NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Carr to the Saints + Combine Winners & Losers

Episode Date: March 6, 2023

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal react to breaking news: Derek Carr is heading to the New Orleans Saints (0:01), as well as Travis Kelce's appearance on Saturday Night Live (18:49), the Rams anticipated roster moves (22:20), franchise tagged players and notable cuts (28:11), and a report that the Titans are shopping Derrick Henry (33:09). Then, the heroes present winners and losers from the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine (40:34), including Anthony Richardson (41:50), an interesting wide receiver class (48:50), and a new candidate for "Marc's guy" (50:49). Note: timecodes approximate.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Derek Carr, free agent quarterback, after nine seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders. It's expected to sign with the New Orleans Saints. They are closing in on a deal. Derek, and a lot more for the edge zone for Crabtree, and to get both feet down. Touchdown! Raiders!

Derrick Car, Derrick Car, Derrick. car airs it out down the middle for adams got it inside the 10 jibate touchdown i'm thankful for my time here in los Vegas and in oakland but come the time it's just it's time to move on and that's this time barric side Gregory couldn't get it here comes car running hard breaking tackles car loads up Adams is open walked off touchdown a sweep of the Broncos for los Vegas Derek Carr. It's going to be multiple years with the Saints for Derrick Carr. So that is the commitment he got from them contractually today, Derrickar heading to the Saints.

Unbelievable. In a move that has sent shockwaves, tremors, an earthquake in our league. Derrick Carr has signed with New Orleans Saints and a deal that, appears to give Carr 100 million guaranteed. Turns out he did have a market and he is a rich man, many, many, many generations over. Although you only get to live in one. But his great, great grandkids, great spot.

But let's focus on the most important thing here. Mark, the odyssey of Derrick Car free agent is over and the league is changed in a way that we'll never be able to look back and this time again and think anything else. but Derrick Carr post Raiders now scenes. Yeah, I applaud the appropriate pyrotechnics attached to that. Oh, I'm sorry. We had that plan for months, the Derrick Carr signing.

I'm a little disappointed. It didn't happen on Sunday, so he couldn't have seen Mark's reaction to the Derrick Car emergency pod. I was so mad. I mean, no, I would say Derek Carr wins me over with the timing, which folded in perfectly to the start of our show. I know, Dan, you have some jet stuff involved here, but I really like the landing spot for Derek Carr.

I think that if for anything just to get off to a good start, with a team that always is going for it, it's always aggressive, you're in a division that's very manageable. You go from the AFC West to a totally moribund NFC South where I think the Saints are automatically the favorite to win that division. No other team in the South really has a manageable cemented quarterback situation right now. Derek Carr is automatically the best quarterback in the division. Gregi, I know you hate this move for the Saints.

That's not true. Really? I don't hate it. Well, I saw your tweet and just like, what are they trying to do here? I think the Saints are very much trying to win nine to ten games and that their ceiling is low and that they've been trying to do this and that this group led by Dennis Allen, which I didn't think should get a second year, is just trying to save his job. Mickey Loomis save his job.

And Derek Carr is their best alternative to do that. So like if you're a Saints fan, I think you have a chance. to go to the playoffs next year. They're probably a slight favorite in that division. So I don't hate it. It's just sort of like a franchise, I think, that's not going anywhere in particular. And Derek Carr is the guy to bring him there.

And Mike Garifolo broke the news. Mike Garifolo, Ian Rappaport, has the numbers on it. 100 million guaranteed money during his time with the Saints, include 60 million due its signing. The Saints are a team perpetually with salary cap issues. They always find away his average annual salary, 37.5 million, good for ninth highest AAV among quarterbacks. Of course, there are some guys burrows and like, they're going to push him down further. So this kind of for me makes sense contractually as a team match.

It makes sense when you do a lot of the, even though you saw some reporting out there from certain insiders saying that car was leaning toward the jets or the jets seem like the most likely. landing spot. It was the Saints who had engaged in trade talks or had met with Carr when he was still a member of the Raiders. And so you knew there was obviously some connection there. And then it becomes the other side of it. It is like, yes, we know that the Jets had a very productive conversation. We heard all good things that came out of the car Jets talks. And then you just wonder, okay, now does this mean the Jets are getting Aaron Rogers? Does this mean something else? Does this And for me, as a Jets fan, and like I said, it always feels like you're Charlie Brown trying to kick the football that now that that safety net is gone. Carr was the safety net in a lot of ways.

And now it's Rogers or bust. And if Rogers goes back to the Packers, retires, goes to a different team, then what do the Jets do? So there is, there's definitely some anxiety that comes with it from a New York perspective. But I thought Carr would have been fine with the Jets. He would have been a big upgrade on what they had, obviously. the question I have, Mark, is like, you do the A-B test, for instance, with, back to the Saints here, A-B test with Andy Dalton, who they had last year, and Derek Carr, Carr is a better quarterback? But is he that much better, given the amount they just paid for him?

Was this the move to make when you really strip away all the accoutrema and, like, how much better did they actually get at the position today? I'm not sure how much better. I think what I was trying to say before is I like to fit for Derek Carr. where he's going to. I think a team that is trying to be ultra-competitive year after year. And I think Mickey Loomis, this is a win for him in terms of going and getting the guy he wanted. I don't know if I would ever view Derek Carr as a true difference maker. I think that's fair to say that he's got a 9 to 10 win type of guy on a good roster around him. But I think that if you get the best version of Derek Carr, the Saints in a manageable NFC for a couple of years can do well.

I mean, I just don't hate it because the Saints are a team. team that has not drafted a first round quarterback since 1971, which was Archie Manning. I don't like that. I'm not saying that's the way. But they say they were going to take Patrick Mahomes if the Chiefs didn't, you know, sneak up. They very well might have. But they weren't, that wasn't probably going to happen in this draft. So I think they went out and got the guy that they can plug in now. I do have questions about the fact that Dennis Allen is coaching the team. I do too. I think Dan's point about Dalton is a great one.

I don't think quarterback was their issue last year. On one hand, you could look at it and say, okay, Pete Carmichael, who wasn't that popular as the coordinator for the Saints last year, actually coached up Andy Dalton to his highest PFF grade for what it's worth of his career. He was the sixth highest graded PFF quarterback in league. He was just above some of those peak Cincinnati years. And I understand why he got that grade, partly because he didn't take chances and he made good decisions and he didn't, it was accurate. And Derek Carr is a much higher ceiling, better version of Andy.

Dalton, kind of. I kind of love that Andy Dalton brought back the integrity to the Dalton scale last year. Oh, I mean, he kind of was a mid, like he stepped in and he was a mid-level quarterback. Even through on that Thursday night disaster to just keep everything kind of balanced. That was the problem. There was a couple spots where it got a little sideways. But one of my followers on Twitter said, maybe this is him passing the torch to Derek Carr. All right.

And I kind of like that. We've talked about car before in that topic. Right, I kind of like that too. So maybe they can coach up Derek Carr to be a better version of Andy Dalton. But they have other issues on that roster that I'm concerned with. They need to stay healthier and that would help and have some weapons around Carr. That would certainly help. But I'm not sure they're going to be a difference-making defense.

We'll see. I think it's a team that's aiming for that nine wins. And they could do it. Well, I would say one thing for the Jets, Dan, because I'd ask you, because I think the reason they really liked Carr's sound like. too. He was a safety net. But the whole Aaron Rogers thing waiting for that to pan out. And then Carr, I thought, managed this thing well because he went to the combine. He aggressively, you know, he wasn't placid and sat back. He wanted to find his next opportunity. You got one team

saying we want you today. You got the Jets sort of telepathically saying, we might want you if we don't get Aaron Rogers. Okay. I say one thing before Dan is just I think that was true. From what I've heard, I think he did lean Jets. And I think that's why you see the money really go up. that they, the deal to me, I still need to see more details, but I suspect it's ultimately like 70 for two years is really guaranteed. 10 of the third gets guaranteed. It's really 60 for two years and then 10 of the third is guaranteed. And that makes more sense to me.

And I think the Saints had to move up because I think he really did like the Jets better. But he also knew he didn't want to get caught waiting for Aaron Rogers for a week. He has no idea. And so when they came up money-wise, he's like, okay, this makes sense. But only everything we know about Derek Carter, he seems to take things very person. And, like, if you got a team at, they're saying, we want you as our second best guy. Like, I think that would lean.

Yeah, that's right. And it's not a deal that we'll see what more about it, that hamstrings them for half a decade. Yeah. And I think from a leverage standpoint, you could say, oh, why didn't, if Carr wanted to go to the Jets, why didn't he just wait for the Rogers thing to play out? And then if Rogers didn't go to the Jets, sign with the team, you like the most in this dance. But then you potentially lose some leverage there. in terms what the Saints were offering. You got to be fair to the Saints.

He kind of had to move on. Yeah, you had to, he was put in position where he didn't want to be left out in the cold himself and end up looking back and saying, I had this golden opportunity leverage wise as a free agent before everyone else was. I need to hit it in the right way. And I think he did. So good job for Carr. I'm going to throw something out positive now now that I meant Andy Dalton.

I'll throw up Matthew Stafford, who was a very talented, you know, statistically successful quarterback with Detroit. Better player than Carr. But, you know, I think in the same ballpark. And once he went to a team that actually had a defense and had some pieces around him, they won a Super Bowl in Los Angeles. The Saints are probably thinking, let's get this guy that we know is steady and let's build up the roster around him. Maybe we go that route. I just, I don't hate it from that angle. I mean, I'd think that your options were limited if you were the Saints. You're not going to get Aaron Rogers. They weren't going to get all that best. Robert Sulla made a comparison to Matthew Stafford after meeting with Derek Carr.

I think he'll be good and I think he's in a dome and I think he's not in the pressure cooker that is the New York market. I think this was a smart move by Carr and now we just need to see if this ends in, I'm sure a lot of people will get their yucks if it ends this way with the jets having egg on their face for not playing this the right way. They are now fully dependent in my mind in terms for this to be a slam dunk for them on Aaron Rob. Rogers, the guy that I was just railing against last week for being just a nonsense person at this point on some level, like him now deciding, A, I'm leaving this team after 18 years and I'm going to go to New York and need to be the Messiah. But you know what? Maybe he wouldn't mind being the Messiah.

Or Lamar Jackson, if something truly bizarre happened there. Or Tanna Hill as a little bit of a backup option. To your point about like Carr v. Dalton, that's why for the Jets, I think there's enough quarterbacks out there, even if you're taking a step down. the level that there's not that huge of a different I mean hell they might end up

with Andy Dalton I know Jets fans I was just thinking that myself but if they end up with like a next level if they it will probably won't be Teddy or whoever it is it's like

is that a big enough difference that I'm going to lose sleep if I was a Jets fan maybe because this this does feel like a big a bit of a window for the Jets to take advantage of these guys

these rookies of the year I think if you ended up with Teddy Bridgewater or Garner Minchu or insert you know, mezzanine Lodge Lodge guy here. It's like you're going to be majorly bummed

because we've spent the last month six weeks talking about the Jets having a major upgraded quarterback. We'll see. I mean, this stuff can go down while we're recording this. And I was actually just thinking that beautiful Derek Carr intro

that Justin put together on short notice. Worthy, I think of the moment. What happens if Aaron Rogers makes his decision, are we still going to have a minute real of Derek Carr leading this? show that will get bumped i don't know that's what social media is for i can always just throw it on twitter and instagram my first thought that you had that you had been cooking that up for a while with the idea that it was a jet's lead in but then it had to you know switch it around a

little for the no i put that together this morning i always genuinely thought that car was a newsworthy uh like even shorty episode because it it moves things in this agree crazy story around the NFL and these veteran cubies the Lamar thing is interesting too it's still hanging out there and like I said last week with the Jets if this does go against them with Rogers I think there's going to be names that are not connected to and that they start kicking a tires on let's see what happens tanale might be one of it I mean it wasn't that long ago when a guy like kirk cousins changing teams was rare a guy in the middle of his career that's played at a high level and had big contracts and that that's what car is now we've seen it happen a few more

times. One last detail I do want to give you. And that Saints' offense could be interesting. Camara, you assume he's back. He might have a suspension coming, but I like Juan. I think he's definitely going to have a suspension coming. Yeah, I think he is. Olaveh. I like Rashid Jehid. I like Joanne Johnson. Calloway's there as a four. If you could draft someone, maybe they try to work

it out with Michael Thomas. I doubt that, but they're like one or two players away from interesting. I'm just not sure the defense holds up. One detail, though, and this is from New Orleans Football dot com. New Orleans dot football. It's a, it's a pay website by Nick Underhill. And I read, I read some of the details of how they courted Derek Carr. And their first day ended with dinner at Ralph's on the

park in Mid City, in a private room. Very nice. But you might think if, if you know New Orleans restaurants, well, how about gallantuars, emeralds, you know, fancy, you know, like great New Orleans restaurant. This is a little more casual, nice place. They know Derek Carr is a t-shirt and shorts guy. Sure. He was showing up to meetings last week with GMs at the Combine in a hoodie and shorts,

even though it's cold. Like, he's not, he's not about that fancy life and they knew that scouting report on car. Little more casual. Plenty of great casual food places in New Orleans. Where do the Jets take him?

I wonder. Right. They took him to a, you know what they took them to? I know exactly what they took them. A hot dog vendor out in the street. They took them to an Italian restaurant in Summit, New Jersey.

Like, kind of like, you don't have to wear a tie, you should probably wear pants. Okay. So maybe that was the difference here. That's an annoying expense report at this point, that you have to file your probably $500 dinner with Derek Carr who will not be part of your team now.

I mean, if they end up with the guy they actually want, I think they'll be cool with it. But we shall see. And by the way, mentioned Matt Stafford. I know nobody's talking about it. But the Rams seem like they're changing directions. You're right. They probably wouldn't mind a 13th overall pick or whatever from the Jets.

I don't know. It's a possibility. Top season. No reporting there. No, that is not a Pell Razor report. I'm just saying are the Rams really still totally married to the 37, 38-year-old? Is he that old? Hellraiser.

Quarterback when they are starting to go in a different direction. They don't seem married to anything right now. He is 35. Oh, it turns. Oh, yeah, it just turned 35. It's already March. How about that? All right.

By the way, from the Chris Wesleying podcast studio, this is around the NFL. just got so excited. And by the way, that was 16 hardcore Derrick Car minutes. Mark, I thought it was good, informative analysis driven. Hold on. Hold on. I was good. I know that this has been advertised that I was going to lose my cool if we had to do a Derrick Car episode.

All I was ever saying was that I was not going to sign up for a full off season of Derrick Carr turns Team X, probably the Jets, into a Super Bowl contender. He's a good quarterback. But now that it's happened, that was all unfound. because nobody thinks that about the Saints. I was concerned that they would say that about the Jets, though. The Jets are just this quarter. I think they could have been. I think with Carr, I think they had a chance in the AFC.

I mean, if your car, you have a much better chance to win the division you've just joined. So I like it again. For a car, I don't, we'll see what happens for the, with the destiny of it all. And just condolences to Mike Garifolo out there. Great job. Awesome job. Big breaking story. We didn't have to bring it up, but this is what makes Greg, Greg on some level.

You don't need to do this. He doesn't. You can still back out? I'm not backing out. I've done it before. You put David Carr into Twitter, and it's the breaking news report. You say David Carr, by mistake, instead of Derrick Cart. You can't delete that.

And so you just get 75 gibronies responding with jokes about David Car. About 75,000. Maybe more. Didn't Elon Musk put in like an edit button on the tweets? Well, it's funny you mentioned that. Mike, I didn't know this. but you have to pay the $8 for Twitter Blue for the edit function.

And Mike said now he's given that $8 up every month to edit. Let me just say, I am not on board with many of the Musk ideologies and in general. The features. Now, I will say the editing of a tweet could be dangerous in its own right. But if you're an insider, for something like that, I think Rog upstairs and company should be just, taking care of all of us.

Just protect us, but not even us. Mike, Hellraiser, that circle of rap sheet. Yeah. Whoever it may be. It's breaking this. I'm not paying a cent. Give him the edit.

But I personally will not pay a cent to Elon Musk and his camp. Oh, hell no. Well, you have two Teslas, though. I definitely do not. All right. From the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio, it's around the NFL. Dan Hansis, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler.

The Combine wrapped up over the weekend from Indianapolis. We're going to share some takes, some winners and losers from that particular event. But before we get to that, let's get caught up on the news from over the weekend and beyond. Travis Kelsey was on Saturday Night Live as the guest host this weekend from Studio 8H. and I thought he did excellent. I was, I said it to my wife. We watched it on Sunday morning. I said it to my wife,

oh, this is going to be bad. And it was not bad. There was some cue card reading, as is always the case, even with, you know, seasoned actors in the guest host role. But he does have natural charisma. He showed a sense of humor.

Jason Kelsey popped up in a couple sketches. I give it, if you, if you're ranking it from, you know, from Fran Tarkenton, Eli Manning, Peyton. Who else has been on it in the NFL? Joe Montana famously. Tarkinson was a big S&L?

He was the first one. Okay. He was the first NFL player. He, I would put Kelsey near the top, if not at the top. Peyton, of course, as well. Did very well. Did you guys happen to catch it? I saw, I watched a few skits and the monologue, and I would put him at the top.

I'm not saying like the skits were all total genius and they cracked me up, but he was better than some actors they throw in S&L who are just like dramatic actors and are stiff and can't do it. I was kind of shocked. Like he was totally what he was comfortable. Like he wasn't nervous at all. Good job by Travis. I've yet to watch it,

but I am not surprised that like the NFL star player of today and of the future will continue to just get better and better at this kind of stuff than guys that had Joe Montana had actually a great skit back in the day, but you could tell Joe Montana had no idea what was going on around him. Right. But, yeah, Wes always would talk about that Peyton Manning wasn't really funny. He was actually, he was just funny on the scale of athletes. And I don't know if Kelsey is necessarily funny, although he's funny in these skits.

But as a performer, he was like good on a scale of performing. Like, that was a good job by him. Much higher on a scale of athletes. I would put him number one of anyone I saw. I've just like, actually he could go do that. I think Peyton is legitimately talented in terms of this realm for where he is. And because of that comfort in front of the camera, and that's like, go watch the Michael Phelps SNL.

Like some of these go really sideways. It's the guys that look comfortable and it's not surprising that Kelsey. To your point, athletes are kind of wired a little differently today and they have a brand and they go out of their way to be involved with other projects. And I think you see it with a guy like Kelsey. What if you can roll out like Kirk Cousins out there,

a trained stage actor who, you know, stunned us during the honors? thing that has Kirk Cousins involved with it. Like Claibon audibly laughed when I said I was looking forward to seeing Kirk Cousins in this Netflix quarterback show. I want to know more about Kirk Cousins. I'm with you. He would be terrible on SNO. And by the way,

that sketch was Travis Kelsey sitting alone at a table at an American girl cafe with two little dolls. And I think he's like a pervert creep in the sketch. I like that there was a lot of weird stuff going on. I enjoyed that. That was one of the two sketches I watched. I liked it. All right. before we get to the rest of the news and take a break.

All right, we are back. Let's do some more news. Let's start with the Rams. I mention it. Listen, Matthew Stafford is back. Sean McVeigh is back, but the Rams are going in a different direction, or they're changing gears at the very least. Let's go down a couple moves that they're either making or are planning or hoping to make.

The Rams are expected to release edge rusher Leonard. Floyd move that would clear some cap space. Floyd was a key member of their championship team. They also are looking to get rid of Alan Robinson off their roster after what was a bit of a disastrous one year, uh, 2020 season for Alan Robinson in which he came in with a ton of hype. We interviewed, remember we interviewed him at training camp and everything seemed to be hunky dory, but it was a really rough season.

for Robinson, and they have given him permission to seek a trade. Gregi, with Robinson, is this connect to the fact that it's not a great free agent market and the Rams seeing an opportunity here to get rid of this guy and offload some of this money? I just don't think they want him on the team. And so, yes, I think they're just hoping someone will pay, let's say, $5 million of his $15 million. I mean, they're taking the L, they're accepting the L. he has $15 million guaranteed. Did you say that?

That's crazy to me that he has $15 million guaranteed and they're willing to just- It's crazy now, but remember last summer when almost everyone was universally of the opinion, this is a perfect match. I didn't think it was a bad deal. I think it's crazy that they have $15 guaranteed now and that they're just saying,

we'll take the L, what's the best we can get? We know we're not really going to get a pick for him. We'll get like a late round pick swap, like a sixth for a seventh, just so it saves us money. and we're hoping you take, let's say, half of that money off the books. We'll take that as a win and we'll save some cap space. Yeah, I mean, as of now, he's also got a $26 million price tag and dead cap money.

So I think the Rams are, that's exactly right. They've got to move on from this. Jalen Ramsey is trade bait right now. It's like this team, to me, like, is basically doubling down on what happened last season in terms of the most disappointing follow-up to the previous year. I mean, this is Rams team looks entirely different. And, you know, Matthew Stafford and Sean McVeigh, a couple months ago, we want to do this together. I'm committed to Sean McVeigh.

I want to stick around as a quarterback. If you're Matthew Stafford, and they have a lot of work to do on their offensive line, you're taking away Alan Robinson, who was a failure last year to begin with, and it looked like he didn't want to play in Chicago the year before that. I mean, the Rams are falling apart before your eyes. How do you sell this Stafford as hang around here? This makes a lot of sense for you after an dangerously injury plagued 2022. That's why they're a tough team to figure out and why I'm wondering if there's just more to

come here about how they're going to play their offseason because yes if floyd's gone robinson if they dump him and then jalen ramsie just being traded which sounds like it's going to happen wagner gone wagner gone great call wagner's gone it's like what are they what are they trying to do with this team um are they just looking to be competitive this year or are they going to do something more radical we i think they're trying to take the the pain now and set up for 2024 the floyd moved surprise me more because he's had he's had nine sacks in each of the last three years. You're still like a decent player.

If they make them a post-June first cut, they do open up $15 million in cap space. They're in trouble cap-space-wise. And trying to explain this, I told Ellis about these moves on the way to school today. What's her head space? What's her deal? She wasn't happy.

She's like, I like Floyd. Robinson wasn't good. She cursed off Robinson all season in the living room. Yeah, Robinson was a boss. She also took him on her fantasy team, so that was a disaster. same. Wagner, she just couldn't understand Wagner.

And like, I'm trying to, like, explain, well, there's a salary cap. And, like, you're trying to set up maybe for 20, 24. And trying to explain this to, like, she's like, but that was, like, he was one of their better play. There's not really a good answer for it. And then the heartbreaking moment was, well, as long as they're not trying to get rid of Jalen Ramsey. Oh, boy.

And I was like, well, that, um, I mean, she is the same sort of pressing question. that any guy in a tavern who roots for the ramps would have. It's like there actually isn't a real explanation, a real explanation that like makes it easier. I just indulge me. So if this is kind of like a reset year, does that mean they're expecting to be back

and ready to contend as soon as next season? In which case, okay, then Matthew Stafford at age 36. Okay, you can talk yourself into if his body holds up. Aaron Donald, you probably, you know, he'll probably retire. before you even entertain the idea of answering a phone call about him. I just, something seems a little bit like we don't know everything. It feels malleable where I think a couple months ago, it's like, of course Matthew Stafford's coming back. I still feel, of course, but I think that's more of just a personal thing that I just don't think he'd want to.

And I think they feel like they owe it to him. He's a Super Bowl winning quarterback. And also the financials of it are seemingly impossible to get rid of him, just the way they signed his contract. I guess you could always rework it if he was really willing to. It feels like they could find a way, too. I mean, like, the cap hit on a trade would be, would end their lives. They couldn't eat, they would have to change everything around. I think he's there.

I struggle with the they owe it to him angle where they're taking their biggest names and throwing them into the mist. Right. But what are they owing him? In their mind, they're probably like, if we get lean and mean, can we still be competitive lean and mean this year without these guys? Like, they probably think they can be. And then they're setting up to be better.

I mean, they played last year without half these guys to be better. begin with. I mean, trade Stafford and sign Gino. Let's just get crazy. All right. Josh Jacobs, the Raiders, they made you can't kind of spin it any other way. A financial mistake

when they chose not to pick up his rookie fifth year option because now they have put the tag on him, which is worth more money than what his final rookie year deal would have been. So Josh Jacobs coming off a year in which he led the league in rushing. It was just a stud all season long.

back with the Raiders on at least a one-year deal. We'll see if they get anything done before the deadline. Also, Tony Pollard running back for the Cowboys, who had a breakout season last year, unfortunately suffered that leg injury in the playoffs, but he will be tagged as well. We'll see if that leads to anything, and that includes Zeke Elliott maybe disappearing into the mist himself in Dallas.

So the franchise tag deadline is on Tuesday. So this is really the last opportunity now for these teams to get their house in order on this front. Running backs really get boned financially compared to other positions. It's not a breaking news. But the tag is kind of part of it. Like you can look at a guy like Jacobs because I'm thinking about this when you think about B. John Robinson and the upcoming draft classes.

Like you can get him for five years, including the fifth year option. And then you get him on the tag. The tag this year is only $10 million for. running back. So a one year, $10 million, to me, that's not much money. Because you're not paying it into the future. For all these other positions, it's like guaranteed. You just get them for one more year at 10. You're getting the very best of Josh Jacobs. You're getting hopefully the best of Pollard. And then you say goodbye. You kind of get the best years of their lives in the first five or six years of their career. And they don't ever get that long term.

I think it's if you're the Raiders or if you're a Raiders fan, before you hand big money to Josh Jacobs. He's been hot and cold his whole career. He was all hot last season, but is that who he is for the next three, four years? Like, I'd much rather tag him. If I were the Raiders where you sit in the draft, you could take B. John Robinson who is getting comp to like Lidani and Tomlinson. So I don't know if this is

I mean, this would eliminate that for the Raiders. No, they're not going to do it because I think they're going to have to go quarterback because of the situation they put themselves in. But I don't mind getting Josh Jacobs for one more year, find out who he really is and then go from there. Your eyes really raised when I said this is a good number. I mean, I think that's a good number for Tony Pollard and Jacobs. I'm looking

at the history of the recent history of franchise tag it shouldn't be a surprise besides kickers and punters running back as the lowest number at 10 million this year um tight end is absurd four years ago and keep in mind the salary cap has gone up substantially people are getting more money than ever before the salary cap or the franchise tag for running back in 2019 was 11.2 uh so it's gone down uh it is up slightly from the year before when it was 9.6 but yeah what is the what is the fifth year rookie country? What did he, what did they pass on giving him? It wouldn't have been much more, I don't think, because he was a late round pick.

But I can find that out. I chalked it up to regime change. Like they came in and weren't totally sold on the idea. Right. I'm almost a little surprised they kept them. But then I look, they have more cap space than they really. They're one of those teams that, more cap space than they really need need. So I guess why not?

All right. I do like the cowboys need weapons. And I think Jerry Jones has been talking about it at the combine. I think they're going to be aggressive. I don't know how exactly, but maybe in the trade, they could be one of those teams in the trade market. So letting Pollard go, to me, would have been a mistake. Well, and Jerry Jones has specifically mentioned O'Dell Beckham again,

still interested. And they've been named as a target for Jalen Ramsey as well. Getting O'Dell Beckham and expecting that to be what put your offense over the top, feels like a very, my team hasn't appeared in the NFC title game in 27 straight years type of move to make at this point. Jacobs would have gotten $8 million on the fifth year option. So they only ended up paying two more. The Daniel Jones decision to not.

give him the fifth-year option, prove more costly. And yet I can't bang on them at all about it because it made sense at the time. And you know what? No, we're not really talking about Daniel Jones right now, but I feel what I feel totally comfortable if I'm a Giants fan how they're playing this because like don't, don't back down here.

Make them do it over a full season before you give him a Derek Carr's contract. He's actually asking for more than Carr reportedly. 45 plus. All right, notable cuts. The Vikings cut leading tackler. Eric Kendricks. He hits the free agency list where he comes in at number for Greg.

He did not crack the 101. I'm rethinking it after hearing some feedback that, you know, last year was a new scheme. Some of these linebackers at that age do bounce back. But I was a little worried. It was just like, oh, there's the decline. You don't want to pay an older linebacker. The Jaguars will either cut or trade Shaq Griffin.

And the Titans say goodbye to Bud, do pre. And speaking of the Titans, we'll bring in the grave digger on this one. Mike Silver, our former colleague here at NFL media, reports that Derek Henry is indeed being shopped by the Titans. And, you know, Silver has connections. And this all makes sense. To me, it's two words. The analysis, he gone. What do you think, Justin? Makes no sense for him to be on that team at this point to me. But What do you think, Justin? I agree.

I think the Titans are in a spot where they need to plan for 2024. This team's not winning the Super Bowl in 2023. Get what you can now for Derek Henry while he still has trade value. There's also talk that the Titans have called the Bears to see what the cost would be to move up to number one. That would be a little crazy to me because, again, you're not in position to win now. Well, that makes more sense then. To me, that makes sense because I mentioned the Cardinals would be my pick to have the worst roster in the league. If the Titans get rid of Derek Henry and Ryan Tannahill, they're right there.

They're right there. Yeah, definitely. And Tannahill to the Jets seems, I mean, this has been, like, there have been rumblings about that potential connection for a couple of weeks now, even though the Jets have been more linked to Rogers and Carr until today. But, I mean, that seems like a pretty realistic possibility. If the Titans want to go the full rebuild route, trade Tannahill, use those picks to come up to number one, get your quarterback, use the rest of the of the picks you got from Tanner or whatever build I mean they seem to build an offensive line

so to me bringing in a rookie quarterback behind what they have right now could be problematic for development sake but I definitely think Henry is a potential trade candidate it depends like what is it worth to them to trade him like are you trading him for like a

sixth round pick is that worth it? I would think what makes him very compelling as a piece to move is I think he would have much more value than a typical veteran running back. I'm not saying first round pick, but could you get a second rounder from

a team, a content? Obviously. It's not why bother? Yeah, but you're not going to, if you're trading for Derek Henry, I think you could. You're a Bills type team. You're a Cowboys type team. You're insert playoff team that didn't get over the hump that's looking for a final piece. He's not going to get traded to a bad

team. So like that, let's say then it's probably maybe a late second rounder. Would you be okay with that as a Titans fan? I feel like that's fair compensation for a running back approaching age 30. I would be okay with it. I think Titans fans might go crazy because of A.J. Brown last year and, like, Derek Henry this year, it's like, oh, the two best players on

offense, the franchise has seen in years. It stinks, but it's true. Well, what if two years in a row you make that trade to the Eagles? Can you imagine Derek Henry in the Eagles backfield with Jalen Hurts? That would be fun. That would be fun. Now Justin's eyebrows or the bills, though, the bills would be in school. They are there looking to move on from Devon Singletary.

The Cowboys would have a lot of money tied up with Tony Pollard and Derek Henry together, but like Henry has never been the past catcher. Henry on my team. He's never been the pass-catching guy. Paring him with Tony Pollard could be a really interesting backfield. What did Zaddy just say last week? I want to run the ball.

I don't like having a good offense. I want to have a running ball. I like this guy. He's a really great runner. He runs all the people. If I'm Mike McCarthy and I'm selling this Zaddy energy, I wouldn't be standing next to Derek Henry too much. Derek Henry, who we met in person.

Derek Henry is from another planet. He literally looks like one of the most. There's no, there's only one type of. the body, that would be something that people would be interested in there. I also, we're at odds with this. I've never seen Mike McCarthy as a Zaddy. You have, we have different philosophies about it. I'm willing to let it.

But I'm just saying having masculine curves isn't something that's a turnoff to everyone. I think it's fine to be curvy. You can be curvy. I'm not. Get under a blanket and get a little big spoon action. Yeah, but you're assuming that my only knock on Mike McCarthy is curviness. Curviness is one of the 12 things. Your body shaming Mike McCarthy.

I am not. I'm saying he's, does not fit the Zaddy profile that I think of when I think of Zaddy. I don't see him as a Zaddy on any level. I spoke for myself right there. But you didn't say it, you said it as a matter of fact. I think almost, I think 99.9% of humans standing next to Derek Henry would look lesser because of that.

Like Derek Henry, I'm more complimenting Derek Henry. That famous Dionne Lewis picture where he kind of looked like a munchkin. He's got a great body, Derek, Chris. That's all I was trying to say. I have a conspiracy theory about your tight. They got that stadium deal done last October, like locked up all that public money. That's a practice facility. No, that's not it.

It's more that we're not going to bottom out and stink and get rid of all of our good players if we didn't already have that sweet money coming in and the stadium deal done because that's a big deal. Like, it's asking a lot for your fans to go through what the Titans appear to be heading towards. They do have the 11th pick overall. Maybe they don't have to go up to number one. And this is a class with at least two quarterbacks, I think people are really intrigued by. If not three. If not four.

Right. If not four. Maybe they just end up going up to five or whatever it is and they get their quarterback. Because Mike Rables never started over from scratch at quarterback. He's just been taking other guys, you know, never had his own rookie. It's about a year ago that Greg went utterly nuts on like the Bills Stadium situation, telling you and I that like, you know, this is about people's real job. What was that whole situation, Greg?

were like deep in the weeds on a on something to do with their public funding for the well yeah it's like oh civic shaming dan and i well i just mean these billionaires we weren't civic minded enough apparently we're seeing it with the commanders you can you can literally be the worst owner in in one in the history of the sport up there and then you can sell the team for like six billion dollars so i don't need you to be uh taking money out of peter and in mary's mouth to make a stadium figure it out mary what about paul No, you're absolutely right, Greg. And you are a champion of the common man.

You've proven it with this take and you resurfaced it. I don't know why it is it was a powerful take. So yeah. Windmill dunk. Just as powerful year later. On behalf of the common man. I mean, it's obvious. I side with the billionaires.

Take advantage of the city. Take your leverage and make me and all my friends are jerks. All right. Let's take a break and we'll be right back. All right. I think that covers it. That's what's happening in the news before we move on. I really hope Aaron Rogers doesn't make.

Even if it's the Jets, I'll still be annoyed because it will put us in a very difficult position with our Derek Carr open. If Aaron Rogers makes a decision today before this show goes live, then we have to do surgery. No, think about us for once, please. I can't. I can only think about Derek Carr getting that moment.

Let's finish this show. Let's get it out. Get it out. And then if the Rogers news happens, we're doubling up. Doubling up. Double header. ATN double header. How about that, Mark?

So if I'm, you know, driving around LA, I have to cycle back to the office to do an episode here. That's what we're doing? I mean, it's a gargantuan story in the NFL. We might. It doesn't have to be here. It might be remote. Yeah. Right.

Find out where I am at that point. We'll see. That's true. I got that garage set up, you know. I might be with you in your garage at that point. Ah. All right. Let's talk about the conference.

Let's put a, put a bow on that in Indianapolis, some winners and losers. I was on the thread, the text thread with Mark Edward Sessler and Greg, Peter. Peter, come on. I'm not a Peter. Stuart? That's my brother's name. I don't know how you pulled that out because I think I did mention he went by Dean Stewart. Is it Greg Carl Rosenthal?

It's Greg Michael Rosenthal. Very, very traditional. Very nice. I like it. Is it, well, Greg's traditional, not traditional spelling is Michael have a different spelling. M-I-K-E-L. No, Michael is spelled as you would expect. Anyway, on the text thread, Mark doubled down and was saying how much he was into the draft this year.

So you have a number of winners and losers. And Greg, I want you to dive in on this as well and share things that really just. jumped out to you. Who were the winners? Who were the losers? You just raised your eyebrows now, Greg. Do you not have winners and losers? No, I do. Okay, good, good, good. Mark, what jumped out to you a winner from the Combine? Well, I'd start with the quarterbacks with Anthony Richardson because, I mean, I think that if you, I don't know if quarterbacks in the combine, whether you throw or you don't are going to really change your destiny that much, I would be concerned if teams were wowed by that alone. But the workout of Anthony Richardson, I thought it was well illustrated.

by what NFL research put out as a tweet that shows how unusually is. He is 6.4 and a quarter inches, which is taller than George Kittle. As a quarterback, he weighs more than Hassan Reddick. He has bigger hands than D'Andre Hopkins, a higher vertical jump than Devante Adams, and a longer broad jump than Odell Beckham. I mean, he really essentially worked out as a star-wide receiver. He's also, as a quarterback, though, I think you have to realize, like, there's obviously the project aspect to him, is completion,

percentage is about as low as possible for anyone who would be drafted. It was under 55%. He's only started 13 games. But I think from the physical angle, when you watch his tape, it's like, wait a minute, someone is going to be absolutely fascinated with the idea of turning him into what he could be. Yeah, I'm looking forward to dive in more to his tape. But from what I've watched, like, if you compare him to previous prospects and think about who he's closest to, those guys went high.

Like I think his profile is better or similar to Trey Lances. I think his profile is very similar to Josh Allen's, but it was in a SEC offense. I think he's not as limited in terms of like the type of quarterback trying to stay in the pocket as people are making it out to be. And the numbers are just outrageous. They're Josh Allen freak Cam Newton freak, except even faster somehow numbers.

And you look at how Jalen Hertz was able to develop, who you know, you would think Richardson can be that sort of runner. And you can just imagine a team wanting to take him. And I know Lance brought up Malik Willis. It's like there's no way that Malik Willis would have, even though he got pushed up by the mock drafters, if Anthony Richardson was in that last draft,

I still think he would have been the first one taken. And they were very different prospects to me. And so to be off the charts, this athletic, he still might be the third quarterback in this draft behind Bryce Young and C.J. Straud. But it's just hard for me to think that he's going to slip past the top 10. And so he's going to be a big story. And you never know.

He might sneak in front of one of those two quarterbacks. He is a huge, huge, huge gamble for obvious reasons that you guys just brought up. And, you know, Lance, who knows this stuff? And he said, you know, he cited him. He's the first name. that Lance said, like, he's going to come out of this and people are going to be in love because he's so athletic. But then the people that

are connecting him to Josh Allen, Josh Allen's a unicorn. Like, it's very rare to see a guy be a scatter shot, big athletic passer with accuracy issues, clean that up and become a plus accuracy. And he wasn't accurate on Saturday, by the way, either. He missed throws on the field. Like, if you draft him, you have to prepare

for, like, two potentially very different outcomes here. And he, I think he referred to himself as a Lamar Newton when people are asking Richardson to comp himself. I mean, he grew up with Cam Newton as his favorite player. Right. It used to be 10 years ago when we were doing this, people would say Michael Vic. Now we need that hyper athletic.

It's a Cam Newton type, a Lamar type. Yes, Gravely. I think he actually said he was Cam Jackson. Cam Jackson. He was fascinated with Cam Newton. Because Lamar, it's a name Pops. I would have went Lamar Newton. But there is, to your point about, I mean, the Cam's good too, though.

Where he'd wind up is all over the map because only two quarterbacks, Christian Hackenberg and Trace McSorley were selected. in the draft with lower completion percentage than him at the college level. Trey Lance also, but, you know, he, that was because of a corona altered season. But I guess you're hoping, oh, what happened to Josh Allen with his completion percentage, with his accuracy over a couple seasons? You duplicate with this, but Josh Allen is. Because they're the similar size and Richard's.

But that's an outlier that you can do that with a quarter of. Yeah. You're going to improve, no doubt. But like, that also came with a Bill's team that was blessed with Brian Dayball working with Josh Allen. Like the team that takes them better have the right guy. around to develop them quickly because you're going to want to, no fan base is going to sit there in a losing situation with this player on the bench.

Seems like a guy will talk about plenty. I feel like C.J. Stroud's gotten weirdly lost in the shuffle here. And then DJ saying that's one of the best just throwing performances he's ever seen at the combine. And you watch him and he's like just like deadly accurate. And that reminds me a little bit of Baker Mayfield, but I don't think, you know, in a good way and in a bad way. that like baker was incredibly accurate but i think c j stroud definitely has a better reputation for the way he can see the field and manage the game it's funny to see like quarterbacks come out now and like

they're facing criticism that he didn't run enough and like we'll see he didn't really run there at at the combine either but he had some moments in the in the national semifinals but like just the way he spins it i mean i think you would feel really good if he ends up if your team gets him And it doesn't feel like it's a total lock that we know who's going to go one and two. We kind of know that the bears are trading this pick. At this point, Pulse has essentially said Fields is our guy, all but said that, and that we're likely to trade the pick. And who knows?

It sounds like some teams will like Stroud better than Bryce Young, who measured in it at 510, because Stroud's just like a little more typical. And yeah, he's not like, I don't know, like one of the great quarterback prospects of the last five years. but he's a guy who I think would probably go in the top five every year. It's not like he's a weird prospect that's getting pushed up. He was, by the way, Bryson was barely 5'10. Yeah.

Now that's something Lance kind of tamped that down a little bit. He's like they could structure all that and help him with those things. But that is not. Well, they also say that he can like process on the field like Patrick Mahomes in chaos and that he's probably tougher to catch than Kyler Murray. So, you know, he's armed with gifts that can, you know, fend off some of the size concern. but I think durability will always be an issue for him. It's going to be a fun draft unless that trade comes really early

because I just got to think that who goes one is going to depend on who makes that trade. Like Trayvon Walker went one. I think he only went one because the Jaguar's picked first. If anyone else was picking first, Trayvon Walker wouldn't have gone first. But I think that's going to be the case here where different teams have different quarterbacks. Well, if you could have four quarterbacks in the first five choice for selections if you have the right people trading up.

This isn't 2020 hindsight, but that always felt so strange last year. The way that whole top of the draft played out with Walker being the number one pick, do you agree with me on that, Justin? Even, you know, in the moment it was like, okay, you're so sure about this guy, but that's part of the process. DJ did have your boy sauce number two overall on his board, and I think he had Hutchinson won, and either of those picks look like they would have been a better idea. All right, Greg, how about a loser?

Oh, loser. I thought you gave a winner. I thought Stroud kind of showed out a little bit. I feel like the combine's more about the winners, but that's fair. Who do I want to go with loser? You got a loser Mark? Well, there's one very clear loser.

Andrew Voorhees, the USC guard or tore his ACL. Like that's about the worst possible scenario at all. I think the only thing I'd kind of, like, watching the wide outs, it's kind of a small group of wide receivers where unless you're... White receivers in general were losers, but Jordan Addison would have been the one that stood out as a loser. So if you wanted, if you wanted one.

I think Quinn Johnson, if anything, can say I'm a different, like, looking wide receiver than the rest of these guys. He's like 6'4, but it's a weird group, which I think also sort of makes guys like O'Dell Beckham a winner in free agency. If you can't rely on the draft isn't past years to completely change your passing game. So Addison is a smaller receiver. DJ's got him one. but a lot of other people might have them four or five. It doesn't seem like it's a great receiver class compared to the last few years.

They might get pushed up. But Addison didn't run the 40 fast and then he didn't finish his workout just because of it. And you got to be, I do worry. I know like weight's not as big a deal as it used to be, but DeVontes Smith is like strong as hell and fast as hell. So if you're 174 pounds and you're not like super fast, That worries me.

I think Jackson, Smith, and Jigba had a great day, though. His three cone was, like, insane, just the way he moves on the field. He looks like one of those, like, Amman Ra, St. Brown type of guys that's just going to get open no matter where you put him. So he might be won on a lot of people's wide receiver list. How about another winner, Mark? Let's see. I will...

Mark, Mark, Mark. I will go with my dude Lucas Van Ness, because I think there was... Is that your giant dude that you have? Is he just a hot bod? It's like he, I thought he did really well. And I think he's someone that's going to continue to climb because it's like he had a 7.023 cone, a excellent 10-yard split, short shuttle.

He looks just amazing. I mean, it's the kind of thing that all these guys. Gary Kennery amazing? Yeah. I mean, for his position, I think he's up there. Yep. I mean, this is the kind of thing where it's like, if I'm a fan of a team, if he's on,

he's immediately my favorite defensive player. Yeah, I think he's just so, like, strong looking. He reminds me of like a little bit of like a poor man's clownie coming out. Nolan Smith. Maybe he goes, maybe he goes high. Like how high though? Top 15. Who knows? How about Collijah Canty? I just like saying that name. You're a defensive tackle that can run a 40 that fast. All the cornerbacks it felt like were super fast and the wide receivers

were slow. I looked at it and I'm not, I'm just like kind of diving in And so it's interesting to see what positions are good in this class and which ones aren't. It seems like a great cornerback class if you need one. A bad safety class, a really bad linebacker class. Maybe not a good class for offensive line. Maybe it's like an average offensive lineman class. But yeah, wide receivers, I feel like this is going to be the first year

where they don't get pushed up. Like if there was a Garrett Wilson in this class, like he might be going top five because he would just stand out so much. Whereas last year there was so many good receivers. Colin Smith, the edge rusher out of Georgia, ran a faster 40 time, 4.39 than DeAndre. They did the thing where they showed him running against DeAndre Hopkins and Stefan Diggs. And this is an edge rusher running faster than that. Now you've got like these guys on defense that are faster than wide receivers.

Christian Gonzalez might be the number one cornerback. And you mentioned just like looking the part. And I'm no, I'm no like scout. But Christian Gonzalez, just like when he's in those drills and his numbers like were amazing. and he might be a top 10 pick. He might be a top five pick. Who knows? He might be the top cornerback.

He just looks like, kind of like sauce, just looked like a real great cornerback right off the jump. He's not at that level of like a prospect, but it will be mentioned roughly 15,000 times between now and then that his sister is Mark's

newsletter subject's wife from Hard Knocks. Oh, wow. That David Blow's wife, who is on that Olympics team is Christian Gonzalez's sister. What a family. And I think this could be an extension in a real bump for the newsletter. Good bloodlines.

Did you guys mention that Nolan Smith ran the same 40 time as Justin Jefferson? Not exactly, but he did mention some. Hopkins, faster than Hopkins. That is outrageous. That doesn't seem right. I do like some Zay Flowers. He's nice. How about Tulane as a winner?

That'll be my last winner. Okay, go ahead. Dorian Williams, an offball linebacker. might be the number one week side guy in this class. It might not be a, he had a monster workout. And then people, people are finally catching up to Tajay Spears, Tulane's running back who's going to, you know, really live up to the legacy of Mueldi Moore and Matt Forte.

Just the way he moves. He really is the type of running back that I would love regardless of he went to Tulane. He's probably more of like a second round pick, maybe the third or fourth running back, but he had a, he just looks. You know who we got to check back in with? It's been a couple of years. Bob Bates, DDS. my father-in-law, Baylor, Booster,

and he came on the show a few years back to hype up Denzel Mims. He's had a rough road with these Baylor players. That was a tough one. That was a bad beat. Although Mims is still under contract with the Jets. He hasn't made a big impact. Let's see what's going on.

He's got some big 12 takes, some Bears takes. I'm going to check in with him. I think it's the right time to do that. Absolutely. It's draft season, baby. Jackpot, baby. Anything else, boys?

What did you think of Will Levis? I know you mentioned him with Lance. I thought he looked very good with his shirt. His shirt sleeveless. He's totally confident in his own ability. He's buff, as my boys like to use that term a lot. He showed accuracy, which was a major issue. Now, does that mean much to me?

Like you're throwing in an empty stadium to guys running alone. It doesn't mean a ton to me. We're told it's not supposed to mean anything too. Right. I just assume it doesn't. I do, I still do wonder why more and more teams aren't sending their staff to the combine. Like, as a football fan,

what am I to take this weekend? It's a bit of a la Ravio Magnifico to me on that front. So I struggle with the combine every year in terms of... It's just, for me, like a good place to start even just learning about the players, even if the combine itself is... And then you mentioned Andrew Vorey's blown out his ACL, and that's...

OU's Wanya Morris, blown out his hamstring, and it's just like, you already got all the game tape, you already got the pro day, you know, for these guys. But I will say this. I will end all that. Who cares? I will end it with a positive note about our, our colleagues here.

NFL Network does an awesome job with the Combine because it could be a very dry watch because it is highly repetitive. But I really do love how they take all the past prospects who became stars and impact players. And now, especially in the HD 4K era, like you have all this footage from the right. last 10 years even where you could splice in this stuff. And it all looks so good. They really do almost gamify it a little bit. So shout out to Yuk and Q and everybody, their teams,

for making an event that I don't have a ton of interest in. Like, when I do tune in, I'm like, oh, this is cool. I like seeing Aaron Donald racing against so-and-so. Like, this is cool. Yeah, it's like 30 hours of live television is not an easy chore. Right. Rich Eisen and Daniel Jeremiah do an awesome job. It's good to hear kind of the DJ download. And of just all the information he's built up.

And it just makes me think, like, why not start a podcast about the draft, Jeremiah? It just seems like you connect some dots. It's becoming bigger and bigger every year. At a certain point, it goes, you could say the bosses should be coming up with this idea. But DJ, there's an asset here. Make something in yourself. I mean, you'd just think DJ, who I thought was a visionary on some level, would show some vision on that front.

All right. I do like that darno Washington, by the way. He's like six foot seven tight end from Georgia. It's a very good tight end class. That is interesting to me. There are a lot of tight end prospects in this draft class. I love like the comparisons for him because you think tall tight end like they're usually a little stiff. Like they, he was kind of compared to Mercedes Lewis.

And Mercedes Lewis was a high pick coming out. So maybe he tested well too. But Darno Washington was moving around like a man that big should not be moving around. And yeah, there could be three or four tight ends taken in the first round or the first 35 picks. And, yeah, DJ, DJ thinks it's the best tight-in class at least 10 years. What's the last round one tight end to hit? Like, truly hit. And Pitts is too early.

But, like, who really has hit the last guy? I think Hawkinson, I'd say, was, he was, I think Hawkinson was fantastic last year. He's like a 10th overall pick. He traded him. He was, uh, yeah. I think, I think Hawkinson was like a solid single to left, if not a, if, you know, with a big stretch. Maybe he returns the first. He rounded first, the big turn to turn.

Ultimately, he was probably about what you would want for a top 10 pick, but you want a little, you're hoping for a little more. You're hoping for a little more. You go back to O.J. Howard. Noah Fan. He was a chemist, Noah Fan. I would be a little bit buyer beware in the first round just because of the history of the position.

But you're hearing a lot of big hype about some of these tight ends. Right. Mayor who didn't like run like crazy is kind of the Jason Whitten type. maybe a first round guy Kincaid who DJ has in the top 10 or 12 picks overall now Washington maybe Luke Musgrave who's up like it's a lot of good options

Can you remind me Mr. Gravedigger we're going to try to get Jeremiah on the show maybe we could pitch the idea of a draft related podcast I want to talk to him about the tight ends and why maybe it doesn't always translate and why he thinks these guys could and that's a good little topic.

Another reminder the Ravens drafted Hayden Hurst in the first round. Another single year they took Lamar. They took Hayden Hurst before they took Lamar Jackson. That's amazing. We do have some breaking news, by the way. The left side of the infield, yes.

We have some breaking news. Not even a big round. Yes. Mark. Out of Jacksonville. Calvin Ridley has been reinstated by the NFL. I thought it was one of the quietly great trades of last off season. Feels a more like developing news.

What was your breaking news the other week? Don't use Greg as the bar. No, but your grandparent like repainted his house or something? He's defecating on. the breaking news all my grandparents are dead so it's painful that would be breaking news that would be breaking news that's a tough one we knew that was happening but it's good to know the jacksville jaguars are going to have many weapons with a you know a really ascendant young quarterback good sitch good sitch classic good sitch we need you know we need we need uh breaking news

to bust out of the slump we need like aaron rogers to happen in the middle of the show it needs its dignity back to breaking news drop we need we We would ruin that great Derek car open. We can't. Have you ever been that hot in Las Vegas? Not that hot. It's probably why I'm going somewhere else. I like Derek Carr.

It would have been cool. He was on the Jets. But good luck to Mr. Carr and the Saints. All right. We will be back on Wednesday. Of course, we are on call for any big news. Really, what is the biggest? Lamar or Rogers now, right?

That's what we're on call for. Unless there's something else that we don't see coming, which happens in sports. Breaking newsworthy, you mean? Something. Yeah. What if Daniel Jones and the Giants come to terms before the franchise tag deadlock?

Nope, Wednesday. No. That's, nope. That's earth shaking. But no, probably not. Otherwise, you'll hear us on Wednesday. Do we want to check in with the League of 32? Yeah, let's do it.

In a certain type of way? I think start looking ahead to next week. It's going to be a little wild. What is next week, Gregie? The start of free agency. A boom. A boom. The new league year.

Free agency. It's all happening. Thank you to everybody. Until Wednesday or perhaps before. Zuzer signing off for the old boss and quiet storm and grave digger. Until Wednesday, heed the call. You know, I'm not going to

This is an I-heart podcast.