in some of those videos in the building. He's convinced me. Like he just seems like a dude and now I think he's the key guy in the organization but Ryan Pulse has done a good job

I think building up their players this offseason. And Drew Dalman was a good example. Do you think like just looking at the offensive lineman and free agency and thinking about you just mentioned the Dan Moore contract? Aaron Banks was a guy who got just an exceptional

amount of money. and there was only a couple guys out there. It's just a reminder, these offensive linemen now that you almost have to draft them early, even more than I think any time that I've seen at the NFL level, it really feels like it's quarterback and then offensive line. And that includes the interior offensive line. If Drew Dalman and Aaron Banks are making defensive tackle,

defensive end type of money, like to me, there is an even bigger premium to get those guys in the draft and maybe those guys get pushed up a little bit. Yeah, and I think it's a developmental position, too, you know, with the offensive line. What you get year one can be drastically different once you get to three, four, five. They just accumulate all that knowledge, and it's a different game from college to the NFL. So, man, that's why when you get these guys out to the market, they're usually plug and play,

and you don't have to. You can kind of set it and forget it, right? Just set the lineup, throw them in there and go fix something else, some of the problem that you might have. So that's why you're seeing these guys get paid. The other thing is these teams all have so much money, man. The TV money and the salary cap exploding led to two things. It led to a lot of guys, a lot of really good players getting, you know, extensions where they are early.

And what it did is now you've got a market that maybe is not loaded with talent, but teams are flush with cash. So it's good to be a, you know, a mid-level to a little bit above a mid-level player because the team's like, well, we've got it. We might as well spend it. Half the league has more than $30 million in cap space. And 10 or 11 teams have 40 million. The Patriots, after all this spending, still have about $100 million in caps.

There's too much cap space. I actually think teams long-term planning have gotten caught a little flat-footed, that they have too much, some of these teams. And teams like the Eagles and the Ravens who are spending on good players and spending to the cap, that's really the way to do it. Can I hijack this right quick? Because you just mentioned the Eagles, because I was talking, to somebody in the league of a coach about this other day. I said, you know, the Eagles are

fascinating because it almost feels like they're taking an NBA approach, which is they're paying their stars, right? And you look at the exodus of players. They had some good players, Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, like good players that walked out of the dress. Darius Slay, Gardner Johnson, they traded. Yeah. So, but what they've done is they've said, okay, we've got our piles of money. We're going to put it into the stars. And then the rest, we're going to really, we have a really good scouting staff. We're going to scout our butts off, with all these guys leaving, we're playing the comp pick games. They're going to have a million picks this year and next year

based on what's happened over the last couple years. So they're going to then try and surround those stars with a bunch of cheap, young, talented players. And they hit in the draft. It's like I think the Rams are the other team that's, they won the Super Bowl with that NBA approach. And now, you know, you've seen them hit on all these young players. The Eagles have hit on young players.

It's an interesting formula out there to try and do that. in also filling the gaps with some really low-cost free agents. You know, they bring in A.J. Dillon as a backup running. It's just, these are just shots, but there's almost no risk. You bring in Josh Uche. They brought in, who is the cornerback from the Giants that they brought in for very cheap. Was it Adori Jackson, who I've always thought is an underrated player, but now he's at the point where he's a distressed asset,

and you can see him stepping in, kind of like they did with Isaiah Rogers, who got a nice deal elsewhere in free agency and they just plug them into their system and I'm convinced. I was talking to a coach about, you know, certain teams and organizations, the Eagles being one of them. And this was the great point that he brought up

is if you're going to go on in one of these one year, you know, prove it deals, he was like, do you want to go to a one o'clock Sunday team? He's like, and he was, and I don't want to throw like, I won't throw the team he mentioned under the bus, but it's like he mentioned one of those NFC South teams. And he was like, you want to go there,

play at one o'clock every Sunday. or you can go to a team like the Eagles, play, you know, be on the national stage. You're in the, you're in the four o'clock window. If you're not in the four o'clock window, you're playing Sunday night, Monday night, big stages, big games. Everybody's watching.

Everybody's paying attention. Your seven sacks you get with the Philadelphia Eagles are going to end up being more valuable than the seven sacks you might get in the NFC South is what he was mentioning. And I don't know if a lot of people think like that, but I'm telling you that message is being sent to players and to try and entice them on these.

you know, short-term deals. They should be. I mean, if you're an offensive lineman, you can go to Jeff Stoutland University and suddenly you're going to get a bigger contract than free agency. Who didn't get a bigger contract? I mentioned AJ Dillon at running back. Like the running back position, people thought might get juiced up because of SACON. And the class of free agents is not that guy. Right. Your chargers signed Najee Harris for a nice deal, $5 million. They did not have to spend much for a guy who can have a big workload for And really the only running back who got paid was Aaron Jones. $13 million guaranteed.

He's had a great career. But none of these guys got more than one year of guaranteed money. Some of them are two years' deal, but they're just one-year flyers. So the running back come up didn't really happen. But safety and off-ball linebacker did. I'm just going to list a few of these guys. These safeties got paid. Javon Haaland, Trevon Morig, Cam Bynum, Tala, Hufunga, Hufunga.

They all got paid. Justin Reed did okay. And then the off-ball linebacker, Zach Bond, was kind of the guy that the Eagles decided we're not going to let him go. And then the rest of the market fell in line, really good deals for Nick Bolton and Dre Greenlaw and Jamie and Sherwood. So a little bit of a comeback for the off ball linebackers and the safety. So two positions I feel like have been a little ignored lately. Yeah, well, two positions in the draft that aren't super deep and talented either. So I think that is a little bit of the impact there. And I also, you know,

as we discussed in the last one, you know, you have a pressing need, a glaring need off the ball linebacker. You can take one early, but odds are you're not going to be happy with what you get year one, maybe not even happy with what you get year two. That takes time to get good play out of that position. That's a lot to learn. It's a lot to take in. So if you need somebody to come in and plug and play, man, go the veteran route. Plenty more to come here on 40s and free agents. We'll be right back after this. Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now I'm Drew Franklin. is NFL cover zero.

We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly

what you're going to get. Listen to NFL cover zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building

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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. We are back on 40s and 3A. All right, let's wrap the show. And I truly have no clue how long we've gone. I'm just having such a good time talking to my new best friend, DJ, the one partnership that matters in his life now. Let's talk about who's still out there.

Of my top 101 free agents, I should have listened to you. I don't know if you told me to rank Asante Samuel Jr. lower, but he was the one cornerback. I had ranked high that hasn't gotten his money yet. Amari Cooper is up there. Aaron Rogers is the best quarterback option. Cam Robinson is a plug-in-play type of tackle, even if he's not way above average.

Stefan Diggs, some other names Aziz Ojolari, Kaleas Campbell. Tevin Jenkins is visiting the Seahawks, so they might sign him to help them out at the, interior offensive line is there anyone out there for free agency that stands out to you well i mean i think looking at this list you know and i won't name the guys but like the medical is a big part of that too for for why some of these guys are still sitting out there um and the concerns that exist there so that's that's the hard thing when you're putting one of those lists together gregg and i see it on the draft side of things with a few guys as well is that there's you know there's going to be

medical information that we're not privy to uh that can impact that look to me i think you're talking about a lot of cheap deals, incentives, or that's the buzzword at this point in free agency, short-term, incentive-heavy deals. But I don't see anything on that list that gets me super, super fired up. Dang, that's rude, bro. Cooper Cup, not on that list, a little bit below, just because I feel like he's a helpful player right now. What do you think he's going to get, Greg? 10 million dollars a year, maybe 12, like two. He's going to get more than that. He's going to get more than that. He wants more than that is the reporting out there. Maybe it's 15 million a year that he wants. So maybe it's some fake money. I think he'll get 15. I think he'll get 15. I think

he'll get 15. Okay. If that happens, I bet it's mostly guaranteed just for one year and the guarantees are closer to 12, 13 million dollars in that first year. But we'll see. You've shown you are an inside. I'm going to throw out some teams, I think, have a little work to do. Some teams, you know, we mentioned the Patriots haven't done a lot on offense, so maybe they have work to do in the draft. Didn't you expect the Bengals to rebuild that defense a little bit? And all they've done is bring back some of their rotational guys, like a Joseph Asai and a BJ Hill,

not a lot coming out of Cincinnati other than they're not trading Trey Hendrickson. Do you do allowances with your kids, Greg? No, I really don't. I should. So it's this generation. We don't do it with ours either. But I had an allowance growing up.

Did you have an allowance growing up? Yes. And I laugh about it because I've said many times, okay, we're going to start an alliance. You're going to start doing chores. You're going to do this or that. And then it never ends up happening. That's why I'm laughing. So here's the analogy.

So we're kids and mom, I want a new bike, you know, because our generation, we actually wrote bikes. And she said, okay, we got to save up for it. Then, okay, then we would go, you know, go to the toy store and be like, ooh, I think I want to buy that video game. You can buy the video game, but I thought you were saving up for the bike. You get the video game, you don't get the bike. The bike, in this case, are those two wide receivers and potentially Trey Hendrickson.

And so they're not buying a lot of video games in free agency when you're saving up for the bike. And I get that. But this was a team whose defense completely collapsed. They had a good defensive coordinator in Lou Aniromo. So you can't tell me that you're going to get better just by getting rid of a defensive court. And maybe they needed new blood there. That's fine. That decision was made. But if their big plan to get better is just bring back the guys that we had, but at way more money, that doesn't seem like a recipe to take advantage. Their big, their big plan, their big plan is we

hired Al Golden, who should know the college game really, really well, having just come out of there as a defensive coordinator. We've already talked about two teams. We've already spent half this podcast praising the Rams and the Eagles for how well they've drafted on the defensive side of the ball and how they flip that roster over a couple of a couple years of good drafting. That's that's the blueprint. The Bengals are going to pay their offensive stars and they're going to rely on the draft and their coaching to identify and develop cheap young draft draft picks on the defensive side of the ball. I thought the Cardinals would be a little more aggressive in free agency and I think they're one of those teams you kind

of mentioned with the Patriots and the Steelers that maybe just lost some of the bidding. They did spend some money on Josh Sweat. They brought in Dalvin Tomlinson, but I thought they'd add a little more juice. Jaguar is the same, but I heard their GM speaking that they, they are really planning on these draft picks coming in and playing right away. And then, you know, I look at a team like who out there, is there anyone that, that stands out to you that just hasn't necessarily done enough? Because I look at a team like the Texans, and they've been aggressive in taking that offensive line apart. There's a lot of risk there in what they're doing around C.J. Stroud and then building up their defense instead.

Yeah, I mean, look, I don't know how the offensive line comes together there. I mean, they have a lot of holes in the boat there. Titus Howard, I believe they said he'll play left, right? So he'll kick over and play left tackle. You know, I could get excited about him. I think he's got a chance to be a solid left tackle. He's very talented. It hasn't always come together for him, but there is talent there.

but man they got a they got a lot of work to do on the rest of that front and man that's i don't know if you look at the draft you never want to have a you know you never want to have that pressure and uh and be locked in and loaded on one specific need that you must fix but man they have got to go heavy on the offensive line and they've got a hit um that that was interesting to tonsill to me they must have just been really tired uh and wanted to change kind of the culture of that offensive line on it was the penalties there was something to maybe it was work ethic related i don't want to speculate but that that was bizarre for where they are as a team to make that move unless they just felt it was addition by subtraction because that one they got a lot they got a lot

of work to do and they did get a couple picks and they could be thinking like seattle that nick cayley comes in as the offensive coordinator and the in the scheme improves the offensive line but that was a bold bold move by nick o'reaerio and demico ryan By the way, we talked about Cup. If you're watching on NFL Network, who knows? By the time you see this, maybe they're looking at my top 101, the GMs out there. He could be a saint. He could be on one of the teams.

All these players are just up for grabs, and it slowed down the free agency frenzy, but it's still happening, DJ. We got a while before the draft. I'm looking forward to this journey with you. It's going to be Thursdays moving forward, but we had to move it around because you're the big star of the show. well i'm i'm going to be out of big 12 combine next week but i'll still be doing the show okay i'm let's go i'm going to be in dallas but this is going to keep going okay so uh dj will have great new information from the the big 12 pro days combine i love that they are doing that that is it

for 40s and free agents we still got what six seven weeks before the draft it's going to be fun being on this journey and seeing how it all lines up together we'll see you next hey keep up the average work Greg, proud of you, buddy. Thanks, DJ. The NFL is rolling. That's right, and you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 60. It's in the name, NFL Daily.

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Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. States and D.C. 18 and over. For complete details, how to enter, prizes and official rules, visit Toyotas Game Day Giveaways.com. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, 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 Sundays. 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your Podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This is an IHeart podcast.