NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 40s and Free Agents: The NFC East's 5 Impact Additions and Rookies + Commanders Extend WR Terry McLaurin

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

40s and Free Agents makes it way to the NFC East, where Gregg Rosenthal and Daniel Jeremiah share their favorite additions to the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. The duo starts with the Commanders, where veteran additions like Deebo Samuel, Laremy Tunsil and Von Miller dominate the discussion. Then, DJ shares two rookie additions to the Cowboys that could make an impact in Jerry World. Later, the conversation gravitates to more rookies on the Eagles and Giants.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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. Welcome to 40s and free agents. I'm Greg Rosenthal.

I am joined by my friend Daniel Jeremiah. We are getting to the end of our previews of the season where we go through each division and pick the biggest additions in terms of veterans and rookies throughout the league. And look, we got lucky here, DJ. We're doing the NFC East today. And we're taping.

on the very same morning that Terry McLaurin got a big contract extension with the Washington commander. So I feel like we might as well just start there. This is one of those holdouts like you expected to get done eventually, but also I feel much better about the commanders knowing he will be fully ready for week one. Yeah, it was interesting. I saw that news come down and I wanted to kind of refresh myself on Terry. Obviously, he's been a great player. He's been fun to watch.

And we hit this on Move the Six with Buck. I kind of went through and just watched all his explosive plays. I was curious, like, his usage, like, how they were doing it. Where were those big plays coming from? And it was, you know, seven of those were vertical balls, like just straight go balls. You had four on scrambles, which you could understand, having an athletic quarterback. You had three on overs. So the vast majority of them were on takeoffs, verticals, down the field.

You know, not a lot of quick hitters. He had two on slants. Then you get mixed in an end. You mix in, you know, a corner. You mix in a couple of comeback. but it wasn't. There was no wide receiver screen run after catch. You know, you had those two slants,

but there wasn't a lot of just, you know, him just taking a short ball and then making something explosive or dynamic happen, which took me down a rabbit trail of just, okay, who is a run after catch guy in this offense? So you go back through and pull the numbers from last year. Echler led the team of 420-something yards. Zakias, who now has been doing a great job with the bears.

He's exited. He was second. And then McLaren was after that. So I'm like, okay, well, this doesn't seem like a lot of yards after catch. Where were they in the league? They're 16th in yards after catch. I know preseason's a liar.

I talk about it all the time, Greg. But they're 26th in yards after catch in the preseason. So it informed the decision to me of why they went and got Debo Samuel because they're trying to find somebody to compliment what they have in Terry. My whole point of all of this is it's pretty incredible. This team was in the NFC championship game last year with an offensive line. I think we'd all agree that was so-so. Terry is a great player, but he was not surrounded by.

a complete receiver group. Like this isn't even a well-formed team and they were in the NFC championship game last year. Yeah, it makes it very difficult and we're going to get to a lot of commanders here. Debo, you know, that's my first veteran. So we will just like combine the discussion here. The contract was, you know, three years

on the extension with a $30 million signing bonus. It's up to $96 million, but that's tacking on the year. Either way, he's going to be nicely in that region, somewhere between a Justin Jefferson and maybe a D.K. Metcalf. And I think he deserves it. And you think about his year last year. And for fantasy, like, it was great because he suddenly scores 13 touchdowns. But in terms of volume, I think people would be surprised.

He actually got fewer targets than he used to get when Jaden Daniels wasn't there. And he just had more efficiency, like more yards per target. And he's just one of those receivers. If you know, you know, I did not see any decline out of him, even though, you know, he's getting older. He's hitting his age 30 season. later this year. And you do worry about that a little. But his contested catch rate, DJ,

that is one of those, you know, skill sets that you look for, I'm sure. But it's really hard to repeat at the NFL level year after year. If you look at the numbers, you can make the argument that Terry McLaurin is the best contested catch guy, or certainly one of them, of his entire generation, year after year, playing with not so great quarterbacks. If you look at the numbers in his contest, he's just a great plus. of the football. And I don't see why that can't continue. And you're right that Debo ends up being a very nice compliment to him with that. The last point on that. And again,

we mentioned this a little bit on with the sticks. But this is, it's ironic that you had mentioned that as his greatest strength. He goes to Ohio State on a camp. And he wants to get an offer from Ohio State. That's kind of his dream school. He goes there, doesn't catch the ball that great. And he's a little bit of a body catcher. So they told him, look, you got to improve your hands if you want to get an offer. He catches 200 balls a day. A lot of those from his mom. just throwing him balls in the family room. But he catches 200 balls a day every single day until he goes back to the camp the next time,

catches the ball flawlessly. They offer him a scholarship and off he goes. But that was just a little glimpse into kind of the work ethic and all that he put into that. And now you look at him as one of the best catchers of the football in the NFL. And it's a great sign for the commanders who obviously have not been a great organization

before the ownership change of rewarding Mr. Washington over the last six years. So feel great about that. Debo to me is just such an X factor. He's so up and down, DJ, in terms of his explosiveness, his health. I don't know if it's motivation, but maybe I would say the coaching staff in San Francisco being happy with him. It just, it was up and down. When he's great, he's great.

He's a unique skill set, but they really need him to work. It's ultimately a one-year deal that they brought him in on. If you look at how the contract is structured, they traded for him, of course, but only had to give up a late-round pick. And to me, he is the ultimate X factor for this team. Because, yeah, you don't have Diami Brown. You don't have Zakias. They're going to miss those guys. And they have Noah Brown as their next guy who hasn't been healthy.

So these two really have to carry this passing game as a whole. I think from what we've heard, he could do it. But I also, I'm not feeling like amazing about it. Just because he's been up and down. He really hasn't been that guy that we saw back in 2021 too often. With a quarterback like they have in Jaden Daniels, there should be massive yards after the catch. Just because he's going to draw so many eyes and so much attention

that you should have opportunities to have fewer numbers in the back end because you have to dedicate bodies to deal with what he can do with his leg. So I'm hoping that he emerges that guy or that he can still be that guy because at one point in time, there is nobody better in the NFL with a ball on their hands than Debo Samuel. So excited to see what that looks like. I'll get to one of my rookies here. Bill, the man affectionately known as Bill, Kroski Merritt,

who I took in, I only do one NFL fantasy league, targeted him early, took him early. How early? I think I took him in the fifth or sixth round. Got some, I know, but I like, I always take young guys a little early than I have to. I load up on young guys because it's kind of fun for me to just keep an eye on the guys. I just spent all this time talking about it in the run up to the draft. So, but I'm a believer in him. I know I'm talking to people in that organization.

They're very excited about him and what he can bring to the table to go. back through and pull up my notes on him. Let's go here. We got to get this segment sponsored. This is everyone's favorite. Yeah, the notes. The notes. DeJ. pulling up the notes. Where are the heck? Oh, here he is. Right here. So he was

he was 510 and a quarter, 206 pounds. He ran 4.45 as a runner, someone who really can press the hole. He lower his pads. He'll spin off tackles. He runs really hard. There's a little bit of tightness there. But catches the ball well. He's really good in the screen game needs to work on on pass pro now he was hurt missed most of the season there at arizona he was a transfer but he he popped on the scene when you go watch him at the east west shrine bowl so the practice is there he had an outstanding week and that's kind of what

what got him back on the map it tested really really well so I think they've got someone who's I think to me personally already the most talented runner on their roster so we'll see how long it takes before he takes over the lion's share of the carries and now DJ won't like me doing this. But, you know, when you have commanders' takes, I always just listen a little closer, because I know you, I know who you talk to, you know, you've talked about it. You know Adam Peter as well who runs it. So if you're saying, if you're getting confident enough that you're taking to Corey Cross-Marley, fifth or sixth round, I feel good about that because it feels, feels like a little bit of a reach. I think Austin Eckler is going to have a role. Jeremy McNichols

will have a role. And so you're comparing, you know, the guys you could take at that round in fantasy drafts. But in reality, he's one of the best stories. I think of all of training camp. It's what paying attention to training camp to me is all about is guys like him elevating. And now they didn't even need Brian Robinson on this team. Yeah, Brian Robinson exits. So that's my first one. And I know we do five in a wow card.

Yes. In the NFC East, I'm going to fudge it a little bit because I just have six guys. And I felt like all six of them belong in there. I don't think one of them belongs in the wild card. So you can designate wherever the heck you want is a wild card. But I've got six names here. What is another commander? here or no you're just giving oh no you want you want i thought you were up i do you went first with

i'm trying to be fair commanders but you just threw out the wildcard thing yeah so let's be real the commanders made the biggest moves this off-season in the division laramie tonsel is such a fascinating player been traded twice for massive halls like there are very few players in the last 20 years that that can be said about calil mac is the only other one that really comes to mind and and tonsil still got a lot in this iteration coming from Houston where it was interesting to me that they were ready to give up on him. I don't know if they thought he was as consistent in the running game, but he's one of the best past protectors of his generation, and he is going to help out this offensive line.

So Washington really pushed their chips in the middle of the table with Laramie Tunsell to make sure that they didn't slide this year. And then they have a good rookie last year, Brandon Coleman, who played left tackle for them, who's been hurt in camp but is going to slide inside to guard. So you're hoping that you're improving two positions there for the commanders. And Tunsell is just so talented. You can tell me how you looked at him way back in the day.

Of course, it was my number one player in that draft. Wow, that's crazy. It is, there has been something about Tunsel over the years. It felt unfair that he fell that far in that draft, considering what was going on. Try being live on the air when that's going down I'm trying to choose your words carefully. It's not easy.

For our younger listeners, there was a video that came out with him using a, like a water bomb. It was a gas mask. It was like a gas mask filled with smoke. Hey, look, it's all legal now. So I think it's okay to talk. Now it wouldn't have been anything. Even someone that is feel like I'm relatively familiar with the game.

Like I was like, what is that? You know? As someone who is. zero familiarity with the game. I had no idea what was going on. And I'm tasked with being on national television and figuring out who's going to take this guy and how far does he fall, how serious is this,

who leaked this information, how did it get out there? The day, like while the draft is going, it was wild. But I am a huge believer in his ability, but he did just get two false starts while you were talking. So that's the only thing that I'm worried about. We've got to clean up the penalties he had in Houston. It just speaks to my larger commander's point.

And I'm going to throw out my third commander. Because to me, they did have three of the biggest signings. The Eagles basically sat out free agency. So they're not getting more. Well, go ahead, jump into it. That's the only commander that I have was merit. It's von Miller. And Von Miller and Tunsel, to me, almost occupy a similar space.

I would even throw in Javon Kinlaw, who they gave a lot of money to. I just look at this team in terms of their veterans, just a little boom or bust. Very high ceilings and a lot of uncertainty. I feel good about Laramie Tunsel in the first year of his deal there. It's not like he's ever been a bad NFL player. He's always been a plus player. It's like how plus plus is he going to be? Von Miller at this stage of his career.

Like, he was a situational pass pressure for the bills was okay last year. It wasn't great. Kinlaw's been a little up and down. I know there's some belief in them. I'm throwing a lot of guys together. And I just, I look at that edge position. I look at their offensive line in general. They're hoping to get Sam Cosme back eventually from a torn ACL.

It's just a boomer bust team to me. You can tell me they end up being better. this year in terms of more stable. Maybe they don't get back to the NFC championship game, but they're better as a week-to-week team. Or that it goes wrong, and they take a little bit of a step back because I think you're betting on a lot of different guys, and I would throw Debo in there, Vaughn in there, and Tunsel in there.

That, to me, high variance, guys. Yeah, to me, I think they're, you know, as a team, I think their secondaries vastly improved from where it was a couple years ago. I like what they've done there, and they've gotten more physical. They've got tougher there in the back-in. So I'm excited about that Now the thing is going to be It's really only one question with them

Is how they match up with Philadelphia Eagles And then can they keep the Eagles from jamming the ball down their throats when it matters So they've added Kinlaw They've added some pieces there to help Try and keep that from happening I don't know that they're there yet They still feel like to me last year

Was a year ahead of schedule This year wouldn't be surprised If they took a little step back And I'm almost looking towards I hate doing this before a season starts But like I'm more excited about another offseason. I think they need another offseason to kind of round out this roster and complete this roster. That's my take on them. Yeah, I think the strategy this year for their front office was

partly to prevent that backslide by, again, filling holes in free agency with guys who can play. They brought back Bobby Wagner. But I'm with you in terms of setting up the foundation. It reminds me a little bit of the Buffalo Bills under McDermott and Brandon Bean, who I think did as good a team building job as anyone in the last decade. And if you remember when they came aboard, they took a little bit of a step back in year two before really establishing themselves as year-to-year contenders in year three. So to give you a look behind the scenes of how this works on the personnel side, this is what happened when you take over a team that is drafted terribly. You swap out a ton of the roster for guys on one-year deals. Now, the good news is you

might hit on some of those guys. The bad news is once you hit on them, you still don't have any control so you can lose guys you're trying to resign guys it's just not there's no foundation is what i'm getting at so they need three draft classes to almost backfill because if you look at it the players look at the just the first round picks before this regime got there the previous five years it's gross so um they're there it's a challenge there and they're way ahead of schedule uh last year all right i'll give you i'll give you two names here i'm going to go to the dallas cowboys for for my two guys next up here uh first one because i'm not going to Just take the low-hanging fruit.

I'm going to go to the fifth round. I'm going to go Jaden Ballou, running back out of Texas for the Dallas Cowboys, who was a favorite of mine, Greg. While I read the report, maybe you can look it up or Drew can get in your ear to figure out what number pick he was in the draft. But he was 5-9, 196 pounds, ran a 4-3-8. I thought he would run even faster than that after the way he played. But someone who is a little bit narrow but super fast, explosive in the past game.

You see him on option routes. Nobody could cover him. Change a direction, make miss out in space, outstanding. Now, he's not a physical, violent runner, pass protection. You're going to much rather get him out in the route than ask him to sit in there and anchor down. There's just not a lot of anchor there. But this is someone who is a total mismatch player in the past game. And when you have C.D. Lam on one side, George Pickens on the other side,

if you can stretch the field out a little bit and isolate him in the past game, or even in the draw game, screen game, a game, you know, option route, angle route. Like, Jayden Blue is going to, you're going to see him on Sunday's making plays for the Dallas Cowboys as a fifth round pick. Sometimes it's all about opportunity. I don't know if they were looking at running back earlier in the draft and just the guys they wanted kept going a little before they were able to take him.

But getting Blue in the fifth round, that was one. It set off alarms for fantasy football leaguers because the opportunity is there. I think the starter is going to be Giovante Williams. We'll see on Cutdown Day how they. they decide to construct this room. Certainly, Jaden Blue is going to be part of it. I think had a really positive camp. He did have an ankle injury.

They say lower ankle injury in the last preseason game. Don't know if that's going to prevent him from being ready for week one. I'm going to throw a curveball to you. I think Phil Moffa was a undrafted rookie in this class. Clemson, yeah. Okay. Did you watch any tape on him, by the way? Of course, yeah.

And when I was out at Cowboys Camp, he popped a 50-yarder against the starters, had some bursts. And then when I would watch it in the preseason, I don't even know if he's going to make the team or not. I think he will. But I kind of liked a little north-south juice. Bill Moffa was a six foot and a half, 234 pounds, 6-05. Big boy. Big back.

He's big. He's more carried defenders than power through him. He's a little bit rigid. He did have a nice 83-yard run against App State, which hurt a little bit. But not big time, change the direction and no real value as a pass catcher. So he's just kind of a big, a little bit of a plighter. plotter, but someone who is a big physical back, like an old school four-minute stealer back is how I would kind of look at him.

Maybe, you know, the league maybe is getting back to a point where he can use a few more of those backs. Ali Gordon and Miami's had a nice. Hey, hey, hey, don't spoil the AFC East coming up. That's coming up later in the week. I'm glad you mentioned that. So we got. Can I give you my next one here?

You can, but I was just going to set it up for the listener. We got two more divisions this week. And then early next week, you can look forward to us drafting who we think is going to win the Super Bowl back and forth. And that'll be kind of the end of this preseason 40s in free agents mini run that we've been on. This has been fun, by the way. The feedback has been positive, surprisingly positive when we considered who I'm working with. So that's been fun. Let's go to my next Dallas Cowboy here.

I'm going to go Donovan Isiraku, edge rusher, who when I went out there, to training camp. I was just out there for a day early on. I know you're out there as well, Greg, but there seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm about him. I liked him as a player. I thought they got tremendous value with where they ended up getting him. I'll pull up where I had him. Yeah, he was

the 44th pick and he was my 30th overall player. So I thought they got a first round pick where they were. Long arms. He's got legit burst, tons of production and polish. You'll see him win a lot of different ways. He'll do his nice little club

move swim move inside counter you'll see him get guys on their heels and then and counter across their face talking to the coaches at the senior bowl who coached him there absolutely loved him thought he was a pros pro um that's always a good sign if you want guys to have an immediate impact that's a phrase when you hear that oh this guy's professional he gets it like okay he knows he's going to learn everything uh he's going to be diligent and studying and working he can get on the field and make an impact i love that by the way i never informed you uh jane blue is the 149th pick of the draft. Oh, Jaden Blue was 149, and I believe, let me go back.

I think he was 109 for me. Jaden Blue was 107. He was 1.07. 107. I don't, I don't. But 107. I just to me, it's like, yeah, good signs. And, yeah, he's a DJ type of guy.

So is Azaraku. I really liked him going into the draft. I've heard the same things about him in camp. Now, the preseason, he's been quieter. in the games. Tiny sample size, we'll see. But the Dallas beat writers have been saying, man, he is tearing up the practices

and it hadn't translated quite to the preseason where he did get a lot of run. And I expect him to be very good. And he doesn't have to be the man as long as they get Micah Parsons signed. And if they do get Michael Parsons signed, ultimately I do think will happen in the end. They have potentially the deepest edge group

in the entire NFL. Dante Fowler has been a productive sign him for one year and he's going to get you eight to ten sacks type of guy. He is there. Marshawn Nealon was a second round pick a year ago, maybe not as pure an edge rusher. Rugged. Right, a good player. And then Sam Williams, again, to talk about the day I was there. I mean, he's got a lot of juice off the edge and he actually picked off Dak Prescott on a play

he dropped in the coverage. I would not expect what happened too off him and took him for a pick six on the day I was there. So that is an athletic, exciting edge group. And I'm excited about this Cowboys defense. I actually think it could be better than people think. Once they get used to the eber flus of it all, once Trayvon Diggs is back on the field, they activated him recently.

Because of the edge group, I actually think they have a little more juice than people think. Yeah, I'm excited about a lot of those individual players. It's hard for me to get it out of my head. The day I was there, I watched Jimmy Garoppolo carve him up like a Thanksgiving turkey in the back end. That was tough. The Rams.

Devante Adams. Oh, my gosh, they had no answer on that one. And you talked about being in the division like the commanders are, needing to stop the run against the Eagles. I have major questions about the commanders. There are even bigger questions about the Cowboys. I don't know if they're going to be able to stop the run with the personnel that they have. Let's take a quick break,

and we'll actually wrap up our Cowboys talk on the other side. Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now, I'm Drew Franklin. And this is. 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 honor. automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more.

I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm 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. 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. 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 into 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 i heart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts back on 40s and free agents daniel jeremiah is off the road no more getting back from the preseason game i mean i guess you're going to get back on the road for the regular season but you have a nice couple weeks here before you go to a 12-hour flight coming up to Brazil bud like that's uh and at 47 years old

that's a that there's a lot of hydration and preparation I need to know I need to know a Labor Day weekend you get the Labor Day weekend maybe catch a Padres game you know something I need to get I'm thinking about getting that uh money who does the play by play has one of those fancy things where you can kind of stick your arms in them and then it has the little donut hole you can put your head down to sleep like basically on the little tray table like you can sleep face down like that thinking about making that investment i don't know if that's worth it or not well you what you're not dj's not business class like well you know no no you're going with the team so that's interesting yeah yeah no players get the players obviously taking care of there's a bit

of a catch-22 there going with the team but ultimately you know nice you know skipping security it's amazing uh let's get back to the the list so we're doing the biggest additions and i thought george pickens has to be on this list because to me he is the missing piece of what this cowboy's offense was looking for just a little more skill position depth. They expect Jake Ferguson to have a better year this year. They gave them a nice contract at tight end, but Pickens brings them some real juice. And I think he occupies that spot that Michael Gallup used to have. You can move C.D. Lamb all around the formation, but you have Pickens there as a ball winner

on the outside. Not a lot of guys. Those guys are hard to find. And he's heading into a free agent year, and he is one of the most intriguing free agents out there. I think they're going to get the best effort. I don't know if you heard anything about, you know, from the coaches, just how they have enjoyed having pickings with them during training camp. Everything I was told when I was out there talking to guys was, he's been good. You know, he's been bought in. He's fit in. There hasn't been really any issues. Now, we'll see once we get into the regular season and maybe if the targets aren't there, if that, you know, he gets frustrated as has been the case in the past. But to me, this is a best behavior situation.

Like, he's smart enough to know that he wants to get a big payday. And that comes with him being on his best behavior, being bought in, body language, all that stuff that he's been criticized for in the past. I think you see the best of him this year. And I think this is the first time he's had a dude, the caliber of seeding lamb on the opposite side where he's going to not get any attention whatsoever from coverage. I think he has a really good year. I'm excited about him.

He's so talented. I remember going back and forth with you. when he was coming out. I had him second in my receivers that year. And talent-wise, and really competitiveness-wise, it's not like he's lacking for effort. The effort is there. So it reminds me a lot of a couple other Cowboys pickups

over the years at wide receiver. They got the very best year possible out of Roy Williams, right? From the Lions that first year, and then he got the big contract. Same thing with Terrell Owens. George Pickens, maybe not at the talent level. Certainly of T.O., maybe Roy Williams is closer. closer to that. I think they're going to get the best out of George

Pickens and maybe he gets a big contract. People getting a peek behind our relationship, by the way, which is Greg, um, finding a really Uber talented player. Yeah. That might not be rated as high. And even though we've been having these conversations for over a decade,

he will still not see the forest of the trees. He will always call me and go, I mean, I am a super scout. I'm the only one that sees that this guy's really talented. How come he's so low? And I go, Greg, you realize there's other parts. of the evaluation other than just what we see on the field.

And I, there's, it was, I won't say who the player was, but there's one this last year who's getting a lot of love to the preseason who's been outstanding. But yeah, and everybody knows the talent was there. If we're just grading off just that, it would have been easy. But there's other information you take in and that can, you know, move guys down a little bit. And sometimes those issues never materialize and the guy ends up being a great player. Other times two years, three years down the road, you go, oh, I get, I guess I see now why he, he felt a little bit.

So if you're listening to 40s and free agents, guess who that player is in our mentions. And I'll at least tell you. But you don't say it. You'll tell me off the year. I'll tell you, I'll tell the listener if they were right. I know. I'm not, I'm not really sure who it is right now. But I think what you haven't considered DJ is just that, like, I've got a special eye, you know.

That's right. That's right. This guy from Georgia is pretty good. I mean, he's pretty big and athletic. Some scouts are just better than others. People don't like to talk about it. Oh, everyone's even. No.

Some are better. You know, I'm not, you know, you got to where you are for a reason. So maybe I've just got that special eye. This guy. No, I like this super tall, fast guy from Georgia, talented. Yeah, it looks pretty good. He's pretty good out there. Give me another rookie.

All right, I'm going to go to the Philadelphia Eagles. Only one. I'm saving, by the way, if you're a Giants fan, you're wondering, where are we? I think the Giants have the two biggest guys in this whole process, and I'm saving the best for last, so to speak. So Philadelphia Eagles, I'm going to go to the first round, Jehad Campbell. And this is a classic case. Everybody, I shouldn't say everybody, but some folks in the league get mad at me every year at the draft because they feel like I unfairly love up Howie Roseman and that I say that they get the best value every year in the draft.

And I'm like, guys, I don't know what you want me to do. I watch the players. I rank the players. I don't know who's going to pick them or where they're going to go. But it just so happens that every year that Eagles happen to be picking towards the back of the first round and they get one of my top 12 players. It didn't matter which team it was. I would have loved them up. It's just based off my opinion of what I saw on the guys.

And Jehad Campbell, when it came to my final list, he was my 12th overall player, my number one off the ball linebacker. And they got him with what, the 31st pick, I think, maybe, some around there. They traded back 32nd, yeah. Oh, 32nd. Well, they had the 302 pick. They won the Super Bowl, right? That's right.

They traded up. Up one spot, yeah. So 6027, so almost 63, 235 pounds. He ran 452. Rangy, versatile. He was recruited as an edge rusher, but then to get him on the field because they had the two first rounders.

You had Dallas Turner and Will Anderson, like, we got to get this guy on the field, so let's put him off the ball. So he hasn't even spent that much time in that position, but showed big time lateral range and burst. He can play off tackles. He's an outstanding blitzer. He can bend and finish.

Think of just a fast, fluid, loose athlete who also has extremely high character and all that stuff's great off the field. the funny story was early in training camp talking to some folks in philly like okay it wasn't he didn't pick it up just right away like he wasn't you know excelling in the off the ball linebacker position so they started cross training him a little bit because he had been an edge rusher so let's give him some work after practice let's let him work on some pass rush stuff if nothing else like we could use him in that capacity and then all of a sudden the preseason games come around and he's just lighting it up off the ball he's making splash plays he's seeing everything he's playing fast and then And they're like, you don't need to work after practice at edge rusher anymore. You just go ahead and stay in there. And I was told me, Zach's the kind of bones. I was like, I like Russian.

I'm learning a lot. Like, yeah, sorry, you should have played worse. If you wanted to play on the edge, you should have played worse. Now you're locked in here as an off the ball guy. That is great insight. Did not know any of that. And you can kind of see it on the field in the preseason. One of the stories of the preseason.

We did the show with Mina Kimes where we talked about our favorite players. That was her favorite player in the draft. if we could have told you or Mina, you had him 12th overall, before the process, that he would be ready to go day one of training camp. I think maybe you even bump him up a little higher. It's amazing what a quick recovery he had and that it really sounds like he is going to be a day one starter. And what a fun combination.

How about him and Zach Bonn? Right. Like that's exactly what you want kind of out of these modern linebackers, two guys who can rush. Maybe they're not having them work extra because they're like, You're good enough. We will blitz you sometimes. Like, it's not like he's not going to rush the passer here and there,

but that's not his main job. The interesting thing about the Eagles to me, like for a team that just won a Super Bowl, you look on this defense. Do you remember a team that won a Super Bowl that's defense was this young? Like, look at these guys. No. Like, it's Jalen Carter, class of 23,

Nolan Smith class of 23, Nekobi Dean, 22, Jalix Hunt, 24. You got Ringo. and Sidney Brown were 23 guys. You've got Quinyan and Cooper DeGine from 20, the class of 24. Like, their whole defense is like first three-year guys. All right.

I'll throw out my wildcard because it was the Eagles. Like, the wildcard to me is do they get anything out of these edge rush kind of bargain basement guys they signed Azizzo Jalari and Josh Uche being two of the examples? You can't push forward in terms of free agency spending big bucks every single year. they've done as good, maybe better job than literally any team in the NFL resigning guys early, not going into the problems that the Cowboys or the Bengals get into, for instance, with their players. If anything, they get great value signing them early, guys like, you know, Landon Dickerson, who would be worth, who knows how much if you got closer to free agency.

But what that means is you can't push in free agency every single year. And so they kind of just, you know, nibbled around the edges. They watch some really good players go. And I'm just curious if they can get anything out of Aziz Ozilari, Josh Uche. You could throw a Dori Jackson in there at cornerback. Just these guys who have gone cheap veteran contracts and you're hoping gives you some good production. Jackson of those three is the guy who looks like he's going to play the most, might be their starter at cornerback.

You know, when they rolled guys through a lot on the edge last year because they had so many of them. Remember Huff couldn't even get on the field. So I think they want to play guys. I like Uche and that group of guys. you just mentioned that cluster. To me, Uche gives him another fastball that they can play with, who actually plays bigger than his size. I think he's a good player.

So I'm excited to see how they kind of meld him into this rotation because it's going to look different with those guys who are kind of in the three, four roles now in the one, two roles. So you said you saved the best for last. It's the New York Giants. We've done that too. Like we're ending this series big with NFC East, AFC East this week. Which giant do you want to talk about first?

So I'm going to start there first over. their first round pick in Abdul Carter who I think there's a chance and I love Cam Ward. I'm excited about Cam Ward and I think they've got their quarterback of the future but I will not be surprised if a month into the season there's articles in Tennessee papers

if people still do papers Tennessee and shout out. Did we take to we've taken Abdul Carter with the first overall pick? Like this guy's wrecking shop right out the gate. He's ready to go. There's sometimes when you preseason's a liar I know but there's

sometimes when you see a guy in an NFL field, I don't care who you're playing against, and you're like, that guy moves different than everybody else on the entire field. Abdul Carter is an absolute freak show. And he's joining a really talented front. So I don't know how much attention they're going to be able to dictate to him from the offensive side of the ball.

And oh, by the way, they're letting him run on rush on guards in some of these third down passing situations. Good luck. Yeah, could not be more excited to watch him. Like, his first preseason action was just outrageous. just everyone watching the practices there at Giants camp say it's just been unfair. He just pops off the field. So I liked your concept, DJ, with the articles possibly being written.

First of all, yes, newspapers still exist. So support local journalism. Yes, online. You know, online as well. But I think it would have made more sense if you went with Cleveland as the option. Should we have just stayed there and taken Abdul Carter? Because you've got to take the quarterback. Kim, you know, you've got to take the quarterback at one,

but should have Cleveland stayed there, you know, and made... And then dreaming on that front with him and Miles Garrett opposite of each other. Which a lot of us said throughout the whole process, like, that makes the most sense. Like, you're just going to take him and then you're going to terrorize quarterbacks. Or even Jacksonville, but how dare anyone even suggest that Travis Hunter's not going to... I don't like this, like, Travis Hunter, I wouldn't say fatigue, but I almost feel like the expectations are too low. Mine are high. That's totally neither here nor there.

I'll give you a giant pickup that to me was important. I'll keep mashing guys together. Paulson Adibo is their cornerback won by far? And everyone's like, oh, yeah, of course. We added one of the best cornerbacks in free agency. First of all, he lasted in free agency like a little longer than the top guys for a reason. He's coming off of a serious injury. And anyone that tracked his career in New Orleans knows, like, it was really up and down.

And actually last year, he came out the gate. I watched too many Saints game. playing well at all, not playing with much confidence before the injury. And he was someone who a couple of years before was really struggling, then had an incredible year, a very physical player, interesting player. But I don't know why this is, DJ, but like cornerback to me is the most up and down position in the league. And he's a good example of that. So they need him to be really good because it's not a good cornerback position. So they at least need to count on him. And I'm not sure because to me, he's been very up and down in his career.

Well, I think, you know, a lot depends on their usage. And you go from one team to the next in terms of what they ask you, the scheme they're in, how they want to play you. I mean, you could just the simple fact of a press corner versus an off the ball corner, you know, a main corner zone corner. How do you play top down? Are you going to have to play with your back to the quarterback down the field? Like, that's two totally different skill sets required there. And some teams want you to do a little bit of everything. Some teams major in one or the other.

So I think that's where you see some of the volatility. I go back to, you know, my personal example of the Eagles, Namdi Assamwa, you know, is a press corner, big, long, but a little bit tight. And then he comes over to the Eagles and we go out there for the first training camp practice. And he lines up against Deshaun Jackson and he's 10 yards off the ball. And I go, if, I mean, all of us kind of look to like, if we're asking this guy to do this, we should not have paid him that much money. And he got, he got absolutely torched.

And so, again, to me, usage is a lot of the reason why you see some of that volatility. Yeah, although in a Debo's case, you know, he was with Dennis Allen there and, you know, it was consistent. But that's my last guy and I could throw Javan Holland in there too, who I think is another good example. He's more of a, he's obviously a safety, but more of a coverage guy and had a million different defensive schemes there in Miami. And sometimes look great. Sometimes they were kind of out on him. And so they really need those two guys because I think that secondary could prevent their defense from being really good. They're not going to have to cover very long.

That's the good news. That would help. That would help. All right. Last one, and this could end up being the most impactful, even after I just said that about Abdul Carter is if the Giants got their quarterback in Jackson Dart. He was awesome. He was awesome in the preseason.

Again, I try and be reasonable about quarterbacks in the preseason. I'm just looking for some basic benchmarks here. I'm not going to get too caught up in the box score good or bad, but I want to see, do you look, is everything look comfortable? Does the game look slow to you? Does it look like you're seeing the field? Are you comfortable working in the middle of the field or is everything just underneath or outside the numbers

because you don't trust what you're seeing and what picture the defense is giving you? Everything's been positive with Jackson Dart. He looks very poised. He looks very comfortable. I already know he's a great athlete. I don't need to see him run around and make plays. I know he's going to be able to do that stuff.

But this is a guy who looked like he was seeing the picture very clearly, which is a great sign for him. And the way I've phrased it when asked about, you know, when does he get into the lineup? You know, their schedule is brutal. There's no easy entry point there for them when you look at it. But I just said, I do believe we will see more of Jackson Dart than Russell Wilson this year. No question.

Completely agree with everything that you said. You say don't celebrate your wins in the preseason scouting-wise, you know, too early. So don't take the L's too early too. But I had my doubts about Jackson Dart. And I'm not feeling like that's going to be borne out so far. because I totally agree. Like the offense was completely different. They're going to build a different offense around him.

But man, he looked comfortable. And people who like to point out, well, it's the preseason. Like, look at what Kenny Pickett did that year. First of all, Kenny Pickett, that was his second year. But the number of dropbacks that Dart had compared to how most quarterbacks get in the preseason, he had like two and a half times, for instance, that Pickett preseason. Like, he was out there a lot. And I think everything you said was absolutely true.

And I thought that was the part of his game that would take longest in terms of the men. side and the difference between the NFL and comfort. It'll get harder in the regular season, but he was really impressive. And I am just going to be more interested to watch them once he is their quarterback. So I think, I think Brian Dable agrees with me. Yeah, there you go. That's, Brian Dable agrees with you. Put that on your tombstone.

I, uh, I mean, that would be a weird, it would be a weird pick, you know. Do you realize everyone, you know, my kids are sobbing and they're like, why, you know, Why did he only make it to 103, Daddy? And like, why does it say, who is Brian Dable? You know, my son would probably remember, but that it seems like an odd thing to put there. So here's how they open up at Washington, at Dallas, home against the chiefs, home against the Chargers. At New Orleans, okay, you could look at that one. But then after that, Philly at Denver, Philly again, San Francisco, Chicago.

I mean, goodness, gracious. Green Bay, Detroit. Okay, New England. Washington, Minnesota, Vegas, Dallas. Like, man, alive. Like, that is just, they caught it on the wrong year in terms of breaking in a new quarterback. I'm glad you brought that up. I agree, but first of all, the easiest stretch might be the start.

Would it be that crazy to start in week one? They're not going to do it, at least unless table goes back as words. I don't think that'd be that crazy because that's the, in terms of the defenses you're facing. And then a lot of people said this too, DJ about like Drake May. Oh, you can't put him in his first start. against the Texas. Oh, like, what a horrible situation to set it. It's like if the guy is good. He's going to swim or he's going to sink. He played pretty well in that game and, you know, he got good experience. And I just think you got to put him out there at some point. But it is a very

difficult schedule. Our schedule this week is a FC East on Friday. I'm looking forward to that coming out. And then we wrap up this 40s in free agents run with a couple season. Holly Gordon fans are going to want to tune in. Okay. That is quite a team. Come on. We'll see you then. We'll see you then. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you.

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