NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 40s and Free Agents: The AFC North's 5 Impact Additions and Rookies

Episode Date: August 15, 2025

Gregg Rosenthal and Daniel Jeremiah give you their five biggest impact additions and rookies for the AFC North. Find out why Gregg and DJ think players like Malaki Starks, Jaire Alexander, Shedeur Sanders, Aaron Rodgers, Jalen Ramsey and more will have a major impact for their teams next season. 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. We are back on 40s and free agents. I'm Greg Rosenthal with my friend Daniel Jeremiah in the Chris Wesleying podcast studio talking a little AFC North today, the black and blue division. The division that one day, two decades ago, employed you with the Baltimore Ravens. Do you pay attention to them more now because you once worked for them? I also worked for the Cleveland Browns who happened to be in the same division.

Good point. But, I mean, at least my co-host really does homework. I focus on the positive, you know. Hey, we had a 10-and-6 year. One year, 10-and-6, the next year, four-and-12. Average it out. That actually is a feather in your cap that you... Start many 10-win seasons in the Cleveland Browns over the last 30 years.

You literally were there and authored the best season of the Browns in the last two decades. And I started after the draft, which is the draft they took Joe Thomas. And after free agency, so I literally had nothing to do with that 10-and-6 win. team. Nobody would remember that. Yes, we're talking AFC North. And on my side of things, and if you're just joining us, each episode, we go through the five biggest impacts in free agency, veteran additions, and the five biggest impacts in terms of rookies. And I got to say, there wasn't as

many free agents outside of the Steelers. So I'm going to let you start in this division, because I know there are a lot of good rookies. Okay, we'll get to some Steelers stuff here. Let's start with some of these other teams. And let's start with Malachi Stark's first round pick for the Ravens out of Georgia. there are guys that just feel like Ravens and having worked there that's you know I was there when the whole play like a Raven thing started and that's a real deal they know what their players look like and Malachi Starks now I'm not talking about it as a player now I'm going to talk about the person the makeup character is very similar to the Ed Reed makeup and character he is incredibly smart he's the leader of the defense he galvanizes guys gets guys to go with him to watch tape all that stuff elite off the charts then you add into that the versatility is someone who can play the nickel, who can play high. I know in the run up to the draft, there was a, you know, there's a desire on the Ravens side of things to be able to allow Kyle Hamilton to be

closer to the ball. So in order to do that, you've got to get someone who can play in the middle of the field. And that's exactly what Malachi Starks can do. So I think it's a great fit from a personality type for what they love as a player, you know, intelligence-wise, all those things. And then I think scheme-wise, it's also a great fit. Is he similar personality-wise to Ed Reed? Because I don't know Ed Reed well or at all. I have interviewed him once, but I've seen him in a lot of interviews. And I don't know if I've ever met another or seen another human, I would say is similar to Ed Reed's personality type. He seems like a 101. Well, that I would say, yeah, from like a cigar hat, beard combination that there's that version of Edrie. The way his mind goes

too, but maybe football wise. This is, I'm talking football and incredible football intelligence and awareness and smarts and then it's it's more like the kind of magnetism that he has you know they can kind of control things so that's what what ed did ed probably and i don't know stark's like that but ed more verbal like a little more demonstrative and obviously with the success ed had came the confidence and in uh and kind of the swagger that came along with it i think you'll see stark's i know you like to keep things moving but you were there at the time i always thought did ed read like did he get to be who he was because Ray Loo,

like to me they were such a perfect marriage of like leadership types. Like those two guys together. What was that like? Well, first of all, this, keep in mind we had Jamal Lewis as a 2,000 yard rusher that year. You had unbelievable

offensive line. You had Todd Heap. You had some players on offense like real legit pro bowl players. And it was if the offense was on the field, you almost would go to the bathroom because it was the defense was so fun to watch and not just like fun to watch defense like

we might have a better chance of scoring with Ed than maybe we would on offense because he was so prolific at taking the ball away. I wanted to look this up because why you were talking about him this is getting off track here but Ed Reed you talked about did the Ravens make him or he make the Ravens

go back in in college I mean his 2000 so his junior year he had eight interceptions his senior year at nine he's always been guy. Right. I guess I was thinking even less, yeah, just how incredible. When was the last time you saw a college kid with 17 picks in two years? They were just like a relationship that just seems like a perfect like if they were like a couple that they balance each other out. Like a podcast duo,

they just balanced each other out. Well, they had the, the thing about them is they were both probably the two smartest football players I've ever been around. Okay. I don't know if Jaya Alexander would be in that category, but if we're talking Raven secondary, he is one of the non-stealers on my list. So I'm going to about it there. If you look at the Ravens off season, they're really running it back. Had a good draft. Did not add almost anything in free agency. They picked up DeAndre Hopkins on a flyer. He's going to be like a fourth. You know, I like that. Jaira Alexander is the guy that they bring in every year, whether it was Ozzie Newsom back in your day or Eric DeCosta, where at the end of the season, you're like, wait, when did they get him? They got him in June? July. And

how much are they paying him? Oh, they're only paying him $4 million. Meanwhile, it's the divisional round, and he's out there covering T. Higgins at a high level, and you're thinking, how did they get away with this again? That's obviously hoping that he can stay healthy. But for them, to me, he was the key addition for a secondary that has a chance to be really good around Kyle Hamilton. And they've done such a good job, as you mentioned, with these veteran type players. Think about Callais Campbell. I think about going back to the receiver position where it was Derek Mason one year, Antiquon Bold and another year. They've always kind of just, found these veterans. And then I think, look, we'll see what they got. Justin Houston was one that played very well for them. They will go down that road. I mean, shoot, Dion Sanders at one point in time was one. So, I mean, they've always been able to get something out of veteran guys.

And, you know, we'll see. Hopkins will be interesting too. I mean, they've got a bunch of receivers. We'll see what that looks like. When Jair Alexander plays, like, he matters. It's just about staying on the field. He's really never been on the field and not had a high level play. And to me, it's just an intriguing pair there with Nate Wiggins going into his second year.

And Marlon Humphrey, a guy who's made a lot of pro bowl. also, a fun secondary there. All right, give me another. All right, I'm going to go to, let's go to Cincinnati. I'm going to go to the Bengals, and I'm going to go to their second round pick, not their first round pick. I'm going to get Demetrius Knight, linebacker out of South Carolina. Again, middle of the field.

We've talked about Ray Lewis a minute ago. You want somebody in there that's intelligent, that's smart, that can kind of be the, you know, the control person for a defense. He can do that. He's not necessarily going to have to do all that right away in terms of all the responsibilities, but he is going to imagine he's going to start. He's going to play a lot. and a chance to be an impactful player for a defense

that was atrocious last year. So you bring a new defensive coordinator. We'll see what they can do with Al Golden, how different that looks than what they've been previously. But when you look linebacker-wise, putting him and Logan Wilson together, two really, really smart guys. Fun tandem.

And I think Demetrius Knight would be high on the list of rookies that their team needs to work. Yeah. Because he is starting. So I follow Paul Dainer. He works for the athletics. I don't want to pretend I'm getting this information myself. And he says Knight has stepped in there.

It's like a joke almost how mature he is. And he isn't an older rookie, but that everyone around him already is starting to look to him as a leader. And some of his veteran teammates jokingly, like call him future captain. And that he's really looked good on and off the field. They were happy with how he's been in training camp. And so he's someone,

it's just got to work, I think, because I think he's going to be out there almost every snap. Let me give you one random scout thing on him. So one of the things in scouting, I've always loved and I had an older scout that gave me this advice when I was young. He said,

you want to talk about the competitiveness of a player. There's a couple things you can look at. Number one, watch how they compete on a point after. Like, that's a play where it's basically a give up play. You can see the kick. And watch guys who rush hard on that usually shows you a little something. The other thing he said was watch teammates

on interceptions, whether that's an offensive teammate, trying to effort to make a tackle, or whether that's a defensive teammate efforting to make a block. There's a game, there's a pick six in a South Carolina. I don't remember who it was against.

But he has two knockdown, two pancakes blocks after a teammate picks off a ball. And I was like, okay, this guy's ultra, ultra competitive. And that matches with the leadership

that you're hearing about there in Cincinnati. It's a tough position, though. That just worries me because everything. He's got the nerve center next time. I think Logan Wilson can kind of be the nerve center initially.

He can just play ball. The one thing, he's not great in coverage. That's the only concern I have. Yeah, I mean, who is? We did a show last week on NFL Daily with my friend Ali Connelly. He's like, how many linebackers are excel and cover? Like, everyone is targeting these guys. I mean, there are some, but it is the exception.

I see one day on Henley can cover. That's one. It's the exception, not the rule. There's like six to eight guys. And that's why the conventional wisdom has been those linebackers take, you know, two, three years until they're really at their best. But he's going to have to play right away. I don't have a Bengals.

in my top five. And in the words of Dave Damashchak, don't blame me. I didn't do this to you. You did this to you, Bengals. It's a good damage check. You just don't have a lot of options. So let's go to one of my Steelers.

I mean, it's Aaron Rogers. This is the bet. This is the big bet. That a guy for the second time in NFL history is going to have a highly productive season at the quarterback position at the age of 42. It's only happened with one plus. player. And that man was Tom Brady. Now, he did it another three years. So it's possible. It's

another all-time great. And the reality is you had no other options because you didn't want to pay Justin Fields as much as the debts. I think it tried on Sam Donald and came up short. Yeah, that's what I mean. Right. Very weird too. It's like they're treating quarterback like another position. They tried on Stafford. I have information on it. It just wasn't going to happen. They tried on Justin Fields. I think they gave him an offer that would have been a raise for him, but it wasn't as big as the one that the Jets gave. And yeah, they tried a little

on Darnel too. And I don't think the tape was great last year. I don't know if you like broke it down. But to me, the arm's still there and the mind is obviously there,

but the willingness to maybe stay in there and hold the ball and that just wasn't there for me. At least here ago. So let me just show on the other side of that because I agree there's not, there's some things that are missing.

But if we just went numbers wise, if with this Steelers defense that they have, which I'm going to get into some pieces here in a second that they've added and what they already possess. If Ryan Rogers throws for almost 4,000 yards, complete 63% of his passes, goes 28 and 11,

I think they're going to win a lot of games just with that, what he was last year, which nowhere near what Aaron Rogers has been, but even just last year's version that he was with the Jets with this Steelers defense, they're going to win double-digit games. Probably. They made the playoffs with Russell Wilson

and that's what I'm saying. That's better than what they got last year. I don't think he was better than the combination of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields last year. And if he was, it was marginal because those numbers speak well for him. If you look at like the success rate and the EPA

per play, it's a lot of like seven yard gains on third and 11 and him just being very safe and ultimately a lot of those advanced metrics he was more around 23rd, 24th among starters, which is about how he felt he played. Maybe that's a little bit of an upgrade

but this is the bet. He's got a chance. They have the piece is certainly on defense to get it done. So that's, again, that leads to my point, which is, this defense is going to be better. I am Demetrius Knight running down the field. There you go. There you go.

Helping you. Good teammate. This defense is going to be really good. And, you know, I'm going to go to the defensive side of the ball. And I'm going to go to the third round pick in Jack Sawyer. I talked about Malachi Stark's guys. I thought were kind of, you know, built to be Baltimore Ravens. Jack Sawyer is out of the old school Pittsburgh Steelers Playbook.

He is a 265 pound edge setter, physical presence, kind of a no nonsense guy. He played big in the big moments. You think about that that playoff game where he has the huge sack. It was Texas, right? Where he has the sack, force, fumble, scoop, and score. Like, he's, he's been big and big moments. He was kind of their leader. He's the one who lost his mind when just getting planted the flag at Ohio State. Like he just, that's a stealer type. That's a pride, you know, like there's there's guys that just kind of fit with what they do. And I think that was a theme. I, you know, I don't think I know that was a theme of theirs, that they wanted to get back, have an edge. And Aaron's a little bit

of that, right? Aaron Rogers. He has an edge. He has an edge to him. He's not the night, like you would say, if we're going to go nice meter, I would put Justin Fields and Russell Wilson on another stratosphere in terms of how they would be viewed as like nice guy versus an edgy guy. You do hear reports of him absolutely staring down Roman Wilson when he's not running the right routes in training camp. That's your point. So, and then we add to that. Okay, defensive line wise, Derek Harmon in the first round who's a big dude physical presence. Y.A. Black who's

gosh, what, 3.30, 340 out of Iowa. They get him in the fifth round. You had Sawyer in there. Jalen Ramsey who was a junkyard dog. I'm sure you're going to get to him in a second. But overall, you can see, even D.K. Metcalfe looks like a bully. You're just thinking on my picks. That's,

they have gone with a theme in the offseason, which was, we're going to be the rugged, edgy Pittsburgh Steelers. And I think Jack Sawyer getting back to where I started on this whole rant is part of that process. It's been a great rant and I love being able to talk to you about these draft picks because Jack Sawyer is a guy and I wonder how much you pay attention to this that I feel like the NFL draft Knicks out there, the internet dudes to for lack of a better word without the maybe the exact same

platform but very knowledgeable in their own right doing a lot of work on the draft. I feel like they were out on Jack Sawyer. I feel like he was not a draft Nick guy. And ultimately, I guess the NFL kind of agreed. What pick? Agreed because he ended up going in the fourth round.

So maybe he's just a victim of, he was a hundred and twenty-third pick. Yeah, he's a well-known guy who fell a little bit in the draft. He's my 70th player. So you did like him. He is at a position. How would you answer?

Because it's supposed to be most biggest impact. He is at a position, I would argue, is as good as literally any position group at any position in the entire NFL, you have T.J. Y, Alex Highsmith, and Nick Herberg, who's been really good for them too. Yeah, it's a great foursome. I think they roll those guys through. And I think to me, it's going to be fascinating to see how him and Highsmith could pair up there. Because I think on

some of those early downs, if you want Jack Sawyer to get out there on first, second down, let him get out there and make an impact against the run for sure. So that leads to my Jalen Ramsey pick, because I hope you're right. I hope they do rotate a little bit more. T.J. Y. Y. Y. Y. never left the field last year. He never even left his side of the field. He just lining up the same side, like a thousand snaps. And I'd like to see the guys moving around a little more, maybe use some of your depth a little more. And that is one thing I think Jalen Ramsey is going to allow you to do. Just in instinctive, athletic, versatile guy who in camp, you know, he's going to be their nickel. Everyone wants their own Cooper DeGine type of player. Well, how about the guy who

was, you know, winning a Super Bowl doing it for the Rams a few years ago? but it has interested me, I think for the first time in his career, they say when they're out there just four defensive backs on the field, he's playing safety for them, which is new. And I do think Jalen Ramsey

has one great year left in him. It just, he's one of those players. It reminds me a little bit of Tio. Every time Tio showed up at a new spot, he would be a first ballot Hall of Famer for that first year there. Jalen Ramsey, I don't think his teammates love him,

everyone views him as a leader. So that's a difference. but his first season in new places has gone amazingly and then for whatever reason after a few years it's like that team is ready to move on I think Jalen Ramsey is ready to have

that type of season that was a rant I think that is a good rant Jalen Ramsey likes a challenge and I think they have challenged him they've challenged him by using him in all these different spots and it's going to be matchup based

there's going to be games where he is going to live in the slot and that's going to be where he's going to be a presence not only in coverage but someone who can force the run you can blitz him and there's going to be other games

where he's literally going to be playing as the high safety and just kind of playing on top of that Christmas tree, as my buddy Bucky Brooks likes to say, where he can just kind of, you know, roam over the top and free him up, let his instincts play. But everything that I've got out of there has been off the charts in terms of the competitiveness that he's brought to practice. He's engaged and he's enjoying the challenge of the roles they're giving him. What a cool room there with Darius Slay, who I know he's not going to make the Hall of Fame or anything, but it's like one of my just favorite players in personalities over the last

decade. And then you have Joey Porter Jr. They like Chuck Clark too. I mean, like they've got Elliot who played, I mean, if you look at it, Deshawn Elliott, there's some people in the league that would say, if you looked at him and Minka Fitzpatrick last year and say who played better, they would lean towards Elliott. I think if you looked at the people in the Steelers organization, they would say to Sean Elliott.

People love them some Deshaun Elliott. That's a really interesting point about Bucky and the Christmas tree because you don't, if he's going to do that, Minka was extra. I think that could be an upgrade for them. Let's try to upgrade on our first few picks after this break. Do even better. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks,

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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. back on 40s and free agents talking about the biggest pickups in the AFC North and if there's Browns fans out there, Bengals fans like, why didn't, you know, talk about us more? Well, little Brown's coming, but the Steelers changed who they were this offseason. Suddenly they became the team that gave us a lot to talk about and they became an offseason team. And so I guess I'll go with D.K. You mentioned it.

Yeah. Earlier. So let's just talk, D.K. How do you think he fits with Aaron Rogers and this offense? Because it's a pretty big drop-off, at least that wide receiver, from one to two. What is that mix in an Arthur Smith, Aaron Rogers, D.K. Metcalf, offense. It's just, if you had told me that three years ago, like, that is kind of a mind-blowing combination of names that we'll be working together. Which is exactly why I'm going to give you the reason if I have no idea what it's going to look like or how it's going to work. but I do know, you know,

DK's going to be able to get vertical and Aaron, to me, this offense is going to be a heavy, you know, 12 personnel team. I think you'll see them, Jono Smith, they love so he's going to be out there on the field a lot. He didn't make your list there, I don't think. He did not. Maybe an oversight

on your part. I mean, how many Steelers can I put in? I went with the big names. There's a lot of new pieces here, but you know, with Firemuth and John Smith, I think they're in a lot of 12 personnel. I think they really want to run the ball. I also think you could see, you know, some 13 personnel, even when you've got a freaking monster human being. I've got a number for you on that.

You know who ran the most 13 personnel of any team in the NFL last year? Who's that? Pittsburgh Steelers. There you go. I think it was over 10%. It's a third tackle. He's amazing. He's enormous.

He might be the best tight end on this team overall. I think he has a real ceiling to do something. I'll go one better. Okay. I need the best tackle on their team. That's interesting. And I like and I like and I really like Fatanu, the, right tackle and we'll see what Broderick Jones can be. But just in terms of talent, he's got the

frame to do it. If you're going to, if you want to earmark this for three years down the road and we're talking about Jason Peters 2.0, it's this dude. Well, that gets to what I was saying. And I wouldn't have the scouting chops. You know, I'm trying. I put my work in. But I wouldn't have the scouting chops to be that strong on his offensive line play and is blocking. But everyone I trust says something similar. And yet when he gets out in the open field and you see his hands like and run. How many other players are like that in the league? No, he's a unicorn.

But I mean, that's to me, this goes back to your DK point of what this offense is going to look like. Think about if you're in 13 personnel with the, with the tight ends. And then, you know, now, okay, we want to be a heavy team. We're going to run the ball, run the ball, run the ball. And now we get DK out there and, you know, he gets some one-on-ones and take your shots. Well, they said in training camp, when the reporters are watching, they got in 0-4 personnel. I don't even know what to call that one step. They had Jonu in the backfield and three other teams.

tight ends. I'm not sure who the third tight end. Conner Hayward I believe was the other tight end and said that they're just going wild here. It's a long way of talking about DK and his route tree. I did want to mention that all the reports that I can't, like they're living on his slant. So maybe it's

keep him on the move. Yeah, a little more yards after catch, maybe a little less go balls. That's the thing I was frustrated watching Aaron Rogers. I think Garrett Wilson got a little frustrated with Aaron Rogers. Maybe not as willing to take as many shots. down the field.

So it's going to be the shorter shots. Can I pull up? This is why I love doing this show because then I just go into my notes because I like to see if these guys change a lot from when they were coming out to what they are now. So I'm just going to pull up some D.K. Metcalfe notes. He reminded me a Demerius Thomas.

He can fight through press, burst, wall off on slants. Nice one-hand catch versus Bama. He's not great working back to the quarterback, not great getting in and out. I'm on the move. That's still true. That's who he is.

I mean, he's gotten better, more well-rounded as an NFL player. The Demerius Thomas comp is a really good one. You think of the most famous DeMarius-Thomas play of all time. You didn't actually see as much of that with Seattle. So I would look forward to it. By the way, going back to D.K., he was 228 pounds coming out. He ran 4-33.

That's when he ran the 4-D-Sate, it looks like he's in a Batman suit. It's one of those drafts that I do think. if it had happened five years later receivers were just falling a little more than or maybe I'm wrong

but it seems completely bizarre that the D.K. Metcalf Aaron A.J. Brown picture of them flexing as college teammates

that those two gentlemen with with like those freaks how did they fall to the late second round both of them all right now

I have to open it back up so that was 19 so DK. Mekaff was my 21st player he was the 64th pick W another W for DJ Let's go AJ Brown was a lot

AJ Brown was my 36th player Was the 51st pick Both of those guys What were we doing at the NFL back then? I don't know They weren't listening to you I don't know So you go back through this database

I always do this just to show How this whole thing works Hey great job you had AJ Brown 36 just one spot behind Jerry Tilly I mean, they're the same guy. Same career. I did have him one spot over in a kill Harry, though. Give me that one.

Good job. Thank you. That was a mistake that the Bill Belichick made. And who knows? If he had drafted A.J. Brown, like instead of Nickeel Harry, just that one pick different. Maybe he's still there. Maybe he's there. Maybe Jordan Hudson is running the personnel department.

I'm just going to, because we've done so much dealers and I know people that are probably fans of these other teams. Just glossing over, but I did have Caleb Johnson down as one of my guys, third ground pick, running back, foot in the ground, go. Like, that's what he is. He's kind of just, he's a no nonsense. North-South. He's big. He's fast. I don't think there's a ton of wiggle there for me, but there's, he's going to fit there.

They're going to try them, all people, create a crease and let him see if he hit some home runs. They haven't had that. He's the Najah Harris role with a little more closiveness. And they're not going to ask him to be on the field every down for fantasy owners. Like Jalen Warren is going to have a role. They like what they see out of Kenneth Gainwell, who's a good player. No, no, no. They love what they've seen out of Kenneth Gainwell.

That's on the fantasy football list on the side, Kenneth Gainwell. And they look, if he, they feel like in that building what you saw, you know, with him behind Sequin Barclay, like just, what if we just give him a little bit more? He was excellent there. And they've, they've loved Kenneth Gainwell. Well, I will never forget a Super Bowl performance by an awesome Eagles offense at the highest of levels against a Steve Spagnolo, defense going up and down the field. They didn't win the game, but the offense did their job.

Like, who's the running back that was on the field that they trusted the most? It's Kenneth Gainwell, like in the biggest of spots. All right. I'll throw up. What do you got left?

I got Kenny Pickett. The Kenny Pickett is my last guy. That's funny because I've got, can I just, my last one, I couldn't pick so I've been paired them up, Dylan Gabriel and Shudwer's Sanger. So we can just have this whole discussion.

Let's talk about the Browns quarterbacks. Kenny Pickett, to me, was a missed opportunity. So I haven't been impressed, with his film. I don't love the idea that two teams, including the Steelers, have essentially given

him away. Steelers, in hindsight, got a pretty good value for him from the Eagles in that trade. The Eagles just got a fifth round pick back in that trade in DTR. Like, why didn't they get more aggressive in going after trying to upgrade the position? I have no... Like, Joe Flacco

makes sense there. He knows the system. It's good to have a veteran in the room. It was cheap. It makes sense. But Kenny Pickett was the guy that they've gone into camp with and said, we kind of hope he wins this job we want to develop him he has a chance for the future weird bet with one of the most expensive rosters in the league i know they're a rebuilding team maybe to work maybe it won't but i think he's going to have a big impact because if he doesn't work i think it just is a big swing and a miss it's a question that i've been asked probably more

than any other in training camp during training camp and as we're recording this we haven't seen the preseason yet so this uh you know we've already had a brown's game we haven't seen that when we're talking here. So I want to get that out there. But I don't know where he fits. I've been asked this, how does this quarterback thing shake out? And I've said,

okay, well, Joe Flacko feels like the week one starter. Like, they're comfortable with him. They know who he is. Like, he's on the team as that,

as that guy. And then it feels like, you're not going to get rid of a third or fifth round pick. You know, the fifth round pick being shoot or standards because the talent that was, you know, warranted a higher selection of that.

So you're not going to give up on the two young guys. You don't really know what you have there. So then it just leaves me with Kenny Pickett. And I'm like, are they going to roster four guys? I don't think so. And then is it, are they just looking around the league to see, you know, is there an injury? And then does that provide an opportunity to trade him?

But then they've talked him up so much. So part of me is like, well, they talked him up because they really like him. And the other part of me is like, oh, it's just a pumping dump. They're, they're talking them up so they can create value for him to go somewhere else. It feels like they went into the draft knowing they wanted to have a younger option. They had that younger option with Kenny Pickett. And they're like, hey, if something works out, maybe, you know, maybe we could draft one as well. so then they love Dylan Gabriel he's there

then they took him in the third round and then Shadur after they'd pass on him a million times eventually like we can't pass on him anymore and they just kind of find themselves in this weird position with these four quarterbacks and Gabriel struggled in training camp by all accounts Shadur Sanders has had more impressive moments

where he looks like you know bigger potential but he's a developmental quarterback he's a fifth round pick but again he was so much higher rate on my just selfishly looking at it the way I saw both these guys come into the process I one on, pardon my take before the draft, and they said, give us a Brock Purdy type quarterback, a quarterback who could go in the sixth or seventh round and he ends up being a starter down

the line. Like, who's your guy? And I'm like, Dylan Gabriel. Well, that doesn't work when he goes in the third round. So that, that was kind of where I thought. Maybe it's Shudor Sanders is your Brock Pretty like guy. Because honestly, the strengths are not that different between Shadur if he's going to work at the pro level and a Brock Pretty type. Yeah. No, he's in that family. I've kind of said that that archetype right of quarterback Joe Burrow is at the very

top of that mountain and then like Brock Purdy kind of factors in there below him and that level Shudor Sanders is in that line

of style of quarterbacks now people can say it's the Kirkland brand or whatever you want to, however you want to use that but that's how

he's going to win is going to be playing that brand of football so when I when I go back and look at Shudor he was my 20th overall player

and then when you go out and look at where is he here oh my gosh Dylan Gabriel was 148 that's a pretty big difference and the reporters that have been there at the Browns

would say your ranking sounds right Shadr looks like a nice interesting young player who has some potential and Gabriel's just not ready for it quite yet so but do they keep four or they not keep four it's fascinating I don't think

they will keep four I do think Andrew Barry should take, you know, more grief for the roster that he's built. So it's weird to me. The craziest thing when we do these discussions on them is that they have Deshawn Watson. Right. Well, that's on the roster just kind of, yeah. That's the, that's the original sin. But the reality is like, they're in year five of this, this group. And the rest of the roster has its share of issues, too. And so I think just going into this season. And by the way, if it's a pump and dump, I mean, what are you dumping it for at this point? Yeah.

Well, it depends on who gets hurt and how desperate people are. It's a penny stock. I don't think it's happening. The other thing, though, is that, again, is you just look at how it's projected right now. I'll give, uh, should I thinkathon. Tankathon's a great website. If you love the draft, you want to keep up with, like, how the draft order is, uh, projecting out as the season goes along and, and keeping up with it week to week.

They do a great job with it. But they project before the season, uh, next year's draft, the Browns have the second overall pick and the ninth overall pick, which would be from Jacksonville. So their quarterback discussion, as elongated as it is right now, their long-term quarterback is more than likely in next year's draft class.

That is, it's a fair point. We did it. We talked about the Browns quarterback. We get to do our bonus. It is time for our wild cards. I always forget how you name that. Wild card.

Bonus baby hasn't. I wonder if you had Shudor Sanders, by the way, higher than Kenny Pickett when he was coming out. I bet you did. I bet you did. Yeah, a little bit higher. But similar,

but higher. my wild card is Tyler Loop. Wow. For the Baltimore Ravens. Look, they had such a long run with Tucker and everybody knows what, you know, transpired away from the football field and then his play had tailed off over the last couple of years.

But on a nice run that they had there, it was, when they got to the freaking 40-yard line, it was three points. I mean, this guy's got a huge leg. So we'll see. Loop's done, you saw in the preseason game of the night. I think he missed one. He had a miss.

But you could see the leg. leg strength. Would Justin Tucker, you know, miss that? This year he would have, or last year at least. Prime Tucker and it didn't miss anything. So I think that's,

it's fair. We're talking about this division. We talked a lot about the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Cincinnati Bengals with Joe Burrow and that offense are going to be in the mix. Like there's going to be games for them that come down to Tyler Loop. I feel bad for not talking any Bengals.

So I'll just throw out no offense. Why not? That's my wild card. Okay. Because it's more, it's more as a reminder that they just didn't add a lot this off season. Of course

you're happy that you give Chase and Higgins all that money, but they've been there. That's not a reason to think you're going to get better. Have a couple draft picks that they can get excited about. You mentioned Demetrius Knight. They have the first round picks from R. Stewart. But ultimately, they kind of ran back

the same defense. That wasn't very good last year. And then on offense, I think they could have gotten better on the offensive line than they really did. They don't have a lot of depth, especially at tackle. There's questions at guard as well. The one move they made in the middle of training camp was bringing in

Noah Fant, another tight end. And so just building strength on strength. I don't mind that. I like that move. I think he can fill a role kind of with Mike Gassicki as the slot guy and fans there. And they just have a plethora of weapons. But to me it was a reminder like the Bengals, they didn't give you a lot of reasons to feel

like this is a better team other than you change your defensive coordinator. Yeah, I mean, they're going to need these young rookies to play well. Demetrius Knight, Shemar Stewart going to have to play big roles for him. And, you know, offensively, the tight-in position is funny that you mentioned that. Tanner McLaughlin was like one of my sleepers. I loved him coming out of Arizona.

He was older player. So he ended up dropping to the sixth round. I thought he was worth like a third round pick. But now that I look at their roster. He's buried because Drew Sample plays for them. Drew Sample plays. You have Fant now. Eck, who they like.

Sorry, Eric Aldj, the kid who he had been hurt coming out too. And the other night, Tanner Hudson got two touched. downs one at the beginning of the game and one at the end of the game which that's a lot of football to be playing week one in the preseason for Tanner Hudson but they obviously like him so he is 100% buried on that depth chart. Yeah well if I wanted to spin something positive to

you know who's out there starting for them with Joe Burrow and the ones and had some nice plays by all counts rookie guard Dylan Fairchild so that's another rookie man they like Dylan Fairchild rookies see I felt bad because I'm I'm rooting for the Bengals I want the Wesleyan brothers to be happy that's fair

they ruined out of them out there. They just, I mean, I do think it's interesting they're playing the offensive guys here in the preseason after their slow starts the last few years. It's one of these offseason narratives that I've gotten sick of, like, since January, Zach Taylor's been talking about. We got to start faster. We've got to start faster.

We're going to do it like, we'll see. Maybe playing in the preseason can change everything. We're ready to go. Like, we don't need to warm up these 40s and free agents have been flying. We will be back next week with the AFC South and the NFC South. I know you will miss me

until then, DJ. Leave us a rating and review. Why not? Good job by DJ. Leave us a rating. Leave us a review. Tell your friends. We'll see you next time.

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